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THE REVELATION OF JOHN,
WITH NOTES,
CRITICAL, EXPLANATORY, AND PRACTICAL,
DESIGNED FOR BOTH PASTORS AND PEOPLE.
By
REV. HENRY COWLES, D. D.
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"Understandest then what then readest? And he said, How can I unless some
man should guide me?"
ACTS VIII: 30, 31.
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NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON & CO.,
1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET.
1887.
_________________________________________________________
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by
REV. HENRY COWLES, D.D.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Northern District of Ohio.
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CONTENTS.
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Preface | Introduction
Introduction Index.
Introduction.
I. Of the Author.
1. Christian Fathers | 2. Few Contrary Voices | 3. Internal Traits,
Objections Considered.
II. Of the date of his writing.
1. Internal Evidence | 2. External.
III. Of his times—his circumstances and those of his first readers.
IV. Of the question—To whom precisely was this book primarily addressed and
therefore specially adapted?
1. Prophecy depending upon the fulfilling event and not upon the revealing
words, is not true | 2. Contrary to Moral purpose | 3. Confronted by the
facts.
V. The various indications in the book which locate its prophetic events in
place and in time, and thus become landmarks to guide to its just
interpretation.
VI. The sources of the writer's figurative imagery and the bearing of these
sources upon his use of them in this book.
VII. The principles or laws which should control the interpretation of this
book.
1. Come to the book Unprejudiced | 2. Interpret in harmony with God's own
declarations | 3. And His interpretation of symbols | 4. And whatever
allusions it contains to known historic events and localities | 5. And that
Christians then living were to be the persecuted men of whom these visions
speak | 6. Persecuting name omitted because John's first readers knew it |
7. Interpret in harmony with the obvious moral purpose | 8. Symbols borrowed
from the Old Testament should be obviously interpreted in the light of their
usage there | 9. While these principles of interpretation suffice to prove
that the great body of the book refers to events then near at hand, the
well-known usage of prophecy will permit the minds of both prophet and
reader to pass over by analogy from these events to others of like general
character far in the future—these future events being reached, not through a
continuous series of history, filling up the whole interval, but under the
law of analogy by which one series of events suggests another of like
general character, resting on the same broad principles of God's government.
BIBLE CHAPTERS:
I - The book opens with the source and the channels from which this
revelation comes (vs. 1, 2); the blessing promised to the readers and the
hearers (v. 3); the address proper of the book, coupled with the a apostolic
benediction (vs. 4, 5), and ascriptions of glory to Jesus (vs. 5, 6); the
announcement of his glorious coming (vs. 7, 8). Then the writer speaks of
himself and his circumstances (v. 9); is enjoined to write what he sees and,
send it to the seven churches (vs. 10, 11); and then describes at length the
majestic appearance of the Son of Man (vs. 12-16), and the further
instructions embraced in his prophetic commission (vs. 17-20).
II - Here are four of the seven special letters addressed respectively to
Ephesus (1-7); to Smyrna (8-11); to Pergamos (12-17); and to Thyatira
(18-29). Obviously the reason for a distinct message to each lay in what was
peculiar in their respective cases; in the tone of their love, their
stability, their Christian work, the errors of doctrine and of practice
which had crept in to pervert their sentiments and corrupt their Christian
life. While the visions that follow and make up the body of the book would
be pertinent to them all and therefore are addressed without distinction to
them all, the brief messages recorded in chapters 2 and 3 were wisely
addressed to these churches severally.
III - Three letters to as many churches make up this chapter;—to Sardis
(1-6); to Philadelphia (7-13); to Laodicea (14-22).
IV - The chapter gives us the prophet's first introduction to the scenes and
personages of the heavenly world. In succession we have the opened door and
the voice calling him up thither (v. 1); the throne and the appearance of
him who sat thereon (vs. 2, 3); the twenty-four seats and as many elders
sitting (v. 4); the sounds from the throne and the seven lamps of fire (v.
5); the four living ones seen, described, and their song of adoration (6-8);
coincident with their song is that of the twenty-four elders (vs. 9-11).
V - The great feature of this chapter is the book of destiny seen in heaven
(v. 1); the question, Who can open and read it (vs. 2-4); settled at length
by the announcement that the Lion of Judith has conquered and will open and
read it (v. 5). He appears in form as a Lamb slain and takes the book (vs.
6, 7); whereupon the joy of heaven breaks forth in glorious song; the living
ones and the elders first leading (vs. 8-10), and then the myriads of angels
come in with the grand chorus (vs. 11-14).
VI - The first six of the seven seals are opened in their order, and the
prophet describes what he saw and records what he heard in each case.
VII - This entire chapter is interposed between the sixth seal and the
seventh, interrupting for the time the regular succession of the scenes
disclosed by the opening of the seals. We may call this as many have done,
an "episode;" but the name is of small account. The simple fact is that the
successive seals disclose in order the judgments to be sent by God on some
great persecuting power. This is their theme and this only. But here is a
revelation, not of judgments on the guilty but of blessings, first upon
those Jewish converts who having accepted Christ by faith are marked for
exemption from the judgments coming on their land; and next upon Gentile
converts considered as "coming out of great tribulation."
VIII - Unlike either of the first six seals this seventh when opened
discloses not one particular symbol, indicating a single event (or some
special phase of an historic period) to be sketched in few words; but it
discloses an entire sevenfold set of new symbols; in other words, the
seventh seal is itself expanded into the seven trumpets, and each of these
trumpets becomes a distinct symbol. The object is manifestly to spread out
the symbols of judgment and woe, and make them more impressive by a fuller
detail—a more minute and extended description.—According to Mosaic law (Num.
10: 9) and Hebrew usage (2 Chron. 13: 12) the great trumpet was blown as the
signal of war, and hence became a natural symbol of calamity, judgment.
In this chapter we have with the opening of the seventh seal, the solemn
silence (v. 1); the seven angels receiving each his trumpet (v. 2); the
symbol of incense accompanying and representing the prayers of saints (vs.
3, 4); the casting of fire from the altar down to the earth and the results
(v. 5); and then the scenes which successively followed the sounding of the
first four of these trumpets (vs. 6-13).
IX - This chapter gives us the fifth and sixth trumpets, spoken of sometimes
as the first and second of the woe-trumpets.
X - This short chapter, unsurpassed in the magnificence of its scenes, is
remarkable for its introduction of new imagery. The old symbolism which in
its general outline has been constantly before us through chapters 5-9 is
now, not perhaps entirely dropped, but greatly modified by the appearance of
new elements. Consequently we have new questions of interpretation to
grapple with.—But let it be suggested that in so far as these questions
pertain rather to the drapery of the vision than to its contents and
subject-matter, their importance is only secondary, and is not vital. Yet it
must be a matter of some interest to look into these questions of drapery
and symbol... More vitally important than any mere question of costume is
the fact that this chapter comes in here to apprise us that the grand
catastrophe is near—that the long delayed and final blow is about to fall.
The blast of the seventh trumpet, closing out the contents of the seventh
seal, will cut short and complete the fearful work of retribution on the
first grand enemy of Christianity. The event is of such importance as to
justify these solemn premonitions by means of this new and magnificent
imagery.—Hence in this chapter we have a mighty angel coming down from
heaven, and his appearance (v. 1); his little book and his attitude (v. 2);
the speaking of the seven thunders which was not to be recorded (vs. 3, 4);
the solemn oath of this mighty angel and its import (vs. 5-7) the taking and
eating of the book and its effect (vs. 8-10); with an intimation to the
prophet of his further work (v. 11).
