Analysis Of Christian Echatology In The Revelation Of Jesus Christ

The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John, in an apocalyptic literature style. It consists of a series of prophecies about the end times, when Jesus will return and triumph over all the evil residing in the world. Its purpose is to bring hope and encouragement to Christians so that they will continue watching for the return and victory of Jesus Christ, but it is also a warning of the Final Judgment that nonbelievers will endure. The depiction of the cosmic battle that takes place both in heaven and on earth, symbolic language, and introduction of surreal

John, the proclaimed author of the Book of Revelation, writes intricately about the events that will transpire when the end of the world has come. John expresses messages to seven churches, heaven’s activities, and the Lamb opening seven seals. He depicts the consequences following the sounding of seven trumpets and the pouring of seven bowls. John mentions numerous times that humans will be judged at the throne for their actions. He stresses the penalties of humans who will not proceed to heaven, but will instead die a second death. He describes heaven’s wondrous beauty, and how Jesus himself, promising he will return to Earth soon, verifies that these words are true.

A big part of the end of the world in the Christian faith is something called the rapture. The rapture is when Jesus returns to take all those who believe in Him up to heaven and away from the earth. Those left on the earth are the people that rejected God and/or are part of different religions. When the rapture occurs, the Holy Spirit, God’s believed spirit that resides on the earth, will leave the earth and there will be nothing holding back evil. The time at which the rapture will occur is a subject of conflict among the Christian churches. The first and most popular theory is the “Pre-Tribulation” theory; the people in this group believe the rapture to occur right before the Tribulation. In this theory the rapture itself is sort of the “starting pistol” for the Tribulation. Next is the “Mid-Tribulation” theory, these people believe that Christians will have to suffer three-and-a-half years or halfway through the Tribulation. They believe that Christians are exempt from the wrath of God but are not exempt from the sufferings of the Tribulation. Similar is the “Post-Tribulation” theory; in this belief Christians are not raptured until the end of the Tribulation for much the same reasons as the “Mid-Trib” theory. Some also believe that even though Christians’ sins have been atoned for they still have to be punished with suffering in the Tribulation. The last and least commonly heard of theory is the “Pre-Wrath” theory. This group

In chapter 5 of the Book of Revelation, we see Christ enter John’s vision in the form of the slain lamb, a picture of Christ sacrifice (Rev 5:6). In the ‘new song’ of the saints, the lamb is said to have “ransom[ed] for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation’ (5:9) and, later in the chapter, that “…every creature in heaven and on earth…” now sings praise to the lamb (5:13). These verses speak of God’s victory already having been fulfilled in Christ’s sacrifice in a way that leaves the reader with a vision of the eschatological hope of the Christian faith as being both fulfilled, but yet to be completed, a conception which falls within an inaugurated understanding of eschatology. As such, the ‘end of the world’ in Revelation can be considered as having already occurred in Christ’s death as evil was defeated and the New Creation initiated, while simultaneously not complete as the forces of Satan; the beast, the false prophet, and the harlot, still function in the cosmology of the First Creation. This understanding of the eschatological reality is an important aspect of John’s text, as it is through this that he is able to identify the dangers to the Church as well as encourage and strengthen its faith.

After the Persians saved the Jews from Babylonian Captivity they expanded their thoughts on Yahweh. They started to think about good and evil and life and death. There was now in their thoughts “A time for being born and a time for dying.” (Ecclesiastes 3:2, RWH 141) They stated to consider eschatology and also the apocalypse, that one day the coming of god and the Day of Judgment would occur. On this day god would bring peace and justice to humankind, and they would be with him.

The purpose of this paper is to research and analyze the preterist and futurist views of interpreting the Book of Revelation and determine which view provides the most accurate Biblical interpretation. As Richard L. Mayhue states, the "word 'preterist' comes from the Latin term praeteritus which basically means 'past' in regard to time." A preterist interpretation of the Book of Revelation, therefore, asserts that incidents described therein have already come to pass. A futurist interpretation, on the other hand, suggests the opposite namely, that Revelation is a prophecy of things to come.

Although some passages of the Bible can be ambiguous in their nature and meaning, Scripture should be interpreted literally. Since this is true, all Scripture concerning the end times should be studied as being literal. If someone took the time to study the prophecies of the end times literally, they would most likely agree with a pre-tribulation futurist; one who believes that some of the prophecies contained in Scripture have been fulfilled, but the prophecies regarding the second coming of Christ, and the end times are yet to be accomplished. A pre-tribulation futurist would also believe that the rapture of the Church will occur before the seven year span of time known as the “Tribulation”, the time appointed when God will judge mankind and the earth. This view would line up with a literal

