In hindsight, I should've written about the various interpretations of the book of Revelations back in January, but I'm doing it now in contrast with my short discussion on Genesis. Like with Genesis, I'm only going to focus on the various interpretations instead of going way in depth. Smarter people than me have already done so, but an introduction into this may be useful or at least interesting to people.There are various interpretations of the book of Revelations (also called the Apocalypse of St. John), but there are three main interpretations that I am going to introduce.
Amillennialism
I don't know if this is the official Lutheran position, but his was the position my pastor back home took when we were studying Revelations (Left Behind was really popular at the time). The basic gist of this interpretation is that Revelations is largely symbolic and that we are currently in the millennium. Not a literal millennium because the assertion is that it started from Christ's resurrection and will continue until His second coming. Instead they interpret 1000 years as meaning a long time. Revelations 20:3 states about Satan, "he might not deceive the nations any longer", and since Satan isn't really preventing the spread of the gospel, then he must be currently bound like he is in the book. The judgements and the more horrific stuff in the book generally seen as spiritual in nature.
Premillennialism
When most people think of Revelations, this interpretation is what they are thinking of. This is the interpretation that the Left Behind books took. At some unknown point in the future, the rapture will come and trigger the 7 year tribulation which will be when all of the horrible events in Revelations will occur. Apparently there is an interpretation where there isn't a rapture. In fairness, the rapture isn't in Revelations. It's actually from 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Regardless, the millennium will occur after Jesus returns and ends the tribulation. The final judgement will take place after this 1000 year reign. Left Behind is without a doubt the main reason I got really interested in this topic. I should also mention that the duration of 7 years comes from Daniel 7. They do this because the parallels of Daniel's dreams and St. John are quite uncanny especially in regard to the Beast. Even though I read all of them, I can't really recommend the books especially if you aren't christian. My major criticism is the first books in the series did their best to realize what some of the symbolism in Revelation would actually mean, but then it gets really lazy in the latter half for instance the world is literally attacked by a demonic locust horde at one point.
Postmillennialism
This interpretation is very similar to amillennialism except this one is more optimistic in that the church will actually usher in the millennium by spreading the Gospel. This differs from amillennialism in that amillennialists are more pessimistic and that the end of the millennium will be triggered when the gospel can be no longer spread because Satan will no longer be bound.
When I first was interested in this topic, I certainly was more convinced by the premillennialist, but over the years, I tend to agree with my pastor and believe in a more amillennial interpretation. I think the main reason for this is because so many of the events in Revelations clearly represent events that have already happened. Revelations 12 -to me- sounds like Joseph, Mary, and Jesus fleeing Herod.
I will admit that I was so inspired by the Left Behind series that I actually wrote my own Revelation story idea. I did write an outline, but college took up way too much of my time. In the few chapters I did write, I still love my joke that the apocalypse is heralded by the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series. My tendency against the premillennial interpretation is pretty much what has stopped my writing.
