AUTHENTICITY.--The author calls himself John ( Re 1:1, 4, 9; 2:8). JUSTIN MARTYR [Dialogue with Trypho, p. 308] (A.D. 139-161) quotes from the Apocalypse, as John the apostle's work, the prophecy of the millennium of the saints, to be followed by the general resurrection and judgment. This testimony of JUSTIN is referred to also by EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 4.18]. JUSTIN MARTYR, in the early part of the second century, held his controversy with TRYPHO, a learned Jew, at Ephesus, where John had been living thirty or thirty-five years before: he says that "the Revelation had been given to John, one of the twelve apostles of Christ." MELITO, bishop of Sardis (about A.D. 171), one of the seven churches addressed, a successor, therefore, of one of the seven angels, is said by EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 4.26] to have written treatises on the Apocalypse of John. The testimony of the bishop of Sardis is the more impartial, as Sardis is one of the churches severely reproved ( Re 3:1). So also THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH (about A.D. 180), according to E USEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 4.26], quoted testimonies from the Apocalypse of John. EUSEBIUS says the same of Apollonius, who lived in Asia Minor in the end of the second century. IRENÆUS (about A.D. 180), a hearer of POLYCARP, the disciple of John, and supposed by ARCHBISHOP USHER to be the angel of the Church of Smyrna, is most decided again and again in quoting the Apocalypse as the work of the apostle John [Against Heresies, 4.20.11; 4.21.3; 4.30.4; 5.36.1; 5.30.3; 5.35.2]. In [5.30.1], alluding to the mystical number of the beast, six hundred sixty-six ( Re 13:18), found in all old copies, he says, "We do not hazard a confident theory as to the name of Antichrist; for if it had been necessary that his name should be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him who saw the apocalyptic vision; for it was seen at no long time back, but almost in our generation, towards the end of Domitian's reign." In his work Against Heresies, published ten years after Polycarp's martyrdom, he quotes the Apocalypse twenty times, and makes long extracts from it, as inspired Scripture. These testimonies of persons contemporary with John's immediate successors, and more or less connected with the region of the seven churches to which Revelation is addressed, are most convincing. T ERTULLIAN, of North Africa (about A.D. 220), [Against Marcion, 3.14], quotes the apostle John's descriptions in the Apocalypse of the sword proceeding out of the Lord's mouth ( Re 19:15), and of the heavenly city ( Re 21:1-27). Compare On the Resurrection of the Flesh [27]; A Treatise on the Soul, [8, 9, &c.]; The Prescription Against Heretics, [33]. The MURATORI fragment of the canon (about A.D. 200) refers to John the apostle writing to the seven churches. HIPPOLYTUS, bishop of Ostia, near Rome (about A.D. 240) [On Antichrist, p. 67], quotes Re 17:1-18, as the writing of John the apostle. Among HIPPOLYTUS' works, there is specified in the catalogue on his statue, a treatise "on the Apocalypse and Gospel according to John." CLEMENT OF A LEXANDRIA (about A.D. 200) [Miscellanies, 6.13], alludes to the twenty-four seats on which the elders sit as mentioned by John in the Apocalypse ( Re 4:5); also, [Who Is the Rich Man Who Shall Be Saved? 42], he mentions John's return from Patmos to Ephesus on the death of the Roman tyrant. ORIGEN (about A.D. 233), [Commentary on Matthew, in EUSEBIUS Ecclesiastical History, 6.25], mentions John as the author of the Apocalypse, without expressing any doubts as to its authenticity; also, in Commentary on Matthew, [16.6], he quotes Re 1:9, and says, "John seems to have beheld the Apocalypse in the island of Patmos." VICTORINUS, bishop of Pettau in Pannonia, who suffered martyrdom under Diocletian in A.D. 303, wrote the earliest extant commentary on the Apocalypse. Though the Old Syriac Peschito version does not contain the Apocalypse, yet EPHREM THE SYRIAN (about A.D. 378) frequently quotes the Apocalypse as canonical, and ascribes it to John.
Its canonicity and inspiration (according to a scholium of ANDREAS OF CAPPADOCIA) are attested by PAPIAS, a hearer of John, and associate of POLYCARP. P APIAS was bishop of Hierapolis, near Laodicea, one of the seven churches. WORDSWORTH conjectures that a feeling of shame, on account of the rebukes of Laodicea in Revelation, may have operated on the Council of Laodicea, so as to omit Revelation from its list of books to be read publicly (?). The Epistle of the churches of Lyons and Vienne to the churches of Asia and Phrygia (in EUSEBIUS, [Ecclesiastical History, 5.1-3]), in the persecution under Marcus Aurelius ( A.D. 77) quotes Re 1:5; 3:14; 14:4; 22:11, as Scripture. CYPRIAN (about A.D. 250) also, in Epistle 13, quotes Re 2:5 as Scripture; and in Epistle 25 he quotes Re 3:21, as of the same authority as the Gospel. (For other instances, see ALFORD'S Prolegomena, from whom mainly this summary of evidence has been derived). ATHANASIUS, in his Festival Epistle, enumerates the Apocalypse among the canonical Scriptures, to which none must add, and from which none must take away. JEROME [Epistle to Paulinus] includes in the canon the Apocalypse, adding, "It has as many mysteries as words. All praise falls short of its merits. In each of its words lie hid manifold senses." Thus an unbroken chain of testimony down from the apostolic period confirms its canonicity and authenticity.
The ALOGI [EPIPHANIUS, Heresies, 51] and CAIUS the Roman presbyter [EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 3.28], towards the end of the second and beginning of the third century, rejected John's Apocalypse on mere captious grounds. CAIUS, according to JEROME [On Illustrious Men], about A.D. 210, attributed it to Cerinthus, on the ground of its supporting the millennial reign on earth. DIONYSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA mentions many before his time who rejected it because of its obscurity and because it seemed to support Cerinthus' dogma of an earthly and carnal kingdom; whence they attributed it to Cerinthus. This DIONYSIUS, scholar of ORIGEN, and bishop of Alexandria (A.D. 247), admits its inspiration (in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 7.10]), but attributes it to some John distinct from John the apostle, on the ground of its difference of style and character, as compared with John's Gospel and Epistle, as also because the name John is several times mentioned in the Apocalypse, which is always kept back in both the Gospel and Epistle; moreover, neither does the Epistle make any allusion to the Apocalypse, nor the Apocalypse to the Epistle; and the style is not pure Greek, but abounds in barbarisms and solecisms. EUSEBIUS wavers in opinion [Ecclesiastical History, 24.39] as to whether it is, or is not, to be ranked among the undoubtedly canonical Scriptures. His antipathy to the millennial doctrine would give an unconscious bias to his judgment on the Apocalypse. CYRIL OF J ERUSALEM (A.D. 386), [Catechetical Lectures, 4.35,36], omits the Apocalypse in enumerating the New Testament Scriptures to be read privately as well as publicly. "Whatever is not read in the churches, that do not even read by thyself; the apostles and ancient bishops of the Church who transmitted them to us were far wiser than thou art." Hence, we see that, in his day, the Apocalypse was not read in the churches. Yet in Catechetical Lectures, 1.4 he quotes Re 2:7, 17; and in Catechetical Lectures, 1; 15.13 he draws the prophetical statement from Re 17:11, that the king who is to humble the three kings ( Da 7:8, 20) is the eighth king. In Catechetical Lectures, 15 and 27, he similarly quotes from Re 12:3, 4. ALFORD conjectures that CYRIL had at some time changed his opinion, and that these references to the Apocalypse were slips of memory whereby he retained phraseology which belonged to his former, not his subsequent views. The sixtieth canon (if genuine) of the Laodicean Council in the middle of the fourth century omits the Apocalypse from the canonical books. The Eastern Church in part doubted, the Western Church, after the fifth century, universally recognized, the Apocalypse. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA [On Worship, 146], though implying the fact of some doubting its genuineness, himself undoubtedly accepts it as the work of St. John. ANDREAS OF CÆSAREA, in Cappadocia, recognized as genuine and canonical, and wrote the first entire and connected commentary on, the Apocalypse. The sources of doubt seem to have been, (1) the antagonism of many to the millennium, which is set forth in it; (2) its obscurity and symbolism having caused it not to be read in the churches, or to be taught to the young. But the most primitive tradition is unequivocal in its favor. In a word, the objective evidence is decidedly for it; the only arguments against it seem to have been subjective.
The personal notices of John in the Apocalypse occur Re 1:1, 4, 9; Re 22:8. Moreover, the writer's addresses to the churches of Proconsular Asia ( Re 2:1) accord with the concurrent tradition, that after John's return from his exile in Patmos, at the death of Domitian, under Nerva, he resided for long, and died at last in Ephesus, in the time of Trajan [E USEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 3.20,23]. If the Apocalypse were not the inspired work of John, purporting as it does to be an address from their superior to the seven churches of Proconsular Asia, it would have assuredly been rejected in that region; whereas the earliest testimonies in those churches are all in its favor. One person alone was entitled to use language of authority such as is addressed to the seven angels of the churches--namely, John, as the last surviving apostle and superintendent of all the churches. Also, it accords with John's manner to assert the accuracy of his testimony both at the beginning and end of his book (compare Re 1:2, 3, and 22:8, with Joh 1:14; 21:24; 1Jo 1:1, 2). Again, it accords with the view of the writer being an inspired apostle that he addresses the angels or presidents of the several churches in the tone of a superior addressing inferiors. Also, he commends the Church of Ephesus for trying and convicting "them which say they are apostles, and are not," by which he implies his own undoubted claim to apostolic inspiration ( Re 2:2), as declaring in the seven epistles Christ's will revealed through him.
As to the difference of style, as compared with the Gospel and Epistle, the difference of subject in part accounts for it, the visions of the seer, transported as he was above the region of sense, appropriately taking a form of expression abrupt, and unbound by the grammatical laws which governed his writings of a calmer and more deliberate character. Moreover, as being a Galilean Hebrew, John, in writing a Revelation akin to the Old Testament prophecies, naturally reverted to their Hebraistic style. ALFORD notices, among the features of resemblance between the styles of the Apocalypse and John's Gospel and Epistle: (1) the characteristic appellation of our Lord, peculiar to John exclusively, "the Word of God" ( Re 19:13; compare Joh 1:1; 1Jo 1:1). (2) the phrase, "he that overcometh" ( Re 2:7, 11, 17; 3:5, 12, 21; 12:11; 15:2; 17:14; 21:7; compare Joh 16:33 1Jo 2:13, 14; 4:4; 5:4, 5). (3) The Greek term (alethinos) for "true," as opposed to that which is shadowy and unreal ( Re 3:7, 14; 6:10; 15:3; 16:7; 19:2, 9, 11; 21:5; 22:6). This term, found only once in Luke ( Lu 16:11), four times in Paul ( 1Th 1:9; Heb 8:2; 9:24; 10:22), is found nine times in John's Gospel ( Joh 1:9; 4:23, 37; 6:32; 7:28; 8:16; 15:1 Joh 17:3; 19:3, 5), twice in John's First Epistle ( 1Jo 2:8; 5:20), and ten times in Revelation ( Re 3:7, 14; 6:10; 15:3; 16:7; 19:2, 9, 11; 21:5 Re 22:6). (4) The Greek diminutive for "Lamb" (arnion, literally, "lambkin") occurs twenty-nine times in the Apocalypse, and the only other place where it occurs is Joh 21:15. In John's writings alone is Christ called directly "the Lamb" ( Joh 1:29, 36). In 1Pe 1:19, He is called "as a lamb without blemish," in allusion to Isa 53:7. So the use of "witness," or "testimony" ( Re 1:2, 9; 6:9; 11:7, &c.; compare Joh 1:7, 8, 15, 19, 32; 1Jo 1:2; 4:14; 5:6-11). "Keep the word," or "commandments" ( Re 3:8, 10; 12:17; compare Joh 8:51, 55; 14:15). The assertion of the same thing positively and negatively ( Re 2:2, 6, 8, 13; 3:8, 17, 18; compare Joh 1:3, 6, 7, 20; 1Jo 2:27, 28). Compare also 1Jo 2:20, 27 with Re 3:18, as to the spiritual anointing. The seeming solecisms of style are attributable to that,inspired elevation which is above mere grammatical rules, and are designed to arrest the reader's attention by the peculiarity of the phrase, so as to pause and search into some deep truth lying beneath. The vivid earnestness of the inspired writer, handling a subject so transcending all others, raises him above all servile adherence to ordinary rules, so that at times he abruptly passes from one grammatical construction to another, as he graphically sets the thing described before the eye of the reader. This is not due to ignorance of grammar, for he "has displayed a knowledge of grammatical rules in other much more difficult constructions" [W INER]. The connection of thought is more attended to than mere grammatical connection. Another consideration to be taken into account is that two-fifths of the whole being the recorded language of others, he moulds his style accordingly. Compare TREGELLES' Introduction to Revelation from Heathen Authorities.
TREGELLES well says [New Testament Historic Evidence], "There is no book of the New Testament for which we have such clear, ample, and numerous testimonies in the second century as we have in favor of the Apocalypse. The more closely the witnesses were connected with the apostle John (as was the case with IRENÆUS), the more explicit is their testimony. That doubts should prevail in after ages must have originated either in ignorance of the earlier testimony, or else from some supposed intuition of what an apostle ought to have written. The objections on the ground of internal style can weigh nothing against the actual evidence. It is in vain to argue, a priori, that John could not have written this book when we have the evidence of several competent witnesses that he did write it."
RELATION OF THE APOCALYPSE TO THE REST OF THE CANON.--GREGORY OF NYSSA [tom. 3, p. 601], calls Revelation "the last book of grace." It completes the volume of inspiration, so that we are to look for no further revelation till Christ Himself shall come. Appropriately the last book completing the canon was written by John, the last survivor of the apostles. The New Testament is composed of the historical books, the Gospels and Acts, the doctrinal Epistles, and the one prophetical book, Revelation. The same apostle wrote the last of the Gospels, and probably the last of the Epistles, and the only prophetical book of the New Testament. All the books of the New Testament had been written, and were read in the Church assemblies, some years before John's death. His life was providentially prolonged that he might give the final attestation to Scripture. About the year A.D. 100, the bishops of Asia (the angels of the seven churches) came to John at EPHESUS, bringing him copies of the three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and desired of him a statement of his apostolical judgment concerning them; whereupon he pronounced them authentic, genuine, and inspired, and at their request added his own Gospel to complete the fourfold aspect of the Gospel of Christ (compare MURATORI [Fragment on the Canon of Scripture]; E USEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.24]; J EROME [Commentary on Matthew]; V ICTORINUS on the Apocalypse; T HEODORET [Ecclesiastical History, 39]). A Greek divine, quoted in ALLATIUS, calls Revelation "the seal of the whole Bible." The canon would be incomplete without Revelation. Scripture is a complete whole, its component books, written in a period ranging over one thousand five hundred years, being mutually connected. Unity of aim and spirit pervades the entire, so that the end is the necessary sequence of the middle, and the middle of the beginning. Genesis presents before us man and his bride in innocence and blessedness, followed by man's fall through Satan's subtlety, and man's consequent misery, his exclusion from Paradise and its tree of life and delightful rivers. Revelation presents, in reverse order, man first liable to sin and death, but afterwards made conqueror through the blood of the Lamb; the first Adam and Eve, represented by the second Adam, Christ, and the Church. His spotless bride, in Paradise, with free access to the tree of life and the crystal water of life that flows from the throne of God. As Genesis foretold the bruising of the serpent's head by the woman's seed ( Ge 3:15), so Revelation declares the final accomplishment of that prediction ( Re 19:1-20:15).
PLACE AND TIME OF WRITING.--The best authorities among the Fathers state that John was exiled under Domitian (IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 5; 30]; CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA; EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.20]). VICTORINUS says that he had to labor in the mines of Patmos. At Domitian's death, A.D. 95, he returned to Ephesus under the Emperor Nerva. Probably it was immediately after his return that he wrote, under divine inspiration, the account of the visions vouchsafed to him in Patmos ( Re 1:2, 9). However, Re 10:4 seems to imply that he wrote the visions immediately after seeing them. Patmos is one of the Sporades. Its circumference is about thirty miles. "It was fitting that when forbidden to go beyond certain bounds of the earth's lands, he was permitted to penetrate the secrets of heaven" [BEDE, Explanation of the Apocalypse on chap. 1]. The following arguments favor an earlier date, namely, under Nero: (1) EUSEBIUS [Demonstration of the Gospel] unites in the same sentence John's banishment with the stoning of James and the beheading of Paul, which were under Nero. (2) CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA'S'S story of the robber reclaimed by John, after he had pursued, and with difficulty overtaken him, accords better with John then being a younger man than under Domitian, when he was one hundred years old. Arethas, in the sixth century, applies the sixth seal to the destruction of Jerusalem (A.D. 70), adding that the Apocalypse was written before that event. So the Syriac version states he was banished by Nero the Cæsar. Laodicea was overthrown by an earthquake (A.D. 60) but was immediately rebuilt, so that its being called "rich and increased with goods" is not incompatible with this book having been written under the Neronian persecution (A.D. 64). But the possible allusions to it in Heb 10:37; compare Re 1:4, 8; 4:8; 22:12; Heb 11:10; compare Re 21:14; Heb 12:22, 23; compare Re 14:1; Heb 8:1, 2; compare Re 11:19; 15:5; 21:3; Heb 4:12; compare Re 1:16; 2:12, 16; 19:13, 15; Heb 4:9; compare Re 20:1-15; also 1Pe 1:7, 13; 4:13, with Re 1:1; 1Pe 2:9 with Re 5:10; 2Ti 4:8, with Re 2:26, 27; 3:21; 11:18; Eph 6:12, with Re 12:7-12; Php 4:3, with Re 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; Col 1:18, with Re 1:5; 1Co 15:52, with Re 10:7; 11:15-18, make a date before the destruction of Laodicea possible. Cerinthus is stated to have died before John; as then he borrowed much in his Pseudo-Apocalypse from John's, it is likely the latter was at an earlier date than Domitian's reign. See TILLOCH'S Introduction to Apocalypse. But the Pauline benediction ( Re 1:4) implies it was written after Paul's death under Nero.
TO WHAT READERS ADDRESSED.--The inscription states that it is addressed to the seven churches of Asia, that is, Proconsular Asia. John's reason for fixing on the number seven (for there were more than seven churches in the region meant by "Asia," for instance, Magnesia and Tralles) was doubtless because seven is the sacred number implying totality and universality: so it is implied that John, through the medium of the seven churches, addresses in the Spirit the Church of all places and ages. The Church in its various states of spiritual life or deadness, in all ages and places, is represented by the seven churches, and is addressed with words of consolation or warning accordingly. Smyrna and Philadelphia alone of the seven are honored with unmixed praise, as faithful in tribulation and rich in good works. Heresies of a decided kind had by this time arisen in the churches of Asia, and the love of many had waxed cold, while others had advanced to greater zeal, and one had sealed his testimony with his blood.
OBJECT.--It begins with admonitory addresses to the seven churches from the divine Son of man, whom John saw in vision, after a brief introduction which sets forth the main subject of the book, namely, to "show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass" (the first through third chapters). From the fourth chapter to the end is mainly prophecy, with practical exhortations and consolations, however, interspersed, similar to those addressed to the seven churches (the representatives of the universal Church of every age), and so connecting the body of the book with its beginning, which therefore forms its appropriate introduction. Three schools of interpreters exist: (1) The Preterists, who hold that almost the whole has been fulfilled. (2) The Historical Interpreters, who hold that it comprises the history of the Church from John's time to the end of the world, the seals being chronologically succeeded, by the trumpets and the trumpets by the vials. (3) The Futurists, who consider almost the whole as yet future, and to be fulfilled immediately before Christ's second coming. The first theory was not held by any of the earliest Fathers, and is only held now by Rationalists, who limit John's vision to things within his own horizon, pagan Rome's persecutions of Christians, and its consequently anticipated destruction. The Futurist school is open to this great objection: it would leave the Church of Christ unprovided with prophetical guidance or support under her fiery trials for 1700 or 1800 years. Now God has said, "Surely He will do nothing, but He revealeth His secrets unto His servants the prophets" ( Am 3:7). The Jews had a succession of prophets who guided them with the light of prophecy: what their prophets were to them, that the apocalyptic Scriptures have been, and are, to us.
ALFORD, following ISAAC WILLIAMS, draws attention to the parallel connection between the Apocalypse and Christ's discourse on the Mount of Olives, recorded in Mt 24:4-28. The seals plainly bring us down to the second coming of Christ, just as the trumpets also do (compare Re 6:12-17; 8:1, &c.; Re 11:15), and as the vials also do ( Re 16:17): all three run parallel, and end in the same point. Certain "catchwords" (as WORDSWORTH calls them) connect the three series of symbols together. They do not succeed one to the other in historical and chronological sequence, but move side by side, the subsequent series filling up in detail the same picture which the preceding series had drawn in outline. So VICTORINUS (on Re 7:2), the earliest commentator on the Apocalypse, says, "The order of the things said is not to be regarded, since often the Holy Spirit, when He has run to the end of the last time, again returns to the same times, and supplies what He has less fully expressed." And P RIMASIUS [Commentary on the Apocalypse], "In the trumpets he gives a description by a pleasing repetition, as is his custom."
At the very beginning, John hastens, by anticipation (as was the tendency of all the prophets), to the grand consummation. Re 1:7, "Behold, He cometh with clouds," &c. Re 1:8, 17, "I am the beginning and the ending . . . the first and the last." So the seven epistles exhibit the same anticipation of the end. Re 3:12, "Him that overcometh, I will write upon Him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven"; compare at the close, Re 21:2. So also Re 2:28, "I will give him the morning star"; compare at the close, Re 22:16, "I am the bright and morning star."
Again, the earthquake that ensues on the opening of the sixth seal is one of the catchwords, that is, a link connecting chronologically this sixth seal with the sixth trumpet ( Re 9:13; 11:13): compare also the seventh vial, Re 16:17, 18. The concomitants of the opening of the sixth seal, it is plain, in no full and exhaustive sense apply to any event, save the terrors which shall overwhelm the ungodly just before the coming of the Judge.
Again, the beast out of the bottomless pit ( Re 11:7), between the sixth and seventh trumpets, connects this series with the section, twelfth through fourteenth chapters, concerning the Church and her adversaries.
Again, the sealing of the 144,000 under the sixth seal connects this seal with the section, the twelfth through fourteenth chapters.
Again, the loosing of the four winds by the four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, under the sixth seal, answers to the loosing of the four angels at the Euphrates, under the sixth trumpet.
Moreover, links occur in the Apocalypse connecting it with the Old Testament. For instance, the "mouth speaking great things" ( Da 7:8 Re 13:5), connects the beast that blasphemes against God, and makes war against the saints, with the little horn ( Da 7:21; Re 13:6, 7), or at last king, who, arising after the ten kings, shall speak against the Most High, and wear out the saints ( Da 7:25); also, compare the "forty-two months" ( Re 13:5), or "a thousand two hundred and threescore days" ( Re 12:6), with the "time, times, and the dividing of time," of Da 7:25. Moreover, the "forty-two months," Re 11:2, answering to Re 12:6; 13:5, link together the period under the sixth trumpet to the section, Re 12:1-14:20.
AUBERLEN observes, "The history of salvation is mysteriously governed by holy numbers. They are the scaffolding of the organic edifice. They are not merely outward indications of time, but indications of nature and essence. Not only nature, but history, is based in numbers. Scripture and antiquity put numbers as the fundamental forms of things, where we put ideas." As number is the regulator of the relations and proportions of the natural world, so does it enter most frequently into the revelations of the Apocalypse, which sets forth the harmonies of the supernatural, the immediately Divine. Thus the most supernatural revelation leads us the farthest into the natural, as was to be expected, seeing the God of nature and of revelation is one. Seven is the number for perfection (compare Re 1:4; 4:5, the seven Spirits before the throne; also, Re 5:6, the Lamb's seven horns and seven eyes). Thus the seven churches represent the Church catholic in its totality. The seven seals ( Re 5:1), the seven trumpets ( Re 8:2), and the seven vials ( Re 17:1), are severally a complete series each in itself, fulfilling perfectly the divine course of judgments. Three and a half implies a number opposed to the divine (seven), but broken in itself, and which, in the moment of its highest triumph, is overwhelmed by judgment and utter ruin. Four is the number of the world's extension; seven is the number of God's revelation in the world. In the four beasts of Daniel ( Da 7:3) there is a recognition of some power above them, at the same time that there is a mimicry of the four cherubs of Ezekiel ( Eze 10:9), the heavenly symbols of all creation in its due subjection to God ( Re 4:6-8). So the four corners of the earth, the four winds, the four angels loosed from the Euphrates, and Jerusalem lying "foursquare" ( Re 21:16), represent world-wide extension. The sevenfoldness of the Spirits on the part of God corresponds with the fourfold cherubim on the part of the created. John, seeing more deeply into the essentially God-opposed character of the world, presents to us, not the four beasts of Daniel, but the seven heads of the beast, whereby it arrogates to itself the sevenfold perfection of the Spirits of God; at the same time that, with characteristic self-contradiction, it has ten horns, the number peculiar to the world power. Its unjust usurpation of the sacred number seven is marked by the addition of an eighth to the seven heads, and also by the beast's own number, six hundred sixty-six, which in units, tens, and hundreds, verges upon, but falls short of, seven. The judgments on the world are complete in six: after the sixth seal and the sixth trumpet, there is a pause. When seven comes, there comes "the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ." Six is the number of the world given to judgment. Moreover, six is half of twelve, as three and a half is the half of seven. Twelve is the number of the Church: compare the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve stars on the woman's head ( Re 12:1), the twelve gates of new Jerusalem ( Re 21:12, 21). Six thus symbolizes the world broken, and without solid foundation. Twice twelve is the number of the heavenly elders; twelve times twelve thousand the number of the sealed elect ( Re 7:4): the tree of life yields twelve manner of fruits. Doubtless, besides this symbolic force, there is a special chronological meaning in the numbers; but as yet, though a commanded subject of investigation, they have received no solution which we can be sure is the true one. They are intended to stimulate reverent inquiry, not to gratify idle speculative curiosity; and when the event shall have been fulfilled, they will show the divine wisdom of God, who ordered all things in minutely harmonious relations, and left neither the times nor the ways haphazard.
