Consider the warning that occurs in its last chapter:
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)
I believe these strong words occur here because Revelation . . .
exalts the Person of Jesus.
describes the Lord’s final victory over sin and death.
provides immeasurable comfort to believers with its description of how God will deal with this wicked world and bring in a joyous eternal state including a New Jerusalem.
promises a glorious eternity free of death, pain, tears, and suffering (21:4).
Those who scoff at the book’s message of hope do so to their own peril.
Teachers, pastors, and scholars mess with the message of Revelation in the following ways:
Many regard the book of the Revelation as allegory, or just symbolism, rather than an eyewitness account of what John actually saw and heard. This is the most popular way that the scoffers take away from its message of victory and hope.
Allegory began long ago as a way to combine pagan Greek philosophy with Christianity, especially that of the pagan philosopher Plato who believed that only the spiritual realm was good. He believed the material world was inherently evil.
Augustine, the one who firmly established allegory as the way to approach biblical prophecy, said the idea of a millennium “would not be objectionable” if somehow “the nature of the millennial kingdom was a ‘spiritual one’ rather than a physical one.”[i] Augustine modified his beliefs regarding Jesus’ future thousand-year reign on the earth in order to make them comply with the teachings of Plato.
Augustine’s hatred of the Jewish people also factored into his theology of dismissing the biblical promises regarding the future restoration of Israel.
There are many reasons to reject the allegorical approach to the book of Revelation:
Revelation repeatedly identifies itself as a book of prophecy (1:3; 22:7, 10, 18-19).
The allegorical approach elevates the human wisdom of the interpreter above the inspired words of the text. Words matter very little with those who employ this method.
John’s language negates the allegorical approach to the book of Revelation. The apostle uses the word “saw” forty-four times by itself and twelve times with the word “looked.” He uses “heard” thirty times. The apostle was not telling us a story, but rather writing down words as he listened to the angels and the Lord speak.
Those who use symbolism to interpret the book of Revelation do not agree among themselves about what is allegorical and literal.
Those who use allegory claim to have a special “lens” by which they know the meaning of a passage that often has nothing to do with the actual words of the text.
Allegory turns Christ’s triumphal victory over Satan’s world system into something that fails to glorify Him or comfort us in any way.
If Revelation is symbolical and not prophetic through chapter 20, does that not greatly reduce our confidence in the promises of chapters 21-22? I believe it would.
1 comment:
Amen!
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