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liturgies. [HAMMOND.] 21. Inr. 20, 21, Jude combines the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost; and faith, hope, and lore. Keep yourselves not in your own strength, but "in the love of God," i.e., God's love to you and all His believing children, the only guarantee for their being kept safe. Man's need of watching is implied; at the same time he cannot keep himself, unless God in His love keep him. locking for in hope. the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ-to be fully manifested at His coming. Mercy is usually attributed to the Father: here to the Son; so entirely one are they. 22, 23. None but those who "keep themselves" are likely to "save" others. have compassion-So one oldest MS. reads. But two oldest MSS., Vulgate, &c., read, "convict," "reprove to their conviction," "confute, so as to convince." making a difference-The oldest MSS, and versions read the accusative for the nominative, "when separating themselves" (WAHL] referring to v. 19; or when contending with you," as the Greek is translated, v. 9. 23 save with fear-The oldest MSS. do not read with fear" in this position: but after "snatching them out of the fire" (with which, cf. Amos, 4. 11; 1 Corinthians, 3. 15; Zechariah, 3. 2, said of a most narrow escape), they add the following words, forming a THIRD class. "and others compassionate with (IN) fear" Three kinds of patients require three kinds of medical treatment. Ministers and Christians are said to "save" those whom they are made the instruments of saving; the Greek for "save" is present, therefore meaning "try to save." Jude already (v. 9) had reference to the same passage (Zechariah, 3. 1-3). The three classes are: (1.) Those who contend with you (accusative in oldest MSS.), whom you should convict; (2.) those who are as brands already in the fire, of which hell-fire is the consummation: these you should try to save by snatching them out; (3.) those who are objects of compassion, whom accordingly you should compassionate (and help if occasion should offer), but

Constancy in the Faith.

at the same time not let pity degenerate into connivance at their error. Your compassion is to be accompanied with fear" of being at all defiled by them. hating-Even hatred has its legitimate field of exercise. Sin is the only thing which God hates: so ought we. even the garment-a proverbial phrase: avoiding the most remote contact with sin, and hating that which borders on it. As garments of the apostles wrought miracles of good in healing, so the very garment of sinners metaphorically, i.e., anything brought into contact with their pollution. is to be avoided. Cf. as to lepers and other persons defiled, Leviticus, 13. 52-57; 15. 4-17: the garments were held polluted; and any one touching them was excluded, until purified, from religious and civil communion with the sanctified people of Israel. Christians who received at baptism the white garment in token of purity, are not to defile it by any approach to what is defiled. 24, 25. Concluding doxology. Now Greek, "But." youALFORD, on inferior authority, reads "them." You is in contradistinction to those ungodly men mentioned above. keep...from falling-rather, "guard...(so as to be) without falling," or stumbling. before the presence of his glory i e., before Himself, when He shall be revealed in glory, faultless-Greek, "blameless." with exceeding joy-lit.. "with exultation" as of those who leap for joy. To the only...God our Saviour-The oldest MSS. add, "through Jesus Christ our Lord." The transcribers fancying that "Saviour" applied to Christ alone, omitted the words. The sense is. To the only God the Father) who is our Saviour through (i.e., by the mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord." dominion-Greek, "might." power-authority: legiti mate power. The oldest MSS. and Vulgate, after power," have "before all the age." i.e.. before all time as to the past; "and now," as to the present; "and to all the ages," i.e., for ever, as to the time to come.

THE REVELATION

OF S. JOHN THE DIVINE.

INTRODUCTION.

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(ch. 3. 1).

