REVELATION UNFOLDED by Benjamin G. Wilkinson

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 11, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 27.

REVELATION UNFOLDED

By Benjamin G. Wilkinson

The book of Revelation is God's last word to man as recorded in the canon of Scripture; yet there is no portion of the Sacred Writings less understood and less read, notwithstanding the blessing pronounced by the living God upon all who read that book, or even hear it read, and keep the things that are written therein. The most solemn warnings and the most glorious promises of reward between the covers of the grand old Book are here recorded. All lovers of truth are therefore invited to follow carefully the series of expositions by Dr. Wilkinson which begins in this issue. EDITOR.

REVELATION UNFOLDED

By BENJAMIN G. WILKINSON

The Crowning Achievement of the Bible

THE book of Revelation is the crowning stone in the temple of the Holy Scriptures. “Blessed is he,” says John, “that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” Rev. 22: 7.

If the Jews found their inspiration in the books of Moses, and the early Christians dug theirs out of the Gospels, and the Reformers found theirs in the epistles, certainly the book of Revelation will furnish, in these days of last things, the final and greatest uplift. In it may we find the little streams of prophecy beginning away back in the origin of the Scriptures, starting small, growing large through the voice of the prophets, and swelling at last into a great stream in the book of Revelation, to flow on as a mighty river into the ocean of eternity. As scattered rays of light are gathered together and focused in a burning glass, so all the rays of light divine find in the book of Revelation their burning glass.

In the book of Genesis, we find the Holy Land pictured as a garden, occupying a small portion of earth's surface. But in the book of Revelation, we see this extended until the glory of God covers the whole earth, with the city of the New Jerusalem and its splendor in the midst thereof.

The Glorious Consummation

IN Genesis, we see a human pair driven away from access to the tree of life, by the cherubim with flaming sword. In the last book of the Scriptures, however, we see a great concourse of redeemed, of whom it is said, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”

All we learn of the Redeemer in the first book of the Bible is the promise of the woman's seed who was to bruise the head of the serpent. Who this may be, we understand only by glimpses we obtain through the prophetic utterances in the Old Testament, until in the New Testament we meet the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

The picture is not consummated, however, until we find the book of Revelation to be a series of glorious visions concerning the splendor of the Son of God. In chapter one, He is represented as walking in the midst of the flaming candlesticks, and holding in His hand seven seals, while His countenance is as the sun when it shines in its strength. Next we behold Him, in the fourth and fifth chapters of this same book, receiving the adoration of ten thousand times ten thousands of angels — easily the equivalent of the population of the United States — as they sing, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” And finally we behold Him as the bright and morning star of the Scriptures’ last chapter, to whom the sighing of all hearts is directed in these words: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

Life Larger than Logic

WHAT kind of reasoning would it be to hold that all the books of the Bible have been given by God, guarded throughout the centuries by His watchcare, and brought together through the divine providences in a compact whole, only to have added to them a final book that crept in and received a place of honor at the end, and yet was not from God? No one could for a moment maintain that Divinity exercised power to make the rest of the Bible authentic, then spoiled the job by putting to it as an end a spurious revelation. Rather must we say that with the first advent of Christ, so many prophetic predictions of the past had been majestically fulfilled, that God could afford to be prodigal with His forecasts concerning the second coming.

The book of Revelation was needed to complete the sacred canon of the Scriptures. No other New Testament writings gave a picture of the glory to come, adequate as a close to so many glorious predictions. Although the erudite critic may put on his glasses, quote eminent authorities, and give resounding reasons why the book of Revelation is not of God, yet experience teaches us that life is always larger than logic.

A Succession of Events

THE book of Revelation was not only to tell in general of things to come, but it was designed by God to make those events stand out in vivid detail. It was to be a telephoto lens. It would seize upon things still distant in the future, bringing them near, and permit us to examine them in detail. So we have seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven plague angels. The seven churches give the relation of Christ to the church; the seven seals, of the church to the world; the seven trumpets, of Christ to the world; the seven plagues are the final outpouring of God's great wrath.

Just before the opening of the seven seals, we hear the song of the resurrected saints in glory saying, “Thou . . . hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” Then the Lamb steps forward, and takes out of the right hand of Him that sits on the throne the book sealed with seven seals. While He has this book within His hands, and before He breaks the first seal, the song is heard, “We shall reign on the earth.”

The seven seals begin with the first advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, when He appears before us as a Lamb slain for the sins of the world, and reach to His second coming, when the promised restoration begins. So we shall expect the seven seals to mean a succession of events covering the whole period of time between the first and the second coming of our Lord. We shall look to see the first seal tell of things immediately following the death and resurrection of Christ; and the last seal, of events that accompany His return in glory. Is this so?

Next week, Dr. Wilkinson's subject will be, “The Struggle Against Paganism and Apostasy.”