nd the glorious privilege of rendering eternal praise to "Him
that sitteth upon the throne," "upholding all things by the word of his
power," "declaring the end from the beginning," and revealing his mighty
works unto the children of men.

CHAPTER I.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show
unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he
sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

2. Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of
Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of
this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein:
for the time is at hand.

This book of the Revelation is frequently styled the Apocalypse, derived
from the word by which it is designated in Greek. Jesus Christ having
received it from God, its author, designed it for the future benefit of
his church, and communicated it to his servants by the hand of the
beloved apostle John. Its character is described by its title
"Revelation," which signifies something revealed or made known; and its
object was to "show unto his servants things which must shortly come to
pass." This object of God's in delivering the Revelation to his church
should be a sufficient refutation of the popular theory that this book
is unintelligible, and its varied symbols wrapped in such deep mystery
that their meaning can not be evolved; for it is not consonant with the
supreme power and wisdom of the God-head to suppose that, in making a
revelation to man, he would make the fatal mistake of clothing his
language with a mystery that defies the intellect of mortals to unveil.
It is said of the things herein revealed that they "must shortly come to
pass," by which is meant not that they were all to be completely
fulfilled within a short time, but that the series of special events
predicted were soon to begin. Thus, we speak of a century or eternity as
near at hand, by which we mean that the events of the period spoken of
are about to commence, although the end of the series may be very far
off.

But who are "his servants"? For whose benefit was the Revelation given?
Surely it was for all those who become children of God by faith in
Christ Jesus, from the beginning of the gospel dispensation when it was
given, until the end of time; for a benediction is pronounced upon _all_
those who read and h