From Keith A. Mathison on the futurist approach to the book of Revelation.
"Proponents of the futurist view say that their approach is necessary because there is no correspondence between the events prophesied in the book and anything that has happened in history. This conclusion is reached because of an overly literalistic approach to the symbolism of the book and a lack of appreciation for how such language was used in the Old Testament prophetic books. This, however, is not the most serious problem with the futurist approach.
The most fundamental problem with the futurist approach is that it
requires a very artificial reading of the many texts within the book
itself that point to the imminent fulfillment of its prophecies. The
book opens and closes with declarations indicating that the things
revealed in the book “must soon take place” (1:1; 22:6). It opens and
closes with declarations indicating that “the time is near” (1:3;
22:10). The book of Revelation does not begin in the way the
pseudepigraphal Book of Enoch begins, with a statement to the
effect that the content is not for the present generation, but for a
remote generation that is still to come. The book of Revelation has
direct relevance to the real historical first century churches to whom
it was addressed, and the text of the book itself points to the imminent
fulfillment of most of its prophecies."
Read the rest of his post covering the other views on interpreting Revelation here.
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