And…
In the Book John uses Temple language regularly and never mentions the destruction of Jerusalem (70AD) as having already happened, and that is odd given that this was one of Christ’s most controversial prophesies and if this book were written after the fact why didn’t John mention its fulfillment? Also this Book was written to the Churches which were extant then and there and was written in a language which would have been difficult for nonbelievers to comprehend, but probably not believers of that day.
As such the mysterious Antichrist and the Mark of the Beast 666 being the number of man, or a number signifying a man fits nicely with a very prominent figure in John’s life, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus or Nero. Nero persecuted the Church terribly. He blamed the burning of Rome on the Christians, burned them, impaled them, fed them to lions, and it was during his reign that both Paul and Peter were executed.
I think John is calling Nero Antichrist, which he certainly was, and that should not be surprising because in John 1 he calls those who have left the Church “antichrist” so it is possible that John may not be referring to some sort of eschatological character at all, or that Nero is a type of what is to come, either way this places the writing of Revelation sometime during the reign of Nero which ended with his suicide in 68AD.
If so then the exile would have had to have been before that in order for the Book to be prophesy.
Also, recall that John mentions seeing three horns and one growing up to dominate them all?
Well after Nero’s suicide in 68AD there was no heir, and in two years plus three different men claimed the throne (Galba, Otho and Vitellius) but were all overthrown in short order ending in Vitellius’ death in battle with Vespasian leaving Vespasian to sieze the Throne, and it was Vespasian’s son Titus who sacked Jerusalem and fulfilled the prophesy of Christ concerning the city less than a year after Vespasian’s ascension.
Also if you consider the prophesy of the Great Beast with ten horns, and the horns are rulers and start with Julius, then Vespasian is the tenth, or if you start with Augustus (because technically Julius was never emperor) then Titus is the tenth.
All of this speaks pretty strongly of an early date of Revelation with a great deal of it fulfilled already I think, and much more so than a later date with all the carious configurations of who’s who and every other week some other hack declaring they know when the world will end and they know who the Antichrist is. I think early dating fits the Book and explains its prophesies very well, and remember the words of our Lord, “23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
So you know that when Christ returns all will see and all will know, and therefore be secure.
