The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

CHAPTER FOUR: The Book of Revelation and the New Testament Canon

I. The Book of Revelation—Its Writing and Its Original Recipients

1. JOHN THE WRITER

The book of Revelation is designated as “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him ...; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.” Revelation 1:1, 2. But although the author is Christ, the inspired penman is “His servant John,” an exile on the island of Patmos. PFF1 86.1

Although such Aegean islands as Patmos were used as places of banishment during the Roman Empire, little is known of its ancient history. To men of ordinary status, like John, such banishment generally meant hard labor in mines or quarries for life. It is possible, of course, that he was released when Domitian’s acts were annulled at his death. There even grew up a tradition that John’s exile lasted only two years, but there is no way of actually knowing how long it was, or precisely when the Apocalypse was written. ¹ PFF1 86.2

It is outside the province of this volume to establish the Apocalypse as written by John the apostle in the reign of Domitian, but reasons for accepting that conclusion might properly be pointed out in passing: There is first the widespread belief of the early church, which conforms to the belief that the apostle John lived in Ephesus and ministered to the churches in Asia Minor, for which Paul had previously cared. Then there is the internal evidence of the conditions in the churches, and the developments in the Roman state at that period, as well as the intimate knowledge and authority shown in the writer’s attitude toward the seven churches. ² PFF1 86.3

Dionysius of Alexandria (d. 265) put forward a later, unknown John the Presbyter, or Elder, as author, based on differences of style. ³ But the dissimilarity between the simple language of the fourth Gospel and the totally different literary form of the Apocalypse can easily be accounted for by the difference in subject matter. Ramsay remarks that the experience of Patmos is necessary to explain the mystery of how the John depicted in the Synoptic Gospels could ever write the lofty spiritual style of the fourth Gospel. ⁴ PFF1 87.1

By the end of the reign of Domitian, in A.D. 96, John, evidently the youngest of the apostles, must have been about ninety—the only survivor of the personal associates of Jesus. For seventy years he had witnessed the triumphs and trials of Christianity, and now he lovingly rebuked or commended his fellow sufferers to prepare them for the trials ahead and to assure them of final victory. In writing the Apocalypse he did not aim so much at literary style as at vivid prophetic depiction. He did not use the more artificial form of Greek, as perpetuated from the past, but the common speech of the day, which was often emancipated from the classical grammatical rules, but was spirited and vigorous, a true living speech. ⁵ PFF1 87.2

2. THE DOUBLE FORM OF THE BOOK

The Revelation combines two literary forms, epistolary and apocalyptic. The parallel messages addressed directly to the seven individual churches are not actual, separate letters, but together compose an introductory section—a sort of covering letter admonishing the recipients to study carefully the second part, the Apocalypse proper, which is cast in the symbolical form. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Yet the entire book is a message to the entire church. And the seven messages, although literal to their original readers, were also obviously symbolical of the universal church as represented by these local churches. PFF1 87.3

The Apocalypse, meaning the uncovering of that which is concealed, was written under symbolic figures. This was partly in order that enemies might not understand it, because they are described as being judged and destroyed whereas the Christians are to be delivered. But the message is for all time, and culminating in the last days. It uncovers the future, comforting both the sufferers under Domitian and those of subsequent ages, predicting the course of both political and ecclesiastical empire, of apostasy in the church, of the revival of truth, and the glorious final triumph of Christ and righteousness. PFF1 88.1

3. THE DOUBLE APPLICATION OF THE BOOK

The Apocalypse is twofold not only in form but also in meaning and application. It was never regarded as restricted to the seven literal congregations in John’s former field of labor. They were recognized as representing the whole church in both space and time. The Revelation is given by Christ for the benefit of “His servants”; “he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein” are blessed without qualification (Revelation 1:1, 3); and “he that hath an ear, let him hear” is of universal application. Further more, the various lines of prophecy carry the reader down through the ages to the second coming of Christ, and the new heavens and earth. PFF1 88.2

Through the later centuries the long-range view of the Revelation has often obscured in the reader’s mind the original impact of the book on John’s contemporaries. It is inconceivable that an inspired revelation could be addressed specifically to certain contemporary groups without having a definite meaning for its recipients. Yet the fact of an immediate significance or fulfillment does not exclude the more remote, or subsequent, application, for there are other prophecies of a dual nature. PFF1 88.3

Jesus gave such a twofold revelation a few days before His crucifixion. His answer to the disciples’ double question concerning the destruction of the temple and the end of the world, was a double prophecy which combined the signs of the two events so that it is often difficult to disentangle them. (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21.) Certainly the fact that certain of the conditions were applicable to some extent in both situations, or that Jesus’ hearers did not understand the twofold meaning, did not invalidate either view. ⁶ PFF1 89.1

