Introduction
The book of Revelation, referred to by many other names, the Apocalypse of John, Revelation to John, or simply Revelation is final book of the New Testament. Moreover, Revelation crosses three literary genres including epistolary, apocalyptic, and prophetic. Due in part to the variety of Revelation, it should come as no surprise that there are a multitude of different views on the interpretation of Revelation. This paper will focus primarily on four of the main viewpoints, Preterist, Historicist, Futurist, and Idealist/Spiritualist. It is using hermeneutics, that each individual view tries to interpret Revelation. While the preterist and historicist views may seem similar in some ways, primarily both view Revelation as historical …show more content…
Therefore, the church age is a parenthesis in this plan, as God turned to the Gentiles until the Jewish people find national revival (Rom. Rom. 11:1;25-32). At the end of that period, the church will be raptured, inaugurating a seven-year tribulation period in the middle of which the Antichrist will make himself known (Rev. Rev. 13:1+) and instigate the “great tribulation” . . . At the end of that period . . . Christ returns in judgment, followed by a literal millennium (Rev. Rev. 20:1-10+), great white throne judgment (Rev. Rev. 20:11-15+), and the beginning of eternity . . . Classical premillennialism is similar but does not hold to dispensations. Thus there is only one return of Christ, after the tribulation period (Mtt. Mat. 24:29-31; cf. Rev. Rev. 19:11-21+) and it is the whole church, not just the nation of Israel, that passes through the tribulation …show more content…
This view uses an allegorical method of hermeneutics when interpreting Revelation. In accordance with the idealist view, the imagery in Revelation is allegorically representative of the ongoing conflict across the eons of Yahweh versus Satan and good against evil and are therefore not tied to historical events. Robert Mounce summarizes the idealist view stating, “Revelation is a theological poem presenting the ageless struggle between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. It is a philosophy of history wherein Christian forces are continuously meeting and conquering the demonic forces of
The book of Revelation, referred to by many other names, the Apocalypse of John, Revelation to John, or simply Revelation is final book of the New Testament. Moreover, Revelation crosses three literary genres including epistolary, apocalyptic, and prophetic. Due in part to the variety of Revelation, it should come as no surprise that there are a multitude of different views on the interpretation of Revelation. This paper will focus primarily on four of the main viewpoints, Preterist, Historicist, Futurist, and Idealist/Spiritualist. It is using hermeneutics, that each individual view tries to interpret Revelation. While the preterist and historicist views may seem similar in some ways, primarily both view Revelation as historical …show more content…
Therefore, the church age is a parenthesis in this plan, as God turned to the Gentiles until the Jewish people find national revival (Rom. Rom. 11:1;25-32). At the end of that period, the church will be raptured, inaugurating a seven-year tribulation period in the middle of which the Antichrist will make himself known (Rev. Rev. 13:1+) and instigate the “great tribulation” . . . At the end of that period . . . Christ returns in judgment, followed by a literal millennium (Rev. Rev. 20:1-10+), great white throne judgment (Rev. Rev. 20:11-15+), and the beginning of eternity . . . Classical premillennialism is similar but does not hold to dispensations. Thus there is only one return of Christ, after the tribulation period (Mtt. Mat. 24:29-31; cf. Rev. Rev. 19:11-21+) and it is the whole church, not just the nation of Israel, that passes through the tribulation …show more content…
This view uses an allegorical method of hermeneutics when interpreting Revelation. In accordance with the idealist view, the imagery in Revelation is allegorically representative of the ongoing conflict across the eons of Yahweh versus Satan and good against evil and are therefore not tied to historical events. Robert Mounce summarizes the idealist view stating, “Revelation is a theological poem presenting the ageless struggle between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. It is a philosophy of history wherein Christian forces are continuously meeting and conquering the demonic forces of