THE CROWN JEWEL OF PROPHECY

THE REVELATION is the last book of the Book of books, the last installment of God’s love letter to man. It therefore concludes and crowns the canon of Scripture. This last book of the Bible is the final revelation, which crowns the Scriptures with a crown of glory and seals divine inspiration with the seal of the living God. Not only is the Revelation one of the most brilliant gems among the sacred writings, but it is the crown jewel. One writer calls it “the capstone of divine revelation and inspiration.” It puts the finishing touches on a perfect book that reveals to man the eternal purpose of the Most High. “The Apocalypse completes the Canon of Scripture; and with reverence be it said, the sacred Canon would be imperfect without it.” (C. Wordsworth, Lectures on the Apocalypse.)

Not only does the Revelation complete and crown the Biblical canon, but it is also the summary of the entire Bible. It has therefore been appropriately called a mosaic of the rest of Scripture. Almost everything in the Apocalypse can be traced to some other part of the Bible. Of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, twenty-six are directly quoted from in the Revelation, and of the four hundred and four verses in this last book, two hundred and seventy-eight are either quoted from or colored by Old Testament passages. The first five chapters contain twenty-seven, fifteen, thirteen, sixteen, and fourteen references respectively to various books of the Old Testament. Hengstenberg declared that “the seer of the Apocalypse lives entirely in Holy Scripture.” This last book sends the searchers for truth into every part of the Scriptures. Thus it is proved to be an essential part of the whole gospel design. Then, too, the rays of divine light emanating from every other part of the Bible focus upon this final installment of revealed truth.

The Epilogue

Genesis is the prologue of the Bible and the Revelation is the epilogue. It is the epilogue of divine revelation, in which the principal topics are recapitulated in order to emphasize their importance. George W. Davis has said that “Moses and John clasp hands across the space of sixteen centuries, completing the full testimony of God.”—The Patmos Vision, p.10. The Bible would be as incomplete without the Revelation as without Genesis. The first two chapters of Genesis describe the Paradise that was lost through sin, and the last two chapters of the Revelation picture the Paradise that will be restored when sin and sinners are no more. Between these two perfect states is the long dark night of sin. What was begun in the prologue is finished in the epilogue. “In the Revelation all the books of the Bible meet and end.” (White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 585.) Here they come to a glorious climax.

Speaking of this purpose of the Revelation, one writer said: “The Apocalypse is an epitome of the whole Bible, a unique interweaving of all the symbols, types, shadows, figures and fundamental ideas of the entire Old Testament into one comprehensive book of brief compass. Just as the acorn contains in embryo and potentiality the entire oak with its roots, fibre, bark, branches and leaves, so Revelation as no other one book embodies in itself the entire volume of the Scriptures.”—S. L. Morris, The Drama of Christianity, p.11.

The Revelation is essentially a last-day book, written especially for the last generation. It contains the instruction most needed by the church in the last days of the reign of sin. This is the chief reason that it sums up the entire Scriptures and is the epilogue of revealed truth. Its purpose is to prepare God’s remnant people for the closing crisis of human history and the Second Advent of Christ. This book should therefore be of special interest to present-day Christians. “I come quickly” is said three times in the last chapter. All the prophecies and revelations of the book climax in the return of our Lord. The book therefore demands our careful study at this time.

Although this last book is divinely called a revelation, it is also declared to be a prophecy. In the first chapter the writer uses the expression, “the words of this prophecy,” and in the last chapter he refers to what he has written as “the prophecy of this book,” “the book of this prophecy,” and “the words of the prophecy of this book.” Prophecy is history written in advance. It is the recording of events before they come to pass. One writer said: “As the ages roll by, history practically takes the place of prophecy, the foretold becoming the fulfilled.” The Revelation is one of the greatest if not the greatest of the prophetic books of the Bible. It is the complement to the book of Daniel, and what Daniel is to the Old Testament, the Revelation is to the New. This last book foretells the events and condition of the last days in order that the remnant people of God may be safely guided through the perils of the crisis years of human history.

The Promised Blessing

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand.” “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” Rev. 1:3; 22:7.

Of the sixty-six books of the Bible, no other begins and ends with such a promise to the reader, hearers, and doers. We may justly claim this beatitude as in this treatise we pursue our way through a portion of the Revelation. The word blessed means “happy, joyful, blissful, beautified, hallowed, consecrated.” The revelations of this book place all who study and obey them in the very atmosphere of heaven, so that they will walk with God as Enoch did in days of old. This book opens with a beatitude and closes with the benediction, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” This also is true of no other book of the Bible. This constitutes a divine endorsement of the book as a whole as well as an incentive to study and a promise that it can be understood. The church will never know the great loss sustained by neglecting its study. Bengel rebukes Christians for their attitude toward the Revelation, declaring that they have reversed the promise, making it read, “Blessed is he that readeth not.”

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear” indicates public reading by the minister and an attentive attitude on the part of the audience. “Blessed is he who reads aloud” is the James Moffatt translation. The Author intended that His book should be read publicly to the churches to which it was sent. We know that public reading of the apostolic epistles was the custom of the time, just as the Law and the Prophets had been read in the synagogues from time immemorial. Only a few copies of the Scriptures were available, and they were in the keeping of the religious leaders. The laity did not have personal access to the scrolls of the prophets or to the epistles of the apostles. This custom continued till the invention of printing placed the Scriptures in the hands of the people in their own tongues. The custom of public reading from the Bible still prevails to some extent, although the former chief reasons for it no longer exist. The Bible is now in practically every home.

It is evident from verse 11 that only one copy of the Revelation was written by John, and it had to be passed from church to church and read to the congregations by the elders. The promised blessing must also include private reading and study in these days when the art of printing has placed the book within reach of every individual. The present neglect of the Revelation by ministers in their private study and public preaching is doubtless largely responsible for the small amount of reading and study devoted to it by the laity. Suppose the book is difficult to understand and is filled with seeming mysteries. The promised blessing is unconditional to all who read and hear and are willing to obey the instruction as fast as it is revealed and understood.

Neither readers nor hearers can claim the promised blessing unless they are willing to “keep” or “lay to heart” what is written. “Keeping strictly the things in it having been written.” (Emphatic Diaglott.) Strict obedience to the light revealed is an important condition to receiving the blessing. This is true of all the Scriptures. (Matt. 7:24-29; Rom. 2:13; James 1:22; 2:12.) One of the authors of Pulpit Commentary tells what is meant by keeping the things revealed: “(1) Seize the principles of the book, and abide in them. (2) Study its prophecies, and wait for them. (3) Learn its promises, and lean on them. (4) Ponder its precepts and obey them.” (Revelation, p. 10.) Another writer asks: “How keep them?” and then answers: “One part in one way, another part in another; the commandments by obedience, the mysteries by thoughtful reception; as Mary, herself a marvel, kept mysterious intimations vouchsafed to her, and pondered them in her heart.” (C. Rossetti.) “Those things which are written therein, must include the entire contents of the book, and not merely a few of the exhortations scattered through it. The statement “For the time is at hand” emphasizes the importance of immediate action and the danger of delay.

The Threatened Curse

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Rev. 22:18, 19.

No other book of the Bible contains such a malediction on those who treat it unfairly. This indicates that the book contains no nonessentials that need to be eliminated, and that it is too complete and perfect to be improved by the process of addition or subtraction. In divine revelation there is no room for improvement. To attempt to read into the Revelation anything that was not written or authorized by the Author, adds to it; and to lightly esteem or neglect as unimportant any part of its revelations places the guilty party under the threatened curse. The malediction also includes those who exalt their own opinions above divine truth, or who change the meaning to suit their own interpretation or convenience. When we attempt to add to what God has said, He adds to us the curse. If we attempt to subtract from His Word, He subtracts from us the blessing. (See Deut. 4:2; 12:32.)

