1.02.02.04 The Revelation
IV. THE REVELATION.
Here we have to deal with that book of the Bible which more than any other has been the victim of a perfect riot of fanciful interpretation. Its very obscurity has sheltered the indulgence of innumerable vagaries. The extravagant assertions of so many writers on the Apocalypse, and the absolute contradictions that prevail among the several schools of interpreters, warn us that some sober method of exegesis is absolutely necessary if ever we are to hope for a correct view of the book. In the first place, it is well to compare the Revelation with other works of the same nature. There are apocalyptic passages in the teachings of Christ (e.g, Mark xiii.) and in the writings of St. Paul (e.g, 1Th 4:13-18; 2Th 2:1-10). Apocalypses appeared among the Jews just about the time when our book was written, and earlier. The most famous of these is the Book of Enoch, referred to by St. Jude (verse 14). A common style pervades this apocalyptic literature. In the next place, it is well to trace the imagery of the Revelation to its sources as far as this can be done.
Much of it is derived from Ezekiel and Daniel, and therefore these Old Testament books should be consulted for any explanations they may give of phrases and images which can be traced back to them. The apocalyptic scheme always promises the coming of God to set right the disordered state of the world at a crisis involving terror and ruin for evil-doers, but triumph and blessedness for the people of God.
Further, the Apocalypse, being of the nature of prophecy, will partake of what we have noticed to be its characteristics. We have seen that prophecy is primarily designed for the instruction of contemporaries, and that the allusions which have so commonly been supposed to point to a far-distant future can often be explained with reference to what is occurring in the days of the prophet, though with a revelation of great truths which admit of further realization, and the best of which are only perfectly realized in the advent and work of Jesus. The presumption is, therefore, that this prophecy is of an analogous nature. It is violently improbable that in this one book of the Bible, quite contrary to the principles that govern the many books of prophecy that precede it, we have an elaborate map of many centuries of future history, containing the rise of Mohammedanism, the corruptions of the papacy, the career of Napoleon, the advance of Russia. All that we know of the principles on which the Scriptures are inspired should lead us to question the probability of such an unparalleled production. Again it must be asserted, this is not a case of denying the power of God to make such a revelation. Of course it is perfectly possible to omnipotence. The simple fact is that we have no reason for believing that God ever does act in this way. It becomes our duty, therefore, to inquire whether the book can be interpreted of the times when it was written before we accept the wild theory that St. John was inspired to relate to Christians of the first century, in what to them must have been perfectly unintelligible language, the events that were to occur in succeeding centuries, apparently for no other reason than that the people who were to live in those later times might amuse themselves with an endless puzzle, to which every fresh inquirer was to furnish a fresh solution.
If a sober exegesis compels us to refer the historical allusion of the Apocalypse to the age when it was written we are not therefore to suppose that it loses all value for later times. The key to some of its more mysterious passages may be lost, but the wonderful spiritual truths that flash out again and again are gems of inspiration. The letters to the seven churches are pregnant with messages to many churches; the songs of the redeemed— possibly the earliest hymns of the church-— supply inspired anthems for our psalmody today) the beautiful picture of the heavenly Jerusalem is the cheering promise of a perfected state of society, when the reign of Christ shall be completely established, for here, as in all the greatest prophecies, the crowning realization is still of the future.
See “The Cambridge Bible”; “Commentary for Schools”; Milligan, “The Apocalypse”; Russell, “The Parousia.” Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process, Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: May 2005
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