Symbolism - Part 1

Understanding Symbolic Usage

A significant characteristic of prophetic and apocalyptic literary style is presentation of the teachings or revelations through the medium of visions or dreams. Another feature involved the use of symbols that allude to elements of the world. These might include astronomical symbols (like the sun, moon and stars), physical symbols (such as seas and mountains) or living symbols like animals or plants (for instance a lion or a fig tree). Colors play an important role in Biblical symbolism. Yet another technique was the use of numbers to represent important concepts. The combination of symbolic elements also conveys meaning. 

When trying to understand any symbols, it is critical to know several things. First, we need to understand how the symbol is used throughout Scripture. We also need to understand what the symbols meant culturally. In modern society, we may not attribute special meaning to an image of a horse, probably viewing it in the role of a farm animal (like plowing a field) or for use in riding and enjoyment. In Biblical times horses were normally associated with warfare and typically were not used for farming. We also need to understand that combinations of symbols may invoke specific meanings. For example, the use of a horse image with no other elements typically would convey a different meaning than a white horse or a red horse. In previous posts we discussed the importance of remez and it is a critical element to understanding prophetic and apocalyptic symbols because if we cannot understand the way either the symbol or the entire image would have evoked specific thoughts and associations, we will likely not fully understand the meaning or intent of the representation.  

Because the majority literature was written at a time when either the Jews or the early Christians were experiencing exile or persecution, symbols were used to conceal concepts from outsiders while revealing them in rich detail to those who had a depth of understanding of God's Word. This relates to our first element of understanding. How God's Word uses the symbol in clearer instances often helps when trying to understand a more difficult passage or symbolic usage. The idea of concealment from outsiders is important as well. Full understanding of symbolic concepts is only available to persons able to study and understand the symbol as it occurs throughout all of God's Word. Unbelievers or people not initiated into the system of symbolic substitutions would find their writings obscure, if not altogether unintelligible. This is also why many interpreters who do not spend time trying to understand the Old Testament often interpret images incorrectly (for example, stars falling from heaven becomes a nuclear missile attack when that concept is and always was foreign to what God intended). 

Looking at this from a slightly different perspective, Christianity and Judaism can be considered to be "at war" with the oppressors around them. As is true in any such conflict a secure code is necessary to communicate concepts to the believers while concealing it from outsiders. This is particularly important since the prophecies and the images often involved the promised destruction of the opposition. Like the modern cryptographer, the symbols used in apocalyptic literature were a means of preparing communication intended to be intelligible only to the person possessing the key, or method of developing the hidden meaning by using in apparently incoherent text with the context of other teaching. Cryptic messages depend for their success on being unsuspected; once they are discovered, they frequently offer little difficulty to decipherment. Codes in which words or phrases are represented by predetermined words, numbers, or symbols are usually impossible to read without the key code book. In the case of symbolism interpretation for Scripture, learning the "code book" would require in depth study of the Scriptures. While doing this study the person seeking the "break the code" may come to share in the belief itself (a facet of this particular code that differentiates it from common ciphers and codes). 

Revelation Symbolism Example - A Plague of Locusts

 When interpreting any symbols, always remember that the book of Revelation was written to a first century culture that differs from ours. It was also written to convey images which had more meaning to people living at that time than is true for people living now. As an example consider Revelation 9:1-11. The images associated with the fifth angel sounding his trumpet are complex and include a star falling to earth with several catastrophic effects. One of these effects involved a plague of locusts that swarms across the earth. The terrifying nature of a locust plague resonates even in modern times. However, modern readers probably cannot truly comprehend what a plague of locusts was like to an earlier agriculturally-based society; thus part of the impact of this symbol has faded. Even with modern pesticides and control agents, it is difficult to stop a swarm that can cover over 400 square miles and may contain from 80 to 160 million locusts in each square mile. Each locust can eat its weight in plants each day, so a swarm of such size could eat over 400 million pounds of vegetation each day. A swarm of this magnitude literally can overwhelm even modern resources. You can see some images of what a swarm is like in this search. If modern resources have difficulty coping, perhaps we can get dome sense of the terrifying nature of a locust swarm during Biblical times. 

However even with this we have only examined one of the elements of this symbol, that of understanding it in its cultural context or what it would have meant to the reader of that era. Now we want to add in the remez of what it meant based on usage throughout the Scriptures.

The first example that we will examine is related to the reason for the plague in Revelation 9. It is an aspect of God's judgment on the world. God's use of locust plagues as an agency of judgment relates back to the initial use in Exodus 10:1-20 as a judgment against Egypt and Pharaoh. It was one of the ways God showed His power over Egypt and their opposition to His Will. 

Next we can look at Deuteronomy 28:38-52 where God through Moses prophetically warns Israel of the consequences if they choose to disobey. "You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it...Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land...The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you." 

Note how God uses the image of a locust plague as the first effects, and then merges that into the judgment that He will bring a foreign army against Israel to overthrow it. Note that the symbolism of the effects of the foreign invasion is portrayed as being of the same symbolic nature as the locust plague. 

