The Farmville herald and farmer-leader. (Farmville, Va.) 1934-1957, 1956-09-14

Testament said Of
Revelation that it - -
did not seem to LII. brennan
be either apostolic or prophetic. He
came to think better of it, but he
never did print Revelation except
as an appendix to the New Testa-
nent. Zwingli, the Swiss reformer,
considered Revelation mot Bibli-
cali, and John Calvin. who wrote
commentaries on m o t every
other book of the Bible. never I'M
dertook to write on Revelation.
4 Strange Book
One Of the reasons why so many
distinguished Christians have had
difficulty with the book Of Revola-
ton is the simple one: it is eN-
tremely hard to understand Its
pages swarm with weird monsters,
tire and blood flow through IFS
scenes; it is loud with the agonieS
II a crashing universe. Literally
hundreds Of persons. fascinated by
the puzzles here, have written out
their answers in books and COM
mentaries; but the very fact that
these commentators do not agree
among themselves is eloquent tes-
timony to the fact that no one yet
has found the key that gives an
answer the whole church accepts.
What makes the book so strange is
that il is written in the language Of
symbols. AS one eminent conScrNa-
tive scholar, DR.. Wartield, said
with some eXaG gcration}, every
thing in the book means something
else. The author as it were puts US
on notice when he tells US himself
that his stars mean angels and
lampstands' mean churches. and
incense means prayers. Even
the numbers in this book are sym.
bolic-that is, not to count With but
to express ideas. Readers who wish
to pursue the study of Revelation
more fully should write to their
denominational headquarters and
inquire whether their church has
authorized some particular inter-
probation Of this book So wide are
the disa sreements that this writer
could not recommend any one book
without raising objections from
some part Of the church or other.
Some Things Are Clear
Sunday school lesson planners
seldom select from Revelation; but
those who planned our current Sc
ries. used in more than 50 denomi-
nations, wisely selected three stud
les based on parts Of Revelation
about which there can be little dis
pute. For some things in this OBJ
scure book are clear as day: and
it is probably in gratitude for these
things, rather than in hope Of I'M
travelling all the knots, that the
church. in spite Of its uncertain
ties. has kept this book at the end
Of the Bible all these centuries.
One Of the clearer and bestowed
sections is in the first three chap
ters. where we have seven letters
to seven churches Of Asia Minor.
There is obscurity here too: but
q also much light Thos seven
churches have gone the way of all
flesh, long since. But in those
sharply etch e d pen-pictures the
modern reader can see portraits.
amazingly modern, which come
close to describing churches we all
have seen.
Christ in Mis- Churches
The warnings and the promises
to those far-off and long gone
churches are good today for us.
One thing stands out in every one
OF these short piercing MESA ges
to the seven churches': Every
true church-then, now always
is true one only when and so long
as it keeps faithful to Christ, so
long as he can be satisfied with it.
What are the points of church
Christ approves? The reader Of
Revelation can make his own list
and should not skip the first two
in the very first letter: hard work
and patient endurance ito follow
Moffatt's translation) 1t should be
noted too that even in the church
most praised tEphesus) the thing
that comes in for blame is their
let-down of love. FoI of all things
that make church weak and I'M
Christian. loss of love is the most
serious. Even Christ's severest
judgments are judgments of love.
To the weakest and worst church
OF the seven, the word is, LAS
many IS love, I rebuke."
tBasee On outlines ecevt!ss..4 ~ -.
Division o. Ch,.sa.r Ld..e.io-. M
uenAl Council 81 the Churches 81 ts-.s.
is the L. s. A Released :, Communist,
Press Service
SEEKS NEW JOB AT 70