"All hail the power of Jesus' Name!
Let angels prostrate fall:
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all.
"O that with yonder sacred throng
We at His feet may fall,
Join in the everlasting song
And crown Him Lord of all!
"With all my powers Him I greet,
All subject to His call;
And bowing low at His pierced feet,
_Now_ crown Him Lord of all.
"I hail the power of Jesus' Name,
Before Him gladly fall,
Bring Him my own heart's diadem
And crown Him Lord of all!"
The Crowning Book.
There is a _crown book_ in this old Book of God,--the Revelation of
John. It is _the_ crown book, the only one. It is the crown book of the
sixty-six in two senses. It is the capping climax of the whole
revelation of God's Word. It gathers up into itself in a peculiar way
the dominant characteristics of both the Hebrew Old and the Greek New
Testaments.
And it is the book of the Crown. The King is in action. He Himself gives
the message of the book to John. He is seen stepping forward to take
possession of His realm. Then He takes possession. He dispossesses the
pretender. He reigns over the earth. The Revelation of John is the Crown
book.
This is the peculiarity of the Revelation in comparison with all the
other books. Only here is Christ seen exercising His crown rights. From
end to end of the Old Testament pages, His coming is looked forward to,
with an eager longing that grows in intensity as the national failure
grows ever worse.
In the Gospels He comes, but not as He was expected. He is heralded as
King, and claims to be King. He has all the graciousness of a King in
ministering to the needs of the people, and all the power of a King in
His personal touch. But He is rejected by the nation, and goes to the
Cross, yet still as a King,--a humiliated, crucified King.
In the Acts He is the risen, glorified King seated at the Father's right
hand in glory, and at work through His followers among men on the earth.
But it is always in the midst of sharp, bitter opposition. In the
Epistles He is seen crowned at the Father's right hand, guiding and
teaching His followers who are still suffering persecution.
But in the Revelation of John all this is changed. There's a sharp,
decided, advance step. Here He is not only crowned, but stepping
directly and decisively into the action of the earth in the full
exercise of His crowned rights and power. It is peculiarly the book of
the Crown, the royal book, the enthroned Christ exercising fully and
freely at will His crown rights.
Jesus' Bosom Friend.
The book was written by John the disciple and apostle. This is our same
old friend John, whom we met first that ever-memorable afternoon, down
by the Jordan River road, when he was introduced to Jesus by the John of
the deserts, and had his first long, quiet talk with Him.[34] The
friendship began that day, grew steadily, and never flagged. It was one
of the few friendships that Jesus had that never knew any lapse nor
eclipse.
He became, in an outstanding sense, the bosom friend of Jesus. Probably
it was not because of any special gentleness or amiability on John's
part, though he may have had something of these traits. It was more
likely because of the deep, intelligent sympathy between the two, a
sympathy not only of personality, but deeper and stronger because of a
mental and spirit likeness growing up between them. It would seem likely
that John developed a mental grasp, a spirit insight, a student
thoughtfulness, a steadiness of temperament, and with these, a growing
understanding of much--at the least--much of Jesus' spirit and ideals
and vision.
It may quite be that all this came slowly, and grew up out of the
constant contact with Jesus, and out of the warm personal love between
the two men; quite likely. Who could live so close to Jesus as he and
not bear the marks on mind and spirit? The fire that burned so fiercely
in early years[35] grew into a steady, unflickering flame under the
influence of that personal friendship.
It seems not unlikely that John belonged to a good family, and had his
home in Jerusalem. He was clearly on terms of easy intimacy at the
palace of the High Priest,[36] which in itself would suggest his social
standing in the city. It was to this man that Jesus, on the Cross,
committed the care of His mother. And John accepted the trust as a
tender token of friendship, and took Mary at once to his own home. And
as Mary remained in Jerusalem at least some time, and John clearly for a
long time, the home was likely there.