quotes from the Apocalypse, as John the apostle's work, the prophecy of the millennium of the saints, to be followed by the general resurrection and judgment. This testimony of Justin is referred to also by Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4. 18. Justin, in the early part of the second century, held his controversy with Trypho, a learned Jew, at Ephesus, where John had been living thirty or thirty-five years before: he says that "the Revelation had been given to John, one of the twelve apostles of Christ." Melito, bishop of Sardis (about 171 A.D.), one of the seven churches addressed, a successor, therefore, of one of the seven angels, is said by Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4. 26, to have written treatises on the Apocalypse of John. The testimony of the Bishop of Sardis is the more impartial, as Sardis is one of the churches severely reproved So also Theophilus of Antioch (about 180 A.D.), according to Eusebius 4. 26, quoted testimonies from the Apo. calypse of John. Eusebius says the same of Apollonius, who lived in Asia Minor in the end of the second century. Irenæus (about 186 A.D.), a hearer of Polycarp, the disciple of John, and supposed by Archbishop Usher to be the angel of the church of Smyrna, is most decided again and again in quoting the Apocalypse as the work of the apostle John (Hareses 4., 20. 11; 4, 21. 3; 4, 30. 4; 5., £6. 1; 5., 30. 3; 5., 35. 2). In 5., 30. 1, alluding to the mystical number of the beast, 666 (ch. 13. 18), found in all old copies, he says, "We do not hazard a confident theory as to the name of Antichrist; for if it had been necessary that his name should be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him who saw the apocalyptic vision; for it was sen at no long time back, but almost in our generation, towards the end of Domitian's reign." In his work against heresies, published ten years after Polycarp's martyrdom, he quotes the Apocalypse twenty times, and makes long extracts from it, as inspired Scripture. These testimonies of persons contemporary with John's immediate successors, and more or less connected with the region of the seven churches to which Revelation is addressed, are most convincing, Tertullian, of north Africa (about 220 A.D.), adversus Murcion 3, 14, quotes the apostle John's description in the Apoca. lypse of the sword proceeding out of the Lord's mouth (ch. 19. 15), and 21, the heavenly city (ch. 21). Cf. de Resurrectione 27; de Anima 8, 9, &c.; de Præscriptione hæreticorum 33. The Muratori fragment of the canon (about A.D. 2.0) refers to John the apostle writing to the seven churches. Hippolytus, bishop of Ostia, near Rome (about 240 A.D.), de Antichristo, 67. quotes ch. 17. 1-18, ns the writing of John the apostle. Among Hippolytus' works, there is specified in the catalogue on his statue, a treatise "on the Apocalypse and gospel according to John." Clement of Alexandria (about 200 A.D.), Stromata 6. 13, alludes to the twenty-four seats on which the elders sit as mentioned by John in the Apocalypse (ch. 4. 5);

Introduction.

REVELATION.

Introduction also, in * Quis dives Salvus," sec. 42, he mentions Jobu's return from Patmos to Ephesus on the death of the Rom tyrant. Origen (about 233 A.D.), Commentary on Matthew in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History & 23, mentions John as the author of the Apocalypse, without expressing any doubts as to its authenticity; also, in Commentary on Matthew, tom. 16 6, he quotes ch. 1. 9, and says," John seems to have beheld the Apocalypse in the island of Patmos Victorinus, bishop of Pettau in Pannonia, who suffered martyrdom under Diocletian, in 303 A.D., wrote the earliest extant commentary on the Apocalypse. Though the Old Syriac Peschito version does not contain the Apocalypse, yet Ephrem Syrus about 378 A.D.) frequently quotes the Apocalypse as canonical, and ascribes it to John.

Its canonicity and inspiration (according to a scholium of Andreas of Cappadocia) are attested by Papias, a bearer of John, and associate of Polycarp. Papias was bishop of Hierapolis, near Laodicea, one of the seven churches. Wordsworth conjectures that a feeling of shame, on account of the rebukes of Laodicea in Revelation, may have operated on the council of Laodicea, so as to omit Revelation from its list of books to be read publicly. (?) The epistle of the churches of Lyons and Vienne to the churches of Asia and Phyrgia (in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5. 1-3), in the persecution under M Aurelius, A.D. 77, quotes ch. 1. 5; 3. 14, 14. 4, and 22 11, as Scripture. Cyprian (about 250 A.D) also in Ep. 13, quotes ch. 2. 5 as Scripture; and in Ep. 25, he quotes ch. 3. 21, as of the same authority as the gospel. (For other instances, see Alford's Prolegomena, from whom mainly this summary of evidence has been derived.) Athanasius, in his Festival Epistle, enumerates the Apocalypse among the canonical Scriptures, to which none must add, and from which none must take away. Jerome, in Epistola ad Paulínum, includes in the Canon the Apocalypse, adding, "It has as many mysteries as words. All praise falls short of its merits In each of its words lie hid manifold senses." Thus an unbroken chain of testimony down from the apostolic period, confirms its canonicity and authenticity.

