arranged in three parts: a prologue, the battle with successive encounters, and an epilogue. In both
the invisible power presiding over the action is the divine counsel of wisdom and mercy, in the
place of the dark impersonal fate of the Greek drama.^1249
A comparison between the Apocalypse and the pseudo-apocalyptic Jewish and Christian
literature—the Fourth Book of Esdras, the Book of Enoch, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,
the Apocalypse of Baruch, the Sibylline Oracles, etc.—opens a wide field on which we cannot
enter without passing far beyond the limits of this work. We may only say that the relation is the
same as that between the canonical Gospels and the apocryphal pseudo-Gospels, between real
history and the dreamland of fable, between the truth of God and the fiction of man.^1250
The theme of the Apocalypse is: "I come quickly," and the proper attitude of the church
toward it is the holy longing of a bride for her spouse, as expressed in the response (Rev. 22:20):
"Amen: come, Lord Jesus." It gives us the assurance that Christ is coming in every great event, and
rules and overrules all things for the ultimate triumph of his kingdom; that the state of the church
on earth is one of continual conflict with hostile powers, but that she is continually gaining victories
and will at last completely and finally triumph over all her foes and enjoy unspeakable bliss in
communion with her Lord. From the concluding chapters Christian poetry has drawn rich inspiration,
and the choicest hymns on the heavenly home of the saints are echoes of John’s description of the
new Jerusalem. The whole atmosphere of the book is bracing, and makes one feel fearless and
hopeful in the face of the devil and the beasts from the abyss. The Gospels lay the foundation in
faith, the Acts and Epistles build upon it a holy life; the Apocalypse is the book of hope to the
struggling Christian and the militant church, and insures final victory and rest. This has been its
mission; this will be its mission till the Lord come in his own good time.^1251
Analysis of Contents.
The Apocalypse consists of a Prologue, the Revelation proper, and an Epilogue. We may
compare this arrangement to that of the Fourth Gospel, where John 1:1–18 forms the Prologue,
John 21 the Epilogue, and the intervening chapters contain the evangelical history from the gathering
of the disciples to the Resurrection.
I. The Prologue and the Epistles to the Seven Churches, Rev. 1–3. The introductory notice;
John’s salutation and dedication to the Seven Churches in Asia; the vision of Christ in his glory,
and the Seven Churches; the Seven Epistles addressed to them and through them to the whole
church, in its various states.^1252
II. The Revelation proper or the Prophetic Vision of the Church of the Future, 4:1–22:5. It
consists chiefly of seven Visions, which are again subdivided according to a symmetrical plan in(^1249) Prof. Godet compares the Apocalypse with the Song of Songs, viewed as a dramatic poem, and calls it "the Canticle of the
New Testament," as the Song of Songs is "the Apocalypse of the Old." But I cannot see the aptness of this comparison. Eichhorn
treated the Apocalypse as a regular drama with a prologue, three acts, and an epilogue.
(^1250) See Lücke, pp. 66-345; Lange, pp. 6 sqq.; Hilgenfeld, Die jüdische Apokalyptik (1857); Schürer, N. T’liche Zeitgeschichte
(1874), pp. 511-563.
(^1251) Godet (p. 297): "The Apocalypse is the precious vessel in which the treasure of Christian hope has been deposited for all
ages of the church, but especially for the church under the cross." Dr. Chambers (p. 15): "The scope of this mysterious book is
not to convince unbelievers, nor to illustrate the divine prescience, nor to minister to men’s prurient desire to peer into the future,
but to edify the disciples of Christ in every age by unfolding the nature and character of earth’s conflicts, by preparing them for
trial as not a strange thing, by consoling them with the prospect of victory, by assuring them of God’s sovereign control over all
persons and things, and by pointing them to the ultimate issue when they shall pass through the gates of pearl never more to go
out."
(^1252) Comp. § 50, (this vol.).
A.D. 1-100.