XI - In this remarkable chapter, the interest of the first great series of
symbols and prophetic events culminates. We reach the crisis and
culmination.—Vs. 1, 2 treat of the temple, the altar and the worshipers;
then follows the case of the two witnesses, their functions and powers;
their martyrdom and its locality; the exultation over their unburied bodies;
their resurrection and ascension to heaven; the consternation of their
enemies and the convulsions that ensued (vs. 3-13); the sounding of the
seventh angel's trumpet the song of heaven, and the closing scene in the
upper temple (vs. 14-19).
XII - A new subject comes before us; new scenes open and new symbols
appear.—This chapter raises three preliminary questions:—(1.) Who are the
three leading personages here:—the woman, her child, and the great red
dragon?—(2.) Why are these scenes shown the prophet as located in heaven,
since the transactions are located chiefly on earth?—(3.) What was the
object sought in thus going back to matters of earlier history—the birth of
Christ; the persecutions raised against him and his people, etc?. . .
Accordingly we have here the woman and her peculiar condition (vs. 1, 2);
the dragon and his followers (vs. 3, 4); the birth of the man-child, etc.
(v. 5); the woman-mother protected (v. 6); the great battle in heaven and
its immediate results (vs. 7, 8); the dragon identified and cast out (v. 9);
the consequent joy and songs in heaven (vs. 10, 11); the, devil on earth
persecuting the woman (vs. 12, 13); the fight prolonged (vs. 14-17).
XIII - This chapter introduces two new personages who play a vitally
important part in the scenes described throughout chapters 13-19. they are
both savage wild beasts;--the first comes up from the sea (v. 1); the second
from the land (v. 11); both sustain special relations to the great red
dragon already introduced in chap. 12, for they are his servants, subserving
his purposes and doing his work.
XIV - Comprehensively there are three main subjects in this chapter: the joy
of the redeemed in heaven; the judgments of God upon the wicked in this
world, and their eternal misery in the world to come. More particularly, we
have a second vision of the one hundred and forty-four thousand redeemed
from earth and their character (vs. 1-5); the first angel and his
proclamation (vs. 6, 7); the proclamation of the second angel (v. 8); of the
third (vs. 9--11); the time of suffering for the saints (v. 12), but their
blessedness in the near life to come (v. 13); the reaping of the earth by
one like a Son of man (vs. 14-16); and the gathering of its vintage (vs.
17-20).
XV
As the seven seals (chaps. 6, and 8: 1), and the seven trumpets (chaps.
8-11) which were developed out of the seventh seal, all precede and prelude
the fall of Jerusalem, so the seven angels with vials, portending the seven
last plagues, precede and foretoken the fall of old Rome. In the opening of
this chapter they appear a new marvel in heaven; but the detailed report of
their mission is delayed a while to show the joy and the songs of heaven in
quick anticipation of the triumph to the kingdom of Christ which the
judgments they foretoken were intended to secure. Hence we have in this
chapter the vision of the seven angels with the seven last plagues (v. 1);
the glassy sea and the victorious ones with harps of God (v. 2); their song
(vs. 3, 4); the opening of the temple in heaven and the seven angels coming
forth from it (vs. 5, 6); one of the four living ones gives them their
golden vials (v. 7); whereupon the temple is filled with smoke, indicating
the glorious presence of Jehovah (v. 8).
XVI - This chapter discloses the sevenfold series of judgments that came on
Great Babylon, culminating in the seventh with the grand consummation of her
doom. This series of vials bears a striking resemblance to the seven seals
and also yet more to the seven trumpets which are substantially an expansion
of the seventh seal. By successive visitations of judgment, blow after blow,
upon the earth (v. 2); the sea (v. 3); rivers and fountains (vs. 4-7); the
sun (vs. 8, 9); the throne of the beast (vs. 10, 11); the great Euphrates
(vs. 12-16); and last, into the air (vs. 17-21)—the progress of devastation
is indicated and the mind receives a deeper impression by the fuller
expansion of the subject and the presentation of its special details; or
rather by a succession of pictures, scene after scene of desolation, you
come to feel that woes are gathered up from all the magazines of God's
providential judgments—all the ministries of wasting, plague and death—till
the climax of horrors is reached at last in hail of a talent's weight,
crashing down upon defenseless cities and their helpless populations.—To
some extent we may trace resemblances here to the successive plagues on
Egypt, yet here the scenes are not historic but ideal—a species of
picture-painting—things shown to the seer of Patmos for the purpose of
making on his mind and on the minds of his readers the impression of
successive judgments, diversified, vast in their range and scope, fearful in
their character, terribly desolating in their final result.
XVII - A strange looking beast, having seven heads and ten horns, has been
already shown in vision, and some things have been said by way of explaining
who he is and what he does (13: 1-6); then a great city called "Babylon the
great" has been doomed to a fearful and utter fall (14: 8-11, and 16: 19);
the seven angels having the seven vials, indicative of successive judgments
from the Almighty, have gone forth and poured out their vials (16: 1-21);
but yet so far the explanations given of these symbols have been few and
imperfect. More explanation was needed; one of those seven angels comes
forward here to give it. This chapter is throughout an explanation of
symbols previously shown or at least indicated; viz., the great harlot; the
scarlet-colored beast and his seven heads and ten horns.
XVIII - The theme of this chapter is one—a very minute delineation of the
sins, the luxury, the traffic, and the fall of Great Babylon. Conceived of
as the mart of the nations, the great center of trade and commerce,—the
merchants and seafaring men of the earth bewail her fall as ruinous to their
prosperity.—The drapery of this chapter comes from the prophecies concerning
Babylon as they appear in Jer. 50 and 51, and Isa. 13 and 14; and of Tyre as
in Ezek. 26 to 28 inclusive. The associations connected with the name
XIX - This chapter is in two principal parts; vs. 1-10 presenting chiefly
the exultation in heaven over the judgment of the great harlot city and the
consequent success of the gospel in the redemption of souls from sin and the
preparation of the bride for the marriage of the Lamb.—Vs. 11-21 give us the
great moral battle-field of time, seen in a sort of heavenly perspective, on
the principle that the great moral events of earth have their prototypes in
heaven. A mighty Conqueror on the white horse of victory appears armed for
battle and conquest; his faithful warriors follow him, they too arrayed in
robes of purity and seated on white horses, in like manner symbolic of
victory. Anticipating immense carnage, an angel summons all the fowls of
mid-heaven to feast upon the flesh of the slain. The battle seems about to
be joined, but the foes of this Conqueror are powerless; there is no
conflict; forthwith the beast and his false prophet are violently seized and
cast alive into the lake of fire. All their dupes and followers are slain
with the great sword of the mighty Conqueror, and his victory is complete.
XX - New scenes open. Nothing is said to indicate how near in time these
scenes are to those of chapters 12-19, which give us judgments on the first
beast and the second, and upon the harlot city, and also the consequent joy
among the holy in heaven and the anticipated triumph of King Emmanuel over
all his foes. The only obvious connection of this chapter with those is
logical, not chronological—a connection of thought, not of time. This
immediately foregoing series of events, commencing with chapter 12 opens
with bringing to view the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan. He is
shown to be the prime mover and arch instigator of all the persecutions
under which the church suffers. He bears a mortal hatred toward the
Zion-mother and her heaven-born Son (chap: 12); he "gives to the first beast
his power, his seat and great authority;" (13: 2); he perpetually plies his
old vocation—a liar and a deceiver from the beginning (Jn. 8: 44, and 1 Jn.
