Jewish Roots Evidence for a Futurist Interpretation of the Book of Revelation
Introduction
I am a believer in the concept of biblical patterns and double or even multiple fulfillments of prophecy. The destruction of the Temple on the 9th of Av, 586 BC and again on the 9th of Av, AD 70 evidence the pattern-like nature of God’s dealings.
Still, prophecies usually have one “more literal” fulfillment (e.g., Isaiah 7:14). So it is possible to examine a verse, see how it was fulfilled somewhat near to the prophecy, but then see a fuller fulfillment in the future. Thus the Book of Revelation can have several fulfillments, one that is past, one that is ideological and not tied to particular dates, and one that is somewhat more literal, sequential, and tied to the End Times. Thus the “Futurist” approach to Revelation is not necessarily mutually exclusive, but is, I believe, primary.
Does Jewish literature leave us an example, a clue for interpreting Revelation 4-19 in particular? Although many of us tie this period to Daniel’s 70th seven (Daniel 9:25ff), others see it otherwise. So what evidence is there—outside of the Bible proper—that suggests understanding Revelation 4-19 as an expansion and detailed account of the coming seven-year world tribulation? Glad you asked.
2 Baruch is part of the pseudepigrapha, meaning it is a “falsely named” Jewish religious work; it was probably written shortly before Jesus was born. The authorship is ascribed to Jeremiah’s secretary, Baruch, which is why the document is falsely named. It was certainly not written by Baurch, but over five centuries after his time.
This passage—while not a source of doctrine—demonstrates what some Pharisees believed about the End Times shortly before Jesus’ first coming. Although Jewish imagination is involved in this equation, we must remember that the initial ideas (a time of tribulation, for example) are grounded in Old Testament texts. These verses—and the idea that information about the Tribulation and Earthly Kingdom needed to be expanded upon—may prefigure Revelation, which does just that. The difference, of course, is that Revelation is inspired and dependable. Still, Revelation’s teachings are continuations of Old Testament themes; this is to be expected, for the same God is Lord of both Testaments.
Note these similarities to Revelation: a terrible tribulation with all sorts of disasters, the ideal Millennial Kingdom, and then judgment day (Great White Throne). Also note a well-defined viewpoint on perdition (in Revelation, expanded to include the Lake of Fire). The text follows.
The text from 2 Baruch
(2 Baruch 26:1-30:5)
26:1 And I answered and said: “Will that tribulation which is to be continue a long time, and will that necessity embrace many years?”
27:1 And He answered and said unto me: “Into twelve parts is that time divided, and each one of them is reserved for that which is appointed for it. 2 In the first part there shall be the beginning of commotions. 3 And in the second part (there shall be) slayings of the great ones. 4 And in the third part the fall of many by death. 5 And in the fourth part the sending of the sword. 6 And in the fifth part famine and the withholding of rain. 7 And in the sixth part earthquakes and terrors. 8 [Wanting.] 9 And in the eighth part a multitude of specters and attacks of the Shedim [demons]. 10 And in the ninth part the fall of fire. 11 And in the tenth part rapine [violent seizures of property] and much oppression. 12 And in the eleventh part wickedness and unchastity. 13 And in the twelfth part confusion from the mingling together of all those things aforesaid. 14 For these parts of that time are reserved, and shall be mingled one with another and minister one to another. 15 For some shall leave out some of their own, and receive (in its stead) from others, and some complete their own and that of others, so that those may not understand who are upon the earth in those days that this is the consummation of the times.
28:1 Nevertheless, whoever understands shall then be wise. 2 For the measure and reckoning of that time are two parts a week of seven weeks.” 3 And I answered and said: “It is good for a man to come and behold, but it is better that he should not come lest he fall. 4 [But I will say this also: 5 Will he who is incorruptible despise those things which are corruptible, and whatever befalls in the case of those things which are corruptible, so that he might look only to those things which are not corruptible?] 6 But if; O Lord, those things shall assuredly come to pass which you have foretold to me, so do you show this also unto me if indeed I have found grace in Your sight. 7 Is it in one place or in one of the parts of the earth that those things are come to pass, or will the whole earth experience (them) ?”
