Interpreting Revelation - Four Views: Futurist

Yesterday we began an overview of the various Christian methods of approaching Revelation. All of these methods affirm that the book of Revelation is a part of God's Word and is thereby inspired, inerrant, and authoritative for believers. What I am doing is describing different interpretive approaches to the book of Revelation. This is primarily an informational series, not a persuasive series. So please do not come away from any of these pieces thinking "Jacob believes x, y, and z". Instead, my hope is that you come away from each of these pieces learning something new. Whether that's an entire new category of interpretation, or maybe a detail that you had not considered before. 

The Futurist

The most popular view of Revelation in contemporary western Christianity is called the "Futurist view". For many of you reading this series the futurist view will be the only view you've ever heard of or considered. In which case much of this may sound familiar to you. 

The futurist interpreter of Revelation views the book as mostly speaking prophetically about the future from John's perspective (writing during the 1st century) AND the future from our perspective (present day). 

Revelation 1:19 is a key verse argue futurist interpreters. In Revelation 1:9-18 John recounts the beginning of what he saw and heard. In verse 19 John is commanded by Jesus (described in verses 13-18) to:

"Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later."

The futurist sees this as a summary outline of the book of Revelation. Chapter 1 is then a summary of what John had seen. Chapters 2 and 3 are then letters to the seven historic 1st century churches to whom the Revelation was addressed (1:4). Since those churches were in John's present day, chapters 2 and 3 are viewed as the "what is now" section of 1:19. After chapter 3 Futurist interpreters view the rest of Revelation as a prophetic message regarding what is yet to happen even in our future. 

In other words, according to the futurist interpreter, Revelation 1-3 has already happened and is in OUR past, but Revelation's last 19 chapters are yet to happen. With such a huge emphasis on the future you can see why this view is called the "futurist" approach. 

Henry Morris (A futurist interpreter) makes this point in his work "The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Revelation" (Page 26):

"It is inevitable that literalistic expositors of Revelation will be primarily futurists since practically none of the events of Revelation 4–22 have yet taken place in any literal sense. Many futurists do accept a cyclical development, but probably most (including myself) follow a strictly chronological approach."

The futurist approach generally sees the book of Revelation as a chronologically linear book, moving from a beginning, middle, and eventual culminating end. Among futurists there are many differences over the details. Yet, the general consensus among Futurists is that events within the book describe events from an eyewitnesses perspective. Those among futurists who take this position generally interpret Revelation as more of a report of what is to come, than a symbolic message. 

Futurists who avoid symbolism would advocate that when John describes seeing a scroll, he saw a scroll (5:1). When John describes hearing (and seeing) about a crowd of 144,000 from the tribes of Israel, that exact number accounts to that amount of individuals (7:4-8, and 14:1). When John describes the beasts he sees, those are actual living, breathing monsters (13:11, 17:3). When John describes the destruction of a great and mighty city called Babylon, this is a description of some vast future chief and capital city (18:1-24). 

There are exceptions among futurists who see Revelation as containing more symbolism than the above paragraph describes. Just how often passages should be interpreted as a symbolic account instead of as eyewitness testimony is what differentiates many futurist interpretations. While all futurists may all swim happily in the big bucket that agrees that most of Revelation is about what is yet to come. Each futurist then swims in another smaller bucket as they distinguish between which passages should be understood more symbolically, or less symbolically. 

A few thoughts about the futurist perspective

One feature of the futurist's interpretation of Revelation is to continually be searching and looking forward for signs of the fulfillment of Revelation 4-22. Since the Futurist primarily sees Revelation as a book about the end of times and things which have not happened yet, below are some practical questions regarding the futurist perspective and biblical interpretation: 

• Why is there frequently (throughout Revelation) an emphasis on things occurring soon, quickly, shortly, or without much warning? 
• If the final return of Christ is something that will be startling, and unknown (Matthew 24:42-44, Mark 13:33-34, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3) then why would God give to his people 18 chapters describing a detailed eyewitness account of all the ways to know of the coming of Christ? 
• If most of Revelation is about things yet to come in our future, that means that 18 chapters of Revelation have not yet happened for the last 2,000 years of history. How does God use unfulfilled prophecy to benefit, inform, and shape the church? 

I don't ask these questions lightly or flippantly. These are simply some questions to consider for my brothers and sisters in the Lord who take a futurist approach to interpreting Revelation. I'll be doing the same thing for the next 3 interpretive perspectives.