Book of Revelation (Part Eighteen/Final)

Eighteenth and Final Part of the New Testament Survey Series

Khen Lim




Image source: 7-themes.com

Even for non-Christians, the Book of Revelation is long since been preceded by its very own eschatological reputation. Not only that, this Book can be so cryptic that many Christians consider it an extremely difficult book to read let alone understand and in many cases, it is often the last book they would pick up and try to decipher.

There is no doubt that the reputation of the Book of Revelation is broadly based on the detailed compendium of barely unbelievable visions of the Last Days prior to Christ’s Second Coming as well as the heralding of the New Heaven and New Earth. For the modern man, these visions are nigh impossible to comprehend let alone accept because the imageries are very hard to humanly relate to.

Reconciliation with any sense of reality is in most cases unthinkable. Many who read it get confused over the devastations poured forth upon the world that are seemingly and overwhelmingly catastrophic.

The ‘666’ mark of the beast is far more than just Hollywood trickery, this is according to the book, very ominously real. The chilling description of the antichrist is spine-chilling (Rev 13) and the incomprehensibly destructive Battle of Armageddon is at best, frightening to the human senses. And so is the binding of Satan, the reign of the Lord, the Great White Throne Judgement and the remarkable expanse of the eternal city of God.

In the Book of Revelation, the prophecies of Christ that are foretold elsewhere in Scripture come alive here such as Dan 7-12, Isa 24-27, Ezek 37-41 and Zech 9-12. The paralleling of these visions is not only breathtaking but truly foreboding because the fleshing out of such prophecies give us glimpses of cold reality. In other words, we may not be able to imagine the expanse of the horror but we are told under no uncertain terms that all that is written in the Book of Revelation are true and will come to pass.

Apart from the visions, this is also a book that reveals seven inspired letters to seven churches in Asia Minor. Each of these letters opens up precious lessons for all our modern churches to learn from as well.

Because of the incredible complexity of the Book of Revelation, we have decided to break them into three highlight areas as follows: 

The introduction

Ref: 1:1-20

John begins with an introduction (1:1-3) followed by the usual greeting (1:4-8) before he describes the vision of the glorified Christ to some detail (1:9-20). 

The messages to the seven churches

Ref: 2:1-3:22

Here, Christ inspires John in his vision to write the seven letters to the churches within the Roman province of Asia Minor namely:

Ephesus	2:1-7	A church that had forsaken its first love
Smyrna	2:10	A church that would ultimately weather persecution
Pergamum	2:12-17	A church that has a deep need for repentance
Thyatira	2:18-29	A church under the grip of a false prophetess
Sardis	3:1-6	A church that has gone asleep
Philadelphia	3:7-13	A church that had endured with righteous patience
Laodicea	3:14-22	A church with lukewarm faith

The maladies of the seven churches find plenty of parallels in the modern church of today. And in that sense, Jesus might as well be writing directly to us. We may observe with some humility that the visions provide us with an ominous portrayal of practical warnings.

When reading these letters, the details tell us what the churches did well but even more critically, where and how they fell short of. Our modern churches would do very well to stop their liberal progressive agenda, remove the planks from their eyes and look through these letters and then think how they may fit into the picture. The changes they ring in as a result will make them more fruitful; otherwise they’ll be too late.  

A vision of heaven

Ref: 4:1-5:14

John is blessed with a vision of the throne of God including 24 elders and seven spirits who alongside four living creatures, eternally worship the Lord. The apostle notices that God has a book in His hand that contains seven seals. A call is then made for the One worthy to open it.

Called the Lamb (also known as the Lion of Judah), He is proclaimed with great fanfare as the only One qualified to not only answer the call but to ultimately possess the Book. In some translations, the Book is called the ‘Sealed Scroll’ of which the Lamb will break the seven seals to open and read it.

John’s description of the vision of heaven gives way to the revelation of the seven seals (6:1-17, 8:1-5), seven trumpets (8:6-13, 11:15-19) and seven bowls (aka ‘vials’, 16:1-21), all of which will take place in succession upon the arrival of the End Times.

These judgements increasingly worsen in scope and depth. All – the seals, trumpets and bowls – are apparently interconnected. As the last (seventh) seal is broken, the seven trumpets are unravelled (8:1-5) with the seventh/final (trumpet) ushering in the seven bowls (11:15-19, 15:1-8):

