View source for Historicist interpretations of the Book of Revelation

{{Short description|Aspect of Christian eschatology}}
{{Christian Eschatology}}
[[Historicism (Christianity)|Historicism]] is a method of interpretation in [[Christian eschatology]] which associates [[Bible prophecy|biblical prophecies]] with actual historical events and identifies symbolic beings with historical persons or societies; it has been applied to the [[Book of Revelation]] by many writers. The Historicist view follows a straight line of continuous fulfillment of prophecy which starts in [[Daniel (biblical figure)|Daniel]]'s time and goes through [[John of Patmos]]' writing of the [[Book of Revelation]] all the way to the [[Second Coming|Second Coming of Jesus Christ]].<ref>History of the Church of God, pp. 252, 253 (1876)</ref>
One of the most influential aspects of the early [[Protestantism|Protestant]] historicist [[paradigm]] was the assertion that scriptural identifiers of the Antichrist were matched only by the institution of the Papacy. Particular significance and concern were the Papal claims of authority over the Church through Apostolic Succession, and the State through the Divine Right of Kings. When the Papacy aspires to exercise authority beyond its religious realm into civil affairs, on account of the Papal claim to be the Vicar of Christ, then the institution was fulfilling the more perilous biblical indicators of the [[Antichrist]]. [[Martin Luther]] wrote this view into the [[Smalcald Articles]] of 1537; this view was not novel and had been leveled at various popes throughout the centuries, even by Roman Catholic saints.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ICCi66SNBUoC&pg=PA140|title=Building Unity: Ecumenical Dialogues with Roman Catholic Participation in the United States|isbn=9780809130405|last1=Burgess|first1=Joseph A.|last2=Gros|first2=Jeffrey|year=1989|publisher=Paulist Press }}</ref> It was then widely popularized in the 16th century, via sermons, drama, books, and [[broadside (printing)|broadside]] publication.<ref>{{cite book| first =Barbara Sher | last = Tinsley|title=History and Polemics in the French Reformation: Florimond de Raemond, Defender of the Church|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=w1UcZhIXFAYC&pg=PA80 |date=1 January 1992|publisher=Susquehanna University Press|isbn= 978-0-945636-29-8|page= 80}}</ref>
The alternate methods of prophetic interpretation, [[Futurism (Christianity)|Futurism]] and [[Preterism]] were derived from Jesuit writings, whose counter-reformation efforts were aimed at opposing this interpretation<ref>"Jesuit scholarship rallied to the Roman cause by providing two plausible alternatives to the historical interpretation of the Protestants. 1. Luis de Alcazar (1554-1630) of Seville, Spain, devised what became known as the 'preterist' system of prophetic interpretation. This theory proposed that the Revelation deals with events in the Pagan Roman Empire, that antichrist refers to Nero and that the prophecies were therefore fulfilled long before the time of the medieval church. Alcazar's preterist system has never made any impact on the conservative, or evangelical wing of the Protestant movement, although in the last one hundred years it has become popular among Protestant rationalists and liberals. 2. A far more successful attack was taken by Francisco Ribera (1537–1591) of Salamanca, Spain. He was the founder of the 'futurist' system of prophetic interpretation. Instead of placing antichrist way in the past as did Alcazar, Ribera argues that antichrist would appear way in the future. About 1590 Ribera published a five hundred page commentary on the Apocalypse, denying the Protestant application of antichrist to the church of Rome." M.L. Moser, Jr., An Apologetic of Premillennialism, p.27</ref><ref>M.L. Moser, Jr., An Apologetic of Premillennialism, pp.26, 27.</ref><ref>H. Grattan Guinness, Romanism and the Reformation From the Standpoint of Prophecy, p. 268 (1887)</ref><ref>Rev. Joseph Tanner, Daniel and the Revelation, pp. 16, 17.</ref> that the Antichrist was the [[Pope|Papacy]] or the power of the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]].<ref>The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4 [4BC], 42.)</ref>
==Origins in Judaism and Early Church==
The interpreters using the historicist approach for the Book of Revelation had their origins in the Jewish apocalyptic writings, such as those in the [[Book of Daniel]], which predicted the future time between their writing and the end of the world. Throughout most of history since the predictions of the book of Daniel, historicism has been widely used. This approach can be found in the works of [[Josephus]], who interpreted the fourth kingdom of [[Daniel 2]] as the Roman empire with a future power as the stone "not cut by human hands", that would overthrow the Romans.<ref>Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 10:10, in William Whiston, trans., The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1988), pages = 280; cf. Froom 1:199.</ref> It is also found in the early church in the works of Irenaeus and Tertullian, who interpreted the fourth kingdom of Daniel as the Roman empire and believed that in the future it was going to be broken up into smaller kingdoms, as the iron mixed with clay,<ref>Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book 5, chap. 26, in Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Ante-Nicene Fathers (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1885 [reprint 1989]), 1:554Ð555; cf. Froom 1:244Ð245, pages = 407.</ref> and in the writings of Clement of Alexandria and Jerome,<ref>Gleason L. Archer, trans., Jerome's Commentary on Daniel (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1958), 32</ref> as well as other well-known church historians and scholars of the early church. But it has been associated particularly with Protestantism and the Reformation. It was the standard interpretation of the Lollard movement, which was regarded as the precursor to the Protestant Reformation, and it was known as the Protestant interpretation until modern times.
