Heart problems and world issues; a study of the book of Revelation

Front matter

Class :

Book- L_

GojpgtaN?-

Contents

I. The Book, - . - 13 II. The Book and Christ, - 39

III. The Book and the

Church,- - 71

II

The Seer's thought moves around two poles: First, Christ is present in the world as the sufficient grace; secondly, Christ, present in the world as the sufficient grace, shall yet prevail completely. Read the Book as we will, and we must be conscious of its twofold message. Everywhere we feel the Divine Presence in the World. Everywhere we hear the prophecy of the Speedy Victory. He is with His own. He is to come in glory on the clouds. Both of these emphases are carried throughout the Book, and neither can be neglected without losing the Book's perspective. Still, this is not all that needs to be said at this point. Indeed, we do not thus come to the Book's central meaning, for what the Book says over and over again is this: This Present Christ is to Prevail Completely by His 41

Heart Problems and World Issues.

Cross. This aspect of the Book can not be made too conspicuous, for the Book is a Book of Redemption. In it we see bloodshed, for the sword of Caesar flashes throughout its pages. But in it we see still more conspicuously the shed-blood of Christ. As the Apostle at Calvary saw Christ lifted up as the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, saw Him as the Lamb of God, saw Him rather than the frenzied, howling mob, so the Seer makes his readers see the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world rather than the raging of the Beast, the martyrfires rather than the blood flowing in the streets of Babylon.

HI.

It would be convenient to group under these three headings what the Book has to say about Christ: First, Christ the 42

The Book and Christ.

Sufficient Grace; second, Christ Conquering and to Conquer; third, Christ the Lamb of God, the Savior of the World. Perhaps, however, we shall come more easily to the vision of Christ that lay in the Seer's mind if we follow him through a few of the typical passages of the Book. This, at any rate, will be a more natural method of procedure.

In the first chapter of the Book we have three separate and distinct revelations of Christ. Each one brings out varied aspects of His life.

First there is the salutation (1 : 4-6) : "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; and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of 43

Heart Problems and World Issues.

the earth. Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood; and He made us to be a Kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

This passage would seem to be the Book in Epitome. Every phrase in it is important, and taken together these several aspects of Christ show our Lord risen and glorified. "Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness." The words remind us of Him who came into the world to bear witness to the Truth, and at once identify the Christ of the Book with the Christ of the Gospels. The Seer often lingers on the more earthly name of his Lord (12:17; 22:16), even sometimes speaking of Him simply as "Jesus," the offspring of David. He recalls His crucifixion at Jerusalem (11: 8 and 1:7), His 44

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resurrection and exaltation to the Throne in heaven (3:21). And this human aspect is not lost sight of even in the blazing glory of the Throne. The words given above remind us, as the Fourth Gospel does so eloquently, of the truth that came by Jesus Christ concerning God, man, duty, destiny, the natural order, the spiritual order. "The first born of the dead." We read these words and the light of Easter morning breaks upon us; here is the Christ whom not even death could conquer, and who came in the fullness of life that all might receive life from Him abundantly. "The ruler of the kings of the earth;" these words strike the dominant note of the Book concerning Christ. Throughout He is the Regal Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It would not be wise to say that the Seer's thought of Christ was 45

Heart Problems and World Issues.

largely determined by the persistent effort on the part of the empire to deify the emperors. Yet it is to miss much of the subtle suggestion of the Book if we do not see that the imperial cult was constantly in the Seer's mind. He had met it everywhere, in his ministry, in the markets as well as at the imposing shrines of the empire, and now in his imprisonment he is always aware that he is a prisoner because of his testimony, i. because of his refusal to "lord" Csesar — Jesus alone is Lord to the Seer, and He is "Lord of lords." It is well to mark that he does not say will be — Christ is already Ruler of the kings of the earth. "Unto Him that loveth us" — present tense again, speaking now of the tenderness of Christ. This is not, as has just been said, the prevailing revelation of Christ in the Book. The Christians 46

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of the day needed to see the regalness of Christ — Christ glorified. Yet in no other book of the New Testament do we see the gentleness of Christ, His graciousness, more winsomely set forth than in this Book.

