Analysis And Notes
The Book of Revelation bears the inherent marks of a thoroughly wrought out and carefully finished literary production, showing evident traces of design and arrangement throughout, which constitute a studied setting for the remarkable series of visions that contain its chief message to the church. Behind the outer form lies the deep experience of the author who received a fresh revelation of divine truth. To him God spoke in strange visions and in a marvellous way about the divine purpose concerning his people and the great world of men: for couched though it is in the strange figures of Apocalyptic, a method of religious thought belonging to that time, it yet bears to the Christian mind indisputable marks of divine inspiration. Moved by the visions which it records, John wrote to the churches in Asia a message not only for them but for all believers in all time; for its lessons lie not alone in the events of that age, but in the wider and permanent relations of the church and the world throughout the centuries, and they appeal to us with new force as the varying conditions continue to change with the revolving years. The lessons of the book are for us in our day no less than they have been for others in the past, and as they will be for still others in the advancing future; and though these lessons are not always easy to grasp or lightly to be understood, they are yet eminently worthy of our attentive study and patient consideration. The synthetic analysis which is here given, attempts to set forth the main thought of the Revelation as it has been interpreted by many eminent commentators, and it is presented in as concise a form as is consistent with clearness for the benefit of the general reader, for the chief purpose of the present work is to make plain the symbolic view as it has taken form in the mind of the writer. No extended discussion of the more difficult portions of the book has been attempted, for a satisfactory conclusion is more often reached by careful thought than by elaborate argument, though it has seemed best to reinforce the view presented by constant reference to well-known authorities, and also to provide a brief comparison of different opinions on the main points of disagreement for those who desire further study.
The book is found upon examination to consist of three principal parts, which are those common to every finished composition, viz:—
I The Prologue, or Introduction, Ch. 1:1-3:23;
II The Main Apocalypse, or Revelation Proper, Ch. 4:1-22:5; and
III The Epilogue, or Conclusion, Ch. 22:6-21.
This division is one generally accepted by those who have studied the book, for it is to most minds both natural and obvious, though some make the Introduction end with the first chapter, and include the Epistles to the Churches in the second part. As these, however, are not so markedly Apocalyptic in form as the chapters that follow, and do not enter into the chief message of the book, but rather serve to prepare the way for it, they are more properly regarded as part of the Introduction.