Pastor David B. Curtis
Pastor David B. Curtis
The date. A difference of opinion exists as to whether the Apocalypse was written before or after the destruction of Jerusalem (70 A.D). Epiphanius ascribes the book to the reign of Claudius (54 A.D). The Syriac version asserts that John was banished to Patmos under Nero (64 to 68 A.D.), and Tertullian synchronizes the banishment of John with the martyrdom of Peter and Paul under Nero. An ancient Latin fragment, quoted in Stuart's Apocalypse, i. 266, implies that the Revelation is of an earlier date than the last of the Pauline epistles. " Paul, following the order of own predecessor John, wrote to only seven churches by name." The testimony of Irenaeus (Heres v. 30, quoted by Eusebius iii. 18 ; v. 7) is as follows We do not venture to affirm anything with certainty respecting the name of the Antichrist. For were it necessary that this name should be clearly announced to the present age, it would have been declared by him who saw the Revelation. For it is not long since he (or it) was seen, but almost within our own generation about the end of Domitian's reign. The last, sentence ambiguous, for there is nothing in the Greek to show whether Irenaeus meant that that which was seen in the reign of Domitian was the Apocalypse, or John himself! Professor Cowles, of Oberlin , has pointed out that the general sense of the passage requires the latter supposition. The argument is -that it would not have been wise nor safe to give the name of the Antichrist so as long as Nero lived. But John survived the reign or Domitian, when Nero had been dead for thirty years. If now, in the time of Irenaeus, His name might be proclaimed ,without imprudence, the same had been true of the time of Domitian, and John would have proclaimed it himself! He did not do so ; for through Nero was dead, yet Rome still lived, a persecuting power. "John was wisely silent," argues Irenaeus, "let, us be wisely silent also.
The opinion of Victorinus, Eusebius and Jerome that, John's banishment to Patmos took place in the reign of' Domitian (96 A.D.), and that the apostle then wrote the Revelation, does not constitute independent evidence, but rests on what. was probably a misunderstanding of the words of Irenaeus. And if the latter really meant to assign this late date to the book, it is easy to over-estimate the importance or his testimony on the subject. John may have been exiled to Patmos on more than one occasion, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that he wrote the Apocalypse whilst suffering a previous banishment thither under Nero. At any rate, what is technically called the internal evidence, that is, the evidence furnished by the contents of the book itself, points conclusively to its having, been penned previously to the destruction of Jerusalem.
Why written in cipher - The symbolic form in which the Revelation was given is a strong argument for the earlier date. More than once, it is implied that the Christians to whom the book was originally addressed were intimately concerned in the events which it describes. A special blessedness also belonged to those of them -who diligently made themselves acquainted with its contents, and were. willing to be guided by its teachings (i. 3; xxii. 7). It was therefore of great importance for these first readers of the book to obtain a clear understanding of its meaning. Hence, it is certain that, in no case, would the plain language of every every life have been needlessly departed from, nor obscure words or figures or speech needlessly introduced. How then is the symbolic form of the Apocalypse to be explained ? If we are obliged to accept the supposed testimony of Irenaeus that it was written in 96 A.D. no full answer to this question seems possible. But, assuming that the book was written just before the outbreak of the Jewish war in 66 A.D., the parallel presented by Christ's use of parables at once suggests the explanation. One of the reasons why our Lord employed parables in His public teaching was undoubtedly to hide His meaning from certain unworthy persons amongst those who listened to Him, [1] Here is the manifest explanation of the symbolic form in which the contents of the Apocalypse were given to the world. There is very great likelihood that this was adopted in order to hide the meaning from out. And even if this had not, been the particular form in which the Revelation was divinely communicated to John, it, is a form which, under the circumstances, he might rightly have adopted without, laying himself open to a charge of cowardice. If, in modern times, a prophet, were divinely commissioned to rebuke some tyrannical ruler for his sins, and yet, from dread or the personal consequences to himself, neglected to do so, he would, beyond doubt, be false, to his duty. But Suppose he were only bidden to describe to his fellow Christians, for their exclusive benefit and guidance, events in the immediate future in which the tyrannical ruler was to act; a leading part. It would then be from no unworthy fear of man, but from a lawful desire to avoid needlessly compromising them and himself with the government of the country and needlessly endangering their lives and his own, if he were to address them in some foreign language unintelligible to the bystanders or were to write his Message in a cipher of which only he and they possessed the key. Now, in spite of the author's repeated statements to the contrary, it is commonly believed that the Revelation describes events which, eighteen hundred years ago, were to come to pass in what was then the remote future. If this were really so, there is no apparent reason why the contents of the book should not have been expressed in the plain language of everyday life. But the Roman empire was at least as absolute a despotism as any that now exists; and Nero was a fearful monster, whose misdeeds cast into the shade the. crimes of modern tyrants. Therefore as a matter of fact, an excellent reason exists for the Revelation having been communicated in the form of visions, and for the book itself having been written in symbolic language. This language was, at the time absolutely unintelligible to the enemies of the Christian faith.
