The late first century date (around 95AD) for Revelation's authorship is based almost entirely on one second century reference taken from the writings of Irenaeus.

What is it Iranaeus [supposedly] said about the date of Revelation? Actually, Iranaeus did not discuss the dating of the book at all. The relevant quote is about the identity of the beast of Revelation and is found in the work of Eusebius, 4th century church historian, Book 5, chapter 8. Eusebius says Iranaeus speaks about John :"We, therefore, do not venture to affirm anything with certainty respecting the name of antichrist. For were it necessary that his name should be clearly announced to the present age, it would have been declared by him who saw the revelation. For it has not been long since it was seen, but almost in our own generation, about the end of Domitian's reign."
Don K. Preston

The evidence for Revelation actually being written before 70AD includes-

• A quote from Clement of Alexandria (150-220 AD) who plainly states that it was Nero who banished John to Patmos, not Emperor Domitian

And to give you confidence, when you have thus truly repented, that there remains for you a trustworthy hope of salvation, hear a story that is no mere story, but a true account of John the apostle that has been handed down and preserved in memory. When after the death of the tyrant (previously identified as Nero) he removed from the island of Patmos to Ephesus, he used to journey by request to the neighboring districts of the Gentiles, in some places to appoint bishops, in others to regulate whole churches, in others to set among the clergy some one man, it may be, of those indicated by the Spirit.
("Who is the Rich Man that shall be Saved?", Section 42)

• Cerinthus was a first century AD author who wrote The Pseudo-Apocalypse. He died well before John, that is well before 95AD, but his Pseudo-Apocalypse contains many references to John's Apocalypse (the Book of Revelation).
• The internal evidence supports a pre-64AD authorship. This includes-
  1. Rev. 11- John is told to measure the Temple (which was destroyed in 70AD)
  2. Rev. 17- There are "seven kings, five have fallen, one now is." Nero was the 6th Roman King. He reigned until 68AD.

The expressions of nearness of the Lord's coming within Revelation indicate that something was about to immediately happen. The notion that "imminent" doesn't mean soon but rather anytime- and then quickly is somewhat ridiculous and a discredit to the several lexicons which have succumbed to this faulty reasoning. If Revelation was written in 95AD, what event happened within months or few years of its publication that could be seen as fulfilling the great sense of imminence contained within its pages? None. But if Revelation was written around 64AD the question is easily answered by pointing to the great persecution which commenced in 64AD and the campaign against Jerusalem which began in 68AD.

It is therefore my thesis that Revelation 1-19 concerns events which were all fulfilled by 70AD when Jerusalem was destroyed. I believe these passages parallel Matthew 24. Revelation 20 then introduces a greater time period- "1,000" years, which I believe simply means a long period of time. I believe this parallels Matthew 25 where we find several long-time references (the Bridegroom was "delayed", vs. 5; the Master went away "a long time", vs 19). At the end of Revelation 20 a fire appears from heaven which delivers the godly. I believe this is the physical return of Christ, which is also described in 2Thessalonians 1:7-8 as being "fire from heaven".

Therefore, the entire concept promoted by the Left Behind series is built upon a ridiculous method of Biblical interpretation which places nearly all of the contents of Revelation into the yet-to-be-fulfilled category.

The implications of course for rightly determining the date of Revelation's authorship and which method of Biblical interpretation we employ are related. If Revelation was written in 95AD, then my beliefs are wrong. If Revelation was written around 64AD then I could be right. If I am right then we need to overhaul how we regard the future and our involvement in it.

Andrew Corbett, 7th February 2005

Chapter 6 - The 7 Bowls (Identifying The Beast)

Dr Corbett introduces the Book of Revelation by showing that despite the massive amount of speculation regarding its contents, there are some basic principles of hermeneutics (Bible interpretation) which are used for every other book of the Bible which can not be discarded when it comes to understanding Revelation.

Purchase this series in either VCD (High quality video CDs) for just $A69.95 which includes a set of 7 VCDs

Read or download Dr Corbett's entire eBook commentary on the Book of Revelation !

Listen to Part 2 of Understanding Revelation

HTML	PDFs	MEDIA
Introduction	Introduction	Part 1
The Theme	Chapter 1	Part 2
7 Churches	Chapter 2	Part 3
The Throne Room	Chapter 3	Part 4
7 Seals	Chapter 4	Part 5

 

 

Andrew Corbett