3: 8); sending forth "unclean spirits of devils" to deceive the kings of the
earth (16: 13, 14). So these chapters present him. If we can not say that he
fills the foreground of the picture, we can at least see that he pulls the
wires and works the machinery; his agencies underlie every movement of the
hostile army arrayed against heaven's king and people. And now in this
chapter he appears again, to receive his righteous doom. The beast and the
false prophet have gone to their own place (19: 20); it remains only to
finish in like manner the history of "the great red dragon." This chapter
gives it in three distinct stages: (1.) He is bound, cast into the abyss,
shut up and a great seal put upon his prison gate that he go forth to
deceive the nations no more for a thousand years. (2.) Then he is loosed for
a little season and resumes his old work of deceiving the nations, with the
result of gathering them for one grand assault upon the beloved city to
their own sudden and utter destruction. Then (3.) he is hurled down to his
own place—the lake of fire and brimstone—to his destiny of woe eternal. This
closes the history of this arch tempter of our race—this fell hater of God
and of all goodness.—The chapter before us touches upon three other grand
points in the great programme of the world's history, viz., the joy of the
martyred saints during the thousand years (vs. 4-6); the deceiving of the
remote nations and their mustering to the last grand assault upon the holy
city (vs. 7-9); and the final judgment-scene of our race (vs. 11-15). These
momentous acts in the history of our world are touched with extreme brevity,
yet with words of thrilling power.
XXI - This chapter and vs. 1-5 of the next bring before us the closing
scenes in the magnificent panorama of the Apocalypse. The main question of
interpretation here is whether this is truly the heavenly, post-resurrection
state. Does this state follow the final judgment as brought before us in vs.
11-15 of the previous chapter?—I am compelled to take the affirmative by the
following considerations.—(1.) The consecutive order of the visions
naturally demands it. We have had the Millennium; then the last rallying of
Satan's hosts and their destruction; then the "great white throne" of final
judgment with the resurrection of all the dead immediately preceding and the
wicked sent to their eternal destiny following:—so that now it only remains
to unfold much more in detail the eternal home and state of the righteous.
That this should be given much more fully than the corresponding doom of the
wicked is legitimately in harmony with the moral purpose of the whole book.
There is every reason to assume that this is precisely the order of
succession in these stupendous events which close up the moral history of
our race as related to this earthly life and its corresponding future.—(2.)
The first verse alludes definitely to the passing away of the first heaven
and the first earth and indicates that these new scenes come upon the great
stage of action subsequently, i. e., after the old earth and heavens are
gone. No rational sense can be given to this language save by assuming that
we are now borne onward to the state beyond the resurrection and the final
judgment. The very intent of this clause—"for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away"—must have been to locate these new scenes beyond and
subsequent to those before described.—(3.) All the features of this new
state as here given represent it as the consummation of final retribution
for all the moral good and moral evil of our present world. The righteous
are shown in their eternal reward; the wicked in theirs.—(4.) No objection
lies against this view of the passage on the ground that the symbols and
imagery are borrowed from things earthly—largely from Old Testament
descriptions of the gospel age of the world—in general, from Jewish
conceptions of the holy city as the dwelling place of Israel's God. If any
thing positive is to be said of the ultimate heavenly world it must by the
laws of the sternest necessity be put in symbolic language, and these
symbols must be drawn from things with which we are familiar.
XXII - The first five verses close the description of the New Jerusalem.
According to all principles of propriety they should have been included in
chap. 21 The remainder of this chapter pertains to the conclusion of the
whole book.
DISSERTATION I. - ON THE THEORY THAT "DAY," IN PROPHECY, MEANS "YEAR."
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PREFACE.
The earnest request
of many readers of my Notes on Daniel, coupled with a deep conviction
of the importance of applying the same general principles to this book as to
that, has induced me to prepare this volume for the public. It seemed
desirable also to complete the prophetical books.—Those who are familiar
with the numerous commentaries on this book extant in our language will
perhaps marvel that I have passed them with so little notice. To such I
would say that my system of interpretation does not rest on any of those
commentaries, and does not need them for its fair and full presentation. I
even feared that, to arrest the course of my argument in order to bring in
to any considerable extent the diverse views of other critics,
would not only encumber my book in general but my argument in particular.
Those who wish to see how other critics have interpreted this book will
readily gain access to their volumes.—My aim has been to evolve the laws of
interpretation applicable to this book out of the book itself; out of the
already extant prophecies of the Old Testament; and out of the history of
those times. I dare not assume that this effort is free from imperfections;
but that this method of interpretation—this conception of its just
principles—must control the construction of this book, seems to me too plain
to admit of any question. I lay down my pen therefore in the hope that in
whatever points my execution of this plan has been defective, abler hands,
coming after, will bring it to perfection.
The Greek text of
this book is admitted to be more defective than that of any other portion of
the New Testament. I have aimed to introduce all the recent corrections
which seemed important for their bearing upon the thought.—A favoring
Providence has brought within the reach of modern scholars several very
ancient and valuable manuscripts which were unknown to those who revised the
text for our received English version. Three of these are worthy of special
mention: the Alexandrine, dating probably about A.D. 350, made in Alexandria
(Egypt), and brought from Constantinople to England in A.D. 1628; the
Vatican, supposed to date about A.D. 300, long imprisoned in the archives of
the Papal Vatican, from which it takes its name, but brought slowly and with
difficulty into the hands of able critics within the past twenty-five years;
and the Sinaitic, obtained from a convent on Mt. Sinai, supposed to date
from about A.D. 325, but unknown till the year 1844, and only within the
last ten years carefully collated and brought before the learned of our
times. Tischendorf's edition of the English New Testament gives the
variations of the text which appear in two of these very ancient
manuscripts.—Unfortunately, the Revelation of John is wanting in the
Vatican.
The theory that
prophetic days really mean years—that all periods of time named in prophecy
must be multiplied by three hundred and sixty to get the actual duration—has
controlled the interpretation of the Apocalypse as given by many English and
American critics. My views of this theory have been given in the Appendix to
my Commentary on Daniel (pages 469-466). Since this volume may fall into the
hands of some who may not have access to that, I have placed that special
dissertation in this Appendix also.
A special
examination of the teachings of Christ, and of His apostles, in regard to
the time of His then future comings, commenced with design to append it to
the present volume, as having important bearings upon certain passages in
the Revelation which speak of Christ as "coming
quickly," at length took so broad a range that it has been thought
best to have it appear in the
Bibliotheca Sacra, July number for 1871.
HENRY COWLES.
OBERLIN, OHIO,
March, 1871.
INTRODUCTION.
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Introduction Index.
Introduction.
I. Of the Author.
1. Christian Fathers | 2. Few Contrary Voices | 3. Internal Traits,
Objections Considered.
II. Of the date of his writing.
1. Internal Evidence | 2. External.
III. Of his times—his circumstances and those of his first readers.
IV. Of the question—To whom precisely was this book primarily addressed and
therefore specially adapted?
1. Prophecy depending upon the fulfilling event and not upon the revealing
words, is not true | 2. Contrary to Moral purpose | 3. Confronted by the
facts.
V. The various indications in the book which locate its prophetic events in
place and in time, and thus become landmarks to guide to its just
interpretation.
VI. The sources of the writer's figurative imagery and the bearing of these
sources upon his use of them in this book.
VII. The principles or laws which should control the interpretation of this
book.
1. Come to the book Unprejudiced | 2. Interpret in harmony with God's own
declarations | 3. And His interpretation of symbols | 4. And whatever
allusions it contains to known historic events and localities | 5. And that
Christians then living were to be the persecuted men of whom these visions
speak | 6. Persecuting name omitted because John's first readers knew it |
7. Interpret in harmony with the obvious moral purpose | 8. Symbols borrowed
from the Old Testament should be obviously interpreted in the light of their
usage there | 9. While these principles of interpretation suffice to prove
that the great body of the book refers to events then near at hand, the
well-known usage of prophecy will permit the minds of both prophet and
reader to pass over by analogy from these events to others of like general
character far in the future—these future events being reached, not through a
continuous series of history, filling up the whole interval, but under the
law of analogy by which one series of events suggests another of like
general character, resting on the same broad principles of God's government.
