November, 1936
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
42?
us a kingdom, in which we are kings and “priests unto God and his Father.” To Him is ascribed glory and dominion for ever (v. 6). III. T he D eclaration of the P rophecy (7, 8). The prophecy concerns the “Day of the Lord,” which is not the hope of the church, but the testimony of the church to the world in the present age. The church bears testimony to the second coming of Christ, and the prophecy of Enoch reveals the char acter of the church’s testimony to the world (cf. Jude 14). This announcement of the Lord’s coming is immediately confirmed (v. 8) by the words, “Even so, Amen.” The One who makes the confirmation is the Alpha and Omega (the words being the beginning and end letters of the Greek alphabet), indicat ing that the person speaking covers all. He has said all that there is to be said—He is the Subject of all Scripture, the beginning and ending of all creation and all historical ages, and the Creator of all worlds and all creatures. He is God, as is indicated by the words “which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” This evi dences Jehovah’s unchangeableness, show ing eternity in control of all history, the center of all movements, the eternal Father with power to fulfill all of His counsels. IV. T he V ision (9-16). The circumstances and occasion of the vision occurred while John was in exile on the Patmos Isle because of his testimony to the word of God (v. 9). Consequently we are led to believe that this was during the time of the ruler Domitian rather than dur ing the reign of Nero, for Domitian pun ished Christians by exiling them, while Nero burned them or threw them to the lions. John calls himself a “brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the king dom and patience of Jesus Christ.” We have in his words four marks of the true church: it is a brotherhood in Christ, it meets suffering for Christ, it possesses the royalty of Christ, and it lives in the hope of the coming of Christ, when the world kingdom, dwelt in by means of patience, will be changed far the heavenly kingdom and the future everlasting glory (cf. 1 Thess. 2:12). Two views are held concerning what John calls the “Lord’s day” (v. 10), the day on which John received the vision. One states the meaning as being that John was translated into the future day, called the Day of the Lord, and that he saw the events then transpiring; the other states that the expression refers to the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day. On that day, John saw “one like unto the Son of man” walking in the midst of the seven candlesticks (revealed later as mean ing the churches), and acting as Judge of the church, of Israel, and of the world (vs. 12-16). John was directed to write what he saw and to send it to the seven churches in Asia (v. 11). He saw One dressed as a royal priest, yet not engaged in priestly service for He was girt about the paps instead of the loins, set ting Him anart as a Judge. The whiteness
Helping China’s Helpless Help Themselves Shall the tru s t an d faith of a th o u san d children be broken? They lift ap p ealin g h ands in th e nam e of C hrist. Do n o t fail them . Beautiful Gifts From the Orient
H and em broidery by th e children of the H om e:— handkerchiefs, d resser sets, scarfs, doilies, etc.— b eau tifu l colors. E v ery stitc h a p ray er. Lovely and econom ical as gifts. Proceeds from the sales help su p p o rt th is faith w ork, one of th e la rg e st C hristian orphanages in th e O rient, established tw en ty years. Feed the Hungry— Clothe the Naked M illions a re d e stitu te an d d esp erate in w ar-to rn China. Suicide is comm on, cannibalism is reso rted to. H elp us save all we can fo r C hrist. A id us w ith y o u r p ray ers and efforts. Write for price list of hand embroidery and other articles for gifts and personal use. Also free booklet. "Helping China’s Helpless." of His hair speaks of the Ancient of Days, the perfection of wisdom; “his eyes . . . as a flame of fire” signifies absolute holiness that sees all, no root of hypocrisy escaping His knowledge or gaze; His feet, like re fined brass, would refer to the firmness from which there is no escape, the judging of evil; His voice, the sound of many waters, places man in proper relationship of humility before Him. The stars represent angels, or messengers of the churches. The One in the midst, having dominion over all, holds the stars in His hand as He walks among the churches (cf. Rev. 2 and 3). Out of His mouth pro ceeds the sharp two-edged sword of eternal justice giving out exact and perfect right eousness. Finally, His face shines “as the sun shineth in his strength,” showing forth the fullness of revelation, and reminding one of the radiance seen on the Mount of T ransfiguration. Hence, the shining One is the possessor, guardian, and examiner of the church, which is to be the light of the world by al lowing His glory to shine through her. The exhortations and warnings of this book are given with respect to the Lord’s second coming to earth, not in connection with the rapture of the church in the air. The lat ter event is a part of salvation, and is wholly of grace (cf. 1 Thess. 4; 1 Cor. 15). To remember this fact will be to possess a clear view of the Revelation, and it will put to flight all of the thoughts concerning a so-called partial rapture of the church either before or during the period of tribu lation. V. T h e C onsequence of th e V ision (17, 18). Filled with fear, awe and reverence gen dered by a sight of perfect holiness, John, upon seeing the vision, fell as one dead. (Compare the experiences of Daniel, Isaiah, Paul, and others.) Im m e d iate ly he receiv ed assu ran ce through hearing the words, “Fear not.” Such fearlessness and assurance is grounded in the death and resurrection of our Lord (v. 18), and this assurance is available to every true believer. Christ is the One who has died, is alive, and holds the keys of death and Hades (R. V.), the One who is Victor over all of His enemies. It is He to whom the Christian must look for victory.
. . . .
Address: Gtrls doing cross-stitch embroidery HOME of ONESIPHORUS 2811 N. Racine Ave., Chicago, III.
Points and Problems In this lesson the most important problem of interpretation concerns the meaning of the phrase, “on the Lord’s day” (v. 10). There are two main views, the first being that the Lord’s day refers to Sunday, and that the writer of the book of Revelation merely stated the day of the week on which he saw his visions. The second view re gards the phrase as being a direct reference to the great “day of the Lord," well-known to Old Testament prophecy, and that John “in the Spirit” was actually transported for ward into that “day” and saw passing be fore his eyes in panoramic detail its tre mendous events and judgments. I believe that the latter view is the correct one for several reasons. 1. It seems rather trivial for the writer of Revelation to digress from the solemn and tremendous theme of his book for the purpose of merely naming the day of the week upon which he had his experience. Various commentators who hold the first view have felt that difficulty. 2. The attempts to show that there is a serious grammatical difference between “the day of the Lord” and “the Lord’s day” have not been successful. As Seiss has long ago pointed out, our English translators have often employed both modes of expressing the genitive case of the same noun, both in Hebrew and Greek. A perfect parallel in the Greek may be found in comparing 1 Corinthians 10:21 with 11:20. The former passage is rightly translated in the Revised Version, “the table of the Lord," and the latter, “the Lord’s supper." Certainly no one would argue that we have here two different things merely because two differ ent grammatical forms are employed to ex press the idea of possession. 3. In the prophecy in the Old Testa ment concerning the events of the end of time, the central theme is “the day of the Lord.” Since the Book of Revelation is rec ognized by all scholars as a mosaic and an expansion of Old Testament prophecy, we should expect to find some specific reference to that great Day. 4. It is an undisputed fact that the great events of the Book of Revelation are pre cisely the great events described by the Old Testament prophets, who placed them in that final day which they name over and over as “the day of the Lord." How per-
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs