Crisis - VOLUME II

To his commentary on Daniel, Dr. Ford has now added a detailed study of the Revelation to John, and it is a pleasure for me to write a few words in commendation of this work as I did for its predecessor. Since the exegesis of Revelation is a subject on which I myself have published some reflections, readers will know that not all the conclusions reached by Dr. Ford coincide with my own views. His confessional background is different from mine; to me, for example, the New Testament antitype of the sabbath is that divine rest into which "we who have believed" find entrance. His estimate of the historical and geographical reference of many of the details of Revelation differs from mine; to me the book is primarily intelligible in the light of the church's experience in the Roman Empire in the second half of the first century A. D. But, just because the visions of John were seen in that contemporary context, they have a permanent and universal relevance, especially for readers living in a situation not unlike that in which John and his first readers lived. And Dr. Ford's study deserves special commendation because of the clarity with which it brings out that permanent and universal relevance. He has read widely in exegetical literature, as the wealth of quotation in the following pages shows; yet throughout he has exercised his own judgment on the meaning of the text. Above all, the book of the Revelation emerges from his study as a powerful witness to the authentic biblical gospel. It is always a source of pride and joy for me to greet and commend the work of a former student, but when the work proclaims the faith of the gospel so eloquently as Dr. Ford's work does, the pride and joy are doubled. F. F. Bruce