Such is the general character of that revelation which Jesus Christ _sent and signified through His angel unto His servant John_. And that Apostle faithfully recorded it for the instruction and comfort of the Church. Like his Divine Master, with whom throughout all this book believers are so closely identified, and who is Himself _the Amen, the faithful and true witness_,[3] the disciple whom He loved stands forth to bear witness of _the word of God_ thus given him, of _the testimony of Jesus_ thus signified to him, _even of all things that he saw_. He places himself in thought at the end of the visions he had witnessed, and re-traces for others the elevating pictures which had filled, as he beheld them, his own soul with rapture. Therefore may he now, ere yet he enters upon his task, pronounce a blessing upon those who shall pay due heed to what he is to say. Does he think of the person by whom the apostolic writings were read aloud in the midst of the Christian congregation? then, _Blessed is he that readeth_. Does he think of those who listen? then, Blessed are _they that hear the words of the prophecy_. Or, lastly, does he think not merely of reading and hearing, but of that laying up in the heart to which these were only preparatory? then, Blessed are they that _keep the things which are written therein, for the season_, the short season in which everything shall be accomplished, _is at hand_. The Introduction to the book is over; and it may be well to mark for a moment that tendency to divide his matter into three parts which peculiarly distinguishes St. John, and to which, as supplying an important rule of interpretation, we shall often have occasion to refer. There are obviously three parts in the Introduction,--the Source, the Contents, and the Importance of the revelation: and each of these is again divided into three. Three persons are mentioned when the Source is spoken of,--God, Jesus Christ, and the servants of Jesus; three when the Contents are referred to,--the Word of God, the Testimony of Jesus, and All things that he saw; and three when the Importance of the book is described,--He that readeth, They that hear, and They that keep the things written therein.