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When was the book of Revelation written?

02/06/2013 Comments (10)

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse (Rev. 6)


Historically, though, many thought it was written earlier than that, and there is a surprisingly strong case that the book was written in the late A.D. 60s or the early part of A.D. 70. Let's take a quick look at the evidence . . .


"Five Are Fallen"

In Revelation 17, John sees a vision of the Who­re of Babylon seated on the beast with seven heads, and he is told:

[9] This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; [10] they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes he must remain only a little while.


If you'd like more information on that subject, check out my videos, Who Is the Beast of Revelation and Who Is the Beast of Revelation (Part Two).


Here are two possibilities . . .


The Reign of Nero?


  1. Julius Caesar
  2. Augustus
  3. Tiberius
  4. Caligula
  5. Claudius
  6. Nero

Nero certainly fits well with the description of the beast that is given in the book (see the two videos), but there is a possible problem: Julius Caesar was not technically an emperor. He was a dictator (meaning: the Roman Senate voted him the title "dictator"--which was an actual political office back then, before the term came to mean "tyrant"), but he wasn't voted the title "emperor."

Still, it's possible that this might not have made a lot of difference from the perspective of first century Jews and Christians.


This is why the crowd cried "We have no king but Caesar!" during the trial of Jesus.


But there's another possibility that may be even more likely . . .


The Reign of Galba?

The first person to be voted the title "emperor" was Augustus, and he could well be regarded as the starting point of the count by people all across the empire, including Jews and Christians. If so, then this is what we would get:

  1. Augustus
  2. Tiberius
  3. Caligula
  4. Claudius
  5. Nero
  6. Galba

I know. You may be saying, "Who?"

Galba isn't a very famous emperor, and one reason is that he didn't reign very long. In fact, he reigned only a few months, during a disastrous period known as "the Year of Four Emperors," in which Rome was torn apart by a series of bloody civil wars in which one emperor toppled another in rapid succession.

But if that's the case then, since Galba reigned such a short time, we'd actually be able to date the writing of Revelation very precisely.



Is there other evidence that has a bearing on this?


"He must remain only a little while"


Yes. In fact, it fits both of the possibilities we've mentioned.

If Nero was reigning then Nero's successor, Galba, certainly reigned a short time--just barely over 7 months.

If Galba was reigning then, since he was reigning in the Year of Four Emperors, his own successor--Otho--lasted only a short time as well, just 3 months (from January 15 to April 16, A.D. 69).


"Do not measure the court outside the temple"

Back in Revelation 11, John was told:







What Now?





He has a lot of interesting things to say!


Just email me at if you have any difficulty.

In the meantime, what do you think?

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Jimmy Akin
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