{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_23038/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_23038","id":"gutenberg_23038","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23038","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Revelation -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity"],"text":"Produced by Stephen Hope, Colin Bell, Fox in the Stars and\nthe Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttp://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n             QUIET TALKS\n           ON THE CROWNED\n        Christ of Revelation\n                 BY\n            S. D. GORDON\n\n             Author of\n      \"Quiet Talks on Power\",\n      \"Quiet Talks on Prayer\",\n\"Quiet Talks about Our Lord's Return\"\n\n\n\n           [Illustration]\n\n     CHICAGO  NEW YORK  TORONTO\n     FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n       LONDON AND EDINBURGH\n\n\n\n\n         COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY\n       FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\n     New York: 158 Fifth Avenue\n     Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.\n     London: 21 Paternoster Square\n     Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nCrowning the Christ is an intensely practical thing, whether taken in\nthe _personal_ sense or the _world_ sense. He has been crowned in the\nupper world. With wondrous patience and graciousness He pleads for the\npersonal crowning in our lives. Some day--no one knows just when--He\nwill begin to _act_ as the crowned Christ _in all the affairs of our\nearth_.\n\nThe initiative of all action to-day on the earth is in man's hands. Some\nday the initiative of _governing_ action on the earth will be in the\nhands of the crowned Christ, even while the personal initiative of each\nman's life will still be in his own hands.\n\nGod is intensely practical. Jesus was never concerned about speculation\nnor mere discussion; He was too intent on helping people. The Bible is\nwholly a practical book. It is concerned only with helping us. It does\nnot tell us all the truth there is; we shall be constantly learning more\nin the future life. But it does tell us all we need to know now. And its\npurpose in telling us what it does is wholly practical,--to urge us to\nright choice, and to lives that square with the choice. This is the\npurpose that decided just what truth should be told in the Book.\n\nThere is one book of the sixty-six devoted wholly to this subject of the\ncrowned Christ,--\"The Revelation of John.\" Every one of these books\ntouches Him at some angle, and finds its deepest meaning in what He was\nto do and did do, and yields up its secrets only under the touch of His\nhand. But this book, the closing and climax of all, the knot in the end\nof the inspired thread, this deals wholly with the action of the crowned\nChrist.\n\nNo book of the sixty-six has seemed so much like a riddle and set so\nmany a-guessing. And without doubt much of its meaning will be clear\nonly as events work themselves out. Events will prove the only expositor\nof much. But it is with the deep conviction that this is wholly a\n_practical book_, written wholly from a practical point of view, and\nconcerned wholly with our practical daily lives, that I have ventured to\ntake it up in this series of simple, wholly practical, Quiet Talks. And\nit is only this side of its teachings that will be dealt with here. The\nBook is a street leading into the true overcoming life the Master would\nwoo us to.\n\nIt is only after many years' study of this Book of the Revelation, and a\nspecial study the past three years and a little more, that I have\nventured to put these talks together. And now they are sent out with the\nearnest humble prayer that others may find some little practical help in\nprayerfully reading, as I have found much in prayerfully studying, under\nthe Master's gracious faithful touch.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nI.   THE CHRIST CROWNED, THE FACT               9\n\nII.  THE CROWN BOOK                            39\n\nIII. A SIGHT OF THE CROWNED CHRIST             63\n\nIV.  A MESSAGE FROM THE CROWNED CHRIST         97\n\nV.   AN ADVANCE STEP IN THE ROYAL PROGRAMME   127\n\nVI. A CLEARING-UP STORM IN THE REALM          151\n\nVII. THE CROWNED CHRIST REIGNING              215\n\nVIII. WATCHING THE HORIZON                    235\n\n\n\n\nI.--THE CHRIST CROWNED, THE FACT\n\n\n \"When God sought a King for His people of old,\n   He went to the fields to find him;\n A shepherd was he, with his crook and his lute\n   And a following flock behind him.\n\n \"O love of the sheep, O joy of the lute,\n   And the sling and the stone for battle;\n A shepherd was King, the giant was naught,\n   And the enemy driven like cattle.\n\n \"When God looked to tell of His good will to men,\n   And the Shepherd-King's son whom He gave them;\n To shepherds, made meek a-caring for sheep,\n   He told of a Christ sent to save them.\n\n \"O love of the sheep, O watch in the night,\n   And the glory, the message, the choir;\n 'Twas shepherds who saw their King in the straw,\n   And returned with their hearts all on fire.\n\n \"When Christ thought to tell of His love to the world\n   He said to the throng before him,\n 'The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep--'\n   And away to the cross they bore Him.\n\n \"O love of the sheep, O blood sweat of prayer,\n   O man on the cross, God-forsaken;\n A shepherd has gone to defend all alone\n   The sheepfold by death overtaken.\n\n \"When God sought a King for His people, for aye,\n   He went to the grave to find him;\n And a shepherd came back, Death dead in His grasp,\n   And a following flock behind Him.\n\n \"O love of the sheep, O life from the dead,\n   O strength of the faint and the fearing;\n A shepherd is King, and His Kingdom will come.\n   And the day of His coming is nearing.\"[1]\n\n\nCoronation Gift.\n\nChrist is crowned. Not in any vague far-fetched meaning, but in the\nplain common-sense meaning of the word, He is _crowned_.\n\nFor crowned means put in the place of highest power, with full right to\nexercise that power at will. And when the crucified Jesus went up that\nOlivet day, before the astonished eyes of the disciples, into the\nsightless blue, on the cloud, He was received in the upper world by the\nFather. And He was lifted up into the place of highest honour and\ngreatest power. He sat down at the right hand of the Father.[2]\n\nHe had said it would be so. Breathing the air thick with bitter hate on\nthe night of His trial, He had quietly said to the Jewish rulers that\neven so it would be, bringing at once about His person the bursting of\nthe storm of hate.[3] Now His unfaltering trust in His Father has its\nsweet reward.\n\nThe Holy Spirit poured out on Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, was\nthe gift of the _crowned_ Christ. The rushing sound as of a mighty wind\nthat filled all the house, the tongues of flame plainly seen, the bold\ntalking to the crowds of foreign Jews of God's mighty power, the\nfaithful witnessing about the crucified Jesus in the city that hounded\nHim to death, the convinced crowds openly declaring at the peril of\ntheir lives their belief in the despised Jesus, the strangely rare\nunselfishness even in money matters, and the winsome graciousness of\nspirit that marked, not only the inner circle, but these greatly\nincreased crowds,--all this said one thing in clear unanswerable tones\nof unmistakable power, _Christ is crowned_.[4] For the sending down of\nthe Holy Spirit was the act of the crowned Christ.\n\nAnd every touch of the Holy Spirit's presence within trusting\nhearts,--the sweet peace, the quiet assurance, the longing for purity,\nthe drawing away to prayer, the hunger for God's Word, the intense\ndesire to have others saved, the passion to please this wondrous God of\nours,--all these simple marks of the Holy Spirit's presence in our\nhearts, all tell us, and each tells us, in unmistakable tones, that\nChrist is crowned. For this wondrous Spirit within is the gift of the\ncrowned Christ.\n\nWhen Jesus went up from the earth, holding as His sure captive the\ncaptivity of suffering and death to which He had with such great\nstrength yielded, He received gifts, coronation gifts. The Father gave\nHim all. He gave Him the disposal and control of all. This was the\ncrowning.\n\nAnd in His great out-reaching love Christ received these gifts _on\nbehalf of men_, His blood brothers. And at once He gave to men, to His\ntrusting disciples, the all-inclusive gift, the Holy Spirit, His\ncoronation gift.[5] So God came anew to dwell with men as originally\nplanned.\n\nThis blessed Presence within tells me, by His mere presence, that Christ\nis crowned.\n\nThe writers of the New Testament make a chorus of sweet music on this\nchord, ringing out in clear tones the full notes of delight and joy.\nLuke's simple narrative sounds the note four times. Paul swells it out\nwith a joyous fulness that grows in volume and intensity as his\nnarrowing prison walls shut out more and more the lower lights, and\ncentres his upward gaze upon Jesus, \"far above all rule, and authority,\nand power, and dominion, and every name that is named,\" with \"all things\nin subjection under His feet.\"[6] John's special companion and working\npartner, Peter, makes this note blend with and dominate the minor chord\nof suffering for Christ's sake.[7]\n\nThe Christian Hebrew who wrote so eloquently to his fellow-countrymen of\nthe immense superiority of Jesus and so modestly withheld his own name,\nstrikes this note five times with strong, clear touch.[8] He quotes\nthat Eighth Psalm, which so wonderfully gives God's own ideal for man's\nmastery over all creation. And then he tells us that in Jesus the ideal\nwill yet be fully realized. And that while the whole plan has not yet\nfully worked out as it will, yet _even now_ we see the Jesus who tasted\ndeath for every one, crowned with glory and honour as part of the plan\nwhich He carried out in suffering the extreme suffering of death.\n\nAnd our Lord Jesus Himself, talking out of the glory to the man who was\nHis bosom companion on earth, reserves as His last tender plea to us to\nlive the overcoming life this--\"he that overcometh I will give him to\nsit down with me in my throne as I also overcame and _sat down with my\nFather on His throne_.\"[9]\n\nAnd so we find out just what this word crowned means. Jesus was received\nin the upper world, exalted, glorified, made to sit down at the Father's\nright hand, put far above all rule and authority, with a name greater in\nthe sweep of its power than any other, and with all things put in\nabsolute subjection under His feet. This is the simple, direct meaning\nof the sentence--Christ is crowned.\n\nWhat a contrast the two faces of that glory cloud saw! The face looking\ndown, and the face looking up! The one--the downward face--looked upon a\ncross, a Man hanging there with a mocking crown of thorns without and a\nbreaking heart within, scowling priests, jeering crowds, deserting\ndisciples, sneering soldiers, weeping women, heart-broken friends, a\nhorror of darkness, a cave-tomb under imperial seal, and blackest night\nsettling down over all.\n\nThe other--the upward face--looked upon a great burst of the upper\nglory, the countless angels singing swelling songs of worship, the\nwondrous winged cherubim, the redeemed hosts from Eden days on\nreverently bowing and exultantly singing, the exquisitely\nsoft-green-rainbow-circled throne, the Father's face, once hidden, but\nto be hidden now never again, the _shared_ seat on the Father's\nthrone,--what a contrast!\n\nHere crucified--there crowned. Crucified on earth, one of the smaller\nglobes of the universe. On the throne of the whole universe of\nglobes--crowned! From the lowest depth to the one extreme height. From\nhate's worst to Love's best. From love poured out for men to love\nenthroned for those same men; love triumphant each time, on cross and on\nthrone. What a contrast! What a coronation! What a welcome home to a\nthrone!\n\n\nThe Music of a Name.\n\nIt is most intensely interesting to recall that, of course, this is just\nwhat the very word Christ means,--the Crowned One. We sometimes get so\nused to a word that it is easy to forget its real meaning. The word\nChrist has been used so generally for so many centuries as a _name_\nthat we forget that originally it was a title, and not a name.\n\nAnd it still is a title, though used chiefly as a name. Some day the\ntitle-meaning will overlap the name-meaning. We may never cease thinking\nof it as a name, but there is a time coming when events will make the\ntitle-meaning so big as to clear over-shadow our thought and use of it\nas a name.\n\nIt helps to recall the distinctive meaning of the words we use for Him\nwho walked amongst, and was one of us. Jesus is His _name_. It belongs\nto the _man_. It belongs peculiarly to the thirty-three years and a bit\nmore that He was here, even though not exclusively used in that way in\nthe Book.\n\nThere's a rare threefold sweetness of meaning in that five-lettered\nname. There is the meaning of the old word lying within the name, before\nit became a name, victory, victor, saviour-victor, Jehovah-victor. There\nis the swing and rhythm and murmur of music, glad joyous music, in its\nvery beginnings as a common word.\n\nThen it has come to stand wholly for a _personality_, the rarely gentle,\nwinsome, strong personality of the Man of Bethlehem and Nazareth, and of\nthose crowded service-days. And every memory of His personality sweetens\nand enriches the music in the old word.\n\nAnd then the deepest significance, the richest rhythm, the sweetest\nmelody, come from the meaning His experiences, His life, pressed into\nit. The sympathy, the suffering, the wilderness, the Cross, the\nResurrection, all the experiences He went through, these give to this\nvictory-word, Jesus, a meaning unknown before. They put the name Jesus\nactually above every name in the experiences of tense conflict and\nsweeping victory it stands for. This threefold chording makes music\nnever to be broken nor forgotten.\n\n \"There is no name so sweet on earth,\n   No name so sweet in heaven,\n The name before His wondrous birth,\n   To Christ the Saviour given.\"\n\nLord is a title, of course. It was used of one who was a proprietor, an\nowner, or a master. It was commonly used as a title of honour for one in\nsuperior position, as a leader or teacher. In speaking of Jesus it is\ncoupled with the title Christ as an interchangeable word,[10] as well as\nan additional title. But peculiarly it is the _personal title_ given\nJesus by one who takes Him as his own personal Master,[11] while it\nstill retains its broader meaning.\n\nBut _Christ_ is peculiarly _the official title_ of Jesus. There is only\none Christ. Lord is used of men. It is used of both the Father and the\nHoly Spirit, as well as of Jesus. But the name Christ is used of only\none person, and can mean only that one. There could be only one Christ.\n\nThe word or its equivalent was used occasionally in the Old Testament in\na narrowed sense for the King of Israel, who is reverently spoken of as\n\"the Lord's anointed,\" that is, God's Messiah or Christ.[12]\n\nBut the one common thought of it among the Hebrew people, growing ever\nintenser as the Old Testament period merges into the time of the New,\nwas that there was one coming, _the_ Messiah, _the_ Christ, God's\nchosen, the one anointed and empowered, to be their Deliverer. The one\nquestion that sets all hearts a-flutter about the rugged John of the\ndeserts was this: \"Is he _the_ Christ?\"[13] In their thought there was\nonly one to whom the title belonged.\n\nAnd even so it is. Christ is the official title of _the One_ Chosen and\nanointed by God to be ruler over His Hebrew people, and over all the\nrace, and the earth, and the universe,--God's King, to reign until all\nhave been brought into full allegiance to the great loving Father.[14]\nThe Christ is the Crowned One, God's Crowned One. The very word Christ\ntells that Christ is crowned.\n\n\nOur Great Kinsman.\n\nThere is an intensely interesting question that crowds its way in here,\nand it proves an immensely practical question, too. _Why_ was Christ\ncrowned? We can say at once that this was His due. He was given that\nwhich belonged to Him in good right. He was reinstated in His former\nposition, with all the power and glory that were His before His errand\nto the earth.[15]\n\nThen too this was His vindication after the shameful treatment of earth.\nBefore the eyes of all the upper world, both loyal and disloyal eyes,\nthis man whom earth hounded so shamelessly is vindicated; He is set\nright by the Father.[16]\n\nBut there is yet more than this. It is a more of a sort that concerns\n_us_ very closely, and it sets one's heart a-beating a bit faster. This\ncrowning was part of a plan, a plan of which our earth is the centre. It\nwas the second great part of a plan of which the suffering and dying\nwere the first great part. Both were for the sake of us men and our\nearth-home, and the lower creation.\n\nThis is the thing being emphasized in the second great paragraph of the\nHebrews.[17] Man was made the under-master of the earth and of the lower\ncreation, but lost, weakly surrendered, his place of mastery. The new\nMan came to recover for man what had been lost and to realize this\noriginal lost plan.\n\nAnd so He became our brother, sharer of our flesh and blood, tempted\nlike as we, perfected in His human character by the experiences He went\nthrough, then tasted to the bitter dregs the death that belongs to our\nsin. And then following that, He was crowned with glory and honour. And\nso He rises to the place of mastery over all that belongs to perfect\nman. So He brings all creation into the glad subjection which is its\nnatural happy state. It is for earth's sake, for the race's sake, and\nfor the sake of our faithful companions and servants, the whole lower\ncreation, that Christ has been crowned.\n\nWe think more about the personal meaning to ourselves of His having died\nand risen again. We need to remember, too, this broader meaning. The\ndying and rising secures our salvation personally. The crowning and the\nreigning will work out the redemption of all nature and of the lower\ncreation,[18] and this in turn will mean much for men living on the\nearth in the Kingdom time, and for the race as a race.\n\nThis leads at once to another question that presses in. What is the\n_domain_ of the crowned Christ? If we take the crowning in the common\nmeaning of that word, it means that there is some domain that Christ\nrules over. What is it that He is crowned over?\n\nAnd the answer is so sweeping as to seem far-away and dreamy to us who\nare living on this sin-hurt earth. He is the crowned Ruler of the whole\ncreated universe and all intelligent beings in it. He has been placed\nover absolutely every \"rule and authority and power and dominion, and\nnot only in this present age but in the coming age.\"[19] There is\nsimply no limit in extent to His domain. Everything has been placed in\nsubjection to Him and is now subject to His word, and His alone.\n\nThere is a striking passage in Philippians that fits in here.[20] In\nspeaking of the exaltation of Jesus Christ, Paul is careful to explain\nparticularly that every knee would bow, _in the heavens_, and, _on the\nearth_, and _under_ the earth or in the _world below_.\n\nThis threefold division is very striking. The heaven things are\nunderstood at once, and things of the earth sphere. But there is a third\nworld to be taken into account, that strange uncanny world of evil\nspirit beings in rebellion against God's authority. It is spoken of\nrepeatedly as principalities and powers, indicating numbers and\norganization, dignity, and power.[21] All of this is included in what\nhas been placed under Christ's authority.[22]\n\n\nIs Christ Reigning Now?\n\nBut there is still another question that has been impatiently pushing\nunderneath for some time. And it also is an intensely practical one.\nDoes this mean that Christ is actually ruling now over this domain of\nHis? How about the affairs on the earth? Are all things here subject to\nHim? Is this the way He would have things go? And some of us think the\nevil spirits seem pretty free in their movements. This present order of\nthings that we are living in the thick of, is this the reign of the\ncrowned Christ? And some of us feel the stress of things so much that we\ncan scarce keep patient for a thoughtful poised answer to our questions.\n\nThere are those, and good earnest folk they are, too, who tell us that\nChrist has come, and is constantly coming, more and more, into our\ncommon life. The higher ideals that are crowding for expression, the\nmore spiritual conceptions of man and his brotherly relations, the\nconstant striving toward better civilization, the bettering of the\ncondition of the poor and less fortunate, the increased recognition of\nmen's rights in the complex industrial world, the increasing effort to\ncorrect evils by legislation, the great moral reforms that are sweeping\naside the awful liquor curse, and loosening women's bonds, and\nsafeguarding young womanhood and children, the newer aggressiveness in\nthe missionary propaganda and in much of the activity of the Church,\neven the attempt to humanize and civilize the warfare that in itself is\nstupidly savage and utterly inhuman,--is not all this a coming of Christ\nand of the Christ-spirit into our common life? many ask.\n\nAnd there is only one answer to such questions, a strong emphatic \"yes.\"\nIt surely is the Christ-spirit that moves in all of this. This is a\ncoming of Christ; and a blessed coming, too. There was nothing of this\nsort before the Christ-spirit began to sweeten the world's life. And\nthere is none of it to-day except in those parts of the world where the\nChrist-spirit influences life.\n\nBut--there's a \"but\"--it proves a blessed but; this is only a crumb or\ntwo falling from a loaded table. And he who judges Christ by these\ncrumbs only, wholesome and toothsome as they are, will have a very\nskimpy conception of Christ.\n\nAll of this sort of thing that has come has come very slowly. It has had\nto fight through and in, every step of the way that it has come. Its\ncoming has been opposed stubbornly, maliciously, viciously every inch of\nthe road, as only those know who are in the thick of the struggle for\nthese reforms, panting for breath sometimes.\n\nIt is as though a few whiffs of wholesome life-giving air have breathed\nthrough the cracks and crevices of the breastworks and fortifications of\nevil in which all our common life seems entrenched. But the\nfortifications are still there. If the sweet, wholesome breathing in\nthrough cracks and crannies has been so blest, what would it be if the\nforces of evil were clean removed from the scene, and the Christ-spirit\nbecame the whole atmosphere breathed fully and freely without restraint,\nwith no bad draughts, and no counter currents to guard and fight\nagainst?\n\nIt would seem like a strange sort of a kingdom if the present is even a\ngradual coming in of the Kingdom. We would seem to be having a new,\nstrange sort of a Christ if the present is a sample of His sort of\nreigning. For it may well be thoughtfully doubted if ever there was such\na condition of feverish unrest in all parts of the world as to-day.\n\nIt is most difficult to put your finger on a single spot of the\nworld-map that is not being torn and uptorn by unrest in one shape or\nanother. Either actual war, or constant studious preparation for war,\nactually never ceases. And it is difficult to say which is the worse of\nthe two. The actual war reveals more terribly to our eyes and ears the\nawful cost in treasure and in precious human blood spilled without\nstint. The never-ceasing preparation for war seems actually to cost\nmore. In the immense treasure involved, and in blood too, given out, not\non an occasional battlefield, but in the continual battle of daily life\nto meet the terrible drain of taxation, it costs immensely more. There\nis less of the tragic for the news headings, but not a whit less, rather\nmuch more, in the slow suffering, the pinched lives, and the awful\ntemptations to barter character for bread.\n\nThen there is the continual seething unrest in the industrial world; the\nprotests sometimes so strange and startling against social and political\nconditions; the feverish greed for gold, and land, and position; the\nintense pace of all our modern life; the abandonment of home and home\nideals; the terrific attack against our young womanhood. The political\npot which gathers into itself all these things, never quits boiling or\nboiling over, in some part of the world, now here, now there. And it\nseems like the greatest achievement of diplomacy when here and there it\ncan be kept from boiling clean over, or at least made to boil over less.\n\nIt would seem indeed like a queer sort of kingdom if this is a sample.\nSome of us would have less heart in repeating one petition of the old\ndaily prayer. And Christ would seem to have quite changed His spirit and\ncharacter if this is a result of His coming.\n\n\nThe Greatness of Patience.\n\nAnd the great simple truth is this, the truth that in the strange mix-up\nof life we easily lose sight of is this: _Christ has not yet taken\npossession of all of His domain_; a part of it still remains to be\npossessed. \"We see _not yet_ all things subjected to Him.\"[23] We are\nliving in the \"not-yet\" interval between the crowning and the actual\nreigning. We are living on the \"not-yet\" possessed part of His domain.\n\nAnd the question that comes hot and quick from our lips, even though\nwith an attempt at subdued reverence, is this: \"Why does He not take\npossession, and untangle the snarl, and right the wrongs, and bring in\nthe true rational order of things?\" And all the long waiting, the\nsoreness of hearts over the part that touches one's own life most\nclosely, the shortness of breath in the tensity of the struggle,\nunderscore that word \"why?\"\n\nAnd the answer to the impatient question reveals all afresh the\ngreatness of the love of our Christ. His greatness is shown most in His\n_patience_. But patience is one of the things we men on this old earth\ndon't know. It's one of the unknown quantities to us. It can be known\nonly by knowing God. For patience is love at its best. Patience is God\nat His best. His is the patience that sees all, and feels all with the\ntender heart that broke once under the load, and yet waits, steadily\nwaits, and then waits just a bit longer.\n\nIn this He runs the risk of being misunderstood. Men in their stupidity\nconstantly mistake strong patience for weakness or indifference or lack\nof a gripping purpose. And God is misunderstood in this, even by His\ntrusting children. But, even so, the object to be gained is so great,\nand so near Christ's heart that He waits, strongly waits with a patience\nbeyond our comprehension; waits just a bit longer, always just a bit\nlonger.\n\nThere are two parts to the answer. Jesus the Christ is giving man the\nfullest opportunity. He never interferes with man's right of free\nchoice. Man is free to do as he chooses. Every possible means is used to\ninfluence him to choose right, but the choice itself is always left to\nthe man. The present is man's opportunity. The initiative of action on\nthe earth is altogether in man's hand. All of God's power is at man's\ndisposal; but man must _reach out_ and _take_. This long stretched but\nwaiting time is for man's sake, that he may have fullest opportunity.\nThe longsuffering of God would woo men.[24]\n\nWhen at length opportunity comes to its end it will be only because\nthings have gotten into such desperate shape, into such an awful fix,\nthat at length _for man's sake_ Christ will step into the direct action\nof the earth once again. He will take the leadership of earth into His\nown hands, even while still leaving each man free in his individual\nchoice. This is the first part of the answer. The waiting is that man\nmay have fullest opportunity.\n\nThen Christ has a great hunger for _willing_ hearts. No words are strong\nenough to tell His longing for a free, glad, joyous surrender to His\nmastery. He could so easily end the present conflict, but He waits that\nmen may bring to Him the allegiance of their lives, given of their own\nglad, gracious, voluntary accord. He was a volunteer Saviour. He longs\nfor that love that is the bubbling out of a free, full heart.\n\nThe best love is only given freely without any compulsion of any sort,\nsave only love's sweet compelling. He wants what He gives--the best. And\nso He waits, patiently waits just a bit longer. This is the second bit\nof the answer. The long delay spells out the hunger as well as the\npatience of God's heart. The divine Husbandman is patiently waiting,\nand sending warm sun and soft rains and fragrant dews while waiting.[25]\n\n \"The Husbandman waiteth--\n   The _Husbandman_? Why?\n For the heart of one servant\n   Who hears not His cry.\n\n \"The Husbandman waiteth--\n   He _waiteth_? What for?\n For the heart of one servant\n   To love Him yet more.\n\n \"The Husbandman waiteth--\n   Long patience hath He--\n But He waiteth in hunger--\n   Oh! Is it for thee?\"[26]\n\n\nTaking with Your Life.\n\nBut--ah! listen, there's a wonderful \"but\" to put in here. But, while\nwaiting _He puts all His limitless power at our disposal_. If that\nsimple sentence could be put into letters of living flame, its\ntremendous meaning might burn into our hearts. When Paul piled up phrase\non phrase in his eager attempt to have his Asiatic friends in and around\nEphesus take in the limitless power of the ascended Christ, he added the\nsignificant words, \"to the Church.\"[27] All that power is for the use,\nand at the disposal, of the Church.\n\nThe Church was meant to be a unit in spirit in loyalty to her absent\nLord, wholly under the dominating touch of the Holy Spirit, not only in\nher official actions, but in the lives of the individual members. If she\nwere so, no human imagination could take in the startling, revolutionary\npower, softly, subtly, but with resistless sweep, flowing down from the\ncrowned Christ, among grateful men.\n\nNot being such a unit it is not possible that that power shall be as\ngreat in manifestation as was planned and meant. For no individual nor\ngroup can ever take the place in action of the whole unified body of\nbelievers, acting as a channel for the power of the crowned Christ. That\npower shall be realized on the earth only when the Church is so unified,\nand at work, under the reigning Christ, from the new headquarters up in\nthe heavens.\n\nBut meanwhile all of that power is _at the disposal of any disciple of\nChrist_--the humblest--who will simply live in full-faced touch with\nChrist, and who will _take_ of that power as the need comes, and as the\nsovereign Holy Spirit leads.\n\nIt is of this, this _personal_ taking, that Paul is speaking when he\npiles up that intense sentence: \"able to do _exceeding abundantly above\nall that we ask or think_ according to _the power that worketh in\nus_.\"[28] The great bother in Paul's day and ever since, and now, is to\nget people to _take_. The power is fairly a-tremble in the air at our\nvery finger-tips. And we go limping, crutching along both bodily and\nmentally and in our spiritual leanness.\n\nThose tremendous words of Jesus, \"because I go unto the Father,\" with\nthe whole passage in which they occur,[29] must be read in _the light\nshining from the throne_. Only so can they be understood. But then, so\nread, they begin to grip us, and grip us hard, as we see what He really\nmeant and means.\n\nHe who has the warm, child-like touch of heart with Jesus, that the word\n\"believeth\" stands for, shall--as the Holy Spirit has full control--do\nthe same works as Jesus did, same in kind and in degree, and then shall\ndo even greater than Jesus ever did. _Because_ it is now the glorified\ncrowned Christ who is doing them through some child of His,\nsimple-hearted enough to let Him have full control.\n\nAnd the means through which He will do them is simple, child-like,\ntrusting, humble prayer. The man using the power is on his knees. The\nlower down he gets the more and more freely the power flows down and out\namong men.\n\nAs one learns to keep in touch--learns it slowly, stumblingly, with many\na stupid fall, and many a tremble and quiver--as he learns to keep in\nsimple touch with the crowned Christ he will find _all_ the power of\nthat Christ coming with a soft surging throb of life wherever needed.\n_We may have all we can take._ But _the taking must be with one's very\nlife_. No mere earnest repeating of a creed in Church service will avail\nhere. The repeating must be, syllable by syllable, with feet and will,\nwith hands and life, in the daily tread where each step is stubbornly\ncontested.\n\nThis is the bit of truth for the waiting time. This is the song to be\nsinging in this present \"not-yet\" interval. And the song will help cut\ndown the length of that \"not-yet,\" until the friction of our lived faith\nshall wear off the \"not\" and wipe out the \"yet,\" and we shall find the\ncrowned Christ a reigning Christ.\n\nFor some day this patient waiting crowned Man will rise up from His seat\nat the Father's right hand. He will step directly into the action of\nearth once again. Man will have had his fullest opportunity lengthened\nout to the last notch of his possible use of it. Then we shall see the\ncrowned Christ quietly stepping in, taking matters wholly into His own\nhands, and acting in all the affairs of earth as the Crowned One. Then\nHe shall reign from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates out to where the\nends of the earth become a common line on the other side. The Kingdom\nwill have come, for the King will be reigning.\n\nThe night will be gone. The day has come. The shadows flee. He has come,\nwhose presence puts the new day at dawn, with the East all aflame, and\nthe fragrant dew glistening gladly on every tender green blade. This\ntime of expectancy is over;[30] the time of making real has _come_. Then\ncomes the restoration of the old original love plan to earth and beast\nand man.[31]\n\n \"Thou art coming, O my Saviour!\n   Thou art coming, O my King!\n In thy glory all-transcendent;\n In thy beauty all resplendent;\n   Well may we rejoice and sing!\n Coming! In the opening east,\n   Herald brightness slowly swells;\n Coming, O my glorious Priest,\n   Hear we not thy golden bells?\n\n \"Thou art coming, Thou art coming!\n   We shall meet Thee on Thy way,\n We shall see Thee, we shall know Thee,\n We shall bless Thee, we shall show Thee\n   All our hearts could never say!\n What an anthem that will be,\n Ringing out our love to Thee;\n Pouring out our rapture sweet\n At Thine own all-glorious feet!\n\n \"Thou art coming! Rays of glory,\n   Through the veil Thy death has rent,\n Touch the mountain and the river\n With a golden glowing quiver,\n   Thrill of light and music blent.\n Earth is brightened when this gleam\n Falls on flower, rock, and stream;\n Life is brightened when this ray\n Falls upon its darkest day.\n\n \"Not a cloud and not a shadow,\n   Not a mist and not a tear,\n Not a sin and not a sorrow,\n Not a dim and veiled to-morrow,\n   For that sunrise grand and clear!\n Jesus, Saviour, once with Thee,\n   Nothing else seems worth a thought!\n Oh, how marvellous will be\n   All the bliss Thy pain hath bought!\n\n \"Thou art coming! At Thy table,\n   We are witnesses of this,\n While remembering hearts Thou meetest,\n In communion clearest, sweetest,\n   Earnest of our coming bliss.\n Showing not Thy death alone,\n   And Thy love exceeding great,\n But Thy coming and Thy throne,\n   All for which we long and wait.\n\n \"Thou art coming! We are waiting\n   With a hope that cannot fail;\n Asking not the day or hour,\n Resting on Thy word of power\n   Anchored safe within the veil,\n Time appointed may be long,\n   But the vision must be sure;\n Certainty shall make us strong,\n   Joyful patience can endure!\n\n \"O the joy to see Thee reigning,\n   Thee, my own beloved Lord!\n Every tongue Thy name confessing,\n Worship, honor, glory, blessing,\n   Brought to Thee with glad accord!\n Thee, my Master and my Friend,\n   Vindicated and enthroned!\n Unto earth's remotest end\n   Glorified, adored, and owned!\"[32]\n\n\nWorking by the Light of the Throne.\n\nBut we are still in the \"not-yet\" interval. We see not yet all things\nsubject to Him. This is still the waiting time. It is the pleading time\nfor Him. He pleads for the _personal crowning_ of Himself in our lives,\nthat He may reign there and He alone. This is our great opportunity. We\nshall never see its like again, nor anywhere else than on this earth.\n\nIn the reigning time that's coming this peculiar opportunity of crowning\nChrist while He still is absent and despised, this will be gone. In the\nupper world they have no such opportunity. There is no opposition there.\nNow and here is the rarest opportunity to put this great waiting patient\nMan on the throne of heart and life, with possessions and ambitions and\nplans all in subjection under His feet.\n\nEvery woman knows the name of Brussels lace. The old capital of the low\ncountries of Europe has long been famous for its lace. It is of great\ninterest to note the conditions under which it is sometimes made. They\nare conditions studiously prepared after long experience. In one of the\nfamous lace factories in Brussels there are a number of small rooms\ndevoted to the making of some of the most delicate patterns.\n\nEach room is just large enough for a single worker, and is quite dark\nexcept for one narrow window. The worker sits so that the stream of\nlight falls from above directly upon the threads, while he himself sits\nin the darkness. The darkness aids the workman's eyes to see better, and\nto work more skilfully in the narrow line of clear light centred on the\ndelicate task. He weaves in the upper light intensified by the\nsurrounding gloom, and does exquisite work.\n\nThere is a clear line of light _from a throne_ shining down into the\ndarkness in which we sit and move. It shines from the face of a crowned\nMan. In the light of that light we can see clearly to do a difficult bit\nof crowning work,--to crown the Christ in our lives and to keep Him\ncrowned.\n\nAs our eyes follow that line of upper light we may catch glimpses of His\nwondrous Face up there in the glory. So we shall be steadied and cheered\nin the darkness as we stick to our glad crowning work. And so we shall\nmove forward on the calendar the day when that thin line of light seen\nnow only by watching eyes shall become a burst of glory light seen by\nall eyes.\n\nAnd this is the thing the crowned Christ is asking of us during this\nwaiting time, this \"not-yet\" interval. He is counting on each of us\nbeing faithful to Him, our absent Lord, in this.\n\n \"He is counting on you.\n   He has need of your life\n   In the thick of the strife:\n   For that weak one may fall\n   If you fail at His call.\n He is counting on you,\n If you fail Him--\n     What then?\n\n \"He is counting on you.\n   On your silver and gold,\n   On that treasure you hold;\n   On that treasure still kept,\n   Though the doubt o'er you swept\n   'Is this gold not _all_ mine?\n   (Lord, I knew it was _Thine_.')\n He is counting on you,\n If you fail Him--\n     What then?\n\n \"He is counting on you.\n   On a love that will share\n   In His burden of prayer,\n   For the souls He has bought\n   With His life-blood; and sought\n   Through His sorrow and pain\n   To win 'Home' yet again.\n He is counting on you,\n If you fail Him--\n     What then?\n\n \"He is counting on you.\n   On life, money, and prayer;\n   And 'the day shall declare'\n   If you let Him have _all_\n   In response to His call;\n   Or if He in that day\n   To your sorrow must say,\n 'I had counted on you,\n But you failed me'--\n     What then?\n\n \"He is counting on you.\n   Oh! the wonder and grace,\n   To look Christ in the face\n   And not be ashamed;\n   For you gave what He claimed,\n   And you laid down your all\n   For His sake--at His call.\n He had counted on you,\n And you failed not.\n     What then?\"[33]\n\nAh! Please God, by His grace, we shall not fail in _the ruling purpose_\nof our lives. We may crown Him Lord of all. We _can_. He asks it. We\nsurely _will_.\n\n \"With all my powers Him I greet,\n   All subject to His call;\n And bowing low at His pierced feet\n     _Now_ crown him Lord of all.\"\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Joseph Addison Richards.\n\n[2] Mark xvi. 19.\n\n[3] Matthew xxvi. 64.\n\n[4] Acts ii. 33; iii. 13-16; v. 31-32; vii. 55, 56.\n\n[5] Psalm lxviii. 18; Ephesians iv. 8; Acts ii. 33.\n\n[6] Romans viii. 34; Ephesians i. 20-22; Philippians ii. 9-11;\nColossians iii. 1.\n\n[7] I Peter iii. 22.\n\n[8] Hebrews i. 3; ii. 8-9; viii. 1; x. 12; xii. 2.\n\n[9] Revelation iii. 21.\n\n[10] Acts ii. 36.\n\n[11] Romans x. 9.\n\n[12] I Samuel xvi. 6; xxiv. 6, 10; II Samuel i. 14-16; xix. 21, and\nelsewhere; Psalm xviii. 50, and frequently in Psalms.\n\n[13] John i. 20, 25; Luke iii. 15.\n\n[14] Philippians ii. 10; I Corinthians xv. 24-26.\n\n[15] John xvii. 5; i. 1-3; Colossians i. 15-17.\n\n[16] Matthew xxvi. 64; Acts ii. 22-24, 32-36; Philippians ii. 9-11;\nHebrews ii. 9.\n\n[17] Hebrews ii. 5-18.\n\n[18] Romans vii. 19-22; Jeremiah ix. 10; xii. 4, 11; xxiii. 10; Genesis\niii. 17-19; Acts iii. 21.\n\n[19] Ephesians i. 20-22; Hebrews ii. 6-8.\n\n[20] Philippians ii. 9-11.\n\n[21] Ephesians vi. 12; Colossians ii. 15.\n\n[22] Colossians ii. 10; Ephesians iii. 10; iv. 8-10; I Corinthians xv.\n24.\n\n[23] Hebrews ii. 8.\n\n[24] II Peter iii. 8-9; Romans ii. 4; ix. 22; Revelation ii. 21; I Peter\niii. 20; II Peter iii. 15; Exodus xxxiv. 