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 predictions, the Preterist view is mainly focused on the first century church and projects their sufferings and persecution into the future ("Interpreting...").
             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. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." 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.D. 70. When Jesus is speaking of this generation, it was the ones He was speaking to that were "this generation." He was speaking about events tha...