There are some who appear to shrink from using any
testimony from the Book of Revelation, either from mistrusting their ability to
comprehend any part of it, or else from alarm at the additions to Holy
Scripture found in some of the professed expositions. But when the Book of
Revelation touches on common points of truth, every believer who knows what the
Cross of Christ has wrought, may feel in his soul a response as to such things
at least. Thus the thanksgiving, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from
our sins in His own blood...To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever” (1:5,6),
is one to which every believer can respond. [6]
So, too, in the heavenly scene in Chapter 5, where “thou art worthy” is the address to the Lamb once slain,
on the ground of the redemption wrought out in His blood. So, too, in Chapter 7, where the great multitude appear
before the throne: “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and
have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore
are they before the throne of God”, etc. Whatever difficulty there may be in
understanding Chapter 12, we
seem to find in verse 11 a key-note to connect us with those there spoken of: “And
they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives unto the death”: thus, whoever they are, it is
the blood of the same Saviour whom we know which is the ground of their
victory. Whatever the Revelation teaches as to redemption and its results has
an identity with what we know.
But it is not only the mention of the
blood of the Lamb which connects this book with our familiar thoughts; for
where it speaks of Resurrection, it tells us of one of the fundamental
verities of our faith, and one which may be the more illustrated from what we
here find.
In Revelation 20 we read of “the first Resurrection”.
The whole scene is thus described: “I saw thrones, and they sat upon them; and
judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and [those] which had not
worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon
their foreheads or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a
thousand years. (But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand
years were finished.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he
that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no
power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him
a thousand years”. This is not only a vision, but also an explanation. John is
taught what the thrones with certain sitting upon them meant. They are the
faithful in Christ in general (i.e. the whole family of faith from Abel
onward), and one special class, those suffering for the witness of our Lord Jesus;
and the glory given to them is explained to be the first resurrection. This is
in full accordance with other Scriptures; for instance, 1 Corinthians 15:23, where the order of the
resurrection is taught: “Every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits;
afterward (i.e. next in order), they that are Christ's at His Coming”.
The concluding part of 1 Thessalonians 4
equally connects the resurrection of the Church with the coming of Christ, so
that there can be no resurrection of the saints till then. And so in this
passage in Revelation 20; for
the narrative, both in vision and in explanation, runs on from the time when He
whose “name is called the Word of God” is seen on the White Horse, when the
beast and the kings of the earth and their armies are gathered to make war with
Him, and when destruction falls upon them: then it is that those recently
suffering under the persecuting power of this beast are sharers in the first
resurrection. Until the beast and his persecution are destroyed together, there
can be no first resurrection.
Thus, in the
teaching of Christ himself, and of His apostles, the one object before the
souls of believers is His own personal coming in manifested glory. This is our
hope; for then, in body and in spirit, we shall share His glory. That coming
will bring destruction on Gentile power then in its height of blasphemy and
persecution: then will Israel look on Him whom they pierced and mourn for Him:
then shall the spirit of grace and supplications be poured on them, and then
shall they know the fountain for sin and for uncleanness to be opened for them.
If we receive this
hope, as taught us from the Word of God, we must also see that it is given us
to strengthen and sustain during the intervening time; not as telling us that
there is no such interval (for God can only teach truth), but as sustaining us
through it; so that while we learn of false teachers and evil in the Church,
and while we know much of the course of sin and its fruits in the world, we
have before us the brightness of the morning to sustain during the darkness of
the night.
The ancient
prophecies of universal blessing must have their full accomplishment, but that
can never be till the Lord takes the dominion manifestly into His own hand.
During this dispensation the broad way is thronged by the many, while but few
find the narrow; all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must expect
persecution, at least in principle. Christ's people shall be hated of all
nations for His name's sake. But when the Lord comes, not only shall the Church
of the First-born enter into heavenly blessing, both in body and in spirit, but
restored and believing Israel shall know God's faithfulness to them, and then
shall the nations be blessed under the rule of Christ.
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[6] Although the object of this paper is not critical,
yet I may point out the ancient reading in Revelation 22:14: μακαριοι οι πλυνοντες τας στολας αυτων, “Blessed are they that wash their robes”, instead of
μακ. οι ποιουντες τας εντολας αυτου, “Blessed are they
that do His commandments”, or the common and recent text. This ancient reading
(confirmed by the recently discovered Codex Sinaiticus) is one which has
refreshed many a believing heart; for while it is true that those who are
accepted in grace are doers of His commandments, yet the ground of all blessing
is the blood of the Lamb that was shed, and this it is that entitles those
whose garments are washed, to enter into the holy city above. To prevent all
misconception, it is right to state that, although the ancient reading in Revelation
1:5 (quoted above) is τω αγαπωντι ημας και λυσαντι ημας, “to Him that
loveth us and freed us” (instead of τω αγαπησαντι ημας και λουσαντι ημας) “from our sins in
His own blood”, yet no part of the doctrine of redemption by blood is lost: we
are only thrown back from the present application of the blood to us, to the
far deeper thing, its having been given as the availing price of redemption.
The blood was the λυτρον given once for all. The first use that we have of λυω relates to
deliverance by price paid.