The Alogi (Epiphanius Hæresies 51), and Caius the Roman presbyter (Eusebius 3. 28), towards the end of the second, and beginning of the third century, rejected St. John's Apocalypse on mere captious grounds. Caius, according to Jerome, de Viris Illustribus, about 210 A.D., attributed it to Cerinthus, on the ground of its supporting the millennial reign on earth. Dionysius of Alexandría mentions many before his time who rejected it because of its obscurity, and because it seemed to support Cerinthus' dogma of an earthly and carnal kingdom: whence they attributed it to Cerinthus. This Dionysius, scholar of Origen, and bishop of Alexandria (A.D. 247), admits its inspiration (in Eusebius, Ecdesiastical History 7. 10), but attributes it to some John distinct from John the apostle, on the ground of its difference of style and character, as com pared with St. John's gospel and epistle, as also because the name John is several times mentioned in the Apocalypse, which is always kept back in both the gospel and epistle; moreover, neither does the epistle make any allusion to the Apocalypse, nor the Apocalypse to the epistle; and the style is not pure Greek, but abounds in barbarisms and solecisms. Eusetius wavers in opinion (Ecclesiastical History 24, 39) as to whether it is, or is not, to be ranked among the undoubtedly canonical Scriptures. His antipathy to the milennial doctrine would give an unconscious bias to his judgment on the Apocalypse. Cyril of Jerusalem (A.D. 385), Catechesis 4, 35, 36, omits the Apocalypse in enumerating the New Testament Scriptures to be read privately as well as publicly. "Whatever is not read in the churches, that do not even read by thyself: the apostles and ancient bishops of the church who transmitted them to us were far wiser than thou art." Hence, we see that, in his day, the Apocalypse was not read in the churches. Yet in Catechesis 1. 4, he quotes ch. 2 7, 17; and in Catechesis 1., 15. 13, he draws the prophetical statement from eh. 17. 11, that the king who is to humble the three kings (Daniel, 7, 8, 20) is the eighth king. In c. 15. and 27, he similarly quotes from ch. 12, 3, 4 Alford conjectures that Cyril had at some time changed his opinion, and that these references to the Apocalypse were slips of memory whereby he retained phraseology which belonged to his former, not his subsequent views. The sixtieth canon (if genuine) of the Laodicean council, in the middle of the fourth century, omits the Apocalypse from the canonical books. The Eastern church in part doubted, the Western church, after the fifth century, universally recognised, the Apocalypse. Cyril of Alexandria, de Adoratione, 146, though implying the fact of some doubting its genuineness, himself undoubtingly accepts it as the work of St. John. Andreas of Cesarea in Cappadocia, recognised as genuine and canonical, and wrote the first entire and connected commentary on, the Apocalypse. The sources of doubt seem to have been, (L) the antagonism of many to the millennium, which is set forth in it; (2.) its obscurity and symbolism having caused it not to be read in the churches, or to be taught to the young. But the most primitive tradition is unequivocal in its, favour. In a word, the objective evidence is decidedly for it, the only argaments against it seem to have been subjective.

The personal notices of John in the Apocalypse occur ch. 1. 1, 4, 9; 22 8. Moreover, the writer's addresses to the churches of Proconsular Asia (ch. 2. 1), accord with the concurrent tradition, that after John's return from his exile in Patmos, at the death of Domitian, under Nerva, he resided for long, and died at last in Ephesus, in the time of Trajan (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3. 20, 23). If the Apocalypse were not the inspired work of John, purporting as it does to be an address from their superior to the seven churches of Proconsular Asia, it would have assuredly been rejected in that region; whereas the earliest testimonies in those churches are all in its favour. One person alone was entitled to use lan guage of authority such as is addressed to the seven angels of the churches, namely, John, as the last surviving apostle and superintendent of all the churches. Also, it accords with John's manner to assert the accuracy of his testimony both st the beginning and end of his book (cf. ch. 1. 2, 3, and 22. 8, with John, 1. 14; 21. 24; 1 John, 1. 1, 2). Again, it accords with the view of the writer being an inspired apostle, that he addresses the angels or presidents of the several churches in the tone of a superior addressing inferiors. Also, he commends the church of Ephesus for trying and convicting "them which say they are apostles, and are not," by which he implies his own undoubted claim to apostolic inspiration (ch. 2. 2), as declar ing in the seven epistles Christ's will revealed through him.

