How to Understand the Bookof Revelation: Different

Schools of Interpretation

by Desmond Ford

Interpreting the Book of Revelation is hard. It is easier to have our thinkingdone for us by the various schools of interpretation. These schools are

Idealism, Preterism, Futurism, and Historicism. However, withall the best tools, interpretation is still a spiritual matter.

ent dangers in the practice. It ofteninvolves cutting off those protrudingparts that don't fit our categories.Pigeonholing demands oversimplifi-cation.

The trouble is the simplifiers of-ten become the mystifiers-and dogreat damage.

was sofar-off in his historicist ap-proach, what can we hope to do?"Thefollowing article gives us someuseful tools on how to approachthe Book of Revelation.

-Roy Gee

Since the publication of Dr. KaiArasola's book, The End of His-toricism, many people are ask-ing how to interpret the Book ofRevelation. They ask, "If WilliamMiller, good man that he was,

I E I ve,yone find, ,u'peme "PigeoohoUog" i, mental ,hort-hard to bear. Suspense is hand. It's a principle of categoriza-

usually linked with fear and crippled tion. For most of us, it makes itenergies. easier to function. We can avoid the

This is why the human mind al- agonizing process of hard thinking.ways seeks to avoid suspense. We try We can't always guarantee thatto find rest through the process of "pigeonholing" will help us function"pigeonholing." efficiently, because there are inher-

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ing in the present, and will only becompletely fulfilled in the future.

The Idealist school rejects all thesethree schools. The idealist says thesethree schools are too specific in inter-preting prophetic symbols. The ideal-ist calls for a more spiritual, philosophi-cal, or poetic method of interpreta-tion.

School of Idealis01The Idealism school of interpretationthinks of the Book of Revelation as anunfolding, in pictures, of great prin-ciples.

The purpose of the Book of Rev-elation is not to speak of specific eventsto come. It is only to teach spiritualtruths that can be applied to (or de-rived from) all situations.

However, it's difficult to see a pur-pose in the Book of Revelation if it isonly a pictorial portrayal of principlesfound elsewhere. If such principleshave already been taught clearly else-where, why now present them in sucha mysterious fashion?

Erdman asks,. .. do not principles become

even more impressive when em-bodied in events which the writersaw, and in still more momentousevents which in prophetic visionshe beheld on the horizon of abrighter era which was yet todawn? (Charles R. Erdman, Revela-tion, p. 25)

We Will InterpretThese psychological truths are relevantto how we interpret the Book of Rev-elation.

We can't rest in this world untilwe can interpret it. We can't ease ourmental stress at interpreting the Bookof Revelation unless we have a scheme,or method, of interpretation.

With each scheme, or method,comes built-in dangers. And the morerigid we are in clinging to a precon-ceived scheme, the more likely ourconclusions will be false.

Herder asked,Was there a key sent with the

book Revelation, and has this beenlost? Was it thrown into the sea ofPatmos, or into the Maeander?Because no such key was sent,

interpreters have been forced to in-vent several. All operate with a mea-sure of success. But none can unlockevery door. Commentaries of all schoolsof persuasion are filled with evidenceof forced locks.

This leaves inquiring minds withthat suspense that attends all honestinvestigation.

Schools and TimeMost of the different schools of inter-pretation can be understood in the waytheir method explains time.

Preterists affirm that most of Rev-elation has its main reference to thepast. Futurists say that most of the bookis still to be fulfilled in the future. His-toricists are sure that the book has beenfulfilled partly in the past, is still fulfill-

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Idealis01's InconsistenciesAbsolute consistency is impossible forIdealism, as for all other schools. Rev-elation depicts Christ's second coming.If this is an actual historical event, whycan't some of Revelation's portrayalsof events before that also be historical?

It's impossible to divorce any bookfrom its historical setting. This is dou-bly true for the Book of Revelationbecause it is the prime example ofapocalyptic literature. This whole genreof writing deals with history. It is notinterested in abstractions.

School of Preteris01Preterism is the most popular approachto the Book of Revelation among criti-cal scholars.

This school is also known as thecontemporary-historical, or zeit-

geschichtlich in German. This schoolincludes such brilliant exegetes asBeckwith, Swete, Ramsay, Simcox,Moses Stuart, and F.F. Bruce.

These writers understand the chiefprophecies of the Book of Revelationas fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusa-lem(A.D. 70) and the fall of the Romanempire.

The strength of Preterism is that itis based on a considerable amount oftruth. John's Book of Revelation musthave had meaning for his first readers,his contemporaries.