The arguments for the year-day theory are as follows: Da 9:24, "Seventy weeks are determined upon," where the Hebrew may be seventy sevens; but MEDE observes, the Hebrew word means always seven of days, and never seven of years ( Le 12:5; De 16:9, 10, 16). Again, the number of years' wandering of the Israelites was made to correspond to the number of days in which the spies searched the land, namely, forty: compare "each day for a year," Nu 14:33, 34. So in Eze 4:5, 6, "I have laid up on thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days . . . forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year." John, in Revelation itself, uses days in a sense which can hardly be literal. Re 2:10, "Ye shall have tribulation ten days": the persecution of ten years recorded by EUSEBIUS seems to correspond to it. In the year-day theory there is still quite enough of obscurity to exercise the patience and probation of faith, for we cannot say precisely when the 1260 years begin: so that this theory is quite compatible with Christ's words, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man" [ Mt 24:36; Mr 13:32]. However, it is a difficulty in this theory that "a thousand years," in Re 20:6, 7, can hardly mean one thousand by three hundred sixty days, that is, three hundred sixty thousand years. The first resurrection there must be literal, even as Re 20:5 must be taken literally, "the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished" ( Re 20:5). To interpret the former spiritually would entail the need of interpreting the latter so, which would be most improbable; for it would imply that "the rest of the (spiritually) dead lived not (spiritually)" until the end of the thousand years, and then that they did come spiritually to life. 1Co 15:23, "they that are Christ's at His coming," confirms the literal view.
Re 1:1-20. TITLE: SOURCE AND OBJECT OF THIS REVELATION: BLESSING ON THE READER AND KEEPER OF IT, AS THE TIME IS NEAR: INSCRIPTION TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES: APOSTOLIC GREETING: KEYNOTE, "BEHOLD HE COMETH" (Compare at the close, Re 22:20, "Surely I come quickly"): INTRODUCTORY VISION OF THE SON OF MAN IN GLORY, AMIDST THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS, WITH SEVEN STARS IN HIS RIGHT HAND.
1. Revelation--an apocalypse or unveiling of those
things which had been veiled. A manifesto of the
kingdom of Christ. The travelling manual of the Church for
the Gentile Christian times. Not a detailed history
of the future, but a representation of the great epochs and
chief powers in developing the kingdom of God in relation
to the world. The "Church-historical" view
goes counter to the great principle that Scripture
interprets itself. Revelation is to teach us to understand
the times, not the times to interpret to us the Apocalypse,
although it is in the nature of the case that a reflex
influence is exerted here and is understood by the prudent
[AUBERLEN]. The book is in a series of parallel groups, not
in chronological succession. Still there is an organic
historical development of the kingdom of God. In this book
all the other books of the Bible end and meet: in it is the
consummation of all previous prophecy. Daniel foretells as
to Christ and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, and the
last Antichrist. But John's Revelation fills up the
intermediate period, and describes the millennium and final
state beyond Antichrist. Daniel, as a godly statesman,
views the history of God's people in relation to the
four world kingdoms. John, as an apostle, views
history from the Christian Church aspect. The term
Apocalypse is applied to no Old Testament book.
Daniel is the nearest approach to it; but what Daniel was
told to seal and shut up till the time of the
end, John, now that the time is at hand (
Re 1:3), is directed to reveal.
of Jesus Christ--coming from
Him. Jesus Christ, not John the writer, is the Author of
the Apocalypse. Christ taught many things before His
departure; but those which were unsuitable for announcement
at that time He brought together into the Apocalypse [B
ENGEL]. Compare His promise,
Joh 15:15, "All things that I have heard of My
Father, I have made known unto you"; also,
Joh 16:13, "The Spirit of truth will show
you things to come." The Gospels and Acts are the
books, respectively, of His first advent, in the flesh, and
in the Spirit; the Epistles are the inspired comment on
them. The Apocalypse is the book of His second advent and
the events preliminary to it.
which God gave unto him--The Father
reveals Himself and His will in, and by, His Son.
to show--The word recurs in
Re 22:6: so entirely have the parts of Revelation
reference to one another. It is its peculiar excellence
that it comprises in a perfect compendium future things,
and these widely differing: things close at hand, far off,
and between the two; great and little; destroying and
saving; repeated from old prophecies and new; long and
short, and these interwoven with one another, opposed and
mutually agreeing; mutually involving and evolving one
another; so that in no book more than in this would the
addition, or taking away, of a single word or clause (
Re 22:18, 19), have the effect of marring the sense of
the context and the comparison of passages together
[BENGEL].
his servants--not merely to "His
servant John," but to all His servants (compare
Re 22:3).
shortly--Greek,
"speedily"; literally, "in," or
"with speed." Compare "the time is at
hand,"
Re 1:3; 22:6, "shortly";
Re 22:7, "Behold, I come quickly." Not
that the things prophesied were according to man's
computation near; but this word "shortly" implies
a corrective of our estimate of worldly events and periods.
Though a "thousand years" (
Re 20:1-15) at least are included, the time is declared
to be at hand.
Lu 18:8, "speedily." The Israelite Church
hastened eagerly to the predicted end, which premature
eagerness prophecy restrains (compare
Da 9:1-27). The Gentile Church needs to be reminded of
the transitoriness of the world (which it is apt to make
its home) and the nearness of Christ's advent. On the
one hand Revelation says, "the time is at hand";
on the other, the succession of seals, &c., show that
many intermediate events must first elapse.
he sent--Jesus Christ sent.
by his angel--joined with
"sent." The angel does not come forward to
"signify" things to John until
Re 17:1; 19:9, 10. Previous to that John receives
information from others. Jesus Christ opens the Revelation,
Re 1:10, 11; 4:1; in
Re 6:1 one of the four living creatures acts as his
informant; in
Re 7:13, one of the elders; in
Re 10:8, 9, the Lord and His angel who stood on the sea
and earth. Only at the end (
Re 17:1) does the one angel stand by Him (compare
Da 8:16; 9:21; Zec 1:19).
2. bare record of--"testified the word of God" in
this book. Where we would say "testifies,"
the ancients in epistolary communications use the past
tense. The word of God constitutes his testimony;
Re 1:3, "the words of this prophecy."
the testimony of Jesus--"the
Spirit of prophecy" (
Re 19:10).
and of all things that, &c.--The
oldest manuscripts omit "and." Translate,
"whatsoever things he saw," in apposition with
"the word of God and the testimony of Jesus
Christ."
3. he that readeth, and they that hear--namely, the public reader in Church assemblies, and his hearers. In the first instance, he by whom John sent the book from Patmos to the seven churches, read it publicly: a usage most scriptural and profitable. A special blessing attends him who reads or hears the apocalyptic "prophecy" with a view to keeping the things therein (as there is but one article to "they that hear and keep those things," not two classes, but only one is meant: "they who not only hear, but also keep those things," Ro 2:13); even though he find not the key to its interpretation, he finds a stimulus to faith, hope, and patient waiting for Christ. Note: the term "prophecy" has relation to the human medium or prophet inspired, here John: "Revelation" to the Divine Being who reveals His will, here Jesus Christ. God gave the revelation to Jesus: He by His angel revealed it to John, who was to make it known to the Church.
4. John--the apostle. For none but he (supposing the writer
an honest man) would thus sign himself nakedly without
addition. As sole survivor and representative of the
apostles and eye-witnesses of the Lord, he needed no
designation save his name, to be recognized by his
readers.
seven churches--not that there were
not more churches in that region, but the number
seven is fixed on as representing totality.
These seven represent the universal Church of all
times and places. See TRENCH'S [Commentary on the
Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia] interesting
note,
Re 1:20, on the number seven. It is the
covenant number, the sign of God's covenant
relation to mankind, and especially to the Church. Thus,
the seventh day, sabbath (
Ge 2:3; Eze 20:12). Circumcision, the sign of the
covenant, after seven days (
Ge 17:12). Sacrifices (
Nu 23:1; 14:29; 2Ch 29:21). Compare also God's acts
typical of His covenant (
Jos 6:4, 15, 16; 2Ki 5:10). The feasts ordered by
sevens of time (
De 15:1; 16:9, 13, 15). It is a combination of
three, the divine number (thus the Trinity: the thrice
Holy,
Isa 6:3; the blessing,
Nu 6:24-26), and four the number of the
organized world in its extension (thus the four
elements, the four seasons, the four winds,
the four corners or quarters of the earth, the
four living creatures, emblems of redeemed creaturely
life,
Re 4:6; Eze 1:5, 6, with four faces and
four wings each; the four beasts and four
metals, representing the four world empires,
Da 2:32, 33; 7:3; the four-sided Gospel designed
for all quarters of the world; the sheet tied at
four corners,
Ac 10:11; the four horns, the sum of the
world's forces against the Church,
Zec 1:18). In the Apocalypse, where God's covenant
with His Church comes to its consummation, appropriately
the number seven recurs still more frequently than
elsewhere in Scripture.
Asia--Proconsular, governed by a Roman
proconsul: consisting of Phrygia, Mysia, Caria, and Lydia:
the kingdom which Attalus III had bequeathed to Rome.
Grace . . .
peace--Paul's apostolical greeting. In his Pastoral
Epistles he inserts "mercy" in addition: so
2Jo 3.
him which is . . . was
. . . is to come--a periphrasis for the
incommunicable name JEHOVAH, the self-existing One,
unchangeable. In Greek the indeclinability of the
designation here implies His unchangeableness. Perhaps the
reason why "He which is to come" is used, instead
of "He that shall be," is because the grand theme
of Revelation is the Lord's coming (
Re 1:7). Still it is THE FATHER as distinguished from
"Jesus Christ" (
Re 1:5) who is here meant. But so one are the Father
and Son that the designation, "which is to come,"
more immediately applicable to Christ, is used here of the
Father.
the seven Spirits which are before his
throne--The oldest manuscripts omit "are."
before--literally, "in the
presence of." The Holy Spirit in His sevenfold (that
is, perfect, complete, and universal) energy. Corresponding
to "the seven churches." One in His own
essence, manifold in His gracious influences. The
seven eyes resting on the stone laid by Jehovah (
Re 5:6). Four is the number of the creature world
(compare the fourfold cherubim); seven the number of
God's revelation in the world.
5. the faithful witness--of the truth concerning Himself
and His mission as Prophet, Priest, and King Saviour.
"He was the faithful witness, because all
things that He heard of the Father He faithfully made known
to His disciples. Also, because He taught the way of God in
truth, and cared not for man, nor regarded the persons of
men. Also, because the truth which He taught in words He
confirmed by miracles. Also, because the testimony to
Himself on the part of the Father He denied not even in
death. Lastly, because He will give true testimony of the
works of good and bad at the day of judgment" [RICHARD
OF ST. VICTOR in TRENCH]. The nominative in Greek
standing in apposition to the genitive, "Jesus
Christ," gives majestic prominence to "the
faithful witness."
the first-begotten of the dead-- (
Col 1:18). Lazarus rose, to die again. Christ rose to
die no more. The image is not as if the grave was the womb
of His resurrection-birth [A LFORD]; but as
Ac 13:33; Ro 1:4, treat Christ's
resurrection as the epoch and event which fulfilled the
Scripture,
Ps 2:7, "This day (at the resurrection) have I
begotten Thee." It was then that His divine
Sonship as the God-man was manifested and openly attested
by the Father. So our resurrection and our manifested
sonship, or generation, are connected. Hence
"regeneration" is used of the
resurrection-state at the restitution of all things (
Mt 19:28).
the prince--or Ruler. The kingship of
the world which the tempter offered to Jesus on condition
of doing homage to him, and so shunning the cross, He has
obtained by the cross. "The kings of the earth"
conspired against the Lord's Anointed (
Ps 2:2): these He shall break in pieces (
Ps 2:9). Those who are wise in time and kiss the Son
shall bring their glory unto Him at His
manifestation as King of kings, after He has destroyed His
foes.
Unto him that loved us--The oldest
manuscripts read the present, ". . .
loveth us." It is His ever-continuing character,
He loveth us, and ever shall love us. His love rests
evermore on His people.
washed us--The two oldest manuscripts
read, "freed (loosed as from a bond) us":
so ANDREAS and PRIMASIUS. One very old manuscript,
Vulgate, and Coptic read as English
Version, perhaps drawn from
Re 7:4. "Loosed us in (virtue of) His blood,"
being the harder reading to understand, is less
likely to have come from the transcribers. The reference is
thus to Greek, "lutron," the ransom
paid for our release (
Mt 20:28). In favor of English Version reading
is the usage whereby the priests, before putting on the
holy garments and ministering, washed themselves: so
spiritually believers, as priests unto God, must
first be washed in Christ's blood from every
stain before they can serve God aright now, or hereafter
minister as dispensers of blessing to the subject nations
in the millennial kingdom, or minister before God in
heaven.
6. And hath--rather as Greek, "And (He)
hath."
made us kings--The oldest manuscripts
read, "a kingdom." One oldest manuscript reads
the dative, "for us." Another reads
"us," accusative: so Vulgate, Syriac,
Coptic, and ANDREAS. This seems preferable, "He
made us (to be) a kingdom." So
Ex 19:6, "a kingdom of priests";
1Pe 2:9, "a royal priesthood." The saints
shall constitute peculiarly a kingdom of God, and
shall themselves be kings (
Re 5:10). They shall share His King-Priest throne in
the millennial kingdom. The emphasis thus falls more on the
kingdom than on priests: whereas in
English Version reading it is equally distributed
between both. This book lays prominent stress on the
saints' kingdom. They are kings because they are
priests: the priesthood is the continuous ground and
legitimization of their kingship; they are kings in
relation to man, priests in relation to God, serving Him
day and night in His temple (
Re 7:15; 5:10). The priest-kings shall rule, not in an
external mechanical manner, but simply in virtue of what
they are, by the power of attraction and conviction
overcoming the heart [AUBERLEN].
priests--who have pre-eminently the
privilege of near access to the king. David's sons were
priests (Hebrew),
2Sa 8:18. The distinction of priests and people,
nearer and more remote from God, shall cease; all shall
have nearest access to Him. All persons and things shall be
holy to the Lord.
God and his Father--There is but one
article to both in the Greek, therefore it means,
"Unto Him who is at once God and His
Father."
glory and dominion--Greek,
"the glory and the might." The
fuller threefold doxology occurs,
Re 4:9, 11; fourfold,
Re 5:13; Jude 25; sevenfold,
Re 7:12; 1Ch 29:11. Doxology occupies the prominent
place above, which prayer does below. If we thought of
God's glory first (as in the Lord's Prayer),
and gave the secondary place to our needs, we should please
God and gain our petitions better than we do.
for ever and ever--Greek,
"unto the ages."
7. with clouds--Greek, "the
clouds," namely, of heaven. "A cloud received Him
out of their sight" at His ascension (
Ac 1:9). His ascension corresponds to the manner of His
coming again (
Ac 1:11). Clouds are the symbols of wrath to
sinners.
every eye--His coming shall therefore
be a personal, visible appearing.
shall see--It is because they do not
now see Him, they will not believe. Contrast
Joh 20:29.
they also--they in
particular; "whosoever." Primarily, at His
pre-millennial advent the Jews, who shall "look
upon Him whom they have pierced," and mourn in
repentance, and say, "Blessed is He that cometh in
the name of the Lord." Secondarily, and here
chiefly, at the general judgment all the ungodly, not
only those who actually pierced Him, but those who did so
by their sins, shall look with trembling upon Him. John is
the only one of the Evangelists who records the
piercing of Christ's side. This allusion identifies
him as the author of the Apocalypse. The reality of
Christ's humanity and His death is proved by His having
been pierced; and the water and blood from
His side were the antitype to the Levitical waters of
cleansing and blood offerings.
all kindreds . . . shall
wail--all the unconverted at the general judgment; and
especially at His pre-millennial advent, the Antichristian
confederacy (
Zec 12:3-6, 9; 14:1-4; Mt 24:30). Greek,
"all the tribes of the land," or
"the earth." See the limitation to
"all,"
Re 13:8. Even the godly while rejoicing in His love
shall feel penitential sorrow at their sins, which shall
all be manifested at the general judgment.
because of--Greek,
"at," or "in regard to
Him."
Even so, Amen--Gods seal of His own
word; to which corresponds the believer's prayer,
Re 22:20. The "even so" is Greek;
"Amen" is Hebrew. To both Gentiles and
Jews His promises and threats are unchangeable.
8. Greek, "I am the Alpha and the
Omega." The first and last letters of the alphabet.
God in Christ comprises all that goes between, as well as
the first and last.
the beginning and the ending--omitted
in the oldest manuscripts, though found in Vulgate
and Coptic. Transcribers probably inserted the
clause from
Re 21:6. In Christ, Genesis, the Alpha of the Old
Testament, and Revelation, the Omega of the New Testament,
meet together: the last book presenting to us man and God
reconciled in Paradise, as the first book presented man at
the beginning innocent and in God's favor in Paradise.
Accomplishing finally what I begin. Always
the same; before the dragon, the beast, false prophet, and
all foes. An anticipatory consolation to the saints under
the coming trials of the Church.
the Lord--The oldest manuscripts read
"the Lord God."
Almighty--Hebrew,
"Shaddai," and "Jehovah
Sabaoth," that is, "of hosts";
commanding all the hosts or powers in heaven and earth, so
able to overcome all His Church's foes. It occurs often
in Revelation, but nowhere else in the New Testament save
2Co 6:18, a quotation from Isaiah.
9. I John--So "I Daniel" (
Da 7:28; 9:2; 10:2). One of the many features of
resemblance between the Old Testament and the New Testament
apocalyptic seers. No other Scripture writer uses the
phrase.
also--as well as being an apostle. The
oldest manuscripts omit "also." In his Gospel and
Epistles he makes no mention of his name, though
describing himself as "the disciple whom Jesus
loved." Here, with similar humility, though naming
himself, he does not mention his apostleship.
companion--Greek, "fellow
partaker in the tribulation." Tribulation is the
necessary precursor of the kingdom," therefore
"the" is prefixed. This must be borne with
"patient endurance." The oldest manuscripts omit
"in the" before "kingdom." All three
are inseparable: the tribulation, kingdom and
endurance.
patience--Translate,
"endurance." "Persevering, enduring
continuance" (
Ac 14:22); "the queen of the graces
(virtues)" [CHRYSOSTOM].
of, &c.--The oldest manuscripts
read "IN Jesus," or "Jesus Christ." It
is IN Him that believers have the right to the
kingdom, and the spiritual strength to enable them to
endure patiently for it.
was--Greek, "came to
be."
in . . . Patmos--now Patmo
or Palmosa. See
Introduction on this island, and John's exile
to it under Domitian, from which he was released under
Nerva. Restricted to a small spot on earth, he is permitted
to penetrate the wide realms of heaven and its secrets.
Thus John drank of Christ's cup, and was baptized with
His baptism (
Mt 20:22).
for--Greek, "for the sake
of," "on account of"; so, "because
of the word of God and . . . testimony."
Two oldest manuscripts omit the second "for";
thus "the Word of God" and "testimony of
Jesus" are the more closely joined. Two oldest
manuscripts omit "Christ." The Apocalypse has
been always appreciated most by the Church in adversity.
Thus the Asiatic Church from the flourishing times of
Constantine less estimated it. The African Church being
more exposed to the cross always made much of it [B ENGEL].
10. I was--Greek, "I came to be"; "I
became."
in the Spirit--in a state of ecstasy;
the outer world being shut out, and the inner and higher
life or spirit being taken full possession of by God's
Spirit, so that an immediate connection with the invisible
world is established. While the prophet
"speaks" in the Spirit, the apocalyptic seer
is in the Spirit in his whole person. The spirit only
(that which connects us with God and the invisible world)
is active, or rather recipient, in the apocalyptic state.
With Christ this being "in the Spirit" was not
the exception, but His continual state.
on the Lord's day--Though forcibly
detained from Church communion with the brethren in the
sanctuary on the Lord's day, the weekly commemoration
of the resurrection, John was holding spiritual communion
with them. This is the earliest mention of the term,
"the Lord's day." But the consecration of the
day to worship, almsgiving, and the Lord's Supper, is
implied in
Ac 20:7; 1Co 16:2; compare
Joh 20:19-26. The name corresponds to "the
Lord's Supper,"
1Co 11:20. IGNATIUS seems to allude to "the
Lord's day" [Epistle to the Magnesians, 9],
and IRENÆUS [Quæst ad Orthod., 115] (in
JUSTIN MARTYR). JUSTIN MARTYR [Apology, 2.98],
&c., "On Sunday we all hold our joint meeting; for
the first day is that on which God, having removed darkness
and chaos, made the world, and Jesus Christ our Saviour
rose from the dead. On the day before Saturday they
crucified Him; and on the day after Saturday, which is
Sunday, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He
taught these things." To the Lord's day PLINY
doubtless refers [Epistles, Book X., p. 97],
"The Christians on a fixed day before dawn meet
and sing a hymn to Christ as God," &c. TERTULLIAN
[The Chaplet, 3], "On the Lord's day we
deem it wrong to fast." MELITO, bishop of Sardis
(second century), wrote a book on the Lord's day
[EUSEBIUS 4.26]. Also, DIONYSIUS OF CORINTH, in EUSEBIUS
[Ecclesiastical History, 4.23,8]. CLEMENT OF
ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 5. and 7.12]; ORIGEN
[Against Celsus, 8. 22]. The theory that the day
of Christ's second coming is meant, is untenable.
"The day of the Lord" is different in the
Greek from "the Lord's (an adjective)
day," which latter in the ancient Church always
designates our Sunday, though it is not impossible that the
two shall coincide (at least in some parts of the earth),
whence a tradition is mentioned in J EROME [Commentary
on Matthew, 25], that the Lord's coming was
expected especially on the Paschal Lord's day. The
visions of the Apocalypse, the seals, trumpets, and vials,
&c., are grouped in sevens, and naturally begin
on the first day of the seven, the birthday of the Church,
whose future they set forth [WORDSWORTH].
great voice--summoning solemn
attention; Greek order, "I heard a voice behind
me great (loud) as (that) of a trumpet." The trumpet
summoned to religious feasts, and accompanies God's
revelations of Himself.
11. I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; and--The
oldest manuscripts, omit all this clause.
write in a book--To this book,
having such an origin, and to the other books of Holy
Scripture, who is there that gives the weight which their
importance demands, preferring them to the many
books of the world? [BENGEL].
seven churches--As there were many
other churches in Proconsular Asia (for example, Miletus,
Magnesia, Tralles), besides the seven specified, doubtless
the number seven is fixed upon because of its
mystical signification, expressing totality and
universality. The words, "which are in Asia"
are rejected by the oldest manuscripts, A, B, C, CYPRIAN,
Vulgate, and Syriac; Coptic alone supports
them of old authorities. These seven are representative
churches; and, as a complex whole, ideally complete, embody
the chief spiritual characteristics of the Church, whether
as faithful or unfaithful, in all ages. The churches
selected are not taken at random, but have a many-sided
completeness. Thus, on one side we have Smyrna, a Church
exposed to persecutions unto death; on the other Sardis,
having a high name for spiritual life and yet
dead. Again, Laodicea, in its own estimate rich
and having need of nothing, with ample talents, yet
lukewarm in Christ's cause; on the other hand,
Philadelphia, with but a little strength, yet
keeping Christ's word and having an open
door of usefulness set before it by Christ
Himself. Again, Ephesus, intolerant of evil and of
false apostles, yet having left its first
love; on the other hand, Thyatira, abounding in
works, love, service, and faith, yet suffering
the false prophetess to seduce many. In
another aspect, Ephesus in conflict with false freedom,
that is fleshly licentiousness (the Nicolaitanes); so also
Pergamos in conflict with Balaam-like tempters to
fornication and idol-meats; and on the other side,
Philadelphia in conflict with the Jewish synagogue, that
is, legal bondage. Finally, Sardis and Laodicea without any
active opposition to call forth their spiritual energies; a
dangerous position, considering man's natural
indolence. In the historic scheme of interpretation, which
seems fanciful, Ephesus (meaning "the beloved" or
"desired" [STIER]) represents the waning period
of the apostolic age. Smyrna ("myrrh"), bitter
suffering, yet sweet and costly perfume, the martyr period
of the Decian and Diocletian age. Pergamos (a
"castle" or "tower"), the Church
possessing earthly power and decreasing spirituality from
Constantine's time until the seventh century. Thyatira
("unwearied about sacrifices"), the Papal Church
in the first half of the Middle Ages; like
"Jezebel," keen about its so-called
sacrifice of the mass, and slaying the prophets and
witnesses of God. Sardis, from the close of the twelfth
century to the Reformation. Philadelphia ("brotherly
love"), the first century of the Reformation.
