Editing Christian eschatology (section)

==Christian eschatological views==

[[File:Detailed Eschatological Chart.png|thumb|Detailed Eschatological Chart]]

The following approaches arose from the study of Christianity's most central eschatological document, the [[Book of Revelation]], but the principles embodied in them can be applied to all [[prophecy]] in the [[Bible]]. They are by no means mutually exclusive and are often combined to form a more complete and coherent interpretation of prophetic passages. Most interpretations fit into one, or a combination, of these approaches. The alternate methods of prophetic interpretation, [[Futurism (Christianity)|Futurism]] and [[Preterism]] which came from Jesuit writings, were brought about to oppose the [[Historicism]] interpretation which had been used from Biblical times<ref>"Jesuit scholarship rallied to the Roman cause by providing two plausible alternatives to the historical interpretation of the Protestants. 1. Luis de Alcazar (1554–1630) of Seville, Spain, devised what became known as the 'preterist' system of prophetic interpretation. This theory proposed that the Revelation deals with events in the Pagan Roman Empire, that antichrist refers to Nero and that the prophecies were therefore fulfilled long before the time of the medieval church. Alcazar's preterist system has never made any impact on the conservative, or evangelical wing of the Protestant movement, although in the last one hundred years it has become popular among Protestant rationalists and liberals. 2. A far more successful attack was taken by Francisco Ribera (1537–1591) of Salamanca, Spain. He was the founder of the 'futurist' system of prophetic interpretation. Instead of placing antichrist way in the past as did Alcazar, Ribera argues that antichrist would appear way in the future. About 1590 Ribera published a five hundred page commentary on the Apocalypse, denying the Protestant application of antichrist to the church of Rome." M.L. Moser, Jr., An Apologetic of Premillennialism, p. 27</ref><ref>M. L. Moser, Jr., An Apologetic of Premillennialism, pp. 26, 27.</ref><ref>H. Grattan Guinness, Romanism and the Reformation From the Standpoint of Prophecy, p. 268 (1887)</ref><ref>Rev. Joseph Tanner, Daniel and the Revelation, pp. 16, 17.</ref> that Reformers used in teaching that the Antichrist was the [[Pope|Papacy]] or the power of the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]].<ref>The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4 [4BC], p. 42.</ref>

[[File:Post Tribulational Premillennialism.png|thumb|A chart showing different contesting views within Christianity for how the sequence of the end times will play out.]]

===Preterism===
[[Preterism]] is a Christian eschatological view that interprets some (partial preterism) or all (full preterism) prophecies of the [[Bible]] as events which have already happened. This school of thought interprets the [[Book of Daniel]] as referring to events that happened from the 7th century BC until the first century AD, while seeing the prophecies of [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] as events that happened in the [[Christianity in the 1st century|first century AD]]. Preterism holds that [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|Ancient Israel]] finds its [[Supersessionism|continuation or fulfillment]] in the [[Christian church]] at the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70]].

Historically, preterists and non-preterists have generally agreed that the Jesuit [[Luis del Alcázar|Luis de Alcasar]] (1554–1613) wrote the first systematic preterist exposition of prophecy, ''Vestigatio arcani sensus in Apocalypsi'' (published in 1614), during the [[Counter-Reformation]].

===Historicism===
[[Historicism (Christianity)|Historicism]], a type of method of interpretation of [[Bible prophecy|biblical prophecies]], associates [[symbol]]s with historical persons, nations or events. It can result in a view of progressive and continuous fulfillment of prophecy covering the period from [[biblical times]] to what they view as a possible future [[Second Coming]] of Christ. Most [[Protestant Reformers]] from the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] into the 19th century held historicist views.<ref name = "ElliottV4">
{{Cite book 
| first = Edward Bishop | last = Elliott 
| author-link = Edward Bishop Elliott 
| title = Horae Apocalypticae 
| publisher = Seely, Jackson and Halliday 
| place = London | edition = 5th 
| volume = IV 
| year = 1862
|pages=562–563
| title-link = Horae Apocalypticae 
}}
</ref>

===Futurism===
In [[Futurism (Christianity)|Futurism]], parallels may be drawn with historical events, but most eschatological prophecies are chiefly referring to events which have not yet been fulfilled, but will take place at the end of the age and the [[Eschatology|end of the world]]. Most prophecies will be fulfilled during a time of global chaos known as the [[Great Tribulation]] and afterwards.<ref>Chuck Missler, 'Prophecy 20/20: Profiling the Future Through the Lens of Scripture', 2006.</ref> Futurist beliefs usually have a close association with [[Premillennialism]] and [[Dispensationalism]].