INTRODUCTION.
It lies upon the
face of this book that it was written in a time of persecution. The writer
was an exile in the barren isle of Patmos because of his testimony for Jesus
Christ. He wrote the book to those who were his "companions in tribulation,"
like himself in the point of suffering and endurance for the Kingdom of
Jesus (1: 9). The whole book is addressed to the seven churches of Asia (1:
4), while the second and third chapters comprise special messages to each
one of these churches by name. A careful attention to these special messages
will show that those Christians were either actually suffering persecution,
or at least were exposed and in constant peril. The letters speak of their
"patience" (i. e., suffering); of their "tribulation;" of some who
had "kept the word" (command) "of my patience" and obtained the promise that
Jesus would "keep them from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all
the world to try them that dwell upon the earth" (3: 10); of those who "had
not denied my faith even in those days wherein Antipas, my faithful martyr,
was slain among you" (2: 13). They were exhorted to "be faithful unto
death;" with the promise of gaining thus a crown of life. Each message
closes with a specific and glorious promise to "him that overcometh."
To them the battle of life was "unto blood."—Altogether to the same
purport is the body of this "Revelation of St. John." First, a book (5: 1)
or scroll of destiny written on both sides is unrolled, disclosing its
contents by sections as one seal after another is broken. One of these seals
(6: 9-11) significantly opens to view "under the altar the souls of them
that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held;"
and they are heard to cry with a loud voice: How long, O Lord, holy and
true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth?" Then "white robes" (of prospective victory and joy) "were given to
every one of them, and it was said to them that they should rest yet for a
little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren that
should be killed as they were should be fulfilled." The obvious construction
of this passage implies that persecution was then raging; that some faithful
martyrs had already fallen; that their murderers were then living on
the earth, their crimes yet unpunished; and that other Christian
martyrs, of their brethren, were to be killed as they had been before God's
sword of retribution should smite the murderers.—Bearing to
the same conclusion are the scenes of chap, 7: 9-17—the myriads of saved
ones arrayed in white who have "come out of great tribulation," but are seen
at rest in the fullness of joy before the throne of God. So the two
witnesses (of chap, 11), representative characters, indicate an age of
faithful testimony for Jesus which cost human blood but ended in glorious
victory for truth and for truth's Great King. So throughout the scenes
unfolded in the second part of this book (13-18) we have bloody persecution,
led on by the Great Dragon, his auxiliary forces being the savage wild
"beasts'' (the first and the second) and the great harlot, city—that woman
seen in vision "drunk with the blood of saints and with the blood of the
martyrs of Jesus" (17: 6)—throughout which scenes there was abundant demand
for "the patience of the saints" (13: 10 and 14: 12 and 12: 17), and for the
assurance of blessedness to those that "die in the Lord" and so "rest from
their labors." It can not fail to impress the attentive reader that every
feature of this book is made to bear upon the case of Christian men and
women breasting the fire and flame of persecution. They are thought of as in
the midst of such conflicts as try men's souls. They are precisely where
they need to see the surpassing majesty and glory of their own risen
Redeemer (1: 13-18). They need the assurance of his presence, walking amid
the seven golden candlesticks, searching all hearts, witnessing every
believer's personal conflicts, sufferings, faith, love and fidelity to his
Master; where it must be cheering to see visions of myriads of men saved
through blood and fire and to witness the ineffable glory of their joy, and
where the judgments of the Almighty on his foes are the pledge of speedy
victory to Zion's King and people. Such comprehensively are the main points
made in this book. Throughout they undeniably assume that the writer and his
first readers were in the midst of bloody persecution, and therefore give us
beyond dispute the moral purpose of this book of Revelation.
Let it now be
strongly said and deeply pondered.—This obvious and
unquestionable moral purpose of the book may be relied on to guide us to
its true interpretation. For no interpretation can be a right one unless
it bears naturally and squarely toward attaining the obvious purpose of the
book. It can not be admissible to put upon it or any part of it a
construction which would frustrate or even materially emasculate its moral
purpose. The reason of this will be obvious. Every sensible and earnest
author writes for a purpose and makes his points bear toward its attainment.
His good sense will appear in the wisdom and effectiveness of his adaptation
of means to his ends: his earnestness will be the guaranty that he will
surely try to accomplish his purpose. Our author is wonderfully
strong in his manifestations of earnestness—giving assurance
therefore that he can not forget his great object in writing. We shall see
that he is not deficient in the good sense that adapts his points to their
obvious purpose. *
* Only for
brevity's sake do I speak of this book as the product of John's own mind and
heart. I hold the whole book to be inspired, and therefore really the mental
product of John's Divine Teacher—the messages and the vision having been
given him while "in the Spirit." Their wise adaptation to great moral
ends and that earnestness which breathes in every word and symbol are
therefore primarily those of the Divine Spirit.—I extend the remark here
made to the whole subject of language, style, symbol and figure. For the
sake of brevity I speak of all points that arise under this comprehensive
head as if John were the uninspired and only responsible author of the book,
and every feature of the style were due to his own taste, his own cast of
mind and modes of speech. This way of speaking of the language and poetry of
a prophet is unobjectionable provided it be fully understood that it does
not in any wise ignore his prophetic inspiration. For, however the fact may
be explained, no one can deny that the style and language of each prophet is
as truly his own, representing his own taste, culture, cast of mind and
genius, as the style of Gibbon is his own, or the style of Carlyle, his. As
to explanation of this fact, it may suffice to say that God speaks to his
prophets, to each in his own tongue, as wise men now speak in one style to a
child, in another to a youth or a man; in one style to men of no education;
in another, to the educated, and in their own parlance to men of any given
profession. That the inditing Spirit should adapt himself to the mind and
tongue of each prophet is no mystery. The fact applies both to messages
given to the prophet to be spoken or written verbatim, and to revelations
made to his prophetic eye in vision, or through a revealing angel, or by any
other mode of communicating the thought of God to the mind of man.
_______________
From these
principles I infer that if the book was written in order to produce certain
moral impressions and effects upon its first readers—men then living—it must
have been in the main intelligible to those men. Its words, its pictured
scenes, its symbols, its allusions to God's enemies soon to be destroyed,
must have been
brought down to the average level of their comprehension. The writer
meant to be understood—expected to be; for he certainly must
have known that what his readers could not understand could do them no good.
On this point human nature was the same then as now: words and symbols which
men can not understand are simply powerless. If the seven churches of Asia
to whom John wrote this entire book (1 : 4) could not understand the main
and vital things it contains, then it was to them in just so far a dead
letter—a book written in vain as to any effect upon them—a "revelation" that
revealed nothing. The notion that the great body of this prophetic
book was unintelligible to its first readers and therefore may be
interpreted today to mean things which they could never have imagined, must
be for every reason rejected. Think of the blessing promised to "him that
readeth and to those that hear its words" (1: 3); think of the declared
speedy fulfillment of its staple predictions (1: 1, 3, and 4: 1, and 22: 6,
10, 12, 20); the special blessing for those who keep i, e., observe
and obey those things written herein (1 : 3, and 22: 7); the obvious need of
just such sayings and showings to support the Christian faith and heroism of
those churches at that time; the perfect adaptation of the things shown to
meet their case and sustain their souls under the sternest and bloodiest of
scenes. All these points conspire to show that the author wrote with a
present object; consequently, sought to be understood; therefore must have
made himself fairly intelligible to the average capacity of those church
members; and so, by resistless inference, must be interpreted to mean what
would be within and not beyond the pale of their thought and conception.
