Endtime Visions

Study to shew yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth

2 Timothy 2:15

Many teachers of bible prophecy will be ashamed, once the Endtime will come. The reality of those days will prove which prophetic interpretations were right and which were wrong. As Paul writes: 'the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is' (1 Cor.3:13). Such is the vastness in differences in interpretations, that not all of them can be right. We also might be wrong on certain issues but we keep reading, thinking and watching in order to get a better understanding as time progresses and the Endtime approaches. The time will come that God Himself will measure the value of each work that has been proclaimed in his name and determine who is worthy of any reward and who of the total burning of all that has been preached.

 

Here we will give a summary of most visions on the Endtime that have evolved in church history and we will comment on each of them.

Most explanations of Revelations are built on the following visions:

1. The idealist vision: Revelation is not about a certain period of time but is an allegory about the human struggle of all times. The only value of Revelation is an application to the daily christian life with its struggles and temptations.

2. The preterist vision: Revelation is about everything that has been fulfilled in the first century, especially during the Jewish revolt and the Jewish wars and the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Roman legions, that followed.

3. The historicist vision - The book of Revelation is mostly fulfilled during the past 2000 years of history. This vision has gained much prominence because of the work of Seventh Day Adventists, that sees Catholicism as the core fulfillment of Antichrist prophecies in Revelation 13.

We will now assess each of these visions on their actual value.

 

1. The idealist vision

Revelation is not about a certain period of time but is an allegory about the human struggle of all times. The only value of Revelation is an application to the daily christian life with its struggles and temptations.

This view is in total contradiction with the content of the book of Revelation. Jesus Himself divided the book into three sections by telling John to write (1) what he had seen, (2) what is now and (3) what will happen hereafter (Rev.1:19). If one chooses to apply 'the apocalyptic horsemen' to wars, famines and health issues of all times, one has to ignore the very specific details like the power over a quarter of the world, given to the pale horse, to kill with sword, famine, 'death' and wild animals. The idealist vision presents no meaningful explanation of the worldwide impact of the catastrophe of the sixth seal, and the 'one third' of trees, ships, waters, heavenly lights and human beings that will be devastated under the trumpet judgments. Further, how are we to interpret the specifics of the two prophets, warning the world for 1,260 days? How is the time period of 3.5 years to be seen? What is the meaning of the two beasts of Revelation 13, leading to the introduction of the mark of the beast? What are we to make of the 7 vials with the wrath of God that are poured out, targeting very specific items in creation? If it is about humanities problems of all times, what is the meaning of 'noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast'? (Rev.16:2) And what is 'the darkness of the beast's kingdom' once a vial is poured out on  'the throne of the beast'? (Rev.16:10) What is the meaning of the vial, poured out on the Euphrates making the way free for enormous military movements? (Rev.16:12) All specific information in Revelation turns totally meaningless, once one assumes that it is about 'history of humanity in general'. By teaching a idealist interpretation, one closes the book. It becomes irrelevant and superfluous. We do not need the sometimes very strange and outlandish descriptions in Revelation to guide us through the challenges of life. The historical books of the Bible and the letters contain enough support.

But most important, what are we to make of the return of Jesus on the white horse, bringing judgment upon an evil world and ushering in the kingdom of God? Is this nothing more than an allegory of the individual accepting Jesus as Lord? What then are the kings and their armies of the earth, gathered to make war against the returning Jesus? What are the beast and the false prophet, that will be thrown in the lake of fire?

One can imagine that the assumption of an idealist vision on the book of Revelation will take an eternal hellfire with a grain of salt. Therefore we estimate the idealist vision as detrimental for the Christian faith. Those pertaining to this vision should leave it, heedful to the word of the Lord at the end of Revelation: 'And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.'

 

2. The preterist vision

Revelation is about everything that has been fulfilled in the first century, especially during the Jewish revolt and the Jewish wars and the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Roman legions, that followed.

The preterist vision is in conflict with the words of Jesus at the beginning of the book: 'Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter' (Rev.1:19). The book of Revelation is written when John was in exile on the isle of Patmos, which happened during the reign of emperor Domitian, who reigned from 81–96 AD. This means that the events of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple were already history at the time Revelation was written. If most of Revelation should be applied to the Jewish situation in the first century, then little remains as relevant text for future generations, that lived during the past 2000 years. Preterists also like to apply the 666-text of Revelation 13 to Emperor Nero, neglecting the fact that Nero was already dead for more than 13 years when the book was written. 

More important, the application of the prophetic texts to first century Jerusalem downplays the importance of the book. On different occasions the book clearly mentions 'every eye', 'all peoples of the earth' (Rev.1:7) - 'all the world' (Rev.3:10), 'every creature' - a fourth of the earth (Rev.6:8) - 'a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language' (Rev.7:9) - 'a third of mankind' (Rev.9:18) - 'many peoples, nations, languages and kings' (Rev.10:11) - 'all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave - (Rev.13:16) - and we could mention more.

More importantly, if the book would only concern the past, what are we to make of the second coming of Jesus on a white horse, the imprisonment of satan, the throwing of the beast and the false prophet in the lake of fire, the millennial kingdom, the resurrection of the dead after 1000 years and the new heaven and the new earth? The preterist vision leaves the Christian totally in the dark on these issues. Therefore the verdict on the idealist vision also applies the the preterist vision. It is born in unbelief and leads to unbelief in those who take it serious. Would the God that created the universe not be able to foresee and tell us what would be the end of 'this age' in the most staggering of details? Where is the faith in those upholding a vision that is contradictory to almost all of the book of Revelation?

