The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 17

repentanee. obedfenoe, eteadfaetnesa, and Col088t8, Hierapolia. Tralles, Magneeia. prayer that must be kept by both reader Miletua. The repeated formula, " He that and liearera in order to bring a· ble11Bing. hu.th an ear, let him hear what the Spirit And if the words are to be kept, they can aa.ith to the Ohurohee," proYes that the be underet.ood. We have no right to set praise and blame distributed. among the aside the Revelation 88 an insoluble puzzle aeven are of univereal appliootion. Asia (comp. Luke n. 28, when, however, we means the !Roman proconsular province of have 4>.,;,..J.,r,m,,, not .,.,,pEw), The time is at Asia, lo& the waitern part of Asia Minor band. The appointed time, the - n fore- (comp. 1 Oor. xvi. 19). . Grace be qnto you, ordained of God (ira:,pds, not x,,&11or), is near. and peace. This combination oooure in Uie We may ask, with F. D. Maurice, "Did not ealutu.tiona of St. Peter and St. Paul Ii, \he original writer nee words in theu llimple, unites Greek and Hebrew element.a, and natmal sense? If he told the hearen and gives both a Christian fulne11B of meaning. readere of his day that t1&e time was at haR<I, J'rom him whioll ia. Why should not we be did he not mean them to understand that it as bold as St. John, and disregard grammar t11111 at band?" No doubt. But I.hat does for the sake of keeping the Divine Nam& not. preclude us from interpreting the in- intact? St. John Wl'ites, dd 6 &r, 1t.'I'.>.., spireil words u referring, not only to events not cln -roil 3rror, ,._.,._,.__ "11 in Exod. iii. H near St. John's time, but also to other events the words may run, 'I All bath sent me unto of which they were the foretastes and ffgmea. you,' may we not also be allowed to read To us the meaning is that the type of the here, 'from BB THAT Ill, AND TDA.T wAS, AND end has been foretold and has oome, and the 'l'W.T u ro OOJH' ? " (Lightfoot, • On Re- end itself, which has been equally foretold, vision,' p. 133). Not.a the 6 i11 to represent must be watched for in all seriowm.esa. the nominative of the put participle of •lYcu. which does not exist, and with tha whole Vera. 4-8.-'l'M llddme and greeting. expression compare "The same yesterday, Of this seetion only vers. (---6 are, strictly and to-day,andforever"(Heb. xiii.8). IIere 11p0&king, the salutation; vers. 7, 8 consti- every eJause applree t.o the Father, not one tute a kind of summary, or prelude-ver. 7 to each Person; the three Persons are marked by the three prepositiolll!, "from being more closely connected with what pre- ••• and from. , . and from." It is a mis- cedes, ver. 8 with what follows. The salu- take t.o interpret d 4px4,.wa, either of the tation proper (vers. 4-6) should be compared mission of the Comforter or of the aeoond with the aalutatiODS in St. Paul's Epistles. advent. The nven Spirits. Tue HolJ Spirit, sevenfold in his operations (eh. v. Ver. 4.-.John. Evidently some well- 6). They are before his throne, ever read7 known John, otherwise_ some d68ignation for a mission from him (comp. eh. vii. 15). wonld be necessary. Would any but the The number seveu once more svmbolizea apolltle have thus writt.en to the Church68 llniversality, pleuiLude, and perfootion; that of Asia.? St. Paul had some need to insist unity amidst variety which marks the work upon his being an apoatle; St. John had of the Spirit and the sphere of it, the Church. none. To Che HVen Chll.l'Ghel. From the Ver. 5.-The faithful Witnea. This wu earliest times it has been pointed out that his function-" to bear witnesa unto the tile number seven hem is not en.et, but truth" (John xviii. 37). The rainbow ia symbolical; it does exclude other Ohuroh011, called "the faithful witness" (P11.. lxxxix. but symbolizes all. Thus the Muratorian 37). The J'ir~bom of the dead. Christ wu Fragment: "John in the Apocalypse, though the first who was born to eternal life aftn he wrot.e to the seven Churches, yet speak& the death which euds this life (see Ligh~ to all." Augustine: "By the seven is-signi- foot on Col i. 15, 18 ; and eomp. Pa. lxnix. fied the perfection of the universal Church, 27). " The ruler of this world" ofl'erecl anii by writing t.o seven he shows the fulpesa. Jesna the glory of the kingdoms of the of the one." So also Bede: "'l'hrough these world. if he would worship him. He won 110ven Churches he writes to11very Church; a higher glory by dying to conquer him, for by the number seven is denoted univer-- and thus the erucified Peasant heeame the au.Uty, BB the whole period of the world re- Lord of Roman emperors, '' the Ruler of Lhe \'olves on seven days;" and he points out kings of the earth." The grammar of this that St, Paul also wrote to seven Churches. verse is irregular; " the faithful Witu61!8," Compa.re the seven pillars of the house of etc., in the nominative being in apposition wisdom (Prov. ix. l), the seven dee.cons with" Jesus Christ" in the genitive (oomp. (Acts vi. 3), the seven gifts of the Spirit. oh. ii. 20; iii 12; ix. H ; xiv. 12). Unto 1.'he number seven appeu.re repeatedly in him that loved us. The true reading gins the Apooal.Y.P86; and that it is arbitrary and "that rotl8lh us" unceasingly. The supr1>me , ey:m.bo)ioaJ. 18 shown by the fact that there act of dying for us diil not exhaust his fove. A were. ~r Ohurohee. besides these aeven.,- In what follows it is dillicult to decide be-  THE R.EVELATION OF S'l'. JOHN THE DMNE. [an. t. 1-20.