"Unto Him . . . that loosed us from our sins by His blood; and made us to be kings and priests unto His God and Father." Here in the very first unveiling of Christ we come face to face with human sin, the deep problem of the Book. Here also we come face to face with the atonement for sin, an atonement which includes an enduement as well as a reconciliation. In the twelfth chapter we hear again of those who have overcome by "the blood of the Lamb." In 7: 14 we read, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them 47

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white in the blood of the Lamb." Words these are that, like the Book as a whole, take us through the noisy streets of the earthly Jerusalem out to the place of the cross; nay, that take us back to the foundation of the world and show us the Lamb Slain.

Even more remarkable than any phrase in this passage, however, is the way in which Christ, the Jesus of the Gospels, is associated with God the Father and the Holy Spirit in this salutation. It is the way of the Book. It is so in the vision of the Throne and throughout.

IV

After the salutation comes what may be called the Divine Asseveration. It is contained in the seventh and eighth verses.

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The Seer does not speak these words; they are acclaimed by the Lord God Himself. (See John 19: 37). This is most effective dramatically. And it is necessary that these words should be spoken in an arrestive way, for they contain a truth of utmost importance, namely, the certain, speedy, and glorious manifestation of Christ in Judgment, a coming which is not here nor elsewhere conceived of as physical, though it is certainly conceived of as real.

This affirmation is repeated again and again, and reverberates throughout the Book (1:1; 4:1; 2:16; 3:3, 11, 20; 22:6, 7, 20).

It was a word much needed by the downcast Church, and it is emphasized, perhaps, for that reason, and because it is a fact ever-needing to be set forth to faith. This revelation of Christ as Judge 49

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is very suggestive. If any one wishes to follow it through the Book, let him study the letters to the Churches, where Christ is seen as Judge; 4 or let him study the Throne scene, where Christ opens the seals; 5 or the vision of the Sickle and the Harvest 6 — or yet again, the vision of the Great White Throne. 7 This Christ who is to come in glory is the Christ of Calvary, and thus again the humiliation and the exaltation of Christ are brought into closest juxtaposition.

It is not possible to over-emphasize this Divine Asseveration, for the Seer has done all he could do to set it in bold relief.

I agree with Doctor Thomas: "The Apocalypse might be truly called the Gospel of the Parousia, for the Second Advent is the secret of its unfolding and the goal of its movement." ("The Coming Presence," p. 164.) Only we must not think of Christ as absent and to return again. He is present now, and His Presence is to be yet more gloriously manifested.

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V

This revelation is followed by one of the most beautiful visions in the Book (1 : 9-20). It might well be grouped with the vision of the Throne in heaven and the vision of the New Jerusalem, for each helps in the interpretation of the other, and the three are supremely beautiful.

The splendor and beauty of this vision must be felt by every reader, yet more striking is the truth it conveys. The Seer turns and sees first the candlesticks, i. e. 9 the Churches. He sees them separate and only candlesticks — utterly dependent. But as he looks he sees a figure like unto a "son of man." This phrase may be read in the light of Daniel or in the light of the Book of Enoch; but in view of all the color and the many touches of the Book of Revelation it certainly is better to read it in the light of the Master's 51

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usage and take it here as meaning that the Seer saw in this glorious figure, first of all, the Master with whom he had gone in and out of Galilee. Yet He is not simply the Jesus of other days. There is an unmistakable glory about Him. His robe is the vesture of dignity and authority. His girdle is a king's; its position indicates His priestliness. As the Seer gazes he sees that there stands before Him the Ancient of Days, His hair white like wool, His eyes a flame of fire, His feet like unto burnished brass, His voice as the sound of the sea, His countenance bright as the sun. Out of His mouth comes the word that is a sword and in His hand is a chain of stars, for He is the Keeper of the Churches.

We do not wonder that the Seer was overwhelmed, for as His Lord speaks he realizes that he is in the presence of the 52

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Express Image of God. There is no mistaking here. The Seer always sees his Lord in this glorified state.

What does this vision say? It says first of all that Christ is not an absentee Christ, but a present Christ. It says secondly that this present Christ is abundantly able, His grace is sufficient. He carries easily the stars in His hand.

The meaning of this vision is made clear in the letters to the Churches. We see Him there as the Risen, Regal, Glorified Christ of the pierced hands, exacting, mighty, gracious, ever-present, altogether sufficient. He pierces through all sophistries with His burning eyes. 8 He hates all compromise. 9 His rewards are for those only who overcome. He had in His keeping the crowns worthy to be striven for. He alone knows the way to the

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fountains of the water of life 10 and to the tree of life. 11

Yet, withal — and this is the important emphasis here — He comes to comfort and to strengthen the Church. He knows those who dwell where Satan's throne is. He knows the works, the toil, the tribulations of His own. Let them not be discouraged. Let them be faithful to the end. He will come quickly. Then "they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat — for He is their Shepherd and shall guide them unto the fountains of waters of life and shall wipe every tear from their eyes." (7: 16, 17).

