THE APOCALYSE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20418, 26 May 1928, Page 23

THE APOCALYSE.

Written for the Otago Daily Times By the Key. D. Gardner Miller.

One of the most interesting and curious books in the world is the Book of Revelation. Readers of this book can be divided, roughly, into two classes, those who believe that it foretells the future, and those who cannot tell you what it means, but are puzzled by it, although they appreciate the devotional aspect of the book. It is a book upon which eminent scholars have laboured to bring out and make clear its intrinsic meaning. The pity of it is (and I speak with trembling) that the average pulpit makes little or no attempt to inform the pew of the findings of scholarship. To do so in the case of the Book of Revelation would not only allav the timid fears of many people, but would put- a very decided check on the wil'h extravagant, fantastic phophetie In- called) statements that pass muster Ijt thought and knowledge and with which many in the Church are being inculcated. However men may differ as to the authorship of this strange book, there can surely be no doubt as to its being a first century document. That alone fills in the background of the book. Given a knowledge of the social, political, and religious ideas that percolated through society during the last decade of the first century, and many of the queer and highly-coloured references in the book are at once explained. Not that anyone to j day can fully understand and explain this book, though the devotional as distinct from the prophetic portion will always hold and attract nun. I maintain, howe-sri that the km- iedge regarding first century conditio’' 'hot is at the disposal of the ave’’" - nvs‘or, would, if utilised, go a long >mv towards rescuing this wonderful look from the hands of those who imagine that the last thing God wants to do is to speak plainly. The Book of Revelation is really A TRACT FOR THE TIMES.

The Church was having a “rough spin. It was up against (a) the entrenched traditions of hoary and ancient religions that provided for the people picturesque pageantry and an accommodating moral code, (b) the demands of the State, which openly included “ Emperor Worship,’’ and mferentially included the subjugation of the individual conscience. There were things, but these two -.re suflu'i indicate the back ere of the “ t. In the Church itscii there was still t..e strong, if indefinite, apocalytical belief that Christ was soon coming in person, and that His coming would he the wind-up of the existing world order and the ushering in of a new rule. And so we have this narchment passing from company to company (remember, it was written to and for the church) . with its wonderful message to chose who were and wavering.

Naturally, the meanings are veiled (apocalypse means “hidden” or ” secret ” things) the writer being steeped in and adopting apocalytical language, ydiich had been a feature of Jewish literature for two and a-half centuries—tfor the references to “ the powers that be,” if found out, would have meant the entire extinction of the Christian co’ony, Even to road the book casually is to realise that the stinging and rallying call of the author to the distressed churches is “NO COMPROMISE!'” Ho reminds them that their allegiance is duo to Christ, not Caesar. ; He advocates passive resistance, and shows that the “ conquerors ” are those who gladly welcome death for the faith. It was a stirring call. One has only to think for a moment of the terrible and seductive temptation placed before the Christian in those early days. Bum a little incense to the Emperor! It seems but a minor thing. But it wasn't. It went to the root of a man’s belief. It virtually meant the denial of the Divinity ot Christ and a denial that He was the only - manifestation of God among men. It is not to be wondered at that many, knowing what resistance meant, wavered and fell. It is astonishing that so many held true. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” The iwentif lh century church could well take to heart this stirring call of “no compromise.” But there is another, and a gigantic, message lying at the heart of this wonderful book. It is the deliberate assertion of the ' LORDSHIP OF CHRIST. It is Jesus—the same Jesus who lived and died- in Palestine—Who is now on the throne of the universe. Nothing can defeat God’s purposes, says the author, for victory is ours through the “ Lamb.” ft would take too much space for me to track this thought through the book—but do it yourself at your leisure, and you will be uplifted. The enemies of God do not prosper. God’s people will emerge victorious. There is no thought of defeat in the book. It must have been a wonderful tonic to the distressed, church o the first century.