Due to the widespread influence of dispensationalism, the preterist approach to Revelation shocks many Christians. So it is important to carefully introduce them to the exegetical rationale for this approach.
I believe we should present a four-fold exegetical justification for preterism in Revelation. These justifications are rooted in interpretive demands derived from the text itself, not from theological predispositions (e.g., anti-premillennialism) or from traditional predilections (e.g., Moses Stuart, Milton Terry).
So I will begin with in this first article with: Temporal Indicators.
The leading preterist evidence derives from John’s temporal delimitations, which he emphasizes by strategic placement, didactic assertion, frequent repetition, and careful variation.
He strategically places them twice in his introduction (1:1, 3) and five times in his conclusion (22:6, 7, 10, 12, 20), thereby bracketing the highly wrought drama within (4:1–22:6). In these didactic passages John employs two terms demanding preterism: tachos / tachu (1:1, cp. 22:7, 12, 20) and eggus (1:3; cp. 22:10). For example:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly [tachos] take place. . . . Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near [eggus]. (1:1a, 3)
John immediately impresses upon his reader the nearness of his prophetic events.
Lexicographers agree on the temporal significance of tachos in Revelation: The Baur-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker Lexicon (BAGD) notes that en tachei means: “soon, in a short time Lk 18:8; Ro 16:20; 1 Ti 3:14 v.1; Rv 1:1; 22:6; 1 Cl 65:1; shortly Ac 25:4.” Thayer offers the following range of meanings: “quickness, speed and quickly, shortly, speedily, soon,” listing Revelation 1:1 and 22:6 with the “speedily, soon” entries. Abbott-Smith concurs: 1:1 and 22:6 mean “quickly, speedily, soon.”
Greek text editors F. J. A. Hort, Kurt Aland, and Howard Marshall agree. Hort translates it “shortly, soon.” Aland comments: “In the original text, the Greek work used is tachu, and this does not mean ‘soon,’ in the sense of ‘sometime,’ but rather ‘now,’ immediately.” Marshall cites Revelation 1:1 and 22:6 as evidence that the normal use of the phrase en tachei “suggest[s] that soon is the meaning.”
In fact, all English versions translate it either as: “soon” (NIV, RSV, Beck, NRSV, NAB, CEV), “shortly” (KJV, ASV, Weymouth, NEB, NASB, NKJV), or “very soon” (Moffatt, Phillips, Williams, TEV). Tachos obviously indicates temporal brevity elsewhere (e.g., Lk 18:8; Ac 12:7; Ro 16:20). The same is true of its related form tachus (Mt 5:25; Mk 9:39; Lk 15:22; cp. Rev 2:16; 3:11; 11:14; 22:7, 12, 20).
This evidence is reinforced by John’s linking tachos with eggus in the same contexts, as if to provide a two-fold witness (1:1, 3; 22:6, 10). BAGD provides the following entry for eggus: “of time near a. of the future: kairos Mt 26:18; Rv 1:3; 22:10.” The other lexicons cited above concur. TDNT notes that the term means “temporally near at hand” and observes that “like the Synpt., Rev. uses eggus only as a term for the near coming of the kingdom of God. Thus we have ho gar kairos eggus in 1:3; cf. 22:10″ (3:330, 331). The various samples of eggus in the NT all agree: some relating spatial, others temporal nearness (Mt 24:32, 33; 26:18; 13:28, 29; Lk 19:11; 21:30, 31). And again, all translations of Revelation agree; all versions cited above have either “near” or “at hand.”
Perhaps the most interesting proof of the meaning of these terms is the various competing, innovative, counter-intuitive attempts to get around their obvious significance! Indeed, if these terms do not express temporal nearness, what terms could John have used to do so? I am firmly convinced John prophesies the fast approaching destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70.