I deem it the more
important to show that the book had a great and then present moral purpose;
what that purpose was; and the inference as to its interpretation that flows
by necessity from it, because in my view these points give us the only
reliable clue to its just interpretation. Overlooking these points or
according to them only the least possible influence upon its interpretation,
men have speculated upon this book in endless diversity, with no one result
more general and deep in the public mind than the breaking down of all
confidence in prophecy and the special conclusion that nothing can be known
with any certainty as to the true meaning of this book of Revelation.
As preliminary and
essential steps in unfolding what I regard as the true sense of this book, I
must treat,
I. Of the Author.
II. Of the date of his writing.
III. Of his times—his circumstances and those of his first readers.
IV. Of the question—To whom precisely was this book primarily addressed and
therefore specially adapted?
V. The various indications in the book which locate its prophetic events in
place and in time, and thus become landmarks to guide to its just
interpretation.
VI. The sources of the writer's figurative imagery and the bearing of these
sources upon his use of them in this book.
VII. The principles or laws which should control the interpretation of this
book.
I. THE AUTHOR.
The writer calls
himself simply "John" (1: 1, 4, 9, and 22: 8) with no further designation
save that he is "his" (Jesus Christ's) "servant," and "your brother and
companion in tribulation"—the same who was exiled to Patmos (1: 1, 9). He
does not say John the Apostle, nor John the brother of James, or one of the
sons of Zebedee; does not define himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved"
(as in his gospel, 13: 23, and 19: 26, and 20: 2, and 21: 7, 20). Yet he
makes no effort to disguise his person, but obviously assumes that his first
readers will recognize him without fail by the indications given. It is
therefore safe to conclude that he was well known throughout all those seven
churches. This fact of itself leaves no room to doubt that he was the
venerable and every-where known Apostle John. The church history of the
early ages from the date of this epistle onward witnesses to no other John
of such prominence and distinction—a father to the churches, known and
beloved by all.
This question of
authorship is not absolutely vital to the reception and usefulness of this
book, provided it be admitted and satisfactorily shown that the author was
one of the inspired men of the apostolic age. Yet if John the beloved
disciple was truly the author, it is refreshing to know it. In my view the
proof that he was the author is entirely conclusive. Yet I am well aware
that some very learned critics of our times deny his authorship, especially
on the ground of the great diversity of style between this book and the
fourth gospel and the three epistles attributed to John. Consequently the
question should be the more carefully examined and the strong points of
proof more fully presented.
1.
In the first place the voice of the most ancient Christian fathers is
strongly and almost unanimously for him as the author.—The
testimony of Papias, bishop of Hierapolis (Col. 4: 13) in Phrygia
(flourished in the first years of the second century) and who may have seen
John personally, shows only that he held the book to be of apostolic origin
and worthy of our Christian faith ("axiopiston"). He says nothing adverse to
the opinion that John was the author. The presumption is that in his day
there was no occasion to affirm this.—The active life of Polycarp, bishop of
Smyrna, spanned the first half of the second century and the later years of
the first. He is spoken of as a personal companion and disciple of
John; but we reach his views on the point before us only by inference from
the well known views of his pupil Ireneus. The latter speaks
explicitly of the Apostle John as the author of this book.—Justin
Martyr (flourished: A. D. 140-164), the earliest author and
scholar after the apostles, writes: "A man from among us" (Justin was of
Palestine) "by name John, one of the apostles of Christ, in
the revelations made to him; has prophesied that those who believe in our
Messiah shall live
a thousand years in Jerusalem," etc.—Melito, bishop of
Sardis one of those seven churches), who flourished in the third quarter of
the second century, "wrote a treatise on the Apocalypse of John." This is
the language of Eusebius (Book 4, chap. 26), and can be fairly construed
of no other than John the Apostle.—Theophilus, bishop of Antioch (A.
D. 169-180), is reported by Eusebius (Book 4, chap. 24) as
drawing "testimony from the Apocalypse of John" in a work of his entitled,
"Against the heresy of Hermogenis."—Eusebius says the same of Apollonius
(Book 5, chap. 18), who was of Asia Minor, latter part of the
second century.—Ireneus, trained in Christian life and doctrine under
Polycarp of Smyrna till about A. D. 150; then sent as a missionary to the
south of France (Gaul), where he was bishop of Lyons (A. D. 177-202),
witnesses abundantly that John the disciple of the Lord wrote the
Apocalypse. His testimony, found in his great work "Against Heresies," is
chiefly in the form of quotations from the Apocalypse, spoken of as "the
words of John."—Clement of Alexandria (A. D. 192-220) quotes from
this book with the remark, "As John Says in the Apocalypse."—Tertullian
of Carthage (A. D, 199-220) in many passages refers to the Apocalypse as
being "the work of the Apostle John."—Origen, the greatest biblical scholar
among the Christian fathers to his day; in early life of Alexandria (Egypt),
but in later life of Palestine; born A. D. 185, died A. D. 254, makes his
testimony signally explicit: "John who leaned on the bosom of Jesus has left
us one gospel, and he wrote also the Apocalypse." He speaks of this John as
"being the son of Zebedee;" also as being "condemned to the Isle of Patmos
for bearing his testimony to the word. of truth."
This list of
witnesses and recital of their testimony might be very greatly extended. I
have selected the earliest witnesses because they are most likely to be
original and direct, and therefore have the highest value. I see no reason
to doubt that these witnesses give us the prevalent opinions of those who
first received this book from the pen of John and of their successors—sons
and grandsons, pupils and grand-pupils, of the nearest subsequent years.
2.
In respect to historic testimony it should however be distinctly stated that
a very few counter voices, are heard;
but their doubt or denial of the authorship of John is obviously traceable
either (1) to doctrinal prejudice against the book; or (2) to their
inference from its peculiarities of style, compared with the fourth
gospel.—As to doctrinal prejudice, the facts are in brief that a few
Christians in the second century and onward gave this book an extremely
literal and even a repulsively gross and sensual interpretation, which so
disgusted many of their brethren that they discredited the book itself
denying its divine authority, and of course denying that it was written by
the Apostle John. It was apparently under the influence of this feeling that
the scholarly Dyonisius of Alexandria raised the question whether the John
whose name appears in this book was not another man—-a position which he
supported by appealing to its diversity of style; compared with the fourth
gospel. Such counter testimony considered as properly historic is obviously
of no account. It fails to touch the only really historic question, viz.,
What were the views of those who personally knew the author, and who
received the book from his well-known hand? And what voice did they hand
down to their children and to their pupils of the next and of succeeding
generations? On this simply historic question there seems to be no ground
for any difference of opinion.
3.
Internal traits go far to prove that the same John who wrote the fourth
gospel and the three epistles wrote also the Revelation.
Note how he identifies himself by his use of special terms and phrases and
by his dominant ideas of gospel truth, and also by his modes of conceiving
and representing them.
(1.) Observe that
he alone of all the New Testament writers, thinks and speaks of Jesus Christ
as "the Word of God." This name stands out prominently in the
Revelation (19: 13) : "His name is called the Word of God." It is equally
prominent in the very opening of the fourth gospel: "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." . . "And the
Word was made flesh," etc. (1: 1, 14.) In the epistle also: "The Word of
life " (1 : 1), and in the disputed and doubtful passage (5: 7) "The Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost." [If we admit that this last passage came into
our copies by interpolation, still it must have gained and held its place on
the strength of its harmony with John's usage and with the views of the
ancient church.]