As to the difference of style, as compared with the gospel and epistle, the difference of subject in part accounts for it. the visions of the seer, transported as he was above the region of sense, appropriately taking a form of expression abrupt, and unbound by the grammatical laws which governed his writings of a calmer and more deliberate character. Moreover, as being a Galilean Hebrew, John, in writing a Revelation akin to the Old Testament prophecies, naturally reverted to their Hebraistic style. Alford notices, among the features of resemblance between the styles of the Apocalypse and John's gospel and epistle, (1.) the characteristic appellation of our Lord, peculiar to John exclusively," the Word of God" ch. 13 13; cf. John, 1. 1; 1 John, 1. 1); (2) the phrase," he that overcometh" (ch. 2. 7, 11, 17; 3 5, 12, 21; 12 11; 15. 2; 17. 14; 7; cf. John, 16, 33; 1 John, 2, 13, 14; 4, 4; 5. 4, 5). (3.) The Greek term (alethinos) for "true," as opposed to that which is shadowy and unreal (ch. 3. 7, 14; 6. 10; 15. 3; 16. 7; 19. 2, 9, 11; 21. 5; 22. 6). This term, found only once in St. Luke (Luke, 16. 11), four times in St. Paul (1 Thessalonians, 1. 9; Hebrews, 8. 2; 9. 24; 10. 22), is found nine times in St. John's gospel (John, 1. 9; 4, 23, 37; 6. 32; 7. 28; 8. 16; 15. 1; 17. 3; 19. 35), four times in John's first epistle (1 John, 2 8; 5. 201, and ten times in Revelation (ch. 3. 7, 14; 6. 10; 15. 3; 16. 7; 19. 2, 9, 11; 21. 5; 22. 6). (4.) The Greek diminutive for "Lamb" (arnion, M. ** lambkin") occurs twenty-nine times in the Apocalypse, and the only other place where it occurs is John, 21. 15. In John's

Introduction.

REVELATION.

Introduction. writings alone is Christ called directly "the Lamb" (John, 1. 29, 36). In 1 Peter, 1. 19, He is called "as a lamb without blemish," in allusion to Isaiah, 53, 7. So the use of "witness," or "testimony" (ch. 1. 2, 9; 6. 9; 11. 7, &c.; cf. John, 1. 7, 8, 15, 19, 89; 1 John, 1. 2; 4. 14; 5. 6-11). "Keep the word," or "commandments" (ch. 3. 8, 10; 12. 17, &c.; cf. John. 8. 51, 55; 14, 15). The assertion of the same thing positively and negatively (ch. 2. 2, 6, 8, 13; 3. 8, 17, 18; cf. John, 1. 3, 6, 7, 20; 1 John, 227, 28). Cf. also 1 John, 2, 20, 27, with ch. 3. 18, as to the spiritual anointing. The seeming solecisms of style are attributable to that inspired elevation which is above mere grammatical rules, and are designed to arrest the reader's attention by the peculiarity of the phrase, so as to pause and search into some deep truth lying beneath. The vivid earnestness of the inspired writer, handling a subject so transcending all others, raises him above all servile adherence to ordinary rules, so that at times he abruptly passes from one grammatical construction to another, as he graphically sets the thing described before the eye of the reader. This is not due to ignorance of grammar, for he has displayed a knowledge of grammatical rules in other much more difficult constructions." [Winer.] The connexion of thought is more attended to than mere grammatical connexion. Another consideration to be taken into account is, that two-fifths of the whole being the recorded language of others, he moulds his style accordingly. Cf. Tregelles' Introduction to Revelation from Heathen Authorities. Tregelles well says (New Testament Historic Evidence). "There is no book of the New Testament for which we have such clear, ample, and numerous testimonies in the second century, as we have in favour of the Apocalypse. The more closely the witnesses were connected with the apostle John (as was the case with Irenæus), the more explicit is their testimony. That doubts should prevail in after ages, must have originated either in ignorance of the earlier testimony, or else from some supposed intuition of what an apostle ought to have written. The objections on the ground of internal style can weigh nothing against the actual evidence. It is in vain to argue a priori, that St. John could not have written this book, when we have the evidence of several competent witnesses that he did write it."

RELATION OF THE APOCALYPSE TO THE REST OF THE CANON.-Gregory Nyssen, tom. 3, p. 601, calls Revelation "the last book of grace." It completes the volume of inspiration, so that we are to look for no further revelation till Christ Himself shall come. Appropriately the last book completing the Canon was written by John, the last survivor of the apostles. The New Testament is composed of the historical books, the gospels and Acts, the doctrinal epistles, and the one prophetical book, Revelation. The same apostle wrote the last of the gospels, and probably the last of the epis tles, and the only prophetical book of the New Testament. All the books of the New Testament had been written, and were read in the church assemblies, some years before John's death. His life was providentially prolonged that he might give the final attestation to Scripture. About the year 100 A.D., the bishops of Asia (the angels of the seven churches) came to John at Ephesus, bringing him copies of the three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and desired of him a statement of his apostolical judgment concerning them; whereupon he pronounced them authentic, genuine, and inspired, and at their request added his own gospel to complete the fourfold aspect of the gospel of Christ (cf. Muratori's Canon; Eusebius 3. 24; Jerome, Proœmium in Matthæum; Victorinus on the Apocalypse; Theodoret, Mopsuestia). A Greek divine, quoted in Allatius, calls Revelation" the Seal of the whole Bible." The Canon would be incomplete without Revelation. Scripture is a complete whole, its component books, written in a period ranging over 1500 years, being mutually connected. Unity of aim and spirit pervades the entire, so that the end is the necessary sequence of the middle, and the middle of the beginning. 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. As Genesis foretold the bruising of the serpent's head by the woman's sced, so Revelation declares the final accomplishment of that prediction (chs. 19., 20.).