===Idealism===
[[Idealism (Christian eschatology)|Idealism]] (also called the spiritual approach, the allegorical approach, the nonliteral approach, and many other names) in Christian eschatology is an interpretation of the Book of Revelation that sees all of the imagery of the book as [[symbol]]s.<ref>{{cite book |author=Campbell |first1=Stan |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Book of Revelation |last2=Bell |first2=James S. |publisher=Alpha Books |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-02-864238-3 |pages=212–213 |language=en-us}}</ref>

[[Jacob Taubes]] writes that idealist eschatology came about as [[Renaissance]] thinkers began to doubt that the [[Kingdom of God|Kingdom of Heaven]] had been established on earth, or would be established, but still believed in its establishment.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i3M8BfkFVsAC&pg=PA132|title=Occidental Eschatology|first=Jacob|last=Taubes|date=June 2, 2009|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-6028-7 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Rather than the Kingdom of Heaven being present in society, it is established subjectively for the individual.<ref name="auto"/>

[[F. D. Maurice]] interpreted the Kingdom of Heaven idealistically as a symbol representing society's general improvement, instead of a physical and political kingdom. [[Karl Barth]] interprets eschatology as representing existential truths that bring the individual hope, rather than history or future-history.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Macey |first=Samuel L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7wNQk219KMC&pg=PA186 |title=Encyclopedia of Time |date=1994 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-8153-0615-3 |language=en}}</ref> Barth's ideas provided fuel for the [[Social Gospel]] philosophy in America, which saw social change not as performing [[Legalism (theology)|"required" good works]], but because the individuals involved felt that Christians could not simply ignore society's problems with future dreams.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keller |first=Adolf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LxWdGpNzzaYC&pg=PA190 |title=Karl Barth and Christian Unity: The Influence of the Barthian Movement Upon the Churches of the World |date=March 2007 |publisher=Read Books |isbn=978-1-4067-2700-5 |language=en}}</ref>

Different authors have suggested that [[The Beast (Revelation)|the Beast]] represents various social injustices, such as [[exploitation of labour|exploitation of workers]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2, 1987 |title=ThirdWay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zzpFaPwTQAYC&q=beast&pg=PA23 |publisher=Hymns Ancient & Modern Limited |via=Google Books}}</ref> wealth, the elite, commerce,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5bCOXhf4sc4C&dq=beast+revelation+social+injustice&pg=PA70|title=Who Rides the Beast?: Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse|first=Paul B.|last=Duff|date=May 31, 2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-803163-5 |via=Google Books}}</ref> materialism, and imperialism.<ref>Christopher R. Smith, "Reclaiming the Social Justice Message of Revelation: Materialism, Imperialism and Divine Judgement in Revelation 18," ''Transformation'' 7 (1990): 28–33</ref> Various [[Christian anarchism|Christian anarchists]], such as [[Jacques Ellul]], have identified the [[State (polity)|State]] and [[political power]] as the Beast.<ref>{{cite book |title=Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel |last=Christoyannopoulos |first=Alexandre |author-link=Alexandre Christoyannopoulos |year=2010 |publisher=Imprint Academic |location=Exeter |pages=123–126 |quote=Revelation}}</ref> Other scholars identify the [[The Beast (Revelation)|Beast]] with the Roman empire of the first century AD, but recognize that the Beast may have significance beyond its identification with Rome. For example, Craig R. Koester says "the vision [of the beast] speaks to the imperial context in which Revelation was composed, but it does so with images that go beyond that context, depicting the powers at work in the world in ways that continue to engage readers of subsequent generations."<ref>Craig R. Koester, ''Revelation'', AB 38A (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2014), p. 579.</ref> And his comments on the [[whore of Babylon]] are more to the point: "The whore [of Babylon] is Rome, yet more than Rome."<ref>Koester, p. 684.</ref> It "is the Roman imperial world, which in turn represents the world alienated from God."<ref>Koester, p. 506.</ref> As Stephen Smalley puts it, the beast represents "the powers of evil which lie behind the kingdoms of this world, and which encourage in society, at any moment in history, compromise with the truth and opposition to the justice and mercy of God."<ref>Stephen S. Smalley, ''The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse'' (Downer's Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2005), p. 337.</ref>