On one hand, some believe that the Book of Revelation was the message from Jesus Christ’s which was sent directly to Christians of the first century to comfort them in a time of conflict and struggle. On the other hand, some comprehend the book of Revelation in another way—They argue that the Revelation was not written only for Christians in first century, and the original purpose was not to console their pain. It’s also important to explore these different approaches to interpret the Revelation. The first kind of view which I hold is called the Preterist view. And the other view which considers Revelation to be fulfilled in past history is called the Historicist view. Historicists would “see Revelation as predicting the major movements of Christian history, most of them have been fulfilled up to the time of the commentator.” According to this description, the historicist interpreters regard the purpose of the Book of Revelation as predicting a part of the future (which in this case means after the1st century). Different commentators in different time interpreted the Book of Revelation in different ways, but all of them only considered the history before the time when they studied it. But if Jesus Christ was to show the future, why did he just show a part of it rather than the whole Christian history? To answer this question, a new school called the futurist view emerged. “The futurist view

The rapture, anti-chirst, marking of the beast, and the tribulations are just a few things that come to mind when I think of the book of Revelation. I have personally read the book a few times. My church has also taken an a large amount of time to break down the book for the congeration. My church also produced a movie called Defiant, which follows a character during the rapture and attempts to paint a picture for the audience to see the potential of life once the anti-christ rules. My exposure to the topic and the book has left with me with many questions. Although, the talk of Eschatolgy once made me feel worried and sick, I can say now I'm more at peace with what is to come.

During my research into the viewpoints concerning the book of Revelation, I have come away with the knowledge that while there are a variety of differing views with various degrees of merit knowing which is correct is highly improbable. And that the pursuit of greater understanding continues to strengthen my faith and walk as I strive to continue to grow not only from this course but in life. It is through that desire that one can approach with an open mind and spirit the differing views presented concerning Revelation. The four primary viewpoints currently presented are Preterist, Historicist, Futurist, and Idealist/Spiritualist. According to Dr. Zukeran:

Overall, there seems to be a very high Christology in the New Testament. However, due to the various authors of the books that comprise the anthology, there is an inherent variation of the level of Christology found between the different books. In order to examine the Christology of a religious text, one must first understand the notion of Christology. Christology refers to the level of divinity that Jesus is portrayed to have, and can be understood as a spectrum with an extremely high Christology at one end and an extremely low Christology at the other. The highest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described at being equal to God, while the lowest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described as being completely human. These extremes are typically never fully realized in the New Testament; a position on the spectrum between them is usually taken. When analyzing the Christology of the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Revelation, and the Pauline Epistles, it becomes apparent that there is in fact a difference in the Christology of the three. Mark seems to have a lower Christology than the Pauline Epistles, which have a lower Christology than the book of Revelation, which has a very high Christology.

While the differences between religious and secular perspectives are more immediately obvious, it is all important to consider in this question that the eschatological and the apocalyptic are two different issues themselves. Eschatology refers to the study of the ‘last things’ and is concerned with the final events of history and the ultimate destiny of humankind. Unlike eschatology, studies into the apocalypse are not inherently religious despite it’s connection to the book of Revelation; the word comes from the ancient Greek word apocálypsis meaning ‘uncovering’ and therefore is more focused on the revelation itself at the end of history and time

When will the end come? It is human nature for humans to ask questions. Many of these questions are without answers and there is no possible way to come up with one. A common question that plagues the human race is “When will the world end?” For thousands of years, astrologers and psychics have been trying to come up with clues to when it all will end. There is a source, the Bible, which aids humans, specifically Christians, in trying to come up with some answers. Many places in the Bible such as Revelations, Ezekiel, Matthew, Daniel, and I Corinthians all give some clues to how and when the end of the world will come. Two articles that give some insight on this subject are “Visions or Heaven, Dreams of the End” by

Hoekema is the author of the final chapter of this book. It is devoted to four specific topics that relate to amillennialism. First, he focused on interpreting the book of Revelation to show "the background for the amillennial view of the millennium." Then, Hoekema discussed his interpretation of Revelation 20:1-6 and also "two OT passages commonly viewed as predicting an earthly millennial kingdom." A brief sketch of amillennial eschatology followed. The "sketch cover[ed] two areas: first, what amillennial eschatology teaches with regard to [four topics relating to] inaugurated eschatology, and, second, what it teaches with reference to [seven subjects relating to] future eschatology." This chapter ends with four implications of amillennial eschatology for the theological understanding of Christians.

An angel appeared before a woman named Mary and stated to her that she would give birth to a son. She would name her son Jesus. Mary being a virgin gave birth to a child, conceived by God through his Spirit. Jesus being conceived in a supernatural manner became man and God in one creation. God became incarnate in this child who became known by the name of Jesus (Mathew 1:18-25) . Jesus was a Palestinian Jew, born in a town south of Jerusalem, raised in Nazareth in a small village in Galilee. Jesus was not any ordinary child. Jesus was the son of the living God. Not only was He the son of Mary, He was foremost the Son of God. He was incarnated sent to us for the redemption of all mankind. So how do we handle the incarnation of God?