6-7.\n\n[25] James v. 7.\n\n[26] F. M. N.\n\n[27] Ephesians i. 20-22.\n\n[28] Ephesians iii. 20.\n\n[29] John xiv. 12-14.\n\n[30] Hebrews x. 13.\n\n[31] Acts iii. 21.\n\n[32] Frances Ridley Havergal.\n\n[33] Mrs. Bessie Porter Head.\n\n\n\n\nII.--THE CROWN BOOK\n\n\n \"All hail the power of Jesus' Name!\n   Let angels prostrate fall:\n Bring forth the royal diadem,\n   And crown Him Lord of all.\n\n \"O that with yonder sacred throng\n   We at His feet may fall,\n Join in the everlasting song\n   And crown Him Lord of all!\n\n \"With all my powers Him I greet,\n   All subject to His call;\n And bowing low at His pierced feet,\n   _Now_ crown Him Lord of all.\n\n \"I hail the power of Jesus' Name,\n   Before Him gladly fall,\n Bring Him my own heart's diadem\n   And crown Him Lord of all!\"\n\n\nThe Crowning Book.\n\nThere is a _crown book_ in this old Book of God,--the Revelation of\nJohn. It is _the_ crown book, the only one. It is the crown book of the\nsixty-six in two senses. It is the capping climax of the whole\nrevelation of God's Word. It gathers up into itself in a peculiar way\nthe dominant characteristics of both the Hebrew Old and the Greek New\nTestaments.\n\nAnd it is the book of the Crown. The King is in action. He Himself gives\nthe message of the book to John. He is seen stepping forward to take\npossession of His realm. Then He takes possession. He dispossesses the\npretender. He reigns over the earth. The Revelation of John is the Crown\nbook.\n\nThis is the peculiarity of the Revelation in comparison with all the\nother books. Only here is Christ seen exercising His crown rights. From\nend to end of the Old Testament pages, His coming is looked forward to,\nwith an eager longing that grows in intensity as the national failure\ngrows ever worse.\n\nIn the Gospels He comes, but not as He was expected. He is heralded as\nKing, and claims to be King. He has all the graciousness of a King in\nministering to the needs of the people, and all the power of a King in\nHis personal touch. But He is rejected by the nation, and goes to the\nCross, yet still as a King,--a humiliated, crucified King.\n\nIn the Acts He is the risen, glorified King seated at the Father's right\nhand in glory, and at work through His followers among men on the earth.\nBut it is always in the midst of sharp, bitter opposition. In the\nEpistles He is seen crowned at the Father's right hand, guiding and\nteaching His followers who are still suffering persecution.\n\nBut in the Revelation of John all this is changed. There's a sharp,\ndecided, advance step. Here He is not only crowned, but stepping\ndirectly and decisively into the action of the earth in the full\nexercise of His crowned rights and power. It is peculiarly the book of\nthe Crown, the royal book, the enthroned Christ exercising fully and\nfreely at will His crown rights.\n\n\nJesus' Bosom Friend.\n\nThe book was written by John the disciple and apostle. This is our same\nold friend John, whom we met first that ever-memorable afternoon, down\nby the Jordan River road, when he was introduced to Jesus by the John of\nthe deserts, and had his first long, quiet talk with Him.[34] The\nfriendship began that day, grew steadily, and never flagged. It was one\nof the few friendships that Jesus had that never knew any lapse nor\neclipse.\n\nHe became, in an outstanding sense, the bosom friend of Jesus. Probably\nit was not because of any special gentleness or amiability on John's\npart, though he may have had something of these traits. It was more\nlikely because of the deep, intelligent sympathy between the two, a\nsympathy not only of personality, but deeper and stronger because of a\nmental and spirit likeness growing up between them. It would seem likely\nthat John developed a mental grasp, a spirit insight, a student\nthoughtfulness, a steadiness of temperament, and with these, a growing\nunderstanding of much--at the least--much of Jesus' spirit and ideals\nand vision.\n\nIt may quite be that all this came slowly, and grew up out of the\nconstant contact with Jesus, and out of the warm personal love between\nthe two men; quite likely. Who could live so close to Jesus as he and\nnot bear the marks on mind and spirit? The fire that burned so fiercely\nin early years[35] grew into a steady, unflickering flame under the\ninfluence of that personal friendship.\n\nIt seems not unlikely that John belonged to a good family, and had his\nhome in Jerusalem. He was clearly on terms of easy intimacy at the\npalace of the High Priest,[36] which in itself would suggest his social\nstanding in the city. It was to this man that Jesus, on the Cross,\ncommitted the care of His mother. And John accepted the trust as a\ntender token of friendship, and took Mary at once to his own home. And\nas Mary remained in Jerusalem at least some time, and John clearly for a\nlong time, the home was likely there.\n\nJohn was one of the chief leaders in Jerusalem during the Pentecost\ndays, and after. Peter was the chief spokesman, but John was always\nclose by his side. The friendship between the two seems to have been\nclose and of long standing. They were sent together by the Master to\narrange for the supper that memorable betrayal night,[37] and they are\nseen together in the activities in Jerusalem for many years.[38]\n\nIt would seem that in later years John left Jerusalem, and made his home\nfor the remainder of his life in Ephesus. Doubtless he was led, after\nthe years of leadership in the mother Church, to leave the great Jew\ncentre, and devote his strength to missionary service in the outside\nGentile world.\n\nEphesus was the chief city of the province of Asia, and the natural\ncentre of the population and life of the province. John probably worked\nout from Ephesus, preaching throughout the whole district; teaching,\nadvising, praying with, and visiting the groups of little Churches\nscattered throughout the province, perhaps founding some, and\nstrengthening all. For his work seems to have been, not so much\nevangelizing, but the much more difficult work of teaching, patiently,\ncarefully, teaching; a work so essential to the life of any Church. So\nhe would be quite familiar with the Churches to which the Revelation\nletters are sent, and would be well known by these people and loved and\nrevered by them as a father in the faith.\n\nThis personal bit about John is of intensest interest in studying this\nbook of his. It was to this man that Jesus could entrust the writing of\nthis special message. John could take in what the Master was showing him\nas few, if any others, could. The close, sympathetic friendship made him\nable to take in what his old Friend and Master is now telling him in the\nglory. And he could give it out too, simply, fully, clearly, just as it\nwas given to him.\n\nLove can see and grasp, and can obey simply, where mere mental keenness\nfails. There is no tonic for the brain like love in the heart. No brain\never does its best work, nor can, until the heart is fired by some\ntender, noble passion. It was to Mary Magdalene who had such reason to\nlove tenderly that Jesus showed Himself first after the\nresurrection.[39]\n\nAnd it is to John, the bosom friend, whose friendship stood the severest\ntest where all others failed, that He now shows Himself in glory, and\nentrusts this pleading message, and vision of coming events, and of the\nafter glory. He that willeth to do the Master's will shall know surely\nand clearly what that will is. And he that goeth farther yet, and\nwilleth to give the tenderest love of his heart, ever kept at summer\nheat, shall know the Master Himself, in present personal touch, and in\nclear and clearing understanding of His coming victorious action and\ncrowning glory.\n\nJohn wrote a Gospel; one chief Epistle, besides the two very brief\npersonal letters; and this book of the Revelation. The Gospel and\nEpistles were quite likely written while in Ephesus.\n\nThe Gospel was his plea to all men to whom it might come to accept Jesus\nas their personal Saviour. Its characteristic word is \"believe.\" And the\nplan of it is a simple array of incidents about Jesus that would lead\nmen to a warm, intelligent belief in Him.\n\nThe chief Epistle is written to the little groups of believers scattered\nthroughout Asia Minor, and doubtless in the old home district of Judea,\ntoo. Its characteristic word is \"abide.\" It is an intense plea, by a\npersonal friend to abide, steadily, fully, in Christ, in spite of the\ngrowing defections and difficulties pressing in so close.\n\nThe Revelation was written, quite likely, on the island of Patmos while\nall was yet fresh in his mind; or possibly in Ephesus after his release\nfrom his island prison; or perhaps begun in Patmos and put into its\nfinal shape in Ephesus. It is written to the little groups of believers\nin and near Ephesus. It is a most intense plea to be personally true to\nthe Lord Jesus in the midst of subtle compromise and of bitter\npersecution.\n\nIts characteristic word is \"overcome.\" It speaks much of the opposition\nto be encountered, and tells of greater opposition yet to come, the\ngreatest ever known. And it pleads, with every possible promise, and\nevery warning of danger, that the true believer set himself against the\nevil tide, at every risk, and every possible personal loss, and so that\nhe \"overcome\" in the Name of the Lord Jesus.\n\n\nOld and New Woven Together.\n\nThe language in which the book is written is of intense interest. It is\nso unusual. It combines Hebrew thought and Greek speech. It is as though\na Hebrew soul were living in a Greek body, and the soul has so dominated\nthe body as to make decided changes in it. The thought and imagery, and\nthe very words are largely taken over from the Old Testament, much of it\nnot being found elsewhere in the New Testament. It is as though the Old\nTestament reaches clear over the intervening space and writes the last\nbook of the New as an additional book of the Old, but with distinct\nadditions. But all these additions are outgrowths of what is already in\nthe Old.\n\nBut while the thought and imagery are Hebrew, the language is Greek. But\nscholars note that John's Greek here is different from that of his\nGospel, and is indeed peculiar to itself, with new grammatical\nadjustments, as though better to express his Hebrew thought. Yet, like\nthe Gospel, it is an easy Greek to learn and to understand. It is as\nthough the Old Testament were the warp of a new bit of fabric, with the\nNew as the shuttle-threads, and yet with such additions as makes the\npattern stand out much more definite and clear, and the colours in it\nmore pronounced. Thus this end-book is a weaving of both Old and New\ninto a new bit of fabric, but with a more distinct pattern than either.\n\nThis explains the use of the symbolism which is so marked here. The\npicture language of John's Revelation has seemed very puzzling. It has\nseemed like a new language, to which we had neither grammar nor\ndictionary, and the intended meaning of which we could only guess at.\nBut this is because we are Westerners and a bit set in our western way.\nAnd possibly, too, though we dislike to confess it, because we have not\ngotten a clear, simple grasp of this old Book of God as a whole. The\nBible is an Oriental book, written in the characteristic picture\nlanguage of the Orient.\n\nThe truth is that the symbol or picture language is meant to make the\nbook _easier of understanding_. We simply need to learn how to read\npicture language, not whimsically, but sensibly according to the laws of\npicture language. The symbolism or picture sees things as they look at\nthe moment the picture is taken. The picture is meant to give one\ngeneral distinct impression of the thing being presented, the details of\nthe picture being of value only as they give coloring to that one\ngeneral impression. It is concerned, not at all, or only in the most\nincidental way, with the process by which the thing came to the point\npictured.\n\nThere is a rare wisdom in the use of this picture language. It is really\nthe common language not of the Orient merely, but of all the world. In\nour western half of the globe it is the language of the street, the\ncommon crowd, the common exchange of life, and of children. It is the\nlanguage of the primitive peoples of all parts of the world. Everywhere\nthe conventionalized book-language is spoken by the few. The picture,\nwith its companion, the story, is the universal, the original, the\nnatural language of the race.\n\nOn the mere human side here is one secret of the freshness of the Bible.\nIt is the oldest book in some of its parts, but admitted to be the\nfreshest and most modern in its adaptation to modern life. And the\nreason is simple. The pictures give _principles_. Principles don't\nchange with the changing of centuries. Rules change. Principles abide.\nDetails alter with every generation. Principles of action are as\nunchangeable as human nature, which is ever the same, east and west,\nbelow the equator, and above.\n\nJohn's Revelation is naturally full of this picture language, for it is\na gathering up of the chief threads of the old Oriental Hebrew fabric.\nIt will help us understand the meaning if we keep in mind the simple\nrules of this Hebrew picture language.\n\nJohn, of course, was a Hebrew, born and bred in a Hebrew home, and\nimmersed in the old Hebrew Bible from the time of his mother's milk.\nWhat Greek language and culture had come was a bit of the outer world\ncome into his Hebrew home and life. Now in his old age the early memory\nis asserting itself.\n\nThen too it is quite likely that in his imprisonment he had been\nbrooding anew over the old prophecies, reviewing afresh events since the\nresurrection of Jesus,--the growth of the Church, and now the severe\npersecution, with himself a prisoner. And while he in no way doubts the\nunseen overruling Hand, yet he is seeking to get a fresh outlook into\nthe future from the old prophetic writings.\n\nAnd through all of this without doubt the Holy Spirit was brooding in\nunusual measure over this man, reviving early memory, bringing to his\nremembrance all things of other days, deepening impressions, bringing\nold facts into new perspective, giving clearer vision, mellowing and\nmaturing both mind and heart into fresh plastic openness to further\ntruth. And so we have this little book with its Hebrew soul and its\nGreek body.\n\nThe meaning of all this is very simple, and yet a meaning of intense\nsignificance. Here is summed up the whole of the revelation of God's\nWord. Here all the lines of Revelation meet. Almost two thousand years\nof inspiration come to a climax in this little end-book. Psalmist and\nprophet, historian and law-giver, Gospel and Epistle come to a final\nfocus point in one simple intense message. The purpose of the book is\nintensely and only practical. Here is the message of the whole Bible to\nChrist's people _for this present interval_ between the Ascension and\nthe next great step in our Lord's world-plan.\n\n\nJesus' Plea to His Friends.\n\nAnd the message is simply this: put to us with all the intensity of the\nOne who gave His very life for us, it is this,--_that we be personally\ntrue to our Lord Jesus_ during His present absence. This comes as His\npersonal request, that, in sweet, stern purity of life, in full glad\nobedience of spirit, in tender freshness of personal devotion, in\nholding absolutely everything, of talents and position and possession,\nsubject to His call, and in keeping our eye ever open forward and upward\nfor His return, we be true to Him.\n\nHe is the Lamb slain. Only through His blood is there salvation for any\none. He is now allowing man fullest opportunity before He comes to set\nthings right. This is the in-between time, much lengthened out. In the\nmidst of formalism and subtle compromise, the tangling of ideas and\nissues, and the blurring of vision within His Church, He calls to His\nown blood-bought ones to be true to Himself.\n\nThere's a terrific moral storm coming. Wickedness will wax to a worst\nnever yet known. Evil will be so aggressive, compromise so radical,\ntemptations so subtle and coming with such a rush, and ideals of right\nso blurred and dimmed in the glare of the lower lights, that even those\nof the inner circle will be sorely tried, and many will be deceived.\nJust at the bursting of the worst of the storm the crowned Christ will\nappear. He will come on the clouds before all eyes, take away His own\nout of the storm, then clear the storm by His own touch, and begin the\nnew order of things.\n\nThe test coming will be terrific. He knows it. And his knowledge makes\nHis plea intense that _we be true to Himself_, our beloved, crucified,\ncrowned Lord, utterly regardless of consequences to ourselves. So we\nshall \"overcome by the blood of the Lamb,\" and be joined with Him in\nclosest intimacy during His coming reign over the earth.\n\nThere is a striking thing told us at the very outset of the book;--it is\na revelation. That is, it is something revealed directly by God. It is\nthe only book of the Bible of which we are told plainly and directly\nthat it is a revelation.\n\nIt is not that the other books do not have the same inspirational\ncharacteristic. But our attention is explicitly called to the fact that\nthis one is, in its entirety, a _direct_ revelation; and not only so,\nbut it is a revelation given directly by God to the Lord Jesus, and\ngiven in person by Him to John. This is significant. It marks out the\nmessage of the book as of the utmost meaning and importance.\n\nThis suggests a need. And the need of something of the sort is plain\nenough, if one think into it. Already in John's day there was a distinct\nbreak-away from the simplicity and purity of the Gospel, both in the\nChurch and in the lives of professed Christians. The messages to the\nChurches of Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis show clearly that there had\nalready begun a rubbing out of the sharp line of distinction between the\nChurch and the world. The world spirit was--not creeping in,\nbut--walking boldly into the life of the Church.\n\nIt is striking to note the thing that leads John to write his First\nEpistle, that is, the alarming conditions among Christ's followers. The\nspirit of compromise seems seeping in at every crevice. And worse yet,\nthe spirit of Antichrist, that makes such a savage attack on Jesus, on\nthe deity of His person, and the atoning significance of His death, this\nwas openly at work among them.[40] These conditions, so familiar to\nthose who first read his little Epistle, are the continual underscoring\nof His intense plea for _abiding_.\n\nIt is most significant that Jude's intense flame-like Epistle talks\nentirely about conditions within Church circles. Run through it again\nwith this fact fresh in mind, and the significance of it stands out in a\nstartling way. Peter's Second Epistle reveals the same sort of an\natmosphere seeping in among the groups of disciples to whom he writes.\nNot only was there doubt and confusion about the meaning of the\nprophetic teachings, but even a sneering and mocking at the teaching\nabout the second coming of our Lord.\n\nThese are a few indications of how things were in the Church generally\nbefore the first century had closed. It was a time of confusion and\ncompromise. The air was tense. The need was critical. It would seem that\nif ever our Lord would give a simple direct revelation afresh, to His\npeople, it would be in just such circumstances. And it reveals to us at\nonce how grave things looked to His eyes, and how much depended on His\nfollowers having a clear understanding of how things would work out,\nthat our Lord Jesus does do just this thing,--send a direct revelation\nthat would meet just such a need.\n\n\nMore Alike than Different.\n\nIt is most striking that the conditions of the Church then and to-day\nare so much alike. The line between Church and world is either badly\nblurred, or quite wiped out. And this one fact throws a flood of light\nupon Church conditions. Within the Church, when it comes to the matter\nof what its real purpose of being is, and what the essentials of faith,\nthe lines are hopelessly crossed and tangled, even though the surface\nshows so much striving toward at least a seeming unity, and so much\naggressiveness in action. The common absence of real spiritual power,\nthat unmistakable moving, like a breath, of the Spirit of God, is freely\nadmitted.\n\nIt is a painful fact that membership in a Church no longer gives any\nclue to a man's vital belief, nor even to his moral conduct. There is\nutter confusion about the practical meaning of God's prophetic Word, and\nwhat the actual outcome of the present order will be; that is, where\nsuch things are not quite dismissed from consideration. And, stranger\nyet, indifference, or an actual repugnance, to any mention of the Lord's\nreturn is the common thing. It is not surprising that earnest people are\nbewildered as to just what should be the attitude of one who would ring\ntrue to the absent Jesus. It hurts to remember that all this is the\nfreely admitted commonplace, where such things are seriously spoken of.\n\nIndeed it is of intense interest to note that just this sort of thing\nhas marked the whole interval since these early Church days. Broadly the\nsame characteristics have marked both world movement and the Church\nmovement in this long interval. There is a unity characterizing the age\nsince our Lord ascended. There have been differences, very sharp and\nmarked, but always they have been differences in degree, now more\nintense, now less. The general characteristics have been the same in\nkind.\n\nThe need of the Church in the end of the first century is its need in\nthe beginning of the twentieth. Surely the thing of all things needed is\na simple, clear, understandable revelation direct from our Lord Jesus\nHimself. It was needed then. Clearly it has been needed in every\ngeneration since then. And one whose pulse is at all sensitive to spirit\nconditions to-day feels that surely it is the thing needed now.\n\nAnd here it is, a revelation of Himself, crowned in the upper world,\nkeeping in closest touch with things down in this world, telling us what\nthe outcome is to be, and especially speaking of our attitude toward\nHimself in this present in-between interval.\n\nUsually God's method with man is to give him enough of a revelation of\nHimself in nature, and in His Word, to start him straight, and guide him\nas he goes to school with himself as chief pupil, with all of nature to\nfind out and develop, and so to get mastery both of himself and of\nnature and its forces. We recognize this as the best school-teacher\nmethod for good self-development.\n\nBut here something more seems needed. The situation down on the earth\nhas gotten badly mixed up. Even though Jesus has been on the earth, and\nhas died, and has sent down the Holy Spirit in such irresistible power,\nthe situation in the world, and among His disciples, has gotten so\nsubtly tangled and intense, the enemy is so viciously and cunningly at\nwork, that only one thing will meet the need,--a revelation, a simple,\ndirect, warm revelation given us personally by the Lord Jesus Himself.\nAnd here it is in this little end-book, with its vision of the glorified\nJesus, its pleading heart-cry to His followers, and its simple but\ntremendous outlook into the future.\n\nIt would not be surprising if such a book should be made the subject of\nspecial attack by the evil one. It is not surprising, though it is\ndeeply grievous, that the common idea about this book among Christian\npeople is that it is a sort of a puzzle, that it is impossible to get a\nsimple, clear, workable understanding of its message. Parts of it are\nconned over tenderly and loved, a paragraph here, a verse there, and so\non, but a grasp of the one simple message of the book seems not common,\nto put it mildly. No book of the sixty-six has seemed so much like a\nriddle to which no one knew the answer. And without doubt the full\nmeaning of much will be quite clear only as events work themselves out.\nEvents will be the best exposition of certain parts. But these parts, be\nit keenly noted, are not essential to the grasp of the whole message.\nGod is intensely practical. Jesus was too intent on helping people to be\notherwise than practical. He hasn't changed. He is too tremendously\nwrapped up in the outworking of His plans. The Bible is wholly a\n_practical_ book. And this crowning end of it is intensely and only\npractical. It is with the clear conviction that it is entirely possible\nto get the simple grasp of it that shall steady our steps, and clear our\nunderstanding, and feed our personal devotion to the absent Jesus, our\nblessed Lord, that these few simple quiet talks have been put together.\n\n\nDoing Leads to Understanding.\n\nThe outline of the book is very simple. After the brief introduction[41]\nand personal greeting,[42] there comes the wondrous vision of _the\nglorified Jesus_, and His personal message to John.[43] He is the Living\nOne, who _became_ dead for a great purpose, and is now living, never to\ndie again. He is seen walking quietly among the groups of his followers,\nwith eyes of flame, and heart of love, keeping watch over these, His\nempowered witnesses on earth.\n\nAnd He tells John that he is to write to the groups of his followers a\nthreefold message, a description of Himself as just now seen by John, a\ndescription of affairs in these Churches as seen by His own eyes, and an\naccount of the things that are going to happen on the earth.\n\nThen follows this description of the Churches. It is in a sevenfold\npersonal message to His followers on the earth.[44] Then the vision of\nHimself in heaven as He steps directly into the action of the earth to\ntake possession of His crown domain.[45] Then comes the account of\ncoming happenings. It is a sevenfold view of a terrific moral storm on\nthe earth, that will follow this advance step of His in the heavens. It\nis so terrific and includes so much, that it is possible to get a clear\nview of it and its sweep only by looking, now at this feature of it, and\nnow at this; now from this angle of vision, and now from this other.\n\nIt is the final contesting of Christ's crown claim as He steps forward\nto assert it; the final outburst of evil unrestrainedly storming itself\nout. And it is the clearing-up storm, too. There is ever the shining of\na clear light just beyond the outer rim of the terrible blackness of the\nstorm clouds. This takes up the greater part of the little book,\nincluding chapter six, to the close of chapter eighteen.\n\nAnd then there is given briefly the actual coming to earth in glory of\nthe crowned Christ;[46] the new order of things under His personal\nreign;[47] a final crisis;[48] and then in a vision of wondrous\nwinsomeness, God and men are seen dwelling together as one reunited\nfamily, though still with a sad burning reminder of the old\nsin-rebellion as part of the picture.[49] And the book closes with\npersonal paragraphs to John and to the groups of Churches.[50]\n\nAnother of the striking things peculiar to this book is the personal\nplea that it be read and lived up to. At the very front-door step as one\nstarts in he is met full in the face with this: \"Blessed is _he_ that\n_readeth_, and they that _hear_, (or give careful heed to) the words of\nthe prophecy, and _keep_ the things that are written therein.\"[51]\n\nHere at the very outset is a plea, made to each one into whose hands the\nlittle book may come, for a reading, and a careful thinking into, and\nthen, yet more, a bringing of the whole life up to the line of what is\nfound here. The blessing of God will rest peculiarly upon him who heeds\nthis threefold plea. That man is moving in the line of the plan of God.\n\nA little past the midway line of the book, all at once, abruptly, in the\nthick of terrible happenings being told, an unexpected voice comes.\nClearly it is the Lord Jesus Himself speaking. It is as though He were\nstanding by all the time throughout all these pages, watching with a\nsleepless concern. Now He speaks out. Listen: \"Blessed is he that\n_watcheth_,\" that keepeth ever on the alert against the subtle\ntemptations, and the compromise that fills the very air, \"and _keepeth\nhis garments_;\"[52] sleeplessly, kneefully, takes care that no breath of\nevil get into his heart, no taint of compromise stain his life, no\nsuspicion of lukewarmness cool his personal devotion to the absent\nJesus.\n\nAnd again, doing sentinel duty at the rear-end, is the same plea.\n\"Blessed is he that _keepeth the words_ of the prophecy of this\nbook.\"[53] Reading, heeding, obeying, watching, living up to, this is\nthe earnest plea peculiar to this book. Clearly our Lord Jesus desires\nearnestly that it be read. And He expects us to understand it. And He\npleads with us to live in the light of what He tells us here.\n\nHe that willeth to do shall know what he ought to do. He that doeth the\nthing he does know will know more. And that more done will open the door\nyet wider into all the fragrance of a strongly obedient life, and into a\nclear and clearing understanding of the Lord Jesus Himself.\n\nHe that brings his life bit by bit up to the level of the earnest plea\nof this special revelation, as bit by bit it opens to him, will find his\nunderstanding of it wonderfully clearing. Obedience is the organ of\nunderstanding. Through it there comes clear grasp of the truth.\n\nA single recent illustration of this comes from Korea, that land that\ngives us so much of the romance of missions, as well as so much of its\npathos. Dr. James S. Gale, of Seoul, tells of a Korean who had travelled\nsome hundred miles to confer with him about Christian things. He recited\nto Dr. Gale the whole of the Sermon on the Mount without slip or error.\nAfter this surprising feat of memory, the missionary said gently that\nmemorizing was not enough; the truth must be practised in daily life.\n\nTo his surprise the Korean quietly said: \"That's the way I _learned_ to\nmemorize. I tried to memorize, but it wouldn't stick. So I hit upon this\nplan; I would memorize a verse, then find a heathen neighbour and\npractise the verse on him. Then I found it would stick.\"\n\nThat's the _rule for understanding_ this revelation of Jesus through\nJohn, as well as all of this inspired Word of God. This rule simply,\nfaithfully, followed will open up this little end-book which to many has\nseemed a sealed book. He that \"keepeth the things\" that are written here\nwill find these pages opening to his eyes. He that liveth the truth he\ndoes understand will understand more and better, and so live in the\nwondrous power of it, and in the sweet presence of Him who gives it to\nus.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[34] John i. 35-42.\n\n[35] Luke ix. 54.\n\n[36] John xviii. 15-16.\n\n[37] Luke xxii. 8.\n\n[38] Acts iii. 1, 3, 4, 11; iv. 13, 19; viii. 14, 25; Galatians ii. 9.\n\n[39] Mark xvi. 9; John xx. 1, 11-18.\n\n[40] I John ii. 18-29; iv. 1-6.\n\n[41] Revelation i. 1-3.\n\n[42] Revelation i. 4-8.\n\n[43] i. 9-20.\n\n[44] Chapters ii. and iii.\n\n[45] Chapters iv. and v.\n\n[46] xix. i-xx. 3.\n\n[47] xx. 4-6.\n\n[48] xx. 7-15.\n\n[49] xxi. i-xxii. 5.\n\n[50] xxii. 6-21.\n\n[51] i. 3.\n\n[52] xvi. 15.\n\n[53] xxii. 7.\n\n\n\n\nIII.--A SIGHT OF THE CROWNED CHRIST\n\n(Revelation, Chapter i.)\n\n\n \"Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus,\n   I've lost sight of all beside,\n So enchained my spirit's vision,\n   Looking at the Crucified.\"\n\n\n \"The Lord Christ passed my humble cot:\n I knew him, yet I knew him not;\n But as I oft had done before,\n I hurried through my narrow door\n   To touch His garment's hem.\n\n \"He drew me to a place apart\n From curious crowd and noisy mart;\n And as I sat there at His feet\n I caught the thrill of His heart-beat\n   Beyond His garment's hem.\n\n \"Rare was the bread He broke for me,\n As wine the words He spoke to me--\n New life surged in, the old life died....\n I cannot now be satisfied\n   To touch His garment's hem.\"[54]\n\n\nTransfigured by a Look.\n\nNo one ever had a sight of Christ's face and forgot. No one ever gets a\nsight of Him and gets over it. He is never the same man after that. He\ndoesn't want to be the same.\n\nA look into the face of Christ is transforming. You see Him; and you can\nnever be the man you have been and be content. A change comes. You want\na change. You must have it. This longing is the beginning of the deeper\nchange. You can never be content again with being the man you have been.\n\nIt has always been so. It always will be so. For this is the natural\nthing. In the dawning twilight of Eden God looked into the face of the\nman he had fashioned. He drew very close to him, close enough to breathe\nhis own breath into his face. And the man looked out into God's face,\nand took on God's likeness. So he became his own real self, as\noriginally planned.\n\nBut while man was yet young, sin looked him in the face. And the man\nlooked at sin with an evil longing look. And in that look he took in\nsome of what he saw. He was marred. The God image was hurt. He was not\nthe same man. And he knew it. He felt it. His eyes were never the same\nafter that exchange of looks with sin.\n\nBut God helped him. He didn't go away. He came closer for the sake of\nthe sin-hurt eyes. And whenever man has looked into that wondrous\nGod-face, even though seeing dimly and indistinctly, something within\nhim makes a great bound. He recognizes the original of his own natural\nself. And he catches fire at the sight. A holy discontent springs up\nwithin.\n\n \"Couldst thou in vision see\n   Thyself the man God meant,\n Thou never more couldst be\n   The man thou art--content.\"\n\nBut you have to see Jesus as He was in His humanity to see yourself the\nman God meant. And you have to see Jesus as He is now to see the God who\nmeant you to be like Himself.\n\nIt has always been so. This has been God's simple method with men He\nwould use. He has wooed and then wooed more, and a bit longer, gently,\npersistently, up and away and apart until at last the man's eyes were\ntrained away from the lower glare enough to see the real things.\n\nThen in some vision of the night, whose darkness helped hold back the\nlower earth lights, God has looked a man in the face once again. Or,\nperhaps in open day there came to him that which he could not describe.\nBut in his inner spirit he knew there was One with him whom yet his\nouter eyes could not see, but who _could_ not be more real if his outer\neyes did see.\n\nAnd in that presence there was a mingling of exquisite tenderness and of\nlimitless power that was overawing. Inconceivable purity and yet such an\nunspeakable graciousness seemed blended in this presence. And the man\nseeing was melted in his innermost being with the sense of tenderness,\nand bowed in awe to the lowest dust in the sense of overwhelming power.\nThose who have seen will understand how poor the words are to tell the\nstory. And those who have not may wonder a bit until they, too, have\nseen.\n\n\nSome Transfigured Men.\n\nThis it was that transformed that man of the early dawnlight named\nEnoch, the seventh from Adam. He was the head of the leading family of\nthe race, the racial leader. He had lived well on into the seventh\ndecade of his life.\n\nThen the change came. He recognized a Presence with him, one day. That\nOne unseen by unseeing eyes became real to him and then more real. He\nyielded to His wooing. He companioned with Him daily. This came to be\nthe realest thing. And he was transformed by it. He grew constantly less\nlike what he had been, and more like what he was originally meant to be,\nlike his Companion. Constant contact restored the original likeness. He\nwas transformed before men's eyes, changed over from within.\n\nThen one day the transforming forces had gone so far that he was\ntransferred to the upper levels, where all _see His face_, and his\nlikeness shines out of all faces. He never got over the sight that came\nto him that early day.\n\nIt was this that wooed the man of Ur away from his ancestral home to be\na lonely pilgrim, a stranger among strangers. Nothing less or else could\nhave broken the early attachments, the strongest of the East. That\nwinsome wooing Presence became to him stronger than the strongest human\nattachments of his family and home land.\n\nThis it was that steadied him through the loneliness, the homelessness,\nthe disappointments, the long delays, until it was the image of a new\nman, a transformed man, a faith-begotten man, that at length looked at\nhim out of the eyes of his only begotten. This it was that steadied him\nthrough the hardest test of all with that only begotten, the fire test\non Moriah. And that made the transformation yet fuller. For so he grew\nthe liker him to whose presence he insisted on yielding as each test\ncame.\n\nSo it was with that rare student of Egypt and Arabia. Trained in the\nbest that man could give in the University of the Nile, and then further\ntrained by absence from man in the University of the Desert, alone with\nsheep and stars, shifting sand and immovable rock, he wasn't ready for\nhis task yet. He was well trained but not yet transformed.\n\nThe fires had to be kindled, purifying, melting, fusing fires. And only\nfire kindles fire. The fire of the unburnt bush told him first of a new\nkind of fire, uncatalogued on the Nile. The fire of a Presence burned\ndaily, not consuming him, but only the dross _in_ him, as he led his\nrace from Egypt to Sinai, out from the slavery of men up to the freedom\nof the presence of God. And then for six weeks, twice over, he was in\nthe Presence of Flame on the Mount.\n\nThis it was that utterly changed him into the strongly gentle, patient,\ntender-hearted, wise man who taught and trained, lived with and led, the\nimmature men and women whom God would weld into a nation, a God-nation.\nHe never got over those two long visits to the Mount, nor has the world.\n\nIt was nothing else than this, long years later, that made the rugged\nman of the deserts brave the traitorous Ahab in his luxurious,\nlicentious court. Without it, the sight obscured, the vision lost, he is\na coward fleeing like a whipped dog before a bad woman, thinking only of\nsaving his own skin. It showed himself, his weak, cowardly self, to\nhimself.\n\nA fresh vision that early morning in the mouth of the desert cave made\nthe yet deeper more radical transformation. That unutterably gentle\nsound of stillness, too exquisite to be told, only to be felt by a\nspirit in tune, _that_ left him not a whit less willing to brave danger\nthan before, but made over now into another sort, like him whose\nPresence in the cave so melted him down.\n\nThis new, gentled, mellowed, strengthened Elijah reappears in the man\nwho received the birthright portion of his spirit. We know the new\nElijah by the spirit that swayed Elisha. The old spirit, fiercely\ndenouncing, calling down fire, slaying the priests, but with no\ngrief-broken heart under these stern needful things,--this we think of\nfamiliarly as the Elijah spirit.\n\nThe new spirit, healing, teaching, sympathizing, leading, feeding,\nfathering, the greatness of gentleness and patience, these\ncharacteristics of Elijah's prophetic heir tell of the deep radical\ntransformation by the wondrous unseen Presence that early morning in the\nmouth of the cave. This is the birthright gift of Elijah to Elisha.\nElijah had a spirit-sight of God, and he never got over it. He became\nlike Him into whose face he looked.\n\n\nHeart Stimulant for the Brain.\n\nBut time fails, and words fail immensely more, to tell this thing. Let\nhim who would know that transforming sight get quietly alone with Isaiah\nin the temple, and on bent knees linger unhurriedly, and listen, and\nwatch, and breathe out his prayer, and strongly wait until something of\nthe same brooding Presence be discerned that transformed this young\nHebrew messenger of God.\n\nThen let him get alone with the Moses of the New Testament. For there\nis no man who was so utterly transformed, and so quickly, as the man on\nthe Damascus road. The whole course of his character and life was\nradically changed as by a lightning touch. This is the most striking\nillustration of all. No man so reveals in himself the tremendous\ntransforming power there is in the sight of the Christ as does this\nhigh-strung son of the Hebrew race.\n\nBut--words are such lame things. They cannot tell the story here. They\nare all one has to use. Yet they'll never be understood except as the\nlight of experience shines upon them. When any one attempts to talk of\nsuch a thing as this of seeing God or Christ, his words seem so poor and\nlame and under the mark by the man who has had something of the vision.\nAnd they either are meaningless and uninteresting, or else they seem\noverstated, and quite beyond the mark to one who has had no inkling in\nexperience of the thing itself.\n\nI recall distinctly the experience of a Danish friend in Copenhagen. She\nhad been trying to read in English a certain devotional book, but said\nshe couldn't seem to grasp the meaning of the English words. They eluded\nher, and so the book didn't help her much.\n\nThen she went through a time of sore stress of spirit in the sickness\nand death of her mother. A new experience of the nearness of God came to\nher. And then happening--as it seemed--to pick up the English book again\nshe was amazed and delighted to find how much better and more quickly\nshe knew the words and sensed the meaning.\n\nIt is only as the heart is fired that the brain awakens. Experience\ngives the meaning to language. Without experience it is a dead language\nin meaning even though it be one's own mother tongue. Only the man who\nhas caught something of the vision of Christ's face can understand the\nstrong words used in talking of such a vision.