Revelation
The Book of the Revelation of John is the last in the
collection of documents which constitute the New Testament
(the second of the two major divisions of the Christian
Bible). It is also known as Revelation, Revelations, the Book
of Revelation, the Apocalypse of John, and the Apocalypse.
These titles come from the Greek, apokalypsis, meaning
revelation, which is the first word of the book. The word
apocalypse is also used for other works of a similar nature,
and the style of literature (genre) is known as apocalyptic
literature. Such literature is "marked by distinctive literary
features, particularly prediction of future events and
accounts of visionary experiences or journeys to heaven, often
involving vivid symbolism."[1] The Book of Revelation is the
only apocalyptic document in the New Testament canon, though
there are short apocalyptic passages in various places in the
gospels and the epistles...
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Re...
LITERATURE
The last book of the New Testament. It professes to be the
record of prophetic visions given by Jesus Christ to John,
while the latter was a prisoner, "for the word of God and
the testimony of Jesus" (Rev 1:9), in PATMOS (which see), a
small rocky island in the Aegean, about 15 miles West of
Ephesus. Its precursor in the Old Testament is the Book of
Dnl, with the symbolic visions and mystical numbers of which
it stands in close affinity. The peculiar form of the book,
its relation to other "apocalyptic" writings, and to the
Fourth Gospel, likewise attributed to John, the
interpretation of its symbols, with disputed questions of
its date, of worship, unity, relations to contemporary
history, etc., have made it one of the most difficult books
in the New Testament to explain satisfactorily.
I. Title and General Character of Book.
1. Title:
"Revelation" answers to apokalupsis, in Rev 1:1. The oldest
form of the title would seem to be simply, "Apocalypse of
John," the appended words "the divine" (theologos, i.e.
"theologian") not being older than the 4th century (compare
the title given to Gregory of Nazianzus, "Gregory
theologian"). The book belongs to the class of works
commonly named "apocalyptic," as containing visions and
revelations of the future, frequently in symbolical form
(e.g. the Book of Enoch, the Apocalypse of Bar, the
Apocalypse of Ezr; see APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE), but it is
doubtful if the word here bears this technical sense. The
tendency at present is to group the New Testament Apocalypse
with these others, and attribute to it the same kind of
origin as theirs, namely, in the unbridled play of religious
fantasy, clothing itself in unreal visional form...
Link: https://bible-history.com/isbe/R/REVELAT...
LITERATURE
I. The Nature of Revelation.
1. The Religion of the Bible the Only Supernatural Religion:
The religion of the Bible is a frankly supernatural
religion. By this is not meant merely that, according to it,
all men, as creatures, live, move and have their being in
God. It is meant that, according to it, God has intervened
extraordinarily, in the course of the sinful world's
development, for the salvation of men otherwise lost. In
Eden the Lord God had been present with sinless man in such
a sense as to form a distinct element in his social
environment (Gen 3:8). This intimate association was broken
up by the Fall. But God did not therefore withdraw Himself
from concernment with men. Rather, He began at once a series
of interventions in human history by means of which man
might be rescued from his sin and, despite it, brought to
the end destined for him. These interventions involved the
segregation of a people for Himself, by whom God should be
known, and whose distinction should be that God should be
"nigh unto them" as He was not to other nations (Dt 4:7; Ps
145:18). But this people was not permitted to imagine that
it owed its segregation to anything in itself fitted to
attract or determine the Divine preference; no consciousness
was more poignant in Israel than that Yahweh had chosen it,
not it Him, and that Yahweh's choice of it rested solely on
His gracious will. Nor was this people permitted to imagine
that it was for its own sake alone that it had been singled
out to be the sole recipient of the knowledge of Yahweh; it
was made clear from the beginning that God's mysteriously
gracious dealing with it had as its ultimate end the
blessing of the whole world (Gen 12:2,3; 17:4,5,6,16; 18:18;
22:18; compare Rom 4:13), the bringing together again of the
divided families of the earth under the glorious reign of
Yahweh, and the reversal of the curse under which the whole
world lay for its sin (Gen 12:3). Meanwhile, however, Yahweh
was known only in Israel. To Israel God showed His word and
made known His statutes and judgments, and after this
fashion He dealt with no other nation; and therefore none
other knew His judgments (Ps 147:19 f). Accordingly, when
the hope of Israel (who was also the desire of all nations)
came, His own lips unhesitatingly declared that the
salvation He brought, though of universal application, was
"from the Jews" (Jn 4:22). And the nations to which this
salvation had not been made known are declared by the chief
agent in its proclamation to them to be, meanwhile, "far
off," "having no hope" and "without God in the world" (Eph
2:12), because they were aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel and strangers from the covenant of the promise...
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III. The Modes of Revelation.
