Revelation: Views of Interpretation
When different people interpret Scripture, different results are expected. There are several books of the Bible that have been interpreted differently by scholars and the book of Revelation has had several different interpretations including preterist, futurist, historicist and an idealist interpretation. This paper will focus on the arguments for and against the preterist and futurist views of the book of Revelation. The Preterist view, begun in 1614 with the Jesuit Alcazar, of the book of Revelation sees most of the events of the book as already fulfilled and as a symbolic picture of early church conflicts. The events are thought to have immediate reference to John's own time, written in A.D. 68 and it sees Emperor Nero as the beast of chapter 13 (Biederwolf 566, Walvoord & Zuck 926). Many Preterist interpreters have also considered much of the apocalyptic literature to be "attacks on the governing authorities of that ancient age, veiled in fantastic symbolism to prevent those officials from recognizing that what was stated was about them." ("An Overview...") They also say that the authors of this literature frequently used the names of great men to conceal their own identity. While it does acknowledge some future predic
It is on a much larger scale than that destruction. " When the Bible talks about the last days, it is referring to the last generation of Israel after the flesh at the end of the Old Covenant, which ended in A. The next stage is Christ's return and the new heavens and new earth, no millennial kingdom in between. To support this claim: "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. This view, begun or made popular in 1580 by the Jesuit Ribera, holds that the whole of Revelation, beginning in chapter four, is speaking of the times of the second coming. In defense of this position, Preterist interpreters turn to Hebrews 8:13 "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. 96, twenty-six years after the overthrow of Jerusalem (Biederwolf 566). Until taking this course, I did not even know there were different ways of interpreting the book. It is in the very nature of our faith to look to the future as our ultimate victory (Walvoord 926). Another argument against this interpretation focuses on the celestial phenomena and terrible figures of the Sixth Seal. Jeremiah speaks of the future kingdom where all will have knowledge of God and the nation of Israel will endure forever. Based on a literal interpretation, these events have not come to pass yet. 70 and the elements of the New Covenant have been in place ever since ("Preterist Archives"). However, future events do bring comfort and reassurance to Christians.
Common topics in this essay:
Epiphanes Based,
Walvoord Zuck,
Son Hebrews,
Revelation Preterist,
,
Preterist Archives,
Sixth Seal,
Jesuit Alcazar,
Covenant AD,
Antichrist Rome,
book revelation,
preterist view,
preterist interpretation,
biederwolf 566,
covenant covenant,
ad 70,
covenant covenant covenant,
walvoord zuck,
literal interpretation,
events revelation,
view begun,
walvoord zuck 926,
|
Acceptance Essays