The early Christians understood a double application of the prophecy of Antichrist, for although John assured them that there were many antichrists in his time (1 John 2:18; 4:3), yet they looked for the supreme manifestation of Antichrist as still in the future. PFF1 89.2

The Preterist finds only the contemporary meaning of the Revelation as applicable to the early church, and the Futurist sees the prophecy as projected into a remote age to come, but the Historicist sees that the Revelation had its function first in counseling and encouraging the early Christians in the vicissitudes through which they were passing, while at the same time extending its prophetic pictures beyond their range of vision to the final victory. Otherwise its portrayal of the second advent, the judgment, and the kingdom of God have no meaning for our day. PFF1 89.3

4. ORIGINAL RECIPIENTS OF THE BOOK

The Apocalypse was addressed primarily to seven actual, contemporary churches chosen, presumably, for their character as representative of the universal church of all time. They were not the only, or the most prominent churches in the province of Asia. Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamum, along with Sardis, were indeed rival claimants to the leading position, but the other three did not rank next in importance. ⁷ PFF1 89.4

Ephesus and Smyrna were ancient Greek colonies, Pergamum and Sardis were old Anatolian cities, but Laodicea, Philadelphia, and Thyatira were rather new cities, founded, or refounded, by Hellenistic kings—the successors of Alexander’s divided empire—who wished to dominate and Hellenize their Oriental subjects through their strong and prosperous garrison cities. Consequently, western Asia Minor, where these seven churches were located, became a melting pot of Greco-Asiatic civilization. ⁸ PFF1 90.1

When the Romans conquered this territory from Antiochus the Great, they gave it to their ally, the king of Pergamum (189 B.C.). Then when his adopted son Attalus III bequeathed his kingdom to Rome in 133 B.C., this region became the Roman proconsular province of Asia. ⁹ This wealthy and civilized province suffered from greed and misgovernment under the late Roman Republic, but Augustus brought peace and pros perity. Therefore the Asians became fervently loyal to the emperors, and worshiped Augustus as the Saviour of mankind. During the first century, says Ramsay, emperor worship was chiefly a matter of form, but always more important in the East than in the West. Under the customary Roman toleration the heterogeneous citizens of Asia could worship their own gods—so long as they also made offerings to the imperial god. But in the second century, emperor worship became the principal test of loyal citizenship, and was increasingly used as a weapon against Christians. ¹⁰ At such a time the warnings and reassurances of the Revelation were peculiarly appropriate. PFF1 90.2

5. ROME IN APOCALYPTIC SYMBOLISM

Later chapters will show that the early readers of the Apocalypse saw in most of the symbolism the shadow of Rome—imperial Rome at that time, of course. The woman seated on seven hills was unmistakable, ¹¹ and in the beast they saw the imperial persecuting power, which they sometimes tried to identify as an individual emperor. Although they were not too clear on the details at times, they saw plainly the issue between Christ and paganism; and the promises to the overcomer and the prospect of the coming of Christ in victory strengthened them to withstand the persecutions. PFF1 90.3

Although later Christians were to see a lengthening vista in the apocalyptic prophecies, it was no more to be expected that the original recipients of the book should see the later phases than that the disciples should understand the distinction between the immediate and the future applications of Christ’s double prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world. PFF1 91.1

6. THE LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES

Each of the seven letters of chapters 1-3 deals with the distinctive characteristics and problems of the church in question. This evidently indicates—unless the messages had no meaning at all to their immediate recipients—the actual condition of the individual churches. It is interesting to find that each church is addressed in terms which are eminently appropriate, locally and historically, to each city, and significant to the citizens. We note them briefly: PFF1 91.2

(1) Ephesus seems to show fewer points of analogy than some others, but the keynote of the church is that of change—it has fallen away from its first love. The admonition to repentance is accompanied by the alternative penalty—”I will ... remove thy candlestick out of his place.” This particular warning must have seemed rather a vivid illustration to the Ephesians, more so than to any of the other churches, for before John’s time the city had already been compelled to move to keep up with the receding shore line of its harbor, which eventually became completely filled by silt. ¹² PFF1 91.3

(2) To Smyrna “these things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive.” Revelation 2:8. Sometimes the particular qualities attributed to the divine Author in the salutation seem to be selected for appropriateness to the city addressed. Smyrna had once been destroyed, and for about three hundred years there was no city, but a state composed of the scattered neigh boring settlements; then it had been restored as a self-governing Greek city. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life,” was not only a literal promise to the Christian but also a peculiarly appropriate phrase, reminding the Smyrnaeans of their city’s reputation for singular faithfulness to their alliance with Rome, and of their “crown of Smyrna”—the well-known circlet of public buildings around a hilltop. A first-century Greek philosopher reminded Smyrna that “though it is the most beautiful of all cities, ... yet it is a greater charm to wear a crown of men than a crown of porticoes and pictures of gold”; Christ offers the still better crown of life. ¹³ PFF1 92.1

