ss, but works of Jesus (ii. 26), and the "righteous acts of
the saints" (xix. 8) are based on "the faith of Jesus" (xiv. 12).
Salvation is the free gift of Christ (xxi. 6; xxii. 17). The saints
who overcome, conquer not by relying upon their own righteousness, but
"because of the blood of the Lamb" (xii. 11).

In the Revelation (ii. 17) Jesus promises to believers "the hidden
manna;" in the Gospel, referring also to the manna, He promises "the
true bread from heaven" (John vi. 32). In the Revelation (xxii. 17)
Jesus says, "Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him
take of the water of life freely;" in the Gospel He says, "If any man
thirst, let him come unto Me and drink" (John vii. 37). If, then, the
Revelation is full of Hebrew expressions, it is essentially and
profoundly Christian, and linked with the other Johannine books by the
closest kinship. The theology and the style of the Revelation are the
same throughout.[6] We can therefore reject without hesitation the
recent hypothesis that it is one large Jewish work with numerous
Christian interpolations. The difficulty of supposing that the book
was ever a purely Jewish Apocalypse {275} can quickly be realized by
any one who undertakes to strike out all the Christian allusions in the
book.

The author states that he is John, in the strongest fashion both in the
beginning and end (i. 4, 9; xxii. 8), and his attitude towards the
seven Churches is inexplicable unless the writer held a position of the
highest ecclesiastical importance.

[Sidenote: For whom written.]

Plainly for the whole Church, as represented by "the seven Churches
which are in Asia" (i. 4).

[Sidenote: Date.]

From i. 9 we learn that the revelation was made to John when he "was in
the isle that is called Patmos" (in the Aegean Sea) "for the word of
God and the testimony of Jesus." Irenaeus expressly says that the date
of this banishment was at the end of the reign of Domitian (Emperor
81-96 A.D.), and therefore he says it was almost within his own
generation. On the other hand, some modern writers have assigned part
or the whole of the book to the time of Nero (54-68), or a little
later. But though some parts of it seem earlier than Domitian, the
final form of the book is unquestionably late. A late date is
indicated by the corruptions existing in some of the Churches
addressed, by the expression "the Lord's day" (i. 10) instead of the
older expression "first day of t