n 
 
 STEPHEN ALEXANDER HUNTEP, PH.D.LLD. 
 
tihvavy of tlie trheolojical ^emmarjo 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 The Estate of 
 Philip H. Waddell Smith 
 
Following Ramsay, in St. Paul the Traveller and Roman Citizen. 
 
 By permission of the Publishers, Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, of New York 
 
 and London. 
 
STUDIES IN THE 
 BOOK OF REVELATION 
 
H AnOKAAYVIE 
 
•/iWi£M^ A . ^4iM*(fr 
 
c 
 
 A 
 BIBLE SCHOOL MANUAL 
 
 STUDIES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 BOOK OF REVELATION 
 
 AX 
 
 INTRODUCTION, ANALYSIS, AND NOTES 
 
 containing a concise interpretation according to the 
 
 symbolic view, numerous references to 
 
 authorities, and general mention 
 
 of other interpretations, 
 
 with the 
 
 Text of the American Revised Version Edited in Paragraphs, 
 for the use of Bible Students, 
 
 — by— 
 
 Stephen Alexander Hunter, Ph. D., LL. D. 
 
 ■7' 
 
Copyright, 1921 
 Stephen A. Hunter 
 
 The Text of Revelation given in this volume is 
 that of the American Standard Edition of the 
 Revised Bible, copyright 1901 by Thomas Nelson & 
 Sons, and is used by permission of the publishers. 
 
 Press of Pittsburgh Printing Company, 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
TO 
 
 ALL MY CLASSMATES, FRIENDS, 
 
 AND 
 
 FELLOW PILGRIMS ON LIFe's JOURNEY, 
 
 FOR WHOM THE BOOK OF REVELATION, 
 
 TINGED THOUGH IT IS WITH MYSTERY', 
 
 CONTAINS A MANIFESTATION OF THE DIVINE PURPOSE 
 
 IN CREATION AND REDEMPTION, 
 
 AND A VISION OF THE FAR GLORY IN THE WORLD BEYOND, 
 
 THIS VOLUME — 
 
 WRITTEN IN THE HOPE THAT THE INTERPRETATION OFFERED 
 
 MAY CONTRIBUTE IN SOME DEGREE TO A CLEARER APPREHENSION OF THE BOOK, 
 
 AND MAY HELP IN SOME MEASURE TO MAKE ITS MESSAGE RICH, 
 
 AND SWEET, AND ABIDING 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Map of Proconsular Asia 1 
 
 Foreword by James A. Kelso, Ph. D., D. D 9 
 
 Master-Thoughts on the Kevelation 11 
 
 Preface 14 
 
 Introduction : — 
 
 1 General Introduction 17 
 
 2 The Title 22 
 
 3 The Author 23 
 
 4 The Unity 27 
 
 5 The Date 30 
 
 6 The Place 32 
 
 7 The Canonicity 33 
 
 8 The Form 36 
 
 9 The Theme 40 
 
 10 The Occasion 41 
 
 11 The Purpose 42 
 
 12 The Interpretation 43 
 
 13 The Outline Analysis 48 
 
 14 The Literary Structure 49 
 
 15 The Literature 52 
 
 Text in Paragraphs 59 
 
 Analysis and Notes 91 
 
 Appendices : — 
 
 A Fundamental Conceptions of the Apoca- 
 lypse 240 
 
 B Current Questions of Divided Opinion .... 242 
 
 C Heptachords of Song and Blessing 243 
 
 D The Formal Series of Sevens 244 
 
 E The Symbolism of Numbers 246 
 
 F The Literary Structure of the Apoca- 
 lypse — A Diagram 253 
 
 Gr The Apocalyptic Literature 254 
 
 H Key Words and Phrases in the Revela- 
 tion 266 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 The manuscript of this Commentary was completed several 
 years ago, but its publication was unfortunately deferred until 
 the author's health no longer permitted him to see it through the 
 press or even to be consulted in regard to modifications. For 
 this latter reason no change of any kind has been made either 
 in the language or the arrangement of the material. In the 
 bibliography we have added the two recent monumental con- 
 tributions to the literature on the Book of Revelation, commen- 
 taries by I. T. Beckwith and R. H. Charles. Had the author 
 possessed the physical strength after their appearance, we feel 
 sure that he would have drawn upon these two extensive works 
 which are intended for the use of technical scholars. 
 
 The significance of Dr. Hunter's 'Studies in the Book of 
 Revelation' lies in its clear and accurate presentation of the re- 
 sults of the investigation of modern scholars, in language which 
 is comprehensible to the intelligent reader of the English Bible. 
 The Revelation of St John has been an enigma from the 
 earliest Christian centuries. On the one hand, it has been 
 shunned because of its mysteriousness ; on the other, it has been 
 discredited for sober-minded, intelligent Christians by the 
 absurd vagaries of its interpreters. Too often the caprice or 
 predilection of the commentator, rather than impartial study, 
 has determined the meaning of the closing book of the New 
 Testament canon. The removal of this reproach has been one 
 of the signal achievements of the Biblical scholarship of the last 
 twenty-five years. Such a notable result has been accomplished 
 by the discovery and the interpretation of the Jewish Apocalyp- 
 tic, a type of literature that flourished from 200 B.C. on for 
 several centuries. The Revelation belongs to this type of litera- 
 ture. It is the expression of a Christian's faith in the triumph 
 of his Lord's kingdom through the use of symbolism and 
 imagery peculiar to Jewish Apocalyptic literature. Our author, 
 in common with all modern scholars, has used this key for un- 
 locking the mystery of the closing book of the Christian Scrip- 
 tures. By its employment he has made clear the meaning of 
 the Revelation to the open-minded reader of the English Bible. 
 On every page the work gives evidence of scholarship, wide in 
 
its range, and thorough in its grasp, as well as of sanity of judg- 
 ment in the discussion of controversial questions. Because of 
 these qualities, Dr. Hunter's treatise is worthy of wide circula- 
 tion. It meets a special need at this time as it is especially 
 adapted to counteract fantastic theories of interpretation and 
 theology which are based on a misunderstanding of both the 
 purpose and the symbolism of a New Testament book that ranks 
 as an equal of the greatest pieces of imaginative literature. 
 
 The proofs have been read by Mr. Walter H. Millinger, of 
 the senior class of the Seminary, and the publication of the book 
 has been made possible only by the painstaking effort of a de- 
 voted friend and fellow-worker of Dr. Hunter, Mr. W. H. 
 Wicks of the Pittsburgh Printing Company to whom both the 
 author and the reader are deeply indebted. 
 
 James A. Kelso. 
 
 The Western Theological Seminary, 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
STUD IES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 11 
 Master-Thoughts upon the Revelation* 
 
 *I am the Alpha and the Ome^a, the first and the 
 last, the beginning and the end' (Rev. 22.13) :— 'This 
 is the unifying thought of the whole book: nay of the 
 whole Bible. The Revelation of St John is the meeting 
 ground of the Old and New Testament : what binds the 
 long succession of books — by so many authors, of so 
 many different ages — into a unity is expressed by the 
 saying that 'the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of 
 prophecy.' The whole of prophetic literature yields its 
 imaginative figures to adorn this final Revelation; all 
 history is made one by the central thought of the kingdom 
 of the world becoming the kingdom of Christ. ' — Richabd 
 G. MouLTON, — in Literature of the Bible. 
 
 'The Book of Revelation is the sum of all prophecy. 
 It carries the devout reader to a height from which he can 
 see the history of God's kingdom from its beginning to 
 its consummation in glory. It is the sublimest book in the 
 Bible, and its study awakens the profoundest worship.' — 
 J. M. Stifler, — in unpublished Classroom Lectures. 
 
 ' The Apocalypse constitutes the meridian of Hebrew 
 poetry and art, embracing in its individual forms the 
 most diverse elements. . .If the laws of its construction 
 be but recognized, the obscure Book of Revelation will 
 present itself to our eyes as a radiant constellation, a 
 symmetrical cathedral built upon a plan of perfect clear- 
 ness and transparency.' — John Peter Lange, — in Com- 
 mentary on the Revelation. 
 
 ^The hook has an imperishable religious worth be- 
 cause of the energy of faith that finds expression in it, 
 and the splendid certainty of its conviction that God's 
 cause remains always the best, and is one with the cause 
 of Jesus Christ ; but it is unreasonable to treat the detail 
 of its phantasies as an authentic source for a history of 
 the past or future.' — A. Julicher, — in Introduction to 
 the New Testament. 
 
 ^In the Apocalypse the emphasis placed upon the 
 omnipotence of God rises to a climax. There only in the 
 New Testament (except II Cor. 6.18) is the epithet 
 navTOXQCXTCOQ [All-Ruler] ascribed to Him; and the 
 
 *The principal thought in each quotation has been italicized for the sake 
 of emphasis. 
 
12 STUDIES m the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 whole purport of the book is the portrayal of the Divine 
 guidance of history, and the very essence of its message 
 that, despite all surface appearances, it is the hand of 
 God that really directs all occurrences, and all things are 
 hastening to the end of His determining ... It is the com- 
 pleteness of the Divine government to which the world is 
 subject by the Lord of lords and King of kings, the Ruler 
 of the earth and King of the nations, whose control of 
 all the occurrences of time is in accordance with His holy 
 purposes, that it is the supreme object of this book to 
 portray.' — B. B. Warfield, — in art. 'Predestination', 
 Hastings' Diet, of the Bible. 
 
 ^The Apocalypse is doctrinally the connecting link 
 hetiveen the Synoptists and the Fourth Gospel. It offers 
 the characteristic thoughts of the Fourth Gospel in that 
 form of development which belongs to the earliest apos- 
 tolic age . . . The points of connection between the Apoca- 
 lypse and the Gospel of St John are far more numerous 
 than are suggested by a first general comparison. The 
 main idea of both is the same. Both present a view of 
 a supreme conflict between the powers of good and 
 evil... In both books alike Christ is the central figure. 
 His victory is the end to which history and vision lead 
 as their consummation. His Person and Work are the 
 ground of triumph; and of triumph through apparent 
 failure. Both present the abiding of God with man as 
 the issue of Christ's work.' — Bp. Westcott, — in Intro- 
 duction to John's Gospel, Bible Commentary. 
 
 ^In Revelation, as in John's Gospel and First Epis- 
 tle, the consciousness of a ivorld-conflict, a world-process, 
 and a world-triumph is manifest. The return of Jesus is 
 contemplated in relation to the enlarged environment 
 in which Christianity stood. Revelation testifies to the 
 existence of the hope with which Christianity had begun ; 
 but also to the fact that into that hope had centered the 
 fuller conception of Christ and His salvation which the 
 apostles had taught, and the broadened vision of the pur- 
 pose of God which history had made clear. Yet it was 
 still the same hope, 'Behold He cometh,' and the prayer 
 was still the same, 'Come Lord Jesus'.' — George T. Pur- 
 VEs, — in The Apostolic Age. 
 
 ^The fundamental concepiion of the booh is neither 
 human weakness upon the one hand nor divine power 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 13 
 
 upon the other, but divine poiver victorious through ap- 
 parent human weakness, life triumphant over death.' — 
 William Milligan, — in Discussions on the Apocalypse. 
 
 'However long the conflict, this hook assures us of 
 the ultimate triumph of the Lamh. That figure suggests 
 Incarnation in order to Redemption ; and the description 
 of the New Jerusalem shows us Light and Life reign- 
 ing eternally because the Lamb is 'the lamp thereof'.' — 
 Matthew B. Riddle, — in unpublished Classroom Lec- 
 tures. 
 
 ' St John knew himself to be a prophet, and his writ- 
 ing to be a prophecy ; that he was commanded to consign 
 his visions to a book was an assurance to him that their 
 purpose would not be fulfilled in one generation or two. 
 He sees the book going down to posterity, and like the 
 Deuteronomist he endeavors to guard it against inter- 
 polation and excision. As he writes the last words upon 
 the papyrus roll that lies upon his knee, the conviction 
 dawns upon him that the Revelation of Jesus Christ was 
 given for the warning and comfort of the whole church 
 to the end of time.' — Henry B. Swete, — in The Apoca^ 
 lypse of St John. 
 
 ^The author of this great hook has hequeathed to 
 mankind a xtfj|Aa e? aei. an imperishable possession, 
 the worth of which lies in the splendid energy of its faith, 
 in the unfaltering certainty that God's own cause is at 
 issue now and here and must ultimately prevail, and that 
 the cause of Jesus Christ is inseparably linked therewith, 
 and the main aim of which, as is clear from every page, 
 is to emphasize the overwhelming worth of things spir- 
 itual as contrasted with things material, and in the next 
 place to glorify martyrdom, to encourage the faithful 
 to face death with constancy, nay more, with rapturous 
 joy.' — R. H. Charles, — in Studies in the Apocalypse. 
 
 The closing book of the New Testament with its pro- 
 phetic outlook and divine forecast, leaves us in the at- 
 titude of expectancy : — 'Looking for that blessed hope 
 and the glorious appearing of the great God and our 
 Savior Jesus Christ.' — The Epistle to Titus, Ch. 2 :13. 
 
14 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The purpose of this volume is to present in concise form the 
 general thought and meaning of the Book of Revelation, to give 
 an analytic view of its contents, and to summarize the results of 
 critical study. It is intended both as an aid to interpretation, 
 and as a guide to the use of the many valuable commentaries 
 which are now accessible to the English reader. It is specially 
 designed to meet the needs of the student in the theological 
 seminary or the modern Bible school, the busy pastor in his 
 field, the teacher of adult Bible classes, the Christian Association 
 worker, and the general reader of the Bible. With this object 
 in view it essays to provide in a direct and helpful form (i) the 
 essential points of Introduction; (2) an Analytic Study of the 
 book which aims to discover its meaning as a whole rather than 
 to deal with it text by text; and (3) a brief statement in a series 
 of Appendices of some of the underlying conceptions which give 
 color to its thought and enter into its literary structure. 
 
 The increased impetus given to Biblical study by advanced 
 scholarship in late years has created a demand for a class of 
 works that give the results attained by the masters of exegesis 
 and critical research, without attempting to give the various 
 steps by which these results have been reached. And it is one 
 primary aim of this work, while attempting to give a fresh state- 
 ment of the teachings of the book, and to present such thoughts 
 as have come to the Author in the course of extended study, at 
 the same time to give due consideration to the varying opinions 
 of others, and for the most part to reproduce in the form which 
 these have taken in his own mind the best and most satisfactory 
 explanations of the many difificulties in the book which have 
 hitherto been given by leading scholars and commentators. For 
 the book has proved a fertile field for expositors that has been 
 widely even if not always well worked in the past, while in the 
 last half-century really substantial progress has been made 
 toward the general interpretation; and it may be confidently 
 assumed that any one who ignores these results has almost cer- 
 tainly nothing to contribute to the solution of the real difficulties 
 that confront us. In response to extended popular inquiry 
 some excellent commentaries and expository works on the 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 15 
 
 Revelation have been prepared in late years for the general 
 reader. And it is in order to further meet this requirement of 
 intelligent Bible study, and to contribute in some measure to 
 what is believed to be one of the most common needs of the 
 general student of Scripture, a comprehensive view of each 
 book, that the publication of the present Studies in the Book of 
 Revelation has been undertaken. 
 
 It is necessarily true that a work so largely poetical in its 
 thought as the Apocalypse, and appealing so much to the 
 imagination, does not lend itself easily to logical analysis. Every 
 such division, if exhaustive, must be in a measure arbitrary. 
 The main purpose in attempting it is to present the principal 
 ideas of the book in what is conceived to be their proper relation. 
 And in this we need not assume that the particular outline which 
 we adopt was formally in the mind of the writer. It is quite 
 enough if we can be assured that the formative ideas were con- 
 ceived of in somewhat the same relation, and that the analysis 
 we accept at least measurably represents the author's point of 
 view. This form of statement enables us to grasp the contents 
 of the book in their entirety and to retain them in memory. 
 
 The view presented in the Analysis and Notes of this volume 
 is not intended to be controversial but interpretative. Hence 
 other views of particular passages have often not been stated, or 
 are given only in foot-notes, and no special effort has been made 
 to support the view given by any extended discussions, as that 
 would lead us too far afield for the purpose in mind. For those 
 who wish a wider view, references are given to well-known 
 authorities. Much that might have been said has been left out 
 for the sake of brevity; for in this busy age few find time for 
 extended study, and the great works on the Revelation often lie 
 unread on the shelves. To reach the man of this generation the 
 message must be short, clear, and decisive. And with this in 
 view the chief aim is to show that the general meaning of the 
 Revelation can be clearly understood, whatever difference of 
 opinion there may be concerning the more difficult portions; and 
 as a contribution toward this end to give in a direct form what 
 the Author of the present work regards as the correct method of 
 interpreting it. Other interpretations have been introduced 
 where they serve to illustrate this main purpose, or have special 
 force and afford additional light, or have been widely accepted 
 and have affected the course of opinion. The outline interpreta- 
 
16 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 tion given in this work, while it does not follow without devia- 
 tion any particular view throughout or in every respect — for a 
 blind acceptance of any one method of interpretation would often 
 block the path to better knowledge, and perhaps cause us to miss 
 the real meaning — yet it accepts the principles of the Symbolical 
 or Spiritual School as affording in the main the best solution of 
 the problems of interpretation. The authorities cited in connec- 
 tion with any passage, when not quoted, though they may differ 
 somewhat in statement, will be found to hold in some form the 
 view given in the analysis. 
 
 It is not without considerable hesitation, and a personal 
 sense of the shortcomings of the present work, that it is now 
 given to the public. It necessarily contains much that is already 
 familiar to the reader, and it should be regarded as an effort to 
 present in concise form and in one's own way what has been 
 gathered through many years of patient study, and by constant 
 comparison with the works of the best commentators, together 
 with such thoughts as have come to the Author in the course of 
 his inquiry. And if thereby the reader should be in any measure 
 led to a clearer understanding or a more careful study of this 
 marvellously beautiful and strangely eloquent message of Christ 
 to his church which is contained in the Book of Revelation — 
 the meaning of which has been too often misunderstood by the 
 Christian reader, or passed by as an insoluble mystery, — it will 
 be to the Author an abundant reward for his effort and a cause 
 for personal gratitude to Almighty God. 
 
 Stephen A. Hunter, 
 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 17 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 1. General Introduction. 
 
 The Eevelation is the most difficult book to interpret 
 of any in the New Testament canon. Its meaning is often 
 involved in much obscurity, and the interpretation of 
 eminent scholars has differed so widely in the past that 
 we cannot always be sure, especially in the more diffi- 
 cult portions, that the particular view which appears to 
 us the more satisfactory or convincing is certainly the 
 correct one. This divergence of opinion has had the un- 
 fortunate effect of disparaging the worth of the Apoca- 
 lypse as a part of the Word of God in the mind of many 
 earnest students, who have come to regard its meaning as 
 so obscure, and hidden in such hopeless perplexity, that 
 any further attempt to interpret it is entirely fruitless. 
 So much, too, has been written about the book which 
 abounds in manifest vagaries that men of sober mind 
 have often been thereby deterred from forming or ex- 
 pressing any definite opinion concerning its teaching. 
 Indeed it is difficult to say whether the Revelation has 
 suffered more in the hands of expositors by means of 
 fanciful and mistaken interpretation of its true contents, 
 or by the interpolation of ideas wholly foreign to its 
 thought. But, however brought about, we have reached 
 this strangely incongruous result, that what was original- 
 ly designed to be the revelation of mystery has become 
 instead the mystery of Revelation. 
 
 There is evident necessity, therefore, of particular 
 care in forming our views with regard to the meaning of 
 many portions of the book, and also of often holding our 
 opinions tentatively and subject to review, especially in 
 our earlier studies, as probable rather than positive in- 
 terpretations. We should avoid alike the mistake of dog- 
 'matically asserting that the Apocalypse cannot be under- 
 stood at all, or of affirming that it can be fully under- 
 stood.^ And yet with this reservation in mind the book 
 is still a rich mine of spiritual wealth, much of which lies 
 upon the surface, while even its deeper mysteries abun- 
 dantly reward our careful search. For we are not justi- 
 
 I'To pretend to have found an answer to every question raised by the 
 Apocalypse is the opposite of science' Jiilicher. Intr. to New Test., p. 291 ; also 
 cf. Warfleld, art. 'Revelation,' Schaff-Herzog Enc. 
 
18 STUDIES in t he BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 fied in casting aside any part of divine revelation upon 
 the plea of apparent obscurity; and to do so is practi- 
 cally to deny that it is a revelation. On the contrary we 
 are under manifest obligation to interpret the message 
 of the Apocalypse so far as we can, for to fail of this is 
 to neglect the sure word of prophecy. And even though 
 the original meaning of the visions to John's mind, and 
 the interpretation given them by those to whom they 
 were first made known, oftentimes cannot now be defi- 
 nitely determined,^ yet the value of the book does not de- 
 pend solely upon that, however helpful it would be. The 
 matter of supreme importance for us is to apprehend 
 aright the far-seeing and ulterior purpose in the mind of 
 the Spirit in giving the Revelation. And in search for 
 this we should not allow our zeal for the original inter- 
 pretation to lead us to forget the significant lesson of 
 the Old Testament, that the primary teaching of proph- 
 ecy has often not voiced its deeper message, that God's 
 thought has mostly proved wider than man's first appre- 
 hension; so that in our reading of the prophets we are 
 not limited to the primary application, however im- 
 portant it may be, but should strive rather to grasp the 
 broader sweep and deeper thought made plain by the 
 fuller development of the divine purpose — the general 
 meaning for the whole church in all time rather than the 
 particular meaning for one age or generation. This con- 
 sideration we will find of great value in dealing with the 
 generic and flexile forms of imagery contained in the 
 symbols of the Apocalypse, where in attending to a mul- 
 tiplicity of detail the deeper and broader thought may 
 so easily be misapprehended or even entirely escape our 
 notice. 
 
 The visions of the Apocalypse are generally con- 
 ceded to belong to the latter part of the first century, and 
 manifestly relate in main portion to the then future, 
 whether near or far, of the church of Christ in the world, 
 for they pertain to a profoundly impressive prophetic ex- 
 perience. The divine path of God's people among the na- 
 tions is beheld in symbol, type, and figure, ever leading 
 on to victory through Jesus Christ his Son and our Lord; 
 the church and the world are seen engaged in a multiform 
 
 ^That meaning for the most part, as I^arrar has forcibly said concerning 
 the portion of the book which relates to the earthly and historic future, 'is irrev- 
 ocably lost for us, and in point of fact has never been known to any age of 
 the church — not even to the earliest, not even, so far as our records go, to 
 Irenaeus the hearer of Polycarp, or to Polycarp the hearer of St. John.' Early 
 Days of Christianity, p. 528. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELA TION. 19 
 
 and deadly conflict, while the consummation is depicted 
 in the fall of evil and the ruin of nature wrought by sin ; 
 and the triumph of the holy is set forth in a vision of 
 complete restoration to the divine presence amid the 
 beauty of a new world and the glories of the New Jeru- 
 salem — an outcome never once in doubt, for God rules 
 through all and wins. And though in this ever changing 
 picture the conditions of the early church and of the first 
 century are constantly reflected in every part, yet the 
 representative character of the whole may be clearly 
 seen. Indeed one cannot but be impressed with the fine 
 insight and spirit of reserve which is manifested by John 
 throughout the book, in avoiding such explanations as 
 might serve to narrow the visions to a purely local and 
 temporary perspective, thereby evidencing that he had 
 risen to a truly prophetic view, and that to his mind the 
 visions belonged to a wider horizon as well as to the near- 
 er limit of his own day. For whatever application or ful- 
 filment these may have had, and surely did have, in the 
 period in which they were given, has not exhausted their 
 meaning. To the ear that is open to God's voice they 
 have a lesson and significance that belong alike to the 
 past, the present, and the future, a perennial freshness 
 that time can neither fade nor destroy, for they mani- 
 fest the principles of the divine government which abide 
 for all the ages. 
 
 In the light of modern criticism the primary ques- 
 tion to be decided is whether we are dealing with an or- 
 dinary Jewish-Christian apocalypse of similiar value 
 with a multitude of others in the past, and with no es- 
 sentially deeper meaning or diviner message ; or whether 
 we have not in the Apocalypse of John a true revelation, 
 given in this literary form because of its particular suita- 
 bility to the condition of the time, and its fitness for the 
 needs of the ^generation that first received it. And the 
 answer to this question must be sought in the contents 
 of the book itself as vindicated by the Christian con- 
 science — an answer that the church has never been slow 
 to make, and that never can be changed so long as the 
 needs of the human heart remain the same. We must 
 therefore regard the fundamental question which lies 
 vback of that of interpretation, viz. the inspiration of the 
 book itself, which alone can give it permanent value to 
 the Christian mind, as definitely settled by the clear mes- 
 sage which it contains for life, by the multitudinous voices 
 
20 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 of God which reverberate within it, and by the heaven- 
 born solace which it ever affords to tried and tempted 
 men in the midst of the conflict of life. And we shall find 
 that the general meaning, so far from being hopelessly 
 obscure, may be fairly understood by the attentive stu- 
 dent and devout reader. 
 
 The obscurity of the Revelation arises both from its 
 literary form and from the mystical character of its con- 
 tents. The Apocalyptic form is so foreign to our way of 
 thinking, and the mysticism is so peculiarly Oriental and 
 Jewish, that these are apt to perplex rather than enlight- 
 en us. The Apocalyptist, deeply absorbed in the later 
 prophecies of the Old Testament, especially those of 
 Daniel and Ezekiel, and his mind steeped in the dreams 
 and images of current Jew^ish apocalypses, found under 
 the influence of the Spirit a fitting sphere for his proph- 
 etic fervor in a series of strange symbolic visions such as 
 belonged to the fashion of his time. The chief symbolism 
 throughout is that of the Old Testament, quickened 
 and vivified by the thought of the New, — for it is ev- 
 erywhere assumed that the mysteries of the former dis- 
 pensation find their only adequate solution in the supreme 
 and final testimony of Jesus the Christ, — ^ but the at- 
 mosphere of the visions is that of Apocalyptic, which 
 curiously enough has contrived to cast its own peculiar 
 glow upon all the Old Testament teachings and thus cre- 
 ate a new symbolism out of the old. And even when many 
 of the symbols are assumed to be drawn in their present 
 form from apocalypses then current in the Jewish world 
 but which are no longer extant, and these to be derived 
 in part from Babylonian and Persian sources, as held by 
 one class of interpreters, they are yet found to have be- 
 come so assimilated by the Jewish mind that they reflect 
 the later development of Old Testament thought. These 
 visions of the seer, like shadows cast upon the foreground 
 of the future, depict in outline great fundamental truths 
 or pervasive principles of the divine government that 
 are, and are to be, manifested in multiple facts in the 
 progress of the ages. It is not the purpose of the visions 
 to disclose the facts themselves, for that belongs to the 
 development of history, but rather to furnish the 
 means for interpreting the facts, when once they appear, 
 by the exalted standard of the divine ideals. There are, 
 
 *Monlt.on, Mod. Bead. Bib., vol. Rev., notes, p. 192 ; also cf. Rev. ch. 
 19. 10, 'The testimony of Jesus Is the spirit of prophecy.' 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATIQN. 21 
 
 indeed, a few cardinal facts of the future that are kept 
 well in the foreground, such as the second coming of 
 Christ, the triumph of God's kingdom, and the end of the 
 present world; but these belong to the content of pre- 
 vious revelation as well, and are not new or peculiar to 
 this book. The content of the visions is generic and not 
 specific, and whenever we depart from broad generali- 
 zation and attempt to enter into detail in our interpreta- 
 tion, we destroy the beauty and force of the lesson con- 
 veyed, and wander into the field of speculation concern- 
 ing things that were never intended to be revealed, if the 
 analogy of all other prophecy can be relied upon as a 
 guide. ^ For though the Apocalypse undoubtedly con- 
 tains an element of predictive prophecy, yet such proph- 
 ecy is not history written before its time, but a divine- 
 ly inspired and profoundly discriminative pre-view of 
 certain dominant issues in the future that belong to the 
 purpose of God, and are the resultant of well established 
 principles of the divine government — issues that stand 
 out to the prophet's illumined eye in bold relief against 
 the sky-line like the headlands of a continent amid the 
 surrounding mists which envelop them. 
 
 Prophecy in this view is looked upon as much broad- 
 er in its scope than the /o retelling of things that are fu- 
 ture. This element should be regarded as subordinate to 
 the general purpose of prophecy, which is the forthtell- 
 ing of the mind of God.^ And we should avoid that 
 'dwarfed sense of the word prophecy in modern speech' 
 which leads most readers (and even interpreters) to fast- 
 en upon a revelation of the secrets of the future. For it is 
 evident that 'Old Testament history and prophecy make 
 prominent another kind of revelation — the unveiling of 
 the ideal, as when the pattern of things sacred was un- 
 folded to Moses in the mount '.^ In the true sense of 
 prophecy it manifestly contains both these conceptions, 
 viz. the Prophetico-predictive, and the Prophetico-ideal, 
 which enter in varying proportion into the great mes- 
 sages of old. But it is believed by many of our best au- 
 thorities, and it will be found in a careful study of the 
 
 I'ln interpreting symbolism, as in all the higher forms of allegory, the 
 first critical requirement is restraint. Even with such a poet as Spenser it is 
 only a rude exegesis which identifies a particular personage with a definite Idea : 
 in the more mystic symbolism of the present poem (Revelation) it is a viola- 
 tion of true literary taste to seek a meaning for every detail of complex presen- 
 tation.' Moulton, Mod. Read. Bib. Rev., p. 192, notes. 
 
 -Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 2. 
 
 ^Moulton, Mod. Read. Bib., Rev., Intr. p. xx. 
 
22 STUDIES in the BOOK OF BEVELATION. 
 
 book of Revelation, that the prophetic element is not 
 chiefly predictive in the strict sense, and can for the most 
 part be best interpreted as the unveiling of the divine 
 ideal which is being inwrought in the sphere of human 
 life, or the manifestation of the divine purpose which is 
 discovered as interpenetrating all the moral struggle and 
 apparent contradictions of earthly experience, and which 
 is leading up to the final victory; and only such glimpses 
 of the future are given as serve to assure a better compre- 
 hension of this main idea.^ 
 
 The two most obvious principles that pervade the 
 book of Revelation and underlie its ever changing scenes, 
 are, first, God's method of government in the world by 
 the trial of his people and the judgment of the wicked; 
 and, second, God's method of developing character in 
 moral agents by moral conflict. Accepting these as in a 
 measure interpretative of the ways of God with men, 
 the Apocalypse approaches the standpoint of the divine 
 perspective, and traces the great lines of the divine pur- 
 pose as they traverse the entire field of human history. 
 It makes Christ's relation to his people both in time and 
 in eternity the ground of an exhaustive inquiry into the 
 mysteries of earthly life, which aims not only to discover 
 God in the trend of history but also to interpret God 
 through history wrought out to its end. It affords 
 glimpses of God's far reaching plan in the process of 
 redemption, leading up to the final salvation of unnum- 
 bered multitudes; it finds the key to earth's long-drawn- 
 out story of sin and suffering, of conflict and of death, 
 in wider victory at larger cost; and it teaches us to look 
 calmly out beyond the ebb and flow of tides and noons to 
 the shoreless, timeless life that ever abides in the pres- 
 ence of God. To the heart of faith it speaks of an un- 
 wavering trust when days are dark and storms fill the 
 sky ; like a clear voice out of the night it tells of the com- 
 ing day ; and with persuasive force its visions bring man 
 face to face with God, his Creator, Redeemer, and Eter- 
 nal Friend. 
 
 2. The Title. 
 
 The Title used in the Authorized Version of our Eng- 
 lish Scriptures, and retained by the English Revisers, 
 
 ^Cf. Davidson, art. 'Prophecy', Hastings' Diet, of Bib.; also see Scott, on 
 the distinction between 'Prophecy' and 'Apocalyptic,' New Cent. Bib., Intr. to 
 Rev., p. 26 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 23 
 
 is 'The Revelation of St John the Divine,' a name given 
 to the book by the early church, though many of the older 
 manuscripts omit 'the Divine'. Our American Revisers 
 read, ' The Revelation of John ; ' but the more correct title 
 is the one that is commonly used, and that is printed in 
 the upper margin of the text, simply 'The Revelation,' 
 i. e. the unveiling, or uncovering [viz. of the mystery of 
 the divine purpose and method in human life and his- 
 tory] — the opening words of the book itself — or, if pre- 
 ferred, the original Greek name, 'The Apocalypse',^ 
 which perhaps should have been retained without trans- 
 lation as in the Douay Version, but of which ' The Reve- 
 lation' is the exact equivalent. The phrase 'of St. John', 
 or 'of John', may properly be omitted because of its am- 
 biguity; for the book is declared in its opening sentence 
 to be 'the Revelation of Jesus Christ', i. e. a revelation 
 of or from Jesus Christ, and it is only in a secondary 
 sense 'the Revelation of John', i. e. a revelation made to 
 and recorded by John. The occasion for the use of this 
 title, 'The Revelation of St John', in the first centuries 
 was in order to distinguish the canonical Apocalypse 
 from many others then in circulation, but this" necessity 
 has long since ceased to exist. For us it stands alone, it 
 is the Apocalypse, the Revelation. 
 
 3. The Author. 
 
 That the Author of the Revelation was named John 
 we have no reason to doubt, if we believe the statements 
 of the book itself, for this is distinctly affirmed three 
 different times.^ He is also further described in one form 
 of the title as 'the Divine,' i. e. the one who discoursed 
 about God, or the theologian. This latter desig-nation, 
 though of uncertain origin and date, and omitted by the 
 American Revisers as without sufficient support, is yet 
 undoubtedly as old as the latter part of the third cen- 
 tury^ while it may be much older, and has therefore some 
 
 I'The term apocalypse signifies in the first place the act of uncovering, 
 and thus bringing into sight that which was before unseen, hence a revelation 
 
 An apocalypse is thus primarily the act of revelation: in the second place 
 
 it is the subject-matter revealed ; and in the third place a book or literary pro- 
 duction which gives an account of revelation whether real or alleged The 
 
 term apocalypse is sometimes used, with an effort at greater precision, to 
 designate the pictorial portraiture of the future as foreshadowed by the seer. 
 (In this sense it denotes the literary style in which the writing is couched) .... 
 Thus an apocalypse becomes a form of literature precisely in the same manner 
 as an epistle.' Zenos, art 'Apoc. Lit..' Hastings' Diet, of Chr. and Gosp. 
 
 2Chs. 1.4: 4.8; and 22.8. We may omit ch. 21.2 (following the Revisers) 
 as without suSicient authority. 
 
 ''The Divine as a title for St John is certainly as old as Eusebius : 
 
 (Praep. Evan, xi 18)., Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 1. 
 
24 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 claim to traditional authority. The title, however, in any 
 form is subsequent to the book itself. The statements 
 of the Author concerning himself and his relations to the 
 church in Asia, appear to the general reader to be de- 
 cisive, and to indicate with sufficient clearness that the 
 writer was none other than John the son of Zebedee, the 
 apostle whom Jesus loved, though this is not the view 
 of the majority of the later critics. Some consider it to be 
 the work of another John known to tradition as the Pres- 
 byter;^ others attribute it to an unknown author of that 
 name, or to some one writing under that name. But not- 
 withstanding the frequency and positiveness with which 
 the Apostolic Authorship and the Unity of the Book have 
 been called in question during the last half century, the 
 entire results of critical research may with some confi- 
 dence be said not to have discredited either of them.^ 
 
 The considerations which support the Apostolic 
 Authorship are chiefly the following: — (1) the evidence 
 of early Christian tradition imbedded in history is practi- 
 cally unanimous in its favor, and the book was accepted 
 as the Apostle's without question by the church in Asia 
 where it originated: (2) the internal evidence is to most 
 minds convincing and even decisive, viz. (a) the Author 
 declares himself to be John, and addresses the churches 
 in Asia as their 'brother, and partaker in tribulation,^ 
 and there is no satisfactory historical evidence of any 
 other John in Asia, except the Apostle, of sufficient 
 standing and influence to have spoken to the churches 
 with the authority of a prophet;^ (b) there is a deep and 
 essential similarity of thought, diction, and doctrine in 
 the Apocalypse and in John's Gospel and Epistles which 
 outweighs all differences of language, grammar, and 
 style that appear upon the surface; (c) there is an under- 
 
 >So Llicke, Bleek, Diisterdieck, Jiilicher, and others. 
 
 ^Dods' Intr. to New Test., pp. 244-47 : Salmon's Intr.. p. 203f ; Bacon's 
 Intr. to New Test., p. 2S0f ; Swete. Apoc. St. John, Intr., p. clxxf ; and Milli- 
 gan's Discuss, on Apoc, ch's. II and IV. Also, see Simcox on Rev., Cambr. Qr. 
 Test., 'Excnr. Ill,' for a brief anaylsls of the theories of composite authorship 
 advanced by Vischer and Volter : Warfleld, Presb. Review, Ap. '84, p. 228, in 
 reply to Volter ; Moffatt, Expositor, Mar. '09. 'Wellhausen and Others on Apoc' ; 
 and same author, 'Intr to Rev.', Exp. Or. lest., vol. V. pp. 202-94 : 
 
 ^The theory current among modern critics of two Johns in Asia, or else of 
 identifying the traditional John of Ephesus with the hypothetical .lohn the 
 Presbyter, has a very slender foundation. 'The existence of thi.s second John, 
 the Presbyter, if he really did exist, rests upon a single line of an extract from 
 Papias, a writer of the second century.' Sanday's Criticism of the Fourth Gospel, 
 p. 16. 'Either John (the Apostle) wrote it (the Revelation), or John was never 
 at Ephesus.' Iloltzman, quoted in 'Intr. to Rev." New Cent. Bib., p. 36. For an 
 interesting discussion of 'the two Johns,' see 'Excur. XIV' in Farrar's Early 
 Days of Christianiti/ ; also Smith, 'Intr. to Ep's of John' Exp. Or. Test., vol. V, 
 pp. 158-62 ; and Strong, art. 'John, Apostle,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 25 
 
 current 'tragic tone' found in the Apocalypse, such as is 
 manifest in all of John's writings, especially when he 
 deals with the sad and terrible phases of human life and 
 character, and this serves to point toward the Apostle as 
 the author. 
 
 The grounds upon which the Apostolic Authorship 
 is denied are: — (1) the general inconclusiveness of tradi- 
 tion, even though in this case the evidence is admitted 
 to be particularly strong: (2) the pseudonymity of all 
 other apocalypses, with the apparent exception of 'The 
 Shepherd of Hermas', and hence the probability that this 
 in a similar way may have been written under the as- 
 sumed name of John in order to give it acceptance:^ (3) 
 the marked differences observable between the Apoca- 
 lypse and John's Gospel and Epistles, viz. (a) the Greek 
 of the Apocalypse is full of striking peculiarities, of sole- 
 cisms, and of Hebraisms, quite at variance with the purer 
 style of the other Johannine writings ;2 (b) the spirit of 
 the Apocalypse as revealed in its ideas, terms, tone, and 
 temper, differs widely from that of the Gospel and Epis- 
 tles. These differences, however, it should be noted, were 
 recognized and their force as objections to a common 
 authorship was felt as early as the time of Dionysius 
 (circ. A. D. 260), for they are apparent to every careful 
 student of the Greek text ; but they may be accounted for 
 in a good degree by the difference of occasion, purpose, 
 and theme, as well as of form and structure incident to 
 the choice of a literary style that has definite and neces- 
 sary limitations. The differences have also been further 
 accounted for on the part of some by accepting the earlier 
 date of the Apocalypse, which in that case is assigned to 
 the period just preceding the fall of Jerusalem. The 
 peculiarities of language are in this view attributable to 
 an imperfect knowledge of Greek, which was later over- 
 come by John'slong residence in Ephesus, while the apoc- 
 alyptic form and general contents are held to indicate 
 an earlier stage of Christian thought.^ On the other hand 
 
 iThis view that the Apocalypse is pseudonymous is now, however, for the 
 most part being given up. With the revival of prophecy under the influence of 
 the life and teachings of Christ, 'it is only what we would expect when the 
 primitive Christian prophet, a John, or a Hermas, disdains the pseudonymity of 
 his Jewish rivals.' Bacon's Intr. to New Test., p. 234 ; also see New Cent. Bib., 
 Rev., Intr., p. 32. 
 
 -Charles points out the many Hebraisms of the Apocalypse, and says of the 
 author, 'While he writes in Greek he thinks in Hebrew, and the thought has 
 naturally affected the vehicle of expression. ... He never mastered Greek idio- 
 matically ... .to him many of its particles were apparently unknown.' Studies 
 in Apoc., p. 82 
 
 'Bp. Wescott, 'Intr. to John's Gospel', Bih. Com., pp. Ixxxiv-vii ; cf. Swete's 
 discussion of this view, Apoc. St. John', 'Authorship', pp. clxxviii-ix. 
 
26 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 it has been efficiently maintained, favoring the later 
 date, that the differences are mainly due to psychologi- 
 cal effects wrought by old age in the mind of John, whose 
 mental activities reverted to the familiar thought-forms 
 and apocatyptic conceptions of his youth, the Greek he 
 used being simply a modified translation of Hebrew 
 thought, while the Christological conceptions of the 
 Apocalypse are manifestly among the most advanced in 
 the New Testament.^ In any case it will be seen that the 
 reasons given under (1) and (2) have little force apart 
 from the question of internal evidence, and are at most 
 only inferences, while upon the other hand the divergent 
 qualities given under (3), forceful as they are, cannot be 
 assumed as without parallel in the history of literature. 
 It has been pointed out that the difference in style be- 
 tween Carlyle's earlier and later productions, as well as 
 those found in the works of Milton, Watts, Burke, and 
 Wordsworth, written at different periods in their lives, 
 is quite as marked as that of the writings in question.^ 
 And we must not leave out of view the possibility that 
 John, if at an advanced age, may have used one of his 
 disciples as a collaborator, which would necessarily modi- 
 fy both the language and style of the work produced. So 
 that after all has been said, it may be accepted as the con- 
 current judgment of the majority of interpreters, — the 
 advanced critics being excepted, — that as great or great- 
 er difficulties are met in denying the Apostolic Author- 
 ship as in accepting it. For notwithstanding the con- 
 fident assertion of most of the later critics that the Apoc- 
 alypse was not written by the Apostle, yet indications 
 are not lacking in some quarters now, influenced perhaps 
 by the really cogent arguments so well stated by 
 the decadent school of Baur, of a return in opinion to the 
 recognition of the Johannine authorship as in some sense 
 at least undeniable, though foreign elements are con- 
 ceived to enter into it.^ It has indeed, not infrequently 
 been held, among those who deny that the Apostle was the 
 author of the Fourth Gospel, that he wrote the Apoca- 
 lypse; but still more commonly it is accepted that the 
 work belongs to the 'so-called Johannine writings', and 
 originated in the same circle at Ephesus to which these 
 
 iProf. M. B. Riddle, unpublished Class-room Lects. on Rev. 
 ^Reynolds, 'Intr. to Gosp. of John,' Pulp. Com., p. Ixvii. 
 'See Bacon's Intr. to New Test., pp. 136-38 ; Briggs' Messiah of the Apostles, 
 p. 301 ; and tentatively, Swete, Apoc. St John, 'Authorship,' pp. clxxx-xxxl. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 27 
 
 writings are now attributed by advanced critics,^ leaving 
 the personal authorship more or less indefinite. The 
 question of authorship, however, is a subordinate one, 
 for the book maintains its own message, and it should be 
 dealt with purely as a subject of historical inquiry and 
 not one of dogmatic importance, in the interest of cor- 
 rectness rather than of traditional opinion. 
 
 4. The Unity. 
 
 The question of Unity is one of modern literary criti- 
 cism. The view now generally accepted that Jewish 
 apocalypses, as we find them, are often of composite ori- 
 gin, representing an original writing to which various 
 additions have been subsequently made by editors and 
 redactors,- has had its influence upon the judgment 
 formed by critics concerning the Apocalypse of John. 
 The present tendency of critical investigation is to con- 
 sider the book as a composite structure, and to direct its 
 effort toward searching out the various sources from 
 which it is supposed to be derived, and determining what 
 parts of the book are original, as well as in pointing out 
 various minor passages that are regarded as drawn from 
 other sources, or are the work of a later hand. This 
 tendency has been carried to such an extreme that the re- 
 sults are largely theoretical and inconclusive, depending 
 upon the personal taste of the critic and having little 
 force for other minds. The grounds upon w^hich the unity 
 of the book has been disputed are: — (1) Frequent breaks 
 in continuity w^hich make it difficult or impossible to trace 
 the connection of thought: (2) a lack of harmony in its 
 various conceptions that is more or less incongruous, and 
 that is apparently inconsistent with its being the work of 
 one author: (3) an apparent indication in various parts 
 of the book of different dates of writing — see remarks in 
 the section on Date. All of these reasons, however, if tak- 
 en together, and it be granted that they are well-founded, 
 are yet insufficient to establish a diversity of authorship. 
 The most that can be said is that they suggest it. For it 
 should be remembered that logical sequence is not a quali- 
 ty of Apocalyptic thought ; and also that there is not even 
 an approximate agreement, as yet, among advanced 
 scholars as to the character or extent of the material re- 
 garded as drawn from other sources. 
 
 ^Cf. Jiilicher's Intr. to New Test., chapter on the 'Johannine Problem,' 
 ='More than any other class of writings they show signs of having been 
 edited and modified.' Zenos, art. 'Apoc. Lit.,' Hastings' Diet, of Chr. and Gosp. 
 
28 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 In favor of its Unity we find: — (1) a uniformity of 
 style throughout which is scarcely possible in the com- 
 bined product of different authors without such redaction 
 as is equivalent to authorship: (2) an elaborate literary 
 structure quite incompatible with the existence of more 
 than one author — see section on Structure: (3) an es- 
 sential Unity, whatever the extent to which elements of 
 Jewish apocalyptic may have been made use of in its com- 
 position, which appeals to the literary judgment in a way 
 that is both forcible and convincing, for the personality 
 of the author is interwoven in every fibre of its frame. 
 Though the present trend of critical opinion is largely 
 against the Unity of the book in the general sense of the 
 term, yet its essential unity is so manifest that it is com- 
 monly conceded — 'its inner unity is the foundation of all 
 more recent works on the Apocalypse'.^ This is accounted 
 for on the part of those who accept a composite origin 
 by attributing its unification to the final editor, redactor, 
 or author, a judgment that fails to carry conviction with 
 it for those who approach the question from the broader 
 standpoint of literary composition in general, instead of 
 the narrower one of the apocalyptic writings. The later 
 critical views have, however, not yet reached a conclusive 
 stage, and indeed in the face of so great diversity of judg- 
 ment, can scarcely be said to have assumed a consistent 
 form; though it may be confidently predicated that no 
 hypothesis of composite origin is ever likely to command 
 general assent in the case of a book marked by such a 
 definite unity of style and plan. The effort to discover in 
 it an original Jewish apocalypse which has been wrought 
 over by Christian editors into its present form,- or to re- 
 construct the various sources, Jewish or Christian, from 
 which it has been derived,^ may well be said to have been 
 thoroughly worked out', and to have apparently failed, 
 though the labors of the critics have added largely to our 
 knowledge of Apocalyptic, and contributed not a little to 
 a better understanding of the book. The view now in the 
 ascendant admits one author, but attributes various por- 
 tions of greater or less extent to a common stock of Jew- 
 ish, or Jewish-Christian, apocalyptic fragments, current 
 
 'Holtzmanu, quoted in New Cent. Bib. ; 'Substantially it bears the marks of 
 composition by a single pen ; the blend of original writing and editorial re-set- 
 ting does not impair the impression of a literary unity.' Moffatt, Ea-p. Or. Test., 
 Rev., Intr., p. 288. 
 
 ^As by Vischer, Harnack, and others. 
 
 »As by Volter, Spitta, Pfleiderer, Briggs. and others. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 29 
 
 at that time, which have been appropriated from and 
 used in its composition.^ This, to the more conservative 
 Christian mind, involves an apparent denial of its true 
 unity, and proceeds upon a theory of its origin that is 
 scarcely consistent with its effective inspiration. But it 
 fails to be conclusive on other grounds, for upon careful 
 examination it must become more and more apparent to 
 the thoughtful student of Scripture and apocalyptic that 
 this view does not accord with the author's use of his ma- 
 terials, so far as we have any knowledge of their source. 
 For although he draws largely from the thought and fig- 
 ures of the prophets, and uses freely the general form of 
 imagery found in extant Jewish apocalypses, yet every- 
 thing has been transmuted in the crucible of his own vivid 
 imagination into new combinations, and there is not a sin- 
 gle instance in which he interpolates an entire passage 
 from any known author — indeed there are no quotations 
 at all, in the strict sense, found in the Apocalypse, but on- 
 ly allusions, reminiscences, and echoes, literary devices 
 which reflect the thought without reproducing the form — 
 and it is certainly an exceptional assumption that he in- 
 terpolates only from authors whose works are now lost, 
 or from sources furnished solely by tradition.^ The im- 
 pressions of unity are entirely too strong to be dissipated 
 by visionary and purely theoretical views. 
 
 A modified form of the Apocalyptic-Traditional 
 view, advanced by some late writers,^ indicates a health- 
 ful reaction from the piecemeal theories of the earlier 
 source-criticism, and affords valuable suggestion for fur- 
 ther study — whether, indeed, we can follow them or not in 
 finding evidence of the introduction of a limited number 
 of fragments of earlier origin, — ^viz. that the author drew 
 freely from a mass of apocalyptic ideas and forms, or 
 'apocalyptic conventions' as they have been called, which 
 were widely current in Jewish circles, and with which his 
 own mind was richly stored ; and that this suggestive ma- 
 terial was wrought over in his mental processes and used 
 like that from the Old Testament, with which it was close- 
 ly allied, as a framework for expressing the new and high- 
 er Christian thought peculiar to his message, the old form 
 
 lAs by Weizsacker, .Tiilicher, Bousset, Moffatt. and others. For a short 
 consensus of modern theories see Ejcp. Gr. Test., Kev., Intr., pp. 292-94, which 
 affords a good illustration of wide and extravagant guessing. 
 
 "This objection to the modern critical view is one of evident force, and de- 
 serves thoughtful consideration., Cf.. Swete's Apoc. of 8t John, Intr., pp. xllx 
 and cliii, which maintains the literary unity of the book. 
 
 ^As Porter, Scott, and others, following the lead of SchoQ. 
 
30 STUDIES in the BOOK OF BEVELATION. 
 
 being constantly adapted to new meanings. The origin or 
 source of these forms is chiefly a matter of theory; but 
 the probability of their use is the more practical side of 
 the problem. It will be seen that this view would account 
 for all that the theory of diverse origin does without do- 
 ing violence to the real unity of the book;^ and it does not 
 affect the question of the inspiration or reality of the vi- 
 sions, for the thought of the seer necessarily took form 
 from his own mental furnishing, and his imagination, 
 though quickened by the prophetic ecstasy, was not es- 
 sentially altered in its mode of operation. But, with it 
 all, let us not fail to apprehend that these questions per- 
 taining to the method used in the composition of the 
 Apocalypse, and to the introduction of foreign elements 
 into its literary structure, which so largely occupy the 
 minds of critical scholars in the present day, are, after 
 all, mainly secondary to the larger question. In it has 
 God spoken? And if so, what are the spiritual lessons 
 of the book for the devout Christian mind and heart ? 
 
 5. The Date. 
 
 Two different Dates of authorship have been com- 
 monly maintained by different authorities, viz. either 
 about A. D. 69 under one of Nero's immediate successors, 
 Galba or Vespasian; or about A. D. 96 under Domitian. 
 Many modern critics have accepted the earlier date, 
 though the majority of commentators favor the later and 
 traditional one. The evidence cannot be considered as de- 
 cisive for either, but the preponderance seems to be in fa- 
 vor of the later date.^ The earlier date, though accepted 
 by the majority of critics a score and more years ago, is 
 not now in such favor. The influence of present criticism, 
 which is chiefly taken up with discussion of the sources 
 from which the book is assumed to be derived, has pro- 
 duced a marked drift in opinion toward the acceptance of 
 a date near the close of the first century (the traditional 
 view) as the time of composition, or at least the period 
 of final editing.^ This view, though accepting in a sense 
 one author, yet holds that the contents of the book indi- 
 cate different dates of writing, and that it is made up of 
 
 »See Porter's article 'Revelation,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib.; and Scott's Intr. 
 to Rev., Neio Cent. liih. 
 
 -Ct. Reynolds, Intr. to John's Gosp.. Pulpit Com., p. Ixvii ; Riddle, S. S. 
 Times, Jun. 1, 1901 ; and Burton, in Records and Letters of the Apost. Age, 
 nates, p. 220. 
 
 3'The common opinion has returned to the traditional date, the closing years 
 of Domitian's reign (81-96).' Votaw, "Apoc. of John' Biblical World, Nov. 1908. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 31 
 
 visions of different origin, and composed at different 
 times, which have been subsequently formed into one 
 consistent whole^ — a conclusion that would require some- 
 thing more than a theory to sustain it. The exact date, 
 however, is not of any great importance, as the difference 
 does not materially affect the interpretation, especially 
 if we accept the symbolic view of the purpose and teach- 
 ing of the book; for though the date fixed upon does 
 affect somewhat the historical situation, and hence the 
 immediate reference, it does not affect the larger mean- 
 ing which belongs to all time. 
 
 The indications of the Earlier Date that usually ob- 
 tain are: — (1) the linguistic peculiarities already refer- 
 red to under the head of Unity, which are considered by 
 many to indicate an earlier period in John's life and 
 thought when he was still Hebraistic in method: (2) the 
 historical allusions in the book that seem to favor the ear- 
 lier date, and which some have thought are even decisive, 
 viz. (a) the condition of the churches in Asia as set forth 
 in the Seven Epistles, which fairly accords with what is 
 known of the period of Nero 's reign and shortly thereaf- 
 ter; (b) the references to persecution, war, earthquake, 
 famine, and pestilence, which find a ready explanation 
 in current events of the earlier date;^ (c) the measure- 
 ment of the temple directed in ch. 11 :lf., which appears 
 to indicate that it was still standing; (d) the apparently 
 veiled allusions to Nero found in the description of the 
 Wild Beast in chs. 13 and 17, which, according to a wide- 
 ly accepted interpretation, point to a period shortly after 
 his death, when he was still a prominent figure in the pub- 
 lic mind. 
 
 For the Later Date the chief considerations are: — 
 (1) the early and uniform tradition concerning the origin 
 of the book, viz. that it was written by the Apostle John 
 near the end of the reign of Domitian (see the section on 
 Canonicity) : (2) the historical situation described and 
 implied, which as a whole is considered by most authori- 
 ties as more suitable to and more fully met by the later 
 than the earlier date, viz. (a) the churches in Asia, as in- 
 dicated in the Seven Epistles, are in a more highly de- 
 veloped condition than is likely to have been attained at 
 so early a period as the close of the sixth decade of the 
 
 ^See Weizs'acker's Apostolic Aye. vol. ii. pp. 173-205 : also Moffatt's Hist. 
 New Test., p. 45f. 
 
 ^Cf. Farrar, Early Days of Christianity, pp. 510-13f. 
 
32 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 Christian era, and the omission of any reference to the 
 Apostle Paul as their founder within a quarter-century 
 of their establishment would be entirely unaccountable; 
 (b) the indications of persecution are better suited to the 
 time of Domitian than that of Nero/ while the references 
 to war, famine, and pestilence are equally applicable to 
 all the latter part of the first century; (c) the advanced 
 stage of the conflict between Christianity and the state 
 religion of Rome, shown in the worship of the Beast and 
 the antagonism of Babylon, is a strong indication of the 
 later date;^ (d) the assumed allusions to Nero, and to the 
 temple as still standing, depend in each case upon a 
 particular interpretation, and rest upon no certain foun- 
 dation, — or admitting an earlier date for this section, it is 
 regarded as having been inserted later,^ which is a criti- 
 cal guess of uncertain value. This seems to leave the bal- 
 ance of evidence upon the side of the later date, though 
 the best authorities have formerly been nearly equally di- 
 vided. 
 
 6. The Place. 
 
 The Revelation was given in Patmos, one of the 
 group of the Sporades, a small, rocky, and irregularly 
 shaped island, some ten miles long by five miles wide, ly- 
 ing in the ^gean Sea, off the coast of Asia Minor, about 
 sixty miles from Ephesus and thirty-five miles from Mile- 
 tus,^ to which John was banished 'for the Word of God 
 and the testimony of Jesus'." According to tradition of- 
 fenders of rank were banished to this island under the 
 Roman Empire to work in the mines and marble quarries ; 
 and the Apostle John perhaps shared in this harsh lot 
 during his imprisonment, as asserted by Victorinus in his 
 commentary, the earliest work on the Apocalypse, writ- 
 
 ^'Noro's massacre was a freak of personal violence,' and 'had nothing what- 
 ever to do with the imperial cultus." Moffatt. Exp. Or. Test.. Rev.. Intr.. p. 310. 
 Mommsen's view (Prov. Rom. Emp., vol. il. pp. 214-17 note) is that the historical 
 .situation reflected in the Apocalypse indicates That it was written after Nero".s 
 fall, and the destruction of Jerusalem : and that the references to persecution 
 imply a regular judicial procedure on account of refusal to worship the em- 
 peror's imase, a feature quite different from the Neronian period in which the 
 executions on the ground of alleged incendiarism &c.. do not formally belong to 
 the class of religious processes at all. He would not. however, date it so late 
 as Domitian, preferring a date somewhere between A. D. 69 and 79, toward the 
 end of the reign of Vespasian. Bartlett puts the probable date about A. D. 75- 
 80 (see his Apost. Aye, p. 404). Such views of the date are interesting but 
 exceptional. 
 
 =The book seems to mark a transition in the Roman Empire from tolerance 
 to hostility, when it began to insist upon idolatrous worship, and that more 
 properly belongs to a period later than the time of Nero. Cf. Mommsen's view 
 in the preceding note. 
 
 'See 'Rev. and Johan. Epist.,' by A. Ramsay, Westmin. New Test., p. 8. 
 
 ■•See map at the beginning of this volume. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF BEVELATION. 33 
 
 ten toward the close of the third century. The chief fea- 
 ture of the modern island is the Monastery of St John, 
 founded in A. D. 1088, which lies a mile and a half south 
 of La Scala, the landing place ; while halfway up the hill- 
 side a grotto, known as the cave of the Apocalypse, is 
 pointed out as the traditional place where the visions of 
 the book were seen. The natural scenery of the island is 
 rugged and the view of the sea and of the neighboring is- 
 lands very fine, which may have contributed somewhat 
 to the imagery of the book, as has been suggested by 
 diiferent travelers.^ \The content of the visions was 
 doubtless committed to writing soon afterward, and 
 probably while John was still a prisoner in Patmos, 
 though the general work of authorship may have been 
 done later at Ephesus.^ 
 
 7. The Canonicity. 
 
 The right of the Book of Kevelation to a place in the 
 New Testament Canon is well attested both historically 
 and by internal evidence. The historical evidence is es- 
 pecially complete, and is regarded by some as stronger 
 than that of any other book in the New Testament :^ the 
 objections have all arisen from the internal evidence, 
 which has been differently estimated by different minds. 
 
 The Historical Evidence covers the question both of 
 authorship and of canonicity, — for these cannot well be 
 separated, since the apostolic authorship carried with it 
 for the early church the canonicity also — and it may be 
 briefly stated as follows, viz: — 
 
 (1) Papias (circ. A. D. 130). Bishop of Hierapolis, 
 'the hearer of John', and 'the companion of Polycarp', 
 regarded it as authoritative, and is the first to attest it, 
 though he does not affirm its apostolicity. We are in- 
 debted for his testimony to Andreas of Cappadocia 
 (about the end of the fifth century), who refers to Papias 
 along with Irenteus and others, and quotes from a work 
 by Papias his comment on Rev. 12:7-9. In this early 
 witness of its canonicity we can scarcely conceive of 
 
 ^Cf. Dean Stanley's 'Sermons in the East,' p. 230, quoted in Bib. Com., Intr., 
 sec. 4. 
 
 2'Xhe extreme skepticism which denies even the presence of the Apostle in 
 Ephesus (as Keim and others), is purely modern. The tradition of the sur- 
 vival of 'the beloved disciple' in Ephesus 'down to the times of Trajan' is wide- 
 spread, uncontradicted, circumstantial. .. .the counter evidence is trivial' 
 (Bacon's Intr. to New Test., p. 231). 'The proof given by Irenseus from Polycarp 
 
 is more than tradition, it is direct documentary evidence' (Weizsacker, 
 
 Apost. Af/e, vol. ii, p. 168). 
 
 3Cf. Reynolds, art. 'John, the Gospel of, Hastings' Diet, of Bib.; also Lee 
 Intr. to Rev., Bib. Com. 
 
34 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 Papias being mistaken, and his testimony is of great 
 value. 
 
 (2) Justin Martyr (circ. A. D. 140) says it was writ- 
 ten by ' a certain man whose name was John, one of the 
 apostles of Christ'. This testimony is within fifty years 
 of the later date assigned to the book, and seventy-five 
 years of the earlier one, and is therefore of special im- 
 portance ; and there is no hesitancy in affirming that the 
 author was 'one of the apostles of Christ'. 
 
 (3) According to Eusebius, Melito, Bp. of Sardis 
 (circ. A. D. 170), wrote a lost work on 'the Revelation of 
 John'; also two other bishops, Theophilus of Antioch, 
 and Appolonius of Ephesus (both before the close of the 
 second century), cited from it in their writings. 
 
 (4) In a letter from the churches of Lyons and Vi- 
 enne (circ. A. D. 177) the Revelation is cited, and is de- 
 scribed as 'sacred Scripture'. 
 
 (5) Irenseus (circ. A. D. 180) defends its apostolic 
 authority, and asserts frequently and positively that the 
 Apocalypse was written by 'John, a disciple of the Lord'. 
 
 (6) Clement of Alexandria (circ. A. D. 200) refers 
 to the four and twenty elders with an explanatory clause, 
 'as John says in the Apocalypse'. 
 
 (7) Tertullian (circ. A. D. 200) cites it frequently, 
 ascribing it to John the Apostle, and attests its recogni- 
 tion in Africa. 
 
 (8) The Canon of Muratori (circ. 200) includes it 
 without question, and says, 'John in the Apocalypse, 
 though he writes to the Seven Churches, yet says to all, 
 &c,' and the context shows that the reference is to the 
 Apostle. 
 
 (9) Hippolytus (circ. A. D. 210) wrote on 'the Gospel 
 and Apocalypse of John'; and he also cites the Apoca- 
 lypse as a Scripture authority against Caius. After this 
 time its canonicity was regarded as established by the 
 Western Church. 
 
 (10) Origen (circ. A. D. 250), the pupil of Clement 
 of Alexandria, and the first textual critic of the New 
 Testament, whose knowledge of the opinion and usage in 
 different parts of the church was very wide, knows of no 
 doubts concerning the Apocalypse, but quotes it as the 
 recognized composition of the Apostle and Evangelist. 
 
STUDIES in the B OOK OF BEVELATION. 3 5 
 
 The authority of the Apocalypse was not, however, 
 destined to remain unquestioned, though its apostolic 
 authorship and canonical right were practically unchal- 
 lenged until toward the end of the second century — and 
 in fact it was generally received by the church until the 
 middle of the third century — but subsequently both of 
 these were questioned, viz: — 
 
 (1) Marcion, the so-called 'Heretic' (circ. A. D. 150), 
 rejected it in forming his Canon because of its apparently 
 Jewish character, and not because he did not regard it as 
 genuine. This, however, did not represent a church view, 
 and had little influence on opinion outside of his own sect. 
 
 (2) Dionysius of Alexandria (circ. A. D. 247) argues 
 that it is not by the Apostle, though he does not reject the 
 book. With him the question is mainly one of authorship, 
 and not of canonicity. 
 
 (3) Eusebius (circ. A. D. 270) follows the opinion of 
 Dionysius and may be regarded as 'wavering', for he 
 cites much in its favor. After Eusebius, however, opposi- 
 tion to it became general in the Syro-Palestinian Church, 
 and it does not appear in the Peshito Version, though St 
 Ephraim Syrus, the chief father of the Syrian Church, 
 cites it and ascribes it to the Apostle John. 
 
 (4) Cyril of Jerusalem (circ. A. D. 386) omits the 
 Apocalypse from his list of the canonical books of the 
 New Testament. 
 
 (5) In the Eastern Church the book was questioned 
 on dogmatic grounds connected with the Millenarian con- 
 troversy, and it was omitted from the Canon by the Coun- 
 cil of Laodicea (circ. A. D. 360). 
 
 (6) Finally, however, in deference to the strong testi- 
 mony of the Western Church, and influenced somewhat, 
 no doubt, by the internal evidence of the book itself, it 
 was authoritatively accepted and universally recognized 
 by the church at large. 
 
 The Internal Evidence for the canonicity of the book, 
 a.part from the difficulties discussed under the head of 
 Unity, is quite clear and satisfying and is practically ir- 
 refutable, for the disputed questions of authorship and 
 date are not of such character as to affect its canonicity. 
 This evidence may be briefly stated as follows, viz: — 
 
 (1) The historical situation and references corre- 
 spond to the time in which the book claims to have been 
 
36 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 written, the latter half of the first century, and are fully 
 sustained by contemporaneous history. 
 
 (2) The literary form and diction are each suitable 
 to the period and authorship to which the book is ascribed. 
 
 (3) The doctrinal teachings are fully and distinctive- 
 ly Christian, and are such as we would expect in a work 
 of the period, written by inspiration for the whole church, 
 viz: — (a) the Christianity it bears witness to has escaped 
 from the particularism of Jewish thought into the broad 
 catholicity of the Pauline Epistles; (b) Christ is pre- 
 sented as the divine atoning Lamb seated in the midst of 
 the throne, co-equal with the Father; (c) the personality 
 of the Holy Spirit is recognized, and his illuminative 
 work illustrated; (d) the chief duties of the Christian life 
 are those presented in the Gospels, faith, witness, and 
 purity, while the reward of overcoming is set forth in 
 terms of apostolic hope ; and (e) the entire contents of the 
 book, so widely different from the non-canonical litera- 
 ture, appeal to the instincts of the Christian heart now as 
 in the first generation, and verify themselves afresh to 
 the Christian consciousness in such a forceful and con- 
 vincing way that this goes far to overcome any apparent 
 objections to its canonical authority based upon subjec- 
 tive judgments of another class. In fact the impartial 
 verdict of careful investigation serves to confirm the 
 opinion that the Apocalypse is rightfully received on am- 
 ple and concurrent testimony both of Historical and In- 
 ternal Evidence as a part of sacred Scripture by the 
 whole church throughout the world. 
 
 8. The Form. 
 
 The Book consists of a series of strange and impres- 
 sive symbolic visions which contrast present and historic 
 conditions of trial and suffering in the church and in the 
 world with future and prophetic conditions of triumph 
 and reward for the holy and of wrath and punishment 
 for the sinful. It is an interpretative view of the divine 
 path and plan of the centuries that is evidently given for 
 the comfort and help of God's children in the midst of 
 trial and distress. Its Literary Form is marked and sig- 
 nificant, and belongs to that highly figurative style of 
 late Jewish and early Christian writings which is known 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 37 
 
 as the Apocalyptic Literature.^ And though John must 
 often have felt himself hampered and impeded by the fan- 
 ciful and more or less unreal character of this literary 
 form, yet it doubtless met more fully than any other the 
 conditions of the time, and afforded an adequate method 
 of reaching the devout Christian mind of that generation. 
 This literature is distinguished both by its peculiar 
 style and by the exceptional range of its thought, and may 
 be described as consisting of all of that particular class of 
 the Apocryphal writings which are couched in mystic 
 symbols and figures, and which attempt to give an ac- 
 count of hidden things miraculously disclosed, especial- 
 ly those pertaining to the other world and to the closing 
 events of human history. The word Apocalyptic in its 
 present sense belongs to recent usage, being introduced 
 by the modern critical school as a generic term to desig- 
 nate these writings as a distinct department of the Apoc- 
 ryphal books, and also to denote the literary style or art- 
 form in which they are cast. The use of the word Apoca- 
 lypse to designate the writings or books now known by 
 that name (as the Apocalypse of Baruch, and others) is 
 undoubtedly very old, though it did not apparently be- 
 gin before the end of the first century, and seems to have 
 taken rise from the common use of the title ' The Apoca- 
 lypse of John' in Christian circles to designate the 
 Revelation, from which the word came to be applied to all 
 writings of a similar class. Every Apocalypse is thus an 
 example of Apocalyptic; but, owing to the late introduc- 
 tion of the latter term as now used, most dictionaries do 
 not give an adequate definition.^ 
 
 The unique symbolism of these writings constitutes 
 their most striking and characteristic feature; and it is 
 this uniform use of cryptic symbols instead of ordinary 
 figures of speech that invests the Apocalypse of John 
 with its peculiar charm, and at the same time creates the 
 special problems of its interpretation. A symbol may be 
 defined as a conventional objective form chosen to repre- 
 sent something else, often not otherwise capable of por- 
 traiture, because of some real or fancied resemblance 
 
 ^For a discussion of this literature see App'x G , also art. 'Apoc. Lit.' by 
 Charles, Hastings' Diet, of Bib.; Drummond, The Jewish Messiah, pp. 3-132; 
 Schiirer, The Jewish People in Time of Christ, Div. II, vol. lii, p. 44 sqq ; Stuart 
 Com. on Rev.. Intr. pp. 20-98; Driver. 'Dk of Daniel', in Camb. Bib., Intr.. pp. 
 Ixxvi-lxxxv ; Scott, New Cent. Bib., Rev., Intr., pp. 13-34 ; also art. 'Apocalypse 
 in Jewish Encyc. 
 
 ^For a good statement of the present use of the term, see art. 'Apocalyptic,' 
 Jewish Encyc., vol. I ; also art. 'Apoc. Lit.', Hastings' Diet, of Chr. and Oosp. 
 
38 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 that appeals to the mind; an ideal representation couched 
 in sensuous form that embodies one or more of the prom- 
 inent features of its subject, and that comes to repre- 
 sent a fixed conception in the world of fancy, a lower and 
 material sign being used to represent a higher and ab- 
 stract idea. The use of symbols of some sort is instinc- 
 tive and universal, and grows out of a natural effort of 
 the mind to clothe its ideas in forms that give free scope 
 to the imagination. But the peculiar nature of the sym- 
 bols and the profusion of their use in the Apocalyptic 
 literature, serve to mark it as separate from all other lit- 
 erary forms. Oriental symbols, too, are so unfamiliar 
 and oftentimes so incongruous to our minds, such as the 
 Dragon, the Scarlet Beast, the Two-horned Beast, and 
 even the Cherubim, that we perhaps fail to realize how 
 much they meant to people of a primitive civilization who 
 were possessed of a vivid imagination without scientific 
 precision of thought. This difference in the instinctive 
 appreciation of the nature and value of symbols, together 
 with the wide possibilities of meaning that are apparent- 
 ly inherent in the symbols used in the Apocalypse, has al- 
 ways given room for the fertile fancy of interpreters. 
 But the later study of the Apocalyptic writings as a class 
 has made it plain that this effort was largely misspent, 
 and has led to more discriminating views of the meaning 
 and use of symbols as there found, and to their limitation 
 by established usage, where such is known to have ex- 
 isted. For while the growth of recognized symbols is nec- 
 essarily slow, and their origin often impossible to trace 
 yet when they have once been formed, and have come to 
 possess an established meaning in the public mind, they 
 exhibit a remarkable persistence ; and though their mean- 
 ing may be somewhat modified by subsequent use and by 
 particular application, yet it can scarcely suffer sudden 
 and radical change. And let us remember that the sym- 
 bols, metaphors, and other figures found in the Revelation 
 are not purely literary : they have had a history and have 
 acquired a recognized and conventional meaning. We 
 have, therefore, an available guide to the interpretation 
 of the symbols in the book furnished by their use not only 
 in the Old Testament, in which by former interpreters 
 they were mainly sought, but especially in Jewish apoca- 
 lypses, which give the current meaning of many of them 
 at the time when this book was written, a sense which 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 39 
 
 could not well have been departed from to any great ex- 
 tent without making their meaning wholly unintelligible. 
 And the more clearly we apprehend this fact, the 
 more constantly we apply it in our interpretation, the 
 more likely are we to arrive at the meaning intended.^ 
 For while the Western mind revolts against the oftime 
 obscurity of Apocalyptic symbols, yet we not infrequent- 
 ly recur to the same method of illustration. For instance, 
 a good example of the present day use of symbols, aided 
 by illustrative skill, is found in such a cartoon as 'The 
 Modern Juggernaut' that appeared a few years ago, in 
 which the wheeled car of India was transformed into a 
 huge wine bottle full of intoxicating drink that rolls along 
 its way, crushing out the lives of thousands of miserable 
 victims, while the fierce dogs of War, Famine, and Pesti- 
 lence have under its malign influence slipped their leash 
 and go forth to prey upon men.^ This symbolism in some 
 measure parallels that of the Scarlet Beast in the Revela- 
 tion, and shows how a great destructive force operating in 
 the world may be presented to many minds in an objec- 
 tive form much more effectively than by any abstract ver- 
 bal statement. Like a parable an apocalypse flings a great 
 truth across our path, instinct with the touch of spiritual 
 life. 
 
 The revelation made to John doubtless took the Apoc- 
 alyptic form because it was the prevailing literary meth- 
 od of that time for the treatment of the theme dealt with 
 by his prophecy, and its constructive symbolism already 
 filled and colored his thought. But notwithstanding that 
 it is cast in a Jewish mould, the Christian thought every- 
 where triumphs over the Jewish form. The line of 
 thought is limited to the peculiar range of Apocalyptic 
 subjects, and is found to be closely related to that of our 
 Lord's discourse upon the last things (the so-called 'lit- 
 tle apocalypse' of our Lord in Mat. 24), though it should 
 not be regarded as formally an amplification of that dis- 
 course, or as chiefly or wholly determined in content by 
 
 'See Konig, art. 'Symbol' in Hastings' Diet, of bib., vol. v, p. 169f., who 
 says. 'What the metaphor is in the sphere of speech, the symbol is in the sphere 
 of things.' Also see remarks by Milligan in Lect's. on Apoc, ch. I, under the 
 head of 'Visions and Symbols,' p. 13f. For a fine discriminative view of the 
 place of symbols in Oriental poetry, see Moulton's Mod. Read. Bib., 'Bib. Idyls,' 
 Intr., pp. xx-xxif. 
 
