Background of Revelation
- Non-Historical or Idealist view -
In this view of Revelation the reader takes an interpretational stance where the individual sees Revelation primarily as a conveyor of timeless truths about the kingdom of God, history and symbols. Based on this stance the intent of Revelation can then be interpreted apart from any historical evidence or scenarios. The history that Revelation was written for and in is not the point, it is the timeless truths that matter the most.
- Positive - A benefit of this view is that this is the easiest manner to convey the message of Revelation in teaching and preaching. This interpretation specializes in finding something of meaning for us today out of the book of Revelation.
- Negative - When we take a book out of its historical context we limit the amount we will be able to understand that it is saying. It keeps the book from saying anything specific to us in part because the book could not have spoken specifically to the original audience who were facing very specific issues that they had to deal with. On a side note that is neither good nor bad this view by necessity must be used in conjunction with other views of scripture in order to balance it.
- Church-Historical or Futurist or Historicist -
Revelation is understood in this view to be about predicting the future. Everything or almost everything is intended to be about future events that will happen before the coming of Christ. This is one of the most common views held in North America today.
- Positive - The primary benefit here is that this interpretative method allows people to find meaning for today. The beliefs is that Revelation was written for their own time and underscores the idea of God's sovereignty over time and over all things.
- Negative - Major issue here is primarily that the book of Revelation would have meant absolutely nothing to the original audience because it was written for our time. Consequentially each generation proves the proceeding one wrong. A question that I believe is important to ask is if the book of Revelation would have meant nothing to the original audience then why would they have kept it? This view also has a very narrow and non biblical understanding of prophecy. Prophecy in scripture has a definite now component. For instance the prediction by Isaiah about a child of a virgin birth. The immediate context is for the birth of a Persian emperor, later in history it is understood to come true again with the birth of Jesus. A final issue with this school of interpretation is that eventually the predictions cancel themselves out. In my life time alone I have heard the dragon, harlot and the beast with multiple heads in Revelation described as Russia, China and the axis of Evil (Iran, Iraq and North Korea) just to name a few. So which is right? Answer, probably none!
- End-Historical or Dispensationalist -
This view also views Revelation as prophecy for the future but distinguishes itself in several ways. One that the churches described in the beginning of the book are not actual churches that the letter may or may not have been addressed to but meant to represent times (ages or stages) of church history. Secondly the rest of the book of Revelation deals specifically with the last few years of the end of the world and the events that will occur then.
- Positive - Encourage thoughtful discussion of the application of Revelation to today
- Negative - Major problem is that this view has often spoken of the necessity of nuclear war as part of God's plan for the eschaton. It relies heavily upon war and violence as the necessary agent of change and of bringing about the reign of God on this earth. This is an issue when we take into consideration Christ's ministry and early church history where violence is not an acceptable way to resolve things.
- Contemporary-historical or Preterist -
This is the application of modern biblical understanding upon the book of Revelation.
- Positive - we are encouraged to read every book in the bible in the context of its historical setting. This enables us to understand the symbols and message as the original author intended the original audience to understand the book.
- Negative - This view if we are not careful with it, can lock the meaning of Revelation in the past. Where we can't access it and thus it has no viability in our lives. Another danger is that this view can lack the creativity that understanding apocalyptic literature requires to understand it.
- Eclectic -
This is what I believe the majority of people are. We take a little from each school of interpretation to try and make sense of the book of Revelation.
- Positive - It shows interaction with the thoughts of the original author as well as ideas and trends in our society and modern schools of interpretation.
- Negative - often we hold ideas that are in conflict with one another without realizing why they are in conflict.
My intent in this study and sermon series is to be as balanced as possible. For the sake of transparency, my view is the "Contemporary-historical or Preterist" view of interpretation. I will attempt to show what the author was trying to say to his audience and how that helped them in their every day lives. Knowing how it helped the original audience my hope is to then infer how it will help us in our lives today. I cannot avoid the fact that I will probably use some of the other forms of interpretation but will attempt to not fall into the pitfall of the Eclectic interpretation of Revelation.
Themes:
The themes that we will encounter through out our journey in Revelation are that God is awesome and majestic. Jesus is the lamb of God that brings about our deliverance from suffering and sin. That ultimately God will deal with sin and the healing of his people. That while people may profit from sin in the short run in the end God will have the final word. That Christ is worth proclaiming even in the face of persecution and death. That the power of God works differently than society dictates it should, for example through a small remnant instead of a huge nation, and through the sacrifice of the lamb not the conquering sword. Perhaps the greatest message of all is the hope that we have in Christ far exceeds anything bad that could happen to us, this includes the idea that God is in control of all of time and the direction that time and history goes.