John was one of the chief leaders in Jerusalem during the Pentecost
days, and after. Peter was the chief spokesman, but John was always
close by his side. The friendship between the two seems to have been
close and of long standing. They were sent together by the Master to
arrange for the supper that memorable betrayal night,[37] and they are
seen together in the activities in Jerusalem for many years.[38]
It would seem that in later years John left Jerusalem, and made his home
for the remainder of his life in Ephesus. Doubtless he was led, after
the years of leadership in the mother Church, to leave the great Jew
centre, and devote his strength to missionary service in the outside
Gentile world.
Ephesus was the chief city of the province of Asia, and the natural
centre of the population and life of the province. John probably worked
out from Ephesus, preaching throughout the whole district; teaching,
advising, praying with, and visiting the groups of little Churches
scattered throughout the province, perhaps founding some, and
strengthening all. For his work seems to have been, not so much
evangelizing, but the much more difficult work of teaching, patiently,
carefully, teaching; a work so essential to the life of any Church. So
he would be quite familiar with the Churches to which the Revelation
letters are sent, and would be well known by these people and loved and
revered by them as a father in the faith.
This personal bit about John is of intensest interest in studying this
book of his. It was to this man that Jesus could entrust the writing of
this special message. John could take in what the Master was showing him
as few, if any others, could. The close, sympathetic friendship made him
able to take in what his old Friend and Master is now telling him in the
glory. And he could give it out too, simply, fully, clearly, just as it
was given to him.
Love can see and grasp, and can obey simply, where mere mental keenness
fails. There is no tonic for the brain like love in the heart. No brain
ever does its best work, nor can, until the heart is fired by some
tender, noble passion. It was to Mary Magdalene who had such reason to
love tenderly that Jesus showed Himself first after the
resurrection.[39]
And it is to John, the bosom friend, whose friendship stood the severest
test where all others failed, that He now shows Himself in glory, and
entrusts this pleading message, and vision of coming events, and of the
after glory. He that willeth to do the Master's will shall know surely
and clearly what that will is. And he that goeth farther yet, and
willeth to give the tenderest love of his heart, ever kept at summer
heat, shall know the Master Himself, in present personal touch, and in
clear and clearing understanding of His coming victorious action and
crowning glory.
John wrote a Gospel; one chief Epistle, besides the two very brief
personal letters; and this book of the Revelation. The Gospel and
Epistles were quite likely written while in Ephesus.
The Gospel was his plea to all men to whom it might come to accept Jesus
as their personal Saviour. Its characteristic word is "believe." And the
plan of it is a simple array of incidents about Jesus that would lead
men to a warm, intelligent belief in Him.
The chief Epistle is written to the little groups of believers scattered
throughout Asia Minor, and doubtless in the old home district of Judea,
too. Its characteristic word is "abide." It is an intense plea, by a
personal friend to abide, steadily, fully, in Christ, in spite of the
growing defections and difficulties pressing in so close.
The Revelation was written, quite likely, on the island of Patmos while
all was yet fresh in his mind; or possibly in Ephesus after his release
from his island prison; or perhaps begun in Patmos and put into its
final shape in Ephesus. It is written to the little groups of believers
in and near Ephesus. It is a most intense plea to be personally true to
the Lord Jesus in the midst of subtle compromise and of bitter
persecution.
Its characteristic word is "overcome." It speaks much of the opposition
to be encountered, and tells of greater opposition yet to come, the
greatest ever known. And it pleads, with every possible promise, and
every warning of danger, that the true believer set himself against the
evil tide, at every risk, and every possible personal loss, and so that
he "overcome" in the Name of the Lord Jesus.
Old and New Woven Together.
The language in which the book is written is of intense interest. It is
so unusual. It combines Hebrew thought and Greek speech. It is as though
a Hebrew soul were living in a Greek body, and the soul has so dominated
the body as to make decided changes in it. The thought and imagery, and
the very words are largely taken over from the Old Testament, much of it
not being found elsewhere in the New Testament. It is as though the Old
Testament reaches clear over the intervening space and writes the last
book of the New as an additional book of the Old, but with distinct
additions. But all these additions are outgrowths of what is already in
the Old.
