Revelation is the one book of Scripture that promises a blessing for those that read and study it. So, we are going to get a blessing together in our Wonderful Day in the Lord broadcast.
I want to give you an overview of how Revelation has been approached by mainly conservative Christians. Part of the problem with understanding it is that different groups have approached this book from different directions and different schools of interpretation. Depending on your school of interpretation that will determine what you come away with in the book of Revelation.
One school of interpretation is known as “Preterist”. Preterists believe that everything in the book of Revelation has already been fulfilled. A more moderate Preterist group believes one thing is left to be fulfilled and that is the return of Christ and with that the eternal kingdom. A full Preterist, however, would believe that Christ has already returned in 70 AD. So, in the Preterist system everything in the book of Revelation has already been fulfilled in 70 AD. This is a major problem from our understanding, because the book of Revelation wasn’t written until the 90s AD by an aging apostle John. So, if it was all fulfilled in 70 AD, then John really didn’t have much he would have needed to say in the book of Revelation. So, we reject the Preterist position, although we understand why some take that position.
The second view is the Historical view. The Historical view believes that this whole book is an overview of church history beginning with the first century and going right into the time that Jesus comes back. We find this Historic view held even by some who believe that most of this book is prophetic, especially regarding Revelation 2-3. When the Historical view looks at the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, they say this is an overview of church history. So, under that view, for example, the church at Ephesus was the first century church. The other churches depicted various points of church history, such as the Reformation, etc. Then the church at Laodicea, for example, the last church, is the church that is lukewarm, and usually that is a sign of the church of modern times. It is a characteristic of our lukewarm Christianity today. So, some people go with a Historic view in Revelation 2-3 and then a prophetic view later. We would reject that one as well because we believe these seven churches were literal seven churches at that time.
A third view is what is known as Idealistic or Allegorical approach. This approach believes that the whole book is about allegorical symbols, and that perhaps there was at one time a code that unpacked what those symbols meant, but we no longer have that code/book, so we really don’t know what the book of Revelation means. Under that belief, most of those types of people don’t spend a lot of time on the book and if they do, they are looking for allegorical devotional thoughts that they might find. We also reject that position.
The final view is the Futurist view, and that is position we believe. The Futurist view believes that starting with Revelation 4 and through to the end of the book it is all future, it is prophetic. It is telling us what will take place in the future, and they have not yet taken place and they will not take place until after the Rapture of the Church and the Tribulation period begins during that time. Revelation 4-5 are scenes in Heaven of the glory of Christ, but Revelation 6 is where we begin a prophetic picture of the future. That is the Futurist view, and that is the view you will come up with if you take a literal, hermeneutical approach to the book of Revelation.
The Futurist view is the view that we will be using as we go through the book of Revelation.
