Some Protestant theologians argue that the contains a realized which contradicts the contained in Revelation (e.g., chaps. 21–22). Against this Protestant view, however, stands the Protestant proposition that, properly interpreted, even realized eschatology is not fully realized eschatology: God's kingdom has been initiated but is not entirely implemented. This view is generally called the "already but not yet" state of God's kingdom.
John explicitly addresses Revelation to : , , , , , , and (1:4, 11). All of these sites are located in what is now . He mentions details about these communities that indicate he knew and was known to them. They also conclude that he was a Jew from Palestine as his use of the Greek language indicates that he was not a native speaker but of a Semitic mother tongue and he is very familiar with the Hebrew Bible. Although most of protestants believe that the letters to “seven” churches are not because there were only seven churches in Asia or because Jesus didn’t want to say anything to other churches but because they also represent the completeness of the church as the number seven is a symbol of completeness in the Bible.
The book believes the letters was given to the church as a warning message; for God wants His people to prepare themselves for the stormy future that lies ahead. For, believe it or not, the church is not going to be secretly caught away to heaven before the Great Tribulation. Any believer, therefore, who persistently ignores God's warning message, is courting disaster!
In chapters 4-22 John records his heavenly vision of the future course of history, down to the end of time. Briefly, the narrative is unfolds as follows. John is taken up into heaven through a door in the sky. There he beholds the throne of God, who is eternally worshipped and praised by twenty-four human “elders” and four “living creatures”(angelic being in the shapes of animals; chapter 4). In the hand of the figure on the throne is a scroll sealed with seven seals, which can not be broken except by one who is found worthy. He then sees next to the throne a “Lamb standing as if it had been taken slaughtered” (5:6). The lamb, of course, is Christ. The Lamb takes the scroll from the hand of God and begins to break its seals (chap 5). With each broken seal a major tragedy strikes the earth: war, famine, death, which can be referred to the war in Iraq and the poverty and famine in Africa and the death of people in Tsunami. The book then moves on to further devastation strikes on earth through different judgements: seven trumpets, angels and bowls. The number seven is significant as it means the fullness destruction and agony. The end comes with the battle in which Christ wins with his heavenly armies against the enemies of God. And the antichrist and the false prophet are thrown into a lake of burning sulphur to be tormented for ever. Then the Devil emerges for a brief time to lead some of the nations astray, after thousand years. Towards the end John sees the final judgment of Christ which brought eternal life for those who have sided with him, but the Devil and his antichrist and those who have ignored Jesus are taken away for eternal torment and thrown into the lake as are finally Hades and Death itself. At the end the prophet has a vision of the new heaven and the new earth that God creates for his people. A New Jerusalem descends from heaven, a beautiful place where Christ reigns eternal, where there is no fear or darkness, no pain or suffering or evil or death. John ends his book by emphasizing his vision is true and that it will come to fulfilment very soon.
The Anglican/Episcopal view is that this book should be seen as a book of hope and also a book of warning. It gives hope to those Christians who are being persecuted, assuring them that their suffering is not in vain. It also warns those non-Christians of the coming events and what will happen to them.
The book of Revelation With its vivid imagery of disaster and suffering - the Battle of Armageddon, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the hideous Beast whose number is 666 - many have seen it as a map to the end of the world . Some say it predicts global warming, AIDS and even the Chernobyl nuclear disaster which in this case can have a message for people today as well as those people in 96 CE. But Biblical scholars, having studied the text and the social and political history of the time, have a different interpretation. The author says, "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet" (Rev. 1.11), and this voice tells him to write what he is about to see. This begins the "revelatory" vision that is at the centre of the book.
During the First World War, in 1917, some author associated with the Inner Mission, L .Bostrup, issued a small commentary (Johannes’s Aebenbaring) that argued that the narrative of Revelation is historically progressive and that the current time was described in Revelation 8-9. Bostrup suggested that the millennium was obscure and future, but its actual length symbolic (cf. 2 Pet 3:8).Bostrup refers to the signs of the recent times i.e. the war in Middle East.
There are many ideas about how the book of Revelation should be interpreted. Some maintain that the visions have already been fulfilled while others believe they will be fulfilled sometime in the distant future. Some attempt to relate specific events in history to the symbols, and many believe the symbols are referring to certain events taking place in the world today.
Some scholars believe that God tells the readers plainly when the prophecies would be fulfilled 4 times in the book of Revelation. In the first and last chapter.
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw." Rev 1:1
So based on this verse many would say that the prophecies were fulfilled shortly after revelation was written in 96 AD. In Rev 1:3 is also written that:
"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." Rev 1:3
This verse conveys that the fulfilment of prophecies was near and could not beet 2000 years later.
And he (the angel) said to me (John), "These words are faithful and true"; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must shortly take place." Rev 22:6
"And he (the angel) said to me (John), 'Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.'" Rev 22:10
Those that take these verses literary would say that Most of the major prophecies in Revelation have already been fulfilled. The book was written primarily for the benefit of 1st century Christians and not for us living today in the 20th century. Specific current events in today's newspapers have very little to do with the prophecies found in the Book of Revelation.
Some scholars say that the Revelation applies to people today as the terrifying weapons developed and manufactured using modern technology are an indication that the terrible time of trouble may be much nearer than we might think. Nations have already stockpiled more than enough weapons to annihilate all human life from the face of the earth. Rogue nations increasingly gain the ability to produce and use horrifying weapons of mass destruction.
Even more frightful are terrorist groups, unable to attain their goals by conventional arms or diplomacy that now has access to such deadly weapons. Respected international-security advisers warn that the danger of nuclear weapons being used by terrorist nations or groups grows ever higher. Nuclear weapons are only one of several means of mass destruction available to amoral terrorists bent on achieving their ends by any means, including mass carnage.
Michael G.Azar says: For many modern interpreters of Revelation, the State of Israel takes center stage. Every action of Israel, from its creation after WWII, through its border expansions in 1967, and even to its recent military strikes in Lebanon, have all been prophesied and sanctioned by Scripture.
