We now open the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, in which we find the consummation of the gospel of the grace of God, the culmination of His eternal purpose. We shall appreciate the contents of this book better if we give attention to the historical setting. We, of course, accept the conservative view, and hold that the apostle John wrote the Revelation in the reign of the emperor Domitian, just before the close of the first century A. D. Note the long train of significant events which have occurred since the time of Daniel the prophet. At the close of the seventy years of captivity, Jerusalem was rebuilt, but the Jews were ever afterward a subject people. In the period between the prophesying of Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, and the first advent, various religious parties had appeared, the doctrine of a personal Messiah of the family of David had been largely superseded by the expectation of the Messianic times in which the Jews would enjoy great prosperity, and tradition and a cold legalism were the controlling factors in the religion of the time.
But changes of great significance soon came about. Just at the time foretold by the prophet Daniel, the Messiah had appeared. In fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering servant, He had been rejected and crucified. He had arisen from the dead and ascended to heaven. According to His promise, and in fulfillment of Joel's prophecy, He had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven, and Pentecost marked the beginning of a new day in the triumph of the gospel. The good news of the crucified, risen, and returning Saviour had been proclaimed in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, and Christian churches had sprung up in many parts of the Roman Empire. The rider on the white horse " came forth conquering, and to conquer." The mystery of iniquity had already commenced to work, and although the Synoptic Gospels and practically all the epistles had been written and circulated, yet various perversions of the truth had sprung up, and the Person and the work of the ascended Lord, and the experiences through which the church was to pass before the final triumph, needed to be clearly and finally defined by one who had been an intimate companion of the man, Jesus of Nazareth. It was fitting that he who had reclined upon the bosom of the Great Teacher should be the instrument used for such an unfolding of the mystery of God.
The Person of Christ in the Fourth Gospel
There is an intimate relation between the two books written by the apostle John, his Gospel and the Revelation, although each book has a definite aim entirely distinct from the other. The Person of Christ stands out very prominently in the Gospel, as is indicated by the frequency with which the personal names are used. Jesus, Jesus Christ, and Christ are found 260 times, while in the other three Gospels taken together the same names occur only 360 times. The family name Jesus is emphasized by its use 241 times, thus making it clear that it is the manifestation of this Person as a man among men which is found in this book.
But it is the distinct aim of the apostle John in writing his Gospel to furnish a basis for implicit confidence that Jesus of Nazareth, while truly a man among men, is more than a man, even the Son of God, and God, who is our life. Note his own statement: " Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ [the Messiah], the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His name." John 20: 30, 31.
Jesus declared Himself to be the life (John 14: 6), and "to have this life is equivalent to entering into the kingdom of God." (Cf. John 3: 3, 5.) Therefore the gospel of light, and love, and life in the Gospel of John is the true gospel of the kingdom, the same gospel which was preached by Daniel and his companions in Babylon, according to the book of Daniel.
The Death of Christ in the Fourth Gospel
But it should also be noted that the thought of the death of Christ permeates John's Gospel. It is plainly suggested when John the Baptist pointed Him out as " the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29. It is plainly indicated in the words of Jesus uttered at the beginning of His ministry: " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John 2:19. We are at once told that " He spake of the temple of His body." Verse 21. It is more plainly stated in the interpretation of the lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness: " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." John 3:14.
One can hardly escape the conviction that when Jesus discoursed about the bread of life, and about eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of man, He was foreshadowing the ordinance of the Lord's supper, concerning which it is said, " As often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death." 1 Cor. 11: 26. Every reference to the glorification of Jesus of Nazareth is a direct suggestion of His death. (Cf. John '7: 39; 12: 23, other reference than to His death. The words, " I am the resurrection " (John 11: 25), are meaningless apart from His own death and resurrection. The prophecy of Caiaphas announced " that
Jesus should die for the nation." (See John 11: 49-51.) Jesus Himself foretold the manner of His death. John 12: 32, 33. When Jesus declared to His disciples, " Greater love path no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends " (John 15: 13), He was assessing the value of His own love manifested by His death. In His talk with the disciples the night before His crucifixion, Jesus plainly forecast His death and resurrection in saying, " A little while, and ye behold Me no more; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me." John 16: 16. In His closing prayer to His Father on the night of His betrayal, Jesus openly declared, " I am no more in the world." Then came in swift succession the betrayal, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. Thus in reading the Gospel of John we are walking in the shadow of the cross all the way from the first chapter, and the great message of this book is the good news of eternal life in the kingdom of God provided for us through the death and resurrection of Him who is both the Son of man and the Son of God, the light and the life of men.
Christ and His Cross in the Book of Revelation
It will not require any deep study of the book of Revelation to make it clear that Christ and His cross stand out with great emphasis in it, just as they do in the Gospel of John, but with a marked difference. In the Gospel we deal with the Person of Christ and His death largely as historical events, with a very limited interpretation of their wondrous meaning, while in the Revelation we contemplate the living Christ who died and rose again, and who walks among the churches as the Son of man, and who yet from the throne in heaven orders the events of the centuries according to the eternal purpose, and leads His people on to the climax of all history in the coming down of the New Jerusalem as the capital city of the kingdom of God upon earth, in which are found " the throne of God and of the Lamb." Rev. 22:1. This is " the gospel that our Saviour came in person to make known to His servant John."—" Education," p. 191.
The degree to which the book of Revelation is saturated with the manifestation of the Person of Christ is suggested in the first verse: " The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show unto His servants." The gospel of Christ is Christ Himself. The revelation of Christ is Christ Himself, whether that revelation is made in deeds or in words. That which is of value in history or prophecy is the revelation of Christ. A revelation of Christ in action was granted to the apostle John, a revelation of the power of the risen Christ to cast the devil out of heaven, to conquer him and to take from him his kingdom of this world through the efficacy of the cross, and to cast him finally into the lake of fire, while at the same time as " King of kings and Lord of lords " He brings the faithful followers of the Lamb to a place with Him on His throne. In this book we do not contemplate the divine attributes of the Saviour of the world as a mere theological inquiry, but we behold Him revealing these attributes in the closing scenes of His redeeming work.
