Observations on wrongly interpreting the book of Revelation as a historical account.

‎Jim Curran‎ to Bible Prophecy, Israel, Middle East Based Baptistic Literal Interpretation!

Observations on wrongly interpreting the book of Revelation as a historical account. by Jim Curran April 15, 2020

April 15 at 10:04 AM · Observations on wrongly interpreting the book of Revelation as a historical account.

Through history there have been many attempts to interpret the Book of revelation in a historical (IE having already or partially occurred) context. Indeed such an interpretation has been extremely common throughout history but is it right? While it shows that the churches in Asia serve to outline the general flow of history to our present day getting beyond that point becomes “interesting” in interpretation. What do I mean in saying that?

• Nothing ever written is consistent- individuals and time periods show widely varying attempts to fit events into a scheme that makes sense. Different events and persons are put into the narrative with events even out of sequence. In different eras the players and events are different. A couple of different examples that might be made were in a booklet written by John Spittlehouse and John More. This was written in response to a book written by John Brain a paedobaptist. We only have one copy of Spittlehouse’s book and Brain’s appears not to have survived so it is a little hard to draw complete conclusions as to the details but it is apparent that there were major disagreements as to the interpretation of events. (As a side note while I would greatly disagree with Spittlehouses interpretation of Revelation he does present compelling evidence for Baptist perpetuity) If we were to compare this to another rather famous example of the “historical” approach to revelation found in Hiscox’s the Two Babylon’s we see that the interpretations and personalities are different. If we were to compare to others we find the same things. There is no consistency.
• At different points in history the interpretations of events have been different. Indeed it forms a flexible target with current events always taking a part in the narrative. Later those events seem very out of place in perspective.
• Having seen this can we see some Biblical evidence that such an approach is wrong? First of all seeing the results it is hard not to see that this quickly becomes a private interpretation- everyone has their own take (just had a date setter trying to publish his own interpretation)
  II Peter 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

• Are there other examples that we can see of prophecy that shows that things should be different? Absolutely if we look at the book of Daniel chapter 8 we see that the events of this chapter absolutely correspond to actual events in the history of Greece and Persia. There is no guesswork and all events correspond so much that the liberals try to say that this is a later composition. This is a complete contrast to those trying to fit Revelation into a historical context as there is no definite correspondence to actual events.
• Such an interpretation creates a quandary. Why would the Lord set timing if there was no timing? If we are in the tribulation and the book of Revelation is a series of events that have occurred throughout history then when is judgment coming to pass? There is no cohesiveness to God’s judgment in such a case. This becomes apparent when it is compared to the other worldwide judgment that occurred, the flood. (It is of note that many that advocate a historical approach today are theological liberals who deny the flood as well as most all Biblical doctrine) For example II Peter 3:3-14 Shows that he sees the tribulation as a cohesive period in the future not as a long drawn out time period over 2000 years. It is compared to the flood in that aspect. Other passages confine the judgment to a period of time as well. Daniel 9:26-27 shows a definite period of time. Jesus himself places this within a space of time in Math 24:21-24. How could this stretch out for 2000 years and the days need to be shortened.
• Additional issues raised by the Historical approach. The historical approach also tends to flow into postmillenialism or amillenialism. It holds that we have or are going through the Book of Revelation in one way or another. It also ignores the difference between Israel and the church. It is paramount to see that the word “church” \does not occur after the third chapter of the book of Revelation (except for the “invitation” at the end.) Why would God make such a major oversight. Looking through the book it is apparent while God does deal with all nations he is primarily dealing with the nation of Israel. The 144,000 are all of the tribes of Israel and the geography is that of Israel. The nations are arrayed militarily and geographically arrayed against Israel. Such a thought makes absolutely no sense in the case of “the church” (I speak in a generic sense- ekklesia means an assembly) as there are churches all over the world not in a specific geographic place.

So why is the historical approach so common?

• Looking at the historical situation- Israel and the church. Looking at history there was a tendency to interpreting the events of Revelation as occurring to the “church” (speaking in a general sense.) Up until recent times this was extremely common. Why would that be? Historically from an earthly standpoint for the events of Revelation to happen to Israel seemed inconceivable. Since 70AD they had been dispersed from the land of Israel and the land remained under Muslim control. The Catholic church had taken steps to persecute them (as well as true churches.) They were (and still are to a great extent) scattered all over the face of the earth. To have them back in the land seemed like a pipe dream. To have them as a nation seemed even more remote. Then 1948 came and the nation of Israel was rebirthed. Even though they are in unbelief a piece of the puzzle that seemed impossible was put in place.
• The are we living in the tribulation mentality? Every generation has at one point or another in trial thought that no one had it worse. Perhaps we see an illustration of this going on today with the Coronavirus. We think that things could not get any worse. However a quick comparison to the Spanish flu of 1918 shows absolutely no comparison. Then we can go back even further and find the effects of the Spanish Flu were nothing compared to the Black Death. But all of these will not even begin to hold a candle for the events in the book of Revelation. A third of all men die (Rev 9:15, 18) and this is just a partial death count.
• Rejection of the pretribulational/ premillenial view. The vast majority of “Christianity” through time has not believed in this view. Of course it also needs to be said that the majority of “Christianity” also embraced infant baptism, baptismal regeneration, union of church and state and a host of unbiblical ideas.
• Confusion between the terms “the last time/ days” and the “great tribulation/day of the Lord.” Perhaps it is best to first realize that we as believers WILL ALWAYS face tribulation of one type or another ( John 16:33, Acts 14:22, Romans 5:3, II Cor 1:4I Thes 3:4) but this is very distinct from the great tribulation (Math 24:21.) The Bible says that we are living in the last days/ time and we have been for 2000 years (Hebrews 1:2, I John 2:18, Jude 1:18) The last time is indefinite however the “Day of the Lord” every time that it is mentioned is a time of judgment. The day of the Lord is also spoken of as coming quickly- such a thing can not happen in a gradual time period.
• One other note must be made that perhaps has resulted in a little confusion and these are a few “common elements” over time. The antichrist and the system behind him are not a new idea that is not unique to the tribulation. These systems and elements are already there and have been for a long time. He harnesses the governmental and false religious systems that have been in place for millennia and uses them in a unified manner for his (Satan’s) use. Satan is behind all false religion and always has been (Duet 32:17.) The whore of Revelation 17 has been around a long time and it is impossible to not identify her as the Roman Catholic “church” (although it appears that the antichrist and the false prophet unify every religion under this.) Likewise John states there are many antichrists “1Jo 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” In the antichrist’s power is the culmination of a governmental system (in a consolidated and strengthened form) and a religious system that was already in place before the tribulation and indeed has been for a very long time. The presence of this system in some way shape or form DOES NOT however indicate that we are in the tribulation. The Catholic church was bloodthirsty and drunk with the blood of the saints for hundreds of years and seems more benign now. Identifying it as such (and even some in Catholic circles have done so) does not mean we are in the tribulation.
• Obviously this is a very brief overview but hopefully it will be of help.