PLACE AND TIME OF WRITING.-The best authorities among the fathers state that John was exiled under Domitian (Irenæus 5. 30; Clement of Alexandria; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3, 20). Victorinus says that he had to labour in the mines of Patmos. At Domitian's death, 95 A.D., he returned to Ephesus under the emperor Nerva. Probably it was immediately after his return that he wrote, under Divine inspiration, the account of the visions vouchsafed to him in Patmos (ch. 1. 2, 9). However, ch. 10. 4 seems to imply that he wrote the visions immediately after seeing them. Patmos is one of the Sporades. Its circumference is about thirty miles. "It was fitting that when forbidden to go beyond certain bounds of the earth's lands, he was permitted to penetrate the secrets of heaven" (Bede, Explan. Apocalypse on ch. 1) The following arguments favour an earlier date, viz., under Nero: (1.) Eusebius, in Evangelical Demonstrations, unites in the same sentence John's banishment with the stoning of James and the beheading of Paul, which were under Nero. (2) Clemens Alexandrinus' story of the robber reclaimed by John, after he had pursued, and with difficulty overtaken him accords better with John then being a younger man, than under Domitian, when he was 100 years old. Arethas, in the sixth century, applies the sixth seal to the destruction of Jerusalem (70 A.D.), adding that the Apocalypse was written be fore that event. So the Syriac version states he was banished by Nero the Cæsar. Laodicea was overthrown by an earthquake, 60 A.D., but was immediately rebuilt, so that its being called "rich and increased with goods" is not incompatible with this book having been written under the Neronian persecution (64 A.D.). But the possible allusions to it in Hebrews, 10. 87; cf. ch. 1. 4, 8; 4. 8; 22. 12; Hebrews, 11. 10; cf. ch. 21. 14; Hebrews, 12. 22, 23; cf. ch. 14. 1; Hebrews, 8. 1, 2; cf. ch. 11. 19; 15. 5; 21. 3; Hebrews, 4. 12; cf. ch. 1. 16; 2 12, 16; 19. 13, 15; Hebrews, 4. 9; cf. ch. 20.; also 1 Peter, 1. 7, 13; 4. 13, with ch. 1. 1; 1 Peter, 2. 9, with ch. 5. 10; 2 Timothy, 4. 8, with ch. 2 26, 27; 3. 21; 11. 18; Ephesians, 6. 12, with ch. 12. 7-12; Philippians, 4. 3, with ch. 3. 5; 13. 8; 17. 8; 20. 12, 15; Colossians, 1. 18, with ch. 1. 5; 1 Corinthians, 15. 52, with ch. 10. 7; 11. 15-18, make a date before the destruction of Laodicea possible. Cerinthus is stated to have died before John: as then he bor rowed much in his Pseudo-Apocalypse from John's, it is likely the latter was at an earlier date than Domitian's reign. See Tilloch's Introduction to Apocalypse. But the Pauline benediction (ch. 1. 4) implies it was written after Paul's death under Nero.

TO WHAT READERS ADDRESSED.-The inscription states that it is addressed to the seven churches of Asia, ¿c., Proconsular Asia. St. John's reason for fixing on the number seven (for there were more than seven churches in the region meant by "Asia," for instance, Magnesia and Tralles), was doubtless because seven is the sacred number implying totality and universality: so it is implied that John, through the medium of the seven churches, addresses in the Spirit the church of all places and ages. The church in its various states of spiritual life or deadness, in all ages and places, is represented by the seven churches, and is addressed with words of consolation or warning accordingly. Smyrna and Philadelphia alone of the seven are honoured with unmixed praise, as faithful in tribulation, and rich in good works. Heresies of a decided kind had by this time arisen in, the churches of Asia, and the love of many had waxed cold, whilst others had advanced to greater zeal, and one had sealed his testimony with his blood.

Introduction.

REVELATION.