1. Modes of Revelation:
Theophany may be taken as the typical form of "external
manifestation"; but by its side may be ranged all of those
mighty works by which God makes Himself known, including
express miracles, no doubt, but along with them every
supernatural intervention in the affairs of men, by means of
which a better understanding is communicated of what God is
or what are His purposes of grace to a sinful race. Under
"internal suggestion" may be subsumed all the characteristic
phenomena of what is most properly spoken of as "prophecy":
visions and dreams, which, according to a fundamental
passage (Nu 12:6), constitute the typical forms of prophecy,
and with them the whole "prophetic word," which shares its
essential characteristic with visions and dreams, since it
comes not by the will of man but from God. By "concursive
operation" may be meant that form of revelation illustrated
in an inspired psalm or epistle or history, in which no
human activity--not even the control of the will--is
superseded, but the Holy Spirit works in, with and through
them all in such a manner as to communicate to the product
qualities distinctly superhuman. There is no age in the
history of the religion of the Bible, from that of Moses to
that of Christ and His apostles, in which all these modes of
revelation do not find place. One or another may seem
particularly characteristic of this age or of that; but they
all occur in every age. And they occur side by side, broadly
speaking, on the same level. No discrimination is drawn
between them in point of worthiness as modes of revelation,
and much less in point of purity in the revelations
communicated through them. The circumstance that God spoke
to Moses, not by dream or vision but mouth to mouth, is,
indeed, adverted to (Nu 12:8) as a proof of the peculiar
favor shown to Moses and even of the superior dignity of
Moses above other organs of revelation: God admitted him to
an intimacy of intercourse which He did not accord to
others. But though Moses was thus distinguished above all
others in the dealings of God with him, no distinction is
drawn between the revelations given through him and those
given through other organs of revelation in point either of
Divinity or of authority. And beyond this we have no
Scriptural warrant to go on in contrasting one mode of
revelation with another. Dreams may seem to us little fitted
to serve as vehicles of divine communications. But there is
no suggestion in Scripture that revelations through dreams
stand on a lower plane than any others; and we should not
fail to remember that the essential characteristics of
revelations through dreams are shared by all forms of
revelation in which (whether we should call them visions or
not) the images or ideas which fill, or pass in procession
through, the consciousness are determined by some other
power than the recipient's own will. It may seem natural to
suppose that revelations rise in rank in proportion to the
fullness of the engagement of the mental activity of the
recipient in their reception. But we should bear in mind
that the intellectual or spiritual quality of a revelation
is not derived from the recipient but from its Divine Giver.
The fundamental fact in all revelation is that it is from
God. This is what gives unity to the whole process of
revelation, given though it may be in divers portions and in
divers manners and distributed though it may be through the
ages in accordance with the mere will of God, or as it may
have suited His developing purpose--this and its unitary
end, which is ever the building up of the kingdom of God. In
whatever diversity of forms, by means of whatever variety of
modes, in whatever distinguishable stages it is given, it is
ever the revelation of the One God, and it is ever the one
consistently developing redemptive revelation of God...
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the last book of the New Testament. It is often called the
Apocalypse, which is its title in Greek, signifying
"Revelation,"
1. Canonical authority and authorship. --The inquiry
as to the canonical authority of the Revelation resolves
itself into a question of authorship. Was St. John the
apostle and evangelist the writer of the Revelation? The
evidence adduced in support of his being the author consists
of (1) the assertions of the author and (2) historical
tradition. (1) The author's description of himself in the
1st and 22d chapters is certainly equivalent to an assertion
that he is the apostle. He names himself simply John,
without prefix or addition. is also described as a servant
of Christ, one who had borne testimony as an eye-witness of
the word of God and of the testimony of Christ. He is in
Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus
Christ. He is also a fellow sufferer with those whom he
addresses, and the authorized channel of the most direct and
important communication that was ever made to the Seven
Churches of Asia, of which churches John the apostle was at
that time the spiritual governor and teacher. Lastly, the
writer was a fellow servant of angels and a brother of
prophets. All these marks are found united in the apostle
John, and in him alone of all historical persons. (2) A long
series of writers testify to St. John's authorship: Justin
Martyr (cir. 150 A.D.), Eusebius, Irenaeus (A.D. 195),
Clement of Alexandria (about 200), Tertullian (207), Origen
(233). All the foregoing writers, testifying that the book
came from an apostle, believed that it was a part of Holy
Scripture. The book was admitted into the list of the Third
Council of Carthage, A.D. 397.
2. Time and place of writing. --The date of the
Revelation is given by the great majority of critics as A.D.
95-97. Irenaeus says: "It (i.e. the Revelation) was seen no
very long time ago, but almost in our own generation, at the
close of Domitian's reign. Eusebius also records that, in
the persecution under Domitian, John the apostle and
evangelist was banished to the Island Patmos for his
testimony of the divine word. There is no mention in any
writer of the first three centuries of any other time or
place, and the style in which the messages to the Seven
Churches are delivered rather suggests the notion that the
book was written in Patmos.