\n\nIt is most striking to notice that even when the glory of God's presence\nwas hidden beneath human wrappings in Jesus it still could be _felt_.\nMen felt that presence though they knew not just what it was they felt,\nnor why. When the glory came yet closer in the coming of Jesus, it must\nbe well covered up for the sake of men's eyes, that they might not go\nblind at once; but its power of attraction could not be wholly hid.\n\nSo really human was Jesus in the outer circumstance of His life that His\nbrothers of the home couldn't believe he was essentially different from\nthemselves. But the attraction of that presence was felt constantly even\nthrough the human hiding of it.\n\nJohn of the Wilderness instinctively recognized that here was more than\nthe man he saw, and so obeyed His word. The crowds gathered eagerly in\nthe Jordan bottoms in even greater numbers than to hear John, drawn by a\npower they felt they must yield to, and did yield to gladly.\n\nFrom the first the crowds gathered thick about Him, Jewish aristocrat,\nSamaritan half-breed and sinful outcast jostling elbows in their\neagerness to hear, drawn by a power they could feel, but could not\nunderstand any more than they could withstand it. The children loved his\npresence and touch.\n\nThe bad in life were as resistlessly drawn up to a new life as the\nGreeks were drawn from clear beyond the blue waters of the Hellespont\ninto His presence. The crowds were irresistibly drawn to follow on that\nlast eventful journey to Jerusalem even while they felt \"afraid.\"\n\nIt was the sight of the glory on the Mount that drew faithful John in\n_with_ Jesus, and held him steady that awful night in palace and\ncourtyard, and that later brought poor blasphemous Peter back for\nforgiveness. The two walking to Emmaus found their hearts all aflame,\nthough they supposed it was only the chance stranger of the roadway they\nlistened to.\n\nEven those who hated Him were compelled to recognize the wondrous power\nof His presence. The Nazareth hands that itched to seize Him were\nrestrained by His presence as He passed through their midst. Ten times\ndid the Jerusalem crowds attempt his life, and ten times were they\nrestrained by a power in Him that they could neither understand nor\nwithstand.\n\nThe men officially empowered to arrest Him return empty-handed,\nconfessing the overawing power of His words. That last week the leaders\nthat were hotly plotting His death felt the strange restraint of His\npresence while He quietly sat in their very midst, and swayed the\ncrowds.\n\nIn the garden soldiers and priests alike were felled to the ground by\nthe power of His presence. So it always has been. No one has ever had a\nsight of that Face, and gotten used to it, or gotten over it.\n\n\nA Fresh Vision Needed.\n\nBut the thing we are specially needing to-day is a sight of Christ _as\nHe is now_. It seems a bit strange that we don't get this more. One\nhistoric Church has Him fastened to a cross, never freed from the old\nfastenings. Another has Him set in picture frame, behind glass. And the\nmultitudes prostrate themselves and reverently kiss the glass.\n\nIn widely differing Churches He seems quite covered up out of sight by\nclassical ritual, beautiful music, and impressive stately service. The\ncrowds gather and listen and bow low in hushed stillness. But,\napparently, _Him they see not_, else how different their conduct as they\ncome out, and their lives.\n\nAnd yet as I have mingled with the worshippers in Catholic Churches in\nthe south of Europe, in Greek Churches in Russia, and in congregations\nof the Church of England classed as \"high,\" I have been caught by faces\nhere and there in the crowd that clearly were reaching out hungrily for\n_Him_, and were having some sort, some real sort, of touch with Him,\ntoo. Yet it seemed to be in spite of surroundings. The insistence of\ntheir hunger pierces through these to Him. He seems hidden from the\ncrowd by them.\n\nScholarly orthodox theologians talk learnedly about Him, but Himself as\nHe walked among us and as He is now, Him it would seem that they see\nnot, at least not enough to burn through and burn out and burn up and\nsend men out aflame with the Jesus-passion. Philosophies about Him that\nare classed as \"liberal\" and put attractively, yet have nothing of the\nburn in them that reveals Himself.\n\nThe more modern Church of the more western world seems to have gotten a\nnew lease of aggressiveness in service, a new intensity in activities so\nnumerous as to be a bit bewildering sometimes. The wheels whir busily\nand noisily. You feel them. But Him, the unseen presence that makes you\nreverently wrap your face up out of sight, and stand with awed heart to\nlisten, _Him_ we seem not to see.\n\nThe wondrous quiet Voice that makes your heart burn within you with a\nburning that cleanses and mellows and melts down, _that_ we seem to hear\nonly by getting away from the noise of the whirring wheels into some\nquiet corner.\n\nThere are in every Church and nation those who seem to have the close\npersonal touch with Himself. Their faces and daily lives show the marks.\nTheir lips may not say so much, for they who see most can say least of\nwhat they see. But the marks in the life are unmistakable.\n\nYet even here the sight of Christ emphasizes chiefly the personal side,\nwhat He is personally to them. And what a blessed side that is only they\nwho know it know. They think of Him as a personal Saviour, and the heart\nglows. They see Him at the Father's right hand interceding, and\ngratefully remember that He will forget no name where there is a\ntrusting heart. They think of the Holy Spirit, the other Jesus, Jesus'\nother self, always \"alongside to help,\" alongside _in_side. And they\npractise letting Him work out the Christ-likeness within themselves.\n\nAnd all this is blessed, only blessed. They see Him in His personal\nrelation to themselves. But there's something more than this. No one\nknew more of this blessed personal part than John. But John saw more\nthan this on Patmos. He saw Christ _as He is now_.\n\nThis is clearly a new sight of Christ. It was new to John. It would seem\nto be new to us. It is new in the pages of this book. It is something\ndifferent from any sight seen before. In the Gospels we see Jesus the\n_Man_. In carpenter shop and little whitewashed stone cottage, in the\nministering life clear from the Jordan bottoms to the healing touch at\nGethsemane's gate, and in the suffering clear up to the ninth hour of\nthat fateful day He is the _Man_, one of ourselves, though clearly more\neven in His humanity than the humanity we are.\n\nOn the Transfiguration Mount the favoured inner three, the leaders, see\nthe glory within shining out through the Man. So bewildered are they\nthat the chief impression that remains is of a blinding brightness. Yet\nthis is up on a high mountain far away from the crowd, and from the\nhaunts of men.\n\nAs Stephen is being stoned his eyes are opened to see the Son of Man\nstanding in glory up at the Father's right hand. The Damascus traveller\nsees an overpowering burst of glory out of the blue and hears a voice\nspeaking. In the epistles Paul pictures Him seated at the Father's right\nhand with an authority greater than any other. All the power He has is\nplaced at the disposal of His followers on the earth. He Himself is\nabove in the glory.[55]\n\nBut in this very end of the Book John is given a _new sight of Christ_.\nHe sees Him _as He is now_. That is to say, this is the sight of Christ\nas He is now _characteristically_. It is the distinctive sight that\nstands out above all these others.\n\nHe _is_ at one's right hand in closest personal relation, through His\nHoly Spirit. He _is_ at the Father's right hand in glory waiting\nexpectantly till the time is ripe for the next direct move on the earth.\nBut there's more than these. There's a sight of Him that overshadows\nthese. It is the characteristic sight that lets us see Him as He is\npeculiarly _now_ in His relation to _affairs on the earth_.\n\n\nChrist as He Is Now.\n\nThis new sight of Christ is the heart and soul of this crowning book,\nthis end-book of the Book.\n\nIt was out of this sight that this end-book grew. It is written wholly\nunder the spell of this new sight of Christ. It is a revelation both\n_of_ Jesus Christ and _by_ Jesus Christ; first of, then by.\n\nJohn begins his story by telling that he had gotten such a revelation,\nand of the special blessing attached to reading and fitting one's life\nto it.[56] Then follows his salutation to those for whom the revelation\nwas given, and the book written.[57] It is peculiarly a _Church_ book.\nIts message is not peculiarly for individual followers, but for groups\nof believers gathered together as Churches.\n\nThe salutation is absorbed with the One whom he has seen in the vision,\nwhat He has done for us in shedding His blood, and that He is actually\ncoming again. \"Behold He cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see\nHim, and they that pierced Him.\" The Jew is specifically designated: the\ncoming has special significance for the Jewish nation. And all the\npeople of the earth shall penitently mourn as they see Him. And then\nlike an endorsing signature from the One of whom he is writing comes the\nsentence: \"I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, who is and\nwho was, and who cometh, the Almighty One.\"\n\nThen comes the new sight of the crowned Christ.[58] It was on a Lord's\nday. John was on the lonely sea-girt isle of Patmos. He was alone,\nbrooding probably over some bit of the Word of God, and about the Jesus\nof whom he had been so earnestly testifying. It was these that had\nbrought him to his lonely island prison. These ever burned within him,\nthe wondrous written Word, the immensely more wondrous Word made flesh,\nof whom he had written, the Word that was God and became a Man and\nwalked the will of God.\n\nAnd as he brooded he became conscious of the Spirit of God overshadowing\nhim, gentle as the soft breeze, noiseless as the fragrant dew, mighty as\nan enveloping presence that filled his being and had possession of him.\n\nThen a voice spake and the tone of authority in it was unmistakable.\n\"What thou seest, write.\" He was to see something. He was to tell what\nhe saw. There's a delightful touch of the simplicity of natural speech\nhere. He turned to _see_ the _voice_. And he saw Him who was the voice\nof God to him. Then the sight is told in the same simplicity of speech.\n\nThere is a group of candlesticks, light-holders, made of gold. And in\nthe midst of the group there is some One standing. He is in outer form\nlike a _man_. But there is such an overpowering sense of divine glory\nthat John falls on his face as one dead. Yet through all this\noverwhelming experience the impression of a man stands unmistakably out.\n\nWith keen, quick glance John takes in head and hair, eyes and feet,\nvoice and hands, mouth and face. A simple, natural man in every outer\nparticular like himself, a brother man, wearing man's garb and girdle.\nThis is the first impression indelibly stamped on John's mind.\n\nBut there's more, ah, much more than a man in this man! This is the\nstupendous part. There is some One, other than man, and more than man,\npossessing this man. The divine fills the human. It is this sense of the\nglory filling the man that is so overpowering to John.\n\nA glorious presence overshadows the man and shines out of Him, but never\nobliterates nor makes the man less. That indescribable glory within\nshining out through the man magnifies every part of His human being. The\nhead and hair are white, not like a pale or painted white, but a\ntransparent whiteness, an intense searching, glowing light shining out\nfrom Him through the human head and hair.\n\nThe eyes are as a flame of pure fire, the feet like melting metal\nglowing in fire. And the whole countenance was as the sun in its\nnoontime strength shining out of a rainless, cloudless sky. Humanity\nenveloped in deity, yet remaining true, full humanity. God within man\nimmeasurably more than man, yet not overwhelming, not disturbing nor\nobliterating, any part of his humanity, rather making every part stand\nout more distinctly.\n\nIs this incidentally a kind of parable? Is it something like this on an\nimmensely humbler scale that was meant for us men? God the Holy Spirit\ndwelling in a man. He the chief one, the divine one, yet expressing\nHimself _through_ the man, and doing it fully to meet the need of the\nhour. His presence magnifying, vitalizing, and using every human power,\nyet Himself the dominant personality.\n\nIt is most striking to note that this is the same in principle as every\nappearance of God in the Old Testament pages. Sometimes He talked with\nmen when there is no suggestion made of any appearance or of what the\nappearance was like. But wherever the appearance is spoken of it is\nalways either fire or some touch of the human kind or both.\n\nIn Eden He waits and speaks, two human things. He talks with Abraham as\na man talks, and ratified the covenant by passing fire through the\npieces of the covenant sacrifice.[59] It is as a simple, natural man\nappearing at Abraham's tent door that He talks about Sodom. It is a\nhuman voice speaking about Isaac, though no appearance is mentioned.\nMoses sees a flaming bush, and hears a voice in the desert, and sees a\nwhole mount aflame while a voice speaks at Sinai.\n\nAnd so it was always: the fiery presence-cloud in the Wilderness,\nJoshua's Captain taking command, Manoah's angel ascending in the flame\nof the altar, the voice in the night heard by Samuel, the flooding of\nTabernacle and Temple with the glory-presence, Carmel's fire descending,\nElijah's \"still small voice,\" Isaiah's vision of glory and the voice,\nEzekiel's man of flame speaking, and Daniel's, both of the latter two\nakin to this Revelation appearance.\n\nBut there is a distinctness and a fulness of description here greater\nthan at any previous time, yet the same essential thing as at every\nappearance of God in Old Testament pages. The coming of Jesus among us\nhas brought God closer to us and made Him mean more. Jesus was God\ncoming closer and in a way that we could understand better and take hold\nof more easily.\n\n\nThe Identifying Mark.\n\nBut let us reverently look a little closer that we may understand yet\nbetter. There are certain characteristics of this Man of Fire that are\nallowed to stand sharply out here. We are meant to look at them. This is\npart of the purpose in the heart of Christ in letting us see Him as He\nis here.\n\nThe sense of _purity_ is intenser than can be put into words. Fire is\npure. There is nothing so pure. It resists impurity. It burns it up. It\nis most significant that this is the one thing familiar to us that\nalways accompanies the presence of God as He appears to men. It is\nalways in fire whether to speak His message of peace and love or to\nremove the impurity of evil.\n\nOur God is a consuming fire. Yet fire only consumes what can't stand its\nflame. The fire reveals purity and makes pure. God is pure. The presence\nwithin the man looked out in eyes of flame, in a countenance like the\nsun, and feet like molten brass glowing in a furnace. There could be no\nstronger statement of purity than this.\n\nThen there is an overwhelming sense of _authority_. That seems the human\nword to use, though the word seems to tell so much less than John felt.\nJohn feels it more than he can tell it. He cannot tell it in words. His\nlimp figure lying flat on the earth tells what words never can. He had\nseen the glory outshining in the Transfiguration Mount, but this is\nunspeakably beyond that.\n\nThere was a voice like a trumpet. It commanded John to write. It says:\n\"I _became_ dead, and, behold! I _am_ alive forever more.\" It is an\nauthority over life to yield it up, and over death to put it to death,\nand call life back, never again to be touched by the finger of death. No\nsuch authority is known among men to-day. And this is further emphasized\nin the quiet words: \"I have the _keys_--- the control--of death and of\nthe whole spirit world.\"\n\nBut immensely more than all this to John was the intense feeling of\nmajesty which completely overpowered him. The sense of authority was\noverwhelming. The items in the description can thus be catalogued, but\nit is impossible to get the overwhelming sense of majestic authority\nthat came to John, except as he got it,--by a _sight_, something of a\nsight of this great crowned Christ.\n\nBut _who_ is this? Is this not merely Ezekiel's vision repeated?[60] He\nsaw just such a vision, one in the likeness of a man, enveloped in fire,\nand sitting on a throne. And the effect was the same as Ezekiel lies\nflat on his face. Is it not the same as Daniel saw?[61] A _man_ clothed\nin linen, aflame with inner fire, and the same authoritative voice, and\nDaniel in a deep sleep of awe-stricken stupor with face on the ground?\nHe does indeed seem to be the same. The descriptions tally remarkably.\n\nBut listen. He speaks. And the sense of terrifying authority in the\nvoice that spake is gentled to John's tense ear in the quiet words that\ncome. Like the loving words that came to Daniel's quaking heart is the\npersonal message that came to John,--\"Fear not.\" And with the words, as\never, come the new sense of stilling peace within. \"I am the First and\nthe Last, and the Living One.\"\n\nStill it may be Ezekiel's Man even yet, or Daniel's. But listen: \"and I\n_became dead_.\" Ah! this identifies Him. Now we know for the first time\nthat this Man of Flame is Jesus our Brother-man. The cross becomes the\nmark of identification. The form of the words as spoken fits in with the\nsense of authority. With great strength of heart in carrying out a great\npurpose He \"_became_ dead.\"\n\nThis is Ezekiel's Man and Daniel's and _more_, unspeakably more. The Man\nthey saw has lived amongst us for a generation of time, and then given\nHis life clear out for us. He has become more in coming as Jesus. He\nhas taken human experience and suffering up into Himself. He was\nCreator. He has become more--Saviour.\n\nThere is the same purity and authority speaking out here as there. But\nhere is _love_ speaking out as never was spoken out before. Here is love\n_lived_ out; aye, here love is _died_ out, and never living so much as\nwhen dying. Here is love putting death to death for us. Purity and\nauthority fastened on a cross! This is love such as man had never known,\nand God never shown before. Calvary lets us see the love that burned in\nthe purity and controlled in the authority.\n\nJohn's Man is Ezekiel's and Daniel's, but with the love shining out\nthrough purity and authority, and outshining both. Yet that love is the\npurity and authority combined in action. We don't know love only as we\nknow God. And we don't know God only as we know Jesus not living merely\nbut pouring out His life for men. This is love--that Man, that God-man,\nbut with the God-glory hidden within, using all His authority over His\nlife to fasten His purity on a cross with the thorns of our sin, and\nthen throttling death and bringing up a new sort of deathless life for\nus. This--He--is love.\n\n\nThe Outstanding Characteristic.\n\nBut we haven't gotten to the heart of this yet. There is immensely more\nhere than even this. The distinctive thing, the characteristic thing in\nthis sight of Christ, is yet to be noticed. All of this can be gotten\nfrom other sights of Christ. But notice now keenly _where this Man of\nFire is_. For this is the distinctive thing. He is not up in the\nheavens, as in Ezekiel. He has not come on a special errand, as in\nDaniel's experience.[62] He is walking _down on the earth_. His whole\nconcern is about affairs on the earth.\n\nBut note where He is on earth: not in Jerusalem, the Jew centre; not in\nRome, the world's ruling centre, nor in Athens or Corinth, the world's\nculture centres. He is seen walking among a small group of candlesticks.\nThis is the centre of earth action for Him. This is _the significant\nthing_ of this new sight of Christ. Let us look at it a moment to get at\nthe simple significance of the scene.\n\nThe candlesticks, we are told, are the Churches, the little groups of\nfollowers banded together here and there. These small groups of Christ's\nfollowers are called _candlesticks_ or lampstands.\n\nThere is no suggestion yet of their giving any light. No lighted candles\nnor oily wicks are burning and shining. They are only candle_sticks_.\nThey are of gold, the most precious metal, but they can give no light,\nthey can only hold the light some one else supplies. The Man standing\namongst them is the light. The whole effect of the sight of Christ here\nis that He is the light. The presence within the man shines out through\nhead and eyes and limbs, as light, intense dazzling light, even as the\nsun in his strength.\n\nHere is the distinctive thing. Christ's whole interest centres in the\nearth. All heaven is bending over watching the run of events down here.\nThe intensity of His suffering and death tell the intensity of Christ's\ninterest in the movement of things on the earth. He has a plan. He has\nput His very life into it. It centres wholly in the affairs of us men\ndown here. And it centres in His Church.\n\nThis quite upsets our common ideas about the centre of things down here.\nWe class London and New York as the great financial centres; Paris and\nBerlin as the great fashion and military centres. Rome is the centre of\nauthority of the Catholic Church, and St. Petersburg of the Greek\nOrthodox. The Man who holds all power in His hands, and on whose word\neverything depends, quietly brushes all this aside with scarce a move of\nHis hand. The earth-centre of things is the Church. That is, the groups\nof his followers banded together in various parts of the world.\n\nSometimes it is seen as a magnificent organization intimately connected\nwith the machinery of government. Sometimes as very small groups of\npersons with no social standing, despised and reckoned as not worth\nreckoning with. But this is the thing He is depending on for getting out\nto His world. All His plans centre here.\n\nHe is the light. The light He gave and gives through nature, and within\nevery man's breast, has been awfully darkened through refusal and\nneglect to use it, through stubborn self-will. It is so darkened that\nofttimes it seems to have been quite put out. His coming amongst us as\none of ourselves, living our life, dying on our behalf to free us from\nsin, rising again victorious over death, sending His Holy Spirit to make\nall this real and living to each of us,--this is the light at its full\nshining, the flood-light.\n\nHe has made a plan for sending this flood-light to every one in every\npart of the earth. That plan centres in His followers. He is the light.\nThe Church is the light-bearer, the candlestick. It is to hold _Him_ up\nin such a way that men everywhere can get in direct touch with Him. When\nHe is held up, the darkness goes. The darkness can't stand the light.\nThis is the immensely significant thing here. This is the sight of\nChrist needed to-day, a sight of Him as He stands _waiting_ on the\nChurch to carry out His plan for the earth.\n\nThe faithfulness of the Church is not measured by compact organization,\ncostly houses of worship, impressive services, eloquent scholarly\npreaching, and a ceaseless round of organized activities. It can be told\nonly by how much of the spirit of the Christ who died is carried, in the\ndaily life of its individual members, into home and social and\ncommercial circles until men are compelled to feel its power in\nconviction of the sin of their own lives.\n\nNor yet is it told by transplanting the western type of civilization to\nfar-away lands, with schools and hospitals and innumerable humanizing\ninfluences. All this may be blessed. And it will be blessed and blest.\nBut it is the incidental thing. It is sure to follow where the Jesus\nlight is allowed to shine clearly through and out. It is quite possible\nto have these good things without getting the real Christ. It is quite\nimpossible to have Christ Himself without such influences coming, too.\n\nThe emphasis must be not on these things, but on Him, Christ. Men need\nHim. He answers the heart longing, and only He can. He changes the\nnature, and nothing else is enough. The Church is to take the loving,\nhealing, personal Christ to men in the fulness of His power, and to all\nmen. This is the measure of its faithfulness.\n\n\nWhat Christ Sees.\n\nThe tremendous question that crowds in here is this, What does this Man\nof Fire see as He stands among His followers? And He tells us. This is\nwhy the vision is given. He wants us to see things as they look to His\neyes of flame.\n\nThe Man and His message are one thing here. Chapters one, two, and three\nbelong together, and should be held together in our minds. We have put\nthe Man and His message as separate talks to get a clearer grasp of\neach. But they are _one_.\n\nNow we recall enough of the message to note this. Five-sevenths of the\nlight-holders are in bad shape. The lamps are smoky, badly smoked, and\ncobwebbed. The light is dimmed. It can't get out through the lamp. The\ncrowds are standing in the darkness and falling into the ditch by the\nside of the road.\n\nTwo-sevenths let the light clearly out. The others are an intermingling\nof light and light obscured, but with the obscurity overcoming the\nother. The net result is an irritating smokiness. And the movement\nunhindered would naturally be toward a steady increase of smoky\nirritation and obscurity until no light can get through. This is what He\nlets us see that He sees.\n\nNow the instinctive thing to do with a smoky lamp irritating nostrils\nand eyes is to put it out. That is the first instinct. The second is to\ntrim the wick and do whatever else it needs to correct the smokiness.\n_Yet He waits._ That first natural instinct is restrained. The\ncandlesticks are not yet moved out of their place. The light still tries\nto get out through them. The human candlestick may yet do the needful\ntrimming and cleaning. With marvellous restraint He _waits_.\n\nIt is a tremendous scene that is stretched out here before us,--purity\nand authority combined in One who is standing in the midst of impurity\nand failure. The purity is more intense than we can grasp. The authority\nis greater than any one can realize. The impurity, the failure, are bad\nclear beyond what we can take in. The whole natural instinct here would\nbe a _cleansing_, instant and radical, a correcting of the evil. Yet He\nwaits. The purity would act through the authority; the authority\nrestrains the purity. Love quietly, strongly holds both in check. This\nrestraint, this inaction is tremendous.\n\nWhy this inaction? this restraint? And the answer is simple, and as\nsweeping as simple. His plan at this stage shall have fullest\nopportunity. His followers will be given full opportunity to the last\nnotch of time and the latest possibility of their being yet true.\n\nAll the intensity of His love, all the eagerness of His expectancy,[63]\nall the fulness of His plan for the earth, yes all the millions of the\nrace, all the misery and ignorance, the sin and darkness, the millions\nof babies being born into wretchedness, and the millions of\nnon-Christian women being held in slavery, and the countless numbers in\nevery land groping along in a darkness that not only can be felt, but\nthat is felt to the hurting point and then past that to the insensitive\nstupor,--all this waits.\n\nWith a heart that feels all that any man is feeling and that breaks\nunder it, He waits that fullest opportunity shall be given His followers\nto be true. If His Church is set aside it will be only at the last\nmoment when her failure is utterly hopeless. If the candlestick is\nremoved out of its place, it will be only after it has completely\nremoved itself out of all touch with the Light. A candlestick holding\nout no light is an utterly useless thing to the man in the dark.\n\nIt is possible for the Church to be a magnificent organization, an\nhonoured institution, exerting immense influence in national politics,\nenormously rich in gold and in scholarship and in traditions, and even\nin carrying forward an aggressive missionary propaganda, and yet be\nfaithless to its one mission. If the Church should fail in this its one\nmission, then the waiting time is over. The way is clear for the next\nstep in the world plan. And a momentous step that would be, beyond our\npower to grasp. But the waiting time still holds out.\n\nThis is the simple, tremendous plea of this new sight of the crowned\nChrist as He is shown here. The centre of the universe to Him is this\nearth. The centre of things on the earth is His Church. The centre of\nthings in the Church is its giving Jesus the Light out to all the earth.\n\nAnd if this be the way things looked to His eye at the close of the\nfirst century, how, think you, do they look at this beginning of the\ntwentieth? Has that momentum of movement toward increasing smokiness\nslacked? Is the waiting time nearly run out?\n\nThe present is a momentous time. Even men of the world speak of the\nworld-wide restlessness as pointing to some impending event of world\nsize. And he who is in some sort of simple touch with the spirit world\ncan feel the air a-thrill with the possibility of world events\nimpending, even while he wonders just what and when.\n\n\nOne in the Midst.\n\nIt is most striking how it came about that John got this sight of\nChrist. The change was not in Christ's presence, but in John's eyes.\nChrist did not come. He was there. John's eyes were opened. Then he saw\nHim who stands watching and waiting. _Christ is here._ The Man of Fire\nand of restraining love is here on the earth in the midst of His Church\nlooking and longing, listening, and feeling.\n\nIf only our eyes were opened to see! There standeth One in our midst\nwhom we recognize not. Wherever any company of believers banded together\nas a Church to worship and pray and break holy bread are gathered, under\nwhatever local name or in connection with whatever Church communion, _He\nstands in the midst_, this crowned Christ of the Patmos Revelation.\n\nOur eyes need treatment. The hinge of the eyelid is in the will and in\nthe heart. A bended or bending will opens the eye. A brooding heart\nopens it yet more in spirit vision. Then we shall see Him, _as He is\nnow_ in our midst, waiting our obedience.\n\nThose forty days between the resurrection and the ascension are seen to\nbe illustrations of this. One can see through this Revelation sight that\nthis is one of the chief things the Master is teaching as He still\nlingers on earth in His resurrection body.\n\nAlong the old Emmaus road, gathered about the evening meal in the\ntwilight, twice in the upper room at Jerusalem, He appears to little\ngroups of His faithful followers. Their hearts are burning with the\nthought of Him, they are talking with both tongue and eyes about Him.\nBut that He is in their midst is the last thing to come into their\nminds. Then their eyes are opened to see Him in their midst. It was a\nforty-days' session in their training school. Then He said quietly as\nHis bodily presence goes up into the blue: \"Lo! _I am with you all the\ndays until the end._\" Their mission and His presence are inseparably\nlinked.\n\nAnd it is striking again to note how John's Gospel ends. The others\ndescribe the Ascension. John begins his Gospel with Jesus in the bosom\nof the Father before the world was, and ends with Him walking and\ntalking with a little group of fishermen along the shore of the waters\nof Galilee's Lake.\n\nThis is what the Church needs to-day, a sight of Christ _as He is now_.\nNothing else can save its life. And nothing less can save its mission\nfrom utter impending failure.\n\nAnd yet while the distinctive message here is for the Church, it is an\nindividual message, too. It is for each of us. I am the Church, as much\nof it as I am, counted as one. You are the Church. The Church is made up\nof you and me and the rest of us. I must take this message for as much\nof the Church as I am. The Man of Fire is depending on me to be a\ncandlestick for His light. It is on me He is patiently waiting to obey\nas fully as He means I should.\n\nAnd on you.\n\nA recent incident is told of a man whose name is a familiar one in the\nfinancial world, who died a few years ago. He was the executive head of\none of our country's great railways. And a man of remarkable largeness\nof insight and grasp, and of unusual power of execution. He dealt in\nhundreds of millions as easily as most of us deal in dollars, and his\nrugged honesty has never been brought into question. His greatest\nachievement bulks big in the material structure of one of our great\neastern cities.\n\nBut his gigantic tasks ran his strength to ebb tide, and then it was\nseen that the tide was running out. As he lay in the sick chamber a\nminister called, whose ministry had touched large numbers of the men in\nthe railroad of which the sick man was head, and in the course of\nconversation tactfully asked:\n\n\"Are you a Christian, Mr. Blank?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" was the quiet, prompt reply that rather surprised the minister.\n\n\"How long have you been a Christian, Mr. Blank?\"\n\n\"Two days,\" came the answer as promptly and quietly.\n\nFeeling that there was an interesting story under these answers, the\nminister gently pressed the question. Then the story came out.\n\n\"You know William, who handles freight out here at ----?\" the sick man\nasked.\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"He showed me the way.\"\n\n\"William\" had been a worthless, drunken man of the \"down and out\" sort.\nHe had been converted at some mission and been radically changed. He had\ngotten employment at one of the freight-handling stations of this\nrailroad system. It was rough, hard work, but he had gone at it\nearnestly in his purpose to live an honest life. And in his quiet,\nearnest way he was always seeking a chance to speak to men of Christ as\na personal Saviour, until he became known throughout that part of the\nsystem for his simple, earnest piety.\n\nAs the sick man realized the seriousness of things for him he had sent\nfor this William. The president of the road whose capitalization ran\ninto hundreds of millions sent for the rough-handed freight handler. And\nWilliam in his simple, earnest way had pointed the sick man to Christ.\nAnd the man of millions had made a new sort of transaction. Christ and\nhe had an understanding.\n\nAnd as the sick man told the minister the story he paused, and then\nadded, \"_I have given my strength to the secondary things._\"\n\nThis was the judgment of this shrewd man of big affairs as the new light\nhad come into his life at its close. Happily he had gotten the\nreadjustment of values in time for readjustment of personal\nrelationships. But his life's strength was gone.\n\nIf we might get the readjustment that would put secondary things in\nsecond place, and put wrong and useless things clear out, _in time to be\nof some use to our blessed Lord_.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[54] William Norris Burr.\n\n[55] Notably Ephesians i. 20-23.\n\n[56] Revelation i. 1-3.\n\n[57] Revelation i. 4-8.\n\n[58] Revelation i. 9-20.\n\n[59] Genesis xv.\n\n[60] Ezekiel i. 26-28.\n\n[61] Daniel x. 5-9.\n\n[62] Daniel x. 20.\n\n[63] Hebrews x. 13.\n\n\n\n\nIV.--A MESSAGE FROM THE CROWNED CHRIST\n\n(Revelation, Chapters ii and iii)\n\n\n \"The glory of love is brightest when the glory of self is dim,\n And they have the most compelled me who most have pointed to Him.\n They have held me, stirred me, swayed me,--I have hung on their\n   every word,\n Till I fain would arise and follow, not them, not them,--but their\n   Lord!\"[64]\n\n\nPatmos Spells Patience.\n\nPatience is strength at its strongest, using all its strength in holding\nback from doing something. Patience is love at flood pleading with\nstrength to hold steady in holding back.\n\nThe love in the strength insists on waiting a bit longer for the sake of\nthe one being waited for. The strength in the love obeys the love\npassion and takes fresh hold in holding back.\n\nPatmos spells out the patience of our Lord Jesus. It tells the strength\nand tenderness of His love. Olivet spelled out His _plan_, His great\nsweeping plan, _through His followers_, for a race. Calvary spelled out\nHis _passion_, passion of love, passion of suffering, in dying for a\nrace.\n\nCalvary, Olivet, and Patmos are inseparably linked, the gentle slope of\nthe Jerusalem hillside, the little mount to its east, and the little\nrocky isle in the far AEgean. Calvary was the passion of love pouring out\na life for a race. Olivet was the plan of love for telling a race, till\nevery one would know the love by the feel. Patmos is the patience of\nlove pleading with the should-be tellers of the story to carry out the\nplan, and waiting, and then waiting just a little longer.\n\nOlivet had heard the last word. There the Master had told the disciples\nthe plan. All the race was to be told and taught, bit by bit, earnestly,\nrepeatedly, patiently, tirelessly, by word and act and life. He Himself\nunseen by outer eyes would always be with them, His supernatural power\nmaking real and living what they told and taught. This was the plan.\nOlivet was to be the executive of Calvary, bringing home to men and\nmaking vital to them what had been done there.\n\nThen Jesus went up on the Cloud. And they went out everywhere. And His\npower convincingly went with them just as He had said. Within a\ngeneration the news and the power had gone together to the outermost rim\nof the world they knew.\n\nThey were expecting Him to return as a result of this witnessing of\ntheirs. The next time they see His face and hear His voice will be as He\ncomes on the Cloud out of the blue. So they understand and believe. This\nis their constant expectancy.\n\nNow that generation has moved off the scene of action. Another\ngeneration has come in its place, and has almost run its course and\nmoved off the scene. And still they are looking forward to and talking\nabout His return.\n\nBut now to this new generation of His followers something quite\ndifferent comes. Instead of Himself coming in glory there comes another\nlast message to them. It fits perfectly into the Olivet message, but\ngoes further and says something more.\n\nThe Olivet message is about taking the light of the Gospel message out\neverywhere. The Patmos message in its pictured setting of candlesticks\nand Man of Fire and blazing light recognized this as the one thing to be\ndone, but says there's something the matter with the candlesticks.\n\nThe Olivet word is about taking the message. This Patmos word is about\nthe messengers. That one is about the _service_ of His followers; this\nother about their _life_. The life underlies the service. Nothing can so\nhinder and hurt the service as a life not true in itself. Here something\nin the life of the Church is hindering its service. The Master's plan at\nthis stage is in danger.\n\nHis broader plan extends beyond this Church movement. This is one great\nstep to be followed by another. That broader plan had been outlined at\nthe first Church Conference, held in Jerusalem. James, the presiding\nofficer, said that the carrying of the Gospel to all men was to be\nfollowed by a national regeneration of the Jews; and then through a\nregenerated Jewish nation there would be a new era of world-wide\nevangelization,[65] and with this the Conference was in agreement.\n\nThe leaders among these early disciples are eagerly anticipating Jesus'\nreturn to carry on the next stage. They understand that what they are\ndoing is preparing the way for this next step.\n\nBut now instead of returning to carry forward the broader plan here\ncomes another message. Apparently things are not going satisfactorily.\nThe plan at this stage is in danger, while the Calvary passion back of\nit still burns. Failure is impending. The Master _might_ sweep aside the\nmen that are failing, and press on Himself into the next step of His\nplan. For the case is urgent. A race is waiting. The darkness thickens.\n\nBut instead He waits. With patience and strength and love beyond our\npower to grasp He waits. This is the setting of the Patmos message, to\nwhich we now turn.\n\n\nThe Unity of the Message.\n\nWe must keep our eyes on the Man who is talking. His overawing presence\ngives tremendous meaning to His words. That gentle touch of the right\nhand has no doubt strengthened John even as Daniel was strengthened. And\nhe is standing and looking as he listens. But the sight of that wondrous\nMan walking among the candlesticks floods his face and his whole being\nindescribably as he listens to the message spoken.\n\nThe overpowering sense of awe, of reality and power, and of the\ntremendous meaning of what is being said never leaves. So he listens.\nSo we must listen. So only can we get into the meaning of these words.\nThe words will mean only as much as the Man means in the intensity of\nHis presence. You must keep your eye on this crowned Christ as you\nlisten.\n\nThe seven-fold description given us of Christ is the key to these seven\nmessages. The partial description beginning each message is seen to fit\ninto the particular condition of the Church spoken to. Yet all these\nbits of description must be put together to get the full description. It\nis a seven-fold description of one person.\n\nAnd so all the messages must be taken together to see the Church as He\nsees it, and to get His message to it. It is one message. A look at the\nseven promises made to the overcomers makes it clear that all seven are\none promise. It is not that one overcomer receives one thing, and\nanother another, but each one gets all of what is mentioned in the\nseven. A rather careful, swift look at these promises makes this clear\nenough.\n\nIt is spoken to one Church in seven groups in seven different cities.\nThere is one call to repentance, one warning of what will happen to the\nunpenitent at five successive stages, one plea to hear seven times\nrepeated, and one blessed result to the overcomer, in a seven-fold\nstatement.\n\nAnd there is just one evil to be recognized and fought. That evil is\nseen to grow from one degree to another, from bad to worse and worst.\nIts emphasis changes from one phase to another. It has shown itself\ndifferently in different parts of the world, and in different ages\nsince, but it is the one evil power, always the same behind the\ndifferent manifestations.\n\nThere is rare combination and adaptation in this message. It was meant\nfor the Church of that day, and of every day since, and for some future\nday. For it stands as the one message from Christ to His Church between\nOlivet and His return. It is meant distinctively for the Church as a\nwhole, and yet it makes an intense personal appeal to each one in the\nChurch.\n\nIt is spoken to the little groups of Churches in Asia Minor grouping\nabout the city of Ephesus, which had been founded by Paul and ministered\nto by John. And without doubt it fitted into the conditions and\ntendencies of those particular seven Churches.\n\nBut these are representative of all. Probably any group of seven would\nbe representative of all in varying degree. The mother Church at\nJerusalem is not named, nor the great Gentile missionary Church at\nAntioch. But these messages with their approval and criticism, their\nwarning and promise, were meant for all the Church in Asia and Europe\nand Africa at that time.\n\nThey are found to fit into the need of the Church scattered throughout\nthe world in every generation since then. Always there have been little\ngroups that were faithful and true, always some suffering because of\ntheir faithfulness and remaining faithful in spite of suffering. And\nalways those who have been formal, who have companioned with evil, who\nhave been swamped by the evil with which they companioned, and those\npractically asleep or dead.\n\nThis Patmos message will be found to fit the Church of to-day with\nremarkable accuracy and faithfulness. And the whole probability is in\nfavor of finding that it will fit peculiarly the future Church, the\nChurch at the end of this present period.\n\nThis whole book of the Revelation is peculiarly a Church book. While it\nis full of instruction and plea for our individual lives, yet it is\ndistinctively _the_ Church book. It stands out among the books of the\nNew Testament as the one book addressed to the Church and to the whole\nChurch.\n\nIt gives the great bulk of its space to an awful time of persecution\nthat is coming to the Church at some future time. This is spoken of\nelsewhere, notably by Jesus in His talk with the disciples on Mount\nOlivet, but it is the chief subject treated here. And it is treated with\ngreat detail. The name commonly applied to this coming persecution is\nthe great tribulation.\n\nIt is significant that the book that clearly is distinctively a Church\nbook is taken up chiefly with a description of that future persecution.\nIt leads to the deep conviction that this book of the Revelation so\nfitted to the need of the Church when spoken, and in every generation\nsince, will be found to be peculiarly fitted to that generation of the\nChurch that is to pass through this great coming persecution; that is,\nto the Tribulation Church.\n\nIt will probably be the mainstay and comfort of those who will insist on\nbeing true during those awful days, regardless of the suffering\ninvolved. No book has been more slighted and ignored. It has been called\nby some within the Church of our own generation \"the joke of the Bible.\"\nIt will likely come to be the book most studied and loved for its light\nand help in the terribly troublous times ahead. There will be an eager,\nhungry searching for every scrap of information, and for any fresh ray\nof light on its meaning.\n\n\nThe Seven-fold Message.\n\nNow this seven-fold message lets us see things through Christ's eyes. He\nis letting them and us see what He sees. The Scottish poet's thoughtful\nlines might well be changed to get the yet better look: \"Oh! wad some\npower the giftie gie us, to see oursel's as\" _God_ sees us. It would do\nmore than free us from blunders and notions. And we are needing more.\n\nEach one of these seven messages begins by our Lord drawing their eyes\nto Himself. This is the thing needed most. And this will give meaning\nand force to the message. They are to be looking at Him as they listen.\nThen He speaks of all the good things He sees. Then of the faulty, weak,\nbad things, in a few simple but unmistakably plain words. No one could\ndoubt what He meant.\n\nThen is the pleading call to repent, with the faithful warning of what\nwill surely happen if they don't. Then the earnest plea that His words\nbe listened to and taken to heart, and the wondrously gracious promise\nheld out to those who steadily set themselves against the evil, and who\nget the victory.\n\nLet us look for a moment at each of these Churches as seen by those\nsearching eyes of flame.\n\n_Ephesus_ is the centre of the group, the natural leader, the largest\nand most influential, perhaps the mother Church of the group, where Paul\nand John had put in so much time and strength, and whence they reached\nout to these others.\n\nChrist reminds them of His presence in their midst and His control of\nthe angel messengers that minister to them. Then he speaks of their good\ndeeds, their tireless activity, steadfast endurance, intense zeal for\nthe true faith, with special emphasis upon their unwearying\nsteadfastness even under sore difficulties, and their hatred of those\nwho made compromise with evil so hateful to Himself.\n\nBut there is something lacking, the tender personal love for Himself.\nThere's intense loyalty to Church and to the faith, but a lack of\npersonal love for Himself. And the startling thing is that this is said\nto quite outweight all these good things. They may have these things\nwithout the love, but they cannot have the love without having these\nthings, and at a finer temperature.\n\nAnd this defect is crucial. If persisted in it is fatal. It will\nactually mean their _rejection as His messenger_. This is the critical\nthing which we seem to have such a hard time getting hold of. The\nessential qualification for true service is the personal attachment to\nour Lord Jesus Himself, that warm heart love which the human heart longs\nfor and gives to some one. He longs for this. This is _the_ essential;\nnot Church organization nor creed, not zeal for orthodoxy, but warm love\nfor a person. Service, witnessing, all the rest, are valuable to Him in\nreaching His world only as they grow out of a tender love for Himself.\n\nAnd the startling thing is that this privilege and opportunity of\nservice is to be taken away _not_ because displeasing to Him, but\nbecause it fails of the end in view. The candlestick is only removed\nbecause it is no longer serviceable; it is not giving out the light.\nThis earnest, aggressive, orthodox, patiently-enduring Church is to be\nrejected as a light-holder, because it is not holding out the light.\nThis is tremendous!\n\nThe group in _Smyrna_ is tenderly reminded of the suffering of their\nLord, for they are filling up what is left behind of His suffering. This\ntells at once the depth of their personal love for Him, nothing could\ntell it more.\n\nThey are poor in money and so despised, but rich in faith and so\nprecious to Him. They are suffering at the hands of the Jews, who were\nthe outspoken, intense, fanatical enemy of the Christians. There is no\nreproach, only earnest encouragement to keep steady even through\nfiercer fires yet to come.\n\nThe description of Himself to the _Pergamum_ group is startling. He is\nthe one with a sharp two-edged sword. There is something here He must\nfight against. They are frankly told that they have had a hard place to\nwitness in, and earnestly commended for being true even in the midst of\npersecution.\n\nBut there's something wrong, and it is very serious. It is as wrong and\nbad as it can be. There is actually compromise with evil, partnership\nwith the world in its wickedness. The thing is put in the intensest way\npossible by characterizing it as adultery. No stronger language could be\nused to tell how He sees the evil they are guilty of. And they are\nplainly told that He will fight against them. They have made themselves\nHis enemy by joining His enemies.\n\nThe _Thyatira_ group is reminded of the purity of their Lord, who cannot\nstand impurity but searches it relentlessly out, and pursues it to the\ndeath. There's a faithful minority here. Their activity and love and\nfaith and patience and increasing activity in service are all counted\ncarefully over and warmly commended.\n\nBut the evil here is much worse. It is put into the gravest language.\n\"Thou sufferest the woman _Jezebel_.\" This is most significant. There is\nno worse character named in the whole Old Testament. She not only\nrepresented the worst adulterous uncleanness in herself, but she was\nthe national leader energetically fostering unclean idolatrous practices\namong the people. Jezebel pulled God's light-holder nation down to the\nlowest moral level it ever reached. She brazenly dominated king and\npeople, and remained stubbornly obstinate to the terrible end.\n\nChrist brings _her_ name in here. Again this is tremendous. No more\nterrific parallel could have been made. Here evil characterized as\nadulterous has actually come to a place of leadership in the Church.\nWith great longsuffering time has been given that all this might be\nchanged, but with Jezebel-like obstinacy it was determined that there\nwould be no change. And the inevitable result that will surely follow\ncontinued obstinacy will be a great tribulation or deadly persecution.\n\nThe _Sardis_ group is told that Christ is the centre of all life and\nhelp, in the control of the Holy Spirit and of the angel messengers.\nThere is nothing to commend here. There are some who insist on living\ntrue lives, but they are a scanty scattered few, not enough to count.\n\nThere are some ragged remnants of good, but even these are sickly and\nnearly dead. The Church is well organized, energetic, standing high\namong men, but with an utter absence of spiritual life. The personal\nlives of most are like dirty garments. And the warning is this: He will\ncome as a thief, that is unexpectedly, disagreeably, to take away what\nthey prize most and leave them stripped and naked.\n\nThe longest message is to the group in _Philadelphia_. Christ reminds\nthem that He is holy in character, faithful to His promises, having full\ncontrol, and giving opportunity of service as the highest reward of\nfaithfulness. This candlestick is giving out light, for it is given yet\nfurther opportunity of shining.\n\nThe chief characteristic of this group is its steady plodding\nfaithfulness. They are not spoken of as brilliant or talented, but\nfaithful in the midst of opposition. He loves them with the sort of deep\nlove drawn out by love freely given. And a special promise is given, a\nsignificant promise. A great persecution is coming, an awful testing\ntime to all the earth. But He will keep them _through_ this unhurt\nbecause they have been keeping His word so faithfully.\n\nThe common reading here is, \"I will keep thee _from_ the hour of trial.\"\nIt is quite as accurate to read \"through\" in place of \"from.\" And there\nis good reason for taking this as the sense here. The word underneath\nhere is translated by several different words in other passages.\n\nWhere a word in one language may be translated by any one of several\nwords the general sense of the passage must decide which one correctly\nexpresses the meaning. Here the meaning must be gotten from the whole\ntrend of New Testament teaching. Like the Israelites during the plagues\nthat came to Egypt these faithful ones will be kept untouched through\nthis terrible time that is to come.\n\nThe _Laodicea_ group is to be talked to plainly by one who is a true,\nfaithful witness in dealing with His people's faults, and who has all\nthe authority of God in doing so. This is the second group that actually\nhas not one good thing to be commended. There is no false teaching, no\ncompromise with evil; they are simply _asleep_. Rich, influential,\nself-satisfied, grown fat and sleek,--so they seem to their neighbours\nand themselves. Wretched, poor, blind, naked,--so they are. And the\nchastening threatened will be of the severe radical sort that strong\nlove insists upon.\n\n\nA Heart-breaking Sight.\n\nHere then is the picture of the whole Church as seen by the eyes of\nsearching flame. There is a mixture of bad and good, active bad, active\ngood, and sleepy indifference. There is a Church within the Church. But\nthe bad is bad enough and big enough to endanger seriously the\nusefulness of the whole as a light-bearer.\n\nThe glass of the lantern is so smoked and cobwebby that it is more\nuseless than useful to the light inside, and the crowd outside in the\ndark. The uselessness threatens what usefulness is left. Smokiness is\ncontagious. Cobwebs grow thicker and hold more dust.\n\nTwo Churches are true and pure in the midst of sore opposition. Two are\ncorrupt in the very worst way. Three, including the leader, are orthodox\nin form, but indifferent to Jesus Himself, or asleep, or dead; three\ndegrees of the same thing,--indifference, sleep, death.\n\nIn all of these five there are those who, like Ezekiel's companions,\n\"sigh and cry over the abominations that are going on,\" but they are\nhelpless to stay the sweep of the tide. They are the salt that is saving\nthe lump so far. Even Sodom would have been saved by ten righteous.\n\nIt is plainly said to the leader Church that it is no longer of use as a\ncandlestick, except a change come. It fails to give out the light. It is\nbeing carried along, patiently borne with _for its own sake_. It is\nfailing at this point in the mission. The smoking flax sending out its\nirritating smoke in place of clear light is not yet quenched. The Holy\nSpirit life within is being sorely grieved, but is not yet put entirely\nout.\n\nAnd this is only one. Four others are plainly in much worse fix.\nFive-sevenths are failing. That bit of preservative salt would seem to\nbe working to its full capacity.\n\nThis is the picture given us here by our Lord Himself. John would never\nhave dared make such a terrific arraignment of his own accord. It is a\npicture of the whole Church at the beginning of the First century.\n\nHow is it at the beginning of the Twentieth? A thousand million people,\ntwo-thirds of the race, pretty freely supplied with the light of western\noil and of gunpowder, with the help of the western sewing machine, and\nwith the guidance of western learning and skill, but to whom with minor\nexceptions no scant ray of this light has yet gotten, these make answer.\nThat smokiness would seem to be rather dense.\n\nThe non-Christian crowds in so-called Christian lands, the overwhelming\nmajority, to whom the name of Jesus has no more practical meaning than\nother foreign names, Shanghai, or Tokyo, or Calcutta,--these make\nanswer. The light doesn't seem to have been able to get through and out\nmuch, even near the candlestick.\n\nThe Church itself, when it has sometimes forgotten its statistical\ntables long enough to look thoughtfully into this old Patmos\nlooking-glass, has now and then made answer, in a few of its thoughtful\nleaders, while the rank and file push on absorbed in their Ephesian or\nSardisian or Thyatiran way.\n\nThere's a striking companion bit to this in Ezekiel's vision.[66] That\nmessenger to the exiled colony by the Chebar had first of all the vision\nof God that completely overwhelmed him. Then he is taken in spirit to\nJerusalem, and shown things as they were, through God's eyes. The\nheathen idols were set up in the very temple of God, so actually\nstimulating among the people the horribly gross, unnamable impurities\nconnected with their worship. This was done in the open, with no\npretence at concealment.\n\nThen in the vision he digs \"into the wall\" to see the hidden things that\nare being done. There he sees every sort of creeping, crawling, slimy,\nrepulsive animal pictured on the walls of this secret chamber, and the\nleaders of the people burning incense and worshipping.\n\nThis he is told is a picture of the _inner hearts_ of the men who are\nthe leaders of the nation. For dramatic intensity it would be hard to\nequal this. The imaginations of their hearts are as the unclean snakes\nand beasts that are found only in the damp, unwholesome slime and ooze\nof swamp and stagnant pond.\n\nAnd this is God's light-bearing nation to all the earth. And these are\nthe leaders! But there's yet worse. The mothers and wives and daughters\nof the nation, the real moulders of the nation's life and character, are\nseen pouring out their very hearts over a heathen idol, with all the\nhorrible evil practices included in its worship. And then a group of men\nare shown in the holy temple standing with their backs to God and His\ntemple and worshipping the sun.\n\nUnder these four items are pointed out the impurity and violence, the\ninjustice and oppression, that mark the people. It is the inner heart\nlife of the nation that is being pictured so vividly. But in the midst\nof all this are those who are broken-hearted over these conditions. And\nas the time of judgment comes in the vision these are marked and spared,\nthough they see the work of judgment on every hand.\n\nSuch is the tremendous scene depicted by Ezekiel. It will be seen at\nonce what a striking parallel it presents to the scene in this\nRevelation book with the new light-bearer to the nations of the earth.\nOne would never dare make such an arraignment of his own accord. It is\nhumbling and heart-breaking to the last degree simply to repeat what is\nspoken here by our Lord Himself.\n\nClearly the Patmos picture is not only of the Church then, but ever\nsince, and now. And the simple law of momentum in sliding down hill will\nmake it an accurate picture of the Church at the end, the future Church.\n\nThe colouring changes at different times in different places, the black\ngetting intenser, pot black, and the light shining out more brightly by\ncontrast. But the picture remains essentially as painted on Patmos.\n\nThe warnings so faithfully given run a sliding scale outward and\ndownward in five degrees. If the Church continue as it is, it is told\nhere that it will be rejected as a light-holder. Its privilege and\nopportunity as God's messenger will be taken away.[67]\n\nThen Christ will fight against it as an enemy,[68] it will be given over\nto a time of terrible tribulation,[69] it will be treated as prey to be\nrobbed and plundered,[70] and it will be rejected, spewed out of the\nmouth, as personally disgusting.[71]\n\nYet in all this plain speech there is no bitterness, only grief, only\ntender pleading. The plain bluntness is the language of love that yearns\nto save even yet, and that waits with untold patience hoping for a\nchange.\n\n\nWooing Promises.\n\nBut it is noticeable that, while the warning is to the corporate Church,\nthe plea and promise that persists throughout is to the individual. He\nthat is _willing_ to, let him hear and heed and be controlled by the\nSpirit's message.\n\nThere are two groups that have remained faithful. There are scattered\nthrough the other five those who are faithful. And there are no doubt\nmany who feel the pull to be true but are yielding to the strong\nundertow of the rising tide by which they are being carried.\n\nThe coupled promise and plea that call out so pleadingly to these at the\nclose of each message are, \"to him that overcometh.\" This word\n\"overcometh\" is very significant. It is one of the characteristic notes\nof these messages and indeed of this entire book. It is one of that sort\nof word that sums up a whole situation in itself.\n\nThere is opposition. There is conflict because some won't yield to the\nopposition. And the result of the conflict varies. Some are overcome by\nthe evil; they go over to the enemy, body and soul. Some wabble. They\nslip along the line of least resistance, secretly holding on to some few\nragged remnants of convictions, but not letting these affect their\nstanding or comfort or particularly their profits.\n\nSome overcome evil. There is struggle tense and continued, quickened\nbreath, moist brow, tightened nerves, the stain of blood, a scar here\nand there, and heart-breaking experiences. But they fight on, and\nvictory comes. And the evil is less, weakened in its hold on this\ncompanion and that neighbour. They get the victory over evil.\n\nThere's a wondrous promise to these. It is as though the treasure box is\nplaced at their disposal. It is a seven-fold promise. Every overcomer\nwill receive all that is contained in these seven promises. Note this\nseven-fold promise: He that overcometh will have everlasting life,[72]\nand this is emphasized by the reverse statement, \"will not be hurt of\nthe second death.\"[73]\n\nHe will be admitted into the sweets of intimate fellowship with his\nLord, hidden from all save those in this inner circle. And will receive\na new name, the family name, that is an inheritance in the family of\nGod, joint heir with Jesus Christ.[74] He will have the privilege of\nserving with the King in the blessed Kingdom time coming.\n\nAnd with this goes the word, \"I will give him _the morning star_.\"[75]\nJesus calls Himself \"the bright, the morning star.\"[76] The morning star\nrises in the dark of night after midnight and ushers in the new day. He\nwho is in touch of heart with Jesus as the night deepens to the dawn\nwill (probably) have an intimation in his inner spirit of the glad\ncoming of the Morning Star that ushers in earth's new day.\n\nThe overcomer will be made perfect in character, and find his name not\nonly in the family book, but mentioned by Christ personally to His\nFather before the angels.[77] He will be admitted into the innermost\ncircle of the King and be reckoned among the dependables.[78] And he\nwill have closest fellowship with Christ in the administration of the\nwondrous kingdom.[79]\n\nIt will be seen that these promises overlap, the same thing being put\nnow positively, now negatively, and being repeated in differing words to\ndifferent groups. Each promise touches the characteristic trait of the\ngroup spoken of. The Ephesians, who had many things but lacked the vital\nthing, are wooed with the promise of life itself, which is only through\ntouch with Jesus Himself.\n\nSmyrna in its suffering is cheered with the prospect of suffering no\nmore. The Pergamum overcomer is wooed away from intimacy of friendship\nwith evil to intimacy of friendship with the coming King. They who\nresist the evil Jezebel rule in Thyatira will have the privilege of\nruling with the King. Those in Sardis who hunger and thirst after a pure\nheart will have the longing fully satisfied.\n\nThose who have proven dependable in the trying days in Philadelphia will\nhave the exquisite pleasure of being depended upon in the inner circle\nas wholly trustworthy. Those in Laodicea who resist the current and\ninsist on letting the knocking pilgrim in for heart fellowship[80] will\nfind themselves in fellowship with Him on the throne.\n\nIt should be noticed that these promises are one promise, and that that\nis the promise of everlasting life, of a purified perfected character,\nand of the privilege of closest fellowship with the King Himself in the\ncoming Kingdom time.\n\nThese promises do not take up the matter of rewards for faithfulness in\nservice, such as our Lord speaks of in the twin parables of the pounds\nand talents. The things promised here are the results of being saved by\nthe blood of Christ. The privilege of fellowship with the King during\nthe Kingdom time is included in salvation. All the redeemed will reign\nover the earth.[81]\n\nThis is significant. Overcoming would seem to be the decisive evidence\nof faith in Jesus Christ, the faith that receives everlasting life. It\ntakes opposition to let you know whether you are willing to accept\nChrist. A man does not know whether he really believes Christ until he\nis opposed in his believing, and opposed to the real hurting point. He\nhas just as much faith in Christ as he is willing to declare, and stand\nby, and insist upon, _when he is under fire_. Opposition is the fire\ntest. Faith isn't faith unless it can stand the fire test.\n\n\nThe Decisive Trait of Faith.\n\nThe plain inference here is that he who doesn't overcome shows that he\nreally doesn't believe in his heart. And the natural result is that he\ndoes not receive these things promised. That is, he is not saved because\nhe won't accept the Lord Jesus as his Saviour _when it comes to the fire\ntest_.\n\nThere are without doubt thousands in the Church who will be left behind\non the earth when our Lord Jesus catches up His own. This does not mean\nnecessarily that they will be lost. There will be another opportunity of\nbeing saved for those living on the earth at that time. The Kingdom will\nbe a wonderful time of salvation. There will be a continuous revival of\nthe realest sort going on everywhere all the time.\n\nBut these would not have the blessed privilege of fellowship with the\nKing in the Kingdom, nor the blessedness of fuller resurrection life _at\nthis time_. That is reserved for those who by grace have believed on the\nLord Jesus, during His absence and continued rejection, in spite of the\nfire of opposition.\n\nIt is notable that the Thyatiran message speaks of _great tribulation_\ncoming to that Church if it continue unchanged. And that the\nPhiladelphia Church is to be kept through \"the hour of trial, that which\nis to come upon the whole earth.\" Throughout the Scriptures mention is\nmade of a time of persecution coming at the end. The common term for it\nis tribulation. It is called _the great tribulation_. There will be more\nto be said about this again.\n\nIt is possible that it will be found that this Patmos message will have\nspecial significance during that trying time at the end. But it should\nbe noted that it fits into the _spirit of opposition_ that is _always_\nfound where there is true, faithful witnessing.\n\nThe tribulation itself will be the time of intensest opposition carried\nto the extreme of violent persecution. It will be the climax of\nconditions always present, wherever there is faithful witnessing.\nFaithfulness to Christ always arouses opposition.\n\nThe test of whether we really accept Christ and believe Him is not in\nanything we say. It is not even in what we are in our lives when all\ngoes smoothly. It is in what we are in our lives _when opposed_, when it\ncosts criticism, ostracism, petty persecution, or more outright\npersecution. This is our Lord's test of acceptance of Himself.\n\nWe have had many definitions of what it means to believe on the Lord\nJesus Christ. And these have been helpful in clearing the air and\nhelping us to a simple acceptance of Him. These definitions have touched\nchiefly the _inner_ part of faith, the part we are conscious of.\n\nHere is another definition. Here is the last word on the subject, the\nauthoritative word, from our Lord Jesus Himself. It tells what faith is\nin its outward working, the part the _crowd_ sees. The faith that\naccepts Jesus as Saviour accepts Him also as Lord.\n\nThat faith naturally rings true to Him under all circumstances. It rings\ntruest and clearest whenever opposition to Him is aroused, whether the\nopposition of indifference, of criticism and sneer, or of persecution.\n\nThere are certain commonly accepted things that are in themselves only\ngood, but which are not _conclusive_ evidence that we really have saving\nfaith in the Saviour. The act of coming into Church membership whether\nby confirmation, by an assent to questions regarding one's personal\nfaith, or by being baptized, the fact of membership in the Church, the\npartaking of the Lord's supper, serving as an official of the Church in\npulpit or pew, faithful attendance, liberal support,--these things are\nonly good.\n\nBut they do not furnish conclusive evidence of one's acceptance of\nChrist. It is quite possible to be carried along on the common current\nin such things. There is clear evidence that many are. The decisive\nthing, the test thing is this: _how we stand opposition_, the polite,\nsneering sort, the more aggressive sort, or--if it come to that--the\nviolent sort. The _fire_ reveals every man's faith if there be any\nthere.\n\nThere are two fire tests. One is of our faith in Christ, as revealed in\nthe frictional fires of opposition. Whoever stands that test is caught\nup into His presence when He comes, or goes at once into His presence if\nour going precede His coming.\n\nThe second is of the love-spirit, how far it has been the very breath of\nour life as revealed by the fire of His presence. For the love-spirit\nmeans personal loyalty to Jesus, purity of heart, holiness of life,\nsteadiness of purpose, and the exquisite gentleness of patience in our\nconduct toward all others.\n\nThese words of our Lord Jesus are very searching. This Patmos message\nmust have been a painful one for Him to give John, and painful for John\nto repeat. It is painful for any one to repeat when its meaning is\nunderstood. It should send one off into some quiet corner alone on his\nknees with that great \"search me\" prayer of the Psalmist.[82]\n\nRecently I was told a simple incident of one of the truly great\nChristian men of our generation. He was at the head of one of the\nlargest concerns of our country employing thousands of men, but never\nknowing any labor troubles. I remember the impression made on me a few\nyears ago at the time of his death, by the remark made to me by two\ndifferent men of this man's city, men that I think did not know each\nother, or maybe very slightly. As I spoke of him each man said in a\nsubdued voice, \"Oh, everybody in ---- loved Mr. ----!\"\n\nThis incident was told by his son. The two were on a train together. The\nfather rose and went forward to another part of the train. As he went\nout a man sitting opposite came over and spoke to the son. His flashy\nmanner of dress and the fact that he seemed to have been drinking\nsuggested the sort of man he was. He said to the son:\n\n\"Wasn't that Mr. So-and-so?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" the son replied.\n\n\"Well,\" the man said, as though talking half to himself, \"if there were\nmore men like him, there'd be fewer like me.\"\n\nAnd he turned to his seat and sat as though absorbed in his thought. The\nson, in speaking of it after his father's death, said it was one of the\ntenderest memories he had of his father.\n\nThe common crowd on the street and our Lord Jesus are united in one\nthing: they want _more men like Him_, Jesus our Saviour. Then there'd be\nfewer of the other sort.\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[64] Ruby T. Weyburn.\n\n[65] Acts xv. 14-18.\n\n[66] Ezekiel viii and ix.\n\n[67] Rev. ii. 5.\n\n[68] Rev. ii. 12-16.\n\n[69] Rev. ii. 22, 23.\n\n[70] Rev. iii. 3.\n\n[71] Rev. iii. 16.\n\n[72] Rev. ii. 7.\n\n[73] Rev. ii. 11.\n\n[74] Rev. ii. 17.\n\n[75] Rev. ii. 26-28.\n\n[76] Rev. xxii. 16.\n\n[77] Rev. iii. 5.\n\n[78] Rev. iii. 12.\n\n[79] Rev. iii. 21.\n\n[80] Rev. iii. 20, 21, with Jeremiah xiv. 8.\n\n[81] Rev. v. 10.\n\n[82] Psalm cxxxix.\n\n\n\n\nV.--AN ADVANCE STEP IN THE ROYAL PROGRAMME\n\n(Revelation, Chapters iv. and v.)\n\n\n \"We are watching, we are waiting,\n   For the bright prophetic day;\n When the shadows, weary shadows,\n   From the world shall roll away.\n\n \"We are watching, we are waiting,\n   For the star that brings the day;\n When the night of sin shall vanish,\n   And the shadows melt away.\n\n \"We are watching, we are waiting,\n   For the beauteous King of day;\n For the chiefest of ten thousand,\n   For the Light, the Truth, the Way.\n\n \"We are waiting for the morning,\n   When the beauteous day is dawning,\n We are waiting for the morning,\n   For the golden spires of day.\"[83]\n\n\nA Look into Heaven.\n\nHeaven is a place of intensest and tenderest interest to every one. It\nis true that there is less emphasis on getting to heaven as a result of\nbeing saved than there was a generation ago. Indeed, no emphasis at all.\nThe whole thought now is about our life here on the earth. We think less\nabout dying and more about living.\n\nThis is true. Yet every one of us has loved ones who have slipped from\nour grasp, and gone from our midst. We think of them. The tenderest\nmemories brood over us, and come like a flood sometimes.\n\nWe may have the sweet sense of assurance that these loved ones are\nsaved. But there is an intense longing at times to know more about them,\nwhere they are, what they are doing, how much they know of things down\nhere. These thoughts _will_ come crowding in upon us.\n\nNow here is some light. _All_ the questions are not answered. But there\ncomes clear, sweet light to comfort our hearts during the waiting time\nuntil we shall be joined with them again. We are given here in John's\nRevelation the first clear, definite glimpse into the upper world. It is\ntold us in the language of earth of course. It must be, else we would\nnot understand. But clearly there is a glory and happiness clear beyond\nwhat earthly words can tell.\n\nThis is the first glimpse into heaven given us in this old Book of God.\nJacob wakes up in his dream and sees a ladder set up connecting earth\nand heaven, and the angels going up and returning again while God talks\nwith him. It means much to him, but gives us no answer to our questions,\nexcept to make plain that there is a very real and wondrous world up\nthere where our loved ones go.\n\nMoses is up in the mount with God for six weeks nearly, twice over, but\nthere is no suggestion of what he may have seen; only the transfiguring\nchange in his face, and the strongly gentling change in his character.\n\nEzekiel finds the heavens opening and sees the vision, so like John's,\nof the wondrous Man. Stephen looks up steadfastly into heaven and sees\nthe resplendent glory of God, and the crucified Jesus standing at the\nright hand of God. Paul is caught up into heaven, not improbably at the\ntime that his body lay bruised and bleeding and apparently lifeless\noutside Lystra. But the sights he sees and the over-awing glory are too\nmuch to be told. But here John is taken up in vision into the heavens,\ninto the presence of God, and sees much, and tells us what he sees.\n\nIt was after the vision of the glorified Man and His message. John is\nsitting thinking on all he has seen and heard, thinking back to Ephesus\nand the other Churches he knew so well. He is wondering perhaps _how_ he\n_can_ tell them what, whom, he has seen; and wondering too how he can\ntell them this message entrusted to him.\n\nThe holy spell is still strong upon him, when all at once he noticed\nwhat looks like a door, a door opened above him in the blue. And as he\nis looking, astonished, that same voice that had been speaking with him\nbefore speaks again. He is bidden to \"come up hither,\" and he will be\nshown the things that are to happen some time in the future. At once he\nis conscious of that same gentle, enveloping presence of the Holy Spirit\nas before. At once He is up in heaven. And he tells us the scene that\nopens to his eyes.\n\nThere is a throne set. What a comfort! There is a _throne_. There is a\ncentre of authority and power to our world. This Revelation is\npeculiarly the book of a _throne_. Up yonder above the moral tangle and\nconfusion of earth is a reigning throne.\n\nThere is One sitting on the throne. That throne is occupied. It has not\nbeen vacated. Men down here may push God off the throne of their lives,\nand try to push Him out of the affairs of the earth. But He sits on the\nthrone above. And that throne dominates the life of the earth. Nothing\ncan be done without permission.\n\nJohn can't describe this one sitting on the throne. The sight is too\nmuch for his eyes. When the seventy elders of Israel see God, all that\nthey can remember is the dazzle of glory in the wonderful pavement under\nHis feet. It seems like a pavement of precious stones of sapphire, but\nas clear as crystal. So now all that John can see is some One who seems\nto his eyes like transparent precious stones blazing with light. This is\nthe only thing he can think of to tell of what he sees.\n\n\nRest in the Midst of Unrest.\n\nThere is a rainbow around the throne. The radiance of light shining out\nfrom this One on the throne makes a rainbow. If one wonders how God can\nlook down on the misery and sin, the rebellion and wretchedness that\ndominate most of the earth, here is the answer. His finger is never off\nthe pulse. He knows all as we never can. And he feels as we never do the\npain of life, and the discord of earth. The unceasing cry of earth comes\nup in his ears.\n\nBut He is controlled by a purpose. It is a purpose of strong patient\nlove. _He has made a promise_ that man shall have fullest opportunity\nunchecked by the natural sweeping judgment, that invariable working out\nof sin and wrong. That throne keeps the order of nature working smoothly\nand faithfully for man's sake, holding in restraint the forces that\nwould hinder and destroy. The rainbow is the signature to His promise.\nThat rainbow is always before His face. That promise has never been\nforgotten. This explains the quietness of the One on the throne, looking\ndown on the moral confusion of the race.\n\nBut this rainbow is not like the common rainbows that we know. It\ncompletely encircles the throne. Our rainbows are broken up. They are\nnever seen in their completeness. Our lookout on things sees only a\npart; it never sees all. It is never complete. The view of things up\nthere is complete. Everything is seen and is seen in its true relation\nto everything else. The throne is the one place of perfect perspective\nand poise.\n\nAnd this rainbow is all of one colour, a clear, soft emerald-green. We\nknow that green is the most restful of all colours. Some colours are\nirritating. Some persons of very sensitive, nervous temperament are even\nmade sick by certain colours. And we are all affected more than we know\nin a hurtful way by certain colours. But green is the colour of rest. It\nsoothes the eyes and nerves and even the spirit. The rainbow round about\nthe throne looked like a quiet, quieting emerald-green. The One on the\nthrone is at perfect rest regarding things down here. He knows all. His\nears hear all, the cry of distress and despair, the defiance and\narrogance and blasphemy. His eyes see His children down here, creative\nchildren all of them, prodigal children so many of them, and trusting\nchildren walking in the shadows. He sees all. And He feels all with His\ngreat feeling heart.\n\nYet He is at rest. Do you wonder how He can be? When Jesus saw the\nmultitudes He was moved with compassion; He suffered in heart with them,\nfor they were as shepherdless sheep, torn and distressed. And the heart\nbeating in rhythm with His has as hard a time as He. If He lead you in\nservice to some foreign mission land, you see and know and feel as no\ntourist party hurried through the outer fringes ever does or can.\n\nAnd in Christian lands of the West, and the homeland, in slum as in\npolite circles, in commercial quarters as in the university world, the\nheart that is in touch with Jesus' heart sees and hears and feels and\nsenses things as they are under the surface or sticking boldly out\nthrough the surface. And feels at times as though it can never again be\nat rest.\n\nHow can He, on the throne, be so quiet, and be at rest? And there is an\nanswer to our burning question, a simple, real answer. _He knows the\nend._ He has a purpose and a plan. The present is only one stage in His\ngreat plan. This is man's opportunity, and possibly some one's else\nopportunity, too. It is to be followed by something else radically\ndifferent down on this earth.\n\nHe is held steady during this time by a great purpose. It is a purpose\nof great, tender love. To His eye looking sleeplessly down there is rest\neven as of emerald-green. And so there will be rest for him who looks\nsleeplessly _up_ to the _throne_ of control, encircled in the emerald\nrainbow of perfect peace. And we can be of best service to Him by\nresting in our hearts, resting in Him, even while working in the thick\nof things as they are down here.\n\n\nThey See His Face.\n\nThen John sees twenty-four other thrones round about the central throne.\nAnd on these there are twenty-four men sitting. These men are wearing\nwhite garments, and have crowns of gold upon their heads. This is the\npart of intense interest. Who are these? And what does this mean?\n\nWhat has been said before about picture language, the language of the\nOrient, of childhood, of the common crowd, the universal language, will\nhelp us here. The Bible is an Oriental book. It talks in picture\nlanguage. This is humanly what gives it such freshness and peculiar\nadaptation. The radical change of circumstances and speech and mode of\nthought in different centuries makes all books antiquated after a\ncertain time. This book has the freshness of youth, for in its simple\npicture language it deals in principles. But picture language must be\nheld to its simplicity. And something of familiarity with the whole\nrange of the Scripture is needful to use the key to the simple picture\nlanguage.\n\nLet us look a bit at the simple scene here. These men are elders, that\nis they are leaders. They represent multitudes of others. Throughout the\nBible twelve is the number of completeness, both in things and people. A\ncomplete gathering or throng of people is represented by the number\ntwelve. There are twelve tribes of Israel, and so on. This is so\nfamiliar that it need only be named without further illustration.\n\nThere are two great divisions of this Bible, the Old Testament and the\nNew. These stand naturally for the two great divisions of time, before\nChrist and after. This division is strongly marked in the Bible, and\nsharply marked in our Christian consciousness. It has been a common\nthing to wonder about the salvation and spiritual knowledge and\nprivileges of people who lived before Christ came and died.\n\nTwice twelve make twenty-four. These twenty-four elders represent the\nredeemed ones from both of these great divisions of time. That is to\nsay, the picture tells us this. All the people from creation's earliest\nmorn up to the present, including the one who went out last from some\nsorrowing family circle, all who have had the touch of heart with God,\nare gathered in the presence of Him who sits on the throne. That is one\nsimple thing that stands out clear and sure.\n\nThese are represented as _sitting_. The slave or servant never sat in\nhis master's presence. Friends sit together. Angels are never spoken of\nas sitting in the presence of God. When our Lord Jesus was received up\nHe sat down at the Father's right hand. We are spoken of as seated in\nthe heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Sitting together means being on\nterms of intimacy and fellowship. Through the precious blood of our\nLord Jesus we are all accepted in the Beloved and received and trusted\nas He is.\n\nThese elders are clad in white garments. That is one of the familiar\nthings spoken of much in this end-book. Part of the promise to those of\novercoming faith is that they shall be arrayed in white garments, and\nwalk with Christ in white.[84] Those who are faulty in the Church are\nurged to get white garments.[85] The martyrs waiting their\nvindication,[86] and the great multitudes who come up out of the\ntribulation are given white raiment.[87] The bride at the joyous\nmarriage supper, and the armies following the conquering Christ, are\nclad in fine linen, bright and pure.[88]\n\nWe are told that this white linen means a pure life.[89] These garments\nhave been washed in the blood of the Lamb.[90] These multitudes have\nbeen cleansed in the blood of Christ and purified by the Holy Spirit and\nmade perfect in purity and holiness as they came up into the presence of\nthe Father on the throne.\n\nThese elders are wearing golden crowns. This language, too, is familiar.\nThe acknowledgment and reward of faithfulness and of service is spoken\nof commonly under this bit of picture talk.[91] The angels are never\nspoken of as being crowned. Christ was crowned, that is received into\nthe presence of the Father, as the full recognition of His worthiness\nand of what He had done, and in vindication after the shameful rejection\nby men.\n\nThese men and women and children in the Father's presence have been\nrewarded and are being rewarded for their faithfulness in obedience and\nin life. All the struggles and difficulties, the hard road, the\nendurance, the patient suffering for His name's sake, the faithfulness\nin doing the allotted tasks, all these have been noted and acknowledged.\nThere is the sweet peace of the Father's approval in all of these before\nthe throne.\n\n\nGoing to School to God.\n\nAnd these are sitting on _thrones_. When Jesus was teaching His\ndisciples, in the dark days of bitter opposition He wooed them with\nthis: \"Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones.\"[92] And a bit later as they\nsat round the supper table on the night of His betrayal, when things are\ngetting to the darkest, again He woos them: \"Ye may eat and drink at my\ntable in my Kingdom; and ye shall sit on thrones.\"[93] He that\novercometh is assured of sitting with Christ on His throne.[94]\n\nAll the redeemed ones of earth are to have part with Christ in the\ncoming Kingdom time. They reign with Him.[95] During this present time\nthe countless hosts of angels have a part in ministering to man on the\nearth.[96] Even so during the Kingdom time to come the countless hosts\nof the redeemed will have the sweet privilege of service with Christ and\non behalf of those on the earth. And it is quite possible that they\nalready have a part in such a ministry.\n\nA little farther in the description it is seen that these elders have\n\"each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the\nprayers of the saints.\" Heaven is a place of wonderful music. Its very\natmosphere must be tuned to the rarest rhythmic harmonies. And each one\nhas part in the music being made.\n\nAnd yet more, they are continuing the sweet ministry of intercession\nlearned down on earth. This means that they are in touch with earth.\nThey know the needs of loved ones and of all, and they have the\nprivilege of fellowship in this with Him who ever liveth to make\nintercession.\n\nAnd there is one other thing we know here at once without being told. If\na friend tells me that he has a rose garden under the care of a skilled\ngardener, I know without being told that the roses are growing. I at\nonce look through my friend's words and see bushes full of roses of all\ncolours, some full blown, some half blown, some bursting buds, and some\njust budding. For there is a garden, and a gardener, and sun and rain\nand dew. I know there must be growth and beauty.\n\nEven so we know that the loved ones who have parted from us, are\ngrowing. They are in the Father's presence, in intimate fellowship. That\ntells me of their growth. That little one who slipped away so young,\nyears ago, has been growing in mental powers, in character as well as in\nwhat down here we call stature, and growing most of all in love. And so\nat the meeting time, in the air or up there, there will be instant\nrecognition, as well as instant delight over the growth under such\nwondrous tutorage.\n\nThis is the glimpse into the upper world which John sees and is allowed\nto give us here. The redeemed ones of earth of all the ages are in the\npresence of the Father and of the Lord Jesus and of the angels, on terms\nof intimate fellowship, made pure and perfect in character, but always\ngrowing from more to more, and having a share in blessed ministry. And\nthey listen to and have share in making music more exquisite than our\nearthly language can describe.\n\nThey understand the wondrous plans for the earth, for now they see all\nthings through the Lord Jesus' eyes. They have some part without doubt\nin welcoming those who come to join them, even as they will have part in\nreceiving those who are caught up at our Lord's return. And they look\nforward eagerly to the glad time of righting that will come then.\n\nBut let us look a bit more at what John sees. Out of the throne are seen\nproceeding lightnings and voices and thunders. Three other times in\nthis book it speaks of lightning and voices and thunder.[97] These\nthings of course are the familiar accompaniments of a storm. It is\nnoticeable that each other time they are named in the book it is in\nconnection with some direct action being taken by God in the affairs of\nthe earth. And each time there is some added item intensifying the\nscene.\n\nA physical storm is caused by two areas of unequal temperature coming\ntogether. The storm is the process of coming together and equalizing of\nthe atmospheric conditions. The inference here would seem to be that the\ntime of action has come to straighten out matters on the earth. The two\nmoral atmospheres of heaven and earth seem to be coming into contact,\nand a storm is resulting before clear weather comes. It suggests that\nour Lord Jesus is taking the next direct step in His broader plan.\n\n\nGod's Ideal of Creation.\n\nBut let us look a little further. In the book's picture language there\nare \"seven lamps of fire burning before the throne.\" These we are\nplainly told \"are the seven spirits of God.\" That is a Hebrew way of\nsaying \"the perfect spirit of God.\" This is of intense interest. The\nHoly Spirit is represented as being before the throne.\n\nIn the confidential talk with the inner group of disciples on the\nbetrayal night, in John's Gospel,[98] Jesus promises that when He has\nascended up to the Father He will send down the Holy Spirit to them.\nWhen the Spirit has come down to the disciples He will begin a new\nministry of witnessing to the world through them.\n\nIn the Book of Acts that promise is fulfilled. The Spirit comes down\nwith remarkable manifestations on the day of Pentecost. The distinctive\nthing He does is to take possession of a group of men and form them into\na new witnessing body called the Church. He had dwelt in the nation of\nIsrael as a nation, and had been withdrawn from that nation when it\nproved finally faithless to its mission. He had dwelt in individual men\nbefore and during and after that time.\n\nAt Pentecost He is sent down on a new mission. He is to do in men all\nthat Jesus has done for them in His life and death and resurrection. But\nthe distinctive thing of Pentecost is His forming this new body called\nthe Church, through which He begins a new ministry of witnessing to the\nworld.\n\nAll through the Acts and Epistles He is constantly spoken of as here on\nthe earth working in the Church and through it. He in the Church is a\npowerful restraint upon the powers of evil in the world. In\nThessalonians,[99] Paul has spoken of a day coming when that restraint\nwould be withdrawn. The Holy Spirit, the \"One that restraineth now,\" is\nto be taken away.\n\nNow here the Holy Spirit is represented as being, not in the Church, as\nalways in the Acts and Epistles, but as being \"before the throne.\" This\nis the second significant thing to note in this scene. This also would\nseem to suggest the beginning of a new order of things.\n\nJohn goes quietly on with his description. Before the throne he sees a\ngreat expanse that looks like a sea of clear, bright, beautiful crystal.\nBefore the throne and around about the throne are four living creatures\nor creatures of life. These living creatures are of intensest interest.\nThey appear throughout the Scriptures from the Garden of Eden in Genesis\nto the very close of this Book of Revelation.\n\nThey are also called cherubim and seraphim, that is, cherubs and\nseraphs. They are always associated directly with the immediate presence\nof God,[100] and with His presence-chamber, in the tabernacle,[101] in\nthe temple,[102] and in Ezekiel's vision of a new temple,[103] and in\nthe thought of the people.[104] There is one possible exception to this,\nwhere they are seen at the entrance to the Garden of Eden.[105] The\ndescription of them is most full in Ezekiel. It varies in details, but\nwith the essentials always the same.\n\nThe general appearance is that of a man, but there are four faces as of\na man, a lion, an ox or calf, a flying eagle, and sometimes a cherub\nface. They are full of eyes everywhere, and they seem enveloped in the\npure fire which everywhere is associated with God's own presence. These\ndescriptions combined suggest perfection of purity, of intelligence, of\nobedience, and of power.\n\nIn this book of the Revelation they are spoken of seven times,[106] that\nis, more frequently than in any other book, though not so fully as in\nEzekiel. Five times they are leading or joining in the worship of God,\nby men and angels, and twice they are cooeperating with the Lamb or the\nangels in what is being done on the earth.\n\nThese beautiful, intelligent beings seem to represent the whole animate\ncreation, man, the animals intimately associated in service with man,\nthose that roam at will, and the birds, and the angels. It would seem as\nthough they stand for _God's ideal of creation_, as it was before the\nhurt of sin came, as He holds it in His heart, and as it will be after\nsin has gone. His ideal of a perfect and perfected creation is always in\nHis presence and before His face, intelligently and gladly carrying out\nHis will, reverently and joyously sounding His praise.\n\nIt suggests that He will not rest content until His ideal for the\ncreation shall be a sweet, full realization, all sin and rebellion\nremoved and all His works uniting in joyous, continuous worship, and\nglad, harmonious obedience.\n\n\nThe Significant Book.\n\nAll this is interesting; some of it intense in interest. But it is only\na setting. It is incidental. The chief thing is yet to be told. John had\nbeen told that he would be shown the things that would come to pass some\ntime in the future. We come now to the beginnings of these \"things.\"\n\nThe One who is sitting on the throne has a carefully sealed book or\ndocument in his hand. An angel calls out loudly for any one who is\nqualified to do so to step forward and take the document and break its\nseals. And as John watches intently no one comes forward. No one can be\nfound, either in the heaven, in earth, or in the region spoken of as\nunder the earth.\n\nAt this John is greatly distressed, and weeps much, so he must have\nunderstood at once just what this meant. And one of the elders comforts\nhim with the assurance that there is One who has \"_overcome_ to open the\nbook, and the seven seals thereof,\" \"the lion of the tribe of Judah.\"\nThis word \"overcome\" suggests that this one has been in some great\nconflict and has gotten the victory and overcome all opposition. And\nthis qualifies Him to take and open the document. He is the only one\namong untold numbers so qualified.\n\nAnd now John sees this One. He is standing in the very midst of the\nthrone surrounded by creatures and elders. We easily recognize this as\nour Lord Jesus. He is a lion in leadership and strength. He is a lamb in\ngentleness of character, and in the sacrificial experience He has been\nthrough. The marks of death are plainly seen on His person.\n\nAs He comes forward He reaches and takes the book out of the hand of the\nOne on the throne. He is allowed to take it. His qualification to take\nthe document and break its seals is acceptable to the One on the throne.\n\nAnd as He takes the book there is a remarkable burst of praise and\nadoration that must have made all heaven ring. And those on earth in\ntouch of spirit with the scene and its purpose and the Chief Actor would\nsurely feel some thrill in the spirit currents of earth.\n\nThe outburst of worship is led by the four living creatures and the\ntwenty-four elders who fall down before the Lamb and sing a song. What\nmusic that must be when the untold thousands sing as only redeemed ones\ncan sing. Then countless hosts of angels join in and lift the chorus.\nAnd then there is the creation chorus, every created thing in heaven and\nearth, under the earth, in the sea, absolutely everything seems to join\nin this indescribable music. And the four living creatures say, \"Amen.\"\nAnd again the elders fall down and worship.\n\nJohn's distress at the beginning, and now this indescribable outburst of\npraise, tell us that this is something thrilling and significant beyond\nexpression. What does this mean, our Lord Jesus taking the sealed\ndocument preparatory to breaking its seals?\n\nIt has been said in a previous talk that every thread woven into the\nfabric of the Old Testament can be found in the fabric of this\nRevelation book. So that if one goes to work patiently he can trace\nevery allusion here to something back in these older leaves. This gives\nus the clue to the significance of this remarkable scene.\n\nThat clue seems in this case to be found in the book of Jeremiah,\nchapter thirty-two. There is found an allusion to a simple primitive\ncustom of the Hebrew people in the exchange of real estate and in taking\npossession of property to which one is entitled.\n\nThe old Hebrew custom seems to have been as follows: When property was\npurchased the deed to the new owner was made out in duplicate, an open\ncopy and a sealed copy. The open copy was clearly for public\ninformation, open to all. The sealed copy as clearly belonged only to\nthe owner of the property as his evidence of ownership. So it identified\nhim as the one named in the open copy.\n\nIf a new heir comes to take possession of an estate, or in case of a\ndispute over ownership, the claimant who was adjudged the rightful heir\nor owner would be given the possession of the sealed document or deed.\nAnd as so attested by the judge or court, he only would be properly\nqualified to \"take\" the sealed roll, break its seals, read its\ncontents, and so formally take possession of the estate, or property.\n\nNow under the symbolism of this old bit of Hebrew custom, our Lord Jesus\nis represented here as stepping forward to take possession of the earth,\nand begin His reign over it. A Hebrew immersed in the old primitive\ncustoms of his people in Palestine would understand this allusion at\nonce, however startled or sceptical he might be as to its significance\nin this connection.\n\n\nTaking Possession.\n\nThe language used in the song of praise when our Lord Jesus takes the\nsealed book is significant. They say, \"thou art _worthy_,\" that is, thou\nart _qualified_; thou art the duly attested one with the right to take\npossession. \"For thou wast _slain_, and didst purchase unto God with thy\nblood men of every tribe,\" and so on.\n\nMan had been given the dominion of the earth. He had by obedience to the\nevil one transferred his right to Him who is repeatedly called \"the\nprince of this world.\" Our Lord Jesus _purchased_ men out of their\nslavery back to their original Lord,--with all that was rightfully\ntheirs. He has allowed fullest opportunity for all who will to accept\nHis Lordship. Now He is about to take possession of the earth on behalf\nof men, and for them.\n\nThis is the tremendous significance of what John is shown here as\nsomething that will take place hereafter. In the scene of the\ncandlesticks He is patiently waiting, holding Himself in restraint. Now\nthe waiting time is over. He is making the next move in His broader plan\nfor the earth.\n\nThere is no hint as to the length of interval between the two scenes,\nhow long He will wait. There is no suggestion as to when this next move\nwill be made. But we are here plainly told that at some time that\ncandlestick waiting time will end, and He will take a forward step in\nconnection with His plans for the earth. And it should be keenly noticed\nthat what follows now in this book of Revelation is the run of events\nthat will immediately follow that next step of His.\n\nYet this step is taken up _in heaven_. The first action of the new move\nwill be there. There will be nothing to be seen on the earth to indicate\nthe change. Things there will go on as before, eating and drinking,\nbuying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage, all unconscious of\nthe tremendous events being worked out.\n\nBut now the waiting time still waits. Our opportunity is still open. If\nwe might only be simple enough to be true to our absent Lord Jesus\nduring this waiting time.\n\nA bishop of the American Episcopal Church, widely known for his saintly\ncharacter, his culture, and long years of tireless service, was visiting\nin the South. In the town there lived a judge of wide repute for his\nscholarly learning as well as for his culture and uprightness. Now he\nwas seriously ill, and had requested an interview with the bishop.\n\nHe asked the bishop to talk to him about personal religion. And the\nclergyman talked to this thoughtful, scholarly judge in choice\nphilosophical language about the fatherhood of God, the character of\nChrist, and the essential harmony of man's true nature with God. The\njudge listened attentively for some time.\n\nThen he apologetically interrupted his visitor, and said:\n\n\"Bishop, I'm dying. Won't you please talk to me just like you'd talk to\nmy black boy, Jim?\"\n\nAnd the bishop could, and did. He told him in simplest talk that he was\na sinner. Jesus died to save sinners. His blood washes away our sins. We\nmust take Christ as a Saviour, just trust Him, as simply as a child\ntrusts its mother.\n\nSo he talked. And the judge listened. And the tears came, and the peace.\nHe came as a child, and trusted, and he knew the peace that passeth\nunderstanding. It was the simple telling of the simple story of the\nSaviour who died, and the simple, child-like acceptance of that Saviour.\nThe scholarly bishop helped the learned judge best, in the crisis of his\nlife, by talking as simply as to a child.\n\nIf we might only be simple enough to be true to this Jesus who died,\nduring the remnant of waiting time that remains.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[83] W. O. Cushing.\n\n[84] Rev. iii. 4-5.\n\n[85] Rev. iii. 18.\n\n[86] Rev. vi. 11.\n\n[87] Rev. vii. 9.\n\n[88] Rev. xix. 8, 14.\n\n[89] Rev. xix. 8.\n\n[90] Rev. vii. 14; xxii. 14.\n\n[91] Rev. ii. 10; iii. 11; I Corinthians ix. 25; II Timothy iv. 8; James\ni. 12; I Peter v. 4.\n\n[92] Matthew xix. 28.\n\n[93] Luke xxii. 30.\n\n[94] Rev. iii. 21.\n\n[95] Rev. v. 10; xx. 4, 6.\n\n[96] Hebrews i. 14 with Daniel vii. 10 and Psalm ciii. 20-21.\n\n[97] Rev. viii. 5; xi. 19; xvi. 18, 21.\n\n[98] John xiv.-xvi.\n\n[99] II Thessalonians ii. 6-7.\n\n[100] Ezekiel i. 4-28; x. 1-22.\n\n[101] Exodus xxv. 17-22; xxxvii. 6-9.\n\n[102] I Kings vi. 23-26; viii. 6-7; II Chronicles iii. 10-14; v. 7-8.\n\n[103] Ezekiel xli. 15-26.\n\n[104] I Samuel iv. 4; II Samuel vi. 2; xxii. 11; I Chronicles xiii. 6;\nPsalm xviii. 10; lxxx. 1; xcix. 1; Isaiah vi. 1-3; xxxvii. 16.\n\n[105] Genesis iii. 24.\n\n[106] iv. 6-9; v. 6, 8, 14; vi. 1, 3, 5, 7; vii. 11; xiv. 3; xv. 7; xix.\n4.\n\n\n\n\nVI.--A CLEARING-UP STORM IN THE REALM\n\n(Revelation, Chapters vi.-viii.)\n\n\n \"God Almighty! King of nations! earth Thy footstool, heaven Thy throne!\n Thine the greatness, power, and glory, Thine the kingdom, Lord, alone!\n Life and death are in Thy keeping, and Thy will ordaineth all:\n From the armies of Thy heavens to an unseen insect's fall.\n\n \"Reigning, guiding, all-commanding, ruling myriad worlds of light;\n Now exalting, now abasing, none can stay Thy hand of might!\n Working all things by Thy power, by the counsel of Thy will.\n Thou art God! enough to know it, and to hear Thy word: 'Be still!'\n\n \"In Thy sovereignty rejoicing, we Thy children bow and praise,\n For we know that kind and loving, just and true, are all Thy ways.\n While Thy heart of sovereign mercy, and Thy arm of sovereign might,\n For our great and strong salvation in Thy sovereign grace unite.\"\n\n    --FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL.\n\n\nThe Area of the Storm.\n\nGoodness arouses evil. Faithfulness to Christ stirs opposition. This is\na commonplace. A piece of white-hot metal plunged into cold water makes\na great fuss. Two areas of sharply different temperatures in the\natmosphere above us coming suddenly together make a storm.\n\nPurity entering an atmosphere of impurity and insisting on staying, and\non keeping pure, creates a lively disturbance. The tempter was aroused\nto his subtlest effort when Jesus appeared. There is no such demoniac\nactivity recorded as when Jesus walked among men.\n\nSo crowning a king arouses opposition, if there be opposition. And the\nactive taking of the reins of government has intensified the opposition\nwhen it was strong enough to make a stand. The striking illustration of\nthis in the Bible is King David. After Saul's death the men of Judah\nanointed David king. That was the signal for an immediate attack by the\nchief of the forces of Saul's house. And this was succeeded by a long\nwar, before David was acknowledged as king over all Israel. The\nclearing-up storm in his realm lasted a good while before good weather\ncame.\n\nHere in this Revelation scene we have been looking at our Lord Jesus is\nrepresented as stepping forward to take possession of His realm. It is\nnatural to expect a storm. This will be a signal to the opposition to\nrally all its power. But there can be no question about the outcome of\nsuch a set-to. That storm proves to be a clearing-up storm in the realm.\nIt is to be followed by such fine moral weather as has not been known\nbefore. But the storm itself proves to be a terrific one for the earth\nwhile it lasts.\n\nThe greater part of this little end-book is taken up with a description\nof that storm. But before we turn to this book itself and its storm, we\nwant to get our bearings a bit, so as to understand better what is here.\nRevelation is the knot in the end of a big bunch of threads. We shall\nunderstand the knot better by knowing more about the threads before they\nare tied into the knot.\n\nThe storm area proves to be very large. It takes in the whole earth. The\nBible is a big book in its outlook and grasp. It deals with the whole\nearth, and the whole race. The thoughtful Bible student comes to have a\nbroad outlook, as well as a close lookout about his own front and back\ndoors.\n\nIt is fascinating to study the geography of the Bible. We talk about the\nworld growing smaller. That refers of course to the rapidity of\ntransit. It is only within a few hundred years that we have learned of\nthe earth being round. The Bible map includes practically the whole\nworld as we have come to know it.\n\nThe centre of the world as seen on this map may seem a little\nsurprising. We Americans _feel_ that the centre of things is here. The\nEnglishman _knows_ that it is in London; and lately the Germans have had\nthe same exclusive sort of knowledge about Berlin. The Chinese has long\ncalled his country \"the Middle Kingdom,\" in the sense of its being the\ncentral kingdom about which the rest of the world revolves. But here the\ncentre is seen to be on the boundary line, practically, between Orient\nand Occident, reaching out an embracing arm to each.\n\nWe have a broad division of the earth into East and West. The\ndifferences between the two, in civilization, mode of thought, religion,\nlanguage, and so on, are so radical as to make it seem that there was no\npoint of contact. At least this has been emphasized much by western\nwriters on the East. We are disturbed just now here in the far West over\nthe Oriental, Chinese Japanese and Indian crossing the _far_ boundary\nline between Orient and Occident and coming into the United States and\nCanada.\n\nYet East and West have always overlapped at the _middle_ boundary line.\nThere is a great mixture of races in the strip where the eastern edge of\nthe West and the western edge of the East come together. It is the strip\nrunning roughly north and south where Russia's western border and\nTurkey's touch Germany and Austria and Greece, including the\nnever-at-rest Balkan Peninsula. Constantinople sits on the dividing line\nbetween East and West, with the worst of both civilizations within her\nconfines. Here the hemispheres touch and their life currents intermingle\nand flow together.\n\nScientific research seems to find good evidence that all our European\ncivilization, which of course means American too, may have been brought\nover by Eastern immigrants from central Asia long ages ago, Asia coming\ninto Europe. Perhaps we Westerners would not despise the Easterners so\ncontemptuously and patronizingly if we knew how much we are probably\nindebted to them for our civilization as well as for our Hebrew and\nChristian faith, our Bible, and the Christian restraining bulwarks of\nour common life.\n\nThe old common point of contact between Orient and Occident was the\nstrip of land forming the western edge of the Orient at the eastern end\nof the Mediterranean. Palestine has been for centuries the common\nroadway of all nations, East and West. No bit of earth has been so\ntramped and trampled by the feet of all nations and races. This has been\nthe battlefield of the nations through long centuries. The ends of the\nearth have met here. It is interesting that the waters that wash its\nwestern shore are called the Mediterranean Sea, that is, the\n_middle-of-the-earth_ sea.\n\nHere then is the centre of the map. It is the centre of all things in\nthe Bible. And it has proven to be at the centre of human action through\nhistory, attested by the very name given to the chief body of water\nthere.\n\nJerusalem, the capital city of this Palestine strip, was the centre of a\nworld power in the early ages. It has been the world capital. And it has\nin turn been fought over and conquered by every world power. No city has\nbeen a world centre of action during as long a stretch of time, and to\nas many different nations.\n\nOut from this centre the action of the Bible reaches north to Russia,\nsouth to Africa (Ethiopia), east to China (Sinim, Isaiah xlix. 12), and\nwest to Spain. That practically includes the world of our day. America\nis of course merely a transplanted seedling of Europe.\n\nThose great Hebrew leaders called prophets had a world outlook. They\nwere world messengers. It is intensely interesting to take a piece of\npaper, and pencil a rough map of the nations named in their messages,\nnotably Isaiah,[107] Jeremiah,[108] Ezekiel,[109] and Daniel.[110]\nBeginning at Jerusalem and Israel they reach first this way, then that,\nup and down, back and forth, until the whole world of action of that day\nhas been touched. They were men of world size. They had a world outlook\nand a world message.\n\nBut then God's man always has. The world outlook of Jesus was\ntremendous. And every true disciple of Jesus Christ has the world\noutlook. Grace broadens as well as refining. It is one of the endless\noutworkings of sin that tends toward that narrowing provincialism which\neverywhere hinders so much, and so intensely.\n\nNow in this world map in the Bible geography two cities stand out beyond\nall others, Jerusalem and Babylon; Jerusalem the centre of God's people\nand of God's plans, Babylon the centre of the opposing worldly power.\nThese are the two outstanding cities of the Bible world.\n\nBetween these two there is an enmity and warfare that is practically\ncontinuous. Jerusalem comes to be the typical of God's people and power\nand kingdom. Babylon stands out likewise as typical of the power and\nkingdom always and innately opposed to God and to His people. The\nconflict between the two seems irrepressible and irreconcilable. It is\nnever out of view.\n\nBabylon has been the centre, under successive dynasties, of a world\nempire, including not only part of Asia, but reaching west to Europe and\nsouth to Africa. It sat practically in the connecting strip of Orient\nand Occident, ruling over both. In the dim dawn of history a\nGod-ignoring, and so really a God-defying and man-exalting movement,\ncentred in the city called Babel. And from that time on that city, and\nits successor Babylon, have seemed as though possessed with a spirit of\nantagonism to God and His people. It is as though it were the earthly\nheadquarters of the blasphemous unseen evil forces.\n\nThis is a simple bit of geography lesson in the Old Testament. This is\nthe map that lies ever open in these older pages, with its two capital\ncities marked large. And this indicates the area of the storm, and the\ntwo central points where its outburst will centre.\n\n\nStudying the Weather Forecast.\n\nIt is interesting to find a weather forecast of this storm. The old\nHebrew prophets were close students of national and world-wide weather\nconditions, and much given to making forecasts of impending storms. Even\nin the New Testament there is this distinct prophetic or foretelling\nstrain running throughout. The father of John the Baptist is told of his\nson's birth; and Mary, of the unusual birth of her divine Son. The\ndisciples are told of the coming of the Holy Spirit. And Agabus tells of\na great famine coming. In these instances the fulfilment follows soon\nafter the event is foretold.\n\nThe destruction of Jerusalem, foretold by Christ, had at least a part of\nits fulfilment in the terrible Titus siege of 70 A.D. Our Lord said that\nHe would return to earth in great glory, and that there would come a\ngreat tribulation to all the earth, and repeated the old prophecy of a\nrestoration of the Hebrew kingdom. These have not yet occurred.\n\nBut the book of the Revelation is distinctively the prophetic book of\nthe New Testament. It deals almost entirely with events that are yet to\ncome. It would be natural that it would fit into the prophetic parts of\nthe Old Testament. So that one who is somewhat familiar with the\nprophetic books of the Old naturally comes more intelligently to this\nprophetic book of the New.\n\nIt is true that most of us have a sense of bewilderment about prophecy.\nWe seem to feel that it requires great scholarship and profound study,\nand that an understanding of it is not possible to the common run of\nChristians. And so we largely leave it out as not understandable.\n\nYet prophecy is simply God's plans for the future, together with a\nrevelation of other events which are not in His plan, but which He sees\nwill happen in the future. In it He tells us what He means us to\nunderstand. And more than this, our understanding will have practical\nbearing on our attitude toward evil and compromise. It will affect our\nfaith, making it steadier, especially when evil seems triumphant and\noverbearing. It will make our prayer more intelligent and confident.\n\nThere are certain things we all know. As we read back into these pages\nwe know that the break-up of the Jewish nation, which began with the\nBabylonian Captivity, came to a terrible climax in a complete break-up\nafter the rejection of Christ. We know that the other nations commonly\ncalled Gentiles (_i.e._, the nations) have had supremacy in the earth.\nIsrael was at one time acknowledged as the great world power, with many\nsubject nations, in Solomon's time.\n\nBut Gentile supremacy begins back in the time of these Old Testament\npages. There is to-day practically no belief that this will ever be\nchanged, except perhaps by a stray Jew here and there, who still holds\nto his old Bible, and except by those Christians who discern God's plan,\nand believe both in Him and in it.\n\nIn the absence of an understanding of that plan of God, it has been\ncommon to apply all the glowing prophetic Hebrew promises to the Church.\nThe result has been that Israel and the Kingdom have been confused in\nour minds with the Church. And this has become the commonplace in the\ncommon Church consciousness.\n\nIt is quite possible for the person of average good sense to get\nsomething of a simple, broad grasp of the prophetic books. It involves\nreading _repeatedly_ so as to get familiar with the contents, and\n_rapidly_ so as not to get too much absorbed in details.\n\nIt is needful to use a common-sense interpretation in getting at the\nmeaning. It is a simple law that one principle of interpretation should\nbe applied uniformly and consistently to all parts of any one document.\nIf I say arbitrarily, \"this part is rhetorical; it doesn't mean just\nwhat it says, but something else; and this _other_ part means just what\nit says,\" clearly I am reading my own ideas and prejudices into the\nbook.\n\nIt is much slower, and takes more pains and patience, to keep at it\nuntil all parts gradually clear up to us, first this bit, then that,\nuntil part fits part, and all hang together. But there is great\nfascination in it, and one's reverence for this revelation of God's Word\ngrows deeper.\n\nOf course there is rhetorical language here as everywhere. \"The Lord is\nmy shepherd\" is clearly rhetorical. For God is not a shepherd, and I am\nnot a sheep, but a man. But under this simple, clearly rhetorical\nlanguage the tender, personal relationship God bears to me is\nbeautifully expressed. That such language _is_ rhetorical is clear to\nevery mind alike.\n\nAnd there is a picture language here, such as speaking of purity of\ncharacter as \"white garments.\" The honest, earnest, unprejudiced seeker\nafter truth quickly recognizes these, and learns to become skilled in\ndiscerning what is meant. We come to see that Israel means Israel, not\nthe Church. Jerusalem means that city in Judea, and so on.\n\nOf course it is needful that there be an _openmindedness_, a _humble,\nteachable spirit_, willing to accept the real truth, no matter how it\nmay shake up one's prejudices and prearranged schemes of thought. And,\nabove all, there should be a constant _prayerfulness_ of spirit, to\nlearn just what our God is seeking to have us know. Of course there are\ndepths here for the scholarly, profound minds. But we ordinary folk can\nget a simple, clear grasp of God's plan and revealed insight into the\nfuture if we go at it in this thoughtful, prayerful way. And it will be\na great help to us to do so.\n\n\nThree Great Unfulfilled Events.\n\nLet us take a swift glance at these prophetic books of the Old\nTestament. It helps to remember the natural way in which these prophetic\nbooks grew up. These prophets were preachers and teachers. Here are some\npeople going up to the temple service one day in Jerusalem. As they get\nnear the temple they notice a little knot of people standing yonder at a\ncorner listening to a man talking earnestly. Isaiah, fresh from the\npresence of God, is talking out of a burning heart to the crowd.\n\nA visitor from another part of the land says curiously to his companion,\n\"What's that?\" The other replies: \"Oh, it's only Isaiah talking to the\npeople. He is a good man, that Isaiah, a well-meaning, earnest man, but\na little too intense, I fear.\" And they pass on to the temple service.\nBy and by Isaiah stops. The moving congregation scatters. He slips\nquietly down to his house, and under the Spirit's holy, brooding\npresence writes down a part of what he has been saying. So there grew up\nthe rolls to which his name is attached.\n\nIn some such simple, natural way these prophetic books grew up, always\nunder the Holy Spirit's guidance and control. They are full of intense\nfire, and of the homely talk of street and market and fireside. There\nare two sorts of these prophets, the preachers like Elijah and Elisha\nand those who wrote as well as spoke, and whose names are preserved in\nthese books.\n\nThere are seventeen of these little books. They fall easily into four\ngroups. The _first group_ contains those belonging in the time before\nthe nation was exiled. It is a period of about one hundred and fifty\nyears, roughly, beginning in the prosperous reign of Uzziah and running\nup to the time when the nation was taken captive to Babylon. Isaiah is\nthe most prominent prophet of this period, and with him are Hosea,\nMicah, and Amos, all of whom may have been personally acquainted; and\nalso Zephaniah and Habakkuk.\n\nThe _second_ is _the exile group_, Jeremiah preaching in Judah, before\nand during the siege, and to the remnant left behind in the land; and\nEzekiel and Daniel bearing their witness among the exiles in the foreign\nland.\n\nThe _third group_ is made up of those who witnessed after the people are\nallowed to return to their own land again. The writer of the second part\nof Isaiah probably preached to the people as the opportunity came to\nreturn to Jerusalem.[111] Haggai and Zachariah stirred up the returned\npeople to rebuild the temple. Joel and Malachi witnessed probably a\nlittle later in the same period.\n\nThe _fourth_ is the _foreign group_. Obadiah sends a message to the\nneighbouring nation of Edom; and Jonah and Nahum are sent with messages\nto Nineveh. If one will try to make a picture of these people and events\nby reading the historical books, and then watch and listen as the\nprophets talk, it will do much to make these prophetic books full of the\nnative atmosphere in which they grew up.\n\nNow there are three things that gradually come to stand out in these\nprophetic books. Much of what is being said is of immediate application.\nIt refers plainly to affairs being lived out then. Then certain things\nare plainly fulfilled in the coming of Christ. And again there is a\ngreat deal that clearly has never been fulfilled but is still future. It\nis the latter part that naturally is of intensest interest.\n\nNow in this latter part, dealing with the future, _three things_ stand\nout clear and sharp above the rest. There is to be judgment upon Israel\nfor their iniquities. The changes on this are rung again and again. And\nthis stands out as much in the preaching of the Captivity time, and of\nthe Return, as before the Captivity. But in the midst of severest\njudgment there will be a _remnant spared_. The tree is cut down, but\nthe stump is spared; and there is life in the stump. But above these\nthere stand out these three things.\n\n_The first thing_ stands out big. It is the thing the nation never\nforgot. The believing Hebrew still clings to it. The wailers at the wall\nof Jerusalem to-day never forget it. It is this: there is to be a\n_future time of great glory for the nation of Israel in their own loved\nland_.[112] The kingdom is to be restored, but with a glory\nindescribably greater than ever known. This is the bright golden thread,\nthick and strong, running through from end to end.\n\nIt will come through that spared remnant. The old stump will put out a\nnew shoot. It will be through the coming of a great king, who will prove\nto be their greatest king,[113] and will reign not only over Israel, but\nover all nations as tributary to Israel, with Jerusalem as the capital\ncity both of Israel and of the whole earth.[114] At its beginning there\nwill be a gathering of Israel from among all the nations where they have\nbeen scattered.[115] To assist these scattered pilgrims to get to their\nown land, the tongue of the Egyptian sea on the southwest is to be\ndestroyed; and the waters of the Euphrates on the extreme east are to be\nso scattered or dried up that men can walk over dry-shod.\n\nWhen the great king comes there will be genuine penitence among the\npeople over their past sins,[116] and they will become a wholly changed\npeople.[117] Israel will be a nation converted by the power of the Holy\nSpirit through the conversion of the people individually. There will be\nat this time a resurrection of God's people who have died.[118]\n\nThe new reign and kingdom is to be one of great spiritual enlightenment\nto all nations.[119] There will be everywhere a new, remarkable\nopenmindedness to God and His truth.[120] And there will be the same\nvisible evidence of the presence of God at Jerusalem as when the pillar\nof fire and cloud was with them in the wilderness. That wondrous\npresence-cloud is to be always in view.[121]\n\nThis sounds to our ears like the highly coloured visionary dream of some\nover-enthusiastic Hebrew. Yet this is a calm statement of what is found\nhere. And be it keenly marked, it is a picture which the godly Hebrew of\nthe old time never lost sight of. _This is the first thing_ that stands\nout in these prophetic pages.\n\n_The second thing_ stands out distinctly. Preceding this wondrous\nkingdom _the earth will be visited by terrible judgments_.[122] There is\nan awfully dark shadow before the blaze of light breaks out. A terrific\nstorm will come before the sun shines out in its new strength. All\nnations will combine to make war against the Jew. Their forces will be\ngathered at Jerusalem.[123] At the head of the coalition will be a power\ncalled Babylon.[124] There will come a terrific battle, victory for the\ncoalition will seem assured. The sufferings of the Jews will be\nindescribable.\n\nThen there will come a day never after to be forgotten. In the midst of\nthe indescribable horrors of that battle, when things are at their worst\nfor the Jew, then comes the deliverance. Suddenly Jehovah will appear\nout of the heavens, with a great company of holy ones. His feet will\nstand upon Mount Olivet to the east of Jerusalem. There will be a\nterrible earthquake, and an equally terrific shake-up of the heavenly\nbodies. The luminaries, sun, moon, and stars, will be darkened.[125]\nThere will be terrible judgments visited not only upon the earth, but\nupon the evil spirit powers.[126] Repeated emphasis is put upon the\njudgment to be visited upon Babylon.\n\nAll this will sound like a veritable fairy tale to many who are not\nfamiliar with this Book of God; the unlikeliest thing imaginable. Yet\nthis is the thing seriously set forth throughout these old prophetic\npages. I have given a few references in footnotes. But these few\nscattered passages of themselves will not give an adequate conception of\nwhat these pages hold.\n\nThere is all the fascination of a novel, and immensely more and deeper\nfascination than any novel, in reading these prophetic pages repeatedly\nin the way already spoken of till their mere contents become somewhat\nfamiliar. Then taking paper and pencil, running through again, and\ndrawing off patiently and carefully, item after item of these prophecies\nplainly not yet fulfilled, and then slowly and painstakingly put them\ntogether in what would be a simple, logical order.\n\nIt will be helpful, in reading, to remember that it is a common thing\nwith these writers to speak of a future thing as already past. It is a\nbit of the intensity that sees the thing that is yet to come as already\naccomplished. And one should discern between the immediate thing that\nmay likely occur in that generation and the far-distant thing. A careful\nnoting of the language will make the difference clear.\n\nThis is the second thing that stands out, the visitation of judgments.\n\nThen there is _a third thing_. This terrible visitation of judgments\ncomes in connection with, and at the close of, _a time of great\npersecution of the Jew_ by the nations. Jeremiah speaks of it as the\ntime of Jacob's trouble,[127] and the Man of Fire tells Daniel that\nthere will be a time of trouble _such as never was since there was a\nnation even to that same time_.[128] This persecution of the Jew, and\nthe visitation of judgments on the earth as a deliverance from it, are\nconnected with the setting up of the Kingdom.\n\nThese are the three things that stand dominantly out in these prophetic\npages as distinctly-future, the great Jew persecution unprecedented in\nintensity, the visitation of terrible judgments on the earth, and the\ncoming of a glorious kingdom. And the three are connected. We know that\nno events have yet taken place that at all satisfy the language used of\nthese three connected events.\n\nThis is the simple outline of expected coming events with which the\nthoughtful reader of God's Word is supposed to be familiar. The reverent\nstudent of God's promises and plans and revelations would naturally have\nall this clear and fresh in his mind as he turns to open the pages of\nthe prophetic book of the New Testament.\n\n\nForecast of the Great Storm.\n\nNow it is _of intense interest_ to note that our Lord Jesus speaks of\nthese same three things, at much length, and with much emphasis; the\npersecution, the visitation of judgments, and the kingdom. It came to me\nas a great surprise and with startling force when I realized, after\ngathering out this summary from the Old Testament, that the three things\nthat stand out so sharply there are the very things Jesus speaks of here\nwith such fulness and emphasis.\n\nHe puts special emphasis on the time of persecution as of unprecedented\nhorror and ferocity. He plainly indicates that this will be directed\nnot only against the Jew, but against His own followers. Three times\nthis talk of His on Olivet just before His death is given at much\nlength.[129] That talk is given to a little group of Jewish disciples\nwho have broken with the Jewish leaders, and who become the great\nleaders of the Church formed at Pentecost.\n\nHe speaks of that terrible experience as \"great tribulation,\"[130] \"such\nas there hath not been the like from the beginning of the creation which\nGod created until now, nor ever shall be.\"[131] We shall find it spoken\nof in this book of Revelation as \"the tribulation, the great one.\"[132]\nIt has come to be spoken of commonly as \"the tribulation\" and \"the great\ntribulation.\"\n\nWith all this fresh in mind, a run back through the Old Testament brings\nout that it is spoken of there much more than we may have realized. The\nwarning to Israel, at Sinai, as they made the covenant of allegiance\nwith God, of the bitter punishment that would come if they were untrue,\nhas seemed many times as though couched in very intense, almost extreme\nlanguage.[133] But it is found to fit into these later descriptions of\nthis great tribulation to come. That warning is repeated, in as intense\nwords and with a greater fulness, by Moses in his series of farewell\ntalks in the Plains of Moab,[134] and it runs through the song he left\nfor their use.[135]\n\nThe experiences of the people of Israel in Egypt are found to be an\nillustration of the coming experience at the end, great persecution and\nsuffering, then great deliverance through a visitation of judgment upon\ntheir persecutors, and great revelation of God's glory following. And\nthe experience of the three young Hebrew exiles in Babylon comes to\nmind. They went through the fire, seven times heated, and they had a\nmarvellous deliverance, and then high promotion.[136]\n\nCertain Psalms shine with new light in the light of this terrible truth.\nChief among these is the Ninety-first. Quite likely it grew up out of\nthe experience of Israel at the last before leaving Egypt. It, of\ncourse, has its practical use in one's daily life. But the vividness and\nintensity of its meaning will probably never be realized as during the\ncoming tribulation days. Nor will the exultant note running through the\nnine Psalms immediately following it be appreciated as by those\nexperiencing deliverance when the tribulation is over. The Forty-sixth\nPsalm, and the Psalms of praise immediately following it, likewise seem\nto get new light.\n\nIt is quite probable that very much, all through this Book of Psalms,\nwill be understood and appreciated fully only by the generation of God's\npeople that go through the tribulation and know the deliverance\nfollowing. Much of the old Book of God is quite meaningless to the\nChristian who has had no tribulation _experience_. That is, I mean who\nhas never known opposition in his Christian faith, or who has slipped\neasily along when there is opposition.\n\nThe outstanding features in the Old Testament of this great experience\nare terrible persecution of the Jew, deliverance at the very worst pitch\nof extremity, by a visitation of judgment on their enemies, and by\nJehovah coming in person for their deliverance; and then the great\nKingdom following.\n\nThe outstanding features spoken of by our Lord Jesus in His Olivet talk\nagree with this, but go much more into detail, especially about the\ntribulation. The tribulation will be _preceded_ by wars, rumors of wars,\nfamines, earthquakes, and persecution. There will be many false\nreligious teachers, many Christians untrue to their faith, and a great\nincrease of wickedness. This is a sort of foreshadowing.\n\nThe tribulation itself will find all this enormously intensified. It\nwill _begin_ with some astonishing act of blasphemy in the temple in\nJerusalem, run its terrible course, and close with a series of\njudgment-events, earthquake, heavens shaken, and great distress, ending\nin the visible appearance of the Lord Jesus Himself, out of heaven on\nthe clouds. And this will be a signal for great penitential mourning\namong the people on the earth.\n\nThis, then, is the simple, broad outline with which the thoughtful\nreader of God's Word would naturally be familiar as he turns to this\nprophetic book at the end to get our Lord's last message to His\nfollowers.\n\n\nGetting a Broad, Clear Outlook.\n\nAs we turn now again to the book of Revelation it will help us to\nremember the general plan followed in its writing. It is like a series\nof dissolving views of the same scene, each of which lets us see the\nsame thing from a different point of view.\n\nThis is a simple teaching rule for getting a clear grasp of what is\nbeing taught. We are familiar with it in the Bible. The story of\ncreation is told in the first chapter of Genesis, and then told again in\nthe second chapter with details not given in the first, the two together\npresenting the complete story. The historical books of Chronicles\npresent one view of the kingdom of Israel, the official. The books of\nthe Kings give another look at the same period; and the prophetic books\na wholly different view as seen by these rarely spiritually minded men\nof God. Daniel is shown four visions of future events, all covering the\nsame general stretch of events, but with a fuller description, here of\none part and there of another. The four Gospels are a familiar\nillustration of the same principle in teaching and story-telling. This\nis the plan followed here.\n\nI was impressed anew with the practical value of this method one day in\nSt. Petersburg. We had gone to look at the panorama of the siege of\nSebastopol, then on exhibition in a huge, round building. It will be\nremembered that the British and French allied themselves with Turkey and\nSardinia in an attempt to restrain the encroachments of Russia on\nTurkish territory. The famous charge of Balaklava, immortalized by\nTennyson, is remembered as the most stirring event of that war. Its\nchief event was the siege of Sebastopol on the Crimea peninsula, in the\nBlack Sea.\n\nAt the panorama we stood as though on a high central point in the city\nof Sebastopol, with the view spreading out in all directions. To the\nnorth lay the harbour with the Russian ships securely bottled in by the\nattacking fleets. To the west a body of French soldiers were retreating,\nhotly pursued by Russian troops, while in the distance British troops\nare hurrying to the relief of the French.\n\nThen we looked east, where the fighting was going on at close range, the\nwounded being carried away and the reserves hastening up to take their\nplaces. And again we turned to the south, where the battle raged\nfiercest. The face of the commanding officer stood out so vividly. And\nwe almost shrank from the fierceness of the fire. And the smell of\npowder almost seemed stifling.\n\nAnd as I stood brooding afresh on the horrors of inhuman war, I was\ntremendously impressed that only by such successive views could I get\nsuch a grasp of that memorable siege. I had a more intelligent and\nvivid understanding of it than ever before.\n\nAnd so it is that we may get a simple, clear, and real grasp of the\ntremendous tribulation time that is coming, that it is presented to us\nin this fashion, first one distinct view, then another, and another,\ntill some understanding of the whole begins to get hold of us.\n\nWe have seen the Lord Jesus, in the vision in chapters four and five, as\nHe comes forward to take an advance step. We have seen the tremendous\noutburst of praise in heaven as He steps forward. This step and scene\nare in heaven. The earth is wholly unaware of it _at that moment_.\n\nNow all that follows is connected directly with that advance step. This\nis the significant thing to get clearly fixed in mind. At the present\ntime our Lord Jesus is still walking among the candlestick Churches\nwatching and waiting. We are still in that waiting time. The Holy Spirit\nstill dwells in the Church on earth.\n\nAt some time in the future, no one knows, nor can know, just when, the\nLord Jesus will rise up in readiness for an advance move. He will\nwithdraw the Holy Spirit from the Church up into His presence again\n\"before the throne.\" _Then in connection with this advance step_ there\nwill occur on the earth the things spoken of in these pages following.\nThis is the tremendous fact to keep clear, the immediate connection\nbetween these happenings on earth and His new move in heaven.\n\nWe come now to these happenings on earth. There are seven distinct views\ngiven here in this section, chapters six to the end of the book. There\nis a great detail in description which it would be both instructive and\ninteresting to study out. But we want to get at the essential things.\nAnd so we will give our time and thought to these essentials.\n\nOur Lord Jesus is represented as about to take possession of His realm.\nThe first step is a dispossessing of the claimants in possession. This\nfurnishes the key to what follows. The descriptions are of the process\nof cleaning out the evil forces. At the close of this we find Him taking\npossession (in chapter twenty) and reigning over the earth.\n\nThese descriptions make it clear at once that this is the tribulation so\nmuch spoken of in these preceding pages. What follows fits so into what\nhas been spoken of that the identification seems complete. The thing our\nLord Jesus is revealing here tallies with what He had told John before\non Olivet.\n\nThere comes first a general description of the whole period (chapters\nvi.-vii.). Then follows a description of _how_ these happenings will\ncome. It will be through the withdrawal of restraint and so the\nloosening out of evil (chapters viii.-ix.). During this whole period\nthere will be a special faithful witnessing on earth, in the midst of\nthe riot of evil, to God and His truth (chapter xi.).\n\nA detailed outline of the run of events follows, giving much additional\ninformation, picturing the rise and characteristics of the leader of the\ntribulation time, and the manner of its close (chapters xii.-xiv.).\nThere follows this a description of the judgments and the supreme\ncontest with which the period closes (chapters xv.-xvi.). There is a\ndescription of the organized system of evil, and then of the fall of the\ncapital of the system (chapters xvii.-xviii.) And then follows the\nactual coming of our Lord Jesus, the setting up of the kingdom, and\nsubsequent events (chapters xix.-xxii.).\n\n\nA General Look at the Storm and Its Close.\n\nWe turn now to _the first_ of these.[137] It begins with a crowned One\nseated on a white horse going forth conquering and to conquer. This\ndescription agrees with the much fuller description of the Lord Jesus\nnear the end of the book, as he goes to the earth for the decisive close\nof the tribulation.[138]\n\nThis gives fresh emphasis to the fact that what follows is the direct\nresult of His advance step. At once there follows on earth a time of\nwar, famine, death, and of persecution to the death of God's people.\nThere is no hint as to how long this goes on. It is brought to a close\nwith an earthquake and an equally terrific disturbance of the heavens,\nthe sun, moon, and stars, something unknown before.\n\nThe utmost consternation is created on earth. All conditions of men,\ncrowned kings, merchant princes, men of autocratic power financially and\npolitically and socially, join with the humblest in hiding themselves in\nthe great holes made by the earthquake. They feel that the time of\njudgment has come, and they are not ready for it.\n\nThe description of their terror tallies remarkably with the prophetic\nlanguage used by Isaiah,[139] even as the whole description fits into\nour Lord's Olivet talk. This is seen to be a general, rapid vision of\nthe whole tribulation period.\n\nThen there follows what clearly seems to be a parenthesis fitting in\njust before the great earthquake. The earth and sea have been terribly\ntorn up by the earthquake. This parenthesis begins with a command that\nthe earth and sea be not hurt until certain things have taken place.\n\nThis fits the two events of the parenthesis in just before the ruinous\nearthquake takes place. The two events are of a radically different sort\nfrom what has just been told. They are thus put by themselves, and the\nrun of evil and of judgment upon it, put by itself, so keeping these two\nquite clear, following the general plan of the book.\n\nThere are two events in this parenthesis. There is what is called the\n\"sealing\" of a certain number of the Hebrew tribes _on the earth_.\nTwelve thousand of each tribe are sealed, making a total of one hundred\nand forty-four thousand. The word \"seal\" is used in two senses in the\nBible, as a means of fastening up a writing or roll, and, in the New\nTestament, commonly for the presence of the Holy Spirit in a human life.\n\nThe seal in this second sense was a mark of ownership. Paul tells us\nthat we are sealed with the Holy Spirit,[140] so indicating that we\nbelong to the Lord Jesus, who gives us this evidence of His ownership.\nIf this simple, natural meaning be taken here, it would mean that at\nthis time the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon the Jew. The\nspiritual regeneration spoken of so frequently in the prophetic pages\ntakes place at this time.\n\nThe significance of the numbers should be noticed. Twelve is the number\ncommonly used in the Bible, for corporate completeness, to indicate that\na group is complete. Twelve times twelve would simply represent a fully\ncompleted corporate number. That is to say, upon the entire body of Jews\nthen living on the earth the Holy Spirit is poured out, thus marking\nthem once again as God's peculiar people, restored fully to favour after\nthe long national rejection.\n\nThe second event is of equally intense interest, indeed to us of\nnon-Jewish birth it has yet greater interest. John is up in heaven. It\nis from that point of view that he sees. Now he is suddenly startled.\nAll at once there appears before his eyes a group he had not seen\nbefore. He describes it as a great multitude, actually countless, out of\nall the peoples of the whole earth, a great polyglot polyracial world\ncompany.\n\nThey are clothed in white, holding the conqueror's palm in their hands,\nand singing, making wondrous music. John is getting another taste of the\nmusic of heaven. And their singing is a signal for a fresh outburst of\npraise by the angels, the elders, and the living creatures. All this\nseems to occur suddenly, this appearance of this new company before the\nthrone.\n\nJohn gazes spellbound, wondering who these are, and where they come\nfrom, and what this means. And he is told that these are they that come\nout of the tribulation, the great one, down on the earth. Then in a few\nexquisitely tender, heart-touching words their happiness is described.\n\nThese two events occur just before the terrible earthquake and the\nshake-up of the earth's heavenly bodies. Just before the judgment that\ncloses the tribulation this double event takes place, the conversion of\nthe Jews, and the catching away out of the tribulation distress on\nearth, up into the presence of the throne, of the followers of our Lord\nJesus.\n\nWe remember that that great Jew, Paul, was converted by the appearance\nof Jesus in the heavens above him. We remember that in the Olivet talk\nJesus says that His followers will so be gathered up to Himself at the\ntime of His second coming. These two events, taking place here, tell us\nwhat has happened down on the earth. In his vision John, being in\nheaven, sees these things as they appear from above.\n\nThis is the first view of the tribulation. It begins with the moment\nwhen our Lord Jesus up in heaven begins action, describes the\ncharacteristics of the tribulation on earth, and closes with the\nnational regeneration of Israel, and the catching up from earth of\nChrist's true followers.\n\n\nEvil Let Loose.\n\nThe _second view_ runs through chapters eight and nine. Chapters ten and\neleven to the close of verse thirteen make a distinct parenthesis. And\nthen this view is picked up again at eleven, fourteen, and runs to the\nclose of that chapter. But this final bit in chapter eleven is merely a\nconnecting link with what comes later. Practically the whole of this\nview is in chapters eight and nine.\n\nIt closes with an earthquake, so connecting it with the final event in\nthe first view. It begins with a period of prolonged silence, which\nwould seem to answer to the hush in the great volume of praise in the\nfirst view, when the Lamb takes the sealed roll. So it carries us back\nto the same starting-point as there.\n\nThere is first a striking scene before the throne, where John sees a\ngolden altar. On this there is being offered incense, which is said to\nbe added to the prayers of all the saints. Incense and prayers rise\ntogether before God. Then an angel pours some of the fire of this\nprayer-altar into the earth, and a storm follows. So these two views,\nfirst and second, have another common starting-point, the beginning of a\nstorm.\n\nThis is a very suggestive scene. The prayers of all the saints, both in\nearth and heaven, have a decided restraining influence over evil down on\nearth at the present time. At the close they will become a decisive\ninfluence in the cleaning-up process on earth, and the bringing in of\nthe new order.\n\nThen follows a fourfold description of distressing events on earth,\nwhich are caused by fiery influences coming out of the heavens. The\nlanguage used seems to make clear that it is through a loosening out of\nthe powers of evil that the tribulation comes.\n\nIn the picture language of the vision, \"a great mountain burning with\nfire was cast into the sea,\" with injurious results to water, to life,\nand to shipping. A mountain is a common figure in the Bible for a great\nruling power. So Israel is called by Isaiah.[141] The seventeenth\nchapter of Revelation speaks of seven kingdoms as seven mountains.[142]\nIn Jeremiah, Babylon, which is spoken of repeatedly and typically as\nbeing the embodiment of evil and of opposition to God, is called: \"O\ndestroying mountain ... which destroyest all the earth, (I) will make of\nthee a burnt mountain.\"[143] It speaks here also of \"a great star,[144]\nburning as a torch,\" that fell upon the rivers and makes them bitter as\nwormwood. These two things seem to suggest clearly that the great hurt\ndone to sea and vegetation, to all life, and through the obscuring of\nthe heavenly lights, is a result directly of the powers of evil having\nbeen loosened out.\n\nThe long restraint upon evil through the presence of the Holy Spirit in\nthe Church is now withdrawn in the withdrawal of the Spirit. His\nwithdrawal is practically an answer to the tacit prayer both of world\nand Church. That prayer is being answered. The \"One\" who restraineth has\nbeen withdrawn. This it is that makes the tribulation on its negative\nside. The awful character of the demons from the pit is so utterly\nbeyond human experience up to that time that there seem no adequate\nwords to describe them.\n\nThe Gospels are full of the awful activity of demons on earth in\npossessing men. In our own land there is not wanting plenty of evidence\nof men horribly possessed by demons. In the older countries of Europe\nthis experience is much more marked. But it is in heathen lands that it\nis most marked, where even the very air seems charged with evil forces,\nas though these unseen demons swarmed about.\n\nYet all this sort of thing is now under restraint. What it will mean to\nhave that restraint withdrawn, and the horrid hordes here described free\nto do as they will, no imagination can depict. This is well called the\nfirst _woe_, and an awful woe it will be. Mercifully there is a time\nlimit set on this demon activity.\n\nFollowing this comes the loosing out of another horde of demons, as\ndifficult of description, and yet more terrible. They seem countless,\nyet there is a limit to their numbers. The supreme Hand is never wholly\nwithdrawn. These have power to kill as well as to torment. This is the\nsecond woe. It is most strikingly noticeable that neither of these\nthings has influence to make men penitent.\n\nThe last item of this view is given in chapter xi. 14-19. The\nannouncement is made that the sovereignty of the world is transferred to\nour Lord and His Christ. The temple of God is seen open, and some\nfurther action takes place, but the detail of it is reserved for another\nview. Such is the terrible sight in the second view of the tribulation\ntime. Evil is loosened out, apparently unrestrained, and yet under\nrestraint. This it is that makes the tribulation on its positive side.\n\nThe parenthesis in the description of this view has been spoken of. It\nruns through chapters ten and eleven to the close of verse thirteen, and\ncontains two chief things. The first is a little group of three items.\nThere is a fresh description of our Lord Jesus as He is seen standing\nwith one foot on the sea and the other upon the earth, and holding a\nlittle open book. Then seven thunders roar out. John is about to write,\nbut is told not to. That terrific storm coming is far greater than can\nbe told. Then comes the solemn declaration that there will be no\nfurther delay, but that at once shall be finished up this terrible time\nof judgment. Then follows a personal word to John. These three items\nmake up chapter ten.\n\n\nGod's Faithful Witnesses.\n\nThen comes the second thing, in chapter eleven on to verse thirteen,\nwhich proves to be _the third view_ of the tribulation. It shows that\nduring the whole of this tribulation time there will be a special\nfaithful witness being borne to God and His truth. As the Holy Spirit is\nbeing withdrawn from the Church, these two men begin their special\nministry of witnessing.\n\nThe place of that witness will be Jerusalem. But recent events will have\nbrought a greatly diversified population to that city from all parts of\nthe world. So that the witness becomes world-wide in its immediate\nreach, and probably in the reports of it that go out.\n\nWhile there is good reason for thinking that these two witnesses may be\nEnoch and Elijah, the two men of Bible record, one before the Flood and\none after, who were distinctively God's witnesses, and were taken away\nwithout death, yet it is best not to stop over a matter that has been\nand is apt to be a matter of mere idle speculative talk.[145] The thing\nworthy of note is that as the Holy Spirit's distinctive witness is\nwithdrawn there will be these two special witnesses sent to Jerusalem\nfor a witness that will be world-wide in its extent and influence. Such\nis God's gracious patience and longsuffering.\n\nThese two men are clothed in mourning as a part of their witness. They\nhave miraculous power in protecting themselves against attack, and in\nwithholding rain, and sending plagues among the people, and in turning\nwater into blood, to give force and effect to their testimony. Their\nwitness continues through twelve hundred and sixty days.\n\nJohn had already been told that Jerusalem would be trodden under foot by\nthe nations for forty-two months. We are apt to think that it has been\ntrodden under foot or desecrated by the nations for an immensely longer\nperiod. But prophecy never gives any reckoning of time for Israel,\nexcept when Israel is an organized nation. It is concerned with telling\nJewish _national_ events.\n\nAt this time the Jews have their national organization again in\nPalestine. For forty-two months after the nation has been newly set up\nthe city will be so trodden under the desecrating feet of the nations.\nThis is the first hint of time we have had. The witnessing and the\ndesecration of the holy city will continue side by side for three and a\nhalf years.\n\nAt the end of this period evil will be given full swing over these\nwitnesses. They are killed and their bodies left lying in the streets,\nwhile the international crowds make merry because their tormentors, as\nthese two are called, are gone. Then before the terror-stricken gaze of\nthese crowds the two men come to life, and are caught up into the\nheavens. Is this the moment when all are caught up? Quite possibly. Then\ncomes the terrible earthquake as at the end of the other two views.\n\nThe one distinctive thing told here is that during the tribulation, in\nthe midst of all the blasphemous reign of unrestrained wickedness, there\nwill be the unbroken, faithful witnessing. This seems to explain why the\naccount comes as a parenthesis in the account of the awful riot of evil.\nDuring the worst of the evil there will go on unbroken the faithful,\ngracious testimony of God's truth and love.\n\n\nThe Lawless Leader.\n\n_The fourth view_ takes the longest sweep of any, thus far, goes into\nmuch more detail, and gives much fresh information. It runs through\nchapters twelve to fourteen. In the intensely picturesque language of a\nwoman arrayed in the most glorious splendour and dignity and power\nimaginable the nation of Israel is depicted.\n\nThis woman is with child. In more intensely dramatic language Satan is\npictured as standing before the woman waiting to destroy her child as\nsoon as born. The child is born, a man-child, who is to rule all the\nnations with autocratic sway. He is caught up to heaven, and his mother\nflees into the wilderness from the serpent. This is the opening action\nof this view.\n\nThe meaning lies open on the face. Israel gave birth to the man Jesus,\nwho foiled all the attacks of Satan and ascended to heaven. The old\nprophetic characteristic of connecting events far apart without\nreference to intervening time is marked here. The long interval between\nthe break-up of the Jew nation and its taking shape again as a nation,\nwhich has lasted nineteen hundred years roughly, comes between the last\nword of verse five and the first word of verse six.\n\nThe prophetic writing takes no reckoning of Israel, except as a nation.\nThe woman fleeing into the wilderness is Israel organized again as a\nnation suffering persecution. She is so persecuted for twelve hundred\nand sixty days, but divinely protected and preserved. Such is the first\nact of the drama pictured here.[146]\n\nThen we are told _why_ the woman flees, that is, the explanation of this\nspecial persecution of the Jew this time.[147] Satan has had his\nheadquarters somewhere in the heavens, below God's throne, but above the\nearth. Now, after a conflict, he is cast out of heaven, down to the\nearth. Here is a third event that comes approximately at the beginning\nof the tribulation time, Satan is cast down to the earth.\n\nThe Holy Spirit is withdrawn from the Church up to heaven, so removing\nthe restraint upon evil. Satan is cast out of heaven and comes down to\nearth. Thus there is a double intensifying of evil on the earth, the\nwithdrawal of restraint, and the presence of the evil one himself. And\nas the witness of the Holy Spirit is withdrawn the special witness of\nthe two men in Jerusalem begins.\n\nThe defeat of Satan in this heavenly conflict draws out a burst of\npraise from the upper hosts. It is because of the great victory of our\nLord Jesus in His death that this victory is gotten. They overcome\nbecause of the blood of the Lamb, _and_ the word of their testimony,\n_and_ they loved not their lives unto death,--a threefold cord that\ncould never, and can never, be broken or successfully resisted.\n\nThis explains the special persecution at this time of the reshaped\nJewish nation. It is the outburst of the rage of the freshly defeated\nSatan. But the Jew is protected. The armies that would swallow the Jew\nup are swallowed up by the great earthquake that closes the tribulation\ntime.\n\nThe length of this persecution is put in two different ways, twelve\nhundred and sixty days, and \"time, times, and half a time.\" This latter\nphrase seems to be an old Oriental or Hebrew way of saying a year, two\nyears, and half a year. The same length of time is expressed in yet\nanother way in the eleventh chapter, forty and two months. The time is\nthus put in three different ways, that we may know surely that it means\njust plain three and a half years of our common time. It is significant\nthat the dragon makes war with \"the rest\" of the woman's seed. This can\nonly mean the Church, which of course was born in the Jewish nation.\nThis is the first run of events in this view.[148]\n\nThen follows a description of the awful leader of evil during the\ntribulation time.[149] It is significant that, as Satan is cast out of\nheaven down to the earth, this leader appears among men. He has great\nintelligence and power and is the very embodiment of blasphemy. He is\ndescribed as a strange mixture of wild beasts, having the chief\ncharacteristic strength of each, the cunning of the leopard, the feet of\nthe bear, and the mouth of the lion.\n\nHe is the personal representative on earth among men of Satan. There is\nsomething strangely uncanny in the suggestion that he is some former\nleader, who died, and is now raised from the dead. There seems to be\nnothing too daring for Satan to attempt in his impious opposition to\nGod. This leader comes into great prominence and power. All the world\nwonders after him. And they worship Satan, who is recognized as giving\nhis power to this notorious leader.\n\nHe comes to be accepted as the world ruler, and is commonly worshipped\nby the people. And he not only persecutes God's people, but overcomes\nthem. A limit of time is set to his sway. It is the same as already\nnoted for Jerusalem being desecrated, for God's two witnesses, and for\nthe persecution of the Jew, _i.e._, forty and two months, three and a\nhalf years.\n\nIt is striking that in the midst of the description of his terrible\nreign there comes a word that sounds like an echo from those messages to\nthe Churches. \"If any man hath an ear, let him hear.\"[150] Then the word\ngoes on warning, pleading, and encouraging. In the midst of these\nblasphemous conditions every man must do as he personally decides. He\nmay yield to this evil and become a captive of evil, bound hand and\nfoot. He may try to use the world's weapons in fighting God's battle,\nbut will find himself outmatched in their use. He may rise to the true\nlevel, and steadfastly cling to his faith, and endure, and by faith be\nvictorious in the end.\n\nThe description goes on to tell of the blasphemous worship demanded of\nall. This leader has an assistant or lieutenant to whom he deputizes\ngreat power. He makes an image to his chief, and demands all to worship\nat this shrine. He has supernatural power, that is, devilishly\nsupernatural. He performs great miracles, even calling down fire from\nheaven. He gives breath to the image and makes it speak. And he punishes\nwith death any one who refuses this blasphemous worship to the leader\nand his image. And every one is required to have a mark on his hand or\nhis forehead as indicating his loyalty to the leader. Whoever refuses is\nunable to buy or sell. It is the boycott principle carried to the last\nextreme.\n\nWhile God's two witnesses are doing miracles by divine power this\nlieutenant is doing them by devilish power. So the fearful account goes\non. One can easily imagine the vast crowds swayed by the idolatrous\nworship, and the intense suffering and distress among those who insist\non being steadfast and true in their faith.\n\nNow in the midst of all this terrible scene John is suddenly and\ntremendously startled by something else.[151]\n\nIn the vision John is in heaven looking down on these scenes on the\nearth. Now his attention is attracted by a scene that suddenly takes\nplace before his eyes in heaven. It is a scene of wondrous winsomeness\nand beauty. It stands out in sharpest contrast with what is going on on\nthe earth.\n\nThere's a great company standing around the Lord Jesus, before the\nthrone. They are singing a wonderful song to the accompaniment of harps,\nwhich they have. The volume of music is like the voice of many waters,\nor like great thunder. There is a simple, fine description of the\ncharacter of these singers. They are _pure_, and they are _obedient_. In\ntheir purity they are as undefiled virgins, the highest possible\nstatement of purity. And they follow the Lamb unquestioningly\nwhithersoever He goeth with fullest obedience.\n\nWho are these, and where have they come from so suddenly, at this\nmoment, into the presence of the One on the throne? The description\ntells just what has happened. When things are at their devilish worst\ndown on the earth the Lord Jesus has caught up His own from the earth.\nAnd they have become like Him in character, for now they see Him face to\nface as He is.\n\nThis recalls the scene, essentially the same, back in the first view, in\nchapter seven, where the great multitudes are suddenly seen before the\nthrone with palm branches, songs, and white garments. It is the same\ncompany as there. But there is a difference in telling the numbers.\n_There_ they are too many to be counted. _Here_ they are said to be a\nhundred and forty-four thousand. It is symbolical, a picture number,\nthe number of full corporate completeness as with the Spirit-baptized\nJews in chapter seven.\n\nThe believers caught up out of the great tribulation have been joined by\nthe trusting hearts of all time who have been waiting in the Father's\npresence for this glad day. The number is now complete of all from\ncreation's earliest dawn, who by grace have followed fully, regardless\nof hindrance or opposition. This great climax is thus seen by John in\nsudden and sharp contrast with the climax of hellish evil on the earth.\n\nThen John is shown the steps by which this climax is reached.[152]\nVerses six to the close of this chapter seem clearly to be a detail of\nwhat has gone before, describing the steps by which this climax is\nreached, and then reaching further to the judgment upon the evil. During\nthe iniquitous scenes being enacted on earth an angel is seen flying in\nmid-heavens calling to the people on earth, in warning, to give their\nworship and reverence to God only. The gracious wooing of God never\nceases.\n\nAnother angel follows, calling out that the great system of iniquity, in\nwhich they are enmeshed, is doomed. A third gives solemn warning that\nthose who yield to the terrible pressure, and engage in the blasphemous\nworship, will be surely and terribly punished. Again there comes another\necho of the strain of pleading in the Church messages. In the midst of\njust such conditions as prevail then, the saints can be steady in\nkeeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.\n\nAnd down into the awful persecution being waged comes an encouraging\nvoice from heaven. There is special blessing from God on all those who\nremain true, even unto death. There will be sweetest rest for them, and\ntheir faithful witnessing and suffering shall be all noted and\nacknowledged and rewarded as they come up into the Father's presence.\n\nAnd then follows the blessed harvest of the righteous whose wonderful\narrival in heaven has already been told in the opening scene of this\nchapter. And then follows the awful harvest of evil down on the earth,\nthe visitation of judgments coming at the very end of the persecution.\n\nSo closes this long remarkable view of the tribulation. It connects back\nwith the nation of Israel. Its beginning is connected practically with\nthe casting of Satan down to earth. It gives a description of the leader\nand the nature of the persecution, and a brief statement of the steps\nwith which it ends. And it states in three different ways that the\nlength of time involved is three and a half years.\n\n\nA Bitter Cup to Its Dregs.\n\n_The fifth view_[153] is, not of the whole tribulation time as with\nthese others, but of only a part, the closing part. It speaks of the\nvisitation of judgments, the great climactic battle, and the\nearthquake, with which the period is brought to its end.\n\nIt connects at the point in the fourth view[154] where those who have\nbeen suffering in the tribulation are seen standing before the throne\nsinging with harps. It is said that they are singing the song of Moses,\nwho had the experience of tribulation and deliverance in Egypt, and the\nsong of the Lamb, who went through the worst tribulation experience in\nHis contest with Satan and sin on our behalf.\n\nIt connects also with the close of the second view,[155] where the\ntemple is seen opened and the ark of the covenant is seen. That covenant\nis now to receive further fulfilment. God never forgets His promises and\nagreements. Seven angels have seven golden bowls full of the wrath of\nGod. In this way is told the visitation of judgments now described as\ntaking place at this time.\n\nIn the first view the picture is of _seals_ being broken or opened,\nwhich indicates the execution of a document. The _trumpets_ of the next\nview indicate a commanding call to action; the seven _thunders_, not\nwritten, a great storm. These _bowls_ or vials indicate the\nadministration of a dose of bitter-tasting medicine. The visitation of\njudgments by God is commonly spoken of in Scripture in this\nlanguage.[156]\n\nThen follows the description of the judgments upon men's persons, and\neverything concerning their life. Men's bodies are diseased, the water\nis unfit to drink, the food supply cut short; they suffer with terrible\nheat, and then darkness. But there is no penitence. The Euphrates is\nsaid to be dried up, suggesting that it is the great river at or near\nthe world's centre of action. So, it is said, the way is prepared for\nthe kings that come from the east.\n\nAnd the prophetic bit in Isaiah comes to mind about men passing over the\nEuphrates at the time of the great gathering of the Jews.[157] As though\naroused by all this to bitterest opposition there is increased demon\nactivity, and through it a great gathering of all nations, at a place\nnamed in Palestine, for a great battle.\n\nThen a terrible climax comes in the earthquake, with which the first,\nsecond, and third views closed. It is the worst earthquake ever\nexperienced. It centres in \"_the_ great city,\" Babylon, the capital of\nthe whole system of wickedness. With the storm is a terrible hail. The\ndescription tallies with that in the close of the first view,[158] and\nwith the vivid prophetic bit in Isaiah ii. 10-22.\n\nThere's no suggestion of how much time all this takes. The judgments\nvisited on Egypt at the deliverance of Israel are described at much\ngreater length, running into ten items. Yet all could have occurred\nwithin five weeks, allowing for brief intervals. Whether these\njudgments occur in succession, or all at once, or partly in both ways,\nthey could all come within a very short time. This fifth view depicts\nthe final scene. It gives the visitation of judgments ending the\ntribulation period, describes a great pitched battle, in which all\nnations are involved, and ends with the earthquake. This is the third of\nthe three great woes.[159]\n\n_The sixth view_ is of the great system of wickedness in the world,\nthrough which the tribulation comes, and which is judged at its\nclose.[160] The description is full of details of great interest and\ninstructiveness, but we can only have time at present for the essential\nthing being taught. The Spirit takes John into a wilderness. To the\nSpirit's eye wherever wickedness has sway, whether vulgar or polished,\npolitical or commercial, cunning or brazen, it is a wilderness.\n\nHere is shown a woman gorgeously clothed, prodigally bedecked with\njewels, and having a cup in her hand, made of gold, but full of vile\nfilth. Upon her forehead appears a description: \"Mystery [or explanation\nof mystery], Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the\nabominations of the earth.\" This woman is riding upon a strange beast;\nit is scarlet-colored, with seven heads and ten horns, and full of\nblasphemous names. This is the startlingly suggestive picture.\n\nWho is this woman? And what is this beast upon which she is seated? The\nwhole description taken together suggests that she is meant to stand\nfor the whole system of wickedness which has had such sway in the world\nfrom earliest time until the end. And the beast represents typically the\ndominant governmental powers. The two have always worked together. There\nhas been a consistent unity of spirit and of characteristic, and a\npersistent devilishness marking the wickedness in the world throughout\nthe ages.\n\nIt has been as though there were an unseen spirit power tirelessly at\nwork _behind_ all the varied manifestations of evil. The dominant\ncharacteristic always has been blasphemy of God. It has controlled\nthrones and royal power, and has had unlimited gold at its command. And\nit has always been an enemy, subtle or open, cunning or violent, of God\nand His people.\n\nThat system or genius of evil is represented in the Old Testament as\nfinding expression in one great political power after another, but\nchiefly in the power of Babylon. Babylon stands typically in these older\npages, not merely for the great empire of the Euphrates, but for the\nunseen spirit of evil lying behind that power, and making use of it to\ncarry through its own foul purposes.\n\nBut that unseen evil spirit power has found more than one agency to\ndominate and use. Babylon long since passed off the stage as a political\nfactor. But the power of evil has not ceased. It is distressing to note\nanother great organization behind and through which the power of evil\nhas worked. What is the system that has, for the past sixteen\ncenturies, been supported by the various great civil governments?\n\nThere is only one answer. It is the organization known as \"the Christian\nChurch.\" And the term Church must be taken here in its fullest, broadest\nmeaning. Its great main stem historically is the Roman Catholic Church.\nThe first great split-off was the Greek Orthodox Church. The Church of\nEngland was a later break-off. These, with the various government-ally\nsupported Churches, and those free of such support, and various ancient\nprimitive bodies,--these all together make up the organization known as\n\"the Church.\"\n\nThe two symbolical characteristics of this woman and the two dominant\ncharacteristics of this historical Church are the same. The Church has\nbeen and is supported almost wholly by the civil governments, and used\nby them in furthering their policies. And it has been active in\npersecuting to death the people of God who would not yield to its\ndomination. It has been marked by intolerance of all not yielding to its\nwishes, and especially of the Jew. That intolerance has been carried not\nonly to the extreme of blood, but a riot of bloodshed. This is utterly\nheart-breaking to realize and to repeat.\n\nThe woman is said to be \"drunken (1) with the blood of the saints, and\n(2) with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.\" The twofold statement is\nseen to cover the two great periods, before Christ and since. And it\ncovers also the two great powers through which the spirit of evil has\nchiefly worked in those two periods. But the name given first in the\nplains of Shinar, and used characteristically of the God-defying power\nof evil, is given here, Babylon. It will be Babylon again at the very\nend after the Church system is overthrown.\n\nIt is plainly said that the beast represents the great civil or\ngovernmental power in its final stage, the shape it will be in at the\nend when these events occur.[161] The chief dominating political power\nof the world will have passed through a succession of changes, seven\nkingdoms successively following each other. At the end there will be a\ncombination of some sort, with ten great subdivisions, and one great\nhead over all.\n\nBut at the last, the civil power will discard the Church, and persecute\nit. The spirit of evil thus gets embodiment typically in the great\nBabylon power, then in the Church, and at the very last, in a coalition\nof civil powers heading up in a new Babylon.\n\nThen follows announcement of the fall of Babylon. The city is regarded\nhere as the earthly capital of the organized system of unseen evil\nspirit power at work in the world. The city and the system are\ninseparably allied. The name Babylon is used in the Bible for both\nsystem and city.\n\nIf the question be asked what city is meant here, there can be but one\nanswer. From the twelfth of Genesis on the Bible never touches history,\nexcept as history touches Israel as a nation. A thoughtful review of the\nbook makes this clear. And this book of Revelation is a gathering-up of\nBible threads, and only these. There is only one city in the Bible\nrecord that answers to the description here, \"the great city which\nreigneth over the kings of the earth.\" \"Babylon _the_ great.\"\n\nBut the old Babylon lies in ruins. And its ruined condition has been\nquoted as the fulfilment of the famous passage in Isaiah xiii. 19-22. It\nshould be carefully noted that the present conditions at the site of old\nBabylon do not seem to satisfy fully the language of that passage. It\nwould seem to be another illustration of the rare use of language in the\nBible, which adapts a passage accurately to one event, and then to a\nsecond event, a long time afterward.\n\nThis would, of course, involve the rebuilding of the old capital of the\nEuphrates. The reverent student quietly notes the movements taking place\nin that part of the world, but restrains mere curious speculation, as he\ncontinues fervently to pray, \"Thy kingdom come.\"\n\nThis eighteenth chapter of Revelation seems like an echo of that intense\ntwenty-first of Isaiah, and indeed of a strain sounding all through the\nprophetic books. One familiar with the old writings is not surprised to\nfind this echo; he expects it. No echo of God's voice or purpose is ever\nlost. God never loses any of the threads out of His hand.\n\n\nHallelujah! He Comes.\n\n_The seventh view_ presents the climax. It includes from chapter\nnineteen to chapter twenty-two, verse five. It presents in full the\ngreat scene that closes this tribulation period; touches the kingdom in\na bare word so as to fit it into its place in the scheme of events being\noutlined; and then gives the final wind-up after the Kingdom time is\nover. We want to look now at the portion connected immediately with what\nhas just gone before, the description of the wondrous close of the\ntribulation, in chapters nineteen, verse one, to twenty, verse three.\n\nJohn hears a great outburst of worship and praise in heaven. It\nresembles the outburst back in chapter five, when the Lamb took the\nbook. But it is seen to be yet greater than that. Its joy and delight\nseem wholly unbounded. Again the living creatures and the four and\ntwenty elders lead the song that bursts out.\n\nJohn tries to tell how great was the volume of adoring song that fills\nall heaven. It is like the voice of a great multitude, like the waters\nthat he had heard many a time breaking in deafening roar on the rocky\ncoast of Patmos, like the mighty thunders which he had heard so much in\nthese visions.\n\nAnd the song they sang explains the exuberance of their singing,\n\"Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty _reigneth_.\" At last He\n_reigneth_. In the earlier parts of the book God is spoken of as \"He\nwho is and who was, and _who cometh_.\"[162] As later events are\ndescribed that last part \"who cometh\" is significantly dropped.[163]\nClearly at these points being described He has come. Now the great\nrealization bursts out from countless voices, the Lord, our God, the\nAlmighty _reigneth_!\n\nAnd John is bidden to write the words whose refrain has filled such a\nplace in hymns and devout speech, \"Blessed are they that are bidden to\nthe marriage supper of the Lamb.\" And the one who seems to be serving as\nJohn's guide puts peculiar emphasis on all that is being revealed by\nsaying, \"these are true words of God.\"\n\nJohn is so overwhelmed that he falls down to worship this one. And then\nhe finds that this is one of his own redeemed brothers of the earth. And\nas He quietly bids John give his worship to One only, He adds very\nsignificant words: \"the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.\"\nThe whole genius and soul of all this wealth of prophecy is to point men\nto our Lord Jesus Christ, God to us.\n\nAnd now comes the event toward which the ages have looked. _The heavens\nopen._ And _our Lord Jesus appears_ coming in glory to earth. At last He\ncomes. There's a wonderful description. He comes as a conqueror, riding\nforth to judge the earth righteously, and to make war on evil. His eyes\nare as a flame of fire, and upon His head many diadems. He has a name\nindicating that He is all alone in the experiences He has been through,\nand in His character. He comes as King of kings and Lord of lords, to\nrule all the earth with a new absolutism, to right all wrongs, and visit\nthe indignant wrath of God upon all sin.\n\nAs He appears an angel gives warning of what is coming. In words that\nare an echo of Ezekiel's, long centuries before, he calls to all the\nscavenger birds of the earth that haunt battlefields to come to a great\nfeasting time.[164] And John sees the vast armies of the nations of the\nearth all gathered together for a last mighty battle, under the\nleadership of the great leader of lawlessness and his lieutenant.\n\nAnd the utter impotence of their struggle against God is revealed in the\nquietness and brevity with which their defeat and capture are told.\nSatan's great earth leader and his chief who deceived the people with\nhis miraculous power, both are taken and forever put away. And then\nSatan himself is chained and fastened securely in the abyss. Such is the\ntremendous consummation quietly told in a few lines. And then follows\nthe setting up of the glorious kingdom on earth.\n\nWhatever the immediate circumstances under which the Second Psalm was\npenned, it will be readily seen how it fits into this situation at the\nend.\n\n \"Why do the nations tumultuously assemble,\n And the peoples meditate a vain thing?\n The kings of the earth set themselves,\n And the rulers take counsel together,\n Against Jehovah and against His Anointed, saying,\n 'Let us break their bonds asunder,\n And cast away their cords from us.'\"\n\nBut their efforts seem so puny, and the result so one-sided, that\n\n \"He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh:\n The Lord will have them in derision.\"\n\nAnd we remember that, in these Revelation pages, it is always with the\nsword of His mouth that the Lord Jesus is said to fight, as we read on:\n\n \"Then will He _speak_ unto them in His wrath,\n And vex [or trouble] them in His sore displeasure; [saying]\n 'Yet I have set _my_ King\n Upon my holy hill of Zion.'\"\n\nThen the Son speaks:\n\n \"I will tell of the decree:\n Jehovah said unto me, 'thou art my Son;\n This day have I begotten thee.\n Ask of me and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance,\n And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.\n Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;\n Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'\"\n\nAnd the writer of the Psalms closed with a word of earnest counsel to\nthe kings of earth:\n\n \"Now therefore be wise, O ye kings:\n Be instructed, ye judges of the earth.\n Serve Jehovah with fear,\n And rejoice with trembling [awe],\n Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way,\n For His wrath will soon be kindled.\n Blessed are all they that take refuge in Him.\"\n\nThus it is seen that these seven views describe (1) the general\ncharacteristics of the tribulation time; (2) the way in which it comes,\nthat is, by the withdrawal of restraint and so the loosing of evil; (3)\nthe faithful witness being borne throughout the period; (4) the great\nevil leader and the character of the persecution he wages; (5) the\nvisitation of judgments upon earth with the great gathering of nations\nto battle against God; (6) the world system of evil; and (7) the coming\nof our Lord Jesus to judge evil and set up the kingdom.\n\n\nStill He Waits.\n\nIt will at once be noted that these things group up, naturally and\neasily, under _three headings_. First, there is a terrible _persecution_\nof God's people. This will end in a _visitation_ of _judgments_,\nincluding great plagues. There will be a gathering of the armies of all\nnations, and a great battle. It will end in a decisive defeat for them\nby the personal coming of the Lord Jesus, and will be accompanied by a\nterrific earthquake and an equally terrific shake-up of the heavenly\nbodies connected with the earth, sun, moon, and stars. Then comes the\nestablishment of the _Kingdom of God_ upon earth. These three things\nstand dominantly out.\n\nIt comes as a surprise to one who has not been thinking especially about\nit, to find how these three things are the same three that stood out so\nprominently at the close of the study of future items in the old\nprophetic books. It is natural that it should be so, of course, since\nthe Book of God is one in its essential unity.\n\nBut there is a great fascination in finding the parts to come together\nso simply and naturally. As we gather up the Old Testament pages these\nthree things sift out and group together as distinctly not yet\nfulfilled, and so future. As we listen to our Lord Jesus talking, again\nthese same three items are emphasized by Him. And now the same three are\nfound here.\n\nDr. A. F. Schauffler tells of a striking experience he had in connection\nwith his mission work in New York City. A letter came to him from a\nstranger in Germany. It said: \"I know you are a city missionary. I am\nsending a trunk in your care. Inclosed in this letter you will find a\npiece of paper cut. A man will come and present to you a piece of paper\nmatching this piece. Please give him the trunk.\" And enclosed in the\nletter was a piece of paper cut in zigzags.\n\nLetter and paper were laid away to await developments. Some weeks later\na stranger came in and presented a queerly cut piece of paper, saying:\n\"I think you have a piece that matches this.\" Dr. Schauffler got out his\npiece of paper, laid the two side by side, found that they matched, and\nsaid to his visitor: \"There's your trunk.\"\n\nEven so these prophetic pages of the New Testament are found to fit\nexactly the pages of the Old, written centuries before. It is not\nsurprising, however. One hand cut the paper into two pieces in Germany,\nand naturally they fitted when put together in New York. One Hand has\nguided the men writing in both Old and New.\n\nWhen Jeremiah was first called to his work as God's messenger he was\nshown in vision the branch of an almond tree. The almond tree is the\nearliest of all trees to wake from its winter's sleep at the first hint\nof spring warmth coming. And so it was called the \"watching\" or\n\"watcher\" tree. Then God said to Jeremiah: \"Even so, I eagerly watch\nover my word to bring it to life and fruitage at the very earliest\nopportunity.\"[165] And so the word of this watching God and its\nfulfilment match, regardless of the thing we call time, even running\ninto centuries.\n\nAnd it is very helpful for those of us who have had a sort of dread of\nprophecy as of a vague something that we can't understand, to find after\nall how simple it is. Just three great items stand out of these\nprophetic pages that are waiting fulfilment.\n\nSuch is the seven-fold view, which is taken up almost wholly with the\nclearing-up storm in the King's realm. But all this is still future. We\nare still in that waiting time. Our Lord Jesus still stands among the\ncandlesticks. Still He is waiting for His Church to be faithful. He\nstill waits for each of us who is a bit of His Church. He is depending\non us to be faithful, by His grace, day by day, during this waiting\ntime. And while He waits _all His limitless power is at our disposal_,\nas we follow His leading. We may take as much as we need. But the taking\nmust be with the life.\n\nA dear missionary friend told of a simple experience that meant much to\nhim. We were walking together in the town in Korea where his mission\nwork is. His school was the centre of the recent troublous times in\nKorea, and the storm seemed to rage about his own person at its\noutburst. As we talked all his native teachers and several of his older\nstudents were in prison. The experience he told me was of earlier days\nin this country, but had come back to his memory as a great refreshment\nduring the troublous times.\n\nHe was a professor in a small college in our Middle West. Special funds\nwere being raised, for extension. He was to ask a certain man of wealth\nfor a large donation. He planned and prayed much, and at last went to\nsee the man in another city by appointment. He had a keen sense of the\nresponsibility of his task.\n\nAs he entered the building where the man's office was he was greeted\ncordially by a young man whom he remembered as a former student, to whom\nhe had been friendly in some time of minor need. But he had not\nconnected him in his mind with this wealthy man, whose son he was. Now\nas the former student learned of his professor friend's errand, he said\nwith all the confidence of a son on good terms with his father:\n\n\"Come right in; father's here.\"\n\nAs they stepped into the man's office the son said, simply:\n\n\"Father, this is an old friend of mine. He's all right. Give him\nwhatever he wants.\"\n\nAnd the father, busy at his desk, with barely a look at the appointed\nvisitor, reached one hand over for his checkbook, and simply said:\n\n\"How much do you want?\"\n\nMy friend, taken completely by surprise at the unexpected turn of\nevents, managed to name the large sum he had been thinking and praying\nover so much. And before he could quite recover from his surprise, he\nfound himself outside walking up the street with the coveted check in\nhis pocket, praising God for such an answer to his prayers. It had been\nyears before, but as we walked and talked it all came back with a fresh\nflush of feeling.\n\nThe present is a waiting time. It may seem to some as though they are in\nthe wilderness. Clear and distinct comes a quiet voice:\n\n\"What'll you have? Whatever you choose to ask, for My Son's sake.\"\n\nMay we reach out to take as much as He is reaching down to give. But the\ntaking must be with the life.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[107] Isaiah xiii.-xxiv.\n\n[108] Jeremiah xlvi.-li.\n\n[109] Ezekiel xxv.-xxxii., xxxviii.-xxxix.\n\n[110] Daniel, throughout, notably vii.-xii.\n\n[111] The book of Isaiah falls naturally into two parts, chapters\ni.-xl., and xli.-lxvi. The historical allusions in each make it quite\nclear that these two parts belong in two periods far apart. One hundred\nand eighty years intervene between the close of the time stated in\nIsaiah's first chapter as the period of his ministry and the beginning\nof the return from exile into which the second part fits.\n\nBut the full inspiration of the second part is in no wise affected. This\nrarely Spirit-controlled man modestly or unconsciously withholds his\nname from his writings. And they are grouped by the old Hebrew compilers\nwith those of Isaiah.\n\n[112] Isaiah ii. 2-4.\n\n[113] Isaiah xi. 1-9; xxxii. 1-6.\n\n[114] Micah iv. 1-8.\n\n[115] Isaiah xi. 11-16; xxvii. 12-13.\n\n[116] Zechariah xii. 10-14.\n\n[117] Jeremiah xxxi. 8-19, 33, 34.\n\n[118] Isaiah xxvi. 19; Daniel xii. 2.\n\n[119] Micah iv. 1-2.\n\n[120] Isaiah xxv. 7\n\n[121] Isaiah iv. 2-5.\n\n[122] Isaiah xxiv. 1-13, 17-20; ii. 12-19; Micah vii. 15-17.\n\n[123] Zechariah xii. 1-9; xiv. 1-2.\n\n[124] Isaiah xiii. 1-13.\n\n[125] Zechariah xiv. 1-8.\n\n[126] Isaiah xxiv. 21-22; xxvii. 1.\n\n[127] Jeremiah xxx. 7-8.\n\n[128] Daniel xii. 1.\n\n[129] Matthew xxiv.-xxv; Mark xiii; Luke xxi.\n\n[130] Matthew xxiv. 21, 29.\n\n[131] Mark xiii. 19.\n\n[132] Revelation vii. 14 literally.\n\n[133] Leviticus xxvi. 14-39.\n\n[134] Deuteronomy xxviii. 15-68.\n\n[135] Deuteronomy xxxii.\n\n[136] Daniel iii.\n\n[137] Chapters vi.-vii.\n\n[138] Chapter xix.\n\n[139] Isaiah ii. 10-22.\n\n[140] II Corinthians i. 22; Ephesians i. 13; iv. 30.\n\n[141] Isaiah ii. 2.\n\n[142] Revelation xvii. 9-10.\n\n[143] Jeremiah li. 25.\n\n[144] Revelation viii. 10, see also ix. 1; Isaiah xiv. 12-15.\n\n[145] In regard to Elijah, see Malachi iv. 5-6. John the Baptist came in\nthe spirit and power of Elijah, and of him our Lord said, \"this is he\nwho was to come.\"\n\nYet the events of judgment spoken of in Malachi did not take place when\nJohn the Baptist and Jesus came. The events spoken of prophetically in\nconnection with His coming are divided into two groups, those of\ngraciousness, finding fulfilment at the first coming, those of judgment\nfollowed by graciousness, at the second coming. So John the Baptist\nfulfils the Elijah part at the first of these two; in all probability\nElijah himself at the second part, _i.e._, \"before the great and\n_terrible_ day of Jehovah come.\"\n\nIn regard to Enoch, the passage in Jude, verse 14, is of significance.\nThe language, \"Enoch prophesied, ... the Lord _came_, etc.,\" is probably\nspoken in the sense, familiar in the Bible, of a future action seen as\nalready done. Here Enoch is spoken of as prophesying or preaching, _not_\nto the people before the Flood, but to a certain class of men belonging\nto Jude's generation, that is to the Church generation. The likeliest\nmeaning of the words is that Enoch, the seventh and so on, _will_\nprophesy, saying, \"behold the Lord _cometh_,\" and so on to close of\nverse 15.\n\n[146] Revelation xii. 1-6.\n\n[147] Revelation xii. 7-17.\n\n[148] Revelation xii.\n\n[149] Revelation xiii.\n\n[150] Chapter xiii. 9-10.\n\n[151] Revelation xiv. 1-5.\n\n[152] Revelation xiv. 6-20.\n\n[153] Revelation xv.-xvi.\n\n[154] Revelation xiv. 1-5.\n\n[155] Revelation xi. 19.\n\n[156] Psalm xi. 6; lx. 3; lxxv. 8; Job xxi. 20; Isaiah li. 17, 22, 23;\nJeremiah xxv. 15-17; Ezekiel xxiii. 31-33; Habakkuk ii. 16; Zechariah\nxii. 2.\n\n[157] Isaiah xi. 15-16.\n\n[158] Revelation vi. 15-17.\n\n[159] Revelation xi. 14.\n\n[160] Chapters xvii. and xviii.\n\n[161] Revelation xvii. 8-12.\n\n[162] Revelation i. 4, 8; iv. 8.\n\n[163] Revelation xi. 17; xvi. 5.\n\n[164] Ezekiel xxxix. 17-20.\n\n[165] Jeremiah i. 11-12.\n\n\n\n\nVII.--THE CROWNED CHRIST REIGNING\n\n(Revelation, Chapters xx: 4-xxii.)\n\n\n      \"On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life,\n      bearing twelve fruits.\"\n\n \"A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!\n         Rose plot,\n         Fringed pool,\n         Ferned grot--\n   The veriest school\n Of peace; and yet the fool\n   Contends that God is not--\n Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool?\n   Nay, but I have a sign;\n 'Tis very sure God walks in mine.\"\n\n\nDay Is Coming.\n\nIt's a long lane that has no turning. Every valley leads up a hillside\nto a hilltop. Every storm ends in sunshine at the last. Every night runs\nout; the dawn _will_ break; the new day comes; the shadows flee before\nthe new shining. The battle for right will end in victory, and in a\ndecisive victory. There'll be no draw here. Faith wins at last. It's\nbeen a long night of fighting. Sometimes it seems endless.\n\nThe man in the thick of the fight, with moist brow, and clenched hand,\nand quick breath and throbbing heart, sometimes sobs out the prayer, \"O\nLord, how long before the night is over, and the dawn breaks?\" And\nquietly through the smoke and din of the conflict a still, small voice\nsays, \"Steady, my child, steady; the day is surely coming, and with day\nvictory; steady, steady a bit longer.\"\n\nNow here in vision the fight is over, the victory won. And God's visions\nalways become realities. The vision is yet for the appointed time, and\nit panteth breathlessly toward the realization, and will not fail nor\ndelay. Though it tarry, wait for it; it will certainly come on time; it\nwill not be late.[166]\n\nIn the seventh view the kingdom follows immediately that decisive\nconflict and the putting of Satan out of the way for the time being. The\nredeemed ones at once begin their blessed service of fellowship with the\nKing in reigning over the kingdom. Emphasis is placed on the fact that\nat this time there has been a resurrection of believers. And these\nresurrected ones join with those caught up without death in\nadministering the kingdom. This kingdom is said to last for a thousand\nyears, that length of time being named only here, and here six times.\n\nThere is much talk in our day about the kingdom. All Christendom has\nbeen repeating for nineteen centuries the petition, \"Thy kingdom come.\"\nIt will be of intense and practical interest to see just what the\nkingdom is, as pictured in the Bible. It is barely mentioned in this\nplace in Revelation, to fit it into its place in the scheme of future\nevents being outlined.\n\nBut it is the chief theme in these old prophetic pages, around which all\nothers group. Immediate historical events furnish the setting, but there\nis a continual swinging to the coming future greatness. The yellow\nglory-light of the coming kingdom is never out of the prophetic sky.\nJeremiah is the one most absorbed in the boiling of the political pot of\nhis own strenuous time, but even he, at times, lifts his head and gets\nsuch a glimpse of the coming kingdom as causes him to mix some rose\ntincture with the jet black ink he habitually uses.\n\n\nThe Kingdom Picture.\n\nLet us look briefly at the kingdom picture of these older pages. Its\ncapital is Jerusalem, which becomes the world capital. It will be the\njoy of the whole earth. Israel will be the first nation of the earth, to\nwhich all others will be tributary. But it will be not the Israel of\nthese old pages, nor the Jew as he is known characteristically\nthroughout history. Israel will be a new nation, made new in character\nby the power of the Holy Spirit. The winsome picture of the baptized\ncrowds at Pentecost gives an inkling of the spirit that will sway the\nnew nation.[167] They will be a nation of radiant faces and thrilled\nhearts.\n\nThe effect of this upon all other nations is marked. Through Israel's\nregeneration and new leadership, every other nation is to know a new\nspirit life. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Israel is to be\nfollowed by an outpouring upon _all_ flesh. Pentecost is merely a\nbeginning of what is to be universal. There will be a widespread\nvoluntary coming to Israel for religious instruction. She becomes the\nworld's teacher until the knowledge of God covers the whole earth as the\nwaters cover the sea. But all this will be purely a voluntary movement\namong the nations. There will be war no longer, but universal peace.\n\nThere's one part of the picture specially comforting. That vast\nmajority, _the poor_, will be specially guarded and cared for. There\nwill be no hungry people, nor cold, nor poorly clad; no unemployed\nbegging for a chance to earn a dry crust, and no workers fighting for a\nfair share of the fruit of their toil. But there are yet tenderer\ntouches on the canvas. Broken hearts will be healed, prison doors\nunhung, broken family circles complete again.\n\nA recent issue of The Sunday School Times tells a simple, touching\nincident of a mission hall in Korea. A Korean woman living in the\ncountry heard of the wonderful things happening there, and came to town\nto find out for herself, and get some help. But she didn't know where\nthe hall was, nor what name it was called. So she inquired on the\nstreets for the place where they _cured the broken heart_. And at once\nshe was directed to the mission hall. That sort of thing will become a\nblessed commonplace in the beginning of the kingdom time.\n\nThen there are certain radical changes in _nature_. Splendid rivers of\nwaters are to flow through or by Jerusalem, suggesting radical changes\nin the formation of the land there. That fortress city, on the hilltop,\nJerusalem, becomes as the world's metropolis, a mighty city, with rivers\nfloating a world's commerce. The light of sun and moon will be greatly\nintensified, so influencing the fertility of the earth. Before their\nhealing light and heat, in the newly tempered atmosphere, all poisonous\ngrowths, the blight of drought, and suffering of untempered heat, will\ndisappear.\n\nAnd with this goes a change in the _animal_ creation. Hate will be gone.\nAnd so beasts that are dreaded because of their ferocity and treachery\nand poisonous power will be wholly changed. There will be mutual\ncessation of cruelty to animals by man, and of danger to man by animals,\nfor all hate and violence will be gone.\n\nAnd some one raises his eyebrows sceptically and says, ironically, \"What\nfairy tale, what skipper's yarn, is this?\" Well, I frankly confess that\nI don't know anything about this matter, except what I find in this old\nBook of God. But I confess, too, that I try studiously to get a\ncommon-sense, poised, Spirit-enlightened understanding of what this Book\ndoes tell. And then I accept it, and go by it, regardless of\nprobabilities or improbabilities. It may seem like a fairy tale, yet it\nis only the picture of the coming kingdom soberly set forth in these old\npages.\n\nAs we turn to the Gospel pages we find the kingdom to be the chief thing\nJesus is talking about. The Gospel days are sample days of the kingdom\nin the personal blessings bestowed. Read through these accounts of blind\neyes opened, the lame walking, the maimed made whole, the dumb singing,\nthe distressed in whatever way relieved, the ignorant instructed, the\nsinful wooed, and the bad of heart and life being blessedly changed.\n\nAll this is a taste of the kingdom. Jesus was wooing men to accept King\nand kingdom. To-day, as in all Church time, bodily healing is a\nprivilege for those who can take it, and a gift for the rare few who can\nbe entrusted with it. In these Gospel pages it was freely bestowed on\nmultitudes, and the gift exercised with power by many. Even so it will\nbe in the kingdom time.\n\nMost of the parables are found to be connected in their first meaning\nwith explaining about the kingdom. The kingdom will follow the law of\ngrowth that is common in nature, sowing, waiting, cultivating, and\nreaping.[168] Its influence will spread gradually until all feel its\npresence and power.[169] It must meet and deal with the obstacles\npresented by different men's temperaments and dispositions and\ntemptations.[170] There will be opposition, gradually overcome, but\nnever fully.[171] Many will be carried along by the current of the day.\nIt will be a good current, for righteousness will be the common thing\nthen. But in their hearts many will long for something else, something\ndifferent.[172]\n\nBut to many, the new blessed kingdom message will come as a treasure\naccidentally stumbled upon, not being looked for, but now valued as very\nprecious.[173] To others it will come as _the_ thing they have been\neagerly seeking for, and which satisfies the deepest yearnings.[174] One\nwho has had any touch with the pathetic yearning of years found in\nnon-Christian lands can better appreciate the results of this kind in\nthese glad coming days.\n\nThe _characteristic spirit_ of the kingdom stands sharply out in\ncontrast with the dominant spirit of our own time. The kingdom is said\nto belong peculiarly to those who are \"poor in spirit,\" in whom\nself-assertion and pride have quite gone out, leaving them humble and\nlowly in heart. The meek will inherit the earth, and will take down all\nthe walls and fences, for all conditions of life are radically changed.\nThe penitent man or woman will be freely received regardless of their\npast, while the proud will find the doorway too low for their unbending\nheads.[175]\n\nRewards in the kingdom will not be given as a matter of merit, as in our\npresent endless cutting and rivalry, but will be thought of wholly as\nevidence of the graciousness of the King.[176] And yet more striking,\nthe rewards given will be the privilege of serving, some more, some\nless, according as they have become skilled in serving.[177] He who\nserves most truly will be given preferment.[178] The thing prized above\nall else will be glad obedience to the King.\n\nIt will be seen that the kingdom is to be a time of world-wide\nevangelization. Indeed this is _the purpose_ of the kingdom. There are\ntwo periods of world-wide evangelization in our Lord's planning. The\npresent is the Church time of such evangelizing. This is, of course, the\ntrue main objective of the Church. This is the reason for the Church's\nexistence, to take the message of a crucified risen Christ to all men,\nthat so the way may be prepared for His return, and through that for the\nnext period of evangelizing.\n\nThe kingdom period of world-wide evangelization is under radically\ndifferent conditions. Then the evil one will be removed from the scene\nof action, the Holy Spirit will have been poured out upon all flesh, and\nso the moral veil now upon men's eyes will be removed. The Jews, with\nall their characteristic aggressiveness and perseverance, now\nintensified by the Holy Spirit's presence, will be a nation of\nmissionaries to all the earth. The redeemed ones in their resurrection\nbodies will have the blessed privilege of helping. And over all will be\nthe presence and supervision of the King, our Lord Jesus Himself. That\nwill be world-wide evangelization in earnest.\n\nSuch is a faint glimpse given in both Old and New Testaments of the\nkingdom spoken of in these Revelation pages in such few words. Almost\nthe whole Bible lies back of those few words. What a time it will be for\nthis old earth! With renewed fervour our hearts repeat, \"Thy kingdom\ncome.\"\n\n\nThe Final Crisis of Choice.\n\nBut it is made clear at once to John that the kingdom is not an end in\nitself. It is a means to an end, a wonderful means to a blessed end. It\nis startling to find that after that long blessed reign the evil one is\nto be loosed out of his prison-abyss. This seems at first flush too\nstartling to be credible. But on reflection the reason becomes plain,\nand reveals the strength as well as the tenderness of God's love.\n\nAll through the kingdom time there are those who are in heart opposed to\nthis new order of things. They long for the leeks and onions and garlic\nof the old eating. There will be some yielding only a feigned allegiance\nto the King.[179] That dragnet of the parable has gathered some fish\nthat didn't want to be caught, and want a chance to get away to their\nown native waters again.[180] The tares of another parable are left in\nwith the wheat until the end reveals which is real wheat and which\nreally tares.[181]\n\nThe one thing God longs for is love. And that only is love which is the\nfree outpouring of the heart. He longs for love as our free choice. This\nis the image of God in which we have all been made. We are most like God\nin _power_, in the right of free choice. We are most like Him in\n_character_ when we use our power as He uses His; when we choose what\nHe chooses for us. And so there must be a final time of sifting and\nchoosing.\n\nHere is the strength of love, that dares loose Satan out that so we must\nchoose in the face of opposition. For faith isn't faith except it can\nstand the fire test, the friction fire test of opposition. Here is the\ntenderness of love, that longs to have a return love as pure and free as\nits own, and so gives fullest opportunity for it to be revealed and to\ngrow.\n\nSo Satan is loosed out for his tempting work. And another great world\ncrisis comes, and another great settlement; this the final one. The\ndevil, his beastly Antichrist and false prophet, are put out of the way\nforever.\n\nA great dazzling throne is set. And One sits on it with a face of\nindescribable glory. Then comes the second resurrection, of all those\nnot included in the first resurrection a thousand years before. This is\na judgment of _all who have died_, with the exception already noted. The\njudgment of the living spoken of in Matthew, twenty-five, probably is in\nconnection with the closing scene of the great crisis, just before this\njudgment of the resurrected dead, or possibly in connection with this\njudgment. This is the final judgment.\n\nGladness and distress mingle in reading the account: gladness that the\ncontest, age long, is over; distress to find that for some there is what\nis described briefly but with terrible intensity, in the words, \"the\nlake of fire.\" Yet there is still comfort in noting the language used\nof these,--\"_if any_.\"[182] It is not the language of a great\nmultitude, but rather of an incorrigible scattered and scant minority.\n\n\nHome at Last.\n\nAnd now for the seventh time in this last vision John says, \"I saw.\" Bit\nby bit the view opens up before his eyes, from the coming of the Lord\nJesus out of the opened heavens, on and on, until now the final view of\nall bursts in a winsome glory before his astonished, delighted eyes.\n\nGod's own ideal, that He has been carrying in His heart, is pictured.\nThat ideal is that He and man shall dwell together as a family. The\nideal is not a Church nor a Kingdom. These are merely great means to a\ngreater end. The ideal is the family, all dwelling together in sweetest\nharmony and content, with a common board, and a common fireside in the\ntwilight of the day, and all the sweet fellowship that these stand for.\n\nJohn sees a new heaven and a new earth, the old heaven and earth gone,\nand with them the separation of the wide sea gone forever, too. He sees\nthe holy city, Jerusalem, made over new, coming down out of the new\nheavens to man's new dwelling-place, the new earth. It presents a\nwondrous, joyous appearance as of a bride adorned for her husband.\n\nThen a great voice out of the throne speaks of this ideal in the heart\nof God for Himself and His friend, man. \"Look! God has pitched His tent\ndown amongst men, and they shall be His peoples, and He will be their\nGod.\" He will live with them as a Father-mother-God, personally caring\nfor each one, Himself wiping away every tear from every eye. A single\ntear and a single pair of eyes will be enough to claim His personal\nattention at once.