Seven seals 6:1-8:5	(1) Conquest (the antichrist is let loose in the world, 6:1-2) (2) Slaughter (peace is gone, war is here, 6:3-4) (3) Famine (6:5-6) (4) Carnage (more plague, famine, death, 6:7-8) (5) Martyrs (great persecution, crying out for justice, 6:9-11) (6) Natural disasters (unusual celestial events 6:12-14)	These seven seals are the start of the indescribability of the whole Book and often, introduce a flurry of descriptions that are bewildering to understand for many. As Jesus (‘the Lamb’) opens the first six seals, He reveals them. The first four seals are called the ‘four horsemen of the Apocalypse.’
	(1) First showing 144,000 people from the tribes of Israel who had been sealed by God (7:1-8) (2) Countless multitudes who had emerged from the great Tribulation (7:9-17) Note: The wars that form the Tribulation are described in a separate article called, The Three Wars to End All Wars. Click here to read it.	These six seals cover seventeen verses in Rev 6. The next chapter reveals John’s two epical visions (see left). Once the seventh and last seal is opened, John tells of a deafening silence in heaven followed promptly by the sounding of the seven trumpets (8:1-5).
Seven trumpets 8:6-11:19	(1) Hail and fire from heaven destroys one-third of earth plant life (8:7) (2) Mountains plunge into sea, damaging one-third of ocean life (akin to meteor, 8:8-9) (3) Megastar falls from the sky (destroying one-third of lakes and rivers, 8:10-11) (4) Dramatic changes in the astronomy (one-third of sun, moon, stars darkens, 8:12-13) (5) Demonic locusts (torturing humanity, 9:1-12) (6) All-conquering army led by four bound demons (a third of mankind killed, 9:13-21) Note: This all-conquering army is described in a separate article called, The Three Wars to End All Wars. Click here to read it.	In the vision, the angels sound the seven trumpets but John’s description might seem as if not all the trumpets are concurrently blown. Rather each is blown after the other. These trumpets are said to represent the ‘contents’ of the seventh seal (8:1-5). The sounding of each trumpet reveals an event. Therefore we now see six events happening in serial order (see left).
	(1) An angel is armed with a little scroll that John is commanded to eat (10:1-11) (2) Presence of two witnesses who prophesy and then are killed before they are then resurrected (11:1-14)	Before the seventh trumpet is blown, John offers two visions (see left). Then an angel sounds the seventh trumpet, calling forth seven angels with seven bowls of God’s wrath (11:15-19, 15:1-8). Hymns are sung in praise of God for His victories and judgements.
Seven significant signs (or visions) 12:1-14:20	(1) A pregnant woman births a son but a dragon (Satan) later appears with her fleeing to the desert while the son is taken to God’s throne (12:1-17) (2) Michael and his angels cast the dragon out of heaven but not before forcing the woman to fly to safety (12:7-13:1a) (3) The world worships the beast emerging from the sea (13:1b-10) (4) A second beast comes from the earth to rule the world and blaspheme God (and produces the ‘mark of the beast (666),’ 13:11-18) (5) The Lamb is praised by a multitude of 144,000 (14:1-5) (6) Vision of three angels proclaim the Gospel, the fall of wicked Babylon and warns those who worship the beast (14:6-13) (7) A fourth angel calls for the Son of Man to harvest the earth with the help of angels (14:14-20)	John records seven signs (or visions) that reveal some mind-boggling and confounding events (see left). In fact there is a sixth angel who orders the earth’s grapes to be harvested and then thrown into God’s winepress. Blood then flows deep and far (14:18-20).
Seven bowls/vials 15:1-16:21	(1) Agonising sores appear on those with mark of the beast who worshipped his image (16:2) (2) All life in the sea die (16:3) (3) All life in rivers and springs die (16:4-7) (4) Terrifying heat from the sun causes great agonising pain (16:8-9) (5) Great darkness and sores intensify (16:10-11) (6) The Euphrates River dries up and 200-million demonic army from the east gather for battle of Armageddon (16:12-16) (7) Utter destruction of the earth (16:17-21) Note: The Battle of Armageddon and the devastating destruction of the earth are described in a separate article called, The Three Wars to End All Wars. Click here to read it.	The seven bowls (or vials) are also referred to elsewhere as the ‘seven last plagues’ (15:1) that John sees the angels with. These angels emerge as he witnesses praises bestowed to God by those who are victorious over the beast (15:2-8). They are referred to as ‘bowls’ because the angels pour the plagues out from them and on to the earth (16:1).
The Triumph of the Almighty God 17:1-21:8	These visions are given to John as a witness to the celebration of God’s sovereign victories over evil in the world we know and the one we anticipate. God rewards the faithful and righteous and judges the wicked. From 17:1-18 to 18:1-19:5, John documents the destruction of Babylon while 19:6-10 describes choruses of praises to God. Amidst the sovereign triumph, nations are gathered by the rider on a white horse (19:11-21). John then reveals the Millennium in which Christ will rule for a thousand years and how Satan is incarcerated before he conducts his last but futile rebellion against God that leads to his eventual demise (20:7-10). Thereafter, God will judge the quick and the dead (20:11-15) before John describes his vision of a “new heaven and new earth” (21:1) in which the righteous will finally be separated from the wicked (21:6-8). Note: More details of the Millennium and the New Heaven and New Earth can be found in a series of articles under the title “The Restoration of Israel,” which is available as Introduction, Part One, Part Two and Part Three (Final). Click here to read it.
The New Jerusalem 21:9-22:9	John describes the image of the New Jerusalem as the “bride, the wife of the Lamb.” In these verses, the apostle not only offers eye-opening details but he also tells us that there will not be any further need of a temple because God and the Lamb will be amongst their people and that the glory will be bright enough for neither the sun nor the moon to be there (21:22-22:5).

