A Bible School Manual: Studies in the Book of Revelation / An 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

14. The Literary Structure.

The elaborate and artistic Literary Structure of the Apocalypse, the numerical symmetry of its parts, the parallelism 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 clear perception of these relations becomes a distinct aid to the better understanding 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 fundamental to its structure. And although the failure of commentators 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 visions 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 seven parts, the Episodes being made parenthetical and subordinate, as their contents and connection serve to indicate; while the four subdivisions of the Introduction and three of the Conclusion taken together, form another seven. This general division, which is not an uncommon one, agrees in the main, though not in statement or in full detail, with that in the Pulpit Commentary,57 and is one of [pg 050] 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 Reader's Bible,58 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 Apocalyptist's thought.59 With discriminative literary insight the author of that work says, concerning the general outline of the book, “The seven visions of St. John's Revelation 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 with V, and II with 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 vision 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 suggestion given above, though with a somewhat different conception 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,60 viz:—

			IV
		III		V
	II				VI
I						VII

[Transcriber's Note: In the book, the above table had the following text for each of the seven sections; they are laid out here to make it look correct with modern readers.]

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—the World's Punishment Threatened. (Ch. 8:2-9:21, and 11:14-19)

V—A Vision of Judgment—the World's Judgment Executed. (Ch. 15:1-16:12, and 16:17-21)

II—A Vision of Trial—the Church's Trial Foreshown. (Ch. 6:1-17, and 8:1)

VI—A Vision of Vindication—the Church's Vindication Manifested. (Ch. 17:1-20:15)

I—A Vision of Sovereignty—the Throne during Conflict. (Ch. 4:1-5:14)

VII—A Vision of Triumph—the Throne after Victory. (Ch. 21:1-22:5)

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If we follow the natural order of the visions from I to VII, we find it to be one of progression, viz. from Sovereignty 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 balance 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 Threatening through Warfare to Judgment. The movement of thought is thereby indicated to be from the throne challenged 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 entire 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 interpretation of the whole.61 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 penetrating the deeper purpose of the writer, and of the revelation 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 continuous current of thought can be shown to thread its way throughout the entire book, despite all by-currents and eddies, then the various theories of diverse or composite authorship cease to be credible except to pure theorists.

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