In view of the way the Apocalypse has been neglected and mistreated, the warning is indeed timely. Commenting on the threatened curse, The Cambridge Bible says: “The parallel of those passages proves, that the curse denounced is on those who interpolate unauthorised doctrines in the prophecy, or who neglect essential ones; not on transcribers who might unadvisedly interpolate or omit something in the true text. The curse, if understood in the latter sense, has been remarkably ineffective, for the common text of this book is more corrupt, and the true text oftener doubtful, than in any other part of the N. T. But it may be feared that additions and omissions in the more serious sense have also been frequently made by rash interpreters. It is certain that the curse is designed to guard the integrity of this Book of the Revelation.”—The Revelation of St. John the Divine, p. 146.

The Author

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.” Rev. 1:1, 2.

Even though the Revelation, like all scripture, had its origin with God the Father, the Author and Fountain of all truth, and was given to man through the Son, who is the spokesman of the Godhead and the only Mediator between God and man, the human instrument or writer was John. Four times the writer designates himself as “John” or “His servant John,” but he gives no further means of identification. There has been some dispute as to whether this refers to John the apostle or to some other John, but the weight of authority is in favor of the former. Paul, Peter, James, and the other apostles used similar expressions in identifying themselves, indicating that they were too well known to require further identification.

The writer not only took it for granted that his readers would identify him as the only John among the disciples of Jesus, but he also declared that he had before borne witness to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. “This is the John who taught the truth concerning the Word of God and the truth told us by Jesus Christ--a faithful account of what he had seen.” (Weymouth.) Does this refer to the Gospel which he had previously written? It would seem so. He identifies himself as the John who had written the account of the life and teachings of Christ.

A careful examination will prove that the Gospel, the epistles of John, and the Revelation were written by the same author. More than twenty texts show a striking resemblance. It is a well-known fact that all writers use expressions peculiar to themselves. No other writer speaks so often of Jesus as the Word and the Lamb, or uses the words witness, overcome, manna, sheep, and shepherd, or refers to the “living water,” as does John. A. T. Robertson (Word Pictures in the New Testament, vol. 6, p. 274) declares that “there are numerous coincidences in vocabulary and style between the Fourth Gospel and the Apocalypse,” and Dean R. C. Trench asks the question: “Who else, without arrogance, could have taken for granted that the bare mention of his name was sufficient to ensure his recognition, or that he had a right to appropriate this name in so absolute a manner as his own?”—Commentary on the Epistle to the Seven Churches in Asia, p.3. For another to assume the mere title of “John” would seem akin to forgery.

The earliest Christian writers indicate that the church of early postapostolic days never questioned that John the apostle was the author of the Apocalypse. Justin Martyr, in the early part of the second century, testified that John the apostle was the author. In his Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, he said: “There was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem.” (Chap. 81.)

Eusebius, Irenaeus, Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Hippolytus, and Victorinus, the latter being the author of the oldest extant commentary on the Revelation, and all living between the middle of the second and the beginning of the fourth century, unanimously testify that John the apostle was the writer of this last book of the Bible. Davidson declares that “enough has been given to show that the apostolic origin of the Apocalypse is as well attested as that of any book in the New Testament” (Samuel Davidson, An Introduction to the Study of the New Testament, vol.1, p.245), and Robertson says that even though some attempt to throw doubt on the apostle John’s authorship of the Revelation, “a respectable number of modern scholars still hold to the ancient view that the Apocalypse of John is the work of the Apostle and Beloved Disciple, the son of Zebedee” (page 273).

Date Written

There is likewise a difference of opinion regarding the date of the writing of the Revelation. Some place the date during the reign and persecutions of Nero in A.D. 69, and others during the time of Domitian in the year 96. The weight of authority is in favor of the latter date. Irenaeus, who was but a few decades removed from John, speaking of the apocalyptic vision, declared that it “was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian’s reign.” (Against Heresies) book 5, chap. 30.) Victorinus ascribed the writing of the book to the time of Domitian. He said: “When John said these things he was in the island of Patmos, condemned to the labor of the mines by Caesar Domitian. There, therefore, he saw the Apocalypse.”—Commentary on the Apocalypse, From the Tenth Chapter, v.11.)

Eusebius, speaking of the fourteenth year of the reign of Domitian, declared that John was banished in that year to Patmos, where he had his visions, and Jerome, one of the most learned of the early writers, bore testimony to the same fact. He said: “Having been banished in the fourteenth year of Domitian to the Island of Patmos, he wrote the Apocalypse.” (Treatise on Illustrious Men, chap. 9.)

Further evidence that John was not banished during the reign of Nero is that the persecutions of that emperor did not extend beyond the city of Rome. According to Tacitus (Annals, book 15, chap. 44), the persecutions of Nero had no relation to religious belief but were mere outbursts of a tyrant’s rage to shift the responsibility for the burning of Rome. Domitian, who reigned from A.D. 81 to 96, carried on the second of the ten bloody attempts of pagan Roman emperors to destroy Christianity and thus preserve the gods and religion of the Romans. Moffatt declares that the earlier date for the writing of the Revelation is “almost impossible,” and such is the conclusion of the most dependable scholars.

John’s Banishment

It is believed that John was banished in A.D. 94 and that he received his visions during the latter part of 95 and the beginning of 96. According to Tertullian, the apostle was “plunged into burning hot oil without being hurt and then banished to an island.” “John was accordingly summoned to Rome to be tried for his faith... John was cast into a caldron of boiling oil; but the Lord preserved the life of His faithful servant, even as He preserved the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace.”—E. G. White, Acts of the Apostles, pp. 569, 570. Trench says that “the deportation of criminals, or those accounted as such, to rocky and desolate islands was, as is well known, a common punishment among the Romans” (pages 22, 23).

“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 1:9. John was banished because he was a witness for Christ in the preaching of the gospel. At that time Christianity was outlawed as a form of treason against the Roman gods. Paul declared that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” It has always been the fate of Christians, and especially of the prophets of God, to suffer persecution and sometimes martyrdom. Satan never persecutes his own citizens, nor does he afflict cold or lukewarm church members.

It was the godliness of the early Christians that brought on them the wrath of the great adversary. This explains why persecution is largely unknown to the modern church. This fact is set forth by a well-known Christian writer: “Why is it, then, that persecution seems in a great degree to slumber? The only reason is, that the church has conformed to the world’s standard, and therefore awakens no opposition. The religion which is current in our day is not of the pure and holy character that marked the Christian faith in the days of Christ and His apostles. It is only because of the spirit of compromise with sin, because the great truths of the word of God are so indifferently regarded, because there is so little vital godliness in the church, that Christianity is apparently so popular with the world. Let there be a revival of the faith and power of the early church, and the spirit of persecution will be revived, and the fires of persecution will be rekindled.”—White, The Great Controversy, p. 48.

