The oldest interpretations contain elements of the Historical and Futurist views. (read below)
"Ribera effectively sealed the last 19 chapters of Revelation until the time of the end.But God told John expressly not to seal Revelation.
"And he said to me, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand."" (Revelation 22:10)Daniel's "sealed week" is referenced within John's prophecy.What is the conclusion?God has made a distinction between Daniel's week of the covenant and the book of Revelation.One was to be sealed and the other was not to be sealed.They cannot, therefore, be speaking ofidentical events.Revelation includes Daniel's week but is broadly greater in scope than Daniel's final week."
Keep in mind that a literal 3 1/2 year time at the end was not an original idea by Ribera. Irenaeus of Lyons (below) held to the 3 1/2 years as well, and probably received that interpretation from Polycarp (St. John's disciple), who in turn discipled Irenaeus. The commentaries of Calvin and Luther testify they believed in an unsealed Revelation. Could it be that 3 1/2 years and 1260 days are both mentioned in scripture because 1260 would have an equivalent in years and the three and one-half years would refer to actual time at the end?
Irenaeus of Lyons lived about a hundred years after John and was instructed by Polycarp, John's disciple. John's interpretation of his own writings were probably recorded by Irenaeus, indicating the Historicists and the Futurists are both partially correct.
"He says also: "And he will cause a mark [to be put] in the forehead and in the fight hand, that no one may be able to buy or sell, unless he who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name; and the number is six hundred and sixty-six,"
that is, six times a hundred, six times ten, and six units. [He gives this] as a summing up of the whole of that apostasy which has taken place during six thousand years."
"For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: "Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works." This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year."
"But when this Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the rest, the hallowed seventh day; and restoring to Abraham the promised inheritance, in which kingdom the Lord declared, that "many coming from the east and from the west should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
So Irenaeus believed that a 3 1/2 year period would come at the end of a six thousand year interval (from creation until the Antichrist has "devastated all things").
Matthew 24:3-22 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for allthese things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. 15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