In the book of Judges, we see the opponents of Israel compared to locusts in swarm. Judges 6:4-6 speaks about the Midianites. Judges 7:12 uses similar imagery about the various people of Canaan. "The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore" 

In Joel 1-2 we see imagery of a devouring plague of locusts compared to the army that God will send to judge Judah if they do not return to follow His Word. This passage is very relevant to the one in Revelation 9 and it certainly should be considered in any interpretation of the meaning of Revelation 9. While the contexts differ (judgment against Judah for failing to follow God in Joel and Judgment against those who oppose God's kingdom in Revelation), the imagery of both have similarities as we can see below: 

Imagery	Joel	Revelation
Appearance	They have the appearance of horses.	The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle.
Effects	The sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.	The sun and sky were darkened.

 Thus anyone who reads Revelation should naturally be drawn to the similarities with Joel. This is intentional and not an accident. God intends us to understand that the majority of the symbols of Revelation are used throughout Scripture. Further, their use in Revelation is related to their use throughout the rest of Scripture. We need to understand that usage in order to understand their use in Revelation. 

It is also important to note that in all of this discussion we only examined one element of the various symbols presented in Revelation 9, that of the locusts. That was to help understand the specific symbol, but as we noted above to fully understand the symbols we need to consider the symbols in the context in which they occur. However that goes beyond the scope of this post.  

In future posts we will examine some specifics of symbolism. For example, we will look at the symbolism of numbers in the next post. Once we have some of those basics, we should be ready to begin examining the text itself in detail.

 

Systems of Interpretation - Part 4

Historicist Interpretive Systems

This system of interpretation is also called the Continuous Historical, Continuist or Chronological system. It maintains that Revelation is a two-part chronology of the major historical events that will affect the church beginning from John's day and lasting until the Second Coming. One key point is that the system concentrates on historical events which affect the church and God executing judgment on behalf of the church against external (secular) and internal (apostate) opposition. Another way of putting this is that these systems emphasize the development of church history within world history. Many criticize this since it primarily focuses on the events in Europe, Asia Minor and the Middle East as they affect the church and says very little about the church in other places on the earth. However, history to this point has shown that the serious persecutions of the church arose in those areas (principally in the power of civil Rome and the rise of spiritual Rome) and that the major worldwide effects on the church had their origins in these areas of the world. Events outside of this region, while part of human history, have been of limited importance relative to serious persecutions or other adverse events affecting the church globally. This is in keeping with other prophecies in the Old Testament which have a world view relative to Israel and the nations that directly affect Israel. We see that God's concern is bringing about righteousness in Israel and judging internal and external opposition to His Word.  

In many historicist interpretations, the letters to the seven churches were written as direct praises and admonitions to the specific congregations. However, they are also seen as typical of problems affecting churches of all ages. Revelation 4 and 5 constitute a beautiful portrayal that tells of the triumph of Christ after His death and resurrection and that is set in the context of God's throne in Heaven. The first series of visions in Revelation (chapters 6-11) refer to the history of secular or imperial Rome. These visions relate to the overthrow of Western Rome, the destruction of Eastern Rome and the temporal renaissance of true Christianity which come about as God executes His judgments against the secular persecution of Rome. Revelation 12-20 refers to the rise of an internal apostasy and religious persecution of the true church, concluding with God's judgment on the apostate church and the revival of the availability of the Bible after the diminishing and destruction of the universal power of the apostate church. The millennium represents a long, indefinite period of time during which there is minimal persecution (and particularly no worldwide or universal persecution) such that the gospel may be preached relatively freely. After this comes the end (in both chapters 11 and 20) with chapters 20-22 more fully describing the end. 

Historical Background of Historicism 

Perhaps the earliest general commentary on Revelation was written around 300 AD by Victorinus of Pettau who is also considered to be one of the earliest historicist commentators. Andreas of Caesarea (563-637 AD) and Primasius (died ca. 560 AD) were both early writers who followed historicist views in their comments about Revelation. Another early writer who wrote a generally historicist commentary on Revelation was Bede (either 672 or 673-735 AD) who is also notable for popularizing the current Anno Domini (or AD) dating system currently in use. Other early historicists may include Anspert (archbishop of Milan from 861 to 881 AD), Arethas of Caesarea (born 860 AD), Haimo of Auxerre (died ca. 878 AD) and Berengaudus (842-892 AD). 

During the Middle Ages, Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202 AD) was a key figure in applying the philosophy of history to Biblical hermeneutics and exegesis. Nicolas of Lyra (ca.1270-1349 AD and also known as Nicolaus Lyranus) was a Franciscan teacher and was one of the most influential practitioners of Biblical exegesis in the Middle Ages. He is known for his Postilla super totam Bibliam (Postillae perpetuae in universam S. Scripturam) which was the first printed commentary on the Bible. That work was one of the most-consulted manuals of exegesis until the 16th century. Martin Luther used it and referenced it heavily in his own Lectures on Genesis. 