3. Interpretation. --Modern interpreters are
generally placed in three great divisions: (a) The
Historical or Continuous exposition, in whose opinion the
Revelation is a progressive history of the fortunes of the
Church from the first century to the end of time. (b) The
Praeterist expositors, who are of opinion that the
Revelation has been almost or altogether fulfilled in the
time which has passed since it was written; that it refers
principally to the triumph of Christianity over Judaism and
Paganism, signalized in the downfall of Jerusalem and of
Rome. (c) The Futurist expositors, whose views show a strong
reaction against some extravagances of the two preceding
schools. They believe that the whole book, excepting perhaps
the first three chapters, refers principally, if not
exclusively, to events which are yet-to come. Dr.Arnold in
his sermons "On the Interpretation of Prophecy" suggests
that we should bear in mind that predictions have a lower
historical sense as well as a higher spiritual sense; that
there may be one or more than one typical, imperfect,
historical fulfillment of the prophecy, in each of which the
higher spiritual fulfillment is shadowed forth more or less
distinctly.
Link: https://bible-history.com/smiths/R/Revel...
The Apocalypse, the closing book and the only prophetical
book
of the New Testament canon. The author of this book
was
undoubtedly John the apostle. His name occurs four
times in the
book itself (1:1, 4, 9; 22:8), and there is every
reason to
conclude that the "John" here mentioned was the
apostle. In a
manuscript of about the twelfth century he is called
"John the
divine," but no reason can be assigned for this
appellation.
The date of the writing of this book has generally
been fixed
at A.D. 96, in the reign of Domitian. There are
some, however,
who contend for an earlier date, A.D. 68 or 69, in
the reign of
Nero. Those who are in favour of the later date
appeal to the
testimony of the Christian father Irenaeus, who
received
information relative to this book from those who had
seen John
face to face. He says that the Apocalypse "was seen
no long time
ago."
As to the relation between this book and the Gospel
of John,
it has been well observed that "the leading ideas of
both are
the same. The one gives us in a magnificent vision,
the other in
a great historic drama, the supreme conflict between
good and
evil and its issue. In both Jesus Christ is the
central figure,
whose victory through defeat is the issue of the
conflict. In
both the Jewish dispensation is the preparation for
the gospel,
and the warfare and triumph of the Christ is
described in
language saturated with the Old Testament. The
difference of
date will go a long way toward explaining the
difference of
style." Plummer's Gospel of St. John, Introd.
Link: https://bible-history.com/eastons/R/Reve...
Authorship and authenticity. The writer calls himself John
(Revelation 1:1; Revelation 1:4; Revelation 1:9; Revelation
22:8). Justin Martyr (Dial. 308, A.D. 139-161) quotes it as
the apostle John's work, referring to the millennium and
general resurrection and judgment. Justin held his
controversy with the learned Jew Trypho at Ephesus, John's
residence 35 years previously; he says "the Revelation was
given to John, one of the twelve apostles of Christ."
Melito, bishop of Sardis (A.D. 171), one of the seven
churches whose angel was reproved (Revelation 3:1), is said
by Eusebius (H.E. iv. 26) to have written on the Revelation
of John. So, Theophilus of Antioch (A.D. 180) quoted from
the Revelation of John (Eusebius iv. 26), also Apollonius of
Asia Minor in the end of the second century. Irenaeus (A.D.
195), a hearer of Polycarp (John's disciple, probably the
angel of the Smyrnean church, Usher), quotes repeatedly
Revelation as the apostle John's writing (Haer. iv. 20,
section 11; 21, section 3; 30, section 4; 5:26, section 1;
30, section 3; 35, section 2).
In v. 30, section 1 he quotes the beast's number 666
(Revelation 13:18) as in all the old copies, and orally
confirmed to him by persons who had seen John, adding "we do
not hazard a confident theory as to Antichrist's name, for
if it had been necessary that his name should be proclaimed
openly at this present time it would have been declared by
him who saw the apocalyptic vision, for it was seen not long
ago, but almost in our generation, toward the end of
Domitian's reign." In writing "against heresies" ten years
after Polycarp's martyrdom he quotes Revelation 20 times as
inspired Scripture. These are testimonies of those
contemporary with John's immediate successors, and connected
with the region of the seven churches to which Revelation is
addressed. Tertullian of northern Africa (A.D. 220, Adv.
Marcion iii. 14, 24) quotes the apostle John's description
of the sword proceeding out of Christ's mouth (Revelation
19:15), and the heavenly city (Revelation 21). See also De
Resurr. 27; De Anima 8:9; De Praescr. Haeretic, 33...
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