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Viewed in this synoptic form the Book is easily understood. It will be noticed that the Chapters formed by Cardinal Stephen Langton about seven hundred years ago agree, as a rule, with the divisions of the Book.

The Seven Parts of the Book, although separate in detail, are united by threads of continuation running through them all. The promises made to the Angels of the Seven Churches in the beginning of the Book are repeated towards the end. The throne of God in Chapter IV. which forms the preface to the General Revelation, is shown to be in permanent session throughout the action of the Book. Angels come and go from it, to execute the commands of God. There is a distinct verbal connection too. The same words and expressions are used in different parts of the Book, to show that they relate to the same events. This is better seen in the original Greek than in translations. Examples of this will be found in the exegesis. To give one value to one and the same word is a leading principle of hermeneutics.

The greater part of the Book is written in a cypher of symbolism derived from the Old Testament, which forms its code. In a general way it may be said that the esoteric meaning of the Book can be discovered by following up its O.T. references.

It has been shown in the Biography of S. John that the Roman invasion of Judæa, the Neronian persecution, and Cæsar worship, were the principal subjects heavily weighing on his mind when he went to Patmos. The synopsis of Revelation given above, shows that they formed the leading themes of his Book. The Jewish theme and the Roman theme necessarily contained many political allusions to Rome, some of which certainly would be considered treasonable.

The Book needed a cypher known to the Servants of God alone, to keep it from recoiling on the heads of its friends. The symbolic style of the prophets Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel, and Daniel, formed a vehicle of communication exactly suited to the occasion.

Dr. Swete says:

"The writer of the New Testament Apocalypse has made large use of the Apocalyptic portions of the Old Testament. He refers to the Book of Daniel in some forty-five places . . . and the Books of

Isaias, Ezechiel, and Zacharias are used with almost equal frequency, while other prophets, the Psalter and the Pentateuch are often in view. No book in the New Testament is so thoroughly steeped in the thought and imagery of the Hebrew Scriptures" (Op. cit. liii.). Westcott and Hort have calculated that of 405 verses in the Apocalypse, 265 contain Old Testament language, and there are 500 references to the same Scriptures in the Book.

Amos, Joel, and Osee, are laid under contribution, and there are references to Genesis and Exodus.

The prophets of the Old Law foretold the woes of the people of Israel for their constant relapses into idolatry, symbolised as harlotry. They are full of the symbolic vocabulary of punishments in store for the Jews, and for the Gentiles, especially the Babylonians. This language lent itself admirably to the purpose of S. John, whose Jewish and Roman themes deal with the punishment of the Jews and Romans.

But the prophets of the Old Law uttered many predictions which were in process of fulfilment when the Revelation was written. S. John shows great care in selecting extracts from the O.T. with the double object of explaining the context of his Book, and showing forth the fulfilment of prophecies.

It was S. John's aim to gather the prophecies of the Old Law, and focus them on the event and prove that the things foretold by the prophets came literally true. A part of his object in writing the Apocalypse was to demonstrate the truth of the Messianic prophecies, which all hang together, whether they relate to the Messias, to His kingdom, or to the extinction of the old Judaism. If the prophets foretold truly the destruction of Jerusalem, they were inspired by God in all things, throughout.

S. John's plan was to write the Book of Revelation as a continuation of the Prophecy of Daniel, from the point where it broke off, and was closed and sealed. Daniel's prophecy related to the destruction of the Temple. That was known to the Hebrew Servants of God. When the Apostles asked our Lord about the destruction of the Temple, He answered, "When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the Holy place.. then they that are in Judæa let them flee to the mountains (Matt. xxiv. 15 f.). When Daniel heard, "And when the scattering of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished," he wanted to know more, and was answered, "Go, Daniel, because the words are shut up, and sealed until the appointed time" (Dan. xii. 9). This abrupt and tantalising ending of the prophecy of Daniel had prepared the Apostles for another prophecy, breaking the seals, when the time appointed should arrive. That time had come.

Rome had declared war on the Jews, and her legions were on the way to Jerusalem. What could be more appropriate than to throw the second and supplementary prophecy into the form of a sealed book, of which the seals should be broken one by one, as a continuation of the prophecy of Daniel?

It was not only appropriate itself and enlightening to the Servants of God, to whom the Revelation was sent, but it struck at once the note of O.T. symbolism which forms the key to the cypher of the Apocalypse.

The prophecy of Daniel looked beyond the fall of the Temple, and foresaw the rise of the New Kingdom of Christ. As that shrewd exegete, John Henry Newman, pointed out, Daniel foretold the kingdom.

"Nay holy Daniel himself is in no small measure employed on this very subject. He it is who announces a fifth kingdom like 'a stone cut without hands,' which broke in pieces and consumed all former kingdoms, but was itself to 'stand for ever.' ... He saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days, and there was given to Him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him" ("Essays Crit. and Hist.," vol. ii. p. 174).

The reader will find loud echoes of these prophecies of Daniel reverberating through the Revelation of S. John.

