Do the contents of the hook agree with the assumption of its proceeding from an apostolic man ; or do they present phenomena inconsistent with the known character of John, and the time when he wrote ? To answer this question, we most take a general survey of the contents. These are certainly apostolic ; chiefly the eschatology (doc trine of the last things) of the book, which is the prominent feature. When we survey the N. T., it is remarkable to observe the deep impression. which the idea of their Lord's speedy coming had made upon the minds of the apostles. He was to appear in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory, like the Messiah in Daniel whom the Jews expected. The near approach of Christ's advent was the enlivening and consolatory motive held out in all the apostolic epistles. It was ever present to the mind of St. Paul, who proclaims Maran-atha, speaks of his coming with all his saints, of his descending from heaven with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God ; believes that the day of the Lord, which is equiva lent to the day of Yesus Christ, that day, the day of redemption, is at hand ; and that he himself shall live to see it. Then shall the saints be judges of the world, and even of angels. Because of the nearness of this day, the apostle exhorts his readers to watchfulness. Now St. Paul assures us, that he received nothing from the other apostles ; hut that all his Christian ideas came from immediate revelation ; which shows that the eschatological element in the first gospel and the Apocalypse was an essential part of Christianity. Nor is it confined to Paul's epistles. We find it in the letter to the Hebrews. Peter teaches the same thing, saying, the end of all things is at hand.' The epistles of xohn express it also. The forerunners of antichrist are already come. James recommends patience unto the coming of the Lord, which he affirms to be near. And Jude proves, from the existence of mockers, that it is the last time. The description of Christ's advent thus hoped for and expected by all the N. T. writers, is most developed in the 24th chapter of Matthew's Gospel, where ideas of retribution are embodied in a solemn judicial process preceded by great distress, and of Mes siah's appearance in splendour, introducing a new dispensation in which the faithful should be re compensed for their present sufferings. Such ideas are common to it and the Apocalypse. The main difference between the Revelation and other apostolic writings, in regard to the expected coming of the Lord, consists in the wide interval which John puts between the manifestation of Messiah and the end of the world—the space of a thousand years ; while they place the time of the Messianic kingdom very near the process of final judgment.
In like manner, the Christology of the Apoca lypse contains genuine apostolic elements. The idea of Jesus the Messiah is, that he existed before the world ; that he is the highest spirit ; that by virtue of his Messianic nature he is like to Jehovah from the beginning ; that he is the Alpha and the Omega ; yet that he is a created spirit, having received his Messiah-nature from the Father. Hence he is termed the beginning of the creation of God' (iii. 14). So also the expression, Son of God' (ii. 18), refers merely to the divine sove reignty bestowed upon him by the Father, accord ing to Ps. ii. 8. Divine qualities and powers are assigned to Jesus, as far as the Messiah appeared in him. Accordingly, he sits upon the same throne with his Father ; and the Jehovah-name is a new name. The spiritual and potential perfections he possesses were bestowed upon him as a reward for his faithful and victorious career. He is the organ of communication between God and his people ; and therefore he is the ' Word of God,' not ' God the Word,' as in John i. I. When he has accom plished the purposes for which the government of the world was given into his hands, he will resign the power and kingdom into the hands of the Father, and reign under him (xi. 15, 17). This
agrees with the Pauline Christology in the main ; though it is unfolded here in a more Jewish form than in St. Paul's epistles.
The conception of antichrist in the Apocalypse manifests the apostolic time also. The name of this power, which became stereotyped from the beginning of the 2d century, does not appear in the book. The idea is found in its concrete form ; but the appellation is wanting. The antichrist of the Revelation is a worldly prince, in whom the evil powers are concentrated. Bearing the symbolical name of the Beast, he is conceived of as a definite historical character ; and other hostile beast-forms are latent in him. So also in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, antichrist has the same con crete form, and receives general appellations, such as, the Man of sin, the Son of perdition, etc. It is in John's epistles that we first meet with the name antichrist. Thus the idea of the great enemy of Christ, in the Apocalypse, is in the same stage of development with that in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.
Need we add, that the pneumatology of the Revelation agrees with all that we find in the apostolic writings ; and that it contains no later ideas on the subject than the Pauline ones ? The power of the devil in relation to the kingdom of Christ is presented under the same aspect in the Apocalypse as in the epistles of Paul. Though the arch-enemy of man was vanquished by Christ at his first advent, he was not for ever subdued. He is still active ; and the contest with him con tinues till the second advent of the Redeemer. This prince of darkness has legions of spirits asso ciated with himself ; and the Messiah, by whom he is subdued, must therefore be the King of kings and Lord of lords; or, as it is expressed by Paul, the head of all principality and power. Thus the book before us contains no ideas of the spiritual world additional to the Pauline.
As far as the individuality of John is reflected in the N. T. and in tradition, it is in harmony with the contents of the Apocalypse. The sons of Zebedee were fiery, zealous, impetuous spirits, whose feelings readily led them to excess or re venge. They wished to call down fire from heaven to consume the inhabitants of a Samaritan village ; and begged for the foremost places in the kingdom of heaven. John forbade one who presumed to cast out devils in the name of Jesus. He was a Boanerges, or son of thunder ; with a decided indi viduality, and an ardent disposition that needed checks. As far as he appears in the Acts and Pauline epistles, he is somewhat narrow and Ju daic, not wholly emancipated from national pre possessions. Accordingly, the Quartodecimans appealed to the Jewish practice of the apostle John ; while Polycrates of Ephesus states that he was a priest, and wore the sacerdotal plate. This agrees with the priestly character of the seven epistles ; and if he were of a priestly family, as is not im probable, he might appropriate to himself the insignia oP priestly dignity, designating himself as one initiated into the mysteries of Jesus. Tradition in Asia Minor represented him as a mediator be tween Christ and the Church. He had the sur name of HapOgvor, the virgin (comp. Rev. xiv. 4) ; and appeared as an ascetic who received divine communications. Continuing as he did for a while in Jerusalem, we are unable to tell with what his mind was chiefly occupied. Perhaps he was tracing out in the Scriptures the signs of the returning Messiah, and looking for the great future at hand. Probably the dissolution of the bond existing between the Jews and Jewish Christians there, broken as it was by the latter, caused him to feel that the place was unfit for his presence. With the enemies of Christ, as he must. have considered the unbelieving Jews, he could have no more com munion ; they were rejected. The very metro polis they prided in, with its ancestral renown, was to be overthrown, and a new kingdom of Israel brought down to earth. Hence it was time to depart.