Apocalypse

Book your next stay now with Vrbo.

Section one of Observations upon the Apocalypse of St. John.

This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Adam Bielka.

Observations upon the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton.

Chapter one.

Introduction concerning the time when the Apocalypse was written.

That's what we're talking about.

[laughs] This is week two of our series called The Apocalypse, where, uh, we are studying the Book of Revelation.

We're studying the Book of Revelation, um, and, and those two words are synonymous.

In the Greek, the word apocalypse is apokalypsis, which means to reveal something, which means to unveil something, to make something clear that once was not clear.

The Book of Enoch, its component parts and their dates.

The Book of Enoch is now usually designated First Enoch to distinguish it from the later Apocalypse, The Secrets of Enoch, known as Second Enoch.

The former is also called the Ethiopic Enoch, the latter the Slavonic Enoch, after the languages of the earliest versions extant of each respectively.

No manuscript of the original language of either is known to be in existence.

Canon Charles believes that these are approximately correct, without committing himself to the certainty of this in each case.

Chapters twelve through thirty-six, forty-two and ninety-one, twelve through seventeen.

The Apocalypse of Weeks, the oldest pre-Maccabean portions.

Chapters six through eleven, fifty-four, seven through fifty-five, two, sixty, sixty-five through sixty-nine, twenty-five, one-oh-six through one-oh-seven.

If you know, you Vrbo.

Section 1 of Observations upon the Apocalypse of St. John.

This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Adam Bielka.

Observations upon the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton.

Chapter 1.

Introduction concerning the time when the Apocalypse was written.

And so we might ask ourselves, "What is going on in here?" And we have to remind ourselves, ground ourselves, and root ourselves in the fact that this was written to a real people, and they would've taken a, a measure of hope and understanding from what we just read a moment ago.

Revelation is also, the third genre, an apokalypsis.

Apokalypsis literally meaning, this is where we get the word revelation, literally meaning an unveiling of what's true in the heavenly realms so we might live in the earthly realms with confidence that God is actually in control.

Much of Revelation is happening right now.

It's not just about things that have happened or things that are going to happen.

We study the apocalypses to learn how our spiritual ancestors hoped again that God would make all right in the end.

and that we, their children, are here today studying them, is an indication that their hope was not wholly unfounded.

Hope is, indeed, the main underlying motive power which prompted the writers of the Apocalypses, and this hope is the more intensive and ardent in that it shines forth from a background which is dark with despair.

For the Apocalyptists despaired of the world in which they lived, a world in which the godly were of no account, while the wicked seemed too often triumphant and prosperous.

With evil everywhere around, the apocalyptists saw no hope for the world as it was.

which either in phraseology or idea directly depend on or are illustrative of passages in 1 Enoch, as well as a further list showing that various doctrines in 1 Enoch had an undoubted share in molding the corresponding New Testament doctrines.

These passages should be studied, and they will be found to be a most interesting study in Charles' work already referred to several times, pages 95 to 103, and with these should be read the section on the theology of the Book of Enoch, pages 103 to 110.

Another book of great value and interest, already quoted, is Burkett's Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, In dealing with the subject of 1 Enoch and the Gospels, this writer points out that the former contains a serious attempt to account for the presence of evil in human history, and this attempt claims our attention, because it is in essentials the view presupposed in the Gospels, especially in the Synoptic Gospels.

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE APOCALYPSE OF SAINT JOHN by Sir Isaac Newton Chapter 1.

Introduction.

Concerning the time when the Apocalypse was written.

Irenaeus introduced an opinion that the Apocalypse was written in the time of Domitian, but then he also postponed the writing of some of the sacred books and was to place the Apocalypse after them.

he might perhaps have heard from his master polycarp that he had received this book from john about the time of domitian's death or indeed john might himself at that time have made a new publication of it from whence irenaeus might imagine it was then but newly written eusebius in his chronicle and ecclesiastical history follows irenaeus but afterwards in his evangelical demonstrations he conjoins the banishment of john into patmos with the deaths of peter and paul and so do tertullian and pseudo procurus as well as the first author whoever he was of that very ancient fable that john was put by nero into a vessel of hot oil and coming out unhurt was banished by him into patmos though this story be no more than a fiction yet was it founded on a tradition of the first churches that john was banished into patmos in the days of nero epiphanius represents the gospel of john as written in the time of domitian and the apocalypse even before that of nero aretas in the beginning of his commentary quotes the opinion of irenaeus from eusebius but follows it not for he afterwards affirms the apocalypse was written before the destruction of jerusalem and that former commentators had expounded the sixth seal of that destruction with the opinion of the first commentators agrees the tradition of the churches of syria preserved to this day in the title of the syriac version of the apocalypse which title is this the revelation which was made to john the evangelist by god in the island of patmos into which he was banished by nero the caesar the fame is confirmed by a story told by eusebius out of clemens alexandrinus and other ancient authors concerning a youth whom john some time after his return from patmos committed to the care of the bishop of a certain city the bishop educated instructed and at length baptized him and then remitting of his care the young man thereupon got into ill company and began by degrees first to revel and grow vicious then to abuse and spoil those he met in the night and at last grew so desperate that his companions turning a band of highwaymen made him their captain and saith chrysostom he continued their captain a long time at length john returned to that city and hearing what was done rode to the thief and when he out of reverence to his old master fled john rode after him recalled him and restored him to the church This is a story of many years, and requires that John should have returned from Patmos rather at the death of Nero than that of Domitian, because between the death of Domitian and that of John there were but two years and a half, and John in his old age was so infirm as to be carried to church, dying above ninety years old, and therefore could not be then supposable to ride after the thief.

this opinion is further supported by the allusions in the apocalypse to the temple and altar and holy city as then standing and to gentiles who were soon after to tread under foot the holy city and outward court tis confirmed also by the style of the apocalypse itself which is fuller of hebraisms than his gospel for thence it may be gathered that it was written when john was newly come out of judea where he had been used to the syriac tongue and that he did not write his gospel till by long converse with the asiatic greeks he had left off most of the hebraisms it is confirmed also by many false apocalypses as those of peter paul thomas stephen elias and cerinthus written in imitation of the true one for as the many false gospels false acts and false epistles were occasioned by true ones and the writing many false apocalypses and ascribing them to apostles and prophets argues that there was a true apostolic one in great request with the first christians so this true one may be well supposed to have been written early that there may be room in the apostolic age for the writing of so many false ones afterwards and fathering them upon peter paul thomas and others who were dead before john caius who was contemporary with tertullian tells us that cerinthus wrote his revelations as a great apostle and pretended the visions were shewn him by angels asserting a millennium of carnal pleasures at jerusalem after the resurrection so that his apocalypse was plainly written in imitation of john's and yet he lived so early that he resisted the apostles at jerusalem in or before the first year of claudius that is twenty-six years before the death of nero and died before john these reasons may suffice for determining the time and yet there is one more which to considering men may seem a good reason to others not all propound it and leave it to every man's judgment the apocalypse seems to be alluded to in the epistles of peter and that to the hebrews and therefore to have been written before them such allusions in the epistle to the hebrews i take to be the discourses concerning the high priest in the heavenly tabernacle who is both priest and king as was and those concerning the word of god with the sharp two-edged sword the sabbatismos or millennial rest the earth whose end is to be burned suppose by the lake of fire the judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries the heavenly city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is god the cloud of witnesses mount zion heavenly jerusalem general assembly spirits of just men made perfect the deluset by the resurrection and the shaking of heaven and earth and removing them that the new heaven new earth and new kingdom which cannot be shaken may remain in the first of peter occur these the

The epistle to the Hebrews, since it mentions Timothy, as related to those Hebrews, must be written to them after their flight into Asia, where Timothy was bishop.

and by consequence, after the war began, the Hebrews and Judea being strangers to Timothy.

Section 1 of

Observations Upon the Apocalypse of St. John This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Adam Bielka Observations upon the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton Chapter 1 Introduction Concerning the Time When the Apocalypse Was Written Irenaeus introduced an opinion that the Apocalypse was written in the time of Domitian, but then he also postponed the writing of some of the sacred books and was to place the Apocalypse after them.

He might perhaps have heard from his master Polycarp that he had received this book from John about the time of Domitian's death.

Or indeed, John might himself, at that time, have made a new publication of it, from whence Irenaeus might imagine it was then but newly written.

chapter ten verse seven chapter eleven verse fifteen there is already so much of the prophecy fulfilled that as many as will take pains in the study may see sufficient instances of god's providence but then the signal revolutions predicted by all the holy prophets will at once both turn men's eyes upon considering the predictions and plainly interpret them till then we must content ourselves with interpreting what hath already been fulfilled amongst the interpreters of the last age there is scarce one of note who hath not made some discovery worth knowing, and thence I seem to gather that God is about opening these mysteries.

The success of others put me upon considering it, and, if I have done anything which may be useful to the following writers, I have my design.