Christ prophesied that persecution would be the fate of His followers, including His immediate disciples. (Matt. 23:34-36.) This prediction was literally fulfilled. His forerunner, John the Baptist, was beheaded by order of King Herod; Christ Himself was scourged and crucified; Stephen was stoned to death; James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa; Philip was scourged, imprisoned, and crucified; Matthew was killed with a halberd; James the Less was stoned, and his brains were dashed out with a fuller’s club; Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded; Andrew was crucified at Edessa; Mark was dragged to pieces by an infuriated mob on the streets of Alexandria; Peter was crucified, head downward at his own request; Paul was beheaded at Rome by order of Nero; Jude, the brother of James, and who was also called Thaddeus, was crucified at Edessa; Bartholomew was beaten and crucified; Thomas was thrust through with a spear; Luke was hanged on an olive tree in Greece; Simon Zelotes was crucified in Britain; and John was persecuted and banished to Patmos, and was the only one of the early disciples who died a natural death. (See Fox’s Book of Martyrs.)

Persecution for Christ’s sake has always been a blessing in disguise. Of the Israelites in Egypt we read that the more they were persecuted “the more they multiplied and grew.” Thus it has ever been. The ten pagan Roman persecutions of the early church were terrible beyond description, but during that period Christianity made its greatest progress. By the end of the first century it is estimated that there were more than six millions of Christians in the Roman Empire, and by the end of the third century Christianity had supplanted paganism as the religion of the empire. The first gospel seeds were watered by the blood of martyrs, and bountiful was the harvest. Tertullian wrote to a persecuting Roman ruler: “Kill us, torture us, grind us to dust. . . . The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in numbers we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.” (Apology, chap. 50.) This experience was repeated during the persecutions of the Middle Ages, and will be repeated again just before Christ returns. (Matt. 24:21, 22; Rev. 7:13, 14.)

Place of Banishment

Patmos is a small island in the Aegean Sea about fifty miles southwest of Ephesus, the home of John in Asia. It is a mass of barren rocks, dark in color and cheerless in form. It has neither trees nor rivers, and the only land that can be cultivated is in a few little nooks between the ledges of rock. The island is about ten miles in length and five or six in width, or about thirty miles in circumference. The present population is about four thousand, mostly Greek miners and fishermen. It is also known as Palmosa or Palmos. In the side of its highest hill is a cave, or grotto, where tradition says John lived, and received and wrote his visions. There can be no question but that John wrote the Revelation on the island of his captivity. Twelve times he was told to write what he had seen in vision. Revelation 10:4 indicates that he wrote as the successive visions were given.

Banishment was one of Rome’s chief methods of punishment, and islands were often used as places of confinement in order to make it more difficult for the criminals to escape. There were two degrees of punishment determined on the basis of social and political rank. Prisoners of wealth and social standing and high political rank were given an allowance and permitted the freedom of the island. They were not compelled to labor, and could even work for hire. On the other hand the lot of the common prisoners was very severe. They were condemned to sleep on the hard floor or ground and were permitted few privileges. They soon died under the severe strain or sank to the level of beasts. It was a condition of hopeless despair.

Christians shared the fate of the common prisoners, and John was their “companion in tribulation.” According to tradition, as given by Victorinus, John was condemned to work in the mines. These mines were doubtless marble quarries, as there is no discovered evidence of any other kind on the island. With no apparent hope of ever again seeing his home in Ephesus or visiting the churches of his love and care, he made the book of Revelation his last will and testament, as it were. However, the sudden assassination of Domitian on September 18, 96, unexpectedly ended the banishment of John. Nerva, the new emperor, released the prisoners of his predecessor. Clement of Alexandria says of John that “on the tyrant’s death, he returned to Ephesus from the isle of Patmos.” He then describes John as traveling “to the contiguous territories of the nations, here to appoint bishops, there to set in order whole Churches, there to ordain such as were marked out by the Spirit.” (Who Is The Rich Man That Shall Be Saved, sec. 42.)

Out of a Roman penitentiary came the Apocalypse to bless Christendom. From the barren rocks of the volcanic hills of Patmos came the book that completes and crowns the canon of Scripture. Although his only earthly companions were criminals, John did not become discouraged and lose hope. He rose above his circumstances and environments. Although he had been compelled to sever his connections with home and loved ones, he maintained his union with God and held communion with heavenly beings. We should be thankful for the bleak and barren places of life that cut us off from all earthly help so that heaven can draw near. Lonely Patmos became to the prophet “the house of God” and “the gate of heaven.” A monastery now crowns the summit of the most nearly central height, where tradition says John received his visions. It was built eight centuries ago and dedicated to “Saint John.”

From the places of exile and affliction have come the characters and literature and music that have been the greatest blessing to mankind. While in exile, facing the wrath of his brother Esau, Jacob in his extremity found God, and his character was so transformed that he was given a new name to correspond to his new character. It was while Joseph was in exile in Egypt that he developed a character that gave him the blessings of heaven and the favor of Pharaoh. He became a savior of the nation and of his own people. Moses was a fugitive when he met and talked with God at the burning bush, where he received his commission to deliver Israel from affliction and bondage. While a fugitive from the wrath of Pharaoh he wrote the books of Genesis and Job.

The experience of David while fleeing from the wrath of Saul brought him the greatest blessings of his life. It was during this time that he produced the best and most spiritual of his psalms. Elijah was in exile fleeing from the wrath of the angry Jezebel when he heard the “still small voice” directing him to his last work, which culminated in his translation by means of the fiery chariot. Ezekiel and Daniel wrote their great prophecies during Babylonian captivity. Tyndale and Luther produced their Bible translations while fugitives from the wrath and power of papal Rome. Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress came out of Bedford jail to bless the world. In the dark room of affliction and hardship the greatest characters have been developed and the greatest literature has been produced. Such also is the noble heritage of the Revelation.

THE GREAT PROPHETIC DRAMA

THE FIRST three verses constitute the introduction, foreword, or superscription of the Apocalypse, which is the first division of the book. Every book has a preface or introduction to the main work, and this one runs true to form. It contains a brief summary of the contents of the book, with preliminary information in regard to the author and the purpose of its publication. In harmony with the divine plan of the book, the introduction is divided into seven parts. It contains the title of the book, its divine origin, the mediums of its revelations, the name and identity of the writer, the manner in which it was revealed, the purpose of its publication, and the promised blessing on the reader, the hearers, and the doers. Seven is the sacred number representing completeness and perfection. In all literature there cannot be found an introduction that is so brief and yet so complete and perfect. Modern writers would demonstrate their wisdom by following this example. Perhaps then more of their introductions would be read.

The Revelation is the greatest panorama of prophetic events ever written, yet it is more than a prophecy. It is a revelation of the past, present, and future. Its visions reach back to the very beginning of sin and graphically describe its long, sad history. The Apocalypse reveals “things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” It describes the revolt of Lucifer and the war in heaven by which he was cast out of his high official position in the government of God. It pictures the incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, the conquering “Lamb of God” and “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” The world-embracing scope of these visions which cover the past, present, and future history of the reign of sin and the triumphs of righteousness, is set forth in Revelation 1:19: “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.” The chief portion of the book, however, is prophecy revealing “things which must shortly come to pass.”

It is because this book covers the past, present, and future that it is called “The Revelation” instead of “The Prophecy.” In his book, Daniel dealt only with the present and the future. But the Revelation is the seal and summary of the whole Bible, and is therefore all-embracing. “Genesis presents before us man and his bride in innocence and blessedness, followed by man’s fall through Satan’s subtlety, and man’s consequent misery, his exclusion from Paradise and its tree of life and delightful rivers. Revelation presents, in reverse order, man first liable to sin and death, but afterwards made conqueror through the blood of the Lamb; the first Adam and Eve, represented by the second Adam, Christ, and the Church, His spotless bride, in Paradise, with free access to the tree of life and the crystal water of life that flows from the throne of God.”—Jamieson, Fausett, and Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, vol. 2, p.548.

