Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-12-01

Dec. ., 1916.
ooldsu Texts Pear not; an the hrst
ana the last, and the Living ones ana 1
was dead, and behold, am alive Tor
svermore." Rev. 1;l7-17.
Probably the Revelation is one Of the
least understood books and this is large
" because of the difficulty Whlch an
Occidental mind has Of grasping the Orl-
entail method Of thought and symbolism
The book is not difficult. though, II We
understand certain principles OF inter-
pretation: when these are understood
Il will become TO you what it has become
, 10 many who have studied it-one OF
the most interesting. If not the most IN
teresting book in the Bible.
THE BOOK ITSELF.
Space forbids an extended study or
II here. Let US, however. grasp these
things about il. Ii is not Johns reVela-
rion, but 1t is the revelation OF Jesus
10 John Possibly We can get the mean
ing better IL we give II another title
The dwelling OF Jesus Christ 10
John" In other words. on that Sunday
morning on the Isle of Patmos, the veil
was taken away so that John minght see
Jesus Verse Is. which was his COM
mission 10 write, gives Us what was I'M
Wetle0 10 niEE-IESlS AAAAA1N- AAAAASNa-
: Jesus Christ and His Church; and Jesus
Christ and His Kingdom; or the things
thou hast seen" the things which
are" and the things which shall be"
hereafter.
This gives us the three-fOld division
Of the hook. The first chapter is the
first division. revealing Jesus Christ
Himself The second and third chapters
constitute the second division. and un-
veil Jesus Christ and His church. the
things (which are" The third division,
or the major portion Of !Ls book. Is from
the fourth chapter through the twenty
second. and shows US Jesus Christ and
his Kingdom, or the things which shall
be hereafter" We have 4 vision OF what
takes place after the church period is
ever, and preparatory 10 the establish
ment OF His kingdom, when His WORK
shall have been completed and God shall
be all and in all. This period, which
Is given TO US in ever increasing detail
corresponds with the seventeen week OF
Daniel, chapter nine.
Another thing that must be considered
in understanding the Revelation is that
IL is symbolism. These symbols are
Sound in MANY of the Old Testament
prophets, particularly in Isaiah, Zacha-
riah, Ezekiel and Daniel What the SYM
boIs meant TO them must be learned, anu
that meaning applied here. For instance,
the number seven occurs frequently.
That was symbolic OF perfection The
horn was symbolic OF power. the head
OF wisdom So when a vision is seen OF
a beast with seven heals and seven
horns IL is symbolic OF perfect wisdom
and perfect power. So also the number
OF the beast was $50. the beast was d
fsrocious evil being who was striving
20 be everything that Christ was. Whose
number would have been ~; but his Is
only SOS. the number OF man and not OF
God. ahd fails OF perfection in units anO
tens and hundreds in every respect.
Another thing that must be cOnsid-
cred in studying this book is the law
OF recurrence. An event or series o
events viii be described in outline, anu
then the next few verses or chapters
will describe Il IN detail Thus the seals
and the trumpets and the Walls are no,
consecutive nor simultaneous. but paral-
IeI. The seals express the general events
OF the last times in outline The trump
cts give the details OF the judgment OF
the world kingdoms preparatory 10 the
establishment OF Christ's kingdom Be
tween the sixth and seventh trumpet the
righteous are gathered in for the reward
ter the harVestl. and the unrighteOu.
are gathered in for judgment Cor the
vintage). The Walls are the details Of
the vintage
The seventh Seal, the seventh Trum-
pet and the seventh Vial are one and the
same There are catch phrases in each
of these which identify them. The an
gel is seen ''in heaven" the prayers OF
the saints" come from beneath the al
tar" The kingdom Of Christ is 'estab-
Iished' amidst thunder and earth
quakes and lightnings." Study them
for yourselves Space fOrbids details
here
There are two other characteristics
of the Book which must be considered
All OF Johns writings have as distinc-
tive features. the prologue and the cpl
IoEue. The first six verses of the first
chapter constitute the prologue. and the
last fourteen verses OF the last chapter
the epilogue. Attention TO these charac-
teristics which have been mentioned viii
clear up many of the difficulties that