A VISION OF THE FINAL TRIUMPH
The Book of Revelation (Second Lesson)
1. THE INTERPRETATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE
The interpretations of the Apocalypse may be divided into four classes.
(1) Unfulfilled Prophecies.—According to one method of interpretation, the prophecies of the book are all unfulfilled. In the last days there will be a mighty revival of evil like that which is symbolized by the dragon and the beast and the false prophet, there will be plagues and woes like those which are described in connection with the seals and the trumpets and the bowls, and there will be a triumph of God's people and an eternal blessedness of the new Jerusalem. This interpretation would place the Apocalypse out of analogy with the other prophecies of the Bible. Prophecy is seldom out of all connection with the immediate present. Even where the prophetic vision reaches to the very end of time, the fulfillment or the preparation for the fulfillment is usually represented as beginning at once. In the Apocalypse, as in other prophecy, there is evident reference to the circumstances of the original readers.
(2) Contemporary Events.—A second method of interpretation goes to an opposite extreme. By this method the prophecies of the book are thought to be concerned merely with events of the writer's own age. "The beast" is the Roman Empire; "Babylon" is the city of Rome; the author expected the destruction of both to take place within a few years' time. In its thoroughgoing form this interpretation also is to be rejected. It degrades the Apocalypse to the level of a mistaken prediction, and reduces the self-evidencing glories of the book to trivialities. Evidently the outlook of the seer was far broader and far more spiritual than it is represented by the advocates of this interpretation.
(3) The Whole History of the Church.—By a third method of interpretation, the first two methods are combined. The book is written distinctly in view of conditions of the first century, its predictions concern partly the immediate future; but there is also an outlook upon remoter ages. By this interpretation the prophecies are held to provide an epitome of the whole of history from the first coming of Christ to his second coming.
(4) Mixture of Discordant Traditions.—A fourth method of interpretation, which has become influential in very recent years, abandons all hope of discovering a unitary message in the book, and proceeds to divide it into its component parts. The analysis was carried on first by literary criticism. An older work of the time of Nero was supposed to have been revised at a later period; or non-Christian Jewish works were supposed to have been incorporated in the present work by a Christian compiler. This sort of literary criticism has in the last few years given place sometimes to a subtler method. Investigation is now directed to the materials of which the book is composed, whether those materials were embodied in previous literary works or only in previous traditions. The ultimate source of much of the material is found in Babylonia or other eastern countries; this material is thought to be not always in accord with the context into which in our Apocalypse it has been introduced.
This method must emphatically be rejected. It contains, indeed, an element of truth. Undoubtedly the Apocalypse makes use of already-existing materials. But these materials are, for the most part at least, of genuinely Hebrew origin; and they have been thoroughly assimilated for the purposes of the present prophecy. The Apocalypse is not a compilation full of contradictions, but a unitary work, with one great message for the Church.
(5) Wrong Use of the Third Method.—Of these four methods of interpretation the third has been adopted in the Student's Text Book. The prophecies of the Apocalypse concern the entire history of the Church. Undoubtedly this interpretation is subject to abuse. It has been employed in the interests of special controversy, as when the Protestants saw in the scarlet woman a representation of papal Rome.
(6) Principles, Not Individual Facts.—All such abuses may be avoided, however, if the interpreter will remember that the book deals with great principles, rather than with individual facts. The beast is neither the Roman Catholic Church, nor the religion of Mohammed, nor the Turkish Empire. Undoubtedly it expressed itself in some phases of each of those institutions. But no one of them can be identified with it outright. The beast of the Apocalypse is nothing less than the blatant, godless power of worldly empire, however that power may be manifested. At the time of John it was manifested especially in the empire of Rome. Even Rome, however, cannot be identified with the beast entirely without qualification. Even Rome had its beneficent side. John as well as Paul, even in the fire of persecution, might have expressed the thought of Rom. 13:1-7. Peter also wrote in the midst of persecution; yet Peter could say, "Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evil-doers and for praise to them that do well." I Peter 2:13,14.
The other side of Rome's power, it is true, was prominent at the close of the first century. More systematically than before, Rome had begun to persecute the Church of God. By the demand of emperor-worship she had tried to put her stamp upon the followers of Jesus. Through her priesthood she had endeavored to lead men astray. In these things she was a manifestation of the beast. As such she was execrated and resisted to the death by every loyal Christian. There could be no hope of compromise. Hope lay rather in the power of God. God would give the just reward; God would give the final victory. Such was the message of the Apocalypse.
The message is of perennial value. The beast is not yet dead. His methods are different, but still he oppresses the Church. Wherever his power is felt—whether in ruthless oppression or impious warfare or degrading superstition—there the prophecy of John is a comfort and an inspiration to the people of God.
Undoubtedly this method of interpretation, which detects in the book principles rather than individual facts, involves a reduction in the amount of direct information which the Apocalypse may be thought to give. A detailed account, whether of the progress of the Church, or of the final catastrophe, is by this interpretation no longer found in the book.
2. THE THOUSAND YEARS
At one point at least, this conclusion has been regarded by many devout Christians as involving a serious loss. That point is concerned with the thousand years of Rev. 20:1-8. According to the interpretation that has just been advocated, the thousand years are merely a symbol for the time of the present Christian dispensation, and the rule which the saints are represented as bearing with Christ probably refers to the condition of the blessed dead up to the final resurrection. To many devout readers of the Bible this interpretation seems to be an impoverishment of the prophet's words. In reality, they maintain, the passage predicts a return of Jesus to earth before the final judgment, and a long period of his blessed sway.
Undoubtedly this more literal interpretation of the millennium seems at first sight to be required by certain phrases of the passage. But the highly figurative character of apocalyptic language must always be borne in mind. Numbers, in the Apocalypse, are usually symbolic; so it may be with the thousand years. During the present dispensation Satan is in one sense bound, and in another sense he is free. In principle he has been conquered; but in the sphere of worldly power he continues to work his wrathful will.
3. THE CHRISTIAN HOPE
One thing at least is clear. No interpretation of the Apocalypse is correct if it fails to do justice to the hope of Christ's return. If the figurative interpretation weakens our expectation of that dread meeting with the Lord, then it is untrue to the mind of the Spirit. There are difficulties connected with the idea of a literal millennium; but such difficulties are inconsiderable in comparison with those that result from any rationalizing, any explaining away, of the universal Christian hope. The Apocalypse, according to any right interpretation, is a vision of final triumph.
That triumph is a triumph of Christ. Back of all the lurid imagery of the book, back of the battles and the woes, and back of the glories of God's people, stands the figure of the Saviour. With him the book began, and with him, too, it ends. He is the same who lived the life of mercy and of glory on earth, the same who died for our sins on the cross. To the Lamb all power is given—all power in heaven and on earth. By him all enemies are conquered; by him the whole earth will be judged. To those who bear the mark of the beast he is an Avenger; to his Church he is an ever-living Saviour.
In the Library.—The reading suggested under Lesson XXXVII is intended for both of the lessons on the Apocalypse.