“Paradise Lost” in the book of beginnings is replaced by the matchless vision of “Paradise Restored” in the book of consummations. Here is made known all that had been left unrevealed in the other scriptures. The Revelation is the climax and completion of the history of redemption, and a prophecy of the consummation of God’s eternal purpose. In this revelation, therefore, all the books of the Bible meet and end.

The Scriptures abound in sharp and striking contrasts. Sin and righteousness are often placed side by side that we may shun the one and accept the other. The fearful results of transgression are placed over against the blessings of obedience so that we can decide whether we will suffer the penalty of sin or enjoy the reward of holiness. The Revelation is in a special sense the book of contrasts. It describes the sad conditions prevailing in the church in order that Christ may be pointed to as the only remedy. Apostasy is graphically portrayed in order to place the greater emphasis on the value of loyalty. Terrible war scourges are pictured as the natural aftermath of rejecting the overtures of the Prince of Peace. The antichrist is placed in contrast to the true Christ; the false prophet to the faithful messengers of truth; the harlot woman, symbolic of the church of Satan, to the beautiful virgin, representing the church of Christ. Satan’s counterfeit system of religion is described as an incentive for the acceptance of the everlasting gospel.

Mediums of Revelation

In Revelation 1 we are given, as in no other scripture, the divine order of the mediums of revelation: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John.” First is the Eternal Father, who is the fountain and origin of all light and truth. Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the second Person of the Godhead, is the Word of God and Spokesman of the Trinity. He is the channel of communication between the Father and man, the only Mediator between heaven and earth. He is the ladder of Jacob’s dream, by means of which the angels carry on their mission of ministering to the heirs of salvation. Although the Apocalypse was given more than sixty years after His ascension, Jesus still received His revelations from the Father as while on earth. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, is the third medium of revelation and is mentioned in verse 4. It was He who inspired all the holy prophets as they wrote their messages. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” The fourth agency in the revelation of God is said to be “His angel,” who was doubtless Gabriel, “the angel of prophecy.” It was Gabriel, the mighty angel who stands in the presence of God, who brought Daniel his visions concerning many of the same events portrayed in the Revelation.

The fifth in the line, and the first human agent, was the prophet John. The beloved apostle was the scribe, or amanuensis, of the celestial beings-the one who transcribed the message in the language of man. “The genesis of the Apocalypse has now been traced from its origin in the Mind of God to the moment when it reached its human interpreter.” (H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, p. 2.) Bengel says, “It is indeed John, the apostle, who wrote this book; but the author is Jesus Christ.” (Gnomon of the New Testament, vol. 5, p. 181.)

The prophet is designated “His servant John,” with the statement that he was commissioned to pass the revelation on to Christ’s other servants in the churches. Only servants of Christ can understand and appreciate the Revelation, for to them it was given and is dedicated. The last agency in reaching mankind with the gospel is the church, the organized body of believers or servants of Christ. (Verses 4, 11.) Through the church the revelations of God to man are to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth, embracing “every creature.” This has ever been God’s method of revealing His will, and He has no other plan. From the original source, the Eternal, to the final recipient, the world, there are seven links in the chain that unites man with God and earth with heaven.

Method of Revelation

The Revelation was “signified” by the angel to the prophet. Signify means “to make signs or tokens; to communicate by signs; to signify by symbols.” The messages of the book are revealed in signs and symbols. Its prophecies are symbolic. The Apocalypse is the companion to the book of Daniel, and the two must be studied together. “Daniel is the key to Revelation: Revelation is the key to Daniel. Both are complete together; divided, they are incomprehensible.” (Davis, p.16.) The language of both books is highly figurative, requiring great care in the interpreting of their symbols. The Bible is its own best interpreter and commentator.

The purpose of Christ “to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass,” also indicates a panoramic method of instruction. At the beginning of the various visions, John uses the expressions I “saw” thirty-five times, I “beheld” seven times, “I looked” five times, He “shewed me” two times, and “there appeared” two times, I “heard” twenty-eight times; and eighteen times he was told to “behold,” and four times to “come and see.” In the two great prophetic books, events, conditions, nations, and religious movements and organizations are pictured in prophetic symbols. They are pictorial presentations or prophetic cartoons.

The Revelation is declared by one writer to be “God’s picture book,” and another calls it “a vast picture gallery.” There are many different kinds of pictures, some of which need no explanation, because in them everything is real or natural. But in symbols or cartoons each object represents something else than that which is pictured. There are many things that cannot be pictured except by symbols or cartoons, and for this reason the Lord makes use of a method well known and approved by man. A nation or a political party or a church can be pictured only in symbols. There is no other method of pictorial presentation.

Ordinarily the Scriptures must be understood in the natural sense in which they are written, unless there is every reason to believe that the language is figurative. The presumption, however, is always in favor of the literal interpretation until the interpreter can prove otherwise. The burden of proof is always on the side of the symbolic interpretation. God always means exactly what He says and in the way He says it unless there is sufficient evidence that figurative or parabolic language is being used to illustrate divine truths.

Whenever pictures are shown in the pictorial book under consideration, we naturally conclude that they have a symbolic meaning. This is a well-recognized rule among Bible students in dealing with prophetic interpretation. It is a very simple matter to understand a good cartoon if one is familiar with the symbols employed and the thing or event being pictured. At the same time nothing is more obscure and devoid of meaning, or subject to such a variety of interpretations, as symbolic pictures that are unfamiliar and therefore enveloped in mystery.

The language of the Apocalypse, like that of the book of Daniel, is not only figurative but highly dramatic. It was presented to and written by John in the form of a play or drama, as if the various scenes were acted out on a stage before him in prophetic vision, or thrown on a screen in a series of moving pictures. The Apocalypse is the great prophetic drama of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It is a drama of life and death, and in it we must find ourselves as actors, “for we are made a theatre unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” I Cor. 4:9, marginal reading. In the Revelation the curtain that veils the future is drawn aside by a divine hand and the events that affect the people of God in their contests with the forces of evil are presented in the form of moving parables or dramatic episodes. Christians should ever be grateful for the promise: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7.

The Revelation was written in the age of Greek drama, when parables, pageants, and panoramas were popular. Like the Greek pageant, the Apocalypse is divided into different scenes, participated in by different actors. At regular intervals between scenes that are dark and dreary the chorus of victorious saints on earth or celestial beings in heaven is heard singing heavenly anthems or spiritual oratorios to bring cheer and consolation to the valiant soldiers of the cross. A drama consists of various parts such as a prologue, different acts and scenes with interludes, choruses, plots, and counterplots in which actor heroes suffer temporary defeats ending in ultimate victory. These are all found portrayed in the Revelation.

Many apocalyptic students divide the Revelation into seven scenes or panoramas in harmony with the divine arrangement of the entire book. These great scenes are subdivided into smaller acts or episodes. The entire Christian dispensation is covered by the whole. It would have been impossible to cover the entire Christian Era with its many events and various phases in one panorama. The interlude choruses of good cheer and consolation give silver linings to the dark clouds of the apocalyptic scenes. They are the songs in the night mentioned by the psalmist.

Many modern commentators make a grave mistake in attempting to prove that the various visions of the Revelation are successive instead of parallel. The Revelation follows the method used in Daniel of presenting the same great line of events from different viewpoints and thus covering the same periods of history. They may start at different dates and with different events, but they all end with the same great climax, the Second Advent of Christ to establish His everlasting kingdom.

