Before Jerusalem Fell

Revelation Studies 9
Another example’ of the problem is ready to hand. Six million
copies of a recent publication by Edgar C. Whisenant caused quite
a stir among evangelical in the summer and fall of 1988.28 In that
work, Mr. Whisenant laboriously “demonstrated” why Christ was
to have returned to the earth in September, 1988. Regional news
reports noted that a number of Christians so took his message to
heart that they quit their jobs in anticipation of the event.
As indicated in the literature of our time, there is a widespread
popular interest in Revelation today. Unfortunately, most of the
interest in Revelation seems based on a radical misunderstanding of
the very nature and purpose of the book. And much of this misapprehension
is traceable to confusion regarding its original date of writing,
as will be shown.
It would be a serious error, however, to conclude from the
foregoing observations that interest in Revelation is simply a matter
for those either concerned with understanding ancient history or
intrigued with modern fads. Revelation has not only aroused the
curiosity and engaged the minds of a vast multitude of people in
history, but it has taxed the considerable talents of a host of history’s
literati, Christian and non-Christian alike.
Guthrie ‘notes that there has been “no neglect” of Revelation
among scholars.29 Earlier, Schulze observed that “the name of the
number of volumes that have been written on and about the Book of
Revelation is LEGION. And these volumes are almost as varied as
the number of authors that have offered the fruits of their study of
this book to the public.”3° Over 100 years ago even, Lange noted
that the “literature on the Apocalypse . . . is of immense extent.”31
Swete observed that the “literature of the Apocalypse is immense,”
and that “since the invention of printing the output of books upon the
Apocalypse has steadily increased, and a bare enumeration of them
would occupy more space than we can afford.”3 2
Schaff pointed out
28. Edgar C. Whisenant, 88 Rea.som Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988: The Feast oj
Tnirnpeti (hrh-Hmh-Ana), September 11-12-13 (Nashville: World Bible Society, 1988).
29. Guthrie, Introduction,p.931.
30. Henry Schulz., “Preface,“ in William Hendriksen, More Than Congueror~ (Grand
Rapids: Baker, [1939] 1967).
31. John Peter Lange, Revelation, in vol. 24 of J. P. Lange, ed. Cornmenta~ on the HoQ
.!%-ipture: Critical, Doctrmd, and Homiletical, trans. Philip Schaff (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
rep. n.d.), p. 75.
32. Swete, Revelation, p. cxcvii,