//- 27, 2x 3fr0m % ffitbrar^ of tlf^ SItbrarg of Prinrrtnn Shwlngtral^ g^mtnarp -4;M-fo5"5 THE EEVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE BAIRD LECTURE, 1885 THE EEVELATION ^ ST. JOHN /^^- / By WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D. PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN Hontion MACMILLAN AND CO. 1886 All rights reserved. TO MY CHILDEEN PEEFACE In giving to the Public the following Lectures on The Revelation of St. John, the author can do little more than refer to the opening sentences of the first Lecture for a statement of his deep sense of that responsibility which he has felt to be involved in undertaking such a task. It is an old conviction with him that, so long as that book is retained in the Canon of the New Testament, the Church lies under an imperative obligation to endeavour to understand it, and that no difficulties met with in its interpretation can justify neglect of what she receives as a portion of the will of God revealed to her in Scripture. The present work is, therefore, simply an effort on the part of the writer to contribute what he can to the discharge of this responsibility ; and, in the circumstances; he can only hope that, whatever criticism his views may have to meet, he will not be charged with arrogance or self-sufficiency in expressing them. In publishing the Lectures the author labours under PREFACE. one great disadvantage, which he has found it impossible to overcome. They ought to have been accompanied by a series of Discussions on important texts of the Apocalypse, and on the principles adopted in their interpretation. Without these too much may seem at times to have been taken for granted, and many may be of opinion that assumptions have been made without their correctness having first been proved. To have attempted this would, however, have swelled the volume to an unreasonable extent. Whether such a series of Discussions may be published at some future day will depend on the amount of interest taken in the inquiries here pursued. Meanwhile the author would venture to refer to his " Commentary on the Apocalypse," in the Commentary on the New Testament, edited by Professor SchafiP, and published by the Messrs. Clark, Edinburgh. The views expressed in that Commentary have not indeed in every case been now adhered to. In par- ticular, the exposition there offered of Kev. xix. 11 to xxii. 5 has been modified in several particulars, of which the meaning assigned to the words "a little time " in chap. xx. 3, and to the " loosing " of Satan in connection with them, may ]Derhaps be said to be the most important. In other respects there is no material change ; and if, in alluding to this perplexing passage, the author reminds his readers that his inter- pretation of the " thousand years " was published long PREFACE. before ^ Kliefoth adopted a somewhat similar inter- pretation of the figure of time there used, he does this from no desire to claim originality, but that he may not be charged with not acknowledging obligations that have no existence. The list of books referred to at p. xv. is not to be regarded as a summary of the literature of the subject. It is no more than a list of those actually quoted in this work, and it is given where it is for a twofold purpose — that the references to these books may be afterwards shortened, and that the reader may see more clearly what particular editions it was in the writer's power to consult. In conclusion, the author has only to express his earnest hope, not that the view of the Apocalypse taken in this volume may be accepted as a whole, — that were too much to hope for, — but that his labours may help forward the study of one of the most in- structive, elevating, and consolatory portions of the sacred volume. The University, Aberdeen, March 18 843. ^ In Contemporary Eeview, September 1871. CONTENTS LECTURE I. Introductory. Introductory Remarks Object of the Course Book too frequently neglected . Considerations calling to the Study of the Book— 1. The book a part of Scripture 2. The book enjoins study of itself . 3. Special blessing attached to study of it Difficulties leading to the Neglect of the Apoca lypse — 1. Extravagance of many interpreters 2. Diversity of interpretations Nature of Figurative Language Book intended to be understood Characteristics of the Apocalypse — 1. It is given by means of visions . 2. The visions are presented by means of symbols (1) Suited to the writer and his readers . (2) Drawn from familiar objects (3) To be judged of with the feelings of a Jew (4) Fitted to truths expressed by them . (5) To be understood generally (6) To be interpreted always in the same way Care with which the Book is composed . PAGES 1—2 2—4 4 4—5 5—6 6 7—8 9—10 10—11 11—13 14—22 22—25 25—27 27—30 30—33 33—35 35—37 37—40 40 CONTENTS. LECTURE II. Influences moulding the ConccjJtioii of the Apocaly2)se. PAGES Preliminary Observations 41 — 42 The Apocalypse is moulded by — I. Our Lord's discourse in Matt. xxiv. . . . 42 — 59 Inquiry into division of Matt. xxiv. . . . 43 — 49 Corresponding division of Apocalypse . . . 