Widely recognized interpretations of the Book of Revelation

[java]

Of course, the four most popular views are historicist, preterist, futurist and idealist. Are there any well recognized theologians who have inter-mixed the commitments of the idealist/preterist and futurist approaches?

 

[Lyndon]

I vote for hallucinatory, owing to a main part of the Apostles diet being psylocibin mushrooms which grow wild on the Isle of Patmos and are one of the few edible plants growing there.

 

[sooda]

I vote for hallucinatory, owing to a main part of the Apostles diet being psylocibin mushrooms which grow wild on the Isle of Patmos and are one of the few edible plants growing there.

They also grow fruit and olive trees.

 

[Rise]

Of course, the four most popular views are historicist, preterist, futurist and idealist. Are there any well recognized theologians who have inter-mixed the commitments of the idealist/preterist and futurist approaches?

Perry Stone.

His goal is not setting out to combine them, but any understanding of prophetic scripture is naturally going to include elements of spiritual meaning, contemporary meaning, and future meaning because prophetic Scripture is often multi-faceted by design.

He's not alone in this approach. Many Spirit filled Bible believing teachers will take similar approaches towards understanding Scripture.

It is an approach towards Scripture that we see both Jesus and Paul model for us in how they understand and use Scripture.
They will point to events/prophecies/scripture of the past that had a meaning in their time but are prophetically representative of something that will happen in a more complete form at a future date, or talk about how something that was a literal prophecy to be fulfilled was also something that had symbolic spiritual meaning.

These concepts aren't mutually exclusive, and to try to champion one over the others is to miss the full context of Scripture.

These things in Scripture are referred to as "types and shadows". (Colossians 2:17)
And they exist for both the things of God and the things of satan.

I'll give two examples:
1. The Tabernacle.
-The tabernacle of Moses we are told is a representation of something that exists in Heaven.
-It has contemporary meaning and purpose as things that were actually build and rituals that were actually performed.
-We see in Scripture it has spiritual meaning for us to understand our relationship with God and ourselves because that meaning is encoded symbolically in the rituals and designs of the tabernacle.
-We are also told it is a type of Christ to come. in that sense the tabernacle design and the feasts that accompany them are prophetically foretelling future truth about Christ, and God's good plan for humanity, that will come to pass.

2. The antichrist.
-Antiochus Epiphanes and Nero display things similar to what we see in the antichrist of Revelation, but not the fullness of it. Hitler is also a type of antichrist in the sense that what he did was a picture of what will ultimately come, but was not the fullness of it.
-Given that they did not fulfill the fullness of the book of Revelation, nor did the fullness of what God promise happen either, we cannot conclude that it has already been fulfilled. Yet, at the same time, we cannot dismiss the fact that there are very real and significant similarities between historical evil and the anti-christ to come. Those similarities exist for a reason, but that reason is not because it's already been completely fulfilled - they are a type and shadow of what is to come.
-Although I believe there is a difference between this type compared with the prophecy and direction God gives as a type. Whereas God purposely orchestrates types of things to come for our instruction and benefit, I believe the only reason we see types of the antichrist modeled in the world is because satan is always trying to manifest his plans and character into the world through people but he's only ever able to do it to varying degrees of success throughout history. The degree that people allow themselves to be used by satan, or the degree to which the church abdicates their responsibility to stand against satan, is the extent to which satan is able to more fully manifest his desires on the earth through evil men. I don't believe God is purposely going out of his way to allow satan to manifest his plans as a type and shadow of what is to come. I think that's more or less a natural consequence of satan trying to manifest his will into the world but not being able to fully.
It's not until the end, "when that which restrains" is removed, will satan have a free hand to do exactly what he's always wanted and tried to do on the earth. His ultimate goal has always been, and still is, to kill all life on earth, which is why the Bible tells us that in the end times if God does not intervene to put a stop to what Satan is doing then "no flesh would be saved".

 

[java]

Perry Stone.

His goal is not setting out to combine them, but any understanding of prophetic scripture is naturally going to include elements of spiritual meaning, contemporary meaning, and future meaning because prophetic Scripture is often multi-faceted by design.

He's not alone in this approach. Many Spirit filled Bible believing teachers will take similar approaches towards understanding Scripture.

It is an approach towards Scripture that we see both Jesus and Paul model for us in how they understand and use Scripture.
They will point to events/prophecies/scripture of the past that had a meaning in their time but are prophetically representative of something that will happen in a more complete form at a future date, or talk about how something that was a literal prophecy to be fulfilled was also something that had symbolic spiritual meaning.

These concepts aren't mutually exclusive, and to try to champion one over the others is to miss the full context of Scripture.

These things in Scripture are referred to as "types and shadows". (Colossians 2:17)
And they exist for both the things of God and the things of satan.