Introduction OBJECT.-It begins with admonitory addresses to the seven churches from the Divine Son of man, whom Jehn saw in vision, after a brief introduction which sets forth the main subject of the book, viz., to "show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass" (chs. 1.-3). From ch. 4. to the end is mainly prophecy, with practical exhor tations and consolations, however, interspersed, similar to those addressed to the seven churches (the representatives of the universal church of every age), and so connecting the body of the book with its beginning, which therefore forms its appr~ priate introduction.

Three schools of interpretation exist: (1.) The Preterists, who hold that almost the whole has been fulfilled. (2) The Historical Interpreters, who hold that it comprises the history of the church from St. John's time to the end of the world, the seals being chronologically succeeded by the trumpets, and the trumpets by the vials. (3.) The Futurists, who consider almost the whole as yet future, and to be fulfilled immediately before Christ's second coming. The first theory was not beid by any of the earliest fathers, and is only held now by Rationalists, who limit John's vision to things within his own horizon, Pagan Rome's persecutions of Christians, and its consequently anticipated destruction. The futurist school is open to this great objection: it would leave the church of Christ unprovided with prophetical guidance or support under her fiery trials for 1700 or 1800 years. Now God has said, "Surely He will do nothing, but He revealeth His secrets unto H's servants the prophets." The Jews had a succession of prophets who guided them with the light of prophecy: what their prophets were to them, that the apocalyptic Scriptures have been, and are, to us.

Alford, following Isaac Williams, draws attention to the parallel connexion between the Apocalypse and Christ's die course on the mount of Olives recorded in Matthew, 24. The seals plainly bring us down to the second coming of Christ. just as the trumpets also do (cf. ch. 6. 12-17; 8. 1, &c; 11. 15), and as the vials also do (ch. 16. 17): all three run parallel and end in the same point. Certain "catchwords" (as Wordsworth calls them) connect the three series of symbols together. They do not succeed one to the other in historical and chronological sequence, but move side by side, the subsequent series filling up in detail the same picture which the preceding series had drawn in outline. So Victorinus (on ch. 7. ), the earl est commentator on the Apocalypse, says, "The order of the things said is not to be regarded, since often the Holy Spire. when He has run to the end of the last time, again returns to the same times, and supplies what He has less fully expressed." And Primasius, ad Apocalypsin in fine, “In the trumpets he gives a description by a pleasing repetition, as is his custom.” At the very beginning, St. John hastens, by anticipation (as was the tendency of all the prophets), to the grand consummation. Ch. 1. 7," Behold, He cometh with clouds," &c.; v. 8, 17, "I am the beginning and the ending—the first and the last. So the seven epistles exhibit the same anticipation of the end. Ch. 3, 12, Him that overcometh, I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down at of heaven:" of, at the close, ch. 21. 2 So also ch. 2. 28," I will give him the morning star:" cf, at the close, 22. 16, "I am the bright and morning star."

Again, the earthquake that ensues on the opening of the sixth seal, is one of the catchwords, ie, a link connecting thr nologically this sixth seal with the sixth trumpet (ch. 9. 13; 11. 13): cf. also the seventh vial, ch. 16, 17, 18. The concomitant of the opening of the sixth seal, it is plain, in no full and exhaustive sense apply to any event, save the terrors which shall overwhelm the ungodly just before the coming of the Judge.

Again, the beast out of the bottomless pit, between the sixth and seventh trumpets, connects this series with the secta, chs. 12, 13., 14., concerning the church and her adversaries.

Again, the sealing of the 144,000 under the sixth seal, connects this seal with the section, chs, 12-14

Again, the loosing of the four winds by the four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, under the sixth seal. answers to the loosing of the four angels at the Euphrates, under the sixth trumpet.

Moreover, links occur in the Apocalypse connecting it with the Old Testament. For instance, the "mouth speaking great things," connects the beast that blasphemes against God, and makes war against the saints, with the little born, or last king, who, arising after the ten kings, shall speak against the Most High, and wear out the saints; also, cf. the "forty-two months" (ch. 13. 5), or "a thousand two hundred and threescore days" (ch. 12 6), with the "time, times, and the dividing of time," of Daniel, 7. 25. Moreover, the "forty-two months," ch. 11. 2, answering to ch. 12. 6, and 13. 5, link together las period under the sixth trumpet, to the section, chs. 12., 13., 14.