It is distinct from [[Preterism]], [[Futurism (Christian eschatology)|Futurism]] and [[Historicism (Christian eschatology)|Historicism]] in that it does not see any of the prophecies (except in some cases the [[Second Coming]], and [[Final Judgment]]) as being fulfilled in a literal, physical, earthly sense either in the past, present or future,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Erickson |first=Millard J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0liwAM9lGMC&dq=christian+idealism+eschatology&pg=PA95 |title=The Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology |date=2001 |publisher=Crossway |isbn=978-1-58134-281-9 |page=95 |language=en}}</ref> and that to interpret the eschatological portions of the Bible in a historical or future-historical fashion is an erroneous understanding.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Francis Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1O8rAAAAYAAJ&dq=christian+idealism+eschatology&pg=PA13 |title=Eschatology. Indexes: The Concluding Volume of the Series Dogmatic Theology |date=1922 |publisher=Longmans, Green and Company |page=13 |language=en}}</ref>

===Comparison of Futurist, Preterist and Historicist beliefs===
{| class="wikitable" style="align:center;"|
|-
! style="width:10%;"|Eschatological Topic
! style="width:30%;"|Futurist belief{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}
! style="width:30%;"|Preterist belief<ref>David Chilton, 'The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation', Dominion Press, 2006.</ref>
! style="width:30%;"|Historicist belief<ref>SDA Bible Commentary</ref>
|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|Eras of biblical prophesy
|Futurists typically anticipate a future period of time when biblical prophecies will be fulfilled.
|Preterists typically argue that most (Partial Preterism), or all (Full Preterism) biblical prophecies were fulfilled during the earthly ministry of Jesus and the generation immediately preceding it, concluding with the siege and destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.
|Historicists typically understand the prophecies to be continuous from the times of the prophets to the present day and beyond.
|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'The 144,000' <br>Revelation 7<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|7:1–8}}</ref>
|Various interpretations of a literal number of 144,000, including: 144,000 Evangelical Jews at the end of the world, or 144,000 Christians at the end of the world.
|A symbolic number signifying the saved, representing completeness, perfection (The number of Israel; 12, squared and multiplied by 1,000, representing the infinite = 144,000). This symbolises God's Holy Army, redeemed, purified and complete.
|A symbolic number representing the saved who are able to stand through the events of 6:17.
|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|Locusts released from the Abyss <br>Revelation 9<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|9:1–11}}</ref>
|A demonic host released upon the earth at the end of the world.
|A demonic host released upon Israel during the siege of Jerusalem 66–70 AD. 
|The Muslim Arab hordes that overran North Africa, the Near East, and Spain during the 6th to 8th centuries.

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|Large Army from the Euphrates, an army of 'myriads of myriads' <br> Revelation 9:13–16<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|9:13–16}}</ref>
|Futurists frequently translate and interpret the Greek phrase 'myriads of myriads' as meaning a 'double myriad', from which they develop the figure of 200 million. Futurists frequently assign this army of 200 million to China, which they believe will attack Israel in the future. Many Bibles employ a Futurist interpretation of the original Greek when they adopt the figure of 200 million.

Others, such as John Walvoord and Tim Lahaye, see these 200 million beings as 200 million demons who are commanded to kill 1/3 of the Earth's population.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tRHO_7E0M4C | title=Every Prophecy of the Bible: Clear Explanations for Uncertain Times |isbn=978-1-4347-0468-9 | last1=Walvoord | first1=John F. | date=September 2011 | publisher=David C Cook }}</ref>
 
|Preterists hold to the original Greek description of a large army consisting of 'myriads of myriads', as a reference to the large pagan army, which would attack Israel during the Siege of Jerusalem from 66 to 70 AD. The source of this pagan army from beyond the Euphrates is a symbolic reference to Israel's history of being attacked and judged by pagan armies from beyond the Euphrates. Some of the Roman units employed during the siege of Jerusalem were assigned from this area.<ref>Chilton, The Days of Vengeance, p. 251.</ref>
|The Muslim Arab hordes that overran North Africa, the Near East, and Spain during the 6th to 8th centuries.