Verses 1:1, 4 and 9 as well as 22:9 would have given the authorship away. At least we think that would have been how the Early Church Fathers would have looked at the apostle John being the author of the Book of Revelation and yet modern biblical scholars have often chosen to demur.

Image source: holypal.com

As they cite a literary style that is dramatically too different to be typically Johannian, it hasn’t struck them that it is more likely a case of ‘different horses for different courses.’ Revelation is unlike anything that John has ever written because the contents are far more surreal and apocalyptic and with that, he would have understandably used a writing style that would have been out of place in his Gospel or the three letters.

And so when the predictable Johannian style could not be matched to it, modern scholars have touted a certain ‘John the Elder’ as the more likely John and not the apostle to be the preferred writer, whom they claim wrote it towards the end of the first century, which would suggest somewhere around 90AD-95AD. However we should take note that something earlier like 68AD-70AD would have better substantiated John the apostle’s authorship.

A date closer to the end of the first century appears to position the book right in the midst of the persecutions not of Nero but instead, of Domitian whose reign ended around 81AD to 96AD. John’s seven letters to the churches would certain make more sense with this date than the one of Nero’s because we know that Laodicea – one of the cities cited in the seven churches – was devastated by an earthquake around 60AD-61AD. We also know that the Laodiceans had sufficient wealth to have the city rebuilt quickly enough to be fully recovered by 90AD.

(Note: The preterist’s view of the date brings further interest into this matter. See later in this article)

At the same time, consider verse 1:9, which tells us that John wrote all of this while lying in prison in Patmos, which was a remote desert penal colony, an Aegean island off the west coast of Asia Minor and some forty miles southwest of Ephesus. By the time he completed the seven letters and all the apocalyptic visions, John was already at the ripe old age of 92.

These seven letters are so important then as they are today. John’s writings here are certainly – and specifically then – for the seven mentioned churches. They are placed in a particular sequence, which reflects the manner and order in which the messenger would have gone from Patmos, pursuing all the churches beginning with Ephesus. He would obviously travel by road northwardly, which means he would have arrived firstly in Smyrna before he went next to Pergamum and then easterly to Thyatira before heading to Sardis followed by Philadelphia and finally Laodicea.

Why John would choose these and not some other seven churches is likely because he was familiar with them as great and matured centres of communication. But how and why he chose these seven may not be as important as the very fact that John’s intended audience then could actually be mapped into every single modern church today. Surprisingly perhaps, what was so relevant at that time appears to be so much more critically so today.

John writes the Book of Revelation to reveal to us God’s mysteries that will shape the future to come and about the very things that must also come to pass. These are, in not so many words, very tacit warnings of a world that must come to an end and that end is marked by God’s wrathful judgements. These, unfortunately, will come with intense clarity.

In John’s writings, many visions are included including those pertaining to God’s throne, the heaven and the glories that await all believers who are steadfast in maintaining their robes white. Also mentioned in great detail are the Tribulation, the Battle of Armageddon and the destruction of the earth as we know it. All of these will serve a purpose in which John’s intention to put pen to paper is essentially about to unveil.

For all its intents and purposes, never is there a person who reads the Revelation and immediately understand it. There are many who read it repeatedly and still find it no less foggy. The extent of confusion and incomprehensibility of the Revelation is legendary because it overwhelms any healthy mind and overloads ordinary senses.

This is no less an apocalyptic book that tells man the ugly truth that mankind, as we know it, is destined for an inevitable downfall, the likes of which we have never seen before nor able to prepare for.

Horsemen (Image source: julikenn.wordpress.com)

This is the real and final downfall that will separate us from God. It will carve out epic wars that will end all wars (click here for a more detailed article). And then we will finally see the settlement of the New Heaven and New Earth as believers are ultimately reconciled with God through Christ.

Up till this point in John’s life, he has never written anything approaching the dramatic writing style that characterised the Book of Revelation. This was certainly a complete departure from everything we have seen coming from his hands. And surely enough, modern biblical scholars are likened to judge its authenticity by simply comparing it with his letters and of course, his Gospel.

Predictably, in such a comparison, modern scholars come to a common opinion that John couldn’t be the writer, or at least, they are specifically referring to John the apostle. As it is with all other letters in the New Testament, the Early Church Fathers have already given them their seal of approval and for conservative believers, this is as good an endorsement as any; certainly more than what we bargain for from today’s more liberal scholars.

