Hello Jacob,
RE: your four points in the OP:
1) As a staunch amil proponent myself, I heartily concur: a future antichrist /
the man of sin (though there have been many little ones so far).
2) Ditto on late date of Revelation
3) Likewise on “realist” amil
4) Recapitulation readings of Revelation
are modified when the text specifies otherwise. Take the binding and loosing of Satan for instance: he is bound as regards from deceiving the nations
as nations, for the preached Gospel throughout the world sheds a great light within nations which binds this power that held the ancient world in its thrall, although at the determined end of the age – as a prelude to Armageddon’s deceiving-and-gathering-of-the-nations to destroy the New Jerusalem citizens still present on the earth – he is loosed to accomplish this final assault, according to God’s trap to gather the reprobate for destruction after He calls His people up to Himself at the resurrection, in the midst of the horrific global assault.
In Rev 13:7 there is given to the devil (note: it is
given by the Sovereign) – through the little beasts he uses up through the church age, the “42 months” / “1,260 days” – to kill them; although Rev 13:7
is a panoramic view because at the end of the age he
fully does this by means of his being loosed to deceive nations again. The same ending is shown in more detail in Rev 11:7, for it is at the
finish of the two witnesses’ testimony he is given “to make war and to overcome them” – note the identical wording between Rev 11:7 and Rev 13:7!
You are also correct when you say, “Idealism’s fatal flaw is that Revelation (and prophecy in general) has concrete referents.” Even Beale / DE Johnson /Hendriksen don’t discern the “concrete referents”, although Beale allows for it, as I note below in these previews of an attached paper, along with my positing some distinct and some likely historical referents:
An Amillennial Journey Through the Howling Wilderness; and an Overview
With James White’s coming out as Postmil (and possibly “Theonomic”?) new trials will beset the bands of amil believers as they make their respective ways to the glorious but sometimes fearsome End, be it THE end or simply the end of their lives as individuals in this world.
“New trials”?
When simple and clear Biblical eschatology becomes confused with unbiblical “end-times theories” — be they of the premil, postmil, or historicist varieties — there won’t be a common understanding among believers about where they are in the general timeline of the end, what is coming, and — most importantly — how to prepare for it. This latter — preparation — is of great importance, for only a prepared people can be of a mind to focus on gathering those things to help them get through a coming severe tribulation. What things? First and foremost is a close, intimate, friendship / relationship with the risen Jesus, and in/through Him the power and comfort of our almighty God, which is greater than outward painful circumstantial experience.
Second of “those things” to be “gathered”, is a tight-knit close-at-hand community of like-minded believers able to gather together when communications / electricity / transportation / and access to finances / and other necessities of life (food, water, hygienic supplies, medicines, and — of prime importance — corporate worship of our Saviour God) are scarce, and hard to access.
Third, a glad willingness to share our goods — spiritual, as well as material — with those outside the Faith suffering from the common privation resulting from a societal collapse when our infrastructures are demolished, through divine judgments on the wicked culture, whether directly or through the various enemies of that Babylonian headquarters nation(s) we are living in. In ancient Rome, when plagues decimated the population — families taking their loved ones outside to die on the streets, afraid of being infected themselves — the Christians, who were unafraid to die, tended to them, and many, seeing this courageous, fearless love, turned to the God of these people — thus widely spreading the Faith of the true God in the ancient world. . . .
Second part of paper:
An Overview of the wilderness terrain, and some near events upon it
Going back a little over half a century we have the first appearance of a prophesied event in history discernable in hindsight and noted in John’s Apocalypse, that being the 5th trumpet in Revelation 9:1, 2, where an angel fallen from heaven was given the key to the bottomless pit, and upon its being opened, “there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit”.
This is a symbolic image (of which there are many in Revelation) given us as prophetic, and to be understood when we are able. An important note on this discernment: Geerhardus Vos, although speaking of discerning the Antichrist, enunciated a principle applicable here,
“[It] belongs among the many prophecies, whose best and final exegete will be the eschatological fulfillment, and in regard to which it behooves the saints to exercise a peculiar kind of eschatological patience.” (The Pauline Eschatology, p. 133)
O.T. Allis in his book, Prophecy and the Church, expressed the same sentiment:
“The usual view on this subject [‘the intelligibility of prophecy’] has been that prophecy is not intended to be fully understood before its fulfilment, that it is only when God ‘establishes the word of his servants and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,’ that the meaning and import of their words become fully manifest.” (p 25)
Stuart Olyott in his, Dare to Stand Alone: Daniel Simply Explained, thinks likewise:
“We must realize that some of the Bible’s teachings relating to the very last days will not be understood until we are in those days. That is why it is both unwise and dangerous to draw up detailed timetables of future events. Some parts of the Word of God will not become obvious in their meaning until the days of which they speak have dawned.” (p 166)
With regard to G.K. Beale’s view on Revelation’s prophecies – he is among the foremost of commentators on this book – it is accepted that the “eclectic” or “modified idealist” view (Beale)[1]allows some departure from the idealist, though as to where the line is drawn there is no clear consensus. Beale himself says, “...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 historical background those texts which pertain respectively to past present and future.” [2]
[1 G.K. Beale, New International Greek Testament Commentary: Revelation (Eerdmans 1999), pp 48, 49.
2 Ibid., p 49.]
The term “idealist” in eschatology refers to non-historic patterns or dynamics recapitulated throughout the symbolic “thousand years” of the church age, such as the church bearing its witness of Christ and His kingdom, resulting in persecution, resulting in warning judgments from the Lord, which are often ignored, resulting in destruction judgments. Also, the church becoming worldly, hence idolatrous, and it being subjected to warnings and to disciplinary judgments, by which the believing remnant is awakened to its danger and repents, returning to godliness. Such dynamics are repeated throughout the church age as depicted in Revelation.
Going back to the “prophesied event in history discerned in hindsight” . . . .
To continue reading see the attached pdf.