We need to exercise great care in our reading of the revelation concerning Jesus Christ in the Book.

As has just been indicated, the Seer

10 7: 17. "2:7; 22:2.

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speaks of Christ very frequently as the Christ of tenderness and pity, touched with a feeling for our infirmities and as able and willing and eager to supply all our needs. Yet prevailingly it is not the gentleness of Christ that is brought home to us by the Book. That was not the aspect of Christ which needed to be made manifest to the Church then, for the Church of that time was pretty much brow-beaten and trampled upon. Csesar seemed almighty, Rome invincible, the Church weakness itself. So we see the regal aspect of Christ in this Book. However, we should not misconceive this regalness.

Some interpreters have felt that the Book is unduly harsh and characterized by a blood-thirstiness utterly beneath the sublime level of the gracious Gospel of Jesus. It is not difficult to get this im- 55

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pression. And it is all the more easy to get it because the Book was written in a time of flood and earthquake shock, in a time when the streets of earth were running red with human blood, when human torches lighted the Roman gardens, and when every follower of Christ lived a hunted life. This turmoil and tumult and confusion are echoed throughout the Book.

Empires and thrones were toppling over. A civilization was collapsing. The aspect of Christ that the Church needed to see was His mighty sufficiency. It needed to be made clear that the kings of the earth raged in vain. Precisely that aspect the Seer presents most frequently, and over and over again points to a manifestation yet to be made, glorious and splendid.

This regal aspect of Christ is suggested 56

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in many passages through chapters two and three and throughout the Book, and is made explicit in the vision of the Conqueror (19: 11-16).

The Lord's Day vision is exceedingly important to a right interpretation of the Seer's way of setting forth his thought and to an understanding of his message. It should be noted that he speaks of the spiritual presence of Christ in the world after the most realistic manner. As he does here, so always. 12 Nor is any more important revelation given in the Book than this of the presence of Christ in the world here and now as the Sufficient Grace.

12 Compare the realism of this vision with that in chapter twenty. There is no more reason for reading the vision in chapter one symbolically than there is for reading that in chapter twenty.

Heart Problems and World Issues. VI.

This present Christ is to prevail. How? By His sacrifice. Let us turn to the fifth chapter. There we see the Seer gazing through a door into heaven. The Angel is to let him witness the opening of the seven-sealed book, to show him how the struggle between the Kingdom and the empire is to issue. But no one seems to be able to open the book, and the Seer begins to weep, when he hears a voice from the midst of the Throne, saying, "Weep not for the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David hath prevailed t@ open the book." The Seer has been able to see thus far only the glory of the Throne. Now he is to see his Lord! What a word that must have been to him! He turns and looks — and sees a Slain Lamb! It is the Christ he had met at Jordan, the Christ he had left 58

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at Calvary hanging on the tree! Notice not a Lamb, but a Slain Lamb. For He prevails because He was slain. As the Seer gazes upon the scene all the heavenly spaces are suddenly filled with jubilant singing, as ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of angelic voices celebrate the redemption that has come to people of every kindred and tongue and nation by the Blood of the Lamb. And the Seer sees that the Slain Lamb is full of wisdom and power. It is in the light of this revelation of Christ as the Slain Lamb that we are to read all the Seer says about the Conquering Christ.

How unfair we have been to this Book! How we have missed the meaning of the Seer! How we Occidentals have been held by a literalist caste of mind, utterly unable to catch the subtler 59

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significance of the gorgeous imagery of the Book. So we have enlarged upon the harshness of the Book, the vindictiveness of its author, and the unlikeness of his mind to the mind of the Master. Yet, as nowhere else, the idea of Redemption is set forth in this Book. We get the impression of harshness because we, in spite of what we say, take the author literally. It is hard not to do so, but to do so is to lose our way. All that he says, for instance, about overcoming, about warfare, about flashing swords must be, of course, taken symbolically. It is in no sense to be materialized. Christ conquers by a two-edged sword, a sword mightier than Caesar's. It is a splendid martial image. And as we see this Christ riding forth with His panoplied hosts our hearts are stirred as by the rattle of drums and the flapping of 60