Another influential work was by historicist proponent Edward Bishop Elliott (1793-1875) who wrote his Horae Apocalypticae (Hours with the Apocalypse). This volume is a very comprehensive eschatological study in Revelation running to over 2,500 pages. Following in this tradition, there have been a number of notable individuals and Bible scholars who held a historicist view. A partial list includes Albert Barnes, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Edward Bishop Elliott, John Gill, Matthew Henry, John Knox, Martin Luther, Joseph Mede, Isaac Newton, Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon, William Tyndale, Campegius Vitringa, John Wesley, William Whiston, George Whitefield, John Wycliffe, and Ulrich Zwingli. 

Tenets of Historicism 

Most historicists see Revelation as consisting of several discrete sections (normally three or four). The first section is the prologue, the letters to the seven churches and the image of the throne room in chapters 153. The letters to the churches represent the different concerns affecting the local congregations of Christians in each locale. Many adherents of this position also consider these letters to be symbolic either of seven periods in church history or of the types of issues that may face churches in all ages. In the throne room scene we see the lamb presented as victorious and ready to receive the sealed scroll that will reveal what will happen now that the Messiah has conquered. Some would view the throne room visions and the victory of the Lamb as being in a separate section, while other would see these images as part of the judgment on Rome. 

The second section encompasses chapters 6-11. In that section the symbols such as the breaking of the seals in chapter 6 and the trumpet judgments in chapters 8-9 symbolize how God will deal with the persecuting opposition of the Roman Empire. In this paradigm, God effects judgment on both the Roman Empire (Eastern and Western) using agencies such as famine, civil war and invasions by foreign enemies. Chapter 10-11 sees the reestablishment of true church which was forced into the wilderness due to persecution. This culminates in the end of the first series of visions with the unveiling of God's sanctuary in heaven and the ark of His covenant. 

The third division includes chapters 12-19 and covers the persecuting power of the apostate church (i.e., Roman Catholicism) and how God will judge that opponent. The beasts of chapter 13 represent the secular or physical Roman Empire (sea beast) and its revival in ecclesiastical Rome (land beast) and the concept that the number of the beast (666) is closely identified with the predicted "man of lawlessness". The bowl judgments of Revelation 15-16 represent God’s judgments on the apostasy to end its universal persecuting power. The imagery of the Great Harlot and Babylon (chapters 17-19) are symbolic representations of God calling His people to not partake in and to flee from the apostate church. 

Some would include chapters 20-22 as being part of the second series of visions while others view this as a separate section. These visions pertain to the culmination of human history, the Resurrection and Final Judgment and the new earth. Properly they are a separate (fourth) section. 

Strengths of Historicism 

1.     The very opening passage of Revelation (Revelation 1:1) states that the book's purpose is to show things which "must soon take place." Most scholars interpret the meaning of this phrase as a future progressive (conditional) phrasing in Greek that should more properly read as "things that would shortly begin to come to pass (or happen)." This implies that the fulfillment of the symbols should both begin near to John's time and should also take a period of time to fulfill. While preterists and futurists both argue for a short time frame for this accomplishment (differing on when the time period starts), historicists argue for a longer viewpoint (basically spanning history from John's day to the return of the Messiah). This also fits the context of the parallel idea in II Peter 3:1-10 which suggests a lengthy time will pass until the Second Coming. Peter uses a thousand years to suggest that Jesus will not be returning in the immediate future. Instead, this suggests that a considerable time period will pass before the Messianic Return. Note that this passage also follows the prediction of extensive apostasy in II Peter 2. Note verse 9 in particular which taken together with Paul's prophecy of the "man of lawlessness" suggests that there will be a lengthy period of persecution of the faithful church by a coming apostasy.

2.     There are too many symbols and too much evidence for a succession of events to not require a long interval for their fulfillment. While Revelation may be unique in format and the use of imagery among New Testament books, it is similar to other apocalyptic books in the Old Testament. Both the Old and New Testaments look forward to the redemption of God's people with the coming Messiah (Old) and His Return (New). The time span of Daniel covers about 500 years from the time he wrote down the visions (about 538 BC) and the birth of the Messiah. Since the apocalyptic images in Daniel required several hundred years for their realization and since the visions of Revelation are similar in detail and scope, it stands to reason that they cover a long period of history. Again, this is particularly true if Revelation deals with both secular Rome and its renaissance in ecclesiastical Rome.

3.     The visions and images recorded in Daniel are a roadmap for how God will work in human history until the appearance of the Messiah. This is especially important since God did not send any prophets for most of that period. However, the images of Daniel are intended to convey the assurance that God is in control of human events, that He is working to accomplish His will, that the events affecting Israel are not random but are part of His plan and that He will bring about the redemption of Israel. It stands to reason that God would give similar assurances to the commonwealth of Israel in the New Testament. Historicism is the only interpretive school that tries to elucidate how the visions of Revelation correspond to the time period from John's day to the present.