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'The [[Two Witnesses]]' <br>Revelation 11:1–12<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|11:1–12}}</ref>
|Two people who will preach in Jerusalem at the end of the world.

|The two witnesses and their miracles symbolize the ministries of Moses and Elijah, who in turn symbolize 'The Law' and 'The Prophets', the Old Testament witnesses to the righteousness of God. When the armies of Rome laid siege to and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, it appeared that the two witnesses had been killed.
|The two witnesses (AKA "two olive trees" and "two candlesticks") are the Old and New Testaments.

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'1260 Days' <br>Revelation 11:3<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|11:3}}</ref>
|A literal 1260 days (3.5 years) at the end of the world during which Jerusalem is controlled by pagan nations.

|A literal 1260 days (3.5 years) which occurred 'at the end of the world' in 70 AD when the apostate worship at the temple in Jerusalem was decisively destroyed at the hands of the pagan Roman armies following a 3.5-year Roman campaign in Judea and Samaria. The two witnesses appeared to be dead for 3.5 years during the siege of Jerusalem but were miraculously resurrected as the Early Church.
|Various interpretations

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'The Woman and the Dragon' <br>Revelation 12:1–6<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|12:1–6}}</ref>
|A future conflict between the State of Israel and Satan.

|Symbolic of the Old Covenant Church, the nation of Israel (Woman) giving birth to the Christ child. Satan (the Dragon) was determined to destroy the Christ child. The Woman (the early church), fled Jerusalem before its destruction in 70 AD.
|The Dragon represents Satan and any earthly power he uses. The woman represents God's true church before and after Christ's birth, death, and resurrection. The Woman flees to the desert away from the dominant power of the 1260 years.

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'The Beast out of the Sea' <br>Revelation 13:1–8<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|13:1–8}}</ref>
|The Anti-Christ, or the empire of the Anti-Christ, persecuting Christians.<ref name="books.google.com"/>

|The Roman Empire, [[Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire#Neronian persecution|persecuting the early church]] during the rule of Nero. The sea symbolizing the Mediterranean and the nations of the Roman Empire.
|The Beast is the earthly power supported by the Dragon (Satan). It is the Papal power during the same 42 months mentioned above.

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'The Beast out of the Earth' <br> 'The False Prophet' <br>Revelation 13:11–18<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|13:11–18}}</ref>
|The False Prophet who assists the Anti-Christ.<ref name="books.google.com"/>

|The apostate rulers of the Jewish people, who joined in union with the Roman Empire to persecute the early church.
|The first is the U.S. The second is a future religio-political power in which everyone is forced by the first power to receive the mark of the beast.

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'The [[Number of the beast]], 666' <br>Revelation 13:18<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|13:18}}</ref>
|The number identifying the future empire of the Anti-Christ, persecuting Christians.

| In Hebrew calculations the total sum of Emperor Nero's name, 'Nero Caesar', equated to 666. The number more broadly symbolises the Roman Empire and its persecution of the early church. The number 666 also symbolises an apostate ruler as King Solomon was, who collected 666 talents of gold annually. <br>1 Kings 10:14<ref>{{bibleverse||1Kings|10:14}}</ref>
|Various interpretations.{{Dubious|date=October 2018}}

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|Armageddon <br>Revelation 16:16<ref name="bibleverse||Revelation|16:16">{{bibleverse||Revelation|16:16}}</ref>
|A future literal battle at [[Tel Megiddo|Megiddo]] in the Jezreel Valley, Israel.
|Megiddo is used as a symbol of God's complete victory over His enemies. The battle of [[Armageddon]] occurred 2000 years ago when God used the pagan armies of Rome to comprehensively destroy the apostate worship at the temple in Jerusalem. <br>Revelation 16:16<ref name="bibleverse||Revelation|16:16"/> <br>Judges 5:19<ref>{{bibleverse||Judges|5:19}}</ref> <br>2 Kings 9:27<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Kings|9:27}}</ref>
|A symbolic name concerning the ongoing battle between Jesus and Satan.