The following quotation sets forth the design of the apocalyptic visions: “The Visions of the Book are not successive but parallel. One Vision brings us to the verge of the Second Advent, and so closes; another Vision opens out of it, returning to the course of the Christian era dealt with in the previous Vision, and displaying another aspect of the great subject of the Book.”—A Devotional Commentary, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, p. 5. The efforts to fit everything after the first three chapters into a period of three and one-half years immediately preceding the Second Advent is indeed pathetic. This false conception, for the purpose of maintaining a preconceived and erroneous position, has made almost completely useless many of the recent commentaries on the Revelation.

Why Symbols Are Employed

In answer to the question of His disciples, “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” Jesus set forth the chief purpose of symbolic or figurative language: “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” (See Matt. 13:10-16, 34, 35.)

A parable is defined as “a thing darkly or figuratively expressed, a figure or similitude.” The word comes originally from the Greek parabole; which literally means “to throw beside, to compare; a comparison.” The figures and symbolic representations that passed before the prophet in vision were parables in action. In them the Lord revealed “things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” The parabolic method of teaching is employed all through the Old Testament Scriptures, and was very popular in Christ’s day. It was an approved and up-to-date method of imparting instruction.

Jesus taught in parables for various reasons, but chiefly that He might conceal truths from His enemies and at the same time reveal them to His friends and disciples. He was constantly hounded by spies seeking His destruction. The time came when Jesus could no longer use plain language that could be used against Him, and He spoke in parables in order to keep His work from being cut short before His mission was accomplished. He was thus able to proclaim great truths and at the same time administer severe rebukes in parables, and His enemies could not use them to condemn Him. When they attempted to interpret them they condemned themselves. (Matt. 21:33-46.) By the use of a parable the prophet Nathan caused King David to pass sentence upon himself, and thus in an impressive manner convicted him of his awful sin against Uriah. (2 Samuel 12.)

The purpose of parables or symbols is beautifully set forth by William M. Taylor: “Now let us ask . . . why the Lord Jesus used parables in His discourses. And to that we may answer, first of all, that He employed this form of instruction as a means of attracting attention. . . . But another reason why our Lord used parables in His teaching was to prevent His auditors from being repelled by too sudden revelation, either of His purpose or of His message. .

He had to reveal His truth to men ‘as they were able to bear it.’ . . . In the third place . . . He employed them [parables] to stimulate inquiry. . . Parable was the veil which Jesus put over the face of truth, to secure its safer perception to those who listen to His words. . . . Parable was a veil which both revealed and concealed the truth. . . . To those who had the spirit to discern, the outward covering brought the truth nearer . . . but to those who lacked that spirit, there was nothing but the story.”—The Parables of Our Saviour, pp. 7-11.

“The form of His expressions whether He uttered parables, proverbs, maxims, or apparent paradoxes, was intended to spur men’s minds to profounder thought, to awaken the Divine consciousness within, and so teach them to understand that which at first served only as a mental stimulus. The form of teaching which repelled the stupid, and passed unheeded and misunderstood by the unholy, roused susceptible minds to deeper thought, and rewarded their inquiries by the discovery of ever increasing treasures.

“So far as they [the hearers] hungered for true spiritual food, so far as the parable stimulated them to deeper thought, and so far only, it revealed new riches. . . . And so, in pro-portion to the susceptibility of His hearers, the parables of Christ revealed sacred things to some and veiled them from others, who were destined, through their own fault, to remain in darkness. . . . The parables served to sift and purge the throng of Christ’s hearers. “—Augustus Neander, The Life of Jesus Christ, pp. 102, 103.

In the use of symbols the lower and natural is used to illustrate the higher and the spiritual. All nature thus becomes alive to the spiritually discerning, so that illustrations of the truths of the kingdom of heaven are everywhere visible. The use of symbols and parables throughout the Scriptures is therefore not arbitrary, but is based on both usage and reason. In order to understand the parables and symbols of the Scriptures, it is necessary to study them in connection with the other volume of God’s holy word, the book of nature, the illustrated edition of the Bible.

When one thinks the matter through carefully, it is seen that the parabolic method of revealing the future is absolutely essential. In a special sense Daniel and the Revelation forecast the rise and fall of great earthly powers under satanic control and waging warfare against the church and saints of God down to the very close of human history. In order to protect these prophecies from the wrath of God’s enemies and preserve them for the future use of His people, it was necessary that they be couched in language that only the saints could understand. Had John named pagan Rome in his Apocalypse instead of describing it in symbols, his book would never have lived to reach the churches to which it was written. We may be sure that all writings were censored by a Roman official before being permitted to go on their mission to the mainland.

How much more difficult it would have been to preserve this book through the pagan Roman persecutions of the early church and the Scriptures as a whole through the persecutions of the Dark Ages if symbols had not been employed to describe pagan and papal Rome and their misdeeds.

Spiritual Discernment

Christ dedicated the Revelation to “His servants,” and there is no promise that others will be able to understand its visions. The secret of wisdom in things divine and spiritual is given in Daniel 12:10: “None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Here is doubtless the secret of the present ignorance regarding the true meaning of these two great prophetic books of the Old and New Testaments. (Matt. 11:25; Mark 4:10-12; 1 Cor. 2:11-14.) Spiritual things have always been foolishness to the unspiritual, just as the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians are foolishness to those who cannot read them. Only to a few dialectic students are they full of meaning. The importance of their message was unlocked by the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, by which an alphabet was made possible. Thus the meaning of the symbolic prophecies is plain to those who hold the key of spiritual discernment and cherish a willingness to obey the truths revealed. Some laugh at the idea of beasts and birds being used in the Scriptures to symbolize nations, but at the same time they speak reverently of the American eagle, the British lion, the Russian bear, and the Chinese dragon. God employed many of the very symbols of nations as they were used and recognized by men everywhere.

The Lord has promised to preserve His Word down through the centuries. “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, Thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” Ps. 12:6, 7. This prophetic utterance has been completely fulfilled, so that in this last generation the Scriptures come to us fresh from the fountain of eternal truth, untarnished and unsullied. A divine hand has preserved their purity through all the ages. One of the greatest factors in the preservation of the Word of God has been the use of signs, symbols, and parables by which truth has been hidden from those who would destroy it, and revealed to those who appreciate and obey it. As the various truths are needed, they become meat in due season to the people of God. Light is released from the great storehouse as it is needed and becomes applicable. It is thus that “the path. of the just is as the shining light” that shines with ever-increasing brilliance “unto the perfect day.”

Spiritual light will continue to increase, till the last generation is flooded with a blaze of glory. In one of his visions John saw an “angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.” Rev. 18:1. One writer has said that there has ever been an increasing flood of light, “from the solitary ray of Eden, to the clear, widespread beams of Daniel, and to the rich glow of the Apocalypse.” The patriarchs, with partial knowledge, looked forward to the advent of the Redeemer, the great goal of prophetic vision. The prophets saw even more clearly, and the apostles walked in the very presence of the Light of the world “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” But the accumulated light of all ages has been reserved for the last generation, when the great gospel commission is to be fulfilled in all the earth.

