part 2: interpretive keys to revelation
Puzzled About Revelation, February 11 2021
“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”
Introduction
With so many 'options' available, how are we to know how to interpret the Book of Revelation? Is there a 'right' way? Why does it matter? Does the Bible give us the interpretive 'key' that unlocks these visions? Is Revelation fulfilled history? Future prophecy? Or both?
Why is a correct interpretation of the end-times (eschatology) important?
1. Because of authority: It is God’s Word, and we are responsible before Him for how we handle it. No doctrine is an “island” unto itself. A distortion in one area inevitably affects other parts.
2. Because of glory: God has said how He will act and get glory for Himself in human history. God’s name, truthfulness, and trustworthiness are on the line!
3. Because of obedience: Belief leads to behaviour. Wrong doctrine inevitably produces wrong discipleship.
4. Because of endurance: Many say it’s not a salvation issue (true), but it is an endurance and perseverance issue. Those who are not adequately prepared are being set up for deception and destruction!
I. Some key definitions and popular interpretations:
1. Preterism: The belief that most or all of Revelation and the biblical prophets have been fulfilled in history, particularly in the events of Nero’s persecutions and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by General Titus in 70A.D.
2. Futurism: The belief that Revelation is primarily concerned with “the time of the end” and is, therefore, yet future in its fulfillment. This means there will be a final tribulation period and antichrist at the end of the age prior to the Second Coming of Christ.
3. Millennium:The 1,000-year period at the end of this age, when Christ will set up His earthly kingdom, prior to the eternal state (See Rev. 20:1-10).
i. Premillennial: Believes that Christ returns before (pre-) the millennium and at the end of the tribulation period (Daniel’s 70th week) to destroy the Beast and False Prophet and the wicked, bind Satan for 1000 years, and set up His millennial kingdom. This is the majority view in the church today and the view that I hold to.
ii. Postmillennial: Believes that Christ comes after (post-) the millennium once the church has established His kingdom on earth. Believes that we are already in the millennial kingdom, we have already been “resurrected” in a spiritual sense, and Satan is already bound. This would be a minority view among the three as it denies the future judgments and warnings of the church falling away in the last days. It also contradicts Peter’s words that Satan is still prowling like a lion looking for prey to devour (1 Peter 5:8).
iii. Amillennial: Believes that there will not be a literal 1,000-year reign of Christ (a-). This position tends to spiritualize the millennial kingdom and suggests we are in the kingdom already, with Jesus currently ruling on the throne of David in heaven in a spiritual sense. This view tends to interpret the promises made to the nation of Israel fulfilled in the Church (“Replacement Theology”) and also assigns to the 1st century many of the passages concerning future tribulation and a literal antichrist at the end of the age. This view is growing in popularity and dominant in the Catholic Church and Reformed Theology.
4. The Tribulation: This is often used to refer to the final 7-year time-period prior to the Second Coming of Christ. Also known as Daniel’s 70th Week. It can also refer generally to the final period of trouble before the return of Christ.
5. The Great Tribulation:The second half of Daniel’s 70th Week. The 3.5-year (42 month) period during which the Antichrist/Beast will persecute the saints and exercise his authority and campaign of terror over the earth prior to the coming of the Lord in blazing glory to destroy him. Also referred to as “the tribulation” or “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”
6. Rapture:This word is not found in the NT but is a transliteration of the Latin translation of the Greek term “harpazo” (translated “caught up”) in 1 Thess. 4:17. This refers to the final gathering of the saints from the ends of the earth to Jesus on the Day of the Lord.
i. Pre-tribulation rapture:Believes that the Church will be taken in a “secret coming” of the Lord prior to (pre-) the tribulation period and the coming of the Antichrist.
ii. Mid-tribulation rapture:Believes that the Church will be “raptured” at the midway point of the final “week” (7 years) when the Antichrist is revealed. Few hold to this view today.
iii. Pre-wrath rapture: Believes that the Church will go through the tribulation period and face the Antichrist but will be “raptured” to heaven prior to God’s wrath being poured out upon the earth near the end of the Antichrist’s 42-month reign of terror.
iv. Post-tribulation resurrection-rapture: This view believes that the Church will go through the tribulation period and face the Antichrist. Those who remain alive and survive to the day of the Lord will see the glorious return of Christ with thedeparted saints on the last day to resurrect the righteous dead and translate (glorify) our mortal bodies. At thattime, we will be gathered to Christ as He descends from heaven to pour out His wrath on the earth. This is the view that I hold to and that I believe is the biblical and Apostolic teaching.
Are You Puzzled Yet?
