FUTURIST
Many of us follow what we would call the Futurist view whereby eschatological events and symbols are seen as literal, and looks forward to a 1000 year Millennium Kingdom of Christ (Pre-Millennial view). Futurists will read Daniel 9:27 as a delayed 70th week to be fulfilled at the end, something the other schools of intepretations will not agree.
But the Futurist view is not without weakness. Firstly, it develops a perspective that would remove its applicability to 1st century Christians who were far from the end times. And by adopting an exclusive anticipation to the end, it also separates itself from the immediate context in the circumstances when John wrote the book, in which students of Preterist views would be stronger in.
HISTORICIST
Historicist approach views the events of revelations as unfolding throughout Church history. Therefore instead of viewing the Anti-Christ as the ultimate political figure only to appear at the end, they saw major political figures like Nero, Napolean, Hitler, etc as Anti-Christs. Historicists also sees the letter to 7 Churches as 7 periods of church History, with Ephesus being the hardworking early church, Philadelphia being the Faithful 1800 missionaries, Laodicea being the age of apostatized modern Churches age.
While it has it's merits to see prophecy as history, it also advocates a "Newpaper approach" in which believers in that view will be always on the lookout for the Mark of the Beast and see an Anti-Christ in every Pope or Presidents of the United States. It can become a doomsday mentality without one realizing it.
PRETERIST
Preterists takes into account the persecution of the church during the time of John. Hence the beasts in Rev 12 are seen to be the Roman Empire executing 10 waves (Rev 13:1) of Christian persecution by Roman Emperors with Nero being the 5th and Domitian being the current one (Rev 17:10) . The Armageddon is the destruction of the temple in AD 70, and hence the Millennial Rule is figurative where Christ rules the Church during the church age. Preterists tends to be A-Millennial or Post Millennial as it holds that the Millennial Rule is figurative that it's either already over, or is happening now during what we call the Church age.
Preterism is strong in it's context of Roman persecution and it is definitely very relevant to the early churches of Asia Minor in which the letter is written to. Hence if you were a believer in that setting, the book of Revelations would have been a great encouragement. However, this does not address the 2nd coming of Christ in Matthew 24:30 which did not literally occur in AD70 and loses it's relevance to modern Christians.
IDEALIST
Idealists take everything as spiritual. The Anti-Christ is really anyone who rebels against Christ. The beast is a spiritual being that instigates Christian persecution that can happen anywhere from your workplace to your family, there is no time frame for that. The battle between Satan and God, the trumpet and bowl judgement are all figurative impressions of the spiritual world, whereby God will prevail in the end. Idealists are Post Millennial because the church age itself if figuratively the Millennial Rule.
Idealism has the advantage of being relevant to Christians of all ages. No matter where or when we are born, there is always a struggle between good and evil. We are constantly tempted by spiritual forces that beckons us to turn away from God. But at the end, God will prevail and those who belongs to God will be vindicated and evil will be punished. However, Idealists cannot explain many symbols in both OT and NT prophecies which had led to fulfillment of prophecies like the 1st coming of Jesus, and same applies to an end time that is still future to us.
PARTIAL VS TOTAL FULFILLMENT
The first coming of Jesus was a partial fulfillment of OT prophecies. In the 2nd Chapter of Isaiah, he wrote about an ideal state in which Israel will be in. The Futurists will see it as the Millennial Rule of Christ, the Idealists will see it as the new heaven and new earth. However, this cannot be fulfilled unless the Messiah fulfills his mission to die to redeem our sins, and this is written in Isaiah 53.
Hence we can say that the 1st coming of Jesus was a partial fulfillment of prophecy. Just as Isaiah's prophecy to King Ahaz (Isa 7:14) was partially fulfilled in Hezekiah's deliverance (Isa 37), Jesus was the true fulfillment of that prophecy. Hence Jesus 2nd coming is the Ultimate fulfillment of eschatology.
PUTTING IT ALTOGETHER
The Anti Christ, being Nero or Domitian, that came with Roman persecution (Preterist) can be seen as a preview of the anti-Christs that had came with world history (Historicist) and the spirit of anti-Christ around us (Idealist), then these does not negate the ultimate Anti Christ that will rule the world during the Great Tribulation (Futurist).
The fulfillment of Daniel 11:31 in 1 Macabbees, when King Antiochus burnt pigs in the temple, is also an example of an Anti-Christ that partially fulfilled OT prophecy. And this was also partially fulfilled in AD 70 during the destruction of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem.
Hence with that in mind, we do not have to disregard other schools of interpretation while adopting a Futurist view of interpretation. What matters after all, is to heed the words of Christ to the 7 churches, to persevere and overcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment