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COMMENTARY
ON
THE NEW TESTAMENT
HANDBOOK
TO THE
REVELATION OF JOHN
BY
FRIEDRICH DÜSTERDIECK, D.D.,
OBER-CONSISTORIALRATH, HANNOVER.
TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRD EDITION OF THE GERMAN, AND EDITED WITH NOTES,
BY
HENRY E. JACOBS, D. D.,
NORTON PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, PHILADELPHIA, PENN.
NEW YORK:
FUNK & WAGNALLS, PUBLISHERS,
18 & 20 ASTOR PLACE.
1887.
COPYRIGHT, 1886,
BY FUNK & WAGNALLS.
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION
This volume is offered as a help to such study. Its author, Dr. Fr. Düsterdieck, is well known as a writer on Apologetics, and still continues to publish exegetical papers in Luthardt’s Zeitschrift für kirchliche Wissenschaften and elsewhere. He has furnished us with perhaps the most important commentary on this book which we thus far possess. His spirit is reverent and devout, his judgment generally calm and discriminating, his investigations wide and exhaustive. Although we concede so much, we are by no means ready to indorse his opinions on all the subjects presented, and in several of his long discussions we regard his judgment, which is ordinarily trustworthy, as seriously at fault. In revulsion from the assumptions of the Tübingen school, which conceded the apostolic origin of the Book of Revelation, and then from that basis endeavored to prove, because of dissimilarity of style, etc., the non-Johannean origin of the Gospel ascribed to St. John, our author has taken the directly opposite position, and denied the apostolic origin of Revelation,—with what success, the reader must judge. Compelled in translation to examine the argument very closely, it has seemed to us at every step unsatisfactory, forced, and unworthy of the high character of this work. It must not be inferred, however, that, in denying that the Apostle John wrote the book, he also denies its inspiration: this he maintains, although with limitations which many of our readers will doubtless regret, as may be seen on pp. 84 sqq. The author belongs to the præterist class of interpreters, and argues that the time of composition was prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. In the notes, we have frequently given the arguments on an opposite side, mostly from some of the later standard authorities. This commentary is itself of high value, especially because of its compact summary of the interpretations of all the more prominent expositors, and in connection with what has been added, we are convinced, may be most safely and profitably employed.
The work of translation has often been extremely difficult, because of the long and involved sentences, frequently consisting of a mosaic of quotations; but we trust that the reader may be able, in the form which we have given, to follow the author intelligently.
HENRY E. JACOBS.
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE EV. LUTHERAN CHURCH,PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 11, 1886.
ALFORD: Greek Testament, vol. iv., 3d ed. 1866.
AUBERLEN: Der Prophet Daniel und die Offenbarung Johannis. 1854. English translation, 1856.
BARNES: Notes. 1852.
BECK: Erklärung d. Offenb. Joh. Cap. i.–xii., ed. Lindenmeyer, 1883.
BENGEL: Erklärte Off. Joh. 1740, 1834.
60 erbaul. Reden. 1748. 3d ed. 1835–37.
† BISPING: Erklärung der sieben katholischen Briefe. 1871.
BLEEK: Vorlesungen herausg. von Hossbach. 1862.
BOEHMER (E.): Verfasser u. Abfassungszeit der joh. Apoc. 1855.
BOEHMER (H.): Die Offenb. Joh. Ein neuer Versuch. 1865.
BRANDT (A. H. W.): Einleitung zum Lesen der Offenb. St. Joh. 1860.
CARPENTER: The Revelation of John the Divine (Handy Comm. series). 1883.
CHRISTIANI: Übers. Darstellung des Inhalts. 1869.
COWLES: The Revelation of John. 1871.
CUMMING: Lectures. 2 vols. 1849–51.
DESPREZ: The Apocalypse fulfilled. New ed. 1865.
DE WETTE: Kurz Erklärung d. O. T. 3d ed. 1862.
DIEDRICH: Die Offenb. Joh. kurz erläutert. 1865.
DEUTINGER: Die christliche Ethik nach dem Ap. Joh.; Vorträge über die Briefe und die Offenb. 1867.
EBRARD: Die Off. Joh. (vol. vii. of Olshausen’s Comm.). 1859.
ELLIOTT: Horae Apocalypticae. 4 vols. 5th ed. 1862.
EICHHORN: Comm. in Apoc. J. 2 vols. 1781.
EWALD: Comm. in Apoc. exeg. et crit. 1828.
Die johann. Schriften. 1862. vol. ii.
FARRAR: The Early Days of Christianity. 1882. pp. 437–493.
FÜLLER: Erklärung. 1874.
FULLER (S.): The Revelation of St. John. 1885.
GÄRTNER: Erkl. des Pr. Daniel u. d. Offenb. 1863.
GARRATT: Commentary on the Revelation. 1878.
GEBHARDT: Lehrbegriff d. Apok. 1873. English translation, 1878.
GERHARD (J.): Annot. 1643, 1645, 1712.
GODET: Studies on the N. T. English translation, pp. 294–398.
GRÄBER: Versuch einer hist. Erkl. 1863.
HAHN: Leitfaden zum Verständnisse, etc. 1851.
HARMS (CLAUS): Die Offenb. gepredigt. 1844.
HÄVERNICK: Über die neueste Behandl. u. Ausleg. d. Apok. 1834.
HEIDEGGER: Diatribe. 2 vols. 1687.
HEINRICHS: Annotatio. 2 vols. 1818, 1821.
HENGSTENBERG: Erläuterung. 2 vols. 1849, 1850. English trans., 1851–53.
HERDER: Μαραν Á ̊ θα , das Buch von der Zukunft d. Herrn. 1779. English translation, 1821.
HESS: Briefe über die Offenbarung. 1843.
HEUBNER: Predigten ü. die 7 Sendschreiben. 3d ed. 1850.
HILGENFELD: Nero der Antichrist (Zeitschrift für wissensch. Theol.). 1869. iv.
HOFFMANN (W.): Maranatha. 1858.
HOLTZHAUSER: Erklärung. 1827.
HOLTZMANN: (in Bunsen’s Bibelwerk) 1858.
HUNTINGFORD: The Voice of the Last Prophet. 1858.
The Apocalypse, with Commentary, etc. 1881.
HUSCHKE: Das Buch mit 7 Siegels. 1860.
JENAUR: Rationale Apok. 2 vols. 1852.
JESSIN: Erklärung. 1864.
JOHANNSEN: Die Offenb. J. 1788.
KELLY: The Revelation of John. 1860, 1871.
KEMMLER: Die Offenb. Jesu Christi an Joh. 1863.
KIENLEN: Commentaire. 1870.
† KIRCHER: Explicatio. 1676.
KLEUKER: Urspr. u. Zweck. 1799.
KLIEFOTH: Erklärung. 3 vols. 1874.
KREMMENTZ: Die Offenb. J. im Lichte d. Evang. nach J. 1883.
KROMAYER (J.): Commentarius. 1662, 1674.
LÄMMERT: Die Offenb. J. durch d. h. Schrift ausgelegt. 1864.
LANGE: (in Bibelwerk) 1870. English translation, 1874.
LORD: Exposition. 1831.
LÖWE: Weissagung u. Weltgeschichte. 1868.
LUTHARDT: Die Offenb. J. übersetzt u. kurz erklärt. 1860. (Die Lehre von den letzen Dingen, 1861.)
MAITLAND: The Apostles’ School of Prophetic Interpretation. 1849.
† MARLORATUS: Exposition. 1574.
MATTHÄI: Erklärung. 1828.
MAURICE: Lectures. 1861.
MEDE: Clavis Apocalyptica. 1627.
Commentarius. 1632.
MILLIGAN: (in Schaff’s Popular Commentary) 1883.
The Revelation of St. John. Boyle Lectures for 1885.
MURPHY: The Book of Revelation. 1882.
NAPIER: Interpretation. 1593, 1611, 1645. (Also in French, Dutch, and German.)
NEWTON (B. M.): Thoughts on the Apocalypse. 1843.
NEWTON (Sir I.): Observations on Daniel and the Revelation of St. John. 1733. Lat., 1737.
NEWTON (Bishop THOMAS): Dissertation on the Prophecies. Last ed. 1843.
OOSTERZEE (v.): Christus unter den Leuchtern. 1874.
PAREUS: Comment. in Apoc. 1618.
PHILIPPI: Der Lehre von Antichrist. 1875.
PLUMPTRE: The Epistles to the Seven Churches. 1877.
POND: The Seals opened. 1871.
RICHTER: Kurzgef. Auslegung. 1864.
RIEMANN: Die Offenb. Joh. für chr. Volk. 1868.
RINCK: Die Zeichen der letzen Zeit, and der Lehre von Antichrist. 1868.
ROUGEMONT: La Révél. de St. Jean. 1866.
SABEL: Die Offenb. aus dem Zusammenlung der mess. Reichsgesch. 1861.
SANDER: Versuch einer Erkl. 1829.
SCHMUCKER (J. G.): Erklärung. Also translated into English, 1845.
SCHRÖDER: Auff. der Offenb. (Jahr-Buch f. d. Theol., 1864).
SEISS: Lectures. 1869–73.
SELNECKER: Erklärung. 1567, 1568, 1608.
† STERN: Komment. über die Offenb. 1854.
STORR: Neue Apologie der Offenb. 1805.
STUART: Commentary on the Revelation 2 vols. 1845.
SVOBODE: On the Seven Churches. 1869.
TAIT: The Messages to the Seven Churches. 1884.
TRENCH: The Epistles to the Seven Churches. 1861.
VAUGHN: Lectures. 1863.
VITRINGA: Anacrisis. 1705.
VOLKMAR: Commentary. 1862.
WEISS: Apok. Studien (in Stud. u. Kr., 1869).
WIESSELER: Zur Auslegung u. krit. apok. Lit. 1839.
WORDSWORTH: Lectures. 1848.
ZÜLLIG: Die Offenb. J. vollst. erkl. 1834, 1840.
INTRODUCTION
[1] Beng., Lücke, De Wette, etc.
NOTE.
Even though the book be divided according to its formal organism,[2] three main divisions, but of different compass, still result. For then the chief theme is manifestly the entire recital of the visions imparted to John, from Rev_1:9 to Rev_22:17 (all “the words of the prophecy of this book,” Rev_22:18; cf. Rev_1:3), which the prophet in describing them to the churches accompanies with his own preface (Rev_1:1-8) and conclusion (Rev_22:18-21). Ewald’s division into four parts (title and introduction, Rev_1:1-8; the briefer vision with the seven epistles, Rev_1:9 to Rev_3:22; the long series of connected visions, Rev_4:1 to Rev_22:5; conclusion, Rev_22:6-21) depends upon a confusion of the material and formal principles of division. Hence the separation of chs. 3 and 4 seems as groundless as the grouping together of Rev_22:6-21.
[2] Cf. Vitringa.
A survey of the contents in detail must here be given, so far as not only its methodical design, but also its unity, is thereby perceptible.
The Introduction (chs. 1–3) contains, in the first place (Rev_1:1-3), the preface, properly so called, in which the book is designated (Rev_1:1-2) according to its nature and contents; viz., as a prophetical writing, which is to present a revelation of God, through Jesus Christ, concerning events that are to occur in the near future, and is therefore most urgently commended (Rev_1:3). Then follows the preface of John, its writer (Rev_1:4-8), to the seven churches of Asia Minor (cf. Rev_1:11, ch. Rev_2:3), as the first readers of the prophetical book; a preface which not only presents a salutation in accord with the entire contents of the book (Rev_1:4-6), but also—after the manner of the ancient prophets—expresses at the very outstart, in short and sententious phrases (Rev_1:7-8), the fundamental idea, and to a certain extent the theme, of the whole book. But if John, as the prophetic deliverer of a divine revelation, already in Rev_1:1-3 and Rev_1:4-8 addresses particular churches, so he now reports (Rev_1:9-20) how on a Lord’s Day the Lord had himself appeared to him, and given the express command that what he saw (Rev_1:11; Rev_1:19),—and, therefore, not only this manifestation of the Lord in calling him, but also the entire ἀποκάλυψις (revelation) (Rev_1:1) described from the fourth chapter,—he should write to the churches named in Rev_1:11. With this, he intrusts to John special letters to all those churches (Rev_2:1 to Rev_3:22); in which, according to the various conditions, necessities, and dangers of each church, the sum of the entire revelation (discernible already from Rev_1:7 sq.; cf. Rev_1:1; Rev_1:3) is elaborated and applied for their consolation.
The proper chief subject of the prophetic book (Rev_4:1 to Rev_22:5) then introduces the report committed to writing by John, in compliance with the command (Rev_1:11; Rev_1:19), concerning a series of visions, in which there is given to the prophet beholding them the revelation concerning things to come ( ἅ δεῖ γενέσθαι , Rev_4:1; cf. Rev_1:1), which he is to testify to the churches. John, in compliance with a heavenly voice, taken up into the opened heaven, beholds God (the Father) upon his throne, surrounded by twenty-four elders, who likewise sit upon thrones. About the throne of God, there are also four beings who are described as cherubim. These beings, whose song of praise the elders adoringly continue, worship God enthroned, as the thrice holy, the Almighty, eternal Lord, which was, and is, and is to come (ch. 4; cf. Rev_4:8 with Rev_1:4; Rev_1:8).
In the right hand of him that sits on the throne, John now sees a book written within and without, and sealed with seven seals (Rev_5:1). At the loud cry of a strong angel, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?” no one able to do this is found in the entire circuit of creation. Yet John, who weeps over this, as he has learned that the book contains the future things which he was to behold, is encouraged by one of the elders, who points him to the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who has prevailed, to the Son of David, as the one who is worthy to open the book (Rev_5:2-5). Then John sees in the midst of the throne and of the four beings and the elders, a Lamb standing as it had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes (Rev_5:6). This Lamb takes the book out of the right hand of him that sits upon the throne (Rev_5:7); upon which the four beings and the twenty-four elders celebrate his worthiness to open the book, and offer as the reason (cf. already Rev_5:5) the fact that the Lamb was slain, and has accomplished the work of redemption (Rev_5:8-10). All angels, yea all creatures, now unite in the ascription of praise to him who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb (Rev_5:11-14).
Upon this the Lamb begins (Rev_6:1) to unseal the book of fate; and John beholds not words written in the book, but significative forms and events as representations (cf. Rev_1:1, ἐσήμανεν , be signified) of what was to happen (cf. Rev_4:1). After the opening of the first seal (Rev_6:2), John beholds a rider upon a white horse, and with a bow in his hand. A crown is given to him: he is a conqueror, and goes forth to conquer. The second seal (Rev_6:3 sq.) brings a rider upon a flaming red horse. He receives a great sword: he is to take peace from the earth, that men should kill one another. From the third seal (Rev_6:5 sq.) comes a black horse, whose rider holds a pair of balances. A voice which is heard in the midst of the four beings proclaims famine. The fourth seal (Rev_6:7 sq.) brings a pale, livid horse, whose rider is called Death. He is to bring death to the fourth part of the earth, by the sword and hunger and other plagues. When the fifth seal (Rev_6:9-11) is opened, John hears how the souls of those who have been slain because of the word of God, cry to God from under the altar, as to how long he would delay to avenge their shed blood upon those who dwell upon the earth. To each of these martyrs a white robe is given, and it is said to them that a certain number of their brethren must first be killed. After the opening of the sixth seal (Rev_6:12-17), a mighty earthquake occurs, the sun is darkened, the stars fall upon the earth, the heaven is rent asunder, all mountains and islands are removed from their places, and the cries of alarm by the dwellers upon earth testify what also the fearful signs make known; viz., that the great day of God’s wrathful judgment has come.
This final judgment, as the end of what is to happen, is to be expected now in the last or seventh seal. But the complete final development proceeds from this last seal only through a long series of further visions. Before it is opened, another event occurs in ch. 7. John beholds four angels, who stand upon the four corners of the earth, and hold there the four winds of the earth, in order that they may not yet break forth and inflict injury. For, as another angel who holds the seals of the living God cries out, the servants of God must first be marked on their foreheads with this seal (Rev_7:1-3). The number sealed out of Israel, John hears: they are one hundred and forty-four thousand; out of every tribe, twelve thousand (Rev_7:4-8). But hereupon he sees an innumerable multitude of all nations and tongues, standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palms in their hands, raising songs of praise in which the angels unite. These are they, as one of the elders says, which came out of great tribulation, and have entered into the glory of heaven (Rev_7:9-17).
After this episode, the seventh seal is opened by the Lamb (Rev_8:1). Silence in heaven for about a half hour follows, during which the seven angels receive seven trumpets (Rev_8:2). Another angel comes, and places himself by the altar, with a golden censer in his hand, because he is to offer up incense with the prayers of the saints, and thus to make them acceptable (Rev_5:3 sq.). As a testimony that the prayers are heard, and that what follows is a consequence of the hearing of the prayer, the angel fills his censer with fire from the altar, and casts it upon the earth. Threatening signs follow, interrupting the silence which has hitherto prevailed, and giving the signal to the seven angels with the trumpets, who prepare to sound them (Rev_8:5 sq.). At the blast of the first trumpet (Rev_8:7), hail and fire, mingled with blood, fall upon the earth; and the third of all that grows upon it is consumed. The second trumpet (Rev_8:8 sq.) brings a great mountain, aflame with fire, which, on being cast into the sea, changes one-third of it into blood, and causes the death and destruction of the third of all living creatures in the sea, and of all ships. At the third trumpet (Rev_8:10 sq.), a burning star falls upon the third of the streams and springs, whose waters it makes bitter (its name is “Wormwood”), so that many men die thereby. At the fourth trumpet (Rev_8:12), the third of the sun and of the moon and of all the stars is darkened, and accordingly a third of the day, while a third of the night is deprived of the light of stars.
Before the three angels still remaining sound their trumpets, John hears an eagle, flying in the zenith, proclaim a threefold woe upon those who dwell upon the earth, because of the three blasts of the trumpets that are yet to come (Rev_8:13). The fifth trumpet (Rev_9:1-11) brings from hell an army of locusts, which for five months were to fearfully torment, but not to kill, the men who were not sealed (cf. Rev_7:1 sq.). This is the first woe: two others follow (Rev_9:12). At the blast of the sixth trumpet (Rev_9:13-21), the command is given, through a voice from the horns of the altar, to the sixth angel having a trumpet, to loose the four angels which are bound in the Euphrates, but are ready to rush upon the earth with an immense demoniacal army of horsemen, and to slay a third part of men. This happens, and yet the survivors do not repent.
The plague announced by the sixth trumpet belongs, of course, to the second woe (cf. Rev_8:13), but is not yet fulfilled (cf. Rev_11:14). Hence the seventh trumpet does not immediately sound; and there follows next, in chap, 10, a significant digression, to which the part of the second woe that still remains (Rev_11:1-13) is added.
A mighty angel, having a little book in his hand, comes from heaven, and puts his feet, which are like pillars of fire, the right upon the sea, and the left upon the earth (Rev_10:1 sq.). Seven thunders answer his loud call with their voices, which John understands, but is not to write, but to seal (Rev_10:3 sq.). The angel now swears that forthwith, viz., in the days of the seventh trumpet, the blessed and glorious end will come, when the mystery of God, as He himself has proclaimed it to the prophets, will be finished (Rev_10:5-7). Thereupon, at the command of a heavenly voice, John takes the little book from the angel’s hand, and swallows it. It is, as the angel said, as sweet to him in the mouth as honey, but bitter in his belly. A heavenly voice interprets this eating of the book: John is to prophesy again before peoples and tongues and many kings (Rev_10:8-11).
This new prophecy immediately begins. A reed is given to the seer, with which he is to measure the temple at Jerusalem, and the altar, together with those who worship in the temple, in order to separate what is measured from the court and the city, which for forty-two months is to be trodden down by the heathen (Rev_11:1 sq.). During this time, two witnesses of Christ, furnished with divine power to work miracles, are to preach repentance. But the beast out of the pit will kill them, and their corpses are to lie unburied in the streets of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also the Lord of those witnesses was crucified (Rev_11:8), for three days and a half, to the joy of the godless inhabitants of the earth (Rev_11:3-10). Yet after three days and a half—so John further reports his vision—the two witnesses are again awakened by God, and raised to heaven before the eyes of their terrified enemies (Rev_11:11 sq.). At the same time, a great earthquake destroys a tenth of the city, and kills seven thousand inhabitants, whereby the rest are brought to repentance (Rev_11:13). With this judgment upon Jerusalem, the second woe is finished. The third follows quickly (Rev_11:14).
The seventh trumpet also now sounds (Rev_11:15), whereupon various songs of praise arise in heaven, which celebrate the fulfilment of the mystery of God—to be expected, according to Rev_10:7, from the seventh trumpet—as having already occurred, and the day of wrathful judgment upon the heathen as having already come (Rev_11:15-18). The temple of God in heaven is opened, so that the ark of the covenant contained therein is visible; and other threatening signs occur like those in Rev_8:5 (Rev_11:19).
But the third woe in its actual coming is still not yet seen; and if the heavenly songs of praise and thanksgiving (Rev_11:15-18) celebrate the glorious end as already come, this can be only a prolepsis, which has its correct application in this, that the seventh trumpet is now sounded, and is partly the more fitting, as it is the inhabitants of heaven who, when the seventh sound of the trumpet has given the signal of the fulfilment, regard this as having already occurred. Yet a further revelation to John follows, concerning the days of the seventh trumpet, which in fact still impend (cf. Rev_10:7), in a new series of visions, through which future things, as they actually belong to the fulfilment of the mystery of God, are represented. This blessed end (Rev_21:1 sqq.), to which the divine gospel in the prophets points promissively (cf. Rev_10:7), can come only through the complete judgment upon all that is ungodly (chs. 17 sqq.). Yet the description of this judgment can be satisfactorily explained only by a description of that which is ungodly in its inmost nature and most peculiar forms of appearance. The latter forms the chief scope of chs. 12–16 Nevertheless, even here there is no lack of elements pointing forward and giving assurance of systematic progress.
John beholds in heaven a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. She is with child, and is about to give birth (Rev_12:1 sq.). There appears a great flaming-red dragon, with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. His tail sweeps a third of the stars of heaven, and casts them upon the earth. He puts himself before the travailing woman, in order, after the birth, to devour the child (Rev_12:3 sqq.). The woman bears a son who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. The child is caught up unto God, and God’s throne. The woman flees into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared for her, that she should be fed there twelve hundred and sixty days (Rev_12:5 sq.). A conflict now arises in heaven between Michael, together with his angels, and the dragon (i.e., the devil) and his angels; and the latter are cast to the earth (Rev_12:7-9). This victory is celebrated by a loud voice in heaven, praising God and his Christ; but at the same time proclaiming wrath upon the earth and the sea, because the devil, cast down thereto, would exert his great wrath during the brief period allowed him (Rev_12:10-12). The dragon persecutes the woman; but she receives two wings of an eagle, in order to fly into the wilderness to her place (Rev_12:13 sq.). In vain the dragon casts after the woman a stream of water, which the earth swallows up, so that he departs to contend with the rest of the seed of the woman (Rev_12:13-17).
The dragon goes upon the shore of the sea (Rev_12:11; Rev_12:17), from which a beast rises with ten horns, seven heads, ten crowns, and names of blasphemy upon its heads. It is like a leopard, but has the feet of a bear, and the mouth of a lion; it receives from the dragon its power and throne (Rev_13:1 sq.). One of its heads is wounded unto death, but the deadly wound is healed (Rev_13:3). The whole earth wonders at the beast, and worships the dragon. The beast dares to speak blasphemies, and to contend victoriously with the saints. It has power over the whole earth for forty-two months (Rev_13:5), and is worshipped by all who do not belong to the Lamb (Rev_13:4-8),—a fearful prophecy which John commits to writing, not without adding an intimation concerning the judgment upon this ungodly being, and admonishing the saints to patience and faith (Rev_13:9 sq.). Upon this, John sees another beast rise from the earth, with two horns like a lamb, and speaking like a dragon (Rev_13:11). By seduction, miracles, and force (Rev_13:17), this beast causes the dwellers upon earth to worship the former beast (Rev_13:12-17). The number to explain its name to one having understanding is 666 (Rev_13:18).
Another vision follows essentially in the sense of the intercalated paracletic section of Rev_13:9 sq. On Mount Zion stands the Lamb, with a hundred and forty-four thousand of his people, while heavenly voices sing before God’s throne a new song which only the redeemed can learn. An angel, with the everlasting gospel intended for all dwellers upon earth, flying in the zenith, demands conversion to the true God, while he testifies that the hour of judgment has come (Rev_14:6 sq.). Another angel proclaims the fall of great Babylon as having already occurred (Rev_14:8); and a third, the eternal punishment of the worshippers of the beast (Rev_14:9-11). There is next a paracletic digression of John (Rev_14:12); also a heavenly voice commands him to write that they who die in the Lord are blessed (Rev_14:13). Then the course of the development towards the end, whose next goal Rev_14:8 already proleptically marks, again continues. Upon a white cloud appears one like the Son of man, with a golden crown upon his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. From the temple comes another angel, who calls to him who sits upon the cloud, to begin with the sickle the harvest, for which the time has come. The latter then thrusts his sickle into the earth, which is harvested (Rev_14:14-16). Still another angel comes forth out of the heavenly temple, likewise holding a sharp sickle, which, by the order of an angel coming forth from the altar, he thrusts into the earth. Thus the vine of the earth is harvested, and the wine-press is trodden outside of the city; the blood which proceeds therefrom extends to the horses’ bridles, sixteen hundred furlongs (Rev_14:17-20).
A new, astonishing sign in heaven appears to the seer: the seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is the wrath of God fulfilled (Rev_15:1). After a hymn of the victors over the beast, who, in the song of Moses and the Lamb, proclaim the righteousness of God and his glory, which is to be worshipped by all the nations (Rev_15:2-4), those seven angels come forth from God’s temple, and receive from one of the four beings seven golden vials filled with the wrath of the everlasting God (Rev_15:5-7). The temple is filled with smoke from the glory and power of God, so that no one can enter therein until the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled (Rev_15:8). A voice from the temple now commands the seven angels to pour their vials upon the earth (Rev_16:1). The first vial, poured out upon the earth (Rev_16:2), brings a severe ulcer upon the men who bear the mark of the beast, and worship his image. The second vial (Rev_16:3), poured out upon the sea, changes it into blood as of a dead man; every thing living in the sea dies. The third vial (Rev_16:4), poured out upon the rivers and springs, changes them into blood. The angel of the waters glorifies the righteousness of the divine judgments; so, too, the angel of the altar (Rev_16:5-7). The fourth vial (Rev_16:8 sq.), poured out upon the sun, causes a heat that scorches men. But all these plagues work no repentance. The fifth vial (Rev_16:10 sq.), poured out upon the throne of the beast, causes darkness in his kingdom, but only new blasphemies on the part of those who are afflicted. The sixth vial (Rev_16:12-16) is poured upon the Euphrates, which is dried, that the way may be prepared for the kings of the East. Out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, come three unclean spirits, like frogs, which gather the kings for the struggle of that great day—“Behold, the Lord cometh quickly: blessed is he that watcheth” (Rev_16:15)—and that, too, to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon. The seventh vial (Rev_16:17-21) is poured out into the air. A heavenly voice cries, “It is done.” Amidst voices, lightnings, and thunders, an unprecedented earthquake occurs, which divides the great city into three parts, and overthrows the cities of the nations. Islands and mountains vanish (cf. Rev_6:14). A great hail falls. Yet men continue their blasphemies. One of the seven angels having the vials now comes to John, and wishes to show him the judgment of the great harlot, with whom the kings and the inhabitants of the earth in general have committed fornication (Rev_17:1 sq.). He carries the seer, in spirit, into the wilderness. There sits upon a scarlet-colored beast, covered with names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns, a wanton woman, having in her hand a cup full of abominations, and upon her forehead a name written which designates her as Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. She is drunken with the blood of saints (Rev_17:2-6). To the astonished John, the angel explains the mystery of the woman and the beast (Rev_17:7-18). Another angel proclaims the fall of great Babylon as having already occurred (cf. Rev_14:8), and declares that her sins are the cause of the judgment (Rev_18:1-3). Another voice from heaven first commands the servants of God to go forth out of Babylon, in order to share neither her sins nor her plagues (Rev_18:4); and then, to more firmly establish the burden of her sins, describes her complete ruin (Rev_18:5-20), which another angel portrays by casting a great millstone into the sea, thus describing the destruction of the godless city, stained by the blood of martyrs (Rev_18:21-24). Thus the fulfilled judgment upon the great harlot is celebrated in heaven with songs of praises (Rev_19:1-8). Before, however, the other ungodly powers are judged, there follows, in a brief digression (Rev_19:9 sq.), an allusion to the blessed fulfilment of the mystery of God (cf. Rev_10:7) at the marriage-supper of the Lamb; for already a chief act of the judgment is accomplished, whereby that glorious end will be attained. The description of the other acts of judgment continues directly afterward (Rev_19:11). Christ himself, with his followers, goes forth from the opened heaven (Rev_19:11-16),—while an angel, standing in the sun, with a loud voice calls together the birds to eat the flesh of the inhabitants of the earth (Rev_19:17 sq.),—against the beast, which with his army awaits the conflict (Rev_19:19). The beast and the false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire; the rest are slain with the sword which proceeds from the mouth of Christ, and all the birds are filled with their flesh (Rev_19:20 sq.). Then Satan himself is bound for a thousand years by an angel coming out of heaven, and cast into the abyss, whence he is to be loosed again for a short time after that period (Rev_20:1-3). During the thousand years, those reign with Christ who for his sake have been slain, and have not served the beast, after they have been raised from the dead,—the first resurrection (Rev_20:4-6). After the expiration of the thousand years, Satan loosed goes forth to deceive the nations in the four ends of the earth, Gog and Magog, and to bring them together for battle. They also rise up over the surface of the earth, and surround the camp of the saints, the beloved city; but fire from heaven consumes them, and they are cast to eternal torments in the lake of fire (Rev_20:7-10). Then finally, in the judgment of the world, in which all the dead appear before the gloriously enthroned Judge (the second resurrection; cf. Rev_20:5), all those whose names are not found written in the book of life, together with death and hell, are cast out. This is the second death (Rev_20:11-15).
The entire judgment of every thing ungodly is thus completed. There follows, finally (Rev_21:1 to Rev_22:5), the presentation of the blessed mystery of God, in its actual fulfilment (cf. Rev_10:7). John beholds a new heaven and a new earth, and the new Jerusalem descending from heaven as an adorned bride (Rev_21:1 sq.); at which not only a voice from heaven proclaims the eternal blessedness of those dwelling with God, but also he that sitteth on the throne himself testifies that the eternal fulfilment is accomplished, both in the glorification of the believing victors, and in the condemnation of all the godless (Rev_21:3-8). But one of the seven angels having the vials wishes to show John the Lamb’s bride more closely; therefore he brings the seer in spirit to a high mountain (Rev_21:9 sq.), whence he beholds the new Jerusalem in the glory of God, as it is described, Rev_21:11 to Rev_22:5. Thus has the revelation, begun in ch. 4, attained its highest goal, and exhausted its subject; it has disclosed, up to the eternal accomplishment, that which was to come to pass (cf. Rev_4:1 to Rev_21:1). The two parts of the epilogue (Rev_21:6-11; Rev_21:18-21), still following, conclude in a twofold respect all that precedes. On the one hand, the visions by means of which there is imparted to John the revelation concerning future things (Rev_21:6, ἅ δεῖ γενέσθαι ἐν τάχει ) are closed, since an angel, who, in Christ’s name, speaks with John, confirms the certainty and importance of that which John has seen, and is to publish in his prophetical writing, and repeatedly testifies to the fundamental truth that the Lord is coming (Rev_21:6-11). On the other hand, the prophet himself completes his writing, in which, according to the command received, he has communicated the revelation given him, with the solemn testimony of the divine punishment of those who will either add any thing to, or subtract any thing from, the prophecies in this his book (Rev_21:18 sq.). But, as the Lord promises his speedy coming, the prophet answers with a cry of longing for this coming (Rev_21:20). With a benediction upon the reader, corresponding to the introductory greeting (cf. Rev_21:4 sqq.), the whole is finished (Rev_21:21).
2. The leading features of the plan, according to which the Apocalypse is skilfully designed, are clearly manifest already from this summary of the contents; but a more minute account not only is necessary for the establishment of the critical view of the complete and original unity of the present book, but also gives the most certain norm for the entire exposition, since it proceeds from the context itself. The question is especially concerning the central chief division of the book (Rev_4:1 to Rev_22:5); for the section from Rev_22:6 is to be regarded as the conclusion, upon which there is as little controversy among expositors as there is concerning the introductory design of chs. 1–3, although, of course, the meaning of the seven epistles (chs. 2, 3), in themselves, and in their relation to the proper revelation (chs. Rev_4:1 to Rev_22:5), is variously comprehended. Yet this depends upon the view of the development and disposition of the central chief subject. John himself testifies (Rev_1:10) that he has written the visions of his prophetic book on one day.[3] It is never declared that in the course of the revelation of the future he has ever actually abandoned[4] the standpoint to which he was raised at its beginning (Rev_4:1),[5] while it is self-evident that in his never-interrupted ecstatic condition, from Rev_4:1 to Rev_22:5, he yet can be conscious of a change of standpoint (cf. Rev_10:1, Rev_17:3, Rev_21:10; and especially Rev_11:1 sqq., where the seer in his trance must even be active); and as, even externally regarded, the report of the visions in no way admits the meaning that the individual parts of the revelation are immediately recorded the one after the other, after John has received them through sight and hearing:[6] so the revelation described in ch. 4, in its inner formation, is controlled from the beginning on by a development having unity, and directly tending towards a final goal. For the book of fate, at the throne of God (chap. 5), contains beneath its seven seals just that which is to be revealed to John, and then to be prophetically published by him; viz., ἅ δεῖ γενέσθαι , “the things which must come to pass” (cf. Rev_4:1 to Rev_5:1). If no one be found able to open the seals, the future also remains concealed from John (Rev_5:4). But Christ, the Mediator of revelation (cf. Rev_1:1), opens the seals, so that significant visions now appear to the seer, which describe to him the future things. If, in this entire fundamental idea of the book of fate, there is to be sense and order, neither can that which proceeds from the sixth seal already be regarded as the complete representation of the actual final judgment,—i.e., with the sixth seal, all revelation to its very end be once for all exhausted,[7]—neither can any thing concerning the future be revealed, which is not included in the book of fate, and to be interpreted as proceeding from the seals.[8] The occasion for misunderstanding this formal fundamental law, controlling the entire composition of the Apocalypse, lies in this, that the sixth seal (Rev_6:12-17) is not immediately followed by the seventh (Rev_8:1), and that even the seventh seal does not bring, after the analogy of that which precedes, a vision that is definite and in itself intelligible, with which, then, the revelation proceeding from the sealed book of fate is to end, but rather, in another form (the seven trumpets), constitutes a new series of visions, or rather evolves them from itself.
[3] Against Grotius and others, who wish to distinguish the visions by different times.
[4] Against De Wette, etc.
[5] But not Rev_1:10-18, as Klief. proposes; cf. on Rev_1:20.
[6] Against Bengel, Erklärte Offenb. Joh., Stuttg., 1740, p. 296 sq.
[7] As with Hofmann.
[8] Against Hengstenberg, Ebrard, and, in general, against the entire theory of a recapitulatio. (See author’s note below.)
The same art, however, with which John at the crisis of the seventh seal opens, as it were, a new path, which in its beginning is based upon the conclusion of the first (viz., in the seven seals, Rev_8:1), meets us again at the similar second crisis; namely, where, after the close of the vision of the six trumpets (Rev_9:21), the seventh trumpet, and with it the end of the entire revelation, is to be expected. As, between the sixth and the seventh seals, a digression of essentially progressive significance enters (ch. 7), so also between the sixth and seventh trumpets (ch. 10). And if already, at that first crisis, many an expositor loses the course of the argument, this danger is all the more imminent at the second crisis, as not only externally the peculiar digression of ch. 10, where John is provided with new prophecies, enters as a distinct revelation, not proceeding from the sixth trumpet (Rev_11:1-14), but also that which is directly represented after the blast of the seventh trumpet (Rev_11:15-19), may appear at first sight as the actual description of the complete end; from which, then, it would follow, that what succeeds ch. 12 forms an entirely new beginning, completely independent of the original plan of a series of seals and trumpets. There would consequently be a complete break between chs. 11 and 12 But this misunderstanding is obviated in a twofold way by the formal organism itself: first, between the fourth and fifth trumpets, three woes are proclaimed as still impending, of which the first two occur before the seventh trumpet; and, secondly, in the digression, Rev_10:7, pointing to a new prophecy to all nations and many kings (cf. Rev_10:11), it is expressly said that the seventh trumpet will bring the glorious fulfilment of the blessed mystery of God. But neither does the small section, Rev_11:15-19, contain the account of the fulfilment of the mystery of God, nor within Rev_11:1-14 do we find the demands of the prediction given to the prophet at Rev_10:11 satisfied. On the contrary, the entire section, Rev_12:1 to Rev_22:5, contains all that according to Rev_8:13, Rev_10:7, and Rev_10:11, is still to be expected; viz., not only the third woe, which is truly analogous to the two first in seven vials of wrath, and with the same the detailed account of the final judgment of all that is ungodly, especially the definite prophecy concerning the kings and nations in the service of the beast which comes from the abyss (cf. already Rev_11:7, where the reach of the second woe extends across into that of the third), but also the description of the final glory in which the mystery of God is to be fulfilled. If, therefore, that which succeeds ch. 12 does not result from the seven trumpets in the same express form in which the series of the seven trumpets issues from the seven seals (cf. especially the remarks to ch. 12, in the exposition), yet not only is the inner connection with that original design maintained, but the external conformity is to be recognized besides in this, that, in clear analogy with the seven vials and the seven trumpets, the third woe appears in the form of seven vials. Thus it may be well said, in accordance with the original design of the Apocalypse (but, of course, without regard to the manner in which that original design is modified by chap. 12), that the seventh seal, through the seven trumpets which also proceed therefrom, extends to Rev_22:5. John, then, has seen all that is to happen; and the secret contents of the book of fate, sealed with the seven seals, are completely disclosed.