But while the thought and imagery are Hebrew, the language is Greek. But
scholars note that John's Greek here is different from that of his
Gospel, and is indeed peculiar to itself, with new grammatical
adjustments, as though better to express his Hebrew thought. Yet, like
the Gospel, it is an easy Greek to learn and to understand. It is as
though the Old Testament were the warp of a new bit of fabric, with the
New as the shuttle-threads, and yet with such additions as makes the
pattern stand out much more definite and clear, and the colours in it
more pronounced. Thus this end-book is a weaving of both Old and New
into a new bit of fabric, but with a more distinct pattern than either.
This explains the use of the symbolism which is so marked here. The
picture language of John's Revelation has seemed very puzzling. It has
seemed like a new language, to which we had neither grammar nor
dictionary, and the intended meaning of which we could only guess at.
But this is because we are Westerners and a bit set in our western way.
And possibly, too, though we dislike to confess it, because we have not
gotten a clear, simple grasp of this old Book of God as a whole. The
Bible is an Oriental book, written in the characteristic picture
language of the Orient.
The truth is that the symbol or picture language is meant to make the
book _easier of understanding_. We simply need to learn how to read
picture language, not whimsically, but sensibly according to the laws of
picture language. The symbolism or picture sees things as they look at
the moment the picture is taken. The picture is meant to give one
general distinct impression of the thing being presented, the details of
the picture being of value only as they give coloring to that one
general impression. It is concerned, not at all, or only in the most
incidental way, with the process by which the thing came to the point
pictured.
There is a rare wisdom in the use of this picture language. It is really
the common language not of the Orient merely, but of all the world. In
our western half of the globe it is the language of the street, the
common crowd, the common exchange of life, and of children. It is the
language of the primitive peoples of all parts of the world. Everywhere
the conventionalized book-language is spoken by the few. The picture,
with its companion, the story, is the universal, the original, the
natural language of the race.
On the mere human side here is one secret of the freshness of the Bible.
It is the oldest book in some of its parts, but admitted to be the
freshest and most modern in its adaptation to modern life. And the
reason is simple. The pictures give _principles_. Principles don't
change with the changing of centuries. Rules change. Principles abide.
Details alter with every generation. Principles of action are as
unchangeable as human nature, which is ever the same, east and west,
below the equator, and above.
John's Revelation is naturally full of this picture language, for it is
a gathering up of the chief threads of the old Oriental Hebrew fabric.
It will help us understand the meaning if we keep in mind the simple
rules of this Hebrew picture language.
John, of course, was a Hebrew, born and bred in a Hebrew home, and
immersed in the old Hebrew Bible from the time of his mother's milk.
What Greek language and culture had come was a bit of the outer world
come into his Hebrew home and life. Now in his old age the early memory
is asserting itself.
Then too it is quite likely that in his imprisonment he had been
brooding anew over the old prophecies, reviewing afresh events since the
resurrection of Jesus,--the growth of the Church, and now the severe
persecution, with himself a prisoner. And while he in no way doubts the
unseen overruling Hand, yet he is seeking to get a fresh outlook into
the future from the old prophetic writings.
And through all of this without doubt the Holy Spirit was brooding in
unusual measure over this man, reviving early memory, bringing to his
remembrance all things of other days, deepening impressions, bringing
old facts into new perspective, giving clearer vision, mellowing and
maturing both mind and heart into fresh plastic openness to further
truth. And so we have this little book with its Hebrew soul and its
Greek body.
The meaning of all this is very simple, and yet a meaning of intense
significance. Here is summed up the whole of the revelation of God's
Word. Here all the lines of Revelation meet. Almost two thousand years
of inspiration come to a climax in this little end-book. Psalmist and
prophet, historian and law-giver, Gospel and Epistle come to a final
focus point in one simple intense message. The purpose of the book is
intensely and only practical. Here is the message of the whole Bible to
Christ's people _for this present interval_ between the Ascension and
the next great step in our Lord's world-plan.
Jesus' Plea to His Friends.
And the message is simply this: put to us with all the intensity of the
One who gave His very life for us, it is this,--_that we be personally
true to our Lord Jesus_ during His present absence. This comes as His
personal request, that, in sweet, stern purity of life, in full glad
obedience of spirit, in tender freshness of personal devotion, in
holding absolutely everything, of talents and position and possession,
subject to His call, and in keeping our eye ever open forward and upward
for His return, we be true to Him.
He is the Lamb slain. Only through His blood is there salvation for any
one. He is now allowing man fullest opportunity before He comes to set
things right. This is the in-between time, much lengthened out. In the
midst of formalism and subtle compromise, the tangling of ideas and
issues, and the blurring of vision within His Church, He calls to His
own blood-bought ones to be true to Himself.
There's a terrific moral storm coming. Wickedness will wax to a worst
never yet known. Evil will be so aggressive, compromise so radical,
temptations so subtle and coming with such a rush, and ideals of right
so blurred and dimmed in the glare of the lower lights, that even those
of the inner circle will be sorely tried, and many will be deceived.
Just at the bursting of the worst of the storm the crowned Christ will
appear. He will come on the clouds before all eyes, take away His own
out of the storm, then clear the storm by His own touch, and begin the
new order of things.
The test coming will be terrific. He knows it. And his knowledge makes
His plea intense that _we be true to Himself_, our beloved, crucified,
crowned Lord, utterly regardless of consequences to ourselves. So we
shall "overcome by the blood of the Lamb," and be joined with Him in
closest intimacy during His coming reign over the earth.
There is a striking thing told us at the very outset of the book;--it is
a revelation. That is, it is something revealed directly by God. It is
the only book of the Bible of which we are told plainly and directly
that it is a revelation.
It is not that the other books do not have the same inspirational
characteristic. But our attention is explicitly called to the fact that
this one is, in its entirety, a _direct_ revelation; and not only so,
but it is a revelation given directly by God to the Lord Jesus, and
given in person by Him to John. This is significant. It marks out the
message of the book as of the utmost meaning and importance.
This suggests a need. And the need of something of the sort is plain
enough, if one think into it. Already in John's day there was a distinct
break-away from the simplicity and purity of the Gospel, both in the
Church and in the lives of professed Christians. The messages to the
Churches of Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis show clearly that there had
already begun a rubbing out of the sharp line of distinction between the
Church and the world. The world spirit was--not creeping in,
but--walking boldly into the life of the Church.
It is striking to note the thing that leads John to write his First
Epistle, that is, the alarming conditions among Christ's followers. The
spirit of compromise seems seeping in at every crevice. And worse yet,
the spirit of Antichrist, that makes such a savage attack on Jesus, on
the deity of His person, and the atoning significance of His death, this
was openly at work among them.[40] These conditions, so familiar to
those who first read his little Epistle, are the continual underscoring
of His intense plea for _abiding_.
It is most significant that Jude's intense flame-like Epistle talks
entirely about conditions within Church circles. Run through it again
with this fact fresh in mind, and the significance of it stands out in a
startling way. Peter's Second Epistle reveals the same sort of an
atmosphere seeping in among the groups of disciples to whom he writes.
Not only was there doubt and confusion about the meaning of the
prophetic teachings, but even a sneering and mocking at the teaching
about the second coming of our Lord.
These are a few indications of how things were in the Church generally
before the first century had closed. It was a time of confusion and
compromise. The air was tense. The need was critical. It would seem that
if ever our Lord would give a simple direct revelation afresh, to His
people, it would be in just such circumstances. And it reveals to us at
once how grave things looked to His eyes, and how much depended on His
followers having a clear understanding of how things would work out,
that our Lord Jesus does do just this thing,--send a direct revelation
that would meet just such a need.
More Alike than Different.
It is most striking that the conditions of the Church then and to-day
are so much alike. The line between Church and world is either badly
blurred, or quite wiped out. And this one fact throws a flood of light
upon Church conditions. Within the Church, when it comes to the matter
of what its real purpose of being is, and what the essentials of faith,
the lines are hopelessly crossed and tangled, even though the surface
shows so much striving toward at least a seeming unity, and so much
aggressiveness in action. The common absence of real spiritual power,
that unmistakable moving, like a breath, of the Spirit of God, is freely
admitted.
