“things which must shortly come to pass”

We’re jumping right into a preteristic view today:

“…it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him—in other words, a revelation mediated by our Lord Himself (cf. Heb. 1:2), about the things that must shortly take place. 

but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.     (Hebrews 1:2; NRSV)

“The Revelation, therefore, is not concerned with either the scope of world history or the end of the world, but with events that were in the near future to St. John and his readers. As we shall see throughout the commentary, the Book of Revelation is a ‘covenant lawsuit,’ prophesying the outpouring of God’s wrath on Jerusalem. It is a prophecy of the period known in Scripture as ‘the Last Days,’ meaning the last days of the covenantal nation of Israel, the forty-year ‘generation’ (Matt. 24:34) between the Ascension of Christ (A.D. 30) and the Fall of Jerusalem to the Romans (A.D. 70). It foretells events that St. John expected his readers to see very soon.” 

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.       (Matthew 24:34; RSV)

Of course I have to cut in here. Not only is this author a preterist, he is also setting us up for Replacement Theology…that the Christians replace the Jews in all the promises of God. I don’t know who made up this “covenantal lawsuit” idea, but I do not believe that it is Scriptural. I’m sure that if he can find Scripture to support it we will be presented with it at some point, and then we will look at it more closely.

And, I’ve already discussed Matthew 24:34. As a review, the “generation” referred to is the key to understanding this passage. It’s not the generation of “the Ascension of Christ (A.D. 30)” to “the Fall of Jerusalem to the Romans (A.D. 70).” It’s the generation of those who see the fig tree come to life.

“This clearly militates against any ‘futurist’ interpretation of the book. The futurists would have it that St. John was warning the Christians of his day mostly about things they would never see— meaning that the Book of Revelation has been irrelevant for 1900 years! To claim that the book has relevance only for our generation is egocentric; and it is contrary to the testimony of the book itself. It must be stressed that the Greek expression for our English word shortly plainly means soon, and those who first read the phrase would not have understood it to mean anything else (cr. Luke 18:8; Acts 12:7; 22:18; 25:4; Rom. 16:20; Rev. 22:6).”

First of all, many prophecies have times of partial fulfillment before the time of complete fulfillment. Many people have seen echoes of their own times in the pages of Revelation: that doesn’t make them “egocentric”. And that does mean that Revelation has not been “irrelevant for 1900 years”.  I have not seen anyone claim that Revelation can only be related to one generation (though the commentaries show that some generations had a hard time relating to it). I do honestly believe that Revelation will find it’s final fulfillment in the generation of 1948 (and generations are not 40 years, but closer to 80 years), but that does not mean that it’s been “irrelevant” to past generations.

Now the Greek: it does not “plainly mean soon”.  Let’s look at the Bible quotes he gives. Usually I can figure out the Bible version that an author is using, either because he gives proper credit to it, or because I can find the version by matching the quotes he provides to the versions online. This author, David Chilton, was impossible. He gave no credit, but most of the quotes he gave matched the Revised Standard Version Bible. However, one or two didn’t match any version that I could find at all. Reading about him on Wikipedia, he seems to have been very proud of his Bible knowledge, so I have to think that at times he was providing his own paraphrase of a passage. It’s possible he was providing his own translation, but Wikipedia doesn’t report any degree acquired or special language skills. He was in the Jesus People movement and was ordained by Pat Boone. I don’t think he was translating.

I will remind you, I do not translate Greek either. But, I can look things up, including the Greek. What I’m giving you here is the RSV translation followed by the Young’s Literal Translation; it’s pretty startling.

I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?       (Luke 18:8; RSV)

I say to you, that He will execute the justice to them quickly; but the Son of Man having come, shall he find the faith upon the earth?    (Luke 18:8; Young’s Literal Translation – YLT)

Can you see how the whole meaning of this passage changes? The YLT version is saying that the Lord will execute His justice quickly when He comes! And that matches with Revelation pretty well.

and behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.      (Acts 12:7; RSV)

and lo, a messenger of the Lord stood by, and a light shone in the buildings, and having smitten Peter on the side, he raised him up, saying “Rise in haste,” and his chains fell from off [his] hands.   (Acts 12:7; YLT)

En tachei is translated “quickly” even in the RSV.  “Get up soon” wouldn’t be quite the same.

and saw him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’      (Acts 22:18; RSV)

and I saw him saying to me, Haste and go forth in haste out of Jerusalem, because they will not receive thy testimony concerning me    (Acts 22:18; YLT)

Here we have “haste” and “quickly” in both translations. You could say “get soon out of Jerusalem” but it’s not as urgent.

Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and that he himself intended to go there shortly.      (Acts 25:4; RSV)X

Then, indeed, Festus answered that Paul is kept in Caesarea, and himself is about speedily to go on thither.   (Acts 25:4; YLT)

I thought surely that this one would be best as “shortly” or “soon”, but when you read the YLT the meaning is, again, slightly different. There’s an implication of Festus hurrying to Caesarea, rather than getting there eventually.

then the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.     (Romans 16:20; RSV )

and the God of the peace shall bruise the Adversary under your feet quickly; the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you. Amen!    (Romans 16:20; YLT)

This also reveals a meaning more in line with Revelation. Satan lost the battle to Jesus and His resurrection, but the crushing comes in Revelation. I also kind of picture “shall bruise…under your feet quickly” as a stomping.

⁶And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. ⁷And behold, I am coming soon.    (Revelation 22:6; RSV)

⁶And he said to me, “These words [are] stedfast and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets did send His messenger to shew to His servants the things that it behoveth to come quickly: ⁷Lo, I come quickly; happy [is] he who is keeping the words of the prophecy of this scroll.”   (Revelation 22:6-7; YLT)

As in Revelation 1:1, the things that come quickly rather than soon. And now one more that Chilton didn’t include:

Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and reform, and the first works do; and if not, I come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy lamp-stand from its place — if thou mayest not reform.    (Revelation 2:5; Young’s Literal Translation)

Of course the RSV says “soon” not “quickly” for Rev. 2:5, and I’m sure Chilton would say that too. We have ample time to repent and we don’t usually get a warning like “I’m coming soon…” from Jesus or God. But I have no doubt that Jesus will remove the lamp-stand quickly when He does it.

I looked at some resources online and was told that more of the instances in the Bible of tachos were translated as “soon” rather than “quickly”, but we can see here that those translations may not have been appropriate. I also read that when it’s en tachei rather than another version of tachei without the “en” (or “ev” in Greek), it’s usually translated as “quickly.” But, all but one of the above passages had “en tachei” in my Interlinear Bible…and the Interlinear translated them all “quickly.”

“A futurist interpretation is refuted in the very first verse of Revelation. Before we go any further, we should also note that St. John’s opening statement presupposes the Biblical philosophy of history: God is Lord of all, He has an all-embracing plan for His creation, and He rules every atom of reality according to His plan. After all, how does God know the future? The Bible does not indicate that God has some sort of crystal ball with which He can perceive future events. Think about it. There is really no such thing as ‘the future,’ in the sense of something ‘out there’ that can be divined with the proper equipment. To say that something is in the future is simply to say that it does not yet exist. How then does God know the future? The Bible gives only one answer: God knows the future because He planned it: 

“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His Kingdom rules over all. (Ps. 103:19) 

“Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. (Ps. 115:3) 

“And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can hold back His hand, or say to Him: What have You done? (Dan. 4:35) 

“We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will. (Eph. 1:11)”

“Thus, even though ‘the future’ does not yet exist, it is absolutely certain and secure, because the all-powerful Lord of the universe has infallibly planned it. He ‘gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist’ (Rom. 4:17). God knows all things exhaustively because He planned all things exhaustively.”      [from THE DAYS OF VENGEANCE: AN EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION, by David Chilton, 1987]

I agree that God planned the future, but I also want to say, that to God, the past, present and future are all one. He is outside of time, and He planned it all. 

I’m glad that Chilton sees the future as “secure,” but it makes it seem odd that he cannot accept Revelation as a prophecy for the far future from John’s time. As we will undoubtedly discover when we read more of Chilton, he sees the futurist view of Revelation as “pessimistic,” while if we can ignore Revelation in our time, we can be “optimistic.” This “optimism” seems to be tied into the preterist and postmillennial idea that we must make the world a better place so that Jesus will come back.

“The revelation of ‘what must soon take place’ (Rev. 1:1) means precisely, soon — as soon as hearts are responsive and ears receptive and eyes perceptive. It is all there before us: God’s salvation is complete, ready to be received.”      [from REVERSED THUNDER, by Eugene H. Peterson, 1991]

It really irks me that a published commentator would bank everything on one English translation, without consulting the Greek. I know that the majority of translations say “soon” or “shortly”, but some of the more literal translations use “quickly” or “speedily.”  Obviously there is a disagreement; to offer no explanation suggests someone unwilling or unable to explain their choice.