Auberlen observes, "The history of salvation is mysteriously governed by holy numbers. They are the scaffolding of the organic edifice. They are not merely outward indications of time, but indications of nature and essence. Not sud nature, but history, is based in numbers. Scripture and antiquity put numbers as the fundamental forms of things, wi we put ideas." As number is the regulator of the relations and proportions of the natural world, so does it enter most fre quently into the revelations of the Apocalypse, which sets forth the harmonies of the supernatural, the immediately divine, Thus the most supernatural revelation leads us the farthest into the natural, as was to be expected, seeing the God ♫ nature and of revelation is one. Seven is the number for perfection (cf. ch. 1. 4; 4. 5, the seven Spirits before the thrane, also, ch. . 6, the Lamb's seven horns and seven eyes). Thus the seven churches represent the church Cathole in its totally, The seven seals-trumpets-vials, are severally a complete series each in itself, fulfilling perfectly the Divine course of jadements. Three-and-a-half implies a number opposed to the divine (seven), but broken in itself, and which, in the moment of its highest triumph, is overwhelmed by judgment and utter ruin. Four is the number of the world's extension, seven is the number of God's revelation in the world. In the four beasts of Daniel there is a recognition of some power above them, & the same time that there is a mimicry of the four cherubs of Ezekiel, the heavenly symbols of all creation in its das su jection to God (ch. 4. 6-8). So the four corners of the earth, the four winds, the four angels loosed from the Euphrates, and Jerusalem lying "four-square," represent world-wide extension. The sevenfoldness of the Spirits on the part of God ef responds to the fourfold cherubim on the part of the ereated. John, seeing more deeply into the essentially God-opposed character of the world, presents to us, not the four beasts of Daniel, but the seven heads of the beast, whereby it arrogats itself the sevenfold perfection of the Spirits of God: at the same time that, with characteristic self-contradiction, is a horns, the number peculiar to the world-power. Its unjust usurpation of the sacred number seven, is marked by the adh tion of an eighth to the seven heads, and also by the beast's own number, 666, which in units, tens, and hundreds, veriyor upon, but falls short of, seven. The judgments on the world are complete in six: after the sixth seal, and the sixth trumpe there is a pause. When seven comes, there comes "the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ." Six is the nether of the world given to judgment. Moreover, six is half of twelve, as three-and-a-half is the half of seven. Twelve is the number of the church: cf. the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve stars on the woman's head (ch. 12. 1), the twelve gates of new Jerenko, Six thus symbolises the world broken, and without solid foundation. Twice twelve is the number of the hy elders; twelve times twelve thousand, the number of the sealed elect: the tree of life yields twelve manner of fra Doubtless, besides this symbolic force, there is a special chronological meaning in the numbers; but as yet, though a m

Source and Object

REVELATION, I.

of this Revelation.

manded subject of investigation, they have received no solution which we can be sure is the true one. They are intended to stimulate reverent enquiry, not to gratify idle speculative curiosity; and when the event shall have been fulfilled, they will show the divine wisdom of God who ordered all things in minutely harmonious relations, and left neither the times nor the ways to hap-hazard.

The arguments for the year day theory are as follows: Dan. 9. 24, "Seventy weeks are determined upon," where the Hebrew may be seventy sevens; but Mede observes, the Hebrew word means always seven of days, and never seven of years (Leviticus, 12, 5; Deuteronomy, 16, 9, 10, 16). Again, the number of years' wandering of the Israelites was made to correspond to the number of days in which the spies searched the land, viz., forty: cf. "each day for a year," Numbers, 14, 33, 34. So in Ezekiel, 4, 5, 6, "I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days...forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year." St. John, in Revelation itself, uses days in a sense which can hardly be literal. Ch. 2. 10, "Ye shall have tribulation ten days:" the persecution of ten years recorded by Eusebius, seems to correspond to it. In the year-day theory there is still quite enough of obscurity to exercise the patience and probation of faith, for we cannot say precisely when the 1,260 years beyin: so that this theory is quite compatible with Christ's words, " Of that day and hour knoweth no man," &c. However, it is a difficulty in this theory that "a thousand years," in ch, 20. 6, 7, can hardly mean 1000 by 360 days, i.e, 300,000 years. The first resurrection there must be literal, even as v. 5 must be taken literally, "the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." To interpret the former spiritually, would entail the need of interpreting the latter so, which would be most improbable; for it would imply that the rest of the (spiritually) dead lived not spiritually until the end of the thousand years, and then, that they did come spiritually to life. 1 Corinthians, 15. 23," they that are Christ's at His coming," confirms the literal view.

CHAPTER I.