Laodicea, the Reformed Church after its first zeal had
become lukewarm.
12. see the voice--that is, ascertain whence the
voice came; to see who was it from whom the
voice proceeded.
that--Greek, "of what kind
it was which." The voice is that of God the
Father, as at Christ's baptism and transfiguration, so
here in presenting Christ as our High Priest.
spake--The oldest manuscripts,
versions, and Fathers read, "was speaking."
being--"having
turned."
seven . . .
candlesticks--"lamp-stands" [KELLY]. The stand
holding the lamp. In
Ex 25:31, 32, the seven are united in ONE candlestick
or lamp-stand, that is, six arms and a central shaft; so
Zec 4:2, 11. Here the seven are separate
candlesticks, typifying, as that one, the entire
Church, but now no longer as the Jewish Church (represented
by the one sevenfold candlestick) restricted to one
outward unity and one place; the several churches are
mutually independent as to external ceremonies and
government (provided all things are done to edification,
and schisms or needless separations are avoided), yet one
in the unity of the Spirit and the Headship of Christ. The
candlestick is not light, but the bearer of light, holding
it forth to give light around. The light is the Lord's,
not the Church's; from Him she receives it. She is to
be a light-bearer to His glory. The candlestick stood in
the holy place, the type of the Church on earth, as the
holiest place was type of the Church in heaven. The holy
place's only light was derived from the candlestick,
daylight being excluded; so the Lord God is the
Church's only light; hers is the light of grace, not
nature. "Golden" symbolizes at once the greatest
preciousness and sacredness; so that in the
Zend Avesta, "golden" is synonymous with
heavenly or divine [T RENCH].
13. His glorified form as man could be recognized by John,
who had seen it at the Transfiguration.
in the midst--implying Christ's
continual presence and ceaseless activity in the
midst of His people on earth. In
Re 4:1-3, when He appears in heaven, His
insignia undergo a corresponding change yet even there the
rainbow reminds us of His everlasting covenant with
them.
seven--omitted in two of the oldest
manuscripts, but supported by one.
Son of man--The form which John had
seen enduring the agony of Gethsemane, and the shame and
anguish of Calvary, he now sees glorified. His glory (as
Son of man, not merely Son of God) is the
result of His humiliation as Son of man.
down to the foot--a mark of high rank.
The garment and girdle seem to be emblems of His
priesthood. Compare
Ex 28:2, 4, 31; Septuagint. Aaron's robe and
girdle were "for glory and beauty," and combined
the insignia of royalty and priesthood, the characteristics
of Christ's antitypical priesthood "after the
order of Melchisedec." His being in the midst of
the candlesticks (only seen in the temple),
shows that it is as a king-priest He is so attired.
This priesthood He has exercised ever since His ascension;
and, therefore He here wears its emblems. As Aaron wore
these insignia when He came forth from the sanctuary to
bless the people (
Le 16:4, 23, 24, the chetoneth, or holy linen
coat), so when Christ shall come again, He shall appear in
the similar attire of "beauty and glory" (
Isa 4:2, Margin). The angels are attired
somewhat like their Lord (
Re 15:6). The ordinary girding for one actively
engaged, was at the loins; but JOSEPHUS
[Antiquities,3.7.2], expressly tells us that the
Levitical priests were girt higher up, about the breasts or
paps, appropriate to calm, majestic movement. The
girdle bracing the frame together, symbolizes collected
powers. Righteousness and faithfulness are
Christ's girdle. The high priest's girdle was only
interwoven with gold, but Christ's is all of gold; the
antitype exceeds the type.
14.--Greek, "But," or
"And."
like wool--Greek, "like
white wool." The color is the point of
comparison; signifying purity and glory. (So in
Isa 1:18). Not age, for hoary hairs are the sign
of decay.
eyes . . . as
. . . flame--all-searching and penetrating like
fire: at the same time, also, implying consuming
indignation against sin, especially at His coming "in
flaming fire, taking vengeance" on all the ungodly,
which is confirmed as the meaning here, by
Re 19:11, 12.
15. fine brass--Greek,
"chalcolibanus," derived by some from two
Greek words, "brass" and
"frankincense"; derived by BOCHART from
Greek, "chalcos," "brass,"
and Hebrew, "libbeen," "to
whiten"; hence, "brass," which in the
furnace has reached a white heat. Thus it answers to
"burnished (flashing, or glowing) brass,"
Eze 1:7; Re 10:1, "His feet as pillars of
fire." Translate, "Glowing brass, as
if they had been made fiery (red-hot) in a furnace."
The feet of the priests were bare in ministering in the
sanctuary. So our great High Priest here.
voice as . . . many waters--
(
Eze 43:2); in
Da 10:6, it is "like the voice of a
multitude." As the Bridegroom's voice, so the
bride's,
Re 14:2; 19:6; Eze 1:24, the cherubim, or redeemed
creation. His voice, however, is here regarded in its
terribleness to His foes. Contrast
So 2:8; 5:2, with which compare
Re 3:20.
16. he had--Greek, "having." John takes up
the description from time to time, irrespective of the
construction, with separate strokes of the pencil [A
LFORD].
in . . . right hand seven
stars-- (
Re 1:20; Re 2:1; 3:1). He holds them as a star-studded
"crown of glory," or "royal diadem," in
His hand: so
Isa 62:3. He is their Possessor and Upholder.
out of . . . mouth
went--Greek, "going forth"; not wielded in
the hand. His WORD is omnipotent in executing His will in
punishing sinners. It is the sword of His Spirit. Reproof
and punishment, rather than its converting winning power,
is the prominent point. Still, as He encourages the
churches, as well as threatens, the former quality of the
Word is not excluded. Its two edges (back and front)
may allude to its double efficacy, condemning some,
converting others. TERTULLIAN [Epistle against
Judaizers], takes them of the Old and the New
Testaments. RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR, "the Old
Testament cutting externally our carnal, the New
Testament internally, our spiritual
sins."
sword--Greek,
"romphaia," the Thracian long and heavy
broad sword: six times in Revelation, once only elsewhere
in New Testament, namely,
Lu 2:35.
sun . . . in his
strength--in unclouded power. So shall the righteous shine,
reflecting the image of the Sun of righteousness. TRENCH
notices that this description, sublime as a purely mental
conception, would be intolerable if we were to give it an
outward form. With the Greeks, æsthecial taste was
the first consideration, to which all others must give way.
With the Hebrews, truth and the full representation ideally
of the religious reality were the paramount consideration,
that representation being designed not to be outwardly
embodied, but to remain a purely mental conception. This
exalting of the essence above the form marks their deeper
religious earnestness.
17. So fallen is man that God's manifestation of His
glorious presence overwhelms him.
laid his right hand upon me--So the
same Lord Jesus did at the Transfiguration to the three
prostrate disciples, of whom John was one, saying, Be not
afraid. The "touch" of His hand, as of old,
imparted strength.
unto me--omitted in the oldest
manuscripts.
the first . . . the last--
(
Isa 41:4; 44:6; 48:12). From eternity, and enduring to
eternity: "the First by creation, the Last by
retribution: the First, because before Me there was no God
formed; the Last, because after Me there shall be no other:
the First, because from Me are all things; the Last,
because to Me all things return" [RICHARD OF ST.
VICTOR].
18. Translate as Greek, "And THE LIVING
ONE": connected with last sentence,
Re 1:17.
and was--Greek, "and (yet)
I became."
alive for evermore--Greek,
"living unto the ages of ages": not merely
"I live," but I have life, and am the
source of it to My people. "To Him belongs
absolute being, as contrasted with the relative
being of the creature; others may share, He only
hath immortality: being in essence, not by mere
participation, immortal" [THEODORET in TRENCH].
One oldest manuscript, with English Version, reads
Amen." Two others, and most of the oldest versions and
Fathers, omit it. His having passed through death as one of
us, and now living in the infinite plenitude of life,
reassures His people, since through Him death is the gate
of resurrection to eternal life.
have . . . keys of
hell--Greek, "Hades"; Hebrew,
"Sheol." "Hell" in the sense, the
place of torment, answers to a different Greek
word, namely, Gehenna. I can release from the
unseen world of spirits and from DEATH whom I
will. The oldest manuscripts read by transposition,
"Death and Hades," or Hell." It is death
(which came in by sin, robbing man of his immortal
birthright,
Ro 5:12) that peoples Hades, and therefore should stand
first in order. Keys are emblems of authority,
opening and shutting at will "the gates of Hades"
(
Ps 9:13, 14; Isa 38:10; Mt 16:18).
19. The oldest manuscripts read, "Write
therefore" (inasmuch as I, "the First and
Last," have the keys of death, and vouchsafe to thee
this vision for the comfort and warning of the
Church).
things which are--"the things
which thou hast seen" are those narrated in this
chapter (compare
Re 1:11). "The things which are" imply the
present state of things in the churches when John was
writing, as represented in the second and third chapters.
"The things which shall be hereafter," the things
symbolically represented concerning the future history of
the fourth through twenty-second chapters. ALFORD
translates, "What things they
signify"; but the antithesis of the next clause
forbids this, "the things which shall be
hereafter," Greek, "which are about to
come to pass." The plural (Greek)
"are," instead of the usual Greek construction
singular, is owing to churches and
persons being meant by things" in the clause,
"the things which are."
20. in--Greek, "upon My right
hand."
the mystery . . .
candlesticks--in apposition to, and explaining, "the
things which thou hast seen," governed by
"Write." Mystery signifies the hidden
truth, veiled under this symbol, and now revealed; its
correlative is revelation. Stars symbolize lordship
(
Nu 24:17; compare
Da 12:3, of faithful teachers;
Re 8:10; 12:4; Jude 13).
angels--not as ALFORD, from ORIGEN
[Homily 13 on Luke, and Homily 20 on
Numbers], the guardian angels of the churches, just as
individuals have their guardian angels. For how could
heavenly angels be charged with the delinquencies laid here
to the charge of these angels? Then, if a human angel be
meant (as the Old Testament analogy favors,
Hag 1:13, "the Lord's Messenger in the
Lord's message";
Mal 2:7; 3:1), the bishop, or superintendent
pastor, must be the angel. For whereas there were many
presbyters in each of the larger churches (as for example,
Ephesus, Smyrna, &c.), there was but one angel,
whom, moreover, the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls
holds responsible for the spiritual state of the Church
under him. The term angel, designating an office,
is, in accordance with the enigmatic symbolism of this
book, transferred from the heavenly to the earthly superior
ministers of Jehovah; reminding them that, like the
heavenly angels above, they below should fulfil God's
mission zealously, promptly and efficiently. "Thy will
be done on earth, as it is in heaven!"
Re 2:1-29. EPISTLES TO EPHESUS, SMYRNA, PERGAMOS, THYATIRA.
Each of the seven epistles in this and the third chapter, commences with, "I know thy works." Each contains a promise from Christ, "To him that overcometh." Each ends with, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." The title of our Lord in each case accords with the nature of the address, and is mainly taken from the imagery of the vision, Re 1:12-16. Each address has a threat or a promise, and most of the addresses have both. Their order seems to be ecclesiastical, civil, and geographical: Ephesus first, as being the Asiatic metropolis (termed "the light of Asia," and "first city of Asia"), the nearest to Patmos, where John received the epistle to the seven churches, and also as being that Church with which John was especially connected; then the churches on the west coast of Asia; then those in the interior. Smyrna and Philadelphia alone receive unmixed praise. Sardis and Laodicea receive almost solely censure. In Ephesus, Pergamos, and Thyatira, there are some things to praise, others to condemn, the latter element preponderating in one case (Ephesus), the former in the two others (Pergamos and Thyatira). Thus the main characteristics of the different states of different churches, in all times and places, are portrayed, and they are suitably encouraged or warned.
1. Ephesus--famed for the temple of Diana, one of the seven
wonders of the world. For three years Paul labored there.
He subsequently ordained Timothy superintending overseer or
bishop there: probably his charge was but of a temporary
nature. John, towards the close of his life, took it as the
center from which he superintended the province.
holdeth--Greek, "holdeth
fast," as in
Re 2:25; Re 3:11; compare
Joh 10:28, 29. The title of Christ here as
"holding fast the seven stars (from
Re 1:16: only that, for having is substituted
holding fast in His grasp), and walking in the midst
of the seven candlesticks," accords with the beginning
of His address to the seven churches representing
the universal Church. Walking expresses His
unwearied activity in the Church, guarding her from
internal and external evils, as the high priest moved to
and fro in the sanctuary.
2. I know thy works--expressing His omniscience. Not merely
"thy professions, desires, good resolutions" (
Re 14:13, end).
thy labour--Two oldest manuscripts
omit "thy"; one supports it. The Greek
means "labor unto weariness."
patience--persevering
endurance.
bear--evil men are a
burden which the Ephesian Church regarded as
intolerable. We are to "bear (the same
Greek,
Ga 6:2) one another's burdens" in the case of
weak brethren; but not to bear false
brethren.
tried--by experiment; not the
Greek for "test," as
1Jo 4:1. The apostolical churches had the miraculous
gift of discerning spirits. Compare
Ac 20:28-30, wherein Paul presciently warned the
Ephesian elders of the coming false teachers, as also
in writing to Timothy at Ephesus. TERTULLIAN [On
Baptism, 17], and JEROME [On Illustrious Men, in
Lucca 7], record of John, that when a writing, professing
to be a canonical history of the acts of Paul, had been
composed by a presbyter of Ephesus, John convicted the
author and condemned the work. So on one occasion he would
not remain under the same roof with Cerinthus the
heretic.
say they are apostles--probably
Judaizers. IGNATIUS [Epistle to the Ephesians, 6],
says subsequently, "Onesimus praises exceedingly your
good discipline that no heresy dwells among you"; and
[Epistle to the Ephesians, 9], "Ye did not
permit those having evil doctrine to sow their seed among
you, but closed your ears."
3. borne . . . patience--The oldest manuscripts
transpose these words. Then translate as Greek,
"persevering endurance . . . borne."
"Thou hast borne" My reproach, but "thou
canst not bear the evil" (
Re 2:2). A beautiful antithesis.
and . . . hast laboured, and
hast not fainted--The two oldest manuscripts and oldest
versions read, "and . . . hast not
labored," omitting "and hast fainted." The
difficulty which transcribers by English Version
reading tried to obviate, was the seeming contradiction,
"I know thy labor . . . and thou hast
not labored." But what is meant is, "Thou
hast not been wearied out with labor."
4. somewhat . . . because--Translate, "I
have against thee (this) that," &c. It is
not a mere somewhat"; it is everything. How
characteristic of our gracious Lord, that He puts foremost
all He can find to approve, and only after this notes the
shortcomings!
left thy first love--to Christ.
Compare
1Ti 5:12, "cast off their first faith." See
the Ephesians' first love,
Eph 1:15. This epistle was written under Domitian, when
thirty years had elapsed since Paul had written his Epistle
to them. Their warmth of love had given place to a lifeless
orthodoxy. Compare Paul's view of faith so called
without love,
1Co 13:2.
5. whence--from what a height.
do the first works--the works
which flowed from thy first love. Not merely
"feel thy first feelings," but do works flowing
from the same principle as formerly, "faith which
worketh by love."
I will come--Greek, "I am
coming" in special judgment on thee.
quickly--omitted in two oldest
manuscripts, Vulgate and Coptic versions:
supported by one oldest manuscript.
remove thy candlestick out of his
place--I will take away the Church from Ephesus and remove
it elsewhere. "It is removal of the candlestick, not
extinction of the candle, which is threatened here;
judgment for some, but that very judgment the occasion of
mercy for others. So it has been. The seat of the Church
has been changed, but the Church itself survives. What the
East has lost, the West has gained. One who lately visited
Ephesus found only three Christians there, and these so
ignorant as scarcely to have heard the names of St. Paul or
St. John" [TRENCH].
6. But--How graciously, after necessary censure, He returns
to praise for our consolation, and as an example to
us, that we would show, when we reprove, we have more
pleasure in praising than in fault-finding.
hatest the deeds--We should hate
men's evil deeds, not hate the men
themselves.
Nicolaitanes--IRENÆUS
[Against Heresies, 1.26.3] and TERTULLIAN
[Prescription against Heretics, 46] make these
followers of Nicolas, one of the seven (honorably
mentioned,
Ac 6:3, 5). They (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
[Miscellanies, 2.20 3.4] and EPIPHANIUS
[Heresies, 25]) evidently confound the latter
Gnostic Nicolaitanes, or followers of one Nicolaos, with
those of Revelation. MICHAELIS' view is probable:
Nicolaos (conqueror of the people) is the
Greek version of Balaam, from Hebrew
"Belang Am," "Destroyer of the
people." Revelation abounds in such duplicate
Hebrew and Greek names: as Apollyon, Abaddon:
Devil, Satan: Yea (Greek, "Nai"),
Amen. The name, like other names, Egypt, Babylon, Sodom, is
symbolic. Compare
Re 2:14, 15, which shows the true sense of
Nicolaitanes; they are not a sect, but professing
Christians who, like Balaam of old. tried to introduce into
the Church a false freedom, that is, licentiousness; this
was a reaction in the opposite direction from Judaism, the
first danger to the Church combated in the council of
Jerusalem, and by Paul in the Epistle to Galatians. These
symbolical Nicolaitanes, or followers of Balaam, abused
Paul's doctrine of the grace of God into a plea for
lasciviousness (
2Pe 2:15, 16, 19; Jude 4, 11 who both describe the same
sort of seducers as followers of Balaam). The
difficulty that they should appropriate a name branded with
infamy in Scripture is met by TRENCH: The Antinomian
Gnostics were so opposed to John as a Judaizing apostle
that they would assume as a name of chiefest honor one
which John branded with dishonor.
7. He that hath an ear--This clause precedes the promise in
the first three addresses, succeeds it in the last four.
Thus the promises are enclosed on both sides with the
precept urging the deepest attention as to the most
momentous truths. Every man "hath an ear"
naturally, but he alone will be able to hear spiritually to
whom God has given "the hearing ear"; whose
"ear God hath wakened" and "opened."
Compare "Faith, the ears of the soul" [CLEMENT OF
ALEXANDRIA].
the Spirit saith--What Christ
saith, the Spirit saith; so one are the Second and
Third Persons.
unto the churches--not merely to the
particular, but to the universal Church.
overcometh--In John's Gospel (
Joh 16:33) and First Epistle (
1Jo 2:13, 14; 5:4, 5) an object follows, namely,
"the world," "the wicked one." Here,
where the final issue is spoken of, the conqueror is
named absolutely. Paul uses a similar image (
1Co 9:24, 25; 2Ti 2:5; but not the same as John's
phrase, except
Ro 12:21).
will I give--as the Judge. The tree of
life in Paradise, lost by the fall, is restored by the
Redeemer. Allusions to it occur in
Pr 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4, and prophetically,
Re 22:2, 14; Eze 47:12; compare
Joh 6:51. It is interesting to note how closely these
introductory addresses are linked to the body of
Revelation. Thus, the tree of life here, with
Re 22:1; deliverance from the second death (
Re 2:11), with
Re 20:14; 21:8; the new name (
Re 2:17), with
Re 14:1; power over the nations, with
Re 20:4; the morning star (
Re 2:28), with
Re 22:16; the white raiment (
Re 3:5), with
Re 4:4; 16:15; the name in the book of life (
Re 3:5), with
Re 13:8; 20:15; the new Jerusalem and its
citizenship (
Re 3:12), with
Re 21:10.
give . . . tree of life--The
thing promised corresponds to the kind of faithfulness
manifested. They who refrain from Nicolaitane indulgences
(
Re 2:6) and idol-meats (
Re 2:14, 15), shall eat of meat infinitely superior,
namely, the fruit of the tree of life, and the hidden manna
(
Re 2:17).
in the midst of the paradise--The
oldest manuscripts omit "the midst of." In
Ge 2:9 these words are appropriate, for there were
other trees in the garden, but not in the midst of
it. Here the tree of life is simply in the
paradise, for no other tree is mentioned in it; in
Re 22:2 the tree of life is "in the midst
of the street of Jerusalem"; from this the clause was
inserted here. Paradise (a Persian, or else Semitic
word), originally used of any garden of delight; then
specially of Eden; then the temporary abode of separate
souls in bliss; then "the Paradise of
God," the third heaven, the immediate presence of
God.
of God-- (
Eze 28:13). One oldest manuscript, with Vulgate,
Syriac, and Coptic, and CYPRIAN, read, "MY
God," as in
Re 3:12. So Christ calls God, "My God and
your God" (
Joh 20:17; compare
Eph 1:17). God is our God, in virtue of being
peculiarly Christ's God. The main bliss of
Paradise is that it is the Paradise of God; God
Himself dwelling there (
Re 21:3).
8. Smyrna--in Ionia, a little to the north of Ephesus.
POLYCARP, martyred in A.D. 168, eighty-six years after his
conversion, was bishop, and probably "the angel of the
Church in Smyrna" meant here. The allusions to
persecutions and faithfulness unto death accord with this
view. IGNATIUS [The Martyrdom of Ignatius 3], on his
way to martyrdom in Rome, wrote to POLYCARP, then (A.D.
108) bishop of Smyrna; if his bishopric commenced ten or
twelve years earlier, the dates will harmonize. TERTULLIAN
[The Prescription against Heretics, 32], and
IRENÆUS, who had talked with POLYCARP in youth, tell
us POLYCARP was consecrated bishop of Smyrna by St.
John.
the first . . . the last
. . . was dead . . . is alive--The
attributes of Christ most calculated to comfort the Church
of Smyrna under its persecutions; resumed from
Re 1:17, 18. As death was to Him but the gate to life
eternal, so it is to be to them (
Re 2:10, 11).
9. thy works, and--omitted in two oldest manuscripts,
Vulgate, and Coptic. Supported by one oldest
manuscript.
tribulation--owing to
persecution.
poverty--owing to "the spoiling
of their goods."
but thou art rich--in grace. Contrast
Laodicea, rich in the world's eyes and her own,
poor before God. "There are both poor rich-men,
and rich poor-men in God's sight" [TRENCH].
blasphemy of them--blasphemous calumny
of thee on the part of (or arising from) them.
say they are Jews, and are not--Jews
by national descent, but not spiritually of "the true
circumcision." The Jews blaspheme Christ as "the
hanged one." As elsewhere, so at Smyrna they bitterly
opposed Christianity; and at POLYCARP'S martyrdom they
joined the heathens in clamoring for his being cast to the
lions; and when there was an obstacle to this, for his
being burnt alive; and with their own hands they carried
logs for the pile.
synagogue of Satan--Only once is the
term "synagogue" in the New Testament used of the
Christian assembly, and that by the apostle who longest
maintained the union of the Church and Jewish Synagogue. As
the Jews more and more opposed Christianity, and it more
and more rooted itself in the Gentile world, the term
"synagogue" was left altogether to the former,
and Christians appropriated exclusively the honorable term
"Church"; contrast an earlier time when the
Jewish theocracy is called "the Church in the
wilderness." Compare
Nu 16:3; 20:4, "congregation of the
Lord." Even in
Jas 2:2 it is "your (not the
Lord's) assembly." The Jews, who might
have been "the Church of God," had now, by their
opposition and unbelief, become the synagogue of Satan. So
"the throne of Satan" (
Re 2:13) represents the heathens' opposition
to Christianity; "the depths of Satan" (
Re 2:24), the opposition of heretics.
