Four Main Interpretations of the Book of Revelation By David Buck (2/28/2008)

There have traditionally been four main interpretations of the book of Revelation, otherwise known as John’s Apocalypse. These interpretations are known as the pure fiction interpretation, the allegorical interpretation, the historical interpretation, and the prophetical interpretation.

The pure fiction interpretation views the book of Revelation as simply a nice fictional story book, nothing more than a fairytale. This is the common view of agnostics.

The allegorical interpretation, which is also known as the idealist view, labels the book of Revelation as only a symbolization of the constant struggle between that of good and evil. This view does not classify Revelation as a historical or prophetical book, but simply as allegorical and symbolical writing. This is the view of many of the modern day liberals. The greatest benefit of this view is that it renders the apocalypse very understandable at a basic level. It is simply seen as a book that was written to encourage suffering saints that God will someday conquer all evil and make things right.[1]

The historical interpretation is the view that the events that are found within the book of Revelation are simply past events that took place in the early church. Some who hold to this view label the Roman Catholic Papacy as the antichrist. The past history or “preterist” form of this view, claim that Revelation has already been fulfilled in the history of the early church. [2] While the continuous history view states that the book of Revelation has been in the process of being fulfilled since the beginning of the church but is not completely fulfilled as of yet. This view is the view of most reformers.

The prophetical interpretation is the view that all events of the book of Revelation from chapter 4 to 22 have not yet been fulfilled. These chapters of the book are thought to be prophetical in nature. This view takes the words of the book of Revelation to be literal, not allegorical or fictional as some of the other views state. I agree with Dr. Willmington who stated in his book “Great Truth’s From God’s Word” that this is the only view that does justice to the book.[3] All of scripture is to be taken literally, whether it is easy to understand or not. It seems as though many who see this book as too difficult to comprehend try to take the easy way out and just label it as past history, fictional, or allegorical. If you look at scripture, it is plain to see that this book is speaking clearly of future events. Satan wants nothing more than to deceive those who follow Christ by making them believe that an entire book of scripture is not literal. What a terrible a thing. Scripture is to be taken literally; this is not just a good story, but the very word of God!



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[1]Herrick, G. Th.M., “Interpretive Models for the Book of Revelation as a Whole”. Biblical Studies Press. 1997, pg. 2.

[2] Willmington, H. L. “Great Truth’s From God’s Word”. Fidlar Doubleday. 2003. Pg. 376

[3] Willmington, H. L. “Great Truth’s From God’s Word”. Fidlar Doubleday. 2003. Pg. 376