==Antichrist==
{{See also|Antichrist|Great Apostasy|Protestant Reformation|History of Protestantism}}
[[File:The Papal Belvedere.jpg|thumb|right|From a series of woodcuts (1545) usually referred to as the ''Papstspotbilder'' or ''Papstspottbilder'',<ref name=Oberman>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_leG5ztYoZwC&pg=PA61|title=The Impact of the Reformation: Essays|first=Heiko Augustinus|last=Oberman|date=1 January 1994|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=9780802807328}}</ref> by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder|Lucas Cranach]], commissioned by [[Martin Luther]].<ref name=Edwards-1>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kYbupalP98kC&pg=PA4 ''Luther's Last Battles: Politics And Polemics 1531-46'' By Mark U. Edwards, Jr.] Fortress Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-8006-3735-4}}</ref> "Kissing the Pope's feet";<ref>HIC OSCULA PEDIBUS PAPAE FIGUNTUR</ref> German peasants respond to a papal bull of [[Pope Paul III]]. Caption reads: "Don't frighten us Pope, with your ban, and don't be such a furious man. Otherwise we shall turn around and show you our rears".<ref>"Nicht Bapst: nicht schreck uns mit deim ban, Und sey nicht so zorniger man. Wir thun sonst ein gegen wehre, Und zeigen dirs Bel vedere"</ref><ref name=Edwards-2>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kYbupalP98kC&pg=PA198 Mark U. Edwards, Jr., ''Luther's Last Battles: Politics And Polemics 1531-46'' (2004), p. 199]</ref>]]
[[File:Antichrist1.jpg|thumb|right|''Passional Christi und Antichristi'', by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]], from Luther's 1521 ''Passionary of the Christ and Antichrist''. The [[Antichrist#Protestant Reformation|Pope as the Antichrist]], signing and selling [[indulgence]]s.]]
===Church Fathers===
The [[Church Fathers]] who interpreted the Biblical prophecy historistically were: [[Justin Martyr]], who wrote about the Antichrist: "He whom Daniel foretells would have dominion for a time and times and an half, is even now at the door";<ref>''Dialogue with Trypho'', ch. 32, in Ante-Nic. Fath. I:210.</ref> [[Irenaeus]], who wrote in ''[[Against Heresies]]'' about the coming of the Antichrist: "This Antichrist shall ... devastate all things ... But then, the Lord will come from Heaven on the clouds ... for the righteous";<ref>''Against Heresies'', III: 7:2, in Ante-Nic. Fath. Ib., V:30:3-4.</ref> [[Tertullian]], looking to the Antichrist, wrote: "He is to sit in the temple of God, and boast himself as being god. In our view, he is Antichrist as taught us in both the ancient and the new prophecies; and especially by the [[Apostle John]], who says that 'already many false-prophets are gone out into the world' as the fore-runners of Antichrist";<ref>''Against Marcion'', V:16, in Ante-Nic. Fath. III:463f.</ref> [[Hippolytus of Rome]], in his ''Treatise on Christ and Antichrist'', wrote: "As Daniel also says (in the words) 'I considered the Beast, and look! There were ten horns behind it – among which shall rise another (horn), an offshoot, and shall pluck up by the roots the three (that were) before it.' And under this, was signified none other than Antichrist";<ref>''Treatise on Christ and Antichrist'', chs. 25 to 63, in Ante-Nic. Fath. V:209-18.</ref><ref>''Fragments from Commentaries'', 2:1-3, in Ante-Nic. Fath. V:178.</ref> [[Athanasius of Alexandria]] clearly held to the historical view in his many writings, writing in ''The Deposition of Arius'': "I addressed the letter to Arius and his fellows, exhorting them to renounce his impiety.... There have gone forth in this diocese at this time certain lawless men – enemies of Christ – teaching an apostasy which one may justly suspect and designate as a forerunner of Antichrist";<ref>''The Deposition of Arius'', paras. 2 & 4, in Nic. & Post-Nic. Fath., 2nd Ser., IV:69.</ref> [[Jerome]] wrote: "Says the apostle [Paul in the [[Second Epistle to the Thessalonians]]<nowiki>]</nowiki>, 'Unless the [[Roman Empire]] should first be desolated, and antichrist proceed, Christ will not come.'" Jerome claimed that the time of the break-up of Rome, as predicted in [[Daniel 2]], had begun even in his time.<ref>Jerome, Commentary on Daniel 2:40, as found in Gleason L. Archer, trans., Jerome's Commentary on Daniel (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1958), 32; cf. Froom 1:442Ð443.</ref> He also identifies the [[Daniel 7|Little horn]] of {{Bibleverse||Daniel|7:8|KJV}} and {{Bibleverse-nb|Daniel|7:24-25|KJV}} which "shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law" as the [[Papacy]].<ref>Clarke, Adam. ''Commentary on the Old Testament'', Vol. IV, p. 596.</ref>
===Protestant view of the Papacy as the Antichrist===
[[Protestant Reformers]], including [[John Wycliffe]], [[Martin Luther]], [[John Calvin]], [[Thomas Cranmer]], [[John Thomas (Christadelphian)|John Thomas]], [[John Knox]], [[Roger Williams]], [[Cotton Mather]], [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]], and [[John Wesley]], as well as most [[Protestants]] of the 16th{{endash}}18th centuries, felt that the [[Early Christianity|Early Church]] had been led into the [[Great Apostasy]] by the [[Papacy]] and identified the Pope with the Antichrist.<ref name="Johnstone">{{cite book |last1=Johnstone |first1=Nathan |date=June 2009 |title=The Devil and Demonism in Early Modern England |chapter=The synagogue of Satan: anti-Catholicism, false doctrine and the construction of contrariety |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=[[Cambridge]] |pages=27–59 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511495847.002|isbn=9780511495847 }}</ref><ref name="Burgess">{{cite book|editor1=Joseph A. Burgess|editor2=Jeffrey Gros|title=Building Unity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ICCi66SNBUoC&pg=PA140|publisher=Paulist Press|year=1989|location=[[New York City|New York]]|page=140|isbn=0-8091-3040-8}}</ref> The [[Centuriators of Magdeburg]], a group of Lutheran scholars in [[Magdeburg]] headed by [[Matthias Flacius]], wrote the 12-volume ''[[Magdeburg Centuries]]'' to [[Anti-Catholicism|discredit the Catholic Church]] and lead other Christians to recognize the Pope as the Antichrist. So, rather than expecting a single Antichrist to rule the earth during a future [[Great Tribulation|Tribulation]] period, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other Protestant Reformers saw the Antichrist as a present feature in the world of their time, fulfilled in the Papacy.<ref name="Johnstone"/>{{Sfn |Froom|1948| pp= 244–45 | ps =: "The reformers were unanimous in its acceptance. And it was this interpretation of prophecy that lent emphasis to their reformatory action. It led them to protest against Rome with extraordinary strength and undaunted courage. [...] This was the rallying point and the battle cry that made the Reformation unconquerable."}} Like most Protestant theologians of his time, [[Religious views of Isaac Newton#End of the world vs. Start of the millennial kingdom|Isaac Newton]] believed that the Papal Office (and not any one particular Pope) was the fulfillment of the Biblical predictions about Antichrist, whose rule is prophesied to last for 1,260 years.