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|Mystery Babylon <br> The Great Harlot <br>Revelation 17:1–5<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|17:1–5}}</ref>
|Futurists compose various interpretations for the identity of 'Mystery Babylon' such as the US, the [[Vatican City|Vatican]], or the UN.
|The corrupted city of Jerusalem, who united with pagan nations of the world in their idolatrous practices and participated in persecuting the faithful Old Covenant priests and prophets, and the early church of the New Covenant. <br>Matthew 23:35–37<ref>{{bibleverse||Matthew|23:35–37}}</ref>
|A virtuous woman represents God's true church. A whore represents an apostate church. Typically, ''Mystery Babylon'' is understood to be the esoteric apostasies, and ''Great Harlot'' is understood to be the popular apostasies. Both types of apostasies are already at work, ensnaring the unwary.

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|Seven heads and ten horns <br>Revelation 17:9–11<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|17:9–11}}</ref>
|Futurists compose various interpretations.

One interpretation for the ten horns is an [[alliance]] of ten nations that work for the Anti-Christ.<ref name="books.google.com"/>
|As the Bible text explains, the seven heads are seven mountains. This is a direct reference to the [[Seven hills of Rome]]. It is also noted that the seven hills 'refer to seven kings'. This is a reference to the Caesars of Rome. At the time of the writing of the Revelation, five Caesars had already fallen ([[Julius Caesar]], [[Augustus Caesar]], [[Tiberius Caesar]], [[Caligula]] and [[Claudius Caesar]]), 'One is' ([[Nero]], the sixth Caesar, was on the throne as John was writing the Revelation), and the seventh 'has not yet come'. ([[Galba]], the seventh Caesar, reigned for less than 7 months).<ref>Chilton, The Days of Vengeance, pp. 435–436.</ref> 
|Various interpretations.

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|The Thousand Years <br> The Millennium <br>Revelation 20:1–3<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|20:1–3}}</ref>
|The Millennium is a literal, future 1,000-year reign of Christ following the destruction of God's enemies.

|The Millennium is the current, ongoing rise of God's Kingdom. The Millennium is a symbolic time frame, not a literal time frame. Preterists believe the Millennium has been ongoing since the earthly ministry and ascension of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and is ongoing today.<ref>David Chilton, 'The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation', p. 494.</ref> <br>Daniel 2:34–35<ref>{{bibleverse||Daniel|2:34–35}}</ref>
|The time period between Christ's Second Advent and the rapture of all the righteous, both living and formerly dead, from off earth and the third Advent which brings the New Jerusalem and the saints to the planet. While the saved are gone, the planet is inhabited only by Satan and his hosts, for all the wicked are dead.

|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'The Rapture' <br>Revelation 4:1<ref name="bibleverse||Revelation|4:1">{{bibleverse||Revelation|4:1}}</ref>
|The Rapture is a future removal of the faithful Christian church from earth.

|Preterists generally recognize a future 'Second Coming' of Christ, as described in Acts 1:11 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17. However, they distinguish this from Revelation 4:1 which is construed by Futurists as describing a 'Rapture' event that is separate from the 'Second Coming'.
|
|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'The Great Tribulation' <br>Revelation 4:1<ref name="bibleverse||Revelation|4:1"/>
|The 'Great Tribulation' is a future period of God's judgement on earth.

|The 'Great Tribulation' occurred 2000 years ago when apostate Israel was judged and destroyed by God, culminating in the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem at the hands of the pagan armies of the Roman Empire. The early Church was delivered from this period of judgment because it heeded the warning of Jesus in Matthew 24:16 to flee Jerusalem when it saw the pagan armies of Rome approaching. 
|
|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'The Abomination that causes desolation' <br>Matthew 24:15<ref>{{bibleverse||Matthew|24:15}}</ref>
|The Abomination that causes desolation is a future system of idolatrous worship based at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

|The Abomination that causes desolation was the pagan armies of Rome destroying the apostate system of worship at the Temple in Jerusalem 2000 years ago.
|
|- style="text-align:left; background:#ffffec; vertical-align:top;"
| style="text-align:center;"|'Gog and Magog invasion' <br>Ezekiel 38<ref>{{bibleverse||Ezekiel|38}}</ref>
|Ezekiel 38 refers to a future invasion of Israel by Russia and its allies, resulting in a miraculous deliverance by God.

|Ezekiel 38 refers to the [[Maccabees]]' miraculous defeat of the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucids]] in the 2nd century B.C. As Chilton notes, 'The word ''chief'' is, in the Hebrew, ''rosh'', and according to this view, it does not pertain to Russia.<ref>Chilton, The Days of Vengeance, p. 522.</ref>
|
|}

===Preterism v. Historicism===
Expositors of the traditional Protestant interpretation of Revelation known as [[Historicism (Christian eschatology)|Historicism]] have often maintained that Revelation was written in AD 96 and not [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|AD 70]]. [[Edward Bishop Elliott]], in the ''[[Horae Apocalypticae]]'' (1862), argues that John wrote the book in exile on [[Patmos]] "at the close of the reign of Domitian; that is near the end of the year 95 or beginning of 96". He notes that Domitian was assassinated in September 96.<ref name = "ElliottV1">{{Citation | first = Edward Bishop | last = Elliott | author-link = Edward Bishop Elliott | title = Horae Apocalypticae | publisher = Seely, Jackson and Halliday | place = London | edition = 5th | volume = I | year = 1862| title-link = Horae Apocalypticae }}</ref>{{rp|47}} Elliot begins his lengthy review of historical evidence by quoting [[Irenaeus]], a disciple of [[Polycarp]]. Polycarp was a disciple of John the [[Apostles of Jesus Christ|Apostle of Jesus Christ]]. Irenaeus mentions that the Apocalypse was seen "no very long time ago [but] almost in our own age, toward the end of the reign of Domitian".<ref name = "ElliottV1" />{{rp|32}}

Other historicists have seen no significance in the date that Revelation was written, and have even held to an early date<ref>{{cite book | last =Thomas | first =John | author-link =John Thomas (Christadelphian) | title = Eureka: An Exposition of the Apocalypse (In Three Volumes) | year =1861 | title-link =Eureka: An Exposition of the Apocalypse }}</ref> while Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., makes an exegetical and historical argument for the pre-AD 70 composition of Revelation.<ref>Gentry, Jr., Th.D., K. L. (1989). Before Jerusalem Fell. Retrieved from http://www.entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/a_pdfs/kgbj.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516224723/http://www.entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/a_pdfs/kgbj.pdf |date=2013-05-16 }}</ref>

===Historicism v. Futurism===
The division between these interpretations can be somewhat blurred. Most futurists are expecting a [[rapture]] of the Church, an [[antichrist]], a [[Great Tribulation]] and a [[second coming]] of Christ in the near future. But they also accept certain past events, such as the rebirth of the State of [[Israel]] and the reunification of [[Jerusalem]] as prerequisites to them, in a manner which the earlier historicists have done with other dates. Futurists, who do not normally use the [[day-year principle]], interpret the [[Prophecy of Seventy Weeks]] in Daniel 9:24 as years, just as historicists do. Most historicists have chosen timelines, from beginning to end, entirely in the past,<ref>e.g. 312 AD to 1572, 538 AD to 1798, and 606 AD to 1870. See [[day-year principle]]</ref> but some, such as [[Adam Clarke]], have timelines which also commenced with specific past events, but require a future fulfillment. In his commentary on Daniel 8:14 published in 1831, he stated that the 2,300-year period should be calculated from 334 BC, the year [[Alexander the Great]] began his conquest of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]].<ref name="sacred-texts">{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/clarke/dan.htm|title=Commentary on the Bible by Adam Clarke: Daniel: Daniel index|website=www.sacred-texts.com}}</ref> His calculation resulted in the year 1966. He seems to have overlooked the fact that there is no "year zero" between BC and AD dates - that is, the year following 1 BC is 1 AD. Thus his calculations should have required an additional year, ending in 1967. He was not anticipating a literal regathering of the Jewish people prior to the second coming of Christ. But the date is of special significance to futurists since it is the year of Jerusalem's capture by Israeli forces during the [[Six-Day War]]. His commentary on Daniel 7:25 contains a 1260-year period commencing in 755 AD and ending in 2015.<ref name="sacred-texts"/>