Questions and Answers from Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' Sermon on the Book of Revelation

What are the three main schools of interpretation for the Book of Revelation?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the three main schools of interpretation for the Book of Revelation are:

1. The Preterist view - This interpretation suggests that everything prophesied in Revelation has already happened by the beginning of the fourth century of the Christian era. It was first propounded by a Jesuit priest named Alcazar around 1614.

2. The Futurist view - This interpretation places most of the book's prophecies in the future. It was originally proposed by another Jesuit priest named Ribera around 1603 and later popularized in the 1830s at prophetic conferences, particularly by J.N. Darby.

3. The Historicist view - This interpretation sees Revelation as a prophecy of the history of the kingdom of God from the first advent to the second advent. Within this view, there are subdivisions including the "church historical" view (taught by Luther and the Reformers) and the "continuous historical" view.

Why does Dr. Lloyd-Jones believe many Christians avoid studying the Book of Revelation?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones laments that many Christians avoid studying the Book of Revelation because of "difficulties, because of differences, because of disputes." He observes that the content of the book has even "become the subject of mirth" with people joking about the beasts and the false prophet. He notes that good Christian people have "unconsciously, and having no desire whatsoever to do so, have even brought the scriptures into ridicule and into contempt through a lack of balance in their interest and in their exposition." Lloyd-Jones encourages believers not to approach the text as "disputants to a dispute" or "in a legal spirit to fight a case," but rather to "come in order that we may try together to consider the truth with open minds and spirits and hearts."

What is the Futurist view of Revelation chapters 2 and 3?

According to the Futurist interpretation that Dr. Lloyd-Jones describes, chapters 2 and 3 (the letters to the seven churches) are understood to "unfold the moral history of the church in successive periods of her history, from the close of the first century until the end of the church era." In this view, the seven letters represent seven successive periods or epochs in church history. Futurists would teach that today we are in "the period of the Laodicean condition" and that "probably the Sardis period was that of the reformation." This interpretation sees these chapters as prophetically outlining the entire church age in chronological sequence.

What are the two main subdivisions within the Futurist view?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies two main subdivisions within the Futurist school of interpretation:

1. Those who believe in the preliminary rapture of the saints - This group believes that between chapters 3 and 4, "the Church is raptured, the saints, the church is taken out of the world, and the Holy Spirit is withdrawn." They teach that "from chapter four on, the book of Revelation has nothing whatsoever to do with the church" but applies only to "regathered Israel" and the "tribulation saints."

2. Those who reject the preliminary rapture - This group, which included B.W. Newton and George Muller of Bristol, still believes that the events from chapter 4 onward are future, but they "believe that the church, the believers, will have to go through this tribulation and all that is described in this book."

What is the "continuous historical" interpretation of Revelation?

The continuous historical interpretation, a form of the Historicist view, teaches that "the book of revelation is a book of history without a break" and "a prophecy of the detailed history of the Christian church" with "no overlapping whatsoever between its various visions."

According to this view, the visions in Revelation deal with church history in chronological order. The seven seals represent a sequence of events, with the seventh seal containing the seven trumpets. Similarly, the seventh trumpet contains the seven vials (or bowls).

Proponents of this view "claim to be able to identify all these things with particular historical events" throughout church history. Dr. Lloyd-Jones notes that those who hold this view "do not hesitate in saying that we are undoubtedly at the present time in the period of the 6th vial," meaning we are "on the threshold of the end and the day of the Lord."

What is the "spiritual historicist" interpretation of Revelation?

The spiritual historicist interpretation, also called "the philosophy of history as outlined in the book of Revelation," suggests that the book isn't meant to teach "some continuous historic process in detail" or provide a precis of church history. Instead, it presents "an account of the principles which govern the life and the history of the Christian church between the two advents."

This view sees Revelation as providing "a picture of the forces and the powers that are inimical to the best interests of the kingdom and that are fighting against it." It identifies principles rather than specific historical events.

For example, adherents of this view would say "there is no difference at all in principle between the persecution of the christian church by the Jews and by the Roman Empire, and by certain powers in the Middle Ages and by the Roman Catholic church and by political forces at other times." The beasts in Revelation represent principles like political opposition or false religion, not specific governments or organizations.

What are the Bible verses that futurists base their interpretation on?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies two key verses that futurists base their interpretation on:

1. Revelation 1:19 - "Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter." Futurists interpret this as a key to understanding the whole book, dividing it into:
2. "Things which thou hast seen" - the vision of Christ in chapter 1
3. "Things which are" - the seven churches in chapters 2-3

4. "Things which shall be hereafter" - everything from chapter 4 onward, which they place in the distant future

5. Revelation 4:1 - "After this, I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me, which said, come up hither and I will show thee things which must be hereafter." Futurists interpret "hereafter" to mean in a distant future, nearly 2,000 years later.

Lloyd-Jones notes that there is no explicit statement in either verse about a gap or interval, but futurists who start with the assumption of a gap then interpret these terms to imply one.

What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones say is the ultimate purpose of studying the Book of Revelation?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones concludes that the ultimate purpose of studying the Book of Revelation is to realize "that this book is a book which is most precious to the believer, a book full of comfort and of consolation at this very hour. A book which enables us to understand things that are happening today and to face the unknown future with calmness and with equanimity."

In his prayer, he thanks God for not leaving believers "to face the battle and the problems of our earthly existence even as thy people and in thy church without light and without knowledge and without instruction." He emphasizes that the purpose of biblical prophecy is that believers "may be comforted and consoled and strengthened and invigorated to go on with a good fight of faith knowing in whom we have believed and knowing that thy purposes are ever sure."