Even where the book of Revelation indeed covers the city of Jerusalem, an explanation that preterists so eagerly want to apply to the complete book, the description does not match the historic events of 66-70AD. Where in 66-70 AD were the two prophets, witnessing from Jerusalem to all of the world and chastising the earth with old-testament plagues, that were killed and resurrected and went to heaven? Where in 66-70AD was an earthquake that killed 7000 names of peoples? Moreover the 42 months of Revelation 11 cannot be applied to the short period that the Romans took the temple and offered to their gods. In short: one has to completely mutilate and violate the text of Revelation in order to fit it into the historic context of the first century. 

 

3. The historicist vision

The book of Revelation is mostly fulfilled during the past 2000 years of history. This vision has gained much prominence because of the work of Seventh Day Adventists, that sees Catholicism as the core fulfillment of Antichrist prophecies in Revelation 13.

 

The historicist vision has some small advantages compared to the idealist and preterist visions. At least this vision respects the future fulfillment of large parts of Revelation, indicated by the Lord in Revelation 1:19. However the way some parts of the book are explained by historicists, especially those from the Seventh Day Adventists, does no right to the text of the book, completely changing the order of events in the book in order to fit them into history. Moreover historicists use to read the 3.5 years or 1,260 days as 1,260 years. They rightfully see the imprisonment of the Pope by the Napoleontic forces in 1798 as a milestone in the diminishing power of the Roman Catholic Church. Going back 1,260 years in history, one arrives at the year 538, the end of the siege by the Ostrogoths of Rome. The Ostrogoths were a Roman-era Germanic people. This would have been the start of 'The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months' (Rev.13:5). And the imprisonment of the pope would have been fulfillment of 'one of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast' (Rev.13:3). The problem is that the order in the text has to be reverse in order to make it fit history. Moreover the moment the Ostrogoths ended a siege of Rome cannot be seen as a moment that a worldwide rule of the Roman Catholic church started. 

 

The Seventh Day Adventist vision on the pope is derived from earlier protestantism that saw the pope as the 'little horn' from Daniel 7. This little horn came up from among the horns that resulted from the Roman empire and subdued three of them. According to Seventh Day Adventists, these were 1. The Heruli, in 493. 2. The Vandals, in 534, and, 3. The Ostrogoths in 538. But history tells another tale. The Heruli's were subdued by another German German people, the Lombards, not by the pope. The Vandals were defeated by Emperor Justinian not by the pope. The Ostrogoths were defeated by the Byzantine emperor, not by the pope. Almost all efforts to explain the book of Revelation with historic events totally fail. It is because the fulfillment of the book is still future.

 

The insurmountable problem with the vision that Roman Catholicism would be the beast out of the sea of Revelation13, with the pope as the Antichrist, is that it is in total contradiction with Revelation 17, which is complementary to Revelation 13. Revelation 17 sees 'the prostitute' as sitting on a beast with seven heads and ten horns. One explanation that Revelation itself gives of the 7 heads is that they are 'seven hills' upon which the woman is sitting. This is a clear reference to the city of Rome. Hence the 'prostitute', called 'Mystery Babylon the Great' cannot be anything else than the Roman Catholic Church, having exerted enormous power over the Western world for about 1000 years. But the prostitute would be severely hated and attacked and even eaten and burnt by the beast and its horns on which she is sitting. This plainly shows that the beast can never be 'the Roman Catholic Church' while the book of Revelation tells us that the beast would totally destroy the power of this church.

 

The historicist vision is correct where it concerns the chapters 2 and 3 of Revelaton. The 7 churches in Asia follow the exact pattern of the church of Jesus Christ through history. Further the two heavenly signs of chapter 12 have also a historic context, being the true people of Israel under the rule of the empires since the fall of Jerusalem around 600 BC. There is also a historicist explanation of the beast that, together with the little horn of Daniel 7, forms a perfect match with history, which we discuss on this page.

 

4. The futurist vision

According to the futurist vision, all of the book of Revelation from the 4th chapter is to be fulfilled in the future.

 

Where very little in the text of Revelation has had any serious fulfillment in history, it must be applied to the future. Therefore the futurist interpretation is mostly right but not totally. There are big fragments of Revelation that have been fulfilled: The first part of Revelation 12, the firs verses of Revelation 13 and big parts of Revelation 17. We will explain how these chapters fit in a historic context with our exposition on these chapters.

The big problem with a purely futurist vision, not seeing the parts that are already fulfilled, is that Christians are unaware of how close we already are to the Endtime, that they are looking in the wrong direction when watching for evil and danger and that they take wrong positions in the face of unrighteousness or even lawlessness. A wrong or limited interpretation of Bible prophecy is an important instrument of deceptions. As Jesus said: 'Watch out that no one deceives you.' (Mathew 24:4)

 

4.a Pretribulation Rapture

The futurist vision of a pretribulation rapture (pretrib) assumes that the church of Jesus Christ will leave the earth to be with Him forever, the period that the Bible indicates as 'the 70th and last week of Daniel', the last 7 years before the second coming of Jesus. In the view of a pretribulation rapture, the 70th week of Daniel will start with the white horse of Revelation 6, when the church is already in heaven for a while.

4.b Midtribulation Rapture

The futurist vision of a midtribulation rapture (midtrib)

 

As explained in Chart of Endtime we estimate a period of 3.5 years for the events of the seals quite long. The seal-events are very closely linked and probably start very short after each other, seen in the description of the pale horse, where 'the sword' and 'famine' of the preceding two horses are again mentioned.

The martyrs of the fifth seal indicate that a very brutal worldwide tyranny is already in place, which suggests that the 42 months of the last half of the last 7 hears have already started for some time, the period of which Revelation 13 says: 'And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months ... And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all peoples, and tongues, and nations' (Rev.13:5,7)

Based on events in Israel and signs in the stars of heaven, which all started with the Revelation 12-sign in 2017, we estimate that we are already more than 2 years into the last week of Daniel.

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