Response of History to the Revelation

Introduction

The Revelation, usually termed “The Apocalypse,” from its Greek name, Ἀποκάλυψις, meaning “a disclosure, a revelation,” has been described to be “a panorama of the glory of Christ.” In the Evangelists we have the record of his humiliation, his condescension, his toil and sufferings, his patience, his mockings and scourgings by those who should have done him reverence, and finally his death upon the shameful cross, — a death esteemed in that age to be the most ignominious that men could inflict. In the Revelation we have the gospel of his enthronement in glory, his association with the Father upon the throne of universal dominion, his overruling providence among the nations of the earth, and his coming again, not a homeless stranger, but in power and great glory, to punish his enemies and reward his followers. “A voice has cried in the wilderness, ‘Behold the Lamb of God;’ a voice will soon proclaim from heaven, ‘Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah!’”DAR 321.1

Scenes of glory surpassing fable are unvailed before us in this book. Appeals of unwonted power bear down upon the impenitent from its sacred pages in threatenings of judgment that have no parallel in any other portion of the book of God. Consolation which no language can describe is here given to the humble followers of Christ in this lower world, in glorious views of Him upon whom help for them has been laid, — Him who has the key of David, who holds his ministers in his own right hand, who, though he was once dead, is now alive forevermore, and assures us that he is the triumphant possessor of the keys of death and of the grave, and who has given to every overcomer the multiplied promise of walking with him in white, having a crown of life, partaking of the fruit of the tree of life which grows in the midst of the paradise of God, and being raised up to sit with him upon his own glorious throne. No other book takes us at once, and so irresistibly, into another sphere. Long vistas are here opened before us, which are bounded by no terrestrial objects, but carry us forward into other worlds. And if ever themes of thrilling and impressive interest, and grand and lofty imagery, and sublime and magnificent description, can invite the attention of mankind, then the Revelation invites us to a careful study of its pages, which urge upon our notice the realities of a momentous future and an unseen world.DAR 321.2