The book of Revelation has been the source of much fascination, debate, and confusion, and I claim no special insight when it comes to untangling the countless eschatological theories attached to it. Truthfully, I’m not sure anyone else does either. To my shame, I’ve embraced, rejected, and reconsidered each of the four major millennial positions, premil, postmil, amil, and historicist, at some stage in my life, and at this juncture, I’m convinced that though some may contain fragments of truth, none of them tell the entire story. Apart from the light of the gospel, the book of Revelation remains largely veiled, a deliberate obscurity that exposes the irony of our confidence, reminding us that no system or scheme can decode what was never meant to be deciphered apart from Christ, and that no amount of theological scaffolding can reach what God has reserved to be revealed in His Son alone. Matthew 11:27. It’s a reminder to us all that the glory of Christ cannot be mapped, managed, or manipulated to fit within man’s theological schemes or serve his prophetic curiosities, and that the full scope of what God has revealed in the book of Revelation refuses to be caged by human timelines and theological blueprints. The core of Revelation is not chronological, but Christological, it is not a sequence of events, but the exaltation of Jesus Christ.
Like Daniel, who glimpsed fragments of gospel truth by divine revelation and was granted a view into redemptive history, Daniel 9, so too may a solitary, Spirit-taught believer perceive something of its meaning. But when natural men, with unrenewed hearts and unillumined minds, attempt to chart its mysteries, the result is confusion, error, and theological shipwreck. Christ becomes incidental to their system, a supporting character in their eschatological chart. History bears witness. Scripture gives warning. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8.
Additionally, let us not suppose that the need for caution ends with “the deceived and the deceiver,” Job 12:16, as though ‘error’ were confined to those who merely traffic in the scriptures. For even among those who love Christ, who truly believe the gospel, and perhaps even faithfully preach it, there remains a subtle danger; namely, the temptation to press beyond what is written. In our zeal to explain every mystery and leave no stone unturned, we too may wander into speculative dogmatism, mistaking conjecture for revelation, and inadvertently marring the simplicity that is in Christ. II Corinthians 11:3. Here the issue is not the rejection of what God has said, but the reckless expansion of it, and the subtle embellishment of what God has revealed. (“Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few.” Ecclesiastes 5:2.) Such zeal, though well-intentioned, can turn reverent scriptural study into reckless speculation. What sometimes begins as a search for truth often hardens into expositional dogmatism, as almost every passage is made to conform to a predetermined path and every symbol is forced into a rigid framework, and the humble posture of a student of scripture is soon replaced by the presumption of an expert or scholar, or the posture of a doctrinal gatekeeper.
Over the years I’ve listened to countless messages from well meaning brethren claiming to have some heavenly insight into this book, flipped through stacks of commentaries, and trudged through more eschatological papers than I care to remember, and what strikes me most is the confidence with which men speak of matters God has not made plain. Perhaps it’s the subtle pride that arises in claiming to know what others do not, to be wise above what is written, or to possess a knowledge that sets us apart? I Corinthians 8:1. None of us are immune! And perhaps the greater danger is not in being wrong, but in being proud of being right, especially when God has chosen in His wisdom, to leave certain things veiled. Romans 12:3.
Then again, perhaps the reason I find such certainty so baffling is not because the Scriptures are unclear, but because I am? That I lack the spiritual discernment to grasp what others, by divine illumination, have seen clearly? Perhaps, in all my caution, I have missed what the Spirit has plainly made known to others? These thoughts come with weight. But even then, even when I suspect my own blindness, I once again cannot escape the conviction that the Lord has not chosen to make every detail plain, and that if the ‘truth’ extracted from these scriptures were so clear, why does every “clear” system contradict the next? Why does absolute certainty wear so many different masks? All in all, my thoughts are that the LORD has not called us to decipher mysteries, but to follow Christ. And I find peace in this, that the light we need most is not the key to prophecy, but the knowledge of the ONE who is Himself the fulfillment of all prophecy, Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega. Revelation 1:8. The only true wisdom in these matters is to confess our blindness apart from Christ. It’s all about Christ glorified, enthroned, and unveiled. The symbols point to Him. The judgments proceed from Him, and the hope belongs to those who belong to Him. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10. MPJ