The Protestant Reformers tended to believe that the Antichrist power would be revealed so that everyone would comprehend and recognize that the Pope is the real, true Antichrist and not the vicar of Christ. Doctrinal works of literature published by the [[Lutherans]], the [[Reformed Churches]], the [[Presbyterians]], the [[Baptists]], the [[Anabaptists]], and the [[Methodists]] contain references to the Pope as the Antichrist, including the [[Smalcald Articles]], Article 4 (1537),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bookofconcord.com/smalcald.html#article4|title=Smalcald Articles – Book of Concord|date=8 November 2019|access-date=15 August 2018|archive-date=10 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010210703/http://www.bookofconcord.com/smalcald.html#article4|url-status=dead}}</ref> the ''[[Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope]]'' written by [[Philip Melanchthon]] (1537),<ref>[[Philip Melanchthon]], ''[[Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope]]'' ([http://www.bookofconcord.com/treatise.html full text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010210647/http://www.bookofconcord.com/treatise.html |date=2008-10-10 }}) in the Triglot translation of the [[Book of Concord]].</ref> the [[Westminster Confession]], Article 25.6 (1646), and the [[1689 Baptist Confession of Faith]], Article 26.4. In 1754, [[John Wesley]] published his ''[[Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament]]'', which is currently an official Doctrinal Standard of the [[United Methodist Church]]. In his notes on the [[Book of Revelation]] (chapter 13), Wesley commented: "The whole succession of Popes from [[Pope Gregory VII|Gregory VII]] are undoubtedly Antichrists. Yet this hinders not, but that the last Pope in this succession will be more eminently the Antichrist, the Man of Sin, adding to that of his predecessors a peculiar degree of wickedness from the bottomless pit."<ref>[https://archive.today/20070202121310/http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=1648 Archived copy] at the [[Library of Congress]] (May 8, 2009).</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.umc.org/frames.asp?url=http://www.livingweb.com/library/projects/notes/index.html|title=UMC.org : the official online ministry of The United Methodist Church}}</ref>
{{blockquote|In calling the pope the "Antichrist", the early [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]] stood in a [[Antichrist#Pre-Reformation Western Church accusers|tradition that reached back into the eleventh century]]. Not only dissidents and [[Heresy in Christianity|heretics]] but even saints had called the bishop of Rome the "Antichrist" when they wished to castigate his [[abuse of power]]. What Lutherans understood as a [[Papal supremacy|papal claim to unlimited authority]] [[Temporal power (papal)|over everything and everyone]] reminded them of the [[Apocalypticism|apocalyptic imagery]] of [[Daniel 11]], a passage that even prior to the Reformation had been applied to the pope as the Antichrist of the [[Eschatology|last days]].<ref name="Burgess"/>}}
The identification of the Pope with the Antichrist was so ingrained in the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation Era]], that Luther himself stated it repeatedly:
{{blockquote|"This teaching [of the supremacy of the pope] shows forcefully that the Pope is the very Antichrist, who has exalted himself above, and opposed himself against Christ, because he will not permit Christians to be saved without his power, which, nevertheless, is nothing, and is neither ordained nor commanded by God".<ref>Smalcald Articles, II.</ref>}} and,
{{blockquote|"nothing else than the [[Whore of Babylon|kingdom of Babylon]] and of the very Antichrist. For who is the man of sin and the son of perdition, but he who by his teaching and his ordinances increases the sin and perdition of souls in the church; while he yet sits in the church as if he were God? All these conditions have now for many ages been fulfilled by the papal tyranny."<ref>Martin Luther, ''First Principles'', pp. 196–197.</ref>}}
[[John Calvin]] similarly wrote:
{{blockquote|"Though it be admitted that Rome was once the mother of all Churches, yet from the time when it began to be the seat of Antichrist it has ceased to be what it was before. Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman Pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt .. I shall briefly show that (Paul's words in [[2 Thessalonians 2|II Thess. 2]]) are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy."<ref>John Calvin, ''[[Institutes of the Christian Religion]]'', Vol. 3, p. 149.</ref>}}
[[John Knox]] wrote on the Pope:
{{blockquote|"Yea, to speak it in plain words; lest that we submit ourselves to Satan, thinking that we submit ourselves to Jesus Christ, for, as for your Roman kirk, as it is now corrupted, and the authority thereof, whereon stands the hope of your victory, I no more doubt but that it is the [[synagogue of Satan]], and the head thereof, called the pope, to be that man of sin, of whom the apostle speaks."<ref>John Knox, ''[[The History of the Reformation in Scotland]]'', p. 65.</ref>}}
[[Thomas Cranmer]] on the Antichrist wrote:
{{blockquote|"Whereof it followeth Rome to be the seat of Antichrist, and the pope to be very antichrist himself. I could prove the same by many other scriptures, old writers, and strong reasons."<ref>''Works by Cranmer'', Vol. 1, pp. 6-7.</ref>}}
[[John Wesley]], speaking of the identity given in the Bible of the Antichrist, wrote:
{{blockquote|"In many respects, the Pope has an indisputable claim to those titles. He is, in an emphatical sense, the man of sin, as he increases all manner of sin above measure. And he is, too, properly styled, the son of perdition, as he has caused the death of numberless multitudes, both of his opposers and followers, destroyed innumerable souls, and will himself perish everlastingly. He it is that opposeth himself to the emperor, once his rightful sovereign; and that exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped – Commanding angels, and putting kings under his feet, both of whom are called gods in scripture; claiming the highest power, the highest honour; suffering himself, not once only, to be styled God or vice-God. Indeed no less is implied in his ordinary title, "Most Holy Lord," or, "Most Holy Father." So that he sitteth – Enthroned. In the temple of God – Mentioned Rev. xi, 1. Declaring himself that he is God – Claiming the prerogatives which belong to God alone."<ref>John Wesley, ''[[Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament]]'', p. 216.</ref>}}
[[Roger Williams]] wrote about the Pope:
{{blockquote|"the pretended [[Vicar of Christ]] on earth, who sits as God over the Temple of God, exalting himself not only above all that is called God, but over the souls and consciences of all his vassals, yea over the Spirit of Christ, over the Holy Spirit, yea, and God himself ... speaking against the God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the Son of Perdition."<ref>Froom, ''The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers'', Vol. 3, p. 52.</ref>}}
The identification of the Roman Catholic Church as the apostate power written of in the Bible as the Antichrist became evident to many as the Reformation began, including [[John Wycliffe]], who was well-known throughout Europe for his opposition to the [[Catholic theology|doctrine and practices of the Catholic Church]], which he believed had clearly deviated from the original teachings of the early Church and to be contrary to the Bible. Wycliffe himself tells (''Sermones'', III. 199) how he concluded that there was a great contrast between what the Church was and what it ought to be, and saw the necessity for reform. Along with John Hus, they had started the inclination toward ecclesiastical reforms of the Catholic Church.