Unlike any of John’s writings, the Book of Revelation is chock full of prophecies, symbolisms and imageries. These are used to describe or predict (or both) horrific cataclysms, devastating catastrophes and unimaginable destructions. In many ways, we can see semblances with Daniel’s iron-toothed breast or with Ezekiel’s rendition of the four-faced creatures.

In the New Testament, we also see similarities in 2 Thessalonians 2, Mark 13 or Matthew 24 but still they aren’t the same. For example, John’s description of shaggy-haired locusts with human faces are not only indescribably grotesque but they surely demand a completely different approach to writing than anything the apostle has done prior to that point.

Having said that, it is highly probably that John would still have great difficulties trying to understand what he was allowed to see, let alone, find the words to describe them. This is like saying that we probably don’t have the vocabulary to try to put into words what heaven will look like. We may have an expansive language but we could find ourselves in an indescribable position. I believe this is what John would have found himself enmeshed in.

The truth is that we would be as stumped as John in attempting to describe such creatures or even the unthinkable destruction, mayhem or disaster. I do believe the apostle would not have thought all of this even possible and yet here he was, being given the privilege to see into a grim future and still have no means of properly wording them.

This then may lead some of us to suspect that perhaps these descriptions might not actually do full justice. Maybe there could be ‘better’ words or possibly during John’s time, the Greek vocabulary might not stretch enough to define the creatures accurately enough.

John’s task is an ominous – and thankless – one. He was given an expansive range of visions that all lend genuine support to the End Times. In other words, through John, we now have a clearer picture of the end of the world but even so, modern society will continue to struggle to come to terms with these visions because our modern sense of reality prevents us from understanding them.

We believe we know horror because of what we see with the Islamic State (I.S.) and the terror of jihadism but John’s descriptions tell us that the future Armageddon or the Tribulation will be magnitudes worse than that. The very difference in the necessary train of thought does not prepare us to accept what John is attempting to tell the world.

Revelation 16:2 - The Jewish War (Image source: revelationrevolution.org)

It is for these many reasons that many believe John’s descriptions are more akin to metaphors and symbolisms rather than a literary definition. Verse 12:1-4 for example, talks about “a dragon awaits to attack her child” in which the “her” refers to “a woman clothed with the sun.”  In verse 13:1, John speaks of a beast that arises from the depths of the sea with seven heads and ten horns. The truth is that nothing in our real world prepares us for this distorted sense of reality. In other words, most of us do not consider these imageries to be acceptable.

On the other hand, if we use John’s descriptions as a metaphorism for things we can relate to today, we might begin to see them for what they may be. More importantly perhaps, we can then be able to utilise our limited understanding to come to grips with what John is warning us about. In that very sense, maybe John is describing astonishingly advanced warfare technologies, the likes of which we still may not be able to comprehend let alone see in our lifetimes.

Perhaps these are war machineries and ordnances that John could not understand, let alone write with any sense of literal precision. In other words, it is very probable that what John saw were technologies that weren’t available at all in his days. It is likely that even we, in our current new millennium, might not understand them either. Today our world military firepower is already destructive enough. We can easily blow up the whole world given what we presently have. Here’s just a shortlist:  

-         High-altitude stealth bombers

These aircraft can travel across the world virtually undetected, carry extremely heavy payloads to bomb any place beyond recognition. They are of such radical designs that make them unrecognisable as planes. Read more here, here and here.

-         Long-range ICBMs (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles)

These can be launched from the ground or from deadly nuclear-powered submarines and travel across continents at very high altitudes. Often by the time they are detected, it may be too late. Read more here.

-         Huge self-sustainable aircraft carriers

These ocean-going vessels can now stay at sea without refuelling for very long periods and are always accompanied by battle cruisers, destroyers and frigates to form lethal naval fleets. Read more here.

-         Very fast armoured carriers and manoeuvrable tanks

These can now operate very effectively even in darkness, achieving tactical superiority on land and provide cover for infantry and battalion to move forward. Read here and here.

-         Highly deadly jet fighters

These can now easily dominate airspaces and exert total control over the skies. They usually represent the sharpest deadliest end of every powerful air force in the world. Read more here.

-         Remotely-controlled rocket-carrying drones

Being remotely-controlled means they are unmanned but they have proven to be extremely quiet and deadly. They are also very cheap to produce and are now not only airborne but can also be travel on water. Advanced nano-technology is also making drones even smaller and far harder to detect. Read more here.

-         Nuclear and biochemical warheads

These also include neutron bombs, the use of anthrax and many other forms of deadly materials that are otherwise banned according to the Geneva War Convention. However these days, nobody cares about rules when it comes to war. Read more here, here and here.