In a special sense the prophetic portion of the Bible belongs to the last days, inasmuch as most of the great lines of prophecy focus on the Second Advent. “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” Isa. 46:9, 10. A well-known writer says:

“Chronological prophecy was intended, as we have seen, for the benefit of later generations, and especially of the last. The lapse of time only could fulfill it, and the lapse of time only could explain it. The light that it sheds falls not on times near its own, but—as a lighthouse illuminates the ocean afar, and not the rock on which it stands—on remote future ages.”—H. Grattan Guinness, Light for the Last Days, p. 48. We have now come to the most remote of all generations since the prophecies were given, and it is time for the church to live in expectation of the translation of the visions of the prophets into joyful realities.

THE UNVEILING OF CHRIST

THE DIVINE purpose of the last book of the Bible is to reveal Christ to the church and through the church to the world. He is the central theme of all its visions, the chief Hero in the various scenes of its dramatic panoramas. Its visions and symbols emphasize the eternal verities that are the very substance of revealed truth. The love, justice, holiness, and majesty of an omnipotent God are here set forth. Christ is portrayed in His combined offices of prophet, priest, and king. He is the eternal Son of God and also the Son of man. As the God-Man, Christ is revealed as Emmanuel, the only Mediator between God and man. In order to become this connecting link, He had to combine in Himself both the divinity of God and the humanity of man. He is the slain Lamb, for it was by His death and resurrection that He secured the triumph over sin that is ours by faith. In His nail-pierced hands He holds the destiny of nations. Here the Holy Spirit is also revealed in His ceaseless and sevenfold ministry.

The purpose of this book is revealed in its title. Revelation is the English for Apocalypse, which is the Anglicized form of the Latin from the Greek. Before the eleventh century this book was known only as the Apocalypse, as indicated by all the early manuscripts. This is the only book of the Bible that was divinely named. The name given by the translators, “The Revelation of St. John the Divine,” is a contradiction of the inspired title as given in the first verse. John is not “The Divine,” and the book did not originate with him, nor was it written to reveal him.

The use of the word divine in connection with religious leaders in the Christian church seems to have had its origin with Eusebius, or at least it began in his time. Recent archaeological discoveries in the ruins of Ephesus show that “divine” was one of the titles used by the pagan priests of the Temple of Artemis, or Diana. Like many other pagan practices, its use came into the church during the great apostasy, or “falling away.” Although provision has been made through the gospel whereby man can be made partaker of the divine nature, he should never assume a title that belongs alone to the Deity. We speak of the divinity of Christ because He is a member of the Godhead and is therefore divine.

Revelation is defined as “the act of revealing; a disclosure of what was before unknown; also that which is revealed.” The word reveal comes originally from the Latin revelare, which literally means “to unveil.” An Apocalypse is therefore something disclosed, unveiled, discovered, or brought to light. An unveiling is “the act of removing, turning back, or taking off the veil so as to discover what previously was hidden from view.” It conveys the idea of the drawing aside of the curtain of concealment. When the curtain is drawn back, the scene behind it becomes clearly exposed to view and that which was hidden becomes visible.

“The Unveiling of Jesus Christ” is the rendering in the Concordant Version. Apocalypse carries the meaning of both a revelation of information that had been kept at least partially concealed, and also the unveiling of some person, or persons, or events, so that they can be more clearly seen. The word Apocalypse combines the meaning of revelation and unveiling and is therefore the most appropriate title of the book. It is called The Revelation and not The Revelations. It contains many visions, but like the Bible itself it is one book, written for the one purpose of revealing Christ to man.

Book Not Sealed

The contents of this book are not sealed or concealed; they are revealed, unfolded, made known. The author never intended that these visions should be an unsolvable puzzle, a mystery, or a conundrum. He expected them to be understood. In fact, the prophet was given explicit instructions not to seal the book. “And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.” Rev. 22:10. We must conclude that this instruction was obeyed. The prevailing idea that the Apocalypse is a sealed book and cannot be understood is entirely refuted-first, by the title; second, by the promised blessing on all who read, hear, and obey what is written in it; third, by the instruction not to seal the book; and fourth, by the oft-repeated injunction that all who have ears to hear should “hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

If the Apocalypse were a sealed book, a more appropriate title would have been The Apocrypha, which means just the opposite of apocalypse. An apocrypha is something hidden, obscure, unknown, veiled. Or the title would have been The Mystery, The Sealed Book, The Enigma, The Sphinx of the Bible, or The Book of Hidden Secrets. As we begin the study of this book we should thank God and take courage because it is a “revelation,” and this fact in itself gives assurance of success. The erroneous idea that this book is sealed has been the chief factor in making it the neglected book of the Bible, and also constitutes the principal excuse for not studying it.

Those who thus excuse their neglect are described in Isaiah 29:11, 12: “And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned.” Here are the two principal excuses for neglecting the study of the Revelation. The learned say, “It is sealed,” and the uneducated say, “I am not learned.” The minister hides behind what he thinks makes it impossible for him to interpret the book, and the laity behind their lack of theological knowledge and training in the Scriptures. Nevertheless the divine promise is: “In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” Isa. 29:18, 19. Is this a prophecy of the universal study of the Revelation resulting in the bestowal of the blessings promised to those who read, hear, and obey?

The book of Daniel is the only book of the Bible ever sealed, and then only till a certain time, “the time of the end,” or the last days, when “many would search it through, and knowledge would be great.” (See Dan. 12:4, 9.) This book has long since been unsealed and its glorious truths have been given to the church and the world. But notwithstanding all the internal and external evidences that the Revelation is an open book, many still persist in declaring it to be sealed and therefore unfathomable. Herder speaks of those in his day who considered it the mark of a sound understanding to abstain from the study of it. Archbishop Benson asked a friend, “What is the form the book presents to you?” and the answer was, “It is chaos.” Dr. Robert Smith said that “the study of the Revelation either finds or leaves a man mad,” and another writer declared it to be “a dark and inexplicable hieroglyphic, which it is humility and duty to leave unopened.”

But we must remember that the hieroglyphics can now be read and understood, and so can the Apocalypse. William Milligan said of the Revelation: “To numbers it is not only absolutely sealed; they imagine, and are content with imagining, that no loosing of the seals is possible. Sometimes deliberately, almost always practically, the book is laid aside. The effect is more than negative; the result worse than loss. The symmetry and completeness of Scripture are marred. The idea of Revelation is disturbed. . . . The Book is there, and it must either be excluded from the New Testament, or the Church must continue her struggle to comprehend it until she succeeds in doing so.”—Lectures on the Apocalypse, p. 4.

It is cheering to note a recent change for the better in the attitude of Christendom toward this hitherto neglected book.

Christ Unveiled

The Revelation is more than a prophecy given by Christ; it is a revelation of Him. “This is the unveiling of a Person—Jesus Christ—and not merely a prediction revealed through Him,” is the footnote in the Concordant Version. To reveal or unveil Christ to mankind is the chief purpose of all prophecy and especially of the last book of the Bible. No other portion of the Scriptures is so completely saturated with revelations of the personality, power, ministry, and eternal purpose of Christ. One writer declared that this last prophecy “arches over the guilty and suffering race like the grand vault of Heaven, illuminated by the glorious central Sun—Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness.”

In the Apocalypse the name of Jesus or its equivalent is found forty-nine times in the first chapter, thirty-nine times in the second, and forty-nine times in tile third, or a total of one hundred and thirty-seven times in the first three chapters. Twenty-eight times in the Revelation He is called the “Lamb.” To understand this book we must constantly look for the Man of the book, the One whom it was especially written to make known. Dr. Gordon tells of the lesson he learned from his little son to whom he had given a puzzle map of the United States. He was amazed because the map was so quickly and successfully put together. When he asked for an explanation the boy showed him a picture of Uncle Sam covering the entire back of the map. He had put the man together and in so doing had solved the puzzle. Only as we keep our eyes on Jesus can we understand the secrets of the Revelation.