Succeeding generations of men have also been without the key to the of the book.
But, in the nature of the case, the primitive Christians, who were more immediately concerned and to whom the book was originally addressed, must have possessed that key.
The temple still standing - The city of Jerusalem and the temple are spoken of as being still in existence (Chap. xi. 1, 2, 8.) It is incredible that if Jerusalem had been a heap of ruins, the apostle, wou ld have received a command to measure the temple, and should represent the holy city as being- about to be trodden down under the feet of the Gentiles.
Parallels to the teaching of Jesus - There is also a manifest, identity of some events described in the Apocalypse with some that had been predicted by our Lord Himself as destined to occur within certain narrow limits of time (I) The condition of the seven churches of Asia (chap. ii. and iii.) proves that they were exposed to much persecution ; false teachers had appeared among them, and the love of very many believers had waxed cold ; a state of things exactly corresponding to what Jesus had predicted would happen in the lifetime or His earthly contemporaries. (Matt. xxiv.)
(II) The avenging of God's elect. Rev. vi. 9 Luke xviii 7.
(III) Physical convulsions. Rev. vi. 12 ; xvi.1 ; Mad, xxiv. 29.
(IV) Hiding in the rocks and caves. Rev. vi. 15 ; Luke xxiii. 30.
(V) The Coming of the millennium, or "Kingdom of God." Rev. xi. 15 ; xii. 10 ; xx. 3, 4; Mark 1. 15.
(VI) The time of the dead to be raised. Rev. xi. 18 - xx. 4-6 ; John v. 25.
(VII) The binding of Satan. Rev. xx. 2 Matt. xii. 29, 28.
(VIII) The marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. xix. 7, 17) is represented in Luke xiv. as about to begin. [2]
(IX) The harvest of the land and the vintage of the land. , (Rev. xiv. 14-20). The wheat wheat and the tares, Matt. xiii. 30.
(X) Fleeing to the wilderness, Rev. xii. 6.Fleeing across the mountain, Matt. xxiv. 16.
(XI) Sealing the servants of God in their foreheads, Rev. vii. 1-3. Gathering the elect from the four winds, Matt xxiv. 31."Not a hair of your head shall perish," Luke xxi. 1
(XII) Here too may be noted the manifest identity of the events described in Rev. xx. 1- 11, and Dan. xii. But since there cannot be two periods of unparalleled suffering we know that Jesus predicted that Dan. xii. would be realised ere that generation passed away (Matt. xxiv -91, 34).
