An Exposition of Revelation .pdf

They had probably adopted it from R. Stephens' fourth edition of 1561; for he had given the right
word — να ῳ — in his three previous issues of 1546, 1549, and 1550. Who had misled Stephens at
last? Not Beza, as far as I know; for after giving να ῳ rightly in his first edition of 1559, he printed
λα ῳ in 1565 and in 1582, but corrected himself in 1588 and in 1598. It was probably a misprint, but it
influenced not a few because of his reputation as a scholar and a divine. He makes no comment either
when he went wrong or when he got right. But the misreading spread beyond Stephens, Beza, or the
Elzevirs.
As to the application of the prophecy, it may be well to say here that I do not doubt God
intended to help His children by what is generally called the Protestant interpretation, but taking the
Trumpets as following the Seals, not as concurrent which appears to me nothing but confusion. Yet
the scheme fails when it is made complete and exclusive. I cannot but admire the wisdom and
goodness of God in granting a vague reference to that protracted history from the prophet's day
(nowhere clearer than in foreshadowing the Saracenic and the Turkish Woes of Revelation 9); while
the full and minute bearing awaits the crisis at the consummation of the age. It is no real objection that
this attributes a twofold force to the bulk of the Apocalypse. Why not, if its internal contents point to
this conclusion? That the book has a depth beyond all other prophecies is apparent to such as have
adequately studied it. But does not such a prophecy as the Lord's in the earlier verses of Matthew 24
present a similar instance? For they assuredly did apply to the Christian disciples in the land and
elsewhere, as they will again to the godly Jewish remnant before this age ends.
The all-important points for intelligence of the Revelation, though ordinarily overlooked, are the
continuous sense of "the things which are," as distinguished from those "which are about to be after
these"; the real meaning of the vision in Revelation 4, 5, before the Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls; and
the right understanding of the heavens opened in Revelation 19: 11, etc., after the marriage of the
bride above, and before the Lord appears with His saints for the judgment of the quick. To these
keynotes may be added the deep supplement beginning with Revelation 12.
I can only pray for His blessing, already promised to him that reads, and to those that hear the
words of the prophecy and keep the things written in it; for the time is near. Apart from Christ we can
do nothing acceptable to God, any more than enter into His mind; for the Holy Spirit works to glorify
the Lord, not the first man.
London, April 25th, 1901.
The Revelation.
That God should have chosen John to be His channel for the closing volume of the New
Testament is worthy of our consideration, and need surprise none. His heart, filled with the love of
Christ and with a deep sense of His personal glory, made him a suited vessel for the Holy Spirit's
communication of his Gospel, his Epistles, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ. No doubt many Johns
were on earth, not a few of them in the church of God, yet none but one was entitled to introduce
himself as he does in Revelation 1: 1, 4, 9; Revelation 22: 8. It was not only the John who was in
Patmos, but who could say, "I came to be" ( ἐγενό μην)
there for the word of God and the testimony of
Jesus. The emperor who exiled him dreamt ma of the divine purpose. But could it apply to any John
but one? The foundation was laid in his Gospel; and there he only appears as the disciple whom Jesus
loved. It was enough: who could dispute the hand that wrote it? The Epistles suppose his Gospel
already written; the fuller one allows no name but the Name above every name; yet is the tone
throughout that of the beloved disciple unmistakably. To the shorter pair he prefixes "the elder"
2