It is a painful fact that membership in a Church no longer gives any
clue to a man's vital belief, nor even to his moral conduct. There is
utter confusion about the practical meaning of God's prophetic Word, and
what the actual outcome of the present order will be; that is, where
such things are not quite dismissed from consideration. And, stranger
yet, indifference, or an actual repugnance, to any mention of the Lord's
return is the common thing. It is not surprising that earnest people are
bewildered as to just what should be the attitude of one who would ring
true to the absent Jesus. It hurts to remember that all this is the
freely admitted commonplace, where such things are seriously spoken of.
Indeed it is of intense interest to note that just this sort of thing
has marked the whole interval since these early Church days. Broadly the
same characteristics have marked both world movement and the Church
movement in this long interval. There is a unity characterizing the age
since our Lord ascended. There have been differences, very sharp and
marked, but always they have been differences in degree, now more
intense, now less. The general characteristics have been the same in
kind.
The need of the Church in the end of the first century is its need in
the beginning of the twentieth. Surely the thing of all things needed is
a simple, clear, understandable revelation direct from our Lord Jesus
Himself. It was needed then. Clearly it has been needed in every
generation since then. And one whose pulse is at all sensitive to spirit
conditions to-day feels that surely it is the thing needed now.
And here it is, a revelation of Himself, crowned in the upper world,
keeping in closest touch with things down in this world, telling us what
the outcome is to be, and especially speaking of our attitude toward
Himself in this present in-between interval.
Usually God's method with man is to give him enough of a revelation of
Himself in nature, and in His Word, to start him straight, and guide him
as he goes to school with himself as chief pupil, with all of nature to
find out and develop, and so to get mastery both of himself and of
nature and its forces. We recognize this as the best school-teacher
method for good self-development.
But here something more seems needed. The situation down on the earth
has gotten badly mixed up. Even though Jesus has been on the earth, and
has died, and has sent down the Holy Spirit in such irresistible power,
the situation in the world, and among His disciples, has gotten so
subtly tangled and intense, the enemy is so viciously and cunningly at
work, that only one thing will meet the need,--a revelation, a simple,
direct, warm revelation given us personally by the Lord Jesus Himself.
And here it is in this little end-book, with its vision of the glorified
Jesus, its pleading heart-cry to His followers, and its simple but
tremendous outlook into the future.
It would not be surprising if such a book should be made the subject of
special attack by the evil one. It is not surprising, though it is
deeply grievous, that the common idea about this book among Christian
people is that it is a sort of a puzzle, that it is impossible to get a
simple, clear, workable understanding of its message. Parts of it are
conned over tenderly and loved, a paragraph here, a verse there, and so
on, but a grasp of the one simple message of the book seems not common,
to put it mildly. No book of the sixty-six has seemed so much like a
riddle to which no one knew the answer. And without doubt the full
meaning of much will be quite clear only as events work themselves out.
Events will be the best exposition of certain parts. But these parts, be
it keenly noted, are not essential to the grasp of the whole message.
God is intensely practical. Jesus was too intent on helping people to be
otherwise than practical. He hasn't changed. He is too tremendously
wrapped up in the outworking of His plans. The Bible is wholly a
_practical_ book. And this crowning end of it is intensely and only
practical. It is with the clear conviction that it is entirely possible
to get the simple grasp of it that shall steady our steps, and clear our
understanding, and feed our personal devotion to the absent Jesus, our
blessed Lord, that these few simple quiet talks have been put together.
Doing Leads to Understanding.
The outline of the book is very simple. After the brief introduction[41]
and personal greeting,[42] there comes the wondrous vision of _the
glorified Jesus_, and His personal message to John.[43] He is the Living
One, who _became_ dead for a great purpose, and is now living, never to
die again. He is seen walking quietly among the groups of his followers,
with eyes of flame, and heart of love, keeping watch over these, His
empowered witnesses on earth.
And He tells John that he is to write to the groups of his followers a
threefold message, a description of Himself as just now seen by John, a
description of affairs in these Churches as seen by His own eyes, and an
account of the things that are going to happen on the earth.
