After visiting Ephesus and the tomb of the Apostle John, I blogged on the one question I would ask John if he were still alive.
The one question: “When did you write the Book of Revelation?”
It is an important question because it is determinative of one’s eschatology. In a previous blog post, I explain why.
While reading in Revelation on December 31, 2010 (completing my read through the Bible in 2010), I came across this:
Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.”
(Revelation 11:1). So what’s the big deal? The big deal is the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. That means John received this revelation prior to 70 A.D.
This is consistent with the postmillennial view that Revelation was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and within a few years of the great fire in Rome in 64 A.D. that prompted the persecution by Roman emperor Nero against the Christians there.
With the Great Tribulation the past, Christians can stop looking with gloom and doom to the future and instead expect the continued growth of the kingdom of God as it transforms the earth into the place King Jesus intends. GS