APOCALYPSE
APOCALYPSE
79
The following examples may be given of the teaching of the Apocalypse on detiuite articles of the Christian creed. (1) The Messiah is the historical Person of the seed of David, who was crucified at Jemsalem (5* 11^). — (2) Grace and peace come from Him equally with Him who ' is and was and is to come' and with the 'seven spirits which are before the throne' (manifest apocalyptic equivalents for the Father and the Spirit). He is the ' faithful witness,' the ' First- begotten of the dead, the Prince of the kings of theeartli' (!"• 7").— (3) The 'revelation' contained in the book is not only mediated by Jesus Christ, it is the revelation of Him (1^). The prophets are those who have the ' testimony of Jesus,' and the latter is the 'spirit of prophecy' (19^°). The prophet is a feUow-servant and companion of all faithful believers in Jesus. For they also have the testimony. They are made OTophets as well as priests and kings (P- ^). — (4) Tne fundamental work of the Messiah is the redemptive self-sacrifice. No doubt the 'Lamb' is a leader and a warrior, whom His servants follow. His 'Avrath' is the destruction of His enemies. Yet even in the glory of His power 'in the midst of the throne' He remains for the Christian seer a ' Lamb as it had been slain,' and the innumerable multitude of the glorified faithful in heaven are those whose robes have been 'made white in the blood of the Lamb.' The motive of service even in heaven is the gratitude of those who have been forgivea aju^ cleansed (14^-* 19^^^- 7*^*)- Agreeably with this, the fundamental virtues of the saints are ' patience and faith ' ; though, as there is a ' wrath of the Lamb,' so there is a certain fierceness in the confiicts and triumphs of the saints. Those who find fault with the vindictiveness of the Apocalypse should make allowance for the dramatic style of tlie book and should not forget that at bottom the battle between the saints and their oppressors is a battle between patience and violence (18^ 139'- I41-).
(5) The conception of Christian duty and bliss, similarly, is profoundly ethical and spiritual. The saints must show no half-hearted timidity in resisting the order that is supreme in the world. The resistance is to be maintained in the sense in which maintenance is victory. The promise is to ' him that overcometh,' and no sacrifice is too great (2'° 2P^). The reward of this holy sacrificial attitude of the will is complete union with Christ, and participation in all the privileges of sonship. The sun that lightens the city of pearls and makes its splendours real is none other than God Himself and the Lamb. Its bliss is the life of its citizens (7i5ff. i97ff. 223ff'), The guests at the marriage- supper of the Lamb do not wear jewellery. They wear the ' croAvn of life,' and the ' fine linen of the righteousness of the saints' (2^° 19^). In reference to the fidelity of the servants of God, the emphasis laid on worship is noticeable. It is not accidental. It is due to the twofold fact that the book reflects a situation in which liberty of worship was denied, and that worship in spirit and in truth is the loftiest expression of the soul's loyalty. The emphasis is negative as well as positive. Twice over, the seer is warned not to worship him that showed him these things. The worship of angels was a heresy not unknown in the Asiatic Churches. Perhaps ' John ' felt that the elaboration of the conception of angelic agency and mediation, however inevitable in apocalyptic literature or even in the thoughts proper to true religion, had its dangers (19^" 22^; cf. Col
218ff.)^
(6) Finally, the spirit of gracious evangelism that finds expression in 22" deserves acknowledg- m^t. Evangelism is scarcely to be expected in
a book announcing finalities, and concerned so largely with the Judgment. 'John' does not believe that there is much more chance of repent- ance for the rank and file of those who nave yielded to the apostasy of his time than for the Beast and the False Prophet who have led it. There is not much chance, for there is not much time (F22i<'^-). Yet the last word of the hook- as from the Spirit (in, say, the prophet himself), as from the Church, already the ' Bride,' as from the chance hearer, and as from the Xameless who is above everj' name — is ' Come ' : ' whosoever wUl, let him take the water of life freely.' On all these points — and others might be named — the close touch of the Apocalypse with the teaching of the other books of the NT is obvious. III. The apocalyptic element in other
BOOKS OF THE NT AND IN CHRISTIANITY. — Though it is impossible to treat the subject here in detail, a word may be said in conclusion regard- ing what is commonly called the ' apocalyptic ele- ment' : (1) in the other books of the NT ; (2) in Christianity itself. We use the phrase 'apoca- lyptic element' with reserve, because it maj' well appear from our study of the Apocalypse tliat the whole of Christianity is an apocalj-pse or revela- tion whose containing sphere is the Person of Jesus Clirist (Col 2^-^). The view of the NT and of the early Fathers (see Didache, 11) regarding the Christian prophets is that expressed by St. Paul (1 Co 1228, Eph 4'i), viz. that they are next in rank to the apostles. Yet what distinguished the apostles from the prophets was accidental. The apostles were received as witnesses of Jesus at first hand, men who had 'seen the Lord' (1 Co 9^). They moved from place to place, and founded churches. In the sub-apostolic Church these functions probably passed over largely to the prophets, who in any case were one with the apostles in the essential qualification of having received their commission not from man but from God and who spoke and acted by dTro/cdXi^i/'ts (Ac 4^* 20--'- 21io«-, Gal P 2-). The expression • apocalyptic element' indicates phrases, sentences, or longer passages in the apocalyptic style occurring in writ- ings that do not on the whole bear the literary character of apocalypses. It is obvious even at a superficial glance that, so understood, the apoca- lyptic element in the NT is considerable ; and when we remember that it includes phrases directly relating to the order that already exists in heaven or to the processes through which it will come to earth, we shall, perhaps, feel that apocalj-pse is a leaven rather than an ingredient in the NT. The life reflected in the NT is saturated with the super- natural.