Daniel foretold the establishment of a kingdom which shall be a great military power in its beginning, and of perpetual continuance: that it should conquer all kingdoms extant in the Latter Days; that until then “the
Ezekiel prophesies that the Dry Tree of Israel, which now bears no fruit, shall be made to flourish in the mountain of the heights of Israel; where it shall shoot forth boughs, and bear fruit; and that under its branching foliage shall dwell all fowl of every wing—ch. 17 : 22-24.
In treating of the causes which operated the rapid progress of the gospel in the first two hundred years of our era, the historian of the '‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” thus expresses himself with reference to the great subject matter of the Apocalypse. “The ancient and popular doctrine of the Millennium,” says Gibbon, “was intimately connected with the second coming of Christ.
CONCERNING the time when the Apocalypse was written there have been various opinions among the learned. Irenaeus, who flourished ec¬clesiastically A.D. 169, that is, about seventy years after the death of the apostle John, is said to have introduced an opinion that the Apocalypse was written in the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, brother to Titus who destroyed Jerusalem, and who occupied the throne of the Caesars from A.D. 80 to A.D. 96, when he was assassinated.
The word apokalupsis is used eighteen times in the New Testament. The first place where it occurs is that we have just been considering; the last is in Rev. 1: 1; as the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ which the Deity committed to him to show to his servants things which must come to pass speedily”.
From this testimony we learn that “the wicked” are a larger class than is generally supposed. They are not restricted to murderers, drunkards, thieves, and the licentious. The wicked are to a great extent very pious and religious people. They have “a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Being ignorant of God’s righteousness, they go about with great diligence and at enormous cost, to establish their own righteousness, not having submitted to God’s.
EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE.
CHAPTER 1.
THE SOURCE FROM WHICH THE APOCALYPSE EMANATED; ITS PURPOSE; THE SYMBOLIZATION OF THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS; THE MANNER OF THE COMING OF THE SPIRIT-MAN PROCLAIMED; SYMBOLIC VISION OF THE MAN, AND THE MYSTERY OF THE SEVEN STARS AND LIGHT- STANDS REVEALED.