One last thing to consider regarding this objection is this: Jesus was concerned about the overthrow of a physical nation (see Matthew 23:34-24:34). This book is God’s way of saying, “I’ll take care of things you just stay faithful.” It is God who rules in the affairs of men, and who controls the rise and fall of nations. The very fact that a book was necessary to encourage them shows just how brutal the persecution was. The book continually encourages Christians to remain faithful in the midst of this persecution. In other words, this physical kingdom was trying to steal Christians’ very salvation from them. This physical nation was trying to destroy Christianity, trying to get Christians to leave the faith and trying to coerce them to enter (or in some cases, re-enter) into a religious system that God did not approve of. The church – God’s kingdom – was undergoing severe persecution from a specific physical nation. “ This method implies that the church – a spiritual kingdom – would be concerned about the overthrow of a physical kingdom.”.We can learn about the nature of God and of Christ, how God views rebellion, that faithfulness is rewarded and unfaithfulness is punished, etc… This first objection is overruled. There are many lessons that can be learned and applied from Revelation when one interprets with the Preterist Method. After all, each of them was written about things which have already taken place. If the gospel accounts and Acts can still have a message for us today, then so can Revelation. If the Old Testament prophetic books can still have a message for us today, then so can the book of Revelation. If the Old Testament historical books can still have a message for us today, then so can the book of Revelation. Oddly enough, no one ever makes the claim that Jonah or Nahum or Obadiah ONLY had meaning for the original recipients and has no meaning for us today. In the Old Testament, there were prophetic books written about impending destructions upon a specific people during a specific time. This is the most common argument, and those who use it claim it is the most powerful. “ This method makes the book ONLY have meaning for the original recipients, and has no message for us today.”.But as with almost everything regarding the Bible, there are those who oppose this method. It takes God at His word when He said that Revelation was “to show His servants things which must shortly come to pass” (1:1, 22:6).
It says that the events in Revelation were things that they would experience (see 1:1, 3). It says that the book was meant for the first-century Christians, and had a direct application to them. An issue that must be addressed before proceeding to an examination of the text of Revelation is our basic hermeneutical approach to the book. Last week, the Preterist Method of interpreting Revelation was introduced.
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