Systems of Interpreting the Book of Revelation
Idealist |
Preterist |
Partial Preterist |
Historicist |
Futurist |
|
| Earliest Known Adherent Following the Close of the Canon: | This system is more recent than the other systems. |
1554-1613 AD—Luis De Alcasar, Spanish Jesuit--First appeared as a system in his writings as a Counter Reformation interpretation. It countered the reformer's historicist interpretation that taught that the pope was the antichrist. |
See Preterist. |
1130-1201 AD--Joachim of Floris, monastic |
d. 165 AD—Justin Martyr d. c. 195 AD--Irenaeus |
| Interpretation of Rev. 2-3: (Method of Interpretation) |
Describes churches in the time of John. (Normal) |
Describes churches in the time of John. (Normal) |
Describes churches in the time of John. (Normal) |
Describes churches in the time of John. (Normal) |
Describes churches in the time of John. (Normal) Some say it describes 7 stages of church history. But this would cause the Rapture/Second Coming not to be imminent since the 7 stages would have to occur first. (Spiritualizing) |
| Interpretation of Rev. 4-18: (Method of Interpretation) |
Describes the continuing battle between good and evil. (Non-Normal) |
Fulfilled during or before 70 AD. (Assumes this portion was written in Jewish Apocalyptic style.) |
Fulfilled during or before 70 AD. (Assumes this portion was written in Jewish Apocalyptic style.) |
Describes the entire course of history between the 1st century AD to the Second Advent. It describes what is happening today. (Spiritualizing) |
Describes the period immediately before the Second Coming of Christ (the Tribulation). (Normal) |
| Interpretation of Rev. 19-22: (Method of Interpretation) |
Describes the victory of good over evil. (Non-Normal) |
Fulfilled during 70 AD. (Assumes this portion was written in Jewish Apocalyptic style.) |
Describes the events of the Second Coming and following. (Normal) |
Describes the events of the Second Coming and following. (Normal) |
Describes the events of the Second Coming and following. (Normal) |
| Respects the Imminence of
Rapture/Second Coming? See Mt. 24:39, 42-44; Mk. 13:35; 1 Thess. 5:2-3; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 3:3; 16:15; etc. An imminent rapture/second coming is one that is not preceded by any necessary event. |
What Rapture/Second Coming? (System understands there is no prophecy in Rev.) |
What Rapture/Second Coming? (System understands all prophecy is fulfilled.) |
Yes. (The Second Coming has been imminent since 70 AD by which time the events of Rev. 4-18 had taken place. There is no Rapture.) |
No. (System understands the events of Rev. 4-18 have to occur before the Second Coming takes place. There is no Rapture.) |
Yes. (System understands the events of Rev. 4-18 take place after the Rapture.) |
| Does Rev. 4 ff. describe a later
period than Rev. 1-3? See the "hereafter" in Rev. 1:1, 19; 4:1. Does Rev. 4 ff. describe a later period than the lifetime of John? |
No. (System does not believe Rev. has chronology.) |
No. (System understands that Rev. 2-22 occurred during the same period.) |
No. (System understands that Rev. 2-18 occurred during John's lifetime. However, Rev. 19-22 does describe later events.) |
Yes. |
Yes. |
| Was Rev. written in the 90’s
AD? Only preterist scholars believe Rev. was written prior to 70 AD. |
Maybe. |
No. (Must be written 70 AD or before to associate the destruction of Jerusalem with all the events in Rev.) |
No. (Must be written 70 AD or before to associate the destruction of Jerusalem with the events in Rev. 4-18) |
Yes. (System follows the earliest witness, Irenaeus (180 AD), and dates Rev. in the 90's AD.) |
Yes. (System follows the earliest witness, Irenaeus (180 AD), and dates Rev. in the 90's AD.) |
| Is predictive prophecy necessary
with this method? Liberals do not believe in predictive prophecy. |
No. (Sometimes liberals choose this system. But conservatives like Augustine [354-430] have adopted it.) |
No. (It was necessary prior to 70 AD but not afterward. However, adherents are not liberals.) |
Yes. |
Yes. |
Yes. |
| Are
proponents of this system prone to setting a date for the
Rapture and/or Second Coming? There are a lot of unlisted leaders whose methods could not be identified. |
No. (The Second Coming is not included in their system.) |
No. (In this system the Second Coming happened during 70 AD!) |
Not Usually. (But Harold Camping set 1994 as the date for the Lord's Return.) |
Yes. (This is the hot bed of date setting. The Jehovah's Witnesses set dates for the fulfillment of various prophecies: 1910, 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1931/32, 1935, approx. 1941, 1951, 1954, 1984, 1986, 1994, and 2000.) |