“The Book of Revelation is not about the Second Coming of Christ. It is about the
destruction of Israel and Christ’s victory over His enemies in the establishment of the
New Covenant Temple. In fact, as we shall see, the word coming as used in the Book
of Revelation never refers to the Second Coming. Revelation prophesies the
judgment of God on apostate Israel; and while it does briefly point to events beyond its
immediate concerns, that is done merely as a “wrap-up,” to show that the ungodly will
never prevail against Christ’s Kingdom. But the main focus of Revelation is upon
events which were soon to take place.
• The Great Tribulation “took place in the Fall of Israel. It will not be repeated and thus
is not a future event.”1
• The Great Apostasy “happened in the first century. We therefore have no Biblical
warrant to expect increasing apostasy as history progresses; instead, we should expect
the increasing Christianization of the world.” 2
• The Last Days “is a Biblical expression for the period between Christ’s Advent and the
destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70: the “last days” of Israel.” 3
• The Antichrist “is a term used by John to describe the widespread apostasy of the
Christian Church prior to the Fall of Jerusalem. In general, any apostate teacher or
system can be called ‘antichrist’; but the word does not refer to some ‘future Fuhrer.’”
• The Rapture is “the ‘catching up’ of the living saints ‘to meet the Lord in the air.’ The
Bible does not teach any separation between the Second Coming and the Rapture; they
are simply different aspects of the Last Day.” 5
• The Second Coming “coinciding with the Rapture and the Resurrection, will take
place at the end of the Millennium, when history is sealed at the Judgment.” 6
• The Beast “of Revelation was a symbol of both Nero in particular and the Roman
Empire in general.” 7
• The False Prophet “of Revelation was none other than the leadership of apostate
Israel, who rejected Christ and worshiped the Beast.” 8
• The Great Harlot of Revelation was “Jerusalem which had always been . . . falling into
apostasy and persecuting the prophets . . . which had ceased to be the City of God.” 9
• The Millennium “is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, which He established at His First
Advent. . . . the period between the First and Second Advents of Christ; the Millennium
is going on now, with Christians reigning as kings on earth.” 10
“Other postmillennialists
interpret the millennium as a future stage of history. Though the kingdom is already
inaugurated, there will someday be a greater outpouring of the Spirit than the church
has yet experienced.” 11
• The First Resurrection of Revelation 20:5 is a “Spiritual resurrection: our justification
and regeneration in Christ.” 12
• The Thousand Years of Revelation 20:2-7 is a “large, rounded-off number. . . . the
number ten contains the idea of a fullness of quantity; in other words, it stands for
manyness. A thousand multiplies and intensifies this (10 X 10 X 10), in order to express
great vastness. . . . represent a vast, undefined period of time . . . It may require a
million yea
• The New Creation “has already begun: The Bible describes our salvation in Christ,
both now and in eternity, as ‘a new heaven and a new earth.’” 14
• Israel In contrast to the eventual faithfulness and empowerment by the Holy Spirit of
the Church, “ethnic Israel was excommunicated for its apostasy and will never again be
God’s Kingdom.” 15 Thus, “the Bible does not tell of any future plan for Israel as a
special nation.” 16
The Church is now that new nation (Matt. 21:43) which is why Christ
destroyed the Jewish state. “In destroying Israel, Christ transferred the blessings of the
kingdom from Israel to a new people, the church.” 17
• The New Jerusalem “the City of God, is the Church, now and forever.” 18
• The Final Apostasy refers to Satan’s last gasp in history (Rev. 20:7-10). “The
Dragon will be released for a short time, to deceive the nations in his last-ditch attempt
to overthrow the Kingdom.” 19
This will be “in the far future, at the close of the
Messianic age,” 20
shortly before the Second Coming.
• Armageddon “was for St. John a symbol of defeat and desolation, a ‘Waterloo’
signifying the defeat of those who set themselves against God, who obey false prophets
instead of the true.” “There never was or will be a literal ‘Battle of Armageddon,’ for
there is no such place