Christ is the chief secret of all prophecy, for its purpose is to reveal Him. Peter wrote: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; . whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19. Christ is the Day Star, whose entrance into the heart brings the day’s dawning and whose Second Advent ends the night of sin. To reveal Christ was the purpose of the lamb offered by Abel; the test of Abraham on Mount Moriah; the Mosaic tabernacle and its typical services; and the writings of all the prophets. After Jesus rebuked the disciples for their ignorance and unbelief concerning His sufferings and death, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Luke 24:27. Jesus said to the Jews, “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me.” John 5:46.

It was the revelation of Christ in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost that brought conviction and conversion to three thousand sinners. The name Jesus appears nearly one thousand times in the New Testament, and the word Christ more than five hundred times. The Emancipation Proclamation has been so written that as it is read the face of the author, Abraham Lincoln, becomes visible on the face of the document. To those with spiritual discernment every page of the Scriptures reveals its divine Author.

The Old Testament reveals Christ in promise and prophecy; the Gospels unveil Him in His earthly life, ministry, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension; the Acts and the epistles disclose the early triumphs of the church under His Spirit’s ministry; but the unveiling would be incomplete without the revelation of the closing book. This is the crowning revelation of the entire Scripture. One writer calls it, “A panorama of the glory of Christ.” Gregory Nussen terms it “the last book of grace.” In it Christ is pictured in heavenly glory at the right hand of God as the High Priest and Mediator of the “true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” He is also described as the supreme Judge, at whose tribunal all men and nations must appear. The final scenes picture Him as the “King of kings, and Lord of Lords,” reigning forever over the saints in Paradise restored. The Revelation is the final act in the unveiling ceremony which began at the gates of Eden with the first gospel promise. It makes possible an unobstructed vision of the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Genesis begins with Paradise lost and the fall of man, and Revelation ends with man redeemed and Paradise restored.

Not only is the Apocalypse a revelation of Christ in person; it also discloses Him in the “things,” or events, “which must shortly come to pass.” All prophetic events focus on Christ, and we should be able to discover His stately stepping in the history of mankind. In one sense He is in all the events that fulfill His word and lead to the accomplishment of His eternal purpose. William A. Sunday said: “I ascended to the observatory of the prophets, where appeared photographs of far-off events and stars all focused upon the great Star which was to arise as an atonement for sin.” In a special sense the Revelation is a photograph gallery of the events that reveal and unveil the Son of God. He speaks to mankind through events and judgments. They are His messengers, and their mission is to reveal Him. Thus a knowledge of the prophetic word makes it possible to see Jesus in the happenings of the past, and in the news items of the daily press. To see Him is the supreme need of all men, and to make Him more clearly visible is the purpose of the Apocalypse.

THE SALUTATION

REVELATION 1:4-8 is known as the salutation, and is therefore not strictly a part of the Apocalypse proper.

Since the book is written in the form of an epistle, it is appropriate that it begin with an apostolic salutation, or greeting. The introduction and salutation together constitute the prologue of the book. Revelation 22:8-21 is the epilogue. The salutation begins with an invocation of divine grace and peace upon those who read, hear, and obey what is about to be revealed. Grace is the unmerited favor of God expressed in manifold ways, and peace is the state of security and tranquility that comes to those who enjoy the smiles of divine approval. Both grace and peace are said to come from the Triune Godhead.

Through the prophet, the Holy Trinity salutes the church and seals the message to be delivered. This is indeed a marvelous salutation. In all literature there cannot be found a more sublime and appropriate opening for a book, nor a message backed with such complete authority. Such salutations were customary in Bible times. (See Dan. 4:1; 6:25; 2 Cor. 13:13, 14; Jude 1, 2.) Sometimes the greetings appeared at the beginning and sometimes at the close of a book or epistle, and sometimes both. But none is more complete and full of meaning than that with which the Apocalypse begins.

There can be no real peace without the favor of God. Because God cannot extend grace to the wicked, they have no peace. The prophet said: “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” Isa. 57:20, 21. Webster defines grace as follows: “Clemency; mercy, forbearance. A dispensation, privilege or pardon, granted not by right but by favor. In English law, a general and free pardon by act of Parliament; called also ‘act of grace.’ In a theological sense, (a) the free unmerited love and favor of God; (b) divine influence or the influence of the Spirit in renewing the heart and restraining from sin; (c) a state of reconciliation to God; (d) virtuous and religious affection or disposition, as faith, meekness, humility, patience, etc., proceeding from divine influence; (e) spiritual instruction, improvement and edification.”

The Revelation, the promised blessing, and grace and peace, come from all three members of the Godhead, but like the book itself they have their origin with the Eternal Father. with a beginningless past and an endless future. He is identified as the One “which is; and which was, and which is to come.” He is “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity” Isa. 57:15. His existence is “so limitless that we imagine nothing as either before or after it.” (E. H. Plumptre, A Popular Exposition of the Epistles to the Eastern Churches of Asia, p. 28.) “Such a title of the Eternal Father stands fitly among the first words of a book which reveals the present in the light both of the past and of the future.” (Swete, p. 5.)

In Revelation 1:8, 11 Christ is also described as being eternal. He declares Himself to be the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the ending, the One “which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” The eternal existence of the Son with the Father is beautifully set forth in Proverbs 8:22-30. In Isaiah 9:6 Christ is called “The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” He is the great “I AM” of Exodus 3:14, 15. In the song of Moses the Lord thus described Himself: “Behold, now, I am He who Am and Was, and Will be.” Deut. 32:39, Targum of Palestine. To the Jews, Christ said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” (See John 8:56-59.) In Revelation 3:14 He declares Himself to be “the beginning and Lord of God’s creation.” (Weymouth.) Christ is set forth in the Scriptures as the Creator, Lawgiver, and Redeemer. He also survives all changes and is the end. All beginnings were made by Him, and He will bring about all consummations. He is “the Author and Finisher of our faith.”

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, is described as “the seven Spirits which are before His throne.” Seven represents the fullness and perfection of His power and the diversity of His operations. He is known in the Scriptures as (1) “the Spirit of God,” (2) “the Spirit of His Son,” (3) “the Spirit of holiness,” (4) “the Spirit of wisdom,” (5) “the Spirit of love,” (6) “the Spirit of grace,” and (7) “the Spirit of glory.” See Isaiah 11:1 and 2 for a description of the sevenfold nature of the operations of the Holy Spirit through the Messiah.

Although we are told that there is but “one Spirit” (Eph. 4:4), His being designated here in Revelation as “the seven Spirits of God” does not constitute a contradiction. It is a symbolic representation of the many aspects of His work in the plan of redemption. This is the position of the best of the apocalyptic students. Philip Mauro, in his book, Of Things Which Soon Must Come to Pass, page 52, quotes the following: “The sevenfoldness does no violence to the unity. It merely points to the fullness and variety of the powers that are embraced in the unity,” and Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown explain the statement as “the Holy Spirit in His sevenfold (i.e., perfect, complete, and universal) energy.” (Vol. 2, p. 551.) A. T. Robertson says: “A difficult symbolic representation of the Holy Spirit here on a par with God and Christ, a conclusion borne out by the symbolic use of the seven spirits in 3:1; 4:5; 5:6 (from Zech. 4:2-10). There is the one Holy Spirit with seven manifestations here to the seven churches, unity in diversity.” (Page 286.)

