The ideas in the author's original lengthy commentary are here condensed, adapted and made accessible to today's reader. This book is unique in that it presents an understanding of the Apocalypse, including the beast and the millennial period unlike other current views, and founded on the Old Testament. The Revelation is full of Old Testament references, so it requires an Old Testament scholar to understand them. Lutheran scholar E. W. Hengstenberg approaches the book with a comparative approach, clearly explaining the mysteries of the book, riddles and difficulties that still evade the grasp of modern scholarship. In explaining the mysteries, further levels of meaning are opened up to the reader.
Heathenism is the enemy with which the book concerns itself, and us today. That the beast cannot be Nero or the Papacy is clearly explained. The ten horns, the Germanic tribes have been conquered by Christ, with a subsequent millennia in Christian Europe, which now remains behind us. Gog and Magog is now on the world stage, its character already informed by John’s account of the three enemies of God’s kingdom, the dragon, the beast from the sea- the worldly heathen power, and the beast from the earth, which in sum symbolized the Roman Empire. The cherubim are seen as the ideal representation of all that is living, the angels often form an intimation of Christ. The book is seen, not as a progressive chronology but a number of independent groups, each supplementing the others. Some are general in nature, explaining the nature of God’s judgments, others are more detailed and specific.
This is a full orbed understanding of the Revelation that serves as an alternative to the views current today. Although written in the 19th century, the conclusions the author came to have been confirmed by the passing of modern history, proving them just as relevant to us as it was for him.
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