The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

"O, my friends, let us beware how we neglect or despise a book upon which God
Almighty has laid so much stress, urgency and importance. If John had sealed it up, or
failed to lay it before us as it is, he would have forfeited his place and standing as an
Apostle of Christ; how, then, can we think our duty discharged, or the provisions of our
highest blessedness duly accepted and used, if we pass it by as a dead letter, or make it to
us as if it had never been?"
Mr. Barnes, although in his expositions inclined toward the Post-millennial theory, thus
very truthfully and forcefully expressed himself in 1851:
"Isaiah (8:16; 30:8) and Daniel (8:26; 12:4,9) were commanded to seal up their prophecies.
Their prophecies related to far-distant times, and the idea in their being commanded to
seal them was that they should make the record sure and unchangeable; that they should
finish it and lay it up for future ages; so that in far-distant times, the events might be
compared with the prophecy, and it might be seen that there was an exact correspondence
between the prophecy and the fulfillment. Their prophecies would not be immediately
demanded for the use of persecuted saints, but would pertain to future ages.
"On the other hand, the events which John had predicted, though in their ultimate
development they were to extend to the end of the world, and even into eternity, were
about to begin to be fulfilled, and were to be of immediate use in consoling a persecuted
Church. John, therefore, was directed not to seal up his predictions; not to lay them away
to be opened as it were in distant ages, but to leave them open so that a persecuted Church
might have access to them, and might in times of persecution and trial have the assurance
that the principles of their religion would finally triumph."
The expression "For the time is at hand," implies that they would soon commence, not that
they would soon be completed. The thought evidently is that as the scenes of persecution
had already commenced in St. John's day, and would continue to increase in severity, it
was very necessary that the saints should have these prophetic visions to comfort them,
and as they looked forward to the final outcome, the triumph of the Church, they would
be sustained and upheld in their trials.
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and
he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still."--
Rev. 22:11.
Whatever may be the correct interpretation of this language it would appear that the
words must be understood as closely associated with and related to the preceding
statement: "Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand."
Commentators in general have admitted that they have met with special difficulty in the
exposition of the language of verse 11. Most expositors separate these words from their
connection and apply them to a future time when the destinies of mankind will be forever
settled. Those who do this as a rule believe in the eternal, conscious existence of the
wicked in misery and torment. We believe, however, that the Scriptures when rightly