4.     Paul and Peter both predict a period of apostasy when the church would fall away from the simplicity of the Gospel. In II Thessalonians 2:1-12 Paul wrote warning of an internal apostasy, a passage that is often misused both by preachers and teachers to state that there will be a single personal "antichrist". This passage should be used in conjunction with the similar though in II Peter 2:1-22 (see link above) where Peter warns against false teachers to come who will lead away the elect. Both passages correspond with the concept of the rise of a universal internal apostasy which is regarded by continuous historians as being what the Spirit, writing through John, describes in Revelation 12-20. This did not happen until after the political destruction of Western Rome and the "resurrection" of Rome in the apostate Catholic papacy.

5.     It seems absolutely incredible that, after warnings to the seven churches about internal heresies, that God would reveal nothing about the great heresies of Catholicism and its subtle but deadly effects (see Revelation 13:11-12). The second beast seems like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. It also exercises the authority of the first beast (which represents Rome) and makes the whole earth worship the image of the first beast. Compare the parallel of the land beast with structure and deceitful nature of papacy as "resuscitated" Rome, particularly the fact that the structure of the papal government exactly mirrors the structure of Rome.

6.     Old Testament prophets made constant references both to the apostasies of God's people and to their external enemies. The continuous historical approach also discusses the external secular enemies (political foes) of the New Testament church and the internal ecclesiastical enemies (apostasies) of the New Testament church, thus following the same pattern as the Old Testament. A system that does not mention the apostasy foretold by Both Peter and Paul, and which the context of Paul's letters makes clear was something he explained in considerable detail, simply does not fit the pattern established in the Old Testament nor does it fully conform to the rest of the New Testament. 

Weaknesses of Historicism 

1.     The events depicted in Revelation may have already occurred or may be yet to come. As each major event in history occurs, the system must be robust enough to take it into account. However, it is also true that the long indefinite period of the millennium can encompass a great deal of history in which world events not related to the church may occur. Remember that Revelation, like all prophecy, focuses on the events which have major ramifications and consequences for the development of the church.

2.     The continuous historical view attaches primary importance to secular Rome, Roman Catholicism, the Reformation and limits its focus only to history of Western or Near Eastern culture. It generally ignores events in the rest of the world. However, in thinking of the history of the church from John's day to the present, virtually everything that has significantly affected the church has been from Western or Near Eastern culture (i.e., Western and Eastern Rome), the rise of Catholicism, the end of Roman persecution, the Reformation and the revival of Biblical teaching in the Reformation. Note also that preterism also focuses even more exclusively on Western culture, and limits its predictions to events dealing with Western Rome (what about Byzantium or Eastern Rome and God's judgments on it and the rise of the "false prophet" in the person of Mohammed who "gave" us Islam which is the only false religious system that maintains to be a revelation from the same God in Whom we believe, events covered by continuous historicism).

3.     Some accuse historicist interpreters of falsifying time calculations or attempting to pinpoint the date of the Lord's return. Interpreters of any school or persuasion who do this are being unscrupulous or dishonest with God's Word. An honest proponent of historicism should not seek to make God's Word correspond to his or her theory but should seek to understand and have enough humility to recognize that he or she might be wrong. 

Additional Thoughts about Historicism 

Many conservative scholars support a historicist interpretation. Historicism is harmonious with Scripture and how Biblical prophecies should be handled. Either the conservative preterist or the historical view can be supported by Biblical study. The student must choose whichever paradigm that seems best, but it must be scripturally based and must be consistent with the principles outlined in this post and here also. 

 A Prophetic Example - We need to examine the remez of Genesis 2:15-17. We can see that the fulfillment has two levels. One is immediate spiritual death (i.e., separation from God and from the Tree of Life - Genesis 3:22-24). The other is delayed physical death (Genesis 3:19, 5:5). Thus the phrase "when you eat from it you will certainly die" implies an immediate fulfillment, but Scripture shows that the actual fulfillment began at the time of their eating and culminated about 900 or more years later with physical death. If such a simple prophetic example has multiple levels, it stands to reason that God would have several levels relative to the images in Revelation and other apocalyptic prophecies.

Systems of Interpretation - Part 3

Futurist Interpretive Systems 

This system of interpretation is characterized by maintaining that most (some would say all) events foretold in the New Testament using apocalyptic imagery or symbolic language will not be realized until the last generation. This places prophetic fulfillments in our own future and means that during all the ages of the church from the earliest days until now none of these was fulfilled. These include such passages as the prophecy that Jesus shared on the Mount of Olives (often termed the Olivet Discourse) about the coming destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21), Paul's reference to the man of lawlessness (II Thessalonians 2:1-12 - which some equate with the idea of a personal antichrist) and the events depicted symbolically in Revelation chapters 4-22. There are others as well, but the key concept is that most futurists assert that all of the New Testament apocalyptic prophecies represent future events. Further, they also affirm that other eschatological sections of the Bible, such as the apocalyptic prophecies in Daniel, are also going to occur in our own future. 

Many futurists divide the book of Revelation into three sections according to Revelation 1:19 where John is commanded to "Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later." In this interpretive schema, chapter 1 of Revelation describes the past ("what you have seen"), chapters 2 and 3 relate to the present of John's day ("what is now"), and the remainder of the book describes future events ("what will take place later"). 

