" Elliott's whole scheme [based on his "interpretation of `time and times and half a time' of Dan. 7:25, which according to the year-day theory means 1260 years..." e.d.**], however, is vitiated by the fact that he wrongly assumes the book of Revelation to have been written under Domitian (94 or 96), instead of under Nero (67 or 68). His terminus a quo is therefore incorrect, and his interpretation of chapters 5-9 is rendered very precarious. The year 1866, moreover, should have been the time of the end, and so the terminus ad quem seems to be clearly misunderstood--unless indeed the seventy-five supplementary years of Daniel are to be added to 1866. We regard the failure of this most ingenious scheme of Apocalyptic interpretation as a practical demonstration that a clear understanding of the meaning of the Prophecy is, before the event, impossible, and we are confirmed in this view by the utterly untenable nature of the theory of the millennium which is commonly held by so-called Second Adventists, a theory which we now proceed to examine. (Systematic Theology, A.H. Strong, ©1907, published 1912, The Griffith & Rowland Press, Boston, p. 1010.)
** ( c ) At the close of this millennial period,
evil will again be permitted to exert its utmost power in a final
conflict with righteousness. This spiritual struggle, moreover,
will be accompanied and symbolized by political convulsions, and
by fearful indications of desolation in the natural world.
Mat. 24 : 29, 30— "But immediately after the tribulation
of those days the sun shall be darkened; and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heavens shall be shaken tuna then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven " ; Lake 21 : 8-28 —
false prophets ; wars and tumults ; earthquakes ; pestilences
; persecutions ; signs in the sun, moon, and stars ; "And
then shall they see the Son of man coining in a cloud with power
and great glory. But when these things begin to come to pass,
look up, and lift up your heads ; because your redemption draweth
nigh."
Interpretations of the book of Revelation are divided into three
classes : ( 1) the Proeterist (held by Grotius, Moses Stuart,
and Warren ), which regards the prophecy as mainly fulfilled in
the age immediately succeeding the time of the apostles ( 666
=Neron Kaisar ) ; (2 ) the Continuous ( held by Isaac Newton,
Vitrhiga, Brengel, Elliott, Kelly, and Cumming ), which regards
the whole as a continuous prophetical history, extending from
the first age until the end of all things ( 666 = Lateinos );
Hengstenberg and Alford hold substantially this view, though they
regard the seven seals, trumpets, and vials as synchronological,
each succeeding set going over the same ground and exhibiting
it in some special aspect ; (3) the Futurist ( held by Maitland
and Todd ), which considers the book as describing events yet
to occur, during the times immediately preceding and following
the coming of the Lord.
Of all these interpretations, the most learned and exhaustive
is that of Elliott, in his four volumes entitled Mom Apocalypticm.
The basis of his interpretation is the "time and times and
half a time" of Dan. 7:25, which according to the year-day
theory means 1260 years—the year, according to ancient reckoning,
containing 360 days, and the "time" being therefore
360 years [360 + (2 X 360 ) 180 = 1260 ]. This phrase we find
recurring with regard to the woman nourished in the wilderness
(Rev. 12: 14 ). The blasphemy of the beast for forty and two months
( Rev. 13 :5) seems to refer to the same period [42 X 30=1260,
as before ]. The two witnesses prophecy 1260 days (Rev. 11 : 3
) ; and the woman's time in the wilderness is stated (Rev. 12:
6 ) as 1260 days. This period of 1260 years is regarded by Elliott
as the time of the temporal power of the Papacy. ... (Ibid, p.
1009)
More documentation on Revelation's early date.
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