Such destructive force and firepower is beyond ancient comprehension. Therefore even if John were to be privileged to see any of these firsthand, it doesn’t necessarily mean he has the wherewithal to describe them accurately on paper.

Armageddon's Fire by NovaMcKnighten (Image source: novamcknighten.deviantart.com)

Apocalyptic writing not just bewilders but often, readers say they can also be very vague. By comparison, everything that John had written up to this point has been very poetic but also fairly straightforward to understand. His words have always been of a certain style but eschatological narratives would require a wholly different approach. Such narratives have been also known to be anonymously or fictionally authored and what better than to utilise a famous name to represent the work and promote it even more effectively.

But this is not the case because in verses 1:1-2, John already reveals himself and then in verses 1:9-10, he identifies his selective readership to whom he directs his message. Because his prophecies will take a long time (from John’s perspective) to flesh out (22:8-10), the very nature of his literature becomes quite a bit of an oddball to handle.

In fact, of all the books in the Bible, the Book of Revelation will have to be the hardest to explain or justify, the toughest to convince, the most challenging to even understand. Nothing can be done about this and I personally believe that if it were not for John, someone like Paul would have just as much difficulty writing the same things. It is not the author, in other words, but the contents that make the Book of Revelation so challenging to grapple with.

Not surprisingly, many view the Book of Revelation as a very difficult book to understand and an even tougher one to plough through. This might prompt us to consider if we have adopted the right way to read it. Most of us tend to read the books of the Bible in a straightforward cover-to-cover manner but maybe this might be ill-advised for this book.

Maybe we’re better off not trying to over-analyse a book that is inundated with symbolisms that invite a lot of interpretations, some of which are likely to be wayward. Perhaps therefore we might want to read it in little bite sizes, feed on them slowly and get to know God better. It is possible to approach the Book of Revelation at a slow-enough pace in order to better appreciate the real power that God can unleash and in the scheme of things, see the role that Jesus plays in the Father’s plans.

When we do so, we will then have to consider how we ought to interpret its contents. Church history suggests four interpretational approaches in the following order: idealist, preterist, historicist and futurist.

In brief, the idealist view talks about the great battle between God and Satan or as in between good and evil and this is symbolised throughout the ages using John’s language in Revelation.

The preterist tells us that the events John talks about in Revelation have essentially been fleshed out as early as 70AD as a result of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple.

The historicist describes Revelation as a symbolic facsimile of the history of the church from 1AD through to the end of time. In between, the prophecies that John mentions are fulfilled in different historical events including the Roman Empire, the Protestant Reformation and even the French Revolution.

The futurist, on the other hand, believes that these apocalyptic prophecies will unfold in the future and they will include the Rapture of the church, the seven years of Tribulation and the Millennium rule of Christ upon the earth.

View of Patmos today (Image source: bibleplaces.com)

Below we flesh out the four views in greater detail: 

The First View: The Idealist

It was the ancient Church Father Origen who introduced the idealist view (also known as the spiritual view). A little more than a century after his death in 254AD, Augustine popularised it further. In this view, Origen uses the allegorical approach to interpret John’s book and alleges that the events mentioned in Revelation have no connection to any particular historical event.

In the struggle between God and Satan – or good and bad – the imagery is played out using symbolisms that are prevalent throughout John’s writings. This struggle is epitomised by the persecution and martyrdom of the saints by evil forces but the day will come when their cries for justice will be vindicated so that in the end, God will emerge victorious and His divine sovereignty will be for all to see and for all ages. 

In his book entitled, “The New International Commentary of the New Testament: The Book of Revelation,” Robert Mounce sums up the idealist view and said the following: “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.”¹

The idealist view asserts that none of the symbols described in the book subscribe to any particular historical event but they do direct us to certain themes in church history. For example, the battles that John describes are basically spiritual warfare culminating in the persecution of Christians or that they refer to generic wars that history has been recording. Another example, the beast from the sea, may allude to the political incursions against the church throughout history and rightly so, they are the inspirational works of Satan.

Yet another, the beast from the land, is representative of the paganism and corruption that have been set against Christianity. The infamous harlot in Revelation is meant to be the compromised church or in broad speak, the seduction of the world at large. Every seal, trumpet or bowl mentioned in John’s visions are all about natural catastrophes, armed conflicts, droughts and similar disasters that will take place as God puts in place His plan.

These calamities all reflect God’s discontent with the sinful man and so long as the debauched mankind refuses to turn from his ways and repent, His plan will go through and ultimately, God will be triumphant.

The advantage of this view is in how it avoids matching passages in the book to actual historical events (simply because it doesn’t believe this is possible) and as such, the Book of Revelation becomes more applicable, more relevant and more practical for all ages in church history till today.²

Because it does not accept any specific historical fulfilment, the idealist view rejects the relevance of Revelation and that in itself is a serious problem. While it views the role that the symbols play in portraying conflict, it does not accept any part in the historical process (Mounce, 1977).