Literalism Discussion 

A number of futurist systems posit that a portion of the language of Revelation is symbolic and not intended to be interpreted literally. However, a hallmark of futurism is its insistence on a literal interpretation for visionary or symbolic events. To a futurist, interpretation should be realized through a grammatical, historical and contextual method of interpretation. By grammatical they intend an interpretation according to the grammatical rules. By historical they state they want to maintain consistency with the historical setting of the passage. By contextual they propose to examine the passage in accord with its literary context. Literalism focuses on the actual words and phrases of a passage. They maintain that allegorical or non-literal interpretation may alter the concept to one not intended or implied in the text of a passage.  

While there may be some apparent merit to such an approach, it is really rather shallow and not consistent with hermeneutic principles such as the PARDES type of approaches to Biblical exegesis. This approach has its roots in rabbinic Judaism but is still very useful for Christian Biblical students. This approach leads to a surface understanding only (the peshat or the plain, simple or direct meaning). Careful examination of Scripture will show that while it is intended for anyone studying Scripture to understand the surface meaning, God's Word always has deeper levels of meaning beyond the surface meaning. The PARDES exegetical approach recognizes this and attempts to look much deeper, interpreting meanings beside the plain text. Serious Bible scholars will look to see what additional meanings God has and insights He intends for us to achieve. 

We know that Jesus often used the remez portion of this approach in His teaching by trying to point the deeper allegoric or symbolic meaning beyond just the literal sense. One example that should be familiar to all students is when He discussed being "born again" with Nicodemus in John 3:1-21. Nicodemus at first did not understand when only looking at the surface or literal meaning. This lead to the famous reply that begins with "You are Israel’s teacher and you do not understand these things" and culminates in the beloved John 3:16ff so often cited.  We examined remez in some detail in an earlier post relating to Jesus and His use of Jeremiah symbolism during His last week in Jerusalem. In particular, His cursing of the fig tree (which on a surface level may be a seemingly capricious and arbitrary act) was intended as a direct allegory to Jeremiah even though Scripture presents it as a literal event with no commentary. If Jesus used remez and similar strategies in His direct teaching, does it stand to reason that God and Jesus intended us to only look at the surface meaning of apocalyptic or prophetic imagery? To use another example, Christians are familiar with the parables. Are we to interpret the parables only with their surface meaning? The answer is obvious to any serious Bible student. 

Even when a futuristic approach asserts it is trying to achieve the goal of a literal interpretation for symbolic passages, in reality futurists often go beyond the text and try interpret it by fitting events or current (in their era) historical trends into their view of prophecy very much like preterists or historicists. The difference is that while the other two schools try to fit events that have already occurred (or are in the process of unfolding) into fulfillments of the symbolic prophecies, futurists look to the future and try to fit trends in their own current era into the fulfillment of the symbols. This means that futurists are more dependent on "current events" in their own era when trying to give a real world understanding to the allegorical language of Revelation. 

Another problem is that when intending to be quite literal, futurists often incorrectly apply the very symbols they seek to interpret in this manner. We already examined the symbolism of mountains in an earlier post about interpretation principles. In that examination we found that the usage of a mountain symbolically refers to the leadership of the people being addressed in the prophecy. Often this was symbolic of the Jewish leadership (both civil and religious) but it can also refer to other governments (including secular ones). However, futurists often try to interpret an image like a mountain being cast into the sea (Revelation 8:8) as necessarily implying a literal event such as a large meteor strike or a nuclear missile. One example follows where we can look at how this literalism may be misplaced. We will examine the seventy weeks (seventy sevens) prophecy of Daniel in detail. 

Daniel's Final Week and Armageddon - In futurist interpretations the period called the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16) is often connected with the seventieth week of Daniel 9:24-27. This week is "cut off" in the middle and thereby to futurists is interpreted as either the week itself being separated from the previous sixty-nine weeks or as the second part of the week only being separated. This separation covers many centuries (over 2,500 years as of the present day) and the fulfillment in that school of thought is in the events of Armageddon. 

In actuality this analysis represents a failure of the literalist method of interpretation. First, it misses the context of Daniel 9 where the entire chapter revolves around Daniel realizing that the 70 years of Babylonian Exile (Captivity) prophesied by Jeremiah had concluded. Daniel petitions God in an intercessory prayer, first acknowledging the sins of Judah and God's righteous judgment and then pleading for God's grace to restore Jerusalem. The angel Gabriel flies to Daniel and gives the seventy weeks prophecy.  

1.     The number 70 is an interesting one in Jewish thought. First it is a compound number with the factors of 7 (often symbolic of perfection) and 10 (often symbolic of completeness). Taken together this means a symbolism of complete perfection. Jesus used this in a remez teaching when Peter asked how many times to forgive in Matthew 18:21-22 and thought his concept of forgiving seven times (symbolic of perfection) is good. Jesus answers with needing to forgive seventy times seven (many modern translations try to say 77 instead) which is interesting because it implies perfection that is raised to completeness and then multiplied again by perfection. This number also parallels the 490 year period of Daniel chapter 9.  We will examine numerical symbolism in more detail in future posts since these are important components of both Gods' Word both in prophecy and in interpretation.