10. Fear none, &c.--the oldest manuscripts read,
"Fear not those things," &c. "The
Captain of our salvation never keeps back what those who
faithfully witness for Him may have to bear for His
name's sake; never entices recruits by the promise they
shall find all things easy and pleasant there"
[TRENCH].
devil--"the accuser." He
acted, through Jewish accusers against Christ and
His people. The conflict of the latter was not with mere
flesh and blood, but with the rulers of the darkness of
this world.
tried--with temptation by
"the devil." The same event is often both a
temptation from the devil, and a trial from
God--God sifting and winnowing the man to separate his
chaff from his wheat, the devil sifting him in the hope
that nothing but chaff will be found in him [TRENCH].
ten days--not the ten persecutions
from Nero to Diocletian. LYRA explains ten years on
the year-day principle. The shortness of the
duration of the persecution is evidently made the ground of
consolation. The time of trial shall be short, the duration
of your joy shall be for ever. Compare the use of "ten
days" for a short time,
Ge 24:55; Nu 11:19. Ten is the number of the
world powers hostile to the Church; compare the ten
horns of the beast,
Re 13:1.
unto death--so as even to endure death
for My sake.
crown of life--
Jas 1:12; 2Ti 4:8, "crown of righteousness";
1Pe 5:4, "crown of glory." The crown
is the garland, the mark of a conqueror, or
of one rejoicing, or at a feast; but
diadem is the mark of a KING.
11. shall not be hurt--Greek, "shall not by any
means (or possibly) be hurt."
the second death--"the lake of
fire." "The death in life of the lost, as
contrasted with the life in death of the saved"
[TRENCH]. The phrase "the second death" is
peculiar to the Apocalypse. What matter about the first
death, which sooner or later must pass over us, if we
escape the second death? "It seems that they
who die that death shall be hurt by it; whereas, if
it were annihilation, and so a conclusion of their
torments, it would be no way hurtful, but highly beneficial
to them. But the living torments are the second death"
[BISHOP PEARSON]. "The life of the damned is
death" [AUGUSTINE]. Smyrna (meaning myrrh)
yielded its sweet perfume in being bruised even to death.
Myrrh was used in embalming dead bodies (
Joh 19:39); was an ingredient in the holy anointing oil
(
Ex 30:23); a perfume of the heavenly Bridegroom (
Ps 45:8), and of the bride (
So 3:6). "Affliction, like it, is bitter
for the time being, but salutary; preserving the
elect from corruption, and seasoning them for
immortality, and gives scope for the exercise of the
fragrantly breathing Christian virtues" [V
ITRINGA]. POLYCARP'S noble words to his heathen judges
who wished him to recant, are well known: "Fourscore
and six years have I served the Lord, and He never wronged
me, how then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour?"
Smyrna's faithfulness is rewarded by its candlestick
not having been removed out of its place (
Re 2:5); Christianity has never wholly left it; whence
the Turks call it, "Infidel Smyrna."
12. TRENCH prefers writing Pergamus, or rather,
Pergamum, on the river Caicus. It was capital of
Attalus the Second's kingdom, which was bequeathed by
him to the Romans, 133 B.C. Famous for its library, founded
by Eumenes (197-159), and destroyed by Caliph Omar.
Parchment, that is, Pergamena charta, was here
discovered for book purposes. Also famous for the
magnificent temple of Æsculapius, the healing god
[TACITUS, Annals, 3.63].
he which hath the sharp sword with two
edges--appropriate to His address having a twofold bearing,
a searching power so as to convict and convert some (
Re 2:13, 17), and to convict and condemn to punishment
others (
Re 2:14-16, especially
Re 2:16; compare also see on Re
1:16).
13. I know thy works--Two oldest manuscripts omit this
clause; one oldest manuscript retains it.
Satan's seat--rather as the
Greek is translated all through Revelation,
"throne." Satan, in impious mimicry of God's
heavenly throne, sets up his earthly throne (
Re 4:2). Æsculapius was worshipped there under
the serpent form; and Satan, the old serpent, as the
instigator (compare
Re 2:10) of fanatical devotees of Æsculapius,
and, through them, of the supreme magistracy at Pergamos,
persecuted one of the Lord's people (Antipas) even to
death. Thus, this address is an anticipatory preface to
Re 12:1-17; Note: "throne
. . . the dragon, Satan . . . war with
her seed,"
Re 12:5, 9, 17.
even in those days--Two oldest
manuscripts omit "even"; two retain it.
wherein--Two oldest manuscripts omit
this (then translate, "in the days of Antipas, My
faithful witness," or "martyr"); two retain
it. Two oldest manuscripts read, "My witness, MY
faithful one"; two read as English Version.
Antipas is another form for Antipater. S IMEON METAPHRASTES
has a palpably legendary story, unknown to the early
Fathers, that Antipas, in Domitian's reign, was shut up
in a red-hot brazen bull, and ended his life in
thanksgivings and prayers. HENGSTENBERG makes the name,
like other apocalyptic names, symbolical, meaning one
standing out "against all" for Christ's sake.
14. few--in comparison of the many tokens of thy
faithfulness.
hold the doctrine of Balaam--"the
teaching of Balaam," namely, that which he
"taught Balak." Compare "the counsel of
Balaam,"
Nu 31:16. "Balak" is dative in the
Greek, whence BENGEL translates, "taught (the
Moabites) for (that is, to please) Balak." But though
in Numbers it is not expressly said he taught Balak,
yet there is nothing said inconsistent with his having done
so; and JOSEPHUS [Antiquities,4. 6. 6], says he did
so. The dative case is a Hebraism for the accusative
case.
children--Greek,
"sons of Israel."
stumbling-block--literally, that part
of a trap on which the bait was laid, and which, when
touched, caused the trap to close on its prey; then any
entanglement to the foot [TRENCH].
eat things sacrificed unto idols--the
act common to the Israelites of old, and the Nicolaitanes
in John's day; he does not add what was peculiar to the
Israelites, namely, that they sacrificed to idols.
The temptation to eat idol-meats was a peculiarly strong
one to the Gentile converts. For not to do so involved
almost a withdrawal from partaking of any social meal with
the heathen around. For idol-meats, after a part had been
offered in sacrifice, were nearly sure to be on the heathen
entertainer's table; so much so, that the Greek
"to kill" (thuein) meant originally
"to sacrifice." Hence arose the decree of the
council of Jerusalem forbidding to eat such meats;
subsequently some at Corinth ate unscrupulously and
knowingly of such meats, on the ground that the idol is
nothing; others needlessly tortured themselves with
scruples, lest unknowingly they should eat of them
when they got meat from the market or in a heathen
friend's house. Paul handles the question in
1Co 8:1-13; 10:25-33.
fornication--often connected with
idolatry.
15. thou--emphatic: "So THOU also hast," As Balak
and the Moabites of old had Balaam and his followers
literally, so hast thou also them that hold the same
Balaamite or Nicolaitane doctrine spiritually or
symbolically. Literal eating of idol-meats and fornication
in Pergamos were accompanied by spiritual idolatry and
fornication. So TRENCH explains. But I prefer taking it,
"THOU also," as well as Ephesus ("in
like manner" as Ephesus; see below the oldest
reading), hast . . . Nicolaitanes, with this
important difference, Ephesus, as a Church, hates
them and casts them out, but thou "hast
them," namely, in the Church.
doctrine--teaching (see on Re 2:6): namely, to tempt God's people to
idolatry.
which thing I hate--It is sin not to
hate what God hates. The Ephesian Church (
Re 2:6) had this point of superiority to Pergamos. But
the three oldest manuscripts, and Vulgate and
Syriac, read instead of "which I hate,"
"IN LIKE MANNER."
16. The three oldest manuscripts read, "Repent,
therefore." Not only the Nicolaitanes, but the
whole Church of Pergamos is called on to repent of not
having hated the Nicolaitane teaching and practice.
Contrast Paul,
Ac 20:26.
I will come--I am coming.
fight against them--Greek,
"war with them"; with the Nicolaitanes primarily;
but including also chastisement of the whole Church
at Pergamos: compare "unto THEE."
with the sword of my mouth--resumed
from
Re 1:16, but with an allusion to the drawn sword
with which the angel of the Lord confronted Balaam on his
way to curse Israel: an earnest of the sword by
which he and the seduced Israelites fell at last. The
spiritual Balaamites of John's day are to be smitten
with the Lord's spiritual sword, the word or "rod
of His mouth."
17. to eat--omitted in the three oldest manuscripts.
the hidden manna--the heavenly food of
Israel, in contrast to the idol-meats (
Re 2:14). A pot of manna was laid up in the holy place
"before the testimony." The allusion is here to
this: probably also to the Lord's discourse (
Joh 6:31-35). Translate, "the manna which is
hidden." As the manna hidden in the sanctuary was by
divine power preserved from corruption, so Christ in His
incorruptible body has passed into the heavens, and is
hidden there until the time of His appearing. Christ
Himself is the manna "hidden" from the world, but
revealed to the believer, so that he has already a
foretaste of His preciousness. Compare as to Christ's
own hidden food on earth,
Joh 4:32, 34, and Job 23:12. The full manifestation
shall be at His coming. Believers are now hidden, even as
their meat is hidden. As the manna in the sanctuary, unlike
the other manna, was incorruptible, so the spiritual feast
offered to all who reject the world's dainties for
Christ is everlasting: an incorruptible body and life for
ever in Christ at the resurrection.
white stone . . . new name
. . . no man knoweth saving he--TRENCH'S
explanation seems best. White is the color and
livery of heaven. "New" implies something
altogether renewed and heavenly. The white stone is a
glistening diamond, the Urim borne by the high priest
within the choschen or breastplate of judgment, with
the twelve tribes' names on the twelve precious stones,
next the heart. The word Urim means
"light," answering to the color white.
None but the high priest knew the name written upon it,
probably the incommunicable name of God,
"Jehovah." The high priest consulted it in some
divinely appointed way to get direction from God when
needful. The "new name" is Christ's
(compare
Re 3:12, "I will write upon him My new
name"): some new revelation of Himself which shall
hereafter be imparted to His people, and which they alone
are capable of receiving. The connection with the
"hidden manna" will thus be clear, as none save
the high priest had access to the "manna hidden"
in the sanctuary. Believers, as spiritual priests unto God,
shall enjoy the heavenly antitypes to the hidden manna and
the Urim stone. What they had peculiarly to contend against
at Pergamos was the temptation to idol-meats, and
fornication, put in their way by Balaamites. As
Phinehas was rewarded with "an everlasting
priesthood" for his zeal against these very sins to
which the Old Testament Balaam seduced Israel; so the
heavenly high priesthood is the reward promised here to
those zealous against the New Testament Balaamites tempting
Christ's people to the same sins.
receiveth it--namely, "the
stone"; not "the new name"; see above. The
"name that no man knew but Christ Himself," He
shall hereafter reveal to His people.
18. Thyatira--in Lydia, south of Pergamos. Lydia, the
purple-seller of this city, having been converted at
Philippi, a Macedonian city (with which Thyatira, as being
a Macedonian colony, had naturally much intercourse), was
probably the instrument of first carrying the Gospel to her
native town. John follows the geographical order here, for
Thyatira lay a little to the left of the road from Pergamos
to Sardis [STRABO, 13:4].
Son of God . . . eyes like
. . . fire . . . feet . . .
like fine brass--or "glowing brass" (see on Re 1:14,15, whence this description is
resumed). Again His attributes accord with His address. The
title "Son of God," is from
Ps 2:7, 9, which is referred to in
Re 2:27. The attribute, "eyes like a flame,"
&c., answers to
Re 2:23, "I am He which searcheth the reins and
hearts." The attribute, "feet like
. . . brass," answers to
Re 2:27, "as the vessels of a potter shall they be
broken to shivers," He treading them to
pieces with His strong feet.
19. The oldest manuscripts transpose the English
Version order, and read, "faith and service."
The four are subordinate to "thy works"; thus,
"I know thy works, even the love and the faith
(these two forming one pair, as 'faith works by
love,'
Ga 5:6), and the service (ministration to the
suffering members of the Church, and to all in spiritual or
temporal need), and the endurance of (that is, shown by)
thee (this pronoun belongs to all four)." As
love is inward, so service is its outward
manifestation. Similarly, faith and persevering
endurance, or "patient continuance (the
same Greek as here,
Ro 2:7) in well-doing," are connected.
and thy works; and the last--Omit the
second "and," with the three oldest manuscripts
and the ancient versions; translate, "And (I know) thy
works which are last (to be) more in number than the
first"; realizing
1Th 4:1; the converse of
Mt 12:45; 2Pe 2:20. Instead of retrograding from
"the first works" and "first love," as
Ephesus, Thyatira's last works exceeded her
first (
Re 2:4, 5).
20. a few things--omitted in the three oldest manuscripts.
Translate then, "I have against thee
that," &c.
sufferest--The three oldest
manuscripts read, "lettest alone."
that woman--Two oldest manuscripts
read, "THY wife"; two omit it. Vulgate and
most ancient versions read as English Version. The
symbolical Jezebel was to the Church of Thyatira what
Jezebel, Ahab's "wife," was to him. Some
self-styled prophetess (or as the feminine in Hebrew
is often used collectively to express a multitude,
a set of false prophets), as closely attached to the
Church of Thyatira as a wife is to a husband, and as
powerfully influencing for evil that Church as Jezebel did
Ahab. As Balaam, in Israel's early history, so Jezebel,
daughter of Eth-baal, king of Sidon (
1Ki 16:31, formerly priest of Astarte, and murderer of
his predecessor on the throne, JOSEPHUS [Against
Apion, 1.18]), was the great seducer to idolatry in
Israel's later history. Like her father, she was swift
to shed blood. Wholly given to Baal worship, like Eth-baal,
whose name expresses his idolatry, she, with her strong
will, seduced the weak Ahab and Israel beyond the
calf-worship (which was a worship of the true God under the
cherub-ox form, that is, a violation of the second
commandment) to that of Baal (a violation of the first
commandment also). She seems to have been herself a
priestess and prophetess of Baal. Compare
2Ki 9:22, 30, "whoredoms of . . .
Jezebel and her witchcrafts" (impurity was part
of the worship of the Phœnician Astarte, or Venus).
Her spiritual counterpart at Thyatira lured God's
"servants" by pretended utterances of inspiration
to the same libertinism, fornication, and eating of
idol-meats, as the Balaamites and Nicolaitanes (
Re 2:6, 14, 15). By a false spiritualism these seducers
led their victims into the grossest carnality, as though
things done in the flesh were outside the true man, and
were, therefore, indifferent. "The deeper the Church
penetrated into heathenism, the more she herself became
heathenish; this prepares us for the expressions
'harlot' and 'Babylon,' applied to her
afterwards" [AUBERLEN].
to teach and to seduce--The three
oldest manuscripts read, "and she teaches and
seduces," or "deceives." "Thyatira was
just the reverse of Ephesus. There, much zeal for
orthodoxy, but little love; here, activity of faith and
love, but insufficient zeal for godly discipline and
doctrine, a patience of error even where there was not a
participation in it" [TRENCH].
21. space--Greek, "time."
of her fornication . . . she
repented not--The three oldest manuscripts read, "and
she willeth not to repent of (literally,
'out of,' that is, so as to come out of)
her fornication." Here there is a transition from
literal to spiritual fornication, as appears from
Re 2:22. The idea arose from Jehovah's covenant
relation to the Old Testament Church being regarded as a
marriage, any transgression against which was, therefore,
harlotry, fornication, or adultery.
22. Behold--calling attention to her awful doom to
come.
I will--Greek present, "I
cast her."
a bed--The place of her sin shall be
the place of her punishment. The bed of her sin shall be
her bed of sickness and anguish. Perhaps a pestilence was
about to be sent. Or the bed of the grave, and of the hell
beyond, where the worm dieth not.
them that commit adultery with
her--spiritually; including both the eating of
idol-meats and fornication. "With
her," in the Greek, implies participation
with her in her adulteries, namely, by suffering
her (
Re 2:20), or letting her alone, and so
virtually encouraging her. Her punishment is distinct from
theirs; she is to be cast into a bed, and her
children to be killed; while those who make
themselves partakers of her sin by tolerating her, are to
be cast into great tribulation.
except they repent--Greek
aorist, "repent" at once; shall have
repented by the time limited in My purpose.
their deeds--Two of the oldest
manuscripts and most ancient versions read "her."
Thus, God's true servants, who by connivance, are
incurring the guilt of her deeds, are distinguished
from her. One oldest manuscript, ANDREAS, and CYPRIAN,
support "their."
23. her children-- (
Isa 57:3; Eze 23:45, 47). Her proper adherents; not
those who suffer her, but those who are begotten of
her. A distinct class from the last in
Re 2:22 (compare Note, see on
Re 2:22), whose sin was less direct, being that only of
connivance.
kill . . . with
death--Compare the disaster that overtook the literal
Jezebel's votaries of Baal, and Ahab's sons,
1Ki 18:40; 2Ki 10:6, 7, 24, 25. Kill with death
is a Hebraism for slay with most sure and awful
death; so "dying thou shalt die" (
Ge 2:17). Not "die the common death of men"
(
Nu 16:29).
all the churches shall know--implying
that these addresses are designed for the catholic Church
of all ages and places. So palpably shall God's hand be
seen in the judgment on Thyatira, that the whole Church
shall recognize it as God's doing.
I am he--the "I" is strongly
emphatical: "that it is I am He who,"
&c.
searcheth . . .
hearts--God's peculiar attribute is given to Christ.
The "reins" are the seat of the desires; the
"heart," that of the thoughts. The Greek
for "searcheth" expresses an accurate following
up of all tracks and windings.
unto every one of you--literally,
"unto you, to each."
according to your works--to be judged
not according to the mere act as it appears to man, but
with reference to the motive, faith and love
being the only motives which God recognizes as sound.
24. you . . . and . . . the rest--The
three oldest manuscripts omit "and"; translate
then, "Unto you, the rest."
as many as have not--not only do not
hold, but are free from contact with.
and which--The oldest manuscripts omit
"and"; translate, "whosoever."
the depths--These false prophets
boasted peculiarly of their knowledge of mysteries
and the deep things of God; pretensions subsequently
expressed by their arrogant title, Gnostics
("full of knowledge"). The Spirit here declares
their so-called "depths," (namely, of knowledge
of divine things) to be really "depths of
Satan"; just as in
Re 2:9, He says, instead of "the synagogue of
God," "the synagogue of Satan."
HENGSTENBERG thinks the teachers themselves professed to
fathom the depths of Satan, giving loose rein to
fleshly lusts, without being hurt thereby. They who thus
think to fight Satan with his own weapons always find him
more than a match for them. The words, "as they
speak," that is, "as they call them," coming
after not only "depths," but "depths of
Satan," seem to favor this latter view; otherwise I
should prefer the former, in which case, "as they
speak," or "call them," must refer to
"depths" only, not also "depths of
Satan." The original sin of Adam was a desire to
know EVIL as well as good, so in H ENGSTENBERG'S
view, those who professed to know "the depths of
Satan." It is the prerogative of God alone to know
evil fully, without being hurt or defiled by it.
I will put--Two oldest manuscripts
have "I put," or "cast." One oldest
manuscript reads as English Version.
none other burden--save abstinence
from, and protestation against, these abominations; no
"depths" beyond your reach, such as they teach,
no new doctrine, but the old faith and rule of practice
once for all delivered to the saints. Exaggerating and
perfecting Paul's doctrine of grace without the law as
the source of justification and sanctification, these false
prophets rejected the law as a rule of life, as though it
were an intolerable "burden." But it is a
"light" burden. In
Ac 15:28, 29, the very term "burden," as
here, is used of abstinence from fornication and
idol-meats; to this the Lord here refers.
25. that which ye have already-- (
Jude 3, end).
hold fast--do not let go from your
grasp, however false teachers may wish to wrest it from
you.
till I come--when your conflict with
evil will be at an end. The Greek implies
uncertainty as to when He shall come.
26. And--implying the close connection of the promise to
the conqueror that follows, with the preceding exhortation,
Re 2:25.
and keepeth--Greek, "and
he that keepeth." Compare the same word in the passage
already alluded to by the Lord,
Ac 15:28, 29, end.
my works--in contrast to "her
(English Version, 'their') works" (
Re 2:22). The works which I command and which are the
fruit of My Spirit.
unto the end-- (
Mt 24:13). The image is perhaps from the race, wherein
it is not enough to enter the lists, but the runner must
persevere to the end.
give power--Greek,
"authority."
over the nations--at Christ's
coming the saints shall possess the kingdom "under the
whole heaven"; therefore over this earth; compare
Lu 19:17, "have thou authority [the same
word as here] over ten cities."
27. From
Ps 2:8, 9.
rule--literally, "rule as a
shepherd." In
Ps 2:9 it is, "Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron." The Septuagint, pointing the
Hebrew word differently, read as Revelation here. The
English Version of
Ps 2:9 is doubtless right, as the parallel word,
"dash in pieces," proves. But the Spirit in this
case sanctions the additional thought as true, that
the Lord shall mingle mercy to some, with judgment on
others; beginning by destroying His Antichristian foes, He
shall reign in love over the rest. "Christ shall rule
them with a scepter of iron, to make them capable of
being ruled with a scepter of gold; severity first, that
grace may come after" (T RENCH, who thinks we ought to
translate " SCEPTER" for "rod," as in
Heb 1:8). "Shepherd" is used in
Jer 6:3, of hostile rulers; so also in
Zec 11:16. As severity here is the primary thought,
"rule as a shepherd" seems to me to be used thus:
He who would have shepherded them with a pastoral rod,
shall, because of their hardened unbelief, shepherd them
with a rod of iron.
shall they be broken--So one oldest
manuscript, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic
Versions read. But two oldest manuscripts, read,
"as the vessels of a potter are broken to
shivers." A potter's vessel dashed to
pieces, because of its failing to answer the design of
the maker, is the image to depict God's sovereign power
to give reprobates to destruction, not by caprice, but in
the exercise of His righteous judgment. The saints shall be
in Christ's victorious "armies" when He shall
inflict the last decisive blow, and afterwards shall reign
with Him. Having by faith "overcome the world,"
they shall also rule the world.
even as I--"as I also have
received of (from) My Father," namely, in
Ps 2:7-9. Jesus had refused to receive the kingdom
without the cross at Satan's hands; He would receive it
from none but the Father, who had appointed the cross as
the path to the crown. As the Father has given the
authority to Me over the heathen and uttermost parts of the
earth, so I impart a share of it to My victorious disciple.
28. the morning star--that is, I will give unto him Myself, who am "the morning star" ( Re 22:16); so that reflecting My perfect brightness, he shall shine like Me, the morning star, and share My kingly glory (of which a star is the symbol, Nu 21:17; Mt 2:2). Compare Re 2:17, "I will give him . . . the hidden manna," that is, Myself, who am that manna ( Joh 6:31-33).
Re 3:1-22. THE EPISTLES TO SARDIS, PHILADELPHIA, AND LAODICEA.
1. Sardis--the ancient capital of Lydia, the kingdom of
wealthy Croesus, on the river Pactolus. The address to this
Church is full of rebuke. It does not seem to have been in
vain; for MELITO, bishop of Sardis in the second century,
was eminent for piety and learning. He visited Palestine to
assure himself and his flock as to the Old Testament canon
and wrote an epistle on the subject [EUSEBIUS
Ecclesiastical History, 4.26]; he also wrote a
commentary on the Apocalypse [EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical
History, 4.26; JEROME, On Illustrious Men,
24].
he that hath the seven Spirits of
God--that is, He who hath all the fulness of the Spirit (
Re 1:4; 4:5; 5:6, with which compare
Zec 3:9; 4:10, proving His Godhead). This attribute
implies His infinite power by the Spirit to convict of sin
and of a hollow profession.
and the seven stars-- (
Re 1:16, 20). His having the seven stars, or
presiding ministers, flows, as a consequence, from His
having the seven Spirits, or the fulness of the Holy
Spirit. The human ministry is the fruit of Christ's
sending down the gifts of the Spirit. Stars imply
brilliancy and glory; the fulness of the Spirit, and the
fulness of brilliant light in Him, form a designed contrast
to the formality which He reproves.
name . . . livest
. . . dead-- (
1Ti 5:6; 2Ti 3:5; Tit 1:16; compare
Eph 2:1, 5; 5:14). "A name," that is, a
reputation. Sardis was famed among the churches for
spiritual vitality; yet the Heart-searcher, who
seeth not as man seeth, pronounces her dead; how
great searchings of heart should her case create among even
the best of us! Laodicea deceived herself as to her true
state (
Re 3:17), but it is not written that she had a high
name among the other churches, as Sardis had.
2. Be--Greek. "Become," what thou art not,
"watchful," or "wakeful," literally,
"waking."
the things which remain--Strengthen
those thy remaining few graces, which, in thy spiritual
deadly slumber, are not yet quite extinct [ALFORD].
"The things that remain" can hardly mean
"the PERSONS that are not yet dead, but are ready
to die"; for
Re 3:4 implies that the "few" faithful ones
at Sardis were not "ready to die," but were full
of life.
are--The two oldest manuscripts read,
"were ready," literally, "were about to
die," namely, at the time when you
"strengthen" them. This implies that "thou
art dead,"
Re 3:1, is to be taken with limitation; for those must
have some life who are told to strengthen the things
that remain.
perfect--literally, "filled up in
full complement"; Translate, "complete."