What pastor would write a letterto his flock that had no immediatemeaning to the flock?

Protest Against PreterismThe main defect of Preterism is that itseems to leave the church throughoutthe ages without specific guidance.Milligan writes:

... the book [Revelation] bearsdistinctly on its face that it is notconfined to what the Seer beheldimmediately around him. It treatsof much that was to happen downto the velY end of time, down tothe full accomplishment of theChurch's struggle, the full winningof her victoIY, and the full attain-ment of her rest. The Coming ofthe Lord so frequently referred towas celtainly not exhausted in thatdestruction of the Jewish politywhich we now know was to pre-cede by many centuries the closeof the present Dispensation; andthe enemies of God described con-tinue their opposition to the truthnot merely to a point near at hand,when they are checked, but tothe last, when they are overthrownfinally and for ever. There is aprogress in the book which is onlystopped by the final advent of theJudge of the whole earth; and nojust system of interpretation willpermit us to regard the differentplagues of the Seals, Trumpets,and the Bowls as symbolic onlyof wars which the Seer had be-held in their beginnings, andwhich he knew would end in thedestruction of Jerusalem andRome. Against the idea that St.John was limited to the events ofhis own day the tone and spirit of

the book are a continuous protest.Nor can it be pleaded that he com-bines these with those that wereto happen at the last, leaving, forreasons unexplained by him, a longinterval of time unnoticed. Thereis not trace of an interval. The light-nings flash and the thunders rollin close succession from the be-ginning to the end of the book.Judged even by its general charac-ter, the Apocalypse cannot be in-terpreted upon this modern sys-tem. (W. Milligan, Lectures, pages141-142)

Preterism Ignores FutureWe leave Preterism with the words ofthe prophet John echoing in ourthoughts: "Come up here, and I will

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show you what must take place afterthis" (Rev 4:1 NIV). Tenney wrote:

The weakness of this view[Preterism] is its terminal limitation.Obviously the judgments predictedhave not been fulfilled, and how-ever figuratively one may interpretthe conquest of the world by Christand the picture of a final judg-ment, neither has appeared yet.The preterist has an interpretationwhich has a firm pedestal, butwhich has no finished sculpture toplace on it. (M.e. Tenney, Revela-tion, p. 144)

The School of FuturismFuturism is at the other extreme ofinterpretation from Preterism.

Futurism believes that the Book of

Revelation, with the possible excep-tion of the first three chapters, applieswholly to the future. Futurism pointsto the final tribulation of the churchand is therefore chiefly for believers inthe last few years of history. I say"chiefly" because no futurist denies thepresent value of the promises and prin-ciples found in the prophecy.

Todd says about the Apocalypse:We are therefore to look for

the fulfilment of its predictions nei-ther in the early persecutions andheresies of the Church nor in thelong series of centuries from thefirst preaching of the Gospel untilnow, but in the events which areimmediately to precede, to accom-pany, and to follow the SecondAdvent of our Lord and Saviour.

(J.H. Todd, Six Discourses on the Apoca-lypse, quoted in W. Milligan, Lectures,p. 135)

Futurism and LiteralismFuturists tend to be literalists. They fol-low the rule that, "All prophetic state-ments are to be interpreted literallyunless contextual evidence, or com-mon sense, make that course impos-sible." Most expositors (other than fu-turists) say this rule should be re-versed when interpreting Revelation.

Objections to Futurism are similarto those against Preterism. Futurismmakes the Book of Revelation of littlevalue to the majority of Christiansthroughout most of histOly. Most Chris-tians throughout histOlY are ignored.Only those living in the last moments

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of history are addressed. Futurism nar-rows Revelation's perspective far toomuch.

The Church on EarthA basic position taken by dispensa-tional futurists is that after Revelation4:1 the church is never seen on earth.They claim chapters 6 through 19 viewonly a Jewish remnant.

The answer to this is that theBook of Revelation represents thechurch in heaven mystically. This isbecause of the church's union withher ascended Lord.

Other New Testament verses seethe church in this mystical way (Eph2:6; Php 3:20; Col 3:1). The churchmembers who originally read theseverses that the church was in heavendid so while physically on earth!

Revelation 7, 11, and 12 all pic-ture the Christian church on earth.Admittedly these chapters do so un-der the symbolism of God's ancientcovenant people. However, anymethod of interpretation that takes theJewish symbolism in Revelation liter-ally makes nonsense of the book. Thevery stuff of apocalyptic literature ispictorial and emblematic, not literal.

