Eschatology

When I came to the Lord in 1973 eschatology was a popular subject. Many got into the esoteric symbology of Revelations. Many taught the soon return of the Lord. Many of us made decisions based on the immenant return of the Lord.

It was about 1975 that I was shown some truths that led me to conclude that the pre-trib rapture doctrine was just another doctrine of men and not biblical. After testing many other eschatological views I have come to the preterist view. I find many merits in this view as I will post in a series of posts.

The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is most misunderstood today, and I think is being falsely taught.

Consider this article regarding the time indicators of this prophecy.


This book of prophecy is filled with symbols and allusions that for many are hard to understand. The depth and quantity of these symbols causes many to mis-interpret them and twist them so that the original meaning is lost on the modern reader.

It is my goal to try to make this book easy to understand.This last book of the Bible, and as far as we can determine the last book of the canon of scripture that was penned in the first century AD, is based on earlier prophecies. Many of the symbols are repeats of earlier prophetic symbols, such as the prophecies and interpretations of dreams by Daniel, and the Olivet Discource by Jesus. To understand some of the symbols we must look to these earlier prophecies. Other allusions are to contemporary history and events from the time of the writing of this book. Having a knowledge of those times will shed much light on the meaning of much of this book of prophecy.

I'd like to start with a very misunderstood aspect of this prophecy, the time frame. It has become clear to me the more I study and consider the prophecies of the end times, or eschatology (from the Greek term, meaning last things), that these prophecies were fulfilled in first century AD.

The time indicators of Revelation predict a fulfillment of this prophecy in a short time from when it was penned, and we do find the fulfilling event with in a few short years of when this prophecy was penned. This prophecy was penned about 60AD and the fulfilling event took place from 63-70AD.There are four very clear time indicators in the book of Revelation, that set the fulfillment of this prophecy in a near time frame.

In the first chapter we find;

Revelation 1:1-3 (NIV)

"1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."

This opening statement contains two time indicators, "what must soon take place" and "the time is near". These set the time stage for the fulfillment of this prophecy and gives the reason for this book. Jesus wished to warn and prepare the saints for what was to happen to them in the near future. Based on these two time indicators the following word of prophecy is about events that will occur in the short future of when this book was written.

Next note who this book is written to, "4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia". This book was written by John addressed to seven churches in Asia in his day. This book was not like the book of Daniel that was sealed until the end times. No, this book of prophecy was written to John's contemporaries because the events prophecied would be taking place in their day, not some future time period as was true for Daniel.

To understand this book we must try to understand it from the reference point of those to whom it was addressed, the seven churches of Asia in the time of John, or the 60s AD. Looking at the history of that time, will inform us of what this prophecy means. The history of that time period will show us the fulfilling events.

The end of this book again gives us a near time indicator,

Rev. 22:6-7

" "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."

Jesus Is Coming 7 "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book." ""...that must soon take place" and "I am coming soon!"

And the angel told John, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near." (Rev. 22:10 )

This is in contrast to the word given to Daniel, to " 4 But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end." (Daniel 12:4)

This book of prophecy has time indicators that are like the book covers of a book. They show when this prophecy was to be fulfilled. They all clearly show that the time of the fulfillment was to be in the near future from the writing of this book, and not in some distant future time as many today suppose.

To find the fulfilling events we must look at what is past history to us, but was future to the seven churches in Asia at the time of the writing of this book of prophecy. This book of prophecy is congruent with another word of prophecy given by Jesus earlier to his disciples upon the mount of Olives. By looking at these two we can find the historic events that fulfill these prophecies.