Weighed in the balance of Him who requires living faith as
the motive of works, and found wanting.
before God--Greek, "in the
sight of God." The three oldest manuscripts,
Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic, read, "before
(in the sight of) MY God"; Christ's judgment is
God the Father's judgment. In the sight of men, Sardis
had "a name of living": "so many and so
great are the obligations of pastors, that he who would in
reality fulfil even a third of them, would be esteemed holy
by men, whereas, if content with that alone, he would be
sure not to escape hell" [JUAN D'AVILA]. Note: in
Sardis and Laodicea alone of the seven we read of no
conflict with foes within or without the Church. Not that
either had renounced the appearance of opposition to
the world; but neither had the faithfulness to witness for
God by word and example, so as to "torment them that
dwelt on the earth" (
Re 11:10).
3. how thou hast received-- (
Col 2:6; 1Th 4:1; 1Ti 6:20). What Sardis is to
"remember" is, not how joyfully she had
received originally the Gospel message, but how the
precious deposit was committed to her originally, so that
she could not say, she had not "received and
heard" it. The Greek is not aorist (as in
Re 2:4, as to Ephesus, "Thou didst leave
thy first love"), but "thou hast received"
(perfect), and still hast the permanent deposit of doctrine
committed to thee. The word "keep" (so the
Greek is for English Version, "hold
fast") which follows, accords with this sense.
"Keep" or observe the commandment which thou hast
received and didst hear.
heard--Greek aorist,
"didst hear," namely, when the Gospel doctrine
was committed to thee. TRENCH explains "how,"
with what demonstration of the Spirit and power from
Christ's ambassadors the truth came to you, and how
heartily and zealously you at first received it. Similarly
BENGEL, "Regard to her former character
(how it once stood) ought to guard Sardis against
the future hour, whatsoever it shall be, proving
fatal to her." But it is not likely that the Spirit
repeats the same exhortation virtually to Sardis as to
Ephesus.
If therefore--seeing thou art so
warned, if, nevertheless, &c.
come on thee as a thief--in special
judgment on thee as a Church, with the same stealthiness
and as unexpectedly as shall be My visible second coming.
As the thief gives no notice of his approach. Christ
applies the language which in its fullest sense describes
His second coming, to describe His coming in special
judgments on churches and states (as Jerusalem,
Mt 24:4-28) these special judgments being anticipatory
earnests of that great last coming. "The last day is
hidden from us, that every day may be observed by us"
[AUGUSTINE]. Twice Christ in the days of His flesh spake
the same words (
Mt 24:42, 43; Lu 12:39, 40); and so deeply had His
words been engraven on the minds of the apostles that they
are often repeated in their writings (
Re 16:15; 1Th 5:2, 4, 6; 2Pe 3:10). The Greek proverb
was that "the feet of the avenging deities are shod
with wool," expressing the noiseless approach of the
divine judgments, and their possible nearness at the moment
when they were supposed the farthest off [TRENCH].
4. The three oldest manuscripts prefix "but," or
"nevertheless" (notwithstanding thy spiritual
deadness), and omit "even."
names--persons named in the
book of life (
Re 3:5) known by name by the Lord as His own. These had
the reality corresponding to their name; not a mere
name among men as living, while really
dead (
Re 3:1). The gracious Lord does not overlook any
exceptional cases of real saints in the midst of unreal
professors.
not defiled their garments--namely,
the garments of their Christian profession, of which
baptism is the initiatory seal, whence the candidates for
baptism used in the ancient Church to be arrayed in white.
Compare also
Eph 5:27, as to the spotlessness of the Church when she
shall be presented to Christ; and
Re 19:8, as to the "fine linen, clean and white,
the righteousness of the saints," in which it shall be
granted to her to be arrayed; and "the wedding
garment." Meanwhile she is not to sully her Christian
profession with any defilement of flesh or spirit, but to
"keep her garments." For no defilement shall
enter the heavenly city. Not that any keep themselves here
wholly free from defilement; but, as compared with hollow
professors, the godly keep themselves unspotted from the
world; and when they do contract it, they wash it away,
so as to have their "robes white in the blood of the
Lamb" (
Re 7:14). The Greek is not "to stain"
(Greek, "miainein"), but to
"defile," or besmear (Greek,
"molunein"),
So 5:3.
they shall walk with me in white--The
promised reward accords with the character of those to be
rewarded: keeping their garments undefiled and white
through the blood of the Lamb now, they shall walk with
Him in while hereafter. On "with me," compare
the very same words,
Lu 23:43; Joh 17:24. "Walk" implies spiritual
life, for only the living walk; also liberty, for it is
only the free who walk at large. The grace and dignity of
flowing long garments is seen to best advantage when the
person "walks": so the graces of the saint's
manifested character shall appear fully when he shall
serve the Lord perfectly hereafter (
Re 22:3).
they are worthy--with the worthiness
(not their own, but that) which Christ has put on them (
Re 7:14).
Eze 16:14, "perfect through MY comeliness which I
had put upon thee." Grace is glory in the bud.
"The worthiness here denotes a congruity
between the saint's state of grace on earth, and
that of glory, which the Lord has appointed for
them, about to be estimated by the law itself of
grace" [VITRINGA]. Contrast
Ac 13:46.
5. white--not a dull white, but glittering, dazzling white
[GROTIUS]. Compare
Mt 13:43. The body transfigured into the likeness of
Christ's body, and emitting beams of light reflected
from Him, is probably the "white raiment"
promised here.
the same--Greek, "THIS
man"; he and he alone. So one oldest manuscript reads.
But two oldest manuscripts, and most of the ancient
versions, "shall THUS be clothed," &c.
raiment--Greek,
"garments." "He that overcometh" shall
receive the same reward as they who "have not defiled
their garments" (
Re 3:4); therefore the two are identical.
I will not--Greek, "I will
not by any means."
blot out . . . name out of
. . . book of life--of the heavenly city. A
register was kept in ancient cities of their citizens: the
names of the dead were of course erased. So those who have
a name that they live and are dead (
Re 3:1), are blotted out of God's roll of the
heavenly citizens and heirs of eternal life; not
that in God's electing decree they ever were in His
book of life. But, according to human conceptions, those
who had a high name for piety would be supposed to be in
it, and were, in respect to privileges, actually among
those in the way of salvation; but these privileges, and
the fact that they once might have been saved, shall be of
no avail to them. As to the book of life, compare
Re 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27; Ex 32:32; Ps 69:28; Da
12:1. In the sense of the "call," many are
enrolled among the called to salvation, who shall
not be found among the chosen at last. The pale of
salvation is wider than that of election. Election is
fixed. Salvation is open to all and is pending (humanly
speaking) in the case of those mentioned here. But
Re 20:15; 21:27, exhibit the book of the elect alone in
the narrower sense, after the erasure of the others.
before . . .
before--Greek, "in the presence of."
Compare the same promise of Christ's confessing before
His Father those who confessed Him,
Mt 10:32, 33; Lu 12:8, 9. He omits "in
heaven" after "My Father," because there is,
now that He is in heaven, no contrast between the Father
in heaven and the Son on earth. He now sets
His seal from heaven upon many of His words uttered on
earth [TRENCH]. An undesigned coincidence, proving that
these epistles are, as they profess, in their words, as
well as substance, Christ's own addresses; not even
tinged with the color of John's style, such as it
appears in his Gospel and Epistles. The coincidence is
mainly with the three other Gospels, and not with
John's, which makes the coincidence more markedly
undesigned. So also the clause, "He that hath an ear,
let him hear," is not repeated from John's Gospel,
but from the Lord's own words in the three synoptic
Gospels (
Mt 11:15; 13:9; Mr 4:9, 23; 7:16; Lu 8:8; 14:35).
6. (See on Re 2:7.)
7. Philadelphia--in Lydia, twenty-eight miles southeast of
Sardis, built by Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamos,
who died A.D. 138. It was nearly destroyed by an earthquake
in the reign of Tiberius [TACITUS, Annals, 2.47].
The connection of this Church with Jews there causes the
address to it to have an Old Testament coloring in the
images employed. It and Smyrna alone of the seven receive
unmixed praise.
he that is holy--as in the Old
Testament, "the Holy One of Israel." Thus
Jesus and the God of the Old Testament are one. None but
God is absolutely holy (Greek,
"hagios," separate from evil and perfectly
hating it). In contrast to "the synagogue of
Satan" (
Re 3:9).
true--Greek,
"alethinos": "VERY God," as
distinguished from the false gods and from all those who
say that they are what they are not (
Re 3:9): real, genuine. Furthermore, He
perfectly realizes all that is involved in the names,
GOD, Light (
Joh 1:9; 1Jo 2:8), Bread (
Joh 6:32), the Vine (
Joh 15:1); as distinguished from all typical, partial,
and imperfect realizations of the idea. His nature answers
to His name (
Joh 17:3; 1Th 1:9). The Greek,
"alethes," on the other hand, is
"truth-speaking," "truth-loving" (
Joh 3:33; Tit 1:2).
he that hath the key of David--the
antitype of Eliakim, to whom the "key," the
emblem of authority "over the house of David,"
was transferred from Shebna, who was removed from the
office of chamberlain or treasurer, as unworthy of it.
Christ, the Heir of the throne of David, shall supplant all
the less worthy stewards who have abused their trust in
God's spiritual house, and "shall reign over the
house of Jacob," literal and spiritual (
Lu 1:32, 33), "for ever," "as a Son over
His own house" (
Heb 3:2-6). It rests with Christ to open or shut the
heavenly palace, deciding who is, and who is not, to be
admitted: as He also opens, or shuts, the prison, having
the keys of hell (the grave) and death
(
Re 1:18). The power of the keys was given to Peter and
the other apostles, only when, and in so far as, Christ
made him and them infallible. Whatever degrees of this
power may have been committed to ministers, the supreme
power belongs to Christ alone. Thus Peter rightly opened
the Gospel door to the Gentiles (
Ac 10:1-48; 11:17, 18; especially
Ac 14:27, end). But he wrongly tried to shut the door
in part again (
Ga 2:11-18). Eliakim had "the key of the house of
David laid upon his shoulder": Christ, as the
antitypical David, Himself has the key of the supreme
"government upon His shoulder." His attribute
here, as in the former addresses, accords with His promise.
Though "the synagogue of Satan," false
"Jews" (
Re 3:9) try to "shut" the "door"
which I "set open before thee"; "no man can
shut it" (
Re 3:8).
shutteth--So Vulgate and
Syriac Versions read. But the four oldest manuscripts
read, "shall shut"; so Coptic Version and
ORIGEN.
and no man openeth--Two oldest
manuscripts, B, Aleph, Coptic Version, and
ORIGEN read, "shall open." Two oldest
manuscripts, A, C, and Vulgate Version support
English Version reading.
8. I have set--Greek, "given": it is My
gracious gift to thee.
open door--for evangelization; a door
of spiritual usefulness. The opening of a door by
Him to the Philadelphian Church accords with the previous
assignation to Him of "the key of David."
and--The three oldest manuscripts, A,
B, C, and O RIGEN read, "which no man can
shut."
for--"because."
a little--This gives the idea that
Christ says, He sets before Philadelphia an open door
because she has some little strength; whereas the
sense rather is, He does so because she has "but
little strength": being consciously weak herself,
she is the fitter object for God's power to rest on [so
AQUINAS], that so the Lord Christ may have all the
glory.
and hast kept--and so, the
littleness of thy strength becoming the source of
Almighty power to thee, as leading thee to rest wholly on
My great power, thou hast kept My word. GROTIUS
makes "little strength" to mean that she had a
Church small in numbers and external resources:
"a little flock poor in worldly goods, and of small
account in the eyes of men" [TRENCH]. So ALFORD. I
prefer the view given above. The Greek verbs are in
the aorist tense: "Thou didst keep . . .
didst not deny My name": alluding to some particular
occasion when her faithfulness was put to the test.
9. I will make--Greek present, "I make," literally, "I give" (see on Re 3:8). The promise to Philadelphia is larger than that to Smyrna. To Smyrna the promise was that "the synagogue of Satan" should not prevail against the faithful in her: to Philadelphia, that she should even win over some of "the synagogue of Satan" to fall on their faces and confess God is in her of a truth. Translate, "(some) of the synagogue." For until Christ shall come, and all Israel then be saved, there is but "a remnant" being gathered out of the Jews "according to the election of grace." This is an instance of how Christ set before her an "open door," some of her greatest adversaries, the Jews, being brought to the obedience of the faith. Their worshipping before her feet expresses the convert's willingness to take the very lowest place in the Church, doing servile honor to those whom once they persecuted, rather than dwell with the ungodly. So the Philippian jailer before Paul.
10. patience--"endurance." "The word of My
endurance" is My Gospel word, which teaches
patient endurance in expectation of my coming (
Re 1:9). My endurance is the endurance which I
require, and which I practice. Christ Himself now
endures, patiently waiting until the usurper be cast
out, and all "His enemies be made His footstool."
So, too, His Church, for the joy before her of sharing His
coming kingdom, endures patiently. Hence, in
Re 3:11, follows, "Behold, I come
quickly."
I also--The reward is in kind:
"because thou didst keep," &c. "I also
(on My side) will keep thee," &c.
from--Greek, "(so as to
deliver thee) out of," not to exempt
from temptation.
the hour of temptation--the appointed
season of affliction and temptation (so in
De 4:34 the plagues are called "the temptations of
Egypt"), literally, "the temptation":
the sore temptation which is coming on: the time of great
tribulation before Christ's second coming.
to try them that dwell upon the
earth--those who are of earth, earthy (
Re 8:13). "Dwell" implies that their home is
earth, not heaven. All mankind, except the elect (
Re 13:8, 14). The temptation brings out the fidelity of
those kept by Christ and hardens the unbelieving
reprobates (
Re 9:20, 21; 16:11, 21). The particular persecutions
which befell Philadelphia shortly after, were the earnest
of the great last tribulation before Christ's coming,
to which the Church's attention in all ages is
directed.
11. Behold--omitted by the three oldest manuscripts and
most ancient versions.
I come quickly--the great incentive to
persevering faithfulness, and the consolation under present
trials.
that . . . which thou
hast--"The word of my patience," or
"endurance" (
Re 3:10), which He had just commended them for keeping,
and which involved with it the attaining of the kingdom;
this they would lose if they yielded to the temptation of
exchanging consistency and suffering for compromise and
ease.
that no man take thy crown--which
otherwise thou wouldst receive: that no tempter cause thee
to lose it: not that the tempter would thus secure it for
himself (
Col 2:18).
12. pillar in the temple--In one sense there shall be
"no temple" in the heavenly city because there
shall be no distinction of things into sacred and secular,
for all things and persons shall be holy to the Lord. The
city shall be all one great temple, in which the saints
shall be not merely stones, as m the spiritual
temple now on earth, but all eminent as pillars:
immovably firm (unlike Philadelphia, the city which was so
often shaken by earthquakes, STRABO [12 and 13]), like the
colossal pillars before Solomon's temple, Boaz (that
is, "In it is strength") and Jachin ("It
shall be established"): only that those pillars were
outside, these shall be within the temple.
my God--(See on Re
2:7).
go no more out--The Greek is
stronger, never more at all. As the elect angels are
beyond the possibility of falling, being now under (as the
Schoolmen say) "the blessed necessity of
goodness," so shall the saints be. The door shall be
once for all shut, as well to shut safely in for ever the
elect, as to shut out the lost (
Mt 25:10; Joh 8:35; compare
Isa 22:23, the type, Eliakim). They shall be priests
for ever unto God (
Re 1:6). "Who would not yearn for that city out of
which no friend departs, and into which no enemy
enters?" [AUGUSTINE in TRENCH].
write upon him the name of my God--as
belonging to God in a peculiar sense (
Re 7:3; 9:4; 14:1; and especially
Re 22:4), therefore secure. As the name of Jehovah
("Holiness to the Lord") was on the golden plate
on the high priest's forehead (
Ex 28:36-38); so the saints in their heavenly royal
priesthood shall bear His name openly, as consecrated to
Him. Compare the caricature of this in the brand on the
forehead of the beast's followers (
Re 13:16, 17), and on the harlot (
Re 17:5; compare
Re 20:4).
name of the city of my God--as one of
its citizens (
Re 21:2, 3, 10, which is briefly alluded to by
anticipation here). The full description of the city forms
the appropriate close of the book. The saint's
citizenship is now hidden, but then it shall be manifested:
he shall have the right to enter in through the gates
into the city (
Re 22:14). This was the city which Abraham looked
for.
new--Greek,
"kaine." Not the old Jerusalem, once
called "the holy city," but having forfeited the
name. Greek, "nea," would express
that it had recently come into existence; but
Greek, "kaine," that which is new
and different, superseding the worn-out old Jerusalem
and its polity. "John, in the Gospel, applies to the
old city the Greek name Hierosolyma. But in
the Apocalypse, always, to the heavenly city the
Hebrew name, Hierousalem. The Hebrew name is the
original and holier one: the Greek, the recent and
more secular and political one" [BENGEL].
my new name--at present incommunicable
and only known to God: to be hereafter revealed and made
the believer's own in union with God in Christ.
Christ's name written on him denotes he shall be
wholly Christ's. New also relates to Christ, who
shall assume a new character (answering to His
"new name") entering with His saints on a
kingdom--not that which He had with the Father before the
worlds, but that earned by His humiliation as Son of man.
GIBBON, the infidel [Decline and Fall, ch. 64],
gives an unwilling testimony to the fulfilment of the
prophecy as to Philadelphia from a temporal point of view,
Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia
is still erect,--a column in a scene of ruins--a
pleasing example that the paths of honor and safety may
sometimes be the same."
13. (See on Re 2:7).
14. Laodiceans--The city was in the southwest of Phrygia,
on the river Lycus, not far from Colosse, and lying between
it and Philadelphia. It was destroyed by an earthquake,
A.D. 62, and rebuilt by its wealthy citizens without the
help of the state [TACITUS, Annals, 14.27]. This
wealth (arising from the excellence of its wools) led to a
self-satisfied, lukewarm state in spiritual things, as
Re 3:17 describes. See on
Col 4:16, on the Epistle which is thought to have been
written to the Laodicean Church by Paul. The Church in
latter times was apparently flourishing; for one of the
councils at which the canon of Scripture was determined was
held in Laodicea in A.D. 361. Hardly a Christian is now to
be found on or near its site.
the Amen-- (
Isa 65:16, Hebrew, "Bless Himself in the
God of Amen . . . swear by the God of
Amen,"
2Co 1:20). He who not only says, but is, the
Truth. The saints used Amen at the end of
prayer, or in assenting to the word of God; but none, save
the Son of God, ever said, "Amen, I say unto
you," for it is the language peculiar to God, who
avers by Himself. The New Testament formula,
"Amen. I say unto you," is equivalent to the Old
Testament formula, "as I live, saith
Jehovah." In John's Gospel alone He uses (in the
Greek) the double "Amen,"
Joh 1:51; 3:3, &c.; in English
Version," Verily, verily." The title happily
harmonizes with the address. His unchanging faithfulness as
"the Amen" contrasts with Laodicea's wavering
of purpose, "neither hot nor cold" (
Re 3:16). The angel of Laodicea has with some
probability been conjectured to be Archippus, to whom,
thirty years previously, Paul had already given a monition,
as needing to be stirred up to diligence in his ministry.
So the Apostolic Constitutions, [8.46], name him as
the first bishop of Laodicea: supposed to be the son of
Philemon (
Phm 2).
faithful and true witness--As
"the Amen" expresses the unchangeable truth of
His promises; so "the faithful the true witness,"
the truth of His revelations as to the heavenly things
which He has seen and testifies. "Faithful," that
is, trustworthy (
2Ti 2:11, 13). "True" is here (Greek,
"alethinos") not truth-speaking
(Greek, "alethes"), but
"perfectly realizing all that is comprehended in the
name Witness" (
1Ti 6:13). Three things are necessary for this: (1) to
have seen with His own eyes what He attests; (2) to be
competent to relate it for others; (3) to be willing
truthfully to do so. In Christ all these conditions meet
[TRENCH].
beginning of the creation of God--not
he whom God created first, but as in
Col 1:15-18 (see on Col
1:15-18), the Beginner of all creation, its
originating instrument. All creation would not be
represented adoring Him, if He were but one of themselves.
His being the Creator is a strong guarantee for His
faithfulness as "the Witness and Amen."
15. neither cold--The antithesis to "hot," literally, "boiling" ("fervent," Ac 18:25; Ro 12:11; compare So 8:6; Lu 24:32), requires that "cold" should here mean more than negatively cold; it is rather, positively icy cold: having never yet been warmed. The Laodiceans were in spiritual things cold comparatively, but not cold as the world outside, and as those who had never belonged to the Church. The lukewarm state, if it be the transitional stage to a warmer, is a desirable state (for a little religion, if real, is better than none); but most fatal when, as here, an abiding condition, for it is mistaken for a safe state ( Re 3:17). This accounts for Christ's desiring that they were cold rather than lukewarm. For then there would not be the same "danger of mixed motive and disregarded principle" [ALFORD]. Also, there is more hope of the "cold," that is, those who are of the world, and not yet warmed by the Gospel call; for, when called, they may become hot and fervent Christians: such did the once-cold publicans, Zaccheus and Matthew, become. But the lukewarm has been brought within reach of the holy fire, without being heated by it into fervor: having religion enough to lull the conscience in false security, but not religion enough to save the soul: as Demas, 2Ti 4:10. Such were the halters between two opinions in Israel ( 1Ki 18:21; compare 2Ki 17:41; Mt 6:24).
16. neither cold nor hot--So one oldest manuscript, B, and
Vulgate read. But two oldest manuscripts,
Syriac, and Coptic transpose thus, "hot nor
cold." It is remarkable that the Greek
adjectives are in the masculine, agreeing with the angel,
not feminine, agreeing with the Church. The Lord addresses
the angel as the embodiment and representative of the
Church. The chief minister is answerable for his flock if
he have not faithfully warned the members of it.
I will--Greek, "I am about
to," "I am ready to": I have it in my mind:
implying graciously the possibility of the threat not being
executed, if only they repent at once. His dealings towards
them will depend on theirs towards Him.
spue thee out of my month--reject with
righteous loathing, as Canaan spued out its inhabitants for
their abominations. Physicians used lukewarm water
to cause vomiting. Cold and hot drinks were
common at feasts, but never lukewarm. There were hot
and cold springs near Laodicea.
17. Self-sufficiency is the fatal danger of a lukewarm
state (see on Re 3:15).
thou sayest--virtually and mentally,
if not in so many words.
increased with goods--Greek,
"have become enriched," implying self-praise in
self-acquired riches. The Lord alludes to
Ho 12:8. The riches on which they prided themselves
were spiritual riches; though, doubtless, their spiritual
self-sufficiency ("I have need of nothing") was
much fostered by their worldly wealth; as, on the other
hand, poverty of spirit is fostered by
poverty in respect to worldly riches.
knowest not that thou--in particular
above all others. The "THOU" in the Greek
is emphatic.
art wretched--Greek, "art
the wretched one."
miserable--So one oldest manuscripts
reads. But two oldest manuscripts prefix "the."
Translate, "the pitiable"; "the one
especially to be pitied." How different Christ's
estimate of men, from their own estimate of themselves,
"I have need of nothing!"
blind--whereas Laodicea boasted of a
deeper than common insight into divine things. They
were not absolutely blind, else eye-salve
would have been of no avail to them; but
short-sighted.
18. Gentle and loving irony. Take My advice, thou
who fanciest thyself in need of nothing. Not only
art thou not in need of nothing, but art in need of the
commonest necessaries of existence. He graciously stoops to
their modes of thought and speech: Thou art a people ready
to listen to any counsel as to how to buy to
advantage; then, listen to My counsel (for I am
"Counsellor,"
Isa 9:6), buy of ME" (in whom, according to
Paul's Epistle written to the neighboring Colosse and
intended for the Laodicean Church also,
Col 2:1, 3; 4:16, are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge). "Buy" does not imply
that we can, by any work or merit of ours, purchase
God's free gift; nay the very purchase money consists
in the renunciation of all self-righteousness, such as
Laodicea had (
Re 3:17). "Buy" at the cost of thine own
self-sufficiency (so Paul,
Php 3:7, 8); and the giving up of all things, however
dear to us, that would prevent our receiving
Christ's salvation as a free gift, for example,
self and worldly desires. Compare
Isa 55:1, "Buy . . . without money and
price."
of me--the source of
"unsearchable riches" (
Eph 3:8). Laodicea was a city of extensive money
transactions [C ICERO].
gold tried in, &c.--literally,
"fired (and fresh) from the fire,"
that is, just fresh from the furnace which has
proved its purity, and retaining its bright gloss. Sterling
spiritual wealth, as contrasted with its counterfeit, in
which Laodicea boasted itself. Having bought this
gold she will be no longer poor (
Re 3:17).
mayest be rich--Greek,
"mayest be enriched."
white raiment--"garments."
