Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

INTRODUCTION
personal prejudice or the whim of the moment? Of
course, the charge that an interpreter is being
“speculative” can be, as often as not, little more than a
smokescreen to disguise the accuser’s ignorance of what
the interpreter is talking about. The appropriate
question, therefore, is whether or not the interpreter is
proceeding in his investigations along Biblical lines of
thought. Does this mean that he must stick to the socalled
“plain sense” of the text? It might be answered
that one man’s “plain sense” is another man’s
“speculation.”
A hyper-literalist would object to any level of
symbolism at all. (For example, one popular preacher
actually does teach, on the basis of the “plain sense” of
Revelation 12, that there is a real, live, fire-breathing,
seven-headed dragon flying around in outer space!)
The more usual, run-of-the-mill literalist rejects all
symbolism not explicitly explained as such in Scripture.
But neither of these positions is countenanced by the
Bible. God has given us principles of interpreting His
Word, and He expects us to use them. Our goal in Bible
teaching is, to put it plainly, Bible teaching, according to
the Bible’s own standards of exegesis – whether or not
those fit everyone’s notions of “plainness.”
There are at least two things that can keep an
interpreter on a Biblical track, avoiding the pitfalls of
willy-nilly speculation. First, he must be faithful to the
system of doctrine taught in the Bible. Reading the Bible
with theological eyes, in terms of systematic and
historical theology, is an effective check on unbridled
speculation. Second, the interpreter must keep in mind
that the symbols in the Bible are not isolated; rather,
they are part of a system of symbolism given in the Bible,
an architecture of images in which all the parts fit
together. If we honestly and carefully read the Bible
theologically and with respect to the Bible’s own
literary structure, we will not go very far astray. 86
The Contemporary Focus of Revelation
The purpose of the Revelation was to reveal Christ as
Lord to a suffering Church. Because they were being
persecuted, the early Christians could be tempted to
fear that the world was getting out of hand – that Jesus,
who had claimed “all authority . . . in heaven and on
earth” (Matt. 28:18), was not really in control at all.
The apostles often warned against this man-centered
error, reminding the people that God’s sovereignty is
over all of history (including our particular
tribulations). This was the basis for some of the most
beautiful passages of comfort in the New Testament
(e.g. Rom. 8:28-39; 2 Cor. 1:3-7; 4:7-15).
St. John’s primary concern in writing the Book of
Revelation was just this very thing: to strengthen the
Christian community in the faith of Jesus Christ’s
Lordship, to make them aware that the persecutions
they suffered were integrally involved in the great war
of history. The Lord of glory had ascended to His
throne, and the ungodly rulers were now resisting His
authority by persecuting His brethren. The suffering of
Christians was not a sign that Jesus had abandoned this
world to the devil; rather, it revealed that He was King.
If Jesus’ Lordship were historically meaningless, the
ungodly would have had no reason whatsoever to
trouble the Christians. But instead, they persecuted
Jesus’ followers, showing their unwilling recognition of
His supremacy over their rule. The Book of Revelation
presents Jesus seated on a white horse as “King of kings
and Lord of lords” (19:16), doing battle with the
nations, judging and making war in righteousness. The
persecuted Christians were not at all forsaken by God.
In reality they were on the front lines of the conflict of
the ages, a conflict in which Jesus Christ had already
won the decisive battle. Since His resurrection, all of
history has been a “mopping up” operation, wherein
the implications of His work are gradually being
implemented throughout the world. St. John is
realistic: The battles will not be easy, nor will
Christians emerge unscathed. The war will often be
bloody, and much of the blood will be our own. But
Jesus is King, Jesus is Lord, and (as Luther says) “He
must win the battle.” The Son of God goes forth to war,
conquering and to conquer, until He has put all
enemies under His feet.
The subject of the Revelation thus was contemporary;
that is, it was written to and for Christians who were
living at the time it was first delivered. We are wrong to
interpret it futuristically, as if its message were primarily
intended for a time 2000 years after St. John wrote it.
(It is interesting – but not surprising – that those who
interpret the book “futuristically” always seem to focus
on their own era as the subject of the prophecies.
Convinced of their own importance, they are unable to
think of themselves as living at any other time than the
climax of history.) Of course, the events St. John
foretold were “in the future” to St. John and his readers;
but they occurred soon after he wrote of them. To
interpret the book otherwise is to contradict both the
scope of the work as a whole, and the particular
passages which indicate its subject. For us, the great
majority of the Revelation is history: It has already
happened.
The greatest enemy of the early Church was apostate
Israel, which used the power of the pagan Roman
Empire to try to stamp out Christianity, just as it had
used Rome in the crucifixion of the Lord Himself. St.
John’s message in Revelation was that this great
obstacle to the Church’s victory over the world would
soon be judged and destroyed. His message was
contemporary, not futuristic.
85. Ibid., pp. 175f.
86. For more on Biblical interpretation, see Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology:
Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948); Meredith G.
Kline, Images of the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980); Vern S.
Poythress, The Stained-Glass Kaleidoscope: Using Perspectives in Theology
(privately printed syllabus, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia,
1985); Richard L. Pratt, Jr., “Pictures, Windows, and Mirrors in Old
Testament Exegesis,” Westminster Theological Journal 45 (1983), pp. 156-67.
James B. Jordan’s three lectures on “How to Interpret Prophecy” are an
excellent introduction to the understanding of Biblical symbolism. The three
tapes are available from Geneva Ministries, P. O. Box 131300, Tyler, TX
75713.
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