Sárospataki Füzetek 15. (2011)
2011 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK
3. The futurist view: From chapter 4 onwards, at least, Revelation relates exclusively to the end-time; the book describes events which are still to take place and will be fulfilled in the very last days of human history. 4. The idealist view: Revelation describes in symbolic terms the struggle between good and evil; the book has no direct relationship with historical events, neither in the past nor in the future. The symbolism of Revelation is to be understood in a general way. While in our time the first view is the one most commonly taken, the promises of the book of Revelation extend well beyond the first century AD: beyond the horizon of time we see a whole new world order appear, in which the New Jerusalem — heaven on earth — will realise the old ideal of an eschatological ‘city of God’. The problem of the second view, which builds on Augustine’s conception of the ‘millennium’ in Revelation 20 as period between Christ’s ascension and His return, is that it is often difficult to make a direct connection with historical events. Augustine lived in the first millennium, but every historical period has its own characteristic features. The third view, popular among all kinds of dispensationalists,7 fails to do justice to the prophetic significance of Revelation for every age; moreover, it is strongly oriented to Western culture and history. The fourth view does not account for the moment of recognition the first readers would have had: the seven churches of Asia Minor. In a more general sense, it deprives the book of Revelation of its concrete relevance for all time. In short, none of these four perspectives does full justice to the significance of this extraordinary book. 1.3 A redemptive-historical approach The command to ‘write’ found in Revelation 1 might serve as the key to unlock the whole book: “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later” (1: 19, with a repetition of the command already given in verse ll).8 The expression ‘what you have seen’ encompasses the entire content of the book of Revelation; it is followed by a two-fold elaboration: ‘what is now’ and ‘what will take place later”. There are two aspects to the whole: John is shown something that throws light on both the present and the future. ‘What is now’ cannot be separated from ‘what will take place later’. Both aspects of the one reality are described.9 If, in this manner, we do justice to the prophetic-apocalyptic character of Houwelingen, P. H. r. van 7 Worked out and defended by W.J. Ouweneel, De Openbaring van Je^us Christus. Bijbelstudies over het boek Openbaring (Vaassen: Medema, 1988), 38-49. In his view, the seven letters in Rev 2 and 3 represent seven successive periods in the history of the church (Ephesus: the apostolic period; Smyrna: the rime of the martyrs; Pergamum: the period of the state church; Thyatira: the Middle Ages, with Rome as the world church; Sardis: the time of the Reformation; Philadelphia: the greater revival of the 19th century; Laodicea: the apostacy of the major churches from beginning in the 20th century). 8 An overview of the different views of 1: 19 as an interpretative key to the whole book of Revelation can be found in G.K. Beale, The Took of Tevelation (The New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 152-170. 9 For the interpretation of 1: 19 see also: H.R. van de Kamp, Openbaring. Profetie vanaf Patmos (Commentaar op het Nieuwe Testament; Kämpen: Kok, 2000), 84-86; J. de Vuyst, De Openbaring van Johannes (Kämpen: Kok, 1987), 27-28). 14 Sárospataki Füzetek2011/1
