The farther we get from Revelation’s composition, the more conflicting
the interpretations. Of the four major schools of interpretation: preterist, futurist, spiritual, and
allegorical, the futurist interpretation is, today, the most widely accepted. It was popularized by Hal
Lindsey in the 1980’s and now by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, whose thirteen-volume series “Left
Behind” has sold millions of books. Their adding fictional characters and presenting the interpretation
as historical fiction very effectively popularized the futurist interpretation.
But is it correct? The notion that righteous people are suddenly taken
during the proposed rapture, no matter what they are doing, even flying airplanes or driving cars, exposing
those left behind to plane crashes, train wrecks, and highway accidents makes one wonder. How many righteous
pilots do we have? How many unrighteous would die in crashes while the righteous are raptured? The authors
propose that infants and young children are raptured because they are too young to sin. However, the people
left behind have children who are just as innocent. Why are those children not raptured? Might the original
visions be more symbolic and not written to be understood so literally? For example, the description of
locusts as huge mechanical grasshoppers seems far-fetched.
Preterists claim many of the predicted visions were meant for people who
first heard them preached. This position makes more sense. To recognize how plausible the preterist theory
is compared to the futurist theory, we would have to be as familiar with the events of that time period as
we are with our own “current events.” Curious, I spent many years studying the “current events” of the
early Christian era to see if there are reasonable connections between those early events and the
visions. I found compelling connections.
In 2004, Hank Hanegraaff and Sigmund Brouwer co-authored “The Last
Disciple,” series, published by the same publishing house that published the “Left Behind” series. “The
Last Disciple,” and “The Last Sacrifice” are the first two volumes in a series of historical fiction
novels that propose a preterist interpretation. Hanegraaff and Brouwer have generated much interest and
debate among readers over which interpretation makes more sense. “Revelation: The Fall of Judea, The
Rise of the Church” will present a fresh preterist interpretation of Revelation. It will start by
examining the conflicting opinions of highly trained Biblical scholars. It will scrutinize Scripture
verses relevant to the original intent of Revelation and compare them to available historical documents.
Although many Biblical scholars claim that John the Evangelist wrote
all of Revelation at Patmos in A.D. 96, some Biblical scholars claim that the Evangelist did not compose
chapters 4 through 11. John the Baptist was the source of those chapters. J. M. Ford in the Anchor
Bible’s commentary, in the volume entitled Revelation, argues that the visions in chapters 4 through
11 came from John the Baptist (Ford, pp. 3, 28). She concurs with Boismard, Hopkins, and others that
Revelation falls into two distinct parts, chapters, 4-11, and 12-22. Ford suggests that chapters 4-11
were the oral preaching of John The Baptist and reflect his own and, later, his disciples’ understanding
of “He that cometh” before Christ began his public ministry (Ford, p. 3).
If Ford is correct, these visions were not composed after the death,
resurrection, and ascension of Christ, but were, as Ford states later, composed before Christ began his
ministry (Ford, p. 50). This seems to be supported by Scripture. “John (the Baptist) beareth witness
of him, and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: He that shall come after me, is preferred
before me: because he was before me.” (John 1:15). The big question is whether John preached only a few
sentences, or did he preach chapters 4 through 11. I think John preached a very clear explanation of who
and what Christ is. Chapters 4 through 11 contain that clear explanation.
Ford suggests that chapters 12-22 were composed at a later date (in
the mid 60’s) but still had their initial origin from the Baptist’s disciples who predicted the Fall
of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Ford suggests that chapters 1-3 (the letters to the seven churches) were added
last by a Jewish Christian disciple who knew Jesus Christ (Ford, p. 3). There is no doubt that disciple
was John the Evangelist. Ford cites a nine-page “General Selected Bibliography” of many books and
articles supporting her position (Ford, pp. 58-66)
Without getting into too much detail, the evidence Ford cites shows
that the Greek writing style in the Evangelist’s Gospel, his epistles, and the letters to the seven
churches is very much different from the Greek writing style in chapters 4 through 11 (Ford 43). The
possibility that chapters 4 through 11 originated with John the Baptist before Christ began his
ministry is the key I used to relate those visions to events when Christianity first started. If
John the Baptist preached chapters 4 through 11, then these visions were meant for first-century
Judeans, not for Gentiles living twenty centuries later.
What a simple yet eye-opening insight! If this is true, then these
visions were meant for Judeans before they heard Christ’s preaching. They are the final revelation
of the Old Testament, given by John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet, whom Christ said was
the greatest of the prophets. These visions exemplified how the Baptist understood Christ. They
include the last warning to the Judeans to be ready when the Anointed One arrives. The warnings seem
stern, but the Messiah is already on earth. It’s too late to reject the Messiah. Within a few years
of the Baptist’s ministry, the Messiah will appear in person. These visions in chapters 4 through 11
(the four winds and three woes) weren’t meant for latter-day Christians; they were meant for
first-century Judeans.