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the banners of a marching army. Again and again the bugle note of battle, mighty-trumpet-toned, sounds above the Book! But what is the sword of Christ? It is His Word. The Seer says, as Paul does, that the Kingdom goes forward by the foolishness of preaching. The Seer was not fomenting rebellion. True, he was protesting against lording any Csesar — better die than do that. Not thus shall the Kingdom come. Yet the Seer knows that those who resort to the sword must perish by sword. 13 Not such is the patience of the saints. To compromise as the Nicolaitans 14 suggested was to become utterly paganized again. To die as Antipas and hosts of others had done was to sow the seed of the Kingdom. 15 Life is by death, prog-

13 13: 10. 14 For an excellent treatment of this subject, see Ramsay's "Letters to the Churches," pp. 298-302, 335-343. 15 See Acts 14:22.

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gress by sacrifice, the Kingdom by blood! Thus Caesar rages in vain! All he can do — he and his minions — is to strike down the followers of Christ. But every martyrdom is an advance. It is the coming of Christ again, the victory over the world.

Some writers on the Book, especially liberally minded modernish writers, seem to assume as a matter of course that the Seer was a harsh, vindictive, revengeful soul. Such a conception is an outrage on the author and the Book, and due to literalism. The Seer once did want to call fire down from heaven. He recalls the incident as readily as his modern annotators. He had been known as the Son of Thunder. His was a mighty soul. One never thinks of John as anemic or as dilettante! He was a pioneer. He was a conqueror. He was an empire 62

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builder. But he has been through the School of Calvary, Let us fix that in our minds. Now he sets forth that only the false prophets call down, or try to call down, fire from heaven, for the patience of the saints is the conquest by love, not by the sword. He knows now the meaning of the suffering servant. He sees that the strong must carry the weak. He has entered into the meaning of the blood. He knows now what the Baptist meant when he called Jesus the Lamb of God. He uses that designation more than any other. He sees that what Moses did for the Israelitish horde coming up out of the brick fields of Egypt by the way of the wilderness his Lord has done for the race from the foundation of the world, for He has been the Suffering Servant. Hence the heavenly hosts sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Cal- 63

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vary has given the Seer a new vision of history. He sees now that Calvary was the mighty climax of Christ's life and ministry. Christ was not a victim at Calvary, a lamb. He laid down His life Himself. No man took it from Him. He was the Slain Lamb. The mob did not prevail at Calvary. It raged in vain. Christ prevailed then. By His death He lives more abundantly. Thus He still prevails. He prevails by dying. He saves by His blood. He prevails by His martyrs. This is the patience of the saints. This is the great lesson to be learned in the School of Calvary.

Thus we come to the secret of the power and the gentleness of the Conquering Christ. As we shall see further on in the Book, this is the profound fact about God. He is like Christ. But just now, as we grasp the Seer's great central 64

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idea of sacrificial love, which never faileth, let us once for all put aside the crude opinion that the Book stands for a materialized Christianity. It stands for a Christianity that comes to focus at Calvary. Let us also grasp the truth that the Seer everywhere represents Christ as conquering by His death, and not by His return.

VII

There is one other question calling for answer in this connection before we shall see clearly the Seer's vision of Christ. Christ prevails by His Cross. What does it mean for Christ to prevail? When He has utterly prevailed, what shall we have? The marriage of the Lamb! 16 The end of the redemptive travail is a new humanity completely

16 21: 2; 19:17.

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identified in spirit with Christ! 17 The union symbolized under the image of the marriage of the Lamb — a most audacious image — is more spiritual and more intimate than that set forth under the similitude of the vine and the branches, for the latter is a vital union of a simple type. But the union of Christ and His own is a union of intellects, the banding together of hearts in holy affection, the coalescing of wills. It is, as the Seer says, a heavenly marriage. It is thus, of course, not an outward Kingdom that Christ sets up, at Jerusalem or anywhere else. The Seer has been graduated not simply from the Judaic School of the Apocalyptists, but from the School of Calvary, where one of the great lessons

17 In an article (see Hastings' D. B., Book of Revelation), with which I find myself frequently taking issue, yet which abounds in fine insights, Professor F. C. Porter says: "The Christian community was His greatest deed. He created it by His redeeming death.'' (1:6; 5:9-10.)

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learned is that the Kingdom is inward and spiritual. So we hear through him those beautiful words: "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."