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Revelation
By Adam Bartlett
Introduction
The book of Revelation was written by John as the first verse indicates and the timing has been agreed was by most scholars to have been around A.D. 95. He wrote it while exiled to the Isle of Patmos as he also verified in 1:9 for refusing to stop preaching of Jesus.
The known world at that time was still under the control of the Roman Empire which seemed to be invincible.
This book was written and directed to seven congregations in Asia according to 1:10. Not that they were the only congregations to receive this message nor that they were the only existing congregations at the time. This was a time of great persecution on believers and many were being killed and persecuted for their faith. With that in mind it is easy to understand how many in that day thought that these events would happen in their life time. In their eyes it was hard to imagine how things could possibly get worse.
There are four major views of this book and how it is written:
The first is the Preterist View; it claims that the events and visions described in this book pertain to the past and more particularly to the Roman Empire of the first century. They say the many symbols were used by John to hide the real meaning from the Romans but the believers of that time would understand it. They also claim that it was to give the believers of that time encouragement to know that God was going to intervene and avenge them. This view is hard to accept on the basis that many of the events are future and cannot and did not happen during that time period.
The second view is the Historical View; this view holds that all the events of this book apply from the first century church until the second coming of Christ. There are no other criteria for this view and no details are given, just the vague time frame.
The third view is the Symbolic (Allegorical) View; which says that this book portrays a continual conflict between good and evil and covers the span of human history. The positive of this view is that good triumphs over evil in the end. In my opinion this is a very broad and generic view.
The fourth view is the Futuristic View; which says that from chapter four through the end of the book deals with end time events. This view puts more emphasis on the future events that will come upon the church as opposed to what was transpiring in John's day. They break this book down in the following manner. Chapter one deals with the past; chapter two and three deal with the things of the present time and extend throughout the church age; chapter four through the end deal with what is to come in the future dealing with the tribulation and after.
I personally believe in a combination of the second and fourth views.
Revelation Studies
Bible Headquarters
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