Laodicea's wools were famous. Christ offers infinitely
whiter raiment. As "gold tried in the fire"
expresses faith tested by fiery trials: so
"white raiment," Christ's
righteousness imputed to the believer in justification
and imparted in sanctification.
appear--Greek, "be
manifested," namely, at the last day, when everyone
without the wedding garment shall be discovered. To strip
one, is in the East the image of putting to open shame. So
also to clothe one with fine apparel is the image of doing
him honor. Man can discover his shame, God alone can cover
it, so that his nakedness shall not be manifested at last
(
Col 3:10-14). Blessed is he whose sin is so
covered. The hypocrite's shame may be manifested
now; it must be so at last.
anoint . . . with
eye-salve--The oldest manuscripts read, "(buy of Me)
eye-salve (collyrium, a roll of ointment), to
anoint thine eyes." Christ has for Laodicea an
ointment far more precious than all the costly unguents of
the East. The eye is here the conscience or inner
light of the mind. According as it is sound and
"single" (Greek,
"haplous," "simple"), or
otherwise, the man sees aright spiritually, or does not.
The Holy Spirit's unction, like the ancient
eye-salve's, first smarts with conviction of sin, then
heals. He opens our eyes first to ourselves in our
wretchedness, then to the Saviour in His preciousness. T
RENCH notices that the most sunken churches of the seven,
namely, Sardis and Laodicea, are the ones in which alone
are specified no opponents from without, nor heresies from
within. The Church owes much to God's overruling
Providence which has made so often internal and external
foes, in spite of themselves, to promote His cause by
calling forth her energies in contending for the faith once
delivered to the saints. Peace is dearly bought at the cost
of spiritual stagnation, where there is not interest enough
felt in religion to contend about it at all.
19. (
Job 5:17; Pr 3:11, 12; Heb 12:5, 6.) So in the case of
Manasseh (
2Ch 33:11-13).
As many--All. "He scourgeth every
son whom He receiveth. And shalt thou be an exception? If
excepted from suffering the scourge, thou art excepted from
the number of the sons" [AUGUSTINE]. This is an
encouragement to Laodicea not to despair, but to regard the
rebuke as a token for good, if she profit by it.
I love--Greek,
"philo," the love of gratuitous
affection, independent of any grounds for esteem in the
object loved. But in the case of Philadelphia (
Re 3:9), "I have loved thee" (Greek,
"egapesa") with the love of esteem,
founded on the judgment. Compare the note in my English
Gnomon of BENGEL,
Joh 21:15-17.
I rebuke--The "I" in the
Greek stands first in the sentence emphatically. I in
My dealings, so altogether unlike man's, in the case of
all whom I love, rebuke. The Greek,
"elencho," is the same verb as in
Joh 16:8, "(the Holy Ghost) will convince
(rebuke unto conviction) the world of sin."
chasten--"chastise." The
Greek, "paideu," which in classical
Greek means to instruct, in the New Testament
means to instruct by chastisement (
Heb 12:5, 6). David was rebuked unto conviction,
when he cried, "I have sinned against the Lord";
the chastening followed when his child was taken
from him (
2Sa 12:13, 14). In the divine chastening, the
sinner at one and the same time winces under the rod and
learns righteousness.
be zealous--habitually. Present tense
in the Greek, of a lifelong course of zeal.
The opposite of "lukewarm." The Greek by
alliteration marks this: Laodicea had not been
"hot" (Greek, "zestos"),
she is therefore urged to "be zealous"
(Greek, "zeleue"): both are derived
from the same verb, Greek, "zeo,"
"to boil."
repent--Greek aorist: of an act
to be once for all done, and done at once.
20. stand--waiting in wonderful condescension and
long-suffering.
knock-- (
So 5:2). This is a further manifestation of His loving
desire for the sinner's salvation. He who is Himself
"the Door," and who bids us "knock"
that it may be "opened unto" us, is first Himself
to knock at the door of our hearts. If He did not knock
first, we should never come to knock at His door. Compare
So 5:4-6, which is plainly alluded to here; the Spirit
thus in Revelation sealing the canonicity of that mystical
book. The spiritual state of the bride there, between
waking and sleeping, slow to open the door to
her divine lover, answers to that of the lukewarm
Laodicea here. "Love in regard to men emptied
(humbled) God; for He does not remain in His place and call
to Himself the servant whom He loved, but He comes down
Himself to seek him, and He who is all-rich arrives at the
lodging of the pauper, and with His own voice intimates His
yearning love, and seeks a similar return, and withdraws
not when disowned, and is not impatient at insult, and when
persecuted still waits at the doors" [NICOLAUS C
ABASILAS in TRENCH].
my voice--He appeals to the sinner not
only with His hand (His providences) knocking, but
with His voice (His word read or heard; or rather,
His Spirit inwardly applying to man's spirit the
lessons to be drawn from His providence and His word). If
we refuse to answer to His knocking at our door now, He
will refuse to hear our knocking at His door hereafter. In
respect to His second coming also, He is even now at the
door, and we know not how soon He may knock:
therefore we should always be ready to open to Him
immediately.
if any man hear--for man is not
compelled by irresistible force: Christ knocks, but
does not break open the door, though the violent take
heaven by the force of prayer (
Mt 11:12): whosoever does hear, does so not of himself,
but by the drawings of God's grace (
Joh 6:44): repentance is Christ's gift (
Ac 5:31). He draws, not drags. The Sun of
righteousness, like the natural sun, the moment that the
door is opened, pours in His light, which could not
previously find an entrance. Compare H ILARY on Psalm
118:19.
I will come in to him--as I did to
Zaccheus.
sup with him, and he with
me--Delightful reciprocity! Compare "dwelleth in me,
and I in Him,"
Joh 6:56. Whereas, ordinarily, the admitted guest sups
with the admitter, here the divine guest becomes Himself
the host, for He is the bread of life, and the Giver of the
marriage feast. Here again He alludes to the imagery of
So 4:16, where the Bride invites Him to eat pleasant
fruits, even as He had first prepared a feast for her,
"His fruit was sweet to my taste." Compare the
same interchange,
Joh 21:9-13, the feast being made up of the viands that
Jesus brought, and those which the disciples brought. The
consummation of this blessed intercommunion shall be at the
Marriage Supper of the Lamb, of which the Lord's Supper
is the earnest and foretaste.
21. sit with me in my throne-- (
Re 2:26, 27; 20:6; Mt 19:28; 20:23; Joh 17:22, 24; 2Ti
2:12). The same whom Christ had just before threatened
to spue out of His mouth, is now offered a seat
with Him on His throne! "The highest place is
within reach of the lowest; the faintest spark of grace may
be fanned into the mightiest flame of love" [T
RENCH].
even as I also--Two thrones are here
mentioned: (1) His Father's, upon which He now sits,
and has sat since His ascension, after His victory over
death, sin, the world; upon this none can sit save God, and
the God-man Christ Jesus, for it is the incommunicable
prerogative of God alone; (2) the throne which shall be
peculiarly His as the once humbled and then
glorified Son of man, to be set up over the whole
earth (heretofore usurped by Satan) at His coming again; in
this the victorious saints shall share (
1Co 6:2). The transfigured elect Church shall with
Christ judge and reign over the nations in the flesh, and
Israel the foremost of them; ministering blessings to them
as angels were the Lord's mediators of blessing and
administrators of His government in setting up His throne
in Israel at Sinai. This privilege of our high calling
belongs exclusively to the present time while Satan reigns,
when alone there is scope for conflict and for
victory (
2Ti 2:11, 12). When Satan shall be bound (
Re 20:4), there shall be no longer scope for it, for
all on earth shall know the Lord from the least to the
greatest. This, the grandest and crowning promise, is
placed at the end of all the seven addresses, to gather all
in one. It also forms the link to the next part of the
book, where the Lamb is introduced seated on His
Father's throne (
Re 4:2, 3; 5:5, 6). The Eastern throne is broad,
admitting others besides him who, as chief, occupies the
center. TRENCH notices; The order of the promises in the
seven epistles corresponds to that of the unfolding of the
kingdom of God its first beginnings on earth to its
consummation in heaven. To the faithful at Ephesus: (1)
The tree of life in the Paradise of God is promised (
Re 2:7), answering to
Ge 2:9. (2) Sin entered the world and death by sin; but
to the faithful at Smyrna it is promised, they shall not
be hurt by the second death (
Re 2:11). (3) The promise of the hidden manna
(
Re 2:17) to Pergamos brings us to the Mosaic period,
the Church in the wilderness. (4) That to Thyatira, namely,
triumph over the nations (
Re 2:26, 27), forms the consummation of the kingdom in
prophetic type, the period of David and Solomon
characterized by this power of the nations. Here
there is a division, the seven falling into two groups,
four and three, as often, for example, the Lord's
Prayer, three and four. The scenery of the last three
passes from earth to heaven, the Church contemplated as
triumphant, with its steps from glory to glory. (5) Christ
promises to the believer of Sardis not to blot his name out
of the book of life but to confess him before His Father
and the angels at the judgment-day, and clothe him with a
glorified body of dazzling whiteness (
Re 3:4, 5). (6) To the faithful at Philadelphia Christ
promises they shall be citizens of the new Jerusalem, fixed
as immovable pillars there, where city and temple are one
(
Re 3:12); here not only individual salvation is
promised to the believer, as in the case of Sardis, but
also privileges in the blessed communion of the Church
triumphant. (7) Lastly, to the faithful of Laodicea is
given the crowning promise, not only the two former
blessings, but a seat with Christ on His throne, even as He
has sat with His Father on His Father's throne (
Re 3:21).
Re 4:1-11. VISION OF GOD'S THRONE IN HEAVEN; THE FOUR AND TWENTY ELDERS; THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES.
Here begins the Revelation proper; and first, the fourth and fifth chapters set before us the heavenly scenery of the succeeding visions, and God on His throne, as the covenant God of His Church, the Revealer of them to His apostle through Jesus Christ. The first great portion comprises the opening of the seals and the sounding of the trumpets (fourth to eleventh chapters). As the communication respecting the seven churches opened with a suitable vision of the Lord Jesus as Head of the Church, so the second part opens with a vision suitable to the matter to be revealed. The scene is changed from earth to heaven.
1. After this--Greek, "After these
things," marking the opening of the next vision in the
succession. Here is the transition from "the things
which are" (
Re 1:19), the existing state of the seven churches, as
a type of the Church in general, in John's time, to
"the things which shall be hereafter," namely, in
relation to the time when John wrote.
I looked--rather as Greek,
"I saw" in vision; not as English Version
means, I directed my look that way.
was--Omit, as not being in the
Greek.
opened--"standing open"; not
as though John saw it in the act of being opened. Compare
Eze 1:1; Mt 3:16; Ac 7:56; 10:11. But in those visions
the heavens opened, disclosing the visions to those below
on earth. Whereas here, heaven, the temple of God, remains
closed to those on earth, but John is transported in vision
through an open door up into heaven, whence he can see
things passing on earth or in heaven, according as the
scenes of the several visions require.
the first voice which I heard--the
voice which I heard at first, namely, in
Re 1:10; the former voice.
was as it were--Omit
was, it not being in the Greek.
"Behold" governs in sense both "a
door," &c., and "the first voice,"
&c.
Come up hither--through the "open
door."
be--come to pass.
hereafter--Greek, "after
these things": after the present time (
Re 1:19).
2. And--omitted in the two oldest manuscripts, Vulgate,
Syriac.
I was, &c.--Greek, "I
became in the Spirit" (see on Re
1:10): I was completely rapt in vision into the
heavenly world.
was set--not was placed, but
was situated, literally, "lay."
one sat on the throne--the Eternal
Father: the Creator (
Re 4:11): also compare
Re 4:8 with Re 1:4, where also the Father is
designated, "which is, and was, and is to come."
When the Son, "the Lamb," is introduced,
Re 5:5-9, a new song is sung which distinguishes
the Sitter on the throne from the Lamb,
"Thou hast redeemed us to God," and
Re 5:13, "Unto Him that sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb." So also in
Re 5:7, as in
Da 7:13, the Son of man brought before the
Ancient of days is distinguished from Him. The Father
in essence is invisible, but in Scripture at times is
represented as assuming a visible form.
3. was--omitted in the two oldest manuscripts but supported
by Vulgate and Coptic.
to look upon--Greek, "in
sight," or "appearance."
jasper--From
Re 21:11, where it is called most precious,
which the jasper was not, EBRARD infers it was a
diamond. Ordinarily, the jasper is a stone of
various wavy colors, somewhat transparent: in
Re 21:11 it represents watery crystalline brightness.
The sardine, our cornelian, or else a fiery red. As
the watery brightness represents God's holiness, so the
fiery red His justice executing fiery wrath. The same union
of white or watery brightness and fiery redness appears in
Re 1:14; 10:1; Eze 1:4; 8:2; Da 7:9.
rainbow round about the
throne--forming a complete circle (type of God's
perfection and eternity: not a half circle as the earthly
rainbow) surrounding the throne vertically. Its various
colors, which combined form one pure solar ray, symbolize
the varied aspects of God's providential dealings
uniting in one harmonious whole. Here, however, the
predominating color among the prismatic colors is green,
the most refreshing of colors to look upon, and so
symbolizing God's consolatory promises in Christ to His
people amidst judgments on His foes. Moreover, the rainbow
was the appointed token of God's covenant with all
flesh, and His people in particular. Hereby God in type
renewed to man the grant originally made to the first Adam.
The antitype will be the "new heavens and the new
earth" restored to redeemed man, just as the earth,
after the destruction by the flood, was restored to Noah.
As the rainbow was first reflected on the waters of the
world's ruin, and continues to be seen only when a
cloud is brought over the earth, so another deluge, namely,
of fire, shall precede the new heavens and earth: the Lord,
as here, on His throne, whence (
Re 4:5) proceed "lightnings and thunderings,"
shall issue the commission to rid the earth of its
oppressors: but then, amidst judgment, when other men's
hearts fail them for fear, the believer shall be reassured
by the rainbow, the covenant token, round the throne
(compare D E BURGH, Exposition of Revelation). The
heavenly bow speaks of the shipwreck of the world through
sin: it speaks also of calm and sunshine after the storm.
The cloud is the regular token of God's and
Christ's presence, for example, in the tabernacle's
holiest place; on Mount Sinai at the giving of the law; at
the ascension (
Ac 1:9); at His coming again (
Re 4:7).
4. seats--rather as the Greek is translated in this
very verse, "thrones," of course lower and
smaller than the grand central throne. So
Re 16:10, "the seat (rather, throne) of the
beasts," in hellish parody of God's throne.
four and twenty elders--Greek,
"the four and twenty (or as one oldest
manuscript, 'twenty-four') elders": the
well-known elders [ALFORD]. But TREGELLES translates,
"Upon the twenty-four thrones (I saw: omitted
in two oldest manuscripts) elders sitting": which is
more probable, as the twenty-four elders were not
mentioned before, whereas the twenty-four thrones
were. They are not angels, for they have white robes
and crowns of victory, implying a conflict and
endurance, "Thou hast redeemed us": they
represent the Heads of the Old and New Testament
churches respectively, the Twelve Patriarchs (compare
Re 7:5-8, not in their personal, but in their
representative character), and Twelve Apostles. So in
Re 15:3, "the song of Moses, and of the
Lamb," the double constituents of the Church are
implied, the Old Testament and the New Testament.
"Elders" is the very term for the ministry
both of the Old and New Testament, the Jewish and the
catholic Gentile Church. The tabernacle was a
"pattern" of the heavenly antitype; the holy
place, a figure of HEAVEN ITSELF. Thus Jehovah's throne
is represented by the mercy seat in the holiest, the
Shekinah-cloud over it. "The seven lamps of fire
before the throne" (
Re 4:5) are antitypical to the seven-branched
candlestick also in the holiest, emblem of the manifold
Spirit of God: "the sea of glass" (
Re 4:6) corresponds to the molten sea before the
sanctuary, wherein the priests washed themselves before
entering on their holy service; so introduced here in
connection with the redeemed "priests unto God"
(compare Note, see on Re
15:2). The "four living creatures" (
Re 4:6, 7) answer to the cherubim over the mercy seat.
So the twenty-four throned and crowned elders are typified
by the twenty-four chiefs of the twenty-four courses of
priests, "Governors of the sanctuary, and
governors of God" (
1Ch 24:5; 25:1-31).
5. proceeded--Greek, "proceed."
thunderings and voices--The two oldest
manuscripts transpose, "voices and thunderings."
Compare at the giving of the law on Sinai,
Ex 19:16. "The thunderings express
God's threats against the ungodly: there are voices in
the thunders (
Re 10:3), that is, not only does He threaten generally,
but also predicts special judgments"
[GROTIUS].
seven lamps . . . seven
Spirits--The Holy Spirit in His sevenfold operation, as the
light-and-life Giver (compare
Re 5:6, seven eyes . . . the seven Spirits
of God;
Re 1:4; 21:23; Ps 119:105) and fiery purifier of the
godly, and consumer of the ungodly (
Mt 3:11).
6. Two oldest manuscripts, A, B, Vulgate, Coptic,
and Syriac read, "As it were a sea of
glass."
like . . . crystal--not
imperfectly transparent as the ancient common glass, but
like rock crystal. Contrast the turbid "many
waters" on which the harlot "sitteth" (
Re 17:1, 15). Compare
Job 37:18, "the sky . . . as a molten
looking-glass." Thus, primarily, the pure ether which
separates God's throne from John, and from all things
before it, may be meant, symbolizing the "purity,
calmness, and majesty of God's rule" [ALFORD]. But
see the analogue in the temple, the molten sea
before the sanctuary (see on Re
4:4, above). There is in this sea depth and
transparency, but not the fluidity and instability of the
natural sea (compare
Re 21:1). It stands solid, calm, and clear, God's
judgments are called "a great deep" (
Ps 36:6). In
Re 15:2 it is a "sea of glass mingled with
fire." Thus there is symbolized here the
purificatory baptism of water and the Spirit of all who are
made "kings and priests unto God." In
Re 15:2 the baptism with the fire of trial is meant.
Through both all the king-priests have to pass in coming to
God: His judgments, which overwhelm the ungodly,
they stand firmly upon, as on a solid sea of glass; able
like Christ to walk on the sea, as though it were
solid.
round about the throne--one in the
midst of each side of the throne.
four beasts--The Greek for
"beasts,"
Re 13:1, 11, is different, therion, the symbol
for the carnal man by opposition to God losing his true
glory, as lord, under Him, of the lower creatures, and
degraded to the level of the beast. Here it is
zoon, "living creatures"; not beast.
7. calf--"a steer" [ALFORD]. The
Septuagint often uses the Greek term here for an
ox (
Ex 22:1; 29:10, &c.).
as a man--The oldest manuscripts have
"as of a man."
8. about him--Greek, "round about him."
ALFORD connects this with the following sentence: "All
round and within (their wings) they are (so two oldest
manuscripts, A, B, and Vulgate read) full of
eyes." John's object is to show that the six wings
in each did not interfere with that which he had before
declared, namely, that they were "full of eyes before
and behind." The eyes were round the outside of
each wing, and up the inside of each when half
expanded, and of the part of body in that inward
recess.
rest not--literally, "have no
rest." How awfully different the reason why the
worshippers of the beast "have no rest day nor
night," namely, "their torment for ever and
ever."
Holy, holy, holy--The
"tris-hagion" of the Greek
liturgies. In
Isa 6:3, as here, it occurs; also
Ps 99:3, 5, 9, where He is praised as "holy,"
(1) on account of His majesty (
Re 4:1) about to display itself; (2) His justice (
Re 4:4) already displaying itself; (3) His mercy (
Re 4:6-8) which displayed itself in times past. So here
"Holy," as He "who was";
"Holy," as He "who is":
"Holy," as He "who is to come." He
showed Himself an object of holy worship in the past
creation of all things: more fully He shows Himself so in
governing all things: He will, in the highest degree, show
Himself so in the consummation of all things. "Of
(from) Him, through Him, and to Him, are all things: to
whom be glory for ever. Amen." In
Isa 6:3 there is added, "the whole EARTH is full
of His glory." But in Revelation this is deferred
until the glory of THE LORD fills the earth, His
enemies having been destroyed [BENGEL].
Almighty--answering to "Lord of
hosts" (Sabaoth),
Isa 6:3.
The cherubim here have six wings, like the seraphim in Isa 6:2; whereas the cherubim in Eze 1:6 had four wings each. They are called by the same name, "living creatures." But whereas in Ezekiel each living creature has all four faces, here the four belong severally one to each. See on Eze 1:6. The four living creatures answer by contrast to the four world powers represented by four beasts. The Fathers identified them with the four Gospels, Matthew the lion, Mark the ox, Luke the man, John the eagle: these symbols, thus viewed, express not the personal character of the Evangelists, but the manifold aspect of Christ in relation to the world (four being the number significant of world-wide extension, for example, the four quarters of the world) presented by them severally: the lion expressing royalty, as Matthew gives prominence to this feature of Christ; the ox, laborious endurance, Christ's prominent characteristic in Mark; man, brotherly sympathy with the whole race of man, Christ's prominent feature in Luke; the eagle, soaring majesty, prominent in John's description of Christ as the Divine Word. But here the context best suits the view which regards the four living creatures as representing the redeemed election-Church in its relation of ministering king-priests to God, and ministers of blessing to the redeemed earth, and the nations on it, and the animal creation, in which man stands at the head of all, the lion at the head of wild beasts, the ox at the head of tame beasts, the eagle at the head of birds and of the creatures of the waters. Compare Re 5:8-10, "Thou hast redeemed us by Thy blood out of every kindred . . . and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth"; and Re 20:4, the partakers with Christ of the first resurrection, who conjointly with Him reign over the redeemed nations that are in the flesh. Compare as to the happy and willing subjection of the lower animal world, Isa 11:6-8; 65:25; Eze 34:25; Ho 2:18. Jewish tradition says the "four standards" under which Israel encamped in the wilderness, to the east, Judah, to the north, Dan, to the west, Ephraim, to the south, Reuben, were respectively a lion, an eagle, an ox, and a man, while in the midst was the tabernacle containing the Shekinah symbol of the Divine Presence. Thus we have "the picture of that blessed period when--the earth having been fitted for being the kingdom of the Father--the court of heaven will be transferred to earth, and the 'tabernacle of God shall be with men' ( Re 21:3), and the whole world will be subject to a never-ending theocracy" (compare DE BURGH, Exposition of Revelation). The point of union between the two views given above is: Christ is the perfect realization of the ideal of man; Christ is presented in His fourfold aspect in the four Gospels respectively. The redeemed election-Church similarly, when in and through Christ (with whom she shall reign) she realizes the ideal of man, shall combine in herself human perfections having a fourfold aspect: (1) kingly righteousness with hatred of evil and judicial equity, answering to the "lion"; (2) laborious diligence in every duty, the "ox"; (3) human sympathy, the "man"; (4) the contemplation of heavenly truth, the "eagle." As the high-soaring intelligence, the eagle, forms the contrasted complement to practical labor, the ox bound to the soil; so holy judicial vengeance against evil, the lion springing suddenly and terribly on the doomed, forms the contrasted complement to human sympathy, the man. In Isa 6:2 we read, "Each had six wings: with twain he covered his face (in reverence, as not presuming to lift up his face to God), with twain he covered his feet (in humility, as not worthy to stand in God's holy presence), and with twain he did fly [in obedient readiness to do instantly God's command]."
9-11. The ground of praise here is God's
eternity, and God's power and glory
manifested in the creation of all things for His pleasure.
Creation is the foundation of all God's other acts of
power, wisdom, and love, and therefore forms the first
theme of His creatures' thanksgivings. The four living
creatures take the lead of the twenty-four elders, both in
this anthem, and in that new song which follows on
the ground of their redemption (
Re 5:8-10).
when--that is, whensoever: as often
as. A simultaneous giving of glory on the part of the
beasts, and on the part of the elders.
give--"shall give" in one
oldest manuscript.
for ever and ever--Greek,
"unto the ages of the ages."
10. fall--immediately. Greek, "shall fall down": implying that this ascription of praise shall be repeated onward to eternity. So also, "shall worship . . . shall cast their crowns," namely, in acknowledgment that all the merit of their crowns (not kingly diadems, but the crowns of conquerors) is due to Him.
11. O Lord--The two oldest manuscripts, A, B,
Vulgate, and Syriac add, "and our
God." "Our" by virtue of creation, and
especially redemption. One oldest manuscript, B, and
Syriac insert "the Holy One." But another, A,
Vulgate, and Coptic omit this, as English
Version does.
glory, &c.--"the glory
. . . the honour . . .
the power."
thou--emphatic in the Greek:
"It is THOU who didst create."
all things--Greek, "the
all things": the universe.
for, &c.--Greek, "on
account of"; "for the sake of Thy pleasure,"
or "will." English Version is good
Greek. Though the context better suits, it was
because of Thy will, that "they were" (so one
oldest manuscript, A, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic read, instead of English Version
"are": another oldest manuscript, B, reads,
"They were not, and were created," were
created out of nothing), that is, were existing, as
contrasted with their previous non-existence. With God to
will is to effect: to determine is to perform. So in
Ge 1:3, "Let there be light, and there was
light": in Hebrew an expressive tautology, the
same word and tense and letters being used for "let
there be," and "there was," marking the
simultaneity and identity of the will and the effect. D.
LONGINUS [On the Sublime, 9], a heathen, praises
this description of God's power by "the lawgiver
of the Jews, no ordinary man," as one worthy of the
theme.
were created--by Thy definite act of
creation at a definite time.
Re 5:1-14. THE BOOK WITH SEVEN SEALS: NONE WORTHY TO OPEN IT BUT THE LAMB: HE TAKES IT AMIDST THE PRAISES OF THE REDEEMED, AND OF THE WHOLE HEAVENLY HOST.
1. in, &c.--Greek, "(lying) upon the
right hand." His right hand was open and on it lay the
book. On God's part there was no withholding of His
future purposes as contained in the book: the only obstacle
to unsealing it is stated in
Re 5:3 [ALFORD].
book--rather, as accords with the
ancient form of books, and with the writing on the
backside, "a roll." The writing on the
back implies fulness and completeness, so that nothing
more needs to be added (
Re 22:18). The roll, or book, appears from the context
to be "the title-deed of man's
inheritance" [DE B URGH] redeemed by Christ, and
contains the successive steps by which He shall recover it
from its usurper and obtain actual possession of the
kingdom already "purchased" for Himself and His
elect saints. However, no portion of the roll is said to be
unfolded and read; but simply the
seals are successively opened, giving final
access to its contents being read as a perfect whole, which
shall not be until the events symbolized by the seals shall
have been past, when
Eph 3:10 shall receive its complete
accomplishment, and the Lamb shall reveal God's
providential plans in redemption in all their manifold
beauties. Thus the opening of the seals will mean the
successive steps by which God in Christ clears the way for
the final opening and reading of the book at the visible
setting up of the kingdom of Christ. Compare, at the grand
consummation,
Re 20:12, "Another book was opened . . .
the book of life";
Re 22:19. None is worthy to do so save the Lamb, for He
alone as such has redeemed man's forfeited inheritance,
of which the book is the title-deed. The question
(
Re 5:2) is not (as commonly supposed), Who should
reveal the destinies of the Church (for this any inspired
prophet would be competent to do)? but, Who has the WORTH
to give man a new title to his lost inheritance? [DE
B URGH].
sealed . . . seven
seals--Greek, "sealed up," or "firmly
sealed." The number seven (divided into four,
the world-wide number, and three, the divine) abounds in
Revelation and expresses completeness. Thus, the
seven seals, representing all power given to the Lamb;
the seven trumpets, by which the world kingdoms are
shaken and overthrown, and the Lamb's kingdom ushered
in; and the seven vials, by which the beast's
kingdom is destroyed.
2. strong-- ( Ps 103:20). His voice penetrated heaven, earth, and Hades ( Re 10:1-3).
3. no man--Greek, "no one." Not
merely no man, but also no one of any order
of beings.
in earth--Greek, "upon the
earth."
under the earth--namely, in
Hades.
look thereon--to look upon the
contents, so as to read them.
4. and to read--inserted in English Version Greek text without good authority. One oldest manuscript, ORIGEN, CYPRIAN, and HILARY omit the clause. "To read" would be awkward standing between "to open the book" and "to look thereon." John having been promised a revelation of "things which must be hereafter," weeps now at his earnest desire being apparently frustrated. He is a pattern to us to imitate, as an eager and teachable learner of the Apocalypse.
5. one of--Greek, "one from among." The
"elder" meant is, according to some (in LYRA),
Matthew. With this accords the description here given of
Christ, "the Lion, which is (so the
Greek) of the tribe of Juda, the root of David";
the royal, David-descended, lion-aspect of Christ being
that prominent in Matthew, whence the lion among the
fourfold cherubim is commonly assigned to him. GERHARD in B
ENGEL thought Jacob to be meant, being, doubtless, one of
those who rose with Christ and ascended to heaven (
Mt 27:52, 53). The elders in heaven round God's
throne know better than John, still in the flesh, the
far-reaching power of Christ.
Root of David-- (
Isa 11:1, 10). Not merely "a sucker come up from
David's ancient root" (as ALFORD limits it), but
also including the idea of His being Himself the root and
origin of David: compare these two truths brought together,
Mt 22:42-45. Hence He is called not merely Son of
David, but also David. He is at once "the
branch" of David, and "the root" of David,
David's Son and David's Lord, the Lamb slain
and therefore the Lion of Juda: about to reign over
Israel, and thence over the whole earth.
prevailed--Greek,
"conquered": absolutely, as elsewhere (
Re 3:21): gained the victory: His past victory
over all the powers of darkness entitles Him now to open
the book.
to open--that is, so as to
open. One oldest manuscript, B, reads, "He that
openeth," that is, whose office it is to open, but the
weight of oldest authorities is with English Version
reading, namely, A, Vulgate, Coptic, and O RIGEN.
6. I beheld, and, lo--One oldest manuscript, A, omits
"and, lo." Another, B, CYPRIAN, &c., support,
"and, lo," but omit, "and I
beheld."
in the midst of the throne--that is,
not on the throne (compare
Re 5:7), but in the midst of the company (
Re 4:4) which was "round about the
throne."
Lamb--Greek,
"arnion"; always found in Revelation
exclusively, except in
Joh 21:15 alone: it expresses endearment,
namely, the endearing relation in which Christ now stands
to us, as the consequence of His previous relation as the
sacrificial Lamb. So also our relation to Him: He
the precious Lamb, we His dear lambs, one
with Him. BENGEL thinks there is in Greek,
"arnion," the idea of taking the lead
of the flock. Another object of the form Greek,
"arnion," the Lamb, is to put Him in the
more marked contrast to Greek,
"therion," the Beast. Elsewhere
Greek, "amnos," is found, applying to
Him as the paschal, sacrificial Lamb (
Isa 53:7, Septuagint;
Joh 1:29, 36; Ac 8:32; 1Pe 1:19).
as it had been slain--bearing marks of
His past death wounds. He was standing, though bearing the
marks of one slain. In the midst of heavenly glory Christ
crucified is still the prominent object.
seven horns--that is, perfect
might, "seven" symbolizing perfection;
"horns," might, in contrast to the
horns of the Antichristian world powers,
Re 17:3; &c.; Da 7:7, 20; 8:3.
seven eyes . . . the seven
Spirits . . . sent forth--So one oldest
manuscript, A. But B reads, "being sent
forth." As the seven lamps before the throne
represent the Spirit of God immanent in the Godhead, so the
seven eyes of the Lamb represent the same sevenfold
Spirit profluent from the incarnate Redeemer in His
world-wide energy. The Greek for "sent
forth," apostellomena, or else
apestalmenoi, is akin to the term "apostle,"
reminding us of the Spirit-impelled labors of Christ's
apostles and minister throughout the world: if the present
tense be read, as seems best, the idea will be that of
those labors continually going on unto the end.
"Eyes" symbolize His all-watchful and wise
providence for His Church, and against her foes.
7. The book lay on the open hand of Him that sat on the throne for any to take who was found worthy [ALFORD]. The Lamb takes it from the Father in token of formal investiture into His universal and everlasting dominion as Son of man. This introductory vision thus presents before us, in summary, the consummation to which all the events in the seals, trumpets, and vials converge, namely, the setting up of Christ's kingdom visibly. Prophecy ever hurries to the grand crisis or end, and dwells on intermediate events only in their typical relation to, and representation of, the end.
8. had taken--Greek, "took."
fell down before the Lamb--who shares
worship and the throne with the Father.
harps--Two oldest manuscripts, A, B,
Syriac and Coptic read, "a harp": a
kind of guitar, played with the hand or a quill.
vials--"bowls" [TREGELLES];
censers.
odours--Greek,
"incense."
prayers of saints--as the angel offers
their prayers (
Re 8:3) with incense (compare
Ps 141:2). This gives not the least sanction to
Rome's dogma of our praying to saints. Though
they be employed by God in some way unknown to us to
present our prayers (nothing is said of their
interceding for us), yet we are told to pray
only to Him (
Re 19:10; 22:8, 9). Their own employment is
praise (whence they all have harps): ours is prayer.
9. sung--Greek, "sing": it is their
blessed occupation continually. The theme of
redemption is ever new, ever suggesting fresh thoughts
of praise, embodied in the "new song."
us to God--So manuscript B, Coptic,
Vulgate, and C YPRIAN. But A omits "us": and
Aleph reads instead, "to our
God."
out of--the present election-church
gathered out of the world, as distinguished from the
peoples gathered to Christ as the subjects, not of an
election, but of a general and world-wide conversion of all
nations.
kindred . . . tongue
. . . people . . . nation--The number
four marks world-wide extension: the four quarters
of the world. For "kindred," translate as
Greek, "tribe." This term and
"people" are usually restricted to Israel:
"tongue and nation" to the Gentiles (
Re 7:9; 11:9; 13:7, the oldest reading;
Re 14:6). Thus there is here marked the election-Church
gathered from Jews and Gentiles. In
Re 10:11, for "tribes," we find among the
four terms "kings"; in
Re 17:15, "multitudes."
10. made us--A, B, Aleph, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic read, "them." The Hebrew
construction of the third person for the first, has a
graphic relation to the redeemed, and also has a
more modest sound than us, priests [B ENGEL].
unto our God--So B and Aleph
read. But A omits the clause.
kings--So B reads. But A, Aleph,
Vulgate, Coptic, and CYPRIAN, read, "A
kingdom." Aleph reads also "a
priesthood" for priests. They who cast their
crowns before the throne, do not call themselves
kings in the sight of the great King (
Re 4:10, 11); though their priestly access has such
dignity that their reigning on earth cannot exceed it. So
in
Re 20:6 they are not called "kings"
[BENGEL].
we shall reign on the earth--This is a
new feature added to
Re 1:6. Aleph, Vulgate, and Coptic read,
"They shall reign." A and B read,
"They reign." ALFORD takes this reading
and explains it of the Church EVEN NOW, in Christ her Head,
reigning on the earth: "all things are being put under
her feet, as under His; her kingly office and rank are
asserted, even in the midst of persecution." But even
if we read (I think the weightiest authority is against
it), "They reign," still it is the
prophetical present for the future: the seer being
transported into the future when the full number of the
redeemed (represented by the four living creatures)
shall be complete and the visible kingdom begins.
The saints do spiritually reign now; but certainly not as
they shall when the prince of this world shall be bound
(see on Re 20:2-6). So far from
reigning on the earth now, they are "made as the
filth of the world and the offscouring of all things."
In
Re 11:15, 18, the locality and time of the kingdom are
marked. KELLY translates, "reign over the
earth" (Greek, "epi tees
gees"), which is justified by the Greek
(Septuagint,
Jud 9:8; Mt 2:22). The elders, though ruling over
the earth, shall not necessarily (according to this
passage) remain on the earth. But English
Version is justified by
Re 3:10. "The elders were meek, but the
flock of the meek independently is much larger"
[BENGEL].
11. I beheld--the angels: who form the outer circle, while
the Church, the object of redemption, forms the inner
circle nearest the throne. The heavenly hosts ranged around
gaze with intense love and adoration at this crowning
manifestation of God's love, wisdom, and power.
ten thousand times ten
thousand--Greek, "myriads of myriads."
12. to receive power--Greek, "the
power." The remaining six (the whole being
seven, the number for perfection and
completeness) are all, as well as "power,"
ranged under the one Greek article, to mark that
they form one complete aggregate belonging to God
and His co-equal, the Lamb. Compare
Re 7:12, where each of all seven has the article.
riches--both spiritual and
earthly.
blessing--ascribed praise: the
will on the creature's part, though unaccompanied
by the power, to return blessing for blessing
conferred [ALFORD].
13. The universal chorus of creation, including the
outermost circles as well as the inner (of saints and
angels), winds up the doxology. The full
accomplishment of this is to be when Christ takes His great
power and reigns visibly.
every creature--"all His works in
all places of His dominion" (
Ps 103:22).
under the earth--the departed spirits
in Hades.
such as are--So B and Vulgate.
But A omits this.
in the sea--Greek,
"upon the sea": the sea animals which are
regarded as being on the surface [A LFORD].
all that are in them--So
Vulgate reads. A omits "all (things)" here
(Greek, "panta"), and reads,
"I heard all (Greek, "pantas")
saying": implying the harmonious concert of all in the
four quarters of the universe.
Blessing, &c.--Greek,
"the blessing, the honor, and the
glory, and the might to the ages of the ages."
The fourfold ascription indicates world-wide
universality.
14. said--So A, Vulgate, and Syriac read. But
B and Coptic read, "(I heard)
saying."
Amen--So A reads. But B reads,
"the (accustomed) Amen." As in
Re 4:11, the four and twenty elders asserted God's
worthiness to receive the glory, as having created all
things, so here the four living creatures ratify by
their "Amen" the whole creation's
ascription of the glory to Him.
four and twenty--omitted in the oldest
manuscripts: Vulgate supports it.
him that liveth for ever and
ever--omitted in all the manuscripts: inserted by
commentators from
Re 4:9. But there, where the thanksgiving is
expressed, the words are appropriate; but here less so,
as their worship is that of silent prostration.
"Worshipped" (namely, God and the Lamb). So in
Re 11:1, "worship" is used absolutely.
Re 6:1-17. THE OPENING OF THE FIRST SIX OF THE SEVEN SEALS.
Compare Note, see on Re 5:1. Many (MEDE, FLEMING, NEWTON, &c.) hold that all these seals have been fulfilled, the sixth having been so by the overthrow of paganism and establishment of Christianity under Constantine's edict, A.D. 312. There can, however, be no doubt that at least the sixth seal is future, and is to be at the coming again of Christ. The great objection to supposing the seals to be finally and exhaustively fulfilled (though, probably, particular events may be partial fulfilments typical of the final and fullest one), is that, if so, they ought to furnish (as the destruction of Jerusalem, according to Christ's prophecy, does) a strong external evidence of Revelation. But it is clear they cannot be used for this, as hardly any two interpreters of this school are agreed on what events constitute the fulfilment of each seal. Probably not isolated facts, but classes of events preparing the way for Christ's coming kingdom, are intended by the opening of the seals. The four living creatures severally cry at the opening of the first four seals, "Come," which fact marks the division of the seven, as often occurs in this sacred number, into four and three.
1. one of the seals--The oldest manuscripts, A, B, C,
Vulgate, and Syriac read, "one of the
seven seals."
noise--The three oldest manuscripts
read this in the nominative or dative, not the genitive, as
English Version, "I heard one from among the
four living creatures saying, as (it were) the voice
(or, 'as with the voice') of thunder."
The first living creature was like a lion (
Re 4:7): his voice is in consonance. Implying the
lion-like boldness with which, in the successive great
revivals, the faithful have testified for Christ,
and especially a little before His coming shall testify.
Or, rather, their earnestness in praying for
Christ's coming.
Come and see--One oldest manuscript,
B, has "And see." But A, C, and Vulgate
reject it. ALFORD rightly objects to English Version
reading: "Whither was John to come? Separated as he
was by the glassy sea from the throne, was he to cross
it?" Contrast the form of expression,
Re 10:8. It is much more likely to be the cry of the
redeemed to the Redeemer, "Come" and deliver the
groaning creature from the bondage of corruption. Thus,
Re 6:2 is an answer to the cry, went (literally,
"came") forth corresponding to "Come."
"Come," says GROTIUS, is the living
creature's address to John, calling his earnest
attention. But it seems hard to see how
"Come" by itself can mean this. Compare the only
other places in Revelation where it is used,
Re 4:1; 22:17. If the four living creatures represent
the four Gospels, the "Come" will be their
invitation to everyone (for it is not written that they
addressed John) to accept Christ's
salvation while there is time, as the opening of the seals
marks a progressive step towards the end (compare
Re 22:17). Judgments are foretold as accompanying the
preaching of the Gospel as a witness to all nations
(
Re 14:6-11; Mt 24:6-14). Thus the invitation,
"Come," here, is aptly parallel to
Mt 24:14. The opening of the first four seals is
followed by judgments preparatory for His coming. At the
opening of the fifth seal, the martyrs above express the
same (
Re 6:9, 10; compare
Zec 1:10). At the opening of the sixth seal, the
Lord's coming is ushered in with terrors to the
ungodly. At the seventh, the consummation is fully attained
(
Re 11:15).
2. Evidently Christ, whether in person, or by His angel,
preparatory to His coming again, as appears from
Re 19:11, 12.
bow-- (
Ps 45:4, 5).
crown--Greek,
"stephanos," the garland or wreath of a
conqueror, which is also implied by His white
horse, white being the emblem of victory. In
Re 19:11, 12 the last step in His victorious progress
is represented; accordingly there He wears many
diadems (Greek, "diademata";
not merely Greek, "stephanoi,"
"crowns" or "wreaths"), and is
personally attended by the hosts of heaven. Compare
Zec 1:7-17; 6:1-8; especially
Re 6:10 below, with
Zec 1:12; also compare the colors of the four
horses.
and to conquer--that is, so as to gain
a lasting victory. All four seals usher in judgments
on the earth, as the power which opposes the reign of
Himself and His Church. This, rather than the work of
conversion and conviction, is primarily meant, though
doubtless, secondarily, the elect will be gathered out
through His word and His judgments.
3. and see--omitted in the three oldest manuscripts, A, B, C, and Vulgate.
4. red--the color of blood. The color of the horse
in each case answers to the mission of the rider. Compare
Mt 10:24-36, "Think not I am come to send
peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a
sword." The white horse of Christ's
bloodless victories is soon followed, through man's
perversion of the Gospel, by the red horse of
bloodshed; but this is overruled to the clearing away of
the obstacles to Christ's coming kingdom. The patient
ox is the emblem of the second living
creature who, at the opening of this seal, saith,
"Come." The saints amidst judgments on the earth
in patience "endure to the end."
that they should kill--The
Greek is indicative future, "that they may, as
they also shall, kill one another."
5. Come and see--The two oldest manuscripts, A, C, and
Vulgate omit "and see." B retains the
words.
black--implying sadness and
want.
had--Greek,
"having."
a pair of balances--the symbol of
scarcity of provisions, the bread being doled out by
weight.
6. a voice--Two oldest manuscripts, A, C, read, "as
it were a voice." B reads as English
Version. The voice is heard "in the midst of the
four living creatures" (as Jehovah in the
Shekinah-cloud manifested His presence between the
cherubim); because it is only for the sake of, and in
connection with, His redeemed, that God mitigates His
judgments on the earth.
A measure--"A chœnix."
While making food scarce, do not make it so much so that a
chœnix (about a day's provision of wheat,
variously estimated at two or three pints) shall not be
obtainable "for a penny" (denarius, eight
and a half pence of our money, probably the day's wages
of a laborer). Famine generally follows the
sword. Ordinarily, from sixteen to twenty measures were
given for a denarius. The sword, famine, noisome
beasts, and the pestilence, are God's four
judgments on the earth. A spiritual famine, too, may be
included in the judgment. The "Come," in the case
of this third seal, is said by the third of the four living
creatures, whose likeness is a man indicative of
sympathy and human compassion for the sufferers. God in it
tempers judgment with mercy. Compare
Mt 24:7, which indicates the very calamities foretold
in these seals, nation rising against nation (the
sword), famines, pestilences (
Re 6:8), and earthquakes (
Re 6:12).
three measures of barley for a
penny--the cheaper and less nutritious grain, bought by the
laborer who could not buy enough wheat for his family with
his day's wages, a denarius, and, therefore, buys
barley.
see thou hurt not the oil, and the
wine--the luxuries of life, rather than necessaries; the
oil and wine were to be spared for the refreshment of the
sufferers.
7. and see--supported by B; omitted by A, C, and Vulgate. The fourth living creature, who was "like a flying eagle," introduces this seal; implying high-soaring intelligence, and judgment descending from on high fatally on the ungodly, as the king of birds on his prey.
8. pale--"livid" [ALFORD].
Death--personified.
Hell--Hades personified.
unto them--Death and
Hades. So A, C read. But B and Vulgate read,
"to him."
fourth part of the earth--answering to
the first four seals; his portion as one of the four, being
a fourth part.
death--pestilence; compare
Eze 14:21 with the four judgments here, the sword,
famine, pestilence, and wild beasts; the
famine the consequence of the sword; pestilence,
that of famine; and beasts multiplying by the
consequent depopulation.
with the beasts--Greek,
"by"; more direct agency. These four seals are
marked off from the three last, by the four living
creatures introducing them with "Come." The
calamities indicated are not restricted to one time, but
extend through the whole period of Church history to the
coming of Christ, before which last great and terrible day
of the Lord they shall reach highest aggravation. The first
seal is the summary, Christ going forth conquering
till all enemies are subdued under Him, with a view to
which the judgments subsequently specified accompany the
preaching of the Gospel for a witness to all
nations.
9. The three last seals relate to the invisible, as the
first four to the visible world; the fifth, to the martyrs
who have died as believers; the sixth, to those who have
died, or who shall be found at Christ's coming,
unbelievers, namely, "the kings . . . great
men . . . bondman . . . freeman";
the seventh, to the silence in heaven. The scene changes
from earth to heaven; so that interpretations which make
these three last consecutive to the first four seals, are
very doubtful.
I saw--in spirit. For souls are not
naturally visible.
under the altar--As the blood of
sacrificial victims slain on the altar was poured at the
bottom of the altar, so the souls of those sacrificed
for Christ's testimony are symbolically represented as
under the altar, in heaven; for the life or animal
soul is in the blood, and blood is often
represented as crying for vengeance (
Ge 4:10). The altar in heaven, antitypical to the altar
of sacrifice, is Christ crucified. As it is the altar that
sanctifies the gift, so it is Christ alone who makes our
obedience, and even our sacrifice of life for the truth,
acceptable to God. The sacrificial altar was not in the
sanctuary, but outside; so Christ's literal sacrifice
and the figurative sacrifice of the martyrs took place, not
in the heavenly sanctuary, but outside, here on earth. The
only altar in heaven is that antitypical to the temple
altar of incense. The blood of the martyrs cries from the
earth under Christ's cross, whereon they may be
considered virtually to have been sacrificed; their souls
cry from under the altar of incense, which is Christ in
heaven, by whom alone the incense of praise is accepted
before God. They are under Christ, in His immediate
presence, shut up unto Him in joyful eager expectancy until
He shall come to raise the sleeping dead. Compare the
language of 2 Maccabees 7:36 as indicating Jewish
opinion on the subject. Our brethren who have now suffered
a short pain are dead under (Greek)
God's covenant of everlasting life.
testimony which they held--that is,
which they bore, as committed to them to bear. Compare
Re 12:17, "Have (same Greek as here)
the testimony of Jesus."
10. How long--Greek, "Until when?" As in
the parable the woman (symbol of the Church) cries day
and night to the unjust judge for justice against her
adversary who is always oppressing her (compare below,
Re 12:10); so the elect (not only on earth, but
under Christ's covering, and in His presence in
Paradise) cry day and night to God, who will
assuredly, in His own time, avenge His and their cause,
"though He bear long with them." These
passages need not be restricted to some particular
martyrdoms, but have been, and are receiving, and shall
receive partial fulfilments, until their last exhaustive
fulfilment before Christ's coming. So as to the other
events foretold here. The glory even of those in Paradise
will only be complete when Christ's and the
Church's foes are cast out, and the earth will become
Christ's kingdom at His coming to raise the sleeping
saints.
Lord--Greek,
"Master"; implying that He has them and their
foes and all His creatures as absolutely at His disposal,
as a master has his slaves; hence, in
Re 6:11, "fellow servants," or
fellow slaves follows.
holy--Greek, "the Holy
one."
avenge--"exact vengeance for our
blood."
on--Greek, "from
them."
that dwell on the earth--the ungodly,
of earth, earthly, as distinguished from the Church, whose
home and heart are even now in heavenly places.
11. white robes--The three oldest manuscripts, A, B, C,
read, "A white robe was given."
every one of--One oldest manuscript,
B, omits this. A and C read, "unto them, unto
each," that is, unto them severally. Though their
joint cry for the riddance of the earth from the ungodly is
not yet granted, it is intimated that it will be so in due
time; meanwhile, individually they receive the white
robe, indicative of light, joy, and triumphant victory over
their foes; even as the Captain of their salvation goes
forth on a white horse conquering and to
conquer; also of purity and sanctity through Christ. M
AIMONIDES says that the Jews used to array priests, when
approved of, in white robes; thus the sense is, they
are admitted among the blessed ones, who, as spotless
priests, minister unto God and the Lamb.
should--So C reads. But A and B,
"shall rest."
a little season--One oldest
manuscript, B, omits "little." A and C support
it. Even if it be omitted, is it to be inferred that the
"season" is short as compared with eternity? B
ENGEL fancifully made a season (Greek,
"chronus," the word here used) to be one
thousand one hundred and eleven one-ninth years, and a
time (
Re 12:12, 14, Greek, "kairos")
to be a fifth of a season, that is, two hundred and
twenty-two two-ninths years. The only distinction in the
Greek is, a season (Greek,
"chronus") is a sort of aggregate of
times. Greek, "kairos," a specific
time, and so of short duration. As to their rest,
compare
Re 14:13 (the same Greek,
"anapauomai");
Isa 57:2; Da 12:13.
until their . . . brethren
. . . be fulfilled--in number. Until their full
number shall have been completed. The number of the elect
is definitely fixed: perhaps to fill up that of the fallen
angels. But this is mere conjecture. The full
blessedness and glory of all the saints shall be
simultaneous. The earlier shall not anticipate the later
saints. A and C read, "shall have been
accomplished"; B and Aleph read, "shall
have accomplished (their course)."