(2.) By John alone
of all the New Testament writers Jesus is thought of and seen as "a Lamb
slain for an atoning sacrifice." We have this view in the Revelation. In
the midst of the heavenly elders is seen "a Lamb as it had been slain," to
whom they sing: "Thou vast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood"
(5: 6, 9, 12). "The book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world " (13: 8). The victors on the sea of glass sing the
song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (15: 3). And in the
same strain of thought—"To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in
his own blood " (1 : 5). Now observe how perfectly in harmony with this way
of thinking and speaking you find the fourth gospel: "Behold the Lamb of God
who taketh away the sin of the world" (1: 29, 36).—Peter approximates toward
this (1 Eps. 1: 19), comparing Christ to a lamb, but no other New Testament
writer save John fully reaches it.—The reader will bear in mind also that
this figure is the more remarkable in the Revelation because the tone and
purpose of the book should more naturally present Christ as the Lion
than as the Lamb—the Lion who treads down his foes rather than the Lamb who
dies a sacrifice for his friends.
(3.) Allusions to
the manna of the wilderness appear in the New Testament in this writer only;
in Rev. 2: 17,—"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
manna:" and in the fourth gospel (6: 48, 58), "My Father giveth you the true
bread from heaven" [the real manna].
(4.) Only in the
imagery of this New Testament writer are the blessings of salvation, "waters
of life," given to all the thirsty ones. See in Rev. 21: 6, and 22: 1, 17.
"I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life
freely." "Let him that is athirst come. Whosoever will, let him take the
water of life freely." In his gospel history, see 7: 37: "In the last day,
that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water."
(5.) In his style
of thought and speech, preaching the gospel is "witnessing," "testifying,"
bearing testimony to the truth. We see this throughout the Apocalypse, e.
g.,
in 1: 2, and 2: 13 ["martyr" is the Greek word for witness], and 3:
14, and 6 : 9, and 11: 3, 7, and 12: 11, 17, and 19: 10, and 20:
4, and 22: 16, 18, 20. In the fourth gospel we have the same use of this
language, 5: 39, and 15: 26, 27, and 18: 37. "For this cause (said Jesus
before Pilate) came I into this world that I should bear witness to the
truth." See also the authors description of his work (21: 24): "This is the
disciple which testifieth of these things and wrote these things; and
we know that his testimony is true." "Witnessing" appears in the same
general sense in the first epistle (1: 2, and 5: 9, 10). These modes of
thought and speech appearing prominently and uniformly throughout all his
books go very far indeed to identify the author of them all as the same man.
(6.) We carry this
argument but one step further when we adduce the fact that this book of
Revelation and the fourth gospel are essentially at one in their great
cardinal points of Christian faith, as well as in their peculiar forms of
expression. No points of revealed truth can be more fundamental than the one
already introduced above—Jesus Christ an atoning sacrifice for the
sins of men. We have seen that this view is prominent in the
gospel, the epistle, and the Revelation. So also is the doctrine that
Jesus is King and Lord of all, worthy of equal honor with the Father;
and actually receiving it in heaven itself. The gospel gives us the eternal
Word who "was in the beginning; was with God; and was God;"—by whom "all
things were made" (l : 1; 13); to whom "the Father hath committed all
judgment" (5 22), and who himself speaks of "the glory which he had with the
Father before the world was" (17: 15). The
first epistle indorses this doctrine in most concise but explicit
terms "This is the true God and the eternal life" (1 John 5:20). With
surpassing fullness and splendor the Apocalypse corroborates this doctrine
by its open visions of the homage and worship accorded by all the
hierarchies of heaven in equal strains to "Him that sitteth upon
the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever." This worship is
supreme; none higher is known in heaven. It therefore indorses the true
divinity of Jesus Christ, in harmony with both the fourth gospel and the
epistles of John, and in a form of testimony than which none can be
stronger.—In the same line of argument it might be shown that all these
writings concur in presenting Jesus as the life of his people, their
Shepherd; their Defender; while the Apocalypse makes specially prominent his
relation as the Avenger of their martyred blood.
(7.) Objections
considered.
The strong
points of objection are,—(a.) The poetry and the symbols of the
Apocalypse have a tone of grandeur and sublimity so unlike the plain
simplicity and the metaphysical abstractness of the fourth gospel and of the
epistles that they can not be supposed to have come from the same author.—To
which I reply that the poetry and the prose of the same author are naturally
very unlike. Compare the prosaic history given Ex. 14: 19-31; and 15: 19,
with the poetic song of Ex. 15: 1-18. What could be more unlike? But the
same Moses wrote both. Or compare the first two chapters of Habakkuk with
the third; or Isa. 37 with Isa. 60; or Dan. 6 with Dan. 7; or Job, chapters
1 and 2, with any or all of the others; or 2 Sam. 22: 1 with vs.
2-51. Surely it is no strange thing that the same writer,
especially if he have genius imagination, and sublimity in him, should make
his poetry very diverse from his prose. And whether we are able to give all
the reasons for it or not, we have the fact that prophecy does come to us
clothed (usually) in the loftiest poetry and often in the grandest symbols.
Yet these poetic and sublime prophets in the grandest symbols have given us
also some very plain and unpoetic prose. To which it may appropriately be
added that the author of the Apocalypse shows by manifold allusions that he
has been reading those grand old Hebrew prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel,
and Zechariah, and that his mind is filled with their sublime conceptions.
Is it then any marvel that his own style should catch their strain; or
rather, that his soul should enkindle from contact with their seraphic
fire?—Let us also bear in mind that the Apocalypse was probably written from
ten to twenty years before the fourth gospel and the three epistles,
and consequently when the writer had more of the fire and vivacity of his
youth than when under the weight of more than fourscore years he penned his
gospel and epistles. Men of the noblest powers must pass with the lapse of
years from the buoyancy and glow of manhood to the more calm you sedateness
of old age. Need it surprise us if their writings evince it?
(b.) It is objected
that the tone of tenderness, sympathy, and love which appears in the
fourth gospel is far removed from the sternness, the terror, and the
vengeance which reign in the Apocalypse.—But are not the zephyrs and the
hurricanes from the same God? The dews and the deluges—come they not from
the same Author? The whispering calls of mercy and the thunder tones of the
judgment trump—are they not from the same Jesus? Is there not one hour for
beseeching men to be reconciled to God; and another hour for the vials of
his wrath upon those whom no mercy can touch and no forbearance and no
warnings can reclaim? And precisely to our present point, may not God employ
the same tongue and pen to utter both the one and the other?—Specifically it
is claimed that the three epistles of John breathe a tender spirit as from a
loving father to his well-belove children; but that the messages to the
seven churches have the air of authority, reproof, and threatening.—This
difference is rather strongly put, yet no one can deny that a measure of it
exists. To account for it I suggest that in the messages to the seven
churches the speaker is rather Jesus himself than John the amanuensis; and
moreover, that the emergency was such as to call for the most
solemn earnestness. The tone in those seven Messages is rather that of
tremendous earnestness than of asperity or vengeance. A fearful strain was
upon the piety of those churches—a time of stern and portentous trial
through which none could pass unscathed unless their souls should be aroused
to see their peril. Hence the spirit of those messages.
