7.2. The Art and Science of Interpretation

Among evangelicals there are generally two major camps regarding how prophetic passages should be read. Amillennialists will generally allegorize large portions of the prophetic Word, especially passages that speak of the Second Advent of Christ and the establishment of the one thousand year literal Davidic kingdom. In contrast, premillennialists, following the teaching of the early church, treat the Second Coming with the same literal hermeneutic as they would the First Coming of Jesus. They hold that the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, should be understood literally from a normal reading unless typology or poetry is used. And even then, premillennialists believe that “literalness” is implied behind the figure of speech or illustration used.¹⁶

Adopting a nonliteral view of the Old Testament kingdom prophecies raises some disturbing questions: What did those prophecies mean to those to whom they were addressed? If prophecies seemingly addressed to Israel really apply to the church (which did not exist at that time), did God give revelation that failed to reveal? And if those prophecies were meant to apply symbolically to the church, why were they addressed to Israel? What meaning could such prophecies have in their historical settings? Ironically, many who spiritualize Old Testament prophecies reject the futurist interpretation of Revelation because it allegedly robs the book of its meaning for those to whom it was written. Yet they do the very same thing with the Old Testament kingdom prophecies.¹⁷

Notes

¹ Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, 3rd rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1970), 11.

² Kay Arthur, How To Study Your Bible (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1994), 9-10.

³ J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), 44.

⁴ One of the best examples is the apparent contradiction between the genealogies of Christ given by Matthew Mat. 1:1 and Luke Luke 3:1. The solution to this dilemma reveals the masterful genius of God in His curse of Jeconiah (Jer. Jer. 22:30; Jer. 36:30). Indeed, “the Divine is in the details!”

⁵ Steve Gregg, Revelation Four Views: A Parallel Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 11.

⁶ Mal Couch, Classical Evangelical Hermeneutics (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications), 36-37.

⁷ Gregory K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 54.

⁸ Henry Morris, The Revelation Record (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1983), 13.

⁹ This leads to a general rule of thumb. Although there are notable exceptions, the more weighty the commentary, the more likely it will mislead the reader in his understanding of the book of Revelation.

¹⁰ Mal Couch, “Interpreting the Book of Revelation,” in Mal Couch, ed., A Bible Handbook to Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2001), 49.

¹¹ David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance (Tyler, TX: Dominion Press, 1987), 28.

¹² Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, 121.

¹³ Charles Feinberg, Premillennialism or Amillennialism (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1936), 50.

¹⁴ Alva J. McClain, The Greatness Of The Kingdom (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1959), 144.

¹⁵ Arthur Walkington Pink, The Antichrist (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1999, 1923), s.v. “Antichrist and Babylon.”

¹⁶ Couch, Classical Evangelical Hermeneutics, 11.

¹⁷ John MacArthur, Revelation 12-22 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 2000), Rev. 20:1.