Historicist interpretations of the Book of Revelation

Historicism, a method of interpretation in Christian eschatology which associates biblical prophecies with actual historical events and identifies symbolic beings with historical persons or societies, has been applied to the Book of Revelation by many writers. The Historicist view follows a straight line of continuous fulfillment of prophecy which starts in Daniel’s time and goes through John’s writing of the Book of Revelation all the way to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

One of the most influential rhetorical aspects of the Protestant historicist paradigm was the speculation that the Pope could be the Antichrist. Martin Luther wrote this view, which was not novel, into the Smalcald Articles of 1537. It was then widely popularized in the 16th century, via sermons, drama, books, and broadside publication. The alternate methods of prophetic interpretation, Futurism and Preterism were brought about to oppose this interpretation that the Antichrist was the Papacy or the power of the Roman Catholic Church.

Protestant reformers, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Thomas, John Knox, and Cotton Mather, felt the early church had been led into apostasy by the Papacy and identified it as the Antichrist. The Centuriators of Magdeburg, a group of Lutheran scholars in Magdeburg headed by Matthias Flacius, wrote the 12-volume “Magdeburg Centuries” to discredit the papacy and identify the pope as the Antichrist. So rather than expecting a single Antichrist to rule the earth during a future Tribulation period, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other Protestant reformers saw the Antichrist as a present feature in the world of their time, fulfilled in the papacy.

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Author: Wikipedia

Keywords: Revelation, Apocalypse, Book of Revelation, John's Apocalypse, prophetic symbols

Bible reference(s): Rev 1, Rev 2, Rev 3, Rev 4, Rev 5, Rev 6, Rev 7, Rev 8, Rev 9, Rev 10, Rev 11, Rev 12, Rev 13, Rev 14, Rev 15, Rev 16, Rev 17, Rev 18, Rev 19, Rev 20, Rev 21, Rev 22

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