Introduction to the book of Revelation

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Introduction to the book of Revelation
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Methods of interpreting the book-

• The preterist view- the predictions of virtually
  the entire book have been fulfilled.
• The historicist view- the book is a prophetic
  forecast of the history of the church.

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• The symbolical or idealist view- the book set
  forth by symbol basic spiritual principles which
  govern the life of the church throughout every
  age of its earthly pilgrimage.
• The extreme futurist view- (Dispensationalism)
  after chapter three the remainder of the prophecy
  sets for the eschatological events to be
  fulfilled at the end of the history. Thus the
  predictions of virtually the entire book have yet
  to be fulfilled.

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• The moderate futurist view- those who follow this
  view contend that the vents beginning with
  chapter 7 lie in the future.
• The progressive parallelism view- each of the
  seven scenes of the book cover the entire period
  of the church age between Christs first and
  second coming. Each of the seven scenes covers
  the period from a slightly different perspective,
  and adds some new information that the other
  scenes do not add, with each scene becoming more
  climactic.

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The Author of the book- This book was recognized
early on (second century) as having been written
by John the apostle. It is less recognized
today. Because of lack of time, I will refer you
to the commentary by Mounce as well as to a new
book by Bauckham for more on authorship.
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The Date of the book-

• Late date Arguments for a date during the reign
  of Domitian (95-96)-
• Irenaeus testimony- Irenaeus both in his works
  and is confirmed by Jerome to have said that the
  book was written during the reign of Domitian.
  This evidence is not without its problems, many
  of which have to do with the translation of
  Irenaeus.
• The Emperor worship- this is alluded to in the
  book and is much more widespread during the later
  period.
• The persecutions- these seem to fit better with
  the reign of Domitian than Nero. Though it must
  be admitted that the evidence for empire wide
  persecutions under either emperor is scanty.
• The seven churches- the fact that they have
  developed and fallen away seems to indicate a
  later date.

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• Early date Arguments for a date during the reign
  of Nero (65)-
• Rev. 1710- Gentry suggests that the Nero is the
  sixth king and thus this passage points very
  clearly to the early date of the book. I find
  his analysis less than convincing. For the
  complete argument see Gentry, Before Jerusalem
  Fell, p. 152.
• Jerusalem and the temple in 111-2- does the
  present tense indicate that the temple is still
  standing? It is possible that in a vision one
  can see things that no longer exist.
• Other arguments-

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The nature of the book. What is apocalyptic?

• Three Levels of meaning for the word
• Genre-what kind of book was an apocalyptic or an
  apocalypse? See Rev. 11 where this denotes the
  genre of the book.
• The kind of eschatology found in these books,
  i.e. apocalyptic eschatology.
• Social ideology-social matrix and world view
  which produce this kind of work.

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• Characteristics of the Genre
• Revelation of heavenly mysteries is an important
  element. These usually occur in the form of a
  vision sometimes a voice. This is seen by some
  to be the primary characteristic of apocalyptic.
  There has been a great deal of work on the nature
  of the experience of the writer of the
  apocalyptic. Did they really have a dream or is
  this a literary technique without any genuine
  experience? How were these books received? Did
  they see it as a transparent literary fiction?
• Symbolism-events in history are described in the
  guise of animals, etc. Some think that the
  symbolism was used partly to conceal others that
  this is a world of symbolism that one enters in
  to. Thus part of the meaning is in the way that
  these events were described. This is often a
  historical narration disguised as a prediction.
  Often the sins of the people as well as the
  faithfulness of God was a key point.

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• Apocalyptic Eschatology-what kind of teaching do
  we find in these books?
• Strong philosophy of history. God is in charge
  and is unfolding his plan. The heavenly tablets,
  God has written everything on them that will
  happen in history.
• Imminence - the end is near, the unfolding of the
  historic event is about to come to its climax.
• The certainty of Gods ultimate victory.
• Apocalyptic language-

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Some important questions about the book

• What is the number of the beast?- in Rev. 1318
  John gives the number of the beast as 666. What
  does this mean?
• What is the dominant theme of the book?-
• What kind of Christology does one find in the
  book?-