The entire Book of Revelation isaddressed to Christ's servants, that is,to the Christian churches. Those slainfor confessing the gospel of Christare mentioned under the fifth seal.Revelation 8 speaks of the prayers ofall saints. ("Saints" in New Testamentusage means only Christians or an-

gels.)

The School of HistoricismHistoricism is the method of interpret-ing prophecy that says the Book ofRevelation is a prophetic histOlY of thechurch and the world from John's timeuntil the second advent.

The predictions given in the Bookof Revelation are not just general move-ments in history, says Historicism. Evenspecific events are predicted. This in-cludes the pinpointing of actual calen-dar dates.

Prominent historicists includeBengel, Mede, Newton, Elliott, andGuinness. L.E. Froom's Prophetic Faithof Our Fathers is a splendid compen-dium of (and apologetic for) Histori-cism. It lists the names and expository

positions of hundreds of interpreters.Today, only a small number of

Protestant scholars are known as his-toricists. These scholars are found onlyamong isolated groups. The best-known of such groupS is the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.

Three Problems of HistoricismM.e. Tenney has critiqued Historicism:

There are several objections toan interpretation of Revelation bya complete historicist view. First,the exact identification of theevents of history with successivesymbols have never been finallyachieved, even after the events oc-curred. It is reasonable to supposethat during the lapse of 1900 yearsat least a portion of the predic-tions would have been fulfilled. Ifthey were to be of value to thereader of Revelation as an indica-tion of where he belonged in thetotal historical process, they shouldbe identifiable with certainty. Such,however, seems not to be the case.The points of interpretation onwhich the majority of the doctrinalinterpreters agree can be inter-preted as trends quite as intelligi-bly as events. Since trends may beevident in any period of history,such prophecies do not point toanyone era.

Second, historical interpretershave not satisfactorily explainedwhy a general prophecy shouldbe confined to the fortunes of thewestern Roman empire. The his-torical interpretation stresses chieflythe development of the church inwestern Europe; it takes little cog-nizance of the East. Yet in the firstfew centuries of the Christian erathe church increased tremendouslyin the East, and spread as far asIndia and China, though it did notgain a permanent foothold in allsections of those countries. If acontinual-historical method is to befollowed, it must have a broaderscope.

Third, if the continuous-histori-cal method is valid, its predictionswould have been sufficiently plainat the outset to give the readersome inkling of what they meant.If the fire and hail of the first trum-

pet (8:7) really did refer to theGothic invasions, it is hard to seehow any first-century Christiancould have understood the predic-tion in such a way as to give itany value for his thinking. (M.e.Tenney, Revelation, pp. 138-139)

Historicism Useless for First Chris-tiansNote also Hendriksen's complaintagainst a left-wing historicist book:

On my desk lies a recentlypublished commentary on theApocalypse. It is a velY "interest-ing" book. It views the Apocalypseas kind of history-written-before-hand. It discovers in this last bookof the Bible copious and detailedreferences to Napoleon, wars inthe Balkans, the great EuropeanWar of 1914-1918, the German ex-emperor Wilhelm, Hitler, andMussolini, the N.R.A., etc.,-ourverdict? Such and kindred expla-nations must at once be dis-missed. . .. Tell me, dear reader,what good would the suffering andseverely persecuted Christians ofJohn's day have derived from spe-cific and detailed predictions con-cerning European conditions whichwould prevail some two thousandyears later? (W. Hendriksen, MoreThan Conquerors, p. 14)This criticism is valid.

Historicism Ignores History's CyclesPhilosophers of the historicist schoolsee that history is cyclical. (The Chris-tian understands these cycles to takeplace within the straight line of historythat reaches from Creation to the Sec-ond Coming.)

In all ages, God and Satan followthe principles appropriate to their char-acters. This is why history "repeats"itself, though in different degrees ofdevelopment. The struggle betweengood and evil produces similar situa-tions during different times in history.

If the strict historicist were to rec-ognize this obvious cyclical nature ofhistory, he would cease to be a stricthistoricist.

Historicism Too ExtrabiblicalAnother objection to Historicism is thatit requires too much extrabiblical

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knowledge. The Bible student must bedependent on historians such as Gib-bon, D'Aubigne, or Wylie. Are Mosesand the prophets, the Gospels and theepistles not sufficient?

Historicism Ignores ImminenceOur last criticism is the strongest. His-toricists create careful schemes or chartsof longtime calculations. But theseschemes deny the plain evidence ofthe New Testament that it was neverGod's ideal that many centuries dividethe two advents of Christ.

