Methods of Interpreting the Book of Revelation

Definition and Meaning

Methods of interpreting the Book of Revelation are frameworks for understanding what the symbols of the Book of Revelation refer to and when they apply. These symbols include the beast, the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls. Revelation is apocalyptic literature that conveys its message through visions and symbols, so the same passage can carry very different meanings depending on the interpreter's approach. These approaches are commonly grouped into four categories.

• Preterism: Holds that most of the prophecies were already fulfilled in the first century, during the era of the Roman Empire or around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.
• Historicism: Holds that Revelation foretells, in sequence, the history of the church from its earliest days to the Second Coming.
• Futurism: Holds that most of the material from chapter 4 onward concerns events that will take place immediately before and after the Second Coming.
• Idealism (spiritual interpretation): Holds that the book depicts timeless principles rather than specific events. These principles are the conflict between God and evil and the suffering and final victory of the church.

Many interpreters today also adopt an eclectic approach that combines several of these views. One's interpretive method is closely tied to one's understanding of the millennium. It therefore shapes one's entire eschatology.

Biblical and Historical Background

Revelation opens as a letter addressed to the seven churches of Asia Minor (Revelation 1:4). For this reason, readings that give weight to the circumstances of its first-century readers were possible from the beginning. Some of the early church fathers expected a literal millennial kingdom. Augustine, by contrast, read the thousand years as a symbol of the church age, and his interpretation went on to exert great influence on the Western church.

In the late Middle Ages and during the Reformation, historicism became widespread. Some Protestants even identified the papacy with the Antichrist. Jesuit scholars of the late sixteenth century are reported to have responded by putting forward futurist and preterist interpretations. In the nineteenth century, dispensationalism emerged in Britain and the United States. Dispensationalism popularized a futurist interpretation that includes the rapture and a seven-year Great Tribulation.

Interpretation in Korean Protestantism

Korean Protestantism has shown strong interest in the Second Coming and the end times. This interest reflects the influence of early missionaries and of preaching at revival meetings. The end-times sermons of Kil Sun-joo are often cited as a representative example.

Among Korean Protestants, emphases differ by denomination and theological orientation.

• Presbyterian churches: Interpretation in the tradition of historic premillennialism, represented by Park Yune-sun, has long been influential. More recently, Reformed scholars have also widely introduced amillennialism and idealist and eclectic readings.
• Holiness churches: Have emphasized the Second Coming as one element of the Fourfold Gospel.
• Pentecostal churches: Have widely accepted futurist interpretation, including the rapture.
• Theologically progressive denominations and scholars: Are relatively open to preterist and symbolic interpretations that emphasize the first-century historical background.

In Korea, the interpretation of Revelation has also been a central issue in date-setting eschatology and in controversies over heresy. In 1992, a date-setting movement predicted the rapture for a specific date, and the episode caused a major public stir. Shincheonji claims that the prophecies of Revelation have been fulfilled as "actual reality" in its own history. The general assemblies of major denominations have cited such interpretations as one of their grounds for designating Shincheonji a heresy. Shincheonji counters that only its interpretation bears correct witness to the revelation.