49—59 II. St. John's recollections of the life of Jesus as con- tained in the fourth Gospel .... 59 — 70 III. The historical and prophetical books of the Old Testament 70 — 77 IV. Relation to apocalyptic literature of the time , . 77 — 80 LECTURE in. Part I. Structure and Plan of the AiJocalypse. General Remarks on Plan in Sacred Writings . 81 — 84 Special Structure of the Apocalypse — I. As moulded by numbers ...... 84 — 92 11. The symmetry of its parts 92 — 95 III. The synchronism of its visions .... 95 — 101 IV. The climactic character of its visions . . . 102 — 110 Part II. Minor Points of Structure. I. The principle of contrast ..... 110 — 114 II. The principle of anticipation 114 — 116 III. The principle of double representations of the same thing 116—119 IV. The ideal and actual aspects of tlie object . . 119 — 125 CONTENTS. LECTURE IV. The Interpretation of the Ajjocalypse. Systems of Apocalyptic Interpp.etation considered — I. The continuously historical. Objections to this System — PAGES 1. Irreconcilable Avith the leading features of the book 127—128 2. Would have rendered it useless to those ad- dressed by it 129—131 Further objections to this System — 1. Selection of events arbitrary .... 131 — 133 2. Selection of events often trifling . . . 133 3. Inconsistent with the sublime language of the book 133 4. Hopeless disagreement of interpretations . . 133 — 134 5. Erroneous character of interpretations . . 134 General Evils resulting from this System of Inter- pretation . 134 — 135 II. The Futurist- Objections to this System 135 — 139 III. The Praeterist— Objections to this System 139 — 146 General Principles of Interpretation — I. Apocalypse embraces the whole Christian Age . . 146 — 153 II. It deals with the action of great principles . . 153 — 156 III. It is to be interpreted in a spiritual sense . . 156 — 160 LECTURE V. Design and Scope of the Apocalypse. Character of the Time when it was written . . 161 — 163 Position of St. John 163 — 164 CONTENTS. History of Christ repeated in the History of His Church 1. The idea of conflict .... 2. The idea of preservation 3. The idea of triumph .... The Believing Remnant in the Church Appearing in the Epistles to the Churches Appearing in the Vision of Chap. xi. Appearing in the Description given of Babylon Warning against Degeneracy of the Church General Character of the Apocalypse Value of the Apocalypse . 164—165 . 165—169 . 169—173 . 173—176 176 [ES . 177 . . 179—181 ABYLON . 181—185 RCH . . 185—187 . 187—188 . 188—192 LECTURE yi. Exjjosition of Chaps, xix. 11 to xxii. 5. APPENDICES ENDIX I. II. HI. IV. The Authorship of the Apocalypse 235 — 249 Relation of the Apocalypse to the Fourth Gospel .... 250—301 The Date of the Apocalypse . . 302 — 338 Unity of the Apocalypse . . 339 — 343 It may he well to give here the full titles of the principal books referred to in the following work, and to say that the texts of the New Testament quoted in English are, with little exception, from the Revised Version. Alford, H The Greek Testament .... Lond., 1854. Andreas In Apocalypsin Commentaria, Bibl. Vet. Patrum. Ante-Nicene Christian Library Edin. Arethas Exijlanationes in Ajpocalypsin . Paris, 1631. AuBJE, B Histoire des Persecutions de VEglise Paris, 1875. AuBERLEN, C. A. ..The Prophecies of Daniel, and the Revelation of St. John . . Edin., 1856- AuGUSTiNUS Be Civitate Dei .... Tauchnitz, 1825. Baur, F. C KritischeUntersuchungeniiber dieKanonischen Evangelien Tubingen, 1847. Beck, G. T Erkldrung der Offenharung Johannis, Cap. i.-xii. . Gliterslolie, 1884. Beyschlag Die Offenharung. Biblical Review, and Congregational Magazine . . . .1846. Bleek, F Lectures on the Apoccdypse, edited by Davidson . . . Lond., 1875. British and Foreign Evangeliccd Review. Bruston, C Le Chiffre 666 Paris, 1880. Candlish, K. S....27ie Fatherhood of God, 5th edit. Edin., 1869. Charteris, A. H...Ca?io?imii/ Edin., 1880. LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO. Commentary on the New Testament, edited by Scliaff. Vol. ii., The Gospel of St. John, by Drs. Milligan and Moulton, referred to as Gomm. Edin., 1880. Vol. iv., The Revelation of St. John, by Dr. Milligan, referred to as Comm Edin., 1883. Daubuz, C A Perpetual Commentary on the Revelation of St. John Lond,, 1720. Davidson, S Introduction to the New Testament Lond., 1868. DeWette, W. M. Ij. Einleitung in das N. T., 4te Ausg Berlin, 1842. Dictionary of the Bible : Sniitb Lond. Dictionary of Christian Biography : Smith and Wace Lond. DoLLiNGER The first age of Christianity, translated by Oxenbam, 2d edition Lond., 1867. DiJSTERDiECK, F Krit.-Exeget Handhuch iiher die Offenbarung Johannis, 2teAusg Gottingen, 1865. Elliott, E. H Horoi Apocalypticce, 3d edit. . Lond., 1 847. EusEBius Eccles. History, translated by Cruse, 4tli edit. . . . Lond., 1847. Ewald, H Die Johanneischen Schrif- ten Gottingen, 1861. Expositor, The. Fairbairn, P On Prophecy Edin., 1856. Farrar, F. W The Life of Christ, 5th edit. . . Lond. Frommann Der Johann. Lehrbegriff . . Leipzig, 1839. Fuller, T. L Die Offenbarung Johannis Nordlingen, 1874. Gebhardt, H The Doctrine of the Apocalypse Edin., 1878. Gieseler Eccles. History Edin. LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO. GoDET, F Studies on the Neio Testament Loud., 1876. Herder, J. G. VON.. jre?