When the [[Swiss Reformation|Swiss Reformer]] [[Huldrych Zwingli]] became the pastor of the [[Grossmünster]] in [[Zurich]] in 1518, he began to preach ideas on reforming the Catholic Church. Zwingli, who was a Catholic priest before he became a Reformer, often referred to the Pope as the Antichrist. He wrote: "I know that in it works the might and power of the Devil, that is, of the Antichrist".<ref>''Principle Works of Zwingli'', Vol. 7, p. 135.</ref>
The [[English Reformation|English Reformer]] [[William Tyndale]] held that while the Roman Catholic realms of that age were the empire of Antichrist, any religious organization that distorted the doctrine of the Old and New Testaments also showed the work of Antichrist. In his treatise ''The Parable of the Wicked Mammon'', he expressly rejected the established Church teaching that looked to the future for an Antichrist to rise up, and he taught that Antichrist is a present spiritual force that will be with us until the end of the age under different religious disguises from time to time.<ref>Tyndale, William, ''Parable of the Wicked Mammon'', c. 1526, (facsimile copy of later printing, no ISBN, Benediction Classics, 2008) at pages 4-5.</ref> Tyndale's translation of [[2 Thessalonians]], [[2 Thessalonians 2|chapter 2]], concerning the "Man of Lawlessness" reflected his understanding, but was significantly amended by later revisers,<ref>"Tyndale's Doctrine of Antichrist and His Translation of 2 Thessalonians 2", R. Davis, [[Matthew Bible#Literature|New Matthew Bible Project]]; a shorter version of this article was also published in the Tyndale Society Journal No. 36, Spring 2009, under the title ''Tyndale, the Church, and the Doctrine of Antichrist'').</ref> including the [[Authorized King James Version#Committees|King James Bible committee]], which followed the [[Vulgate]] more closely.
In 1870, the newly formed [[Kingdom of Italy]] annexed the remaining [[Papal States]], depriving the Pope of his [[Temporal power (papal)|temporal power]]. However, the Papal rule over Italy was later [[Lateran Treaty|restored]] by the [[Kingdom of Italy under Fascism (1922–1943)#Roman Catholic Church|Italian Fascist regime]]<ref name="Feinstein">{{Cquote|In the period following the signing of the 1929 Lateran Pact, which declared Catholicism as Italy's state religion in the context of a comprehensive regulation of Vatican and Italian government relations, Catholic cultural support for Mussolini is consolidated.|author=Wiley Feinstein|source=''The Civilization of the Holocaust in Italy: Poets, Artists, Saints, Anti-semites'' (2003), p. 19, [[London]]: [[Fairleigh Dickinson University Press]], {{ISBN|0-8386-3988-7}}.}}</ref> (albeit on a greatly diminished scale) in 1929 as head of the [[Vatican City]] state;<ref name="Feinstein"/> under [[Mussolini]]'s [[dictatorship]], Roman Catholicism became the [[State religion]] of Fascist Italy<ref name="Feinstein"/><ref name="Kertzer">{{cite book |last=Kertzer |first=David I. |date=2014 |title=The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe |location=[[New York City]] |publisher=[[Random House]] |pages=196–198 |isbn=978-0-8129-9346-2 |author-link=David I. Kertzer|title-link=The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe }}</ref> (see also [[Clerical fascism]]), and the [[Italian Racial Laws|Racial Laws]] were enforced to outlaw and persecute both [[Italian Jews]]<ref name="Memorial Museum">{{cite web |url=https://www.ushmm.org/learn/mapping-initiatives/geographies-of-the-holocaust/the-holocaust-in-italy |title=The Holocaust in Italy |last1=Giordano |first1=Alberto |last2=Holian |first2=Anna |date=2018 |website=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |access-date=15 August 2018 |quote=In 1938, the Italian Fascist regime under Benito Mussolini enacted a series of racial laws that placed multiple restrictions on the country's Jewish population. At the time the laws were enacted, it is estimated that about 46,000 Jews lived in Italy, of whom about 9,000 were foreign born and thus subject to further restrictions such as residence requirements. [...] Estimates suggest that between September 1943 and March 1945, about 10,000 Jews were deported. The vast majority perished, principally at [[Auschwitz]].}}</ref> and [[Persecution of Protestants|Protestant Christians]],<ref name="Kertzer"/><ref name="Pollard">{{cite book |last=Pollard |first=John F. |date=2014 |title=The Vatican and Italian Fascism, 1929-32: A Study in Conflict |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=109–111 |isbn=978-0-521-26870-7 |author-link=John F. Pollard}}</ref><ref name="Zanini">{{cite journal |last1=Zanini |first1=Paolo |date=2015 |title=Twenty years of persecution of Pentecostalism in Italy: 1935-1955 |journal=[[Journal of Modern Italian Studies]] |volume=20 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |issue=5 |pages=686–707 |doi=10.1080/1354571X.2015.1096522|hdl=2434/365385 |s2cid=146180634 |hdl-access=free }}; {{cite journal |last1=Zanini |first1=Paolo |date=2017 |title=Il culmine della collaborazione antiprotestante tra Stato fascista e Chiesa cattolica: genesi e applicazione della circolare Buffarini Guidi |journal=Società e Storia |publisher=[[FrancoAngeli]] |volume=155 |issue=155 |pages=139–165 |language=it |doi=10.3280/SS2017-155006}}</ref><ref name="AssembliesofGod">{{Cite web |url=http://www.assembleedidio.org/RP-Speciale/ |title=Risveglio Pentecostale |publisher=[[Assemblies of God in Italy]] |access-date=15 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501084721/http://www.assembleedidio.org/RP-Speciale/ |archive-date=1 May 2017 |language=It |url-status=dead }}</ref> especially [[Evangelicals]] and [[Pentecostals]].<ref name="Pollard"/><ref name="Zanini"/><ref name="AssembliesofGod"/> Thousands of Italian Jews and a small number of Protestants died in the [[Nazi concentration camps]].<ref name="Memorial Museum"/><ref name="AssembliesofGod"/>