NOTE.
This statement follows the course already indicated by Bengel, and, more safely and without his false side-look, by Lücke, Bleek, Ewald, and De Wette. It is opposed to the ancient and modern views which proceed from the theory of the Recapitulatio. This theory, which has been and still is highly influential in the exposition of the Apocalypse, even to the most minute details, owes its importance to Augustine, who in his renowned work, the De Civitate Dei, I. xx., c. 7–17, elaborately discusses the eschatological expressions in Revelation 20, 21, especially with reference to the Donatist Tichonius, who wrote a much-read but lost commentary on the Apocalypse.[9] “To recapitulate” is the opposite of “observing the order.” Augustine (l.c., c. 14): “He speaks by recapitulating, as returning to that which he had omitted, or rather had deferred.… That is, therefore, what I have said, that by recapitulating he has returned to that which he had passed oRev :But now he has observed the order,” etc. To recapitulate, then, is when any thing is described at a later, while according to actual chronological order it should be described in a former, part of the book. By this exegetical canon of “recapitulation,” Augustine attempts to remove the chief difficulty which he finds in the Apocalypse. “And in this book, indeed, many things are said obscurely to exercise the mind of the reader, and there are in it a few things from whose manifestation the rest may be laboriously traced, especially since it so repeats the same things in many ways, that it seems to speak now one thing and then another, although it is discovered speaking the very same things now in this way, and again in that” (l.c., c. 17). Recapitulation is not identical with repetition, although the Latin word repetere can be used also in the sense of recapitulare (l.c., c. 14); but already in Augustine both belong together, so that he fixes the course in accordance with which this entire theory has been so elaborated, that, by the apparent rule of recapitulation and repetition, in fact the most immoderate and arbitrary freaks of exegesis may be justified. This is manifest already in Beda, since, mistaking the plan of the Apocalypse as a whole, because of a misunderstanding of the mutually interpenetrative construction of the seals and trumpets, he writes (Prolog., l.c., p. 761): “Where, according to the custom of this book, it observes the order up to the sixth number, and, omitting the seventh, recapitulates, and, as if having followed the order, concludes the two narratives with the seventh. But even the recapitulation itself is to be understood according to the passages. For sometimes it recapitulates from the origin of the suffering, sometimes from the middle of the time, sometimes concerning the very latest persecution alone, or will not speak of what is much before.” If, therefore, according to this view of the plan of the Apocalypse, the last seals could refer to things anterior to those of the preceding seals, or if, in the book, the trumpets succeeding the seals, and the vials succeeding the trumpets, could be stated to be a recapitulation of things which in reality belong under the seals, a true regularity of plan could not be acknowledged in these references which intersect one another. But the theory of recapitulation and repetition was, in this respect, very skilful. How if the first trumpet and the first vial by recapitulating referred to the same thing that had been referred to by the first seal, and if thus a regular parallelism would be shown between the seven seals, trumpets, and vials? Even to this extreme was the recapitulation theory carried by Nicholas Collado,[10] who was followed by David Pareus[11] and others. By the three forms of visions, viz., seals, trumpets, and vials, says Nic. Coll., the same thing is always described, and that, too, so that while the seals contain only a brief σκιαγραφία (sketch), the trumpets and seals always afford the more detailed images, to which then it is added, entirely in the sense of the ancient recapitulation theory: “Not what will be before or after among these seven, but in what order of discourses and signs they were indicated to John.” The individual seals, trumpets, and vials correspond thus, each in its place, to one another, so that finally the seventh seal, the seventh trumpet, and the seventh vial in like manner concur in portraying the end of all things. In the results of this theory, Nic. Coll. does not allow himself to be deceived concerning the fact, that the individual parallel seals, trumpets, and vials, although represented as declaring the same thing with increasing clearness, yet occasionally express what, according to his own explanation, is directly the opposite. The fifth seal, e.g., speaks of the martyrs sacrificed by the Romish Church; but the fifth trumpet presents, in the figure of the locusts from hell, the Romish clergy, the mendicant monks, etc.; and the fifth vial, finally, portrays a divine wrathful judgment upon the Pope of Rome. But there is only this yet wanting, viz., to place under this law of the recapitulating parallels, the seven epistles of chs. 2 and 3, whose close historical relation has long ago already been explained by most expositors as a mere foil[12] to what is, properly speaking, the prophetic contents. Yet this is done, not only by Ludw. Crocius,[13] Matth. Hofmann,[14] and Coccejus,[15] who accordingly assign seven periods to the entire N. T. time, but also by Campegius Vitringa,[16] the latter of whom is pre-eminently distinguished for his advocacy of the theory of the recapitulating parallelism in the plan of the Apocalypse, since, on the one hand, he represents this theory in its most remote consequences by including also the seven epistles in this parallelism, but, on the other hand, sees the necessity of being cautious in the application of the principle which he urges to an extreme. Vitringa does not say that all the seven letters, seals, trumpets, and vials each in every particular place correspond with one another; since such a complete correspondence in the formal arrangement is not supported by the prophetic contents, as Vitringa discovered by his exposition: on the contrary, he frankly modifies his judgment concerning this, conformably to the contents of the individual epistles, seals, trumpets, and vials, in the actual application of this principle of the recapitulating parallelism. Thus he frames a scheme of the book, which by its combination of the most accurate regularity, derived from the law of recapitulating parallelism urged to the extreme, and of the most confused irregularity, growing out of the interpretation of details that enter into the sphere of history, appears truly labyrinthine. According to Vitringa, the three first epistles, seals, and trumpets are actually parallel. Then the fourth and fifth trumpets alone extend farther. The fourth epistle has its parallel in the fourth seal and the sixth trumpet, at the close of which the vials are inserted. The fifth epistle, fifth seal, and end of the sixth trumpet have as their parallels, the first, second, third, and fourth vials; the sixth epistle has its parallel in the fifth and sixth vials. Then the seventh epistle stands alone. The sixth seal and seventh vial belong together; and finally the seventh seal, parallel with the seventh trumpet, completes the whole.
[9] Concerning the relation of the exposition under the name of Tichonius on the Apoc. of St. John (Augustine’s works, ed. Bened., vol. iii., App., p. 13), to the original work from which Beda especially (Explic. Apoc. Opp. Col. Agripp., 1688, vol. v. p. 761) has taken the VII. Rules of Tichonius, cf. Lücke, p. 995.
