The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 23

application is never exhausted, but merely receive& additional ill11Stratlons as time rolls on." Hengstenberg's rema.rks are worthy of being remembered: 1 " That the Chrii,tian may remain stea.dfast and fearless where he is, even though it should be in the midst of a falling world, thil! book is fitted to render for such a purpose a most important service. It has thus proved a blessing even to many who have very imperfectly under- stood it. For it is wonderful how "the edifying power that resides in the book forces its way even through the most imperfect understanding of its contents, if .only the soul that applies to it is hungry and thirsty, weary and heavy-laden, if it only stands in living faith on the Divinity of Scripture and the glorious consummation of the kingdom of Clirist." In full acoord with the convietioDll of the value of the Apoealypsej thus admirably expressed by the great evangelical German divine, do we now commence for homiletic purposes to unfold it.a plan. Our first sketch must needs be like the first three verses-introductory. Introductory, however, though the verses are, they are amazingly full of holy a.nd blessed teaching. We have here- I. THE NAME GIVEN TO THE BOOK. "The Revelation (c\,roQA6'!,1YI)" (ver.1). At tbe forefront of the book''this is its avowal. It declares itself to be nothing less than the disclosure of what was behind a veil, and so invisible to morlal eight, until the veil was drawn aside and unseen things were thereby disclosed. That there are other realms than our globe, peopled with moral and spiritual beings, is again and again declared in Scripture; that there are mysterious forces of good and of evil in the distant places of creation is also told us. That there is many a contest over man in ,these far-off realms; that there is a Divine Being who watches over the conflict, and who will "bring forth judgment unto victory;" that the theatre on which the issue is to be fought out is this globe; and that at the consummation the direst enemies of the world and ef man will be put to an utter shame;-all this could no phiw&<Yphy forecast, nor any science teach ; all this lies behind an impenetrable veiL If we are to know these things, they must be revealed to us, and this can be done only by our God l Note: As this is declared at the out.set concerning tbis book, as such it mwt be regarded; until its claims be disproved, tbey'should be reverently accepted. II. THE METHOD OF TH_E REVELATION. The several ,1;tepa are shown ue--the terminus a <j'I/,() and the terminus ad que-m. We have: 1. Its origin. " God n-=God the Father. If God be the Father of all men, that he should let them know some- thing about himself is most reasonable. To suppose that he cannot, is to suppose that a father would build a house for his children, of such a kind that they could never find out where their father wa.s ! 2. Its channel. "Jesus Christ." God gave it to him. He is the. Medium, the :Mediator between God and man; and the clearest dis- closures of God and his purposes come to 118 through the everlasting Son. 3. Its agm-u. (1) "He sent ••• by his an!);el." Angelic ministry is one of the steps by which the revelation is brought to us. The existence and ministry of angels are very clearly shown to us. (2) "To his servant John." The beloved apostle, in his old ag13 and exile. received tbe revelation froin angelic hands. 4. Its flWIU, " He signified it." The word means "to signify by symbols." 5. For whom I " To show unto his servants," etc. The Word of God is committed as a trust to those who love and serve him. The faith was "once [for all] delivered to the saints." Why to these? (cf. Matt. xill. 10, 11). Note: Here in outline is a wondrous sketch of how God reveals hie truth. Ill THE CONTENTS OF Tm: REVKLATJOl!l.a 1. Events. "Things w\rloh must shortly 1 Hengstenberg on • The Revelation,' vol. ii. p. 285. 1 See Grimm's 'New 'festament Lexicon• on this word (Dr. Thayer"■ edit., 1888). • The student will find the following writers and works on the Apooalypae worthy of hia attention 1·Alford, Bengel, Barnes, Doddridge, Godwin, Tregelle~ Porter, Maurice, Lowman, Stuart, Fairbairn, Trench, Robinson, Stier: Dr. Lee's Commentary; article on • Revelation,' in Schafrs 'Herzog;' Elliott's 'Horsa Apooalypticm;' Grattan Guinness on• The Approach. iug End of the Age;' also his' Light for the Last Days;' and 'Roma.uism and the Reforma- tion ;' Dean Vaughan on the 'Revelation;' Commentary by Rev. &muel G&n'll.tt, Anberlen oo •Daniel -and' the Revelation;' Gerhardt's • Doctrine of the Apocalypse;• Archdeaeon i ' ~ s • Early (,~ys of Christianity;• and Rev. E. Storrow's work, 'The Millennium: a Spmt~l Reign of Christ,' 1886; also Dr. Boyd Carpenter's • Exposition of the Revelation;• 1.0 article on the Apocalyptic "beast," by Rev. F.' B. 'Proctor, in the Oletwrimnla Maga- •me. Ootober, 1887; 'The Revelation of St. John,' b7 Dr. Milligan, 2nd edit; 188T; 10 THE REVELATION OF BT. JOHN THE DIVINE. [cm. L 1-20.