 'It is not meant by this to imply that symbols as a class can ordinarily be 
 presented to the eye, or effectively depicted upon canvas. In fact no symbol in 
 the Apocalypse can be reproduced in scenic form without doing manifest in- 
 justice to the thought and purpose of the writer. 
 
40 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 it.i The prophetic mood is manifest in every part of the 
 book, and the exalted mental state of the writer is sus- 
 tained throughout after the manner of a rhapsody, in the 
 structure and movement of which all literary forms are in 
 a measure fused together.^ Indeed by a deeper study of 
 this unique work we come to feel as though in it ' we touch 
 the living soul of Asiatic Christendom'. 
 
 It remains to be said that while we class the Apoca- 
 lypse of John with Jewish apocalypses as to literary 
 form, yet it so manifestly rises above its class both in 
 method and content that it is universally accorded the 
 first place among Apocalyptic writings, and fuUy estab- 
 lishes its claim to a place among the inspired books of 
 Scripture by reason of the penetrative prophetic insight 
 which it everywhere displays in dealing with the greatest, 
 the most central, and the most mysterious theme in the 
 whole sphere of Christian thought. 
 
 9. The Theme. 
 
 The Theme of the Revelation, stated in its broadest 
 terms, is Christ and the Church through Time to Eterni- 
 ty; the mystery of God in human life and history made 
 manifest through the disclosure of the divine redemptive 
 plan becoming effective and triumphant.^ The theme we 
 assign to the Revelation will, of course, be determined 
 largely by our view of its contents. Many interpret it to 
 be Jerusalem, Rome, and the End, limiting its outlook to 
 the horizon of the early church ; others make it the Course 
 of History, or the Future Path of the Church in the 
 World ; still others affirm it to be the Last Things, or the 
 Second Coming of Christ. But the wider view is the truer 
 one, which includes many phases of the kingdom, and the 
 theme is properly interpreted as Christ and the Church 
 here and hereafter, or Redemption in its present and fu- 
 ture relation to Human Life. This theme is wrought out 
 in prophetic vision by an evolving drama that moves for- 
 ward in multiple and progressive cycles of trial and tri- 
 umph, of conflict and victory, ever advancing toward the 
 
 iMilligan identifies the Apocalypse of John too closely with that discourse, 
 making it mainly a development of its principal ideas. See his Lect's. on Apoc, 
 p. 42f. 
 
 ^Moulton uses the term 'rhapsody' in a technical sense to describe the literary 
 form of Hebrew dramatic prophecy, which affords a helpful and convenient no- 
 menclature. See Mod. Read. Bib., vol. John, notes, p. 191 , also vol. Isa., Intr., 
 pp. vii-xii. 
 
 'The Greek words fivarr/piov and aTroicaXvinx are commonly used in the New 
 Testament as correlative terms, signifying the once secret or hidden in contrast 
 with the now discovered or partially revealed. See art. Mystery,' Hastings' 
 Diet, of Bib. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 41 
 
 complete and final consummation, when righteousness 
 shall win, sin be punished, and the redeemed be restored 
 to the immediate presence of God; and whereby the di- 
 vine plan shall be abundantly vindicated notwithstand- 
 ing all apparent anomalies, and seeming contradictions, 
 and temporary reverses, for it is confidently affirmed 
 that the night of sin shall ultimately pass away, and the 
 day dawn at last in which 'the glory of God and of the 
 Lamb shall be the light thereof; and 'He that sitteth on 
 the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them . . . that 
 come out of great tribulation'. Thus the book gives an- 
 swer to the deep call of the soul for some sign concerning 
 the future that shall point the path of faith and cheer the 
 heart for service ; and the answer is abundantly satisfy- 
 ing, for those who interpret the theme aright. Occupied 
 with such a subject of thought it finds its proper place at 
 the end of the inspired volume; it forms a fitting close 
 for the entire line of prophetic voices; and it binds the 
 long succession of books into an unbroken unity.^ With 
 illimitable sweep its visions look backward through time 
 and forward into eternity, downward on earth's struggles 
 and upward upon heaven's victory, inward to the soul's 
 conflicts and outward to God's eternal peace, while 
 through it all there rings out the one transcendent note, 
 Christ reig-ns but to triumph. 
 
 10. The Occasion. 
 
 The conditions which gave Occasion for this sole 
 Apocalyptic book of the New Testament have left their 
 impress on its form and thought, viz. persecution from 
 without, and trial and distress within the church. These 
 conditions which are subsumed throughout must be clear- 
 ly recognized in order to interpret the message aright, 
 and to estimate its proper value for the age which first 
 received it. For, whether we accept the earlier or later 
 date of writing, the deadly power of the Roman Empire 
 was being put forth to repress and destroy the church. 
 At the later date the worship of the Emperor was being 
 made the test of obedience to law, and at either time many 
 Christians in the face of persecution were weak and 
 wavering. The immediate outlook was increasingly dark, 
 and the future prospect full of gloom. The failure of the 
 Messiah to reappear and of the church to triumph; the 
 
 >Moulton's Intr. to Litr. of Bib., p. 326. 
 
42 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 bitter experience of persecution already endured, and the 
 certainty of greater suffering yet to follow ; in a word, the 
 apparent reversal of the brightest hopes of early Christi- 
 anity, all of these called for some divine message of cheer 
 that would inspirit the discouraged, throw light upon the 
 path of sorrow and shame, and make their lot endurable 
 because of the assuredly glorious outcome of the future. 
 And there was no kind of message so well suited to meet 
 such a crisis as the form of Apocalyptic, which grew out 
 of similar conditions, and had a tone and temper pecu- 
 liarly adapted to infuse a triumphant hope in the midst of 
 growing religious despair.^ But let us not fail to perceive 
 that though the Apocalypse was specially designed to 
 meet a great crisis in the life of the early church, its effec- 
 tiveness does not end there. Its lessons are for us and 
 for all time; it has the course and end of world-history 
 in view, and this is an ever-living theme for the church 
 of Christ in every age. 
 
 11. The Purpose. 
 
 The Purpose of the Apocalypse, as indicated by its 
 introductory words 'The Revelation', is the revealing or 
 unveiling of mystery. In the Christian sense a mystery is 
 a former secret of divine truth that has now been at least 
 partially revealed (Eph. 3:1-11), while an apocalypse is 
 the process of revealing it, and also the revelation itself 
 containing the truth made known. The comprehensive de- 
 sign of the book is to unfold and interpret the divine pur- 
 pose and method in human history, especially in relation 
 to the redemptive process, by portra^dng in scenic outline 
 the present and future course of the church of Christ 
 through conflict to victory, for the vindication of God's 
 righteousness in the final issue, and for the comfort and 
 encouragement of tried and persecuted Christians in the 
 midst of the pathway of life.^ The more immediate pur- 
 pose was to strengthen the church in the strain of present 
 distress, while the ultimate aim is to be found not in the 
 disclosure of history itself, but in the establishment of the 
 moral order of the world, in illustrating the fact that his- 
 tory is a divinely guided 'moral process toward a goal', 
 as the substantial ground of a true philosophy of life, and 
 
 ^Soe Append. G, on Apocalyptic Literature. 
 
 -'It belongs to the innermost purpose of .Jewish Apocalyptic 'to attempt to 
 answer the question how and when the dominion of the world possessed so long 
 by heathen nations, will finally be delivered to the people of God.', Hilgenfeld, 
 quoted by Dusterdieck, Meyer's Com. on Rev., p. 34. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 43 
 
 as a permanent defense against false and partial views. 
 And this purpose is so wrought out by the portrayal of the 
 world as an ideal battlefield full of opposing forces, -with 
 alternating scenes of triumph and danger, that the whole 
 becomes a fervent and powerful appeal to the heroic in 
 Christian life and character, and a clear call to new faith 
 and courage. For whatever else may be its lessons, we 
 must not leave out of view this practical purpose of di- 
 vine monition to the world of men, which has so deeply 
 impressed itself upon every generation of Christians. Its 
 message of warning is inwrought with and reenf orced by 
 its prophetic scenes of terror and reward : for the Apoca- 
 lypse is the book of the future as well as of the past and 
 present, and that future is ever near in prophetic vision, 
 however far it may be in historic relation, and to John's 
 eye is alw^ays filled with the figure of the returning Christ 
 who comes to judgment and to victory. The message, 
 however, viewed in its entirety, while it contains a sym- 
 pathetic element of encouragement for the saints, and a 
 monitory element of exhortation and warning for all 
 men, is yet fundamentally a philosophic interpretation 
 of the divine method in history for all who would see God 
 in the story of man 's life on the earth — a theodicy based 
 upon prophecy. And any view which assumes for the 
 author a narrow field of vision, such as that he merely 
 grouped together the current apocalyptic conceptions of 
 his time in order to fling them in fierce polemic against the 
 Roman Empire and to foreshadow its defeat and fall,^ 
 rests upon a manifestly imperfect judgment that fails in 
 religious depth, missing the spiritual significance of the 
 message, and lacks in literary insight, denying the 
 evident marks of originality, genius, and inspiration in 
 the most wonderful and unique composition of its kind 
 that has ever been produced. 
 
 12. The Interpretation. 
 
 There are two essentially different methods of Inter- 
 pretation that have been followed in attempting to arrive 
 at the meaning of this manifestly difficult book, which are 
 founded upon different conceptions of its didactic pur- 
 pose, and proceed upon different lines of inquiry, viz. the 
 Historical, and the Symbolical. 
 
 The Historical Interpretation regards the book as a 
 prophetic revietu and forecast of history veiled in symbol, 
 
 ^As Kenan, and others. 
 
44 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 and seeks the meaning and fulfilment of the visions in cer- 
 tain specific historical events which either have occurred, 
 are occurring, or will occur within the sphere of human 
 life and experience. There are three different forms of 
 this method of interpretation, all of which specialize the 
 prophecy but differ as to the time and nature of the ful- 
 filment, viz. (1) the Preterist view (also called the Con- 
 temporaneous-Historical), which regards that the visions 
 relate mainly to events in the history of the early church, 
 and that they have been already fulfilled in the far past ; 
 (2) the Futurist view (also called the Future-Historical), 
 that the visions relate mainly to events w^hich shall occur 
 in the last days, and that the fulfilment is to be looked for 
 chiefly in the more or less remote future; and (3) the 
 Progressivist view (also called the Continuous- or 
 Church-Historical), that the several visions constitute 
 a continuous and progressive series, covering the whole 
 period of the church's history from the time of John to 
 the last judgment, and that their fulfilment is therefore 
 to be found in a successive line of historical events, part 
 of which lie in the past and part in the future. 
 
 The Symbolical Interpretation, upon the other hand, 
 regards the book as a prophetic idealisation of history, 
 dealing with the general course and outcome of man's life 
 upon the earth, and disclosing under the form of symbols 
 the spiritual and moral forces which give to history its 
 deeper meaning ; and seeks the significance and fulfilment 
 of the visions not, therefore, in particular events, but 
 rather in classes of events, not solely at one definite time, 
 but at many different times, finding the revelation mainly 
 illustrative of general principles of the divine government 
 rather than predictive of particular facts of history, a 
 view of various phases rather than of historic stages of 
 the church's experience,^ and interpreting its symbols in 
 the genuine spirit of Apocalyptic as pictorial representa- 
 tions of the prevailing fortunes of the church in the world 
 as she moves forward to the final consummation.- This 
 method of interpretation, which is commonly known as 
 
 iPurves. art. 'Rev.', Davis' Diet, of Bib.; Milligan, Lect. on Apoc, p. 153f. ; 
 and Lee, Bib. Com., Intr. to Rev., pp. 491-2. 
 
 ^Wlth correct insight, it lias been well said, that 'the ancient commentators 
 beheld in the visions of the Apocalypse not a prophetic history of the Christian 
 church, so much as a figurative representation of the contest going on in the 
 world between the evil and the good. And the moral of the book, the end for 
 which it was given, (according to the spirit of these interpretations), was to 
 assure the righteous of their ultimate triumph, notwithstanding the apparent or 
 temporary success of the powers of darkness.* Todd's 'Discourses on Prophecy', 
 quoted in T. L. Scott's Paragraph Version of Revelation, opening page. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATI ON. 45 
 
 the Symbolist view (also called the Spiritual), presents 
 no such marked difference of form as the Historical, but 
 with a wider outlook regards that the visions relate to all 
 such like events in every age as specially manifest God's 
 rule in the world sending forth judgment unto victory, 
 and such as particularly exhibit the progressive develop- 
 ment of good and evil in human life, together with their 
 constant conflict and their final reward and punishment. 
 All the current interpretations may be classified un- 
 der one or other of the above heads, yet in the hands of 
 individual interpreters they are often modified and blend 
 into each other in their application — a manifest recogni- 
 tion of the fact that there is an element of truth underly- 
 ing each view, which we may perhaps say has been unduly 
 emphasized, for all agree that the interpretation is some- 
 how and somewhere to be found in human life and his- 
 tory. 
 
 "What might be called still another method of inter- 
 pretation is the Apocalyptic-Traditional (or Tradition- 
 Historical) view of late critical writers on the Apoca- 
 lypse already referred to, which approaches the question 
 from the viewpoint of literary origin, and attributes cer- 
 tain portions of the book to the introduction of tradition- 
 al Jewish or Jewish-Christian Apocalyptic fragments 
 that have been utilized by the author and applied to the 
 historical conditions of his time, adapting them to a new 
 meaning. This, however, is not so much a separate meth- 
 od of interpretation as it is a corollary of the present 
 Literary- Critical method of dealing with the book, which 
 regards it as an early Christian work in successive edi- 
 tions that has taken into itself certain Jewish elements. 
 With this origin assumed the interpretation does not 
 differ materially from the Preterist view except, perhaps, 
 that it is less rigorous in its application to current events, 
 and recognizes more fully the idealism of the author ; for 
 the historical outlook has measurably lost its value ex- 
 cept as an indication of the date of writing, and for most 
 who hold this view the book has no longer any distinctive 
 prophetic message for the church ; it has become chiefly a 
 fantastic dream, a pious dream it is true, but only a 
 dream of the far past. 
 
 The principal question of interpretation, as will be 
 seen by a consideration of the current views, relates not 
 only to the view-point, but also to the aim or design of the 
 
46 STUDIES in the BOOK OF BEVELATION. 
 
 Revelation. The Historical method centers the chief aim 
 of the book in a predictive-'pTo^h.etiG element which it 
 finds throughout and regards as pointing to specific 
 events in particular periods of history that are designed 
 to teach important spiritual lessons. With this idea of the 
 didactic purpose, it yet presents the widest variation of 
 opinion concerning the viewpoint of the book, and in- 
 cludes upon the one hand the extreme rationalist who con- 
 siders it a purely human writing, a Jewish apocalypse 
 that has been revamped to include Christian ideas, which 
 blends history with prediction and reflects only the hori- 
 zon of the first century ; and on the other hand the devout 
 mystic who accepts its message as chiefly predictive 
 prophecy of the far future, and interprets it well nigh 
 literally as a prophetic account of the world's ending 
 amid terror and blood. The Symbolist method, with a 
 quite different conception, centers the aim of the book in 
 an interpretative-'pYO'phetiG element which it finds in 
 every part, and regards as setting forth the principles of 
 the divine government, and pointing to their exemplifica- 
 tion in multijile events occurring in different periods of 
 history that are working together toward the final con- 
 summation. According to this method of interpretation 
 the view^point is idealistic, universal, and timeless, and 
 the scope of the visions correspondingly wide. 
 
 The latter view, which is the one presented in the fol- 
 ing outline, affords a fairly satisfactory interpretation 
 that has been steadily gaining ground during the last 
 half-century, and to the present author seems destined in 
 some form to attain general though perhaps not universal 
 acceptance. The views of the leaders in the symbolical 
 school present no material divergence in general inter- 
 pretation,^ and the principles of this interpretation seem 
 likely to prevail throughout the Christian church of the 
 future, though the form and application may be somewhat 
 modified. The objection that 'this system of interpreta- 
 tion is out of keeping with the general purpose of Apoca- 
 lyptic literature',^ loses its force if we grant that the book 
 is inspired, and realize that the literary form was chosen 
 because of its adaptability for the treatment of the topics 
 dealt with in the Apocalypse; for once, the Apocalyptic 
 form becomes the vehicle of a divine revelation, it there- 
 by escapes some of the main limitations of its class, one 
 
 ^As Millifjan, Plummer, Lee, Riddle, Purves, Warfleld, and others. 
 2Dods' Intr. to New Test., p. 244. 
 
STUDIES in the B OOK OF REVELATION. 47 
 
 of which was 'the consciousness of no new message from 
 God for the generation to which it was addressed'; and 
 accordingly it should here be regarded as only the liter- 
 ary setting in which the message continually overtops 
 the form, the art-form in which the art is lost sight of 
 through the beauty and power of the truth which it pre- 
 sents. This view, although not without difficulties, is yet 
 believed by a good proportion of eminent scholars to be 
 based upon sound and temperate exegesis, to be best 
 suited to the character of the book, and to give relative 
 value to all the elements of truth contained in other 
 views. The importance of the historical situation of 
 John's time and of the lessons for that age is fully recog- 
 nized, the eschatological element throughout is given due 
 consideration, and the application of the prophecy to the 
 entire trend and events of history is made apparent, 
 while the precise time-relation of the visions is for the 
 most part eliminated, and thus the field of prophetic pro- 
 spective is maintained in its true breadth, and not nar- 
 rowed as in the historical interpretation to a particular 
 age or series of events. And the interpretation as a whole 
 rests for its validity upon the scope and tenor of the book 
 throughout, and can therefore be maintained without de- 
 termining the full or specific meaning of every part. The 
 Revelation thus understood ceases to be either a political 
 diatribe of the iirst century, or the terrored story of the 
 End; it rises above an epitome of history whether near 
 or far, and takes rank as a true prophetic book in Apoca- 
 lyptic form, dealing with the all-embracing plan of God 
 for the ages, and the munificent purpose of redemption; 
 and it is thereby rescued from many conjectural and con- 
 tradictory interpretations which have obscured its mean- 
 ing, and becomes a living prophecy of value to the church 
 in every age. 
 
 The tendency tow^ard wiser methods in the interpre- 
 tation of the Apocalypse, and the growing spirit of una- 
 nimity concerning its larger lessons, provide good ground 
 for encouragement to the troubled reader. And while, no 
 doubt, the influence of the individual type of mind will 
 continue to be felt in the interpretation, the rationalistic 
 emphasizing the preterist application, the mystic the fu- 
 turist, and the practical mind the symbolic and universal 
 reference, yet it should always be kept in view that the 
 chief importance of the book for the church at large 
 
48 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 transcends any question of theoretical interpretation, 
 and lies in its practical worth in providing a rich source 
 of religious inspiration, an invigorating aid to imperfect 
 faith, and an abiding stimulus to the Christian imagina- 
 tion, in enabling the ordinary mind to realize the spir- 
 itual in the midst of and transcending the natural, and in 
 making the deep conflict of life with its divine superin- 
 tendence an ever present fact to the human soul. Indeed 
 the book was evidently written for common use in the 
 early church in public worship (ch. 1.3), which indicates 
 an appreciation of its value in striking contrast with the 
 modern indifference that passes it by as unintelligible. 
 The Apocalypse has also a historical value, quite apart 
 from its general meaning and use, that we should not 
 overlook, for it throws important light upon the politi- 
 cal and social conditions as well as the inner thought and 
 development of the Christian church in the latter part of 
 the first century. It reflects throughout the faith and 
 temper in which the early church faced its growing con- 
 flict with the world. And it serves to show that at the 
 close of the apostolic age there was a Christianity which 
 was free from the law and universal, and yet continued 
 to adhere to Jewish modes of expression.^ 
 
 13. The Outline Analysis. 
 
 I THE PROLOGUE (OR INTRODUC- 
 TION) CH. I. 1—3. 22 
 
 1 The Superscription ch. i. 1—3 
 
 2 The Salutation ch. i. 4—8 
 
 3 The Introductory Vision ch. i. 9—20 
 
 4 The Seven Epistles CH. 2. 1—3. 22 
 
 IJ THE MAIN APOCALYPSE (OR 
 
 REVELATION PROPER) CH. 4. I — 22. 5 
 
 1 The Vision o£ God on the 
 
 Throne CH. 4 
 
 2 The Vision of the Seven 
 
 Seals CH. 6, 
 
 2b The Episode of the Sealed 
 
 Ones CH. 7, 
 
 3 The Vision of the Seven 
 
 Trumpets ch. 8 
 
 3b The Episode of the Angel with 
 the Book, and of the Two 
 Witnesses ch. 10. i — 11. 13 
 
 4 The Vision of Conflict ch. 12. i — 14.20 
 
 1—5- 14 
 
 I — 17, and 8. i 
 
 I— 17 
 
 2 — 9. 21, and II. 14 — 19 
 
 ^Harnack. art. 'Rev.', Encyc. Brit. ; also McGiffert, Apos. Age, p. 624 ; and 
 Porter, art 'Rev.', Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 49 
 
 5 The Vision of the Seven 
 
 Vials en. 15. i — 16. 12, and 16. 17 — 21 
 
 5b The Episode of the Frog-Uke 
 
 Spirits CH. 16. 13—16 
 
 6 The Vision o£ Victory cu. 17. i— 20.15 
 
 7 The Vision of the New- 
 
 Jerusalem CH. 21. 1—22. 5 
 
 III THE EPILOGUE (OR CONCLU- 
 SION) CH. 22. 6—21 
 
 1 The Final Words of the Angel, 
 
 with the Promise of 
 
 Christ CH. 22. 6—16 
 
 2 The Closing Testimony of 
 
 John CH. 22. 17 — 20 
 
 3 The Author's Benediction CH. 22. 21 
 
 14. The Literary Structure. 
 
 The elaborate and artistic Literary Structure of the 
 Apocalyipse, the numerical symmetry of its parts, the par- 
 allelism of its visions, and the recurrent climaxes in its 
 development, together unite to give it a unique place 
 among the writings of Scripture ; and a dear perception of 
 these relations becomes a distinct aid to the better under- 
 standing of its message, for these belong to it as the outer 
 robes which enfold its inner thought. The predominance 
 of the number seven in the arrangement of its subject- 
 matter throughout, especially the recurrence of formal 
 series of sevens in the Epistles, Seals, Trumpets, and 
 Vials, has commonly led to the conclusion that the book is 
 somehow capable of division into seven parts fundamen- 
 tal to its structure. And although the failure of commen- 
 tators to agree generally upon any lines of division yet 
 proposed scarcely seems to support this opinion, yet the 
 possible correctness and the general helpfulness of such 
 a division is fully recognized. Any such division which we 
 may make, however, is chiefly one of analysis, for the vi- 
 sions are continuous and develop without any distinctive 
 break of prophetic view. The outline analysis given above 
 divides the Visions, or main portion of the book, into sev- 
 en iparts, the Episodes being made parenthetical and sub- 
 ordinate, as their contents and connection serve to indi- 
 cate ; while the four subdivisions of the Introduction and 
 three of the Conclusion taken together, form another sev- 
 en. This general division, which is not an uncommon one, 
 agrees in the main, though not in statement or in full de- 
 tail, with that in the Pulpit Commentary,^ and is one of 
 
 'See •Analytical Conspectus' by Randell on p. xxvli of vol. on Rev. in Pulp. Com. 
 
50 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 the most natural as well as the most helpful in bringing 
 out the chief thought of the book. The carefully wrought 
 out and remarkably suggestive division and subdivision 
 into complete series of sevens, given in the Modern Read- 
 er's Bihle,^ after the same manner as the Prophecy of 
 Ezekiel, and the Rhapsody of Joel, is worthy of attentive 
 consideration, though it may well be doubted whether 
 such an extensive subdivision found place in the Apoca- 
 lyptist's thought.^ With discriminative literary insight 
 the author of that work says, concerning the general out- 
 line of the book, 'The seven visions of St John's Revela- 
 tion seem in the line of their succession to trace the figure 
 of an arch, the keystone of the arch being the master- 
 thought of the prophecy ; . . . On either side of it [in the 
 arrangement of the visions] III is closely parallel wdth V, 
 and II mth VI . . . while I and VII are separate from the 
 rest. . .As always, literary form is here pointing to the 
 deepest spiritual meaning'. The theme of the central vi- 
 sion according to this view, is ' Salvation : the Kingdom of 
 this World becoming the Kingdom of Christ', which puts 
 the purpose of the Christian warfare to the front, and has 
 much to commend it ; for the warfare is in order that the 
 redemptive purpose of God may become effective and 
 triumphant. There are reasons, however, in the scheme of 
 the book which seem to place the main emphasis upon the 
 warfare itself as leading to salvation, and that view has 
 been accepted in this work. Following the fertile sugges- 
 tion given above, though with a somewhat different con- 
 ception of the theme of the several visions, we arrive at 
 the following outline of the thought and plan of the chief 
 part of the book,^ viz: — 
 
 IV — A Vision of Warfare — 
 
 the Church-Historic World-Conflict of the Evil 
 against the Just. (Ch. 12.1 — 14.20) 
 
 III— A Vision of Threatening V— A Vision of Judgment — 
 
 the World's Punishment Threatened. the World's Judgment Executed. 
 (Ch. 8.2—9.21, and 11. 14 — 19) (Ch. 15. i — 16.12, and 16.17 — 21) 
 
 II — A Vision of Trial — VI — A Vision of Vindication — 
 
 the Church's Trial Foreshown. the Church's Vindication Manifested. 
 
 (Ch. 6.1— 17, and 8.1) (Ch. 17.1—20.15) 
 
 I — A Vision of Sovereignty — VII — A Vision of Triumph — 
 
 the Throne during Conflict. the Throne after Victory. 
 
 (Ch. 4.1— 5.^14) (Ch. 21.1— 22.5) 
 
 iMoulton, vol. St John, notes, p. 195, Mod. Read. Bib. 
 
 2'Most of the prophetic books (in the Old Testament) lend themselves to a 
 seven-fold arrangement. .. .All that is Implied in such a feature of style is an 
 extreme sense of orderly arrangement ; and to the Hebrew mind order suggests 
 the number seven' (the number of fulness or completeness of quality), Mod., 
 Read. Bih., Mat., Intr. p. xi. 
 
 'See also App'x F., diagram. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 51 
 
 If we follow the natural order of the visions from I 
 to VII, we find it to be one of progression, viz. from Sov- 
 ereignty to Trial, then to Threatening, and on through 
 Warfare, Judgment, and Vindication to Triumph, each 
 being a separate step in advance : if we compare I with 
 VII, II with VI, and III with V, we find the order to be 
 marked by parallelism, viz. Sovereignty corresponding 
 to Triumph, Trial to Vindication, and Threatening to 
 Judgment, vision IV, that of Warfare, holding the bal- 
 ance between them : while if we regard the central vision 
 in relation to the rest, we find the arrangement to be one 
 of climax, vision IV forming the connecting link between 
 I and VII, II and VI, and III and V, the visions preceding 
 and following it forming an ascending and descending 
 scale to and from the center, viz. that of Sovereignty 
 leading through Warfare to Triumph, that of Trial 
 through Warfare to Vindication, and that of Threaten- 
 ing through Warfare to Judgment. The movement of 
 thought is thereby indicated to be from the throne chal- 
 lenged to the throne triumphant, from the church tried 
 to the church vindicated, from the world threatened to 
 the world judged, through a world-conflict which forms 
 the acme of the dramatic purpose, and discloses the en- 
 tire sweep of redemptive history as buttressed upon the 
 eternal throne. The seven visions, according to this view, 
 are not bound together by any temporal succession, but 
 each displays a world-process complete in itself, and 
 they are so arranged that the climax is reached at the 
 center instead of the end, after the analogy of Hebrew 
 poetry, the central vision furnishing the key to the inter- 
 pretation of the whole. ^ The value of such an analytic 
 interpretation, when sustained by the contents of the 
 book, lies not alone in the help which it affords in pene- 
 trating the deeper purpose of the writer, and of the rev- 
 elation made through him, but in the illuminative effect 
 which, in a case like this, it throws upon the disputed 
 question of unity; for if any such clearly marked and con- 
 tinuous current of thought can be shoA\m to thread its 
 way throughout the entire book, despite all by-currents 
 and eddies, then the various theories of diverse or com- 
 posite authorship cease to be credible except to pure 
 theorists. 
 
 iSee Moulton, Mod. Read. Bib., vol. St John, Intr. p. xxil. 
 
52 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 15. The Literature. 
 
 The Literature relating to this difficult book is very 
 extensive, more works, strange to say, having been writ- 
 ten on the Apocalypse which has been so imperfectly un- 
 derstood than upon any other part of Scripture, though 
 many of them are now rightly regarded as of little value. 
 A careful study of one or more of the leading authorities 
 representing each of the current methods of interpre- 
 tation will give a fair view of the whole field, and will 
 serve to show that in many points there is essential 
 agreement among all schools of thought, though for ad- 
 vanced work one's reading must necessarily cover a wid- 
 er range, for the student should then know all the best 
 that has been said upon the problems of the book. The 
 most important qualification, however, for this difficult 
 study is to approach the whole subject with an open mind 
 and a fresh spirit of inquiry, resolved to be quite 
 untrammelled by traditional interpretations, to investi- 
 gate with scrupulous care the various points of view, 
 and to apply with fearless courage all the well-established 
 results of investigation, especially those of the later fruit- 
 ful studies in Apocalyptic literature, which enable us 
 to approach more nearly the viewpoint of the earliest 
 readers of the book, but which yet remain to be duly 
 correlated with our previous knowledge, being confident- 
 ly assured that there is 'light yet to break' for the 
 earnest soul upon the deep things of the Apocalypse. 
 
 It is not likely that any one coimnentary will prove 
 entirely satisfactory to the thoughtful reader, owing to 
 the wide variation of opinion upon many minor points 
 among those holding the same general view. Milligan is 
 very suggestive though not always convincing, for he is 
 oftentimes too indefinite in interpretation to be satisfying 
 to the reader, telling us that 'no detail of historic events 
 need be looked for'. His discussion of principles, how- 
 ever, is always illuminative, even when his application is 
 not quite so clear; and not infrequently his work is of 
 more value in showing the inconclusiveness of other views 
 than in establishing his own. We are indebted to him, 
 through the general circulation of his works, perhaps 
 more than to any other writer, for the present prevalence 
 of the symbolic view in the English speaking world, and 
 his Lectures, and one or other of his Commentaries, 
 should be read by every student. Plummer, in the Pulpit 
 
STUDIES in tlJie BOOK OF EEVELATION. 53 
 
 Commentary, will be found more satisfactory by the gen- 
 eral reader, especially if he inclines to the symbolic inter- 
 pretation, and there is, in fact, no better commentary for 
 common use, though we may not agree with all his conclu- 
 sions. To his wise and discriminative judgment the 
 present author wishes to express a deep indebted- 
 ness. The short introduction to that volume, with its 
 scholarly notes on manuscripts, versions, &c, will also be 
 found very helpful to the busy student. Farrar, support- 
 ing the preterist view, gives the historical conditions of 
 the Neronic period in a striking way, many of which are 
 equally applicable to the whole latter part of the first cen- 
 tury. Lee is especially valuable for the condensed resume 
 of opinions concerning many obscure passages through- 
 out the book, though the great diversity of views at times 
 presented is apt to be confusing, Faussett is excellent 
 from his point of view, ranking among the best premillen- 
 nial interpreters. Seiss is also a popular authority with 
 those who share the premillennial expectation, but his ex- 
 egesis is often faulty, and his interpretation fanciful. 
 Moulton's Modern Reader's Bible vol. John, is indispen- 
 sable for its literary analysis and aid in gaining the gen- 
 eral perspective, and should be in the library of every 
 student. The Introduction to Revelation in the Neiv Cen- 
 tury Bihle, by C. A. Scott, gives an admirable and concise 
 statement of the present status of opinion concerning the 
 problems of the book, and the notes of the same volume 
 are especially valuable for their references to Jewish 
 Apocalyptic. This is the best small book for the use of the 
 student who wishes to get an outline of the modern view 
 concerning the incorporation of Jewish apocalypses. For 
 those who are acquainted with the Greek text, Alford, 
 Stuart, and Diisterdieck will be found quite helpful, even 
 though they belong to a former generation, for each has a 
 special excellency ; but the late work of Swete, the Apoca- 
 lypse of St John (1906), which is both thorough and 
 scholarly, is indispensable for the critical use of the stu- 
 dent in that it meets more fully the questions of modern 
 inquiry and present discussion, and maintains a moderate 
 view of the opinions now to the fore concerning the origin 
 of the book. On the other hand Briggs' Messiah of the 
 Gospels, and Moffatt's Historical Neiv Testament give a 
 good account of late theories of composite authorship and 
 deserve attention. Also the able work of Moffatt on Rev- 
 elation in the final volume of the Expositor's Greek Test- 
 
54 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 ament has been issued (1910), and deserves careful no- 
 tice. The author adopts the modern critical view, that 
 portions of the book have been incorporated from current 
 apocalypses, and devotes considerable attention to 
 source-criticism as an aid to interpretation, but too much 
 time is given to pointing out what he regards as parallel 
 thought in Greek, Roman, and Jewish writings, and this 
 often has little interpretative value. The work is adapted 
 to the ripe scholar rather than the earlier student, and 
 though rejecting extreme views, it will not be found alto- 
 gether satisfying to those of more conservative mind who 
 believe that the Apocalypse is entitled to a primary rather 
 than a secondary place among the books of Scripture. An- 
 other work awaited with much interest is the volume on 
 Revelation in the International Critical Commentary 
 which is in course of preparation by Charles, the eminent 
 authority upon Apocalyptic.^ This volume when issued 
 will no doubt add much of value to the modern point of 
 view, and serve to throw additional light upon the rela- 
 tions of Apocalyptic literature to this its greatest master- 
 piece. His Studies in the Apocalypse (1913) serves to in- 
 dicate the general line of interpretation to be expected, 
 and it must be said that this is somewhat disappointing to 
 the conservative reader, for it is highly critical. One nat- 
 urally hesitates to disagree so widely with such an emi- 
 nent scholar and distinguished apocalyptist as has been 
 found necessary to do in the following pages; but it 
 should be remembered that all Scripture is written for the 
 world of men, and that the opinion of no one scholar or 
 number of scholars can authoritatively determine the 
 meaning of any part of it, but that rather the interpreta- 
 tion must be arrived at by a general consensus of opinion 
 among men of learning and piety throughout the world. 
 That this opinion, though now veering toward the critical 
 view, will not be eventually sustained by more thorough 
 research is the confirmed judgment of many scholars. But 
 with it all there are many points of interpretation former- 
 ly in dispute that may now be regarded as already settled, 
 their essential meaning in any case being substantially 
 the same, and thus the book so long aglow with mysteries 
 has virtually become every man's book in the light of in- 
 telligent interpretation. 
 
 Finally, with special emphasis it should be said, that 
 it is of prime importance for those who would understand 
 
 >See Foreword, p. 9. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 55 
 
 the Apocalypse in its proper relations to Biblical thought, 
 that a careful study should be made of the prophecies of 
 Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Isaiah, Amos, Joel, and Ha- 
 bakkuk, together with the Book of Psalms, in connection 
 with the Revelation, in order to catch the inner thought 
 of the book ; also of some portion of the Apocalyptic liter- 
 ature, particularly the Book of EnocJi,^ the Apocalypse of 
 Baruch, and the Fourth Booh of Ezra, for these will fur- 
 nish the atmosphere of Jewish thought in which the 
 Apocalypse was conceived, and will provide substantial 
 aid in understanding the peculiarities of its literary form 
 and the general spirit of the work, as well as in freeing 
 the mind from the trammels of traditional interpreta- 
 tion. But, above all, we should not forget that the book of 
 Revelation is a properly recognized part of canonical 
 Scripture in practically the universal judgment of the en- 
 tire Christian world, and that notwithstanding its many 
 and persistent difficulties of interpretation, it is yet en- 
 titled to our earnest study and attentive thought as con- 
 taining a living and abiding message from Almighty God, 
 through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord to John the last 
 of the apostles, and through him to the sin-burdened 
 souls of men the world over. 
 
 A few authorities are named below, which mil be 
 found sufficient to give most that is of value in interpreta- 
 tion for the general reader; others are referred to in the 
 foot-notes. For a fuller list, especially of the older books, 
 consult the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia, or Smith's 
 Dictionary of the Bible, art. 'Revelation'; while for 
 the later literature see Hastings ' Dictionary of the Bible, 
 and the Encyclopaedia Biblica. 
 
 For the English Reader. 
 Preterist View: — 
 
 Farrar, Early Days of Christianity; ■> 
 
 Maurice, Lectures on the Apocalypse. ' ' 
 
 Futurist View: — 
 
 Faussett, in Jamieson, Faussett, and Broum^s Com- 
 mentary, 
 
 Seiss, Lectures on the Apocalypse, 
 
 I'The influonce of the Bk. of Enoch on the New Testament has been greater 
 than that of all the other apocryphal and pseudepigraphlcal books taken to- 
 gether.' Book of Enoch (Charles). Gen. Intr., p. 41. 
 
56 STUDIES m the BOOK OF REVELATION. _ 
 
 Progressivist View: — 
 
 Wordsworth, Lectures on the Apocalypse; 
 
 Barnes, Notes on the Book of Revelation. 
 Symbolist View: — 
 
 Milligan, in Expositor's Bihle, and in Popular {Inter- 
 national) Commentary; 
 
 Plummer, in Pulpit Commentary ; 
 
 Lee, in Bihle {Speakers') Commentary. 
 
 For Critical Study. 
 
 Preterist View: — 
 
 Diisterdieck, in Meyer's Commentary; 
 
 Stuart, in Commentary on the Apocalypse. 
 Preterist View — Modern Critical: — 
 
 Moffatt, in Expositor's Greek Testament; 
 
 Swete, Apocalypse of St John. 
 Progressivist View — Modified Historical : — 
 
 Simcox, in Cambridge Greek Testament. 
 Futurist View — Modified Historical: — 
 
 Alford, in Greek Testament. 
 
 For Recent Critical Views. 
 
 Moffatt 's Historical New Testament; 
 
 Scott's 'Revelation', in New Century Bihle; 
 
 Dean's Book of Revelation; 
 
 Alexander Ramsay's 'Revelation and Johannine Epis- 
 tles', in Westminister Neiv Test. ; 
 
 Briggs' Messiah of the Apostles; 
 
 Barton, art. 'The Apocalypse and Recent Criticism', in 
 Amer. Journ. of TheoL, Apr. 1884 ; 
 
 Porter, art. 'Revelation', in Hastings' Dictionary of the 
 Bihle ; 
 
 Bousset, art. 'Apocalypse', in the Encyclopaedia Bih- 
 lica. 
 
 Moffatt, art. ' WelUiausen and Others on the Apocalypse ', 
 in the Expositor, Mar. 1909; 
 
 Charles, Studies in the Apocalypse ; 
 
 Charles, Revelation of St John {I. C. C.) ; 
 
 Beckwith, Apocalypse of John. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 57 
 
 For General Discussion. 
 
 Fairbairn, On Prophecy ; 
 Bleek, Lectures on the Apocalypse; 
 Vaiighan, Lectures on the Revelation of St John; 
 Milligan, Lectures on the Apocalypse; and Discussions 
 on the Apocalypse ; 
 
 Scott, 'Book of Eevelation', in the Practical Commen- 
 tary; 
 
 Stevens, Theology of the Neiu Testament, Part VI ; 
 
 Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches; 
 
 Introductions to the Neiv Testainent by Salmon, Dods, 
 Bacon, Jiilicher, and others; 
 
 Introductions to Revelation in the leading Commentaries, 
 and in the Modern Reader's Bible, the New Century 
 Bible, the Temple Bible, and the Modern American 
 Bible ; and the text of Revelation in the New Transla- 
 tion of the New Testament, by Moffatt. 
 
The Text here given is that of the American 
 Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright 1901 
 by Thomas Nelson & Sons, which is used by permission 
 of the publishers. 
 
 The arrangement of the text belongs to the present 
 volume, and is offered as a contribution to the correct 
 interpretation. This in itself is of the nature of a com- 
 mentary, though no changes have been introduced into 
 the body of the text. The paragraphs, however, have 
 been changed, and many new paragraphs made, in order 
 to emphasize the thought of the text. 
 
SCRIPTURE TEXT 
 
60 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 THE REVELATION 
 [OF JOHN] 
 
 1 
 
 The Book 
 Described 
 
 A Blessing 
 Prouounced 
 
 The Address 
 aud Greeting 
 
 The Coming 
 Christ 
 
 The.Respon- 
 
 I THE PROLOGUE 
 
 I The Superscription 
 
 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God ^gave 
 him to show unto his ^servants, even the things which 
 must shortly come to pass : and he sent and signified ^it 
 by his angel unto his servant John; 2 who bare wit- 
 ness of the word of God, and of the testimony of 
 Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw. 
 
 3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear 
 the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that 
 are written therein: for the time is at hand. 
 
 2 The Salutation 
 
 4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: 
 Grace to you and peace, from him who is and who was 
 and *who is to come; and from the seven Spirits that 
 are before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, who 
 is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and 
 the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him that 
 loveth us, and '^loosed us from our sins ''by his blood; 
 6 and he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto 
 ''his God and Father; to him be the glory and the do- 
 minion ^for ever and ever. Amen, 
 
 (7 Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and 
 every eye shall see him, and they that pierced him ; 
 and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. 
 Even so. Amen. 
 
 8 I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord 
 God, ®who is and who was and *who is to come, the \ 
 
 Message Almighty. 
 
 The Introductory Vision 
 
 9 I John, your brother and partaker with you in 
 the tribulation and kingdom and ^"patience which are 
 in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the 
 
 iQr. gave unto him, io show unto his servants the things &c. -Gr. bond- 
 scrr-ants. 'Qr, tliem ■'Or. who cometh s^j^ny authorities, some ancient, 
 
 read vashed. Heb. 9. 14 : comp. ch. 7. 14. «Gr!^ in. 'Or. God and his 
 
 Father Kiv. unto the ages of the ages. Many ancient authorities omit of 
 the ages. "Or. he who ""Or. stcd'fastness 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 61 
 
 word of God and the testimony Jesus. lo I was in 
 The Trumpet the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me 
 Voice a great voice, as of a trumpet ii saying. What thou 
 
 seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches : 
 unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, 
 and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Phila- 
 delphia, and unto Laodicea. 
 
 12 And I turned to see the voice that spake witli 
 me. And having turned I saw seven golden ^candle- 
 sticks; 13 and in the midst of the ^candlesticks one like 
 unto a son of man, clothed with a garment down to 
 the foot, and girt about at the breasts with a golden 
 girdle. 14 And his head and his hair were white as 
 The Glorious white wool, white as snow ; and his eyes were as a 
 King-Priest flame of fire; 15 and his feet like unto burnished brass, 
 as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as 
 the voice of many waters. 16 And he had in his right 
 hand seven stars : and out of his mouth proceeded a 
 sharp two-edged sword : and his countenance was as 
 the sun shineth in his strength. 
 
 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one 
 dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, 
 Fear not ; I am the first and the last, 18 and the Living 
 one ; and I ^was dead, and behold, I am alive ^for ever- 
 more, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19 
 A Message of Write therefore the things which thou sawest, and the 
 Eeassurance things which are, and the things which shall come to 
 pass hereafter ; 20 the mystery of the seven stars which 
 thou sawest *in my right hand, and the seven golden 
 ^candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the 
 seven churches and the seven ^candlesticks are seven 
 churches : — 
 
 4 The Seven Epistles 
 O To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 
 
 These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars 
 in his right hand, he that walketh in the midst of the 
 seven golden ^candlesticks : 2 I know thy works, and 
 thy toil and ^patience, and that thou canst not bear evil 
 men, and didst try them that call themselves apostler^, 
 and they are not, and didst find them false ; 3 and thou 
 hast ^patience and didst bear for my name's sake, and 
 The Epistle hast not grown weary. 4 But I have this against thee, 
 to Ephesus that thou didst leave thy first love. 5 Remember there- 
 fore whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first 
 works ; or else I come to thee, and will move thy 
 ^candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. 6 But 
 
 *Gr. lampstands. =Gr. iecame. 'Gr. unto the ages of the ages. *Gv. 
 upon. "Or, stedfastness ^Gr. lampstand. 
 
62 STUDIES in the BOOK OF BEVELATION. 
 
 this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nico- 
 laitans, which I also hate. 7 He that hath an ear, let 
 him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. To 
 him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the 
 tree of life, which is in the ^Paradise of God. 
 
 8 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write : 
 
 These things saith the first and the last, who ^was 
 dead, and lived again : 9 I know thy tribulation, and thy 
 poverty (but thou art rich), and the ^blasphemy of 
 them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but are 
 a synagogue of Satan. 10 Fear not the things which 
 The Epistle thou art about to suffer: behold, the devil is about to 
 to Smyrna ^ast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried ; 
 *and ye shall have ^tribulation ten days. Be thou 
 faithful until death, and I will give thee the crown of 
 life. II He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
 Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh 
 shall not be hurt of the second death. 
 
 12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamum 
 write : 
 
 These things saith he that hath the sharp two- 
 edged sword: 13 I know where thou dwellest, even 
 where Satan's throne is; and thou boldest fast my 
 name, and didst not deny my faith, even in the days 
 ®of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was 
 killed among you, where Satan dwelleth. 14 But I 
 have a few things against thee, because thou hast there 
 some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught 
 Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of 
 The Epistle Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit 
 to Pergamum fornication. 15 So hast thou also some that hold the 
 teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner. 16 Repent 
 therefore; or else I come to thee quickly, and I will 
 make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 
 17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit 
 saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, to 
 him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give 
 him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name 
 written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth 
 it. 
 
 18 And to the angel of the church in Thyatira 
 write : 
 
 These things saith the Son of God, who hath his 
 eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unto 
 burnished brass: 19 I know thy works, and thy love 
 and faith and ministry and '^patience, and that thy last 
 
 ^Or, garden : as In Gen. 2.8. -Gr. became. 'Or, revilinp ^Some ancient 
 authorities read and may have. °Gr. a tribulation of ten days. 'The Greek 
 text here Is somewhat uncertain 'Or stedfastnena 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 63 
 
 works are more than the first. 20 But I have this 
 against thee, that thou sufferest ^the woman Jezebel, 
 who calleth herself a prophetess; and she teacheth 
 and seduceth my ^servants to commit fornication, and 
 to eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her 
 time that she should repent ; and she willeth not to re- 
 pent of her fornication. 22 Behold, I cast her into a 
 bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great 
 tribulation, except they repent of ^her works. 23 And 
 The Epistle I wiU kill her children with *death ; and all the 
 toTbyatira churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the 
 reins and hearts : and I will give unto each one of you 
 according to your works. 24 But to you I say, to the 
 rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this 
 teaching, who know not the deep things of Satan, as 
 they are wont to say ; I cast upon you none other bur- 
 den. 25 Nevertheless that which ye have, hold fast 
 till I come. 26 And he that overcometh, and he that 
 keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give 
 authority over the ^nations : 27 and he shall rule them 
 with a rod of ''iron, as the vessels of the potter are 
 broken to shivers ; as I also have received of my 
 Father: 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 
 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit 
 saith to the churches. 
 
 O And to the angel of the church in Sardis write : 
 
 These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits 
 of God, and the seven stars : I know thy works, that 
 thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead. 
 2 Be thou watchful, and establish the things that re- 
 main, which were ready to die: for I have ''found no 
 works of thine perfected before my God. 3 Remem- 
 ber therefore how thou hast received and didst hear; 
 and keep it, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not 
 The Epistle watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know 
 to Sardis what hour I will come upon thee. 4 But thou hast a 
 few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments : 
 and they shall walk with me in white ; for they are 
 worthy. 5 He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed 
 in white garments ; and I will in no wise blot his name 
 out of the book of life, and I will confess his name be- 
 fore my Father, and before his angels. 6 He that hath 
 an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the 
 churches. 
 
 7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia 
 write : 
 
 iMany authorities, some ancient, read tin/ wife. =Gr. hond servants. 'Many 
 ancient authorities read their. ''Or, pestilence Sept., Ex. 5. 3, &c. ^Or, 
 
 Gentiles ^Or, iron; as vessels of the potter, are they broketi 'Many ancient 
 authorities read not found thy works. 
 
64 STUDIES m the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, 
 he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and 
 none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth : 
 8 I know thy works (behold, I have ^set before thee a 
 door opened, which none can shut), that thou hast a 
 little power, and didst keep my word, and didst not 
 deny my name. 9 Behold, I give of the synagogue of 
 Satan, of them that say they are Jews, and they are 
 not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and 
 The Epistle to ^worship before thy feet, and to know that I have 
 Philadelphia loved thee. lo Because thou didst keep the word of 
 my ^patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of 
 *trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole 
 ''world, to ^'try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 I 
 come quickly : hold fast that which thou hast, that no 
 one take thy crown. 12 He that overcometh, I will 
 make him a pillar in the ^temple of my God, and he 
 shall go out thence no more : and I will write upon 
 him the name of my God, and the name of the city of 
 my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out 
 of heaven from my God, and mine own new name. 
 13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit 
 saith to the churches. 
 
 14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea 
 write : 
 
 These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true 
 Avitness, the beginning of the creation of God: 15 I 
 know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot : 
 I wo,uld thou wert cold or hot, 16 So because thou 
 art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew 
 thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am 
 rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; 
 and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and 
 miserable and poor and blind and naked : 18 I coun- 
 sel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou 
 The Epistle mayest become rich ; and white garments, that thou 
 to Laodicea mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy naked- 
 ness be not made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint 
 thine eyes, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I 
 love, I reprove and chasten : be zealous therefore, and 
 repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if 
 any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come 
 in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 
 21 He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down 
 with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat 
 down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath 
 
 ^Gr. given. ^rpijg Greek word denotes an act of reverence, whether paid 
 to a creature or to the Creator. 'Or. stedfastness ■'Or, temptation ''Gr. 
 inhaiited earth. «0r, tempt 'Or. sanctuary 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 65 
 
 A Door 
 Opened 
 in Heaven 
 
 The Tbrone 
 and the King 
 
 The Four and 
 
 Twenty 
 
 Elders 
 
 The Seven 
 Lamps of Fire 
 
 an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the church- 
 es 
 
 II THE MAIN APOCALYPSE 
 
 1 The Vision of God on the Throne 
 (The Throne During Conflict) 
 
 After these things I saw, and behold, a door op- 
 ened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, a voice 
 as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying. Come 
 up hither, and I will show thee the things which must 
 ^come to pass hereafter. 
 
 2 Straightway I was in the Spirit : and behold, 
 there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon 
 the throne; 3 and he that sat was to look upon like a 
 jasper stone and a sardius: and there was a rainbow 
 round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon. 
 
 4 And round about the throne were four and 
 twenty thrones: and upon the thrones / saw four and 
 twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and 
 on their heads crowns of gold. 
 
 5 And out of the throne proceed lightnings and 
 voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of 
 fire burning before the throne, which are the seven 
 Spirits of God ; 
 
 6 And before the throne, as it were a ^sea of glass 
 like unto crystal ; and in the midst ^of the throne, and 
 round about the throne, four living creatures full of 
 eyes before and behind. 7 And the first creature was 
 like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the 
 third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth 
 creature was like a flying eagle. 8 And the four liv- 
 ing creatures, having each one of them six wings, are 
 full of eyes round about and within : and they have no 
 rest day and night, saying. 
 
 Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, 
 who was and who is and *who is to come. 
 9 And when the living creatures shall give glory 
 and honor and thanks to him that sitteth on the 
 throne, to him that liveth ^for ever and ever, 10 the 
 four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that 
 sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth 
 ^for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before 
 the throne, saying, 
 II Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to re- 
 ceive the glory and the honor and the power: for 
 thou didst create all things, and because of thy will 
 they were, and were created. 
 
 iQr, come to pans. After these thinf/s straightway, &c. =0r, glassy sea 
 •Or, before See ch. 7.17. comp. 5. 6. ^Or, icho cometh "Qr. unto the ages 
 of the ages. 
 
 The Four 
 
 Iiiving 
 
 Creatures 
 
 The Creation 
 Chorus 
 
66 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 The Sealed 
 Book 
 
 The Lamb 
 
 The Book 
 Taken and 
 Worship 
 Rendered 
 
 ' And I saw ^in the right hand of him that sat on 
 
 the throne a book written within and on the back, close 
 sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel 
 proclaiming with a great voice, Who is worthy to open 
 the book, and to loose the seals thereof? 3 And no 
 one in the heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, 
 was able to open the book, or to look thereon. 4 And 
 
 I wept much, because no one was found worthy to 
 open the book, or to look thereon: 5 and one of the 
 elders saith unto me, Weep not; behold, the Lion that 
 is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath over- 
 come to open the book and the seven seals thereof. 
 
 6 And I saw ^in the midst of the throne and of 
 the four living creatures, and in the midst of the 
 elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, 
 having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the 
 ^seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. 
 
 7 And he came, and he *taketh it out of the right 
 hand of him that sat on the throne. 8 And when he 
 had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 
 four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, hav- 
 ing each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, 
 which are the prayers of the saints. 
 
 9 And they sing a new song, saying. 
 Worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the 
 seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and didst pur- 
 chase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe, 
 and tongue, and people, and nation, 10 and madest 
 them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; 
 and they reign upon the earth. 
 
 II And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels 
 round about the throne and the living creatures and 
 the elders; and the number of them was ten thou- 
 sand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 
 
 12 saying with a great voice, 
 
 Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive 
 the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and 
 honor, and glory, and blessing. 
 
 13 And every created thing which is in the heaven, 
 and on the earth, and under the earth, and on 
 the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I say- 
 ing, 
 
 Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the 
 Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the 
 glory, and the dominion, ' for ever and ever. 
 
 14 And the four living creatures said. Amen. And 
 the elders fell down and ''worshipped. 
 
 ^Gr. on. 20r, hetween the throne with the four living creatures, and the 
 elders 'Some ancient authorities omit seven. ^Gr. hath taken. ^Gr. 
 
 unto the ages of the ages. 'See marginal note on ch. 3.9. 
 
 The 
 
 Bedemption 
 
 Chorus 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 67 
 
 The First 
 Seal 
 
 Tbe Second 
 Seal 
 
 The Third 
 Seal 
 
 The Fourth 
 Seal 
 
 The Fifth 
 Seal 
 
 2 The Vision of the Seven Seals 
 
 (The Church's Trial Foreshown) 
 
 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the sev- 
 'en seals, and I heard one of the four Hving creatures 
 saying as with a voice of thunder, Come^. 2 And I 
 saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat there- 
 on had a bow ; and there was given unto him a crown : 
 and he came forth conquering, and to conquer. 
 
 3 And when he opened the second seal, I heard the 
 second living creature saying, Come^. 4 And another 
 horse came forth, a red horse : and to him that sat 
 thereon it was given to take ^peace from the earth, 
 and that they should slay one another : and there was 
 given unto him a great sword. 
 
 5 And when he opened the third seal, I heard the 
 third living creature saying, Corned And I saw, and 
 behold, a black horse; and he that sat thereon had a 
 balance in his hand. 6 And I heard as it were a voice 
 in the midst of the four living creatures saying, ^A 
 measure of wheat for a ^shilling, and three measures 
 of barley for a ^shilling; and the oil and the wine hurt 
 thou not. 
 
 7 And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard 
 the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come^. 
 8 And I saw, and behold, a pale horse : and he that sat 
 upon him, his name was Death; and Hades followed 
 with him. And there was given unto them authority 
 over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, 
 and with famine, and with Meath, and by the wild 
 beasts of the earth. 
 
 9 And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under- 
 neath the altar the souls of them that had been slain 
 for the word of God, and for the testimony which they 
 held: 10 and they cried with a great voice, saying, 
 How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost thou not 
 judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the 
 earth? 11 And there was given them to each one a 
 white robe; and it was said unto them, that they 
 should rest yet for a little time, until their fellow-serv- 
 ants also and their brethren, who should be killed 
 even as they were, should %ave fulfilled their course. 
 12 And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and 
 there was a great earthquake; and the sun became 
 
 iSome ancient authorities add and see. ^Some ancient authorities read 
 The peace of the earth. ^Or, A choenix (i. e. about a quart,) of wheat for a 
 shilling— imvi\Yins great scarcity. Comp. Ezek. 4.16 f. ; 5. 16. ^See marginal 
 note on Mt. 18.28 'Or, pestilence Comp. ch. 2. 23 marg. ^Some ancient 
 authorities read be fulfilled, in number. 2 Esdr. 4. 36. 
 
68 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 The Sixth 
 S«al 
 
 The Angels 
 Holding the 
 Winds 
 
 The Nmnber 
 Sealed from 
 the Tribes 
 
 black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became 
 as blood; 13 and the stars of the heaven fell unto the 
 earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs when she is 
 shaken of a great wind. 14 And the heaven was re- 
 moved as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every 
 mountain and island were moved out of their places. 
 15 And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the 
 ^chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and 
 every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the 
 caves and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they 
 say to the mountains and to the rocks. Fall on us, and 
 hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the 
 throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 for the 
 great day of their wrath is come; and who is able to 
 stand ? 
 
 2b The Episode of the Sealed Ones 
 (An Intervening Vision of Salvation Assured) 
 (A) The Sealed of Israel 
 '7 r After this I saw four angels standing at the 
 
 I four corners of the earth, holding the four winds 
 of the earth, that no wind should blow on the earth, or 
 on the sea, or upon any tree. 2 And I saw another 
 angel ascend from the sunrising, having the seal of the 
 living God : and he cried with a great voice to the four 
 angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the 
 sea, 3 saying. Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor 
 the trees, till we shall have sealed the ^servants of our 
 God on their foreheads. 
 
 4 And I heard the number of them that were 
 sealed, a hundred and forty and four thousand, sealed 
 out of every tribe of the children of Israel : 
 
 5 Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thou- 
 sand; 
 
 Of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand; 
 Of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand; 
 
 6 Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand; 
 Of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand; 
 Of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand; 
 
 7 Of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand; 
 Of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand; 
 Of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand; 
 
 8 Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand; 
 Of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand; 
 Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve 
 thousand. 
 
 iQr, military tribunes Gr. chiliarchs. 
 
 ^Gr. bondservants. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 69 
 
 (B) The Redeemed Out of All Nations 
 
 9 After these things I saw, and behold, a great 
 The Countless multitude, which no man could number, out of every 
 Multitude nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, stand- 
 ing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in 
 white robes, and palms in their hands ; 
 
 10 And they ciy with a great voice, saying, 
 Salvation unto our God who sitteth on the throne, 
 and unto the Lamb. 
 
 II And all the angels were standing round about 
 The Salvation the throne, and about the elders and the four living 
 Chorus creatures; and they fell before the throne on their 
 
 faces, and worshipped God, 12 saying, 
 Amen: ^Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and 
 thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be 
 unto our God ^for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto 
 me. These that are arrayed in the white robes, who are 
 they, and whence came they ? 14 And I ^say unto him. 
 My lord, thou knowest. And he said to me. These are 
 they that come out of the great tribulation, and they 
 washed their robes, and made them white in the blood 
 of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they before the throne 
 The Great of God ; and they serve him day and night in his *tem- 
 Beward pig- ^nd he that sitteth on the throne shall spread his 
 
 tabernacle over them. 16 They shall hunger no more, 
 neither fliirst any more ; neither shall the sun strike 
 upon them, nor any heat: 17 for the Lamb that is in 
 the midst ^of the throne shall be their shepherd, and 
 shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life: 1 
 and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. J 
 Q And when he opened the seventh seal, there fol- 
 
 ^ lowed a silence in heaven about the space of half an 
 hour. 
 
 The Seventh 
 Seal 
 
 3 The Vision of the Seven Trumpets 
 (The World's Judgment Proclaimed) 
 (A) The Preparation for the Trumpets 
 liven Seven* 2 And I saw the seven angels that stand before 
 
 Trumpets God ; and there were given unto them seven trumpets. 
 3 And another angel came and stood ^over the 
 altar, having a golden censer ; and there was given unto 
 him much incense, that he should ^add it unto the pray- 
 ^th^^e*^ ers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was 
 Incense before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, 
 
 ^with the prayers of the saints, went up before God 
 
 »Gr, The hlessing. and the glory, &c. ^Gr. unto the ages of the ages. »Gr. 
 have said. ^Or, sanctuary ^Or, before See ch. 4. 6 ; comp. 5. 6. •Or, at 
 'Gr. give. 'Or, for 
 
The First 
 Trumpet 
 
 The Second 
 Trumpet 
 
 70 STUDIES m the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 out of the angel's hand. 5 And the angel Haketh the 
 censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and 
 cast it ^upon the earth: and there followed thunders, 
 and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake. 
 
 Made^Re^dy*^ 6 And the seven angels that had the seven trum- 
 to Sound pets prepared themselves to sound. 
 
 ( B ) The Trumpets Sounded 
 
 7 And the first sounded, and there followed hail 
 and fire, mingled with blood, and they were cast ^upon 
 the earth : and the third part of the earth was burnt up, 
 and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all 
 green grass was burnt up. 
 
 8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were 
 a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the 
 sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; g 
 and there died the third part of the creatures which 
 were in the sea, even they that had life; and the third 
 part of the ships was destroyed. 
 
 lo And the third angel sounded, and there fell 
 from heaven a great star, burning as a torch, and it fell 
 upon the third part of the fivers, and upon the foun- 
 tains of the waters; ii and the name of the star is 
 called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters 
 became wormwood ; and many men died of the waters, 
 because they were made bitter. 
 
 12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third 
 part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the 
 moon, and the third part of the stars; that the third 
 part of them should be darkened, and the day should 
 not shine for the third part of it, and the night in like 
 manner. 
 
 (13 And I saw, and I heard ^an eagle, flying in mid 
 heaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, 
 The Eagle-Cry fQ I- them that dwell on the earth, by reason of the 
 
 other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who \ 
 are yet to sound. / 
 
 Q And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star 
 ^ from heaven fallen unto the earth : and there was 
 given to him the key of the pit of the abyss. 2 And 
 he opened the pit of the abyss ; and there went up 
 a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace ; 
 and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of 
 the smoke of the pit. 3 And out of the smoke came 
 forth locusts upon the earth; and power was given 
 them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 And 
 
 The Third 
 Trumpet 
 
 The Fourth 
 Trumpet 
 
 'Gr. hath taken. 
 
 ^Or, into 'Gr. one eagle. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 71 
 
 The Fifth 
 Trumpet 
 
 The First 
 Woe Ended 
 
 it was said unto them that they should not hurt the 
 grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither 
 any tree, but only such men as have not the seal of 
 God on their foreheads. 5 And it was given them 
 that they should not kill them, but that they should 
 be tormented five months: and their torment was as 
 the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh a man. 6 
 And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in 
 no wise find it ; and they shall desire to die, and death 
 fleeth from them. 7 And the ^shapes of the locusts 
 were like unto horses prepared for war; and upon 
 their heads as it were crowns like unto gold, and their 
 faces were as men's faces, 8 And they had hair as 
 the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth 
 of lions. 9 And they had breastplates, as it were 
 breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was 
 as the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to 
 war. 10 And they have tails like unto scorpions, and 
 stings ; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five 
 months. 11 They have over them as king the angel 
 of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in 
 the Greek tongue he hath the name ^Apollyon. 
 / 12 The first Woe is past: behold there come \ 
 
 \ yet two Woes hereafter. / 
 
 13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard ^a 
 voice from the horns of the golden altar which is be- 
 fore God, 14 one saying to the sixth angel that had the 
 trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the 
 great river Euphrates. 15 And the four angels were 
 loosed, that had been prepared for the hour and day 
 and month and year, that they should kill the third 
 part of men. 16 And the number of the armies of the 
 horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: 
 I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the 
 horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having 
 breastplates as of fire and of hyacinth and of brim- 
 stone : and the heads of the horses are as the heads of 
 lions ; and out of their mouths proceedeth fire and 
 smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues was 
 the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke 
 and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their 
 mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their 
 mouth, and in their tails : for their tails are like unto 
 serpents, and have heads; and with them they hurt. 
 20 And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with 
 these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, 
 that they should not ^worship demons, and the idols 
 
 iQr likenesses. 
 note on ch. 3. 9. 
 
 The Sixth 
 Trumpet 
 
 =That is, Destroyer. 'Gr. one voice. 
 
 ^See marginal 
 
72 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and 
 of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: 
 21 and they repented not of their murders, nor of their 
 sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. 
 
 3b The Episode of the Angel with the Book 
 
 AND OF the Two WITNESSES 
 
 10[ 
 
 (An Intervening Vision of Divine Help Attained) 
 
 (A) The Angel with the Little Open Book 
 
 And I saw another strong angel coming down 
 out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud ; and the rain- 
 bow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, 
 Com^g^DVwn ^^^ ^^^ ^^^' ^^ pillars of fire ; 2 and he had in his hand 
 Out of Heaven a little book Open: and he set his right foot upon the 
 sea, and his left upon the earth ; 3 and he cried with 
 a great voice, as a lion roareth : 
 
 And when he cried, the seven thunders uttered 
 
 their voices. 4 And when the seven thunders uttered 
 
 The Thunder- their voices, I w^as about to write : and I heard a voice 
 
 Voices from heaven saying, Seal up the things which the seven 
 
 thunders uttered, and write them not. 
 
 5 And the angel that I saw standing upon the sea 
 and upon the earth lifted up his right hand to heaven, 
 6 and sware by him that liveth ^for ever and ever, who 
 created the heaven and the things that are therein, and 
 The Mystery the earth and the things that are therein, ^and the sea 
 of God to End and the things that are therein, that there shall be ^de- 
 lay no longer: 7 but in the days of the voice of the 
 seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is 
 finished the mystery of God, according to the good tid- 
 ings which he declared to his ^servants the prophets. 
 
 8 And the voice which I heard from heaven, / heard 
 it again speaking with me, and saying. Go, take the 
 book which is open in the hand of the angel that 
 standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 9 And I 
 went unto the angel, saying unto him that he should 
 The Book give me the little book. And he saith unto me. Take 
 Eaten \^^ ^nd eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, 
 
 but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey. 10 And I 
 took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate 
 it up ; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey : and 
 when I had eaten it, my belly was made bitter. 1 1 
 And they say unto me. Thou must prophesy again 
 ^over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. 
 
 iQr. unto the ayes of the apes. -Some ancient authorities omit and the 
 sea and the things that are therein. 'Or, time <Gr. bondservants. »0r, 
 concerning Comp. Jn. 12. 16. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OP REVELATION. 73 
 
 11 
 
 The Temple 
 Measured 
 
 The Two 
 Witnesses 
 with Power 
 
 (B) The Two Witnesses 
 
 And there was given me a reed Hke unto a rod: 
 ^and one said, Rise, and measure the -temple of God, 
 and the altar, and them that worship therein. 2 And 
 the court which is without the ^temple ^leave without, 
 and measure it not; for it hath been given unto the 
 ^nations: and the holy city shall they tread under 
 foot forty and two months. 
 
 3 And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they 
 shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore 
 days, clothed in sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive 
 trees and the two '^candlesticks, standing before the 
 Lord of the earth. 5 And if any man desireth to hurt 
 them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth 
 their enemies ; and if any man shall desire to hurt them, 
 in this manner must he be killed. 6 These have the 
 power to shut the heaven, that it rain not during 
 the days of their prophecy : and they have power over 
 the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the 
 earth with every plague, as often as they shall desire. 
 
 7 And when they shall have finished their testi- 
 mony, the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall 
 make war with them, and overcome them, and kill 
 them. 8 And their Mead bodies /ie in the street of the 
 great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, 
 where also their Lord was crucified. 9 And from 
 among the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations 
 do men look upon their ''dead bodies three days and a 
 half, and suffer not their dead bodies to be laid in a 
 tomb. 10 And they that dwell on the earth rejoice 
 over them, and make merry ; and they shall send gifts 
 one to another; because these two prophets tormented 
 them that dwell on the earth. 
 
 II And after the three days and a half the breath 
 of life from God entered into them, and they stood up- 
 on their feet; and great fear fell upon them that be- 
 held them. 12 And they heard a great voice from 
 THeir heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they 
 
 Besurrection . P -I'li j^i- • u 
 
 and Ascension went Up mto heaven m the cloud; and their enemies be- 
 held them. 13 And in that hour there was a great 
 earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell; and 
 there were killed in the earthquake ^seven thousanc 
 persons: and the rest were affrighted, and gave "" 
 glory to the God of heaven. 
 / 14 The second Woe is past : behold, the third 
 
 Their 
 
 Testimony 
 
 Finished 
 
 The iSecond 
 Woe Ended 
 
 Woe cometh quickly. 
 
 ^Gr. saying. =0r, sanctuary »Gr. cast without. ■'Or, Gentiles Kir. lamp- 
 stands. Kir. carcase. 'Gr. names of men, seven thousand. Comp. ch. 3-4, 
 
74 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 The Seventh 
 Trumpet 
 
 The Victory 
 Chorus 
 
 Tokens of 
 Judgment 
 
 15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there 
 followed great voices in heaven, and they said, 
 
 The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom 
 of our Lord, and of his Christ : and he shall reign 
 ^for ever and ever. 
 
 16 And the four and twenty elders, who sit be- 
 fore God on their thrones, fell upon their faces and 
 worshipped God, 17 saying. 
 
 We give thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, 
 who art and who wast; because thou hast taken thy 
 great power, and didst reign. 18 And the nations 
 were wroth, and thy wrath came, and the time of 
 the dead to be judged, and the time to give their 
 reward to thy ^servants the prophets, and to the 
 saints, and to them that fear thy name, the small 
 and the great; and to destroy them that destroy the 
 earth. 
 
 19 And there was opened the ^temple of God that 
 is in heaven ; and there was seen in his ^temple the ark 
 of his covenant; and there followed lightnings, and 
 voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great 
 hail. 
 
 4 The Vision of Conflict 
 
 (The Church-Historic World-Conflict of the Evil 
 against the Just) 
 
 (A) The Woman and the Dragon 
 
 And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman 
 arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, 
 and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and 
 she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in 
 birth, and in pain to be delivered. 3 And there was 
 The Woman's seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red 
 Drain's ^ dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon 
 his heads seven diadems. 4 And his tail draweth the 
 third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to 
 the earth: and the dragon standeth before the woman 
 that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered 
 he may devour her child. 
 
 5 And she was delivered of a son, a man child, 
 who is to rule all the ^nations with a rod of iron : and 
 her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne. 
 
 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where 
 The Woman's shc hath a place prepared of God, that there they may 
 
 nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore 
 days. 
 
 12 
 
 Power 
 
 The 
 
 All-Ruling 
 Man-Child 
 
 Escape 
 
 'Gr. unto the ages of the ayes. 
 Oentiles 
 
 =Gr. bondservants. 'Or. sanctuary <0r 
 
STUDIES m the BOOK OF REVELATION. 75 
 
 Michael 
 Warring 
 witb the 
 Dragon 
 
 Satan's 
 
 Downfall 
 
 Proclaimed 
 
 (B) War in Heaven 
 
 [7 And there was war in heaven : Michael and 
 his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and 
 the dragon warred and his angels ; 8 and they prevailed 
 not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. 
 9 And the great dragon was cast down, the old ser- 
 pent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver 
 of the whole ^world; he was cast down to the earth, 
 and his angels were cast down with him. 
 
 10 And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, 
 
 ^Now is come the salvation, and the power, and 
 
 the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his 
 
 Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast 
 
 down, who accuseth them before our God day and 
 
 night. II And they overcame him because of the 
 
 blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of 
 
 their testimony; and they loved not their life even 
 
 unto death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and 
 
 ye that ^dwell in them. Woe for the earth and for 
 
 the sea: because the devil is gone down unto you, 
 
 having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a 1 
 
 short time. J 
 
 13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast 
 
 down to the earth, he persecuted the woman that 
 
 brought forth the man child. 14 And there were given 
 
 to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that 
 
 she might fly into the wilderness unto her place, where 
 
 she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, 
 
 from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast 
 
 out of his mouth after the woman water as a river, 
 
 Hi^' Woman °' ^^^^ ^^ might cause her to be carried away by the 
 
 and Her Seed stream. i6 And the earth helped the woman, and the 
 
 earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river 
 
 which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the 
 
 dragon waxed wroth with the woman, and went away 
 
 to make war with the rest of her seed, that keep the 
 
 commandments of God, and hold the testimony of 
 
 Jesus: I and *he stood upon the sand of the sea. 
 
 (C) The Two Beasts 
 
 And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, hav- 
 ing ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten 
 diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. 2 
 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, 
 and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth 
 as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his 
 power, and his throne, and great authority. 3 And 
 
 'Gr. inhabited earth. ^or, Now is the salvation, and the power, and the 
 kingdom, become our God's, and the authority is become his Christ's 'Gr. 
 
 tabernacle. <Some ancient authorities read / stood, &c. connecting the clause 
 with what follows. 
 
 13 
 
76 STUDIES m the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 An 
 
 Admonition 
 to Patience 
 
 / saw one of his heads as though it had been ^smitten 
 unto death ; and his death-stroke was healed : and the 
 whole earth wondered after the beast; 4 and they 
 ^worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority 
 unto the beast ; and they ^worshipped the beast saying, 
 
 SeBelstftrom^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^"^^ ^^^ beast? and who is able to war 
 the Sea with him ? 5 and there was given to him a mouth speak- 
 
 ing great things and blasphemies ; and there was given 
 to him authority ^to continue forty and two months. 
 6 And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against 
 God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, even 
 them that *dwell in the heaven. 7 ^And it was given 
 unto him to make war with the saints, and to over- 
 come them : and there was given to him authority over 
 every tribe and people and tongue and nation. 8 And 
 all that dwell on the earth shall ^worship him, every 
 one whose name hath not been "^written from the 
 foundation of the world in the book of life of the 
 Lamb that hath been slain. 
 
