Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation

by Michael J. Gorman

the 19th century.26 Popular dispensationalism, disseminated by such best-selling sources as the Scofield Reference Bible, Hal Lindsey’s writings (e.g., The Late, Great Planet Earth), and most recently the “Left Behind” series of books and movies by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, interprets Revelation as portraying, in literal and linear fashion, the course of historical events.27 Dispensational readers view Revelation as depicting the resurrection of Christ (ch. 1); the church age from the apostles to today (chs. 2–3); the rapture of the true church from the earth and out of history (4:1); the church in heaven (beginning with chs. 4–5); the seven-year tribulation on earth (chs. 6–18); the second coming of Christ, his literal thousand-year reign, and the last judgment (chs. 19–20); and eternity, the new heaven and earth (chs. 21–22). But prophecy, in the biblical tradition, is not exclusively or even primarily about making pronouncements and predictions concerning the future.