His Son. to show-The word recurs ch. 22. 6: so entirely have the parts of Revelation reference to one another. It is its peculiar excellence that it comprises in a perfect compendium future things, and these widely differing: things close at hand, far off, and between the two; great and little : destroying and saving: repeated from old prophecies and new: long and short, and these interwoven with one another, opposed and mutually agreeing; mutually involving and evolving one another: so that in no book more than in this would the addition, or taking away, of a single word or clause (ch. 22. 18, 19), have the effect of marring the sense of the context and the comparison of

merely to "His servant John," but to all His servants (cf. ch. 22. 3). shortly-Greek, "speedily:" lit., "in," or "with speed." Cf. "The time is at hand," v. 3; ch. 22. 6. "shortly;" 7. "Behold I come quickly." Not that the things prophesied were according to man's com

Ver. 1-20. TITLE: SOURCE AND OBJECT OF THIS REVELATION: BLESSING ON THE READER AND KEEPER OF IT, AS THE TIME IS NEAR: INSCRIPTION TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES: APOSTOLIC GREETING: KEYNOTE, "BEHOLD HE COMETH" (cf. at the close, ch. 22. 20, "Surely I come quickly"); INTRODUCTORY VISION OF THE SON OF MAN IN GLORY, AMIDST THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS, WITH SEVEN STARS IN HIS RIGHT HAND. 1. Revelation-An apocalypse or unveiling of those things which had been veiled. A manifesto of the kingdom of Christ. The travelling manual of the church for the Gentile Christian times. Not a detailed history of the future, but a representa-passages together. [BENGEL] his servants- not tion of the great epochs and chief powers in developing the kingdom of God in relation to the world. The Church-historical view goes counter to the great principle, that Scripture interprets itself. Revelation is to teach us to understand the times, not the times to interpret to us the Apocalypse, although it is in the na-putation near; but this word "shortly" implies a corture of the case that a reflex influence is exerted here and is understood by the prudent. [AUBERLEN.] The book is in a series of parallel groups, not in chronological succession. Still there is an organic historical development of the kingdom of God. In this book all the other books of the Bible end and meet: in it is the consummation of all previous prophecy. Daniel foretells as to Christ and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, and the last antichrist. But John's Revelation fills up the intermediate period, and describes the millennium and final state beyond antichrist. Daniel, as a godly statesman, views the history of God's people in relation to the four world-kingdoms. John, as an apostle, views history from the Christian Church aspect. The term Apocalypse is applied to no Old Testament book. Daniel is the nearest approach to it: but what Daniel was told to seal and shut up till the time of the end, St. John, now that the time is at hand (v. 3), is directed to reveal. of Jesus Christ-coming from Him. Jesus Christ, not John the writer, is the Author of the Apocalypse. Christ taught many things before His departure; but those which were unsuitable for announceinent at that time He brought together into the Apocalypse. (BENGEL] Cf. His promise, John, 15, 15, "All things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you;" also, John, 16. 13. "The Spirit of truth will show you things to come." The Gospels and Acts are the books, respectively, of His first advent, in the flesh, and in the Spirit; the epistles are the inspired comment on them. The Apocalypse is the book of His second advent and the events preliminary to it. which God gave unto him -The Father reveals Himself and His will in, and by.

rective of our estimate of worldly events and periods. Though a "thousand years" (ch. 20.) at least are included, the time is declared to be at hand. Luke, 18. 8, "speedily." The Israelite church hastened eagerly to the predicted end, which premature eagerness prophecy restrains (cf. Daniel, 9.). The Gentile church needs to be reminded of the transitoriness of the world, which it is apt to make its home, and the nearness of Christ's advent. On the one hand Revelation saith, "the time is at hand," on the other, the succession of seals, &c., show that many intermediate events must first elapse. he sent Jesus Christ sent. by his angel joined with "sent." The angel does not come forward to "signify" things to John until ch. 17. 1; 19. 9, 10. Previously to that St. John receives information from others. Jesus Christ opens the Revelation, v. 10, 11; ch. 4. 1; in ch. 6. 1, one of the four living creatures acts as his informant; in ch. 7. 13, one of the elders; in ch. 10. 8, 9, the Lord and His angel who stood on the sea and earth. Only at the end (ch. 17. 1) does the one angel stand by Him (cf. Daniel, 8. 16; 9. 21; Zechariah, 1. 19). 2. bare record of-"testified the word of God" in this book. Where we should say "testifies," the ancients in epistolary communications use the past tense. The word of God constitutes his testimony; in v. 3, "the words of this prophecy." the testimony of Jesus-" the Spirit of prophecy" (ch. 19. 10). and of all things that-The oldest MSS. omit "and." Translate, "Whatsoever things he saw," in apposition with "the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ." 3. he that readeth, and they that hear-viz.. the public reader in church assemblies, and his hearers. In the first instance, he by whom John sent the book

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