\n\nHis presence insures the absence forever of death, and mourning, and\npain, and crying. The dirge music has sung its last song. The minor\nchords are gone. All the old things of a sorrowful sort are quite gone.\nAnd as John looks He that sitteth on the throne makes the glad\nannouncement, \"_Behold, I make all things new._\" And John is bidden to\nwrite all this, for \"_these words are faithful and true_.\"\n\nAnd again the One on the throne seems to look eagerly forward to His\nideal as already actually accomplished: \"They are come to pass.\" And to\nlet John feel the certainty of it all He says, \"I am the Alpha and the\nOmega, the beginning and the end.\" The power that has done all from\ncreation's morn will complete all clear to the end.\n\nAnd then the tenderness of that highest love which finds expression in\nthe personal touch comes out in the next words: \"I will give unto him\nthat is athirst of the fountain of life freely.\" The smallest need of\nany one will have His personal thought and attention, and they shall\nhave the best there is, and have it in abundance.\n\nAnd the old pleading that runs like a strain of music throughout these\npages comes again: \"He that _overcometh_ shall inherit these things. I\nwill be His God, and he shall be my son,\" and so entitled to the\ninheritance.\n\nThen plainly, clearly, with all the honesty of love, comes the warning\nof the terrible outcome for those who refuse His tender love. It is most\nsignificant that this most winsome picture at the end of the book\ncontains the dark, black shadows, which remain in the picture at the\nend.\n\nAll this is spoken directly to John by God Himself. It is not sent by an\nangel, or by a redeemed human messenger. It comes to John direct with\nall the force and tenderness of a word spoken to him out of the very\nheart of God.\n\nAnd now an angel carries John off to let him see this that is called\nboth a bride and a city. And from the top of a high mountain John looks\nout and sees a most wonderful city, coming down out of heaven from God,\nfilled and flooded with the glory of God.\n\nAnd the best language that earth knows anything about is used in the\nattempt to describe this city ideal. Its dimensions are perfect in\nproportion and in their outer relations. Its foundations are adorned\nwith the costliest, most precious stones, the walls are built of jasper,\nand each gate is one immense pearl; but the city itself is builded of a\ngold as transparent as pure glass. Israel and the Church are as sweet\nmemories of past days, recalled now by gates and foundations.\n\nBut these are passed by in noting the outshining glory of the presence\nof God. In the simple language which has become so imbedded in the heart\nand imagination of the Church, \"the city hath no need of the sun,\nneither of the moon, to shine on it; for the glory of God did lighten\nit, and the Lamb is the light thereof.\" And the winsome description goes\non. The nations walk in this wondrous light of God's presence, and the\nkings of earth bring glad tribute of their glory into it. \"And the gates\nthereof shall in no wise be shut by day, for there shall be no night\nthere.\" \"And there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or\nhe that doeth an abomination and a lie, but only they that are written\nin the Lamb's book of life.\"\n\nIn the midst of the city is a river of water of life clear as sparkling\ncrystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. On each\nside of the river is the tree of life yielding continual fruitage. And\nthe leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.\n\nAnd the heart never fails to respond with a quickened beat to the lines:\n\"His servants shall serve Him; and _they shall see His face_; and His\nname shall be in their foreheads;\"--that is, His character shall shine\nout of their faces. \"And there shall be no night there; and they need no\ncandle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light.\nAnd they shall reign forever and ever.\"\n\nSuch is the heart-touching, heart-gripping tale of God's ideal for man,\nHis creature and companion and friend. All the best that the city\nstands for of human life, and all the best that the country, typified in\nthe garden, stands for, are forever blessedly joined. And in the\nmidst--_Himself_, and gathered about Him His redeemed ones, as children\nabout a father, in a union and fellowship cemented by the heart's blood\nof God, never more to be put asunder.\n\n\nThe Master's Last Words.\n\nAnd John closes the book with a few personal paragraphs. The vision is\ncomplete. Now come the closing words. For the third time John is\nsolemnly assured, \"these words are faithful and true.\" And again comes\nthe voice as of some One always standing by as John is being shown,\n\"Behold, I come quickly.\" And again the words with which the book begins\ncome to seal all its impressions,--blessed is he that reads, and\nprayerfully seeks to understand the simple message, and who sets himself\nto live his life in the light of this simple tremendous message.\n\nAnd John is significantly told _not_ to _seal up_ the message. Daniel\nhad been told to seal up the message given him, for it would not come to\npass until the latter days after great intervening events had taken\nplace.[183] But there are no intervening events before this message is\nto come true. It has been possible for the fulfilment to come in any\ngeneration since John saw and wrote. It is yet more possible, growing\ndistinctly toward the probable, that these things shall come in our\ngeneration. The words remain open, waiting an expectant fulfilment. They\nare not to be sealed up but openly proclaimed, for the time when it is\npossible for these things to work out is at hand. This is a present\npractical issue.\n\nAnd meanwhile, during these days of the waiting time each one who reads\nor listens, however reluctantly, to the message, will follow the bent of\nhis own deliberate choice, but with ever increasing intensity. The pure\nwill become more pure; the bad yet worse. There's no standing still as\nwe listen.\n\nAnd again come the solemnly repeated words: \"Behold, I come quickly.\"\nHis coming is the next step in the great plan. There were then, and\nthere are now, no great intervening events to be worked out, and waited\nfor. His coming is imminent. It is a thing to be expected. And He brings\nwith Him the wages due each one.\n\nAnd like the signature of certification at the book's beginning,[184]\ncomes now the personal signature at its close: \"I am the Alpha and the\nOmega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.\" So He\npersonally certifies to us the absolute accuracy and reliability of this\nmessage.\n\nAnd with the signature come again the gracious pleading and warning\nintermingled. Any one who will may wash his robes in the fountain\nprovided, and may eat of the life-giving tree, and come unto the\nGod-lit city. And equally clear it is that any who insist on doing so\nmay remain outside unwashed. Each one is free to do as he wills.\n\nAnd once again comes the emphatic, solemn announcement of the accuracy\nand dependability of this message of John's Revelation: \"_I, Jesus_,\nhave sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the Churches.\"\nIt is distinctively a Church message, and comes with all the direct\nauthority of our Lord Jesus Himself. And He patiently reminds us of His\nauthority,--I am both root and offspring of David, both before him and\nafter him. I am the bright, the morning star, that rises while it is yet\nnight and brings in the new day.\n\nAnd again the spirit of winsome pleading breaks out to those unwashed\nones who insist on staying outside the gate. Both the Spirit and the\nwhole company of washed ones say \"come.\" And let him that heareth that\nsweet word pass it out to those farther away until the last man hears\nand feels. And let them know that anybody at all who is thirsty may come\nfreely and drink of the river of the water of life.\n\nAnd yet once again comes the peculiar certifying of the contents of this\nRevelation message, and a solemn warning against any interfering with\nits meaning. Jesus says,--I hereby certify unto every man that hears the\nwords of the prophecy of this book: if any man add to them, making them\nmean something else than I intend, God shall add unto him the plagues\nthat are written in this book: and if any man shall take away, or\nlessen the meaning, God shall take away his part from the tree of life\nand out of the holy city. It comes as a very solemn warning.\n\nAnd yet once more comes the emphatic assurance both of the reliability\nof the book itself, and of the certainty of its great central\nmessage,--\"He who testifieth these things saith, '_yea, I come\nquickly_.'\"\n\nAnd John fervently adds, \"Amen; come, Lord Jesus.\" And so says every\nheart in tune with His heart who is coming.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[166] Habakkuk ii. 3.\n\n[167] Acts ii. 44-47; iv. 32-34.\n\n[168] Mark iv. 26-29. Matthew xiii. 31-32.\n\n[169] Matthew xiii. 33.\n\n[170] Matthew xiii. 3-9, 18-23.\n\n[171] Matthew xiii. 24-30.\n\n[172] Matthew xiii. 47-50.\n\n[173] Matthew xiii. 44.\n\n[174] Matthew xiii. 45-46.\n\n[175] Matthew xxi. 31.\n\n[176] Matthew xx. 1-16.\n\n[177] Luke xix. 11-27.\n\n[178] Matthew xx. 25-28.\n\n[179] Psalm xviii. 44; lxvi. 3; lxxxi. 15; note marginal readings.\n\n[180] Matthew xiii. 47-50.\n\n[181] Matthew xiii. 24-30, 36-43.\n\n[182] Revelation xx. 15.\n\n[183] Daniel xii. 4, 9.\n\n[184] Revelation i. 8.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.--WATCHING THE HORIZON\n\n\n \"Thy Kingdom Come.\"\n\n \"Thou art coming! We are waiting\n   With a hope that cannot fail;\n Asking not the day or hour,\n Resting on Thy word of power,\n   Anchored safe within the veil.\n Time appointed may be long,\n   But the vision must be sure:\n Certainty shall make us strong,\n   Joyful patience must endure.\n\n \"O the joy to see Thee reigning,\n   Thee, my own beloved Lord!\n Every tongue Thy name confessing,\n Worship, honour, glory, blessing,\n   Brought to Thee with glad accord!\n Thee, my Master and my Friend,\n   Vindicated and enthroned!\n Unto earth's remotest end\n   Glorified, adored, and owned.\"\n\n     --FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL.\n\n\nThe Thrill of Expectancy.\n\nWatching reveals character and makes it. It means wakefulness, an ideal,\na purpose, and a hopeful expectancy. Some people only look. Their\neyelids are not shut. Something passes before the eye. They look, but\nthey rarely see.\n\nIt takes a soul to see. It needs a spirit awake to see out through the\neye, and see into persons and events passing by, and see forward to what\nis coming to-morrow. Some sleep. The body is awake in daytime. They walk\nand talk and eat, buy and sell, count money and hoard it. But their eyes\nare never lifted to the outer horizon. They are settled in an even,\ncontented round. Their spirits sleep.\n\nA wakefulness of spirit to the time and its need, an ideal clear and\nhigh of what should be, a purpose strong and masterful that holds the\nlife up toward the ideal, an expectancy eager, brave, steady; an eye\nfixed intently on some One unseen,--this is what watching means. It\nreveals character. It makes character. It reaches out strong spirit\nhands, and brings nearer and sooner the thing watched for.\n\nWatching has always been a characteristic of the men God has used. He\nused them because He could. They were of use. Their spirit made them\nserviceable. Their watching opened the way for fellowship of spirit and\npartnership in action. It put them in tune with Him who never slumbers\nnor sleeps, and who watches over His pledged word, to bring it to pass\nat the earliest possible hour.\n\nThe watcher sings. His favourite song is \"I will lift up mine eyes.\" He\nsees what is coming. He sees _Him_ who sits beyond the horizon of our\ncommon outlook. And seeing Him grows this sort of expectancy, and the\nexpectancy becomes the controlling thing.\n\nIt was this sort of expectancy that made Abraham a pilgrim at\nseventy-five, and that grew deep the pilgrim trait of patient endurance\nthrough the weary twilight years till the promised heir came, and even\nbeyond that, wove the finest texture into his character when the\nseverest test came.\n\nIt was this expectancy that drew Moses away from the court life of\nEgypt, and the possible prospect of wearing imperial purple, to become\nthe leader of a straggling crowd of slaves. And it held him steady on\nthrough long years, wilderness travel, criticism, and non-appreciation,\non and on, till Nebo's top was climbed. He endured as seeing Him who was\ninvisible to the unseeing eyes of the crowds at His side.\n\nSuch expectancy has steadied every leader for God, in these old pages\nfrom first to last, young Joseph in the dungeon, Joshua in the glare of\nthe limelight, into which he was suddenly thrust, and ruddy-faced\nsinging David fleeing and hiding for his life from the javelin of Saul.\nIt was the clear-seeing eye of Isaiah and Jeremiah in the homeland, and\nof Ezekiel and Daniel among the weeping exiles, that kept the heart of\nthe nation warm with the vision of what was surely coming. The thrill of\nexpectancy runs through the pages of this old Hebrew classic. Its light\nis never out of the eye, nor its alluring out of earshot.\n\nWhen Jesus walked among men expectation ran high. When He was killed the\ngloom of the three days was the gloom of a bright light suddenly put\nout. The darkness was intensified by the light that had been shining.\nThen there came a new sort of expectancy, higher, finer, of the inner\nspirit. This Jesus was coming back, in all the glory of the old\nprophetic vision, made realer by the personal touch these men knew, and\nthis new expectancy puts all the paper of the New Testament a-tremble\nwith delight. It is the light that lighteth every page and epistle,\nevery contested path of witness, and every hour of suffering because of\nfaith.\n\nThe Church of these New Testament pages is _a watching Church_. The\nexpectancy of the Lord Jesus' return is the north star of their sky. It\nnever swerves. All the rest revolves around it. They see everything else\nin relation to this. Their going into all the world and preaching to\nevery creature was not simply for men's conversion: that surely: but\nbeyond that, it was to bring the Christ back for the next step in His\nworld programme. He would come and set up His kingdom, and then through\nthe kingdom would come a yet wider, farther-reaching world\nevangelizing.[185] This expectancy controlled their life and activity.\nThrough their faithful world witnessing He would come.\n\nAnd as the knot is put on the end of the thread of revelation the very\nknotted thread seems aglow with the glory of what is coming. The Bible\nfrom end to end is a-thrill with expectancy, a hopeful watching for\nsomething, aye, _for some One_.\n\n\nA Calendar of Events.\n\nWe have been looking a bit closely at this knot in the end, the threads\ncomposing it. Now we want to gather up all that we have been going over\nwith the light that comes from the other pages, so as to have some sort\nof a simple, clear grasp of the truth. This will help our eyesight. We\ncan watch the horizon better. Our eyes will be steadier in the glare of\nthe lower lights, and sharper to see in the spells of darkness that get\nthicker now and then.\n\nIt is interesting to notice that this book of the Revelation is a\ncalendar book. That is to say, it is not a calendar of dates but of\nevents. It gives coming events in the order in which they will occur.\nIts table of contents becomes an outline of coming events. There is the\nMan of Fire standing among the candlesticks. Then comes an hour when He\nadvances to the next step in His programme. Then, step by step, there\nfollow the occurrences until the kingdom is actually here. And then the\nafter events, when the kingdom's work is done.\n\nIt turns out that this thing of our Lord's return cuts a wider swath\nthan we are apt to think, if we don't stop to think. That is because of\n_Who it is_ that is coming. An event takes on the size of the chief\nperson concerned. This Lord Jesus is the One through whom our world was\nmade in the early time, when there were no calendars. So His coming\nnaturally concerns the whole world. It concerns the system of evil in\nwhich the world is entangled, and the evil spirit world so closely\ninterlocked with our own.\n\nThen our Lord Jesus came amongst us as a man. He came as a Jewish man,\nand to the Jewish nation. So His coming concerns the Jew and the Jewish\ncapital, Jerusalem. When He sent down His executive, the Holy Spirit, a\nnew organization was formed, the Church. So His coming concerns the\nChurch, and concerns it very intimately, for it is spoken of as a body\nof which He is the head. When Jesus came it was to die for a world and\nto redeem a world. And so His coming concerns the future plans of the\nearth and the race.\n\nYet though His coming has such a broad sweep, it is quite possible to\nget a grasp of the few essential items in the programme. And this will\nmake our footing steadier, our vision clearer, our praying more\nconfident, and our soul-winning and witnessing warmer and truer. We turn\nnow to try to get this simple, helpful understanding.\n\nThe present is the time of the candlesticks. The Man of Fire is in our\nmidst unperceived. The unseen Eyes of Flame see. Our Lord Jesus still\nwaits, and depends on the faithfulness of His Church. The light is still\nshining out. The dark places are getting some light. The light has not\nyet wholly failed to get out through the human lantern to the crowd in\nthe dark.\n\nThe characteristics of this waiting time, so long prolonged, are plainly\nput. In the outer world there will be an increasing lawlessness and\ndisregard of every sort of restraint, and an increasing power of\norganization and centralization. There will be an increasing getting\ntogether for more effective action.\n\nIn the Church world there will be an increasing formalism, a compromise\nwith evil and with the world spirit. There will be a decrease of warm\npersonal devotion to the Lord Jesus as the controlling motive power. And\nthere will be a growing inclination to make light of, or ignore, or jeer\nat, the idea of the Lord Jesus' return.\n\nAs this period wears on toward its close, and so on toward the events to\nfollow, there will be a coming together of the Jews scattered throughout\nthe world in an attempt to regain Palestine and reconstitute the Hebrew\nnation there with its temple and old sacrificial ritual. These are the\nthree chief tendencies that will characterize the present waiting time\npreceding the group of coming events.\n\nThe decisive index-finger, that this present period is actually coming\nto its close, will be this movement among the Jews. The movement to\nregain control of Palestine may rise and fall back, gain and lose again.\nBut some day it will come to its head. By some arrangement with the\nnations concerned the Jewish nation will actually be set up again in\nPalestine, and the building of the temple in Jerusalem begun. This will\nbe the decisive indication. This is an unfailing index-finger. The hands\nof the clock are moving then toward the striking of the hour. Soon the\nsands will be run out and the hour-glass turned.\n\n\nThe Beginning of the End.\n\nAt some time soon after that point is reached _two unseen events will\noccur_, that is, unseen on earth. Roughly, it will be three and a half\nyears after, though the whole tendency of the Scripture is to discourage\nthe figuring of _exact_ time. Yet information is given that the outlook\nmay be intelligent. These events are unseen on the earth. They take\nplace in heaven.\n\nThe Holy Spirit will be withdrawn from the Church. He will not be\nwithdrawn from individuals. He abode in men before the Church was\nformed, and will after the Church has cast Him out. He is withdrawn only\nbecause He has been practically and wholly cast out.\n\nThe Lord Jesus, who sent Him down to form the Church and witness through\nit, will withdraw Him from the Church. The candlestick has moved out of\nall touch with the light. And now the light is withdrawn, and so the\ncandlestick moved out of its place as the light-bearer. This is probably\nthe advance step taken by our Lord Jesus that marks the beginning of the\nend.\n\nAt the same time there occurs a conflict of spirit forces up in the\nheavens. While the earth seems to be Satan's chief place of activity,\nyet his headquarters are up in the heavens, that is, somewhere below the\nthrone of God and above the earth. This conflict is against him and his\nspirit forces. It is led by Michael, the archangel. It results in Satan\nand his host being cast out of the heavens and down to the earth.\n\nIt is significant that as the Holy Spirit goes up, this conflict\nfollows, and Satan is cast out and down. Is it the Holy Spirit's return\nthere that precipitates this conflict, and defeat for Satan? It would\nseem not improbable. So the moral situation on the earth is intensified\ndoubly. The blessed Holy Spirit, with all His power of restraint over\nevil, is withdrawn. The evil spirit, with all his power of intensifying\nevil, is cast down in person to the earth. These are the two unseen\nevents marking the advance move of the end time.\n\nThere will be nothing on earth _at the moment_ to indicate that these\ntremendous events have happened. There is no suggestion of how much time\nis involved. Time is a matter of earth's calculation. Quite possibly\n_we_ would speak of these events as occurring in a very brief time,\nperhaps an instant of our reckoning. These are the two events unseen on\nthe earth.\n\nAt the same time there will begin _two events seen taking place on\nearth_. The first is the coming to the front of a man, a terrible leader\nof the forces of unrighteousness. Paul speaks of him as \"the Lawless\nOne.\" John's name for him is \"the Antichrist.\" He becomes the human\nrepresentative or incarnation of Satan. As Satan is cast down out of the\nheavens this leader comes to the front on earth.\n\nHe seems to have official position at the head of some great coalition\nof nations, with a wide area of authority. He seems to be some former\nnotable leader known in history, who died, but is now brought back to\nlife again by Satan's supernatural power.\n\nAs he forges to the front there follows on earth a horrible time of war,\nfamine, pestilence, death, and persecution. He arbitrarily breaks the\nagreement with the Jews under which they have re-established their\nnation, and begins a terrible persecution of them. He sets up in the\ntemple a blasphemous image, and requires that all people shall worship\nit. This strikes not only at the Jew, but at the Christian as well.\n\nAt one stroke of genius he compels absolutely universal attention to his\ncommand by forbidding the doing of any business except by those willing\nto worship the image. Those refusing the worship are killed. He will\nhave an assistant doing wonderful miracles by Satanic power to deceive\nand persuade the people. During this time there is a loosing out on the\nearth of countless hordes of unseen demons to torment men.\n\nAll this continues for three and a half years. The time is stated in\nthree different ways to make quite clear just how long is meant. This is\nthe first of the two seen events. It centres at Jerusalem and seems to\nreach out practically to all the earth.\n\nThe second event is significant. During all this terrible time of\npersecution and blasphemy and the riot of evil, there will be two men in\nJerusalem preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, and calling on men to\nrepent. As an emphasis of their witness against the awful wickedness\ncurrent they will be clothed in mourning. They will have miraculous\npower to attest their witness, and to protect themselves against attacks\nupon their lives. The great crowds of many nationalities in Jerusalem\nwill make their witness practically world-wide in its direct as well as\nits indirect influence.\n\nThis also continues for three and a half years. As the Holy Spirit is\nwithdrawn from the Church as the witness of the Lord Jesus, these two\nspecial witnesses appear. In His great faithfulness and patience God\nnever leaves Himself without a witness. This is the second event seen on\nearth. These two, evil at its worst, and God's special witnesses, run\nalong side by side, both centring in Jerusalem.\n\n\nThe Climax--He Comes.\n\nThen there comes _a group of four events_. And these four are very\nclosely associated together in point of time. They occur at the close of\nthe period of persecution and wickedness. Indeed, it is their occurrence\nthat brings the close. Yet the exact time when they happen is left quite\nuncertain.\n\nAnd this clearly is another bit of the tendency in the record to keep\nour thought on the main events, and not on figuring out time. We are to\nkeep to the essentials and be wary of mere speculation. For the sake of\nclearness I am putting these four events separately, but this does not\nmean that some of them may not be occurring at the same moment, or that\nall may not come within a very brief time. We simply do not know. It\nlooks as though we are not meant to know.\n\nThere is _a Jew event_. The Holy Spirit comes down upon the nation of\nJews in simple, tremendous, converting power. This is put in connection\nwith the coming down out of the heavens on a cloud of the Lord Jesus. It\nseems to be this sight of their great Kinsman, Jesus, whom they\ncrucified, that is used by the Holy Spirit to strike penitence to their\nstubborn hearts. Literally a nation is born again in a day. It will be\nwith the whole nation as it was with Saul on the Damascus road, as\nsudden and unexpected, as startling and as radical; as sudden and\nunexpected an appearance of Jesus, as startling to the Jews, as radical\nin the absolute spirit transformation.\n\nThere is _a Church event_. And here the word Church is used to describe\nall believers in the Lord Jesus. That will be a much sifted and\nchastened company of people. This event is also connected with the open,\nvisible coming of the Lord Jesus, out of the upper blue, before all\neyes. It affects two separate companies of believers. The bodies of all\nbelievers who have died will be raised out of their graves, inhabited\nagain by those who lived in them. Then the living believers shall have a\ntransforming touch upon their bodies. And the two companies shall be\ncaught up into the air into the presence of the Lord Jesus.\n\nAs they come into His presence there will be a purifying and perfecting\nof character, and an adjustment of relations with Him. There is no\nsuggestion of how much time is involved. We naturally think of things as\ntaking place through so much time. Our limitations in this regard will\nbe gone then. It may be what we now call instantaneous.\n\nThere is _a world event_. There will come to the earth and to men a\nvisitation of terrible judgments, affecting men's bodies, the sea and\nrivers, vegetation, an intensifying of the sun's heat, and possibly a\nterrible darkness--in short, affecting everything concerning man and\nlife on the earth. There will be a great gathering of the armies of the\nnations at a place in Palestine. Again there is no suggestion of how\nmuch time this visitation of judgments runs through, nor this gathering\nfor battle.\n\nThen there is _the_ event, _the great climax event_, the actual coming\nof the Lord Jesus, out of the heavens, down to the earth. At the moment\nwhen He comes the Jews will be in the midst of a terrible siege in\nJerusalem. Against the city will be assembled the armies of the nations.\nThe city will be taken, the looting and ravaging already begun.\n\nThen suddenly, out of the blue above, the Lord Jesus comes in a great\nblaze of blinding light, accompanied by great numbers. He will come to\nOlivet. With the coming will be a terrible earthquake, such as the earth\nhas never known.\n\nIt is a striking geological fact that the greatest \"fault,\" or break in\nthe earth's surface, is found in Palestine, running north and south from\nAntioch on the Orontes down even into Africa. But this earthquake will\naffect very wide areas, including the city of Babylon, which will be\nshaken to utter destruction. That earthquake will make radical changes\nin the formation of the earth's surface in Palestine.\n\nAt the same time there will be an equally terrific shake-up in the\nheavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars. The effect of both these upon\nthe vast panic-stricken multitudes will be most pitiable. They will call\nupon the upheaved rocks to hide them from the wrath of God.\n\nThese are the four events occurring at this time. They are grouped\ntogether. It seems impossible to say first this, then that. They are\ngrouped. The great essential thing standing out is that our Lord Jesus'\ncoming will be at a terrible climax of evil. There will be partial\njudgment visited on the earth. The system of evil will be wholly\noverthrown. The Jews will be converted as a nation by the Holy Spirit.\nThe Church will be caught away out of the distress, and will have part\nwith our Lord Jesus in His coming.\n\nIt should again be noticed that in all this there are no time notes,\nexcept as to the length of this tribulation time. The persecution of the\nJew and desecration of Jerusalem, the time of the two witnesses, and the\nsway of the Antichrist, each runs through three and a half years. There\nare no time notes whatever for the present waiting-time. And though the\nlength of the tribulation itself is stated, yet it should be noted that\nthe exact time of the Lord Jesus' actual return still remains quite\nundetermined.\n\nIn Daniel's prophecy there are four events spoken of as occurring at\nthis time, and each is measured from the time when the sacrifices are\nstopped and the chief desecrating act in the temple begins. The\ntribulation runs for three and a half years. Thirty days later comes\nsome glad event not specified further. Seventy-five days later there\ncomes another glad event, and two years ten months and twenty days later\nthe complete cleansing of the temple. Each of these portions of time is\nmeasured from the same starting point. This would suggest a period of\nreadjustment after the Antichrist is slain, running through almost three\nyears. All these time notes are of a year of three hundred and sixty\ndays, not our common calendar year of three hundred and sixty-five and a\nfraction days.\n\nThere comes the period called the kingdom. Its capital is Jerusalem. The\nregenerated nation of Israel becomes the first nation of the earth, with\nall other nations tributary. Israel's leadership is a blessed one in its\nspiritual influence over all others. The Jews are a missionary nation,\nwhose one passion is to make the knowledge of God known throughout the\nearth.\n\nThe redeemed ones of all the earth through all times will reign _over_\nthe earth in fellowship with the King, the Lord Jesus. In their\nresurrection bodies, with all present bodily restrictions and\nlimitations gone, they will have a blessed share in the new earth\nministry.\n\nThe purpose of the kingdom is world-wide evangelization, but with all\nthe conditions radically changed. Satan, with all evil spirits, is\nremoved from the scene of action. The nation of Jews, baptized by the\nHoly Spirit, is the missionary force, under the direction and help of\nthe Church. The Holy Spirit will have been poured out upon all flesh,\nmaking all peculiarly open to the truth.\n\nWhat a wonderful time of continual revival it will be! But that much\nabused word \"revival\" will have its sweet, original meaning restored. It\nwill mean a re-living, a new life of the Spirit coming, that will\nnaturally include the body, too.\n\n\nIntelligent Watching.\n\nSuch are the events, near and far, which some day will come up over the\nhorizon of our common life, ushering in a new day. And we are bidden by\nour Lord Jesus to _watch_. We watch for Him, and for anything that tells\nus His coming is nearing.\n\nWatching means wakefulness, an ideal, a purpose, an expectancy, and a\ndaily life under the control of wakefulness, ideal, purpose, and\nexpectancy. That our Lord Jesus will actually come to this old earth and\nreign, this is the ideal. That we shall, by grace, be true to Him in\neverything, day by day, during this waiting-time, this is the purpose.\nThat _we_ shall indeed see Him come, and be caught up into His presence\nwithout death, this is the expectancy.\n\nThat this shall all be a real thing to us, _controlling_ all our\nrelationships, our gold, and our life, and that we shall reverently,\nthoughtfully seek to understand what He has told us about it, this is\nthe wakefulness. This is what watching means. Our bodies may be asleep,\nour brains and hands absorbed in the day's task, but our hearts can be\nawake for the sound ahead of the coming of His feet.\n\n\"But how can you watch for Him if there are intervening events?\" So the\nquestion came to me this summer by a thoughtful, godly minister who\nlooks for His coming. And I said: \"Because His coming is one of a little\ngroup of events which cluster about His coming.\"\n\nThe crowd stands watching at the railway station in England to see the\nking's train come in. Yet they know that before it comes the\npilot-engine will come, running ahead about so many minutes to insure\nthe safety of the way. The coming of the pilot-engine heightens the\nintensity of watching, for now soon the king will come.\n\nThe watcher in the sick-chamber, weary with the long night's anxious\nvigil, goes to the east window to see if day is coming. There comes a\nbare lighting-up in the east, just a slight lessening of the darkness\nthat is everywhere. But even this much brings a sigh of relief. The sun\nitself may not be seen for two hours or more. But you know without\nlooking at the clock that the sun is coming and is near. Its presence\nnear sends the light far ahead.\n\nWhen the trees begin to send out swelling bud and tender green leaf and\ncatkin, we know summer is coming, even though the chill is in the air,\nand the night may even now bring a touch of the white of frost. \"Even so\nye also _when ye see these things_ know that _He_ is nigh, even at the\ndoors.\"[186]\n\nThere's something intensely practical about this thing of watching. I\nmean the intelligent watching that a thoughtful study of God's Word\npromotes. There is a striking sentence used in describing some of the\nmen that rallied to David during the clearing-up storm that preceded his\nreign. It is said of certain of the tribe of Issachar that they \"_had\nunderstanding of the times_ to know what Israel ought to do\" in the\nmatter of making David the accepted king over the realm.[187] Their\nthoughtful study and judgment of the time made them wise leaders of\naction.\n\nThere is a similar significant word spoken to Daniel in the final vision\nin which these end events are being disclosed. And we recall that the\nspeaker is He for whose coming we look. He says, \"They that are _wise_\nshall _understand_.\"[188] Daniel had prayerfully set himself to\nunderstand God's will for his people.[189] When the wonderful vision was\ngiven him in answer to his patient study and continued prayer, the Man\nof Fire who came to him said, \"Now I am come to make thee _understand_.\"\n\nIt is wise, by thoughtful, prayerful study of God's Word, to try to\nunderstand what He has told us. Not to do so is not wise. And more, it\nwill become increasingly needful that others be taught as these events\ndraw on. Daniel is told in this same connection that \"They that are wise\nshall instruct many.\"[190]\n\nThe opening words of the Revelation, and especially the closing\nparagraphs, emphasize this same thing. The revelation is given that we\nmay read and understand and hold our lives true to this vision. This\nthing is intensely practical. Indeed, it is _the_ practical thing for\nour day. We _can_ understand the simple essentials revealed here. Our\nLord Jesus earnestly desires us to do so. Surely we will, for His sake.\n\n\nA Spirit Sensitiveness.\n\nThe thoughtful watching that grows out of an understanding of our Lord's\nplans influences subtly and mightily one's whole life. It deepens\nwondering reverence for the Lord Jesus Himself, His present power and\npersonal glory sitting up yonder in the indescribable glory of the\nFather's presence, and His patience and strength in this waiting-time.\nIt draws out a depth and tenderness of personal love for Himself and of\ndevotion to Him.\n\nThere comes to be a keenly acute conscience about evil, and about\ncompromise with evil; and yet with it a sanity of judgment on particular\nquestions arising, and a gentle consideration for others who see\notherwise, or think they do. Evil grows in subtlety and in\naggressiveness in our day, and probably will yet more. It seeks\nespecially to make inroads among God's professing people. Yet evil is\nevil. Its true inwardness is quickly revealed by adding a \"d\" at the\nbeginning of the word. And it grows increasingly repugnant in whatever\nguise, as we come to study more its inner spirit as revealed in these\ndisclosures of the end times.\n\nThen, too, this watching affects one's judgment of, and attitude toward,\nChristian service, and toward movements in the Christian world. The\ngetting-together spirit is getting more and more into Church circles.\nThe fervent heart repeats constantly our Lord's prayer, \"that they may\nall be one.\" Yet it becomes clear that there may be movements toward\nunion that are not of the Holy Spirit's initiation, and that cannot have\nhis approval.\n\nIt is not enough to do good. That may prove to be a low level of action.\n_The_ thing is to find out what God has planned, and fit into that, with\nall the warmth of one's being. His will is always good, and better, and\nbest. The good thing may not be the thing He has planned and wants done.\n\nIt becomes increasingly clear that our Lord Jesus is a great general. He\nhas the whole campaign of action mapped out, and every detail of it\nthought into and thought out. As one comes to learn more of His plans,\nand Himself as a planner, there comes to be _a passion for doing His\nwill_. One moves from the old position of working for God up to the\nposition of so fitting in that _God works through us_.\n\nAnd there comes to be a consciousness that He is doing immensely more\nthrough the things we do than we are conscious of. So in all Church\nactivity there comes to be a reaching out in spirit to discern what _He_\nwants done, and putting all the strength into that.\n\nThen, too, one's thought of foreign missionary service undergoes a\nchange. The actual taking of the message of Christ to those who haven't\nheard comes to have first place. Educational work and medical and\nhumanitarian, and the like, in missionary service, are seen to be wisely\nused when held strictly in place as a means to a direct end. And their\nvalue is judged wholly by their being a means of bringing those whom\nthey touch face to face with the Christ that died.\n\nIt seems to be possible to spend fifty years and more establishing\nmission work in the city centres of a foreign-mission country, and all\ngood, blessed work; and yet have the great mass of that country's\npopulation in utter ignorance of the Gospel message and its power.\n\nAs the Holy Spirit is allowed control increasingly, there comes to be a\nbetter understanding of God's purposes and of His plans, an earnest\ncooeperation in the Church movement for making Christ known to all men\neverywhere, a faithfulness in all the circle of one's own home Church,\nand a warm personal winning of men to know the Lord Jesus as their\nSaviour.\n\nSo it is seen that watching for our Lord's return affects one's whole\nlife in an intensely practical way. It deepens faith in _Him_. It leads\nto an _intelligent detachment_ in social and commercial and even Church\ncircles, while making an increase of thoughtful regard for others. It\npurifies the personal life. It chastens and deepens and gentles the\npersonal character.\n\nIt seems very striking and very strange that when Jesus was born there\nare just two persons named, outside the immediate circle, who seemed to\nhave the spirit instinct that recognized who He was. There was a man\nliving in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. Who was he? rich? poor?\ncultured? of lowly station? No one knows. But whoever he was, he had\ncultivated close walk with God. That's clear. And into his inner spirit\ncame the conviction that the Christ promised for ages, so long waited\nfor, the Christ was now coming, and _he would see Him_.\n\nAnd a similar story is told of the woman called Anna. These two were in\nthat simple touch of heart with God that could in spirit sense the\ncoming of the Christ. There may have been others. We are not told. But\nthe emphasis remains on the fact that few seemed to discern the working\nout of God's tremendous plan.\n\nWill it be so again? It would surely seem that intelligent watching\nwould make one sensitive in spirit to coming events. Yet there would\never be a mingling of deepest reverence, and a thoughtful caution\nregarding mere speculation, while the fervent prayer that Jesus taught\nis daily repeated, \"Thy kingdom come.\"\n\nAnd John's closing Revelation prayer constantly breathes out, \"Even so,\ncome, Lord Jesus.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[185] Acts iii. 20-21; xv. 14-18.\n\n[186] Matthew xxiv. 33.\n\n[187] 1 Chronicles xii. 32.\n\n[188] Daniel xii. 10.\n\n[189] Daniel viii. 15-17; ix. 1-2; x. 1-3, 11-14.\n\n[190] Daniel xi. 33.\n\nPRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA","title":"Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":58973}