Submitted by JStaller (not verified) on Fri, 2009-02-20 15:04.
Sorry I failed to respond to your question sooner, hvacrjohn.
The way I read Revelation is fairly unique in the traditional Christian world, but the answer to your question is a simple "yes." My suggestion is that ALL of Revelation had occured prior to its writing, that John the Revelator is describing Old and New Testament events through the lens of apocalyptic prophecy, to show Jesus fulfilling, in spirit and in truth, Old Testament expectations.
This doesn't mean Revelation isn't still very relevant today--it provides perspective and insight into the situations the Church often finds itself in. But I don't think John the Revelator intended Revelation to communicate events several thousand years into the future--rather, this Revelation is the one "given by God to Jesus Christ," and was to "shortly come to pass" after Jesus Christ started preaching it to his messenger John. This is exactly what the opening of Revelation says, but through the centuries people have approached Hebrew prophecy like they would Greek fortune-telling, and the two are not the same; unfortunately, the "fortune-telling" method has become the "orthodox" method for most of Christianity. In the end, the futuristic approach to Revelation may prove itself valid, because the types and patterns of Revelation are eternal; as another poster pointed out, history has a way of repeating itself.
Hope that clears things up, at least about where I'm coming from.
Search the scriptures--for in them ye think ye have eternal life:
They are they which testify of me--and ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
(John 5.39-40)
hi, hvacrjohn
Sorry I failed to respond to your question sooner, hvacrjohn.
The way I read Revelation is fairly unique in the traditional Christian world, but the answer to your question is a simple "yes." My suggestion is that ALL of Revelation had occured prior to its writing, that John the Revelator is describing Old and New Testament events through the lens of apocalyptic prophecy, to show Jesus fulfilling, in spirit and in truth, Old Testament expectations.
This doesn't mean Revelation isn't still very relevant today--it provides perspective and insight into the situations the Church often finds itself in. But I don't think John the Revelator intended Revelation to communicate events several thousand years into the future--rather, this Revelation is the one "given by God to Jesus Christ," and was to "shortly come to pass" after Jesus Christ started preaching it to his messenger John. This is exactly what the opening of Revelation says, but through the centuries people have approached Hebrew prophecy like they would Greek fortune-telling, and the two are not the same; unfortunately, the "fortune-telling" method has become the "orthodox" method for most of Christianity. In the end, the futuristic approach to Revelation may prove itself valid, because the types and patterns of Revelation are eternal; as another poster pointed out, history has a way of repeating itself.
Hope that clears things up, at least about where I'm coming from.
Justin Staller - JUNIOR Moderator
justinstaller@yahoo.com
Search the scriptures--for in them ye think ye have eternal life:
They are they which testify of me--and ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
(John 5.39-40)