The evil which has thus entered upon the world affects mankind, apparently as a wliole ; at least there is no sij_'n in the book that any can avoid its taint. And it therefore requires to be abolished : men need salvation. In this book there is but one means to this end : the blood of tlie Lamb. The first allusion to this is in the doxology immediately before the salutation, ry iyinrCivTi iffxas Kal Xuaai^i VM^J ^k tCjv afjLapriwv iv ti^ af/iar* avToO (1°). It appears again in the doxology to the Lamb (5", cf. 14''). The hundred and forty and four thousand are said to have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of tlie Lamb (7", cf. 22") : it is by means of it that they win victorj' over the Beast (1'-"). A reference to it is made when He who is called the Word of God goes forth with His garments sprinkled with blood (19"). Nothinj; is said as to the way in which this saoritice is a|iplied : the fact of it is a.sserted.
Those who are thus redeemed are made by Christ into a kingdom, priests unto God and His Father (1* 5'°) ; tliat is, they are a society of men ruled over by God as King. They are sealed in their foreheads (7'). They come from the twelve tribes, but not from these alone : ' I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, that no man could number, from every nation, and tribe, and people, and tongue, standing before the throne, and before the Ijirab' (7*; cf. 14"). Moreover, the whole creation has a part in the scheme of God, and responds with a doxology to the Lamb (5") : the ' eternal Gospel ' is hiused on the fact of Crea- tion (14"), 'I saw another angel flying in mid- heaven, having an eternal gospel lo preach to those that sit uiK)n the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, am! tongue, and people, saj'ing in a loud voice, Kear tJod, and give him glory ; because the hour of his judgment has come : and worshi]) him that made heaven, and earth, and the sun, and the springs of waters.'
In the meantime, before the end comes, the ideal
of the Church is not attained. There is sin and heresy in the seven Churches. There are false apostles (2-), false Jews (2"), the teaching ot Balaam (2"), a false prophetess (2-'*'), impurity (S*), lukc«armness (3">). The devil has power to per- secute, so that the men in the earth may be tested (2'" 3'»). Those who are slain cry out beneath the altar. How long! (6'°) but others, their fellow-servants and brethren, will have to bo slain as they. This fate must befall especially the two witnesses, who prophesy against the lieast (IP"'). So for all this time emjilia-sis is laid upon the qualities of endurance and faithfulness (cf. 3'" 2'" 13'"). The cowardly, the unfaithful, those who murder, and lie, and are idolaters or impure (21* 22'^), have no part in the heavenly kingdom. Even a Church, that is already in existence, may lose its place : ' if not, I come to thee, and will remove thy candlestick from its place, if thou repent not ' (2=).
In the eyes of God and of the seer the time of waiting is very short. ' Behold, I come as a tliief ' (10" 22-"). And when the time does come the harvest of the world will be reaped (14'°), and the vintage gathered (14'"), and the evil will be finally separated from the good. Then comes the con- summation. There will be the new heaven and new earth ; the sea — symbolizing probablj' rest- lessness, and division and liarrennese — will be no more. And the new Jerusalem, founded on the twelve ajiostles of the Lamb (21'''), will appear. In this the redeemed will dwell for ever (22^) in per- fect freedom and happiness. The actual presence of God and the LamI) will make a temple tor wor- sliip unnecessary ; the servants of (!od shall see His face. Thus the purpose for which man is created is fulfilled.
It is not, perhaps, fanciful to see a symbol of this perfect communion in the fact that it is after the renewal of the heaven and earth, that He that sitteth on the throne is said to speak (21°). Before, voices came from the throne and from the temple, but none from the Supreme. Now at last, when all is fulfilled, He .speaks.
It is manifestly impossible to exhaust within reasonable limits the meaning of this inexhaust- ible book. An attempt has been made to indicate the outlines of the theology assumed in it. It must be obvious by this time how closely the thought of the Apocalypse is connected with that of the Gospel and hpi.stles. Perhaps the most noticeable i)oints of dillerence are the compara- tively small place occupied in the Apocalypse l)y the doctrine of the Spirit, and the emphasis laiil in this book upon the catastrophe of the judgment. It cannot, however, be said that these are very significant. I''or, first, the doctrine of the Spirit is similar in character to that in the Gospel so far as it goes ; and, secondly, the judgment expresses in its final form a warfare which continues through- out the history of the world.