(c.) It is
claimed that the original Greek of the Apocalypse is more tinged with
Hebraistic words and grammatical forms than that of the known writings of
John—I reply, it is now generally conceded that the Aramean (a dialect of
the Hebrew) was the spoken language in Palestine at the time of Christ, and
therefore was the mother tongue of his Jewish disciples. When they began to
push the gospel into the outlying countries, and to write out its records
for the reading of the civilized world, a knowledge of Greek be came a
necessity. But being in their minds superinduced upon their vernacular
Hebrew, it was inevitable that their newer Greek would be shaded more or
less by their older Hebrew. Precisely this appears in every New Testament
writer, yet in various degrees. I freely admit the fact put forward in the
objection above-named,
i. e., that the Apocalypse is more deeply shaded with the Hebrew tint
than the fourth gospel or the three epistles of John. But this fact can be
accounted for without any serious damage to the evidence that the same John
wrote the Apocalypse. For (1.) This Apocalypse was written (it is conceded
by the best critics) several years earlier than the gospel and the epistles,
when John was but recently arrived in Asia Minor from his Palestine home,
and hence was less familiar with classic Greek and more fresh from his
Aramean vernacular than in his later years: and (2.) His exile in Patmos, we
must assume, was cheered by the deep and ardent study of the old Hebrew
prophets. Fresh from their perusal, he turned to the writing of the
Apocalypse—of which the book bears most abundant traces.—These important
facts in his case suffice to show that his Hebraistic style in the
Apocalypse compared with his gospel is altogether what we ought to expect.
If the preponderance of Hebrew style were the other way—the more abundant
traces in the later writings and not in the earlier, and when farther
removed from the immediate influence of the old prophets, then the argument
against the common authorship of all these books would be very strong, if
not even conclusive.
(d.) A vast amount
of labor has been expended to bring out a class of words which occur in the
Apocalypse and not in the fourth gospel; and vice versa,
another class from the fourth gospel, not found in the Apocalypse. The same
thing is also shown to some extent in respect to special grammatical
forms.—But this sort of argument seems to me to have little force. It is
offset in part by the fact of very considerable and indeed somewhat
striking similarities, going to identify the author of both books as the
same. And why may not all the real diversities be accounted for by the
different dates of the books; the changes due to his greater familiarity
with classic Greek after many more years of practical contact with it; and,
not least, to the great difference in the subjects treated of—the difference
natural between the loftiest poetry and the plainest prose?
II. THE DATE OF THE WRITING.
This question
involves some real difficulty, especially on its historic aide. Yet it has
very considerable importance in its bearings upon the interpretation of the
book, and therefore calls for a careful and candid examination.—On this
question of
date, critical opinions fall into two classes, one assigning it to the
reign of Nero (about A. D. 64-68), and the other to the reign of Domitian
(A. D. 95-96). It is well known that violent persecution raged at both these
periods, and it is possible that John was banished to Patmos twice—i.
e., by both Nero and Domitian, and that this fact occasioned the
confused and discordant notices that appear in the early fathers in regard
to the time of his banishment and the date of this book.
In respect to
date, I will speak,
1.
Of the
internal evidence—that which appears in the book
itself; and
2.
Of the
external, as found in fragmentary notices by the Christian
fathers.
1. Internal.
Under this head I adduce
(1.) The fact that
the culpable practices which appear in the seven churches (chaps. 2, 3) are
those of the early and mid-apostolic ages—precisely those against which the
churches of Asia were specially warned by the circular "epistle" of the
first Christian council (Ac. 15), and which appear in Paul's first letter to
the church at Corinth. Thus in Pergamos the practices indicated as "the
doctrine of Balaam" were these two: eating things offered to idols and
fornication (Rev. 2: 14). The doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, appearing in
both Pergamos and Ephesus, was very similar (2: 15); Precisely the, same
practices appear in Thyatira, inculcated by one called "Jezebel" (2: 20). By
a remarkable coincidence, the evils against which the first council at
Jerusalem specially warned the churches were prominently these two (Acts 15:
20, 29). In Corinth the eating of things offered to idols was one of the
live questions then pressing sharply upon the churches (1 Cor. 8). I need
not say that fornication was a second special subject for rebuke and warning
in that church.—Thus it appears that the great moral questions and immoral
practices which pressed sorely upon the churches at the date of the
Jerusalem council (A D. 50 or 52) and at the date of Paul's letters to
Corinth (A. D. 57-58) were the very things condemned in the seven churches
of Asia.—But it will be asked, Were not these evils rife in the age of
Domitian? Possibly they were; but the latest N. T. books, viz., the gospel
and the epistles of John, give no hint of it. Other historical records of
that age are scanty; but so far as I know are silent on these points. It is
intrinsically improbable that the questions in regard to eating meats
offered to idols would have continued practically unsettled forty years
(from A. D. 50 to A D. 90).—This argument amounts in my view only to a
strong probability—not to a demonstration.
(2.) The churches
of Asia were suffering severely from pernicious teachers claiming to be
Jews. In
Ephesus were some who said they were apostles but were not (2: 2); in
Smyrna the troublers said they were Jews, but were more "the synagogue of
Satan" (2: 9); in Philadelphia were the same class precisely (3:
9); while the personage called Jezebel (2: 20), claiming to be a prophetess,
was probably a Jewess also.—Thus the troublers of the seven churches at the
date of this book were remarkably well defined—either actually being Jews,
or at least claiming to be.—Now let it be also considered that the first
council was called (A D. 50 or 51) to counteract the mischiefs of Judaizing
teachers. The letters of Paul to the Galatians (A. D. 56) and to the
Colossians (A. D. 62) disclose the presence and mischiefs of the same set of
men. These were churches of Asia, adjacent to the seven to whom John wrote.
Paul's first letter to Timothy (1: 3, 4, 7), written A. D. 65, alludes to
men causing trouble in Ephesus and puts upon them two Jewish marks—"given to
endless genealogies;" and "desiring to be teachers of the law." Indeed the
early apostolic age was constantly annoyed by this class of men.—Thus we see
the most entire coincidence between the case of: the seven churches as it
appears in these letters, and the case of other churches of Asia in the
years A. D. 50-66.
Here too (as
before) the question must be met: Did not this annoyance from Jewish and
Judaizing teachers continue down to the age of Domitian?—I answer, All
existing historical evidence is strongly against it. The later books of the
New Testament give not the least allusion to such teachers. While the
earliest heresies that annoyed the Christian churches came from Judaism; the
next in order—the second generation of them—sprang from contact with Pagan
philosophies and science, "falsely so called"—to which it is generally
conceded some of the latest writers of the New Testament allude.—What
history thus testifies, the nature of the case strongly sustains. The fall
of Jerusalem and the utter destruction of the temple naturally struck
Judaism down. More than one million of Jews perished in that fearful fall;
the rest were scattered far abroad. The hope of bringing the Gentile
converts into Jewish ritualism was forever blasted; the power and prestige
of this Judaizing element fell, never to rise. Hence the inference seems
irresistible that the seducers in the seven churches when John wrote must
have been of the age of Nero and not of the age of Domitian. Of course the
book was written in the former age and not in the latter.—It may not be
amiss to suggest that we have here another special element in the
retributions upon the Jews of which chapters 4-11 speak, since, they are
before us not only as the first and most malign
persecutors of the infant Christian church, but also as its first, most
persistent, most annoying and dangerous seducers.
(3.) The
seventh chapter of the Apocalypse presents a scene in which four mighty
angels are holding in suspense the fearful elements of retributive vengeance
until another angel might place the seal of God upon the foreheads of his
faithful servants. The central idea and also in the main its costume seem to
be taken from Ezek. 8 and 9: "Go through the midst of the city and set a
mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all its
abominations:" this done, let the others go through the city and smite, only
come not near any man who bears the mark! Here in the scenes of this
apocalyptic vision, John first hears the number of the sealed—"one hundred
and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel;" and
indeed definitely twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes. That these
represent the Christian converts gathered from the lineal Jews is made
doubly certain by the counterpart of this first sealing, viz., the view of
"a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and
people and tongues;" that is,
Gentile converts of every land and tribe, seen before the throne already
clothed in white, ascribing their salvation to God and the Lamb. So much the
gospel had then achieved already. The scathing judgments that were about to
smite the Jewish world and in due time the Gentile, would find so many
garnered in safety, housed in their eternal home before the storm should
burst.—Now the definite point of my argument is that this sealing of Jewish
converts, considered as a prophecy, appears to be precisely coincident with
that of Jesus Christ in his prediction of the fall of Jerusalem and of the
previous gathering of his elect, as given in Mat 24: 31 and Mark 13: 27. The
personal preaching of Jesus and the earliest mission labors of his disciples
turned first to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mat. 10: 5, 6, 13).
