Idealism
An idealist is one who believes that "prophecy" is an allegory for
principles of God throughout time. Unlike the other three views, idealists
look for no specific fulfillment to any given prophecy. They can, however,
recognize when a specific spiritual principle manifests itself in a
particular physical way. When a principle moves from that of the ideal
to that of the real, that "prophecy" is said to have been fulfilled.
Main
Arguments
- Revelation
seen in this light applies to every believer in every age. They are not simply part of a whole, great story (historicism),
nor are they awaiting some far off event (futurism), neither are they
merely looking back in time to see a principle for living (preterism).
Instead, each individual believer can expect total fulfillment in
their own life, as well as their lifetime.
- Makes
sense of both the imminent fulfillments as well as the future (Rev.
1:3, 22:10).
- Does
not fail in trying to force events into a pre-arranged eschatology
that may truly include only partially realized events that fall short
of the whole picture.
- Recognizes
Revelation's character as that of an apocalypse, a story told
in vivid colors and symbols (Rev. 1:1 "the apocalypse of Jesus
Christ").
Objections
- There
exists little or no agreement between adherents as to the specific
fulfillment of prophecies (when there are any).
- John
specifically said Revelation was a prophecy (Rev. 1:3).
- Idealism
fails in trying to make symbolism the end and not the means of communication
of real events that were soon to come.
- It
also fails in its disregard for literal fulfillment of the prophecies
of God of which, it could be said, if not fulfilled literally are
not really fulfilled at all.
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