The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 169

HOMILETICS. Vers.1-17.-Sia: Na1' opened. The grmad-thou,gkt of this book ls •e-The .Lord is c-0ming.•· Concemfog this Professor Godet remarks, "L'histoire du monde dans son eijsence se 1'sume dans ces trois mots : Il vient; il est venu ; il revient. C'est .11ur cette idoo que repose le plan du drame apocalyptique.• 1 Even the prophecies of the 1 • &.ai aur I' Apocalypse : lttudes Dibliquest' deUWDe eerie, p. 291. 1~ 'l'lIE REVELATION OF S~. JOHN 'J;'~ DIVIN'J~. [CH. VJ.).-li. 014- Teatament, which qea\t ao largely with the fil'l!t :coming, shot far ahead and reached ev~ to the second, e.g. Joel. Our Lord himself is very clear on thls topic (Matt. xxiv. and. :,;xv.). Bo alao ·are Paul, l"eter, and John. Nor should we think of our Lord's 8800nd coming aa if it were merely a far-distant something with whieh we are as yes nneoncemect We: are told that• star touohee star by meani' of an ethereal in visible medium which joins them. Even so the first and second comings of our Lord touc1 «Jell otMr by means of the events now going op., whose train began from the one and will reach to the o~her. · Not a moment is lost in the interval. Dlll'ing these N>parently _mow)in_gering cep.turies, in which day follows day with unbrol!:eh ·regularity, one daJ ~ rnuch 'liJ,.e· another that comparatively few leave any. distinct impression OD the Jllind, not a moment.is there but some work is. being done to prepare.for our Lord's retuni.. He.is now· on his way, and at the .appointed time •~he that shall come :wfll come, and will not tarry." The plan of thiil book gives us (1) the point uf departure, (2) the :linsl oohsummation, (3) a symbolic setting of the events which ,will fill up the space between the two termini; •in which we have "l'~popee de la :lutte. •ugreme entre Dien et Satan, pour la•poSBeSsion de l'hlirnanite.eomme prix du combat. · In this chapter we. have set before us In marvellous vividness six features by whtch · the way is to be marked which leads to the consummation. These we wiU take .in· order, not omitting ·to press home their teachings for the conscience and thll bes.rt. . . - . . . L aLREADT OUR LoRD H.lTH GONE VORTII OONQUERING AND .TO Cl()NQUER, {Veil, 1,,.2.). Doe.of the fouri living on!);) says, ''Come." It .is a call.to the apostle, opt a; 1'8pl'llB8lltalloo of the Church's cry to• her Lord.1 . The apostle responds. He sees .under .t.he fu:at seal emblems which point plainly and di&tinctly to the Lord Jesus. 'l'be white horse (of. eh, xix. 11-13). The bow (of. Ps. xiv. 3-5). The crown (eh. xiv. 14); symbol of oon7;uest and might. 'l'he errand on which he goes forth, "con- quering and to conquer; conquering as he goes, as a matter of fact; speeding on, tha~ he may conquer &till · Certa:inly the mission of our Lord is the, only one which can be thus described. He is to know nothing but success. His progress may seem to be r~tarded, as we judge of things, but it never is so aceording to. the• Pirine conception. We may not be in a pqsition to t ~ continuous advance.· But we know who it is tb,at has gone forth;, we belie:ve in his Iajght, hia wi&iom, his love. He has never yet Jost~ hour, and neyer will. - , . · , JL )Lu.iuroLD FOl!.CBS, I N O ~ Am> AGENCIES ARB ALSO AT WOBB: UPOJI '1'ml BARTH. 'l'he,first seal certainly indicates triumph;.the second, 1ll!Sr (vers. 3 4); the 1 third, /amine (vers. 5, 6); the fourth, death, whether by sword, famine, i,estiltnce, or wild beuta(ven. 7, 8);,thll :fifth, ·marty,-dom (vers, 9-11); the sixth, coninds.ioni, tenible' and ,appalling, of vario1is kintls. Now, what do th~ sypibola:--triumph, Wilr, .famine, pest~ence, marty'rd6m, convulsion-:~? Sgme ~• The ~g!ng phases or the Chlll'Ch itself; the Jll0We88 of the Chnstt11,11 power going forth 10 tnumph; ilien 4legerie~y. corruption, and controversy creeping i11; then darkness.ignorance, ~d a famine of the Word; then thiu:iestilentiafmysterj of iniquity; then martyrdoJ11; then. ~. or . t upheavings and mighty tribu.1-tionkpreparing ,the way the Lord. othera ~ them.as indicating a state of.things which had occurred before John's exile--tne triumph and peace of .the Augustan era; war under Caligula; famine under Claudius; pest.ilence following OD famine; martyrdom under Ner.o; the CQnvulsive breaking up of th1rJewiflh state and polity,' Certain it is that befon John's exile these six or seven features followed each other, and elmi:lly in this order. Whence some may conclude that tkal must have been the intent of the symbols. · But,. singularly enough, 1nve begin '11th Jbhn'1 exile~ it is the fact that in the Roman empire., hastening to its fall, these varied phasea---triumph, war, famine,· pestilence, martyrdom, convulsion-.:Slso ·succeeded each other in thi, 1Jef'1J order, so much so that if any one had desired to write from the history of the changing fortunes .of that empire an illustrative commentary on this cfo1pter, he could scarcely have used more :fitting phraseology than Gibbon has domt in his 11.istory of its decline and fall. Yet we are sure that he, at 'any rate, had no intention of being a Scripture expositor. We learn from him that th~ was an era of great prosperity i11· the Roman empire .from the year 96. 'l'his WIIB followed by a long · • Seo on one side; Dean Alford ; · on the other, Arehdeaoon Lee i a third Yiew ill mggested n Diehop Qi.rpeater'&-Oommeniary, mloo. . OJI, VI. 1-17.] THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 193