Presenting CWWN v16 – Study on Revelation

 kw: book summaries, watchman nee, christian ministry

From the preface: "Prior to 1928 Brother Watchman Nee conducted a study with a few saints in the book of Revelation. The longhand notes of a brother who attended those meetings are published in this book. They have been briefly edited for the sake of clarity. The portion covering Revelation 2:19-3:22 is missing in the original manuscript."

Study on Revelation, which is volume 16 of The Collected Works of Watchman Nee is a companion volume to v15, the Study on Matthew. It is a verse-by-verse exegesis. Although a portion is missing, chapters two and three of Revelation were kind of a hobby to brother Nee, so there is plenty to be found in his other writings.

He placed great emphasis on discerning which portions of Revelation are signs and which are to be taken literally. Because of this emphasis, he stated at least twice, "Revelation is not a book of signs." Of course, the second clause of the first verse states that God "made it known by signs, sending it by His angel to His slave John". 

This gave me a lot of trouble at first. According to my own study and the ministry I have received, Revelation is primarily a book of signs, that is, of symbols that have spiritual significance. Many things do need to be taken literally. For example, I believe that Satan, the beast, and the false prophet will be literally cast into the lake of fire. If Satan and his leading tools are not done away with—very, very literally!—how will we ever be freed from sin?

On the other hand, is New Jerusalem a sign, or a literal city? In his discussion of Rev. 21:9, brother Nee delivers 17 points to prove that the New Jerusalem is a literal city. Yes, there is something literal about it. However, the description of the city is primarily symbolic. Let us suppose that its size is truly 12,000 stadia in length, width, and height. That length is close to 1,500 miles or 2,400 km. Certainly, God can create the new earth with a structure that can support a city, primarily composed of a block of gold about half the size of the Moon. Then we find that it has a surrounding wall that has a height of 144 cubits, or about 216 feet or 66 meters. When you are close to it, the wall is indeed "great and high." But stand far enough away to see the whole breadth and height of the city, and it is a thread, a filigree, limning the edge of a structure 36,000 times as high. Is it possible for this to be literal? Yes, it is, in the sense that "all things are possible with God," but I think it much more likely that the numbers are symbolic, being multiples of twelve and ten, which represent different kinds of perfection or completion in God's scheme of things.

Many, many of brother Nee's interpretations are buttressed by lists of reasons and references. In this sense, the book is polemical. This is understandable. In the 1920's the study of Revelation and of eschatology in general was quite a mess! A great many Bible teachers avoided the matter entirely, while others, particularly among the Brethren, became "specialists" in eschatology. Brother Nee mentions the names of numerous ones who taught various things, citing whom he agreed with, and detailing his reasons for considering that others were wrong.

Commenting on Rev. 22:10, brother Nee stated that there are only "about 28" signs, of which fourteen are explained, and the rest are on minor points, "easily understood". Characteristically, among the various "schools of interpretation," he takes a middle path. The existence of such a "school" indicates that the interpretation method is either extreme or too didactic. Like the clean animals in Leviticus, which were required to have both a cloven hoof and to chew the cud, he showed how neither extreme is to be trusted, and that either the two "schools" must be synthesized, or that trustworthy portions of each must be extracted and combined into a balanced view. This I heartily concur with, while recognizing that it tends to offend partisans of every such "school" of doctrine.

After nearly fifty years of following the middle path forged by Nee and developed by Lee, it is clear to me that most members of all the "schools" remain offended. The principal tragedy of Christianity is the enormous tendency for extremist views to prevail, leading to partisan bickering, and sometimes, to bitter conflict. This indicates that both "sides" are wrong.

This volume is a great introduction to interpreting Revelation. Revelation is a book of signs that symbolize events of immense import, and it is a book not of signs, in that nearly all the mysteries are explained or presented so as to be obvious. Yet, like all revelation from God, it does not allow us to predict things in any specific way; rather, once we know the contents of the revelation we will be able to recognize events once they begin to transpire all around us. Thus Jesus could say in Matthew 24:15-16, "…when you see the abomination of desolation, … let those in Judea flee to the mountains…" The day before it occurs, nobody will know it is imminent. When it happens, it will be unmistakable.

Do I need to say to those who have read the Left Behind series, as I have, that it contains a little correct interpretation larded (leavened?) with a lot of nonsense? It takes much time to read all 12 volumes. The same time devoted to studying Revelation, Daniel and Zechariah will afford much more profit. A little extra time devoted to reading this commentary will facilitate your study.