Today, many Protestant and [[Restorationism|Restorationist denominations]] still officially maintain that the Papacy is the Antichrist, such as the [[Confessional Lutheranism|conservative Lutheran Churches]]<ref name="WELS">{{cite web |url=https://wels.net/about-wels/what-we-believe/doctrinal-statements/antichrist/ |title=Doctrinal Statements: Antichrist |date=2018 |website=[[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]] |access-date=17 August 2018 |quote=We reject the idea that the teaching that the Papacy is the Antichrist rests on a merely human interpretation of history or is an open question. We hold rather that this teaching rests on the revelation of God in Scripture which finds its fulfillment in history. The Holy Spirit reveals this fulfillment to the eyes of faith (cf. ''The Abiding Word'', Vol. 2, p. 764). Since Scripture teaches that the Antichrist would be revealed and gives the marks by which the Antichrist is to be recognized ({{Bibleverse|2 Thessalonians|2:6-8|KJV}}), and since this prophecy has been clearly fulfilled in the history and development of the Roman Papacy, it is the Scripture which reveals that the Papacy is the Antichrist.}}</ref><ref>Nolting, Paul F., [http://www.clclutheran.org/atlanta/bibleclass/endtimes/antichrist1.html The Antichrist (part 1)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522192542/http://www.clclutheran.org/atlanta/bibleclass/endtimes/antichrist1.html |date=2013-05-22 }}</ref><ref>[http://clclutheran.org/library/BriefStatement.html A Brief Statement of our Doctrinal Position], 1932</ref> and the [[Seventh-day Adventism|Seventh-day Adventists]].<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.666truth.org/ | title = 666 Truth}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | date = 6 July 2002 | first = Samuele | last = Bacchiocchi | place = Berrien Springs, MI | url = http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/eti_86.html | title = Islam and The Papacy in Prophecy | journal = Endtime Issues | number = 86 | publisher = Biblical perspectives | access-date = 17 February 2014 | archive-date = 22 August 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130822065910/http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/eti_86.html | url-status = dead }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = September 11 and God's Mysterious Mercy | journal = End Time Issues | number = 90 | date = 17 October 2002 | first1 = Jon | last1 = Paulien | last2 = Bacchiocchi | first2 = Samuele | place = Berrien Springs, MI | publisher = Biblical perspectives | url = http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/eti_90.html | access-date = 17 February 2014 | archive-date = 5 April 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180405142918/http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/eti_90.html | url-status = dead }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | contribution = Reformed | title = Eschatology | url = http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/eschatology/reformedescha.html | publisher = Mountain Retreat}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.presenttruthmag.com/archive/XVII/17-2.htm | title = Antichrist Today | journal = Present Truth | volume = XVII | number = 2}}.</ref> In 1988, [[Ian Paisley]], [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical minister]] and founder of the [[Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster]], made headlines with such a statement about [[Pope John Paul II]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/16/weekinreview/headliners-papal-audience.html|title=Papal Audience|date=16 October 1988|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The [[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]] states about the Pope and the Catholic Church:<ref name="WELS"/>
{{blockquote|There are two principles that mark the papacy as the Antichrist. One is that [[Papal supremacy|the pope takes to himself the right to rule the church]] that belongs only to [[Christ]]. He can make laws forbidding the marriage of priests, eating or not eating meat on Friday, birth control, divorce and remarriage, even where there are not such laws in the Bible. The second is that he teaches that salvation is not by faith alone but by faith and works. The present pope upholds and practices these principles. This marks his rule as [[Anti-Christian|antichristian rule]] in the church. All popes hold the same office over the church and promote the same antichristian belief so they all are part of the reign of the Antichrist. The Bible does not present the Antichrist as one man for one short time, but as an office held by a man through successive generations. It is a title like King of England.<ref name=WELS-CL>{{cite web |url=https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=4242 |work=WELS Topical Q&A |title=Roman Catholic |publisher=[[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]] |access-date=5 July 2017 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090927213220/https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=4242 |archive-date=27 September 2009 }}</ref>}}
===Other views===
Some [[Franciscan]]s had considered the Emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] a positive Antichrist who would purify the Catholic Church from opulence, riches, and clergy.<ref>{{cite book| title =Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches| first = Marvin | last = Harris | author-link = Marvin Harris | page =196}}</ref>
Some of the debated features of the Reformation's Historicist interpretations reached beyond the Book of Revelation. They included the identification of:
* the Antichrist ([[First Epistle of John|1]] and [[Second Epistle of John|2 John]]);
* the [[The Beast (Bible)|Beast]] of [[Revelation 13]];
* the [[Man of Sin]], or Man of Lawlessness, of [[2 Thessalonians 2]] ({{Bibleverse-nb||2 Thessalonians|2:1-12|KJV}});
* the "Little horn" of [[Daniel 7]] and [[Daniel 8|8]];
* The [[Abomination of desolation]] of [[Daniel 9]], [[Daniel 11|11]], and [[Daniel 12|12]]; and
* the [[Whore of Babylon]] of [[Revelation 17]].