With so many differing opinions and interpretations to the Book of Revelation, it can be (and is!) overwhelming and confusing to many!This is why many are self-professed “pan-tribbers” – Don’t worry about it, it will all ‘pan-out’ in the end!
My Testimony:
“God, I want to know the truth!”
· God brought me to saving faith in Jesus Christ in the early 2000s as a result of reading the Left Behind series, which clearly portrays the Premillennial-Pretribulation rapture view.
· The Pre-trib/Pre-mill view was the dominant view affirmed by every church’s doctrinal statement that I attended and by all of my favourite Bible teachers—I just naturally accepted what they taught without question because I assumed that they were right.
· Several years ago, when the Lord began calling me into pastoral ministry and I was studying the Word in order to teach it to others, I came to a moment of personal crisis: as I read and went deeper in the Word, I became increasingly alarmed and confused because I could not see the pre-trib rapture doctrine for myself—a doctrine that other well-educated, well-respected Bible teachers so confidently affirmed and assured me was there. Surely so many couldn’t be wrong…or could they?
· I came to the point where I had to know the truth for myself. I could no longer believe simply because someone else said it was true; I needed to conduct my own study and research into the Pre-trib rapture and end times teaching. What I found was shocking! I discovered that the Pre-trib rapture had emerged in Scotland in the 1830s, when a Bible teacher named J.N. Darby began teaching it throughout Britain. He allegedly received this teaching from a Scottish youth named Margaret MacDonald, who claimed to have a vision from God in which she received this “new teaching” that the church would be “raptured” to heaven in an “imminent” and “secret coming” of the Lord,before the coming of the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation. If you wish to study this topic more, check out the excellent documentary “Left Behind or Led Astray?” by Good Fight Ministries or the following links:
“The Great Pre-Trib Rapture Deception”with Pastor Joe Schimmel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qgyjI_0kaM
“4 Reasons We Don’t Believe in a Pretribulation Rapture” with Dalton Thomas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ifs4kGli0g
· I begged God for wisdom and understanding (James 1:5). Once I tested this teaching and found it wanting, I rejected it (1 Thess. 5:20-21), repented, and read my Bible with fresh eyes and a hunger to know the truth, often on my face weeping with an open Bible in front of me. If I was wrong, I wanted to know; but if what I was learning was the truth, the implications were staggering to me—millions of Christians have and are being DECEIVED and set up for great CONFUSION, DISSILLUSIONMENT, and OFFENSE that will potentially lead to their FALLING AWAY from the faith in the days of Antichrist and his Great Tribulation!
II. Interpretive Keys to the Book of Revelation:
How are we to know the right way to interpret the Book of Revelation? Is there a “right way”? Does the Bible give us the interpretive “keys” to unlocking these visions?
1. Scripture interprets Scripture!
2. Context! Context! Context!
3. Historical-grammatical method of interpretation.
4. Plain and simple! “When the plain sense makes the most sense, any other sense is just nonsense!”
Jesus is THE greatest interpreter of prophecy ever! His teaching in Matthew 24 is the key to understanding the Book of Revelation:
Matt. 23:37-39: Jesus said we will not see Him again UNTIL the time of the salvation and redemption of all Israel and restoration of Jerusalem! This will not happen until the last day after the tribulation period which prepares the Jewish remnant to receive their Messiah!
Matt. 24:1-14: Compare to pattern of 6 seals in Rev. 6.
Matt. 24:15: “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand…”
· KEY EVENT! Compare with Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:1-3,8,11-13; Rev. 12-13
Matt. 24:16-28: Compare with Revelation passages.
Matt. 24:29-35: “Immediately after the [tribulation] of those days (of the abomination that causes desolation), ‘the sun will be darkened,and the moon will not give its light;the stars will fall from the sky,and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the [tribes of the land] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly Itell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
· Compare with Rev. 1:7; Rev. 6:12-17; Rev. 19:11-21.
· Jesus’ words in Matthew 24 slice through all of those popular views above and leave only one option on the table—a post-tribulation resurrection-rapture. This isn’t “my view” but the view the Scriptures emphatically press upon us over and over again, which is why I have submitted my understanding to it. I humbly ask that you consider your own view as we work through this book and ask the Holy Spirit to make His Word clear to you!
Next Week: Part 3: “The Time Is Near!”
· Christians have been looking with expectation for the second coming of Christ for nearly 2,000 years now, and every generation has seen some signs that “the time is at hand.” What makes our generation different? Why do so many believers around the world have a sense that the Lord’s coming is imminent?
· Though no one knows the exact day or hour of our Lord’s return, does the Bible give clues that we are approaching the season of His coming? How should this affect how we live our lives today?