There are those who claim that this statement has reference to seven angels, but this is not possible. “The seven Spirits” could not be created beings, for they are coupled with the Father and Son as the source of blessings, grace, and peace, and are here placed between the first and third Persons of the Godhead. Since seven different times the admonition is given for the churches to whom the Apocalypse is sent to “hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches,” it would hardly seem possible that He should be left out of the picture. The text without doubt refers to the Holy Spirit who “doth His sevenfold gifts impart.”

In verse 14 Christ is said to have eyes like “a flame of fire,” and in Revelation 5:6 He is described with “seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” Through the Holy Spirit, who directs the work of the angels, or “ministering spirits,” the Father and the Son see all that takes place on earth. (See 2 Chron. 16:9.) In Zechariah 4:6, 10, 14, Christ and the Holy Spirit are called “the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” The “seven Spirits” in our text are said to stand before His throne.” Jesus declared that the Holy Spirit “proceedeth from the Father,” and Paul said that “we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” (John .15:26; Eph. 2:15.) We are also admonished to do our praying “in the Holy Ghost,” for we have the assurance that “the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses; for we do not know what prayers to offer nor in what way to offer them. But the Spirit Himself pleads for us in yearnings that can find no words, and the Searcher of hearts knows what the Spirit’s meaning is, because His intercessions for God’s people are in harmony with God’s will.” Jude 20; Rom. 8:26, 27, Weymouth. From the Holy Spirit, pictured as “the seven Spirits of God” before the throne, the “seven golden candlesticks” or “lamps” symbolic of “the seven churches,” receive their light that makes them “the light of the world.”

Revelation of Christ

Since Jesus Christ is the immediate source of the revelation, blessings, grace, and peace, and the purpose of the Apocalypse is to reveal Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit are placed before Him in this description of the Trinity. He is mentioned last because it is of Him that the writer is about to speak at length. This makes it possible for the description of Him whom the book especially reveals to be more complete. Though all three members of the Godhead cooperate in the work of redemption, as they did in the work of creation, the chief purpose of this last gospel message is to reveal or unveil Jesus Christ. He is the first cause and the last effect; the origin of all and the goal of all; the first to seek the sinner and the last to forsake him. True to the title and design of the book, we are given a revelation of His eternity, divinity, ministry, character, love, and final universal dominion. He stamps the Apocalypse with the authority of His threefold office of prophet, priest, and king.

“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” Rev. 1:5, 6. Here is a beautiful sevenfold ascription of honor and glory to Jesus Christ.

Jesus is first described as “the faithful witness,” or “the truthful witness.” (Weymouth.) In Revelation 3:14 He is called “the faithful and true witness.” In chapter 11, verse 10, the “two witnesses” are also called the “two prophets.” In a special sense God’s prophets have been His witnesses, and since Jesus was the greatest of all prophets, He was also the chief of all witnesses. The Apocalypse is called “the testimony of Jesus” in Revelation 1:2 and 10:10. Christ and the Holy Spirit are the two chief witnesses for God to man and for man before God. “The testimony of Jesus,” who is “the faithful witness,” is absolutely dependable, for it is “impossible for” Him “to lie.” What a contrast is His testimony to that of the majority in this age of “false accusers” and “trucebreakers,” when perjury on the. witness stand has become one of the universal crimes of mankind.

He is also “the first begotten of the dead,” or “the chief-born of the dead,” according to the Emphatic Diaglott. This expression and similar ones are used five times in the New Testament. “First” as used here must be in point of quality rather than time. The “firstfruits” were also called the “chief-fruits.” Christ was not the first to be resurrected in point of time. Moses was raised from the dead a millennium and a half before, and others were raised during Christ’s earthly ministry. However, all other resurrections depended on the raising of Him who is “the resurrection, and the life.” Moses was awakened from his death sleep only on condition that Christ would be raised from the dead.

The resurrection of Moses was a pledge that the Son of God would die for the sins of the world and be raised again to life. This was the reason for the dispute between Christ and Satan over the body of Moses, as pictured in Jude 9. Satan doubtless contended that the Son of God had no right to resurrect anyone from the dead until after His own resurrection, provided He succeeded in His earthly mission. This also explains why Moses and Elijah came down to meet Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration “and encouraged Him concerning His death.” If He failed, death could be their only portion, because they were in heaven by means of a resurrection and a translation on condition He would not fail. The resurrection of Christ was the crowning and overwhelming proof and demonstration of His divinity and messiahship. It was the event also that scaled His priesthood. He could not be priest till He had become the God-Man, Emmanuel. After His resurrection He entered upon His mediatorial work in the heavenly sanctuary. His triumph over death and the grave was the assurance of a new creation, the fruition of a new hope.

Jesus is also “the Prince of the kings of the earth,” or “the Prince over the kings of earth.” (Moffatt.) The psalmist reports the Father as saying of the Son: “Also I will make Him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.” Ps. 89:27. Rulership over kings is the result of His triumph over death. It was by His resurrection that Jesus won sovereignty over principalities and kingly powers, the very position the devil offered Him on the basis of surrender, and which He rejected. His office as king will be occupied in its fullness only when redemption is complete. The title here is at least partly prophetic of the time Christ occupies the throne of His glory and reigns as “King of kings” over the twelve apostolic kings and the twelve nations of the saved in the new earth state.

But in one sense Christ is now the Prince or Ruler, “over” or above the kings of the earth. To Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, He declared that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” Dan. 4:17. The proud king had to learn by a tragic experience that “the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.” (See verses 30-36.) In Ephesians 1:20, 21, we are told that after His resurrection and ascension the Father placed Jesus “at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.”

This is a hard lesson for kings and rulers to learn. The ten plagues of Egypt failed to fully teach Pharaoh that God’s sovereignty is complete and supreme. Belshazzar, if he learned the lesson at all, learned it too late to profit by it. The handwriting on the wall of the banqueting room was an irrevocable decree: “Thy kingdom is finished and given to the Medes and Persians.” Napoleon while in exile on the island of St. Helena is reported to have said: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself, have founded great empires: but upon what do these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus, alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions would die for Him…Jesus Christ was more than man.” (Bertrand’s Memoirs, cited in Liddon’s Bampton Lectures, 1866.) “Thus, in these three epithets of Christ, are briefly set forth His life on earth, His glorious resurrection, His present and eternal universal dominion.” (A Devotional Commentary, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, p. 11.)

“Unto Him that loved us,” or “loveth us.” (R.V.) The love of Christ is not past only, but continuous. The supreme act of dying for us did not extinguish His affection. Of course Calvary was the greatest of all demonstrations of that undying divine love. The cross alone measures the height and depth and breadth

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Book of All Nations

Word Of God—The Grand Unveiling

Of His Glory And His Grace:

When The Lamps Of Earth Are Failing,

Here Is Light For All Our Race.

Word Of Truth—Through All Time’s Changes

Its Glad Messages Abide;

Homeward, Past Earth’s Cloudy Ranges,

Still Our Footsteps It Will Guide.

Word Of Wisdom For The Erring;

For The Weary, Word Of Strength;

Sure And Steadfast Hope Conferring

Daily All The Journey’s Length.

Thy Good News To Every Nation

In Its Own Tongue Now Declare—

Till The Author Of Salvation

Find His Homeland Everywhere.

Word Triumphant! — Spread Thy Pinions,

Take From Land To Land Thy Flight,

Till The Earth’s Distraught Dominions

In The Love Of God Unite.