by Christine Miller | Nothing New Press
My belief is that much of Matthew 24, and all of Mark 13 and Luke 21, concerns the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, which was accomplished in AD 70.
Please see Fred Miller, Revelation: A Panorama of the Gospel Age, Ch. 15, “The Great Tribulation of Matthew 24 is Not an End Time Prophecy.”
The Temple had already been destroyed when John saw the vision of the book of Revelation.
“The destruction of the Temple occurred in AD 70.”
“Jews,” The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 15, p. 402.
There have been various schemes put forward over the centuries to explain the design of the book of Revelation.
Albert Barnes outlined the book by seven major themes:
Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical: Revelation, pp. lv-lxii.
Philip Schaff summarized the various schemes for the outline of Revelation throughout the centuries from the church fathers.
History of the Christian Church, Vol. 1, pp. 841-852.
LeRoy Froom saw the prophecy of Jesus in Mat 24 as encompassing the entire scope of world and church history from the destruction of the Temple to His return, only greatly summarized, and John’s vision following the same scope from his own day (as the Temple had already been destroyed prior to his vision), fleshing in many details.
The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 1, pp. 141-144, 155-156.
In Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown’s Commentary, “Introduction to Revelation,” more schemes are introduced.
Domitian became emperor in 81 AD, and the Christian persecution lasted from 95-96 AD. The persecution ended when he was assassinated in 96 AD (Introduction, pg. 2).
So, I assume John was imprisoned in 95 or 96 AD.
“The persecutions under Nero and Domitian were not undertaken by the state as such; they were simply personal matters, and established no precedent as to the conduct of the state toward Christianity. They were rather spasmodic outbursts of personal enmity, but were looked upon with great horror as the first to which the Church was subjected. … Domitian’s cruelty and ferocity were extreme, and many persons of the highest rank fell under his condemnation and suffered banishment and even death, not especially on account of Christianity, though there were Christians among them, but on account of his jealousy, and for political reasons of various sorts. That Domitian’s persecution of the Christians was not of long duration is testified by Tertullian, Apol. 5.”
Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Eusebius’ History (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 1), fn. 1 to Bk. 3, Ch. 17, “The Persecution Under Domitian,” p. 147.
“Tertullian has also mentioned Domitian in the following words: ‘Domitian also, who possessed a share of Nero’s cruelty, attempted once to do the same thing that the latter did. But because he had, I suppose, some intelligence, he very soon ceased, and even recalled those whom he had banished.’ But after Domitian had reigned fifteen years, and Nerva had succeeded to the empire, the Roman Senate, according to the writers that record the history of those days, voted that Domitian’s honors should be cancelled, and that those who had been unjustly banished should return to their homes and have their property restored to them. It was at this time that the apostle John returned from his banishment in the island and took up his abode at Ephesus, according to an ancient Christian tradition.”
Eusebius, The History, Bk. 3. Ch. 20, “The Relatives of our Saviour,” pp. 151-152.
“A conspiracy among his own freedmen—set on foot, it is said, by his wife Domitia Longina, who knew her own life to be threatened—cut short his career. He was stabbed in his bedroom by a freedman of Clemens named Stephanus on the 18th of September 96.”
“Domitian,” The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 12, p. 405. They fix the dates of his reign from AD 81-96.
John was exiled on the island of Patmos for the word of God during a time of tribulation or persecution (Rev 1:9). The early church fathers agree that he was exiled during the reign of Caesar Domitian (Introduction, pg. 2).
“It is said that in this persecution the apostle and evangelist John, who was still alive, was condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos in consequence of his testimony to the divine word. Irenaeus, in the fifth book of his work Against Heresies, where he discusses the number of the name of Antichrist which is given in the so-called Apocalypse of John, speaks as follows concerning him: ‘If it were necessary for his name to be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him who saw the revelation. For it was seen not long ago, but almost in our own generation, at the end of the reign of Domitian.’”
Eusebius, The History of the Church, Bk. 3, Ch. 18, “The Apostle John and the Apocalypse,” p. 148.
That John was not the author of Revelation, and as such the book was written earlier or later than the time of his exile on Patmos, is a view which does not bear up under scrutiny, and I have ignored it for the purpose of this book.
“The Apocalypse professes to be the work of John, who assumes a commanding position over the churches of Asia. History knows only one such character, the Apostle and Evangelist, and to him it is ascribed by the earliest and most trustworthy witnesses, going back to the lifetime of many friends and pupils of the author. It is one of the best authenticated books of the New Testament.”
Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 1, p. 693.
“Westcott notices that ‘the Apocalypse was recognized from the first as a work of the Apostle in the districts most immediately interested in its contents,’ that is, Asia Minor, and indeed, that the disputed epistles generally were accepted exactly in those places where they were most likely to be known.”
LeRoy Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 110.
“The traditional date of composition at the end of Domitian’s reign (A.D. 95 or 96) rests on the clear and weighty testimony of Irenaeus, is confirmed by Eusebius and Jerome, and has still its learned defenders …”
Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 1, p. 694.