I'll give two examples:
1. The Tabernacle.
-The tabernacle of Moses we are told is a representation of something that exists in Heaven.
-It has contemporary meaning and purpose as things that were actually build and rituals that were actually performed.
-We see in Scripture it has spiritual meaning for us to understand our relationship with God and ourselves because that meaning is encoded symbolically in the rituals and designs of the tabernacle.
-We are also told it is a type of Christ to come. in that sense the tabernacle design and the feasts that accompany them are prophetically foretelling future truth about Christ, and God's good plan for humanity, that will come to pass.

2. The antichrist.
-Antiochus Epiphanes and Nero display things similar to what we see in the antichrist of Revelation, but not the fullness of it. Hitler is also a type of antichrist in the sense that what he did was a picture of what will ultimately come, but was not the fullness of it.
-Given that they did not fulfill the fullness of the book of Revelation, nor did the fullness of what God promise happen either, we cannot conclude that it has already been fulfilled. Yet, at the same time, we cannot dismiss the fact that there are very real and significant similarities between historical evil and the anti-christ to come. Those similarities exist for a reason, but that reason is not because it's already been completely fulfilled - they are a type and shadow of what is to come.
-Although I believe there is a difference between this type compared with the prophecy and direction God gives as a type. Whereas God purposely orchestrates types of things to come for our instruction and benefit, I believe the only reason we see types of the antichrist modeled in the world is because satan is always trying to manifest his plans and character into the world through people but he's only ever able to do it to varying degrees of success throughout history. The degree that people allow themselves to be used by satan, or the degree to which the church abdicates their responsibility to stand against satan, is the extent to which satan is able to more fully manifest his desires on the earth through evil men. I don't believe God is purposely going out of his way to allow satan to manifest his plans as a type and shadow of what is to come. I think that's more or less a natural consequence of satan trying to manifest his will into the world but not being able to fully.
It's not until the end, "when that which restrains" is removed, will satan have a free hand to do exactly what he's always wanted and tried to do on the earth. His ultimate goal has always been, and still is, to kill all life on earth, which is why the Bible tells us that in the end times if God does not intervene to put a stop to what Satan is doing then "no flesh would be saved".

thanks a lot, can i ask, what other spirit filled believers can you recommend that i search out? for example, in your opinion is Chuck Missler a solid source?

 

[Rise]

thanks a lot, can i ask, what other spirit filled believers can you recommend that i search out? for example, in your opinion is Chuck Missler a solid source?

I've never listened to Chuck Missler's teachings so I can't give an opinion on it at this point.

Kirt Schneider has some material I liked on how the Old and New Testament connect through prophecy and symbolism, from a messianic Jewish perspective, and talks some about Revelation and the end times in that context. Although I believe his conclusion about the rapture is only partially correct, and his focus is not really on end times theology or end times prophecy but more on the Jewish roots of the Christian faith.

Although there are many good spirit filled teachers, it's rare for one to specialize in teaching on Biblical symbolism and prophecy to the extent Perry Stone has, especially as it relates to Revelation and end times prophecy in general. For decades prophecy has been one of his major areas of study and teaching, among others, where he would spend 8 hours a day in prayer and research and has accumulated tens of thousands of books in his library. There are some end times or prophecy teachers I wouldn't necessarily vouch for the quality or accuracy of their work, but Perry Stone is a reliable Bible/prophecy teacher (I am not sure I agree 100% with his views on things like the rapture, but that's mainly because I haven't personally studied it out enough yet to be able to state definitely what I believe is or isn't true on that topic).

There are other spirit filled believers that have good end times teachings I could point to, but I can't say from memory that any of them quite approach end times/prophetic Scripture with an eye towards delving into the multi-faceting nature of prophecy - which is why Perry Stone comes to mind as the best example I know of for that. Many will talk about how the prophecy is to be fulfilled as a future event, but not many will also do an indepth dive into what the symbolic meaning of the visions tells us about our spiritual development and walk with God, and then also talk extensively about how these prophecies were relevant historically and traditionally, and how future events connect back with everything previously revealed in the Bible. He also gets into specifically addressing why views like preterism are not a correct way of understanding Scripture.

That's not to say that other good teachers/preachers don't take a multi-faceted view of Scripture. They do. But they don't necessarily specialize in using that approach to delve into the meaning of prophetic and end times Scripture to the same extent.

 

[Deeje]

Of course, the four most popular views are historicist, preterist, futurist and idealist. Are there any well recognized theologians who have inter-mixed the commitments of the idealist/preterist and futurist approaches?

Can I ask why you want to know about the Revelation?
Do you know what the rest of the Bible teaches as a whole? It is one story from Genesis to Revelation.....unless you know what happened in the beginning to give us a plot, there is no point in reading the final chapter of a book unless you know where the author is going with the story.

Can you tell us what you understand thus far? What is the Bible's story? How does it begin and how does it end?