 (9 If any man hath an ear, let him hear. 10 ''If 
 any man ^is for captivity, into captivity he goeth: 
 if any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword 
 must he be killed. Here is the ^patience and the \ 
 faith of the saints. / 
 
 II And I saw another beast coming up out of the 
 earth; and he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he 
 spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all the au- 
 thority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh 
 the earth and them that dwell therein to ^worship the 
 first beast, whose death-stroke was healed. 13 And 
 he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire 
 to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the 
 sight of men. 14 And he deceiveth them that dwell 
 on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given 
 him to do in the sight of the beast ; saying to them 
 that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image 
 to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and 
 lived. 15 And it was given unto him to give breath 
 to it, even to the image of the beast, ^"that the image 
 of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many 
 as should not ^worship the image of the beast should 
 be killed. 16 And he causeth all, the small and the 
 great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the 
 bond, that there be given them a mark on their right 
 
 ^Gr. slain. ^See marginal note on ch. 3. 9. 'Or, to do his works 
 during See Dan. 11. 28. <Gr. tabernacle. ^Some ancient authorities omit 
 And it was f/iven .... overcome them. *Or, written in the book .... sladn from 
 the foundation of the world 'The Greek text in this verse is somewhat un- 
 certain. *Or, leadeth into captivity 'Or, sted fastness '"Some ancient 
 authorities read that even the image of the beast should speak; and he shall 
 cause &c. 
 
 The Second 
 Beast — ^the 
 Beast from 
 the Land 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 77 
 
 An 
 
 Admonition 
 to Wisdom 
 
 14 
 
 The Lamb 
 and His 
 Company 
 
 The Incom- 
 municable 
 Chorus 
 
 hand, or upon their forehead; 17 and that no man 
 should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the 
 mark, even the name of the beast or the number of 
 his name. 
 
 (18 Here is wisdom. He that hath understand- 
 ing, let him count the number of the beast; for it 
 is the number of a man : and his number is ^Six \ 
 hundred and sixty and six. / 
 
 (D) The Lamb on Mount Zion 
 
 And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the 
 mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and 
 four thousand, having his name, and the name of his 
 Father, written on their foreheads. 
 
 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice 
 of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: 
 and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harp- 
 ers harping with their harps: 3 and they sing as it 
 were a new song before the throne, and before the four 
 living creatures and the elders: and no man could 
 learn the song save the hundred and forty and four 
 thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the 
 earth. 
 
 4 These are they that were not defiled with wom- 
 en; for they are virgins. These are they that follow 
 the Lamb withersoever he goeth. These were pur- 
 chased from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God 
 and unto the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found 
 no lie: they are without blemish. 
 
 6 And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, 
 having ^eternal good tidings to proclaim unto them 
 that ^dwell on the earth, and unto every nation and 
 tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he saith with a 
 great voice. Fear God, and give him glory; for the 
 hour of his judgment is come : and ^worship him that 
 made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains 
 of waters. 
 
 8 And another, a second angel, followed, saying, 
 Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, that hath made all 
 the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her 
 fornication. 
 
 9 And another angel, a third, followed them, say- 
 ing with a great voice, li any man *worshippeth the 
 beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his fore- 
 
 The Message head, or upon his hand, 10 he also shall drink of the 
 the^B©rstand ^'"^ °^ ^^^ wrath of God, which is ^prepared un- 
 His Fouowers mixed in the cup of his anger ; and he shall be tor- 
 
 'Some ancient authorities read Six hundred and sixteen. ^qj.^ an eternal 
 gospel »Gr. sit. ^See marginal note on ch. 3. 9. "Gr. mingled. 
 
 The Purity of 
 the Redeemed 
 
 The Message 
 of the Eternal 
 Gospel 
 
 The Message 
 of Babylon' s 
 FaU 
 
78 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 The Test of 
 Patience 
 
 The Blessed- 
 ness of the 
 Holy Dead 
 
 The Harvest 
 of the Elect 
 
 merited with fire and brimstone in the presence of the 
 holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: ii and 
 the smoke of their torment goeth up ^for ever and 
 ever; and they have no rest day and night, they that 
 ^worship the beast and his image, and whoso re- 
 ceiveth the mark of his name. 
 
 (12 Here is the ^patience of the saints, they \ 
 that keep the commandments of God, and the / 
 faith of Jesus. 
 
 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, 
 Blessed are the dead who die *in the Lord from 
 henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest 
 from their labors; for their works follow with them. 
 
 14 And I saw, and behold, a white cloud ; and on 
 the cloud I saw one sitting like unto a son of man, 
 having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a 
 sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out from 
 the ^temple, crying with a great voice to him that sat 
 on the cloud, Send forth thy sickle, and reap: for the 
 hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is 
 ''ripe. 16 And he that sat on the cloud cast his sickle 
 upon the earth ; and the earth was reaped. 
 
 17 And another angel came out from the ^temple 
 which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 
 And another angel came out from the altar, he that 
 hath power over fire; and he called with a great voice 
 to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth 
 thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of 
 the earth ; for her grapes are fully ripe. 19 And the 
 angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the 
 ■^vintage of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, 
 the great winepress, of the wrath of God. 20 And 
 the winepress was trodden without the city, and there 
 came out blood from the winepress, even unto the 
 bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six 
 hundred furlongs. 
 
 5 The Vision of the Seven Vials 
 (The World's Judgment Executed) 
 (A) The Preparation for the Vials 
 
 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and 
 
 ^0 Angels marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues, which 
 
 are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God. 
 
 2 And I saw as it were a ^sea of glass mingled 
 
 with fire; and them that come off victorious from the 
 
 ^Gr. unto ages of ages. =See marginal note on ch. 3. 9. 'Or, stedfast- 
 ness, «0r, in the Lord. From henceforth, yea saith the Spirit "Or, so-wc- 
 tuary. «Gr. become dry. 'Gr. vine. ^or, glassy sea. 
 
 The Vintage 
 of Wrath 
 
 15 
 
 Plagues 
 
 The Victors 
 by the Sea 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 79 
 
 The Chorus 
 of Moses and 
 the Lamb 
 
 The Temple 
 in Heaven 
 Opened 
 
 beast, and from his image, and from the number of 
 his name, standing ^by the ^sea of glass, having harps 
 of God. 
 
 3 And they sing the song of Moses the ^servant 
 of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying. 
 Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God, 
 the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, 
 thou King of the *ages. 4 Who shall not fear, O 
 Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; 
 for all the nations shall come and ^worship before 
 thee; for thy righteous acts have been made mani- 
 fest. 
 
 5 And after these things I saw, and the ^temple 
 of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was 
 opened: 6 and there came out from the ^temple the 
 seven angels that had the seven plagues, arrayed ^with 
 precious stone, pure and bright, and girt about their 
 breasts with golden girdles. 7 And one of the four 
 living creatures gave unto the seven angels seven 
 golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who liveth ^for 
 ever and ever. 8 And the ^temple was filled with 
 smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; 
 and none was able to enter into the ^temple, till the 
 seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished. 
 
 (B) The Vials Poured Out 
 
 And I heard a great voice out of the ^temple. 
 The Command saying to the seven angels. Go ye, and pour out the 
 
 to Pour Out -^ °, , r 1 1 r /-- 1 • ^ ^1 ^1 
 
 seven bowls of the wrath of God mto the earth. 
 
 2 And the first went, and poured out his bowl 
 into the earth ; and ^it became a noisome and grievous 
 sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast, and 
 that ^worshipped his image. 
 
 3 And the second poured out his bowl into the 
 sea ; and ^it became blood as of a dead man ; and every 
 ^°living soul died, even the things that were in the sea. 
 
 4 And the third poured out his bowl into the 
 rivers and the fountains of the waters; ^^and ®it be- 
 came blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters 
 saying. Righteous art thou, who art and who wast, 
 thou Holy One, because thou didst thus ^^judge: 6 for 
 they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and 
 blood hast thou given them to drink : they are worthy. 
 7 And I heard the altar saying. Yea, O Lord God, the 
 Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. 
 
 *Or, upon =0r, glassy sea ^qj.^ bondservant. ^Many ancient authorities 
 read nations. Jer. 10 7. ^See marginal note on ch. 3. 9. *0r, sanctuary 
 'Many ancient authorities read in linen, ch. 19. 8. *Gr. unto the apes of the 
 ages. »0r. there came i^Gr. soul of life. "Some ancient authorities read 
 and they became. ^Or, judge. Because they ... .prophets, thou hast given 
 them blood also to drink 
 
 16 
 
 the Vials 
 
 The First 
 Vial 
 
 The Second 
 Vial 
 
 The Third 
 Vial 
 
80 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 The Fourtli 
 Vial 
 
 The Fifth 
 Vial 
 
 The Sixth 
 Vial 
 
 The Three 
 
 TTuclean 
 
 Spirits 
 
 The Warning 
 Voice 
 
 The Gathering 
 at Har- 
 Magedon 
 
 The Seventh 
 Vial 
 
 8 And the fourth poured out his bowl upon the 
 sun ; and it was given unto Mt to scorch men with fire. 
 9 And men were scorched with great heat: and they 
 blasphemed the name of God who hath the power over 
 these plagues ; and they repented not to give him glory. 
 
 lo And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the 
 throne of the beast; and his kingdom was darkened; 
 and they gnawed their tongues for pain, ii and they 
 blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains 
 and their sores ; and they repented not of their works. 
 
 12 And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the 
 great river, the river Euphrates; and the water 
 thereof was dried up, that the way might be made 
 ready for the kings that come from the sunrising. 
 
 5b The Episode of the Frog-like Spirits 
 (An Intervening Vision of Warning to the Redeemed) 
 
 [13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the 
 dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out 
 of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean 
 spirits, as it were frogs: 14 for they are spirits of 
 demons, working signs ; which go forth ^unto the kings 
 of the whole ^world, to gather them together unto the 
 war of the great day of God, the Almighty. 
 
 (15 (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he 
 that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he \ 
 walk naked, and they see his shame). / 
 
 16 And they gathered them together into the "I 
 place which is called in Hebrew *Har-Magedon. J 
 
 17 And the seventh poured out his bowl upon the 
 air; and there came forth a great voice out of the 
 ^temple, from the throne, saying, It is done: 18 and 
 there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and 
 there was a great earthquake, such as was not since 
 ®there were men upon the earth, so great an earth- 
 quake, so mighty. 19 And the great city was divided 
 into three parts, and the cities of the ''nations fell : and 
 Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of 
 God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the 
 fierceness of his wrath. 20 And every island fled 
 away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And 
 great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, 
 cometh down out of heaven upon men : and men blas- 
 phemed God because of the plague of the hail ; for the 
 plague thereof is exceeding great. 
 
 'Or, Mm =0r, upon 'Gr. inhabited earth. *0r, Ar-Magedon. "Or, 
 
 sanctuary *Some ancient authorities read there was a man. 'Or, Oentiles. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 81 
 
 17 
 
 6 The Vision of Victory 
 (The Church's Vindication Manifested) 
 
 (A) The Mystical Babylon and Her Fall 
 
 And there came one of the seven angels that had 
 the seven bowls, and spake with me, saying. Come 
 The Judgment hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great har- 
 Hariot^"** lot that sittcth upon many waters; 2 with whom the 
 kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that 
 dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine 
 of her fornication. 
 
 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a 
 wilderness : and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet- 
 colored beast, ^full of names of blasphemy, having 
 seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was 
 arrayed in purple and scarlet, and ^decked with gold 
 and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a 
 Babylon the goldcn cup full of abominations, ^even the unclean 
 Harlot City things of her fornication, 5 and upon her forehead a 
 name written, ^MYSTERY, BABYLON THE 
 GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS 
 AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE 
 EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the 
 blood of the saints, and with the blood of the ^martyrs 
 of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with a 
 great wonder. 
 
 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst 
 
 thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the 
 
 woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath 
 
 the seven heads and the ten horns. 8 The beast that 
 
 The Mystery thou sawest was, and is not; and is about to come up 
 
 an?thrB°eTs? out of the abyss, «and to go into perdition. And they 
 
 is Told that dwell on the earth shall wonder, they whose name 
 
 hath not been written ^in the book of life from the 
 
 foundation of the world, when they behold the beast, 
 
 how that he was, and is not, and ^shall come. 
 
 9 Here is the ^mind that hath wisdom. The seven 
 
 heads are seven mountains, on which the woman 
 
 sitteth: 10 and ^°they are seven kings; the five are 
 
 fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come; and when 
 
 he Cometh, he must continue a little while. 11 And 
 
 the beast that was, and is not, is himself also an 
 
 The Kings eighth, and is of the seven; and he goeth into perdi- 
 
 Sin^«ie tion. 12 And the ten horns that thou sawest are ten 
 
 Lamb kings, who have received no kingdom as yet; but 
 
 'Or, names full of hlasphemy ^Gr. gilded. «Or. and of the unclean 
 things *Ot. a mystery, Bahylon the Great ^Ot. witnesses See ch. 2. 13. 
 •Some ancient authorities read and he goeth. 'Gr. on. 'Gr. shall oe 
 
 present. =Or, meaning ^"Or, there are 
 
82 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one 
 hour. 13 These have one mind, and they give their 
 power and authority unto the beast. 14 These shall 
 war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome 
 them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and 
 they also shall overcome that are with him, called and 
 chosen and faithful. 
 
 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou 
 sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and 
 multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten 
 horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall 
 hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, 
 The Harlot and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with 
 Made Desolate fire. 1 7 For God did put in their hearts to do his 
 mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their king- 
 dom unto the beast, until the words of God should be 
 accomplished. 18 And the woman whom thou saw- 
 est is the great city, which ^reigneth over the kings of 
 the earth. 
 
 1 Q After these things I saw another angel coming 
 
 down out of heaven, having great authority; and the 
 earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried 
 with a mighty voice, saying. Fallen, fallen is Babylon 
 ttw GrSt^^city ^^^ great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a 
 Proclaimed "hold of every unclean spirit, and a ^hold of every un- 
 clean and hateful bird. 3 For ^by *the wine of the 
 wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen ; and 
 the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, 
 and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the 
 power of her ^wantonness. 
 
 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, say- 
 ing. Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have 
 no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of 
 her plagues: 5 for her sins ''have reached even unto 
 heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 
 Render unto her even as she rendered, and double 
 caued^^ut*^* MM^o her the double according to her works: in the 
 of Her cup which she mingled, mingle unto her double. 7 
 
 How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed 
 ^wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning: 
 for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no 
 widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. 8 There- 
 fore in one day shall her plagues come, death, and 
 mourning, and famine ; and she shall be utterly burned 
 with fire; for strong is ^the Lord God who judged her. 
 
 *Gr. hath a kingdom. ^Or, prison 'Some authorities read of the wine 
 .... have drunk ^Some ancient authorities omit the wine of. ^Or, luxury 
 •Or, clave together 'Or, luxurious 'Some ancient authorities omit the Lord. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 The Lament 
 of the Klnga 
 of the £artb 
 over Her 
 Doom 
 
 The Lament 
 of . the 
 
 Merchants of 
 the Earth 
 
 9 And the kings of the earth, who committed 
 fornication and Hved ^wantonly with her, shall weep 
 and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of 
 her burning, lo standing afar off for the fear of her 
 torment, saying. Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, 
 the strong city! for in one hour is thy judgment 
 come. 
 
 II And the merchants of the earth weep and 
 mourn over her, for no man buyeth their -mer- 
 chandise any more; 12 ^merchandise of gold, and 
 silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, 
 and purple, and silk, and scarlet ; and all thyine wood, 
 and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of 
 most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and mar- 
 ble; 13 and cinnamon, and ^spice, and incense, and 
 ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine 
 flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and mer- 
 chandise of horses and chariots and *slaves ; and 
 ^souls of men. 14 And the fruits which thy soul lusted 
 after are gone from thee, and all things that were 
 dainty and sumptuous are perished from thee, and 
 men shall find them no more at all. 15 The mer- 
 chants of these things, who were made rich by her, 
 shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weep- 
 ing and mourning; 16 saying. Woe, woe, the great 
 city, she that was arrayed in fine linen and purple and 
 scarlet, and ^decked with gold and precious stone and 
 pearl! 17 for in one hour so great riches is made 
 desolate. 
 
 And every shipmaster, and every one that saileth 
 any whither, and mariners, and as many as ''gain their 
 living by sea, stood afar off, 18 and cried out as they 
 looked upon the smoke of her burning, saying. What 
 city is like the great city? 19 And they cast dust on 
 their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying. 
 Woe, woe, the great city, wherein all that had their 
 ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her cost- 
 liness ! for in one hour is she made desolate. 
 
 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, 
 and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged 
 your judgment on her. 
 
 21 And ^a strong angel took up a stone as it were 
 a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying. Thus 
 with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast 
 down, and shall be found no more at all. 22 And the 
 voice of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and 
 trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and 
 
 ^Or, luxuriously ^Gr. cargo. 'Gr. amomum. ^Gr. iodies. Gen. 36. 
 6 (Sept.). ''Or, lives «Gr. gilded. 'Gr. work the sea »Gr. one. 
 
 The Lament 
 of the 
 Seamen 
 from Afar 
 
 The Holy 
 Bidden to 
 Bejoice 
 
84 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 The Ruin 
 Complete 
 
 19 
 
 The Voice 
 of a Great 
 Multitude 
 
 no craftsman, ^of whatsoever craft, shall be found any 
 more at all in thee; and the voice of a mill shall be 
 heard no more at all in thee ; 23 and the light of a lamp 
 shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the 
 bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at 
 all in thee : for thy merchants were the princes of the 
 earth ; for with thy sorcery were all the nations de- 
 ceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of proph- 
 ets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon 
 the earth. 
 
 (B) The Triumph of the Redeemed 
 
 After these things I heard as it were a great voice 
 of a great multitude in heaven, saying, 
 Hallelujah; Salvation, and glory, and power, be- 
 long to our God : 2 for true and righteous are his 
 judgments; for he hath judged the great harlot, 
 her that corrupted the earth with her fornication, 
 and he hath avenged the blood of his ^servants at 
 her hand. 
 3 And a second time they ^say. Hallelujah. And 
 her smoke goeth up *for ever and ever. 4 And the 
 four and twenty elders and the four living creatures 
 fell down and worshipped God that sitteth on the 
 throne, saying. Amen ; Hallelujah. 5 And a voice 
 came forth from the throne, saying. 
 Give praise to our God, all ye his ^servants, ye that 
 fear him, the small and the great. 
 6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great 
 multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as 
 the voice of mighty thunders, saying. 
 Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, 
 reigneth. 7 Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, 
 and let us give the glory unto him : for the mar- 
 riage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made 
 herself ready. 
 
 8 And it was given unto her that she should 
 array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the 
 fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 
 
 9 And he saith unto me. Write, Blessed are they 
 that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
 And he saith unto me. These are true words of God. 
 
 10 And I fell down before his feet to ^worship 
 him. And he saith unto me. See thou do it not : I am 
 a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that 
 hold the testimony of Jesus: ^worship God: for the 
 testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 
 
 'Some ancient authorities omit of whatsoever craft. ^qj. hondservants. 
 *Gr. have said. <Gr. unto the ages of the ages. «See marginal note on 
 ch. 3. 9. 
 
 The 
 
 Hallelujah 
 
 Chorus 
 
 The Array of 
 the Bride 
 
 The Blessed- 
 ness of the 
 Marriage 
 Supper 
 
 Worship 
 Befused by 
 the Angel 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 The 
 
 Conqueror 
 on the 
 White Horse 
 (The Begin- 
 ning of the 
 End) 
 
 (C) The Last Things 
 
 II And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a 
 white horse, and he that sat thereon ^called Faithful 
 and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and 
 make war. 12 And his eyes are a flame of fire, and 
 upon his head are many diadems ; and he hath a name 
 written which no one knoweth but he himself. 13 
 And he is arrayed in a garment ^sprinkled with blood : 
 and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And 
 the armies which are in heaven followed him upon 
 white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. 15 
 And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that 
 with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule 
 them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the ^wine- 
 press of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Al- 
 mighty. 16 And he hath on his garment and on his 
 thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND 
 LORD OF LORDS. 
 
 17 And I saw *an angel standing in the sun; and 
 he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that 
 fly in mid heaven, Come and be gathered together 
 unto the great supper of God; 18 that ye may eat the 
 flesh of kings, and the flesh of ^captains, and the flesh 
 of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them 
 that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free 
 and bond, and small and great. 
 
 19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the 
 earth, and their armies, gathered together to make 
 war against him that sat upon the horse, and against 
 his army. 20 And the beast was taken, and with him 
 the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight. 
 The Beast and wherewith he deceived them that had received the 
 prophlr mark of the beast and them that Worshipped his 
 image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire 
 that burneth with brimstone: 21 and the rest were 
 killed with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, 
 even the sword which came forth out of his mouth: 
 and all the birds were filled with their flesh. 
 
 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, 
 having the key of the abyss and a great chain ^in his 
 hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the old ser- 
 pent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him 
 for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, 
 and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should de- 
 ceive the nations no more, until the thousand years 
 
 The Call to 
 the Birds of 
 Mid Heaven 
 
 Taken 
 
 20 
 
 Satan Bound 
 
 iSome ancient authorities omit called. =Some ancient authorities read 
 
 _.^^ed in. 'Gr. vyinepress of the wine of the fierceness. *Gr. one. =0r. 
 military triiunes Gr. chiliarchs. «See marginal note on ch. 3. 9. 'Gr.. upon 
 
86 STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 
 
 The First 
 Besurrection 
 and the 
 Millennial 
 Beign 
 
 should be finished : after this he must be loosed for a 
 little time. 
 
 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, 
 and judgment was given unto them: and / saw the 
 souls of them that had been beheaded for the testi- 
 mony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such 
 as ^worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and 
 received not the mark upon their forehead and upon 
 their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ 
 a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead lived not 
 until the thousand years should be finished. This is 
 the first resurrection. 
 
 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the 
 first resurrection: over these the second death hath 
 
 Gog and Ma 
 gog) 
 
 The Blessed- 
 ness of the 
 
 Period"*^ no ^power; but they shall be priests of God and of \ 
 Christ, and shall reign with him ^a thousand years. ) 
 
 7 And when the thousand years are finished, 
 Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 and shall 
 come forth to deceive the nations which are in the 
 four comers of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather 
 them together to the war: the number of whom is as 
 Satan Loosed the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up over the 
 Overthrown breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the 
 (The Wax of saints about, and the beloved city : and fire came down 
 ^out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil 
 that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and 
 brimstone, where are also the beast and the false 
 prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night 
 ^for ever and ever. 
 
 II And I saw a great white throne, and him that 
 sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven 
 fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 
 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing 
 before the throne; and books were opened: and an- 
 other book was opened, which is the book of life: and 
 the dead were judged out of the things which were 
 and'uie Final Written in the books, according to their works. 13 
 Judgment And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and 
 death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: 
 and they were judged every man according to their 
 works. 14 And death and Hades were cast into the 
 lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake 
 of fire. 15 And if any was not found written in the 
 book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire. 
 
 The Second 
 Besurrection 
 
 'See marginal note on ch. 3. 9. -Or, authority 'Some ancient authori- 
 ties read the. ^Some ancient authorities insert from Ood. 'Gr. unto the 
 ages of the ages. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 87 
 
 21 
 
 The iNew 
 Creation 
 
 7 The Vision of the New Jerusalem 
 
 (The Throne after Victory) 
 
 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth : for 
 the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; 
 and the sea is no more. 
 
 2 And I saw ^the holy city, new Jerusalem, com- 
 The Holy City ing down out of heaven from God, made ready as a 
 
 bride adorned for her husband. 
 
 3 And I heard a great voice out of the throne say- 
 ing. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he 
 shall ^dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, 
 
 A Great Voice ajj(j God himself shall be with them, ^and be their 
 
 Out of tne .r-- 1 1 1 1 11 • r 1 • 
 
 Throne God : 4 and he shall wipe away every tear from their 
 
 eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there 
 be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more : the 
 first things are passed away. 
 
 5 And he that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, 
 I make all things new. And he saith, *Write: for 
 these words are faithful and true. 6 And he said 
 unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and 
 the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give 
 unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water 
 of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit 
 these things ; and I will be his God, and he shall be my 
 son. 8 But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and 
 abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and 
 sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall 
 be in the lake that bumeth with fire and brimstone; 
 which is the second death. 
 
 9 And there came one of the seven angels who 
 had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven 
 last plagues; and he spake with me, saying, Come 
 hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the 
 Lamb. 
 
 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a 
 mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city 
 Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11 
 having the glory of God: her ^light was like unto a 
 stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as 
 crystal: 12 having a wall great and high; having 
 twelve Agates, and at the Agates twelve angels; and 
 names written thereon, which are the names of the 
 twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 on the east 
 were three Agates; and on the north three Agates; and 
 
 All Things 
 Made New 
 
 The City the 
 Bride of 
 Christ 
 
 The Glory of 
 the New 
 Jerusalem 
 from Afar 
 
 iQr. the holy city Jerusalem cominq doion new out of heaven ^Gr. 
 
 tabernacle. ^ggme ancient authorities omit, and be their God. ^Or, Write, 
 These words are faithful and true. "Gr. luminary. "Gr. portals. 
 
88 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 on the south three Agates ; and on the west three 
 Agates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve 
 foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve 
 apostles of the Lamb. 
 
 15 And he that spake with me had for a measure 
 a golden reed to measure the city, and the Agates 
 thereof, and the wall thereof. 16 And the city lieth 
 foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as the 
 The Measure breadth : and he measured the city with the reed, 
 of the City twelve thousand furlongs : the length and the breadth 
 and the height thereof are equal. 17 And he meas- 
 ured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four 
 cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of 
 an angel. 
 
 18 And the building of the wall thereof was 
 jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto pure 
 glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city 
 were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The 
 first foundation was jasper; the second, ^sapphire; 
 ofHer^*^'^^*^^ ^^^ third, chalcedony ; the fourth, emerald ; 20 the 
 Building fifth, sardonyx ; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, 
 chrysolite ; the eighth, beryl ; the ninth, topaz ; the 
 tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, ^jacinth; the 
 twelfth, amethyst. 21 And the twelve Agates were 
 twelve pearls; each one of the several Agates was of 
 one pearl : and the street of the city was pure gold, 
 *as it were transparent glass. 
 
 22 And I saw no ^temple therein: for the Lord 
 
 God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the ^temple 
 
 thereof. 23 And the city hath no need of the sun, 
 
 neither of the moon, to shine upon it : for the glory of 
 
 God did lighten it, ^and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. 
 
 24 And the nations shall walk '^amidst the light 
 
 a'he Glory thereof: and the kings of the earth bring their glory 
 
 Within into it. 25 And the Agates thereof shall in no wise be 
 
 shut by day (for there shall be no night there) : 26 
 
 and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the 
 
 nations into it : 27 and there shall in no wise enter 
 
 into it anything ^unclean, or he that ^maketh an 
 
 abomination and a lie : but only they that are written 
 
 in the Lamb's book of life. 
 
 00 And he showed me a river of water of life, 
 
 bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God 
 
 The River and and of ^"the Lamb, 2 in the midst of the street thereof. 
 
 Tree of Life /i^^id on this side of the river and on that was ^^the 
 
 tree of life, bearing twelve '^-manner of fruits, yield- 
 
 >Gr. portals. -'Or, lapis laxuli 'Or, ftapphire ^Or, transparent as 
 glass 60r. sanctuarjf «Or, and the Lamb, the lamp thereof 'Or, by 
 '(Jr. common ^Ot, doeth i»Or. the Laiyib. In the midst of the street 
 thereof, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, &c. "Or, a tree 
 ^-Or. crops of fruit 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 89 
 
 The Beatific 
 Vision 
 
 ing its fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree 
 were for the heaUng of the nations. 
 
 3 And there shall be ^no curse any more : and the 
 throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein : and 
 his ^servants shall serve him ; 4 and they shall see his 
 face; and his name shall be on their foreheads. 5 
 And there shall be night no more; and they need no 
 light of lamp, neither light of sun ; for the Lord God 
 shall give them light: and they shall reign ^for ever 
 and ever. 
 
 The Message 
 BeaSirmed 
 
 Worship 
 Again 
 Refused by 
 the Angel 
 
 The Book Not 
 to Be Sealed 
 
 Christ's 
 Promise to 
 the Victors 
 
 III THE EPILOGUE 
 
 1 The Final Words of the Angel with the 
 Promise of Christ 
 
 6 And he said unto me, These words are faithful 
 and true : and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the 
 prophets, sent his angel to show unto his ^servants the 
 things which must shortly come to pass. 7 And be- 
 hold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the 
 words of the prophecy of this book. 
 
 8 And I John am he that heard and saw these 
 things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to 
 ^worship before the feet of the angel that showed me 
 these things. 9 And he saith unto me. See thou do it 
 not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy 
 brethren the prophets, and with them that keep the 
 words of this book: ^worship God. 
 
 10 And he saith unto me, Seal not up the words 
 of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand. 
 II He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness 
 ^still : and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy ^still : 
 and he that is righteous, let him do righteousness ^still : 
 and he that is holy, let him be made holy ^still. 
 
 12 Behold, I come quickly; and my ^reward is 
 with me, to render to each man according as his work 
 is. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and 
 the last, the beginning and the end. 14 Blessed are 
 they that wash their robes, that they may have ^the 
 right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by 
 the Agates into the city. 15 Without are the dogs, and 
 the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, 
 and the idolators, and every one that loveth and 
 ^maketh a lie. 
 
 >Or, no more ani/thing accursed =Gr. bondservants. 'Gr. unto the 
 
 ages of the ages ' ^See marginal note on ch. .3. 9. ^Or. yet more «0r, 
 
 wages 'Or. " the auhority over Comp. ch. 6. 8. «Gr. portals ^Or, doeth 
 Comp. ch. 21. 27. 
 
90 STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 
 
 i6 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto 
 
 Morning star jou these things ^for the churches. I am the root and 
 
 the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star. 
 
 2 The Closing Testimony of John 
 
 17 ^And the Spirit and the bride say. Come. And 
 he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is 
 athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take the 
 water of life freely. 
 
 18 I testify unto every man that heareth the 
 words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall 
 add ^unto them, God shall add ^unto him the plagues 
 which are written in this book: 19 and if any man 
 shall take away from the words of the book of this 
 prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree 
 of life, and out of the holy city, *which are written in 
 this book. 
 
 20 He who testifieth these things saith. Yea: I 
 come quickly. Amen : come. Lord Jesus. 
 
 3 The Author's Benediction 
 
 The Blessing 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus^ be ®with the 
 
 on the Saints saints. Amen. 
 
 A Universal 
 Invitation 
 
 John's 
 Witness and 
 Warning 
 
 A Last 
 Promise 
 of Hope and 
 Prayer of 
 Yearning 
 
 'Gr. over. -Or, Both 'Gr. upon. *0r, even from the things which 
 are written Bgome ancient authorities add Christ. 'Two ancient authori- 
 ties read with all. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 91 
 
 ANALYSIS AND NOTES 
 
 The Book of Revelation bears the inherent marks of 
 a thoroughly wrought out and carefully finished literary 
 production, showing evident traces of design and ar- 
 rangement throughout, which constitute a studied setting 
 for the remarkable series of visions that contain its chief 
 message to the church. Behind the outer form lies the 
 deep experience of the author who received a fresh rev- 
 elation of divine truth. To him God spoke in strange vi- 
 sions and in a marvellous way about the divine purpose 
 concerning his people and the great world of men: for 
 couched though it is in the strange fignires of Apocalyp- 
 tic, a method of religious thought belonging to that time, 
 it yet bears to the Christian mind indisputable marks of 
 divine inspiration. Moved by the visions which it records, 
 John wrote to the churches in Asia a message not only 
 for them but for all believers in all time ; for its lessons 
 lie not alone in the events of that age, but in the wider and 
 permanent relations of the church and the world through- 
 out the centuries, and they appeal to us with new force as 
 the varying conditions continue to change with the revolv- 
 ing years. The lessons of the book are for us in our day 
 no less than they have been for others in the past, and as 
 they will be for still others in the advancing future ; and 
 though these lessons are not always easy to grasp or 
 lightly to be understood, they are yet eminently worthy 
 of our attentive study and patient consideration. The syn- 
 thetic analysis which is here given, attempts to set forth 
 the main thought of the Revelation as it has been inter- 
 preted by many eminent commentators, and it is pre- 
 sented in as concise a form as is consistent with clearness 
 for the benefit of the general reader, for the chief pur- 
 pose of the present work is to make plain the symbolic 
 view as it has taken form in the mind of the writer. No 
 extended discussion of the more difficult portions of the 
 book has been attempted, for a satisfactory conclusion 
 is more often reached by careful thought than by elabor- 
 ate argument, though it has seemed best to reinforce the 
 view presented by constant reference to well-known 
 authorities, and also to provide a brief comparison of 
 different opinions on the main points of disagreement 
 for those who desire further study. 
 
92 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 The book is found upon examination to consist of 
 three principal parts, which are those oorrunon to every 
 finished composition, viz: — 
 
 I The Prologue, or Introduction . . . Ch. 1 :1 — 3 :23 ; 
 II The Main Apocalypse, or Revelation 
 
 Proper Ch. 4 :1 — 22 :5 ; and 
 
 III The Epilogue, or Conclusion Ch. 22 :6 — 21. 
 
 This division is one generally accepted by those who 
 have studied the book, for it is to most minds both natu- 
 ral and obvious, though some make the Introduction end 
 with the first chapter, and include the Epistles to the 
 Churches in the second part. As these, however, are not 
 so markedly Apocalyptic in form as the chapters that 
 follow, and do not enter into the chief message of the 
 book, but rather serve to prepare the way for it, they are 
 more properly regarded as part of the Introduction. 
 
 I The Prologue Ch. 1 :1— 3 :22 
 
 The introductory and epistolary portions of the book 
 which occupy the first three chapters, consist of four 
 parts, viz. the superscription, the salutation, a vision of 
 the exalted Redeemer, and messages to the seven church- 
 es in Asia. These give the source and authority of the 
 Revelation, convey a greeting to the seven churches that 
 are named, set forth the present activity of Christ in his 
 redemptive work with the certainty of his personal re- 
 turn, and then present particular messages to each of the 
 churches in Asia, which through their general condition 
 aiford a perspective view of the continuous and varied 
 experience of the whole church in the process of redemp- 
 tion. These preliminary parts of the book, also, serve to 
 introduce the great theme which is to occupy the subse- 
 quent revelation, viz. Christ and the Church through 
 Time to Eternity. The style is at once that of Apocalyp- 
 tic, though the form is less characteristic in the second 
 and third chapters than in the first and subsequent ones ; 
 the literary construction is marked by obvious and sus- 
 tained artistic skill ; and the subject-matter shows a pro- 
 found inner connection of thought with the visions that 
 follow, affording a clear indication of the unity of the 
 whole work that should not be overlooked in our study of 
 the book.^ 
 
 iBacon, Intr. to New Test., p. 235 ; and New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 160. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 93 
 
 1 The Superscription Ch. 1:1 — 3 
 
 In the siiperscription the book is described, its his- 
 tory and contents are given (v. 1 — 2), and a blessing is 
 pronounced (v. 3) upon those who read it, i. e. aloud be- 
 fore the congregation (dvaYivcboxcov), and those who 
 hear and keep the things written therein, an indication 
 that they were expected to be understood. This blessing is 
 the first of seven beatitudes found in the book (see App'x 
 C), and serves to show that the office of public reader in 
 the primitive church was established in the first century, 
 evidently because of a general lack of education among 
 the early converts. The book is declared to be the Rev- 
 elation or Apocalypse of things about to happen, — not a 
 revelation which has Jesus Christ for its subject,^ but 
 'the things which must shortly come to pass', a phrase 
 that is best interpreted as a prophetic formula for the 
 uncertain future which is always near with God (cf. Lu. 
 18 :8), and not to be taken in the stricter sense of limiting 
 the prophecy to the immediate future,^ — to have been 
 given of God (v. 1), and to have been made of, i. e. 
 through or by, Jesus Christ as the communicating wit- 
 ness,^ to have been sent by the instrument of an angel, 
 and to have been testified to by John, who witnessed con- 
 cerning the word of God and the testimony of Jesus 
 Christ^ which he received through the visions that are 
 herein recorded. These introductory verses (v. 1-3) are 
 usually regarded as an integral part of the book, though 
 they are thought by some to have been added afterward 
 as an introduction and authorization by the church, 
 probably by the elders at Ephesus.^ 
 
 2 The Salutation Ch. 1:4—8 
 
 The salutation is an address and greeting of grace 
 and peace to the seven churches in Asia from John, in the 
 
 ^As held by Selss and others, following Heinrich, who make the topic of the 
 Revelation Christ in his Second Advent, contrary to the generally accepted ex- 
 egesis. 
 
 ^Alford, Plummer, Lee, Milligan, and others, as against Diisterdieck, Stuart, 
 and the preterists generally. 
 
 ''It means the revelation which Jesus makes, not that which reveals him 
 .... Revelation anoKCikvTpiQ is a word reserved for the Gospel ; no Old Testa- 
 ment prophecy is called a revelation.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 1 ; also 
 cf. Diisterdieck, Meyer's Com. on Kev., pp. 94-95. 
 
 <'The testimony of Jesus Christ, like the revelation of Jesus Christ, means 
 that which he gave, not that which tells about him.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., 
 p. 2. 
 
 ^Simcox, Camb. Or. Test., Rev., p. 41 : Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 2 ; 
 also cf. Moulton, Intr. to Litr. of Bib., p. 312, who says, 'A careful reading will 
 show that these words are to be understood, not as a part of the revelation, 
 but as the writer's (or editor's) comment upon the book.' This view, it will be 
 seen, does not affect the sense of the verses, but only their origin. 
 
94 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 name of each person of the triune God, viz: — (1) in the 
 name of the Father, who is designated as 'him who is and 
 who was and who is to come V i- e. whose existence is alike 
 present, past, and future, the Eternal One, and expansion 
 of the sacred name Jehovah,the I AM, or the I WILL BE, 
 of Hebrew historic faith (cf. Ex. 3 :14, Am. R. V., marg.) ; 
 (2) in the name of the Holy Spirit, who is typified by 'the 
 seven Spirits that are before his throne' as being seven- 
 fold in his operation, i. e. complete and perfect (cf. Isa. 
 11:2) f and (3) in the name of Jesus Christ, who is pre- 
 sented as 'the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, 
 and the ruler of the kings of the earth', whose redemp- 
 tive work is declared in a doxology of praise (v. 5b and 6) 
 which is rendered unto him as the one 'that loveth us, 
 and washed us from our sins in his own blood'/ and 
 whose coming again is notably heralded — a pivotal 
 thought throughout the book.^ The descriptive phrase 
 'the firstborn of the dead' is an evident recognition of 
 Christ as the first to conquer death by resurrection. The 
 closing part of the salutation (v, 7-8) is exclamatory and 
 parenthetical, and forms a kind of prelude to all that fol- 
 lows, affirming the certainty of the second advent as if 
 already present, and introducing at this point the divine 
 witness, which is generally attributed to Christ who 
 speaks as God, affirming himself to be the source and end 
 of all things, the Eternal and All-Ruler, whose word 
 stands as surety for the fulfilment of the visions. The 
 fact of God as All-Ruler (navTOXQotTCOQ, 'the Al- 
 mighty'),^ and the realization of that fact in history, 'con- 
 stitutes the deep undertone which pervades every part 
 of the Apocalypse, and rises here and there into its lofti- 
 
 ^'Understanding can only know what is, has been, or will be. It is impos- 
 sible for anything to exist for understanding otherwise than as a matter of fact 
 it does exist in those three relations of time,' (Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, 
 Watson's 'Selections,' p. 186 ; or, in a slightly different translation. Edition of 
 Meiklejohn, p. 307). It is important for us to note that God is thus presented 
 as comprehending in himself all the possibilities of existence in human under- 
 standing. 
 
 ^For the view that the origin of this conception is to be found in the later 
 Jewish literature rather than in the Old Testament, see Scott in New Cent. Bib., 
 Rev., p. 126. Swete interprets, 'Here the spirits are seven, because the churches 
 in which they operate are seven.' Apoc. of 8t John, p. 6. 
 
 *R. V. 'loosed us from our sins by his blood.' 'The insertion or omission of 
 a single letter (in the Greek word) makes the difference between the A. V. 
 'washed' and the R. V. 'loosed.' The manuscript evidence for each is very evenly 
 balanced ; the other evidence likewise. On the whole, the old reading, 'washed,' 
 seems more in harmony with the thought of the book and with Johannine dic- 
 tion in general.' Neio Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 127. 
 
 ^'The continuous return (the coming of the Lord in the power of the 
 Spirit) prefacing, heralding the full manifestation of his might and glory, is 
 the grand theme of the Apocalypse.' Reynolds, Pulp. Com., John's Gospel, Intr., 
 p. Ixxxvi. 
 
 "This title, RavTOKpaTup 'the Almighty,' is used nine times in Revelation, and 
 only once elsewhere in the New Testament (II Cor. 6. 18). 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 95 
 
 est strains'. Terms like this, never applied to any but 
 God in the Old Testament, and well understood as belong- 
 ing only to the Divine Being, are freely used of Christ in 
 the Revelation, showing how fully his divine nature was 
 realized in that stage of the church's experience. The 
 connection of the eighth verse may properly be con- 
 sidered as the answering voice of Christ to the cry of 
 John in the seventh, 'Behold he cometh'! 
 
 3 The Introductory Vision (The Glorified Son of Man) 
 
 Ch. 1:9—20 
 This vision presents a transcendent Christophany, 
 unfolding the source of the Revelation, and introductory 
 to all that follows throughout the book; a view of the 
 glorified Son of Man in his exalted relation to the church 
 as King-Priest, manifesting his dignity and authority in 
 bold and striking imagery through a seven-fold vision. 
 
 (1) The Trumpet Voice Ch. 1:9—11 
 
 A great voice is heard, making a special revelation to 
 John as he partook with the saints in the tribulation of 
 Jesus^ in the isle of Patmos, off the coast of Asia Minor,^ 
 where he was banished for the word of God and the testi- 
 mony of Jesus, when he was in the Spirit, i. e. in the ec- 
 static state peculiar to the prophets, on the Lord's day;' 
 speaking behind him, i. e. while the speaker was yet un- 
 seen, in a voice as of a trumpet, commanding him to write 
 the things which he saw in a book (v. 11), and to send it 
 to the seven churches which are then named, the chief 
 churches in Asia, to whom the message of the Revelation 
 is addressed as the typical representatives of all the 
 churches throughout the world. The human name Jesus 
 is here found twice in one verse (v. 9), and occurs in the 
 Revelation nine (or ten) times, whereas it is seldom used 
 by Paul and never by Peter in the Epistles. This seems 
 to point toward the Johannine authorship, for the name 
 that belonged to the earthly life of our Lord was not 
 likely to be used by one who had not known Jesus in 
 familiar fellowship.* 
 
 ^Tribulation is the pervading undertone of ttie whole book. 'The moving 
 spirit of the vision in the Apocalypse is the sufferings of the church' (Ramsay, 
 The Church in the. Roman Empire, p. 295). 'The ethical keynote is patience' 
 {New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 129). 
 
 "See notes on 'The Place' in the Introduction to this volume. 
 
 ''The earliest use of the name (the Lord's day) is in this passage,' Scott, 
 New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 130 ; Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 5. 
 
 *See Scott, art. 'Rev.,' Hastings' Diet, of Chr. and Oosp. 
 
96 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 (2) The Triumphant Son of Man Ch. 1:12— 13a 
 
 The divine Savior at this point appears in the vision 
 as 'one like unto a son of man', i. e. human though trans- 
 figured, standing in the midst of seven golden candle- 
 sticks, or lampstands, which represent in symbol the 
 seven churches of Asia bearing light on the earth, and 
 in a wider sense the whole church in its completeness 
 witnessing for the truth, for seven is the number of uni- 
 versality — a scene recalling the temple, and indicating 
 Christ's triumphant and continual presence in the midst 
 of his people.^ 
 
 (3) The Gracious Apparel Ch. 1:13b 
 The Divine One is clothed with a ga-rment down to 
 
 the foot, the mark of dignity, and is girded about with a 
 golden girdle at the breasts as for reigning or priestly 
 intercession, not about the loins as for toil or conflict, in- 
 dicating the nature of Christ's present and continuous 
 work on behalf of his church. 
 
 (4) The Glorious Appearance Ch. 1:14 — 15, and 16c 
 The revealed Son of Man is majestic in form and 
 
 mien, and wondrous in appearance, like the Ancient of 
 Days in Daniel's vision (Dan. 7:9f), his head and hair 
 like wool in purity and majesty, his eyes penetrating and 
 enkindlii^g as a flame of fire, his feet awe-striking and de- 
 structive like molten brass glowing in a furnace, his 
 voice sounding like the roar of cataracts, and his coun- 
 tenance like to the unclouded sun — symbols all of these 
 of his exalted state, and perhaps intended to present a 
 reminiscence of the transfiguration. The Greek word 
 XoXxo/.i'6avog (v. 15), translated 'burnished brass' by 
 the Revisers, is of unknown origin, and occurs only here 
 and in ch. 2 :18. It is thought to have been a technical term 
 in local use among the metal workers of Ephesus, and to 
 apply to some alloy of copper or brass.^ The literal in- 
 terpretation of the word is 'incense-brass', which sug- 
 gests a metal used for making utensils in which to burn 
 incense, evidently precious, and having a glow in the 
 furnace, or like a furnace. 
 
 (5) The Seven Stars Ch. 1:16a 
 The Glorious One has in his right hand seven stars, 
 
 which, we are told (v. 20), are the angels, or heavenly 
 
 I'The vision of the Divine Christ in Rev. 1 dominates every subsequent 
 paragraph in the Apocalypse.' Reynolds, art. '(iosp. of John,' Hasting' Diet, of 
 Bib. 
 
 "Plummrr, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 7 ; also see Thayer's Gr. Lex. of Neic Test. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 97 
 
 representatives of the seven churches, i. e. Christ holds 
 the churches in his right hand, for the stars and the an- 
 gels are declared to be identical.^ It will be seen that the 
 seven angels, which stand as the ideal representatives of 
 the churches throughout the first part of the Revelation, 
 are here presented under another symbol, as seven stars 
 which are upheld in the hand of Christ 'like a chain of 
 glittering jewels', thereby showing his sustaining care 
 of the churches. The angels of the churches that are 
 symbolized by the stars, are not to be regarded as true 
 angelic beings any more than the stars are real stars, but 
 are the churches themselves personified by angelic forms 
 after the manner of the Apocalyptic. The figure is not 
 properly applicable to the bishops, pastors, or leaders of 
 the churches, though often so interpreted, for these are 
 leaders upon earth, whereas the angels like the stars be- 
 long in heaven.^ 
 
 (6) The Two-Edged Sword Ch. 1:16b 
 
 Out of the mouth of the Conquering Christ proceeds 
 a sharp two-edged sword,^ the emblem of the Word of God 
 in its penetrating power (cf. Eph. 6:17b, and Heb. 4:12) 
 which is designed both to reprove and punish, and which 
 serves to show that the divine Christ speaks with su- 
 preme authority. 
 
 (7) The Assuring Message Ch. 1:17-20 
 
 The Gracious Savior reassures John, who fell at his 
 feet as one who was dead, both by his touch and by his 
 words as of old on the holy mount (Mat. 17 :7) ; declaring 
 that he, the Son of Man, is the first cause, and final ar- 
 biter of destiny, the ever living one though once dead; 
 affirming that he has the keys of death and of Hades,^ 
 i. e. through his own resurrection has forever gained the 
 power over death, holding the key of its control, and has 
 also the key of Hades, the invisible spirit-world, which is 
 commonly associated with death in the New Testament 
 
 I'The association of angels with stars was a common Semitic idea.' (Monl- 
 ton). Each star was conceived of by the Jews as having its angel, as also 
 every force and phenomenon of nature had its separate angel. It is not strange, 
 therefore, that John grouped them in his thought. 
 
 ^Milligan, Internat. Com., vol. iv, Rev., p. 36; also Plumnver, Pulp. Com., 
 Rev. p. 8 For the other view see Faussett, J. F. & B. Com. on Rev., p. 589 ; 
 Stuart, Com. on Apoc, pp. 460-1 ; and Trench, Ep's to Seven Ch's, p. 75f. 
 
 3'This last image is not so strange as it appears at first sight, for the shor' 
 Roman sword was tongue-like in shape.' Hastings' Diet, of Bii., art. 'Sword; 
 
 <An indication of divine power as well as victory ; for 'it was part of the 
 teaching of the Rabbinic schools that the key of death was one of four (the 
 keys of life, the grave, food, and rain) which were in the hand of God alone.' 
 New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 133. 
 
98 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 as the general habitation of the dead during the inter- 
 mediate state (not 'hell', as in the Authorized Version) ; 
 and reaffirming the command to John to write therefore 
 the things which he saw in a book, viz. 'the things which 
 are', i. e. which now exist, looked at from the divine point 
 of view as beheld in the vision, and 'the things which 
 shall come to pass hereafter', i. e. which shall be made 
 manifest in history, those things that belong to the mys- 
 tery^ of the seven stars and the seven golden candle- 
 sticks, or to the mysterious and hidden future of the 
 church of Christ in the world which the seven churches 
 represent in its ideal unity. 
 
 The change of symbols in this vision is apt to be con- 
 fusing unless we catch the distinctive meaning of each. 
 Three different symbols are here used to represent the 
 churches, each presenting a different point of view, viz : — 
 (1) the angels, who represent the churches in their in- 
 dividual and organic life, engaged in active service for 
 God; (2) the stars, which represent the churches in their 
 relation to Christ, receiving and reflecting light from him 
 and upheld by his hand; and (3) the candlesticks, which 
 represent the churches in their relation to the world, bear- 
 ing light to men upon the earth. If these distinctions are 
 kept in mind the interpretation will be greatly simplified. 
 At this point it may also be well to note that the view 
 which regards the visions in the Revelation as purely 
 literary in origin, fails to satisfy the circumstantial ac- 
 count of John. On the contrary we find it is more in ac- 
 cord with the spirit of the record to regard them not as 
 literary inventions in which the message is clothed, but as 
 true visions divinely given which were, nevertheless, es- 
 sentially adapted to and conditioned by the previous men- 
 tal training and habits of the writer — the product of an 
 ethical and not a magical inspiration. In fact the reality 
 of the visions is in some sense coming now to be recog- 
 nized upon psychological grounds as the natural view.^ 
 And it should also be seen that the studied literary setting 
 of the visions, indicating arrangement and design upon 
 
 ^'The word mystery is not used in the Bible in the modern sense of 'some- 
 thing that cannot be fathomed or understood,' but on the contrary it indicates 
 either something which is waiting to be revealed or that which when explained 
 conveys understanding. In the latter sense it comes near to our word 'Symbol.' 
 And this is the sense in which it is to be taken here and in ch. xxii. 7.' {New 
 Cent. Bib., Rev., pp. 133-4). In the general and broader sense, however, 'The 
 term /ivarT/piov in the New Testament means truths once hidden now revealed, 
 made generally known, and in their own nature perfectly intelligible.' Bruce, 
 Exp. Or. Test., vol. I, p. 196. 
 
 'See art. 'Rev.,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib.; also 'New Test. Doctr. of Rev.' in 
 the same work, vol. V. p. 334e. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 99 
 
 the part of the seer in his record of them, does not mili- 
 tate against the view that the visions were real and the 
 experience recorded an actual one. But, 'even were the 
 supposition correct that the seer had only certain truths 
 divinely impressed upon his mind, which his poetic fancy 
 led him to clothe in the shapes before us, it would in no 
 degree modify either the extent of his inspiration or the 
 value of his teaching'.^ 
 
 4 The Seven Epistles Ch. 2:1— 3:22 
 
 The seven epistles are Christ's messages of encour- 
 agement and warning, of praise and blame, which were 
 given to John in vision, and which are addressed to the 
 seven churches of proconsular Asia,^ the scene of John's 
 later ministry, and through them to the church at large, 
 for each epistle contains not only a message to the partic- 
 ular church, but 'what the Spirit saith to [all] the 
 churches'. The form of epistles or letters in an apoca- 
 lypse was foreign to the Jewish method of writing, but 
 was doubtless introduced by John because the use of such 
 letters or epistles had already become established in the 
 church as a characteristic expression of the Christian 
 mind.^ These seven churches were not the only ones then 
 existing in Asia,^ but were evidently chosen to represent 
 them all, and were intended through their individual ex- 
 perience ' to exemplify the experience of the whole church 
 in the field of history'; not, however, in numerically suc- 
 cessive and historic stages, but the general experience 
 of the church universal throughout all time, for seven is 
 the symbol of universality, and the seven churches are 
 here intended to symbolize the universal church. Each of 
 the seven churches named occupied a strategic point of 
 special opportunity for gospel dispersion, and they were 
 doubtless addressed for that reason, though the message 
 imparted was divinely intended for the whole church in 
 all the ages. The number seven occurs so often in the Rev- 
 elation that it necessarily attracts our attention, and the 
 book itself has not inaptly been styled 'the Book of Sev- 
 
 ^Milligan, Lect. on Apoc, p. 16. 
 
 "AsiiL in the New Testament (with the possible exception of Acts 2.9) always 
 means the Roman province of that name, which embraced only the western part 
 of what we now call Asia Minor, and consisted of Mysia, Lydia. Caria, and part 
 of Phrygia, with the islands of the coast, — see the map in the beginning of this 
 volume. 'Asia was one of the most wealthy and populous and intellectually 
 active of the Roman provinces,' Ramsay, art. Asia.' Hastings' Diet, of Bih. 
 
 'Ramsay, Letters to Seven Ch's., p. 35. 
 
 ^Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 3; Swete, Apoc. of St John, latr., p. \iv, 
 and p. 4. 
 
100 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION 
 
 ens'. In each case, too, as here, the number has a symbolic 
 reference, a fact that should not escape our observation, 
 for it points the way to a general principle of interpreta- 
 tion, viz. that every number used throughout the hook, 
 ivithout exception, has an acquired symbolical meaning,^ 
 i. e. its ordinary arithmetical value is ignored, or becomes 
 subordinate, and it represents a different idea that has in 
 some way become associated with it as a number ; and this 
 important consideration often furnishes a key to the cor- 
 rect interpretation. The origin of this symbolism is very 
 early, antedating history — seven, for example, was a 
 sacred number with the Accadian predecessors of the 
 Semites in the remote dawn of Babylonian civilization.^ 
 This use probably had its rise from observations of the 
 heavenly bodies, such as the phases of the moon lasting 
 seven days, the seven planets of ancient astronomy, and 
 the Pleiades, together with the occurrence of seven as a 
 factor in gestation and in other well known i^henomena, 
 all of which served to impress upon the Eastern mind that 
 the number was somehow inwrought in the order of na- 
 ture and must therefore have a special significance. In 
 a similar way the number ten probably had its origin as 
 a symbol in the fact that it represented the complete num- 
 ber of digits on a man's hands, and formed the norm of 
 mathematical reckoning. Other numbers, also, from some 
 real or fancied relation to things, became ready symbols 
 for the Oriental mind. In the Apocalypse numbers are 
 often introduced first in their ordinary significance, as 
 the seven churches, and then pass easily and naturally to 
 their symbolic meaning which is usually apparent. But it 
 should be seen that a number does not thereby cease to 
 have a quantitative value when it becomes symbolical, 
 e. g. the seven churches represent a number still, though 
 it is the number of all the churches, the whole church, and 
 not seven units as before. It is the definite numerical 
 value only that is lost in the s\mibolism, and not the en- 
 tire idea of number or quantity ; and the failure to recog- 
 nize this fact may lead us astray in the interpretation, as 
 for instance, in that of the thousand years in chapter 
 twenty, where a great and complete number of years 
 seems to be meant, and not the completeness of Satan's 
 
 'Mllligan, Led. on Apoc, p. 38 ; Stuart, Com. on Apoc, pp. 101-16. and 
 Excur. II, p. 747 in same volume ; also see App'x E in this volume on the 
 'Symbolism of Numbers.' 
 
 'Sayce, Hibbert Lect's on Origin and Oroivth of Religion, p. 82. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 101 
 
 binding apart from any period of time, as held by some 
 commentators.^ 
 
 Each epistle is addressed to the angel of the indi- 
 vidual church which is named, i. e. to its heavenly repre- 
 sentative, the church personified in the form of an angel 
 according to the prevailing symbolism of the book, a po- 
 etic form of addressing the church itself; and the mes- 
 sage is given by authority of Christ himself,^ who is de- 
 scribed in veiled terms that are drawn mainly from the 
 imagery of the preceding vision, where the exalted Re- 
 deemer is so vividly set forth; and the terms are aptly 
 chosen to suit the particular needs of the church to which 
 it is sent. It has been suggested, also, that these epistles 
 to the churches contain numerous historical allusions to 
 events connected with the cities in which the churches 
 were located, as for example Sardis, whose fortress had 
 been twice captured while its people slept, is exhorted to 
 be watchful.^ The epistles are addressed first to the indi- 
 vidual and historic churches named, and then through 
 them are addressed to the whole church throughout the 
 world, of which the number seven is representative. Each 
 of the epistles contains seven component parts, viz: — (1) 
 the address to the individual church, i. e. to the angel of 
 the church who represents the church itself; (2) the 
 command of Christ to the seer to write; (3) the title of 
 Christ, usually taken from the vision of the glorified Re- 
 deemer in the opening chapter; (4) the praise or blame 
 for good or ill, given to the church for the conduct of 
 the past; (5) the divine charge or warning against spe- 
 cial forms of sin; (6) the promise of blessing to the vic- 
 tors; and (7) the call to each individual Christian to hear 
 and heed. The order in which the churches are addressed 
 is that of a geographical circuit beginning at Ephesus, the 
 first city of Asia, and going northward, which seems also 
 to have been the order of their importance from the chief 
 city downward. The literary form of this section may be 
 regarded as a reflection or echo of the manner of the open- 
 
 iSo MlUigan, Plummer, and others — see notes in Ch. 20. 2f. 
 
 2'Probalilv the most striking feature of the Seven Letters is the tone of 
 unhesitating and unlimited authority which inspires them from beginning to 
 end.' Ramsay, Letters to Seven Churches p. 75. 
 
 'See Ramsay's Letters to the Seven Churches, where there will be found 
 much accurate information concerning the seven cities that is based upon an ex- 
 tended residence in those cities, and careful personal investigation. A more 
 concise account by the same author is given in Hastings' Diet, of Bib., in the 
 separate articles upon each city. 
 
 ^See Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 56, who names six instead of seven 
 parts in the epistles. 
 
102 STUDIES in tjie BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 ing part of the rhapsody of Amos where recurrent formu- 
 lae of doom on seven nations are given (Amos ch. 1-2).^ 
 
 (1) The Epistle to the Church in Ephesus Ch. 2:1—7 
 The epistle to the church in Ephesus is Christ's mes- 
 sage to a declining church, a church which had left its first 
 love: — 'Remember. . .and repent'. In this epistle Christ 
 is 'he that walketh in the midst of the seven golden can- 
 dlesticks', and 'he that holdeth the seven stars in his 
 right hand', i. e. he who is continually present among the 
 churches, and who upholds them by his power. The can- 
 dlesticks are objective representations of the seven 
 churches bearing light upon the earth, as in the prophecy 
 of Zechariah (ch. 4:1 — 10) a seven-branched candlestick 
 stands for the Jewish nation as the representative of the 
 kingdom of God; while the seven stars, the counterpart 
 of the candlesticks, represent the churches held in the 
 hand of Christ shining in heaven. In this symbolism it 
 will be seen that the stars represent the churches in their 
 relation to Christ, while the candlesticks are intended to 
 exhibit their relation to the world. To move the 'candle- 
 stick out of its place ' is a threatening of extinction to the 
 particular church unless it repent. Those 'who call them- 
 selves apostles and they are not', were probably well 
 known pretenders of the closing part of the first century. 
 The Nicolaitans here condemned, were an early obscure 
 sect concerniug which little is known, but who are reputed 
 to have been libertines and seem to have denied the ob- 
 ligation of the moral law. The epistle is declared to con- 
 tain, as we find the other epistles are also, 'what the Spir- 
 it saith to the churches', a clear indication of a wider 
 message than to the individual community of the separate 
 church.^ 'To eat of the tree of life' as the reward of over- 
 coming, is a reference to the story of Eden (Gen. 3:22), 
 and then by anticipation to the joys of the New Jerusa- 
 lem which are the inheritance of the redeemed soul (cf. ch. 
 22:2; and Bk. of Enoch, 25:4-5). Paradise, a word rare- 
 ly used in the New Testament and probably of Persian 
 origin, is here employed to describe the future abiding 
 place of the redeemed.^ The church of Ephesus, to which 
 
 iMoulton's Mod. Read. Bii.. Rev., p. 196. 
 
 =The exhortation to 'hear what the Spirit saith to the churches' applies not 
 only to what is contained in the seven epistles, but to the entire Apocalypse 
 which follows. See Ramsay's Letters to Seven Ch's, p. 38. 
 
 'Paradise is the word used in the Septuagint for Eden. It occurs but 
 three times in the New Testament. It originally signified a park or garden 
 such as was used by Oriental monarchs for a pleasure-ground, but in Christian 
 usage it becomes a name for the scene of rest and recompense for the righteous 
 after death. See art. 'Paradise' by Salmond, Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 103 
 
 this epistle is addressed, is the chief of the seven 
 churches to whom John was instructed to write, though it 
 has long since ceased to exist. The city of Ephesus, which 
 was some sixty miles northeast of Patmos and was then 
 a large and wealthy metropolis, has experienced more vi- 
 cissitudes in its history than any other city of the Roman 
 province of Asia. At that time it ranked first among all 
 the cities of the province, and shortly after it became the 
 capital ; but it subsequently fell into decay, and it is now 
 only a squalid heap of ruins. 
 
 (2) The Epistle to the Church in Smyrna Ch. 2:8— 11 
 
 The eipistle to the church in Smyrna is Christ's mes- 
 sage to a suffering church, a church w^hich had endured 
 tribulation, poverty, and the blasphemy of the Jews: — 
 'Fear not. . .Be thou faithful'. Christ is here described 
 as 'the first and the last, who was dead and lived again', 
 a thought of special consolation for those who were about 
 to be cast into prison in the coming persecution, and many 
 of whom would suffer death — like Christ they would live 
 again. There is, also, a possible allusion in this to the 
 popular myth concerning the death and resurrection of 
 Dionysius, the favorite deity of Smyrna,^ with which the 
 death and resurrection of Christ, the notable facts of the 
 gospel, are placed in marked contrast. The recognized 
 poverty of the church in such a rich city is remarkable, 
 and it has been suggested that it may have been partly 
 at least the result of pillage by a mob;^ though more 
 likely the feeling against the gospel in the midst of 
 wealth like that of Smyrna w^as so strong as to make its 
 message unacceptable to any but the very poor. It will be 
 seen that the church receives no blame in this epistle, but 
 only counsel and encouragement. The ten days of tribula- 
 tion represent a period that is short but complete in it- 
 self, i. e. it has a fixed limit, for ten is the number of com- 
 pleteness. The crown of life promised to the victors is not 
 the royal diadem but the victor's crown, which is the sym- 
 bol of life eternal, and is the antithesis of the second 
 death, i.e. of the soul in hell (cf. ch. 20: 14 ;and 21 :8). John 
 may have here had in mind the crown often laid upon the 
 head of the dead body of an earthly victor in his funeral 
 procession — a crown of death Vv^ith which the crown of life 
 is placed in apposition. The second death by which 'he 
 
 ^Plummer. Pulp. Com., Rev-., pp. 50-00. 
 =Swete, Apoc. of St John, p. 30. 
 
104 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 that overcometh shall not be hurt', is the death of the 
 soul — not ceasing to be, but dying to the best in life — the 
 final condemnation which sinners undergo at the judg- 
 ment. Smyrna is located some forty miles north, and 
 somewhat west, of Ephesus, and was one of the most 
 wealthy, important, and beautiful cities of Asia Minor. 
 It has an unbroken record from the dawn of history to the 
 present day, and now has a population of some two hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand, and is both rich and prosperous. 
 
 (3) The Epistle to the Church in Pergamus^ 
 
 Ch. 2:12—17 
 The epistle to the church in Pergamus is Christ's 
 message to an impure church, a church which had some 
 that held the teaching of Balaam, and others the teach- 
 ing of the Nicolaitans: — 'Repent. . .or else I come with 
 the sword'. To this church Christ is 'he that hath the 
 sharp two-edged sword', i. e. who wields the instrument 
 of rebuke and punishment. The location of Satan's throne 
 in Pergamus denotes that the city was under his domin- 
 ion, and may refer to the newly introduced worship of 
 the Emperor in which that city was recognized as an im- 
 portant center ;2 while the death of Antipas, an other- 
 wise unknown martyr, called 'my witness, my faithful 
 one', and also the presence of those holding the teaching 
 of Balaam,^ the symbolic name for a doctrine akin to 
 the Nicolaitans, serve to show that it was truly a place 
 'where Satan dwelleth'. The aptness of the name lies in 
 the similarity of Balaam's method of seducing the Is- 
 raelites by licentiousness, and that of the false teachers 
 who were introducing Antinomianism (cf. Num. 25:1-2; 
 and 31:16). The hidden manna represents the true 
 bread of life, and is doubtless an allusion to the pot of 
 manna laid up before the Lord in the hidden recesses of 
 the holy place in the tabernacle (Ex. 16:33f.). There may 
 also be a reference to the Jewish tradition that Jeremiah 
 
 ipergamus, though a rarer form, is preferable to Pergamos (A. V.), or 
 Pergamum (R. V.) as the designation of the city, owing to its softer sound for 
 the English ear, though the form is otherwise indifferent. See Ramsay's art. 
 'Pergamus,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 'H Yitpyafio^ is found in Xenophon, 
 Pausanius, and Dion Cassius, but to Hepyafiov in Strabo, and Polyblus, and 
 most other writers, and in the inscriptions ; the termination is left uncertain in 
 Apoc. i.ll and ii.l2.' Swete, Apoc. of St John, p. 33. 
 
 ='Pergamum was the first place in Asia where as early as the reign of 
 Augustus was erected a temple to Rome and the Emperor,' Salmon, Hist. Intr. to 
 
 New Test., p. 239. 'An allusion to the rampant paganism of Pergamum 
 
 but chiefly perhaps to the new Caesar worship in which Pergamum was pre- 
 eminent and which above all other pagan rites menaced the existence of the 
 Church,' Swete, Apoc. of St John, p. 34. 
 
 ''The name Balaam does not indicate a sect, but a set of principles.' Briggs, 
 Mess, of Gospels, p. 451 ; also see New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 143. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 105 
 
 had hidden the ark with its contents in a cave of Sinai un- 
 til the advent of the Messiah (7/ Mace. 2:1), when it was 
 be restored. The white stone is probabl}^ the jade, which 
 has been held in high esteem in the East from the earliest 
 times,^ although some think it refers to the diamond. 
 White stands as the emblem of purity, but the exact sym- 
 bolism of the stone in this connection is obscure, though 
 clear enough to the first readers of the epistle. The fig- 
 ure may possibly have been drawn from the Jewish sa- 
 cred use of precious stones, especially of the mysterious 
 Urim and Thummim kept in the pouch of the breastplate 
 of the highpriest, which according to JeAvish tradition 
 were inscribed with a name known only to the priest him- 
 self .^ The gift would then imply the conferring of high- 
 priestly privileges on those who overcome. Some, how- 
 ever, find in it a reference to the white pebble of acquit- 
 tal used in courts of justice, or in casting the lot ; others 
 a reference to the tessera, or ticket, which admitted the 
 victor in the Olympic games to the public tables, and en- 
 titled him to the awards of his city; still others a refer- 
 ence to the common use of amulets and charms with a se- 
 cret name or pass-word on them, in that case the white 
 stone conferring the real power which the charm was as- 
 sumed to have.^ But more probably the reference is to a 
 stone engraved as a seal, with the name of Christ upon 
 it, the gift of which like the signet of a king (Gen. 41:42 
 and Est. 8 :2f.) is regarded as bestowing something of the 
 royal authority of Christ upon the recipient. Precious 
 stones of different shapes were commonly used for seals, 
 and were often unmounted and hung by a cord about the 
 neck ; and the name of the owner and of the deity whom he 
 specially worshipped were engraved upon them.^ Every 
 man of rank and wealth in the East from time immemorial 
 
 'This identification is suggested by the present author as a probable one, 
 for jade is the most notable white stone that was in use in ancient times, and 
 it is still highly prized for seals, charms, and kindred purposes in China and 
 the Par East. Dr. Schlieman found implements made from the coarser kinds of 
 it in the immediate region of Pergamus among the relics of the oldest of the 
 cities in the excavations at Hissarlik, the mound of ancient Ilium, near Troas ; 
 and a jade celt engraved with Gnostic formula in Greek characters is preserved 
 in the Christy collection. See art. 'Jade,' Encyc. Brit. 
 
 =Trench. Ep's to Seven Churches, pp. 178-80. Trench's view, however, that 
 the Urim and Thummim consisted of a single stone is not correct, though his 
 interpretation of this passage is as usual very suggestive. See art. 'Urim and 
 Thummim' in Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
 'See Trench, Stuart, Plummer, Lee, Scott, and others. Lange says concisely. 
 'Two meanings attached to the white stone among the Greeks, viz. acquittal in 
 judgment, and the award of some rank or dignity.' Lange's (Com. on Rev., p. 
 121). Swete says 'The white stone is the pledge of the divine favor which carries 
 with it such intimate knowledge of God and Christ as only the possessor can 
 comprehend.' (Apoc. of St John, p. 40). 
 
 <See art. 'Signet,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
106 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 had his own seal ; and among the Babylonians so constant 
 and imperative were its uses that it was generally placed 
 with his body in his coffin.^ In all these interpretations 
 the gift carries with it special privilege or advantage, 
 though the chief virtue of the stone apparently lies in the 
 name written upon it. The 'new name' it not probably a 
 new designation for the believer, but the new name of 
 Christ (ch. 3 :12) which is expressive of the new and more 
 perfect revelation of him in heaven that only the re- 
 deemed can know (ch. 14:1). Many, however, regard the 
 new name as the heavenly name of the individual Chris- 
 tian,^ and this would be quite as appropriate for a seal as 
 the name of Christ. Pergamus was about a hundred miles 
 north of Ephesus, and less than fifteen from the sea. It 
 was at that time the official capital of the Province of 
 Asia, and the seat of official authority. It ranked with 
 Ephesus and Smyrna as one of the great cities of procon- 
 sular Asia, and though it is now chiefly ' a city of magnifi- 
 cent ruins', it still continues to exist under the name of 
 Bergama at the present day. 
 
 (4) The Epistle to the Church in Thyatira 
 
 Ch. 2:18—29 
 The epistle to the church in Thyatira is Christ's mes- 
 sage to a struggling church, a church which had shown 
 love and faith, ministry and patience : — ' Hold fast till I 
 come'. Christ is called 'the Son of God, who hath his eyes 
 like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unto burnished 
 [or molten] brass', i. e. he who is divine, and whose all- 
 searching sight and destroying footstep will surely rec- 
 ompense the evil (cf. Dan. 10:6). It is interesting to note 
 that the title ' Son of God' which is here used is not found 
 elsewhere in the book, though the divine personality of 
 Christ is so evident throughout. Jezebel, the self-styled 
 prophetess that the church had tolerated, but who with 
 her children is about to be punished with death, is proba- 
 bly the symbolic name of a class or leader in the church, 
 
 iHilprecht, 8. 8. Times, Sept. 10, 1904, art. 'Babylonian Life in the Time of 
 Ezra and Nehemiah.' 
 
 ^Weizsacker thinks the new name is 'the 2.6yoc of John's Gospel' {Apost. 
 Age., vol. II p. 171) ; but by 'new' is more likely meant a hitherto unknown 
 name. Stevens interprets it as 'a symbol for the Messiah," (Theol. of New 
 Test., p. 540). On the other hand Scott says, 'A new name stands for a new 
 character.' (New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 143) ; and Ramsay regards it as 'perhaps 
 an allusion to the custom of taking new and secret baptismal names,' (art. 
 'Pergamus,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib.) ; also D'listerdieck thinks that the name 
 applies to the Christian {Com. on Rev., p. 148) ; and Swete holds the same 
 view (Apoc. of 8t John, p. 40). 'White' and 'new' as Trench points out, 
 are 'key-words' in the Apocaylpse (Ep's to Seven Ch's, p. 172). 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 107 
 
 seducing it to sin.^ The angel of the church is regarded 
 as the weak Ahab who allows himself to be the tool of 
 this new Jezebel.^ 'The deep things of Satan' designate 
 the mysteries of the false doctrine here condemned.^ ' The 
 morning star' to be given to those who overcome,^ is such 
 a revelation of Christ himself (ch. 22:16b) made to the 
 redeemed when the night of earth is over as will usher in 
 the morning of eternal day — the beginning of the future 
 and ever progressive revelation of God. The titles ap- 
 plied to Christ in this epistle, 'Son of God', and 'morning 
 star', have suggested a possible contrast in thought with 
 Apollo, the sun-god worshipped at Thyatira, though such 
 an allusion is quite uncertain. The epistle to this church 
 is the central one of the seven, and is the longest as well 
 as in some respects the most solemn of all the epistles. 
 Thyatira lay about forty miles southeast from Perga- 
 mus, and was an important and w^ealthy city in the north- 
 ern part of Lydia, though it never became a leading city 
 of Asia. The modern name of the town is Ak-Hissar, 'the 
 white castle'. 
 
