Beale's amil position?

[RamistThomist]

What kind of amillennialist is GK Beale? Does he believe that Revelation has future, historical referents or are they just pictures with no historical value at all?

 

[Bill The Baptist]

Beale identifies his approach to Revelation as a "Redemptive-Historical form of Modified Idealism." He then goes on to describe this view by saying "...no specific prophesied historical events are discerned in the book, except for the final coming of Christ to deliver and judge and to establish the final form of the kingdom in a consummated new creation-though there are a few exceptions to this rule. The apocalypse symbolically portrays events throughout history, which is understood to be under the sovereignty of the Lamb as a result of his death and resurrection. He will guide the events depicted until they finally issue in the last judgment and the definitive establishment of his kingdom. This means that specific events throughout the age extending from Christ's first coming to his second may be identified with one narrative or symbol. We may call this age inaugurated by Christ's first coming and concluded by his final appearance "the church age," "the interadventual age," or "the latter days." The majority of the symbols in the book are transtemporal in the sense that they are applicable to events throughout the "church age." Therefore, the historicists may sometimes be right in their precise historical identifications, but wrong in limiting the identification to only one historical reality. The same verdict may be passed on the preterist school of thought, especially the Roman version. And certainly there are prophecies of the future in Revelation. The crucial yet problematic task of the interpreter is to identify through careful exegesis and against the original historical background those texts which pertain respectively to past, present, and future."

 

[Rev. Todd Ruddell]

That, in my opinion is an accurate summary of Beale's commentary.

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Jacob,

Lifting a little out of Bill's quote (which was from pages 48 and 49 of his larger commentary):

"...no specific prophesied historical events are discerned in the book, except for the final coming of Christ to deliver and judge and to establish the final form of the kingdom in a consummated new creation—though there are a few exceptions to this rule. . . certainly there are prophecies of the future in Revelation. The crucial yet problematic task of the interpreter is to identify through careful exegesis and against the original historical background those texts which pertain respectively to past, present, and future."

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These statements are key with respect to your question. Beale does indeed allow "that Revelation [may have] future, historical referents" although he is extremely cautious concerning them. The burden of a good bit of my book (which I think I sent you an earlier pdf of—it's been slightly revised since) is precisely this: we may see in retrospect a prophecy being fulfilled (in the last century), which fulfillment continues and expands and gives us a general idea of the eschatological landscape we are traversing. I have indeed done "careful exegesis", though some of the Reformed who are "allergic" to spiritual realities apart from those within God's kingdom close their windows on it.

Anyone interested in a copy may PM me their email and I'll send it. It is also presently being prepared in other digital formats, links to which I'll make public when they're ready.
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P.S. Jacob, I now recall I didn't send you the book, only a chapter out of it.