[8] Hebrews i. 3; ii. 8-9; viii. 1; x. 12; xii. 2.
[9] Revelation iii. 21.
[10] Acts ii. 36.
[11] Romans x. 9.
[12] I Samuel xvi. 6; xxiv. 6, 10; II Samuel i. 14-16; xix. 21, and elsewhere; Psalm xviii. 50, and frequently in Psalms.
[13] John i. 20, 25; Luke iii. 15.
[14] Philippians ii. 10; I Corinthians xv. 24-26.
[15] John xvii. 5; i. 1-3; Colossians i. 15-17.
[16] Matthew xxvi. 64; Acts ii. 22-24, 32-36; Philippians ii. 9-11; Hebrews ii. 9.
[17] Hebrews ii. 5-18.
[18] Romans vii. 19-22; Jeremiah ix. 10; xii. 4, 11; xxiii. 10; Genesis iii. 17-19; Acts iii. 21.
[19] Ephesians i. 20-22; Hebrews ii. 6-8.
[20] Philippians ii. 9-11.
[21] Ephesians vi. 12; Colossians ii. 15.
[22] Colossians ii. 10; Ephesians iii. 10; iv. 8-10; I Corinthians xv.
24.
[23] Hebrews ii. 8.
[24] II Peter iii. 8-9; Romans ii. 4; ix. 22; Revelation ii. 21; I Peter iii. 20; II Peter iii. 15; Exodus x.x.xiv. 6-7.
[25] James v. 7.
[26] F. M. N.
[27] Ephesians i. 20-22.
[28] Ephesians iii. 20.
[29] John xiv. 12-14.
[30] Hebrews x. 13.
[31] Acts iii. 21.
[32] Frances Ridley Havergal.
[33] Mrs. Bessie Porter Head.
II.--THE CROWN BOOK
"All hail the power of Jesus" Name!
Let angels prostrate fall: Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of all.
"O that with yonder sacred throng We at His feet may fall, Join in the everlasting song And crown Him Lord of all!
"With all my powers Him I greet, All subject to His call; And bowing low at His pierced feet, _Now_ crown Him Lord of all.
"I hail the power of Jesus" Name, Before Him gladly fall, Bring Him my own heart"s diadem And crown Him Lord of all!"
The Crowning Book.
There is a _crown book_ in this old Book of G.o.d,--the Revelation of John. It is _the_ crown book, the only one. It is the crown book of the sixty-six in two senses. It is the capping climax of the whole revelation of G.o.d"s Word. It gathers up into itself in a peculiar way the dominant characteristics of both the Hebrew Old and the Greek New Testaments.
And it is the book of the Crown. The King is in action. He Himself gives the message of the book to John. He is seen stepping forward to take possession of His realm. Then He takes possession. He dispossesses the pretender. He reigns over the earth. The Revelation of John is the Crown book.
This is the peculiarity of the Revelation in comparison with all the other books. Only here is Christ seen exercising His crown rights. From end to end of the Old Testament pages, His coming is looked forward to, with an eager longing that grows in intensity as the national failure grows ever worse.
In the Gospels He comes, but not as He was expected. He is heralded as King, and claims to be King. He has all the graciousness of a King in ministering to the needs of the people, and all the power of a King in His personal touch. But He is rejected by the nation, and goes to the Cross, yet still as a King,--a humiliated, crucified King.
In the Acts He is the risen, glorified King seated at the Father"s right hand in glory, and at work through His followers among men on the earth.
But it is always in the midst of sharp, bitter opposition. In the Epistles He is seen crowned at the Father"s right hand, guiding and teaching His followers who are still suffering persecution.
But in the Revelation of John all this is changed. There"s a sharp, decided, advance step. Here He is not only crowned, but stepping directly and decisively into the action of the earth in the full exercise of His crowned rights and power. It is peculiarly the book of the Crown, the royal book, the enthroned Christ exercising fully and freely at will His crown rights.
Jesus" Bosom Friend.
The book was written by John the disciple and apostle. This is our same old friend John, whom we met first that ever-memorable afternoon, down by the Jordan River road, when he was introduced to Jesus by the John of the deserts, and had his first long, quiet talk with Him.[34] The friendship began that day, grew steadily, and never flagged. It was one of the few friendships that Jesus had that never knew any lapse nor eclipse.
He became, in an outstanding sense, the bosom friend of Jesus. Probably it was not because of any special gentleness or amiability on John"s part, though he may have had something of these traits. It was more likely because of the deep, intelligent sympathy between the two, a sympathy not only of personality, but deeper and stronger because of a mental and spirit likeness growing up between them. It would seem likely that John developed a mental grasp, a spirit insight, a student thoughtfulness, a steadiness of temperament, and with these, a growing understanding of much--at the least--much of Jesus" spirit and ideals and vision.
It may quite be that all this came slowly, and grew up out of the constant contact with Jesus, and out of the warm personal love between the two men; quite likely. Who could live so close to Jesus as he and not bear the marks on mind and spirit? The fire that burned so fiercely in early years[35] grew into a steady, unflickering flame under the influence of that personal friendship.
It seems not unlikely that John belonged to a good family, and had his home in Jerusalem. He was clearly on terms of easy intimacy at the palace of the High Priest,[36] which in itself would suggest his social standing in the city. It was to this man that Jesus, on the Cross, committed the care of His mother. And John accepted the trust as a tender token of friendship, and took Mary at once to his own home. And as Mary remained in Jerusalem at least some time, and John clearly for a long time, the home was likely there.
John was one of the chief leaders in Jerusalem during the Pentecost days, and after. Peter was the chief spokesman, but John was always close by his side. The friendship between the two seems to have been close and of long standing. They were sent together by the Master to arrange for the supper that memorable betrayal night,[37] and they are seen together in the activities in Jerusalem for many years.[38]
It would seem that in later years John left Jerusalem, and made his home for the remainder of his life in Ephesus. Doubtless he was led, after the years of leadership in the mother Church, to leave the great Jew centre, and devote his strength to missionary service in the outside Gentile world.
Ephesus was the chief city of the province of Asia, and the natural centre of the population and life of the province. John probably worked out from Ephesus, preaching throughout the whole district; teaching, advising, praying with, and visiting the groups of little Churches scattered throughout the province, perhaps founding some, and strengthening all. For his work seems to have been, not so much evangelizing, but the much more difficult work of teaching, patiently, carefully, teaching; a work so essential to the life of any Church. So he would be quite familiar with the Churches to which the Revelation letters are sent, and would be well known by these people and loved and revered by them as a father in the faith.