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B. W. Johnson
Vision of the Ages (1881)


ANALYSIS OF REVELATION.

PART I.


CHAPTERS I.-XI.

      Introduction.--Chap. 1:1-3.
      Salutation to the Seven Churches; 4-8.
      Author, and place and time explained; 9-10.
      The First Vision.--The Son of Man between the Golden Candlesticks. Letters to the Churches, chapters II. and III.


THE BOOK OF THE FUTURE OPENED.

      The first four chapters are not prophecy, except as the history of the Seven Churches is outlined. The future history of the world and the Church is symbolized by a sealed book. It has seven seals. These are seven epochs that reach into the future until the end of time.
      The First Seal.--The White Horse. The Era of Triumph. The Glorious Period of Roman History; 6:3-4, A. D. 96 to A. D. 180.
      The Second Seal.--The Red Horse. The Era of Blood and of Civil Discord; 6:3-4. Beginning A. D. 193.
      The Third Seal.--The Black Horse. The Seal of Calamity, and of National Distress; 6:5-6. Beginning about A. D. 200.
      The Fourth Seal.--The Pale Horse. The Era of Famine, Pestilence and Death; 6:7-8. About A. D. 240 to A. D. 270.
      The Fifth Seal.--The Era of Persecution. The last effort of Paganism to blot out the Christian name; 6:9-10. A. D. 303.
      The Sixth Seal.--The Seal of Revolution. The Era of the Overthrow of Pagan Civil iza tion; 6:12-17. Beginning about A. D. 310 and extending to A. A 350.
      The Four Winds.--A vision of destructive forces that shall destroy the Roman Empire, but held back until it shall be Christianized.--The Four Winds represent Four Northern Invasions, also indicated by Four Trumpets; 9:1-17. Fulfilled from A. D. 340 to A. D. 395.


THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.

      The First Trumpet under the Seventh Seal.--The Gothic Invasion fulfilled by the Invasion of Alaric; 8:7. A. D. 409.
      The Second Trumpet.--The Vandal Invasion. The Conquest of the Seas; 8:8-9. A. D. 422.
      The Third Trumpet.--The Invasion of Attila, the Hun. The Scourge of the Rivers; 8:10-11. A. D. 440.
      The Fourth Trumpet.--The final overthrow of Rome by Odoacer. The end of Ancient History; 8:12. A. D. 476. These Four Trumpet Invasions are the Four Winds which were withheld.


THE FALL OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE.

      The Fifth Trumpet Sounded.--The Mahometan Uprising. The Saracen Empire; 9:1-12. A. D. 632 to A. D. 772.
      The Sixth Trumpet.--The Euphratean Angels Loosed. The Rise of Turkish Power; 9:13-21. A. D. 1057 to A. D. 1453.


REVIVAL OF ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY.

      The Little Book and the Seven Thunders.--Symbols of the Reformation of Luther; 10:1-11. A. D. 1518.
      The Old Paths Sought.--The Church Measured; 11: 1, 12. From A. D. 1516 to the present time.
      The Two Witnesses.--The Two Books of the Word of God. In Sackcloth for twelve hundred and sixty years. [12] Slain in 1793. Resurrected near the beginning of this century; 11:3-12.
      Babylon Falls.--11:13. Yet future.
      The Seventh Angel Sounds.--Christ comes. The judgment; 12:14-18. This ends the first part of Revelation and ends the world.


PART II.

      With the last verse of Chap. XI. heaven is opened to permit a new vision. The first vision of the future has carried the reader to the end of time. In that vision the Church, in its relation to secular history, has been prominent. In the new vision the history of the True Church, its tribulations, and its final glorious triumph, are outlined upon the one hand, and upon the other the history of the great Apostasy.
      The Vision opened.--11:19.
      The Crowned Woman.--The Church in Progress: 12:1-5.
      The Church in the Wilderness.--12:6-17. A. D. 533 to about A. D. 1800.
      The Beast.--Seven Heads and Ten Horns. Imperial and Secular Rome; 13:1-10. The period referred to is from A. D. 533 to A. D. 1793.
      The Two Horned Beast.--Spiritual Rome; 12:11-18. About the same period.
      The Gospel Triumph.--The Means of the Overthrow of Rome. The Everlasting Gospel. The Triumph; 14:1-20. In progress at thistime.


THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES.

      These give an outline of the worldly instrumentalities which work together to overthrow Rome and bring About the millennial reign of Christ. This closing vision begins with Chap. XV.
      The First Vial.--The French Revolution; 16:2. A. D. 1793. [14]
      The Second Vial.--The Catholic Powers Driven from the Seas; 16:3. A. D. 1793 to A. D. 1815.
      The Third Vial.--The Rivers Turned into Blood; 16:4-7. A. D. 1796 to 1805.
      The Fourth Vial.--The Sun, a Scourge. The Napoleon scourge of Europe; 16:8, 9. A. D. 1798 to 1815.
      The Fifth Vial.--The Uprising of Italy and the overthrow of the States of the Church; 16:10. 11. A. D. 1866 to A. D. 1880.
      The Sixth Vial.--The Drying up of the Euphrates. The gradual extinction of the Turkish power: 16:12. This process began over one hundred years ago; it is not yet completed, but the end seems near. The Battle of Armageddon.
      The Seventh Vial.--These events are yet future, and are followed by the total overthrow of Babylon, and the Millennium; 16:13-21.


THE GREAT HARLOT.

      The seventeenth chapter describes more fully the Papacy, also called Babylon, and here described as a Harlot. The eighteenth chapter describes the mourning over her fall. The nineteenth shows that the Word of God is the mighty instrumentality that overcomes the Harlot, and conquers the world. In the latter part of this chapter there is another description of the battle of Armageddon.


THE MILLENNIUM.

      The Great Conquest.--The Triumph of the Word. The Rider of the White Horse; 19:11-16.
      Armageddon.--The False Prophet and the Beast cast into the Lake of Fire; 19:17-21. Satan Chained.--20:1-3.
      The First Resurrection.--20:4-6.
      Satan's Last Battle.--20:8, 9.
      The Judgment.--20:10-15.
      The New Jerusalem.--The twenty-first and twenty-second chapters describe the final glory of mankind.

[VOTA 11-14]


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B. W. Johnson
Vision of the Ages (1881)

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