The woe trumpets of the Jewish theme lead up to the proclamation of the Kingdom. When the seventh trumpet sounded, "there were great voices in heaven saying, The Kingdom of this world is become our Lord's and his Christ's, and he shall reign for ever and ever, Amen" (R. xi. 15). We are told previously that when the seventh angel "shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he has declared by his servants the prophets" (R. x. 7). That mystery had reference to the destruction of the Temple and the Kingdom of Christ. These passages show the close connection between these events in S. John's mind. And they show the period of his Book, viz., not long before the fall of the Temple of Jerusalem, which synchronised with the rise of the Kingdom of Christ. S. John was chosen as the prophet of the New Law when our Lord said, "So I will have him to remain till I come" (Jhn. xxi. 22). The mantle of the prophet Daniel fell upon him. An angel addresses him in the Book as "thy fellow servant and of thy brethren, the prophets" (R. xxii. 9). And he says to him, "Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand" (R. xxii. 10). Thus contrasting the prophecy of S. John with that of Daniel in words pregnant with meaning, taken from Daniel's prophecy.

The Book of Daniel was not concerned with the fall of the Roman Empire. It was necessary therefore before beginning the Roman theme, to provide another book, from which to draw the thread of narrative. This is done by introducing a little open book at Chapter X., in an interlude, before the close of the Jewish theme

The Roman theme, as dwelling much on Cæsar worship and the decline of Rome, has a closer veil of symbolism than the rest of the Book. But it is of the same Scriptural type.

The most important symbols in the Book are clearly explained, viz., the Seven Candlesticks and the Seven Stars. In the Roman theme an angel explains to S. John and, through him, to us, the meaning of many of the chief symbols. The leading character in the Roman theme, Nero, is as strongly and clearly portrayed as is compatible with a cypher. The names of the chief localities in Revelation, as Jerusalem and Rome, are stamped upon them by distinguishing marks (R. xi., 8, xvii. 5, 9, 18). From time to time the saints and martyrs in the standing vision of the Court of Heaven, by their prayers and hymns, throw a strong side-light on the nature and progress of events. They fulfil the office of the chorus in Greek drama. There is also a symbolism of numbers.

The number seven is largely used in the Old Testament as a complete number, fully satisfying the mind as regards the context. It does not mean literally seven. Take the case of the seven days of creation in Genesis. It does not mean only seven days. It means the number of days required. The Holy Scriptures neither retrospectively nor prophetically give exact information as to numbers which correspond with dates. Professor Moses Stuart points out in his Commentary on the Apocalypse (op. cit. vol. ii. p. 425) that the gods of the ancients were threefold, that a trinity was a sacred form. Three stood for the divine power, the creator, and four for the creatednorth, south, east, and west; the four corners of the earth; spring, summer, autumn, and winter; the four elements-earth, air, fire, and water. Seven, formed from the union of the divine three and created four, stood for completeness, amplitude, or universality, especially in a religious sense.

S. Augustine says the number seven signifies the union of God with creation (Civ. Dei. xi. 31). The Jews were especially sensible of the import of the number seven. Not only the Sabbath day was sacred, but every seventh month. Every seventh year was the Sabbatical year in which cultivation was forbidden. Seven times seven was their Jubilee year.

We shall find seven often occurring in the Book of Revelation, as in the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven vials, and

the seven thunders. The number seven stands for the totality of the things concerned, by no means limited to seven.

Three and a half has also a mysterious significance, as we gather from the missionary life and death of our Lord, as related in the Gospels. It was the period of the Jewish War, and it was the period of Nero's persecution. Both of these latter events are alluded to in the Apocalypse by this symbolism of time. Three and a half is not to be taken strictly; it means more than three and less than four.

Again, ten as a Scriptural number does not mean precisely ten. It is the sum of the digits of both hands, the basis of notation. It exhausts that basis and stands for a series of at least ten. In the Revelation we have the ten days of tribulation (R. ii. 10), and the ten Kings (R. xvii. 12). It follows that a thousand, which is a multiple of ten, is not strictly limited to that figure. It may mean more than a thousand; but it is not an indefinite period, as in 2 Pet. iii. 8.

Every word in the Apocalypse has a definite meaning. A thousand years is put in the Book of Revelation for the period of expansion of the Church, after the fall of the Roman Empire, and we know from history that that period, called the Middle Ages, lasted about a thousand years.

The number twelve and multiples of twelve occur often in the Jewish theme and in the description of Paradise. The connection of these numbers with the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles is made manifest by the context.

The events predicted in the Book are placed in their correct historic perspective. Nero's persecution began in the year 64 and ended in the year 68, hence the seals of the martyrs come first (R. vi. 9-17). The Jewish cataclysm began in 66 and ended A.D. 70. It is taken next (R. viii. I to ix. 12). After the death of Nero, the wars of Galba, Otho, Vitellus and Vespasian, deluged Rome with blood and carried fire and sword into the Capital A.D. 68-69. Accordingly the Jewish theme is interrupted, and we get a vision of the slaughter of Roman armies (R. ix. 13-21). Then Titus besieged Jerusalem, and we get a picture of the fall of Jerusalem (R. xi. 1-15), after which comes the fall of the Roman Empire (R. xiii.-xix.). Then the thousand years of the middle ages and a glimpse of later times. Then the Day of Judgment (R. xx.).

The visions of Revelation are linked together from first to last, not only in subject, but in minor details, by close and accurate workmanship. They reveal the careful labours of a mind filled with knowledge, conveying to others, by means of symbolism, the Divine message of Revelation. There is evidence in the Book that S. John had some freedom in its

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