It is usually anti-date setting. (Hal Lindsey believes the Rapture will occur during his lifetime. He is now a senior citizen. Some Futurists have accused Lindsey of incorporating Historicist features into his system. Lindsey is an exception.) |
| Which denominations and cults
use this method of interpreting Revelation? This list is not exhaustive. Many denominations have a few congregaitons that deviate from their norm. Please be gracious as you read this list. |
Liberal Denominations |
Some Reformed Denominations Some Presbyterians Some Theonomists Some Churches of Christ |
Some Reformed Denominations Some Presbyterians Some Theonomists |
Seventh Day Adventists David Koresh’s Branch Davidians Jehovah’s Witnesses Christian Identity Some Lutherans Some Methodists |
Bible Churches Various Baptist Denominations Pentecostal/Charismatic Plymouth (Christian) Brethren Many believers who are members of a non-futurist denomination are themselves futurists. (Most Widely Accepted System) |
| Is this system an orthodox method? | Yes. (However, non-orthodox liberals often hold it.) |
No. (A literal Resurrection, Judgment, and Second Coming are denied.) |
Yes. |
Yes. |
Yes. |
| Roughly Associated Millennial Systems: | Amillennial |
Postmillennial Amillennial |
Postmillennial Amillennial |
Amillennial Premillennial Postmillennial |
Premillennial |
Idealist |
Preterist |
Partial Preterist |
Historicist |
Futurist |
Footnotes
(1) Sometimes things are not as black and white as this chart would suggest. If every minor viewpoint that is deviant from this table had been acknowledged, the chart would be very hard to comprehend.
(2) A problem with the Historicist system is that each interpreter finds fulfillment in his own generation. This results in lots of differing interpretations of the same prophecy.
(3) By the normal interpretation, the interpretation that reflects the meaning of the original author is meant. Spiritualization adds meanings that the original author did not intend. Calling the literature of Revelation apocalyptic essentially declares that the words of Revelation are meaningless. They are only emotional outbursts that cannot be interpreted with accuracy.
(4) Dr. Thomas Ice has written a paper that refutes the arguments of preterists. It may be viewed here.
Some of the Bizarre Teachings and Implications of Preterism
Christ returned spiritually through the Roman army when it destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD!
The New Creation (Rev. 21:1) has already begun. Thus Satan and the sexually immoral have been thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:8, 10) and there is now "no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Rev. 21:4)," "no curse (Rev. 22:3)," and "no night (Rev. 22:5, NIV)."
All the events of the Tribulation (e.g., Revelation 4-18) took place before or during the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD!
Christ will not return bodily in clouds as prophesied by Acts 1:9-11.
There is no future for the Nation of Israel.
The thousand years of the Millennium is a figure of speech for an undefined period of time because it is 10 times 10 times 10! The number "10" contains the idea of the fullness of something.
Some Sources That Explain These Systems of Interpretation and From Which Much of the Information Was Taken, In Addition to My Own Observations
Corrigan, Don, "Christian Identity Movement Needs More Press Scrutiny," The St. Louis Journalism Review, December 2003/January 2004, page 21.
Fenley, Ward, The Second Coming of Jesus Christ Already Happened.
House, H. Wayne, & Price, Randall, Charts of Bible Prophecy, charts 97-98.
Ice, Thomas, Has Bible Prophecy Already Been Fulfilled? http://www.pre-trib.org/article-view.php?id=55, undated, viewed January 23, 2004.
Ice, Tommy, The Destructive View of Preterism, http://www.conservativeonline.org/journals/03_10_journal/1999v3n10_id06.htm, paper given August 3, 1999, viewed March 8, 2004.
Johnson, Alan, "Revelation" in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, volume 12, pages 408-411.
MacArthur, John F., The Second Coming, Signs of Christ's Return and the End of the Age, pages 9-13.
Tenney, Merrill C., Interpreting Revelation, pages 135-146.
Tenney, M. C., "Revelation, Book of the" in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol. 5, pages 95-98.
Walvoord, John F., "Revelation" in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, pages 926-927.
March 09, 2004, Edition -- ©
2000-2002, 2004, Ken Bowles
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