By MICHAEL SLOVANOS
POPULAR Christian interpretation of the Book of Revelation for much of the past century has its prophetic messaging being fulfilled “some time in the near future”. Hal Lindsey, the late author of the 1970s New York Times best seller “The Late Great Planet Earth”, proposed it being fulfilled within his own generation.
The video features Steve Gregg, who, while attending the Calvary Chapel megachurch in Costa Mesa, California in the 1970s, was an ardent teacher of this biblical view known as dispensationalist premillennialism or futurism. But Gregg later changed his view and speaks across the US expounding a much broader interpretation with more focus on actual historical context.
In addition to dispensationalism, the three other basic interpretive systems are idealism, historicism and preterism. They all come within the topic of study known as eschatology.
Gregg is now a leading critic of dispensationalism, the doctrine or teaching that was developed by Anglo-Irish clergyman John Nelson Darby in the mid-1800s, taken up by the Moody (Chicago) and Dallas theological seminaries and popularised by Cyrus Scofield’s Reference Bible first published in 1907 by Oxford University Press.
Scofield, a disgraced lawyer and politician (convicted and jailed for forgery) turned to preaching after his apparent conversion in 1879. He became strongly influenced by Darby’s dispensationalism as taught at Moody and Dallas, and was directly influenced by the Zionist movement of the late 1800s. One of his associates at the exclusive Lotos (literary) Club in New York was the very wealthy lawyer Samuel Untermeyer, who identified as a Zionist.
According to Prof. David W. Lutz, In “Unjust War Theory: Christian Zionism and the Road to Jerusalem,” “Untermeyer used Scofield, a Kansas City lawyer with no formal training in theology, to inject Zionist ideas into American Protestantism. Untermeyer and other wealthy and influential Zionists whom he introduced to Scofield promoted and funded the latter’s career, including travel in Europe.”
Scofield went on to make contact with the Oxford University Press publisher Henry Frowde, a member of the Exclusive Brethren sect, who supported the idea of a Bible featuring marginal notes based on dispensationalist teaching.
Dispensationalism has now morphed into a movement known as Christian Zionism, as expouned primarily by the Texas televangelist John Hagee who says the US must bless Israel or be cursed. Similar views are held in many other American and global Christian denominations.
Christian Zionism is one of the major reasons for the one-eyed pro-Israel foreign policy of the US Republican Party including that of President Donald Trump. The belief is of course, fully exploited by the America-Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC).
In that respect the challenge to dispensationalist teaching in the American (and global) church has political signficance. Tucker Carlson highlighted the belief in a recent clash with US Congressman Ted Cruz.
Gregg’s lecture (Part 1) includes: Introduction to the Book of Revelation • Unique nature of Revelation compared to other biblical and worldly literature • Three genres: epistle, prophecy, and apocalypse Revelation as an Epistle • Seven churches addressed: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea • Structure mirrors typical epistles: • Written to address specific issues in these first-century churches, with broader applicability to all churches.
Revelation as a Prophecy • Defined as an inspired utterance from the Holy Spirit (Revelation 1:3) • Unlike other epistles, it is explicitly called a prophecy • Prophecies serve to: • Validate the prophet’s authenticity through fulfilled predictions • Provide credentials for the speaker, not just to satisfy curiosity • Similar to Old Testament prophets, it mixes preaching with predictions to affirm divine authorship Revelation as an Apocalypse • Named “Apocalypse” in Greek, meaning unveiling or revealing • Shares characteristics with other apocalyptic literature (e.g., Daniel, Zechariah, intertestamental works like Enoch)
Features of apocalyptic literature: • Symbolic, sensational imagery (e.g., lamb with seven eyes, beast with seven heads) • Often anonymous or pseudonymous authorship in other works, but Revelation is authentically by John • Non-literal interpretation emphasized due to symbolic nature • Comparison to an intertestamental apocalyptic prologue to Esther: • Describes events symbolically (e.g., dragons, rivers) that represent historical events • Helps understand Revelation’s symbolic depiction of real events
Timing and Historical Context: • Repeated emphasis on imminent fulfillment: “things which must shortly take place” (Revelation 1:1), “the time is near” (Revelation 1:3), “do not seal the words… for the time is at hand” (Revelation 22:10) • Contrasts with Daniel’s sealed prophecy (Daniel 12:4, 12:9), indicating long-term fulfillment • Suggests events relevant to first-century readers, likely linked to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 •
A pivotal event: • Roman destruction of the temple, ending temple Judaism • Fulfills Jesus’ prophecies (e.g., Luke 19, Luke 21) and Old Testament themes Interpretive Views of Revelation
Preterist View: ▪ Prophecies fulfilled in the past, primarily around AD 70 (destruction of Jerusalem) ▪ Partial Preterism: Most of Revelation fulfilled in AD 70, but future events (second coming, resurrection) remain ▪ Full Preterism (considered heretical): All prophecies, including second coming, fulfilled by AD 70
Futurist View: ▪ Prophecies to be fulfilled in the future, post-rapture (popular among modern evangelicals)
Historicist View: ▪ Chronicles church history from John’s time to the end, held by Reformers (Luther, Calvin)
Idealist View: ▪ Symbolic depiction of timeless spiritual truths (e.g., God’s sovereignty, spiritual warfare) ▪ Not tied to specific historical events, akin to Pilgrim’s Progress