 (5) The Epistle to the Church in Sardis Ch. 3:1—6 
 
 The epistle to the church in Sardis is Christ's mes- 
 sage to a dying church, a church which had a name as liv- 
 ing and yet in a sense was dead: — 'Establish the things 
 that remain'. Christ is designated as 'he that hath the 
 seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars', i. e. he that 
 hath the Holy Spirit, whom the seven Spirits represent 
 in his sevenfold or multiple activity, and — as seems to be 
 implied by connecting the seven Spirits with the seven 
 stars or angels of the churches — imparts the Spirit to 
 the churches, upon M'hich their life so fully depends. This 
 church receives only rebuke, but the rebuke given is for 
 
 ^Ramsay explains, 'There had been a Jewish colony planted in Thyatira, 
 and a hybrid sort of worship had been developed, half Jewish, half pagan, 
 which is called in Revelation the woman Jezebel,' (Paul the Trav. and Rom. 
 at., p. 215). Scott thinks it 'most probable that the reference is to some well- 
 known and influential woman within the church at Thyatira, whose influence 
 on the Christian community was parallel to that of Jezebel upon Ahab — a self- 
 styled prophetess, whose teaching and example were alike destructive of Chris- 
 tian morality,' (New Cent. Bib.. Rev., p. 147). Schlirer also holds that Jezebel 
 denoted a definite woman, (Hastings' Diet, of Bib., art. 'Thyatira'). Plummer 
 finds in the name a unity of symbolism with other parts of the book, thus, 
 'Jezebel anticipates the harlot of ch. 17, as Balaam anticipates the false prophet 
 of ch. 13,' (Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 66). 
 
 -Swete, Apoc. of 8t .John, p. 42. 
 
 ''To become acquainted with 'the depths." (i. e. the deep things of divinity, 
 as they would say — called here 'the deep things of Satan' in irony) was an 
 essential pretense of the Gnostics.' Diisterdieck, Meyer's Com. on Rev., p. 152. 
 
 *'I will grant him to see the Morning-star". Moffatt, New Trans, of New 
 Test. 
 
108 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 lack of spiritual life rather than for any special form of 
 sin. It is declared to have no works fufilled before God — 
 'before my God', a Johannean phrase — and is exhorted 
 to 'remember. . .and repent', for Christ 'will come as a 
 thief ' ;^ bnt the 'few names [or persons] in Sardis that did 
 not defile their garments' are promised that they shall 
 walk with Christ 'in white'. The white garments here 
 promised to the victors are emblems of the perfect purity 
 and heavenly state of the glorified (cf. Bk of Enoch, 
 90 :31) f while to blot one's name out of the book of life,^ 
 a fate from which those who overcome are declared to be 
 exempt, is to cease to have any part in the life eternal — 
 a figure drawn from the custom of striking out the names 
 of the dead from the list of citizens. Not only shall the 
 name of him that overcometh be found in the register of 
 the living, but it shall also be acknowledged before God 
 and the angels. The command to 'Watch' was a fitting ex- 
 hortation for a city that was a well-nigh impregnable 
 fortress, and yet had twice been seized by its enemies be- 
 cause of neglect within its walls.^ The exhortation to 
 'hear what the Spirit saith to the churches', in the last 
 four of the epistles, it will be seen, follows instead of pre- 
 cedes the promise to the victors. This does not, however, 
 imply that a distinction is thereby intended between the 
 churches, dividing them into two groups, the first consist- 
 ing of three and the second of four, the former faithful 
 and the latter faithless, a view held by some.^ The differ- 
 ence is conceded to be chiefly one of 'tone. . .which it is 
 easier to feel than to describe',^ and it must be said that 
 for most minds it does not exist. The church in Philadel- 
 phia, among the last four, is a steadfast church, while the 
 church at Pergamus, among the first three, is an impure 
 church in the view of many careful interpreters; 
 and Ephesus has evidently gone back, while Thya- 
 tira has gone forward. The city of Sardis, to which 
 this letter was addressed, lay about thirty miles south- 
 east of Thyatira, and was anciently one of the most 
 
 I'The word used is /cPifTrrT^f a 'thief,' and not 'ArjaTr/q a 'robber,' showing that 
 secrecy, not violence, is the point of the similitude.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., 
 Rev., p. 108. 
 
 ^''The word 'white' (T^evKoq), excepting in Mat. 5.36 and Jn. 4.35, is in the 
 New Testament always used of heavenly purity and brightness,' Plummer, Pulp. 
 Com., Rev., p. 109. 
 
 'The 'book of life' is mentioned seven times in the Revelation, an indication 
 of the place it occupied in the writer's thought. 
 
 ^Ramsay, Letters to Seven Ch's, pp. 377-78. 
 
 ^Milligan, Internat. Com., Rev., p. 48. 
 
 «Scott, New Cent. Bib.. Rev., p. 136. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 109 
 
 famous cities of Asia; but even in John's time it was 
 'a town of the past. . . .decayed from its former estate 
 . . . and it is now only a ruin, with a tiny village called 
 Sart, while the town is Saliki, about five miles east'.^ 
 
 (6) The Epistle to the Church in Philadelphia 
 
 Ch. 3 :7— 13 
 The epistle to the church in Philadelphia is Christ's 
 message to a steadfast church, a church which had kept 
 his word and had not denied his name: — 'Hold fast. . . 
 that no one take thy crown'. Christ is set forth as 'he 
 that is holy, he that is true', i. e. he who possesses these 
 attributes which are recognized as divine; and 'he that 
 hath the key of David ', i. e. he w^ho has full control in the 
 kingdom of God, of which the kingdom of David was the 
 enduring type (cf. Isa. 22 :22), he who grants or withholds 
 according to his will. These titles of Christ, it will be 
 seen, are not taken from the introductory vision, like 
 most of those in the seven epistles, but from the Old 
 Testament, probably, as has been suggested, because of 
 the number of Jewish Christians in the Philadelphian 
 church. The 'door opened' is one of opportunity 
 for service aiforded by the position of Philadel- 
 phia on the borders of Mysia, Lydia, and Phrygia.^ 
 Those 'that say they are Jews and they are 
 not', are men untrue to their Judaism in rejecting the 
 promised Messiah; for to John's mind it was evident that 
 only such Jews as believe in Jesus could belong to the real 
 people of God. 'The hour of trial' (Gr. toil jifiQaojioii 
 — of the trial), 'that hour which is to come upon the whole 
 world', seems to be here equivalent to 'the great tribula- 
 tion' spoken of by our Lord (Matt. 24:21), and serves to 
 introduce that element of shadow which ever hung in the 
 background of Apocalyptic perspective. But the crisis 
 at hand is not necessarily the end; the general tenor of 
 the Revelation would rather show that it is only one of 
 many crises that constantly progress toward the end.^ 
 The reward of overcoming is to be made 'a pillar in the 
 temple of God', i. e. in the vGog or inner sanctuary of 
 
 iRamsay, art. 'Sardis,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
 2Swete, Apoc. of 8t John, p. 53 ; and Ramsay, art. 'Philadelphia,' Hastings' 
 Diet, of Bib. 
 
 'Bousset's inference is scarcely justifiable : — 'It is the tone of immediate 
 expectation of the end ; the last great struggle throughout the whole inhabited 
 world is at hand ; the storm is drawing near ; already the seer beholds the 
 lightning flash'. {New Cent. Bib., Rev., pp. 153-4). Swete also interprets similarly, 
 as referring to 'the troublous times which precede the Parousia,' and adds, 
 'This final sifting of mankind was near at hand.' (Apoc. of St John, p. 55). 
 
110 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 the heavenly temple where God dwells, not so much for 
 support as for glory and for beauty, like the pillars of 
 brass in Solomon's temple (I K. 7:15f.), though perhaps 
 with the additional idea of permanence and streng-th (cf. 
 II Esdra. 2:15). 
 
 The pillar was not only a prominent part of ancient 
 temples, but was often sculptured in human shape^ — a 
 beautiful conception of man's relation to religion. Also 
 the name of God, of the city of God, and of the Son of 
 God, Christ's own new name known only to himself, are to 
 be written upon the victors in token of absolute divine 
 ownership — three, the sign of the spiritual, being perhaps 
 also in mind in the use of three names. Philadelphia, 
 which lay about twenty-eight miles southeast from Sar- 
 dis, receives unmixed praise, and the city remains almost 
 unchanged unto this day, though it has been transformed 
 into the Mohammedan town of Ala-Sheker, 'the reddish 
 city', a name derived from the speckled, red brown hills 
 around. It is renowned as having had the most glorious 
 history of all the cities of Asia Minor in the lorig struggle 
 against the Turks f and it is a remarkable fact that the 
 churches of Philadelphia and Smyrna, the two which re- 
 ceive no censure in these epistles, both continue to exist 
 unto the present time. 
 
 (7) The Epistle to the Church in Laodicea 
 
 Ch. 3:14—22 
 The epistle to the church in Laodicea is Christ's mes- 
 sage to a self-deceived church, a church which had grown 
 lukewarm and was neither cold nor hot: — 'Be zealous. . . 
 and repent'. In this final letter Christ is called 'the Amen 
 [cf. Isa. 65:16, R. V. marg.], the faithful and true wit- 
 ness',^ as a sure guaranty of the fulfilment of the prom- 
 ises; and he is also declared to be 'the beginning of the 
 creation of God', i. e. not, indeed, the first whom God cre- 
 ated, for Christ is not a creature, but rather he is the 
 primal source and causative agent in divine creation, ** the 
 One who began the creation of God, whether the material 
 creation that waxeth old or the new creation that endur- 
 
 ipiummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 113 ; Wordsworth, quoted in Bil). Com., Rev., 
 p. 547. 
 
 ^'Ramsay, art. 'Philadelphia,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib. ; and his Letters to 
 Seven Ch's., p. 400. 
 
 ''The word 'Amen' is here used as a proper name of our Lord ; and this is 
 the only instance of such an application. .. .The 'faithful and true witness' is 
 an amplification of the Amen'. Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., pp. 114-15. 
 
 ■''The origin of God's creation.' Moffatt, New Translation of New Testa- 
 ment. 
 
STUDIES in Wie BOOK OF KEVELATION. Ill 
 
 eth forever. The church is openly rebuked for a tepid 
 Christianity that is nauseous to Christ, a religion that is 
 'neither cold nor hot'. Laodicea was a city of trade and 
 enterprise, but John regarded the church as 'devoid of 
 initiative' in Christian work. The phrase 'thou sayest I 
 am rich. . .and have need of nothiug', perhaps reflects the 
 boast of the city which, proud of its wealth, had lately re- 
 fused help from the liberality of the Emperor after be- 
 ing destroyed by an earthquake (A. D. 60) ; and the ex- 
 hortation 'I counsel thee to buy of me gold', is perhaps 
 a reference to the heavenly riches as far surpassing the 
 earthly which the people of the city possessed. The 'white 
 garments', the type of a pure life, may be here intended 
 to be put in contrast with those produced from the glossy 
 black wool of the sheep for which the place was noted; 
 and the 'eye-salve' to be contrasted ^vith the noted eye- 
 powder of the neighboring tem,ple of Asklepios, as the 
 restorer of spiritual vision.^ Laodicea during the Roman 
 period attained great prosperity, and was the meeting 
 place of the Council of Laodicea in A. D. 361, but has long 
 since been ruined and deserted. It lay some sixty miles 
 southeast of Philadelphia, and east of Ephesus, in the val- 
 ley of the Lycus, and was the leading bishopric of Phry- 
 gia throughout the Christian period.^ In this closing epis- 
 tle of the seven the climax of promise is reached in the as- 
 surance that 'he that overcometh' shall sit with Christ 
 in his Messiah throne (v. 21), i. e. shall share with him in 
 the glory and rule of the church triumphant. This prom- 
 ise seems to take a forward glance to the vision of the 
 next two chapters, especially to the view of the Lamb in 
 the midst of the throne. A preparation is thus made for 
 the sudden transition from the introduction and epistles 
 to the chief visions of the book, after the closing words 
 of this epistle have been written. 'He that hath an ear, 
 let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches,' is a 
 final voice of admonition and warning to the church in 
 Laodicea, to each of the seven churches in Asia, and then 
 through them to the whole church throughout the M^orld 
 in all time, exhorting them to hear and obey the message 
 given in each and all of the seven epistles, 
 
 ^'Laodicea was the one famous medical centre in Phrygia. . . .The descrip- 
 tion of the medicine here mentioned is obscui-ed by a mistranslation. It was 
 not an ointment but a kollyrium, which had the form of small cylinders com- 
 pounded of various Ingredients, and was used either by simple application or 
 by reduction to a powder to be smeared on the part.' Ramsay, Letters to Seven 
 Ch's., p. 429. 
 
 =See art. 'Laodicea' by Ramsav, Hastings' Diet, of Bib. ; and Swete, Apoc. 
 of St John, pp. 61-2. 
 
112 STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 
 
 II THE MAIN APOCALYPSE CH. 4:1—22:5 
 
 The Revelation Proper, which occupies the chief 
 portion of the book, is a symbolic view of the great spir- 
 itual conflict of the ages, reviewing the whole course and 
 outcome of the far-reaching struggle between the church 
 and the world, with the multiple and diverse forces that 
 are engaged in it, and setting forth the absolute decisive- 
 ness of the final issue. It consists of a series of seven vi- 
 sions which undertake to solve the apparent anomalies of 
 God's present rule among men by affording recurrent 
 glimpses of the working out of a great, comprehensive, 
 underlying plan, — a providential and moral order in the 
 world that is divine and sovereign, interpenetrated with 
 a concurrent redemptive purpose that is gracious and 
 elective, — which leads on through progressive stages of 
 trial and warfare, of threatening and judgment, to the 
 complete and final overthrow and punishment of all the 
 wicked and to the full and glorious vindication and tri- 
 umph of all the holy. The seven visions, when carefully 
 examined, will be seen to be progressive in their revela- 
 tion; for while they do not follow any line of temporal 
 succession, they yet show a progress of thought and 
 movement throughout. Beginning with the vision of God 
 on the throne, a vision of sovereignty, they advance in 
 manifest order through the vision of the seven seals, a 
 vision of trial, and the vision of the seven trumpets, a vi- 
 sion of threatening, to the vision of conflict, a vision of 
 warfare, which is central to all and furnishes a key to the 
 general interpretation of the book. Then by a scale of 
 descending climax they pass on to the vision of the seven 
 vials, a vision of judgment, followed by the vision of vic- 
 tory, a vision of vindication, and this again by the vision 
 of the New Jerusalem, a vision of triumph, which reveals 
 the final goal of Christian hope in the immediate presence 
 of God.^ The purpose of the Apocalypse is thus disclosed 
 to be interpretative of God's plan of the ages, an unfold- 
 ing of the drama of destiny, in which, notwithstanding 
 all apparent contradictions and present reverses, he is 
 yet ever leading on to full and final victory in the end — 
 through all the conflict he is winning, even against ap- 
 pearances, and will triumph at last, — a view full of en- 
 couragement for tried and disheartened Christians of the 
 first and each succeeding century. Why God permitted 
 
 ^See App'x F, 'The Literary Structure of the Apocalypse." 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 113 
 
 this struggle to be begun and then let it continue through- 
 out the centuries, why he ever allowed sin to find a place 
 among his moral creatures, is a topic nowhere entered 
 upon or discussed throughout the book. It is evidently 
 recognized as belonging to the unrevealed mysteries of 
 God which lie outside the sphere of the present Revela- 
 tion. But that he overrules all the apparently inapt and 
 sinful conditions of this world for the ultimate good of 
 his kingdom, and that he will victoriously triumph at 
 last, is the assuring witness of the whole series of visions. 
 The Apocalyptic form, we find, becomes more marked 
 and definite in this main portion of the book, and the diffi- 
 culties of interpretation are correspondingly increased; 
 for they are no longer chiefly those of grammatical exege- 
 sis and historical allusion, but rather the elucidation of a 
 body of mysterious symbols. The purpose and limits of 
 the present volume forbid the discussion of many of the 
 exegetical difficulties, and serve to confine attention main- 
 ly to the meaning of the symbolism as the chief subject 
 concerning which there is wide difference of opinion. 
 Questions of grammatical, or grammatico-historical, ex- 
 egesis will be found more fully considered in the various 
 commentaries to which the reader is referred in the foot- 
 notes. The visions and episodes into which the main 
 part of the book is properly divisible, are given separate- 
 ly in the following analysis, i. e. the seven seals, trumpets, 
 and vials are each considered in order consecutively, and 
 the episodes which intervene are taken up after each 
 sevenfold vision is complete, in order that they may be 
 better understood. This preserves the connection of the 
 seven in the series, and emphasizes by itself the lesson of 
 the episodes which are interjected into the natural order. 
 
 I The Vision of God on the Thkone (A Vision of 
 Sovereignty). Ch. 4:1 — 5:14 
 
 The opening vision of the seven chief visions in the 
 Revelation is a Theophany, revealing the majesty of the 
 divine glory and the might of the sovereign rule of God 
 as the abiding source of the church's confidence in the 
 midst of trial and distress, and as the unfailing ground of 
 faith in the fulfilment of the revelation that follows. This 
 vision of the fifth and sixth chapters is preparatory to 
 those that deal with the present and future prospects of 
 the church upon earth, and with this in view it sets forth 
 
114 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 the causal and higher relations upon which the history of 
 the church depends, viz. God 's sovereignty in creation and 
 in redemption ; for it is only in relation to these two great 
 abiding facts of the divine activity that the passing events 
 of time have their true meaning. We look first upon the 
 stability of the eternal throne, and upon the person of the 
 divine atoning Lamb, and then we are better prepared to 
 understand the drama of history, and to view with equa- 
 nimity the dread scenes of crisis and conflict which be- 
 long to the lot of the church upon earth. The scene de- 
 scribed in the fourth and fifth chapters, of the eternal 
 throne with those who are attendant upon it, and of the 
 Lamb in the midst of it, constitutes a proem to the suc- 
 ceeding visions, and may be thought of as continuing 
 throughout and formiug the background for all that fol- 
 lows, in the light of which it must be viewed and its mean- 
 ing interpreted. In the fifth chapter the action proper to 
 the Revelation begins with the taking of the sealed book, 
 though some regard the action as beginning with the sixth 
 chapter in the opening of the seals. The present vision is 
 introduced with the phrase 'after these things' (v. 1), 
 which does not indicate an interval of time but rather a 
 succession of events, and always marks a break in the 
 connection and a new phase of the revelation. 
 
 1 The Throne and the King Ch. 4 :1 — 3, 5a, and 6a 
 
 A door is opened in heaven that the seer may look in, 
 and the trumpet voice of ch. 1 :10 is heard again, saying, 
 'Come u,p hither, and I will show thee the things which 
 must come to pass hereafter', the further announcement 
 of a prophetic vision, the sign not only that eternal veri- 
 ties are to be revealed, but that earthly things are to be 
 seen from the heavenly point of view. And we are told 
 that straightway John 'was in the Spirit', i. e. he became 
 conscious of an additional inipulse of divine rapture, for 
 he was already in the Spirit (ch. 1:10); and then the 
 throne of God, the seat of the divine government, is seen 
 in the eternal splendor of repose, the reflection of the di- 
 vine sovereignty, surrounded by a rainbow of emerald 
 green arching above it, the emblem of God's covenant 
 mercy (Gen. 9:13), and sending forth lightnings, thun- 
 ders, and voices, the tokens of divine power, majesty, and 
 judgment. The divine Person is presented as enthroned, 
 but is not named, and is described only by comparison, 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 115 
 
 a touch of reverent reserve as consonant with religion as 
 it is true to art. His appearance is glorious like jasper 
 and sardius, the last and first of the precious stones on the 
 breastplate of the highpriest, and part of the foundation 
 stones of the heavenly city.^ The pure jasper and the 
 red sardius are the apparent symbols of purity and jus- 
 tice ( cf . Ezek. 1 :26, and 10 :1 ; Dan. 7 :9 ; Bk of Enoch 
 14:18f.). Before the throne, we are told, there is 'as it 
 were, a sea of glass^ like unto crystal', the symbol of the 
 calm and fulness of life in God's completed kingdom in 
 contrast with the stormy sea of earthly nations, the calm 
 of the heavenly life in antithesis with the turmoil of the 
 earthly. This seems to be the more natural interpretation 
 of the passage, yet the symbolism of the sea in the Reve- 
 lation has been interpreted with a good deal of freedom, 
 and there is wide difference of opinion concerning its 
 meaning. It is regarded by many as the symbol of 
 purification the antitype of the laver before the taber- 
 nacle, while others find in it a type of the eternal ful- 
 ness of joy in the presence of God. Some think the sea 
 is placed before the throne as a symbol of the former 
 trial and conflict of the earthly life through which the 
 saints have passed to reach the presence of God, 
 and that it has now become a perpetual memorial 
 of victory, for the sea is glassy and quiet as 
 the sign that the conflict is over.^ Other late writ- 
 ers connect the sea with early Hebrew ideas of the waters 
 before the firmament (Gen. 1 :7), traces of which continue 
 to appear in Apocalyptic literature, and hold that this 
 conception underlies the symbolism of the molten sea in 
 Solomon's temple and forms the basis of the present de- 
 scription.^ With figures so flexible as these it is quite 
 possible that different thoughts have been included, for 
 the sea was closely interwoven with the early stage of 
 Israel's history, and may have become a symbol covering 
 a wide range of correlative ideas. But however w^e may 
 interpret the meaning of the symbolism, the presence of 
 the sea in the vision undoubtedly serves to enhance the 
 
 >See Hastings' Diet, of Bib., art. 'Stones, Precious ;' also the separate arts. 
 in the same work on the names of precious stones which we find in the Revelation. 
 Plummer regards the jasper, which is further described in ch. 21.11 as being 
 'clear as crystal,' to be the modern diamond, while Cheyne thinks it the opal, 
 and Scott identifies the sardius with our carnelian. 
 
 ^The A. V. reads, 'there was a sea of glass' ; the R. V. renders, 'as it were 
 a glassy sea' ; and the Am. R. V. gives, 'as it were a sea of glass.' The Revisers 
 evidently regarded the phrase as a figurative way of describing the quiet of the 
 sea. Alford, however, and Swete interpret literally as 'a sea of glass.' 
 
 »Cf. Faussett, J. F. & B. Com. on Rev., p. 625. 
 
 <See ISlew Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 164. 
 
116 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION 
 
 majesty and splendor of the scene, and may have been in- 
 troduced partly for that purpose, though the sea un- 
 doubtedly had a permanent place in Hebrew thought, 
 
 2 The Four and Twenty Elders Ch. 4 :4, 10 and 11 
 
 The vision presents the worship of heaven in the 
 forms of earth for our apprehension. The elders (Gr. 
 'presbyters') are the ideal representatives of the re- 
 deemed church,^ who are clothed in white raiment and 
 placed round about the throne wearing golden crowns 
 and sitting on lesser thrones reigning with Christ, the fit- 
 ting tokens of royal dignity and authority, and of their 
 triumphant victory through him who is their Saviour. 
 They are ever active in service, casting their cro\\ms be- 
 fore the throne and him that sitteth thereon as they wor- 
 ship, and joining in every chorus of adoration.^ Their 
 number is that of the twelve patriarchs and apostles com- 
 bined, indicating that they represent the church of both 
 dispensations, the saints of the Old and New Testaments. 
 They are not, however, the twelve patriarchs and apos- 
 tles themselves enthroned, as suggested by some, but 
 ideal beings who have a representative character. Their 
 number, twice twelve, i. e. twice the national number of 
 Israel, aptly symbolizes the glorified church of all the 
 ages.^ Some find in these elders a group of angelic beings 
 who are attendants of the divine glory and whose pres- 
 ence in the heavenly temple was a part of ancient Jewish 
 tradition, as in the Judgment of Peter, where it is said, 
 'For there are four and twenty elders, twelve upon the 
 right hand and twelve upon the left. '^ There is no reason 
 to infer, however, that the Greek term 'presbyters', or 
 'elders', with its definite meaning in the New Testament 
 church, is otherwise used in the Apocalypse, even though 
 the elders are here the representatives of a class. It is 
 quite possible that the earlier use of the four and 
 twenty elders in Apocalyptic literature may have been 
 the occasion of their introduction here, but there was 
 nothing in the usage of the past to prevent its modified 
 application in a Christian sense so natural as this in the 
 first century ; on the contrary it is quite in accord with the 
 
 'Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 145 ; Swete, Apoc. of 8t John, p. 68. 
 
 ^'Throughout the vision no past tense is used. The vision represents the 
 worship of heaven (so far as it can be presented to human understanding) as 
 it continues eternally.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 145. 
 
 'Bleek, Lect. on Apoc, p. 199 ; Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 145. 
 
 ^Neto Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 163 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 117 
 
 gradually progressive method of Apocalyptic thought 
 that they should be introduced here to represent the 
 church enlarged by New Testament accessions. It is cer- 
 tainly quite beside the mark to affirm that this idea of the 
 church as a combination of the Old and New Testament 
 saints is 'medieval';^ when it is found so clearly in the 
 Epistles of Paul. 
 
 3 The Seven Lamps of Fire (or Torches) Ch. 4:5b 
 
 These lamps are seen burning before the throne 
 which they serve to illumine, recalling the seven-branched 
 candlestick in the tabernacle, and they are seven in num- 
 ber, doubtless, to indicate their fulness or completeness. 
 We are told that the lamps 'are [i. e. are the symbol of] 
 the seven Spirits of God'; they are, therefore, evi- 
 dently designed to represent the Holy Spirit through- 
 out the Revelation, the seven Spirits that are before the 
 throne (ch. 1:4) and that serve to denote the fulness of 
 the Spirit's operation, his manifold energy in contra- 
 distinction to the unity of his person. The fitness of fire, 
 or a flaming torch, to symbolize the illuminative influence 
 of the Spirit is quite evident, throwing light upon the 
 throne and revealing God to men, but the use of seven 
 torches, like that of seven Spirits, is peculiar to the Rev- 
 elation, and is introduced, one is constrained to think, for 
 a special purpose. That the Holy Spirit is indicated by 
 this symbol throughout is shown by the context (cf. chs. 
 1 :4 and 3 :1), but it is evidently used here to set forth the 
 Spirit from a particular point of view, i. e. to represent 
 in a concrete form the divine perfection of the Spirit as 
 displayed in his multiple activities. It seems to be an 
 echo from the vision of Zechariah (ch. 3:9, and 4:10) 
 where the divine pervasive insight is represented by the 
 'seven eyes of the Lord', (cf. also Rev. 5:6, 'the seven 
 eyes of the Lamb'). 
 
 4 The Four Living Creatures Ch. 4. 6b — 9 
 
 The four living creatures (cf. Ezek. l:5f.), — which 
 are not to be thought of as 'beasts' even in a good sense, 
 as in the Authorized Version, but rather as in the Greek, 
 'the living ones', which gives a better idea, — are seen 'in 
 the midst of the throne and round about the throne', 
 evidently indicating their function in the heavenly court, 
 to wait upon the divine Person, though their exact ar- 
 
 ^New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 163. 
 
118 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 rangement in the vision is not so clear.^ These are com- 
 posite creature-forms that are manifestly to be identified 
 with the cherubim of the Old Testament. Each creature 
 consists of four representative forms of animal life com- 
 bined in one, viz. that of the lion, the ox, the eagle, and 
 man, together producing a strange, anomalous figure" 
 which is generally thought to personify wild animals, 
 domestic animals, birds, and man, as possessing a com- 
 mon physical life, or created life in its entirety repre- 
 sented by its higher and more notable forms. In the Rev- 
 elation each has a different face, according to the animal 
 form which is made prominent, and not four faces as in 
 Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:5 — 14), the individual life being thereby 
 made more manifest. These living ones are ideal symbols 
 of the physical creation, especially of all created life, and 
 represent in the vision the entire earthly creation as 
 sharing in the benefits of redemption,^ manifesting the di- 
 vine glory, and waiting upon God, They are used in the 
 Old Testament as impressive symbols of the divine pres- 
 ence, and Jehovah is knouTi as 'he that dwelleth be- 
 tween the cherubim', (Am. R. V. 'sitteth above' — marg. 
 'is enthroned', i. e. upon the cherubim),^ a reflection of 
 the thought embodied in the arrangement of the ark of 
 the covenant, where the mercy seat with the shekinah 
 flame was placed between the cherubim. In John's vision 
 the living creatures are seen in closest proximity to the 
 throne, and they lead the heavenly choir in an unceasing 
 song of praise (the Creation Chorus, v. 8 — 11), the clos- 
 ing verse of the song indicating their function in the 
 heavenly court to glorify God, as also the part they sub- 
 sequently have in the song of the redeemed (the Redemp- 
 tion Chorus, ch. 5 :13) reflects the nature of their worship. 
 They are full of eyes, the sign of their all-seein,g watch- 
 fulness; they have three pairs of wings, the symbol of 
 their spiritual ministry, for three is the sign of the spir- 
 itual as the wings are of activity; and they are four in 
 number while each is fourfold to indicate their relation to 
 the organic world, for four is always the earth number. 
 Also, they rest not day and night, showing the character- 
 istic of life in its fullest energy and ceaseless activity, 
 
 ^For Bleek's view of the arrangement see notes on 'The Lamb in the Midst 
 of the Throne,' under ch. 5. 6-8a. 
 
 2'No one can authoritatively affirm that created beings of a lower order than 
 man will not in some sense share in the future life/ A. A. Hodge, unpublished 
 Classroom Lectures. 
 
 sSee in Am. R. V., I Sam. 4.4; II Sam. 6.2; II Ki. 1.9-15; I Chr. 13.6; 
 Ps. 80.1, 99.1 ; Isa. 37.16 ; Ezek. 10.1-20. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 119 
 
 saying 'Holy, holy, holy,' i. e. 'holy' thrice repeated, — 
 three a symbol of the divine, — corresponding to the Tri- 
 sagion of Isaiah's prophecy (ch. 6:3), declaring the holi- 
 ness of God, the All-Ruler, as es,pecially revealed in cre- 
 ation, all created beings ministering to the manifestation 
 of the divine glory. The identity of the living creatures 
 with the cherubim of the Old Testament is generally 
 recognized, but the origin of the idea of the cherubim 
 in connection with the worship of Jehovah is as obscure 
 as the actual form is indefinite, though probably derived 
 from a primitive sta,ge of religious thought among the 
 Semitic people, and early incorporated as a symbol in the 
 religion of Israel. Apparently the form and conception 
 varied somewhat through time, as will be seen by com- 
 paring Ezekiel's description with that which is given 
 here, though the general idea remained the same. Some 
 think the cherubim to have been originally the storm- 
 clouds personified, regarded as supporting the divine 
 throne and surrounding the divine Person, while the sera- 
 phim represented the lightning-flash revealing God to 
 men. Others regard them as unidentified nature-forces 
 idealized in forms of life, and traditionally associated 
 with the throne of God. But whatever their origin, their 
 meaning in Scripture is plain, viz. the physical creation 
 waiting upon God.^ 
 
 5 The Sealed Book (or Scroll) Ch. 5:1—5 
 
 A new phase of the vision now begins with chapter 
 five, indicated by the words 'And I saw', setting forth 
 the glory and honor of the exalted Redeemer, and indicat- 
 ing the divine purpose through him to throw light upon 
 the plan of God for the ages. A sealed book or scroll, the 
 sign that its contents are hidden, and written within 
 and without, i. e. upon both sides, or within and also on 
 the back, — filled to its very margins like the roll in Eze- 
 kiel (ch. 2:9-10), — indicating the exceeding fulness of its 
 contents and the completeness of the divine plan, is seen 
 lying 'in [or upon] the right hand of him that sat on the 
 throne'. This book, which at first no one can be found to 
 
 ^Fairbairn regards the cherubim as typifying 'Earth's living creaturehood, 
 especially man. its rational and immortal head'. See his Typologij, vol. 1, pp. 
 125-208. Plummer similarly interprets the living beings as symbolical of all 
 animal life, and suggests that the human face of the cherubim represents 
 'humanity as distinct from the church (which is represented by the four and 
 twenty elders), and appears to indicate the power of God to use for his pur- 
 poses and his glory that part of mankind which has not been received into the 
 church.' Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 146. Also see art. 'Cherubim,' Hastings' Diet, of 
 Bib.; and for an apocalyptic description of the cherubim, Bk. of Enoch (ed. 
 Charles), 14.11,18; 20.7; 61.10; 76.7. 
 
120 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 open, apparently contains God's multitudinous and un- 
 revealed purposes concerning the future course of the 
 church in the world, — as is afterward more fully indi- 
 cated by the nature of the things portrayed when the seals 
 are broken, — for it evidently pertains to the mysteries of 
 the kingdom of God on earth, part of which are about to 
 be disclosed to John.^ The book is closed by seven seals, 
 a perfect number, the symbol implying that it is perfectly 
 sealed or fully closed,^ a roll apparently sealed in 
 sections, perhaps with the end of the parchment fas- 
 tened down by the seals to its staff so that it cannot 
 be opened except by one having authority to break the 
 seals. ^ The book itself, it should be noted, is never read 
 at any period of the vision, showing that what it contains 
 is not fully disclosed, but as the seals are broken the gen- 
 eral nature of the contents of each section is symbolically 
 portrayed in the form set forth in the succeeding vision 
 of the seals. 
 
 6 The Lamb Ch. 5 :6— 8a 
 
 At this point in the vision the divine Redeemer, Je- 
 sus Christ, appears in order to open the seals, portrayed 
 as the Lamb of God, the recognized atoner for sin, a sym- 
 bol of striking power to every one familiar ^vith the Old 
 Testament system of sacrifices. The importance of open- 
 ing the seals had been already indicated in the vision (ch. 
 5:2f.) by the appearance of a strong or mighty angel, 
 the sign of high rank and great power, proclaiming with 
 a great voice, 'Who is worthy to open the book and to 
 loose the seals thereof?' And when no one was found 
 'in the heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth', i. e. 
 in the place of the spirits of the dead — a phrase equiva- 
 lent to saying that no one could be found in all the uni- 
 verse — the prophet wept much, showing his deep interest 
 and bitter disappointment when his expectation seemed 
 
 iStuiut, Co7n. on Apoc, p. 515 ; also cf. Diisterdieck, and Plummer. Other 
 definitions, though differing in statement, have a general similarity. For ex- 
 ample, Tiie Book of Destiny' (Bacon, Jntr. to New Test., p. 284) ; 'The Book of 
 Doom' (Moffatt, Exp. Or. Test., Rev. p. 382) : 'The Book of History' (Temple 
 Bib., Intr. to Kev., p. xxxvii) ; or, better still, 'The Book of God's Counsels' 
 (Lee, Bib. Com.., Rev., p. 563). Faussett, following De Burgh, makes the book 
 'The Title-deed of Man's Inheritance Redeemed by Christ' (J. F. & B. Com. on 
 Rev., p. 602). Seiss accepts this interpretation and explains further by refer- 
 ence to Jewish customs of land tenure (Lects. on Apoc., vol. i, p. 266f.). The 
 definition preferred in the present volume is 'The Book of God's Plan for the 
 Ages.' 
 
 ='A Roman will, when written, had to be sealed seven times in order to 
 aulhenticate it, and some have argued that this explains the symbolism here" 
 (Exp. Or. Test., Rev. p. 383) ; but this suggestion is of doubtful value when the 
 Hebrew use of seven was so well established. 
 
 'See Diisterdieck, Meyer's Com. on Rev., p. 207. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 121 
 
 about to fail. But one of the elders, a representative of 
 the redeemed church, points out to John him who is able 
 to open the book because he 'hath overcome', indicating 
 the glorified Redeemer as the source of help.^ He is de- 
 scribed by the elder as 'the Lion that is of the tribe of 
 Judah' (Gen. 49:9), and Hhe Root of David' (Isa. 11:1), 
 indicating his kingly^ and prophetic relations to Israel; 
 but when he appears to John's wondering view it is in 
 sacrificial form as the Lamb of God,^ the sign of his 
 priestly relation to his people, bearing marks as though 
 he had been slain, but now standing in living powder in 
 the midst of the throne, the center of all attention and the 
 glorified object of all worship, alike the agent of redemp- 
 tion and the consummation of sacrifice. The words ' in the 
 midst of the throne ' may mean in the center of the throne 
 and encircled by it, or between the throne and those sur- 
 rounding it. Some regard the throne as a semi-circle in 
 the open side of which the Lamb stands, and within which 
 are placed two of the living creatures, with the other two 
 at the back, while the elders surround the throne, and the 
 many angels form the outer circle,* a view that is helpful 
 to those who wish detail in such matters, for the chief 
 thought in the symbolism is sufficiently plain. It may also 
 be worth while to note how clearly this symbolism implies 
 that the redeemed church, represented by the elders, 
 stands nearer to the throne of God than even the angels.^ 
 The seven horns of the Lamb symbolize the fulness of 
 his power, for the horn is the Hebrew emblem of power 
 as seven is of fulness or completeness of quality; and 
 his seven eyes represent the perfection of his vision and 
 knowledge, seeing with the omniscient eyes of the Holy 
 Spirit (Zech. 4:10) who proceedeth alike from the Father 
 
 I'The ability to open was a consequence of a former act of victory, viz, tlie 
 redemption.' Plummer, Pulp. Com,, Rev., p. 164. 
 
 ='Tlie kingship of Christ Is more clearly set forth in the Revelation than in 
 any other part of the New Testament, though not in any single text, but by 
 the representations of the book throughout,' Riddle, unpublished Classroom 
 Lectures on Revelation. Also see Pfleiderer, Influence of Paul on Christianity 
 (Hibbert Lect., 1885), p. 130. 
 
 3' John looked to see a lion and beheld a Lamb,' the change of symbol 
 seeming to indicate that 'the might of Christ is the power of love.' See Stevens, 
 New Test. Theol. p. 542. 'The name which most expresses what Christ is to 
 the Christian is the 'Lamb.' 'This is used twenty-nine times in the book.' Porter, 
 art. Rev., Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 'This is a dramatic way of expressing the 
 truth that the efficient factor of history is gentleness.' Dean, Book of Revela- 
 tion, p. 103. 
 
 *See Bleek's Lect. on Apoc., p. 200f. 
 
 5Cf. Bisping, quoted by Plummer. Pulp. Com.. Rev., p. 1G7. 
 
122 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 and the Son.^ He takes the book out of the right hand of 
 God as a token of his rightful authority, an act full of 
 meaning, for he alone has prevailed and has power to 
 open the book and to reveal God's purposes because he 
 has redeemed the church and himself directs the path of 
 her history. In this sublime vision of the Lamb in the 
 midst of the throne we may be truly said to have reached 
 Hhe point of highest dramatic interest in the whole book'. 
 
 7 The Heavenly Worship Ch. 5:8b— 14 
 
 The taking of the book is followed by an act of pro- 
 found worship ; the four living creatures and the four and 
 twenty elders fall down before the Lamb, having each one 
 a harp, the instrument of praise, and a golden bowl full of 
 incense, representing the prayers of the saints, which 
 they offer before God. Then they voice their thought in 
 a new song, the song of the redeemed (the Redemption 
 Chorus), which is rendered unto him that sitteth upon 
 the throne, and unto the Lamb, declaring him worthy 
 that hath been slain to take the book and to open the seals, 
 and 'to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
 might, and honor, and glory, and blessing', — a sevenfold 
 or complete ascription of praise — who hath redeemed 
 his people with his blood out ' of every tribe, and tongue, 
 and people, and nation', — a fourfold or world-wide re- 
 demption for all peoples^ — 'and madest them to he unto 
 our God a kingdom and priests ; and they reign upon the 
 earth', even now in the midst of trials, in a spiritual 
 sense which though imperfect foreshadows and assures 
 their complete spiritual reign in the new world wherein 
 dwelleth righteousness. This song is sung by the four liv- 
 ing creatures as the representatives of the w^hole creation 
 who unitedly rejoice in the work of redemption together 
 with man, and by the four and twenty elders who repre- 
 
 I'This description of the glorified Lord, sublime as a purely mental concep- 
 tion, becomes intolerable if we give it outward form and expression.' (Trench, 
 Ep's to Seven Gh's. p. 64). In fact, 'No scene in the great Christian Apoca- 
 lypse can be successfully reproduced upon canvas; 'the imagery ... .Is symbolic 
 and not pictorial,' (Swete, Apoc. of St John, Intr., p. cxxxiv.) 'SymTjolism does 
 not appeal to the pictorial sense at all, but rather to some analytic faculty, or 
 conventional association of ideas,' (Moulton. Bib. Idyls, Intr. p. xx). The in- 
 congruity of many of their symbols from the aesthetic point of view does not 
 seem to "have occurred to the Hebrew mind, for with them the religious idea was 
 predominant. Many of the events recorded in the Revelation are manifestly 
 impossible except in a vision. 
 
 2'Here we have the ideas of ch. 1. 5 repeated (i. e. of the love and redemp- 
 tion of Christ) with the further thought that love like that displayed in Christ's 
 death for man's redemption is worthy not only of all praise, but of having all 
 the future committed to its care. It is really a pictorial way of saying that 
 redeeming love is the last reality in the universe which all praise must exalt 
 and to which everything else must be subordinate.' Denney, Death of Christ, p. 
 246. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 123 
 
 sent the church of all time, the personal subjects of re- 
 demption ; and it is chorused by an innumerable company 
 of angels, God's sinless creation, who are described as 
 consisting of 'ten thousand times ten thousand', i. e. the 
 square of a myriad, a hundred millions in number (or, as 
 the words may mean, 'myriads of myriads' i. e. hundreds 
 of millions), and in addition 'thousand of thousands', 
 i. e. millions more, — a symbolical expression for a num- 
 berless host; and it is echoed by 'every created thing 
 which is in the heaven and on the earth and under the 
 earth and on the sea', i. e. it is re-echoed from every cre- 
 ated being throughout the universe. Thus the Chorus of 
 Creation, wonderful as it was, is surpassed by the Chorus 
 of Redemption : and the four living creatures who repre- 
 sent creation said in full accord, 'Amen', while the four 
 and twenty elders 'fell down and worshipped' him that 
 liveth forever and ever. The opening of the seals then 
 follows, and because of its widely different bearing from 
 that wdiich precedes, is usually considered as forming 
 a separate vision, though the transition is not otherwise 
 marked than by a change of action and progress of 
 thought. 
 
 II The Vision of the Seven Seals (A Vision of Trial) 
 
 Ch. 6:1—17, and 8:1 
 
 The vision of the seven seals is a prophetic delinea- 
 tion of the trials and triumphs of the church of Christ 
 throughout all her history, especially from the days of 
 John to the end of the world, depicted in the symbols of 
 Apocalyptic. These trials fall upon all men in common, 
 and from another point of view are also judgments upon 
 the sinful world, but they are regarded here chiefly as 
 involving the church in suffering, and as preparing the 
 way for the triumph of the kingdom of God, the coming 
 of our Lord, and the final consummation of all things. 
 The opening of the seals by Christ indicates his purpose 
 of revealing the hidden contents of the book which he 
 had taken from the right hand of God (ch. 5:7), and the 
 number of the seals (seven) shows the completeness of 
 the series. The order of the seals is progressive, but 
 they have no definite or categorical time-relation; they 
 regard only the ceaseless swing of the ages ever sweeping 
 on toward the final consummation. The underlying di- 
 vine purpose of testin,g men by moral struggle is ap- 
 
124 STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 
 
 parent throughout; the trials set forth are disciplinary 
 to those who believe, but punitive to those who resist. 
 The form of trials in the vision is that of an illustrative 
 sjTubolisni which should not be limited in interpretation 
 to the few particular kinds of trouble that are described, 
 but should be taken as representative of the whole round 
 of sorrows endured by God's people throughout all time, 
 a prophetic forecast which, though receiving an immedi- 
 ate fulfilment in the experience of the early church, has 
 yet had and will have a further and wider fulfilment 
 throughout the course of the ages. The subordinate ele- 
 ment of judgment upon the wicked in the vision is implied 
 rather than stated, except under the sixth seal ; neverthe- 
 less upon further reflection it may be clearly seen, for 
 the advanciug conquest of Christ includes the overthrow 
 of the wicked, while the sorrows of war, famine, and 
 death fall upon them without any consolation like the rec- 
 ompense of the righteous, the avenging of the martyrs 
 is foretold as eventually to be visited upon them, and 
 amidst the terrors of the final judgment they find no 
 availing refuge, but cry to the mountains and to the rocks 
 to fall upon them to hide them from the face of him that 
 sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. 
 This bearing of the trials of the seals, revealing judg- 
 ment upon the world, should not be overlooked in our in- 
 terpretation, though we should not lay special stress up- 
 on it, for it is not the foremost thought in mind. 
 
 In entering upon the more obscure portions of the 
 book it may be well to remind the reader that the inter- 
 pretation will be much simplified, and many of the diffi- 
 culties will disappear, if we regard all the mysterious 
 action in these visions as in the broadest sense symboli- 
 cal, and not requiring detailed application. And although 
 an effort may well be made to recover what has been 
 called the 'ground-view' of the Apostle, i. e. the natural 
 application of the prophecy that lay in the immediate 
 horizon of history and belonged to the conditions of his 
 time, yet this cannot be regarded as absolutely essential 
 to the correct interpretation for us and for all ages. We 
 should not forget that we are dealing with what is really 
 a great creative poem in prose, containing idealized con- 
 ceptions of widely pervasive principles, and therefore 
 its true interpretation lies in facts of universal experience 
 rather than in the special circumstances which helped 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 125 
 
 to g'ive it form in the mind of the writer, but beyond which 
 he passed with poetic freedom to grasp the larger ideal — 
 for to deny that John had any such ideal in mind is to do 
 injustice both to his prophetic and poetic insight. And 
 if in our anxiety to reproduce the author's native hori- 
 zon, we allow the basis of historical fact to become the 
 chief matter of concern, we are sure to lose in literary 
 insight in the interpretation of the book far more than we 
 gain through clearness of local perspective. For it is al- 
 ways to be reckoned 'amongst the impediments to the 
 study of literature. , .that the personality of the author, 
 and the circumstances of actual life, are forever being al- 
 lowed to interpose between a creative poem and the mind 
 of the reader V to the constant hindrance of any free fol- 
 lowing of the author's constructive idealization. And it 
 is only by avoiding this narrowing influence of realism 
 that we are at all likely to reach the heart of the Apoca- 
 lypse. 
 
 1 The Opening of the First Seal Ch. 6 :1,2 
 
 The Lamb as the ruler and revealer of destiny opens 
 the seals. At the call of one of the four living creatures, 
 'come ',2 a white horse and his rider, who bears a bow, 
 the sign of warfare, and receives a crown, the token of 
 victory, appear in view, representing Christ going forth 
 conquering and to conquer,^ a vision depicting the be- 
 ginning and trend of the gospel age : the symbol of the 
 victory of Christ's cause attained through conflict, 
 Christianity triumphing in the earth, — for the progress 
 of the life of the church is viewed like that of the national 
 life of Israel as marked by constant conflict. The assur- 
 ance of victory is made to precede the revelation of trial 
 as a ground of comfort and confidence throughout the 
 succeeding seals. We may properly regard the contents 
 of this seal as a present view of the onward course of the 
 
 ^Moulton's Mofl. Read. Bib., Psa. vol. i, Intr., p. xxxiif. 
 
 -The call is most naturally understood as a call for the vision to appear. 
 Slmcox so interprets : 'Each of the living creatures by turns summons one of 
 the horsemen.' {Camhr. Or. Test., Rev., p. 85) ; Scott, also, holds the same view 
 (Neiv Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 176) ; and Moffatt, prefers it (New Trans. New 
 Test., footnote). Plummer, however, says the call is addressed to John, — per- 
 haps a more common view ; on the other hand Alford, Milligan, and Swete, say 
 the call is to Christ to come. The view that the call is addressed to the rider 
 is more likely correct, though the interpretation of the seals is not materially 
 affected by the view we may take of this part of the symbolism. In any case, 
 'Each living being invites attention to the revelation of the future of that 
 creation of which they are all representatives.' Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 185. 
 
 ^Conquerinc/, and that he may conquer. This is the key to the whole vision. 
 Only of Christ and his kingdom can it be said that it is to conquer .. .only of 
 Christ's kingdom shall there be no end.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 184. 
 
126 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION 
 
 church, the details of which are to be imagined rather 
 than described, a suggestive picture which stamps itself 
 upon the mind, for the fi,gure of the crowned and conquer- 
 ing Christ once distinctly seen can never be effaced but 
 marks all our after-thought of him. This vision was real- 
 ized in some measure in the splendid growth of the 
 church in the first and following centuries, but the full 
 realization of its promise lies in the fulness of the ages 
 (ch. 19:11-21) — Christ is ever moving on throiigh the 
 years to final victory. 
 
 Many historical interpreters find in this rider the 
 symbol of conquest, especially of judgment on the Roman 
 Empire by the Parthians, indicated by the bow, their 
 usual weapon, and premonitory of the end.^ In that case 
 the first seal, like the succeeding ones, would indicate a 
 form of trial to the church. Others see in the rider the 
 the si,gn of Roman conquest, and in the subsequent seals 
 precursors of the destruction of Jerusalem, assuming the 
 earlier date of the book. These views, however, fail to 
 recognize the close similarity and apparent identity of 
 the rider in this vision with the one on the white horse in 
 chapter nineteen (v. 11) who is evidently divine;^ nor 
 do they agree with the above view as to the scope of the 
 seals, but limit them to the first century, while in the in- 
 terpretation given in this work they reach forward 
 throughout the history of the church to the end of time. 
 We must be duly careful, according to the symbolic view, 
 not to limit the prophecy to too narrow a scope in its 
 complete fulfilment, and especially not to exclude the 
 world-wide and universal reference, even though it be re- 
 garded as the secondary meaning, since to many minds 
 this is the essential and larger thought in the vision. For 
 we should not forget that while the visions of the Apoca- 
 lypse, like the voices of prophecy and the parables and 
 teachings of our Lord, had their immediate occasion and 
 purpose, yet this becomes in turn the ground and instru- 
 ment of a wider and permanent divine message to all 
 mankind, and that this is the message which is our chief 
 concern. 
 
 ^New Cent. Bib.. Rev., p. 179 ; also see Mommsen's Provinces of Rom. Emp., 
 vol. ii, p. 1 (note), Swete regards the first seal as 'a picture of triumphant mili- 
 tarism.' Apoc. St John. p. 84. 
 
 2'White is always typical in the Revelation of heavenly things,' Plummer, 
 (Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 183). 'If any other than our Lord is he that goes forth 
 conquering and to conquer, then, though the subsequent interpretation may 
 have occasional points of contact with truth,.., the true key of the book is 
 lost.' (Alford, Or. Test., vol. iv, p. 249). 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 127 
 
 2 The Opening of the Second Seal Ch. 6 :3,4 
 
 At the call of the second living creature, 'Come', a 
 red horse and his rider appear, to whom is given a 
 great sword, and power to take peace from the earth: 
 the symbol of war, and of consequent trial to the church. 
 The blood-red horse with his armed rider betokens the 
 carna,ge of battle, and suggests all the horrors of blood- 
 shed with its accompanying train of suffering. It is a 
 prediction not of any particular war or wars, but of war 
 in general, as the 'wars and rumors of wars' in our Sav- 
 iour's discourse (Mt. 24:6). And it was only as it was 
 'given unto him' (v. 4), we are told, that the rider could 
 accomplish his mission, thereby indicating the divine 
 authority, limitation, and restraint. The sword is the 
 same as the sacrificial knife, and the term used for slay- 
 ing in the passage is the Greek term for killing the sacri- 
 ficial victim, which may be intended to imply that the 
 slaughter of the saints is to be included with others.^ 
 The contents of this seal were realized to some extent in 
 the Jewish war connected with the fall of Jerusalem, and 
 in the subsequent wars of the Roman Empire which en- 
 tailed great suffering upon the church as well as upon 
 the world. The form of the prophecy, however, does not 
 preclude reference to the then past as well as to present 
 and to future events; it points to the experience of God's 
 children in every age, to the Jewish as well as the Chris- 
 tian church, though doubtless with the future specially 
 in view. These sorrows have been repeated again and 
 again in the numberless wars of history, and may be 
 repeated afresh in the future, for war is a constant trial 
 of the church throughout the centuries. The symbol of 
 the armed rider on the blood-red horse presents a vivid 
 picture of the horrors of war. It was a figure which 
 spoke to the imaginative Eastern mind with a power su- 
 perior to words, especially to those who had known in 
 their own experience the destructive ravages of war ; but 
 the details were left to be supplied by individual thought. 
 
 3 The Opening of the Third Seal Ch. 6:5,6 
 
 At the call of the third living creature, 'Come', a 
 black horse and his rider appear, weighing out grain 
 with a balance : the symbol of famine, want, and conse- 
 
 ipiummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 185. For a different interpretation see 
 Milligan, Expos. Bib., Rev., p. 91. 
 
128 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 quent suffering by the church. This expressive figure 
 of the black horse and his rider with a balance foretold 
 in a form that surpassed the power of language to de- 
 scribe, the prevailing gloom and distress of famine. 
 G-rain is sold by weight instead of measure, thereby in- 
 dicating its scarcity (Ezek. 4:16), and the price is from 
 eight to twelve times its usual cost, the food of a working 
 man requiring his entire wages, and leaving those de- 
 pendent on him without support.^ The famine indicated 
 is not, however, any special season of want, but recur- 
 rent famine as a condition of trial, and is limited in its 
 extent, as indicated by preserving the oil and the wine 
 which may be regarded as typical articles of food, or the 
 best of the things of common lif e^ — a famine affecting the 
 poor rather than the rich, the multitude rather than the 
 few. The contents of this seal were realized in prevail- 
 ing famines such as that under Claudius, that at the siege 
 of Jerusalem, and many other seasons of want which 
 have occurred at different times throughout the ages, but 
 especially in the ancient world and in the Far East. The 
 emaciation and terror produced by hunger and want was 
 a form of suffering too well known among the inhab- 
 itants of those lands to need any further emphasis — it 
 spoke a language of its own to all those who had felt its 
 power. 
 
 4 The Opening of the Fourth Seal Ch. 6 :7,8 
 
 At the call of the fourth living creature, 'Come', a 
 pale, ashen colored, or green horse, and his rider Death 
 appear, with Hades following after, i. e. the world of 
 departed spirits accompanying death as his after-part 
 to swallow up his victims, both personified, and with pow- 
 er given them to kill with the sword and with famine and 
 with death in all its forms: the symbol of mortality in 
 the church, destroying the forces of the kingdom. The 
 pale green or livid horse, the color of a corpse, reflects 
 the ghastliness of a dead body bordering on dissolution, 
 and points to the ruin wrought by death. Death is here 
 considered as in itself a trial, and some of the more ter- 
 
 >'A choenix of wheat for a denarius &c. The chocnix appears to have been 
 the food allotted to one man for a day ; while the denarius was the pay of a 
 soldier or of a common laborer for one day.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 185. 
 
 ^The oil and the wine are interpreted by some (as Wordsworth, and Milli- 
 gan) to mean spiritual food which will not be lacking in time of famine; but 
 this opinion is not sustained by anything in the text. Swete understands the 
 vision to forbid famine prices, and to refer only to relative hardships — an 
 unusual view. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 129 
 
 rible and widespread agencies by which it is brought 
 about are mentioned in order to make its ravages more 
 impressive. Among other forms death by sword and 
 famine are included, evils already introduced under the 
 two former seals as the occasion of suffering, but here re- 
 garded as leading to death and constituting a separate 
 trial. The trial of this seal is also limited, and affects only 
 one fourth of men, i. e. a fractional part, not an actual 
 fourth, the fourth being perhaps suggested by the four 
 horsemen. The contents of this seal were realized in the 
 fearful mortality of Roman times by means of the four- 
 fold scourge of sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts, 
 the crown of all sorrows to the Jewish mind; but they 
 have also been realized in a similar way, though different 
 form, through the many dread visitations of death in lat- 
 er days. 
 
 It will be noticed that almost every part of the sym- 
 bolism in these visions has a meaning of its own. The 
 horse in motion seems to indicate the swift progress and 
 triumphal march through the earth of the things repre- 
 sented in the first four seals, viz. of Christianity the con- 
 quering religion, and also of war, famine, and death, the 
 widespread terrors which are impersonated by the riders 
 as treading the path of the centuries. The color of the dif- 
 ferent horses, too, is not without significance ; white is the 
 sign of victory (white horses were not uncommonly rid- 
 den by Roman conquerors)^ and it is also the symbol of 
 purity, while red is the symbol of bloodshed, black of 
 want, and pale or ashen green of death, each of the latter 
 betokening something of the nature of the scourge which 
 they bring to men. The w^hole content of the seals presents 
 R bare outline of various forms of suffering, and is in- 
 tended to typify a multitude of sorrows that are un- 
 named. It should be noted, too, that at the close of the 
 fourth seal a division of the seals is apparent into two 
 groups w^ith four and three in each. The first four relate 
 to the sphere of the natural world, as the number four 
 indicates, and the fact also that they are ushered in by 
 the four living creatures who represent creation. These 
 seals are chiefly designed to show that during the period 
 in which Christ is carrying forward his conquest unto 
 
 ^It is doubtless true, as pointed out by Ramsay, that according to the usual 
 custom in celebrating a triumph 'the Roman generals were borne in a four- 
 horse car' (Letters to Seven Churches, p. 58). This, however, does not seem to 
 have been necessarily or always the case, and even when so, the horses were 
 white. Cf. Swete, Apoc. of St John, p. 84 ; and Scott, New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 177. 
 
130 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 victory, both trial and suffering in this world form part 
 of the divine purpose of discipline for his people which 
 cannot be escaped from but should be endured with pa- 
 tience and hope. The last three seals relate to the things 
 of the spiritual life, of which three is the symbol, and 
 point forward to the future and great reward in the 
 world to come which is about to be realized by those who 
 are faithful. The same division into four and three, per- 
 taining to the natural and the spiritual, though with a dis- 
 tinctive application, is found in the visions of the trum- 
 pets and vials (see App'x. D). 
 
 5 The Opening of the Fifth Seal Ch. 6 :9— 11 
 
 At the opening of the fifth seal a vision of the souls 
 of the martyrs appears, viz. of those 'that had been slain 
 for the word of God, and for the testimony which they 
 held' (cf. ch. 19:10), who are now seen underneath the 
 altar (i. e. the equivalent of the great brazen altar of 
 sacrifice in the Jewish service, at the foot of which the 
 blood of the sacrificial victims Avas poured) as the sign of 
 their having sacrificed their lives for the truth. The 
 altar is in the heavenly temple, which to the Jewish mind 
 was the archetype of the earthly, where they are found 
 crying to God as their master^ to judge and avenge them, 
 i. e. calling for vindication, not for vengeance in the earth- 
 ly sense ; and they receive each a white robe, the recog- 
 nized symbol of purity and victory, and are bidden to 
 rest until the roll of martyrs is complete :^ the symbol 
 of martyrdom so often experienced by the church 
 throughout the ages. These saints of God have not been 
 delivered from death, but they have been delivered 
 through death. The limit of this trial is the 'little time' 
 of the church's further conflict, a period looked upon as 
 relatively short in the whole course of the centuries, 
 though not in itself necessarily short or definitely limited, 
 for the 'little time' is practically the whole period of 
 this and the preceding seals. The contents of this seal 
 
 lit is interesting to note that God is here described (v. 10) as o 6ean6T7]g 
 an absolute ruler, a word implying the divine might and authority, which 
 occurs but once in the Apocalypse, and which is translated 'Lord' in the A. V., 
 and 'Master' in the R. V. This term, it should be understood, is 'strictly the 
 correlative of slave, cJoiJ/lof, and hence denotes absolute ownership and uncon- 
 trolled power.' (Thayer's Gr.-Eng. Lex. New Test.) In its present use 'it would 
 seem to convey the idea of personal relationship, as Paul speaks of himself as 
 the slave of Christ (dovXog).' (Strong, art. 'John, Apostle,' Hastings' Diet, of 
 Bib.) 
 
 ^For an interesting parallel passage in Apocalyptic literature see Ascension 
 of Isaiah, 9.7-18, where the saints, as here, receive a preliminary reward ; also, 
 Bk of Enoch, 22. 5f, where the voice of the spirits of the children of men who 
 were dead 'penetrated to heaven and complained.' 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 131 
 
 were partly realized in the ten persecutions of the early- 
 church, especially those under Nero, and under Domiti- 
 an, belongin,g to the period of the Apocalj^pse ; but they 
 have also been realized in every subsequent persecution 
 that has followed the planting of the gospel in heathen 
 lands. The martyrs belong to all ages and all nations, and 
 include every man who has given his life as a testimony 
 for the truth; and this seal looks along the whole line 
 and comprehends every martyr of every ag'e. 
 
 6 The Opening of the Sixth Seal Ch. 6 :12— 17 
 
 At the opening of the sixth seal a vision of an earth- 
 quake appears, in which the sun became black as sack- 
 cloth of hair, the whole moon as blood, and the stars of 
 heaven fell, while even the heaven itself was removed as 
 a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and is- 
 land were moved out of their places, for we are told that 
 the day, the great day, of divine wrath is come : the sym- 
 bol of judgment and retribution, especially of the last 
 judgment, and of the destruction of the world. The ter- 
 rors of the judgment thus described are sevenfold, af- 
 fecting the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the heav- 
 ens, the mountains, and the islands ; and seven classes of 
 men are mentioned, who call to the rocks and the moun- 
 tains to fall upon them and to hide them from the wrath 
 of the Lamb, viz. the kings of the earth, the princes, the 
 chief captains, the rich, the strong, and every bondman, 
 and every freeman, — additional signs of universality and 
 completeness. The contents of this seal have been real- 
 ized in one way in the crises of history and the fall of em- 
 pires, which we may regard as described here after the 
 analogy of Jewish Apocalyptic, under the form of a great 
 catastrophe of nature bringing to an end the existing 
 order of things — the fortunes of the people of God, 
 though not their fate, being conceived of as inseparably 
 interwoven with the world of nature; but this is only 
 a temporary and passing fulfilment which foreshadows 
 and points to the final day of wrath (called in Greek (v. 
 17), 'the day, the great [day] of their wrath', i. e. of the 
 wrath of God and of the Lamb), or the day of the Lord,^ 
 
 I'The day of the Lord' is a notable phrase in the New Testament, and should 
 receive our careful attention, though it only occurs twice in the Apocalypse 
 (ch. 6.14; 16.14). As Davidson interprets it, 'The day of the Lord is an eschato- 
 logical idea ; the phrase therefore cannot be rendered 'a day of the Lord,' as if 
 any great calamity or judgment felt to be impending might be so named : the 
 day is that of final and universal judgment.' (See art. 'Eschatol, of Old Test.'; 
 Hastings' Diet, of Bib.). This view, however, must not be applied too strictly; 
 for while it is clear that the final day is usually the thought in mind, yet 
 
132 STUDIES in tlie BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 and the end of the world. The End is a constant element 
 in all Apocalyptic writings, as it is the recurrent point 
 of interest with John in the Apocalypse; and it 
 was undoubtedly due to the influence of Jewish Apocalyp- 
 tic conceptions that an expectation commonly prevailed 
 in the primitive church that the End was close at hand, 
 and that it would come not through development but 
 through crises of judgment.^ The important part which 
 the End has in the Apocalypse may be regarded as owing 
 in some degree to the place it must necessarily occupy in 
 any exhaustive scheme of the course of the world ; but it 
 is perhaps more largely due to the peculiar view-point of 
 Apocalyptic, which exalted the End out of proportion to 
 the present in order to impress more deeply its lessons.^ 
 
 All the visions of the six seals had a particular appli- 
 cation and an undoubted though partial fulfilment in the 
 first age in which they were given ; but they have a wid- 
 er and more perfect fulfilment in all subsequent time, 
 and perhaps will have an especially complete fulfilment in 
 the last time, such as we know that the sixth seal will 
 surely have. To seek constantly, however, for a merely 
 literal fulfilment is surely to emphasize the least impor- 
 tant part of their meaning, and to limit them narrowly 
 to a definite historical event is to rob them of their larg- 
 er purpose, for they are wide-flung types that speak as 
 with a thousand ton,gues to the open ear and ready mind. 
 
 [In the order of the Revelation the connection is at 
 this point interrupted and the climax suspended bv intro- 
 ducing the Episode of the Sealed Ones (ch. 7:1-17), 
 which will be found under lib. The episodes are given 
 separately in this outline, and outside of their proper 
 position in the text, for the sake of clearness and em- 
 phasis]. 
 
 7 The Opening of the Seventh Seal Ch. 8 :1 
 
 At the opening of the seventh seal a vision of heaven 
 wrapped in perfect silence appears : the symbol of mys- 
 tery, the unrevealed, the unspoken, the ineffable bliss of 
 heaven which cannot be told in human words or por- 
 trayed in physical form, the great sabbath of the church's 
 history, — a significant sign of the deep, unbroken rest 
 
 through long and continuous use the phrase 'the day of the Lord' seems to have 
 acquired a wider application, and to have been applied to any striking crisis in 
 the history of the world, each day of the Lord being, however, a type of the 
 final and great day. (See Rawlinson, Pulp. Com., Isa., p. 228). 
 
 iCf. Neic Cent. Bib.. Rev., p. 124. 
 
 ^See App'x G, 'Apoc. Lit.' 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 133 
 
 from conflict and toil into which the people of God shall 
 enter at the end of the earthly trial, and of the fulness of 
 joy to be realized in the future life of the redeemed when 
 the conflict and judgment of this world are over, all of 
 which now lies beyond the power of words or vision to 
 describe or display. The form of the vision is remarka- 
 bly suggestive; the silence indicates that which cannot 
 be spoken; it gives time for thought that is beyond ex- 
 pression, deepens 'the sense of trembling suspense', and 
 serves to quicken anticipation of the revelation to fol- 
 low.^ The contents of this seal are to be realized in the 
 future life of the redeemed after the conflict and judg- 
 ment of this world are over, and they cannot now be re- 
 vealed except in symbol; they lie beyond the sphere of 
 earthly thought. The half-hour is a broken, fractional 
 number, implying a limited period, and is here the sign 
 of the relatively brief time during which John beheld the 
 vision, — for the period covered by the thought of the 
 vision is the w^hole period of eternity, the future endless 
 life with God, and only a glimpse of it is given at this 
 point in order to reassure the hearts of God's children 
 in the midst of conflict, — thus affording an impressive 
 break between the seals and the trumpets, which, though 
 short in itself, must have seemed relatively long to the 
 beholder in the midst of such stirring scenes. The silence 
 may have been suggested to John's mind by that which 
 the people kept during the time when the priest offered 
 incense in the temple, for we find that the offering of in- 
 cense by an angel immediately follows (v. 2-5),^ and the 
 solemnity of that time in John's own experience of the 
 ritual worship may well have left its impress upon his 
 mind. In closing the series it remains to be said that 
 the last seal, notwithstanding that its contents are in- 
 completely developed, yet joins with the first, and serves 
 to mark out the whole course of the church's history 
 through all the dread and storm of the other seals, as 
 ever advancing from opening conquest to final peace, 
 all the trials of the seals leading on to deep quiet in the 
 end, the symbol of the great and enduring peace of God. 
 
 ^The view here given, limiting the contents of the seventh seal to the 
 first verse of the eighth chapter, is upon the whole the preferable one (Plummer, 
 Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 229 ; Wordsworth, The Apoc, p. 155 ; and Vaughan. Lect. on 
 Rev., pp. 204-5), though it is disputed on exegetlcal grounds by Dusterdieck and 
 others (Meyer's Com. on Rev. p. 261 f.). It will be found, however, that it 
 is amply sustained by a broad view of the context. This verse (ch. 8.1) might 
 well have been included in chapter seven, at the close of the episode of the 
 sealed ones where it properly belongs. 
 
 ^Lee, Bib. Com., Rev., p. 595. 
 
134 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 It may be well for us before entering upon the epi- 
 sode of consolation in the seventh chapter, to review rap- 
 idly the steps by which the prime purpose of the Apoc- 
 alypse has been thus far wrought out in the vision of 
 the seven seals, viz. to encourage the hearts of weak 
 and suffering Christians and to fortify their patience on 
 the upward way in the midst of trial and distress by 
 pointing out the path of faith and hope alike to the cer- 
 tainty of victory in the future days of the church upon 
 earth, and to the fulness of joy reserved for the redeemed 
 in the far and fadeless glory beyond. The deeper lesson 
 of the first four seals is one of absolute trust in God when 
 the way, as then, was dark and the hearts of men terror- 
 stricken. God has not in any sense forsaken his people, 
 the vision proclaims, though his path and purpose lie 
 hidden in the night. Amid all the trials of the earthly life 
 his plan is working out unseen through the way to final 
 victory. His people must learn the lesson of discipline 
 in the path by which he leads, and strive to trust and be 
 patient and obey, while he with unerring wisdom rules 
 and works and wins. The closing three seals contain a 
 more direct revelation of hope and comfort. Under the 
 fifth seal the peace of the future life and the guarantee 
 of recompense to the saints is reassured; the vision of 
 the sixth leads to the episode of consolation which por- 
 trays the safe gathering of the redeemed on God's right 
 hand at last, w^hile the contents of the seal itself point to 
 the surety and justice of divine judgment that shall in- 
 evitably fall upon sin and sinners; and the seventh re- 
 veals the endless and unbroken peace and glory of the 
 future life with God. Thus, contrary to all appearances 
 in the world of men, the perplexing trials of the Chris- 
 tian life are seen in the apocalyptic vision to be not in 
 vain; the painful discipleship of Jesus has its abundant 
 reward hereafter; the certain and unfailing victory of 
 the righteous lies at the very heart of the eternal purpose 
 of God ; and this triumphant hope is presented as an abid- 
 ing consolation for the Christian mind in the midst of 
 prevailing trial and distress. 
 
 lib The Episode of the Sealed Ones (A Vision of Sal- 
 vation Assured) Ch. 7:1 — 17 
 
 The episode of the sealed ones is a vision of consola- 
 tion, that is introduced as a digression between the sixth 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 135 
 
 and seventh seals, elaborating the idea of redemption in- 
 wrought with judgment, and showing the safety, even in 
 the midst of tribulation, of God's people who are divine- 
 ly sealed, as also the certainty of their final reward. It 
 is given for the encouragement of tried and suffering 
 Christians who cannot understand why they suffer, and 
 as an answer to the question in ch. 6:17, 'who shall be 
 able to stand?' i. e. in the midst of such judgment as is 
 depicted under the sixth seal. There is, of course, a man- 
 ifest element of consolation for the saints in the contents 
 of the seals themselves, as indicated above, viz. the cer- 
 tainty of victory under the first, the divine limitation 
 and control signified in the second, third, and fourth, the 
 promise of peace and reward in the fifth, of vindication 
 and judgment in the sixth, and of the heavenly rest in the 
 seventh ; but this word of comfort receives such a distinct 
 reinforcement and emphasis in the episode interposed 
 as to indicate clearly its purpose. The blessed consola- 
 tion for God's people in all ages given in the book of Rev- 
 elation has not, perhaps, been sufficiently emphasized in 
 the past,^ yet this has always made it a cherished message 
 for those in affliction. The episode is found to consist 
 of two parts, corresponding in some degree to the two 
 dispensations, the Old and the New, the first setting 
 forth the surety of salvation in the divine choice out 
 of Israel (v, 1-8), and the second the fulness of salvation 
 in the restoration to the divine presence of the entire 
 body of the redeemed out of all nations (v. 9-17), the two 
 together manifesting the consoling thought that redemp- 
 tion triumphs in the midst of judgment. 
 
 A The Sealed of Israel Ch. 7 :1— 8 
 
 The first part of the episode shows Israel's share 
 in the sure and unfailing results of God's elective and 
 redemptive purpose, and through this the wider truth 
 that God seals and keeps all his own (cf. Ezek. 9:1-6).^ 
 
 1 The Angels Holding the Winds Ch. 7 :1 — 3 
 
 At the bidding of another angel who ascends from 
 the sunrising as the sign that he brings light and hope, 
 
 ^Riddle, unpublished Classroom Lect. on Kev. 
 
 2'Three kinds of significance appear to be attached to sealing in the Scrip- 
 tures, viz. (1) to authenticate; (2) to assert ownership; and (3) to assure 
 safety. The significance of sealing in Revelation seems to combine both the 
 latter ideas.' (New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 191). Possibly all senses of the term 
 may be here included, which gives a very forcible meaning. In Charles' view 
 the sealing in Revelation is to secure the servants of God against the attacks 
 of demonic powers, or against the Antichrist. See his Studies in Apoc, p. 130. 
 
136 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 and who bears the seal of the livin,g God as the token of 
 his authority, 'the four angels to whom it was given to 
 hurt the earth and the sea' restrain the winds, which are 
 apparently those of destruction and judgment, until 
 the act of sealing has been accomplished : the symbol of 
 the delay of God's final judgment upon the world until all 
 his chosen ones are sealed, i. e. are marked as the sub- 
 jects of redemption, or until his redemptive purpose 
 is complete — the choice beginning with Israel. Four, 
 the earth number, is the number of the angels, corners, 
 and winds in the vision, indicating the world-wide char- 
 acter of the judgment; and the sealing is upon earth, 
 though apparently not to be thought of as occurring in 
 any particular point of time, and not therefore to be 
 placed, as by some, just preceding the final judgment, 
 for in a wider sense the sealing stands as a symbol of 
 redemption as a whole, viewed in effect as a process con- 
 current with the trials of the seals, and illustrated by its 
 operation in Israel.^ The time of holding back the winds 
 is the entire period of divine grace, and the sealing 
 shows the brighter side of the former picture of trial 
 and suffering — God is ever doing what he did in Israel. 
 
 2 The Number of the Sealed Ch. 7 :4— 8 
 
 The redeemed are sealed upon the forehead, the 
 sign of the visible and personal ownership of Christ, but 
 the act of sealing is not revealed ; as the act of God it is 
 hidden, and only the number of the sealed is given, a 
 hundred and forty-four thousand, i. e. the square of 
 twelve, the national number, multiplied by a thousand, 
 the cube of ten, the number of completeness, — ^twelve 
 thousand from each tribe, or twelve, the number of the 
 tribes of Israel, multiplied by a thousand, the number of 
 heavenly completeness : the sjmibol of a vast, complete, 
 but indefinite number chosen from the people of Israel 
 and kept unto eternal life as the first-fruits unto God and 
 the Lamb, the true or ideal people of Israel, who are in 
 a sense representative of all the redeemed. Other inter- 
 preters, accepting the apocalyptic-traditional view of 
 late writers, regard the first section of the episode (v. 
 
