Is Revelation History Masquerading as Prophecy?

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    Given Irenaeus’ testimony implying that Revelation was written in Domitian’s reign and because the prophecies of Revelation seem to have been fulfilled so accurately in the Jewish War, one might be tempted to argue that Revelation is a pseudonymous document recording history masquerading as prophecy. Arguing against this idea, G. K. Beale writes, “John writes with an immediacy that is not compatible with a fictitious authorship from the past.” (G.K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2013), 874.) Furthermore, Revelation was written and delivered to seven churches in Asia Minor, what sense would it make for John or another author writing pseudonymously to write to these churches with a prophetic warning about the alleged immediate future when all the events predicted in this vision were decades in the past? (Perhaps the only way secular scholarship could work around this conundrum would be to argue that Revelation was written in Domitian’s reign or sometime prior before it was picked up by an editor who did not recognize the past fulfillment of these predictions in the Jewish War. Assuming this vision still had a future fulfillment, this unknown editor added the introductory portions to the text addressed to the seven churches and then delivered this interpolated document to the seven churches mentioned in the Apocalypse.)

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