2.     Gabriel, acting as God's prophetic messenger, declares "seventy weeks [of years] are decreed for your people and your holy city: to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place [one]". Note that the culmination is to bring the perfection of God's righteousness. Futurists get this wrong since this is a Messianic promise in a direct response to Daniel's acknowledgement of God's plan in restoring righteousness to Judah. Just as God restored righteousness in Judah, now He promises He will bring complete perfection to the world through the coming Messiah and the symbol will be the time period which will be another period of seventy (seventy times seven years).

3.     Rather than follow an arbitrary cut off for the seventieth week, we can examine if there is a holistic 490 year period that matches this prophecy. We can do so as follows:

a.   The prophetic period starts "from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem" in verse 25. There are three candidate dates for this. The first is the initial return to Judah and the environs of Jerusalem under Zerubbabel in approximately 539 or 538 BC which was shortly after the prophecy in Daniel 9 as told in Ezra 1-5. The second is the return under Ezra (beginning in Ezra 7) in 458-457 BC with the proclamation of the Persian king Darius to carry out the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the decree of Artaxerxes I for Ezra to carry out the decree of Cyrus (which is the primary focus of the book of Ezra). The third is a private commission to Nehemiah in 445 BC. Of these, the return under Ezra most closely meets the concept of the "word going out" since the first decree was thwarted and it required a second decree from both Darius and Artaxerxes I to be carries to Jerusalem with a lot of fanfare for Jerusalem and the Temple to be rebuilt. This return is the primary event or focus for the book of Ezra. The return under Nehemiah was a private pilgrimage.

b.  If we begin with 458-457 as the starting point, this would place the end of a 490 year period (the end of the seventieth week) to be either 33 or 34 AD (there is no year 0 AD). However, the seventieth week has an important event where the anointed one "shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall make sacrifice and offering cease". This "midweek" event would then be about 29 or 30 AD (3½ years prior to the end of the week) . We know Jesus was born as much as 2 years prior to the death of Herod the Great which we can reliably date to 4 BC and we know He was 30 years old when He began His public ministry (Luke 3:23). If Jesus were born in 4-5 BC, He would have begun His ministry in about 26-27 AD and continued until about 29-30 AD (interestingly that ministry spanned 3½ years or half of a week of years) when He made "sacrifice and offering cease" with His own death on the cross. History tells us the death of Stephen triggered the expansion of the early church out of Jerusalem and is variously dated around 32-35 AD, most commonly 34-35. We simply do not know the exact date, but it is interesting that these dates also correspond to the end of the seventieth week in this prophetic period.

c.   There is another interesting (though somewhat speculative) line of evidence to consider. Remember that Daniel was made ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed in charge of all its wise men (magi) after interpreting the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2. It is very likely that these wise men or magi became familiar with the prophecies of Daniel and that this is one reason why they were aware that the time of the seventy weeks was near to being fulfilled. This may have been why they followed the star and came to Jerusalem looking for the Messiah. 

Contrast the preceding with the futurist logic that ties the seventieth week to the end times and divorces it from any Messianic promise. According to many futurists, Chapters 4-19 of Revelation refer to a period known as the seven-year "Tribulation" (using Daniel 9:27). The futurists seek to compress the events of Revelation into this seven year period (some compressing them into a 3½ year time frame). During this time of "Tribulation", God will pour out His judgments upon the remnant of mankind left behind after the so-called Rapture in the events of the various seals, trumpets, and bowls. According to this theory, chapter 13 describes a future world government headed by a political and religious leader depicted by the two beasts. Chapter 17 pictures a harlot who represents the church in apostasy during this time frame. Chapter 19 refers to Christ’s return (really this would be the Third Coming since he came and "raptured" Christians) and the battle of Armageddon followed by a literal thousand-year rule of Christ upon the earth in chapter 20. Chapters 21-22 are events that follow the millennial rule of Christ on the earth. These include the creation of a new heaven and a new earth and the arrival of the heavenly city of Jerusalem upon the earth.

The point of this is to show that trying to make the seventieth week of Daniel 9 correspond to a period of tribulation at the end of time is actually less likely to be a correct interpretation of that passage. This is especially true in if the last week is artificially dissociated from the preceding weeks. Unless the entire prophecy of Daniel 9 represents a future event this does not seem to represent a valid analysis. If one were to take the position that the entire prophecy is a future event, the corollary is that the final week may not occur for at least another 483 years since there has never been a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Some futurists maintain that the establishment of the secular state of Israel in 1948 is that event in which case then it would have two problems. The first is that it would be at least the year 2431 before the "Rapture" would occur. The second (more critical) error is that this would contain the mistake of pinpointing the end when the Bible is clear that no one will know when that day will occur (Matthew 24:36-41, Luke 17:26-30).

Futurism Concepts 

Modern proponents of futurism hold a number of concepts that have been popularized and often appear as ideas adopted into in popular media since they are somewhat sensationalistic. A few of these include: 

Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12-17) - Futurists maintain this passage predicts that literal earthquakes and astronomical events will occur as a forerunner of Christ's return. 

