•Porter {op. oil. 183) asks whether the Apocalypse is 'a direct or a secondary product of that new inspiration ' [Chris- tian prophecy], and' he rejilies, rather disconcertingly: 'Our imprts-iion is that it is secondary.' No one has a better right to speak with authoi ily than Porter. But if the inspiration of the Apocalypse is secondary, what measure have we by which to judge of that which is primary?
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preached as it stands to his own contemporaries. Wlien it is remembered how apocalypses incom- parably inferior in spiritual quality to the Apoca- lypse were cherished by the early Church and even quoted as Scripture, it will not seem hazardous to assert that in the Apostolic Age the distinction between apocalj'pse and prophecy, which is marked in the pre-Christian period by the separation of Daniel in the Hebrew Canon from ' the Prophets,' has ceased to exist. Two things, unnaturally separated (througri the spirit of aj'tilice), have come together again. The prophet is the man who has a ' revelation,' and the man who has a ' revelation,' whether he speak it or write it, is a prophet. If our argument is sound, we may venture to say that once at least this ideal unity of apocalypse and prophecy has been realized. It is realized in the Apocalypse of John.
(c) The, hortntory and dogmatic teaching of the, Apocalypse. — The best proof of the soundness of the above argument lies in the abundance of hortatory and dogmatic material of permanent value to be found in the Apocalypse. 'John 'is, in a sense, the Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel of the NT. This is eminently true of the messages to the Seven Churches (chs. 2 and 3). Ramsay's Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia (Lond. 1904) probably exaggerates the extent to which the writer may have had in his mind facts of geography and history relating to the places mentioned ; but such a book — from the pen of an unrivalled authority on the antiquities of Asia Minor — could not have been written of the messages in chs. 2 and 3 of the Apocalypse did they not proceed from one who was thoroughly conversant with every- thing in the environment of the Churches of Asia which had a bearing on their spiritual condition. A writer who closes each message with the formula, 'he that hath ears, etc' (2'- "• "• -^ 3«- ^^- 2-; cf. Mt 13^-*', etc.), claims to stand to those whom he addresses in the relation of a speaking prophet to his hearers. Those who remember the function these chapters still serve in that best type of Christian oratory in which preaching is prophesy- ing, may justly feel that the onus probandi rests with tiiose who deny the claim. But the immedi- ately edifying elements of the Apocalypse are not confined to these chapters. The book is written, as it claims to be, in an atmosphere of worship.* The inspiration came to ' John ' on the day in which Christians remembered the Resurrection of the Lord. The book is a message from the Lord in heaven. Those who read and obey are blessed because the time of their deliverance is at hand. The sense of holy omnipotent power, not domin- ated by but manifested through suffering — for the power is redemptive — pervades the book. Its refrain is Glory to God and to the Lamb (P'-), and the note of the triumpliant thanksgiving of the faithful sounds, throughout, loudly behind the curtain of judgment that shrouds the wicked world (S-"-" 6«ff- T^-^ 8^^- \\^^«- 12'o-i2 139'- 141-7- 12'- 151-4 191-9.11-16 20^-6 21.22). The worship-element in the book is exquisitely beautiful as literature, but it was too vital to the spiritual situation to be intended as ornamental. The crucial element in the situation is the liberty of Avorship. His- tory has i^roved that the day of martyrs is emi-
* 110. The opinion of scholars is against the renderings : * I was, through the Spirit, in the Day of the Lord (or the Day of Judgrnent),' though this rendering cannot be said to be gram- matically impossible ; and though it has the advantage of attaching a good traditional meaning to 'Daj' of the Lord,' which would thus retain its OT sense (Is 212, Am 5-^), etc.), yet it is hardly likely that iv would be used both in the instrumental and the local sense in one short sentence ; and the analogy of 173f. 2110 suggests that, had the author intended this meaning, he would have used a verb of transference (' I was carried by the Spirit tn, etc.')- The ' Day of the Lord' is, therefore, the Christian Sabbath, the day of worship.
nently the day when this liberty is denied or ignored.
The ethical teaching of the book is perhaps best seen in such passages as 6^-'' IS*-'" H^'-'^ 20"^-. The essential virtues of the saints are patience and courage. The weapon of force is not permitted to them (13'" ; cf. Mt 2652), but patience and faith prevail. On the other hand, patience is not mere passivity. The command to worship the Beast must be courageously disobeyed. Compliance is fatal. First among those who have their part in the ' second death ' are ' the fearful ' (2P). 'The vital connexion of this teaching with the situation is obvious. Not less but even more obvious is its connexion with the dogmatic teaching of the book. As we have seen, the Apocalypse must be con- sidered, so far as the Apostolic K^^ is concerned, a thing of Jewish origin and growth.* There are, indeed, few direct quotations from the OT in the Apocalypse ; but there are more OT reminiscences in it than in almost any other book of the NT.f This, no doubt, is due largely to the comparatively stereotyped character of the apocalyptic imagery. But, in view of the emphasis — in some cases excessive — which many scholars have laid on the Jewish character of the Apocalypse, a word seems necessary on the question of how far the distinc- tive Christian belief that Jesus is the Messiah has modified the type of teaching peculiar to a Jewisn apocalyptic book.