It is possible that when St. John recorded, with Oriental imagery, the series of visions which came to him on the Isle of Patmos, he believed that the second coming of Christ would occur in the immediate future. His symbolic description, contained in Revelation 12 and other parts of the Apocalypse, may, therefore, have referred to events that he believed to be near at hand. That the predicted changes did not take place in the period in which John lived or in the next succeeding centuries does not, however, prove his prophecy fallacious. The fact is that his prophetic vision is being fulfilled in the present age, and this is cause for rejoicing.
When Jesus prophesied the destruction of matter and the second coming of Christ, and his disciples asked him, "Master, but when shall these things be?" his answer was not definite as to time. On the contrary, he told them of certain signs that should first come to pass. "And then," he said, "shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."
At another time when Jesus said, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever," it is evident that he knew the thought of the world was not yet ready for the full and final revelation of Christ, Truth—the Science of being. He knew that when the right time came, the promised Comforter would appear. For long years weary and heavy-laden mortals waited for this Comforter—the "Spirit of truth"— to come to them. During the Dark Ages, materialism and scholasticism so obscured the light of spiritual Truth that it was almost entirely lost sight of. With the Reformation the clouds began to lift, and after taking many progressive steps towards greater freedom of thought, humanity found itself more nearly ready for the coming of the Comforter.