Rebuilding the Temple and the Two Witnesses (Revelation 11:1-3) - To the Futurist viewpoint, this passage predicts that the Temple must be rebuilt by the Jews and that subsequent to the rebuilding Moses and Elijah will return to the Earth as witnesses. This viewpoint ignores similar apocalyptic imagery found in Ezekiel and Zechariah. It also ignores some clear passages in the Gospels. For example Moses and Elijah already appeared to Jesus and to James, John and Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-5). Jesus also stated that John the Baptist was Elijah who was prophesied to come before the Messiah (Matthew 17:10-13 - "Then the disciples understood that he was speaking about John the Baptist").  

The Rapture - This is a concept that is not found from Revelation at all but instead results from an artificial combining of the seventieth week from the Messianic prophecy in Dan. 9:27, the passage in I Cor. 15:51-54 (where Paul says that we shall not all sleep but shall be changed when the last trumpet sounds)  and the language of I Thess. 4:13-5:4 (where Paul discusses the status both of Christians that have fallen asleep and those who are alive at the Lord's return). In particular, Futurists emphasize the portion of the passage from I Thessalonians that says that those who are alive shall be caught up together with the risen dead to meet the Lord in the air. They interpret that passage as portending that the saved will be "caught up in the air" and avoid the "War of Armageddon." As we discussed above, to the futurist the purpose of the Rapture is to keep the saved from experiencing the judgments of the seven years of tribulation which will see the unfolding of the entire prophecies of Revelation up to the millennium. During the "millennial reign," the Raptured Christians will return to earth and reign with Christ in the Earthly kingdom He failed to establish when He was on Earth (the church is just a "stop gap measure" by this viewpoint). Futurists who believe in the Rapture also use the secondary, somewhat obscure passage in Revelation 20:1-10 where John writes that the martyred dead reigned with Christ for a thousand years and that the rest of the dead did not return to life until the thousand years were finished, calling this the "first resurrection." However, it is quite clear either (1) that the language of Revelation 20 must be figurative or else (2) all of the passages quoted and any others that deal with the resurrection of the dead are in error in their description of the resurrection at the Second Coming. 

Personal Antichrist - Futurists state that the first (sea) beast of Revelation 13:1-10 refers to a great world ruler of personal unrighteousness, erroneously combining Dan. 7:23-28, 8:23-26 and 11:21-39 into this view. In actuality the passage in Daniel 7 refers to Rome and the power of Rome, Daniel 8 and 11 both refer to the times of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties and chapter 11 discusses the notorious Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes. Futurists generally identify the sea beast of Revelation 13 beast as being Paul's "Man of Lawlessness" (II Thess. 2:1-12), but this most likely is a misidentification. The "restraint" on the man of lawlessness actually was the strength of the secular Roman Empire which had to be removed before the apostate rebellion of the church could be revealed. This would logically imply that the sea beast is actually symbolic of the secular persecuting power of Rome and the second (land) beast is the resurrected power of persecution in the rise of the apostate church which was restrained until the first beast was mortally wounded. This corresponds better with what Paul wrote about the man of lawlessness and the restraint. Futurists generally maintain the land beast (Revelation 13:11-18) is the helper of the first beast rather than being the successor beast who takes over from the first. There is a problem in calling either beast the antichrist. The term antichrist only appears in I John 2:18-22; 4:3 and II John 1:7. The term antichrist always (1) refers to numerous individuals, not a single individual, (2) defines antichrist as anyone who denies the fleshly incarnation of Jesus and (3) is said to already be in the world and active in John's day, not in a future era. The term antichrist never occurs in Revelation. 

Premillennialism - This is one of the keynotes of futurist schools (although there is at least one amillennial futurist school that is not recognized as valid in modern times). In the view of premillennialists, Christ will return to Earth, sit on the throne of David with a rebuilt Temple at Jerusalem, and will reign over the Earth for 1000 years from Jerusalem. There are differing positions among futurists as to the nature and character of the millennium and the final state of the saved and lost (for example some believe people may receive a "second chance" during the Millennium and many believe that the non-Raptured people who fight "on the Lord's side" during "Armageddon" will attain salvation). The millennial rule will end in the final victory over the forces of Satan. Since premillennialism is an ubiquitous doctrine and since it simultaneously is so antithetic to Scripture, it should be studied closely. There are at least two major schools of premillennialism. These are Classic Premillennialism and Dispensational Premillennialism. 

1.     Roots of Premillennialism - The actual roots of the doctrine lie in secular Jewish apocalyptic literature which predicts 1000 years of prosperity and peace for Israel. This concept was applied to Revelation 20 by early Christian writers such as Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Hippolytus. However, these writers all freely admitted that others thought their viewpoints were wrong. Other early Christian writers such as Origen, Dionysius, and Gaius all refuted the millennial view. Finally, Augustine (circa 430 AD) made such a convincing argument for a non-literal (amillennial) interpretation of Revelation 20 that millennial views were not widely accepted until the early 1700s when the views of a number of people reestablished that viewpoint. Among these were Daniel Whitby (1688-1726), Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687-1752) and Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758).

