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  Long Island Abundant Life Church 長島豐盛生命教會

Revelation 4–5

12/17/2012

 
Click here to read today's passage on Bible Gateway.

The Four Views on Revelation
In chapter 4 we enter what most people think of when they see "Revelation" in their Bible - the collection somewhat-confusing prophecies and symbols.  This is the main body of Revelation, and there have historically been four views on it:

–     Preterist:

•      There is no prophecy here – John is writing about events that happened in his day in symbolic terms (such as the destruction of the temple in 70 AD).  Preterists seek to connect the events portrayed in this book with events that occurred in the 1st century


–     Idealist:

•      Revelation is allegorical – the book is a picture of the struggle between good and evil and doesn't refer to specific events, but merely portrays the great struggle in concrete terms


–     Historicist:

•      The symbolism of the book outlines the course of church history.  This is somewhat similar to the next view in that it views SOME of the events in Revelation as happening in the future.  This view, however, understands much of Revelation to have already happened - therefore many seek to connect the events and people portrayed to events and people throughout the history of the church/world


–     Futurist:

•      The book speaks of the past, present, and future.  All prophecies in chapters 4-22 are to be fulfilled immediately before and after the second coming of Christ


As we work through this book, the viewpoint that I'll be taking is the "futurist" viewpoint.  I personally feel that this is the most natural understanding that someone would have if they simply picked up the book and knew nothing about it.  The great criticism that is usually offered of this view is that it takes things too literally, an accusation that I would be glad to be guilty of.  As we work through the book, I may occasionally explain how some of these other views understand a certain section just to help you see how that view works.  This book can be complicated, so we''ll try our best to understand it!

All of that being said, a few notes to help you understand chapters 4-5:

-The number 7:  it's viewed as the "perfect number" or a number of completion.  So, for example as in 5:6 the lamb with 7 eyes and 7 horns should be understood to be all-seeing and all-powerful (the horn is a symbol of power throughout the OT; there are frequent uses of this symbolism in psalms)

-The 24 elders:
"The twenty-four elders around the throne (4:4), like other worshipers in heaven (4:7–9; 5:11–14), illustrate the appropriate response to God’s glory: worship (4:10–11; 5:8–10, 14). While their literary function in this sense is difficult to dispute, their exact identity does not share the same accessibility. Some regard them as angels, others as Old Testament saints.16 But most likely they represent all believers. The doubling of the twelve could represent the Old and New Testament peoples of God together (see 21:12–14). But given their function in worship they probably represent the twenty-four courses of priests in the Old Testament (1 Chron. 24:4)." [1]

-The scroll:  We'll get to the scroll tomorrow, but suffice to say that the important part in today's passage is that we know the lamb (Jesus) alone is worthy to open the scroll.  He is worshiped because He is worthy!

As I said before, I'll make an attempt to answer as many questions as I can, but I'm expecting more than that usual volume of questions when studying this book.  If it takes me a while or I can't answer it, sorry!  I'll try my best!

[1]Craig S. Keener, Revelation, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 171-72.
Andrei
12/17/2012 09:03:43 pm

Can you talk some more about why the Futurist view is the best one? To what degree are the other views wrong or not Biblical?

Greg
12/18/2012 03:53:35 am

Here are the problems I (and many others) might have:

Preterist: There is just no evidence in the actual book for this. Some things could be tied to events that happened in the past before John writes, but it seems odd he would tell them that's what he was doing. Also, why would he write such a book? What would be the point of symbolically describing the past? Of course, preterists have answers to these questions, but I don't really find them satisfactory at all.

Idealist: Again, this seems weird to me. The things that happen in this book seem oddly specific to be describing the general battle between Good and evil. There again is no evidence for this view within the book.

Historicist: This is the view that I would be most likely to adopt if I didn't take the futurist view. The difficulty here comes in practically tying things into the past. Because in this view everything is highly symbolic, there is also a high degree of interpretation involved leading to a lot of disagreement about what anything means. What this view has going for it is that it recognizes the text as prophetic. I think that is significant because the other two views would be kinds of writing that weren't exactly popular styles of writing at the time, whereas prophetic writing was well known to all Jews and there are even things in Revelation that line up with and supplement things in the OT prophets. This view recognizes that, but I don't think we've seen the degree of suffering and judgment put forth in Revelation yet.

Futurist: As I said, I think this is the most literal, faithful understanding of the text. It recognizes the text as prophetic and understands that some things are symbolic when intended, but doesn't see EVERYTHING as symbolic, thereby removing any chance of understanding.

The important thing to understand about Revelation is that it's difficult. I would say that the issue is not that the other views are unBiblical persay, but that it's difficult to find good support for them within the text.

Andrei
12/19/2012 12:58:31 am

Wow, I see. Thanks!

Josiah
12/18/2012 12:04:19 pm

7 spirits of god? Could you explain that part?

greg
12/19/2012 03:35:03 am

Remember that in this book the number 7 is highly symbolic and emphasizes totality and completeness. It means most likely in this place that it is speaking of the Holy Spirit:

The seven lamps (also translated “torches”) represent the Holy Spirit (see also comments on 1:4 and Ezekiel 1:13; Zechariah 4:2–6). The seven spirits of God is another name for the Holy Spirit.

Bruce B. Barton, Revelation, ed. Grant R. Osborne, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2000), 56.


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