Futurism

Definition and Meaning

Futurism is an interpretive approach holding that most of the Book of Revelation (commonly from chapter 4 onward), some of the visions in the Book of Daniel, and Jesus' Olivet Discourse have not yet been fulfilled. In this view, these prophecies will come to pass in the last days just before the Second Coming. Futurism is one of the four major approaches to interpreting Revelation. The other three are:

• Preterism: holds that the prophecies were already fulfilled in the first century.
• Historicism: holds that the prophecies are fulfilled in sequence throughout the whole of church history.
• Idealism: reads the prophecies not as specific events but as spiritual principles depicting the struggle between good and evil.

Futurists generally regard the rise of the Antichrist, the Great Tribulation, and the restoration of Israel as events yet to occur.

Biblical and Historical Background

Futurists cite passages such as Daniel 7:1–8, Matthew 24:30–31, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 in support of their view. Early Church Fathers such as Irenaeus are also known to have understood the Antichrist as a figure who would appear in the last days.

The modern form of futurism is often traced to the commentary on Revelation written by the Spanish Jesuit priest Francisco Ribera in the late sixteenth century. At the time, Reformation interpreters used historicist interpretation to identify the papacy with the Antichrist, and Ribera is described as having countered this by placing the fulfillment of the prophecies in the distant future. In the nineteenth century, dispensationalism, systematized by John Nelson Darby and others, adopted futurism, and this interpretation spread widely through British and American evangelicalism by way of the Scofield Reference Bible (1909). Futurism, however, is not synonymous with dispensationalism; some adherents of historic premillennialism also adopt a futurist interpretation.

Practice in the Korean Church

Many of the early missionaries taught premillennialism, the view that Christ will return before the Millennium. As a result, a futurist understanding has long been familiar in the Korean church. In revival meetings and sermons, the Rapture and the seven-year Great Tribulation are commonly presented as events yet to come. Tendencies among the denominations are reported as follows:

• Conservative Presbyterian denominations (Hapdong, Kosin, and others): Historic premillennialism is known to have exerted considerable influence since Park Hyung-nong. These bodies tend to accept futurist elements while distancing themselves from the dispensationalist pre-tribulation rapture. Not a few Reformed theologians, however, favor amillennialism and the idealist interpretation.
• Holiness churches: Have emphasized the Second Coming as one element of the Fourfold Gospel (regeneration, sanctification, divine healing, and the Second Coming).
• Full Gospel churches (Assemblies of God) and some Baptist and independent churches: Dispensational futurism is known to be comparatively influential.
• Methodists and parts of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea: Some currents interpret eschatology in social and ethical terms.

In October 1992, a controversy arose over a date-setting prediction that the Rapture would occur on a specific day. Since then, the major denominations and church bodies have criticized date-setting eschatology.

Proponents of futurism argue that this approach respects the literal sense of the text. Critics contend that it neglects the historical circumstances of the original readers.