29:1 And He answered and said unto me: “Whatever will then befall (will befall) the whole earth; therefore all who live will experience (them). 2 For at that time I will protect only those who are found in those self-same days in this land. 3 And it shall come to pass when all is accomplished that was to come to pass in those parts, that the Messiah shall then begin to be revealed. 4 And Behemoth shall be revealed from his place and Leviathan shall ascend from the sea, those two great monsters which I created on the fifth day of creation, and shall have kept until that time; and then they shall be for food for all that are left. 5 The earth also shall yield its fruit ten-thousand-fold and on each (?) vine there shall be a thousand branches, and each branch shall produce a thousand clusters, and each cluster produce a thousand grapes, and each grape produce a cor of wine. 6 And those who have hungered shall rejoice: moreover, also, they shall behold marvels every day. 7 For winds shall go forth from before Me to bring every morning the fragrance of aromatic fruits, and at the close of the day clouds distilling the dew of health. 8 And it shall come to pass at that self-same time that the treasury of manna shall again descend from on high, and they will eat of it in those years, because these are they who have come to the consummation of time.
30:1 And it shall come to pass after these things, when the time of the advent of the Messiah is fulfilled, that He shall return in glory. 2 Then all who have fallen asleep in hope of Him shall rise again. And it shall come to pass at that time that the treasuries will be opened in which is preserved the number of the souls of the righteous, and they shall come forth, and a multitude of souls shall be seen together in one assemblage of one thought, and the first shall rejoice and the last shall not be grieved. 3 For they know that the time has come of which it is said, that it is the consummation of the times. 4 But the souls of the wicked, when they behold all these things, shall then waste away the more. 5 For they shall know that their torment has come and their perdition has arrived.” [Source: http://www.pseudepigrapha.com]
Conclusion
The Jewish culture is the background for the New Testament, and writings like 2 Baruch could easily have primed the early Messianic community to understand Revelation in the Futurist sense, with Revelation 4-19 being a more detailed prophetic account of that period. Such an idea is not merely a New Testament innovation.
Ed Vasicek Bio
Ed Vasicek was raised as a Roman Catholic but, during high school, Cicero (IL) Bible Church reached out to him, and he received Jesus Christ as his Savior by faith alone. Ed earned his BA at Moody Bible Institute and served as pastor for many years at Highland Park Church, where he is now pastor emeritus. Ed and his wife, Marylu, have two adult children. Ed has published over 1,000 columns for the opinion page of the Kokomo Tribune, published articles in Pulpit Helps magazine, and posted many papers which are available at edvasicek.com. Ed has also published the The Midrash Key and The Amazing Doctrines of Paul As Midrash: The Jewish Roots and Old Testament Sources for Paul's Teachings.
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Greetings James,
I don’t quite understand what you mean when you say John drew extensively from the prophets.
As I understand it John wrote down the visions given to him. The fact that they may have similarities I don’t understand to mean that he literally drew upon his knowledge of what the prophets had written in order to write Revelation.
I have this same tussle with our house group leader.
You seem to be implying that John purposely looked up what the prophets said in order to write the book of Revelation.
Do I understand correctly? Apologies if I have misunderstood.
Richard Pajak
I am answering your question raised to James with my opinion. Hope you don’t mind me butting in.
I would say that God himself drew on the Old Testament prophets in Revelation, not that he needed direction. You are right to assert that John wrote down what he saw and heard. The point is that even God uses Midrash, a fascinating thought if correct. A pre-planned Midrash, I might add.
If God inspires Paul to use Midrash, for example, God would logically do the same. Neither Paul nor God had to use to Midrash, but it appears they (and others) did.
By the way, I would suggest that Midrash and Progressive Revelation are friends. Sometimes progressive revelation begins with a text or teaching that is referred to and then expanded upon or added to. This is very close to the idea of Midrash. So Revelaiton’s expansions about Zechariah or Daniel, for example, would, in a sense, be Midrash, IMO, if it takes us back to the earlier texts.
"The Midrash Detective"
Richard, there is no question that John would have been much more familiar with the Old Testament than most of us are today. What we lack at times in the prophets is the order of events and explanation of the visions. John gave us the order of events and explanation of the visions.
For example, you have the 4 horsemen, the beast made up of the same 4 empires of Daniel 7, the time, times, and half a time, the day of the Lord, the defeat of the beast by the Messiah’s coming, just to name a few all taken directly from the prophets. This also allows us to go back to the prophets and sort out their visions with a definite timeline and understanding.
John didn’t make it up if that is what you are thinking I meant. God moved John to write it.
1 Kings 8:60 - so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other.
By the way, two more points regarding Revelation:
1. I do not think those like Beale are lazy in the sense that they don’t work hard. They do. In fact, I firmly believe they work harder than premills like me do. I have to work hard to explain what the Bible says. Beale and his ilk have to work hard to explain away what the Bible says and then replace it with fantasy.