Another problem with this view is the way in which the idealist reads spiritual significance into the text. This practice may encourage others to misread by way of indiscriminate interpretations of their own. We do, as a matter of fact, see this happening in recent times with the abundance of different interpretations influenced by various socio-cultural and political forces that have been acting against Christianity.

Therefore when trying to understand John’s many visions, we should do so by grounding ourselves in sound hermeneutics from the grammatical, historical and contextual aspects. At least this way, we can avoid opening ourselves to wayward interpretations that make John’s intended meaning completely farcical. 

The Second View: The Preterist

It was a Jesuit priest by the name of Luis de Alcazar who formulated the preterist view during the 17th Century³ to counter the Protestants who took up the view of the historicist in interpreting John’s writings in the Book of Revelation in which the Pope is largely regarded as the antichrist. To that end, some preterists like to think that early preterist teachings are evident in Early Church history as far back as the 4th Century (Gregg, 1997). 

The word ‘preter’ comes from Latin, meaning ‘past.’ Therefore the view of the preterist is that much of the prophecies mentioned in Revelation have already been fulfilled in the first century following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. Revelation 1-3 lay down the conditions of seven churches in Asia Minor just before the outbreak of the Jewish War in 66AD-70AD.

Because of the early fulfilment, some preterists believe that believers are now living in the eternal state or what some of us know as the New Heaven and the New Earth. But there are also preterists who prefer the view that not all the prophecies that John had revealed are actually fulfilled as some remain future events. They cite Revelation 20-22 that talk about the future resurrection of believers and the return of Christ to earth.

Because of this difference, preterists have their own issues to deal with. The latter preterists (called partial preterists) tend to consider the former (called full preterists) as heretical because of their denial of Christ’s Second Coming and therefore their teaching of the resurrection is at best, unorthodox.

Central to the preterist view is the date. We have seen earlier that there is much scope for debate when it comes to arguments concerning when John actually wrote Revelation. To the preterists, a date prior to 70AD makes sense because of the prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. Therefore the writing couldn’t possibly postdate the destruction. Their view is that John wrote specifically to the church of his day and that and nothing else was the pretext behind his writing and to that end, he was urging the saints to persevere in light of the Roman persecution.

The preterists argue their stand by referring to what Jesus had said at the end of the Olivet Discourse, which Matthew recorded in 24:34 as saying, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”

According to their interpretation, the key lies in the word ‘generation,’ which usually is about forty years. If that is true, then the fall of Jerusalem would match the time that Jesus had predicted; something in which Josephus himself appeared to agree with as well.

There are however holes in the preterist’s argument beginning with the incongruences between the events described in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse and those in Revelation 4-19 and how they differ from the destruction of Jerusalem. Two examples are apparent:

Matthew 24:27 quotes Christ as saying about His return to Jerusalem: “As lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

To the preterists, the lightning is a reference to the Roman army’s advance on the Holy City but this cannot be, because the Roman army actually advanced towards the city from the west to the east. Furthermore it is common knowledge that their attack wasn’t the quick lightning strike that Christ had described.

Secondly General Titus, who is credited as the one who destroyed the city, did not set up an “abomination of desolation” in the temple itself as described in Matthew 24:15 but instead, history says that he simply sacked and burned it to the ground. It seems therefore that the preterists have resorted to allegorising or stretching metaphors and symbols to fit their agenda to that the prophecies can be fulfilled by the time Jerusalem fell.

This allegorical approach can also be seen in the interpretation of Revelation 7:4 in which John identifies a special group of prophets comprising the 144,000 from the “tribes of Israel.”

To a preterist like Hank Hanegraaff, these people represent the real Bride of Christ and he points to Rev 7:9 where John says, “the great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and language.” In other words, to Hanegraaff, “the great multitude” and the “144,000” are the one and the same.⁴

Unfortunately, his claims are difficult to reconcile with Scripture as we know it. Firstly the term “tribes of Israel” literally refer to Jews. On the other hand, John considered that from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, there are to be 12,000. If Hanegraaff is correct, then this is a rather odd way to describe the multitude of believers to be from all nations.

Another point is that in verses 7:1-3 and 9, John speaks of two distinctive groups namely one on earth (in which the 144,000 are referred to and then the “great multitude” that is in heaven before the throne. John makes it plain that these are distinctively two. So does that mean that Hanegraaff is allegorising? 

The Third View: The Historicist

The historicist’s view was the prominent mainstay of the fledgling Protestant Reformation movement because it helped to distance them from the Roman Catholics by identifying the Pope and the papacy with the beasts of Revelation 13.

And with the support and endorsement of luminaries like John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, John Wesley, John Knox, Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, George Whitefield as well as Charles H Spurgeon and Matthew Henry, this was a very popular view among Christians until the start of the 20th Century when the futurists became more influential.