Then follows this description of the Churches. It is in a sevenfold
personal message to His followers on the earth.[44] Then the vision of
Himself in heaven as He steps directly into the action of the earth to
take possession of His crown domain.[45] Then comes the account of
coming happenings. It is a sevenfold view of a terrific moral storm on
the earth, that will follow this advance step of His in the heavens. It
is so terrific and includes so much, that it is possible to get a clear
view of it and its sweep only by looking, now at this feature of it, and
now at this; now from this angle of vision, and now from this other.
It is the final contesting of Christ's crown claim as He steps forward
to assert it; the final outburst of evil unrestrainedly storming itself
out. And it is the clearing-up storm, too. There is ever the shining of
a clear light just beyond the outer rim of the terrible blackness of the
storm clouds. This takes up the greater part of the little book,
including chapter six, to the close of chapter eighteen.
And then there is given briefly the actual coming to earth in glory of
the crowned Christ;[46] the new order of things under His personal
reign;[47] a final crisis;[48] and then in a vision of wondrous
winsomeness, God and men are seen dwelling together as one reunited
family, though still with a sad burning reminder of the old
sin-rebellion as part of the picture.[49] And the book closes with
personal paragraphs to John and to the groups of Churches.[50]
Another of the striking things peculiar to this book is the personal
plea that it be read and lived up to. At the very front-door step as one
starts in he is met full in the face with this: "Blessed is _he_ that
_readeth_, and they that _hear_, (or give careful heed to) the words of
the prophecy, and _keep_ the things that are written therein."[51]
Here at the very outset is a plea, made to each one into whose hands the
little book may come, for a reading, and a careful thinking into, and
then, yet more, a bringing of the whole life up to the line of what is
found here. The blessing of God will rest peculiarly upon him who heeds
this threefold plea. That man is moving in the line of the plan of God.
A little past the midway line of the book, all at once, abruptly, in the
thick of terrible happenings being told, an unexpected voice comes.
Clearly it is the Lord Jesus Himself speaking. It is as though He were
standing by all the time throughout all these pages, watching with a
sleepless concern. Now He speaks out. Listen: "Blessed is he that
_watcheth_," that keepeth ever on the alert against the subtle
temptations, and the compromise that fills the very air, "and _keepeth
his garments_;"[52] sleeplessly, kneefully, takes care that no breath of
evil get into his heart, no taint of compromise stain his life, no
suspicion of lukewarmness cool his personal devotion to the absent
Jesus.
And again, doing sentinel duty at the rear-end, is the same plea.
"Blessed is he that _keepeth the words_ of the prophecy of this
book."[53] Reading, heeding, obeying, watching, living up to, this is
the earnest plea peculiar to this book. Clearly our Lord Jesus desires
earnestly that it be read. And He expects us to understand it. And He
pleads with us to live in the light of what He tells us here.
He that willeth to do shall know what he ought to do. He that doeth the
thing he does know will know more. And that more done will open the door
yet wider into all the fragrance of a strongly obedient life, and into a
clear and clearing understanding of the Lord Jesus Himself.
He that brings his life bit by bit up to the level of the earnest plea
of this special revelation, as bit by bit it opens to him, will find his
understanding of it wonderfully clearing. Obedience is the organ of
understanding. Through it there comes clear grasp of the truth.
A single recent illustration of this comes from Korea, that land that
gives us so much of the romance of missions, as well as so much of its
pathos. Dr. James S. Gale, of Seoul, tells of a Korean who had travelled
some hundred miles to confer with him about Christian things. He recited
to Dr. Gale the whole of the Sermon on the Mount without slip or error.
After this surprising feat of memory, the missionary said gently that
memorizing was not enough; the truth must be practised in daily life.
To his surprise the Korean quietly said: "That's the way I _learned_ to
memorize. I tried to memorize, but it wouldn't stick. So I hit upon this
plan; I would memorize a verse, then find a heathen neighbour and
practise the verse on him. Then I found it would stick."
That's the _rule for understanding_ this revelation of Jesus through
John, as well as all of this inspired Word of God. This rule simply,
faithfully, followed will open up this little end-book which to many has
seemed a sealed book. He that "keepeth the things" that are written here
will find these pages opening to his eyes. He that liveth the truth he
does understand will understand more and better, and so live in the
wondrous power of it, and in the sweet presence of Him who gives it to
us.