Postmillennial Worldview

PMW 2018-071 D. Ragan Ewing (Lucas Christian Academy)

Gentry note: This article was posted on Bible.org. The full article (of which the material below is but the Introduction) is four chapters long. Ewing is non-covenantal and somewhat dispensational. Yet he argues that the Babylonian harlot in Rev. 17 is an image of first-century Jerusalem. This is an excellent series in itself, but I am posting it to show that the preterist analysis of Revelation is having an influence in dispensational Baptist circles.

The Book of Revelation is perhaps the most notoriously cryptic work of literature ever composed. The history of the interpretation of this book leaves most students with more questions than answers. Commentators have come to little, if any, consensus on the interpretation of many key passages, and many of the best scholars of Christian history have simply thrown up their hands in bewilderment at the challenge of scaling its enigmatic heights.[1]

Thus, approaching the Apocalypse for analysis necessarily requires the possession of a couple of key items: one, an interpretive grid integrating one’s hermeneutics and general theological viewpoint, and two, a healthy dose of respectful reservation. Interpretation of Revelation and dogmatism do not go well together, despite the impression one might draw from the popular literature.

That said, it is the intent of this study to examine what is hopefully a sufficiently narrow issue in the interpretation of the Apocalypse: the identification of “Babylon,” the harlot of chapters seventeen and eighteen.[2] Continue reading →