Called the historicist’s approach, this view considers Revelation to be an iconic representation of the course of history beginning from the lives of the apostles to the End of Time. It goes that John’s use of apocalyptic symbols is in line with historical events that appear to be focused only in Western Europe. They include the range of succeeding popes and rulers like Charlemagne as well as events such as the Protestant Reformation and even the French Revolution.

Historicists consider the chapters of Revolution as follows (in brief):

Chapters	Text	Interpretation
Rev 1-3	The seven letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor	Church history divided into seven periods
Rev 4-7	The breaking of the seven seals	The fall of the Roman Empire
Rev 8-10	The judgement of the trumpets	The successive invasions of the Roman Empire by the Vandals, Huns, Saracens and the Turks
Rev 11-13	The significant signs and visions	The true church in its struggle against the antichrist Roman Catholicism
Rev 14-16	The judgement of the bowls/vials	God’s judgement against the Roman Catholic Church
Rev 17-19	The triumph of the Almighty God	The overthrow of Catholicism

Source: Gregg, 1997

One shortcoming with this approach is its susceptibility to a possibly wide and open range of interpretations. Someone can just as easily justify his interpretation and purely based it on what he sees within his own generation.

When the relevance is limited to a narrow time period, the interpretation will also be skewed and because of this, many historicists believed in what they considered to be the climactic outcome of the Revelation in their generation only, a point which John Walvoord explained well: “As many as fifty different interpretations of the Book of Revelation therefore evolve, depending on the time and circumstances of the expositor.”⁵

Another problem is the narrow scope of its interpretation. Because the historicists’ view is purely within Western Europe, it doesn’t say much about anywhere else such as churches in the East including Asia Minor. The narrowness of its view means that it is incapable of covering God’s activities beyond its Europhiliac preference. 

The Fourth View: The Futurist

In contemporary terms, this is the most popular of the four views and especially so with evangelical Christians. The futurist takes the view that the prophecies of Revelation will be fulfilled in the future but it also accepts that at least some of them would have already been fleshed out by now.

The futurist view provides the fulcrum for the premillenialistic dispensationalists and is well promoted in schools such as the Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) and the Moody Bible Institute. It had also been popularised by Tim LaHaye with his bestselling apocalyptic paperback series called “Left Behind.” Leading practitioners of the futurist view include Dwight Pentecost, John Walvoord and Charles Ryrie.

The futurist view endorses the unfolding of all events described from Revelation 3 onwards. It divides the book into three segments as reflected in 1:19, which says, “what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.”

Revelation 1 speaks of the past (“what you have seen”) while chapters 2 and 3 talk of the current (“what is now”) and then the remainder of Revelation covers the future events (“what will take place later”).

The view of the futurists is also a literal interpretation of John’s words. From chapter 4 to 19, the apostle describes a seven-year period called the Tribulation, which is also recalled in Daniel 9:27. In that period, God’s wrath is poured out onto mankind and John envisions them as the breaking of the seals, the blowing of the trumpets and the bowls/vials.

In chapter 13, John’s literal view of the future are two beasts that are the culmination of a world power headed by a political and religious leader. In chapter 17, John reveals a harlot that is symbolic of an apostate church while the Second Coming of Christ is resplendently told in chapter 19 but so is the catastrophic Battle of Armageddon.

In chapter 20, we come to John’s description of the Millennium rule by Christ on earth. John then unfolds the events beyond the Millennium in chapters 21 and 22 in which we will take in the sights of a New Heaven and New Earth, and the arrival of the heavenly city upon it.

Futurists subscribe to the literal interpretation, meaning that they read and understand Revelation by way of its originally stated intentions, the way it is supposed to mean by relying on the usual customary application of the original language. What this means is that futurists apply the rules of grammar, maintain consistency with the historical framework and look into the context of John’s writings.

However this does not mean that symbolic language is banished. On the contrary, the futurists view that prophecies that rely on symbolism are to be normally interpreted in accordance to the laws of the language, which in this case, is Koine Greek.

J.P. Lange supports this, saying: “The literalist (so-called) is not one who denies that figurative language, that symbols, are used in prophecy, nor does he deny that great spiritual truths are set forth therein; his position is, simply, that the prophecies are to be normally interpreted (i.e. according to the received law of language) as any other utterances are interpreted – that which is manifestly figurative being so regarded.”⁶

The cornerstone of the futurists’ view is therefore the literal interpretation and it seems they are vindicated by the findings of the Early Church Fathers such as Clement of Rome (96AD), Justin Martyr (100AD-165AD), Irenaeus (115AD-202AD), Tertullian (150AD-225AD) and many others who have all taught about the future millennial kingdom in which Christ would rule.

