22:20). The centre of the ages lies in the past (Chapters 4–5), even if the sovereignty of God in Christ has still to be acknowledged (5:13–14). The achievement of God’s plan for his world, and the subjugation of secular rebellion, forms the story of Rev. 6–22; but meanwhile John never says when the end will come, and finality itself appears to be elusive (see on 6:17; et al.). In the writer’s understanding of salvation, the past, the present and the future are all important, and his eschatology