2.     Dispensationalism - Dispensationalism was a school of premillennialism philosophy developed during the 19th century, a period that also saw the rise of a school of philosophy that secularized the Bible and denied its inspiration and authority. Dispensationalism developed from the speculations of John Nelson Darby during the 1800s. Prior to 1910, there was a conviction that the millennium would represent a period of peace and prosperity that would occur prior to Christ's return (a philosophy first conceived by Daniel Whitney in 1726 and adopted into the mainstream during the 1800's). Since World War I, scholars and theologians have discredited and discarded the Dispensational belief system.

3.     Classical Premillennialism - This school is more conservative than Dispensationalism and only maintains that Christ will come back to Earth and reign for 1,000 years. This "simplistic" view is not accepted by modern millennialists.

4.     Dispensational Premillennialism (Darbyism) - Beyond the admittedly simplistic Classical conviction, dispensational premillennialism reinterprets all Scripture relating to the final judgment. It adds in the doctrines of the postponement of the kingdom using a temporary, stopgap measure (the church), the idea that Satan defeated Christ when He was on earth the first time (hence the need for the final battle of Armageddon), the need for two resurrections, the Rapture, the reestablishment of Israel as God's chosen nation, the rebuilding of the Temple, the battle of Armageddon, and many flavors of interpretations of symbols. This is the "modern" viewpoint held by most futurists, and it is interesting to note that not only does the philosophy have serious problems, but it is very similar to the philosophy that Augustine rejected. 

Historical Roots of Futurism 

The futurist interpretation of Revelation and Daniel has been around since the earliest centuries of the church. Irenaeus held many of the tenets now espoused by futurists. These include the millennial rule of Christ, the idea of the seventieth week of Daniel being the time of the rise of a personal antichrist and similar views. However, his concepts were not as detailed as we find in modern futurist views. Besides Irenaeus, a concept of a future millennial kingdom may be found in the writings of Clement of Rome (AD 96), Justin Martyr (AD 100-165), Tertullian (AD 150-225) and others. Based on this, futurists contend that the literal interpretation of Revelation has roots in the earliest days of the church. Futurists maintain that the church followed a literal interpretation of Revelation until Origen introduced allegorical interpretation and Augustine promulgated amillennialism. 

The arguments of Augustine were persuasive enough that futuristic interpretations were virtually non-existent during the time period from his era until after the Reformation. Jesuit theologian Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) wrote a commentary on the Book of Revelation to counter the Protestant interpretation of historicism. This commentary established the beginnings of modern futurist interpretation of Bible prophecy. 

Strengths of Futurism 

1.     There are some events of Revelation which have yet to occur. Although futurists overemphasize the degree and number of the prophecies that remain to be fulfilled, they are correct that parts of Revelation have yet to occur.

2.     Futurists do attempt to combine Scripture outside of Revelation to support their position. They do accept the inspiration of Revelation. They present a strong, logical argument for the merits of their viewpoint, seemingly based on an exhaustive interpretation of Scripture. 

Weaknesses of Futurism 

The principal weakness of the futurist viewpoint is that it is not Biblically accurate. Both the internal and external evidence of Revelation cast doubt on the validity of futurism. 

1.     The system does not properly address the immediacy of Revelation 1:1-3. The language of that passage clearly suggests that the events of Revelation would begin unfolding near John's own day, not in our own future. Any argument that "what must soon take place" implies a time in our own future and thus nearly two millennia removed from the early church is weak and does not meet the futurist's own literalistic interpretative schemes.

2.     The strict literalness of interpretation of the symbols in Revelation constitutes a serious objection. Apocalyptic literature has always been interpreted figuratively unless the context specifies a literal interpretation. Making Revelation into a special case apart from other apocalyptic literature is not a valid position.

3.     Futurists hold that the kingdom is yet to be established and that the church is an afterthought, a stopgap measure instituted by Christ to assuage His defeat by Satan. The church is not a stopgap measure instituted by a defeated Christ. Christ was victorious over Satan on Earth; He was not defeated by Satan. Also the New Testament clearly teaches that the church and the kingdom are synonymous.

4.     The key issue of premillennialism was rejected by early writers from the time of Augustine until it was revived in the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries.

5.     Futurism divorces Revelation entirely from the Christians to whom it was principally written. What comfort would martyred 1st century Christians have had in a divine judgment that would not happen for thousands of years (nearly 2000 years now)?

6.     Futurism not only divorces Revelation from 1st century Christians but also from Christians in all ages except the "last generation". Almost every century has thought Revelation predicted theirs to be the "last days". Since none of the events have yet occurred, futurism divorces Revelation even from the 21st Century. Note that near the end of each century, and particularly at the end of the first and second millennia, many always look to the fulfillment of the literal signs of Revelation and the "end times."

7.     Futurists insist that the visions in the book of Revelation are a continuous series of events and ignore the break between chapters 11 and 12. This indicates a lack of scholarship on the part of futurists based on internal structural evidence from Revelation. It also does not correspond well with their approach to contextual literalism.