Someone told me that most scholars say that Revelation was written after
AD 70. Where can I find what scholars say regarding the date of
Revelations? If it’s after AD 70, is it possible that most of Revelation
has not happened, which is this individual’s view? From what I understand
it was written more so for the first century Christians, though there are
some prophecies that have not happened.

The book of Revelation does not come with a date, so scholars
have to make a reasonable assumption about the date of the book from the
context of the material in it. If you want to find out some scholar’s
ideas about the date when the book was written, you can buy or borrow from
a library a good commentary on the book. I like the commentary by Jim
McGuiggan (you can find him on google). Another very good one by Gordon
Ferguson is available from dpibooks.com Any good commentary will mention
the range of scholar’s opinions as well as the reason for their opinions.
Most conservative scholars (defined as ones who accept that the Bible is
inspired by God) date the book sometime after AD 75 and before AD 100. It
is my opinion that the book was written in the years immediately before
Domitian became emperor of Rome (AD 82). I believe this because the book
includes prophecies about Domitian in Revelation chapter 17. In this
chapter, Domitian is the king who yet will come (17:8). This eighth
emperor is the eleventh emperor of Daniel chapter seven. This is
described in my book Daniel, Prophet to the Nations (www.ipibooks.com,
where you can get a copy).

The prophecy about Domitian in chapter seventeen is not the
only evidence for the date of the book. In Chapter one, we find that the
apostle John is a prisoner on the island of Patmos. It is hard to say
exactly when that happened, but this is one hint. Also, we can see form
chapters two and three what the issues in the churches in Asia were at the
time, which can help. If you are serious about trying to determine the
date the book was written, you really need to do your own research using
at least a couple of commentaries.

As far as the issue of the prophecies in the book, there
certainly are a wide variety of opinions about that. Let me share my
belief, but encourage you to do your own research. I believe that
virtually all the apocalyptic/prophetic writing in the book concerns
things which happened during the time the book was written or shortly
after. The book is about the persecution of the Christian Church by the
Roman Empire and about God’s judgment on those who attacked the church.
Specifically, the angel told John that the vision was about things which
were soon to take place (Revelation 1:1) and that the time was near (Rev
1:3). It seems easy to interpret the meaning of these passages to me!
Besides, all the prophecies are easily understood as involving the Roman
Empire. It is a huge stretch to apply most of the book to future times.
The exception is at the very end of the book, from Revelation 20:7 to the
end of the book, which seem to me to involve a shift to the end times. A
key question concerns the thousand years of Revelation 20:1-6. It is my
belief that this is a description of the time between the persecutions
under Rome and the end of days, the thousand years being an apocalyptic
and symbolic representation of a long but indeterminate period of time.

You should not take my word for it, but should read the book
for yourself. Besides reading the book carefully, I suggest you get a
couple of commentaries and spend some time doing some research into the
history of the Roman Empire and the early church. Between these three
sources, I believe you will reach a conclusion at least somewhat similar
to my own, but I leave it up to you. Sorry to give you such a tough
assignment, but I am assuming you do not just want my opinion.

John Oakes