An Introduction to Revelation Part 5b, Methods of Interpretation (The Study of the Apocalypse)

This blog continues the focus on the different methods of interpreting the Apocalypse.  The 2nd one is the Preterist view.

Preterist

The view is that the Apocalypse only has to do with the seven churches in Asia Minor and the problems that they were dealing with at that time.  Everything in Revelation points to events that happen in the 1st century.  

There are three main schools of thought on this view:

1. Revelation is a response to how the Roman Empire was impacting the churches.  The Empire was persecuting the churches and trying to get them to comply with emperor worship and pagan worship.  The beast is the Roman Empire or the Roman emperor and all of the judgements are against the Empire.
2. Revelation is a response to “perceived” persecution because the Roman Empire really wasn’t persecuting the churches on a large scale.  The churches are being called out of the world, but the symbols only reinterpret the current situation and do not refer to future events.
3. Revelation was written before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and deals with the apostate Jews who rejected Jesus and persecute the churches.  The beast is Rome and the battle of Armageddon is the siege of Jerusalem during 66-70 A.D.

Osborne*** (Pgs. 19-20)

***Revelation (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) Grant R. Osborne