In fact the futurist view held sway at least until Origen began to espouse allegorical interpretation (idealist view), which was later made popular by Augustine. However despite its popularity, the futurist view continued throughout church history and resurfaced in the modern day.

Of the four approaches, the futurist’s view remains relatively the most coherent, particularly if you subscribe to the dispensationalist approach to eschatology. As we have seen from Rev 1:19, John’s three instructions posit the futurist’s outline – when the apostle says, “write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later,” the vindication is obvious. And when we tie that in with Rev 4-22, we can match the futurist’s view to the future events that John talks about when relating to “what will take place later.”

All that is well and good but we must be prudent in avoiding an overzealous application of the futurist interpretation lest we become tabloid sensationalist theologians who are all too keen to compel all of us to accept that square pegs can actually fit round holes. Such practices are not uncommon, unfortunately.

Across the Internet, we can find abundant superimposition of current events to the prophecies that are defined in Revelation and then superficially forge an obtuse timeline to match. And when this happens, overexcited zealots end up predicting eschatological dates that are bound to be hugely misleading and completely erroneous.

While the Book of Revelation has much to be fearful of and worried about, our acceptance of Christ as our Saviour should override and overcome. Despite God’s judgement of the fallen world, in Christ, we are saved and comforted by the fact that the Ultimate Judge is on our side.

Even as Revelation reveals the Final Judgement, we should instead continue to be encouraged to bear witness to unbelieving friends, neighbours and family members who have yet to accept God’s eternal offering of salvation in Christ.

In His sovereignty, God is also our Creator and the One unreservedly worthy of all our praises and worship. In Him is the expansive vision that John painted. He is the One seated on His throne and He is the One who justly receives the glad tidings and sacrificial love we offer. Christ’s pre-eminence is also a key part of Revelation.

John rightly places Him not only as the Son of God but as God in the Triune narrative especially when the apostle opens his visions not by addressing God the Father but instead, Jesus Christ (1:12-20) and then in verses 1:8 and 22:13, he then turns the whole thing around and collectively refer to the Father and the Son as “the Alpha and the Omega.”

In Revelation, John devotes much to God’s glory, authority and the unleashing of His immense power against the wicked. Yet in John’s writings, Christ’s cross is never marginalised. Instead we see it reflected in the Lamb or the Lion of Judah or the rider in the white horse. It is surely Christ whose hand shaped world history and defined the walk of man because of His substitutional sacrifice at the cross.

And in all that we understand about Revelation, the inescapable references are made about the end of the world, the end of its shambolic history and the grinding end of mankind but these are set against the glowing backdrop of a New Heaven and New Earth, a vivid reminder of the beginning of the next world as the old one comes to an end.

And with that, John reminds us to take note of a future worth investing our faith in. And therein lies the only Book in the whole of Scripture that has devoted so much of its narrative on the events that would bring completion to one and the start of another world.

If there is one thing that Revelation should serve up as a lesson, it is that the terrifying End Times should prompt us to take stock of where we’re at today. It welcomes us to consider our lifestyle and ask ourselves if we fit into God’s plans. Not because of who He is but who we ourselves are and what we have or have not done for Him to include us in His grand scheme.

John’s visions offer us the starkness of what appears to be a last-minute warning. He is telling us that while there is still time, we don’t have to be part of the dire future but instead we can turn things around and head in the direction of Christ.

Make no mistake about it – John is tersely giving us dire warning that God’s wrath will be felt in the End Times. The Day of the Lord will surely come and when it does, He will pour forth His judgement on account of our sins. He will refer to the Lamb’s Book of Life to decide who’s names are and aren’t part of it.

As eternal punishment awaits those who are wicked, John reveals rewards are in store for the faithful and righteous. Those who persevere against evil, stand up for the Gospel and steadfastly resist the devil and his earthly schemes will be righteous before God especially if it means they lose their lives being so.

¹ Mounce, Robert. 1977. The New International Commentary of the New Testament: The Book of Revelation. (Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans Publishing Company). p.43

² Morris, Leon. 1987. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Revelation. (Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans Publishing Company) p. 20.

³ Gregg, Steven. (1997) Four View of Revelation. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers). Pages 31, 217, 309 and 399.

⁴ Hanegraaff, Hank. (2007). The Apocalypse Code. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers). Page 20.

⁵ Walwoord, John. (1966) The Revelation of Jesus Christ. (Chicago: Moody Press). Page 19.

⁶ Lange, J.P. (2007) Commentary of the Holy Scriptures: Revelation. (New York: Scribner’s, 1872) quoted in Ryrie, Charles (2007) Dispensationalism (Chicago: Moody Publishers), page 91

 This is the final segment of the eighteen-part New Testament Survey Series. We are in the midst of developing a similar survey project for the Old Testament. Further details will be made available as and when the series is near completion, which should be around 2017.