Lessons:
Our series will be broken down into 6 weeks for the sermon series. In order to do justice to Revelation the bible study will by necessity be longer. The bible study will have 12 lessons in total
- Rev. 1:1-20
- Rev. 2:1-3:22
- Rev. 4:1-6:17
- Rev. 7:1-17
- Rev. 8:1-9:21
- Rev. 10:1-11:19
- Rev. 12:1-13:18
- Rev. 14:1-20
- Rev. 15:1-8
- Rev. 16:1-19:21
- Rev. 20:1-15
- Rev. 21:1-22:21
Who, When and Where:
The question of who wrote the book of Revelation, like most books in the bible, is not an easy question to answer. Fortunately there isn't much discussion about possible redactors or editors of the book. A redactor is similar to a second author who goes over the original manuscript inserting comments for what they deem as clarification. Most scholars seem to agree that that book was written by one individual. Historically and traditionally speaking that leaves us with two individuals as options. First in the traditional category is John the Apostle, or other wise known as "the Disciple whom Jesus loved" a reference to his nickname in the Gospel of John. The historical, and to some traditional, option is John of Ephesus who was a church elder in the city of Ephesus located in modern day Turkey. Some individuals believe that these are the same persons. Their reasoning that this is the same person is that tradition states that John the Apostle took Mary, the mother of Jesus, to the city of Ephesus after persecution of Christians broke out in Jerusalem tradition holds that she lived out the remainder of her life in the city of Ephesus.
The issue of who wrote the book of Revelation is also tied to when it is believed the book was written. If one of the primary issues and themes in the book of Revelation is the persecution of Christian communities and how to deal with it, then there are several options for when the book was written. First would be under Emperor Nero. Under Nero Christians were killed for supposedly setting fire to the city of Rome, it has been postulated historically that Nero actually caused the fire. Under this persecution many of the original Christians died including such leaders as Peter and Paul. If this is the setting this would put the book being written sometime in the 60's.
A second option for the time of authorship is in the 90's under the reign and rule of Emperor Domitian. This claim for time of writing is based off of a number of things. In the book of Revelation persecution seems to be a wide spread and not just a localized issues. While Nero persecuted Christians this was a localized persecution in Rome, however under Domitian there was persecution all over the empire.
Another factor in determining the who and when of Revelation is the issue of Emperor cults and this is another concern that Revelation is dealing with. Historically these cults don't seem to be a big issue until the 90's. An added factor that weights heavily for a 90's date is that there is a concern over the re-appearance of Emperor Nero. There were beliefs that Nero would come back after his death and this belief was wide spread over the empire held by both Christians and non-Christians both. This concern would hardly be an issue if Nero was alive during the writing of the book, and would only make sense after his death.
My belief is that the book of Revelation was written in the 90's due to the reasons written above in its support. This of course brings us back to the issue of authorship. I believe that the author is John of Ephesus and that this is not the same person as John the Apostle. The primary reason that I believe that these are not the same person is that assuming John the Apostle was the same age as Jesus, approximately 30-35 years of age at the date of 30 C.E. A date in the 90's would put John the Apostle at the ripe old age of 90-105. This is possible but I believe unlikely. Also the book does not claim to be written by John the Apostle it just claims to be written by John who could in fact be anyone. I do not have an issue either way with who ever wrote the book. For these lessons I will refer to the author as John.
Where the book of Revelation was written is answered in the beginning of the book "I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus." (Revelation 1:9, NIV) Part of what has to be remembered is that Revelation is also a letter written to the seven churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) that are listed at the beginning of the book. This is important to remember because this means that the book of Revelation was meant to be heard by many people not just one individual. This places us in a position to be more aware of interpretation issues.
What:
Revelation as literature is classified in various ways. One way we must understand it, as noted above, is as a letter. Written to specific churches for a specific reason we therefore should not divorce it from its historical context. Revelation is also understood to be apocalyptic literature. This unique form of writing relies heavily upon symbolism. It also has a distinct way of viewing the world that is characterized by the struggle between the absolutes of good and evil. For some people Revelation is about prophecy, this would make Revelation a prophetic book. Unfortunately there is often a very narrow view of what prophecy is in scripture. Prophecy is not fortune telling but rather historical interpretation. That is looking at the world and the way the world is operating the direction its heading and seeing God at work in the midst of that. Yes there is an element of the future in prophecy but it is not the primary mode or reason that prophecy exists.
I believe that Revelation combines all of these forms of literature within itself. I think this is what makes up the primary thrust of Apocalyptic literature and will refer to Revelation as primarily Apocalyptic literature.
Interpretation: adapted from Interpretation: Revelation, M. Eugene Boring & Revelation, Mark W. Wilson
There are four primary ways that we can approach and understand the book of Revelation. These views are known by different names depending on which authors you read and I will attempt to include the multiple names to help in identification. I will also include an additional view that I believe is important to consider when dealing with Revelation.
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