The reference to tribulation and to the false Jews brings to the modern reader the picture of the later martyrdom of Polycarp at Smyrna, in which the Jews played such a zealous part as to break the Sabbath by bringing fagots into the stadium to light his fire. ¹⁴ PFF1 92.2

(3) Pergamum (Pergamon, Pergamus, Pergamos), formerly capital of the Attalid kingdom, but then a Roman center, probably the seat of provincial administration, was headquarters of the emperor cult in the province of Asia. The first, and for a long time the only, temple of the imperial cult was that of Augustus at Pergamum. There were other temples there, including the huge Altar of Zeus, which was famous for its relief sculptures. ¹⁵ The characterization of the city as “where Satan’s seat is” seems eminently suitable in this connection. PFF1 92.3

Nothing certain is known to church history of a martyr named Antipas, although the Catholics have a martyr Antipas in their Acts of the Saints. But the persecution here “where Satan dwelleth” would fit the increased enforcement of emperor worship. ¹⁶ There are varying traditions, but nothing positive is known of the Nicolaitans except from the Revelation. It would seem from this description to be a group in the church which was advocating a compromise with paganism, and which it was necessary to denounce in the strongest terms. PFF1 93.1

(4)Thyatira, as Ramsay notes, was the smallest and weakest of the seven cities, yet it was promised the irresistible power of the rod of iron. But the same evil practices taught in “the doctrine of Balaam,” which were accepted by a few in Pergamum, were countenanced in the leadership of the church in Thyatira. Quite possibly this danger to the church involved not only a spiritual compromise with paganism but also the literal question of Christians’ attending actual feasts, such as the trade—guild banquets with their idolatrous aspects and their probable tendencies to immorality. Certain it is that such problems had been real in Paul’s day (Acts 15:20; 1 Corinthians 10:20-28), and that the trade guilds, so necessary to the prosperity of the Christian craftsmen, were particularly numerous and important in Thyatira. ¹⁷ PFF1 93.2

(5)Sardis was the home of a church whose past glory and present failure called forth the rebuke that it had the name of living but was dead. This must have reminded the Sardians of the lost glory of their city, the once proud capital of Lydia, and of the fact that twice its impregnable fortress had been captured through negligence—an unnoticed fault in the crumbling rock of the cliff had offered foothold to the enemy. How significant was the warning, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain.” ¹⁸ (6) To Philadelphia speaks “He that is true”—to the church which has “kept my word,” and is promised protection in the coming hour of trial Philadelphia had suffered from earthquakes more than any other city of Asia. One in A.D. 17 was followed by years of repeated minor shocks which hindered rebuilding and induced a large proportion of the population to flee to safety outside the city. The Philadelphians who remembered that long period of instability and dread would appreciate the assurance: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar“—the symbol of stability—”and he shall go no more out.” ¹⁹ Furthermore, “I will write upon him My new name.” The new name was appropriate, for the city had formerly, during a number of years, taken a new name in honor of an emperor; and now the Philadelphian church was to be given the name of the true God. ²⁰ PFF1 93.3

(7) Laodicea, a Phrygian city, has hardly any distinctive features, says Ramsay, and its church is described as lacking in decision and initiative. Successful in commerce and mixed in population, it was probably tolerant and easy going, with a tendency to compromise. ²¹ It was so self-sufficient that it recovered from the great earthquake of A.D. 60 without the imperial aid furnished to other cities. ²² This prosperous financial center, feeling “rich” and in “need of nothing,” had to be counseled to obtain the heavenly gold. It was offered white raiment, in place of the locally produced black wool for which it was noted, and eyesalve for the blindness which found no cure in its famous medical school—a school which was noted for medicinal remedy, and in all likelihood was the source of the powdered “Phrygian stone” used for weak eyes. ²³ PFF1 94.1

7. OTHER SYMBOLS OF THE APOCALYPSE

The symbolism of white garments as the garb of triumph and religious purity was familiar to these Greco-Roman converts from paganism. ²⁴ The white stone (Revelation 2:17) is regarded by Ramsay as difficult to explain except as a new conception of the familiar tessera, which entitled the holder to certain privileges, the secret divine name being a symbol of the divine power accessible to the holder of the stone. ²⁵ But others find in it the inscribed stone which is broken in two, the halves to be kept as tokens, the holders of the matching halves being identified as entitled to guest-friendship. ²⁶ The new name, of course, implies a new character. PFF1 94.2