What about the Book of Revelation?
Understanding “end
times” in a 30-day study
Day 1
Day 1
B. Hodge, Biblical Authority Ministries, May 18, 2020
Let’s take a look at some serious questions
surrounding the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1). Please grab your Bible or open your Bible app
and look up each verse, and be in
prayer as you do this brief Scripture-interprets-Scripture
study on the topics presented in the book of Revelation and other related
passages. During this study, you will have read the entire book of Revelation
and should understand the basic interpretive themes in the book.
The
first couple of questions are some quick basics to get you started on the views
of Revelation and eschatology (study of last things). You may even be able to
do the first few days together and get a head start. By blueprint, some days
are much longer studies than other days.
Once
again it is imperative that you look up and read
each verse set cited, this is vital. Let God give the answers. In some
cases, a verse or verse set may be repeated, but this is done by design and is
meaningful to the discussion at hand. On a few days, there will be extensive
reading; again, this is done with a purpose and is crucial.
With
this study, I’m assuming you are not “brand-new” to Christianity. This was
written to readers who are somewhat familiar with the Bible and even acquainted
with some “Christianeze”—words and phrases we often use in church like
millennium, First and Second Coming, Trinity (one God, three persons of the Godhead),
Consummation (final judgment and entrance into the New Heavens and New Earth in
perfection), Olivet Discourse, Israel, Temple, Desolations, Judaism, Coming of
the Lord, Tribulation, among others. Even so, grab a Bible or open you Bible
app, and enjoy this short study.
In brief, what are
the majors interpretive
understandings by Christians surrounding much of the book of Revelation?
1. Historicism: some events of Revelation have
been gradually taking place over the past 2,000 years.
2. Futurism: most of the prophecies of Revelation
occur in the future end about 1,000 years before the consummation.
3. Idealism: prophecies are spiritual and not
necessarily tied to historical events.
4. Preterism: prophecies in the book leading up to
and partially including Revelation 20 have largely occurred or are still
occurring (e.g., the figurative millennium) beginning soon after the writing of
the book and encompassing those to whom the book was written and discussing a
judgment primarily on the Jews, and in particular, Jerusalem for their
rejection and crucifixion of the Lord.[1]
It
is wise to be careful about making generalizations here too. Consider that all
agree that the first few chapters written to the seven churches are preteristic—it
already occurred and related to history. All also agree that the last two
chapters are futuristic—they have not occurred yet. So the key is being
discerning on the portions in between.
Read Revelation 1:1-9 twice and meditate on it, (Philippians 4:8).
[1] There is
a position called “full preterism” or “hyperpreterism” that is not orthodox where the claim is that all
the prophecies in the Book of Revelation have taken place and that we are in
the new heavens and the new earth and the curse has been removed. This
unorthodox position undermines the gospel in that it has death before sin and
death would be part of this perfected creation, as would thorns and other
aspects of the curse in Genesis 3. This position is not to be confused with
partial or orthodox preterism, which is starkly different in theological terms,
and has a long standing in the church as an orthodox position that still sees
the future return of Jesus Christ in bodily form. See: B. Hodge, Biblically,Could Death Have Existed Before Sin?, Answers
in Genesis, March 2, 2010, https://answersingenesis.org/death-before-sin/biblically-could-death-have-existed-before-sin/.
