Musings of Maurice D. Perry

The Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation were written prior to AD 70. There is enough internal and external evidence to back this up. I highly recommend checking out “Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation” by Kenneth Gentry. But let me lay out a few main reasons why I believe Revelation was written prior to 70 AD:

1) Rev. 1:1, 3 says the events were near

2) Rev. 1:4, 11 – John is writing to seven historical 1st century churches

3) Rev. 6:9-11 – John answers questions regarding martyrdom of those first century saints

4) Various allusions to the 1st century social and political landscape – twelve tribes (Rev. 7), temple (Rev. 11), seven kings/emperors (Rev. 17) all verifiable historically

5) The first century audience (7 churches in Asia) that read this letter (Revelation) understood the symbolism and metaphors that represented not only Rome, but the antichrist sentiment coming from Jerusalem

6) Rev. 2:9 & 3:9, speaking of the Synagogue of Satan, is referring to the Jewish antichrists in that first century, who persecuted the saints… these were false Jews, false apostles and false prophets that did not embrace Jesus as Messiah

7) John’s referencing the antichrist Jews as the synagogue of Satan parallels Jesus’ sentiment when He told the 1st century Jewish leaders that they were “of your father the devil” (John 8:44)

8) The 144,000 in Revelation 7:4 refers to a prophetic, perfect number of Jewish Christians in the 1st century… Jews were accepting Jesus out of every tribe in the 1st century

9) Revelation 17:6 describes Babylon as being drunken with the blood of the saints; parallel this with Matthew 23:32-39, where Jesus charges the pharisees/religious leaders with the blood of the apostles and prophets

10) Rev. 11 parallels Luke 21:24; Luke 21 is the writer’s interpretation of the Olivet Discourse, which, just like Matthew 24, the focus is the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, which occured in 70 AD. So, John is making reference to a temple that was still in existence. Why would John recount what Jesus said if it was written post 70 AD, when the temple had already been destroyed, just as Jesus had prophesied?

11) The “Beast” and “woman” of Rev. 17 refers to the Roman Empire and Jerusalem, indicating a joint alliance against Christianity; hence, the woman (Babylon) road on the beast, demanding the crucifixion of Jesus, and the persecution of 1st century saints (john 19:6-12, acts 17:7, 21:10-11, 25:2-8, 28:17, 1 thess. 2:14-16)

12) The immanency and urgency of the text harmonizes with NT teaching (Matt. 24:34, Matt. 16:28, Mark 9:1, Matt. 26:64,… if Jesus said that he would return within a generation, and Paul wrote about his expectancy of Christ’s return during his lifetime, then either they were both correct, or they were both false prophets

13) The “great city” in Rev. 11:8 is identified as Jerusalem, where the temple was (v. 1-2)

14) The Babylonian harlot’s attire in Rev. 17:4 also confirms her identity because her attire is the same as the attire associated with priestly worship in the temple (which still stood, pre-70 AD)… reference Exodus 28:5-6, 8, 11, 13-15, 20, 22-24, 26-27, 33, 36; the harlot’s crown in Rev. 17:5 is the antithesis of the crown of the high priest (Exo. 28:36)… John is denouncing Jerusalem here, similar to what Isaiah spoke in Isa. 1:21

15) Economically, the earth/world mourned when Jerusalem was destroyed because it was an extremely wealthy city (Rev. 18:11-19), and the temple was widely involved in trade

I think I’ll stop here… but these are 15 points that I believe truly convey why I believe Revelation was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.