9
I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and
in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of
Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. Revelation
1:9 (NLT)
The
author of Revelation is identified throughout the book as John (see Revelation
1:1, 4, 9; Revelation 21:2; Revelation 22:8), and John was a prophet (Revelation
22:9). The book of Revelation reveals that the author was a Jew, well versed in
the Holy Scriptures, a church leader, and a deeply devoted to Jesus. Revelation
contains a series of symbolic visions that exhibit the influence of Old
Testament prophecies, especially those received by the prophets Daniel,
Ezekiel, and Zechariah.
Revelation
is an unveiling or disclosure by the divine Author of the book, Jesus Christ to
His servant John for communication to the church (Revelation 1:1-3). John was
exiled to the island of Patmos for faithfully preaching the word of God and for
his testimony about Jesus (Revelation 1:9). Patmos was a small island off the
coast of Greece similar to Alcatraz. On that desolate island, John had a series
of vision he wrote down as Revelation.
Early
church tradition has identified this John as the son of Zebedee and the beloved
disciple of Jesus, Apostle John (Matthew 10:2). The Apostle John was one of the
original twelve Apostles of Jesus. If this John is the Apostle John, then John
would have been very old and the last surviving eyewitness of Jesus and the twelve.
However, some scholars have argued against the Apostle John’s authorship of
Revelation since the writing style of Revelation is very different from that of
the Gospel of John and the three Epistles of John – 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John.
However, some biblical scholars argue that the very nature of apocalyptic
literature, the fact that this revelation was given in a vision, and the
circumstances of John's being an exiled prisoner could easily account for the
differences in writing style. John probably wrote Revelation 60 years after
Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Consequently,
the problem of interpretation of Revelation is complex. Few people today agree
on exactly what Revelation means. Because of the conflicting theories about
Revelation, readers are tempted to respond in one of two ways. Some judge the
book so complicated and confusing that they can find no reason to read
Revelation. Others fall prey to the opposite, and they pour over Revelation to
discover Revelation’s secrets while ignoring the rest of Scripture. Every
generation since the first century has come up with different interpretations
of the message from Revelation.
The
book of Revelation can be difficult to understand with the book’s various
visions and elaborate symbolism. Many scholars assumed that the first readers
of Revelation in the first century knew the book’s original message without
undue difficulty. With the passing of each generation and the apparent failure
of the book’s eschatological promises to find fulfillment, confusion began to
set in the church. Since the first century, there have endless variations for interpreting
Revelation.
Traditionally,
biblical scholars have established four major approaches to interpreting the
book of Revelation. The benchmark that distinguishes each interpretation of
Revelation is the future forecast. The early Christians saw Revelation as a
forecast of the future but there were groups of Christians that rejected that
idea of Revelation as a forecast.
First,
the preterist interpretation, also called the contemporary-historical,
understood the book of Revelation as exclusively regarding first-century
setting, claiming that most of Revelation events have already taken place. The
preterist only saw the last two chapters of Revelation as a forecast of future
events and rejected any future orientation. Preterist believed that Revelation
is not a book of the future but that author John was a responding to a current
first-century problem of the church similar to Apostle Paul's first-century
letters to the various churches. Thus, the preterist views Revelation as being
fulfilled in the early history of the church. The preterist view developed
early and prominent during the time of the Reformation. Most reformers were
preterist.
The
second approach is commonly called the historicist view. While the preterist
placed the book of Revelation entirely within the first-century world, the
historicist interprets Revelation as a forecast of the course of history from
Patmos to the end of history. Historicist approach views Revelation as a
symbolic depiction of the church’s history beginning with the first century and
going to the end of the age with such events as the various popes, the
Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, and individual leaders such as Mussolini.
Thus, the historical view understands Revelation as portraying a panorama of
the history of the church from the days of John to the end of time. This view
is not very popular today because this view is strongly anti-Roman Catholic.
The
third approach is the futurist or eschatological view. The futurist is
prominent among writers who find in Revelation a major emphasis on the final
victory of God over the forces of evil, the “Great Tribulation,” and the
establishment of God’s everlasting Kingdom on earth. Many futurists regard
everything from Revelation 4:1 to the end of the book as belonging to future
events. Futurists are the very opposite of preterist. Preterist believes the
book of Revelation focuses primarily on first-century while the futurists
support prediction seekers of future events. The futurist views are depicted in
such movies at the Left Behind
series. Essentially, the futurist says that the book of Revelation is a
forecast of future events and those strange visions and symbols are predicting
events in our current day. Interestingly, if a futurist makes a prediction and
that prediction does not come true, then the futurists makes another revision.
The
fourth method of interpretation is the idealist or timeless symbolic. Idealist
views Revelation as literature that does not reference to any specific
historical event but as an expression of the eternal truths as the victory of
good verse evil. The idealists see Revelation as a theological poem setting for
the ageless struggle between the Kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness.
The idealist view is popular in university settings and church setting where
Christians see the book of Revelation as a form of literature of the endless
battle of good versus evil.
Possibly,
the book of Revelation is both futurist and preterist. Revelation is a
“prophecy” (Revelation 1:3; Revelation 22:7) not only of future events but also
of God’s message for the present. The theme of Revelation focuses on the risen
Jesus and His second coming. The author John writes about the living and
glorious Jesus, which is the second part of Easter (see Revelation 1:7, 18;
Revelation 2:8; Revelation 19:11-16). Jesus is the slain and risen Lamb to whom
worship is directed (see Philippians 2:6-11). When God raised Jesus from total
death, Jesus ended evil and death. However, Jesus’ death and resurrection did
not have much impact at the first Easter except Jesus’ close followers that
witnessed the living Jesus (see e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:1-8). The New Testament
says that when God raised Jesus from the dead, Satan's reign ended and Jesus’
death purchased redemption for all who faithfully believe in Him (see
Revelation 5:5-14; Revelation 12:10-11). Thus, Revelation is Jesus’ second
coming and the second act of Easter (see Revelation 19:11-21). No one knows
when Jesus will return nor how specifically Jesus will return (see e.g.,
Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32-35; Acts 1:7). John uses metaphorical language and
not literal language in Revelation to describe the end of the ages. John's
description of the end of the age is beyond comprehension and therefore John
uses metaphorical language.
References
Amplified
Bible
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1987).
ESV
Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton,
IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008).
New
Student Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992).
Ryrie
Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Chicago,
IL: Moody, 1995).
Zondervan NIV
Study Bible
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008).
Loyd,
Melton, Ph.D., Senior Professor of the New Testament (Due West, SC: Erskine
Theological Seminary, 2016).
Mounce,
Robert H. The Book of Revelation (Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998).