2. The faithless, the nonpremills, have opted for a plan B theology. God wasn’t able to actually keep His word, so He has to try with a new people. Well, that is what they say. More fantasy.
1 Kings 8:60 - so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other.
[James K]Richard, there is no question that John would have been much more familiar with the Old Testament than most of us are today. What we lack at times in the prophets is the order of events and explanation of the visions. John gave us the order of events and explanation of the visions.
For example, you have the 4 horsemen, the beast made up of the same 4 empires of Daniel 7, the time, times, and half a time, the day of the Lord, the defeat of the beast by the Messiah’s coming, just to name a few all taken directly from the prophets. This also allows us to go back to the prophets and sort out their visions with a definite timeline and understanding.
John didn’t make it up if that is what you are thinking I meant. God moved John to write it.
Although you said in response to another thread we discussed about the Pope, that you are not a preterist, you do seem to hold to the same idea that partial preterists have in that you appear to claim that Revelation is merely a recapitulation of Daniel. But then again, there’s a lack of cohesiveness in your writing and your explanations are not very clear as to what your position is (as others have even noticed and asked for clarifications).
The major problem with your theory of recapitulation is that John was told to write the things he sees, the things which ARE and the things that shall be HEREAFTER, not write the things which WERE (Rev 1:19). It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, not the revelation of Daniel. Rev 1:1
For John to merely have borrowed from all of the OT prophets instead of the Revelation having prophecies that are expounding on an OT concept, and being new revelation, but which were not made known in the OT, would be to disobey the command to write of what was future.
Without even offering several reasons why your comparisons are faulty with regard to the 4 horsemen, times times and a half time [there are TWO divisions of 3.5 years in Revelation] , the simple fact that Daniel 9:25 mentions the decree of Ezra which was a known historical event proves that the prophecies in Daniel are not merely restated by John in Revelation.
But, you don’t make clear whether you think John draws exclusively from the prophets, or extensively from the prophets as you have made the argument for both. And then your arguments become convoluted by adding non sequitur issues, creating your own caricature of what others believe and then criticizing that caricature. (For example, the “Now I see it” moment you gave above with three examples of what you assumed someone believed, and then criticized them for believing it.)
And it doesn’t help that you attempt to mix up prophecies that have been mostly fulfilled (Daniels description of the 4 empires) with those that have not (The 4 Horsemen, of which the first in Rev 6:2 is definitely not the first empire in Daniels vision). You incorporate several different conflicting theological positions in your comments which is likely why so many have a difficult time trying to understand just exactly where you are coming from.
Dr James Ach
What Kills You Makes You Stronger Rom 8:13; 7:24-25
DrJames, your post is so confusing about what you think I am saying, that I will try to just sum up to help you out.
1. I am a futurist. The overwhelming majority of content in Revelation is still future.
2. There is nothing I am saying that is even remotely close to preterism of any kind.
3. Much of Revelation is the order of events of prophecies previously given, but not yet fulfilled. I gave examples. 4 horsemen are in Zechariah, the beast of Rev 13 is made up of the beasts of Daniel 7 (your own misinterpretation causes you to miss this fact), the day of the Lord is not unique to Rev.
4. None of this hurts the command for John to write what he sees.
5. You do not take the time to actually want to understand, you appear to simply disagree because I don’t write within your category of thinking. This causes you to think that I am going back and forth. I remember when I had the same categories as you. Frankly, I am glad those days are over. I don’t have to gloss over contradictions.
1 Kings 8:60 - so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other.
[James K]DrJames, your post is so confusing about what you think I am saying, that I will try to just sum up to help you out.
1. I am a futurist. The overwhelming majority of content in Revelation is still future.
2. There is nothing I am saying that is even remotely close to preterism of any kind.
3. Much of Revelation is the order of events of prophecies previously given, but not yet fulfilled. I gave examples. 4 horsemen are in Zechariah, the beast of Rev 13 is made up of the beasts of Daniel 7 (your own misinterpretation causes you to miss this fact), the day of the Lord is not unique to Rev.
4. None of this hurts the command for John to write what he sees.
5. You do not take the time to actually want to understand, you appear to simply disagree because I don’t write within your category of thinking. This causes you to think that I am going back and forth. I remember when I had the same categories as you. Frankly, I am glad those days are over. I don’t have to gloss over contradictions.
James, I obviously agree with you and your viewpoints on this matter. I would add that it is GOD who is brining back the truths and imagery of Zechariah and Daniel, not John. John is more passive in writing Revelation than any other author in the New Testament.
"The Midrash Detective"
Discussion