-Z:, where -vve read of the angels "hundreds" {U. S., ii. i>. 420). prepared "for the hour and day -^ Thus the "hail" of chap, and month and year," "at the ex- xi. 19 is applied by Elliott first to l)iration of these periods of time nations, and then in particular to aggregated together" (H. A., i. p. the nations of the North {U. S., 489). iii. p. 288). - The same author applies ^ Comp. Fairbairn On Prophcq/, "thousands" to provinces after [». 141. IV. THE INTERPEETATIOK 135 in the Bible, but has taught them to use a book not less fitted to humble than to elevate the heart, as a store- house of weapons for every species of partizanship, recrimination, and strife. The system has, indeed, been supported by men whom in every other respect it is alike a duty and a delight to honour ; but, however numerous or illustrious its defenders, it may be said without exaggeration that nothing has tended more to diminish the value and to discredit the general accept- ance of the Eevelation of St. John. The taste, however, for such interpretation is rapidly passing away, probably never to return. II. A second system of interpretation is proposed. According to this view almost the whole, if not the whole, book belongs to a future which may be even yet distant. It relates exclusively to the Second Coming of the Lord, with its attendant signs and circumstances ; " and we are therefore to look for the fulfilment of its predictions neither in the early persecutions and heresies of the Church nor in the long series of centuries from the first preaching of the Gospel until now, but in the events which are immediately to precede, to accompany, and to follow the Second Advent of our Lord and Saviour." ^ This system of interpretation is no more defensible than the last. That it possesses an element of truth it is indeed impossible to deny. The Apocalypse does deal in a most distinct and emphatic manner with the Second Coming of the Lord; and every description ^ Todd's Lectures, p. 68. 136 THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. lect. which it gives, whether of the destruction of the ungodly or of the protection and blessedness of the Saints, has reference to that event. From the beginning to the end of the whole book the Seer is continually in the presence of the great day, with all in it that is at once so majestic and terrible. The Lord comes : He comes quickly : He is knocking at the door. Such is the attitude in which He is always presenting Himself to the believing and the watchful heart. But it by no means follows from this, that St. John has passed over the events alike of his own time and of all succeeding centuries till the last moment comes, and that he mentions nothing but what is to occur in a few closing years of the Christian Dispen- sation. Were it really so his prophecy would have been deprived of a large measure of its value for those to whom it was originally addressed. Nor could even the Church of any later age have seen it in the power of present and immediate reality, because it could never have been possible to recognise in their true character the events of which it speaks until Christ were come. Even the Church living on the very eve of the Lord's return would not know that it was the eve, until she looked back upon it from the full light of the following day. The meaning of the prophetic intimations of the book would be uncertain, and the issue could alone interpret them. The Church, therefore, could never, upon this system, apply the lessons of the Apocalypse directly to herself, because she could never know whether her lot had been cast in the days alluded to until the days were over. IV. THE INTERPRETATION. 137 The main considerations, however, against this system spring, as in the case of the system already spoken of, from a just interpretation of the book. Let us look at one or two clauses particularly depended on, — "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show unto His servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass ;" ^ " Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, for the time is at hand;"^ " He which testifieth these things saith,Yea: I come quickly."^ Upon what principle of interpretation, we may well ask, is it possible to find in expressions such as these no more than an intimation that the events which are to precede and accompany the Second Advent of the Lord shall take place in a short and rapid space of time P On what principle can we imagine that, in thus speaking, the Seer intended to throw himself forward hundreds of years ; and to say only that, when the winding up of the drama came, it would be brief ? We must start from the circumstances amidst which he was placed when he wrote, and from that point measure the time that was to elapse to the end. AYhen he said " Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy," he certainly had in view^ the readers and the hearers of his own age ; and when, therefore, he immediately added, "for the time is at hand," he not less certainly intended that the course of " the time" thus spoken of was to take its beginning from their day. Throughout the whole book the Church 1 Chap. i. 1. ■■= Chap. xxii. 20. 