The Revelation 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 difficult 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 unfortunate effect of disparaging the worth of the Apocalypse 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 expressing 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 originally 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 interpretations. We should avoid alike the mistake of dogmatically asserting that the Apocalypse cannot be understood at all, or of affirming that it can be fully understood.2 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 abundantly reward our careful search. For we are not justified [pg 018] The visions of the Apocalypse are generally conceded 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 experience. The divine path of God's people among the nations 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 [pg 019] In the light of modern criticism the primary question to be decided is whether we are dealing with an ordinary Jewish-Christian apocalypse of similar value with a multitude of others in the past, and with no essentially 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 suitability 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 conscience—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 back 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 message which it contains for life, by the multitudinous voices [pg 020] The obscurity of the Revelation arises both from its literary form and from the mystical character of its contents. 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 enlighten 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 Jewish apocalypses, found under the influence of the Spirit a fitting sphere for his prophetic 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 everywhere assumed that the mysteries of the former dispensation find their only adequate solution in the supreme and final testimony of Jesus the Christ,4—but the atmosphere 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 create 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 become 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, [pg 021] Prophecy in this view is looked upon as much broader in its scope than the foretelling of things that are future. This element should be regarded as subordinate to the general purpose of prophecy, which is the forthtelling of the mind of God.6 And we should avoid that “dwarfed sense of the word prophecy in modern speech” which leads most readers (and even interpreters) to fasten 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 unfolded to Moses in the mount”.7 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 messages of old. But it is believed by many of our best authorities, and it will be found in a careful study of the [pg 022] 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 purpose 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 unnumbered 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 presence of God. To the heart of faith it speaks of an unwavering trust when days are dark and storms fill the sky; like a clear voice out of the night it tells of the coming day; and with persuasive force its visions bring man face to face with God, his Creator, Redeemer, and Eternal Friend. |