In one way or another thethought that the various eventsforetold in the book of Revelationwere to take place in the not dis-tant future is specifically statedseven times-"things which mustshortly come to pass [or, "bedone"]" (chs. 1:1; 22:6), "the timeis at hand" (ch. 1:3), and "Behold[or, "surely"]' I come quickly" (chs.3:11; 22:7, 12, 29). Indirect refer-ences to the same idea appear inchs. 6:11; 12:2; 17:10. John's per-sonal response to these declara-tions of the soon accomplishmentof the divine purpose was, "Evenso, come, Lord Jesus" (ch. 22:20).The concept of the imminence ofthe return of Jesus is thus bothexplicit and implicit throughout thebook.

... At anyone of various criti-cal points in the history of this

world, divine justice could haveproclaimed, "It is done!" and Christmight have come to inaugurate Hisrighteous reign. Long ago He mighthave brought to fruition His plansfor the redemption of this world.As God offered Israel the opportu-nity to prepare the way for Hiseternal kingdom upon the earth,when they settled the PromisedLand and again when they returnedfrom their exile in Babylon, so Hegave the church of apostolic timesthe privilege of completing the gos-pel commission.

... although the fact of Christ'ssecond coming is not based onany conditions, the repeated state-ment of Scripture that the comingwas imminent were conditional onthe response of the church to thechallenge of finishing the work ofthe gospel in their generation. TheWord of God, which centuries agodeclared that the day of Christ was"at hand" (Rom. 13:12), has notfailed. Jesus would have come veryquickly if the church had done itsappointed work ....

Thus the statement of the an-gel of Revelation to John concern-ing the imminence of Christ's re-turn to end the reign of sin are tobe understood as an expression ofdivine will and purpose. God hasnever purposed to delay the con-summation of the plan of salva-tion, but has ever expressed Hiswill that the return of our Lord benot long delayed.

These statements are not to beunderstood in terms of the fore-knowledge of God that therewould be so long a delay, nor yet

in the light of the historical per-spective of what has actually takenplace in the histOlY of the worldsince that time. (SDA Bible Com-mentary, IV, pp. 728-729)I agree.Not that God has been frustrated.

Not for a moment. God always offersan ideal that is capable of realizationby complete dependence on him.Sadly, this is rarely realized.

Thank God for All Schools!What shall we conclude about the vari-ous schools of interpretation?

We thank God for all of them! Butwe practice eclecticism ourselves.

All schools have truth, as well asproblems. We take the truth from eachschool.

We should see these variousschools and approaches as fragmentedreflections of the whole truth. Let's seeagain the necessity of "Affirming whatis affirmed, but denying the denials."

Best Tools of InterpretationWe must always begin our exegesis(or interpreting) of Scripture by look-ing at the people and times addressed.To understand what was written tothem we must understand what itmeant to them.

Along with that, let us acknowl-edge the wisdom of God, whose yearshave no end and who has promisednever to forsake the church. This isthe One who declared through Amos:

"Surely the Sovereign Lord doesnothingwithout revealing his planto his servants the prophets."

(Amos 3:7 NIV)Surely such a One can be trusted

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to keep his promise.Because God never changes his

righteous ways, he will be the same inall ages. God's works will ever reflectthe same stamp, though it be in differ-ent stages of development.

The apotelesmatic principle seessuccessive fulfillments of prophecy.These fulfillments climax in the lastdays. It is probably the best interpre-tive tool of all when linked with theaccepted grammatical, historical, andcontextual principles of hermeneutics.

Spiritual Tool of InterpretationFinally, it is true that only the pure inheart shall see God (Mt 5:8). It is truethat the wicked shall do wickedly andnone of the wicked shall understand(Dan 12:10).

Therefore, every exegete, evelY stu-dent of the Bible must ask, "How is itwith my sou!?"

We must ask, "Have I yet under-stood the everlasting gospel thatchanged our world in the first century?That changed it again in the sixteenthcentury? That it is the only factor thatcan transform our own sad and sorrytime?

Has this gospel transformed me?"When it is well with my soul, I

shall accept with equanimity whateverthe times (in God's providence) shallunfold. I shall continually adjust mythinking with advancing light.

Even our inadequacies as propheticinterpreters will work together for good!They will lay us low in dependencebefore God, who alone is the Truth.

God alone can enable us to seetruth more clearly.

God alone can strengthen us towalk in that truth. .:.