The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 48

IIL .As A STUDY. The "revelation" is given, the" record" is l!lllde, and now comes study. "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy; and keep those things which are written therein" (ver. 3). Observe: 1. That historic event. an, of moral signijicanre. There is a Divine meaning in everything that is either produced or permitted by the All-wise and the All-good, 'l'here is not a circumstance that transpires in our individual life that does not say to us, "'l'hus saith the Lord." 2. That the moral significance involves a Divine law. Apart from its element to excite feeling, rouse the imagination, and stimulate speculative thought, it contains law. Hence it is not only said here, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words," but they that " keep those things that are written therein." 'l'he moral lessons which historic events teach are Divine laws, and come on the subject of them with binding force. 3. That in practical obedience to this Divine law therB i& true happinus. "Blessed is he." "We then," says an able expositor," as living actors in the world, have not only to read and hear, but to keep--keep in mind and action those principles which preside over the development of all human history." " Be ye doers of the iVord, and not hearers only." "Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it." He, and he only, who incarnates the great moral principles of history brings sunshine and music into hi>! souL-D. T. Vera. 4, 5 (first part.);-Man divinely dignified. "John to I.he seven Church~s which are in Asia: Grace be unto you," etc. 'l'hese words lead us t•) look on man as divinely dignified. Morally, men are degraded creatures; they have degraded them- selves and they degrade one another. Man may and should honour his brother, but lte cannot dignify him ; if he is to be dignified at all he must dignify himself, and this he can only do as God wills and helps him. In these words he appears as divinely dignified in two respects. I. MAN 18 DIVINJ!:LY DIGNll!'IED AS A. REPRESENTATIVE OF THE Drvnm. John is here employed to represent Divine things "to the seven Churches which are in Asia" (ver, 4). 'l'he men who are employed by worldly kings-though they may be in a moral sense contemptible beings-esteem it a great honour to be their representatives in foreign courts. But how infinite the honour of him who is employed by the King "eternal, immortal, invisible" I 1. He represents Divine goor.l. "Grace be unto you, and peace." Divine favour and Divine bliss, the sum total these of the highest good in all worlds and times. 2. He repres~nts the Divine Being. He represents him: (1) In his absolute existence. "From him which is, and which was, and which is to come" (ver. 4). 'l'his is a periphrasis for the incommunicable name of Jehovah, the "I AM," the Uunamable and the Nameless, who is without beginning, without change, without succession, without end. Such a Being eidsts, and all men instinctively feel after him and forge for him namt>s of great variety, but none appropriate-the Unknown and the Unknowable. (2) In his spiritual influence. "From the seven Spirits which are before his throne" (ver. 4). Does the seven mean the totality, or variety in unity, the one essence multiform iu influence? The One Eternal wields endless influences through every patt of his universe-material, intellectual, and moral. The well has many streams, the sun unnumbered beams. (3) In his transcendent Messiah. ~• And from J(,'S\1S Christ "-Christ the Anointed, the Messiah of God. This 'divinely anointed One ill here set forth in three as1,ects. (a) In relation to truth. " Wl10 is the Faithful Witness." What is truth? Reality. Christ came to bear witness of the reality of realities. As a Witness of God, Christ was a competent Witness. He was intellectually competent. He knew God. "No man hath seen God at any time; the Only Begotten of the Father," he alone knew the Absolute. He was moraUy competent. He had no motive to misrepresent him. He alone had the moral qualifications fully to repre-- sent him, You mu~t be pure to represent- purity, just to represent justice, loving to represent love. (b) In relation to immortality. The" First Begotten of the dead" ( ver. 5). How was he the First Begotten of the dead; for did not Lazarus rise from the grave? Not in time, but in importance. He arose by his own power. No one else ever did. He arose as the Representative of risen saints, "Our vile body shall be fashioned and made like unto his glorious body." (c) In relation to empire. "The Prinoe of the kings of the earth." All power is given unto him. "He hi exalted far above all heavens." Thrones. principalities, dominions, all arc subject to him. cm. L. 1-20.] THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 41