254 REVELATION, BOOK OF
REVELATION, BOOK OF
(3) Form of insjnration. — The same freedom and disregard of formal consistency is evident in the representation of the way in which the seer re- ceived his revelations. There is no set way, no fixed medium.
The fli-st verses seem explicit, yet leave us uncertain whether we are to conceive of the writer as reeei\ing: Christ's revelation throu(;h angel (!') or by vision ('all the things that he saw,' l*'^, cf. l^^}. The letters are given by Ciirist in the first person. Yet they are introduced by a description of Christ in the third person, and the expression ' hear what the spirit saith to the Churches ' sug-gesta that the letters are dictated to John by an angel-spirit in the name of Christ. The voice which John hears at first (l>*"") must be the voice of Christ Himself (cf. 1'^). The Bame voice summons John into the open heaven (4')- He is there ' in the spirit' (4^, as in V^). Hut it does not appear to be Christ Himself who shows him what is to come. Christ appears as an actor in the drama of the future, not as the seer's inteqtreter. Not till ltJi& is His voice heard again, and then not till 22' (V). In 1"! one of the seven angels of the bowls summons John and carries him away in the spirit into a wilderness to see the judgment upon Rome. This is the sort of angel guidance that 1^ would lead us to expect, but which we look for thus far in vain. This angel fulfils his function as interpreter (177-18); but then we hear another angel announcing Babylon's fall (181-3) ; another voice from heaven pronouncing the prophetic denuncia- tion over her (IS*-^"); and still another angel predicting the fall by deed and word (1821-2^). Then are heard various voices from heaven (19i-«); and only then, in I99l0(*and he says to me'), does the original angel-guide speak again. He then rejects John's impulse to worship him (cf. Asc. Isaiah 721 s*-^) with the words, ' I am a fellow-servant of thee and thy brothers who have the testimony of Jesus ; worship God : for the testi- mony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy ' (19li). The last clause is often struck out as a gloss by critics (Bousset, Hilgen- feld, etc.), but this is venturesome. *The spirit of prophecy' should mean the spirit from God which inspires the prophet; that is, in this case, the angel himself (cf. 226). So he would say, ' I am only one of you who have the testimony of Jesus ; indeed this testimony constitutes my verj' being.' The angel-spirit of prophecy is simply the personified testimony of Jesus, the word of Jesus Himself. As a messenger this angel is on an equality with John, — because his message is wholly and simply the message of Christ. There follow visions of the first and of the final judgments (19ii-20i^), and an introductory (summary) vision of the consummation (21l-^), in which are heard the words of God Himself (\'v.8-8); and then 'one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls' (not the same one as before?) carried John in the spirit to a mountain to see the new Jeru- salem. It is this angel who measured the city and showed John the details of the vision (21i5-i7 22'), so that when 22^ begins •and he said to me,' it can be only the angel that speaks (one of the 'spirits of the prophets'); but in v.7 his words become Christ's words, 'behold, 1 come quickly.' No wonder John would again worship him, but again he classes himself with the prophets. As a person he is only a revealer, a voice; but his words are those of Christ. So when he speaks again (2210H.) his words ajiain become Christ's words (vv.I'-ff). Now it is to be observed that the seven angels of the bowls (ch. 15), two CO of whom are the imparters of these last prophecies of the book, naturally lead us back to ' the seven angels which stand before God,' to whom the trumpets are given (82), and these again to the seven lamps burning before the throne, which are the seven Bjtirits of Goa (4*), from whom (H), as from God and Christ, John's message comes. When now Christ is described as 'he that hath the seven spirits of God ' (31), and is pictured as the Lamb with seven eyes ' which are the seven spints of God sent forth into all the earth' (56), we have certainly significant indications of what the WTiter meant hy calling bis book an •apocal>^»se of Jesus Christ,' and of his idea of the inspiration of a Christian prophet. Angels, however realistically described, are hardly more than a means of expressing the fact that the writer was somehow consrious of having a message from Christ for the Churches. Any further Interpretation of his consciovis- ness must he deferred until we have studied the sources and relationships of his materials.
Any set and consistent form of representing his experiences, however, the author seems purposely to avoid. Apart from 17iff. 2iy*^- we have no indication of a special interpretmg angel, taking the part of Gabriel in the Bk. of Daniel. The speakers in the book are verj' many. The underlying faith in the king- ship of God and of Christ, and its ultimate triumph, are expressed in heavenly choruses, led by the twenty-four elders and the four cherubim, but joined in by multitudes of angels and of glorified men (4a-li 591* 79-12 nl*-"* 1210 142.3 152.4 191-7 (S). One of the elders instructs John in 5^ and Tl*^!"?. Often it is simply 'a voice from heaven' that he hear8(10*-8 1413 I8* 218, cf. Wi\ or from the horns of the altar (9i-'f-)i or from the altar itself (16^. He records woMs of God, 18 I? ?) 215-8 \Qn (?) ; of Christ, 1" l» »> 2. 3. ini5 227- I2flr. ; of the spirit, 14»3 2217. There are beatitudes uttered by Christ (16i» 22' H), by a voice from heaven (14>3), by the angel-guide (19'-*), by John (l^). Sometimes he seems to interrupt the storj- of what he had seen with a direct word of his own to the reader (27» etc. 13^ 10 1318 1412, cf. 179?). Among the other voices that are heard are those of the souls of martyrs (610): of various angels undefined (7* 14«- 8.»- 16. 13 1917 etc.) ; of Hhe angel of the waters' (Iti^f); an eagle (&13); the ro<l QW). At the beginning and at the end the book is declared to be from Gbriflt Himself, His testimony (li- 9 221^ The part which the