[10] Methodus facillima ad explicationem sacrosanctae Apocalypseos Joannis theologi, ex ipso libro desumpta. Marg., 1584.
[11] Comment. in divin. Apoc. Heidel., 1618. Opp. ed., Genev., T. II.
[12] [i.e., something of another kind, to set off something else to advantage.]
[13] Syntagma theol., 1635.
[14] Chronotas apocal., Opp. theol., 1674.
[15] Cogitationes de Apoc. Opp. Amstel., 1701, T. VI. Cf. also the Synopsis et medulla prophetiae Cantici, and the Commentary on the Song of Solomon, 1:1. Opp. T. II.
[16] Ἀνάκρισις Apokalypsios Joannis Apostoli, Franeq. 1705. Amstel., 1719.
In this way is confusion introduced under one rule. And yet—to be silent concerning the older adherents of the system of Vitringa, as Joachim Lange[17]
Hofmann,[18] Hengstenberg, and Ebrard have turned back into this course, even though they very clearly differ in many places from Vitringa. Concerning Hengstenberg, who, in his theory of the groups of visions standing one beside the other, repeats the old recapitulation theory; and concerning Ebrard, who not only parallelizes the prophetic range of the epistles with that of the following visions (since the epistles interpreted as partly consecutive and partly synchronistic, i.e., describing conditions of the Church partly following each other chronologically, and partly co-existing simultaneously, are regarded as extending to the very end), but also places the ultimate end at Rev_11:15 sqq., within the series of visions (Rev_4:1 to Rev_22:5),—we will speak at greater length on the basis of particular expositions of chs. 2, 3, Rev_8:1, Rev_11:15 sqq. Meanwhile we must here already judge how Hofmann’s view of the plan and of what is closely connected therewith, viz., of the prophetic relation of the Apocalypse, is, notwithstanding peculiar modifications, essentially like the ancient recapitulation theory. Hofm., whom A. Christiani[19] follows, divides what is properly the Book of Revelation (Rev_2:1 to Rev_22:5) into five sections: I., chs. 2, 3; II., Rev_4:1 to Rev_8:1; III., Rev_8:2 to Rev_11:19; IV., 12–14.; V., Rev_15:1 to Rev_22:5 (Rev_15:1 to Rev_16:18, Rev_16:18 to Rev_22:5). The first part, viz., the seven epistles, refers[20] to the circumstances of the present: Rev_4:1 to Rev_8:1 proceeds to “the entire future,” as there is here portrayed “all that belongs thereto, in order to bring about the divine mystery of our salvation.” The three remaining sections (Rev_8:2 to Rev_22:5) refer “to the end,” with the distinction that Rev_8:2 to Rev_11:19 contains “God’s final calls to repentance before the judgment;” chs. 12–14, “the final struggle against the Church in the flesh;” and, finally, the section from Rev_15:1, on “the judgment of wrath upon the world, and the deliverance of the Church.” To one not more fully acquainted with the peculiar view of Hofmann concerning the nature of prophecy, it must be inconceivable how he could at one time say that the seven epistles refer to the present, but likewise[21] that “corresponding to the seven pictures presented alongside of one another in the epistles, there will be in like manner seven forms of Christian congregational life belonging together, until the end of Church history, when the Lord sends the final trial upon his Church and the world, in order then himself to come,” etc. But if we receive the statement concerning the seven epistles just as Hofmann presents it, the recapitulatory character of his view of the plan of the Apocalypse comes into view at once. Just this view, which in our opinion harmonizes neither in general with the true conception of prophecy, nor in particular with the context of chs. 2, 3, viz., that the epistles continue to prophesy until “the end of Church history,” declares that Hofm. already, at the beginning of the book, finds the end of all things. The second section (Rev_4:1 to Rev_8:1), by recapitulating, starts again from the beginning, and brings us to the end, at which Hofm., in Rev_8:1, stands a second time. For the third time we reach the end in Rev_11:19, after a recapitulation has occurred for the second time from Rev_8:2; and after the third recapitulation, beginning with Rev_12:1, we come to the end for the fourth time. It will be sufficient to indicate the misunderstanding from which this modification by Hofmann of the ancient recapitulation theory suffers, only with respect to the chief critical point in the course of the Apocalypse, viz., where there is a transition from the last seal to the trumpets. This misunderstanding depends upon two hypotheses, which only with great difficulty can be regarded consistent with the context: (1) Hofmann regards the sealed book of Rev_5:1, as not containing that which is represented to John by the visions proceeding from the opened seals, but that in the book something was written which could be known only after the opening of the seven seals, and must be realized by the events portrayed in the history of the seals; that the proper contents of the book are nothing else than “the new condition of things to which God is leading through the occurrences of the present world.” John, therefore, has reason to weep (Rev_5:4); for, if the seals had remained unopened, “the blessed mystery of the future world, eternal life, would not have been attained.”[22] But in this explanation the relation of the seals to the book is not stated in accordance with the text. For, if it be not those very things that stand written in the book as the divine decree, which are made manifest by the account of the seals, it will, on the one hand, be very difficult to comprehend how, from the seals which then could be designated only as comprehending the sphere of what God has reserved, the mystery of what is written in the book, such rich contents as the visions of the seals show could proceed; and, on the other, it must also be somewhere indicated, that in the book that stands written which Hofm. wishes to find in distinction from the revelation of the seals actually presented to us. Hofm., however, not only has his conjectures concerning the contents of the book, but also errs in deciding the relation of the seals to the professed contents, by making the fruition or fulfilment of the glorious condition of the new world professedly described in the book dependent upon the opening of the seals. It is of course in itself correct to say that the mystery of God will attain its fulfilment only with the consummation (cf. Rev_10:7) of all that the visions of the seals show to be future; but this is not altogether the aspect under which the book with its seven seals is represented. For in Rev_5:4, John weeps, not because, if no one can open the seals of the book, its contents must remain unfulfilled, but manifestly because then they must remain unknown. (2) But even granting that Hofm. has correctly divined the contents of the book, and correctly defined the relation of the seals, yet it would not follow that the seven trumpets proceeding from the seventh seal do not introduce a new series of visions, and that at Rev_8:1 we already stand at the real end. Especially according to Hofm.’s arrangement (cf. also Hengstb. and Christiani), is such a conception extremely difficult. Hofm. finds already in the sixth seal (Rev_6: