Dating the Revelation of Jesus Christ has been a point of debate for many years. It will not be the purpose of this paper to explore all the theories and examine their work. It is our purpose to look at the evidence contained in the text of Scripture to find not only specific leads but to establish the specific context in which the book was written.
One of the unmistakable facts of New Testament teaching is that the last days would bring the judgment of God on the Jews. All writers and nearly all the epistles and letters affirm this context in their writings and that it is imminent. For example, Paul spoke of a judgment that would affect the Jews first, and then the Greeks (Rom. 2:1-16; cf. 1:16). This judgment was to come shortly with the effect that Satan would be bruised under the feet of the saints (Rom. 16:20). Peter told the brethren, “the end of all things is at hand” (1 Peter 4:7). James wrote, “…the coming of the Lord is at hand” and “behold, the judge stands at the door” (James 5:8,9 cf. Mat. 3:10). This is the same judgment that Jesus had predicted to occur during that same generation (Mat. 16:27,28; 2333-36; 24:34). So, when John also affirms that the things he saw on Patmos “must shortly come to pass”(Rev . 1:1,3; 22:10), we must place his visions in that same generational period. Only his visions of the post-millennial world are exempt, for John explains that they would not come to pass for at least “a thousand years” (Rev. 20:7-15).
Following the life expectancy of Psalm 90:10, the generation of Jesus’ time might be extended to approximately A.D. 80. Added to this, Luke 9:21 and Mark 9:1 record Jesus saying that some who were living then would not die until they saw the kingdom come, which is identified as the time when Jesus comes in His glory (v. 20). Of course, the prediction is relevant to those who heard because they were going to be living when he came. Anyone from 20 years of age to 40 years of age would be placed between 60 to 80 years of age by the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The twenty-year-old could survive another twenty years by A.D. 90 but the probability that Jesus had a large crowd of young 20-year-olds is not likely. The probability of anyone 50 years + living forty more years is even less likely. By the time John writes his epistle, the last days had narrowed down to the last hour (1 John 2:18).
To determine when this judgment occurred, there are a few time markers, using words like “before,” “then,” and “immediately after.” Using Matthew 24 and 2 Thessalonians 2, we can draw three conclusions. We discover that:
1. When answering a question about the end of the age, Jesus says the end will come after the gospel has been preached to the world as a testimony to all nations (Matt. 24:14, cf. Col. 1:23). That it was fulfilled by the time of Paul’s imprisonment is clear but how much before is not.
2. He would come immediately after this period of persecution/ tribulation (“abomination of desolation” ) predicted in Matthew 24.
3. When the man of Sin is revealed. Jesus would not come until after the revolt (Gr. apostasia) and the revealing of the man of sin (2 Thess. 2:2,3). Hendriksen says, “a careful reading of 2 Thess. 2:3,4,8, and 9 should suffice to convince anyone that we are here dealing with a precise prediction of a certain definite person who will receive his doom when Christ returns” (1 & 2Thessalonians, 172). Others have taken this view but perhaps the best description is found in Ellicott, who writes, “He is a man so wicked that, bad as other men are, wickedness should be his mark by which he is distinguished from all others; a man who belongs to sin, in whom the ideal of sin has become incarnate” (A New Testament Commentary for English Readers, 155).
If indeed, this is a man, there must be a physical place to locate him. The text tells us that he is “sitting in the temple of God.” Temple can be used to refer to the physical body (John 2:19-21), to the spiritual body of Christ, the church (1 Cor. 3:16-17), or to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The text uses the definite article (“the temple”) in which a man is sitting. The character of such a man could hardly be in the New Jerusalem temple and the language of a man sitting in his own body is awkward, though possible. But, it would hardly present a sign of the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto him as that would not distinguish him from every other man “sitting in his own body.” Further, given the fact that the signs of his coming in judgment are referenced in Matthew 24, and again in 2 Thessalonians 2, where else would we go except the city of Jerusalem? Therefore, at the very least, we could say that Jerusalem would be a place that we would want to look for him.
The time to be looking for this man is also given in the text. He has his “own season” (Kairos, v. 6). The time begins when the “one who restrains” is taken out of the way. This is when he will be revealed as a signal of the Lord’s coming. We have already noted that the coming of the Lord occurred in that generation immediately after the great tribulation. Is it reasonable to connect this man with the great tribulation? Before we connect the dots, let’s narrow in on the time element. Paul wrote the book of Thessalonians around 51-52 A.D. So, there is no reason to search for him before that time. Paul had told them that the day of the Lord was not yet present (Gr. enistemi, 2 Thess. 2:2). Two things would signal His coming – an apostasy either in the form of a revolt (W.E. Vines, 73) or a spiritual falling away and the man of sin being revealed in the temple. If the temple is Jerusalem’s temple, then Jesus must have appeared between A.D. 51 and 70, when the temple was destroyed.
(More to come)