Forty years God waited and wrought patiently to gather in those lost ones.
Jesus prophetically represents this gathering as to be done within the
life-time of that generation (Mat. 24: 34 and Mark 13: 30), i. e., to
be finished before Jerusalem should fall. The sealing and rescuing of the
elect Jews in Rev. 7 bears every trace of being the same great fact. Hence
its location in time shortly preceded the fall of that city, and if the
fulfillment precedes that fall, so and much more must the prophecy itself.
(4.) In the same
general line of thought and of argument we have a remarkable coincidence
between our Lord's prediction (Luke 21: 24), "Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles;" and of the temple (Mat 24: 2), "There shall not
be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down;" and the
prediction through the Revelator John (Rev. 11: 2), "The court that is
outside the temple leave out, for it is given unto the Gentiles, and
the holy city shall they tread underfoot forty-two months." Both
these predictions concur: (a) that Jerusalem was a doomed city; (b)
that it should be trodden down by unhallowed Gentile feet [the Roman
armies]; and (c) that even the presence of the holy temple within it
should not shield it from this desolation. My argument as to the date of the
Apocalypse turns on the strong presumption that this passage (Rev. 11: 2)
synchronizes with Christ's prediction of the fall of Jerusalem, and
therefore proves that at the date of its writing, the city had not yet
fallen.—Very strong to the same point is the statement in the
same context (v. 13): "And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and
the tenth part of the city fell"—which certainly assumes that the whole city
had not previously fallen, but was standing. The date of its actual
fall is well known, viz., A. D. 70. This prophecy was written, therefore,
shortly before this fall.
(5.) The account
given of the murder of the "two witnesses," naming the very place where
their dead bodies lay exposed and insulted (Rev. 11: 8)—"in the street of
the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also
our [their] Lord was crucified," puts the finger of prophecy
precisely upon Jerusalem, and obviously conceives of it as standing at the
time of this vision, and indeed at the time when the murder of the two
witnesses took place. This, taken in connection with the points made from
chap. 7 and from chap. 11: 2, would certainly seem to fix the date of these
events and of course the date of the book which predicts them, before the
destruction of Jerusalem.
(6.) Rev. 17
is professedly an explanation of the more prominent symbols in the seven
chapters (13-19), inasmuch as the angel said (v. 7), "I will tell thee the
mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, who hath the seven
heads and ten horns." In this explanation the woman is shown to be "that
great city" (Rome) "which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (v. 18), and
which "sat on seven hills" [mountains]. Specially to our purpose it is said,
"There are seven kings (v. 10) of whom five are fallen, and one is, and the
other is not yet come." Here the one that is, placed in a series with
certain preceding ones fallen, and another following, "not yet come," must
beyond all reasonable question be the king then on the throne of Rome when
this book was written. It is safe to affirm that John could not have given
the date of his writing more precisely and conclusively than he has done
here unless he had given the very name of Nero. But there were obvious
reasons why it was not prudent to give his actual name. He meant however to
describe him so that his readers need be in no doubt.—Now since the question
of date is narrowed down to a choice between the reigns of Nero and of
Domitian, it only remains to say that this dynasty of Roman kings [emperors]
began unquestionably with Julius Caesar, after whom we count Augustus,
Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, making the five who had fallen, and reach
Nero, the sixth, of whom the, angel then said, "One is." Galba
followed "to continue but a short space" (v. 10)—according to history, but
seven months. The symbol and the angel's count had no occasion to carry the
list of kings further. If carried on however and all counted in, Domitian
would have been the twelfth. Of course the present tense of the book—the
date of the vision—was not under Domitian, but was under Nero. But beyond
all question in proof that Nero was the one head of the beast then in power
when John wrote is the fact that he is absolutely identified by "the number
of his name" (13: 18). See my notes on the passage.
(7.) There are at
least two books in the New Testament (the Epistle to the Hebrews and 2
Peter) which are thought to contain allusions to the Apocalypse. If this
shall appear, it will follow that the Apocalypse was in existence when these
books were written. Let us then examine a single passage in the Epistle to
the Hebrews (12: 22, 23).—On the point of motives to a holy life, the writer
is contrasting the case of the Hebrews. before Mt. Sinai with the case of
the Hebrew Christians of his own day before the corresponding Mt. Zion. He
says (v. 18), "Ye are not come unto that merely material, tangible mount
[Sinai]...... but ye are come unto [a spiritual] Mt Zion, and unto the city
of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem"—[in Rev. 21: 2, "The holy city,
New, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven"]:—"And to an innumerable
company of angels," [the reader may see them in Rev. 5: 11, 12, and 7: 11,
12]; "to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written
in heaven" [see the writing of their names in the book of life, Rev. 21: 27,
and 13: 8, and 20: 12] "and to God the Judge of all" [Rev. 20: 11, 12] "and
to the spirits of just men made perfect" [who stand before us remarkably
throughout: this book of Revelation, e. g., 5: 8-10, and 6: 9-11, and
7: 13-17, and 15: 2-4, and 21 and 22]. It seems to me highly probable, not
to say, almost certain, that the writer to the Hebrews had in his eye these
salient points of the book of Revelation. These points are in his book for
precisely the purpose which the writer to the Hebrews had before him, viz.:
as constituting that magnificent and most impressive array of motives which
under the gospel were brought to bear upon the Christian life, as compared
with the corresponding motives arrayed before the ancient Hebrew people even
in those most impressive scenes at Mt. Sinai.—In his 2d Epistle (3: 10, 13)
Peter makes two points which the reader will notice: (1) that "the heavens
shall pass away" and "the earth be burnt up;" (2) that "we, according to his
promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness." John has it (Rev. 20: 11) "The earth and the heavens fled
away;" and (21: 1) "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the first heaven
and the first earth were passed, away." The righteous only dwelt there (21:
27; and 22 14). Here then we have both the fact of the passing away of this
present earth and heavens, and the promise of the new. With a high degree of
probability Peter; had the Revelation of John before him and adopted its
descriptive terms. But Peter fell a martyr under Nero's persecution, and
therefore wrote this epistle before Nero's death. The date of the Epistle to
the Hebrews is not known precisely, but no critics within my knowledge have
placed it so late as the reign of Domitian.
2.
It remains to speak of the external evidence—that
of the early Christian fathers. This is far from being uniform, clear and
direct. Unfortunately the earliest fathers (Barnabas, Clement of Rome,
Papias, Polycarp and Justin Martyr)—the very men whose testimony would have
been most valuable—fail us altogether. They either omitted all allusion to
this point as being well enough understood without their testimony, or what
they wrote has perished. The earliest of the fathers whose testimony has
been relied on is Ireneus, who wrote his book "Against Heresies," A. D.
175-180. His youth was spent in Asia Minor, but all his manhood and
Christian work lay in Ancient Gaul [France]. From the dim light that reaches
us it would seem that his statements as they were understood shaped the
opinions of Eusebius and Jerome on this question, and that they naturally
controlled the views of su |