 ^The omission of tlie tribe of Dan in the enumeration of the twelve tribes 
 of Israel has been accounted for in various ways ; but most lilsely it occurred as 
 suggested by Ewald by an error of transcription, MAN, (the abbreviated form 
 of Manasses) being substituted for A AN, the correct reading. In favor of 
 this suggestion is the fact that the correct order of birth of the sons of Jacob 
 would thereby be followed, except that Joseph is placed before Reuben because 
 of the prominent place he occupies as the ancestor of our Lord. See Plummer, 
 Pulp. Com., Rev., pp. :^07-S. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 137 
 
 1-8) as a reproduction in form or substance from a Jew- 
 ish apocalypse, while the second section (v. 9-17), where 
 there is so manifest an expansion of the horizon, is the 
 Christian development of the same idea, showing how 
 the older vision may be understood in our time.^ Such 
 views evidently have strong attraction for the modern 
 mind, but it may well be doubted whether such a view 
 solves as many difficulties as it creates, for it assumes 
 the existence of documents that have no evidence on 
 which to rest except the theory which assumes them. 
 
 B The Redeemed Out of All Nations Ch. 7 :9— 17 
 
 In this section is presented a view of all the glori- 
 fied in heaven, showing the world-wide results of redemp- 
 tion, and the ultimate felicity of the redeemed, a scene 
 of triumph in vivid contrast with the trials and suffer- 
 ings of the church upon earth, and a striking illustration 
 of the difference which Christ has brought about through 
 his atoning work.^ 
 
 1 The Innumerable Multitude Ch. 7:9 
 
 With the opening of the second part of the episode 
 there is a sudden expansion of the horizon; every bar- 
 rier of race and nation has disappeared, and a triumphant 
 multitude of the saved from all peoples, a company which 
 no man could number, far surpassing that of Israel, is 
 seen standing before the throne and before the Lamb, 
 arrayed in white robes, the symbol of purity,"^ and having 
 palms in their hands, the token of joy as well as victory 
 (cf. / Mace. 13:51), and perhaps, also, as a sign of tri- 
 umphant homage to the Lamb. The use of palms in the 
 Feast of Tabernacles may have been foremost in thought 
 here, but we need not confine the significance of the figure 
 to the Jewish symbolism of joy. It probably includes all 
 the ideas connected with palms that were familiar to 
 the thought of the time, without regard to their origin; 
 for it is not justifiable to assume that the Apocalypse 
 contains no ideas borrowed from heathen antiquity, but 
 moves exclusively within the circle of sacred, that is, 
 Jewish imagery and symbols.^ This represents an opin- 
 
 iMoffatt, Exp. Gr. Test., vol. V, pp. 394-0 ; Jiilicher, A"e«- Test., Intr., pp. 
 287-8 ; and Scott, Kew Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 192. 
 
 2'Perhaps no passage in the Apocalypse has had so wide an influence on 
 popular eschatology.' Swete, Apoc. of St John, p. 98. 
 
 'For a like passage where the sealed wear white garments, see // Esdr. 2 
 34-42. 
 
 ^As Trench, followed by Milligan. 
 
138 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 ion which in the light of later studies in Apocalyptic can- 
 not be maintained, though manifestly everything has been 
 assimilated by the Jewish conception, from whatever 
 source it may have been derived. The phase of the vi- 
 sion presented in the ninth verse, affords a view of the 
 redeemed church in its fulness, the multitude of the saved 
 from both covenants now joined in one body in which 
 no distinction of race or nation exists, a view much wid- 
 er in its scope than the former one of the sealing.^ 
 
 Many commentators, it must be recognized, view 
 this passage differently (v. 4-9), and maintain the full 
 identity of the hundred and forty-four thousand and the 
 great multitude by a somewhat strained exegesis, mak- 
 ing the hundred and forty-four thousand the symbol 
 of the Christian church.^ In the interpretation of such 
 symbols, however, we must always allow a latitude of 
 view, for different interpretations appeal with varying 
 force to different minds; and it should be remembered 
 in holding the view accepted in this work, that while 
 the symbol is taken from the case of Israel, and is there- 
 fore correctly interpreted as applying primarily to the 
 people of Israel, yet it is not Jews as distinguished from 
 Gentiles that are meant, but the saints of the Old Testa- 
 ment as distinguished from those of the New, the few 
 in contrast with the many ; and that in a wider sense the 
 figure symbolizes salvation as a whole, represented here 
 by a part in which it is shown to be effective, the main 
 idea being salvation made certain and efficient by the 
 divine act of sealing, while in the great multitude the sym- 
 bol is that of salvation become world-wide in its results. 
 The question of the identity of the two groups is there- 
 fore subordinate, and cannot be regarded as of any spe- 
 cial importance. 
 
 It may be well at this point, in view of the great and 
 radiant multitude of the redeemed, the innumerable 
 company out of all nations and tribes and peoples and 
 tongues, who stand before the throne and join in the cry 
 of 'Salvation unto our God. . .and unto the Lamb' (v. 10), 
 for us to emphasize the wide-spread and triumphant 
 effect of the gospel in the world of men which is here 
 
 ^Faussett, J. P. & B. Com. on Rev., p. 605 ; also Diisterdieck, Meyer's Com. 
 on Rev., pp. 242-50. who aptly says, 'The numher 144,000 there (v. 1-8) al- 
 though not literal but schematic, furnishes the idea of numerabilitii, while 
 here (v. 9) the inn timer ability of the great multitude is especially emphasized.' 
 2As Pluramer, Pulp. Com., Rev. p. 207, who says, 'Hero, as elsewhere, it is the 
 spiritual Israel which is signifled.' 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 139 
 
 foreshown. It has been too often asserted by modern 
 critics that the outlook of the Revelation is narrow and 
 Jewish, and its view limited and disconraging. As 
 against this it is well to remember the lesson of these 
 verses, as well as that of many other similar passages 
 throughout the book (cf. chs. 5:9; 21:24; 22:7, et al). 
 We should also clearly see that the Revelation from 
 its nature and purpose deals chiefly with the plan of 
 God for the ages, and with the causes and events which 
 lead on to the end of the world, and that therefore its 
 essential message is not addressed to evangelistic effort 
 or to missionary enterprise, but to faith in God when 
 days are dark and storms fill the sky, and to preparation 
 for meeting him in a fairer world when earthly days 
 are done. Yet the book just as clearly shows that the 
 divine plan both includes and prepares for the essen- 
 tially world-wide and universal mission of Christianity; 
 and the message of the gospel to every creature is re- 
 peated and emphasized throughout in such a way as to 
 make plain that the great work and chief purpose of the 
 Kingdom of God in the earth is to redeem and to save 
 the lost. And surely this important truth should never 
 be left out of view in our perusal of the book. 
 
 2 The Cry of the Church Triumphant Ch. 7 :10— 12 
 
 The whole body of the redeemed, the saved out of 
 both covenants, the united company which no man could 
 number, that includes both Jews and Gentiles, is heard 
 unitedly to cry with a loud voice, 'Salvation unto our 
 God. . .and unto the Lamb', i. e. salvation is attributed 
 unto God and the Lamb^ (the Salvation Chorus), while 
 all the heavenly court join them in a seven-fold sym- 
 phony of praise. This is the last in a series of growing 
 doxologies. In ch. 1 :6 the praise ascribed is twofold, in 
 ch. 4 :11 it is threefold, in ch. 5 :13 it is fourfold, and now 
 in ch. 7:12 it is sevenfold — 'Blessing, and glory, and 
 wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and 
 might, he unto our God forever and ever'. It. should 
 also be noted that in the Salvation Chorus, for the first 
 of three times in the book, salvation is ascribed by a 
 voice from heaven to God, or to God and to ' Christ, 
 viz. in chs. 7:10; 12:10; and 19 :L 
 
 1' Saved by our God, who is seated on the throne, and by the Lamb!' Mof- 
 fatt. New Trans, of Nerc Test. 
 
140 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 3 The Redeemed Before the Throne Ch. 7 :13— 17 
 
 John's attention is at this point specially directed 
 to the triumphant company that is before the throne of 
 God by one of the elders (v. 13f.)^ in order to empha- 
 size that they of that company have come victorious out 
 of the great tribulation of the earthly life, and there- 
 fore they are ever before the throne serving God day 
 and night in his temple, i. e. in the vaog. the shrine 
 of the temple in heaven, and sharing in the exceed- 
 ing blessedness of the divine presence as their great 
 reward. 'And he that sitteth on the throne shall spread 
 his tabernacle over them... and God shall wipe away 
 every tear from their eyes.'^ It is not likely that by the 
 great tribulation in v. 14 is meant a special period of 
 trial such as is implied in ch. 3 :10, and by the words of 
 our Lord in Mat. 24 :21, but rather the world-tribulation 
 that belongs to the earthly life of the Christian through- 
 out all time, 'the tribulation of Jesus' (ch. 1:9) in which 
 John felt that he had a share. Some, however, think 
 that it is the same period of trial referred to before as 
 preceding the end of the world.^ Thus wdth a prophetic 
 view of the redeemed before the throne the episode closes, 
 and the seventh seal is opened (ch. 8:1). 
 
 Ill The Vision of the Seven Trumpets (A Vision 
 of Threatening) Ch. 8:2—9:21, and 11:14—19 
 
 The vision of the seven trumpets sets forth in pic- 
 torial form a divine proclamation of the judgments of 
 God upon the sinful world, especially those to be exper- 
 ienced throughout the prospective history of mankind 
 until the final consummation of all things. It consists 
 of another group of seven that are parallel in a cer- 
 tain sense to the vision of the seals, covering like them 
 the path of the ages, but that form a separate series com- 
 plete in themselves and that are issued for a different 
 purpose, the seals specially manifesting God's care of 
 his people in the midst of trial, while the trumpets re- 
 veal the divine punishment visited upon the sinful. These 
 two lines of judgment are conceived of as occurring main- 
 
 ^'Where an explanation is made of visions wliich refer to the church, the 
 active part is taken by the elders, while angels introduce visions of which the 
 signification is unexplained.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 209. 
 
 2'These verses (v. 16. 17) are full of reminiscences of the O. T. Perhaps 
 there is no passage in the whole of literature that so combines simplicity of 
 language and sublimity of thought as these two verses.' Dean, Book of Revelar 
 tion, p. 119. 
 
 'Swete, Apoc. of St John, p. 100; Scott, Neic Cent. Bii., Rev., p. 195 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 141 
 
 ly in the same period, but looked at from another point 
 of view: or, perhaps, it might better be said, that we have 
 here another group of seven which follow the whole 
 course of history and develop a new line of divinely or- 
 dered occurrences that neither follow nor precede, but 
 are quite independent of any time-relation to the pre- 
 ceding series of the seals. The number of the trumpets, 
 like that of the seals, is intended to indicate the com- 
 pleteness of the series, for seven is the number of com- 
 pleteness. They are general indications of God's judg- 
 ments, and though particular events may be partial ful- 
 filments, the complete fulfilment is in all time.^ 
 
 A The Preparation for the Trumpets Ch. 8 :2 — 6 
 
 In a short intervening section preparatory to the 
 trumpets, we are shown that the prayers of the saints 
 lead to the manifestation of divine wrath against sin. 
 These verses, it may be said, form a transition from the 
 vision of the seals to that of the trumpets, and are in 
 fact included by some under the seventh seal, though 
 not properly belonging to it. The former vision reaches 
 a fitting close in the period of eternal rest which is 
 looked upon under the seventh seal, and we wait in the 
 quiet that it brings, expecting the end to be an- 
 nounced at once. But instead of that a further vision 
 is revealed to the seer, and we again traverse the course 
 of history by a different path to its ending. In another 
 series of seven under the trumpets the punishment of the 
 un,godly is reviewed, and divine wrath is seen to fall 
 upon the heads of the sinful. This succeeding series of 
 trumpet visions is introduced by verses two to six in the 
 eighth chapter. 
 
 1 An Angel Offers Incense upon the Golden Altar 
 
 Ch. 8:3— 5 
 
 The incense is added unto the prayers of all the 
 saints which are thus typically purified, and they are 
 straightway presented before the throne of God in 
 heaven. Incense was the symbol of prayer under the Old 
 Testament, but it becomes here, by a further develop- 
 ment of the symbol, the vehicle for bearing the prayers 
 to the throne, and the action apparently follows the 
 form of the Jewish ritual worship. An angel standing 
 over the brazen altar of sacrifice, takes fire from it in 
 
 ipiummer, Palp. Com., Rev., p. 230. 
 
142 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 a golden censer or fire-pan, and much incense is then 
 given him to add unto the prayers of all the saints, evi- 
 dently for their purification and that he may offer them 
 at the golden altar of incense which is before the throne 
 of God. Completing this action, the angel returns again 
 to the brazen altar to take fire from it that he may cast it 
 as the symbol of judgment upon the earth (cf Ezek. 10 :2f ) 
 Others, however, think that only one altar, that of in- 
 cense, is referred to in the action.^ In either case the 
 worship of the Old Testament is the basis of the figure, 
 though the scene is laid in heaven. 'And there followed 
 thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake ', 
 the tokens of God's presence and of the approaching di- 
 vine judgment. 
 
 2 The Seven Angels Prepare to Sound Ch. 8:2, 6 
 
 To the seven angels are given seven trumpets with 
 charge of the series of impending woes; and the angels 
 put the trumpets to their lips ready to sound, mention of 
 which is made in order to emphasize the importance to 
 be attached to their action as angels who stand before 
 God. Their position implies special service, and their 
 number doubtless indicates the perfection of their minis- 
 try.2 The trumpet, which was the common instrument for 
 public announcement, and often connected with the idea 
 of judgment,^ may be here intended to recall its use at the 
 fall of Jericho (Josh. 6:4f). The seven angels may also 
 be taken to represent the whole body of angel ministrants 
 who serve before God, just as the seven churches symbol- 
 ize the whole church. 
 
 B The Trumpets Sounded Ch. 8 :7— 9 :21 ; and 11 :14— 
 
 19 
 
 The sounding of the trumpets represents the proc- 
 lamation of signal and destructive judgments upon the 
 ungodly world. The form of these judgments in the 
 vision was adapted to current conceptions of great ca- 
 lamities, and may be regarded as symbolizing all the 
 
 >For the first view see Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 238 ; for the second 
 view see Diisterdieclj, Meyer's Com. on Rev., pp. 264-5 ; also Lange, Com. on 
 Rev., p. 204. 
 
 -Vaughan, Led. on Rev., p. 207 ; and Stuart, Com. on Rev., p. 564, where 
 they are described as 'presence-angels ;' also cf. Tobit, 12.15, 'I am Raphael, one 
 of the seven holy angels who present the prayers of the saints, and who go In 
 and out before the glory of the Holy One; and Bk o/ Enoch, 91. 21, 'And the 
 Lord called those seven first white ones, etc' These instances serve to show 
 how the Apocalypse of John reflects the current usage of Apocalyptic literature 
 in his time. 
 
 sCf. I Thess. 4.16; I Cor. 15.52; and II Esdr. 6.20, 25. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 143 
 
 terrible woes in store for all the wicked in all the ages — 
 wide world-pictures of the divine purpose of punishment. 
 The latter half of the first century was marked by many 
 terrible visitations, such as earthquakes, famines, and 
 plagues, and it should not be thought strange to find 
 these events reflected in such a book as the Apocalypse 
 at a time when they were fresh in the public mind. That 
 they had some such source is evident, for the graphic 
 descriptions of appalling disaster by earthquake in Mar- 
 tinique (1901), and in Messina (1908), have served to 
 illumine many passages in the Revelation, as have also 
 other similar occurrences previously known. These 
 judgments in the visions constitute not only the divine 
 means of punishment, but become the divine test 
 of character, revealing the essential nature of evil 
 men; for the effect of the judgTiients, milike that of the 
 seals, falls mainly upon the evil. 
 
 1 The Sounding of the First Trumpet Ch. 8 :7 
 
 The sounding of the first trumpet is followed by 
 hail and fire mingled in blood cast upon the earth: the 
 symbol of disaster visited upon the land, and men pun- 
 ished by such means as in the days of Pharaoh, — for fire 
 is a symbol of the divine presence and wrath, and the 
 blood indicates the destructive effects about to be 
 wrought upon both the animate and inanimate creation 
 for the chastisement of man. The resemblance of the first 
 four judgments of the trumpets and also of the vials to 
 the plagues of Egypt, is too manifest to escape the atten- 
 tion of any careful reader of Scripture, and affords a 
 ready proof of their representative character. These 
 well-known historic incidents of judgment, belonging to 
 the birth-period of the Hebrew nation, which are so deep- 
 ly inwrought in the Old Testament story, and whose 
 significance was so well understood, become the ready 
 types of other judgments that are sent wdth a similar 
 purpose and that belong to the divine order, but the inti- 
 mate nature of which it was not the divine purpose to 
 disclose. They are widely suggestive of God's power 
 over things the most permanent and stable. The destruc- 
 tion of but a third part of the objects affected as the re- 
 sult of the trumpet series, represents a limited judg- 
 ment, not an actual third but a fractional portion de- 
 stroyed, a great but not the greater part. The earth, the 
 sea, the rivers, and the heavenly bodies, on which the 
 
144 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 first four judgments fall, are parts of a fourfold divi- 
 sion of the universe which is common in this book, and 
 are intended to designate the entire created world, both 
 here and in the vision of the vials.^ In this comprehen- 
 sive designation the earth, or the land, was thought of 
 as the nourishing mother and the dwelling-place of man ; 
 the sea as the agent and arena of commerce; the rivers 
 as the seat of cities, the centres of population, the ar- 
 teries of trade, and the source of water supply; and 
 the heavenly bodies as the source of light, and as the 
 rulers of destiny — together representing in common 
 thought the great things of life to the w^orld of men. 
 Disaster to these, the sources of wealth and well-being, 
 has always been among Oriental nations the type of all 
 that is most terrible. 
 
 2 The Sounding of the Second Trumpet Ch. 8 :8 — 9 
 
 The sounding of the second trumpet is followed by, 
 as it were, a great mountain burning with fire cast into 
 the sea, thereby working widespread ruin: the symbol 
 of disaster visited upon the sea, one part of creation 
 which is used as God's agent for punishing mankind. 
 To move a mountain was a token of divine power, and 
 it was blazing with fire as a sign of the divine presence 
 and wrath — another Sinai in effect flung into the sea. 
 This striking figure of a mountain of fire was perhaps 
 suggested to John's mind by a volcano, with w^hich he 
 must have become familiar while resident in Asia; but 
 attention is directed more particularly in these visions, 
 especially the first four, to the eifect produced rather 
 than to the means used, whether hail and fire, or a moun- 
 tain, or a star, or the smiting of the planets.- The effect 
 produced is one of great terror, though the way in w^hich 
 it applies to men is left to be inferred, and is not at- 
 tempted to be described. Such an incident was well 
 adapted to the thought of the first century, and could 
 not but strike terror in the mind of the beholder because 
 of the complete helplessness of men in the presence of 
 such a disaster. It presents a wide field for thought, the 
 limits of which are not defined. It is in fact one way of 
 saying that God will make all nature to strive against 
 man because of sin. 
 
 ^Plummer, Pulp. Com.. Rev., p. 398 ; also compare with ch. 14.7, where 
 these terms are apparently used as the sum of creation. 
 2Cf. Alford, Or. Test., vol. 4, Rev., p. 638. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 145 
 
 3 The Sounding of the Third Trumpet Ch. 8 :10— 11 
 
 The sounding of the third trumpet is folloAved by 
 the falling of a great star from heaven, called Worm- 
 wood, upon the waters, burning as a torch and making 
 them bitter: the symbol of disaster visited upon the 
 rivers and fountains of waters, still another part of cre- 
 ation, as an act of divine judgment upon sinful men who 
 dwell by the waters. As under the former trumpets only 
 a third part was affected: 'And many men died of 
 the waters, because they were made bitter.' The falling 
 of a star was regarded as a sign of some great disaster 
 about to happen, and is here apparently intended to be 
 typical of judgment sent from heaven, while the name 
 Wormwood signifies the bitterness of the trouble which 
 it entails upon men. But beyond this all is indefinite, 
 a quality characteristic of Apocalyptic which often 
 heightens rather than lessens the general effect. The 
 bitter waters expressed the moral bitterness that men 
 must taste because of their sin: the wide result is thus 
 covered by an unspoken appeal to thought through a 
 significant symbol. 
 
 4 The Sounding of the Fourth Trumpet Ch. 8 :12 
 
 The sounding of the fourth trumpet is followed by 
 the smiting of the sun, moon, and stars: the symbol of 
 disaster visited upon the heavenly bodies, not only de- 
 stroying their light but inflicting a punishment peculiarly 
 terrifying to the Oriental mind because of the occult 
 influence which these bodies were supposed to exert up- 
 on the future destinies of men. We need not necessarily 
 regard John as personally sharing in this opinion, but 
 only as using the language and appealing to the thought 
 of his time, as in the preceding reference to the falling 
 star. He seems to look upon these strange occurrences 
 mainly as signs of the divine purpose, as 'wonders in the 
 heavens and in the earth' (Joel 2:30) through which God 
 w^rought in manifesting his will. The evils resulting 
 from this visitation in the vision, as in the former judg- 
 ments, are suggested rather than named; but they lie 
 before the mind in a haunting way to be filled in by a 
 vivid imagination Avith scenes of terror and wrath. 
 
 (1) The Eagle and Its Message Ch. 8 :13 
 
 At this point an eagle (not an angel, as in the Au- 
 thorized Version), the symbol of carnage, appears fly- 
 
146 STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 
 
 ing high in mid-heaven, crying, 'Woe! Woe! Woe!' and 
 indicating by its rapid flight and thrice repeated call 
 of terror the swiftness of the three coming woes of the 
 remaining trumpets.^ Also three, the number of the spir- 
 itual in contrast with the material, serves to indicate 
 the sphere to which these judgments belong. These 
 three, the fifth, sixth, and seventh, are often called the 
 'woe-trumpets', and their effects are visited directly up- 
 on men, not indirectly through natural objects as under 
 the preceding four of the series. 
 
 5 The Sounding of the Fifth Trumpet Ch. 9 :1— 12 
 
 The sounding of the fifth trumpet is followed by a 
 vision of a star from heaven, fallen unto earth, the sym- 
 bolic representation of Satan cast out of heaven for his 
 sin, and by smoke as of a great furnace enveloping a 
 swarm of locusts that ascend from the pit of the abyss, 
 the present dwelling-place of Satan and the familiar 
 haunt of demons : the symbol of disaster to men through 
 Satan and his multitudinous host, 'the spiritual hosts 
 of wickedness' (Eph. 6:12), the demons from the pit. 
 These are permitted to torment men, producing bitter 
 anguish for five months, the usual life of the locust, and 
 the symbol of an incomplete or limited period of time, 
 which may here refer to the time of man's existence up- 
 on the earth. Five, the half of ten the complete num- 
 ber, is a symbol of incompleteness or indefiniteness. The 
 invading army of locusts is a well-known figure of wide- 
 spread disaster, as in the prophecy of Joel (ch. 2:1-11). 
 In accordance with general apocalyptic usage the pit 
 of the abyss is regarded as the present abode of the 
 Devil and his an,gels, and is conceived of as a vast sub- 
 terranean depth connecting with the surface of the earth 
 by a great shaft or well which can be opened or closed 
 from above, and the entrance to which may be locked 
 or unlocked by a key.^ That which at tirst seems to 
 be a cloud of smoke proves to be teeming with forms 
 of life, an evident token of the hidden nature of the 
 source of evil. The power of the locusts is directed im- 
 mediately against the wicked, such men as have not the 
 seal of God on their foreheads, while their sting seems 
 to be the type of the poison of sin which they infuse into 
 
 iCf. Hos. 8.1 ; Hab. 1.8 ; and Apoc. of Bar. 77.19-22. 
 
 2Cf. eh. 20.1-2; also see arts. 'Abyss', and 'Pit', Hastings' Diet, of Bib.; 
 and Bk of Enoch, 21.10 ; and 18.11. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 147 
 
 the veins of men, and the torment which they inflict to re- 
 fer to the visitation of sins that bring terrible punish- 
 ment upon the offenders so that men prefer death rath- 
 er than life. The description of the locusts as 'like 
 unto horses prepared for war etc.', is a realistic touch 
 intended to heighten the sense of terror, but not to 
 identify them with any objects in human experience. Al- 
 so the statement that 'their faces were as men's faces', 
 implies only that they were like men in appearance, 
 though some think this points to human agents. The star 
 is here used in a quite different sense from that under the 
 third trumpet, — for to insist that all objects must have 
 a single symbolism, and that the star must mean the 
 same in every case, i. e. a person, there as well as here, 
 is to neglect one of the clearest lessons of Apocalyp- 
 tic. Here it is a personification or symbol of Satan (Isa. 
 14:12), the angel of the abyss, who is named Apoll- 
 yon,^ i. e. one who causes perdition to mankind, or in 
 Hebrew, Abaddon, i. e. the destroyer, a sufficient identi- 
 fication for the reader of the Old Testament. The aw- 
 ful woe that the world of evil men suffers at the hands 
 of Satan and his legions is the ideal content of this 
 trumpet; and we notice that the severity of the judg- 
 ments seems to increase as they progress toward the 
 end. The first woe is now declared to be past (v. 12), 
 but two others are foretold as yet to come. 
 
 6 The Sounding of the Sixth Trumpet Ch. 9 :13— 21, and 
 
 11:14 
 
 The sounding of the sixth trumpet is followed by 
 the loosing of four angels from the bed of the Euphrates 
 (which is done at the bidding of a voice from the four 
 horns^ of the golden altar of incense that is before God, 
 and underneath which are the souls of them that had 
 been slain for the Word of God — evidently a divine com- 
 mand) who had been prepared for an appointed time, 
 even 'for the hour and day and month and year, that 
 they should kill the third part of men' from the earth, 
 and by the coming of a vast invading army of horsemen, 
 the double square of a myriad, or two hundred millions 
 
 iSome find in this name a reference to Apollo, the pagan deity, and point 
 out that the locust was one of the symbols of his cult, certainly a curious coin- 
 cidence, but apparently not anything more than a coincidence. See New Cent. 
 Bib., Rev., p. 208. 
 
 ='The balance of authority seems in favor of retaining rtaadpuv 'four,' 
 although the Revisers omit it. The altar of incense had four horns projecting 
 at the corners.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 265. 
 
148 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 in all, the largest immber used in the Apocalypse, the 
 type of an innumerable multitude, which apparently 
 act under direction of the four angels, and destroy a 
 third part of men from the earth :^ the symbol of disaster 
 to men through the world-forces of heathenism, which are 
 under direction of the world-rulers of the darkness (Eph. 
 6:12). The unbinding of the angels is the symbol of 
 evil let loose among men, for the angels are evil as is 
 indicated by their being bound, by their number, and by 
 the place of their imprisonment, i. e. the binding is the 
 symbol of divine restraint until the appointed time ; their 
 number is four, the earth number, indicating that they 
 belong to this world w^hich is usually thought of as evil ; 
 and the Euphrates, the place where they are bound, is 
 the old seat of the world-power, and the representative 
 of heathenism with its multitudinous host. The evils in- 
 flicted by the heathen nations upon mankind, especial- 
 ly the evils of war with their concomitant results, are here 
 indicated by this forceful figure ; yet these, though deep 
 and terrible, entirely fail to turn the rest of men, who 
 escape death, from idol worship and its attendant im- 
 purities^ — a marvelous forecast of the path of history, 
 for the heathen powers have time and again become the 
 agents of woe to mankind, yet the people have not awak- 
 ened to the true source of their sorrow in idolatry. The 
 description of the horses and of their riders in the vi- 
 sion is purely an ideal one, intended to make them the 
 objects of greatest terror, a true Oriental touch, appeal- 
 ing to the vivid Eastern imagination as such figures do 
 with us to the minds of children. The woes of men at 
 the hands of heathen nations is the evident content of 
 this trumpet, as is clearly indicated in the twentieth 
 verse of the chapter. At this point the second w^oe is 
 declared to be past, and the third to be about to come 
 quickl}^ (ch. 11:14); but between them intervenes a vi- 
 sion of divine help, and of the value of the church's 
 witness (ch. 10:1-11:13). 
 
 This view of the fifth and sixth trumpets seems to 
 meet more fully the statements of the text than other 
 views, and to conform best to the general character of the 
 
 ^Light is thrown upon these perplexing figures by a passage in the Apoc- 
 alypse of Ezra quoted by Bousset : 'And a voice was heard : let these four kings 
 be loosed which are bound beside the great river Euphrates, which shall de- 
 stroy a third part of mankind. And they were loosed, and there was a great 
 commotion.' Also in the Bk of Enoch (56.5), 'The angels gather themselves 
 together, and turn eastward to the Parthians and Medes, and stir up their 
 kings,' as the four angels do here. John's conception is thus seen to be a re- 
 flection of existing apocalyptic material. See New Cent. Bih., Rev., p. 208. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 149 
 
 whole series; for notwithstanding the recognized ob- 
 scurity of the trumpet visions, we can surely discern 
 divine judgments for wrongdoing in the first four, un- 
 der forms of physical evil visited upon the natural cre- 
 ation, and in the remaining three, manifestations of 
 moral evil visited upon men for their sin. That the pit 
 or abyss points to demoniacal forces, and the Euphrates 
 to human agencies, is sufficiently evident without dis- 
 cussion.^ The application of the incidents of the fifth 
 and sixth trumpets to Mohammedans and Turks by some 
 of the historical school, who have even interpreted the 
 tails of the horses as a prophetic reference to these 
 well-known symbols of authority used by Turkish Pashas, 
 is a curious example of capricious fancy. The fact that 
 the events predicted under the sixth trumpet find a wide 
 exemplification in the incursions of Turk and Moham- 
 medan, Goth and Vandal, is only a clearer proof of their 
 ideal character. And it is surely better to leave these 
 highly wrought imaginative symbols of the trumpets, 
 with their deep suggestiveness of appalling forms of com- 
 ing evil, in the vague indefiniteness in which we find 
 them, rather than to mar their beauty by weak and 
 narrow interpretations. 
 
 [The Episode Illb, which in this work is given af- 
 ter the seventh trumpet, occurs at the present point in 
 the vision covering chs. 10 :1 to 11 :13. The connection 
 is resumed in ch. 11 :14, for the second woe found in that 
 verse belongs in order of thought at the close of the 
 sixth trumpet, the intervening part being parenthetical — 
 see the Scripture text as paragraphed in this volume]. 
 
 7 The Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet Ch. 11 :15 — 19 
 
 The sounding of the seventh trumpet is followed 
 by great voices in heaven, declaring that the kingdom 
 of the world is now become tJie kingdom of our Lord 
 and of his Christ;^ by the elders praising God that 
 the time of judgment and reward has come (the Victory 
 Chorus) ; by the ark of the covenant, the token of God's 
 abiding presence, being revealed in the opened temple 
 in heaven — a traditional sign in the later Judaism of 
 
 ^See Bihle Com., Rev., p. 617. 
 
 ='The master thought of the whole Revelation.' Moulton, Mod. Read. Bib., 
 Rev., Intr. p. xxvi. 'The realization of the kingdom of God.... is the end in the 
 light of which God's purpose in Christ is to be read.' Orr, art. 'Kingdom of 
 God', Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
150 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 the coming of the Messiah ;^ and by lightnings, voices, 
 thunders, and an earthquake with great hail, the neces- 
 sary accompaniments in Jewish thought of the great and 
 final day of wrath : the multiple symbol of the final judg- 
 ment, and of the glorious triumph of Grod's kingdom. 
 The contents of the seventh trumpet are not fully de- 
 veloped, perhaps because they are too great for descrip- 
 tion, but in it we reach the climax and issue of the whole 
 process of judgment that is exhibited in the series, the 
 full and final establishment of the kingdom. The result 
 is viewed in its entirety, and the millennial period of vic- 
 tory is not brought separately into view. The unveiling 
 of the ark of covenant mercy and the ushering in of the 
 kingdom close the vision, and constitute an informal 
 transition to the vision of conflict through which the 
 triumph has been effected. 
 
 If we now rapidly recall the whole course of the sev- 
 en trumpets, we can see how with progressive move- 
 ment they increase in severity as they go forward; the 
 judgments they prefigure fall first upon the land, and 
 then consecutively upon the sea, upon the fountains of 
 water, and upon the heavenly bodies, as signs of God's 
 judgment upon the physical universe, and thus upon men 
 who in their earthly lives form part of the natural world ; 
 then with the fifth trumpet the judgments take a wid- 
 er trend, and point to and include the setting free of 
 numberless demonic forces of evil from the pit of the 
 abyss to prey upon men, and under the sixth trumpet 
 the loosing of the multitudinous world-forces of hea- 
 thenism from the banks of the Euphrates to bring world- 
 wide judgments upon the race, thus preparing the way 
 for the blowing of the seventh trumpet which ushers in 
 the day of cumulative wrath upon sin, and the final tri- 
 umph of God's kingdom. This onward progress of the 
 plan of the ages is only broken by a passing view of 
 the possibility of recovery for men in the episode of 
 the angel and the book, and of the two witnesses, which 
 follows. The whole sweep of the judgments of the trum- 
 pets, in the view of Apocalyptic perspective, is toward 
 the end of the present world and the triumph of right- 
 eousness in the final judgment. There the redeemed are 
 left with God in his glorious kingdom; the after life 
 is not attempted to be described; its blessings are evi- 
 
 ^Scott, New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 226; also cf. // Mace, 2.1-8 ; and Avoc. Bar., 
 6.7-10. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 151 
 
 dently too great for our present comprehension. But the 
 triumph would not be so definite, without the vision of 
 conflict which follows, for it presents the path to victory 
 through prevailing trial and opposition as ever leading on 
 to complete and final triumph in the end, that is to be real- 
 ized in the glorious presence of the Lamb who is revealed 
 as standing upon Mount Zion in the midst of the re- 
 deemed. 
 
 Illb The Episode of the Angel with the Book ; and of 
 THE Two Witnesses (A Vision of Divine Help) 
 
 Ch. 10:1—11:13 
 
 This twofold vision forms a digression between the 
 sixth and seventh trumpets, similar to the episode be- 
 tween the sixth and seventh seals, setting forth the op- 
 portunities which God has afforded men of escaping 
 his wrath, showing the divine method of help through 
 the institutions of religion, and affirming the permanent 
 value of the church's witness, — a paragraph that not- 
 withstanding its acknowledged difficulty, is manifest- 
 ly interposed for the comfort of the church as well as 
 to prepare the way for the last woe of the remaining 
 trumpet.^ The restraint of wrath indicated by the de- 
 struction of only the third part under the trumpets, is 
 now further developed by showir^g the divine offer of 
 escape; and also man's common neglect of that offer, 
 which leads at length to final doom under the seventh 
 trumpet. The episode, it will be seen, differs in theme 
 from the one under the seals, the former setting forth 
 the divine side of redemption, and the surety of its ac- 
 complishment through the act of sealing, the latter show- 
 ing the human side of redemption as it is made known 
 to men through the institutions of religion, and the 
 failure of its universal operation through unbelief, leav- 
 ing the world without excuse to bear the weight of judg- 
 ment — the one throwing light upon God's relation to 
 the church, and the other upon his relation to the world, 
 in accordance mth the general theme of the seals and 
 the trumpets. Though many are unable to agree that 
 John had such a comprehensive view in mind, or that 
 it is to be looked for in a writing of this class, yet when 
 we consider the various marks of elaborate structure in 
 
 I'The episodes are interposed to give us an insight into the inner aspects 
 of the life of the church in the midst of persecution and distress.' Ballentine, 
 Mod. Am. Bii., Rev., p. 275. 
 
152 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 the book, exhibited in the relation of its different parts, 
 and the deep prophetic insight and poetic intuition man- 
 ifested by the author in his idealization of the course 
 of the church, we need not be surprised to find a broad 
 and perspicuous view of redemption such as this, espe- 
 cially since the plan of salvation had already been so 
 fully elaborated in an earlier period by the great Apos- 
 tle to the Gentiles. 
 
 A The Angel with the Little Open Book Ch. 10 :1— 11 
 
 The first part of the episode exhibits the revelation 
 of God's will and purpose as a source of help. The little 
 book in the vision is evidently the Apocalypse, though 
 in a broader sense it doubtless represents as well the 
 general purpose and beneficent effects of all God's rev- 
 elations to men; and the book is found open to indicate 
 that its contents are made knowoi to the world. Some 
 regard the little book to be the remaining part of the 
 Apocalypse, begimiing with the succeeding chapter;^ by 
 others its contents are considered to begin with chapter 
 twelve, the first break in continuity after the episode; 
 but it seems more likely that the whole book is intended. 
 In any case it is clear that the prophetic form in which 
 the writer's ministry is to be realized (viz. 'thou must 
 prophesy again over many peoples and nations and 
 tongues and kings', v. 11) serves to link the center of 
 the book (ch. 10:11) with both the beginning (ch. 1:3) 
 and the end (ch. 22:19),^ and thereby furnishes an in- 
 cidental proof of its unity of design. 
 
 1 The Angel Foretells the End Ch. 10:1—7 
 
 A mighty angel, the representative of Christ and 
 bearing his insignia,^ having a book in his hand, and 
 standing both upon sea and land as a sign of his world- 
 wide mission, declares the coming end under the seventh 
 trumpet, when the mystery of God's method and pur- 
 pose in human life and redemption shall be fully re- 
 vealed and finally manifested in the establishment of his 
 universal kingdom. The manner of the angel is scenic 
 and impressive, and the message is one of undoubted 
 power. 
 
 ^Cf. Plummer and Alford. 
 
 ^Neio Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 216. 
 
 'Some, as Milligan, take this angel for Christ himself ; but 'throughout the 
 book angels are everywhere distinct from the divine persons', (Alford, Or, Test., 
 vol. iv, p. 649) — a general rule that is never deviated from and should not be 
 forgotten. 'In no passage of the book is our Lord represented under the form 
 of an angel', (Plummer, Pvlp. Com., Rev., p. 231). 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 153 
 
 (1) The Thunder Voices Ch. 10:3b and 4 
 
 Seven thunders utter their voices^ in token of the 
 approaching judgment, but John is directed by a voice 
 from heaven to seal them up and is forbidden to record 
 them, probably indicating that the terrors of God's voice 
 in judgment are for the present hidden from men; 
 though some regard the voices as introduced only to 
 emphasize the element of mystery with which the Apoc- 
 alyptic form always delighted to clothe its thought. The 
 voice, declared to be from heaven in verse four, is appar- 
 ently not intended to indicate by whom the words were 
 spoken, but only the source from which they came ; some, 
 however, attribute them to Christ. 
 
 2 The Book Delivered to John Ch. 10:8—11 
 
 The book is Christ's revelation to John in the Apoc- 
 alypse, a little open book or scroll (v. 2), evidently set 
 in contrast with the great sealed book of God's pur- 
 poses in chapter five; and it is taken by the Apostle, 
 in obedience to a voice out of heaven, from the hand 
 of the angel, who commands him to eat it, thereby in- 
 dicating that John should digest the prophecy therein 
 contained (Ezek. 3:1-3).^ Though it was sweet to his 
 taste at first as a message from Christ, it became bit- 
 ter afterward when its deeper meaning was understood, 
 for it told of long continued trial and conflict instead 
 of speedy triumph and victory. The prophecy is de- 
 clared to be 'over [i. e. concerning] many peoples and 
 nations and tongues and kings', a fourfold prediction, 
 showing its world-wide application and indicating its 
 ideal content. 
 
 It was the common thought of the early church that 
 the period of the Christian dispensation would be very 
 brief; and it may have been in order to dispel in some 
 measure this illusion, and at the same time to incul- 
 cate patience and hope by showing the ideal shortness 
 of the Christian age in God's eternal plan, that we are 
 to find one of the many purposes of the Apocalypse. 
 For it should be noted that by the end of the first cen- 
 tury the view-point on this subject shows a material 
 
 I'The Jews were accustomed to call thunder the seven voices, and to re- 
 gard It as the voice of the Lord.' Piummer, Fulp. Com., Rev., p. 274 ; also cf. 
 Ps. 29.3£ ; 77.18 ; and 104.7. 
 
 ^Humphries, accepting the modern composite view, says, 'The eating of the 
 little book recounted in ch x. 10 suggests tliat borrowing from a previous source 
 is to be looked for in what immediately follows.' St John and Other New Test. 
 Teachers, p. 96. 
 
154 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 change. The attitude of John's Gospel toward the second 
 coming of Christ is manifestly different from that of 
 the Synoptists;^ the significant predictions of Christ 
 concerning his own return are omitted, notably the dis- 
 course on the last things (Mt. 24; Mk. 13; Lk. 21) ; and 
 the only references to his coming again are indirect ( Jn. 
 14:3, 18, 28; 16:22; and 22:22-3), though from these it is 
 evident that it is subsumed throughout, a view that is 
 confirmed by the Epistles (I Jn. 2:28; and 3:2). This 
 is far from showin,g, as some hold, that the coming pre- 
 dicted was only figurative, and was fulfilled at the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, an event already past w^hen 
 John's Gospel was written; but seems rather to indi- 
 cate that the earlier stage of thought, shared in by all 
 the apostles, which expected the Lord's return within 
 the first generation, had given way to a new and wider 
 outlook which emphasized the continuous coming that 
 is present and spiritual more than the personal coming 
 that is future and outward, though without losing faith in 
 the surety of that coming. And even if the later date of 
 the Apocalypse be not conceded, yet coming from the 
 same source as the Fourth Gospel, we might not unnatur- 
 ally expect to find in it some anticipation of this view 
 involving delay, for the coming thought of in the 
 visions is undoubtedly personal and future. 
 
 B The Two Witnesses Ch. 11 :1— 13 
 
 The second part of the episode sets forth the in- 
 destructibility and permanent value of the two special 
 divine institutions for human help, viz. revealed religion 
 and the church ; and shows the triumph of enduring wit- 
 ness for the truth. 
 
 1 The Measurement of the Temple Ch. 11 :1 — 2 
 
 The vao?, or inner sanctuary of the temple of 
 God, is at this point introduced in the vision, a term 
 which applied to the apartments of the temple building 
 proper, including the holy of holies, the holy place, and 
 in this case by implication the inner court, as distin- 
 guished from the leQov which applied to the whole tem- 
 ple and included all the buildings with the outer courts. 
 The vaoc; in classical Greek is the sanctuary or cell 
 of a temple where the image of the god was placed. In 
 
 ^See commentaries of Westcott, Reynolds, and others on the Gospel of John. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 155 
 
 Hebrew usage, as applied to the temple at Jerusalem, 
 it signifies the sacred edifice so called, including the holy 
 and most holy place. ^ Thus it is the true temple with the 
 altar and them that worship therein, i. e. the entire con- 
 tents of the inner court, the combined symbol of revealed 
 religion and of those who accept its truths, especially 
 the revelation and worshippers according to the Old 
 Testament, which is here introduced in the vision. This 
 is directed to be measured, i. e. it is to be subjected to 
 careful scrutiny, and its proportions are to be observed, 
 the sign as in Zechariah (ch. 2:lf.) of preservation and 
 renewal, and not of destruction. The measurement ap- 
 parently applies to the heavenly temple, though it may 
 be interpreted either of the temple at Jerusalem or its 
 counterpart in heaven, for to the Jewish mind the earthly 
 temple was the type and shadow of the heavenly (Heb. 
 9 :5 ) .^ In either case the meaning is the same, viz. on- 
 ly that which corresponds to the outer court of the earth- 
 ly,^ the unessential portion, is given up by the fall of 
 Jerusalem to be trodden underfoot of the nations (Lk. 
 21:24) during forty-two months (v. 2), the indefinite 
 period of the world's conflict with the church (see App'x. 
 E). The true temple with its worshippers, the heart 
 and center of the religious life of Israel, is indestruc- 
 tible and reappears in heaven with the ark of the cove- 
 nant restored (v. 19). This is a symbolic expression of 
 the important truth that the revealed religion of Israel 
 is to endure, the best in Judaism is imperishable, all 
 that is fundamental and essential is preserved though 
 the outer form be destroyed;^ and it was designed to be 
 
 ^See Thayer's Lex. Neio Test. Oreek for the distinction between the use of 
 vabc and lepbv; also art. 'Temple', Hastings' Diet, of Bit)., at the beginning. The 
 word lepbv, it will be noticed, is never used in the Apocalypse. 
 
 ^Plummer thinks that the heavenly temple is indicated, because 'nowhere else 
 in the book do Jerusalem and the temple signify the earthly places', — a view that 
 deserves weighty consideration. 
 
 ''The outer court of the temple was the addition of Herod.... The Gentiles 
 might come there, though they might not pass into what was especially the 
 temple, and which was sacred to Israelites only. And so it represents here all 
 those outer-court worshippers, those mixed multitudes which are found asso- 
 ciated with God's true people everywhere — of them, but not truly belonging to 
 them.' Pulp. Com., Rev., pp. 300-01. 
 
 ^Stuart, Com. on Apoc., p. 590 ; and Lange, Com. on Rev., p. 223, who 
 somewhat differently regards this as a picture of 'the inner and outer church', 
 a thought that may perhaps be included ; also see Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., 
 p. 288, who says, 'The temple Is here used figuratively of the faithful portion 
 of the church of Christ... .placed in antithesis to the outer court, the faithless 
 portion of the visible church, which is given over to the Gentiles — the type of 
 all that is worldly.' Scott, Par. Ver. of Rev., p. 33 says, 'The inner shrine 
 alone of the house of God is truly his, and abides forever' ; and Ballentine, Mod. 
 Am. Bib., following Bp. Carpenter, says, 'As Jerusalem and Babylon. .. .so here 
 the Temple and the court of the Temple are symbols. The gospel has elevated 
 the history and places of the past into a grand allegory. It has breathed into 
 their dead names the life of an ever-present symbolism.' 
 
156 STUDIES in the BOOK OF BEVELATION. 
 
 a vision of comfort for the Jewish Christians, who 
 naturally regarded the ruin of the temple as a profound 
 calamity. The vision has been regarded by many inter- 
 preters as indicating that the temple and the city of 
 Jerusalem were still standing when this was written, 
 thus confirming the earlier date of the Revelation (circ. 
 A. D. 69) ; but the weight of evidence to be attached to 
 an Apocalyptic vision as testimony in such a case is 
 very small, and is quite insufficient when compared with 
 other evidences of the historical situation found in the 
 book.^ It is evident, also, that there is a reference in 
 the symbolism here used, i. e. in the preservation not 
 only of the altar, but 'of them that worship therein', to 
 the preservation of the Jews as a people, and their fu- 
 ture restoration when the times of the Gentiles shall be 
 fulfilled (Lu. 21:24), though not necessarily to Pales- 
 tine,2 and surely not to a rebuilded temple, which in any 
 case would be mere incidents, but to the richer blessin,gs of 
 renewed fellowship with God, of which the temple and its 
 service were to the Jewish mind the truest type (cf. Rom. 
 ll:lf.). The late Apocalyptic-Traditional view, it may 
 be mentioned, attributes verses one and two to a former 
 Jewish apocalypse that has been lost, which is here 
 quoted as an introduction to the prophecy of the two 
 witnesses that follows. It may well be doubted, however, 
 whether this theory of the origin of the passage adds 
 anything effective to its interpretation. 
 
 2 The Two Witnesses and their Martyrdom Ch. 11 :3 — 
 
 13 
 
 The two witnesses who prophesy, i. e. bear witness 
 for God, and whom God ever preserves throughout all 
 vicissitudes, and delivers even out of seeming destruc- 
 tion, are the churches of the Old and New Dispensa- 
 tions which have been divinely called to witness for the 
 truth.^ The two olive trees represent the Old and New 
 Testament revelations which supply oil, the symbol of 
 grace, to the two candlesticks, i. e. to the two churches,* 
 the Jewish and Christian, that have been and are God's 
 special witnesses throughout the ages (cf. Zech. 4:2f.). 
 
 ^See Mommsen's Prov. of Rom. Emp., vol ii, pp. 214-17, uote. 
 
 =0n the return of the Jews to Palestine, expected by many as a fulfilment 
 of prophecy, see the very satisfactory remarks of Davidson, art. 'Eschatology', 
 Hastings' Diet, of Bib., vol. i, pp. 737-8. 
 
 'Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 289 ; Faussett, J. F. & B. Com. on Rev., p. 
 613 ; Wordsworth, The Apoe., lect. viii ; and others. 
 
 ^Cf. ch. 1.12f, where the seven candlesticks are the seven churches. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 157 
 
 The identity of the candlesticks and witnesses is shown 
 both by the connection, and by the explicit statement of 
 verse four: 'These [two witnesses] are the two olive 
 trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the Lord 
 of the earth,' i. e. the witnesses are, in a sense, both the 
 Old and New Testament revelations and the churches 
 of the Old and New Dispensations, which alike witness 
 for the truth of God, though the connection shows that 
 the churches are specially intended.^ Two is the number 
 of confirmation in witness-bearing (Jn. 8:17) ; hence the 
 two witnesses may also be considered to symbolize the 
 sufficiency of the testimony of the Old and New Testa- 
 ment churches, as also a sufficient number in the church 
 in every age who witness for God and truth. These 
 have power that is not of man but divinely given, as is 
 indicated in symbolic language (v. 5-6), yet when their 
 testimony is finished, the Beast out of the abyss, the 
 world-power of chapter thirteen, introduced here by an- 
 ticipation, accomplishes their apparent overthrow. Out 
 of this deadly conflict with the world, and the apparent 
 defeat and eventually the death of the witnesses, with 
 the exposure of their dead bodies and contemptuous re- 
 fusal of burial, a personal indignity and sign of hatred 
 and contempt, the fitting type of the world's treatment 
 of the church in all ages and times, which in the vi- 
 sion occurs in Babylon, 'the great city', the type of 
 the godless world, — out of all this seeming defeat comes 
 ultimate victory. After three and a half days the breath 
 of life from God enters into them, and they live again, 
 and go up to heaven in a cloud. This points to the ex- 
 perience of grave peril by the church preceding her 
 triumph, including temporary and seeming extinction at 
 the hands of her enemies, and forming the occasion for 
 an expression of their supreme contempt, an experi- 
 ence such as has occurred at different periods in her 
 history, and vv^hich may, indeed, occur again in the fu- 
 ture — the church persecuted, scattered, peeled, seemingly 
 destroyed, but revived and restored by the power of God. 
 Three and a half days of defeat, — a broken number, in- 
 dicating a short but indefinite period in contrast with 
 the three and a half years, or forty-two months, or a 
 thousand two hundred and three score days, (v. 3), the 
 length of the entire world-conflict, — a time of rejoicing by 
 
 iSee Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 289f, who is remarkably clear on this 
 passage. 
 
158 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 them that dwell upon the earth, is followed, as in the case 
 of our Lord, by resurrection, ascension, and triumph, a 
 parallel that is apparently suggested by the similarity 
 and was doubtless intended. This is true not only of 
 individual saints who have borne witness and suffered 
 death only to rise again in the witness of others and in 
 their own personal resurrection, but is especially true 
 of the church in a collective sense, both under the Old 
 Testament and the New, which always rises triumphant 
 after every great disaster in her history, and shall 
 rise again in all her members at the resurrection of the 
 last day after her witness is complete.^ God avenges his 
 own, as is indicated in the vision by the fall of the tenth 
 part of the city, which is the share of the tithe under the 
 Mosaic law, and by the death of seven thousand men, a 
 great and complete number, seven multiplied by a thou- 
 sand, who bear the punishment of their sin. As the 
 result of the martyrdom and avengement the rest of 
 men, give glory to God, a manifest attestation of the 
 value of the church's witness. The world's persecution, 
 though bitter and continued, fails to accomplish its end ; 
 the church of Christ survives, and rises again in powder, 
 and its witness becomes effective. Historical interpreters, 
 however, generally regard the two witnesses as per- 
 sons, futurists identifying them as Moses (or Enoch) 
 and Elijah, whom they regard as yet to come, and pret- 
 erists finding in them two leading characters during the 
 siege of Jerusalem by Titus, a view that restricts the vi- 
 sion to very narrow limits. Others, catching the larger 
 view, interpret as 'The Christian church and the Chris- 
 tian state', and still others as 'The law and the proph- 
 ets', or 'The prophets and the priesthood', — i. e. the 
 whole spiritual authority of the old dispensation 
 which, 'though perverted and destroyed by the Jews 
 (some of the best representatives of each being put to 
 death), yet rose to new life and enthronement in Chris- 
 tianity'. In any case the obvious teaching is the tri- 
 umph of faithful testimony for God, a principle of in- 
 estimable value for the church when in the throes of 
 persecution. And now, having looked on the vision of 
 the angel and the book, and of the two witnesses, the 
 way is open for the sounding of the seventh trumpet. 
 
 ^'The two martyrs represent the martyr church as sharing the royal priest- 
 hood of the Messiah, and as endowed with the gifts of prophecy and miracle- 
 working like the prophets of old,' Briggs, Mess, of Apost., p. 318. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 159 
 
 It may be noted in closing our study of this epi- 
 sode that many commentators interpret 'the great city', 
 in verse eight of this chapter, as referring to Jerusalem, 
 because of the designation 'where also their Lord was 
 crucified' — Jerusalem being regarded as a world-city. 
 The decisive reason against this, however, is the uni- 
 form usage of the book,^ for the interpretation is not 
 otherwise materially affected. Jerusalem is everyA\^here 
 else in the Revelation the type of that which is holy, and 
 is nowhere else called 'the great city', while this name 
 is applied seven times elsewhere to Babylon (or Rome), 
 the type of the ungodly world, in which and b}^ which 
 our Lord may be truly said to have been crucified; and 
 there seems to be no adequate reason for regarding this 
 passage as containing an exceptional use of the phrase. 
 Whether, however, we interpret of Jerusalem or of Baby- 
 lon the general sense remains the same. In the one 
 case the apparent defeat and contempt for the church 
 of God, or its witness and witnesses, occurs in Babylon, 
 the type of the godless world, while in the other it hap- 
 pens in Jerusalem, in that case the type of unbelieving Ju- 
 daism. Either symbolism, it will be seen, is suitable to 
 the context. 
 
 IV The Vision of Conflict (A Vision of Warfare) 
 
 Ch. 12:1—14:20 
 
 A discursive view of moral and spiritual conflict as 
 the key to man's redemptive history, the prime thought 
 which underlies the whole book, and which is portrayed 
 in this central fourfold vision as a pervasive church- 
 historic world-conflict of the evil against the just, now 
 forms the essential climax of the Revelation, disclosing 
 a divine panorama of the world in process of redemp- 
 tion with the great opposing forces which contend 
 against Christ and his kingdom; a discriminating out- 
 look upon the significant world-movements of all time 
 from the spiritual point of view, for it is everywhere 
 assumed that the forces which mould history are spir- 
 itual, and that the master key to life is found in the 
 supernatural. And, whatever the form in which these 
 movements became apparent to John in his time, we 
 may rest assured that the divinely inspired prophetic 
 insight led him to perceive, at least in some measure, 
 
 iPulp. Com., Rev., p. 291 ; Bib., Com., Rev., p. 639 ; Vincent, Word Stud, in 
 New Test., 1 c. ; also Alford, ar. Test,, vol. iv, p. 661. 
 
160 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 that in their essence they were timeless and repeated 
 themselves in every age. This central vision is in part 
 the most difficult portion of the Revelation, containing 
 seven mystic figures, viz. the Sun-Clothed Woman, the 
 Great Red Dragon, the All-Ruling Man-Child, the First 
 Beast (the Beast from the Sea), the Second Beast (the 
 Beast from the Land), the Lamb on Mount Zion, and the 
 Son of Man on the Cloud, each one of whom is invested 
 with a special symbolism. The difficulties of interpretation 
 belonging to this part of the Revelation, it will be seen, 
 are scarcely lessened in any degree by referring different 
 parts of the section to various Jewish apocalypses which 
 are supposed to have contained the gist of the thought 
 in this portion, according to the Apocalyptic-Tradition- 
 al view;^ for, apart from the fact that no such apoca- 
 lypses are now extant, these sections, even if they were 
 originally derived from such a source, have an ap- 
 plication here that is distinctively new and specifically 
 Christian. The vision itself is properly divisible into four 
 parts or sections, as indicated in the arrangement that 
 follows. 
 
 A The "Woman and the Dragon Ch. 12 :1 — 6, and 13 — 1 7 
 
 This is a vision of Satan persecuting the church and 
 the Messiah, and of the effective divine deliverance, 
 which although permitting a continuance of the conflict 
 yet provides help for overcoming and anticipates final 
 victory. The scene opens in heaven, but is afterward 
 transferred to the earth — see verse six. 
 
 1 The Sun-Clothed Woman Ch. 12:1—2, 5— 
 
 6, and 13f. 
 
 A great sign is seen in heaven, a Woman glorious 
 and crowned, arrayed with the sun, the bearer of light, 
 and having the moon under her feet, i. e. triumphing 
 over time and change, who evidently represents the 
 church of God on earth which was first Jewish and then 
 Christian — 'the ideal community of God's people'. The 
 moon was the Jewish divider of time, and the phases 
 of it being marked by recurrent changes, it naturally 
 formed a ready type of both these ideas ; and it may here 
 also include the thought of stability of existence in the 
 midst of change of outward appearance.^ The sun and 
 
 iScott, Netc Gent. Bib., Rev., p. 234. 
 =Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 310. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 161 
 
 moon have been thought by some to indicate the relative 
 light of the New and Old Dispensations, though it is more 
 probable that both have been introduced mainly to en- 
 hance the conception of the church's ideal glory. The 
 crown of twelve stars is the sign of the covenant peo- 
 ple, — the crown is aTeqpavoc, the crown of victory, 
 which God designs to give the church, and the 
 number, twelve, is the number of the tribes of Israel — 
 while the woman's travail angiiish is the figure of Jew- 
 ish affliction, and of deep longing for the Messiah. Some 
 interpret the figure of the woman as representing the 
 Virgin Mary;^ but the symbol is clearly wider than a 
 person, as is shown by the whole course of the perse- 
 cution with its transference to the rest of her seed 
 when the Man-Child has escaped, and evidently applies 
 to 'the mystical mother of Christ', the church whose 
 seed are many, though the source and appropriateness 
 of the fi,gure is doubtless found in the fact that Christ 
 was born of a w^oman. 
 
 2 The Great Red Dragon Ch. 12 :3— 4, and 13f. 
 
 The Dragon, a mythical animal of traditionary ter- 
 ror, the symbol to the Jewish world of all that which 
 M^as hideous and harmful, and described as red in color 
 to indicate his sanguinary and destructive character, 
 is introduced in order to represent the Old Serpent, the 
 Devil, and Satan (v. 9),^ the lord of the present world 
 and the adversary of Christ. His seven heads with dia- 
 dems, and the ten horns, are symbols of his full domin- 
 ion and absolute power over evil in the world during 
 the period of conflict. The head with a crown or dia- 
 dem is the natural s^mibol of dominion, which in the 
 Apocalyptic literature usually signifies kings or empires 
 (cf. Dan. 2:32; and 7:6), and the horn is a recognized 
 Jewish emblem of power. The crown is the 8id8Ti|ia, 
 the sign of royalty, not the OT8(pavoc, or gar- 
 land crown of victory — a distinction that is carefully 
 observed in the Revelation, as is indicated in the Re- 
 vised Versions by the translation * diadem'.^ This sym- 
 bolism of the seven heads and ten horns was evidently 
 
 ^In a footnote of the Revised Douay Version, however, the interpretation 
 there given is, 'The church of God. It may also, by allusion, be applied to our 
 blessed Lady' — an interpretation to which no objection can properly be made. 
 
 ='This threefold description (i. e. 'the Old Serpent, he that is called the 
 Devil, and Satan') gathers up the primitive, the prophetic, and the New Testa- 
 ment conception of the supreme Power of Evil.' New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 230. 
 
 'See Thayer's Or. Lex. of New Test. 
 
162 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 chosen to indicate the manifestation of Satan's power 
 in the kin,gs and kingdoms of this world which are ad- 
 verse to the kingdom of God, as is clearly shown by their 
 use in chapter thirteen, — that through which Satan oper- 
 ates and makes his power felt being attributed to him as 
 an essential part of his being. The use of seven and ten 
 together implies a twofold completeness, i. e. complete- 
 ness of kind and completeness of parts (see App'x. E). 
 This combination of seven, the symbol of perfection of 
 quality which is usually moral, with ten the symbol of 
 completeness which is usually earthly, though without 
 necessarily implying any moral element, is used with an 
 evil significance throughout in the Revelation, and cre- 
 ates some difficulty of interpretation; but it is doubt- 
 less best explained as indicating that that which was orig- 
 inally designed for moral perfection, signified by seven, 
 has been combined with and prostituted to purely earthly 
 ends, as signified by ten, which ends are in this case nota- 
 bly sinful. The suitability of the seven heads and ten 
 horns belonging alike to the Dragon, who represents Sa- 
 tan, and to the Beast (ch. 13:1), who represents anti- 
 Christian national government, is thus quite manifest, for 
 both are evil. If we compare this with the combination of 
 seven with seven in the horns and eyes of the Lamb, where 
 the idea of a twofold spiritual perfection is indicated, 
 something of the peculiar combination and significance 
 of numbers in the Revelation will become apparent. The 
 Dragon's casting down the third part of the stars from 
 heaven (v. 4), i. e. a considerable number but not the 
 larger part, is another sign of his power (Dan. 8:10), 
 and may allude to the angels who lost their first estate 
 and fell with him. He stands waiting in the vision be- 
 fore the Woman, the church, in order to destroy her 
 child, the Messiah, as soon as the child is born, a pur- 
 pose that he does not prove able to carry out. 
 
 3 The All-Ruling Man-Child Ch. 12:5 
 
 The Man-Child is Jesus Christ, who was born of 
 a woman, and whom Satan endeavors to destroy, but 
 who was brought forth to rule or to shepherd all the 
 nations with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:9), i. e. with irresisti- 
 ble power, and who was caught up to heaven by his 
 resurrection and ascension. In this symbolic action the 
 sufferings and death of Christ are passed over in si- 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 163 
 
 lence in order to set forth at once the triumphant es- 
 cape as the chief thought in mind, and the futility of the 
 Dra,gon's effort. 
 
 4 The Wilderness Refuge Ch. 12 :6a, and 14a 
 
 The wilderness represents the present evil world 
 as the place of trial during the period in which the 
 church, like Israel, continues her pilgrimage toward 
 the promised fulness of the messianic kingdom. There 
 may also be a reference in this to the lands of the Gen- 
 tiles, called a wilderness in contrast with Canaan the 
 glorious land to the Jewish patriot, where the church 
 'hath a place prepared of God', and is now nourished 
 like Israel of old in the wilderness; or, by a chan,ge 
 of figure, like the prophet Elijah was fed for twelve 
 hundred and sixty days, the equivalent of forty-two 
 months, or three and a half years, — the time, [two] 
 times, and half a time, i. e. three and a half times, of 
 verse fourteen, — the symbol of the indefinite period of 
 the church's conflict with the world, or of the world- 
 triumph, which is a shortened time, a term that will 
 end (see App'x E). It may be mentioned here that the 
 preterist interpreters usually regard the wilderness ref- 
 uge as a reference to the flight of the Christians to Pel- 
 la before Jerusalem was destroyed, by which they es- 
 caped the three and a half years of the siege^ — cer- 
 tainly a remarkable coincidence, though not serving 
 to establish that interpretation — a meaning that is nar- 
 row and local instead of broad and universal. 
 
 5 The Persecution of the Woman and her Seed 
 
 Ch. 12 :4— 6, and 13—17 
 The persecution of the W^oman with her seed repre- 
 sents Satan's malign but fruitless attempts to destroy 
 the church. The two wings of the great eagle, i. e. the 
 number of added strength and surety, are those of di- 
 vine preservation which are given her to escape from 
 the destroying flood cast out of the mouth of the Drag- 
 on, the apt symbol of Satan's persistent effort to over- 
 whelm the church. To John's mind the eagle, which 
 was inscribed upon the Roman standards, may have 
 seemed the symbol of the Roman Empire that at first 
 protected Christianity from Jewish persecution,^ or the 
 
 »Sce Farrar, Early Days of Christianity, p. 527 ; and Stuart, Com. on 
 Apoc. pp. 6l'7-8 
 
 ^Faussett, J. F. & B. Com. on Rev., p. 619 ; and Maurice, The Apoc, p. 181. 
 
164 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 symbol may have been suggested by that fact; but it 
 represents as well what God is ever doing through human 
 and earthly means for the church's deliverance. By the 
 exceptional statement that ' the earth helped the woman ', 
 we are evidently to understand that natural causes 
 helped Christianity, a fruitful suggestion that is remark- 
 ably exemplified in history. The Dragon making war up- 
 on the rest of the Woman's seed, i. e. all of her seed ex- 
 cept Jesus Christ, who was caught up to heaven, in- 
 dicates his continued attack upon the church and its 
 members. 
 
 B War in Heaven Ch. 12 :7— 12 
 
 We have in this incident a digression in the midst 
 of the account of the persecution of the Woman in or- 
 der to show the origin of Satan's hatred, and the be- 
 ginning of the conflict in the far past.^ Michael the arch- 
 ar^gel, regarded as the presiding angel of the Jews from 
 the time of Daniel, together with the angels under him, 
 warred with the Dragon and his angels; and Satan, be- 
 ing cast out of heaven, transferred the conflict to earth. 
 A great voice is then heard in heaven declaring his 
 downfall together with the triumph of the kingdom of 
 God, and recounting the suffering of the saints because 
 of him (v. 10-12). This term which is here introduced, 
 'the kingdom of our God', though used but twice in 
 the book of the Revelation, is the most notable phrase in 
 the New Testament. It occurs nearly a hundred times, 
 either as 'the kingdom of God', or 'the kingdom of 
 heaven', a term which signifies the rule of God in the 
 earth, God becoming king among men. The kingdom 
 of God, it should be seen, has a. far broader meaning 
 and wider sweep than the church, for it serves to in- 
 clude all that God is ever doing the ages through for 
 the spiritual uplift and permanent betterment of man- 
 kind. In the broadest sense this beneficent kingdom may 
 be defined as all that divinely directed movement and 
 control in human life and history which has for its ob- 
 ject the ultimate accomplishment of the mind and will 
 of God in the hearts and lives of men — for this glorious 
 kingdom on the earthly side has its ultimate seat with- 
 in the human heart (Lu. 17:21). Jesus by his luminous 
 teaching lifted that name, 'the kingdom of God', out 
 
 iPlummer, Pulp. Com,, Rev., p. 312 : Wordsworth, Lect. on Apoc, p. 200, 
 'St John now reverts to an earlier period.' 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 165 
 
 of the older and narrower phases of its Jewish use, and 
 gave it a broader and more beneficent meaning for all 
 succeeding time. The casting out of Satan, which is re- 
 lated in this section, is introduced as a contributive event 
 to the glorious coming of the kingdom. His defeat 
 in heaven foreshadows his defeat on earth, and though 
 he still has 'great wrath' which he pours out upon men, 
 yet 'he hath but a short time' (v. 12), i. e. a time that 
 is relatively short, until Christ shall reign in power. 
 They who are our brethren overcame him, we are told 
 (v. 11), 'because of the blood of the Lamb', therefore 
 they are called upon to rejoice. In connection with this 
 interpretation it should not be forgotten that the time- 
 relation is, in this view, ignored in the vision, as com- 
 monly throughout the book, for Apocalyptic often does 
 not separate the near and the far, and events widely 
 separated in time are viewed as contemporaneous in the 
 timeless sequence of prophetic perspective. Thus the 
 incident before us without any intimation takes us back 
 to the period anterior to creation, and then recurs as 
 suddenly to the experience of persecution by faithful 
 Christians.^ In all Apocalyptic writings there is a mani- 
 fest indifference to formal consistency that we do well 
 to bear in mind. 
 
 According to another view the account in this sec- 
 tion is to be regarded as continuous with the last, verse 
 seven following verse six in natural order, and the conflict 
 described is to be placed after the resurrection of Christ, 
 making the victory a shortening of Satan's power fol- 
 lowing upon Christ's redemptive work, and depriving 
 him of such opportunity as he hitherto had in heaven 
 of accusing the brethren, thereby limiting his sphere to 
 this world. Notwithstanding the attractiveness of this 
 view, however, and what may be said in its favor from 
 several passages in the Gospels (cf. Lk. 10:18; Jn. 12:31; 
 14:30b; and 16:11),^ the former interpretation is upon 
 the whole to be preferred as agreeing best with the 
 general sense of the chapter.^ Such a symbol of victory 
 over Satan, whatever the period to which the victor}^ 
 may be attributed, was not out of accord with ideas 
 
 iLee says, 'Verses ten and eleven commemorate by anticipation the victory 
 of believers.' Bi6. Com., Rev., p. 662; Plummer, favoring a similar view, suggests 
 that, 'The song of the heavenly voices may be Intended to end with the word 
 'Christ' (V. 10), and the following passages may be the words of the writer of 
 the Apocalypse, and may refer to the earthly martyrs.' Pulp. Corn., Rev., p. 312. 
 
 2Bleek, Lect. on Apoc, p. 268; Stuart, Com. on Apoc, p. 623. 
 
 'Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 312. 
 
166 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 current at that time; for 'this feature impossible in 
 modern conceptions of heaven, shows itself from time 
 to time in pre-Christian and also early Christian con- 
 ceptions, viz. the belief in the presence of evil, or the 
 possibility of its appearance, in the heavens' [i. e. in 
 the lower heavens].^ In any case this section places in 
 clear perspective the great truth that leadership in 
 the antagonism of evil with righteousness belongs to and 
 takes its rise from the supernatural world, and what 
 we constantly see here has its source and occasion there, 
 in the deeper spiritual vision of prophecy. 
 
 In the interpretation of this section a manifest 
 parallelism has been pointed out between the conflict 
 of Marduk with Tiamat in Babylonian mythology, 
 and the war between Michael and the Dragon in the 
 Apocalypse.^ Others pursuing this idea still further, 
 though without sufficient ground for their conclusion, 
 have attributed to Babylonian origin a body of Jew- 
 ish apocalyptic traditions which they assume to have 
 been one of the sources of the Revelation and to have 
 furnished the incident of this section.^ In correction of 
 this position it should be seen that even when we recog- 
 nize to the fullest extent the necessary influence of con- 
 tact with Babylon, both early and late, upon Jewish 
 thought, and the introduction of ideas from that source 
 as natural and inevitable, it does not follow that there 
 was any such use made of Babylonian mythology in 
 the later Jewish writings as this would imply, for the 
 Jew was exceedingly wary of any religious ideas that did 
 not spring from his own ancestral heritage. It is indeed 
 quite probable that particular concepts, or thought-ele- 
 ments, like that of the Dragon and of the two Beasts 
 in this vision, are of Babylonian origin; but 'the hy- 
 pothesis of a Jewish messianic use of an entire heathen 
 sun-myth, and then the Christian adaptation of the Jew- 
 ish formV is in itself highly improbable at so late a 
 period in Jewish development, and can scarcely be ac- 
 cepted by those who maintain the inspiration of the 
 Apocalypse in any essential sense. It is much more like- 
 
 >Charles, art. 'Bk of Secrets of Enoch', Hastings' Diet, of Bih. 'The under- 
 lying conception here probably is that the Dragon and his angels attempted to 
 storm the highest heaven, and in the end were cast out of heaven altogether.' 
 Neic Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 230. 
 
 2Sayce, Hibbert Lect's., (1887), p. 102. 
 
 '(jiinkel, t^chopfumj und Chaos, 1805. 
 
 ^Porter, art. 'Rev., Book of, Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 167 
 
 ly that the author, if using such material at all, incor- 
 porated the thought rather than the form of such float- 
 ing Babylonian fragments as belonged to his time, in 
 accordance with his usual method of employing the He- 
 brew literature, though this is wholly a matter of hy- 
 pothesis.^ 
 
 C The Two Beasts Ch. 13:1—18 
 
 The vision now sets forth two of the principal forms 
 of the world's opposition to Christ and his kingdom, 
 which are represented as Beasts, monsters that are ter- 
 rible and revolting in appearance, that are placed in 
 notable contrast with the Lamb, and that are inspired 
 by Satan who stands watching in his dragon form on 
 the sands of the sea — for according to the corrected 
 reading of the Revised Version, it is the Dragon and 
 not the Apocalyptist that stands upon the seashore.^ 
 This vision affords an interesting example of John's 
 use of already existing material, for the idea of two wild 
 beasts opposing the Messiah is found elsewhere in apoc- 
 alyptic writings, although not in exactly the same f orm,^ 
 and is here made the basis of an illustration of undoubted 
 power. The Beasts in the Apocalypse are the natural 
 and fitting embodiment of brute force operating to con- 
 trol men in the sphere of religion. Some would prefer 
 the translation of O^tiqiov as a 'monster' rather 
 than a ' beast ',^ and perhaps, it is technically more ac- 
 curate, but the long use of the term 'beast' in this con- 
 nection has made it familiar to our minds and also in- 
 telligible, for it is a beast in the bad sense that is in- 
 tended, and to the average reader this term undoubted- 
 ly conveys the proper meaning. 
 
 1 The First Beast— the Beast from the Sea Ch. 13 :1— 10 
 
 A wild Beast fierce and bloodthirsty, and ideal com- 
 posite creature, 'like unto a leopard and his feet were 
 
 I'To read the ideas of Rev. xli into the scattered Babylonian allusions, in 
 order to get the Marduk myth, is too fragmentary to be relied upon as a basis 
 for such a theory ;' Moffatt, The Expositor, Mar., '09, art. 'Wellhausen and Others 
 on the Apoc' For a statement of Gunkel's tradition-historical view see art. 
 'Rev', in Hastings' Diet, of Bib,; also art. 'Apoc. and Recent Criticism', Barton, 
 Am. Journ. of 7'heol., Oct. '98. Delitzsch in his first lecture on Babel and the 
 Bible (1902) regards all references to the Dragon in Scriptures as echoes of 
 Babylonian mythology. Davidson in art. 'Angel', Hastings' Diet, of Bib., re- 
 gards such passages containing accounts of conflicts between God and other 
 powerful beings as 'reminiscences of Cosmic or Creation myths.' 
 
 ^Moffatt supports the reading, 'I stood' (A. V.), and in this view he is 
 supported by Ramsay. 
 
 ^See Apoc. of Baruch, 29.4 and // Esdr. 6.49. 
 
 <Scott, New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 221. 
 
168 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a 
 lion' (v. 2), evidently formed from the beasts in 
 Daniel's vision (eh. 7. 3f.), is seen coming up out of the 
 tempestuous sea of the nations, and is manifestly the 
 same as the Scarlet Beast of chapter seventeen, the one 
 constantly referred to as 'the Beast' without any other 
 qualification. This is the symbol of the universal world- 
 power, i. e. all the world-kingdoms are considered as one 
 and personified in this Beast in open hostility to the 
 church;^ national opposition to Christianity, exemplified 
 by heathen Rome in John's day which supplied the 
 groundwork of the conception, but extending far beyond 
 that and applying equally to all persecuting nations 
 during the whole forty-two months, or three and a half 
 years, of world-domination, which represents the dura- 
 tion of the church-historic period of trial (v. 5), a 
 period that is broken and incomplete (see App'x E). 
 The Beast is described as having ten horns and seven 
 heads, the symbol of a twofold completeness, both that 
 of parts (ten) and that of quality or kind (seven), the 
 same number as the Dragon, though in inverse order, 
 indicating that the Beast is the agent of the Dragon, i. e. 
 of Satan, and is possessed of like dominion and power, — 
 for 'the Dragon gave him his i)ower, and his throne, 
 and great authority'. The heads seem to symbolize the 
 world-power taking form, and the horns the exercise of 
 that power. (For the further development of this 
 symbolism, see ch. 17.9f.) And it should be noted that 
 the ten horns' and seven heads are common not only to 
 the Dragon and the Beast, but are also the sum total 
 of those belonging to the four beasts in Daniel's vision, 
 i. e. to all the world-powers there designed, a symbolism 
 which suggests that it properly applies to more than one 
 nation, and which here seems intended to portray the 
 persistent opposition of the Devil to the church of God, 
 w^orking through the power of the world in all time and 
 in all nations. The ten crowns or diadems upon his 
 horns denote the fulness of his sovereignty, and imply 
 the extent of his earthly rule; the names of blasphemy 
 upon his heads seem to refer to the divine titles and 
 honors assumed by earthly kings, especially those of 
 Rome, as Domitian who ordered that in official docu- 
 ments he should be styled 'Our Lord and God' — a figure 
 
 •Dustordieck, PlumnnT. Paussett, and many others. Milligan is especially 
 clear in his exposition of this passage, Internat. Com., vol. iv, p. 105. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 169 
 
 that is perhaps suggested here by the mitre of the high 
 priest on which was written 'Holiness to the Lord', to 
 which this was antipodal;^ while the wounded head that 
 is healed refers to the death stroke, given to the world- 
 power by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ, from which there has been seeming recovery,- for 
 this was a true deathblow to the world-power, even 
 though it failed of immediate realization and thereby 
 disappointed Jewish-Christian hopes of early victory. 
 The Beast blasphemes against God, 'his name, and his 
 tabernacle, even them that dwell in the heavens', i. e. the 
 inhabitants of the tabernacle. 'And it was given unto 
 him to make war with the saints and to overcome them: 
 and there was given to him authority over every tribe 
 and people and tongue and nation'; but it is only as it is 
 'given unto him' that he can exercise his power, i. e. he' 
 is subject to divine control. And every one, 'whose name 
 hath not been written from the foundation of the world in 
 the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain', shall 
 worship him. Thus is depicted not only the tierce 
 antagonism of the Roman Empire to the church in 
 that age, but the perpetual hostility and unceasing op- 
 position of the universal world-power in all ages and 
 nations to the growth of the kingdom of God among 
 men. 
 
 The symbol of the Beast, notwithstanding the diffi- 
 culty of its interpretation, has certain distinguishing 
 features that help to interpret its meaning. The close 
 resemblance to Daniel's vision gives a clue to the 
 thought in mind, and serves to indicate the proper 
 method of interpretation. That the world-power in 
 some form is symbolized in the vision, is clearly indi- 
 cated; on this point all interpreters are agreed, though 
 the majority of modem interpreters regard the Beast 
 as the Roman Empire. That John had Rome primarily 
 in mind can scarcely be doubted ; but, in the view ac- 
 cepted by the symbolic interpreters, the Roman Empire 
 . served only to supply the groundwork for an idealized 
 conception, in which the ordinary and limited view of 
 sense has become transformed under the influence of 
 prophetic insight into the wider vision of a world-power 
 belonging to all time and pervading all history that rises 
 beastlike in strength and might to oppress the people of 
 
 ^Plummer, Pulp. Com.. Rev., p. 331. 
 ^Plummer, Pulp. Com,. Rev., pp. 331-2. 
 
170 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 God. The Beast, according to this interpretation, is the 
 persecuting world-power in any and every age 
 antagonizing the kingdom of God; the national and 
 political forces of the world in their organized form ar- 
 raying themselves against our Lord and his Christ; 
 that phase of the world's life which finds expression for 
 its opposition to the children of the kingdom under the 
 forms of law and government, the most sovereign and 
 irresistible of all kinds of persecution. This symbol 
 naturally found a ready and satisfactory interpretation 
 by the early church in the prevailing surveillance of the 
 Roman authority; but it is an interpretation none the 
 less true of heathen nations everywhere and always, 
 who constantly persecute the church of God. The in- 
 terpretation thus given is the one accepted by the 
 symbolist school as the most natural and satisfactory of 
 all, having a world-wide application and universal con- 
 tent ; and it may be confidently adopted with an ade- 
 quate degree of assurance that it conveys the meaning 
 intended. The preterist interpreters, on the other 
 hand, limit the meaning of the First Beast to the Roman 
 Empire, using its power to oppose and oppress Chris- 
 tianity, and construe the wounded head as a reference 
 to the death of Nero (see notes on chapter seventeen). 
 
 (1) An Admonition to Patience Ch. 13:9 — 10 
 
 John adds a word of warning concerning the need 
 of patience and perseverance for the saints. If any 
 one is ordained to captivity, into captivity let him go as 
 the lot appointed him ; resist not, for he that taketh the 
 sword shall perish by the sword; this is the test of 'the 
 patience and the faith of the saints'. When we com- 
 pare this message contained in the tenth verse, which is 
 an exhortation to patience under persecution, with that 
 in the eighteenth verse of this same chapter, where the 
 exhortation is to wisdom against deception, we get a 
 glimpse of the different kind of danger that is to be ap- 
 prehended from each of the two beasts, the first perse- 
 cuting men, the second deceiving them. 
 
 2 The Second Beast, — the Beast from the Land 
 
 Ch. 13:11—18. 
 
 Another wild Beast, also an ideal and composite 
 
 creature, like unto yet different from the first, is seen 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 171 
 
 coming up out of the earth/ i. e. out of established and 
 well-ordered society; the Two-horned Beast in whom 
 the exercise of personal power or force is less prominent 
 than in the First Beast with ten horns to whom he is 
 subordinate, for the power he exerciseth is 'all the 
 power of the First Beast'. This Beast is the symbol of 
 the universal world-religion, i. e. all the world-religions 
 are considered as one and personified in the Second 
 Beast, in disguised hostility to the church of Christ;^ 
 the False Prophet of chs. 16 :13 and 19 :20, assuming to 
 be what he is not, and using his authority for evil ends, 
 who 'deeeiveth them that dwell on the earth '.^ His 
 two horns like a lamb, but voice like a dragon, indicate 
 that he has the external characteristics of a lamb, but 
 the inner nature of a dragon, and are evidently intended 
 to signify that he appears to be like Christ, while he is 
 like Satan; he represents the forms of religion that as- 
 sume to save men, but in fact only bind them to evil. 
 'He doeth great signs that he should even make fire to 
 come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of 
 men', i. e. not a literal bringing down of fire, but a power 
 counterfeiting the power of God as showTi of old in fire 
 from heaven, a great sign to Israel (Num. 16:35; I K. 
 18:38), and sembling that of the two witnesses (ch. 
 11:5). And he required of 'them that dwell on the 
 earth, that they should make an image to the Beast who 
 hath the stroke of the sword and lived', i. e. the false 
 religions of the world, which the Second Beast repre- 
 sents, operate to make the people subservient to the 
 world-power, the First Beast which had the stroke of 
 the sword and lived, with which these religions always 
 
 ^Scott m.akes the sea out of which the first Beast emerges to be 'the Medi- 
 terranean, from beyond which the empire of Rome rose before the eyes of the 
 Jews' ; and the earth to be the domain of 'the Roman empire, from which came 
 the priests of Caesar-worship — a priesthood native born', which constituted the 
 second Beast. (New Cent. Bib., Rev., pp. 235 and 239). Plummer says, 'The 
 sea is the type of instability, confusion, and commotion, frequently signifying 
 the ungovernable nations of the world in opposition to the church of God.... 
 ■The other beast pertains to the earth, thus dividing the whole world between 
 them.' (Pulp. Com., Rev., pp. 330 and 334). 
 
 =Cf. Pulp. Com., Rev., pp. 341-43 ; Paussett, J. F. & B. Com. on Rev. pp. 621 ; 
 and Vaughan, Lect. on Rev., p. 342 ; also Bp. of Ripon's 'Excur. on Rev.', Pulp. 
 Com.. Rev., pp. 582-85 
 
 'The identity of the Second Beast with the False Prophet of chs. 16.13, 
 and 10.20, can scarcely be doubted when both contexts are considered, though 
 some historical interpreters have identified the False Prophet with Mohammed, 
 the false prophet of Islam, apparently without any special reason except that 
 Mohammed is the most noted of all the false prophets of history, whereas the 
 False Prophet in Revelation is the representative of all false religions in all 
 time, an admirable symbol. 
 
172 STUDIES m the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 stand connected whether in Rome or in other nations;^ 
 and the people render worship as they are directed. 
 'And it was given unto him to give breath to the image 
 of the Beast that it should speak and cause as many as 
 should not worship the image to be killed', i. e. the 
 heathen religions give life and authority to national 
 worship, give vitality to the world-power that it should 
 command and compel men to join in its idolatrous forms 
 or lose their lives by refusal. Thus the whole figure 
 seems to indicate the spirit of the world operating 
 against the church through the forms of religion, espe- 
 cially as seizing upon the natural and ethnic religions, 
 permeating them with deceit, and subverting them to 
 worldly ends (v. 14), the element of religion being a 
 prominent feature throughout. Actuated by worldly 
 wisdom, which is 'earthly, sensual, and devilish' (Jas, 
 3:15), this Beast, we are told, bids all men worship the 
 image of the First (v. 12 and 14), i. e, worship the deifi- 
 cation of the world-power, thereby insidiously rehabili- 
 tating the world-power in another form, a figure likely 
 drawn from the worship of the Emperor's image, a cult 
 prevailing at the time, and showing how false religions 
 rest upon and are upheld by heathen governments. 
 John doubtless had primarily in mind the heathen 
 priesthood of that period, especially the priesthood of 
 Caesar-worship, which atforded the best example of the 
 then existing world-religions, but this only formed the 
 groundwork of the larger thought of the vision. Pret- 
 erist interpreters, as a rule, would limit the meaning 
 of the Second Beast to the heathen priesthood of that 
 time, but this is too restricted a view. Any religion any- 
 where rejecting the Christ and crowning the world- 
 power is represented by the Second Beast. It has also 
 been suggested that the Second Beast represents the 
 Asiarch, or chief priest of Asia, the director and insti- 
 gator of Emperor-worship.2 This may possibly have 
 been the source of John's idea; but however formed we 
 should regard it as a universal and poetic conception of 
 one continuous phase of the world's opposition to Christ 
 and his kingdom, and not limit it to any particular his- 
 
 ^We should not forget the great lesson of history here emphasized, that 
 the natural religions of men are always intertwined with the civil power in 
 heathen lands ; and, also, how often in the past, even in Christian nations, the 
 professed faith in Christ has been inwrought to its great undoing with the 
 authority of the nation. 
 
 -Salmond, Hist. Inlr. to Neip Test., p. 245 ; Bousset, Bib, Encyc, art. 'Apoc'. ; 
 also Scott, New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 239. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 173 
 
 toric manifestation of that opposition. Others, without 
 sufficient grounds, have referred the title to the papacy, 
 interpreting the First and Second Beasts as Rome 
 pagan and papal. Another interpretation is that the 
 First Beast is the secular persecuting power, pagan or 
 Christian, and the Second Beast is the sacerdotal perse- 
 cuting power, pagan and Christian; while still another 
 and better interpretation is that world-force is the first, 
 and world-worship, i. e. world-religion and superstition, 
 the second.^ Symbolist interpreters always prefer the 
 wider to a narrower symbolism in accordance with their 
 general view of the book. According to this view, which 
 is the one accepted in the present volume, all the world- 
 religions which profess to be holy but are controlled by 
 the same spirit, belong to the Second Beast and contrib- 
 ute to his power. The aspect of heathenism which 
 here presented itself to John's mind is the most general 
 and obvious of all its many characteristics; and al- 
 though we now recognize more fully the elements of 
 truth in the ethnic religions, and their relative value in 
 the moral education of mankind when without the gos- 
 pel, yet John's view still holds good, and is confirmed by 
 the world-wide testimony of the mission field. The 
 world-spirit which lies at the door of the world-religions 
 is and always has been evil, and will always be degrad- 
 ing to the soul, that spirit which subordinates the moral 
 and spiritual to purely selfish and worldly ends. The 
 forms of the Two-horned Beast today are just as deceiv- 
 ing and defiling to men, and as much opposed to the 
 kingdom of God, as they ever were of old. And not 
 only are all the world-religions the abiding manifesta- 
 tion of the Second Beast, but even the Christian church 
 also, whether Catholic or Protestant, may become sub- 
 servient thereto, whenever or wherever it, or any part 
 of it, may be dominated by the spirit of the world-reli- 
 gions, and thereby yields its God-given prestige to this 
 Beast. The forms of human learning, too, as phi- 
 losophy, science, literature, and art, when they trench 
 upon the sphere of religion and become atheistic, agnos- 
 tic, materialistic, or God-defying, exhibit the spirit of 
 the world-religions in opposition to Christ, and are 
 manifestations of the same Beast. This power is 
 world-wide and age-long, and the vision seems to look 
 
 *The first Is Alford's view Or. Test., vol. iv, pp. 675-79 ; the second is 
 Moulton's Mod. Read. Bib., Rev., pp. 207-09. 
 
174 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 through and beyond the forces then at work to their 
 wider manifestation in history. For the Second Beast 
 is the incarnation of the permanent and universal 
 world-religion in each and all of its forms, and while 
 presenting one aspect of the world-religions of John's 
 time, yet goes far beyond that and portrays the prin- 
 ciple of opposition to the church of Christ which under- 
 lies them all, and which would develop new forms in the 
 period when Christianity had nominally triumphed, con- 
 tinuing the conflict upon different lines from the violent 
 persecutions of the earlier ages; a period when the 
 world's opposition to God would be expressed 'by affilia- 
 tion with the religion of Jesus, and by penetrating its 
 life with false ideals', producing a faithlessness within 
 the church even more deadly in its results than the fatal 
 furor of persecution, for the world within the church is 
 one of the forms of the Second Beast, and there is noth- 
 ing so dangerous to the life of the soul as irreligious 
 religion.^ 
 
 (1.) An Admonition to Wisdom Ch. 13 :18 
 
 'Here is wisdom', John says: 'He that hath under- 
 standing, let him count the number of the Beast; for it 
 is the number of a man', — or rather, 'the number of 
 man', for there is no article in the Greek, implying that 
 the reference is not to any particular man — ^ i. e. it is a 
 human number. The mark of the Beast, like that of an 
 ancient devotee to his idol, is put upon both the hand 
 and brain (v. 16)^ of all the people who accept his 
 authority, without any distinction of rank, rich and 
 poor, bond and free, small and great, all alike, showing 
 that their powers are uniformly devoted to the service 
 of this world. John exhorts the church to wisdom in 
 discerning this Beast, indicating the subtleness of his 
 hidden power. The number of his name, i. e. designa- 
 tion, is six hundred and sixty-six (some manuscripts 
 read six hundred and sixteen, but this is almost cer- 
 tainly an error of transcription), the symbol of a three- 
 fold, composite power of evil which includes the Dragon, 
 the First Beast, and the Second, and which culminates 
 
 ^For a further discussion of the symbolism of the Second Beast see notes on 
 ch 17. 
 
 =Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 336. 
 
 ''Philo reproached Jewish apostates for allowing themselves to be branded 
 with the signs of idols' (New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 191), an allusion evidently to 
 the same practice as that referred to here in Revelation, and showing that the 
 language used is something more than merely a figure of speech. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 175 
 
 in the last, viz: — 600, a hundredfold of six, a numerical 
 designation of the Dragon, plus 60, tenfold of six, a 
 similar designation of the First Beast, plus 6, onefold 
 of six, a like designation of the Second Beast, if con- 
 sidered alone, which together, equal 666, the numerical 
 designation of the full power which the Second Beast 
 represents. The key to the mystical designation 666, 
 according to this interpretation,^ is found in the number 
 six, the number of evil, one short of seven or perfection, 
 Satan's number, whether multiplied by ten or not, here 
 thrice repeated, six, six, six, each repetition multiplying 
 the previous number tenfold, or six a hundredfold added 
 to six tenfold added to six a single fold, producing a 
 triple symbol of the full power of evil. In this symbol- 
 ism we seem to have the thought of a trinity of evil 
 striving in antagonism to the divine trinity; and though 
 we cannot be sure that John had this in mind, yet it 
 seems quite in accord with the apocalyptic method of 
 depicting truth. If the reading 616 is preferred, the 
 First Beast is then designated by 10, the symbol of 
 earthly completeness, instead of 60 as above, a much 
 less likely symbolism, but not affecting the general 
 meaning. 
 
 The mark of the Beast is one of the most disputed 
 points in the whole book, and some commentators, while 
 suggesting a probable interpretation, prefer to leave the 
 meaning unsolved. Certainly all interpretations find- 
 ing in the number a cryptic name, such as Neron 
 Caesar, or Lateinos, notwithstanding their wide accept- 
 ance by modern interpreters, should be discarded as 
 fanciful.^ The number was evidently intended as a 
 designation rather than a name; it is a symbol like 
 every other number in the Revelation, and any attempt to 
 solve it by reference to the Jewish gematria, or 
 numerical indication of names, is foreign to the method 
 of the book, and only involves it in greater obscurity, as 
 the different answers obtained in that way will show.^ 
 
 *'In apocalyptic writings tlie interpretation, if added, is only a less ob- 
 scure form of the enlgmn, and not a solution of if. SchUrer, Hist. Jetcish 
 Peop., part II, vol. iii, p. 47. 
 
 2'It is difficult to understand why all this mystery should be about the 
 name of a dead emperor who was no favorite with Jew or Roman, or why the 
 name should be written in Hebrew for the Christians of Asia, or how so promi- 
 nent a name should so soon be forgotten, especially in view of the expectation 
 of his return, which obtained so long.' (Dean, Book of Revelation, p. 151.). 
 
 3See Salmon, Hist. Intr. to Neio Test., p. 230f. ; also Milligan, Ea-pos. Bib.. 
 Rev., p. 23.5 ; and Plummer, Pulp Com., Rev., p. 337. Farrar's interpretation 
 (following Reuss, Hitzig, and others) is Neron Kesar, using Hebrew letters in 
 
176 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 While that interpretation has been the generally ac- 
 cepted view with preterists, a revolt against its arbi- 
 trariness is manifest in late writers, and cannot but be 
 felt by the attentive student.^ That six hundred and 
 sixty-six is a triple symbol of the full power of evil, has 
 found acceptance with a multitude of readers, and is the 
 most satisfactory interpretation to those who hold the 
 symbolic view. 
 
 In conclusion it should be said that the identifica- 
 tion of this Beast, or of the former one, with the Anti- 
 christ of John's Epistles is of more than doubtful value 
 in arriving at the meaning intended; for the Apocalyp- 
 tist studiously avoided the use of that term though quite 
 familiar with it (1 Jn. 2 :18 ; 2 :22 ; 4 :3 ; and 2 Jn. 1 :7), and 
 we surely cannot do better than to follow his example. In- 
 deed the entire interpretation of the Apocalypse will be 
 permanently advanced when all direct reference to a 
 personal Anti-christ is finally eliminated as foreign to 
 the purpose, if not the thought of the book. In the 
 broad sense of the term the Anti-christ is the 'Against- 
 Christ' in any and every form. John tells us (1 Jn. 
 2:18) there are 'Many antichrists' (dvTiXQiOTOi noAXol), 
 a term peculiar to John in the New Testament ; our Lord 
 said (Mat. 24:24) 'There shall arise false christs' 
 (iiJ8D86xQiOTOi), a different term in the Greek, and 
 evidently referring to more than one ; and it may well be 
 doubted whether the prediction is anywhere intended to 
 refer to a single person. The term may be understood 
 in a general way to include the Two Beasts, the Harlot, 
 and all other forms of anti-christianity, but no more 
 definite identification can with any probability be made. 
 
 the spelling and omitting most of the vowels, as follows (see Early Days of 
 Christianity, p. 540 ) , viz : — 
 
 N=50 
 R=200 
 0=6 
 N=50 
 
 N, 
 
 and 
 
 .s, 
 
 ,R= 
 
 =666 
 
 K= 
 S= 
 R= 
 
 =100 
 -60 
 
 =200 
 
 ig.RON=306 
 
 or, 
 
 KeSa 
 
 R--360 
 
 This interpretation is the one now generally accepted by the advanced school 
 of commentators in the present day. On the other hand if the last letter of the 
 name (N) be dropped we have the value of 616, which is the alternate reading 
 in some manuscripts. Moulton, however, says the number contains 'probably 
 a temporary allusion of which the point is now lost' that gave a cliie to the 
 general significance, viz. 'world-religion and superstition in contradistinction to 
 world-force.' (Mod. Read. Bih.. Rev., p. 200). 'The non-identification of Nero 
 with the 666 by any early writer is significant.' (Cowan, art. 'Nero' Hastings' 
 Diet, of Bib.). '"Surely not 'Nero Kaisar.' but 'Ashhur-Ramman ' ! Cheyne. Fresh 
 Voyages on Unfrequented Waters, p. 171 — 1914). 
 
 iPorter, art. 'Rev., Bk. of,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 177 
 
 D. The Lamb on Mount Zion Ch. 14 :1— 20 
 
 The closing part of this fourfold vision, revealing 
 the final outcome of the preceding conflict in the glori- 
 ous triumph of the Lamb and his followers, is now given 
 for the comfort of the church, and to relieve the sombre 
 shadows of the earlier parts of the vision by a foregleam 
 of victory. 
 
 1. The Eedeemed with the Lamb Ch. 14:1 — 5 
 
 We see here a vast and virgin multitude, a hundred 
 and forty-four thousand, a large and perfect number, 
 the former symbol of the complete first-fruits from 
 Israel (ch. 7:4), now used by synecdoche to represent all 
 the redeemed who have been chosen from among men, 
 the best of their race, who are called 'the first-fruits 
 unto God and unto the Lamb',^ and who stand with the 
 Lamb upon Mount Zion, in the city of the living God, 
 the heavenly Jerusalem, having his name and the name 
 of his Father written upon their foreheads, signifying 
 to whom they belong and marking them as antipodal to 
 those who have received the mark of the Beast (ch. 
 13:16), and who sing a new song, the song of victory 
 (the Incommunicable Chorus), kno^vn only to the re- 
 deemed. Of this blessed company it is said that Hhey 
 are without blemish', i. e. they are sinless before God, 
 which is apparently an explanation of the symbolism 
 used in saying that they are 'virgins', and 'not defiled 
 with women', — or 'among women'. Roman Catholic 
 commentators, however, usually interpret literally, and 
 apply the passage to those women who have never en- 
 tered into wedlock for the kingdom of heaven's sake — 
 a construction that it scarcely seems to bear.^ Futurists 
 generally maintain that the vision refers to the earthly 
 Zion, and connect the incident with the second advent, 
 making the hundred and forty-four thousand to consist 
 of Jews alone. 
 
 'Following the Hebrew custom of offering the first fruits to God, the term 
 is probably used In this figure as the symbol of that which is given to God, 
 though it may possibly refer to those who share in the first resurrection. 
 
 "' Uap-^evoi 'virgins,' is a word equally applicable to men or women,' 
 Plummer, Pulp. Com., Pev., p. 347 ; also Swete regards the word 'virgins' 
 as a metaphor for purity, as most interpreters ; cf. Thayer's Gr. Lex. of Neio 
 Test., for the secondary use of the term. It is evident that the phrase 'These 
 are they that were not defiled with women' — or 'among women' — may properly 
 be interpreted as applying to men who were not so defiled, though it here ap- 
 parently represents a class, whether men or women, who are declared to be 
 free from impurity, a phrase that in such a book as the Apocalypse is more 
 likely to refer to that which is spiritual than to that which is physical. Alford, 
 however, (Or. Test., vol. iv. p. 685), and Moffatt, also, (Exp. Or. Test., vol. v, 
 p. 436), both interpret literally as 'virgins.' 
 
178 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 2. The Three Angel Messages Ch. 14 :6— 11 
 
 These are distinct notes of divine warning, prelu- 
 sive of the End, which are given by the mouth of three 
 different angels, showing their separate and individual 
 importance ; they are three in number, the symbol of the 
 spiritual, indicating the nature of their contents; and 
 they are introduced as preparatory to the scenes of anti- 
 cipated judgment in verses fourteen to twenty, and are 
 premonitory of the End. The End is an ever-recurrent 
 note that always finds place in the deeper strains of 
 Apocalyptic literature. The End that victory may 
 come, was the natural cry of a spirit that despaired of 
 the present world, and believed that God could only be 
 vindicated by the consummation of all things. This was 
 a fundamental weakness of the Apocalyptic point of 
 view, which found the proper design of the world in its 
 speed}^ ending and not in its longer continuance, a mis- 
 take that unfortunately has been perpetuated in Chris- 
 tian thought as though it were fundamental to it, 
 whereas the victory and the End may well be as far 
 apart as the creation from the victory. The Apocalypse 
 sounds the note of the End without hesitancy or discus- 
 sion. The difficulties that embarass us did not enter into 
 the thought of that time. 
 
 (1) The Message of the Eternal Gospel Ch. 14:6 — 7 
 
 'Another angel' and the first of the three which fol- 
 low, flying in mid-heaven proclaims the (or an) eternal 
 gospel to every nation and tribe and tongue and people 
 before the time of judgment, the symbol of the fulfil- 
 ment of the words of our Lord: 'This gospel of the 
 kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a 
 testimony unto all the nations ; and then shall the end 
 come' (Mat. 24:14). The angel exhorts men to 'fear 
 God and give him glory ; for the hour of his judgment is 
 come', i. e. is now at hand. 
 
 (2) The Message of Babylon's Fall Ch. 14 :8 
 
 A second angel proclaims the fall of Babylon, the 
 city of the world, the dwelling-place and symbol of the 
 world of sinful men, and the antithesis of Jerusalem, 
 which is the city of God, the dwelling-place and SA^mbol 
 of the holy. The destruction of Babylon is a necessary 
 prelude to the End, for the sinful worldly life which 
 
STUDIES i/n the BOOK OF REVELATION. 179 
 
 finds its fitting type in this great city must be broken 
 dowTi before Christ can triumph. 
 
 (3) The Message of Doom for the Beast and his Fol- 
 lowers Ch. 14:9—11 
 
 The third angel proclaims the doom of divine wrath 
 upon the worshippers of the Beast and his image, i. e. 
 upon those who glorify the blasphemous world-power, 
 or share in the deceit of the world-religion; and the 
 terms of the message are full of terror and foreboding. 
 Thus in a concise and triple message is foreshadowed 
 the universal proclamation of the gospel, the overthrow 
 of the world's social and communal life adverse to God, 
 and the final destruction of those forces in national and 
 religious thought that withstand the full and final 
 triumph of the Christ. 
 
 3. The Blessedness of the Holy Dead Ch. 14 :12— 13 
 
 The author at this point expresses his sympathy 
 with the church, setting forth the need of patience in 
 the conflict (v. 12) ; and then he records a voice heard 
 from heaven (v. 13), declaring that the dead who die 
 in the Lord are blessed 'henceforth', i. e. after death, 
 for they have both rest and reward,^ and possibly in- 
 cluding, also, the additional thought that they have 
 thereby escaped from the great tribulation even though 
 by martyrdom. Thus once more the redeemed are 
 placed in opposition to the unredeemed, the saved are 
 set over against the lost, as those who have secured the 
 better part. 
 
 4. The Harvest of the Elect Ch. 14 :14— 16 
 
 One like unto the Son of Man (or a son of man), i. e. 
 one sharing our humanity — a designation of the 
 Messiah after the time of DanieP — is seen sitting upon 
 
 I'The writer is controverting a fear that at the advent of the Messiah those 
 who survived on earth would have some advantage over those who had already 
 died. .. .John, however, does not share the current pessimistic belief that death 
 was preferable to life, .but affirms that if death came in the line of religious 
 duty it involved no deprivation.' Moffatt, Exp. Or. Test., Rev., pp. 439-40. 
 
 -'In Jewish Apocalyptic writings ever since Daniel, a Son of Man had been 
 spoken of who would come to judge the world in the clouds of heaven,' (Pfleid- 
 erer, Hibbert Lect. (1885), p. 34. An early messianic interpretation was given 
 to the term, apparently because of its fitness, though in Daniel's vision 'tlie 
 son of man,' a figure in human form, is understood by most late interpreters to 
 be used as a symbol of Israel, whose higher qualities are set in contrast with 
 the four beasts, and its messianic use is believed to have arisen later, though, 
 perhaps, soon after that period. For an instructive discussion of this familiar 
 title, 'the Son of Man", so difficult to adequately interpret, see Charles' edition 
 of the Bk of Enoch, app'x B; also art. 'Son of Man' in Hastings' Diet, of Bit.; 
 and Sanday's art. 'Jesus Christ' in the same ; together with art. 'Son of Man' 
 in Hastings Diet, of Chi: and Gosp. 
 
180 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 a white cloud, the traditional covering of the divine 
 majesty and a symbol of the divine presence, having on 
 his head a golden crown, the token of glory and of vic- 
 tory, and in his hand a sharp sickle, the instrument for 
 reaping. And on the announcement of another angeP 
 from out the temple that the hour was come, he cast 
 his sickle upon the earth and gathered all the faithful 
 into his kingdom as a harvest that was ripe, a symbol 
 of the ingathering of all the redeemed preceding the 
 punishment of the wicked (cf. Mat. 25:31 — 46). The 
 action set forth in this part of the vision is preparatory 
 to and anticipates the judgment, yet the process of 
 judgment is not described. The vision is occupied 
 rather with pointing out how the path of history in- 
 evitably leads to the judgTQent bar. The incident serves 
 to introduce the seventh and last of the mystic figures 
 of this wonderful vision of conflict, the Son of Man on 
 the Cloud, who represents Christ as the theanthropic 
 Redeemer and Judge, a quite different aspect of his 
 character from the Man-Child where he is set forth sub- 
 ject to the conditions of his mysterious incarnation, and 
 therefore requiring an entirely different symbol. 
 
 5. The Vintage of Wrath Ch. 14 :17— 20 
 
 Still another angel came out from the shrine or 
 sanctuary of the temple in heaven, at the summons of 
 the angel who had power over fire, i. e. the fire of the 
 altar, which is here the symbol of judgment, and 
 gathered all the ungodly as vintage from the earth, and 
 cast them into the winepress, the great winepress, of the 
 wrath of God, a figure of the ingathering and fearful 
 punishment of the wicked at the end of the world. Ac- 
 cording to this view the two gatherings described in 
 verses fourteen to twenty, are regarded as depicting the 
 opposite fate in store for the faithful and the wicked, 
 instead of a twofold account of the same event repeated 
 in different form for the purpose of emphasis. This in- 
 terpretation agrees best with the general tenor of the 
 chapter and the common method of contrast throughout 
 the book; others, however, regard the passage as a 
 double figure of the judginent.^ The scene is laid out- 
 
 ^' Another angel; i. e. in addition to those already mentioned, and not imply- 
 ing that he who sat on the cloud was an angel', Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., 
 p. 350. 
 
 ^'For the first view see Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 350; Alford, Gr. Test., 
 vol iv, p. 691f ; and Swete, Apoc. of 8t John, p. 187. For the second view see 
 Scott, New Cent. Bih., Rev., p. 250 ; and Moffatt, Exp. Gr. Test., Rev., pp. 441-42. 
 
STUDIES m the BOOK OF REVELATION. 181 
 
 side the city, i. e. Jerusalem, most likely the New 
 Jerusalem, the home of God's people, without the gates 
 of which are the wicked who perish (ch. 22:15). The 
 figure may have been drawn from the scenes of terror 
 and bloodshed which attended the fall of the earthly 
 city under Titus, a view quite possible if the later date 
 of authorship be accepted, though possibly there may 
 have been no definite city in mind. Some connect this 
 passage with the struggle in chapter twenty (v. 7-10), 
 where the nations compass the beloved city, and connect 
 both with the advent, interpreting literally, — a view 
 common with the futurists. And we are told that when 
 the winepress was trodden 'there came out blood, from 
 the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses,'^ a 
 symbol of the terrible destruction of life that ensued, a 
 flowing stream that reached as far as a thousand and 
 six hundred furlongs, i. e. almost two hundred Roman 
 miles, or somewhat farther than the entire length of 
 Palestine, a Jewish synonym for a great distance. 
 Sixteen hundred is also the square of four, the earth 
 number, multiplied by the square of ten, the number of 
 completeness, which perhaps indicates that the punish- 
 ment is complete throughout the whole created world. 
 The passage in its essential thought is an echo from the 
 rhapsody of Joel (ch. 3:13), combined with the vision of 
 judgment in Isaiah's Zion redeemed (ch. 63:3-6), and 
 recalls his Assyrian flood, reaching even to the neck 
 (Isa. 8:7-8).^ The transition to the vision of vials is 
 now made by a sudden change of theme, and a return to 
 the world-process of judgment that is age-long and 
 world-wide in its scope and purpose. 
 
 V. The Vision of the Seven Vials [or Bowls] (A 
 Vision of Judgment) Ch. 15:1 — 16:12, and 
 
 16:17—21 
 
 The vision of the seven vials is a revelation of 
 God's last plagues upon the ungodly, a final view of the 
 divine providential purpose concerning the wicked, an- 
 other group of seven that are set forth in a form similar 
 to the judgments under the trumpets, but of increased 
 severity, and that are promptly executed. They are 
 called 'another sig-n', and may be regarded as another 
 
 iCf. Bk of Enoch, 100.3. 
 
 2MouIton"s Mod. Read. Bib., Rev., p. 210. 
 
182 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 line of judgments of similar character to the trumpets, 
 or as the complete fulfilment of the contents of the 
 trumpet-judgments presented in another way, which are 
 given for increased emphasis under figures that are 
 analogous, and that indicate their inner connection ; and, 
 so far as the vials have any time-relation, they may be 
 regarded as belonging to the same general period as the 
 trumpets, i. e. the time of man's existence on the earth, 
 especially the period of conflict, though sho^vn by their 
 progressive and destructive character to culminate in 
 the closing period of human history. The vials are 
 marked by an intensity of form and rapidity of move- 
 ment, especially as they approach the end, and they are 
 not limited like the trumpets to a part of men, but affect 
 all the evil. They are vivid symbolic presentations of 
 deep and terrible punishments, and are called Hhe last 
 plagues' because in them is fulfilled or completed the 
 wrath of God upon the earth — a new and final view of 
 the divine purpose concerning the wicked which may be 
 looked at quite apart from any previous view. 
 
 Some preterists, who find in the seals a prophetic 
 description of the trials of the church in the first age, 
 regard the trumpets as a typical presentation of the fall 
 of Jerusalem, and the vials as a portrayal of the fall of 
 Rome.^ This opinion, it is affirmed, accords best with 
 the general method of the Apocalyptic writings, which 
 have for the most part a definite and local interpreta- 
 tion, and avoids the difficulty of an apparent repetition 
 of similar judgments upon the same objects under the 
 trumpets and the vials. But, upon the other hand, the 
 prophetic outlook of John appears to the majority of 
 devout minds to have a far wider sweep than that of 
 other Apocalyptic writers outside the Scriptures, and to 
 embrace a world-view that is universal, and that is not 
 at all met by these limited historical fulfilments. Still, 
 even if the former view were correct in its main as- 
 sumption, 'that does not preclude us,' as has been well 
 said,- 'from interpreting the inspired words as refer- 
 ring not only to events near John's time, but also to 
 other events of which they were the foretaste and 
 figures. To us the meaning [in that case] is that the 
 type of the end has been foretold and has come, but that 
 
 ^See Intr. to Johan. B'ks., Temple Bil). 
 -Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 3. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 183 
 
 the end itself which has been equally foretold [the full 
 end] must be watched for in all seriousness.' If we 
 have a correct view of prophecy we can readily assent 
 to these words of wisdom which cannot be too strongly 
 emphasized. 
 
 It should be noted in passing that the revelation of 
 these world-judgments in the visions of the seals, the 
 trumpets, and the vials, notwithstanding their separate 
 character, may be seen to follow a certain line of devel- 
 opment, showing an inner connection ; and also, that the 
 divine purpose of judgment may be considered as being 
 in a general way partially disclosed under the seals, — 
 for judgment is one phase of the seals though a sub- 
 ordinate one — as being publicly proclaimed by the 
 trumpets, and as being fully executed in the pouring out 
 of the vials, each series presenting a different view, 
 complete in itself, of God's punitive inflictions for sin 
 throughout the whole history of mankind. They are 
 seen, also, to reflect God's long-suffering patience with 
 the sinner, first making known his wrath in an order of 
 providences which affect his people as well as those of 
 the world; then in threatening and manifesting his 
 purpose to punish evil by an order of events which 
 affect only a part of mankind, i. e. the sinful because 
 they are sinful, and that afford abundant opportunity 
 for repentance; and, finally, by the swift execution of a 
 divinely just though terrible punishment upon all the 
 obdurately wicked that refuse to repent. This last is 
 the great, impressive, and awe-inspiring thought of the 
 vision of the vials. 
 
 A. The Preparation for the Vials Ch. 15 :1 — 8 
 
 The preparation for the vials, wdiich is now entered 
 upon, is a connecting link with the former vision, and a 
 prelude to the plagues that follow. It is introduced by 
 an inspiring view of the saints who have come victori- 
 ous out of the conflict depicted in that vision, and is in- 
 tended for the comfort of God's people in the midst of 
 trials to which they cannot be indifferent, and which in 
 affecting the world of nature and of men must in some 
 degree also affect the righteous as well, though de- 
 livered from their destroying power. The comfort 
 afforded in trial by the promise of deliverance, an ele- 
 ment which has no small share in the purpose of the 
 
184 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 Apocalypse, is clearly brought out in this introductory 
 passage before the vials have begun to be poured out, 
 and is not interjected between them, as in the episodes 
 that occur in the seals and trumpets — the episode in the 
 vision of the vials being a warning of danger. The 
 vision, too, is followed immediately by the comforting 
 vision of victory beginning in the seventeenth chapter. 
 
 1. The Angels with the Plagues Ch. 15 :1 — 2a 
 
 Seven angels appear, to whom is entrusted the exe- 
 cution of the seven plagues, which are called 'the last' 
 because they lead to the end of the world and to the bar 
 of judgment;^ and the sea of glass, formerly described 
 as 'like unto crystal', now becomes 'mingled with fire', 
 the sign of the flushing of victory through anticipated 
 judgment felt by all those who share in that great 
 boundless life which exists before the throne, and whose 
 experience is symbolized by the sea with its wide rela- 
 tion to the people of God in the past (cf. notes on ch. 
 4:6).2 
 
 2. The Victors by the Sea Ch. 15 :2b 
 
 The victors over the Beast and his image stand hy 
 rather than upon the sea,^ indicating their close relation 
 to it, having harps of God prepared for tuneful melody. 
 The figure seems to be drawn from the triumph of 
 Israel at the Red Sea, though the significance of the sea 
 cannot be quite the same, for in the old sense 'the sea is 
 no more' (ch. 21:1); it has here become the symbol of 
 the calm and fulness of life and joy in the presence of 
 God. 
 
 3. The Song of the Redeemed Ch. 15 :3— 4 
 
 The united song of all the redeemed before God, 
 (the Adoration Chorus of Moses and the Lamb) who be- 
 
 ''The whole of God's wrath in final judgment is not exhausted by these 
 vials, but only the whole of his wrath in sending plagues on the earth previous 
 to the judgment." Alford, Or. Test., vol. iv, p. 693. 
 
 "Moulton, Mod. Read. Bih., Rev., p. 198. Lange suggests that 'the crystal 
 sea may appear as though illuminated and reddened by the fiery glare of the 
 Anger Vials.' {Com. on Rev., p. 290) ; Alford thinks the fire in the sea is signifi- 
 cant of judgment, (Gr. Test., vol iv, p. ti!)."!) ; and Swcte says. 'The rod glow of 
 the sea spoke of the fire through which the martyrs had passed, and yet more 
 of the wrath about to fall on the world which had condemned them.' (Apoc. of 
 St John, p. 191). 
 
 'So D'usterdieck, Faussett, Plummer, Alford, and others ; for the Greek 
 preposition i~i with the accusative, see Thayer's &r. Lex. of New Test. 
 Swcte, however, regarding the sea to be of glass, interprets 'on the sea itself, 
 which forms the solid pavement of the final approach to the throne,' {Apoc. of 
 St John, p. 192), a view which scarcely accords with our idea of a sea. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 185 
 
 long alike to the Old Dispensation and the New, to Moses 
 and to Christ, represents the essential unity of faith 
 and life under both parts of God's redemptive plan 
 which is now about to be completed. It is an outburst of 
 praise and adoration addressed to the Lord God, the 
 Almighty, the King of the Ages, whose wondrous works 
 and righteous judgments have been and are about to be 
 made manifest before all nations. The song is the 
 counterpart of the song of deliverance by the shore of 
 the Red Sea, but it has a new and deeper fulness tliat is 
 consonant with its theme. 
 
 4. The Judgment Made Ready Ch. 15:5—8 
 
 The temple, the \abq or inner shrine of the taber- 
 nacle of the testimony (i. e. of the tabernacle of the law 
 of God), is seen in heaven opened, and the seven 
 angels who are clothed as priests and have charge of the 
 plagues come out of it as the vindicators of that law. 
 These are 'arrayed with precious stone', according to 
 the variant reading adopted in the Revised Version, 
 which has the weight of manuscript authority in its 
 favor; but, as this reading differs from the Authorized 
 Version only by a single letter in the Greek word, and 
 only yields sense by the insertion of the word 'precious', 
 it is best to regard it as due to a very early mistake of a 
 copyist, and keep the old reading, 'clothed in linen', 
 (Ezek. 9:2).^ The thought is in either case practically 
 the same, viz. that these angels are clothed like priests, 
 for the phrase 'arrayed with precious stone', if we ad- 
 here to that reading, recalls the breastplate of the high- 
 priest, as the phrase 'clothed in linen' evidently refers 
 to the garments of the priesthood. There are seven 
 angels in the vision to symbolize the universal character 
 of the punishments, and there are given unto them by 
 one of the four living creatures who represent all 
 created life, seven golden vials or bowls full of the wrath 
 of God (cf. Jer. 25:15f) to indicate the nature of their 
 mission. 'And the temple was filled with smoke', the 
 sign of the presence and glory and terror of the Lord; 
 and, as at Sinai, no one could enter his presence while 
 the judgments were being manifested. 
 
 'Scott, New Cent. Bib., Rev., pp. 253-4. Also see Westcott and Hort in 
 App'x to Or. Test., 'Notes on Select Readings,' p. 139, who favor the Revisers 
 view (/l/'i?ov); and Swete, Apoc. of St John, p. 195, who supports the former 
 reading (Tiivov). 
 
186 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 B. The Vials Poured Out Ch. 16 :1— 12, and 17—21 
 
 The vials or bowls in the vision, which are appar- 
 ently the same as the basons used in the temple service 
 for receiving the sacrificial blood and the wine of the 
 drink-oifering, are made the symbolic receptacles of the 
 judicial wrath of God against sin, called 'the wine of the 
 fierceness of his wrath' in verse nineteen, which is evi- 
 dently conceived of as stored up through long periods 
 to be suddenly and violently poured out. The golden 
 bowls seem to indicate broad shallow vessels quite un- 
 like our modern vials, probably of a deep saucer-like 
 shape so that their contents could be poured out at once 
 and suddenly.^ The name 'vials' has, however, been 
 retained in these notes, notwithstanding the change to 
 'bowls' in the Revised Version, because of its associa- 
 tions and wide use in commentaries. The translation 
 of (pidA,ag as 'bowls' is doubtless more accurate, but 
 the term used is relatively indifferent if the proper 
 meaning be attached to it. They are not vials in the 
 modern sense, but in the original sense of the word 
 cpi&Xri in the Greek, which is the source of our Eng- 
 lish word 'vial', but which meant a sliallow cup or bowl. 
 The pouring out of the vials or bowls is the symbol of 
 the execution of divine wrath upon the world. The 
 vague description given in the vision of the nature of 
 the inflictions which finally fall upon men as the result 
 of the pouring out of the vials, forbids our attempting 
 any very definite interpretation of them beyond the 
 most general one that the world of nature and of men 
 is made to abound with terrors which distress the evil. 
 In this interpretation we can be absolutely confident, 
 and the general effect seems to be the chief matter of 
 importance. The abiding impression of the judgments 
 of the vials, despite their obscurity, is one of deep and 
 pervasive solemnity. 
 
 (1.) The Command to Pour Out the Vials Ch. 16:1 
 
 Preceding the opening of the series a great voice is 
 heard out of the temple, i. e. from the inner shrine of 
 the temple in heaven, apparently from God himself, 
 though possibly from one of the Angels of the Presence, 
 saying to the seven angels, ' Go ye and pour out the 
 
 ^Scott, Neiv Cent, Bib., Rev., p. 254 ; Plummer says, 'The reason of the em- 
 ployment of the term 'vial,' or 'bowl,' is most likely to be found in the expres- 
 sion 'cup of God's anger,' in ch. 14.10.' Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 392. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 187 
 
 seven bowls [or vials] of the wrath of God into the 
 earth'; and in obedience to this command each angel 
 empties his vial into, or upon, an appointed object. The 
 first three vials are poured into the objects named, while 
 the last four are poured upon them, as indicated by the 
 prepositions eig and E.-xi ; but, so far as can be seen, 
 no special purpose is served by this use. 
 
 1 The Pouring Out of the First Vial Ch. 16 :2 
 
 The first angel poured out his vial into the earth; 
 and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the 
 men that had the mark of the Beast: the symbol of 
 wrath poured out on the earth, and thus upon the men 
 who are of it and belong to it, producing suffering that 
 is bitter and intense. The form of the judgment is 
 doubtless purposely indefinite, but the object on which 
 it falls is made plain : the men who have attached them- 
 selves to the company of the Beast bear their punish- 
 ment to the full, and it is poured out upon them by 
 divine authority. 
 
 2 The Pouring Out of the Second Vial Ch. 16 :3 
 
 The second angel poured out his vial into the sea; 
 and it became blood as of a dead man, i. e. clotted and 
 putrefying, and it caused every living thing in the sea 
 to die — a form of judgment that was very repulsive to 
 the Jewish mind: the symbol of wrath poured out on 
 the sea, one part of the fourfold division of creation 
 noted under the trumpets, and thus upon men who are 
 made to suffer by this means for their evil doing. As 
 under the trumpets the first four vials are poured out 
 upon the earth, the sea, the rivers and fountains, and 
 the sun, a figurative form indicating their world-wide 
 character — they affect the whole created world. 
 
 3 The Pouring Out of the Third Vial Ch. 16 :4— 7 
 
 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers 
 and the fountains of the waters; and they became blood: 
 the symbol of wrath poured out on the sources of water 
 supply for the people, thereby punishing men retribu- 
 tively for the righteous blood which they had shed, and 
 calling forth voices of approval from heaven, viz. from 
 the angel of the waters,^ and from the altar, i. e. from 
 
 iTlie term 'the angel of the waters' reflects the apocalyptic style of thought, 
 for it is not unusual in apocalyptic writings to assign a presiding spirit to 
 
188 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 the place where the martyrs rest (ch. 6:9). Retribution 
 is declared to be the judicial result of divine wrath for 
 sin; those who poured out the blood of saints and of 
 prophets are given blood to drink as their just desert — 
 a fearful punishment to the Eastern mind. 
 
 4 The Pouring Out of the Fourth Vial Ch. 16 :8— 9 
 
 The fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; 
 and it was given unto it to scorch men with fire: the 
 symbol of wrath poured out on the heavenly bodies, 
 especially upon the sun the source of light and heat, that 
 they may become the agent of punishment to men. And 
 men blasphemed the name of Grod, who is recognized as 
 having power over these plagues ; and they repented not 
 to give him glory, exhibiting the aspect of punishment 
 which embitters and does not lead to repentance. It is 
 a curious coincidence that the parts of creation which 
 are made the subjects of judgment under the fourth vial 
 and the fourth trumpet are described in Genesis as hav- 
 ing been created on the fourth day. 
 
 5 The Pouring Out of the Fifth Vial Ch. 16 :10— 11 
 
 The fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne 
 of the Beast; and his kingdom was darkened; and men 
 gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God 
 of heaven, and they repented not of their works: the 
 symbol of wrath poured out on the throne of the Beast 
 as the representative of Satan's power in the world, 
 thus afflicting the worshippers of the Beast and his 
 image. Under the fifth vial it will be seen that the 
 plagues pass from the physical to the spiritual sphere 
 of action, just as they did in the seals and trumpets; 
 and they are found to be cumulative rather than suc- 
 cessive, while, as under the preceding vial, they do not 
 lead to repentance but to wrath and punishment. Also, 
 throughout the vials, it is not the third part only that is 
 afifected, as under the trumpets, but the punishment 
 falls upon the whole created world, showing the uni- 
 versal character of the judgments. 
 
 natural phenomena. Cf. Bk. of Enoch (ed. Charles), 60.16-21 ; also Intr. to 
 same, p. 34. In the Apocalypse of John, just as in other writings of the same 
 class, we find that 'angels are associated with cosmic or elemental forces as fire 
 and water which they direct.' Davidson, art. 'Angel,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 Also cf. chs. 7.1 ; 9.11 ; and 14.18 ; in connection with 16.5. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 189 
 
 6 The Pouring Out of the Sixth Vial Ch. 16 :12 
 
 The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great 
 river, the Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried 
 up/ that the way might be made ready for the kings 
 that come from the sunrising: the symbol of wrath 
 poured out on the Euphrates, the center and seat of 
 heathenism, or on the world-forces of evil, thereby open- 
 ing the way for the influx of the Kings of the East to 
 march to their ruin. The Kings of the East evidently 
 belong to the 'kings of the whole world' (v. 14), and 
 are instruments of the Dragon and of the Beast who 
 go up to war, not against Babylon, but against be- 
 lievers.^ The Euphrates was the center and stronghold 
 of heathenism to the Jewish mind, and behind that lay 
 the indefinite world-power which is here represented by 
 the Kings of the East ; upon these the angel poured out 
 the vial of the retributive wrath of God. 
 
 [At this point the Episode Vb, given in verses thir- 
 teen to sixteen, occurs in the order of the vision, — a 
 paragraph which though of limited extent has yet a 
 clear relation to the course of the vials as an interven- 
 ing vision of warning to the redeemed, and preparing 
 the way for the approaching end]. 
 
 7 The Pouring Out of the Seventh Vial Ch. 16 :17— 21 
 
 The seventh angel poured out his vial upon the air ; 
 and there came forth a great voice out of the temple, 
 from the throne, saying, 'It is done:^ and there were 
 lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there was a 
 great earthquake, such as was not since there were men 
 upon the earth': the symbol of wrath poured out on the 
 air as the familiar abode of evil spirits,^ and also of the 
 coming of the End, which is depicted by the fall of cities, 
 especially of Babylon the great city, the type of the god- 
 less world, which is divided asunder into three parts, a 
 symbol of completeness, — also three a symbol of the 
 divine, perhaps implying God hath wrought it, — and is 
 
 ^'A figure possibly drawn from the action of Cyrus in diverting ttie waters 
 of the river when he took the city of Babylon.' Bib. Com., Rev., p. 721. 
 
 ^Diisterdieck, Meyer's Com. on Rev., p. 419 ; also Alford, Or. Test., vol. iv. 
 p. 700. For a different view see Milligan, Internat. Com,., Rev., p. 122 ; and 
 Plummer, Pulp. Com., p. 395. 
 
 3'All is over'. Moffatt, New Trans, of Neiv Test. 
 
 ^See Ascension of Isaiah, ch. 7, where the firmament is the abode of evil 
 spirits ; also cf. Eph. 2.2, in which Satan is called 'the prince of the power of 
 the air,' apparently reflecting the thought of the time, which regarded the air 
 as the abiding place of evil spirits. 
 
190 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 given to drink of the cup of the wine of the fierceness of 
 God's wrath; by the destruction of islands and moun- 
 tains, and by a plague of great hail, exceeding great, 
 every stone of which was about the weight of a talent, 
 i. e. from 108 to 130 pounds; 'and men blasphemed God 
 because of the plag-ue of the hail'.^ The End itself is 
 unrecorded ; but with the infliction of the seven vials it is 
 declared that 'the wrath of God is spent'.- The whole 
 course of the vials is toward the End, which though not 
 described, yet stands out in singular prominence as the 
 inevitable result of the ruin wrought by sin; and here, 
 as in the vision of the trumpets, the millennial period is 
 not brought into view as a preceding stage. The transi- 
 tion to the scene of victory in the seventeenth chapter is 
 after this immediately made by one of the vial-angels 
 (ch. 17:1). 
 
 If we now recall the path of the seven vials, we can 
 see how in their course they rapidly and intensively 
 press on to the end of the ages and to the final ruin of 
 the world, and also how they aptly prefigure the pro- 
 gressive punitive inflictions of God for sin. They are 
 both world-wide in their character and relentless in 
 their execution. They fall upon the land, and upon the 
 sea, upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and upon 
 the sun the source of light, — the figurative representa- 
 tives of the created universe. Then, like the judgments 
 of the seals and of the trumpets, they pass from the 
 natural world to the sphere of the spiritual, and are 
 seen to fall upon the far-reaching kingdom of the 
 Beast, i. e. upon the world-powers operating under 
 Satan's direction in open hostility to the church; after- 
 ward they fall upon the Euphrates, the old center of 
 heathenism and seat of spiritual darkness in the far 
 East, the typical center of the world-forces of evil; and 
 finally under the seventh vial they lead to the end of the 
 world, the conclusion of the centuries, and the day of 
 complete recompense for sin. The distinction between 
 the kingdom of the Beast, i. e. the world-powers of all 
 time, and the forces represented by the Euphrates, the 
 center and seat of heathenism, is not so clearly drawn 
 under the fifth and sixth vials, as that between Satan 
 
 I'Every Apocalyptic writer painted the final catastrophe after the model of 
 tlie catastrophes of his day, only on a vaster scale and with deepened shadows.' 
 Harnack, art. 'Rev.,' Encyc. Brit.; also see AssumpHcn of Moses, 10.8. 
 
 -Twentieth Cent. New Test, in Modern English, ch. 15.1 ; the Am. R. V. 
 reads, 'In thorn is finished the wrath of God". 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 191 
 
 with his host, and the world-forces of heathenism, under 
 the fifth and sixth trumpets. But the kingdom of the 
 Beast, here, as elsewhere, evidently represents the 
 world-kingdoms in their organized form (or if taken in 
 a narrower sense the then kingdom of Rome that fore- 
 shadowed them all), which forces are spiritually op- 
 posed to the kingdom of Grod; whereas the Euphrates, 
 the center and seat of spiritual darkness in the historic 
 past, apparently represents heathenism in the great 
 East, which is here regarded as a far-reaching spiritual 
 force operating against Christianity — the judgments 
 under these vials falling upon the world-force operating 
 in the sphere of the spiritual, and upon the world- 
 religions opposing Christianity. And no one surely 
 can read the record of the vials without being impressed 
 with the unerring certainty and absolute terror of the 
 final punishment for sin; so that even if the vision of 
 the vials did point primarily, as most preterists insist, 
 to the destruction of Rome and its temporal power, it 
 surely points yet more decisively to the great era of 
 judgment upon the powers of evil that culminates in the 
 closing period of human history. The vision depicts 
 God punishing the evil in a progressive course to the 
 very end, and this end is only effectively reached in the 
 day of final judgment. 
 
 Vb The Episode of the Frog-like Spirits (A Vision 
 of Warning) Ch. 16:13—16 
 
 This passage, it will be seen, is a minor digression 
 between the sixth and seventh vials, corresponding to 
 the episodes in the vision of the seals and of the 
 trumpets, though not like them a vision of comfort, but 
 a vision of danger to the church from the combined 
 forces of evil in the world, yet not without anticipation 
 of the glorious outcome which is given in the nineteenth 
 chapter (v. 19-21), for these forces, we are told, are 
 gathered together unto ' the war of the great day of God, 
 the Almighty' (v. 14), the outcome of which in the 
 Revelation is never at any time in doubt. 
 
 1 The Unclean Spirits of Evil Ch. 16 :13— 14, and 16 
 
 At this point three unclean spirits, as it were 
 frogs, ^ — ^three, the symbol of the spiritual, used in this 
 
 ^Frogs which were unclean to the Hebrews become here a fitting type of 
 unclean spirits. 
 
192 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 case exceptionally of the spirits of demons, — come out 
 of the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False 
 Prophet (or Second Beast), representing the malign in- 
 fluences by which these powers of evil incite the kings 
 of the earth to the great world-conflict against Chris- 
 tianity, described here under the figure of a battle of the 
 war of the great day of God, the Almighty, taking place 
 at Har-Magedon, i. e. either the fortified city, or the 
 mountain of Megiddo, by the edge of the plain of 
 Esdraelon, the great historic battle-ground of Jewish 
 history (cf. Joel 3:2f; also Bk of Enoch 56:5-8),^ prob- 
 ably referred to because of the notable victory attained 
 there over the kings of Canaan (Jg. 5:19). In this 
 culminating scene of conflict we have what may be re- 
 garded as a symbolic view of the entire struggle between 
 sin and holiness which is ever going on in the world the 
 ages through, but more particularly of its triumphant 
 ending in the last age when the Dragon and the kings 
 of the earth shall be completely and finally over- 
 throAvn;^ but beyond this partial interpretation we can- 
 not safely go in any trustworthy exposition of this truly 
 impressive figure. The symbol of battle and victory, it 
 depicts the conflict of the centuries, and points to the 
 assured triumph that awaits the people of God in the 
 end of the world, while it incites men to persistent faith 
 and hope ; but like many other prophetic predictions, its 
 explicit interpretation can only be definitely given after 
 the events themselves have been openly fulfilled. 
 
 2 John's Word of Warning Ch. 16:15 
 
 In the midst of the episode a word of warning is 
 given by John to the reader, as from Christ himself, de- 
 claring the importance of watching in the presence of 
 such trial, and announcing a blessing upon him that 
 watcheth and keepeth his garments. Then with the 
 closing words of the episode in the sixteenth verse, the 
 vision recurs to the seventh vial which is at once poured 
 out. 
 
 ^See art. 'Har-Magedon,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
 =Plummer, Pulp. Com.. Rev., p. 396. 'The final world-combat.' Moulton, 
 Mod. Read. Bih., Rev., p. 212. See note on ch. 19. 11-21, where this same event 
 is again referred to. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 193 
 
 VI The Vision of Victory (A Vision of Vindication) 
 
 Ch. 17:1—20:15 
 
 The vision of victory is a revelation of complete and 
 enduring triumph in the final issue of the conflict be- 
 tween sin and righteousness, showing the doom of 
 Christ's enemies, the vindication of the righteous, and 
 the consummation of the ages. The vision consists of 
 three parts, viz. (1) the mystic Babylon and her fall, 
 (2) the triumph of the redeemed, and (3) the last things, 
 which are seven in number, implying a sevenfold com- 
 pleteness. This triple division of the contents of the 
 section before us, into a description of Babylon's fall, 
 redemption's triumph, and the things of the end, is 
 one that is clearly indicated in the thought of the text, 
 whatever plan of division we may adopt, and as these all 
 belon,g to the final victory in its completeness, they may 
 well be presumed to constitute parts of one vision. 
 Opinions differ, however, concerning the correct divi- 
 sion of this part of the book almost as much as they do 
 in regard to the interpretation. The division adopted 
 here, though not coinciding in all its parts with any sin- 
 gle authority, is one of the simplest and most natural, 
 and it is believed will commend itself to the reader.^ 
 In entering upon this section it will be noted that the 
 transition from the vision of vials to the vision of victory 
 is made in the first verse of the seventeenth chapter by 
 one of the seven vial-angels, who offers to show John the 
 judgment of the great Harlot, or of Babylon, i. e. the com- 
 plete and final judgment of the seventh vial wrought out, 
 thus leading by a natural connection of thought to a ful- 
 ler view of one phase of the judgment of the world, and 
 through this on to victory and to the End. 
 
 A The Mystic Babylon and Her Fall Ch. 17:1—18:24 
 
 In these two chapters there is given an impressive 
 portrayal of the sinful world as she lures men to evil, 
 under the symbol of Babylon, or the Harlot, and of the 
 final punishment inflicted upon her; it is, in fact, an elab- 
 oration of the judgment of the seventh vial, foreshad- 
 owing the downfall of the most insidious, seductive, 
 and persistent form of the world's opposition to Christ 
 and his kingdom, viz. corrupt society. This passage 
 
 *See division made by Purvis in art. 'Rev.', Davis' Diet, of Bii.; also the 
 analysis given in the introductory part of Twent. Cent. New Test., vol. lii, 
 Rev., 'Table of Contents.' 
 
194 STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 
 
 forms a subclimax of rare beauty and power, and one 
 that is of prime importance in the interpretation of the 
 book, for it contains one of the chief ideas of the Kev- 
 elation, and necessarily affects our conception of the 
 prophecy throughout. That pagan Rome in its social de- 
 basement and spiritual degradation was in the fore- 
 ground of John's thought can scarcely be doubted;^ but 
 in the light of prophetic vision it formed an ideal 
 groundwork for the larger thought of the godless world, 
 the world from the standpoint of its material and social 
 forces adverse to God and his kingdom, the perpetual 
 Rome. Some interpreters limit the meaning of Babylon 
 to the coeval city of Rome, or to the nation that cen- 
 tered in the city, pagan Rome, others refer it to the Ro- 
 man church, papal Rome, and still others to Jerusalem, 
 the Jewish Rome, while a common interpretation makes it 
 the apostate church in a fallen age, a prophetic Rome. 
 But the figure is more correctly interpreted as the ideal 
 and universal world-city, a symbol designed to include 
 every city or community that exalts itself against the 
 dominion of Christ, the perpetual Rome, the ever-re- 
 curring Babylon whose spirit never dies, the city be- 
 ing regarded as the highest expression of the world's 
 social and communal life.^ 
 
 With the portrayal of Babylon is completed the cy- 
 cle of great world-forces that we find depicted in the Rev- 
 elation as arrayed against our Lord and his Christ. 
 The entire opposition of the present evil world to Christ 
 and his kingdom is presented in these visions under 
 four separate and distinct symbols, — four the earth- 
 number — viz. (1) the Dragon or Satan, the World-Lord, 
 the prime antagonist and representative leader of the 
 spiritual forces of evil, who incites the world to 
 resist the rule of Christ, the world taking its cue 
 and color from Satan, the arch-enemy of all good; 
 (2) the First Beast, the World-Power, the national and 
 political forces of the world in their organized form op- 
 posing and persecuting Christ and the church, the 
 world acting through the elements of civic and social 
 order, of law and government, making them the agents 
 
 I'The comparison of Rome to Babylon underlies much of Jewish apocalyptic 
 literature.' Chase, art. 'Babylon, in New Test'., Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
 ^Plummer gives a different idea of Babylon, interpreting it as 'The degen- 
 erate portion of the church of God.... all the faithless of God's church in all 
 time', an interpretation that is not accepted by most commentators. Pulp. Com., 
 Rev., p. 413. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 195 
 
 of persecution; (3) the Second Beast, the World-Re- 
 ligion, the national and racial false religious forces of 
 the world, with their moral and intellectual thraldom 
 over the minds of men, contending against Christianity 
 and the kingdom, the world acting through the elements 
 of the natural and ethnic religions, and of supersti- 
 tion and priestcraft their innate cogeners, permeat- 
 ing them with deceit and making them the agents of de- 
 lusion and oppression; and (4) the Harlot Babylon, the 
 World-City, society in its conunercial, impure, and god- 
 less life resisting the progress of the kingdom, the 
 world acting through the elements of the social, sexual, 
 and commercial relations of men, making them the agents 
 of sin. This fourfold form of world-opposition to Christ 
 and the church is a fundamental conception of the Apoc- 
 alypse, and lies at the core of any correct interpreta- 
 tion of the book.^ For, notM^thstanding their close re- 
 lation, to identify Babylon with the first Beast, or the sec- 
 ond, or both, as is often done, is to confuse ideas that are 
 essentially distinct, and measurably to miss the proper 
 significance of the lesson contained. And if we fail to per- 
 ceive the proper meaning of any part of this fourfold sym- 
 bolism, we lose in some measure at least the complete and 
 general effect of the whole sublime creation of the Apoc- 
 alyptic vision. 
 
 1 The Harlot and the Interpretation Ch. 17:1 — 18 
 
 The vision of the Harlot is a figurative and pro- 
 foundly significant view of the world's sin as unfaith- 
 fulness to God, described under the analogue of un- 
 faithfulness to the marriage relation, according to the 
 familiar method of Hebrew thought. The world is pre- 
 sented as a spiritual harlot, one that has proved untrue 
 to her Lord and that merits condign punishment. 
 
 (1) The Judgment of the Harlot Announced Ch. 17 :1 — 2 
 
 One of the seven angels having the seven vials, calls 
 John in order to show him the judgment about to be 
 inflicted upon the great Harlot. The agency of a vial- 
 angel in revealing this vision, indicates a connection be- 
 tween the vial-judgments and the fall of Babylon; and, 
 as stated above, it is an elaboration of those judgments, 
 especially that of the seventh vial. 
 
 ^See App'x A, Division V ; also 'Excur. on Rev.' by Bp. of Ripen, Pulp 
 Com., Rev., p. 582. 
 
196 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 (2) The View of the Harlot Ch. 17 :3— 6 
 
 The angel carries John in the Spirit away into a 
 wilderness where he sees in the vision an impure Woman 
 arrayed in purple, the royal color, and in scarlet, the 
 sign of bloodshed, while she is decked with gold and 
 jewels, the tokens of her wealth, and has in her hand a 
 golden cup, full of the abominations of her fornications ; 
 and she is seated on a scarlet-colored Beast that is 
 covered with names full of blasphemy, i. e. she rests upon 
 and is allied with the world-power, for the scarlet Beast 
 is the same as the Beast from the sea in chapter thir- 
 teen (v. 1 — 10) ; and upon her forehead her name is writ- 
 ten,i 'MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE 
 MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOM- 
 INATIONS OF THE EARTH', and she is 'drunken with 
 the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the mar- 
 tyrs of Jesus'. 
 
 (3) The Interpretation Given Ch. 17:7—18 
 
 The angel declares the mystery of the Woman of 
 Sin to John's waiting ears. The Harlot whose home is 
 in the wilderness, i. e. in this world (perhaps so called 
 from the thought of the wilderness as the place of 
 temptation of Israel, of Elijah, and of Christ, and as 
 the haunt of demons where the scapegoat was sent forth 
 to Azazel), is definitely identifiel with Babylon (v. 5 
 and 18), the great World-City, the dwelling-place and 
 representative of corrupt society tempting men to evil. 
 The great Harlot is the ideal personification of the 
 great city. There is in fact a double symbolism; the 
 great Harlot symbolizes the great city, as the great city 
 symbolizes the great world, for the Harlot, the city, and 
 the world are one and the same in the wider thought of 
 the Revelation. She is the combined incarnation of com- 
 mercialism, lust, and irreligion,^ the unbelieving world 
 and not the apostate church, humanity untrue to God, 
 
 ^'This practice was customary with harlots ( Juv., 'Sat..', vi. 123 ; Seneca, 
 'Controv.', i, 2). Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 415. 
 
 ='The City of the World, the ideal concentration of all this world's splendor 
 and wealth and might.... The Evil-World-Metropolis.' Scott, Paragraph. Ver. of 
 Rev., pp. 1-2. For a convincing presentation of this view, see Lee, Bib. Com., 
 Rev., pp. 734-45. 'The Anti-Church', — i. e. the world in antithesis to the church, 
 Seiss, Lect. on Apoc. vol. iii, p. 112. 'By Babylon the whole ungodly, anti-ehris- 
 tianized world is intended. .. .an ideal city, embracing all of anti-christianity.' 
 
 Lange, Com. on Rev., pp. 278-803. 'Under this one name (Babylon) the 
 
 whole adverse force is concentrated.' Moulton, Mod. Read. Bib., Rev., p. 212. 
 In this view of the interpretation which is adopted in the present volume, the 
 Harlot is the anti-christian world, the perpetual Babylon. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 197 
 
 the social life of men adverse to the kingdom.^ The 
 Harlot is the manifest impersonation of lust and sexual 
 impurity, a form of the world's sin that has always 
 been the source of ruin to a multitude of souls — her 
 traffic, we are told, is in the 'souls of men' (ch. 18:13). 
 She represents the world tempting men through the 
 sexual appetite, though the figure does not stop with 
 that, as the story of the fall of her wealth and the pun- 
 ishment of her irreligious life clearly shows. All the so- 
 cial side of life that tends to sin is represented by this 
 impressive figure before which the Apocalyptist 'won- 
 dered with a great wonder' (v. 6). 
 
 The interpretation of the Harlot Babylon as the 
 Roman Catholic Church, a method so prevalent in the 
 period that succeeded the Reformation, is happily in its 
 decadence, for it has no justification in the text. But to 
 find in this figure a symbol and portent of apostasy pre- 
 vailing in the church universal that shall increase as 
 the centuries go on,^ is equally unfortunate and imparts 
 a tone of pessimism to the entire prophecy which can- 
 not be too strongly deprecated. No sign of apostasy is 
 anywhere given in the account of Babylon's fall, for 
 there is no indication that the Harlot was ever holy. 
 Her sin is worldliness, impurity, idolatry, and perse- 
 cution of the saints. For an apostate church the fitting 
 symbol for that age would have been not Babylon but 
 Samaria, the city of the faithless Israel. And we may 
 be confidently assured that Babylon represents here what 
 it always stood for to the Hebrew mind, the typical 
 world-city, the hereditary enemy of the church from with- 
 out and not from within, whose harlotry is the sign of 
 her unfaithfulness to God and truth. For even though 
 a majority of Protestant interpreters until within a 
 late period have made Babylon the apostate church, 
 following the traditional opinion, it is nevertheless a mis- 
 taken view, since it is based upon the Old Testament 
 use of harlotry as a figure of apostasy and idolatry in 
 Israel, a figure assumed to be identical throughout, ig- 
 noring the manifest difference in its present use in con- 
 nection with a heathen city. The modern view that 
 Babylon is Rome in John's day is nearer correct, but 
 is too narrow in its application. Babylon is the abid- 
 
 ^For other views see Pulp. Com., J. F. & B. Com. on Rev., and Internat. 
 Com. in loco. 
 
 ^As with Milligan and others. 
 
198 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 ing Rome with its worldly life striving to supplant the 
 Christ, the world-city in all ages and times. 
 
 The Scarlet Beast on which the Woman is seated, 
 the color of the Dragon (ch. 12:3) and the sign of the 
 blood which it has shed, is referred to as the one that 
 'was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss' 
 (v. 8), a description showing it to be the same as the 
 First Beast which received the deadly wound that was 
 healed (ch. 13:3), i. e. the world-power, and apparently 
 designed to place it in marked antithesis with the di- 
 vine designation, 'who is and who was and who is to 
 come,' in the first chapter of the book (v. 4 and 8). 
 The enigmatical phrase 'was, and is not; and is about 
 to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition', 
 may also refer to a lull in the persecution by the world- 
 power, subsequently to be renewed and leading to its 
 final destruction as a power, though its wider reference 
 is perhaps to the persistence and reappearance of the 
 world-power after any one of its forms has been over- 
 thrown, together with the certainty of its final ruin. 
 Most preterists interpret the Beast that 'was, and is not; 
 and is about to come', as a reference to Nero whose re- 
 turn was generally expected (a superstitious phan- 
 tasy of a Nero redivivus), by a change of figure, the 
 emperor previously referred to as the fifth head of the 
 Beast becoming the Beast itself — a questionable interpre- 
 tation, apparently wrought out by a keen fancy to fit the 
 words of the prophecy, but lacking efficient support in the 
 text. The Beast in the vision carries the Harlot, i. e. the 
 world-city rests upon and is upheld by the world-power, 
 an unhallowed union in striking contrast with that of 
 the Lamb and the Bride. This symbolism indicates the 
 near relation existing between the world-city and the 
 world-power exemplified in history, the world in its so- 
 cial and irreligious form allying itself with and relying 
 upon the persecuting world-power. 
 
 It should be noted here that the symbolism used in 
 the chapter before us is shown to be very wide in its 
 application. The seven heads of the Beast have first of 
 all their proper symbolic meaning of full or univer- 
 sal dominion, i. e. dominion over this present evil world; 
 but they are further interpreted to have other and differ- 
 ent significance. We are told in verse nine that they 
 are 'seven mountains', evidently in the primary mean- 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 199 
 
 ing those of the city of Rome, which was seated on sev- 
 en hills ; but symbolizing besides this all mountains and 
 hills which are the seat of world-cities, in accordance with 
 the common apocalyptic usage of seven (cf. II Esdr. 2 :19 ; 
 and Bk of Enoch 18:6). The seven heads are also in a 
 sense identified with the 'many waters' on which the 
 Woman sitteth (v. 15), which we are told, are 'peoples, 
 and multitudes, and nations, and tongues', the many 
 dwellers in world-cities — for she spreads her power over 
 all mountains and all waters.^ They are also 'seven 
 kings' (v. 10), the king representing the throne and all 
 it stands for, i. e. seven kingdoms, a complete number, 
 the totality of kind, all the kingdoms of the world 
 throughout history, though probably, like the seven 
 churches, conceived of as individual kingdoms which are 
 taken as representative of all.^ Perhaps in John's 
 thought they were Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, 
 and Greece, the five known to him that were already fallen 
 and Rome, the one then existing — the nations connected 
 with Israel's past. The past was history, but the future 
 was seen only in outline, and John groups it all under one 
 great world-power, completing the number seven, which 
 was yet to appear. This last 'must continue a little 
 while', i. e. during the remaining time of the world's ex- 
 istence, the usual sense of 'a little while' in the Revelation, 
 a period short in comparison with eternity. The Beast 
 is also 'an eighth', we are told, i. e. when it is regarded 
 apart from the seven heads,^ for the world-power may 
 be conceived of as in itself a unit, comprising all its dif- 
 ferent manifestations, and yet separate from them and 
 giving rise to them. The remark is, however, paren- 
 thetic and incidental, and ought not to be regarded as cre- 
 ating any special difficulty, for no reference is anywhere 
 else made to an eighth, and it is probably introduced 
 here simply because eight is the symbol of culmina- 
 
 ^This description of the Woman as 'tlie great Harlot that sitteth upon many 
 waters' is evidently taken from the Prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer. 51. 13), where 
 the many waters refer to the many canals of Babylon. Here the phrase is used 
 figuratively, referring to the 'many peoples' (v. 15) that are subject to Babylon 
 in the Apocalypse, and affords a good example of the Apocalyptic use of Old 
 Testament symbols in a sense that is somewhat different from their original 
 meaning. 
 
 2Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 417 ; Faussett. J. F. & B., Com. on Rev., p. 
 630 ; and many others. This is the common view with the symbolist inter- 
 preters. It should be remembered that the identitication of the particular kings 
 or kingdoms that were first in mind in this symbolism, — for there probably 
 were such, — is not important ; the special thought is that of all kingdoms in all 
 time. 
 
 3'The absence of the article before dy^oog 'eighth,' shows that this is not 
 the eighth in a successive series, in which' the kings already mentioned 
 form the first seven.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 417. 
 
200 STUDIES m the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 tion (see App'x E). We are further told that the Beast 
 is 'of the seven' (v. 11), i. e. he is formed — Gr. ex — 'out 
 of seven', or in other words the Beast is the seven king- 
 doms regarded as a unit, the world-power as it exists 
 in all ages.^ Also the ten horns (v. 12) which symbol- 
 ize complete earthly power, ten sjrmbolizing complete- 
 ness and usually applying to the earthly, are repre- 
 sentative of various subdivisions of the world-power, 
 minor kingdoms with their kings, which are added to 
 the seven heads as an additional symbol of world-wide 
 empire. These are evidently thought of as yet to rise 
 after John's day, for they are denominated 'kings, who 
 have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive au- 
 thority as kings with the Beast for one hour', i. e. each 
 one for an hour, or for a time that is relatively short,^ 
 an indefinite period, the ten kingdoms reaching in this 
 case, apparently, to the end of of the world — not defi- 
 nitely ten kingdoms or kings any more than one hour 
 is a definite time limit, but rather ten, the number of 
 completeness of all the parts, representing all kings and 
 kingdoms yet to rise throughout succeeding time. 
 'It seems probable,' as has been well said, 'that John 
 foresees that the hostile world-power will not be always 
 preeminently wielded by one nation as in his time; but 
 will be divided into many parts, here represented by 
 the number ten which is a complete number and not nec- 
 essarily implying only ten in all. This indeed exactly 
 describes what has really been the case since St John's 
 time, and what, humanly speaking, seems likely to con- 
 tinue to the end of the world. '^ It may, also, be pointed 
 out that the ruin of the world-city described by John 
 has been the fate of every such city known to history. 
 Thus the ten horns would seem to be identical with 
 the seventh king or kingdom which is apparently the 
 last, the world-power divided into many parts and con- 
 tinuing to the end of time. These divisions of the world- 
 
 ^'The Keast is the sum total of what has been described under the form of 
 five kings, then one king, and then one king again.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., 
 p. 416f 'This eighth is the Beast himself in actual embodiment. He is ek tuv 
 iirra — not 'one of the seven', but the successor and result of the 
 seven, following and springing out of them.' Alford, Or. Test., vol. iv. p. 711. 
 Also, see Milligan, Internat. Com., Rev., pp. 127-8. To regard the Beast that is 
 'an eighth,' and, of the seven, as a reference to Nero is an anomalous interpre- 
 tation that is without parallel in the book, and cannot, therefore, be sustained. 
 
 2'One hour denotes 'a short time' (i. e. a time that is relatively short in 
 the measure of eternity). The Bible in this way constantly describes the 
 period of the world's existence, especially that period which intervenes between 
 the time of the writer and the judgment-day (cf. Rom. 16.20 ; I Cor. 7.29 ; and 
 Rev. 6.11; 12.12; 22.20, etc.).' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 417. 
 
 'Plummer, Pulp, Com., Rev., p. 417. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 201 
 
 power, though originally hostile to Christ (v. 14), shall 
 yet under divine direction eventually destroy the world- 
 city in all lands and make her desolate (v. 16 and 17), 
 i. e. the corrupt society, centered in cities, which op- 
 poses Christ and his kingdom. 'And the Lamb shaU 
 overcome them; for he is Lord of lords and King of 
 kings', i. e. while God is seen to work through the multi- 
 ple world-power, the ten horns or kingdoms, and eventu- 
 ally to destroy the Harlot, corrupt society in the world, 
 he yet finally overcomes the kingdoms of this world that 
 war against him, and makes them his own; he triumphs 
 on the earth in the fulness of time, for the kingdoms 
 of the world, we are told, shall 'become the kingdom 
 of our Lord, and of his Christ : and he shall reign forever 
 and ever' (ch. 11:15). 'And they also shall overcome 
 that are with him, called and chosen and faithful' (v. 
 14) — the promise of success for the believing. In the 
 preterist-historical view the overthrow of the great city, 
 or the Harlot, by the ten subordinate rulers or kings, 
 the ten horns, is commonly interpreted as a reference 
 to the current expectation that Eastern nations, espe- 
 cially the Parthians, were likely to march against the 
 city of Rome and overthrow it, an application of the 
 prophecy quite possible in the minds of the generation 
 which first received it, but not reaching its deeper and 
 essential meaning, and failing of any actual realization. 
 At this point it may be not inapt to remark that the 
 wide latitude with which the symbolism of the seven 
 heads is interpreted by the angel in this chapter, is a 
 valuable guide to the general method of the Apocalypse, 
 and should put us on our guard against limiting the signif- 
 icance of the symbols strictly to a single thought, where 
 more than one may properly be intended. At the same 
 time this does not give us the liberty of unlimited free- 
 dom, but prevents our being too positive in many cases 
 as to the exact limits of the symbolism. 
 
 Other interpretations make the Beast the Roman 
 Empire, and the seven heads seven different forms of 
 Roman government known to history, or seven individ- 
 ual kings, and the ten horns the various parts, sub- 
 divisions, or subordinate rulers of the Empire. The cur- 
 rent interpretation of the preterist school accepts un- 
 qualifiedly the seven heads as seven kings of the Roman 
 Empire and identifies Nero with the fifth head or king 
 
202 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 who is now 'fallen', i. e. is now dead, but is about to 
 be restored again, according to a wide-spread expecta- 
 tion of that time, and to become the eighth head or king. 
 This view, though supported by many eminent author- 
 ities, especially those of the later critical school, in- 
 volves serious difficulties. It is dependent upon the 
 earlier date of the Apocalypse, or at least this portion 
 of it, i. e. just after the death of Nero, the only time fit- 
 ting such a prophecy — a matter by no means assured; 
 and the prophecy, if it had this meaning, was falsified 
 by subsequent events within a generation, a contingen- 
 cy which would necessarily have discredited the book 
 before the church, and would make its acceptance as 
 a genuine prophetic writing extremely difficult, if not 
 impossible, to account for. These considerations serve 
 to nullify the surety and positiveness with which this 
 interpretation is generally urged by its advocates, and 
 late writers indicate a healthful reaction against the 
 view.^ 
 
 Another similar view makes the emperors who are 
 intended by the heads of the Beast to be (1) Augustus, 
 (2) Tiberius, (3) Caligula, (4) Claudius, (5) Nero (now 
 * fallen', or dead — Galba, Otho, and Vitellius who suc- 
 ceeded Nero for short periods being omitted as pre- 
 tenders), (6) Vespasian (the one who now 'is', i. e. now 
 is on the throne), (7) Titus (who 'must continue a lit- 
 tle while', i. e. have a short reign), and (8) Domitian 
 (a second Nero — 'an eighth' who 'is of the seven'). 
 This interpretation, though quite possible from one point 
 of view, necessarily limits the vision to a narrow hori- 
 zon; and while, like the former view, it tends to bring 
 the teaching of the book into closer harmony with Jew- 
 ish Apocalyptic, yet it obscures to some extent at least the 
 v«7ider and universal teaching which seems to the average 
 Christian mind to belong essentially to the prophetic 
 insight. It should be remembered, too, that the seven 
 heads and ten horns belong originally to the Dragon or 
 Satan, as symbols of his world-wide power, and are 
 here transferred to the Beast as Satan's representa- 
 tive; and therefore it is more likely that they have a 
 universal reference than that they apply to a single em- 
 pire, for Satan's sphere of influence is confessedly 
 world-wide (cf. ch. 13:1, note). Besides it is fruitless 
 
 ^See art. 'Rev.', Hastings' Diet, of Bib. vol. iv. pp. 257-8. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 203 
 
 to attempt to interpret with any positiveness the heads 
 and horns as individual nations and kings, as the di- 
 verse results have shown, each interpreter having his 
 own application, and no one interpretation being gen- 
 erally accepted.^ But even if we cannot be so positive 
 as to the primary meaning, we should not allow the larg- 
 er and more important meaning to escape us, the mean- 
 ing for us and for all time. This is the fundamental 
 principle of interpretation according to the symbolical 
 school, which should be kept in mind throughout; and 
 it is remarkable how often the general meaning is plain 
 when the original reference, as in this case, is obscure. 
 For even if John had primarily in mind certain phases 
 of the Roman Empire, we must not lose sight of his 
 idealization of the symbolism. The numbers seven and 
 ten are not to be interpreted literally but symbolically 
 as elsewhere throughout the book. Whatever kings and 
 kingdoms are in the first instance intended, they are in- 
 troduced as the type of all kings and kingdoms of this 
 world throughout all time, in accordance with the prev- 
 alent use of numbers in the Apocalypse; so that in 
 any case the chief thought established is essentially the 
 same, viz. that the anti-christian world-power attains 
 its fulness and completeness under the numbers sev- 
 en and ten, and then wanes and is eventually destroyed. 
 If we interpret of Rome, then the ruin of the one em- 
 pire with its rulers and parts foreshadows that of every 
 other earth-power that opposes the rule of Christ 
 among men, and the overthrow of the one city with 
 its social and civic forces allied with evil, prefigures that 
 of the entire anti-christian social and civic power 
 throughout the world. 
 
 2 The Fall of the City Proclaimed Ch. 18 :1— 24 
 
 The mystery of the Harlot and of the Beast having 
 been revealed, another angel now declares the doom 
 which awaits them. The downfall of the city and the 
 destruction of her wealth is set forth as the type of the 
 overthrow of corrupt society with all pertaining to it, 
 in order that the fulness of Christ's kingdom may be 
 ushered in among men. In the vision of the prophet the 
 ruin is viewed as already complete; attention is cen- 
 tered so fully upon the result attained that the method 
 
 iCf. Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 333. 
 
204 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 by which it is accomplished is left quite out of view. 
 But the closing verses of the preceding chapter serve 
 to indicate the source of her destruction, viz. in the ten 
 horns, or subdivisions of the world-kingdom, which rise 
 against the Harlot and overthrow her (ch. 17:16-17), — 
 the historic fate of world-empires and world-cities 
 in revolution and ruin. It is here worthy of note how 
 clearly we find in this chapter reverberating echoes from 
 Isaiah's Doom of Babylon and of Tyre (Isa. ch. 13:23, 
 47), and from Jeremiah's Doom of Babylon (Jer. 
 chs. 50 and 51), as well as from Ezekiel's Doom of Tyre 
 (Ezek. chs. 26-28).^ Though the fall of the heathen city 
 of Rome was doubtless foremost in John's mind, let 
 us not forget that it only formed the basis of the wid- 
 er thought of the ultimate fate and fall of the great 
 godless world which it so clearly foreshadowed, the fore- 
 sight of which was a part of the prophetic vision.^ 
 
 (1) The Announcement of Her Overthrow Ch. 18:1 — 3 
 
 An angel — called here 'another angel' in distinction 
 from the one designated as 'one of the seven angels' in 
 chapter seventeen (v. 1) — is seen coming down out of 
 heaven, having great authority, and crying with a 
 mighty voice, ' Fallen ! fallen is Babylon the great ! ' and 
 recounting the story of her crimes as the abundant cause 
 of her ruin. 
 
 (2) The Warning to God's People Ch. 18:4—8 
 
 Yet another voice from heaven bids the people of 
 God come out of her before the final retribution, that 
 they be not made partakers of her sins and receive not 
 of her plagues, for her sins have reached even unto 
 heaven; and urges the executors of her judgment to re- 
 ward her double, i. e. to exact full legal retribution for 
 her sins (Ex. 22:4-7). And she shall be utterly 
 destroyed, shall be 'burned with fire; for strong is the 
 Lord God who judged her'. 
 
 ^Moulton, Mod. Read. Bil)., Rev., p. 212. 
 
 2'Rome never has been, and from its very position never could be a great 
 commercial city.' Alford, Or. Test., vol. iv, p. 718. By the universal nature of 
 the figures employed it is evident to most readers, that 'the whole passage 
 points not to any single city, at any one single period, but to the World-City 
 throughout all time.' Lee, Bib. Com., Rev., p. 770. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 205 
 
 (3) The Lament of the Kings of the Earth over Her 
 
 Doom Ch. 18:9— 10 
 
 The rulers of the world-powers who have shared in 
 her sin are seen standing afar off for fear of her tor- 
 ment, witnessing her fall; and their cry is heard, 'Woe, 
 woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city ! for in one 
 hour [i. e. in a short time or suddenly] is thy judgment 
 come', — mourning over her ruin which is sudden and 
 complete. 
 
 (4) The Lament of the Merchants Ch. 18 :11— 17a 
 
 The merchants of the earth also weep and mourn 
 over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise or cargo 
 any more. The articles of merchandise enumerated are 
 many, indicating her wealth, and seem to be arranged 
 in a progressive order of importance, and to fall natur- 
 ally into six classes, (Babylon's number, the symbol of 
 evil — ch. 13:18), which may be divided as follows, viz. 
 (1) those of personal adornment; (2) of furniture; (3) 
 of sensual gratification; (4) of food; (5) of animate 
 forms; and (6) of souls (i. e. persons) of men.^ All 
 have perished ; and the merchants cry aloud, ' Woe, woe, 
 
 the great city! for in one hour so great riches is 
 
 made desolate.' 
 
 (5) The Lament of the Seamen Ch. 18. 17b— 19 
 
 All those who gained their living by the sea, ship- 
 masters, mariners, and every one that saileth any 
 whither, stood afar off and cried, 'What city is like the 
 great city I' And they cast dust upon their heads, 
 weeping and mourning, the sign of their deep though 
 worldly sorrow, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city, 
 wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made 
 rich by reason of her costliness ! for in one hour is she 
 made desolate.' In this triple mourning of the kings of 
 the earth, of the merchants, and of the seamen, is shown 
 the wide relations of Babylon, too wide in fact for any 
 single city. The darkly shadowed terms of poetic de- 
 scription used throughout the chapter, set forth the 
 completeness of her destruction, and are an echo from 
 the Fall of Tyre in Ezekiel's prophecy (chs. 26-28). 
 
 ^Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 432. 
 
206 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 (6) A Call to Heaven and to the Church to Rejoice 
 
 Ch, 18:20 
 By a voice, evidently from above, the holy are 
 bidden to rejoice, i. e. heaven with its inhabitants, and 
 the saints or the church, and her two highest orders of 
 ministers in the past, the apostles and the prophets, are 
 called upon to rejoice because God hath judged Babylon 
 with the judgment which is her due for her treatment of 
 the saints. This invitation to the 'saints, the apostles, 
 and the prophets', to rejoice over the judgment of Baby- 
 lon, which to that age doubtless meant Rome, is re- 
 garded by some as a possible allusion to the martyrdom 
 of the Apostles Peter and Paul who met death under 
 Nero.^ 
 
 (7) The Symbol of Her Irretrievable Ruin 
 
 Ch. 18:21—24 
 A strong or mighty angel, taking up a stone like a 
 great millstone, casts it into the sea as the sign of her 
 total extinction, and rehearses the fate of the city in the 
 ominous words of ancient prophecy, which are here en- 
 larged and made more terrible (cf. Jer. 51:61 — 64). 
 The symbolism used throughout this chapter, it will be 
 noted, is largely drawn from the Old Testament proph- 
 ecies concerning the ancient cities of Babylon and 
 Tyre. 'And in her was found the blood of prophets 
 and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the 
 earth.' Thus in terms that are as wide as the earth and 
 as far-reaching as history, is set forth the sin of the 
 godless and unbelieving world in all ages, which con- 
 cludes the pronouncement of the judgment upon Baby- 
 lon ; and the judgment seems to belong properly in seven 
 parts as a sign of its completeness. ' 
 
 B The Triumph of the Redeemed Ch. 19 :1— 10 
 
 A hymn of praise (the Hallelujah Chorus), such as 
 follows each crisis in the Apocalypse, and forms a re- 
 lief to the sombreness of the visions, is sung in heaven 
 by a great voice of a great multitude as the sequel to 
 the fall of the city and the lament of the world — the 
 seventh and last great chorus in the Revelation (see 
 App'x C) : and then the marriage supper of the Lamb is 
 announced for the delight of the redeemed in heaven. 
 The final triumph, it will be seen, is here viewed as a 
 
 ^See Chase, art. 'Peter (Simon)'., Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 207 
 
 whole, without distinction of parts such as are found in 
 the succeeding section which treats of the last things. 
 
 1 The Choral Song of Hallelujahs Ch. 19:1—8 
 
 In response to the heavenly summons to rejoice 
 (ch. 18:20), a thrice repeated note of victory, the 
 Hebrew 'Hallelujah', Praise ye Jehovah! is heard in 
 heaven; first from the voice of a great multitude, who 
 say a second time, 'Hallelujah', and then from the four 
 and twenty elders, the representatives of the redeemed 
 church, together with the four living creatures, the rep- 
 resentatives of all created life, who reply, 'Amen; 
 Hallelujah.' After this again, in response to a message 
 from the throne (v. 5), another 'Hallelujah' is heard 
 from the voice of another multitude (v. 6-8), as the 
 sound of many waters, the voice of those who are prais- 
 ing God in full and joyful chorus because he has avenged 
 the blood of his servants, and who are now rejoicing 
 with exceeding gladness (v. 7) because 'the marriage of 
 the Lamb is come', i. e. the complete and final union of 
 Christ with the redeemed church, for his wife, the 
 church, hath made herself ready. The word 'Hallelu- 
 jah' occurs four times in this passage, and is not found 
 elsewhere in the New Testament: it should be noted, 
 too, that it is used here, as it is chiefly used in the Old 
 Testament,^ in connection with the punishment of the 
 wicked. The first voice in this chorus of hallelujahs 
 (v. If) is apparently that of the great multitude of the 
 angelic host in heaven, which is responded to by the 
 four and twenty elders, and the four living creatures; 
 while the second voice (v. 6f ) is that of the multitude of 
 the universal church who have been redeemed by the 
 blood of the Lamb. The description of the pure array 
 of the Bride (v. 8), which is the symbol of her righteous- 
 ness and is in such marked contrast with the clothing of 
 the Harlot, may be an explanation added by the Apostle, 
 as indicated in the text of the Revelation given in the pre- 
 ceding part of this book by including the verse in a 
 parenthesis, though it was apparently regarded by the 
 American Revisers as part of the words of the redeemed 
 church. 
 
 ^It is to bp resretted that the Hebrew word 'Hallelujah' is not used in our 
 Revised Version of the Old Testament as it is used in the New. instead of the 
 translation 'Praise ye Jehovah,' especially as it occurs in the Book of Psalms 
 where its use is so fitting. It is now a well-known English word, and is en- 
 titled to a place in our Scriptures, like the Hebrew word 'Jehovah' which is 
 recognized by all. 
 
208 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 2 The Blessedness of the Marriage Supper Ch. 19:9 
 
 John is directed by the angel to record a blessing 
 upon those who are bidden to the marriage supper, i. e. 
 who are invited to share in the nearer fellowship of thje 
 redeemed with Christ, and to partake of the rich and 
 abundant spiritual food that awaits them in the new re- 
 lations of the heavenly life — a further symbol of the 
 spiritual union of the church with Christ added to that 
 of the bride and the marriage, setting forth the joys of 
 the heavenly life under the familiar figure of a mar- 
 riage feast, the great social event of the East, 
 and the popular type of the highest enjoyment, as well as 
 the public acknowledgement of the consummation of the 
 union. The marriage of the Lamb is put in vivid contrast 
 with the fornication of the Harlot, in the usual method of 
 the Apocalypse. 
 
 3 Worship Refused by the Angel Ch. 19 :10 
 
 The Apostle is so overwhelmed by the impression 
 of the vision that he falls at the feet of the angel to wor- 
 ship him — probably the interpreting angel of the open- 
 ing verse of the book, though some think identical with 
 the vial-angel of chapter seventeen; but the worship is 
 refused,^ because, as the angel declares, he is only a 
 fellow- servant with John, and shares in 'the testimony 
 of Jesus' which 'is the spirit of prophecy'. This signif- 
 icant phrase is characteristic of the Revelation,^ and we 
 find in it a key to the general interpretation, a principle 
 to be applied throughout, viz. that the mysteries of the 
 Old Dispensation find their only proper, solution and 
 fulfilment in the clearer teaching of the New. 'The 
 testimony of Jesus' is the witness for the truth borne 
 hy Christ in the world, which gathers up into one and 
 gives expression to the essential and animating thought 
 of all prophecy. Others interpret the passage as 
 applying to the witness borne for Christ and the truth 
 by his disciples in the world ; and it is possible that both 
 meanings are included, for if broadly interpreted they 
 both merge into one.^ 
 
 ^'It has been supposed by some that we have in this incident (which is 
 repeated in ch. 22.8) a protest against the incipient worship of angels which 
 was creeping into the church.' Scott, New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 275. 
 
 2'The booli is filled with echoes of prophecy — mystic words through which 
 break memories of the past — that only attain their full significance through the 
 more perfect teachings of Christ.' Moulton, Mod. Read. Bib. 
 
 ''The testimony of Jesus is the sum of the revelation made by him, the 
 holding of which is so often in this booli the sign-manual of the saints. . . .That 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 209 
 
 C The Last Things Ch. 19:11— 20:15 
 
 A new phase of the vision of victory now opens, 
 which presents the final culmination and crisis of judg- 
 ment and redemption, a rapid preview of the closing 
 events of human history, a forecast of the triumph and 
 completion of the gospel age. These events form a 
 series of climaxes that are progressive and catastrophic, 
 and usher in the final consummation of God's world- 
 plan of the ages, a feature that is prominent in all 
 apocalyptic writings. 
 
 It is important for us to note afresh at this point, 
 what should be apparent to our minds in the study of 
 the book throughout, viz. that the element of climax, 
 which enters so largely into the thought of the Revela- 
 tion, belongs essentially to the mood and temper of 
 Apocalyptic; and we should avoid emphasizing too 
 much that which pertains chiefly to literary form and 
 spiritual mood, as though it were intended to set forth 
 the intimate nature of the divine method. Upon care- 
 ful reflection it must become more and more apparent 
 that the emphasis here laid upon the climactic side of 
 the divine way of working, was only intended to be in 
 proportion to the apparent hopelessness of the his- 
 torical outlook without such manifest and repeated 
 divine interpositions for human help, and was not in- 
 tended to indicate that the chief effects to be wrought 
 out will be accomplished by other than the method dis- 
 played in history, viz. by long periods of quiet progress 
 and patient waiting, broken now and then by short and 
 decisive periods of crisis. The apocalyptic writers fol- 
 lowed the general mode of conception prevalent in the 
 Old Testament, according to which 'the final condition 
 of men and the world is regarded less as the perfect 
 issue of a gradual ethical advancement. . . .than as the 
 result of an interposition or chain of interpositions on 
 the part of GodV which is only one side of the truth — a 
 view growing out of their idea of God as the immediate 
 author of all movements in nature and history, and fit- 
 ting in well with the increased emphasis laid upon 
 climax in Apocalyptic. There is also a distinct fore- 
 shortening of the future which is very evident through- 
 deposit of truth rather than deny which Christians were prepared to die... The 
 testimony of Jesus thus becomes in turn the burden of his servants' testimony.' 
 Scott, New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 275f. 
 
 ^Davidson, Hastings' Diet, of Bib., art. 'Eschatology.' 
 
210 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 out this section, and this is a well known and character- 
 istic feature of all prophecy. The extreme brevity with 
 which are described and grouped together so many 
 great events of the far future that so deeply affect the 
 Christian hope, serves to indicate that the chief aim of 
 the Revelation does not consist in fully manifesting 
 these events which lie hidden in the hand of God, but in 
 preparing the church for what precedes them, both of 
 trial and of conflict. 'Like a flash of lightning in the 
 darkness the vision lights up the whole line of God's 
 purposes to the end'; but how much of the actual form 
 and manner of the events it was the divine purpose to 
 disclose through this ideal and scenic presentation must 
 continue to be, pending the manifestation of the events 
 themselves, to some extent at least, a matter of diverse 
 opinion. 
 
 1 The End of the Holy War Ch. 19 :11— 21 
 
 This part of the vision sets forth the final victory 
 over all the powers of this world which is eventually to 
 be attained by the supreme power of 'The Word of 
 God', the ever conquering Christ, who is here described 
 by this transcendental name for our Lord which is a dis- 
 tinctive title with the Apostle John.^ Beginning with 
 a view of the triumphant Word going forth to conquer 
 as under the first seal (ch. 6:2), Christ appears in the 
 opened heaven riding on a white horse; he is called 
 'Faithful and True', and in righteousness he doth 
 judge and make war. His eyes are a flame of fire, the 
 type of purity and judgment; upon his head are many 
 diadems, the crowns of conquered nations; he hath a 
 name written which no man knoweth but himself, — evi- 
 dently the 'new name' of chapter three (v. 12) which 
 John cannot interpret; and he is arrayed in a garment 
 sprinkled with blood, the token of his redemptive work. 
 The armies of heaven, which apparently include the re- 
 deemed, such as have already entered there, follow him 
 
 ^'The Word' as a name for Jesus here introduced, though it occurs but once 
 in the book, is used elsewhere in the New Testament only by .Tohn (Jn. 1.1 and 
 1.14; I Jn. 1.1), and seems to point to the Johannine authorship of the Apoca- 
 lypse. The Jews in the time of Christ used the Greek term Xoyof'The Word', 
 as a name for a class of phantasmal beings whom they regarded as existing 
 between God and man, and through whom God was supposed to speak ; 
 for to their thought. God was so exalted and transcendent that he could not 
 speak directly to men. But John uses 'The Word' as a personal name for Jesus 
 who is both God and man, and through whom God has indeed spoken, thus 
 bringing God near to men and revealing his truth and love. John took their 
 own term and gave it a new application and a real meaning, and thereby 
 furnished a new thought of Christ as the revealer of God. Cf. Thayer's Or. 
 Lex. of New Test.; and Burton and Mathews' Life of Christ, pp. 17-18. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 211 
 
 on white horses,^ clothed in fine linen white and pure; 
 out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword that with it 
 he should smite the nations,^ for he shall rule them then 
 with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of 
 the wine of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Al- 
 mighty, thereby bringing punishment upon the evil. His 
 divine right is clearly seen, for he hath on his garment 
 and on his thigh (i. e. both on the garment and on the 
 thigh, or else on the garment covering the thigh), a 
 name written, 'King of Kings^ and Lord of Lords'. 
 And the Beast, and the kings of the earth, and their 
 armies, are gathered together to make war against him 
 that sat upon the horse and against his army, i. e. 
 against Christ and his kingdom to attempt to overcome 
 them. Thus with sublime imagery the vision leads up 
 and on to the close of the great battle with the world- 
 forces, which was briefly described before in chapter 
 sixteen as occurring at Har-Magedon ; the war is the 
 same, the battle between the sinful world and the hosts 
 of God which is ever going on through the ages to final 
 victory in the end. Now, by a further view, the Beast, 
 and the False Prophet (or Second Beast) who mis- 
 guides the people in spiritual things, are seen to be 
 taken, and they twain are cast alive into the lake of fire, 
 while all their followers are slain with the sword of him 
 that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came 
 forth out of his mouth (v. 15) ; and all the birds that fly 
 in mid-heaven are called by an angel standing in the sun 
 to feed upon their flesh, as in Ezekiel's prophecy of the 
 Judgment of Gog (ch. 39:17-22), a judgment exceed- 
 ingly repulsive to the Hebrew mind. The lake of fire is 
 only a more fully developed form of the Jewish concep- 
 tion of Gehenna as a furnace of fire (Mat. 13:42, and 
 50). The symbolism here used may have been sug- 
 gested to John's mind by the appearance of a sea or 
 lake during the eruption of a volcano, a view not un- 
 familiar to those resident in Asia," This lake in the Reve- 
 lation is the place of final punishment of the wicked, and 
 is clearly distinguished from the pit of the abyss, the 
 abode of Satan during the present world-period. Thus 
 
 I'John takes us to the unseen and heavenly side of things, and we see the 
 hosts of God marshalling themselves in defence of His vv^eaiv and persecuted 
 people, God Himself standing within the shadow, 'Keeping watch above His 
 own'.' Humphries, 8t John and Other Teachers, p. 105. 
 
 ='The word of Messiah's mouth is the sole weapon of his victory.' Moffatt, 
 Exp. Or. Test., Rev., p. 468. 
 
 ^Bib. Com., p. 607. 
 
212 STUDIES in fhe BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 is signified the triumphant overthrow of the World- 
 Power and of the World-Religion as manifested in his- 
 tory. These together with the World-City are now 
 broken and destroyed, while only the World-Lord, or 
 Satan, remains to carry on the conflict, and the way is 
 thereby prepared for the great millennial victory. 
 
 This section is considered by many to refer to 
 Christ's second coming, the Paronsia, and, if that view 
 were established, it would serve to support the opinion 
 of those who hold that the second advent will be pre- 
 millennial; but such an interpretation is beset with 
 many difficulties and cannot be sustained by what is said 
 in these verses. The description does not correspond 
 with the account of Christ's coming again which is given 
 in the Synoptic Gospels and the Epistles, nor with the 
 passing foregleams of it in the preceding chapters, but 
 rather with the delineation of Christ's conflict with the 
 world as it is set forth in this book, which is depicted in 
 its beginnings under the first seal where Christ goes 
 forth conquering and to conquer, and which is now seen 
 to pass through the thick of battle to the crowning of 
 victory. For while the second coming is manifestly the 
 one great objective event ever retained in the back- 
 ground of the visions, overshadowing and interpene- 
 trating every part of the Apocalypse, yet it is at no time 
 definitely introduced or particularly described; and the 
 most accurate and impartial interpretation throughout 
 is that which regards both the time of its occurrence and 
 the position it occupies in relation to other events of 
 the last days as nowhere revealed in the Apocalyptic 
 vision. With the present author this view has grown 
 through time from that of a possible solution of a much 
 vexed question into a settled conviction of its correct- 
 ness.^ And it should be seen, that with this section 
 (eh. 19:11 — 21) in grave doubt, to say the least, concern- 
 ing its application to the advent, if indeed it should not 
 be regarded as entirely inapplicable, there is nothing 
 definitely taught in the Revelation in regard to the time 
 of Christ's second coming; for whatever opinion we 
 may entertain concerning the time of that glorious event 
 so dear to the Christian heart, we cannot regard this 
 
 'For a strong confirmation of this opinion see Stevens, Heic Test. Theol., 
 p. 555 ; also, supporting ttie same view, R. D. Wilson in unpublished Princeton 
 Clussroom Lectures. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 213 
 
 passage as decisive in the matter unless we interpolate 
 into it a meaning which it does not necessarily contain. 
 
 2 Satan Bound Ch. 20:1— 3a 
 
 The temporary destruction of Satan's power is here 
 indicated by his being bound for a season; and this 
 marks another advance in the triumphal march of 
 events. An angel coming down from heaven with the 
 key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand, lays 
 hold upon the Dragon, the Old Serpent, Satan, and binds 
 him for a thousand years, and then shuts him up in the 
 abyss, his present dwelling-place, from which he can now 
 emerge at will during the period of conflict, and seals it 
 over him that his power may be restrained until the end 
 of that time. The binding of Satan indicates the limit- 
 ing of his authority over the nations, with the subse- 
 quent ushering in of the triumph of the gospel among 
 men, when, according to the announcement of the seventh 
 trumpet, 'The kingdom of the world is become the king- 
 dom of our Lord and of his Christ' (ch. 11:15), a 
 promise partially fulfilled at this stage, but awaiting its 
 complete fulfilment in the final consummation. The 
 limiting of Satan's power is a preparatory stage to the 
 events that follow, and precedes the first resurrection, 
 as it also precedes the millennium. 
 
 3 The First Resurrection Ch. 20 :4— 6 
 
 The resurrection, which is the effective redemption 
 of the body from death, that is necessary for complete 
 victory over sin and for the full consummation of man's 
 life in eternity,^ is at this point begun,^ and is marked in 
 the Revelation by two successive stages, the first accom- 
 panying the triumph of the messianic kingdom, and the 
 second preparatory to the final judgment. These two 
 parts of the resurrection are separated in the vision by 
 the whole millennial period. The first resurrection is 
 special and compensative (scil. 'the resurrection out of 
 the dead' — Gr. ex vexpcov — Phil. 3:11), consisting of cer- 
 
 iThe fact of the resurrection is constantly emphasized in the New Testa- 
 ment, but it is entirely unnecessary for us to Inquire into the manner of the 
 resurrection for that is nowhere revealed. It is quite enough for us to know 
 that there will be a resurrection, and that the new body will be a spiritual body. 
 
 2'Those who reject the idea of a physical resurrection are obliged therefore 
 to think of a resurrection from hades to heaven, taking place at the close of 
 the martyr age, and introducing those who are thus specially honored into a 
 state of heavenly blessedness, which continues till the close of human history.' 
 Brown, art. 'Millennium', Hastings' Diet, of Bih., referring to Briggs' view in 
 
 s. of Apost., p. 357. 
 
214 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 tain of the saints and martyrs who by reason of their 
 enduring resistance of the forces of evil in their lives 
 and deaths are adjudged worthy to attain unto this 
 resurrection, viz. 'of them that had been beheaded for 
 the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and 
 such as worshipped not the Beast, neither his image, 
 and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon 
 their hand.' The first resurrection which is evidently 
 limited to this particular class, and is compensative in 
 character for evils endured, precedes the second or 
 general resurrection by a thousand years, or the whole 
 duration of the millennium, which is not a definite, 
 numerical thousand years, but in accordance with the 
 general use of numbers in the Apocalypse is a period 
 of vast but indefinite length. The cry of the martyrs 
 (ch. 6:9) has been heard, and they who have part in 
 this resurrection shall live and reign with Christ 
 throughout the whole millennial era, i. e. shall share in 
 his presence and glory as a reward for their superior 
 faithfulness, shall be with him where he is, evidently in 
 heaven, for nothing is said of any new or different rela- 
 tion of Christ or of the saints to those who dwell upon 
 the earth as now beg-un, or as entered upon at any time 
 during this period. We are simply told that the re- 
 deemed saints shall live and reign with Christ, i. e. they 
 shall enter upon the new and fuller life with Christ 
 which follows the resurrection of the body, and they 
 shall share in the triumphant rulership of Christ in 
 heaven. The main thought in the phrase 'with Christ', 
 it will be seen, is not so much that of location, as of 
 association with him in messianic rule.^ The statement 
 here made that 'they shall be priests of God and of 
 Christ' (v. 6) evidently does not mean that they are to 
 exercise the function of mediators for the rest of man- 
 kind during that intermediate period, — for no such serv- 
 ice in heaven is anywhere taught in Scripture — ^but only 
 that they are granted familiar access to and fellowship 
 with God and Christ such as the priests had who drew 
 near under the old covenant; they stand in his presence 
 as the priests of old stood in the temple and waited and 
 served and worshipped. 
 
 ^Por the use of /lera with the genitive, see Thayer's Oreek-English Lex. of 
 New Test. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 215 
 
 4 The Millennium Ch. 20. 2b, 3b, 4b, 5a, 6b and 7a 
 
 The millennium is the Latin equivalent of the Greek 
 phrase xiK^a eir], or a thousand years, which has 
 now attained a permanent place in Christian thought. 
 In the prophetic view of the apocalyptic vision this is 
 the crowning period of the church upon earth so long 
 looked for and foretold, the triumphant realization of 
 messianic prophecy, the denouement of redemptive his- 
 tory in the world, a time of rest and victory when evil 
 shall be restrained though not extinguished, and right- 
 eousness shall rule among men. The millennial reign 
 of the saints with Christ, while Satan is limited in his 
 sphere, as is indicated by his being bound with a great 
 chain, is evidently intended to represent the period of 
 the church's triumph. The length of time implied by 
 the millennium is a period of multiple completeness 
 which is represented by a thousand, the cube of ten, the 
 symbol of a duration that is of great but indefinite ex- 
 tent, covering a long period of time, stretching to untold 
 generations, during which the rule of Christ shall be 
 triumphantly established upon the earth.^ The chief 
 thought in the thousand years is doubtless that of great 
 and enduring victory. This period, as has been effec- 
 tively said, 'may well be of such an indefinite length as 
 to lead to the salvation of unnumbered multitudes — 
 multitudes so vast and countless that all the lost of all 
 the ages will be but an infinitesimal fraction in com- 
 parison.'^ Such a view serves to lighten in a measure 
 the dark places of Scripture and history with a vision of 
 blessing and hope, though it cannot be said to disperse 
 to any great extent that impenetrable shadow which 
 hangs over God's purpose in the world's long deep night 
 of sin and death. 
 
 No other passage in the New Testament has taken 
 a deeper or more permanent hold upon the minds of be- 
 lieving men than this pregnant prophecy of a millen- 
 nium, in which the thousand years is six times named 
 in as many verses. Unfortunately interpreters have not 
 been agreed concerning the meaning of the passage; in 
 fact no part of the Word of God has, perhaps, been so 
 much in dispute as these verses in the Revelation. It may 
 
 *'If the twelve hundred and sixty days symbolize the duration of the 
 triumph of heathenism, the thousand years as clearly symbolize the duration 
 of the triumph of Christianity', Swete, Apoc. of St John, p. 263. 
 
 =A. A. Hodge in unpublished Classroom Lectures. 
 
216 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 be worth while, therefore, to say that in the interpreta- 
 tion we should clearly recognize upon the one hand that 
 the promise of a millennium was intended to create in 
 the minds of men a pervasive hope of ultimate divine 
 triumph in the world; while upon the other hand we 
 should avoid making this glorious promise the ground- 
 work of purely human fancy. The blessings of the mil- 
 lennial period here set forth evidently pertain both to 
 the saints in glory and to the kingdom of God in this 
 world. The particular nature of the reign of the saints 
 with Christ during the thousand years is not revealed; 
 but we know assuredly that Christ and his kingdom have 
 prevailed upon the earth. The millennium manifestly 
 presents a natural and complete antithesis to the long 
 period in which the church suffered oppression under 
 domination of the world-powers. The part allotted to 
 the saints in the triumph of the kingdom in which they 
 live and reign with Christ, is set forth in terms of long 
 prevailing and deeply cherished Jewish ideals. To oc- 
 cupy 'thrones of judgment' was part of the recognized 
 hope of Israel (Ps. 122:5), and is clearly a human way 
 of conceiving of superhuman relations. That this hope 
 is to be realized in the final spiritual supremacy of 
 Grod's children, specially promised to the twelve of the 
 inner circle (Mat. 19:28; and Lu. 22:30), and evidently 
 to be shared in a particular degree by all those who 
 have part in the first resurrection, though ultimately in 
 some measure also by all the redeemed, does not admit 
 of serious doubt, but the exact form in which it will be 
 realized is not made plain. 
 
 According to the usual premillennial view the first 
 resurrection is interpreted as consisting of all believers 
 who have died previous to that time, and not of those 
 only who share in it by reason of special service and 
 testimony; and the millennial reign of those who rise 
 from their graves in this resurrection is held to be upon 
 the earth, and is to be ushered in by the second coming 
 of Christ who will establish a new dispensation in which 
 he will be personally manifest, and will rule in the 
 world, either from an earthly capital as Jerusalem, or 
 from heaven in close communication with the saints.^ 
 This view, it will be seen, rests upon Jewish conceptions, 
 and derives its support from a sternly literal interpre- 
 
 *For a more complete statement of the premillennial view see Faussett, J. 
 F. & B. Com. on Rev.; Seiss, Lect. on Apoc; and Alford's Or. Test., in loco. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 217 
 
 tation of Old Testament prophecies. But, notwith- 
 standing its natural attractiveness to the minds of men, 
 it fails of adequate confirmation in the text. Upon the 
 other hand most of the symbolical school interpret the 
 first resurrection figuratively, as a resurrection to 
 spiritual life, and regard the millennium as now in prog- 
 ress. The prevalence of this view seems to be largely 
 due to the early influence of Aug-ustine,^ who identified 
 the millennium with the period of the Christian church 
 on earth, and held that for those who belong to the true 
 church the first resurrection is past already, making it 
 the equivalent of the resurrection to spiritual life spoken 
 of in John's Gospel (Jn. 5:25), — a passage which, 
 though showing that a spiritual resurrection is a dis- 
 tinct Johannine conception, does not serve to break the 
 natural force of these words in their present connection. 
 The usual interpretation of the thousand years given 
 by the symbolical school cannot be considered as satis- 
 factory ,2 viz. that the phrase expresses a quality, i. e. 
 completeness, and not a period of time; and that the 
 meaning of the phrase 'bound him for a thousand 
 years' is that Satan was completely bound. The sym- 
 bolical use of the number one thousand is evident, but 
 that does not deprive it of all quantitative value, it only 
 affects its literal significance; and the denial that the 
 word 'years' has any reference to time is without 
 proper exegetical support and must be rejected.^ Ac- 
 cording to the current symbolical interpretation the 
 entire passage (ch. 20:1-10) is regarded as an episode 
 which is descriptive of the complete safety and spiritual 
 deliverance of Christ's people throughout the whole 
 period of the age-long conflict ;^ and thus the millennium 
 as a period of triumph and blessedness for the saints on 
 earth, preceding and distinct from the final blessedness 
 of the world to come, fades away into a figure of speech, 
 while the triumph of the gospel is obscured. But this 
 view cannot be sustained except by a sacrifice of the 
 
 ^De Civ. Dei. xx, 7-9. For the prevalent symbolist view see Milligan, 
 Expos. Bih., and Internat. Com.; Pliimmer, Pulp. Com.; and Lee, Bib. Com. 
 Against this view it is ably contended that 'the interpretation of a symbolic 
 resurrection (as that of Israel in Ezekiel), or of a spiritual resurrection (as in 
 regeneration). Is rendered untenable by the explicit reference to the martyrs 
 (cf. ch. 6.9-11, and 19.9).' Brown art, 'Millennium,' Hastings' Diet, of Bii. 
 
 -X careful study of this view, even when presented by so eminent a com- 
 mentator as Plummer, will convince most readers that it fails to properly satisfy 
 the statements of the text. 
 
 «See Dlisterdieck, Meyer's Com,, on Rev., pp. 463-4 ; and Brown art. 'Mil- 
 lennium', Hastings' Diet, of Bib.; also, most late authorities. 
 
 ^Purves, art. 'Rev.', Davis' Diet, of Bib. 
 
218 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 natural, if we may not certainly say the correct exe- 
 gesis; for the paragraph will not fit a purely figurative 
 interpretation.^ This view would dispose of the ques- 
 tion of a pre- or post-millennial coming by denying that 
 there is any millennium, in the historic sense of the 
 term, taught in the Revelation. But the expedient is a 
 fallacious one, if John spoke as a prophet by the in- 
 spiration of the Spirit, for his words incorporated the 
 thought of his time in which the millennium had a 
 definite meaning; and that he foresaw and described it 
 as such is fairly evident, though he manifestly modified 
 its extravagances. The idea of a triumphal period of 
 the Messiah's reign is too deeply inwrought in the 
 Apocalyptic literature which preceded the present 
 Apocalypse to be put aside lightly as a symbol of com- 
 pleteness.^ The duration of this time was a frequent 
 and favorite subject of Jewish speculation;^ and accord- 
 ing to the general laws of language, the phrase used in 
 the text, 'a thousand years', necessarily carries with it 
 the conception of a period of time, but in accordance 
 with the usage of the author, it loses its definite 
 numerical significance and indicates a period of long but 
 unmeasured duration; it becomes the symbol of a 
 period that is complete. 
 
 It will be recognized by the attentive student of the 
 Word of God that this passage and its connections form 
 the crux interpretum of the whole book of Revelation; 
 and it is well, perhaps, not to speak with too much posi- 
 tiveness on a subject so differently understood by many 
 of the most eminent scholars and interpreters. The 
 view presented above seems to be the most natural 
 meaning that can be given to the words of the vision, 
 and seems also to accord more fully than any other with 
 the many promises of God concerning the outcome of all 
 that great and progressive movement among men which 
 we call the Kingdom of Heaven in the earth. For with- 
 out such a period of victory, the whole evolutionary 
 movement in human life and history, which so mani- 
 
 ^Salmond, art. 'Eschatol, of New Test'., Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
 =Cf. // E.sdr 7. 28-32 ; and Bk. of Enoch, 91-104 ; also the Slavonic Enoch, 
 'in which occurs the first mention of the millennium', (Charles). 
 
 3'The Talmud has no fixed doctrine on this point, but the view most fre- 
 quently expressed there is that the messianic kingdom will last for a thousand 
 years : e. g. 'In six days God created the world, on the seventh he rested. But 
 the day of God is equal to a thousand years (Ps. 00.4). Hence the world will 
 last for six thousand years of toil and labor ; then will come a thousand years 
 of Sabbath rest for the people of God in the kingdom of the Messiah.' This 
 idea must have already been very common in the first century before Christ.' 
 Harnack, art. 'Millennium', Encyc. Britan. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 219 
 
 festly marks the purpose of God and the plan of re- 
 demption, would somehow seem to fail of any proper 
 consummation; while in this view the millennium, mark- 
 ing the triumph of the gospel, would vindicate the pres- 
 ent method of history and redemption, just as the pre- 
 millennial view would abandon it and introduce a differ- 
 ent order. Indeed, it may be well here to say, what 
 should be clearly seen by every student of the Revela- 
 tion, that the premillennial view introduces practically 
 three dispensations into the plan of redemption, viz. the 
 first, that of Moses which measurably failed; the second, 
 that of Christ which is also to fail of complete success; 
 and the third, that of the Holy Spirit which shall abso- 
 lutely triumph. Whether, indeed, such a view is justi- 
 fied by what the Glospels teach and the Epistles indicate, 
 is a question that each interpreter of Scripture must 
 determine for himself; though it must be said that the 
 large majority of Christians in all ages have not so 
 understood the message of the Word. And it would 
 certainly be remarkable if Christ, who was so wonderful 
 a teacher, had intended to predict a premillennial com- 
 ing to his own, and yet left it in such an indefinite form 
 that the majority of earnest Christians would forever 
 fail to apprehend it. But, in any case, to give up the 
 expectation of the final supremacy of the gospel in the 
 w^orld, whether we look for it to be attained before or 
 after the coming of the Lord, through the method of 
 history or contrary to it, is to empty of its richest con- 
 tent the Christian hope for the world of men, and to 
 contradict the deepest longing of the pious heart.^ 
 
 5 Satan Loosed Again and Overthrown Ch. 20:3c, 
 
 and 7 — 10 
 
 A renewal of Satan's activity is permitted by di- 
 vine authority, as is indicated by his being loosed again 
 out of his prison, and seems to be of the nature of a 
 reaction in favor of evil, a sequence for which we are 
 scarcely prepared at this juncture, after the millennial 
 period of Christian ascendancy. We find described in 
 these verses a recrudescence of organized opposition 
 to Christ and his kingdom, indicated by Satan coming 
 forth again out of the abyss, according to the prevailing 
 
 ■•Fairbairn On Prophecy, p. 450f. ; also Gloag's Intr. to Johan. Writings, 
 ch. on 'Millennium' ; Stuart, Com. on Apoc, pp. 702-03 ; and many other author- 
 ities. 
 
220 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 method of the Apocalypse by which evil comes in periodic 
 onsets. In the elucidation of the passage most interpret- 
 ers, who regard the millennimn as representing the tri- 
 umphal period of Christ's kingdom upon earth, consid- 
 er this incident, together with Satan's previous bind- 
 ing without the complete destruction of his power un- 
 til the end when he is cast into the lake of fire, as 
 showing conclusively that opposition to Christ has only 
 been subdued during the millennial period but not 
 extinguished, so that like a smouldering fire it bursts 
 forth into flame again before the end.^ It can scarcely 
 be denied that such is the underlying assmnption of 
 the passage, as is generally conceded, though the usu- 
 al symbolist view, relying upon this, minimizes the 
 character of the millennial triumph, and regards the op- 
 position to Christ as being subdued only so far as be- 
 lievers are concerned, toward whom Satan is then com- 
 pletely bound, the millennium and the conflict going on 
 simultaneously — a view that is not adequately sustained 
 by the text. On the other hand the futurist view mag- 
 nifies the nature of the millennial triumph, and leaves 
 no reasonable room for this final outburst of sin; for 
 the millennium with Christ dwelling among his people up- 
 on earth is heaven already begun, and the Scriptures no- 
 where teach either the continuance of evil after Christ's 
 second coming, or the existence of an interval between 
 Christ's coming and the judgment. The interpretation 
 here .given is accepted by many modern scholars and 
 follows a median line, regarding the millennium as a 
 period of relative triumph followed by a fresh outbreak 
 of sin, as seems to be indicated in this passage. If we 
 compare these verses with that strange apocalyptic 
 passage in Paul's Second Epistle to the Thessalonians 
 (II Thess. 2:3f.), we find that he there predicts a falling 
 away from the faith and the coming of the Man of Sin be- 
 fore the advent, which seems to refer in the figurative 
 language of Apocalyptic to this same period of final 
 struggle preceding the end. And the Man of Sin there 
 foretold may perhaps be regarded as an ideal person- 
 ification of the sin of man then prevailing, 'whom the 
 Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth'. This 
 last struggle is, however, only for a little time (v. 3), 
 
 I'That the world's history will terminate in the culmination of evil, be- 
 comes from the time of Daniel a permanent factor in Jewish Apocalyptic' 
 Charles, Eachatoloyy, p. 121. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 221 
 
 i. e. for a season that is short in comparison with the 
 millennial period, and is apparently permitted in or- 
 der to bring about the triumphal termination of the con- 
 flict that Satan may be completely and forever overthrown 
 and flung into the lake of fire (v. 10), the final 
 place of punishment, together with the Beast and the 
 False Prophet whose destruction has been already de- 
 scribed. 
 
 Though the general idea of the paragraph is rela- 
 tively plain, the particular meaning of the prediction 
 is involved in much obscurity, viz. that of a war in 
 which Satan deceives the nations of the earth, Gog 
 and Magog,^ whose number is as the sand of the sea, 
 and who go up under his leadership to compass the 
 camp of the saints and the beloved city, but who are de- 
 stroyed by divine intervention through fire from heav- 
 en. The description is evidently symbolic, and Gog 
 and Magog were doubtless not intended to be identified 
 as particular nations; nor can the fulfilment be literal- 
 ly understood. Like many of the prophecies of the past 
 it is surrounded by a haze of indefiniteness that pre- 
 vents its full interpretation until its meaning is re- 
 vealed by the course of events. The source of the sym- 
 bolism is found in the Old Testament invasion of Gog, a 
 passage in Ezekiel (ch. 38-39), a prophetic scene of war, 
 which becomes here the formal type of the last struggle 
 between the hosts of sin and those of righteousness, and 
 seems to refer to some new, national, and world-wide 
 form of opposition to Christ and his kingdom in which 
 all the earth-forces of evil are gathered together for 
 their extinction — a final stage of the conflict necessary 
 for the completeness of the victory, which is to be post- 
 millennial, and in which all the powers of evil shall be 
 speedily and finally overthrown.^ It may also be that the 
 view of battle here given is intended to be partly retro- 
 
 ^'Jewish tradition makes use of ttiese names to indicate those nations which 
 are expected to war against Jerusalem in the last days and to be overthrown 
 by the Messiah.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., p. 473. 'In later Apocalyptic literature 
 these are conventional symbols for the world hostile to Israel, or to the people 
 of God.' New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 284. 
 
 -'The whole delineation is symbolic, and embodies spiritual truths under 
 material emblems.' Plumptre, Pulp. Com., Ezek., vol. ii, p. 306. 'The Invasion 
 of Gog, a discourse of Ezekiel which stands by itself, is not to be interpreted 
 as a specific prediction of an historical event, nor on the other hand as merely 
 a parable ; but under the typical names of Gog, Meshech, and Tubal, — suggestive 
 of the dimly known confines of the earth — are suggested hostile forces however 
 distinct, which after the many days of a future however prolonged, may be 
 massed in opposition to a purified people only to fall in the holy soil by a de- 
 struction from on high, and to trouble Israel with no more than a notable bury- 
 ing.' Moulton, Mod. Read. Bib., Ezek., Intr., p. xiii. Also cf. Plumptre, Pulp. 
 Com., Ezek., chs. 38-39 ; and Fairbairn, Ezek. and Book of his Prophecy. 
 
222 STUDIES in tlie BOOK OF REVELATION". 
 
 spective in its purpose, and to link this struggle with the 
 age-long conflict which culminates when the Beast and the 
 False Prophet are taken, giving another view of Har- 
 Magedon in which now, after a period of quiescence, 
 Satan's overthrow forms the final part. 
 
 6 The Second Resurrection Ch. 20 :11 — 12a, and 13a 
 
 This is the final and complete resurrection which 
 occurs at the end of the world, and comprises all those, 
 whether believers or not, who failed to participate in 
 the first resurrection. The completeness of this resur- 
 rection is specially emphasized. Even the sea gave up 
 the bodies of the dead that were in it; and death and 
 Hades gave up the souls of the dead that were 
 in them (v. 13a), in preparation for the judgment. 
 The description here given of the second or gen- 
 eral resurrection, it will be seen, presents the or- 
 dinary view of Scripture, while that of the first 
 resurrection introduces a new and different conception, 
 viz. that of a special resurrection. The main distinc- 
 tion between the two resurrections may be regarded as 
 chiefly one of order rather than time, though the pre- 
 cedence of the first in point of time is also in- 
 cluded. In each case a resurrection of the body 
 is meant, but the first is partial in extent, con- 
 sisting of a particular class, while the second is 
 universal, comprising all classes.^ The paragraph, 
 when thus interpreted, affords a clearer view of the 
 resurrection as a whole, showing its proper order or 
 sequence, and separating into two main parts that which 
 is mostly regarded in the New Testament in its entirety 
 as a single event occurring at the last day. In fact 
 the doctrine of two resurrections taught in this passage, 
 and the clearness with which the resurrection of the 
 wicked for judgment is set forth, together constitute 
 the most notable contribution of the Apocalypse to the 
 eschatology of the New Testament;^ for 'whatever may 
 be the difficulties involved, and however they may be 
 solved, we must recognize that John here predicts an 
 anticipative and limited resurrection of the same char- 
 
 ^See Bleek. Led. on Apoc. p. 339 : also Alford. Or. Test., vol. iv, Rev., p. 
 732, who is very clear and convincing as to the literal nature of both resurrec- 
 tions ; and Stuart, Coin, on Apoc, pp. 704-10. with Excur. vi in same volume. 
 
 "See Salmond, art. 'Eschatology of New Test.'; Hastings" Diet, of Bib.; and 
 Bernard, art. 'Resurrection' in same work. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 223 
 
 acter as the general resurrection which is to follow.'^ 
 This was undoubtedly the thought presented to John's 
 mind in the vision, whether we attach any didactive sig- 
 nificance to it or not, and it ought not to be overlooked 
 in our interpretation. 
 
 At this point it may be not amiss to say, what must 
 be apparent to every careful student of Scripture, that 
 it was not the divine purpose in the book of Revela- 
 tion to reveal the intimate nature or detail of the great 
 events which lie at the close of man's history on the 
 earth; but rather to give a general outline of the divine 
 order, which would serve to invigorate our faith and 
 stimulate our hope in the onward path of Christian duty. 
 And while it is for the most part fruitless to inquire 
 particularly concerning that which is not clearly re- 
 vealed, at the same time the general bearing of this 
 passage should not be allowed to escape our attention, 
 for it is one of the most significant in the book of 
 Revelation, and we may well pause a moment to con- 
 sider its proper meaning. We have here, apparently, — 
 if one may offer an opinion on so obscure a subject, — 
 a hint that the resurrection which has just been de- 
 scribed as occurring in two periods, first and second, 
 is to be regarded as a process rather than as an event 
 that is single and separate in itself, one which in its en- 
 tirety covers a long period of time, and is to be ac- 
 complished in progressive stages in which the righteous 
 share first according to their relative worth — a process 
 which is apparently marked by two principal periods 
 that are specially in mind in the description before us. 
 In the light of this view it may be well to recall some 
 of the events in the Scripture record which seem to sup- 
 port it. The translation of Enoch and Elijah in 
 the Old Testament, the equivalent of an inunediate res- 
 urrection, which anticipated the victory of Christ over 
 death, would otherwise be an unexplained anomaly. 
 But according to this interpretation it forms a part of 
 the divine order ; their resurrection was not anomalous ; 
 it was only one step in the ever progressive plan of 
 the ages. The mysterious hiding, too, of Moses' grave 
 
 'Scott, New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 282. In fact this view, in some form, finds 
 a place with many modern interpreters who do not accept the usual symbolic 
 interpretation of the book. Alford with his accustomed vigor has well said, 
 'If in such a passage the first resurrection may be understood to mean spiritual 
 rising with Christ, while the second means literal rising from the grave, then 
 there is an end to all significance in language, and Scripture is wiped out as a 
 definite testimony to anything.' Or. Test., vol. iv, p. 732. 
 
224 STUDIES in the BOOK OF BEVELATION. 
 
 in the valley of the land of Moah, finds an adequate ex- 
 planation if he was subsequently translated when the di- 
 vine purpose in his burial was accomplished — the burial 
 vindicating the divine honor, while his resurrection 
 was immediate and triumphant. The record, also, in 
 the closing chapter of Daniel (Dan. 12:1-3) though ob- 
 scure, points to a stage in the resurrection in which not 
 all but many shall rise, and includes as well those who 
 rise to shame and everlasting contempt, though no in- 
 dication of the time when this will occur is given by 
 the prophet. But more particularly in Matthew's ac- 
 count of the crucifixion of our Lord (Mat. 27:52-3), we 
 find that his death was followed not only by the rending 
 of the veil in the temple, indicating the departure of the 
 divine glory, but that 'the tombs were opened, and many 
 bodies of the saints which had fallen asleep were 
 raised, and coming forth out of the tombs after his res- 
 urrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared 
 unto many.' It is a weak exegesis that interprets their 
 resurrection as merely spectral, or as only temporary 
 and transient, even though it were for the purpose of 
 witnessing to the divinity of our Lord. The natural 
 meaning is that they arose as a part of the victory of 
 Christ, and were ready to enter with him into the rest 
 that remaineth for the people of God. These passages 
 all seem to point to a progressive resurrection that is 
 to be accomplished in successive stages, and they cannot 
 well be otherwise interpreted except by indirection. 
 It is true that the subject is only incidentally touched 
 upon in the New Testament, yet it seems to be here 
 clearly implied that precedence in resurrection is divinely 
 accorded to those who are prepared for it, as a part 
 of the reward of righteousness, and that this belongs 
 to the divine order.^ Beyond this we cannot safely go, 
 for it is not well to be too confident in maintaining any 
 view that depends so largely upon the interpretation of 
 single passages, even though the inference, as in this 
 case, seems to be natural and conclusive. 
 
 7 The Last Judgment Ch. 20:11— 15 
 
 The final divine inquiry into the sum and fruit- 
 age of each and every life, which is retributive in its 
 
 ^'No part of the doctrine of the New Testament has been so inadequately 
 developed by the church as that pertaining to Eschatology.' A. A. Hodge in un- 
 published Classroom Lectures. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 225 
 
 purpose, is entered into at the end of the world when 
 all the dead, small and great, stand before God to be 
 judged, after the resurrection is complete.^ The great 
 judgment throne in the vision is white, the symbol of 
 purity, and he that sat upon it is not named, but through- 
 out the book the judge is the Father as distinguished 
 from the Son. The two principles of the judg-ment given 
 in this graphic account, which is a reflection of the Vi- 
 sion of Judgment in the prophecy of Daniel (Dan. 7 
 and 12), are first 'according to their works' which are 
 written in the books of record that are now open; and 
 second according to the divine purpose which is 'writ- 
 ten in the book of life'. The 'book of life' was originally 
 the name used for the roll of Jewish citizens kept 
 from at least the ninth centurv before Christ (cf. Ezr. 
 2:62; Neh. 7:5, 64; and 12:22, 23) from which the names 
 of the dead were erased, that is now applied to the 
 Lamb's book of life (ch. 21:27), the roll of living citi- 
 zens of the New Jerusalem.^ Those not found in the 
 book of life are cast into the lake of fire together with 
 death and Hades, both of which are now merged into 
 this final and fitting retribution for sin, i. e. physical 
 death as experienced by men in this world, and Hades the 
 abode of the dead during the intermediate state, are 
 both abolished as temporary conditions in preparation 
 for the new heaven and the new earth of the righteous, 
 and are succeeded by the lake of fire for the sinful. 
 This is the last event of time, the issue of the earthly 
 life, the End^ foretold by prophecy, the crisis that marks 
 the transition to eternity, the closing scene in the great 
 drama of human history. The view now passes at once 
 from this scene of terror and judgment to the sublime 
 vision of joy and triumph in the far and fadeless glory 
 beyond. 
 
 I'There is a stern simplicity about the whole description, and just enough 
 pictorial detail is given to make the passage morally suggestive.' Moffatt, Eaep. 
 Ur. Test., Rev., p. 477. For Apocalvptic conceptions of the judgment, see Bk 
 nf Enoch, .51.1f. ; 91.15f. ; II Esdr. 7.32f. ;and Test, of XII Patriarchs, Judah 25 , 
 Benjamin 10. 
 
 ^See DUsterdieck, Meyer's Com. on Rev., p. 165 ; also Scott, New Cent. Bii., 
 Rev., p. 151, who says, 'This idea of a book kept in heaven plays a great part 
 in Jewish Apocalyptic literature, in which it is developed to include the deeds as 
 well as the names of God's people in the heavenly record.' The passage before 
 us, however, evidently keeps the two separate, for the book of life is distinguished 
 from the books of record, and is mentioned seven times in the Revelation, in- 
 dicating that it held an important place in the Apocalyptist's thought. 
 
 *The time of the End is God's secret, but the fact of the End is clearly 
 revealed as the point toward which all history tends. 
 
226 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 VII The Vision of the New Jerusalem (A Vision of 
 Triumph) Ch. 21:1—22:5 
 
 The vision of the New Jernsalem is a crowning pic- 
 ture of redemption consummated, a vision of triumph 
 and peace after the conflict is over and the victory won, 
 portraying the eternal bliss of the redeemed in the im- 
 mediate presence of God, whose glory is realized in the 
 intimate fellowship and ultimate well-being of his 
 creatures that have been finally recovered from sin and 
 fully confirmed in righteousness. In this closing vision of 
 the Revelation we reach the goal of Christian hope in 
 the future life with God. Some future-historical in- 
 terpreters have, however, regarded this section as de- 
 scribing the millennial glory upon earth, precediug the 
 final consummation of all things; but the view is in- 
 volved in so many difficulties that relatively few have 
 accepted it. On the contrary the Christian mind of all 
 ages has instinctively found in the vision a perspec- 
 tive view of the heavenly glory, an opinion that it may 
 be confidently said is not a mistaken one.^ The New Jeru- 
 salem presents the resultant condition of victory fol- 
 lowing the long struggle against sin, ' the world to come ' 
 already ushered in, which lies beyond the millennium 
 and the resurrection. At this point it may be well to 
 call attention to the fact that the millennium in He- 
 brew thought is the culmination of 'the age to come', 
 i. e. the age which is the triumphing period of the Mes- 
 siah upon earth; whereas the New Jerusalem is the 
 realization of 'the ivorld to come', i. e. of the world 
 that is future and eternal. These ideas were quite 
 distinct in Jewish thought, and they ought also to be 
 distinct with us. The wonderful account of the new 
 heaven and the new earth speaks of other conditions 
 than those of the present time ; and the view of the glori- 
 ous city in this closing vision (ch. 21:2 — 22:5) is aptly 
 divisible into eight parts, the symbol of culmination, or 
 of a new life or period begun, the division indicated in 
 the comments that follow. 
 
 1 The New Heaven and the New Earth Ch. 21 :1 
 
 In this verse we are presented with a view of the 
 
 ^Alford places ch. 21.1-22.5 subsequent to the millennium and the final 
 judgment, Or. Test., vol. iv, p. 736 ; and Faussett, who also holds the premil- 
 lennial view, aptly says, 'Now is the church ; in the millennium will be the 
 kingdom ; and after that the new world wherein God shall be all in all'. J. F. 
 & P.. Com. on Rev., p. 640. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 227 
 
 PxGW creation which environs the New Jerusalem, the sign 
 of the changed and exalted conditions of future existence 
 which await those that are Christ's, the creation redeemed 
 as well as the creature, 'for the first heaven and the first 
 earth are passed away', and all things have become 
 new.^ This idea, which coincides with that of Paul in 
 the Epistle to the Romans (ch. 8:19-23), is not, however, 
 further developed, but the view turns at once to the 
 heavenly city, for the vision has its proper center in 
 the city, and is designed to present a view of redeemed 
 humanity in the presence of God to which that of the re- 
 deemed creation is merely incidental. 
 
 2 The Holy City Ch. 21:2— 22:5 
 
 Heaven, its joys and its inhabitants, is described 
 under the type of a city, the New Jerusalem, the coun- 
 terpart of the Old whose warfare has been accom- 
 plished, a civic and social dwelling-place that is new, 
 holy, and glorious, an ideally perfect city in the midst 
 of an ideally perfect world ;^ the symbol of the glori- 
 ous conditions of the redeemed and purified church in 
 the midst of the new life of eternity, and the antithesis 
 of Babylon, the type of the old sinful and polluted 
 world. The description is full of echoes from the Isaian 
 rhapsody of Zion Redeemed (Isa. 54, 60, and 65), 
 and Ezekiel's vision of Jerusalem Restored (Ezek. 40 
 and 48).=^ 
 
 (1) The Tabernacle of God with Men Ch. 21:3—4 
 
 The city in its entirety becomes the antitype of the 
 tabernacle of Israel, especially of the inner sanctuary 
 or holy of holies, where God forever dwells with men, 
 and they shall be his peoples,^ and sorrow, pain, and death 
 shall be no more, for the former things are passed away. 
 
 I'The biblical doctrine of salvation reaches its climax in the conception of 
 the redemption of the universe.' Brown, art. 'Salvation,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 'The fact that the heavens and the earth here spoken of are new, does not imply 
 that they are now first brought into being. They may be the old heavens and 
 the old earth ; but they have a new aspect and a new character adapted to a 
 new end.' Milligan, Expos. Bih., Rev., p. 362 ; also Internat. Com., Rev., p. 151. 
 
 2'The description of the heavenly city is probably the most magnificent 
 passage in all Apocalyptic literature. .. .It is an ideal pictorially described, a 
 symbolic picture of the better day seen in prophetic vision, and cherished with 
 persistent hope and trust.' Stevens, Neiv Test. Theol.. p. 562. 'The Revelator 
 used a redeemed city to symbolize heaven — the Kingdom fully come.' Strong , 
 Challenge of the City, p. 199. That heaven as an actual city is, of course, only 
 a dream of the baldest realism. 
 
 ^Moulton, Mod. Read. Bib., Rev., p. 215. 
 
 ^'The plural 'peoples' seems to point to the catholic nature of the New 
 Jerusalem, which embraces many nations (cf. v. 24).' Plummer, Pulp. Com 
 Rev., p. 510. 
 
228 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 This is authoritatively declared by a voice out of the 
 throne, a divine message, possibly given by one of the 
 Angels of the Presence, as a comforting and assuring 
 promise of the divine nearness and guardianship in 
 the future life of God's people. 
 
 (2) The Bride, the Lamb's Wife Ch. 21 :2, 9-10 
 
 The city, the dwelling-place of the redeemed, and the 
 symbol of the new conditions of the glorified church in 
 the midst of eternity, becomes now by metonymy the 
 symbol of the redeemed church herself, the Bride of 
 Christ, the inhabitants being thought of to the exclusion of 
 all else. The great city, the holy Jerusalem, is seen com- 
 ing down out of heaven from God,^ as a bride adorned 
 for her husband on her marriage day, — a figure of the 
 intimate and tender relation of Christ with his people 
 in the final state of the blessed. The city in these verses 
 (9-10) is manifestly the symbol of the church that dwells 
 within it; but the view that makes the New Jerusalem 
 the symbol solely of the redeemed church, not only here 
 but throughout the entire passage,- fails to realize the 
 flexibility of prophetic usage. The idea of place and 
 local surroundings in the general description of the city 
 undoubtedly stands first in the Apocalyptist's thought, 
 and would seldom be questioned by the ordinary reader, 
 though it includes also the inhabitants as well, and 
 may be used for the inhabitants alone, as is done in 
 this part of the passage, without invalidating the gen- 
 eral meaning. In the ninth verse, with the announcement 
 of the angel, 'Come hither, I will show thee the bride, 
 the wife of the Lamb', the account in verse second is 
 resumed, and is wrought out in detail. One of the vial- 
 angels carries John away in the Spirit into a mountain 
 great and high that he may see the vision more fully, 
 an indication of its importance. 
 
 (3) The City of New Things Ch. 21 :5— 8 
 
 All things are declared new and changed, and to 
 be the inheritance of those that shall overcome,^ to whom 
 
 >Tho idea of a New Jerusalem coming down from heaven is a familiar one 
 In Jewish Apocalypses. Cf. Bk of Enoch, 90.28, and 29, note by Charles ; also 
 // Esdr. 7. 26 ; and Apoc. of Bar. 32. 2. 
 
 =As Milligan, Expos. Bib., Rev., p. 368 ; Scott, however, says, 'Though de- 
 scribed as a city, it is really the figure of a people, and the 'condition localized' 
 in which they dwell.' New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 287. 
 
 ^He that overcometh shall inherit these thinc/s (v. 6), i. e. tlio promises 
 just enumerated. These words show the reason for the words of ver. 6 ; and 
 may be called the text on which the Apocalypse is based ; for though the words 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 229 
 
 also the fulness of divine sonship is awarded; but the 
 craven and unbelieving, the sinful and impure, shall be 
 cast into the lake of fire which is the second death. 
 These words of authority, promise, and threatening, are 
 spoken by him who sitteth on the throne, the Alpha and 
 the Omega, the Beginning and the End, who now himself, 
 when all is fulfilled, speaks openly instead of through 
 those mysterious voices that have hitherto issued from out 
 the throne and temple, another token of the nearer com- 
 munion of the saints with God in the new heaven and 
 the new earth.^ And John is again commanded to write, 
 for the words spoken are 'faithful and true', and 'they 
 are come to pass', i. e. all God's promises and threaten- 
 ings have been fulfilled, even the things of the new cre- 
 ation have already come into being, and the myster}^ 
 of God is ended, according to the prediction of the angel 
 with the book (ch. 10:7), i. e. the mystery of the divine 
 purpose in the great work of creation and redemption 
 has now been fully made known. 
 
 (4) The City of Glory^ Ch. 21 :11— 21 
 
 'Having the glory of God', i. e. the glory of his abid- 
 ing presence, which is reflected in the glory of gate and 
 wall and street, yet the city is described for our better 
 understanding in . terms of the earthly creation. Its 
 light is like unto a stone most precious, and the materi- 
 als of its structure are most costly; the building of the 
 wall is of jasper, the city and the street of pure gold, 
 and the foundations of the wall adorned with all man- 
 ner of precious stones,^ while the several gates are each 
 of a single pearl, — the mingled symbols of brilliancy, 
 glory, costliness, and beauty. The city lies foursquare, 
 a perfect fi,g*ure, the distinctive number of the earthly 
 creation still, though new, with twelve foundations, 
 gates, and angels, the church number, reflecting the num- 
 ber of the tribes of Israel and of the apostles of the 
 
 themselves do not often recur, yet the spirit of them Is constantly appearing.' 
 Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 511. 
 
