The best theory on the narrative framework is premillennialism. This is because in the Christian eschatology, it is the belief of Jesus Christ will physically and literally come back to earth and take the righteous to heaven with him. It is called the rapture because instead of Christ descending to touch the earth, those who area righteous will be raised so as to meet him in the air. It is called premillennialism because it will happen just before the millennium’s inauguration. This is different from the other theories which view the rule of millennial as occurring before the second coming or being non-temporal and figurative. This theory is the best because it is based on a literal interpretation of the New Testament (Revelation 20:1-6). These verses describe the coming to earth of Jesus and the subsequent reign at the end of the apocalyptic tribulation period. The theory also views the future age as a fulfillment time for the hope of Gods people as in the Old Testament. Other theories such as the Eastern Orthodox assert that such passage of revelation is describing the present time, when Jesus reigns to heaven with all the departed saints. This kind of an explanation views the Revelation symbolism as referring to the spiritual battle instead of a battle that is physical.
Premillennialism is the best theory on decoding the symbols. This is because there are some common threads on which the theory and the symbols are related. All believe that God is in charge of all that occurs in all history and its final conclusion. Except for some idealism forms and preterism, they all believe in the second coming of Jesus physically. All the views also believe in the dead reselection. In addition, they all believe that there will finally be a future judgment. In the theory and the symbols there is a believer in a state that is external in which the believers will be with their creator who is God and the unbelievers will be separate. There is also an agreement on the study of prophesy as well as the edification of Christ’s body. The other theories do not decode the symbols correctly because the proponents of their views say that the approach they use is essential because there is no connection between the events that were prophesied in the book of revelation and anything ever happened in history. Hence their conclusion is reached out of an overly literalistic approach that is in to the symbolism of the book as well as lark of appreciation for how the language was used in the prophetic books of the Old Testament.
The next best theories are the preterists approaches. This is because some of the prophesies in revelation have been fulfilled although not many of them. Also the historic approach is faced by serious difficulties than the approach that is futuristic. Most of the other approaches tend to ignore all the historic specificity that is demanded as a letter by its character, it as well tends to ignore implications that are hermeneutical of it’s prophesy character. Although this approach has got much criticism such as it robs the book of any significance that is contemporary, it is the next to be considered to decode the symbols. This is because of the many prophetic happenings.
References:
Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice, ed.(2003) The End Times Controversy Eugene, OR.: Harvest House Publishers.
J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (2008), Journey into God’s Word: Your Guide to Understanding and Applying the Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
Christoyannopoulos, Alexandre (2010). Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel. Exeter: Imprint Academic. "Revelation"