==Seven churches==
{{see also|Seven churches of Asia}}
The non-separatist [[Puritan]], [[Thomas Brightman]], was the first to propose a historicist interpretation of the [[Seven churches of Asia|Seven Churches]] of Revelation 2–3.<ref>{{Citation | first = Thomas | last = Brightman | series = The Works | title = A Revelation of the Apocalypse | place = London | year = 1644 | pages = 40f}}.</ref> He outlined how the seven Churches represent the seven ages of the ''Church of Christ''.<ref name="Moyise, 24">{{cite book| editor-last=Moyise | editor-first = Steve |title=Studies in the book of Revelation|year=2001|publisher=T&T Clark | location = Edinburgh | isbn=978-0-567-08814-7|page= 24}}</ref> A typical historicist view of the ''Church of Christ'' spans several periods of church history, each similar to the original church, as follows:
# The age of [[Ephesus]] is the [[apostolic age]].
# The age of [[Smyrna]] is the persecution of the Church through AD 313.
# The age of [[Pergamus]] is the compromised Church lasting until AD 500.
# The age of [[Thyatira]] is the rise of the [[papacy]] to the [[Reformation]].
# The age of [[Sardis]] is the age of the Reformation.
# The age of [[Alaşehir|Philadelphia]] is the age of [[evangelism]].
# The age of [[Laodicea on the Lycus|Laodicea]] is [[liberalism|liberal]] churches in a "present day" context.
The age of Laodicea is typically identified as occurring in the same time period as the [[expository preaching|expositor]]. Brightman viewed the age of Laodicea as the England of his day. In the [[Millerism|Millerite]] movement, each church represented a dateable period of [[ecclesiastical]] history. Thus, [[William Miller (preacher)|William Miller]] dated the age of Laodicea from 1798–1843, followed by the [[Eschatology|End of days]] in 1844.<ref name = "Moyise, 24" />
The Roman Catholic priest Fr. E. Berry in his commentary writes: "The seven candlesticks represent the seven churches of Asia. As noted above, seven is the perfect number which denotes universality. Hence by extension the seven candlesticks represent all churches throughout the world for all time. Gold signifies the charity of Christ which pervades and vivifies the Church."<ref>{{cite book|chapter=[[s:The Apocalypse of St. John/Part 1|Part I: From the Time of Christ to the Opening of the Abyss]]|title=The Apocalypse of St. John|year=1921|publisher=The Catholic Church Supply House|first=Rev. Elwood|last=Berry}}</ref>
==Seven seals==
{{see also|Seven seals}}
The traditional historicist view of the ''Seven Seals'' spanned the time period from [[John of Patmos]] to [[Christendom#Early Christendom|Early Christendom]]. Protestant scholars such as [[Campegius Vitringa]],{{Sfn | Eijnatten | 2003 | pp = 84–5}} [[Alexander Keith (Free Church minister)|Alexander Keith]], and [[Christopher Wordsworth]] did not limit the timeframe to the 4th century. Some have even viewed the opening of the ''Seals'' right into the [[early modern period]].<ref name = "Tyso's table">{{cite book| editor-last=Cook| editor-first= Frederick Charles | editor-link= Frederic Charles Cook|year= 1881| first = Joseph | last = Tyso | contribution = Table | title = An Exposition of the Books of Daniel and the Revelation | page = [https://archive.org/details/holybible01cookgoog/page/n603 583] | url= https://archive.org/details/holybible01cookgoog}}</ref>
Seventh-day Adventists view the first six seals as representing events that took place during the Christian era up until 1844.<ref name="SDA, 378">{{cite book |title=Seventh-day Adventists Believe | edition = 2nd | publisher = Ministerial Association, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists; [[Pacific Press]] |year=2005 |pages= 378–80}}</ref> ''Contemporary-historicists'' view all of Revelation as it relates to John's own time, with the allowance of making some guesses about the future.{{Sfn |Newport|2000|p= 16}}
==Seven trumpets==
{{see also|Seven trumpets}}
The classical historicist identifies the first four trumpets with the pagan invasions of Western Christendom in the 5th century AD (by the [[Visigoths]], [[Vandals]], [[Huns]], and [[Heruli]]), while the fifth and sixth trumpets have been identified with the assault on Eastern Christendom by the [[Saracen]] armies and [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]] during the Middle Ages.{{Sfn | Nichol | 1980}}{{Page needed | date = December 2013}}<ref>{{Citation | first = Leroy Edwin | last = Froom | author-link = Leroy Edwin Froom | title = The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers | volume = IV | year = 1954 | pages = 1124–26}}.</ref> The symbolism of Revelation 6:12–13 is said by Adventists to have been fulfilled in the [[1755 Lisbon earthquake]], the [[New England's Dark Day|dark day of 19 May 1780]], and the [[Leonids]] meteor shower of 13 November 1833.<ref name= "SDA, 378" />
==Vision of Chapter 10==
The classical historicist view of the vision of the angel with the ''little book'', in Revelation 10, represents the [[Protestant]] [[Reformation]] and the printing of [[Bibles]] in the common languages. The Adventists take a unique view applying it to the [[Millerites|Millerite]] movement; the "bitterness" of the book (Rev 10:10) represents the [[Great Disappointment]].{{Sfn | Nichol | 1980}}{{Page needed | date = December 2013}}
==Two witnesses==
{{see also|Two witnesses}}
The classical historicist view takes a number of different perspectives, including that the [[two witnesses]] are symbolic of two insular Christian movements such as the [[Waldenses]] or the [[Protestant Reformers|Reformers]], or the [[Old Testament]] and the [[New Testament]]. It is usually taught that Revelation 11 corresponds to the events of the [[French Revolution]].{{Sfn | Nichol | 1980}}{{Page needed | date = December 2013}}
==Beasts of Revelation==
{{see also|Beast of Revelation}}
The historicist views of Revelation 12–13 see the first beast of Revelation 13 (from the sea) to be considered to be the pagan [[Rome]] and the [[Papacy]], or more exclusively the latter.<ref>{{Citation | first = FN | last = Lee | year = 2000 | title = John's Revelation Unveiled | pages = 169ff}}.</ref>
In 1798, the French General [[Louis Alexandre Berthier]] exiled the Pope and took away all his authority, which was restored in 1813, destroyed again in 1870, and later restored in 1929. Adventists have taken this as fulfillment of the prophecy that the Beast of Revelation would receive a deadly wound but that the wound would be healed. They have attributed the wounding and resurgence in {{bibleverse||Revelation|13:3|31}} to the papacy, referring to General Louis Berthier's capture of [[Pope Pius VI]] in 1798 and the pope's subsequent death in 1799.