To be immediately fulfilled - But further, the writer of the book of Revelation stands committed to the constantly repeated Statement that he is describing events which were to happen in what was then the immediate future (things which must shortly come to pass, i. 1 and xxii. 6 ; the things which shall be -or as the original Greek has it, are soon to happen- hereafter, i. 19; the time is at hand, 1. 3 and xxii. 10. [3] The book opens with a clear and emphatic declaration of the speedy accomplishment of the, momentous events which it predicts, and it closes in the same way. And chief amongst the events predicted and declared to be then on the eve of taking place, was the Advent of the Lord Jesus Himself, belief in the immediateness of which began to grow obsolete at the end of the first century. (Behold He cometh, 1. 7 ; Behold I come quickly, iii. 11, and xxii. 7, 12 ; Behold I come as a, thief, xvi. 15 - Surely I come quickly, xxii. 20).
These emphatic and reiterated statements of the inspired penman are fatal to the date (96 A.D.) commonly accepted (which rests mainly on the supposed authority of Irenaeus).
They show conclusively that unless the book has been woefully falsified by subsequent events, it must have been written before and not after 70 A.D. For the argument stands as follows :-If the earlier date be admitted, the Revelation is seen in its true character as an expansion of Christ's prophetic discourse delivered on the Mount of Olives (Matthew xxiv., xxv). Then, up to the beginning of the twentieth chapter, its predictions find an exhaustive fulfillment in the transactions that accompanied and immediately followed the destruction of Jerusalem, and the title of the book might appropriately have been " The Doom of Jerusalem." But, on the other hand, no one supposes that immediately after 96 A.D., Christ visibly returned to the earth; or that the rest of the events, described by John as being at the time be wrote on the point of accomplishment were then realised. If, therefore, trusting to the slender evidence supposed to be furnished by Irenaeus who did not write till a hundred years afterwards, we still adhere to the later date, reason and common sense will then compel us to conclude that the predictions of the Apocalypse have been falsified by time.
Referred to in Hebrews and 1st Peter - It is likely that at least two other New Testament authors who wrote their epistles in the last days of the Jewish dispensation and before the destruction of the Jewish temple (Hebrews 1, 2 ; ix. 8 ; I Peter iv. 7) had already seen and read the Revelation. Thus in the mention of the city that hath "the foundations" whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews xi. 10, Revised Bible), we have a manifest reference to Rev. xxi. 14 : " the wall of the city had twelve foundations." And the account of Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem given in the same epistle (Heb. xii. 22) agrees so minutely with the description thereof in the Revelation (xiv. 1-5) that it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the former has been directly derived from the latter. Of still greater interest and importance is the parallel between, Rev. vi. 9-11 and 1 Peter iv. 6. In the Apocalypse the martyred saints are represented as crying out to the Lord from beneath the altar, and inquiring how long it will be ere their murderers are judged and punished (compare Luke xviii. 7). In reply, they receive white robes as an outward declaration of their own justification and acceptance with God, and are comforted with the information that judgment will now tarry but a short, time, during which they will enjoy rest. It is almost certain that Peter, before writing the first epistle that bears his name, had already become familiar with this passage of the Apocalypse, and that his readers were also acquainted with it. He makes manifest allusion to these martyred saints in the passage (iv. 6) where he strives to encourage Christians amid their terrible sufferings by referring to certain of the dead to whom a " gospel " (or glad tidings) had been vouchsafed, assuring them that, though they had been condemned in the flesh by man's judgment, they were to live in the spirit by God's judgment.
It is also probable that the apostle James had read the book of Revelation before he wrote his epistle, for in ch. i. 12 (Blessed is the man that endureth temptation ; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love Him) he seems to be alluding to the promise contained in Rev. ii. 10 (Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life).
[1] "And He said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; but to the rest in parables ; that seeing they way not see, and hearing they may not understood - (Luke viii. 9, 10).
[2] "At supper time." "Come, for all things are now ready."
[3] The predictions of Daniel had to do with the remote future, and did not immediately concern his contemporaries. The meaning was therefore to remain hidden until near the appointed time of fulfillment. "Thou, 0 Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end! " On the other hand, the predictions of the Revelation were to be realised in the immediate future and intimately concerned the first readers of the book. The meaning was therefore to be clear to them from the first. " Seal not up the words of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand !"