which the numbers seven, three, four, and twelve are used with symbolic significance. There are
intervening scenes of rest and triumph. Sometimes the vision goes back to the beginning and takes
a new departure.
(1) The Prelude in heaven, Rev. 4 and 5. (a) The appearance of the throne of God (Rev. 4).
(b) The appearance of the Lamb who takes and opens the sealed book (Rev. 5).
(2) The vision of the seven seals, with two episodes between the sixth and seventh seals,
6:1–8:1.
(3) The vision of the seven trumpets of vengeance, 8:2–11:19.
(4) The vision of the woman (the church) and her three enemies, 12:1–13:18. The three
enemies are the dragon (12:3–17), the beast from the sea (12:18–13:10), and the beast from the
earth, or the false prophet (13:11–18).
(5) The group of visions in Rev 14: (a) the vision of the Lamb on Mount Zion(14:1–5); (b)
of the three angels of judgment(14:6–11), followed by an episode(14:12, 13); (c) the vision of the
harvest and the vintage of the earth (14:14–20).
(6) The vision of the seven vials of wrath, 15:1–16:21.
(7) The vision of the final triumph, 17:1–22:5: (a) the fall of Babylon (17:1–19:10); (b) the
overthrow of Satan(19:11–20:10), with the millennial reign intervening(20:1–6); (c) the universal
judgment(20:11–15); (d) the new heavens and the new earth, and the glories of the heavenly
Jerusalem (21:1–22:5).
III. The Epilogue, 22:6–21. The divine attestation, threats, and promises.
Authorship and Canonicity.
The question of authorship has already been discussed in connection with John’s Gospel.
The Apocalypse professes to be the work of John, who assumes a commanding position over the
churches of Asia. History knows only one such character, the Apostle and Evangelist, and to him
it is ascribed by the earliest and most trustworthy witnesses, going back to the lifetime of many
friends and pupils of the author. It is one of the best authenticated books of the New Testament.^1253
And yet, owing to its enigmatical obscurity, it is the most disputed of the seven
Antilegomena; and this internal difficulty has suggested the hypothesis of the authorship of "Presbyter
John," whose very existence is doubtful (being based on a somewhat obscure passage of Papias),
and who at all events could not occupy a rival position of superintendency over the churches in
Asia during the lifetime of the great John. The Apocalypse was a stumbling-block to the spiritualism
of the Alexandrian fathers, and to the realism of the Reformers (at least Luther and Zwingli), and
to not a few of eminent modern divines; and yet it has attracted again and again the most intense
curiosity and engaged the most patient study of devout scholars; while humble Christians of every
age are cheered by its heroic tone and magnificent close in their pilgrimage to the heavenly
Jerusalem. Rejected by many as unapostolic and uncanonical, and assigned to a mythical Presbyter
John, it is now recognized by the severest school of critics as an undoubted production of the
historical Apostle John.^1254
If so, it challenges for this reason alone our profound reverence. For who was better fitted
to be the historian of the past and the seer of the future than the bosom friend of our Lord and(^1253) See the testimonies in Charteris, Canonicity, pp. 336-357; also Lücke (pp. 419-887), Alford (iv. 198-229), Lee (pp. 405-442),
and other commentators.
(^1254) This is the almost unanimous opinion of the Tübingen critics and their sympathizers on the Continent and in England.
A.D. 1-100.