John received the Revelation from God and faithfully wrote it down while exiled on the Isle of Patmos (Revelation 1:9). He was commanded to write things past, present and future as revealed to him by God. Revelation, for the most part, is the history of the church written in advance. Primarily, it portrays the trials of the church from the birth of Christ to his second coming. After that, it discusses the millennial reign of Christ followed by God making all things new. My approach could be characterized as ‘contemporary historicism,’ meaning a combination of the classic historicism of the church for most of its history until the Reformation and post-Reformation historicists.

At times, I reference classic historicists like, E.B. Elliott, John Gill, Matthew Henry, J.A. Wylie and H. Grattan Guinness, to name a few. However, within the historicist interpretation there were things that had not yet happened; therefore, classic historicism had no framework upon which to authoritatively comment on certain historic events, as they had not come to pass. For example, the deadly wound to the beast perhaps struck by the Reformation and completed by Napoleon Bonaparte and the beast’s recovery in 1929, respective of the Lateran Treaty. Thus, I attempt to create a more complete historicist picture, also taking into consideration more current historic fulfilments of certain prophecies.

PERSPECTIVES* HISTORICISM: Revelation is the history of the church written in advance. It prophesies events from the early church until God makes all things new.

PRETERISM: Almost everything in Revelation was fulfilled in the 1st century A.D.

FUTURISM: Almost everything in Revelation is fulfilled in a seven year period before Christ’s second coming. *My thesis rejects most of Preterism and Futurism.

Reginald Block. The book can be purchased here.