Adventists believe that the second beast (from the earth) symbolizes the [[United States of America]]. The "image of the beast" represents Protestant churches who form an alliance with the Papacy, and the "mark of the beast" refers to a future universal [[Sunday law]].<ref>''Seventh-day Adventists Believe'' (2nd ed), pp. 190–97, 382</ref> Both Adventists and classical historicists view the ''Great whore of Babylon'', in Revelation 17–18, as [[Roman Catholicism]].<ref>''Seventh-day Adventists believe'' (2nd ed).</ref>{{Page needed | date = December 2013}}
==Number of the Beast==
[[File:Antichrist1.jpg|thumb|right|''Passional Christi und Antichristi'', by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]], from Luther's 1521 ''Passionary of the Christ and Antichrist''. The Pope is signing and selling [[indulgence]]s.]]
{{Main |Number of the beast}}
Adventists have interpreted the number of the beast, 666, as corresponding to the title [[Vicarius Filii Dei]] of the [[Pope]]. In 1866, [[Uriah Smith]] was the first to propose the interpretation to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.{{Sfn | Nichol | 1980 | p = 223}} In ''The United States in the Light of Prophecy'', he wrote:
{{blockquote|The pope wears upon his pontifical crown in jeweled letters, this title: "''Vicarius Filii Dei''," "Viceregent of the Son of God;" ''[sic]'' the numerical value of which title is just six hundred and sixty-six. The most plausible supposition we have ever seen on this point is that here we find the number in question. It is the number of the beast, the papacy; it is the number of his name, for he adopts it as his distinctive title; it is the number of a man, for he who bears it is the "man of sin."<ref>Uriah Smith, ''The United States in the Light of Prophecy''. Battle Creek, Michigan: Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association (1884), 4th edition, p.224.</ref>}}
Prominent Adventist scholar [[J. N. Andrews]] also adopted this view.<ref>''The Three Angels of Revelation XIV''. 6-12, p.109. 1877 reprint. Cited from Adventist Bible Commentary</ref> Uriah Smith maintained his interpretation in the various editions of ''Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation'', which was influential in the church.<ref name="SDABC">''[[Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary]]'', 223</ref>
Various documents from the [[Holy See|Vatican]] contain wording such as "''Adorandi Dei Filii Vicarius, et Procurator quibus numen aeternum summam Ecclesiae sanctae dedit''",<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-vi_apc_19680111_bafianae_lt.html Decree of Paul VI elevating the Prefecture Apostolic of Bafia, Cameroon, to a Diocese: Acta Apostolicae Sedis, Commentarium Officiale, vol. LX (1968), n. 6, pp. 317-319. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.] {{ISBN|88-209-6068-0}} {{ISBN|978-88-209-6068-1}}.</ref> which translates to "As the worshipful Son of God's Vicar and Caretaker, to whom the eternal divine will has given the highest rank of the holy Church".
The New Testament was written in [[Koine Greek]], and Adventists used [[Roman numerals]] to calculate the value of "Vicarius Filii Dei" whose word is in Latin language. "Vicarius Filii Dei" is Latin, and it does not exist in the New Testament, which was written in Koine Greek.
[[Samuele Bacchiocchi]], an Adventist scholar, and the only Adventist to be awarded a gold medal by [[Pope Paul VI]] for the distinction of ''[[summa cum laude]]'' ([[Latin]] for "with highest praise"),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19751027-V80-43__C.pdf#view=fit |title=Adventist Graduates from Jesuit University |access-date=2014-02-17 |archive-date=2012-02-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223233446/http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19751027-V80-43__C.pdf#view=fit |url-status=dead }}</ref> has documented the pope using such a title:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/et_145.htm|title=Biblical Perspectives is coming soon|access-date=2014-02-17|archive-date=2011-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110126032136/http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/et_145.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/et_146.htm|title=Biblical Perspectives is coming soon|access-date=2014-02-17|archive-date=2011-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110126032114/http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/et_146.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{blockquote|We noted that contrary to some Catholic sources who deny the use of Vicarius Filii Dei as a papal title, we have found this title to have been used in official Catholic documents to support the ecclesiastical authority and temporal sovereignty of the pope. Thus the charge that Adventists fabricated the title to support their prophetic interpretation of 666, is unfair and untrue.<ref name="Slide 116">{{Cite web |url=http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/et_196.htm |title=Slide 116 |access-date=2014-02-17 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233520/http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/et_196.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}
However, Bacchiocchi's general conclusion regarding the interpretation of ''Vicarius Filii Dei'' is that he, together with many current Adventist scholars,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/sites/default/files/pdf/The%20Beast%20of%20Revelation%2017.pdf |title=Ekkehardt Mueller, "The Beast of Revelation 17–A Suggestion" |access-date=2016-03-13 |archive-date=2016-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314071150/http://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/sites/default/files/pdf/The%20Beast%20of%20Revelation%2017.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>''Andrews Study Bible'' note on Rev. 13:18: "God's number in Revelation is seven, so multiples of the number six may represent and emphasize counterfeit and falling short" (Dybdahl, J. L. (Red). (2010). ''Andrews Study Bible Notes'' (p. 1676). Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press.)</ref><ref>[http://documents.adventistarchives.org/SSQ/SS20020401-02.pdf Rodriguez, Angel Manuel. (2002). Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide (ISSN 1096-7400). No. 428, April-June 2002. (pp. 85, 86).]</ref> refrains from using only the calculation of papal names for the number 666:
{{blockquote|The meaning of 666 is to be found not in the name or titles of influential people, but in its symbolic meaning of rebellion against God manifested in false worship. ... the true meaning of 666 is to be found not in external markings or on a pope's title, but in the allegiance to false worship promoted by satanic agencies represented by the dragon, the sea-beast, and the land beast.<ref name="Slide 116">{{Cite web |url=http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/et_196.htm |title=Slide 116 |access-date=2014-02-17 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233520/http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/endtimeissues/et_196.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}
==Commentaries==
Notable and influential commentaries by Protestant scholars having historicist views of the Book of Revelation were:
* [[Joseph Mede#Works|Clavis Apocalyptica]] (1627), a commentary on ''The Apocalypse'' by [[Joseph Mede]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Mede|first=Joseph|title=Clavis Apocalyptica|year=1627|location= [[England|ENG]], [[United Kingdom|UK]] | url =https://archive.org/details/atranslationmed00medegoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/atranslationmed00medegoog/page/n11 1]|quote=joseph mede The Key to the Apocalypse.| others = Cooper, Robert Bransby, transl |access-date= Apr 4, 2006|format= Digital}}</ref>
* [[Campegius Vitringa#Anacrisis Apocalypseos|Anacrisis Apocalypseos]] (1705), a commentary on ''The Apocalypse'' by [[Campegius Vitringa]].{{Sfn | Eijnatten| 2003| p = 84}}
* [[Charles Daubuz#Theological works|Commentary on the Revelation of St. John]] (1720), a commentary on ''The Apocalypse'' by [[Charles Daubuz]].<ref name = "Preface">{{cite book|last=Daubuz|first=Charles|title=A Symbolical Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/asymbolicaldict00daubgoog|year= 1842|publisher=J. Nisbet & Co| editor1-first =Peter | editor1-last = Lancaster | editor2-first = Matthew | editor2-last = Habershon|page=vii}}</ref>
* [[Alexander Keith (Free Church minister)#Books|The Signs of the Times]] (1832), a commentary on ''The Apocalypse'' by Rev. Dr. [[Alexander Keith (Free Church minister)|Alexander Keith]].<ref>{{cite book|last= Keith|first= Alexander | title =The Signs of the Times as denoted by Fulfilment of Historical Predictions, Traced down from the Babylonish Captivity to the Present Time |year= 1832|publisher= William Whyte & Co |location= Edinburgh|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=c5QHAAAAQAAJ&q=second+seal&pg=PA1 | edition = 2nd | volume = I |access-date=Apr 16, 2007|format= Digital}}</ref>
* [[Horae Apocalypticae]] (1837), a commentary on ''The Apocalypse'' by Rev. [[Edward Bishop Elliott]].<ref>{{cite book | last =Elliott|first= Edward Bishop|title= Horae Apocalypticae or a Commentary on the Apoc., including also an Examination of Dan |year=1847|publisher=Seeley, Burnside, & Seeley|location = London |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iYs-AAAAIAAJ&q=elliott's+letters+to+keith&pg=PA6 | volume = I| access-date = May 19, 2009 | format = Digital}}</ref>
* [[Vindiciae Horariae]] (1848), twelve letters to the [[Alexander Keith (Free Church minister)|Rev. Dr. Keith]], in reply to his strictures on the "Horae apocalypticae" by Rev. Edward Bishop Elliott.<ref>{{cite book |last= Elliott | first = Edward Bishop| title= Vindiciae Horariae: Twelve letters to the Rev. Dr. Keith, in reply to his strictures on the "Horae apocalypticae" |year=1848|publisher=Seeleys|location=London|page=296|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iYs-AAAAIAAJ&q=elliott's+letters+to+keith&pg=PA1 |access-date=Sep 5, 2007|format = Digital}}</ref>
* [[Christopher Wordsworth#Books|Lectures on the Apocalypse]] (1848), a commentary on ''The Apocalypse'' by [[Christopher Wordsworth]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wordsworth|first=Christopher|title=Lectures on the Apocalypse| year = 1849 | publisher=Francis & John Rivington|location=London|url= https://archive.org/details/lecturesonapoca00wordgoog |quote=editions:0Jd_1u5XcTyztj.| series = [[Hulsean Lectures]] 1848 on the Apocalypse |access-date=Aug 17, 2007|format= Digital}}</ref>
* The Final Prophecy of Jesus (2007), An Historicist Introduction, Analysis, and Commentary on the Book of Revelation by Oral E. Collins, Ph.D.<ref>Collins, Oral Edmond (2007), The Final Prophecy of Jesus: An Historicist Introduction, Analysis, and Commentary on the Book of Revelation, Eugene, OR. Wipf & Stock Pub.</ref>
== See also ==
* [[Abomination of Desolation]]
* [[Apocalypticism]]
* [[Book of Daniel]]
* [[Christian eschatology]]
* [[Judgment day]]
* [[Prophecy of Seventy Weeks]]
* [[Whore of Babylon]]
* [[2300 day prophecy]]
* [[Historicist interpretations of the Book of Daniel]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
===Works cited===
* {{cite book |last=Eijnatten |first=Joris van |title=Liberty and concord in the United Provinces: religious toleration and the public in the eighteenth-century Netherlands |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqYTE0KSg0wC |year=2003 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-12843-9 |pages=84–5}}
* {{cite book |last=Froom |first=Le Roy Edwin |title=Pre-Reformation and Reformation Restoration, and Second Departure |url=http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Books/PFOF1948-V02.pdf |volume=2 |series=The Prophetic Faith of our Fathers: The Historical Development of Prophetic Interpretation |year=1948 |publisher=The Review and Herald Publishing Association |location=Washington, DC}}
* {{cite book |last=Newport |first=Kenneth G. C. |title=Apocalypse and millennium : studies in biblical eisegesis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f3Cm9ALJbe0C |date=2000-08-28 |publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press |location=Cambridge [u.a.] |isbn=978-0-521-77334-8}}
* {{Citation |first=Francis D |last=Nichol |year=1980 |author-link=Francis D. Nichol |publisher=SDA |title=[[Seventh-day Adventist Commentary Reference Series|Bible commentary]]}}.
{{Doomsday}}
{{Book of Revelation}}
[[Category:Book of Revelation]]
[[Category:Christian interpretation of the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation]]
[[Category:Biblical dreams and visions]]