“Very important to the preterist position are the ‘timing texts.’ These are verses which allegedly lead the interpreter to the conclusion that prophecies would be fulfilled soon after they were given. For example, Revelation 1:1 speaks of events which ‘must shortly take place’; or where Jesus said, ‘I am coming quickly’ (2:16; 3:11; 22:7,12,20, emphasis added). Preterists insist that these words require that the fulfillment take place in the first century, shortly after they were prophesied. They see this as a key interpretive clue; that is, that the fulfillment must take place within a short time frame of the writer’s contemporaries.

“However, these words are not to be understood as chronological indicators telling the reader when the Lord is returning. Rather, they are to be taken as qualitative indicators describing how the Lord Jesus will return. He will return ‘suddenly.’ The word is communicating the idea that when the events of the Lord’s return take place, they will occur rapidly once they begin. The emphasis is on the manner in which He returns and not the time in which He will return.

“Thomas Ice has done a fine job in pulling together some of the important lexical information pertaining to this matter.

“‘A form of the Greek word for “quickly” (tachos) is used eight times in Revelation…Tachos and its family of related words can be used to mean “soon” or “shortly,” as preterists believe (relating to time), or they can be used to mean “quickly” or “suddenly,” as many futurists contend (the manner in which action occurs). In the Bible, the tachos family is used both ways.’

“Dr. Ice observes that lexicographers generally do not support the preterist interpretation, noting that the lexicons give very strong support for the futurist understanding of this important word:

“‘The leading Greek lexicon in our day is Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich (BAG), which lists the following definitions for tachos: “speed, quickness, swiftness, haste”…The two times this noun appears in Revelation (1:1, 22:6), it is coupled with the preposition en, causing this phrase to function grammatically as an adverb revealing to us the “sudden” manner in which these events will take place. They will occur “swiftly.” The other word in the tachos family used in Revelation as an adverb is tachus, which all six times occurs with the verb erchomai, “to come”…BAG gives as its meaning “quick, swift, speedy”…and specifically classifies all six uses in Revelation as meaning “without delay, quickly, at once”…BAG (and the other lexicons also agree) recommends a translation descriptive of the manner in which an event will happen (Revelation 2:16; 3:11; 11:14; 22:7,12,20)’

Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.    (Revelation 2:16; NASB)

I am coming quickly; hold firmly to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.    (Revelation 3:11; NASB)

The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.    (Revelation 11:14; NASB)

“And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”    (Revelation 22:7; NASB)

“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves.    (Revelation 22:12; NASB)

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.    (Revelation 22:20; NASB)

“Not only is there this strong lexical support, but there is solid grammatical support for the futurist position as well, as is seen in Blass-Debrunner.

“‘Blass-Debruner, in the section on adverbs, divides them into four categories: 1) adverbs of manner, 2) adverbs of place, 3) adverbs of time, 4) correlative adverbs…The tachos family is used as the major example in the “adverbs of manner” category. Interestingly, no example from the tachos family is listed under “adverbs of time.”…Greek scholar Nigel Turner also supports this adverbial sense as meaning “quickly.” Not only is there a preponderance of lexical support for understanding the tachos family as including the notion of “quickly” or “suddenly,” there is also the further support that all the occurrences in Revelation are adverbs of manner…These adverbial phrases in Revelation can more accurately be translated “that when these events begin, they will take place with ‘rapid fire’ sequence or ‘speedily’”’    [taken from PRETERIST “TIME TEXTS” by Thomas Ice, in THE END TIMES CONTROVERSY]

“These so called ‘timing texts’ found in various verses in Revelation do not, in fact, tell us when these things will happen but instead tell how they will occur. They, therefore, do not support the preterist position.”     [from UNDERSTANDING END TIME PROPHECY, by Paul Benware, 1995]

I had never heard of Paul Benware until I stumbled upon him in my search for books on Revelation. This book is not exactly about Revelation, but it does touch on it. Benware is still alive and still writing books, including a new one called UNDERSTANDING THE BOOK OF REVELATION, which I will be ordering. 

I really like the writing in this book. Benware gets into the weeds and is not afraid to tackle the Greek.  He writes a lot more about the “timing” issues, including a bunch on Matthew 24. I think that this is a good time to take the rabbit hole down to Matthew 24, so that’s what we will do in the next post.