Historicist View

• The historicist understanding of Revelation is that it relates to actual events in history from the beginning of the church in the first century, until the time of the writer. The prophecies of Revelation are seen to be symbolic descriptions of the history of Western Europe, however which passages correspond to which historical events are debatable. This view has been criticized for the fact that its framework is so interpretive and leads to never-ending speculation over its interpretation in a historicist sense.
  
  

Symbolic View

• The symbolic understanding of Revelation interprets the contents of the book as pure symbolism of the ongoing battles between good and evil until Christ's return. The descriptions are viewed in an allegorical context as opposed to a literal prophecy, and this view refuses to identify any relation between images and specific future events. The benefit of the symbolic view is that it makes understanding the apocalypse quite simple; it is simply a book to offer encouragement and the knowledge that God will one day conquer all evil.
  
  

Preterist View

• The preterist -- or relating to history -- understanding of Revelation approaches the symbols and content in the book as relating only to events that took place close to the time of the author, around A.D. 70. This interpretation takes the stance that it is purely a historic record and that there are no future predictions in the book. Arguments against this view are that the triumph of Christ and the church over evil which is described at the end of Revelation had not yet happened at the time of its writing, and therefore the preterist view that events described are purely of a historical context is faulted for this reason.
  
  

Futurist View

• The futurist understanding of Revelation holds that all, or the majority of, this book describes events that will take place in the future. This interpretation combines Revelation with other Bible passages that refer to the end of the world, and uses these to predict events that will take place before the final defeat of Satan. Such events include the rise of the anti-Christ, times of tribulation and persecution for the church, and the rapture whereby all Christians will be taken up to heaven with Christ's second coming. He will return to earth to defeat evil and reign for a thousand years, after which He will judge each and every one of us and a new heaven and earth will be created. As to the timing of when the rapture of Christians will occur, this is left to speculation.