2 Chap. i. 3. ^ Todd's Lectures, p. 65. 138 THE EEVELATION OF ST. JOHX. lect. is addressed as she was when the Apostle wrote, and is told what was to be done to her and for her at the instant when she first read the prophecy. Another exegetical difficulty in the way of this system of interpretation, and one hardly less fatal than that now spoken of, arises from the necessity involved in it of applying an extreme literalism to what is said both of the duration and of the events of the closing scenes. The three and a half years, for example, or forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days, frequently mentioned in the latter half of the book, must be understood simply of the space of time which the words express in ordinary language. For otherwise they can only be interpreted according to the usual symbolism of numbers prevailing elsewhere in the Apocalypse ; and this, in the light of history, would imply a length of time incompatible with that literal interpretation of the j)hrases "the time is short" and " I come quickly " upon which the system rests. The same consideration makes it necessary to refer each vision of the book, from the opening of the first seal onward, to events which are either immediately to precede or to accompany the Second Advent. The coming forth of Christ under the first Seal, " conquering and to conquer;" the wars and famines and pestilences of the next three Seals ; even the slaughter of Christian martyrs pointed at, upon the supposition with which we are now dealing, under the fifth Seal ; the whole subse- quent development of the Trumpets and the Bowls, and the fall of Babylon, — every one of these must IT. THE INTERPRETATION. 139 belong to Christ's appearance the second time without sin unto salvation. Nay, it ought rather to be said that they folloio that appearance, for the first Seal must be interpreted of the Second Advent,^ and no one will deny that, in point of time, it takes precedence of the remaining visions of the Seer. Such an idea, however, cannot be entertained for an instant. But this literalism is not confined to such things. It connects itself also w^ith views as to the rebuildinsj of the temple, the restoration of the Jewish polity, the settlement of the Jews in the ancient inheritance of their fathers, and their predominance, alike in dignity and Christian work, among the other nations of the earth, of which it is not too much to say that they are out of keeping both with the general revelation of the New Testament, and with that method of interpreting the prophecies of the Old Testament which is suggested in the New. This second system can no more be accepted than the first. III. The two systems of interpretation now con- sidered have no longer the weight that they once had in the mind of the Church. Within recent years they may be said to have been in great measure superseded by another which asserts for itself an exclusive possession of the improved methods of modern re- search.- It demands, therefore, and is entitled to, our ^ Todni'B Lectures, p. 99. says Reiian, "the Gosj^el is the 2 There is something extra- book of Jesus, the Apocalypse is ordinary in the confidence with thebookof Nero" (X'^?i^.,p. 477). which this third system of inter- Archdeacon Farrar describes the pretation is urged upon us. "If," Nero -story as the key of the 140 THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. lect. attention. Upon this third system it is supposed that the Apocalypse is confined to events either surrounding the Seer or immediately to follow — in particular to the overthrow of Judaism and heathenism, of degenerate Jerusalem, and of pagan liome. These two great enemies of the Christian faith were face to face with the Apostle. His heart was torn by the sufferings which they inflicted iipon the flock of Christ ; but he knew that the risen and glorified Eedeemer was against them ; and, in the glowing pictures of a righteous indignation, he prophesied of their fall. The system possesses, like the last, an element of truth. It may he at once allowed that from what he beheld around him, either fully developed or in germ, the Seer did draw those lessons as to the dealings of God with the Church and with the world which he applies to all time. He starts from contemporary history, and it is quite possible that at the bottom of each judgment which he depicts, when he does not rely simply upon the Old Testament, there may be something which his own eyes have seen or his own ears heard. Nor can it be urged that to speak of events of his own day alone would have been unworthy of his inspiration, for the same reasoning would deprive of permanent value mucli of the teaching of the New Testament. Nay, it is not even a just argument against this method of interpretation that, if it be true, the contents of tlie book have been falsified in important particulars by hook {Expositor, ^layl881, p. 335). otliors attacli e