Revelation
INTRODUCTION
REVELATION
H.L. ELLISON
When it is rightly understood, Revelation is one of the most important books in the Bible. Though it was not the last to be written, it fittingly stands at the end of the New Testament, for in many ways it picks up themes that start in Genesis and brings them and others to a focus.
There are three main recognized methods of interpreting the book, though each is capable of almost infinite subdivision. The Preterist sees the whole book, except the final couple of chapters, as referring to and fulfilled in the time in which it was written. The Historicist sees the history of the church depicted in broad outline from chapter 4 onwards. The Futurist considers chapters 2–3 to be an outline of church history, while everything from chapter 4 onward is still future. The first two are obviously inadequate, the third must wait for the future before it can be judged, but its treatment of chapters 2–3 does not give us much confidence in its attempts to look into the future. Best is to accept the opening words as a guide and to look on it as a revelation of Jesus Christ. These notes adopt this method, though the obviously future elements are treated as such. Only rarely are the three schools of interpretation mentioned.
The language of the book is largely symbolic. This symbolism is sometimes taken from contemporary apocalyptic writings, more often from the Old Testament, especially Ezekiel and Daniel.
There are no real grounds for doubting that the John who wrote the book was the apostle of the same name. It is more likely to have been written in the reign of the emperor Domitian (ad 81–96) than in that of Nero (54–68).