What is the Apocalypse?
The last book of the Bible carries two names. "Revelation" is the English one; "Apocalypse" is simply its Greek title — and the word itself tells you what kind of book it is.
The Meaning of the Word
Before it is a subject, the title is a description of what happens: a covering is taken off.
F. B. HoleIt is "THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him," that is, the unveiling of things to come, for the simple meaning of revelation or apocalypse is unveiling. It is of course true that the unveiling of these future things all hinges on the unveiling or revelation of Jesus Christ in His glory, but the primary meaning is that God gave to Jesus this revelation of things to come that He might show it to His servants.
Christ Unveiled
The title can be read two ways — a revelation from Christ, or a revelation of Him. One writer argues the second is the heart of it, and that this shapes the whole book.
J. G. BellettThe opening of this wonderful book gives us its title and character — "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him." For it will be found, I judge, to be a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ in such characters of glory and power as He derives from God, or a revelation of Him in the exercise of judicial authority.
A Book of Judgment
This is what sets the Apocalypse apart from the rest of the New Testament. The letters of the New Testament unfold grace; here the subject changes.
The Bible TreasuryThe Apocalypse is unique, as everyone knows — unique in this respect, that it is so full of what was a strange word in the Old Testament, and stranger still in the New, that is, the judgment of God. This judgment is varied in form, and is displayed in visions. God is a God of infinite love and grace, and judgment is His last resort. The Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is the book which unfolds God's coming judgments on this world of ours.
The Book Divides Itself
Readers do not have to invent an outline. Commentators point to a sentence in the first chapter where the Lord Himself lays out the plan.
Hamilton SmithHere, then, we have the Lord's own division of the Revelation. First "the things which you have seen," referring to the vision of the Son of Man as the Judge (Rev. 1:9-18): second, "the things which are," made up of the addresses to the Seven Churches, representing things which then existed, and the condition that will continue to exist during the Church period (Rev. 2, 3): thirdly, "the things that are about to be after these," covering the great prophetic events that will take place after the Church period is closed (Rev. 4-22).
Symbols That Explain Themselves
The pictures are admitted to be pictures — but the book supplies its own key, so the symbolism is not a licence to make everything figurative.
W. TrotterIt is cheerfully allowed that the Apocalypse is a book of symbols and figures, and that to overlook this in interpreting the book would indeed be a serious mistake. But, besides figures and symbols, it contains divine explanations of the one, and interpretations of the other. The "seven golden lampstands," seen by John in vision, were doubtless symbols. "The seven lampstands that you saw are the seven churches," is the explanation from the Lord's own mouth of what they mean.
Why It Comes Last
Its place at the end of the Bible is not an accident of arrangement. One writer sees the whole story gathered up and finished here.
J. N. DarbyThe Bible sets out all the ways of God, from the creation to the return of that creation — long fallen, rebellious, and miserable, but now redeemed — into the order and blessing in which it is securely set by the fullness of God's grace; nothing being excluded except what is incompatible with the blessing itself... One can understand that a book like this would not close without taking up again all the threads of this wonderful, divine process.
A Blessing on the Reader
A promise stands at the front of the book. Notice what it does not require.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinA blessing is promised to him who reads, and who hears and keeps. It does not say that a blessing is for the one who understands and knows everything in this book. If that were the condition, the writer and the reader would have no claim on this promised blessing... We cannot be sure about everything in some of these visions, and the full meaning of some may not be understood till the world sees them fulfilled. The blessing is promised to all His people who give attention to the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Summary
- Unveiled — "Apocalypse" simply means unveiling; the covering is lifted off things still to come.
- Unveiled Person — What is unveiled first is Christ Himself, seen in glory and power, holding judicial authority.
- Unveiled Judgment — Where the rest of the New Testament reveals grace, this book shows God's coming judgments on the world, displayed in visions.
- Unveiled Plan — The Lord's own threefold division orders it: what John saw, the things that are, and the things after these.
- Unveiled to You — The blessing rests on reading, hearing and keeping it, not on understanding every vision.