An Enduring Vision: Revelation Revealed

One of the elements that defined early Protestantism was its historicist1approach to the understanding of Bible prophecy. Historicism interprets Bible prophecy as it has been fulfilled in history. Following the mistaken conclusions of the Millerite movement of 1844, Protestants began to move away from the historicist principle. Once the climate of ecumenism had developed among those churches, the inescapable conclusions of the historicist method of interpretation became increasingly unpalatable.

As a result, most Christian churches now apply a futurist/dispensationalist approach to Bible prophecy. Futurism typically seeks to place most prophecy into the future around the second advent. The “Left Behind” series is based on this interpretation. Other methods of interpretation such as the preterist2and idealist3viewpoints have also been introduced in an attempt to escape the uncomfortable yet compelling identification of key players in the prophecies describing the Christian era. While the papacy figures prominently in prophecies found in the book of Revelation, we must emphasize that the focus is intended to be on the system, rather than on individual adherents to this faith. We believe that Scripture teaches that God has faithful followers in every religion.

The veracity of Historicism however, doesn’t need to be argued. It is self-evident. Logical, systematic and evidence-based, the historicist method provides a clear and convincing understanding of Biblical prophecy, which is both intellectually satisfying and yet speaks to the heart. Nearly all of Bible prophecy, as understood by the historicist method, has been fulfilled in detail as predicted. We can have confidence therefore that the remaining prophecies now in process of fulfillment are part of the sure word of prophecy, which we do well to heed (2 Peter 1:19).