 "See Reynolds, art. 'John the Apost.,' Hastings' Diet, of Bib., who says, 
 'The speaker is now, probably for the first time in the book, God himself;' also 
 see Swete, Apoc. of 8t John, p. 275. 
 
 ^Verses 11-21 describe the exterior, and verses 22-27 describe the interior of 
 the city, while verse 22f. — ch. 22.5 further describe the life of the city. 
 
 ^These stones are not arranged in the same order as in the breastplate of 
 the highpriest. Instead of this St John has most ingeniously disposed them 
 according to the various shades of the same color, ... .showing a technical 
 knowledge and a minute acquaintance with the nicest shades of color of precious 
 stones only possessed by persons with a practical knowledge of their nature.' 
 King's Nat. Hist, of Prec. Stones, quoted in Bib. Com., Rev., p. 832. 
 
230 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 Lamb, and with walls one hundred and forty-four cubits 
 high, the square of the church number, and twelve thou- 
 sand furlongs in length on each of the four sides, ^ the 
 church number multiplied by a thousand, and the num- 
 ber of the sealed in each tribe (ch. 7 :5f.), — pertinent sym- 
 bols, all of these, of the perfect home of the redeemed, 
 as well as of the symmetry of the perfect church. The 
 city is further described as a perfect cube like the holy 
 of holies in the sanctuary, the length and breadth and 
 the height of it being equal (v. 16) which perhaps means 
 that in the height is included the eminence on which it 
 stands, though others think that there is an intentional 
 absence of all verisimilitude.^ The symbolical meaning 
 of the cubical dimensions is evidently that of a sym- 
 metrical and ideal perfection which is proportional in 
 all its parts, and like to the holy of holies in the earthly 
 temple.^ The circuit of the walls is forty-eight thou- 
 sand stadia, i. e. four times twelve thousand furlongs or 
 stadia, and seems to be a designed reference to the city of 
 Babylon, the greatest city of the ancient world, the cir- 
 cuit of wdiich was four hundred and eighty stadia, i. e. 
 four times one hundred and twenty furlongs or stadia, 
 while that of the New Jerusalem is greater a hundred- 
 fold, which is evidently the language of symbolism.^ 
 The city which is first seen from afar, coming down 
 out of heaven (v. 11-14), is afterward measured, and 
 its glories pointed out by the angel (see the divisions 
 indicated by paragraphs in the text of the Revelation 
 given in the first part of the volume). 
 
 (5) The City of Many Nations Ch. 21:24, and 26 
 
 The nations walk amidst the light thereof, and the 
 kings of the earth bring their glory into it, a description 
 which seems to reflect the thought of a new earth that 
 will be peopled as well as the holy city, as implied in 
 the first verse of the chapter, and perhaps designed to 
 show the cosmopolitan character of the New Jerusalem. 
 
 i'12,000 furlongs or stadia amounting to 1378 English miles'. Dean, Book of 
 Rev., p. 185. 
 
 =For the first view see Alford, Or. Test., vol. iv, p. 741, for the second 
 View Mllligan, Internat. Com., Rev., p. 154. 
 
 ''A cube was symbolical of perfection to a Jew as a circle is to ourselves.' 
 Moffatt, Expos. Gr. Test., Rev., p. 483. 
 
 ^See Smith's Diet, of Bib., art. 'Babylon' ; and Swete, Apoc. of St John, p. 
 285. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 231 
 
 (6) The City of Exclusions Ch. 21. 1, 4, 22, 23, 25, 27 ; 
 
 and 22:3, 5 
 
 The city has no more sea, i. e. the old, earthly, tur- 
 bulent sea of conflict and unrest (v, 1) ; no more death, 
 neither mourning, crying, nor pain any more (v. 4) ; no 
 separate temple or inner sanctuary of partial access to 
 God, for the city is all temple, and God forever dwells 
 among his people (v. 22) ; no sun, nor moon, nor night, 
 for the Lamb is the light thereof, his spiritual light 
 superseding the physical (v. 23, 25, and ch. 22:5); no 
 shut gates of defence or hindrance, for there is no longer 
 either night or enemy abroad (v. 25) ; and no more 
 curse, nor any unholy to renew the conflict, nor anything 
 unclean or that maketh an abomination and a lie, for 
 Christ is throned as victor (v. 27, and ch. 22:3). In this 
 final view of heaven not only has the temple disap- 
 peared, but also the elders, and the four living creatures, 
 and all that accessory symbolism of the earlier visions 
 which was appropriate to the church-historic period. 
 These are no longer needed, for the conditions which 
 they served to symbolize have passed away. Even the 
 angels are no longer seen within, for this is a vision of 
 redeemed men who look upon the face of their Re- 
 deemer. 
 
 (7) The City of Life Ch. 22:1—2 
 
 As the antidote of death the eternal city is seen to 
 possess a 'river of water of life' that flows out from tlie 
 throne of God and of the Lamb in the midst of the street 
 thereof, the source of enduring life to all the holy (Ps. 
 46:4-5). The city is, also, seen to have the 'tree of 
 lifeV the seal of God's first covenant in Eden (Gen. 2:9; 
 3:22), bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit 
 every month, and with leaves for the healing of the 
 nations, which has at last wrought its beneficent results 
 and forever removed the curse. The word tree is in the 
 singular, but the context shows that it is to be under- 
 stood generically, i. e. a tree of life which is found on 
 this side of the river and on that, or trees of life grow- 
 ing by the river-side.^ We notice, also, that the river, 
 
 ^'Life in each case is (or/, tlie vital principle which man shares with God, 
 not Bloc, the life which he shares with his fellowmen.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., 
 Rev., p. 52. 
 
 2'In the old Paradise there was but one such tree, in the new one there are 
 many.' New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 297. For a similar idea, not of twelve crops 
 of fruit but of twelve trees with divers fruits for Israel, see // Esdr. 2.18. 
 
232 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 which in the earthly Paradise was parted and became 
 four heads when traced to its source, is now replaced by 
 a single river of water of life in the heavenly; and the 
 Scripture story of man, viewed from its beginning to its 
 close, is seen to finally lead up from the lost Paradise of 
 creation to the Paradise regained by redemption. And 
 in that city forever dwell only those 'that are written 
 in the Lamb's book of life'. 
 
 (8) The City of God Ch. 22:3—5 
 
 The crowning glory of the holy city is the abiding 
 presence of Jehovah, for the throne of God and of the 
 Lamb shall be therein, and the redeemed shall see his 
 face^ in the beatific vision, and his name shall be upon 
 their foreheads, and they shall reign for ever and ever. 
 Then and there man redeemed, who has so long been 
 separated from the face of God by the ruinous results 
 of sin, shall be at last restored to the fulness of the 
 divine presence to abide throughout eternity.^ Whether, 
 indeed, God in his essential being can ever be directly 
 apprehended by the finite spirit, is a question that with 
 our present light we cannot definitely determine. It 
 may well be in eternity as in time, there as well as here, 
 that for us to see the Son is to see the Father, and that 
 the beatific vision for which men have so often longed 
 and hoped and prayed in the past, is to be realized in a 
 way quite different from the common thought, by the 
 blessed vision of the glorified and exalted Christ in the 
 fadeless life of the perfected kingdom of God in heaven. 
 The name which shall be upon the foreheads of the re- 
 deemed is evidently the 'new name' of chapter three 
 (v. 12) which sums up in itself all the fulness of the 
 future revelation of God to the glorified, the tran- 
 scendental and ineffable name to men upon earth 'which 
 no one knoweth but he that receiveth it', i. e. in the fu- 
 ture life of the heavenly kingdom. 
 
 It is surely worthy of our attention here to note in 
 closing, how all God's revelations of himself have not 
 only tended to grow in intensity and clearness, but also 
 to center in the name by which he is made known. Be- 
 ginning with the announcement of his sacred name 
 
 ^'Bv oriential usage, no condemned or criminal person was allowed to look 
 on the liing's face' (Esth. 7.8). Moffatt, Exp. Or. Test., Rev., p. 488. 
 
 2'Tlie wiiole meaning and value of the New Jerusalem lies in the presence 
 of God with men which it guarantees.' Moffatt, Exp. Or. Test., Rev., p. 480. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 233 
 
 Jehovah, as distinct from his former name Elohim, in 
 connection with the great events of Israel's redemptive 
 history, there is a manifest movement in the historical 
 self-revelation of God to men that is marked by pro- 
 gressive steps which lead on through all the promise 
 and mystery of the incarnate Christ to this final revela- 
 tion of himself, lying beyond history, that shall be made 
 to the redeemed mider the 'new name' when redemption 
 is complete. He who was first promised to men, to be 
 born 'of the seed of the woman', and 'of the seed of 
 Abraham', and was afterward more clearly revealed to 
 Israel as 'the son of David', 'the servant of Jehovah', 
 'Immanuel', 'the Son of Man', and 'the Messiah', and 
 who was made known to men in his incarnation as 
 'Jesus', 'the Christ', and 'our Lord', was finally recog- 
 nized by the church under his full redemptive title as 
 'the Lord Jesus Christ', by which name he shall be 
 know^n throughout all the centuries to the end of time. 
 But the vision of the city of God reaches far beyond 
 this, and tells of his name to be then written upon the 
 foreheads of the redeemed, manifestly his 'own new 
 name' (ch. 3:12) that is to be revealed to the glorified 
 when redemption is complete, which stands for the full, 
 final, and complete revelation of God in Christ in the 
 new relations of the great future life in heaven. 
 
 Thus, with the redeemed enthroned in power, and 
 dwelling in the unveiled presence of God revealed, there 
 is completely fulfilled the ultimate divine purpose of 
 man's creation and redemption. This, in John's view, 
 is the consummation of all things, that 
 
 'One far-off divine event. 
 
 To w^hich the whole creation moves.' 
 
 The transition to the closing part of the book is now 
 made, but it is not very definitely marked, and in the 
 division into chapters it was overlooked entirely, for the 
 twenty-second chapter should begin at this point. Some 
 would make the break at the close of verse seven, but it 
 more properly belongs at the close of verse five, where 
 the description of the New Jerusalem ends. 
 
 Ill The Epilogue Ch. 22:6—21 
 
 The epilogue consists of a recapitulation of the 
 authority and contents of the book, instructions for its 
 use, and an enforcement of its lessons. It is a brief but 
 
234 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 impressive conclusion, giving the final words of the 
 angel, with the promise of Christ to the victors, and the 
 closing testimony of John. 
 
 A The Final Words of the Angel, with the Promise 
 OF Christ Ch. 22:6—16 
 
 These words should be regarded as spoken for 
 Christ, and the promise to the victors as made in his 
 name, by the angel that he sent to testify these things 
 unto John, the interpreting angel of chapter one (v. 1), 
 who now looks back over the entire revelation that has 
 been given, returning from the series of visions reveal- 
 ing the future to the standpoint of the introductory 
 vision.^ 
 
 1 The Message Reaffirmed Ch. 22:6—9 
 
 The importance of the message is recognized and 
 its trustworthiness emphasized by repeated affirmation. 
 An effort is thereby made to impress indelibly its 
 lessons upon the heart of the church. 
 
 (1) The Witness of the Angel Ch. 22 :6— 7 
 
 The sayings of the book are declared to be true and 
 faithful, and of divine authority; the speedy coming of 
 Christ is announced,^ i. e. 'quickly' in the divine view 
 which covers all eternity, but not to be understood as at 
 once or soon from the ordinary or human point of view; 
 and a blessing is pronounced upon those who keep the 
 words of the prophecy of this book in anticipation of 
 their complete fulfilment. 
 
 (2) The Witness Confirmed by John Ch. 22. 8a 
 
 To the declaration of the angel is added the direct 
 testimony of John that he saw and heard these things, a 
 parenthetical remark, strengthening the statement of 
 the angel and confirming the words of the book. 
 
 (3) Worship from John again Refused Ch. 22:8b — 9 
 
 The form and presence and message of the angel 
 overwhelm John with awe, and he tenders his worship; 
 
 ^Dusterdieck, Meyer's Com. on Rev., p. 490 ; and Plummer, Pulp. Com., 
 Rev., p. 546. 'The Revelation is begun (ch. 1.17-20) and ended (ch. 22.16) by 
 Christ himself ; but the main portion is conducted by means of his angel.' Pulp. 
 Com., Rev., p. 2. 
 
 ='In the seventh verse, with the affirmation Behold, I come quickly, the 
 narration passes into the words of Christ himself, just as in ver. 12 and ch. 
 xl. 3.' Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 546. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 235 
 
 but the angel, as before (ch. 19:10), acknowledges him- 
 self a fellow-servant with John, and bids the Apostle 
 worship God — probably a protest against angel worship 
 which may already have begun. 
 
 2 The Book Not to be Sealed Ch. 22:10— 11 
 
 The words of the prophecy are not to be sealed, i. e. 
 they are not to be kept secret, evidently not even their 
 deeper meaning, so far as it was kno\\Ti, was to be veiled 
 in secrecy, but was to be openly communicated to the 
 churches, for the time of inevitable reward is declared 
 to be at hand (v. 10-11) both for the righteous and the 
 wicked, when the present opportunity shall be ended.^ 
 The opposite direction, it will be noticed, was given con- 
 cerning the Book if Daniel (ch. 12:4, 9), which was 
 commanded to be 'shut up and sealed till the time of 
 the end', because as had been previously explained, 'it 
 belongeth to many days to come' (Dan. 8:26). But this 
 book is to be given at once to men, an evident indication 
 that its contents were not regarded as secret or veiled, 
 but were intended to be read and understood by all. 
 
 3 The Promise of Christ to the Victors Ch. 22:12— 16 
 
 'Behold, I come quickly ;2 and my reward is with 
 me,' is the gracious promise of recompense to be given 
 to the faithful, for he will 'render to each man accord- 
 ing as his work is' — a fundamental principle of the 
 final judgment that is everywhere emphasized through- 
 out the book. 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First 
 and the Last, the Beginning and the End', is a recapitu- 
 lation of these three comprehensive titles descriptive of 
 Christ which have hitherto been used separately^ (chs. 
 1:8, 17; 2:8; 21:6), but are now massed together in im- 
 pressive solemnity. It is the equivalent of saying, 'I 
 am the Source, and through me will be the Consumma- 
 tion, of all that which is and was and shall be the ages 
 through' — an affirmation of absolute supremacy in the 
 universe.^ The declaration of the next verse (v. 14), 
 
 I'The present era, which is 'a day of salvation', is so nearly at an end that 
 there is hardly room for change. .. .The principle which underlies the whole 
 verse (v. 11) applies only to the moment before the Judgment breaks, the 
 point when the Bridegroom comes and the door is shut, when choice is sealed 
 and opportunity ends,' Scott, New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 300f. 
 
 2'All history from the redemptive point of view is summed up in the three 
 sentences. He is coming, He has come, He will come again.' Ottley, art. 'Incar- 
 nation.' Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
 3'When Christ claims this title for himself, it is plainly announced that the 
 revelation of God in Christ, in what he was and what he did, is the key to the 
 
236 STUDIES m the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 'Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may 
 have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter 
 in by the gates into the city', is the seventh and last of 
 the wonderful Benedictions of the book (see App'x C). 
 In contrast with these that are blessed, are all the 
 wicked of every class who are left without, including 
 'every one that loveth and maketh a lie'. He who sent 
 his angel to testify to these things is Jesus (v. 16), once 
 born of the family of David, the bright and morning 
 star, the glorious harbinger of the day of redemption.^ 
 The words are in the form of direct address, and are un- 
 doubtedly from Christ himself, though as there is no 
 apparent indication of a change of speaker from verse 
 six, where the voice is clearly that of the angel, we may 
 regard them either as given by the angel who repeats 
 what Christ has said, or as personally spoken by Christ 
 himself.^ It is well for us at this point to remember the 
 interesting fact, generally known by students of the 
 Greek Testament, that in verse sixteen, 'at the word 
 'David', the manuscript 1, from which Erasmus com- 
 piled the Textus Receptus, ends. In order to supply the 
 remainder, which is deficient, Erasmus retranslated the 
 Vulgate Version into Greek. The Greek, therefore, of 
 the Textus Receptus from this point onwards is the 
 Greek of Erasmus',^ and hence lacks the authority of 
 the original text. 
 
 B The Closing Testimony or John Ch. 22 :17 — 20 
 
 These verses contain the final witness, warning, and 
 exhortation of the Apostle, which is given to the 
 churches before the book is closed, concerning all the 
 things which are written therein. 
 
 issues of human life. Christianity is final.' Ross art. 'First and Last.' Hastings' 
 Diet, of Vhr. and Oosp. 'The first title is symbolical ; the second is borrowed 
 from the Old Testament ; the third is philosophical. The sense is, •! am He 
 from whom all Being has proceeded, and to whom it will return ; — the primal 
 Cause and final Aim of all history ; — Who have created the world, and Who will 
 perfect it.' Lee, Bib. Com. Rev., p. 840. Also of. the view of Bacon, art. 'Alpha 
 and Omega,' Hastings' Diet, of Chr. and Oosp. 
 
 I'The Apocalypse thus closes, as it began (ch. 1.5-6), with a note of ringing 
 emphasis upon the eternal significance of Christ in the divine plan and purpose.' 
 Moffatt. Exp. Or. Test., Rev., p. 491. 
 
 =Alford says, 'The speech passes into the words of Christ reported by the 
 angel.' {Or. Test., vol. iv, p. 746). Scott however, may be right in his comment 
 on verse sixteen (New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 302). when he says, 'The figure which 
 has been behind the angel from the beginning of the visions (ch. 1.13-17) ... 
 now steps forth, as it were, to authenticate the angel's testimony.' Swete says, 
 'Now at length Christ speaks in his human personal name' (Apoc. of 8t John, 
 p. 305) . Plummer's comment is made with apparent reserve, 'The words are 
 spoken as by Christ himself (Pulp.' Com., Rev., p. 547), though elsewhere he says 
 more definitely. The Revelation is begun and ended by Christ himself (Pulp. 
 Com., Rev., p. 2). 
 
 'Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 547. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 237 
 
 1 A Last Universal Invitation of Grace Ch. 22 :17 
 
 'Come!' 'Come!' 'Come!' A thrice repeated call 
 to all men to come to Christ for the free gift of life 
 eternal, is fervently uttered before the book is closed 
 forever. The beloved disciple with ardent zeal sends 
 out this final call to the unsaved, and thus the message 
 of judgment throughout the book reaches a fitting close 
 in a full, free, and urgent invitation to all men of every 
 class to accept the offer of salvation. This certainly 
 appears to be the natural meaning of the passage, as is 
 made clear by the appeal in the latter part of the verse, 
 which would otherwise lack coherence, viz. 'And he 
 that is athirst let him come: he that will, let him take 
 of the water of life freely.' The verse is, however, re- 
 garded by many as belonging to the words of Christ 
 just preceding (v. 12-16), though it is more likely, but 
 we cannot say certainly, spoken by John. Either con- 
 nection is possible, and does not materially affect the 
 sense. Another, perhaps the more common though less 
 likely interpretation, makes the word 'Come', repeated 
 in the first half of the verse, a call to Christ to come 
 again, referring to his promise in the twelfth verse ; and 
 regards the passage either as the words of Christ affirm- 
 ing the witness of the Spirit and the Bride who entreat 
 him to come, or as an answering cry from John on be- 
 half of the church.^ 
 
 2 A Last Impressive Warning of Exhortation 
 
 Ch. 22:18—19 
 
 'If any man shall add unto these things, God shall 
 add unto him the plagues which are written in this book : 
 and if any man shall take away .... God shall take away 
 his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city.' 
 These are the authoritative words of a messenger con- 
 scious of divine authority, and are intended to preserve 
 the integrity of his message.^ They are similar in form 
 to the warning given in Deuteronomy (Deut. 4:2; 
 
 ^Plummer says, 'These words are best understood as uttered hy the writer.' 
 Pulp. Com.. Rev., p. 547 ; in Swete's opinion 'It is the answer of the church to 
 the voice of John in verse twelve.' Apoc. of 8t John.p. 306 ; Milligan suggests that 
 the first clause is the answer of the church moved by the Spirit, the second 
 is the words of John, and the latter half is Christ himself speaking — 'an inter- 
 change of thought and feeling between Jesus and his church' Internat. Com., 
 Rev., pp. 160-161. There is, however, nothing in the context that implies a 
 change of speaker. 
 
 -'This is the fulfilment of the duty laid upon St. John in ch. 1.1, not an 
 announcement of our Lord himself, Plummer, Pulp. Com., Rev., p. 548. Swete, 
 however, regards these as the words of Jesus himself, Apoc. of 8t John, p. 307. 
 
238 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 12:32), guarding against the deliberate falsification, or 
 misinterpretation, of a divine message. 
 
 3 A Last Assuring Promise of Hope Ch. 22 :20a 
 
 'Yea: I come quickly' is the final and repeated as- 
 surance of Christ to the church of his personal coming. 
 The promise of the Lord Jesus that he will come again 
 quickly, which was introduced almost at the beginning 
 of the book, and which recurs at intervals throughout, 
 is thus solemnly emphasized and repeated once more at 
 the close, a clear indication of the place which it oc- 
 cupied in the mind of the Apostle. As before it is not 
 'quickly' in the earthly sense, else Christ would have 
 come long since, but from the divine point of view, for 
 God's plan is never slow in its accomplishment.^ 
 
 4 A last Ecstatic Prayer of Yearning Ch. 22 :20b 
 
 'Amen: come. Lord Jesus', is the Apostle's closing 
 rejoinder of rapturous faith and hope. 'In this final 
 assurance of the Lord, ' I come quickly', the Book of 
 Revelation finds its keynote again, and so sinks to rest 
 with the acquiescent [and triumphant] reply of faith, 
 'Amen: come. Lord Jesus. '^ 
 
 C The Author's Benediction Ch. 22:21 
 
 The apostolic blessing of the human author of the 
 Apocalypse is added as a final word to the message of 
 the book, invoking the grace or favor of the Lord Jesus, 
 the divine Saviour, upon all the saints, the usual closing 
 words of the New Testament Epistles. The benedic- 
 tion, though unusual in apocalypses, is here no doubt 
 added because the book was intended to be read in the 
 churches. And thus in words familiar to every believer 
 is brought to a close the great Apocalyptic writing of 
 the Christian church, the last message of the glorified 
 Christ to his faithful disciples upon earth, a deep and 
 soul-inspiring view of the past, the present, and the fu- 
 ture, beheld in the light of Apocalyptic vision. Moved 
 by its manifold lessons of faith and hope, we surely can- 
 not but join with fervent accord and repetition in its 
 last word of appeal and blessing, 
 
 AMEN AND AMEN. 
 
 "'It becomes a serious evil when ttie magnificent confidence and certainty of 
 St Jotin as to tlie speedy accomplisliment of all these things is distorted into a 
 declaration of the immediate coming of the Lord and the end of the world. 
 Time was not an element in his anticipation. He was gazing upon the eternal, 
 in which time has no existence.' Ramsay, Letters to Seven Ch's, p. 113. 
 
 ^New Cent. Bib., Rev., p. 304. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
240 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 Appendix A 
 
 SOME FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTIONS OF THE 
 
 APOCALYPSE 
 
 (The Conditions of the Present Age) 
 
 I A Duality of Fokces in the Moral World 
 
 The Good vs The Evil; 
 
 or 
 The Kingdom of God . . vs. . . The Counter-King- 
 dom of Satan. 
 
 II A Triple Antagonism of Moral Life 
 
 1 Between God ~j<c:- a z ==-^ vSatan; 
 
 2 Between Good Angels ^=-----$rs.r^^--~-~^^ Evil Angels; 
 
 3 Between The Saints -» ='r: r I '_ _ d _V_~ -1~>^ The Men of the Earth . 
 
 Ill A Trinal Antithesis of Moral Character 
 
 1 Of the Lamb and the Dragon, i. e. of Christ and 
 
 Satan, or in the Greek Aqviov and bpaxodv. 
 The same antithesis is implied between the 
 Lamb and the two Beasts to whom the Dragon 
 gives his power, as shown by the Greek names 
 'Aqviov and 9^tiqiov. 
 
 2 Of the Bride and the Harlot, i. e. of the True 
 
 Church and the Faithless World, or in the 
 
 Greek NviAqpr] and IIoqvti. 
 
 A like antithesis also exists between the 
 
 Woman (cf. ch. 12) and the Harlot, Fuvf) and 
 
 Hoovr). 
 
 3 Of Jerusalem and Babylon, i. e. of the Holy City 
 
 and the Unholy or the Great City, 'leQOVoaXfifx 
 and Ba6x)Ao)v. 
 
 The full antithesis is found in the final contrast 
 between the New Jerusalem and the Old Baby- 
 lon, the City of God and the City of Sin, or the 
 Redeemed Church and the Godless World. 
 
 IV A Threefold Theocratic Method in Man's Re- 
 demptive History 
 
 1 By Moral Conflict — the Evil against the Good; 
 
 2 Through Divine Preservation — God Caring for 
 
 his Own ; 
 
 3 Unto Christian Triumph — the Victory of the Re- 
 
 deemed. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 241 
 
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242 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 Appendix B 
 
 CURRENT QUESTIONS OF DIVIDED OPINION 
 
 I The Four Schools of Interpretation 
 
 1 The Preterist, or Contemporaneous-Historical 
 
 School ; 
 
 2 The Progressivist, or Continuous-Historical 
 
 School ; 
 
 3 The Futurist, or Future-Historical School; 
 
 4 The Symbolist, or Spiritual School. 
 
 The wide diversity of prevailing opinion is 
 well indicated by the existence of four separate 
 schools of interpreters, who represent as many 
 different viewpoints that are currently attrib- 
 uted to the prophecy, and that are based upon 
 two fundamentally different methods of regard- 
 ing its purpose, viz. the Historical which special- 
 ises, and the Symbolical which idealises the mes- 
 sage of the book, conveniently referred to as the 
 Historical and Symbolical Schools. 
 
 II The Seven Shibboleths of Interpreters 
 
 1 The Personal Anti-Christ; 
 
 2 The Emperor Nero; 
 
 3 The Roman Church; 
 
 4 The Mohammedan Power; 
 
 5 The Restoration of the Jews to Palestine; 
 
 6 The Time, Purpose, and Circumstances of 
 
 Christ's Second Coming; 
 
 7 The Personal Millennial Reign of Christ on the 
 
 Earth. 
 
 These are the main subjects of disagreement 
 among interpreters, and mark the dividing lines 
 of opinion. The Historical School, in its vari- 
 ous forms, usually makes one or more of these 
 central to the thought of the book; while the 
 Symbolical School, for the most part, does not 
 regard any of them as either distinctly indicated, 
 or certainly implied. It is fortunate, however, 
 that the main teaching is not materially affected 
 by the view we may take concerning these sub- 
 jects of disagreement. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 243 
 
 Appendix C 
 
 HEPTACHORDS OF SONG AND BLESSING 
 
 I The Seven Choral Symphonies of the Revelation 
 
 1 The Creation Chorus Ch. 4:8b-ll 
 
 2 The Redemption Chorus Ch. 5 :9-14 
 
 3 The Salvation Chorus Ch. 7 :10-12 
 
 4 The Victory Chorus Ch. 11 :17-18 
 
 5 The New and Incommunicable Chorus 
 
 Ch. 14:2-3 
 
 6 The Adoration Chorus (of Moses and 
 
 the Lamb) Ch. 15 :3-4 
 
 7 The Hallelujah Chorus Ch. 19:1-7 
 
 II The Seven Benedictions of the Revelation 
 
 1 The Benediction upon the Receivers 
 
 of the Book Ch. 1 :3 
 
 2 The Benediction upon the Holy 
 
 Dead '. . . Ch. 14:13 
 
 3 The Benediction upon the Watchers 
 
 for their Lord Ch. 16 :15 
 
 4 The Benediction upon the Guests at 
 
 the Marriage Supper Ch. 19 :9 
 
 5 The Benediction upon the Sharers in 
 
 the First Resurrection Ch. 20 :6 
 
 6 The Benediction upon the Keepers 
 
 of the Prophecy Ch. 22 :7 
 
 7 The Benediction upon the Purified .... Ch. 22 :14 
 
244 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 Appendix D 
 
 THE FORMAL SERIES OF SEVENS 
 
 The Initial Series or Seven 
 (Messages of Christ to the Church Universal) 
 
 1 A Message to the Church when Declining, as in 
 
 Ephesus: — 'Remember. . . .and Repent.' 
 
 2 A Message to the Church when Suffering, as in 
 
 Smyrna: — 'Fear not. . . .Be Faithful.' 
 
 3 A Message to the Church when Impure, as in 
 
 Pergamus: — 'Repent, or I Come with the 
 Sword.' 
 
 4 A Message to the Church when Struggling, as in 
 
 Thyatira:— 'Hold Fast till I Come.' 
 
 5 A Message to the Church when Dying, as in 
 
 Sardis: — 'Stablish the Things that Remain.' 
 
 6 A Message to the Church when Steadfast, as in 
 
 Philadelphia :— ' Hold Fast .... That No One 
 Take thy Crown.' 
 
 7 A Message to the Church when Self -Deceived, as 
 
 in Laodicea: — 'Be Zealous .... and Repent.' 
 
246 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 Appendix E 
 
 THE SYMBOLISM OF NUMBERS 
 
 (A Key to Scripture Interpretation) 
 
 The value of the symbolism of numbers in the 
 general interpretation of Scripture is variously esti- 
 mated, but its importance in interpreting the Revelation is 
 almost universally conceded, for without it we cannot 
 understand aright the symbolic teaching of the book. 
 The attentive student will not fail to notice the wide use 
 of numbers throughout, and the effect of addition, sub- 
 traction, multiplication, and division, upon the symbol- 
 ism of the simpler numbers. The author believes that a 
 cautious use can often be made of numbers in the inter- 
 pretation not only of the Revelation where their use is so 
 manifest, but of many other parts of Scripture, if not 
 too much stress be laid on the symbolic meaning, for the 
 Hebrew mind delighted itself in symbols. The value of 
 this knowledge lies in the fact that an additional thought 
 may often be caught in this way that would otherwise 
 escape our attention, though it is usually subordinate 
 and does not occupy so prominent a place as in the 
 Revelation. The symbolism of the numbers used in the 
 book is concisely stated in this appendix for the conven- 
 ience of the reader. 
 
 One (a unit), the Primary Number. The symbol of 
 that which is single, alone, or representative. One 
 hour, and one day, in the Revelation stand for a relatively 
 short time, and a half -hour for a clearly limited period, 
 even though these may not be actually short from the 
 human point of view. The fractions one-half, one-third, 
 and one-fourth do not represent definite parts, but in a 
 general way portions less than the whole, that which is 
 of limited extent in relation to the whole. 
 
 Two (a pair), the Lowest Plural Number. The 
 symbol of confirmation, of added strength and surety, 
 especially the number of confirmation in witness-bear- 
 ing. The Two Witnesses in chapter eleven, and the 
 Two Beasts in chapter thirteen, it will be seen, serve to 
 strengthen each other. 
 
 Three ( a triad), the Divine Number. The symbol 
 of the Trinity; of the spiritual as contrasted with the 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 247 
 
 material; of blessing in the Old Testament. A small 
 total that is deemed sufficient; a limited plurality; 
 spiritual completeness. The smallest number with a be- 
 ginning, a middle, and an end — a fact that impressed the 
 Jewish mind. 
 
 Three and one-half (one-half of seven), a Broken 
 Number, the half of the Perfect Number. The symbol 
 of the finite or undetermined ; a broken and uncertain 
 period without a fixed limit; a shortened period of time 
 when applied to duration, and usually one of tribula- 
 tion ; a period of trial and judgment. Three and a half 
 years is the period of the church's conflict in the Revela- 
 tion, the age of the church militant, the church-eon; 
 and three and a half days is the short and indefinite 
 period of world-triumph in which the church suffers 
 oppression — the equivalent of the half-week in Daniel. 
 Three and a half years, the period of drought in 
 Elijah's time, of the little horn in Daniel, and of 
 Christ's public ministry, is introduced four times in the 
 Revelation, viz. it is the period of the Two Witnesses 
 (ch. 11:3), of the Woman in the wilderness (ch. 12:6, 
 14), of the Dragon's rage (ch. 12:14), and of the power 
 of the Beast (ch. 13:5), each of which is a time of tribu- 
 lation. 
 
 Four (the four corners or sides of a square), the 
 Earth Number. The symbol of the physical creation, 
 having relation to this present world which is usually 
 thought of as evil; also used of world-wideness, uni- 
 versality of extent, as all parts of the earth without any 
 moral significance. 
 
 Five (one-half of ten), an Incomplete Number. The 
 symbol of the indefinite, the uncertain, with the sugges- 
 tion of smallness; as a measure of time an incomplete 
 period. 
 
 Six (one less than seven; and one-half of twelve), 
 an Imperfect Number. The symbol of evil, of incom- 
 pleteness of quality, or of imperfection; Satan's num- 
 ber, the signature of non-perfection; the representative 
 of that which is earthly as opposed to that which is 
 heavenly; falling short of the fulness of seven, the per- 
 fect number, and but the half of twelve, the church num- 
 ber. 
 
248 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 Seven (the number of days in a week; also four 
 plus three), the Perfect Number. The symbol of per- 
 fection, or completeness of quality; of totality of kind, 
 fulness, or universality. A sacred number with the 
 Jews ; the number of the covenant in the Old Testament ; 
 the ethical number, for it often has a moral significance, 
 and, as will be seen, is composed of the earth number 
 (four) added to the divine number (three). The num- 
 ber seven occurs fifty-four times in the Revelation, indi- 
 cating that it occupied an important place in the mind 
 of the writer, and should receive special attention. 
 
 Eight (seven plus one), a Reinforced Number. The 
 symbol of culmination, of resurrection, or of a new life 
 or period begun. 
 
 Ten (the ten digits; the ten commandments), the 
 Complete Number. The symbol of completeness of all 
 the parts, of totality of portions, entirety, and absolute- 
 ness; a finite number as contrasted with infinity; in its 
 larger multiples implying indefiniteness and magnitude. 
 Ordinarily used of things that are earthly, though not 
 necessarily implying any moral significance. It is a 
 relevant fact, however, that nothing which is described 
 in heaven is ten in number, though its multiples are con- 
 stantly introduced. The combination of seven with ten 
 in the seven heads and ten horns of the Dragon and the 
 Beast, is unusual and has an evil significance through- 
 out, which is probably intended to indicate that that 
 which was originally designed for moral perfection 
 (seven) has been prostituted for earthly ends (ten), as 
 is signified by joining one to the other. 
 
 Twelve (the twelve sons of Jacob; four multiplied 
 by three), the National Number of Israel. The symbol 
 of the covenant nation, the church number — the number 
 of the earth (four) multiplied by the number of the di- 
 vine (three) becoming the sign of God's people divinely 
 chosen out of the earth. By some it is interpreted as 
 the number of world-witness for divine truth, as the 
 twelve tribes and the twelve apostles, putting the purpose 
 of the church first. 
 
 Twenty-four (twelve multiplied by two), the 
 National Number Doubled. The symbol in the Revelation 
 of the church of both Dispensations united, the Jewish 
 and Christian, the church of all the ages. The glorified 
 
STUDIES in me BOOK OF REVELATION. 249 
 
 church in heaven is ideally represented by the four and 
 twenty elders that are before the throne, i. e. the elders 
 represent one phase of that life. 
 
 Forty (ten multiplied by four), the Probational 
 Number. The symbol of temptation, or of the power of 
 the earthly; often connected with the divine test of 
 character, the earth number (four) multiplied by the 
 complete number (ten) signifying the complete power 
 of the earthly which is ever testing men. Also, as forty 
 years was regarded as the period of intellectual ma- 
 turity in man, it sometimes stood for a full period, a 
 complete epoch, especially a complete period of stress 
 or trial. 
 
 FoRTY-Two (twelve multiplied by three and a half; 
 or seven multiplied by six), a Broken Number. The 
 symbol of the church-historic period of trial, the world- 
 age, the duration of the rule of wickedness. Three and 
 a half years in months, — the source from which this 
 number is derived in the Revelation, — serves to indicate 
 the incomplete period of the church (twelve multiplied by 
 three and a half), and also the full or complete period of 
 evil (six multiplied by seven). 
 
 Seventy (ten multiplied by seven), the Cosmopoli- 
 tan Number. The symbol of world-wideness ; of a two- 
 fold completeness that is all embracing and comprehen- 
 sive, comprising both seven and ten; the number of the 
 nations. [The numbers forty and seventy, strange to 
 say, do not occur in the Revelation, though forty is com- 
 mon in the Old Testament, and occurs also in the New, 
 and the square of forty (1600) is found in chapter four- 
 teen (v. 20) ; seventy also had a well-knowm meaning to 
 the Hebrew mind, especially from the period of the Cap- 
 tivity which lasted seventy years, and was also the num- 
 ber of disciples sent forth by our Lord for wider ser- 
 vice during his Perean ministry. It is quite probable, 
 however, that these numbers are not used in the Revela- 
 tion, where so much stress is laid on the symbolism of 
 numbers, simply because their symbolism was not needed, 
 just as one hundred is not used except in combination 
 with other numbers]. 
 
 One Hundred (ten multiplied by ten), the Complete 
 Number Squared; ten multiplied by itself. The symbol 
 
250 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 of a multiple completeness that is usually applied to the 
 earthly. 
 
 One Hundred and Forty-four (twelve multiplied 
 by twelve), the National Number of Israel Squared. 
 The symbol of the completeness of the redeemed church 
 — the multiplying of a number by itself conveying the 
 idea of a multiple fulness or completeness; Israel, God's 
 people, made complete. 
 
 Six Hundred and Sixty-six (six hundred, plus 
 sixty, plus six), the Number of the Beast. The symbol 
 of the threefold form of the world's evil which cul- 
 minates in the Second Beast. Six, the number of im- 
 perfection (one short of th€ mystic seven), thrice re- 
 peated, six, six, six, (666), represents the combined 
 force of the Dragon, the First Beast, and the Second; 
 or, differently stated, six hundred may be taken as the 
 symbol of the Dragon, sixty as the symbol of the First 
 Beast, and six as the symbol of the second, which gives a 
 total of six hundred, and sixty, and six, representing the 
 combined power of evil incarnated in the Second Beast. 
 In this symbolism there may also be included the 
 thought of a triune power in antagonism to the divine 
 Trinity — a trinity of sin. 
 
 One Thousand (ten multiplied by ten multiplied by 
 ten), the Cube of Ten. The symbol of multi-complete- 
 ness ; a number that is great but indefinite in its symbol- 
 ism, and often used of the heavenly. The thousand 
 years of chapter twenty is a great period of time of un- 
 known length, stretching out to untold generations, the 
 millennium of the church's history, the period of the 
 church's triumph and victory. 
 
 Twelve Hundred and Sixty (forty- two multiplied 
 by thirty; or twelve multiplied by three and a half and 
 this again by thirty), the Time Number. The symbol 
 of the indefinite period of present-world duration; the 
 age of persecution. Twelve hundred and sixty days are 
 equivalent to forty-two months of thirty days each, or 
 three and a half years of three hundred and sixty days 
 each, the symbol of the incomplete period of trial during 
 which the church suffers oppression. To this may per- 
 haps be added the combination of twelve multiplied by 
 five, representing the incompleteness of the church as 
 one factor, and seven multiplied by three, representing 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 251 
 
 the completeness of the divine as the other factor, these 
 multiplied together equalling twelve hundred and sixty 
 and symbolizing God working out perfect results 
 through the incomplete period of the church. 
 
 Sixteen Hundred (forty multiplied by forty; or one 
 hundred multiplied by sixteen), the Square of Forty; or 
 the Square of Ten multiplied by the Square of Four. 
 The symbol of that which is coextensive with the created 
 world. Forty is composed of four, the earth number, 
 multiplied by ten, the number of completeness; and six- 
 teen hundred, the square of forty, is the sigTi of com- 
 pleteness so far as this world is concerned. The square 
 of four multiplied by the square of ten gives the same 
 result, and conveys the same idea of world-complete- 
 ness. 
 
 Seven Thousand (one thousand multiplied by 
 seven), the Number of Multi-Completeness, one thou- 
 sand, multiplied by seven, the Number of Fulness or 
 Perfection. The symbol of a great number that is fully 
 complete; the number of those put to death in the fall 
 of the great city (ch. 11:13). 
 
 Ten Thousand (one thousand multiplied by ten; 
 the square of one hundred), the Superlative Number. 
 The symbol of innumerability, or of an innumerable 
 multitude. This is the highest single number in the 
 system of notation used in the New Testament; ten 
 raised to the fourth power, a myriad (inuunc). 
 
 Twelve Thousand (one thousand multiplied by 
 twelve), the Number of Multi-Completeness (one thou- 
 sand) multiplied by the Number of the Tribes of Israel 
 (twelve). The symbol of the complete number saved 
 out of Israel from each tribe; or, as others interpret it, 
 the complete number saved out of all the nations, in- 
 cluded here under the twelve tribes, twelve thousand 
 from each tribe ; also the measure of one side of the wall 
 of the New Jerusalem which is multi-complete and 
 encircles the redeemed of Israel. 
 
 One Hundred and Forty-four Thousand (one 
 thousand multiplied by one hundred and forty-four; or 
 twelve thousand multiplied by twelve ; or the cube of ten 
 multiplied by the square of twelve), the Number of Re- 
 demption. The symbol of the multiple completeness of 
 the redeemed church, whether applied to the redeemed 
 
252 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 from the Old Dispensation, or by synecdoche to those 
 from all ages and nations. 
 
 Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand (ten thousand 
 multiplied by ten thousand), the Number of Multi-Com- 
 pleteness (one thousand) multiplied by the Number of 
 Completeness of Parts (ten), and this again multiplied 
 by itself; the Square of a Myriad, one hundred millions 
 in number. The symbol of an innumerable multitude 
 which is made more intense by squaring it; the multiple 
 and innumerable number of the angels in heaven. 
 
 Twice Ten Thousand Times Ten Thousand (ten 
 thousand multiplied by ten thousand, and this again 
 doubled), the Double Square of a Myriad, two hundred 
 millions in number — the largest multiple number in the 
 book of Revelation, and the largest number mentioned 
 in the Bible. The symbol of an innumerable multitude 
 made more intense by multiplication, becoming thereby 
 an innumerably innumerable multitude, and this again 
 doubled. The countless number of the vast invading 
 army of horsemen under the sixth trumpet which de- 
 stroy a third part of men from the earth; the world- 
 forces which under direction of the world-rulers of the 
 darkness work world-ruin among men — a significant 
 figure of the mighty power and destructive agency of 
 the heathen world as it appeared to John's mind in the 
 great Apocalyptic vision. 
 
254 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 Appendix G 
 
 THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE^ 
 
 The Apocalyptic Literature is a characteristic prod- 
 uct of Jewish national and religious thought. It was a 
 favorite literary method of a particular age, and was 
 born of a travail of soul which strove to find expression 
 for those new currents of thought and feeling that came 
 to the surface in later Judaism. Following the decadence 
 of prophecy it belonged to the period of Jewish oppres- 
 sion, and voiced the heart-cry of a people true to God 
 in the midst of national distress. Though anticipated in 
 fragmentary parts of earlier prophecies, as in Ezekiel 
 and Zechariah, the style of Apocalyptic first found defi- 
 nite form in the book of Daniel, which became the type 
 of all subsequent writings of this class that flourished 
 so abundantly in the two centuries preceding and the 
 century following the beginning of the Christian era. 
 Couched in language that is characteristically figurative 
 and symbolical the literary form is at once marked and 
 significant, and reached its highest development in the 
 canonical Apocalypse which has given name to the whole 
 class. The essential limitations of this class of litera- 
 ture are clearly recognizable; its ideas move within a 
 narrow range, its point of view is sombre and unequal, 
 and its center of interest is mainly eschatological. It 
 occupies a sphere peculiarly its own, a world of pious 
 and often fantastic dreams — 'for prophecy as it lost its 
 footing on the solid earth took refuge in the clouds ';2 
 it wrote the word mystery large across its page, and rev- 
 elled in the weird and shadowy; but beneath its peculiar 
 phantasy lay a profound religious motive — it sought to 
 stay the troubled souls of men in time of storm, and in its 
 deeper purpose strove to reconcile the righteousness of 
 God with the sufferings of his people. In the form of 
 strange and sometimes even grotesque symbolic visions — 
 thought couched in symbols burning and vivid, which 
 no other figure of speech could so well convey — and un- 
 der the name of some hero of the past, it sketched in 
 
 ^For a list of authorities on Apocalyptic see notp under heading of 'The 
 I'orm,' in the Introduction to this volume. At this point the author feels con- 
 strained to say that the account of Apocalyptic Literature here given reflects 
 so largely the opinions of others that it must be regarded, like much else In 
 the book, as an effort to present concisely and in his own way the best that 
 has been said upon the subject by many others who are more qualified to speak. 
 
 ^Bacon, Intr. to New Tent., p. 232. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 255 
 
 outline a history of the world, the origin of evil, the fu- 
 ture victory of righteousness, and the final consummation 
 of all things through which alone, according to the 
 Apocalyptic view, the providential rule of God could be 
 vindicated. 
 
 There still exists a not inconsiderable remnant of 
 this very interesting literature, though the greater por- 
 tion has perished in the wreckage of time. The principal 
 books still extant are the Apocaplypse of Baruch; the 
 Ethiopic and Slavonic Boohs of Enoch; the Ascension 
 of Isaiah ;the Book of Jubilees ;the Assumption of Moses ; 
 the Testaments of the XII Patriarchs; Second Esdras 
 (known also as Fourth Ezra); the Psalms of Solomon; 
 and the Sibylline Oracles. The late recovery of some of 
 these from apparent oblivion is a matter of history, and 
 their recension and translation by European and Ameri- 
 can scholars is not without interest to the general stu- 
 dent. The study of this literature as a distinct class 
 is one of the notable contributions to knowledge by the 
 modern critical school. These Jewish Apocalypses were 
 widely read in their day, and they both partook of 
 and leavened the thought of their time, for they in- 
 corporated and expressed the current mysterious hopes 
 and beliefs of the people. Their influence is distinctly 
 traceable in the diction of the New Testament, and the 
 Booh of Enoch is obviously quoted in the Epistle of 
 Jude. These works ranked very high with the primi- 
 tive Christians, and this led to their being reedited by 
 early Christian writers, and, it is generally thought, to 
 the interpolation of later ideas. There is, however, a 
 very wide variation of opinion concerning the extent 
 to which changes have been introduced, and this is one of 
 the puzzling questions that confronts the textual critic. 
 Then, also, beside these changes in the older books, a 
 new series of Christian Apocalypses sprang up, influ- 
 enced no doubt by the Apocalypse of John. A consider- 
 able number of these have survived, such as the Apoc- 
 alypse of Peter, of Paul, Thomas, Stephen, Cerinthus 
 and others, but the greater portion have been lost, and 
 those we have are decidedly inferior both in style and 
 conception to the earlier Jewish works of which they 
 are a feeble imitation. 
 
 It is difficult for us to conceive the conditions of 
 mind and thought that gave rise to such a literature. 
 
256 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 In itself it affords an interesting psychological study. 
 The Oriental is a mystic by nature, and many of his 
 ways of thinking can never be quite clear to the Western 
 mind. The Jew in times past was the great figure of 
 the Orient, as he has also been well named 'the most 
 commanding figure in history'; for whatever he may 
 now be, the Hebrew which we find in his literature 
 is enveloped in the atmosphere of the East. The He- 
 brew writers as a class are unique. Although devoid in 
 a large measure of the humanistic idea of literature 
 for its own sake, they yet subserved the truest aim in 
 that they brought to the surface and made verbal those 
 deeper tides of thought and feeling which move and 
 flow in the universal heart, those wide-spread and en- 
 during currents Avhich they instinctively felt were 
 shared by the men of their own generation. Writing only 
 for a religious purpose, and because they had a mes- 
 sage for life, the development of their thought-forms 
 was more or less incidental, and was the product alike 
 of the man, his religion, and his environment. So that 
 while we especially emphasize the national conditions 
 which contributed so largely to the birth of this liter- 
 ary form, we should not forget that behind all that 
 which was temporary and passing lay the Semitic mind 
 and the Mosaic cult. 
 
 The rise of Apocalyptic marks a transition stage in 
 the development of Hebrew thought that is of momen- 
 tous significance, for it led to clearer views of immor- 
 tality, and truer conceptions of God's relation to the 
 world of men, as well as to a distinct clarifying of the 
 Messianic hope. Its deeper roots are found in the fail- 
 ure of prophecy. No living voice was heard among the 
 people speaking for God as in former days. Prophecy 
 had grown senile and was in decay; it had become a 
 thing of the past, and in its place had followed the 
 scholastic work of the scribes, mechanically interpret- 
 ing the messages of old. But, as is pointed out by 
 Charles, 'Scribism could not satisfy the aspirations 
 of the nation: it represented an unproductive age of 
 criticism, following a productive age of prophetic gen- 
 ius.' And Apocalyptic was the spontaneous outcry of 
 a heart-hunger which refused to be fed on the barren 
 husks of labored interpretation served up by the 
 scribes. It was in the true line of succession to proph- 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 257 
 
 ecy, and though it fell far behind the prophetic mes- 
 sage both in its form and content, and was even feeble 
 in comparison, yet, as Charles has said, 'It attested be- 
 yond doubt the reappearance of spiritual genius in the 
 field of thought and action.' There is assuredly some- 
 thing that is profoundly pathetic in this deep heart- 
 cry of the Jewish people which rings mournfully out 
 of the far past; for even at this remote distance of 
 time and space we cannot read without emotion their 
 enduring record of sorrow and suffering, of longing and 
 hope, if we share at all in the wider world of religious ex- 
 perience.^ 
 
 The apocalyptists were evidently conscious that 
 they had no new message for their generation, and this 
 conviction led to certain well-defined results. First of 
 all they fell back upon the old message for most of 
 their ideas; but with singular skill they contrived to 
 present them in new form. The essential elements of 
 their thought were taken from the Old Testament proph- 
 ecies, while the material framework was drawn from 
 without. They attempted in their own way to develop 
 an esoteric meaning in the prophecies of the past, and 
 for this purpose called to their aid the bold and strik- 
 ing imagery of the Eastern mind. They laid under con- 
 tribution the luxuriant symbols of Babylon, Persia, and 
 the surrounding nations; they gathered the rarest fig- 
 ures from the accumulated stores of poetry, art, and 
 religion; and then with a fertile fancy they interwove 
 these all in the fantastic fabric of their dreams. Then, 
 again, they hid their own personality, and masked un- 
 der the name of some great religious hero of the past. 
 Enoch and Moses, Isaiah and Baruch, served as a thin 
 disguise for the real authors who remained unknown, — 
 for the Apocalyptic writings are all pseudonymous so 
 far as known, with the apparent exception of the Apoc- 
 alypse of John, and the Shepherd of Hennas, — and 
 yet we cannot say that there was any real motive of 
 deception in this, if we take into account the views of 
 authorship which then prevailed, for 'the ethical no- 
 tion of literary property is a plant of modern growth'.^ 
 
 The fashioning of Apocalyptic was influenced by 
 many different causes, but the most marked and signif- 
 
 ''It has been too readily assumed that these books are wholly without 
 •evidences of the Divine Spirit leading on to Christ.' ' Fairweather, art. 'Develop- 
 ment of Doctr. in Apoc. Period..' Hastings' Diet, of Bib., vol. 5. 
 
 =.Tiilicher, Inir. to New Test., p. 52. 
 
258 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 icant of them all is to be found in the existing national 
 conditions of the time. By the captivity in Babylon Ju- 
 dah had been brought within the sweep of the great 
 tide of history; the world became vaster; prophecy had 
 a new and broader outlook, and its thought was for- 
 ever after interpenetrated by an element of Apocalyp- 
 tic. The strange figures of Babylonian imagery were 
 absorbed by the Hebrew mind, and enshrined in their 
 subsequent literature. On the other hand the nation 
 itself was in decay; the power of the past had been 
 broken and destroyed; and 'it was terror and oppres- 
 sion', in good part at least, as Stevens has well said, 
 'that gave this new trend to their thought'. They had 
 drunk deeply of the bitter cup of national distress; the 
 encroachment of the world-empires had envenomed the 
 past, embittered the present, and overshadowed the fu- 
 ture; the glorious promises of God had thus far failed 
 of any substantial realization, and the contrast between 
 promise and fulfilment was too wide to be overlooked. 
 But the Hebrew with sublime courage did not lose faith 
 in God because of the delay. Apocalyptic voiced his 
 answer to the problems of the time, and it, like Proph- 
 ecy and the Wisdom Literature, was rooted in cer- 
 tain ethical conceptions which are fundamental to its 
 thought, such as that God is holy, that the world in 
 which we live is a moral world, and that righteousness 
 must win.^ And this gave to the apocalypsist his 
 theme: — the Fortunes of the Kingdom of Gocl, and how 
 they are to be reconciled with all that God has said; for 
 God must be vindicated, he is forever true, and his 
 word cannot fail. This thesis was maintained in two 
 ways. First, by attempting a wider view of the problem 
 of sin and righteousness. That became the ques- 
 tion no longer of a single nation, but of the whole 
 race — for under the stimulus of new and wider conditions, 
 a great enlargement of the Hebrew spirit took place. 
 There must be a providential and moral order in the uni- 
 verse which if sought out will give the true meaning of 
 history. The divine purpose must be interpreted through 
 the broader sphere of the world's life. This standpoint 
 had now become possible through the wider world-view 
 produced in later Judaism by contact and intercourse 
 with other nations. And thus Apocalyptic came to ex- 
 
 I'The fundnmcntal idea is the moral one. .. .the basis of tlie religious is 
 ethical.' Sie art. 'Escbatol.' by Davidson, Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 259 
 
 press both a deeply wrought theodicy and a Semitic 
 philosophy of history. Second, the apocalyptist com- 
 pleted his vindication of Grod by shifting the center of 
 attention from the present to the future. The more cer- 
 tain it became that no present realization of his hopes 
 was possible, the more surely he turned to a future age 
 that would abundantly recompense all the pain and disap- 
 pointment of the past. It was this that made the out- 
 look of Apocalyptic essentially eschatological. Begin- 
 ning with the history of the past veiled under the form 
 cf prophecy, the apocalyptist rushes on to predict the 
 future, for there he finds the victory. The End! The 
 End! is his cry, — the End that victory may come — for 
 God is to be vindicated only by the consummation of 
 all things, and history can only be read aright in the 
 light of its finalit}^ The answer of the End is the key 
 that Apocalyptic offers to the mystery of all that 'which 
 was and is and is to come' ; and it is this persistent effort 
 to read the mind of God concerning the future 
 that gives to Apocalyptic an element of peculiar inter- 
 est. For though it is often like the voice of 'an in- 
 fant cryin,g in the night* * * *and with no language 
 but a cry', it has yet a deep significance all its own; 
 it was a form of thought by which God led his people 
 into clearer views of truth, and to new and larger vi- 
 sion.^ Upon the other hand the shifting-point in every 
 apocalypse from history to prediction can usually be 
 made out without essential effort; for beneath the form 
 of symbols and symbolic actions can ordinarily be 
 discovered the chief actors and principal events of the 
 past and present which correspond to history; while 
 the things of the future which are predicted, reach out 
 at once to extravagant proportions. Thus each Jewish 
 apocalypse by its content and movement, serves to 
 mark out its own horizon and reveal its own environ- 
 ment. 
 
 The general prevalence of the Apocalyptic form in 
 the period in which it was used may be accounted for 
 
 ^•If wo couki fj:i-asi) the iindprlyini; faiths that havo clothed themsolves in 
 these strange forms, faith in the kingship of God, and the sure triumph of good 
 over evil, and the heavenly blessedness of those who hold to God's side amid 
 whatever shame and abuse and in the face of death ; if through the peculiar 
 imagery and obscure symbolism of the books we could feel the power of the un- 
 seen world and gain a fresh sense of its reality, then this use, call it literary, 
 or call it devotional, would be the best use to which the books could be put, and 
 even most in accordance with the highest mood and real purpose of their 
 writers." Porter, Mess, of Apoc. Writers, Pref., p. xiii. 
 
260 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 partly by its suitability to the theme which it treated, 
 and partly by the prevailing conditions of national sur- 
 veillance. Its visions and symbols and dream-move- 
 ment were peculiarly adapted to meet the conditions of 
 a writing which did not dare to make plain its bitter re- 
 proaches of the foes of Israel. Its hidden meaning, 
 also, answered well to hint darkly what lay in the fu- 
 ture ; and its fantastic imagery appealed to the imagina- 
 tion.^ The pervasive element of mystery served to in- 
 vest these writings with a subtle charm that all the in- 
 tervening lapse of centuries and even the present 
 temper of a scientific age have wholly failed to dissi- 
 pate. The effort of most modern Jewish scholars to 
 attribute the Apocalyptic Literature to Essenism cannot 
 be sustained; neither can we accept the gratuitous 
 assertion of Montefiore, that 'the Apocalyptic writings 
 lie for the most part outside the line of the purest 
 Jewish development'. Schiirer and Charles reflect the 
 opinion of the majority of Christian scholars in main- 
 taining its nearer relation to Phariseeism, though 
 admitting it to be 'a product of free religious thought 
 following older models', and showing distinctive marks 
 of Phariseeism in some of its parts and of Sadduceeism 
 in others. At the same time most authorities are will- 
 ing to grant the probability of Wellhausen 's suggestion, 
 that 'the secret literature of the Essenes was perhaps in 
 no small degree made use of in the Pseudepigrapha, and 
 has through them been indirectly handed down to us'. 
 The value of Apocalyptic is increasingly recognized 
 as a storehouse of Jewish and Jewish-Christian thought 
 in the age preceding and in the early part of the Chris- 
 tian era. It forms the necessary connecting link be- 
 tween the Old Testament and the New, and is especially 
 rich in messianic and eschatological conceptions. It is 
 the chief source of information through which we can 
 trace the changes that occurred in Jewish belief, and the 
 later development of Jewish thought, in the period im- 
 mediately preceding the time of Christ. It carries us 
 back, in effect, to the thought-world of the first century, 
 and enables us, as Schiirer aptly says, 'to reconstruct 
 the thought, the aspiration, and the hopes of pious Jews 
 
 ^'In this weird world of fantasy, peopled by a rich Oriental imagination 
 with spectral shapes and uncouth figures, where angels flit, eagles and altars 
 speak, and monsters rise from sea and land — in a world of this kind many 
 Asiatic Christians of that age evidently were at home, and there the prophet's 
 message had to find them.' Moffatt. Exp. Or. Test., Rev., Intr., p. 301. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 261 
 
 in the generation that first heard the gospel, and even 
 of the Apostles themselves; for however Christ's 
 thought transcended the thought of his time, that of the 
 Apostles did not, except so far as the Holy Spirit 
 illumined them for special ends.' And, as Charles re- 
 marks, 'If the Apocalypses were edited later they only 
 reflect more fully the thought of that age, and they ex- 
 hibit what is subsumed throughout in Christ's teach- 
 ings.' We can see in these writings not only a transi- 
 tion stage in Judaism preparatory to the gospel, but 
 how this modified Jewish thought fits in with the gospel 
 teaching. They show, for example, how the Old Testa- 
 ment idea of the future life grew in depth and compass 
 in those centuries which precede the Christian era; and 
 how this advance was retained and enlarged, modified 
 and exalted, by Christ himself and by the Apostles ; and 
 how, also, the expansive growth of the messianic hope, 
 which was sometimes almost wholly submerged, but 
 which always contrived to reappear with increasing 
 clearness, contributed to that popular expectancy, 
 though in some degree also to that general misappre- 
 hension, of the Messiah's mission which the New Testa- 
 ment everywhere reveals. And they enable us to appre- 
 ciate how the divine method of gradual advance in 
 spiritual knowledge was operating during those preven- 
 ing centuries which have so often been regarded as 
 barren and fruitless; and how this advance contributed 
 its due proportion to the marvellous results attained in 
 the life of our blessed Lord and in the period of the 
 apostolic church. The force of this conclusion is, of. 
 course, partially annulled if we assume, as has been 
 done by some, that many of the clearer messianic refer- 
 ences in the Apocalyptic writings are Christian inter- 
 polations. But the present tendency of critics is 
 toward a less destructive view than formerly prevailed. 
 Charles, for example, maintains that the possibilities of 
 Jewish thought should be given full scope, and nothing 
 attributed to Christian interpolation, or to Persian or 
 other external origin, except that which cannot be rea- 
 sonably accounted for from Jewish sources. The 
 general independence of Israel's religious development 
 has certainly come out more clearly from the investiga- 
 tion. As has been pointed out by Fairweather, 'With 
 the exception of certain modes of thought and expres- 
 
262 STUDIES in the BOOK OF EEVELATION. 
 
 sion, including the visionary style so much employed by 
 Ezekiel, the patriotic Jew apparently brought Isack with 
 
 him from Babylon no new literary possession Many 
 
 scholars explain the eschatological development of the 
 Apocryphal period on the theory of the contact of Juda- 
 ism with foreign systems of thought But, as 
 
 Nicolas has said, 'Ideas do not pass ready made and 
 complete from one nation to another like the fruits of 
 industry which are transported in caravans.'. .. .There 
 may be, however, stimulus without transference, and 
 this appears to be w^hat really happened in the case be- 
 fore us.'^ 
 
 The Apocalyptic Literature undoubtedly served a 
 splendid purpose, for its effects were both wide-spread 
 and in many respects beneficial. It served to rebuke 
 sin, to maintain righteousness without any present pros- 
 pect of reward, to keep alive the rich hopes of the fu- 
 ture, to comfort God's children in the midst of distress, 
 and to cultivate a patriotic spirit that cherished the 
 nobler ideals of the past; while at the same time it 
 formed a secure depository for those new concepts of 
 truth that sprang up during the long era of preparation 
 for the Messiah, and it thereby contributed a rich quota 
 of thought and phrase to that greater future which was 
 then drawing near to its birth. 'In general Apocalyptic 
 furnishes the atmosphere of the New Testament. Its 
 form, its language, and its material are extensively 
 
 used The simplest way to describe the relation is to 
 
 say that Jesus and the writers of the New Testament 
 found the forms of thought made use of in Apocalyptic 
 Literature convenient vehicles, and have cast the gospel 
 of God's redemptive love into these as into moulds. 
 The Messianism of the apocalyptists has thus become 
 unfolded into the Christology of the New Testament. '^ 
 But upon the other hand Apocalyptic reveals a type of 
 thought that can scarcely be regarded as healthful. It 
 had no deep or abiding sympathy with the great over- 
 shadowing world-sorrow which it measurably appre- 
 hended, and it proposed no present remedy for the un- 
 happy fortunes of Judaism. It dealt too largely with 
 the future hopes of the nation, and did not like prophecy 
 address itself to the immediate possibilities of the pres- 
 
 'See art. 'Development of Doctrine in the Apocryphal Period,' Hastings' 
 Diet, of Bib., vol. 5 ; also art. 'Zoroasterism' by Moulton, Hastings' Diet, of Bib. 
 ^Zenos, art. 'Apoc. Lit.,' Hastings' Diet, of Christ and the Gospels. 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 283 
 
 ent; and it thereby robbed life of one of its chief incen- 
 tives to action, viz. the hope of present success. For it 
 gave up hope of the world as it was, and thereby pro- 
 duced a world-despair that could not be counteracted by 
 the prospective world-joy which glowed in the messianic 
 promise. According to Apocalyptic perspective, Hhe 
 present served mainly as a back-ground of shadow for 
 developing the richer light of the coming age;' and, 'the 
 proper design of the world was to be found in its ending 
 and not in its longer continuance. ' Even with the wider 
 world-view which the apocalyptists possessed, his- 
 tory lost its value; for they at least partially misread 
 the providential order of the world. As Stevens has 
 forcibly said, they 'viewed the method of God as ictic 
 and sudden, and not detailed and patient', — the very 
 opposite of the divine method in history. And such an 
 interpretation of life produced its inevitable results in 
 dreams of an hallucinary but impossible future. It de- 
 veloped and cultured a form of mysticism that has left 
 a permanent impression upon the Christian church — a 
 mysticism that takes refuge from present evils, and 
 from worse that are deemed impending, in the hope of 
 an ultimate and protracted future of blessing wrought 
 by cataclysmic revolutions, and leading up to a new 
 manifestation of the divine Person upon earth, and to 
 new conditions of life in the world of nature.^ For it 
 is in Apocalyptic rather than in Scripture that we find 
 the source of that pessimistic view which has prevailed 
 in various circles of the church in all ages, that looks 
 for the world to grow continually worse as the centuries 
 go on, until by a great climax of the future a new order 
 of things shall be introduced that is essentially differ- 
 ent in its divine manifestations and in its spirifual 
 ordering from all the past. But notwithstanding the 
 many defects of this class of writings, and their mani- 
 fest extravagancies, they were yet divinely used, and 
 evidently filled an exceptionally large place in the far- 
 reaching providential plan of God for the education of 
 the Jewish nation, and through them of the world, just 
 as God is ever using human and imperfect means for 
 wise and beneficent ends. 
 
 ^'The deus ex machina, an abnormal and effectual interposition of God, is 
 an essential feature of an apocalypse.' Humphries, 8t John and Other Teachers, 
 p. 82. 
 
264 STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 The importance of some knowledge of Apocalyptic 
 to the student of John's Revelation cannot well be 
 overestimated, for it is only in the light of Apocalyptic 
 Literature that it can be rightly interpreted. It repro- 
 duces the author's native horizon, and reveals the 
 sources of his mode of thought; it provides the key to 
 the method of vision and symbol and dream-movement; 
 and it makes clear the inevitable limitations as well as 
 the recognized possibilities of this unique style when it 
 becomes the vehicle of a true instead of an assumed 
 revelation. For although the source of much of the 
 imagery of the Apocalypse is to be found in the Old 
 Testament, yet it is often materially changed by passing 
 through the medium of later Jewish thought as reflected 
 in the Pseudepigrapha ; and although New Testament 
 ideas everywhere prevail in, through, and above, those 
 of the Old, yet the whole spirit and movement of the 
 Apocalypse is moulded by certain underlying pre-Chris- 
 tian conceptions that belong to Jewish Apocalyptic. 
 We find, for example, that the divine method in history 
 is uniformly viewed as in the Apocalyptic Literature, 
 and contrary to general experience, as chiefly one of 
 crisis and catastrophe rather than of gradual develop- 
 ment — the sudden and striking hiding from view the 
 continued and ordinary. And we cannot but inquire 
 how far this conception is with John the result of 
 literary form and spiritual mood, rather than intended 
 to set forth the intimate nature of the divine method; 
 and how far it is designed to portray vividly the effects 
 to be accomplished, rather than to signify the manner of 
 their accomplishment. We find, too, that John, in 
 common with the apocalyptists, dwells more upon the 
 future hopes of the kingdom than upon its present 
 possibilities, keeping his eye ever fixed above the con- 
 flict upon the far future of promise. And we cannot 
 but inquire how far this aspect of his world-view was 
 divinely designed as a message of comfort to a people 
 in distress, rather than as a comprehensive presentation 
 of the progressive w^orld-plan of the ages; and how far 
 it is given only as one point of view, rather than as de- 
 signed to express the fulness of the divine purpose. 
 To these inquiries there can properly be but one answer, 
 the view-point is characteristic of and peculiar to 
 Apocalyptic. It does not present the normal aspect of 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF REVELATION. 265 
 
 life ; it is the product of adverse conditions and breathes 
 the spirit of pain; its vision is forever saddened by the 
 overwhelming world-sorrow that darkens the horizon of 
 thought. And while all Hebrew literature is essentially 
 grave, and devoid of the element of humor, yet Apoca- 
 lyptic is abidingly overshadowed by a weight of world- 
 woe from which men seek to escape into another sphere 
 and into new and better conditions of life. 
 
 The larger study of Apocalyptic Literature must 
 continue to have its effect upon the interpretation of the 
 Apocalypse which is indisputably its greatest master- 
 piece. For by attentive consideration of the peculiari- 
 ties of this form of composition we are gradually led to 
 perceive that only in so far as we invest ourselves with 
 the atmosphere which produced so strange a coloring of 
 thought, can we hope to interpret aright that peculiar 
 view of the world, growing out of the conditions of 
 Jewish depression, which regards it as the arena of an 
 all-pervasive conflict, and involved in prevailing sin and 
 suffering, in order that through these seemingly adverse 
 experiences it may by sovereign control be divinely 
 made ready for the future glory of the Messiah's king- 
 dom. And we are thus amply assured that a correct 
 apprehension of the form and fashion of Apocalyptic 
 thought will undoubtedly guide us in all that pertains 
 to the material framework of the Apocalypse, though 
 certainly we should not forget that we must always go 
 to the Old Testament and to the New when we would 
 reach its inner heart. The present general consensus of 
 opinion among modern scholars, therefore, seems to be, 
 that having measurably exhausted inquiry concerning 
 the Old Testament references, whatever progress we 
 are to make in the immediate future in unfolding the 
 thought of the Revelation must be through a further 
 study of the thought-forms of the century that gave it 
 birth, which so richly abound in the Apocalj^ptic writings, 
 but which so long escaped the scholarly and attentive 
 consideration of Christian thought. 
 
266 STUDIES in tJie BOOK OF REVELATION. 
 
 Appendix H 
 
 Key-Words and Phrases in the Revelation 
 
 The Saints 
 The Sealed 
 The Saved 
 The Redeemed 
 
 Holy — True — Faithful — Pure 
 Glorious— New — White — Golden 
 Salvation — Power — Glory — Honor 
 Blessing — Wisdom — Truth — Patience 
 Worship — Prayers — Song — Thanks- 
 givings 
 Watch — Keep — Witness — Overcome 
 
 Victory — Rej oice — Serve — Reign 
 Kingdom — Thrones — Crowns — 
 
 Dominion 
 Light — Peace — Rest — Li f e 
 
 Unto the Ages of the Ages 
 
 They that Dwell on the Earth 
 They that Worship the Beast 
 The Tribes of the Earth 
 The Rest of Mankind 
 
 Unholy — False — Unbelieving — Unclean 
 Wretched — Destroyed — Filthy — Drunken 
 Sins — Plagues — Woe — Defilement 
 Wrath— Deceived — False — Affrighted 
 Idolatry — Blasphemy — Weeping — 
 
 Mourning 
 Fornication — Wantonness — Sorcery — 
 
 Judgment 
 Fallen — Fearful — Cast-out — Taken 
 Thunder — Lightnings — Hail — Earth- 
 quake 
 Darkness — Anguish — Torment — Death 
 Unto the Ages of the Ages 
 
 Hear — Repent — Come — Behold 
 Shortly— Quickly— At-Hand— Now 
 Great — Mighty — Strong — Powerful 
 War — Sword — Bow — Crown 
 Prophets — Priests — Kings — Apostles 
 Angels — Spirits — Martyrs — Saints 
 
 Candlesticks — Stars 
 
 Who Is and Who Was and Who Is 
 
 to Come 
 The Testimony of Jesus 
 The Seal of God 
 Out of Heaven 
 On the Cloud 
 The Sea of Glass 
 The Alpha and the Omega 
 The Crown of Life 
 
 That Was and Is Not and Shall Come 
 
 The Worship of the Beast 
 
 The Mark of the Beast 
 
 Out of the Abyss 
 
 On the Earth 
 
 The Lake of Fire 
 
 About To Go Into Perdition 
 
 The Second Death 
 
 Mystery 
 
 God 
 
 Jesus Christ 
 
 The Lamb 
 
 The Lion of the Tribe of Tudah 
 
 The Word of God 
 
 The Son of Man 
 
 The Morning Star 
 
 The Living One 
 
 He that Sitteth on the Throne 
 
 The Ruler of the Kings of the Earth 
 
 The Seven Spirits of God 
 
 The Saints 
 
 Michael 
 
 The Bride 
 
 Jerusalem 
 
 The Holy City 
 
 Mount Zion 
 
 Satan 
 
 The Devil 
 
 The Dragon 
 
 The Beast 
 
 The False Prophet 
 
 The Old Serpent 
 
 The Star Fallen from Heaven 
 
 Apollyon 
 
 All [the] Nations 
 
 The King of the Abyss 
 
 The Deceiver of the Whole World 
 
 The Inhabitants of the Earth 
 
 Gog and Magog 
 
 The Harlot 
 
 Babylon 
 
 The Great City 
 
 The Wilderness 
 
STUDIES in the BOOK OF KEVELATION. 267 
 
 Seven Churches 
 
 Seven Seals 
 
 Seven Epistles 
 Seven Trumpets 
 
 Seven Vials 
 
 The Seven Candlesticks 
 
 The Twelve Stars 
 
 The Four and Twenty Elders 
 
 The Hundred and Forty and Four 
 Thousand 
 
 The Key of David 
 The Temple of God 
 The Altar 
 The Throne of God 
 The River of Life 
 
 The Seven Heads [of the Beast] 
 
 The Ten Horns [of the Beast] 
 
 The Three Unclean Spirits, as it were 
 
 Frogs 
 The Six Hundred and Sixty and Six 
 
 The Key of the Abyss 
 The Pit of the Abyss 
 The Air 
 
 The Throne of the Beast 
 The Great River Euphrates 
 
 Har-magedon 
 The Thousand Years 
 
 Life [and] Resurrection 
 The First Resurrection 
 
 Death and Hades 
 The Second Death 
 
 The Great White Throne 
 
 The Judgment 
 
 The New Heaven and the New Earth 
 
 For Ever and Ever 
 
 BEHOLD HE COMETH 
 
 COME LORD JESUS 
 
 AMEN 
 
As Reliable as Readable 
 
 As Trustworthy as Timely 
 
 The Truth About 
 Christian Science 
 
 By JAMES H. SNOWDEN, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 Professor of Systematic Theology 
 Western Theological Seminary 
 
 This book covers the whole ground of Christian Science in its 
 origin and history and present condition and prospects. It aims to 
 tell the truth about the founder and the faith of this cult in a plain but 
 kindly way, spiced with genial satire and humor. 
 
 One of its distinctive features is that it endeavors to bring out the 
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