Researching this book included reading many history books to see if
Revelation could compare to historical events of first and second cent¬ury Judea. There is a
point-by-point relationship for chapters 4 through 16. Chapters 17 through 20 predict what Christ’s
Church will experience from its inception to the final judgment. Chapters 21 and 22 describe how the
Church and God’s heavenly kingdom will be in eternity. When John the Evangelist put all the visions
into writing, many events and disasters the Baptist warned about had already taken place. John the
Evangelist was an eyewitness to them. The Evangelist’s written text also warns us Gentile nations
that we will face similar disasters if our nations are not ready when Christ comes the second time
just as the Judean nation was not ready when Christ came the first time. That does not, however,
diminish the primary application of the four winds and three woes to first century Judea. Here is
how these visions compare that time period.
The real tribulation started when Christianity started, and it
struck the Judean people who tried to destroy Christianity. That tribulation literally destroyed
the Judean nation. With Judea no longer a threat, Christianity survived. The four winds and three
woes took place during the first and second centuries. Nero sent Vespasian to subdue Judea. His
son, Titus, destroyed the Temple. Josephus, Tacitus, and Suetonius and other early historians
describe the historical events. The destruction of the Temple and the events preceding it fulfilled
the four winds and two of the three woes. The third woe took place in A.D. 131-5 when Bar Kochba
was accepted as the Messianic King. He liberated Judea, and established “The First Jewish
Commonwealth.” The present Israeli government, incidentally, is “The Second Jewish
Commonwealth.”
Hadrian assigned Severus to crush the revolt. Severus invaded
Judea and utterly destroyed Bar Kochba’s army and the nation of Judea. The Judeans not killed were
deported to other lands and foreign people were brought in. For many centuries, the Jews were a
small minority in their ancestral homeland. For example, in 1856, out of a total population of a
few million, only 10,500 Jews resided in their ancestral homeland (Harel, in Oesterreicher, p.
147). I contend that Judea’s destruction by Severus was the historical fulfillment of the Third Woe.
Revelation also predicts the rise of the Church, and the
release of Satan one thousand years later to deceive the nations. Deception is the key issue. I
think the deception occurred during the events leading to the Reformation. These events occurred
approximately one thousand years after the Church became the universal religion of the converted
Roman Empire. The Reformation marks the beginning of a serious splintering of the Church and
Christian beliefs into the thousands of conflicting beliefs and dissenting churches we have
today. This deception has become so entrenched today, that many formally Christian nations tell
us that we are now in the post-Christian era. The same nations, today, promote and encourage many
non-Christian beliefs and practices, presenting them as a more modern approach to religious
expression. This book will explore the release of Satan and the deception of the nations.
Shifting from the above brief introduction, let us imagine
John the Baptist when he began his ministry. Coming from the hot desert, he might seek the cooler
areas along the Jordan. He would, perhaps, set down his walking staff, motion to attract attention,
and start describ¬ing his visions. This last prophet of the Old Testament provided vivid clues
showing the relationship between the people God created and their creator. God sent an angel,
even before John's birth, to an¬nounce John's special mission. After his birth, when John was
still a child, he went to the desert. There he began preparation for his mission. Angels taught
him through visions. His visions probably clarified what he should say when announcing the coming
Messiah. Symbols and images within visions can easily teach concepts that are true about God, not
as the concepts are themselves because John would not have understood them that way, but in a
symbolic way that John could understand. Like, for example, the way we represent water by the
symbol H2O.
Everyone knows that H2O is a molecule of water; yet, the
visual symbol only partly resembles a
molecule of water. One could go further and draw a symbol showing the nucleus of an oxygen atom
surrounded by eight electrons. The oxygen nucleus lies between two nuclei of hydrogen atoms, each
with one additional electron. All three nuclei share the ten electrons, which align to form two
orbits around the oxygen. Two electrons are in the inner orbit, eight in the outer orbit. Now we
have a more meaningful visual symbol that shows more detail about a molecule of water. Even if it
is more meaning¬ful, however, this new symbol is still not exactly like a molecule of water because
the human eye cannot see a molecule of water. This is a limita¬tion of our human nature. We cannot
see things that are that small. Even if we became small enough to see them, a molecule of water
would still not look like the visual symbol. It would look more like the solar system with immense
space between the electrons and the nuclei of the atoms.
In spite of our human limitations, however, God has no problem infusing knowledge into prophets' minds. Nor do prophets have problems getting the knowledge across to their listeners. All we need do is listen with an open heart. John the Baptist is the Messiah's herald, the one sent to make the Messiah's arrival known so that people might recognize him. This voice in the wilderness, speaking with Elijah's spirit, saw visions similar to what earlier prophets had seen. John's visions made it clear that the Awaited One had finally arrived. The visions showed John what the Awaited One's arrival portends for the Judean people and for the whole world. Let us examine the Baptist’s first vision, a magnificent mental image, showing what God is like and the relationship between God and the promised Messiah.