12. As
Re 6:4, 6-8, the sword, famine, and pestilence, answer
to
Mt 24:6, 7; Re 6:9, 10, as to martyrdoms, answer to
Mt 24:9, 10; so this passage,
Re 6:12, 17, answers to
Mt 24:29, 30, "the sun shall be darkened, and the
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall
from heaven; . . . then shall all the tribes of
the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man
coming"; imagery describing the portents of the
immediate coming of the day of the Lord; but not the
coming itself until the elect are sealed, and the
judgments invoked by the martyrs descend on the earth, the
sea, and the trees (
Re 7:1-3).
and, lo--So A reads. But B and C omit
"lo."
earthquake--Greek,
"shaking" of the heavens, the sea, and the
dry land; the shaking of these mutable things being the
necessary preliminary to the setting up of those things
which cannot be shaken. This is one of the
catchwords [WORDSWORTH] connecting the sixth seal with
the sixth trumpet (
Re 11:13) and the seventh vial (
Re 16:17-21); also the seventh seal (
Re 8:5).
sackcloth--One kind, made of the
"hair" of Cilician goats, was called
"cilicium," or Cilician cloth, and was used for
tents, &c. Paul, a Cilician, made such tents (
Ac 18:3).
moon--A, B, C, and oldest versions
read, "the whole moon"; the full moon; not merely
the crescent moon.
as blood-- (
Joe 2:31).
13. stars . . . fell . . . as a fig tree casteth her . . . figs-- ( Isa 34:4; Na 3:12). The Church shall be then ripe for glorification, the Antichristian world for destruction, which shall be accompanied with mighty phenomena in nature. As to the stars falling to the earth, Scripture describes natural phenomena as they would appear to the spectator, not in the language of scientific accuracy; and yet, while thus adapting itself to ordinary men, it drops hints which show that it anticipates the discoveries of modern science.
14. departed--Greek, "was separated
from" its place; "was made to depart."
Not as ALFORD, "parted asunder"; for, on
the contrary, it was rolled together as a scroll
which had been open is rolled up and laid aside. There is
no "asunder one from another" here in the
Greek, as in
Ac 15:39, which ALFORD copies.
mountain . . . moved out of
. . . places-- (
Ps 121:1, Margin;
Jer 3:23; 4:24; Na 1:5). This total disruption shall be
the precursor of the new earth, just as the pre-Adamic
convulsions prepared it for its present occupants.
15. kings . . . hid themselves--Where was now the
spirit of those whom the world has so greatly feared? [B
ENGEL].
great men--statesmen and high civil
officers.
rich men . . . chief
captains--The three oldest manuscripts, A, B, C, transpose
thus, "chief captains . . . rich
men."
mighty--The three oldest manuscripts,
A, B, and C read, "strong" physically (
Ps 33:16).
in--literally "into"; ran
into, so as to hide themselves in.
dens--"caves."
16. from the face-- ( Ps 34:16). On the whole verse, compare Ho 10:8; Lu 23:30.
17. Literally, "the day, the great (day)," which
can only mean the last great day. After the Lord has
exhausted all His ordinary judgments, the sword, famine,
pestilence, and wild beasts, and still sinners are
impenitent, the great day of the Lord itself' shall
come.
Mt 24:6-29 plainly forms a perfect parallelism to the
six seals, not only in the events, but also in the order of
their occurrence:
Mt 24:3, the first seal;
Mt 24:6, the second seal;
Mt 24:7, the third seal;
Mt 24:7, end, the fourth seal;
Mt 24:9, the fifth seal, the persecutions and abounding
iniquity under which, as well as consequent judgments
accompanied with gospel preaching to all nations as a
witness, are particularly detailed,
Mt 24:9-28;
Mt 24:29, the sixth seal.
to stand--to stand justified, and not
condemned before the Judge. Thus the sixth seal brings us
to the verge of the Lord's coming. The ungodly
"tribes of the earth" tremble at the signs of His
immediate approach. But before He actually inflicts the
blow in person, "the elect" must be
"gathered "out.
Re 7:1-17. SEALING OF THE ELECT OF ISRAEL. THE COUNTLESS MULTITUDE OF THE GENTILE ELECT.
1. And--so B and Syriac. But A, C, Vulgate,
and Coptic omit "and."
after these things--A, B, C, and
Coptic read, "after this." The two visions in
this chapter come in as an episode after the sixth
seal, and before the seventh seal. It is clear that, though
"Israel" may elsewhere designate the spiritual
Israel, "the elect (Church) on earth" [ALFORD],
here, where the names of the tribes one by one are
specified, these names cannot have any but the literal
meaning. The second advent will be the time of the
restoration of the kingdom to Israel, when the times
of the Gentiles shall have been fulfilled, and the Jews
shall at last say, "Blessed is He that cometh in the
name of the Lord." The period of the Lord's
absence has been a blank in the history of the Jews as a
nation. As then Revelation is the Book of the Second Advent
[DE BURGH], naturally mention of God's restored favor
to Israel occurs among the events that usher in
Christ's advent.
earth . . . sea
. . . tree--The judgments to descend on these are
in answer to the martyrs' prayer under the fifth
seal. Compare the same judgments under the fifth
trumpet, the sealed being exempt (
Re 9:4).
on any tree--Greek,
"against any tree" (Greek,
"epi ti dendron": but "on the
earth," Greek, "epi tees
gees").
2. from the east--Greek, "the rising of the sun." The quarter from which God's glory oftenest manifests itself.
3. Hurt not--by letting loose the destructive winds.
till we have sealed the servants of
our God--parallel to
Mt 24:31, "His angels . . . shall gather
together His elect from the four winds." God's
love is such, that He cannot do anything in the way
of judgment, till His people are secured from hurt (
Ge 19:22). Israel, at the eve of the Lord's coming,
shall be found re-embodied as a nation; for its tribes are
distinctly specified (Joseph, however, being substituted
for Dan; whether because Antichrist is to come from Dan, or
because Dan is to be Antichrist's especial tool [A
RETAS, tenth century], compare
Ge 49:17; Jer 8:16; Am 8:14; just as there was a Judas
among the Twelve). Out of these tribes a believing
remnant will be preserved from the judgments which
shall destroy all the Antichristian confederacy (
Re 6:12-17), and shall be transfigured with the
elect Church of all nations, namely, 144,000 (or
whatever number is meant by this symbolical number), who
shall faithfully resist the seductions of Antichrist, while
the rest of the nation, restored to Palestine in unbelief,
are his dupes, and at last his victims. Previously to the
Lord's judgments on Antichrist and his hosts, these
latter shall destroy two-thirds of the nation,
one-third escaping, and, by the Spirit's operation
through affliction, turning to the Lord, which remnant
shall form the nucleus on earth of the Israelite nation
that is from this time to stand at the head of the
millennial nations of the world. Israel's spiritual
resurrection shall be "as life from the dead" to
all the nations. As now a regeneration goes on here and
there of individuals, so there shall then be a regeneration
of nations universally, and this in connection with
Christ's coming.
Mt 24:34; "this generation (the Jewish nation)
shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled,"
which implies that Israel can no more pass away
before Christ's advent, than Christ's own
words can pass away (the same Greek),
Mt 24:35. So exactly
Zec 13:8, 9; 14:2-4, 9-21; compare
Zec 12:2-14; 13:1, 2. So also
Eze 8:17, 18; 9:1-7, especially
Eze 9:4. Compare also
Eze 10:2 with Re 8:5, where the final judgments
actually fall on the earth, with the same accompaniment,
the fire of the altar cast into the earth, including
the fire scattered over the city. So again,
Re 14:1, the same 144,000 appear on Zion with the
Father's name in their forehead, at the close of the
section, the twelfth through fourteenth chapters,
concerning the Church and her foes. Not that the saints are
exempt from trial:
Re 7:14 proves the contrary; but their trials are
distinct from the destroying judgments that fall on
the world; from these they are exempted, as Israel was from
the plagues of Egypt, especially from the last, the
Israelite doors having the protecting seal of the
blood-mark.
foreheads--the most conspicuous and
noblest part of man's body; on which the helmet,
"the hope of salvation," is worn.
4. Twelve is the number of the tribes, and
appropriate to the Church: three by four: three, the
divine number, multiplied by four, the number for
world-wide extension. Twelve by twelve implies
fixity and completeness, which is taken a thousandfold
in 144,000. A thousand implies the world
perfectly pervaded by the divine; for it is ten,
the world number, raised to the power of three, the
number of God.
of all the tribes--literally,
"out of every tribe"; not 144,000 of each tribe,
but the aggregate of the twelve thousand from every
tribe.
children--Greek,
"sons of Israel."
Re 3:12; 21:12, are no objection, as ALFORD thinks, to
the literal Israel being meant; for, in consummated glory,
still the Church will be that "built on the foundation
of the (Twelve) apostles (Israelites), Jesus Christ
(an Israelite) being the chief corner-stone." Gentile
believers shall have the name of Jerusalem written on
them, in that they shall share the citizenship
antitypical to that of the literal Jerusalem.
5-8. Judah (meaning praise) stands first, as Jesus' tribe. Benjamin, the youngest, is last; and with him is associated second last, Joseph. Reuben, as originally first-born, comes next after Judah, to whom it gave place, having by sin lost its primogeniture right. Besides the reason given above (see on Re 7:2), another akin for the omission of Dan, is, its having been the first to lapse into idolatry ( Jud 18:1-31); for which same reason the name Ephraim, also (compare Jud 17:1-3; Ho 4:17), is omitted, and Joseph substituted. Also, it had been now for long almost extinct. Long before, the Hebrews say [G ROTIUS], it was reduced to the one family of Hussim, which perished subsequently in the wars before Ezra's time. Hence it is omitted in the fourth through eighth chapters of First Chronicles. Dan's small numbers are joined here to Naphtali's, whose brother he was by the same mother [BENGEL]. The twelve times twelve thousand sealed ones of Israel are the nucleus of transfigured humanity [AUBERLEN], to which the elect Gentiles are joined, "a multitude which no man could number," Re 7:9 (that is, the Church of Jews and Gentiles indiscriminately, in which the Gentiles are the predominant element, Lu 21:24. The word "tribes," Greek, implies that believing Israelites are in this countless multitude). Both are in heaven, yet ruling over the earth, as ministers of blessing to its inhabitants: while upon earth the world of nations is added to the kingdom of Israel. The twelve apostles stand at the head of the whole. The upper and the lower congregation, though distinct, are intimately associated.
9. no man--Greek, "no one."
of all nations--Greek,
"OUT OF every nation." The human race is
"one nation" by origin, but afterwards
separated itself into tribes, peoples, and
tongues; hence, the one singular stands first, followed
by the three plurals.
kindreds--Greek,
"tribes."
people--Greek,
"peoples." The "first-fruits unto the
Lamb," the 144,000 (
Re 14:1-4) of Israel, are followed by a copious harvest
of all nations, an election out of the Gentiles, as
the 144,000 are an election out of Israel (see on Re 7:3).
white robes--(See on Re 6:11; also
Re 3:5, 18; 4:4).
palms in . . . hands--the
antitype to Christ's entry into Jerusalem amidst the
palm-bearing multitude. This shall be just when He is about
to come visibly and take possession of His kingdom. The
palm branch is the symbol of joy and triumph. It was
used at the feast of tabernacles, on the fifteenth day of
the seventh month, when they kept feast to God in
thanksgiving for the ingathered fruits. The antitype shall
be the completed gathering in of the harvest of the elect
redeemed here described. Compare
Zec 14:16, whence it appears that the earthly
feast of tabernacles will be renewed, in commemoration of
Israel's preservation in her long wilderness-like
sojourn among the nations from which she shall now be
delivered, just as the original typical feast was to
commemorate her dwelling for forty years in booths or
tabernacles in the literal wilderness.
10. cried--Greek, "cry," in the three
oldest manuscripts, A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic. It is their continuing, ceaseless
employment.
Salvation--literally, "THE
salvation"; all the praise of our salvation be
ascribed to our God. At the Lord's entry into
Jerusalem, the type, similarly "salvation" is the
cry of the palm-bearing multitudes. Hosanna means
"save us now"; taken from
Ps 118:25, in which Psalm (
Ps 118:14, 15, 21, 26) the same connection occurs
between salvation, the tabernacles of the
righteous, and the Jews' cry to be repeated by the
whole nation at Christ's coming, "Blessed be He
that cometh in the name of the Lord."
11. The angels, as in
Re 5:11, in their turn take up the anthem of praise.
There it was "many angels," here it is
"all the angels."
stood--"were standing"
[ALFORD].
12. Greek, "The blessing, the glory, the wisdom, the thanksgiving, the honor, the power, the might [the doxology is sevenfold, implying its totality and completeness], unto the ages of the ages."
13. answered--namely, to my thoughts; spoke, asking the
question which might have been expected to arise in
John's mind from what has gone before. One of the
twenty-four elders, representing the Old and New Testament
ministry, appropriately acts as interpreter of this vision
of the glorified Church.
What, &c.--Greek order,
"These which are arrayed in white robes, WHO are
they?"
14. Sir--Greek, "Lord." B, C, Vulgate,
Syriac, Coptic versions, and CYPRIAN read, "My
Lord." A omits "My," as English
Version.
thou knowest--taken from
Eze 37:3. Comparatively ignorant ourselves of divine
things, it is well for us to look upward for divinely
communicated knowledge.
came--rather as Greek,
"come"; implying that they are just
come.
great tribulation--Greek,
"THE great tribulation"; "the tribulation,
the great one," namely, the tribulation to
which the martyrs were exposed under the fifth seal, the
same which Christ foretells as about to precede His coming
(
Mt 24:21, great tribulation), and followed by
the same signs as the sixth seal (
Mt 24:29, 30), compare
Da 12:1; including also retrospectively all the
tribulation which the saints of all ages have had to
pass through. Thus this seventh chapter is a recapitulation
of the vision of the six seals,
Re 6:1-17, to fill up the outline there given in that
part of it which affects the faithful of that day. There,
however, their number was waiting to be completed, but here
it is completed, and they are seen taken out of the earth
before the judgments on the Antichristian apostasy; with
their Lord, they, and all His faithful witnesses and
disciples of past ages, wait for His coming and their
coming to be glorified and reign together with Him.
Meanwhile, in contrast with their previous sufferings, they
are exempt from the hunger, thirst, and scorching heats of
their life on earth (
Re 7:16), and are fed and refreshed by the Lamb of God
Himself (
Re 7:17; 14:1-4, 13); an earnest of their future
perfect blessedness in both body and soul united (
Re 21:4-6; 22:1-5).
washed . . . robes
. . . white in the blood of . . .
Lamb-- (
Re 1:5; Isa 1:18; Heb 9:14; 1Jo 1:7; compare
Isa 61:10; Zec 3:3-5). Faith applies to the heart the
purifying blood; once for all for justification,
continually throughout the life for sanctification.
15. Therefore--because they are so washed white; for
without it they could never have entered God's holy
heaven;
Re 22:14, "Blessed are those who wash their
robes (the oldest manuscripts reading), that they may
have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through
the gates into the city";
Re 21:27; Eph 5:26, 27.
before--Greek, "in the
presence of."
Mt 5:8; 1Co 13:12, "face to face."
throne . . . temple--These
are connected because we can approach the heavenly King
only through priestly mediation; therefore, Christ is at
once King and Priest on His throne.
day and night--that is, perpetually;
as those approved of as priests by the Sanhedrim were
clothed in white, and kept by turns a perpetual watch in
the temple at Jerusalem; compare as to the singers,
1Ch 9:33, "day and night";
Ps 134:1. Strictly "there is no night" in the
heavenly sanctuary (
Re 22:5).
in his temple--in what is the heavenly
analogue to His temple on earth, for strictly there is
"no temple therein" (
Re 21:22), "God and the Lamb are the temple"
filling the whole, so that there is no distinction of
sacred and secular places; the city is the temple, and the
temple the city. Compare
Re 4:8, "the four living creatures rest not day
and night, saying, Holy," &c.
shall dwell among them--rather
(Greek, "scenosei ep' autous"),
"shall be the tabernacle over them" (compare
Re 21:3; Le 26:11, especially
Isa 4:5, 6; 8:14; 25:4; Eze 37:27). His dwelling
among them is to be understood as a secondary truth,
besides what is expressed, namely, His being their covert.
When once He tabernacled among us as the Word made
flesh, He was in great lowliness; then He shall be in
great glory.
16. (
Isa 49:10).
hunger no more--as they did
here.
thirst any more-- (
Joh 4:13).
the sun--literally, scorching in the
East. Also, symbolically, the sun of persecution.
neither . . .
light--Greek, "by no means at all
. . . light" (fall).
heat--as the sirocco.
17. in the midst of the throne--that is, in the middle
point in front of the throne (
Re 5:6).
feed--Greek, "tend as a
shepherd."
living fountains of water--A, B,
Vulgate, and CYPRIAN read, (eternal)
"life's fountains of waters."
"Living" is not supported by the old authorities.
Re 8:1-13. SEVENTH SEAL. PREPARATION FOR THE SEVEN TRUMPETS. THE FIRST FOUR AND THE CONSEQUENT PLAGUES.
1. was--Greek, "came to pass"; "began
to be."
silence in heaven about
. . . half an hour--The last seal having been
broken open, the book of God's eternal plan of
redemption is opened for the Lamb to read to the blessed
ones in heaven. The half hour's silence
contrasts with the previous jubilant songs of the great
multitude, taken up by the angels (
Re 7:9-11). It is the solemn introduction to the
employments and enjoyments of the eternal Sabbath-rest of
the people of God, commencing with the Lamb's reading
the book heretofore sealed up, and which we cannot know
till then. In
Re 10:4, similarly at the eve of the sounding of the
seventh trumpet, when the seven thunders uttered their
voices, John is forbidden to write them. The seventh
trumpet (
Re 11:15-19) winds up God's vast plan of providence
and grace in redemption, just as the seventh seal brings it
to the same consummation. So also the seventh vial,
Re 16:17. Not that the seven seals, the seven trumpets,
and the seven vials, though parallel, are repetitions. They
each trace the course of divine action up to the grand
consummation in which they all meet, under a different
aspect. Thunders, lightnings, an earthquake, and
voices close the seven thunders and the seven seals
alike (compare
Re 8:5, with Re 11:19). Compare at the seventh vial,
the voices, thunders, lightnings, and earthquake,
Re 16:18. The half-hour silence is the brief
pause GIVEN TO JOHN between the preceding vision and the
following one, implying, on the one hand, the solemn
introduction to the eternal sabbatism which is to follow
the seventh seal; and, on the other, the silence which
continued during the incense-accompanied prayers which
usher in the first of the seven trumpets (
Re 8:3-5). In the Jewish temple, musical instruments
and singing resounded during the whole time of the offering
of the sacrifices, which formed the first part of the
service. But at the offering of incense, solemn silence was
kept ("My soul waiteth upon God,"
Ps 62:1; "is silent," Margin;
Ps 65:1, Margin), the people praying secretly
all the time. The half-hour stillness implies, too,
the earnest adoring expectation with which the blessed
spirits and the angels await the succeeding unfolding of
God's judgments. A short space is implied; for
even an hour is so used (
Re 17:12; 18:10, 19).
2. the seven angels--Compare the apocryphal Tobit
12:15, "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels
which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in
and out before the glory of the Holy One." Compare
Lu 1:19, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence
of God."
stood--Greek,
"stand."
seven trumpets--These come in during
the time while the martyrs rest until their fellow
servants also, that should be killed as they were, should
be fulfilled; for it is the inhabiters of the
earth on whom the judgments fall, on whom also the
martyrs prayed that they should fall (
Re 6:10). All the ungodly, and not merely some
one portion of them, are meant, all the opponents and
obstacles in the way of the kingdom of Christ and His
saints, as is proved by
Re 11:15, 18, end, at the close of the seven trumpets.
The Revelation becomes more special only as it advances
farther (
Re 13:1-18; 16:10; 17:18). By the seven trumpets the
world kingdoms are overturned to make way for Christ's
universal kingdom. The first four are connected together;
and the last three, which alone have Woe, woe, woe
(
Re 8:7-13).
3. another angel--not Christ, as many think; for He, in
Revelation, is always designated by one of His proper
titles; though, doubtless, He is the only true High Priest,
the Angel of the Covenant, standing before the golden altar
of incense, and there, as Mediator, offering up His
people's prayers, rendered acceptable before God
through the incense of His merit. Here the angel acts
merely as a ministering spirit (
Heb 1:4), just as the twenty-four elders have vials
full of odors, or incense, which are the prayers of
saints (
Re 5:8), and which they present before the Lamb. How
precisely their ministry, in perfuming the prayers of the
saints and offering them on the altar of incense, is
exercised, we know not, but we do know they are not to be
prayed TO. If we send an offering of tribute to the king,
the king's messenger is not allowed to appropriate what
is due to the king alone.
there was given unto him--The angel
does not provide the incense; it is given to him by
Christ, whose meritorious obedience and death are the
incense, rendering the saints' prayers well pleasing to
God. It is not the saints who give the angel the incense;
nor are their prayers identified with the incense; nor do
they offer their prayers to him. Christ alone is the
Mediator through whom, and to whom, prayer is to be
offered.
offer it with the prayers--rather as
Greek, "give it TO the prayers," so
rendering them efficacious as a sweet-smelling savor
to God. Christ's merits alone can thus incense
our prayers, though the angelic ministry be employed to
attach this incense to the prayers. The saints' praying
on earth, and the angel's incensing in heaven, are
simultaneous.
all saints--The prayers both of the
saints in the heavenly rest, and of those militant on
earth. The martyrs' cry is the foremost, and brings
down the ensuing judgments.
golden altar--antitype to the earthly.
4. the smoke . . . which came with the prayers . . . ascended up--rather, "the smoke of the incense FOR (or 'given TO': 'given' being understood from Re 8:3) the prayers of the saints ascended up, out of the angel's hand, in the presence of Gods" The angel merely burns the incense given him by Christ the High Priest, so that its smoke blends with the ascending prayers of the saints. The saints themselves are priests; and the angels in this priestly ministration are but their fellow servants ( Re 19:10).
5. cast it into the earth--that is, unto the earth:
the hot coals off the altar cast on the earth, symbolize
God's fiery judgments about to descend on the
Church's foes in answer to the saints'
incense-perfumed prayers which have just ascended before
God, and those of the martyrs. How marvellous the power of
the saints' prayers!
there were--"there took
place," or "ensued."
voices, and thunderings, and
lightnings--B places the "voices" after
"thunderings." A places it after
"lightnings."
6. sound--blow the trumpets.
7. The common feature of the first four trumpets is, the
judgments under them affect natural objects, the
accessories of life, the earth, trees, grass, the sea,
rivers, fountains, the light of the sun, moon, and stars.
The last three, the woe-trumpets (
Re 8:13), affect men's life with pain, death, and
hell. The language is evidently drawn from the plagues of
Egypt, five or six out of the ten exactly corresponding:
the hail, the fire (
Ex 9:24), the WATER turned to blood (
Ex 7:19), the darkness (
Ex 10:21), the locusts (
Ex 10:12), and perhaps the death (
Re 9:18). Judicial retribution in kind characterizes
the inflictions of the first four, those elements which had
been abused punishing their abusers.
mingled with--A, B, and Vulgate
read, Greek, ". . . IN blood."
So in the case of the second and third vials (
Re 16:3, 4).
upon the earth--Greek,
"unto the earth." A, B, Vulgate,
and Syriac add, "And the third of the earth was
burnt up." So under the third trumpet, the
third of the rivers is affected: also, under the sixth
trumpet, the third part of men are killed. In
Zec 13:8, 9 this tripartite division appears, but the
proportions reversed, two parts killed, only a third
preserved. Here, vice versa, two-thirds escape, one-third
is smitten. The fire was the predominant element.
all green grass--no longer a third,
but all is burnt up.
8. as it were--not literally a mountain: a mountain-like
burning mass. There is a plain allusion to
Jer 51:25; Am 7:4.
third part of the sea became blood--In
the parallel second vial, the whole sea (not merely
a third) becomes blood. The overthrow of
Jericho, the type of the Antichristian Babylon, after which
Israel, under Joshua (the same name as Jesus),
victoriously took possession of Canaan, the type of
Christ's and His people's kingdom, is perhaps
alluded to in the SEVEN trumpets, which end in the
overthrow of all Christ's foes, and the setting up of
His kingdom. On the seventh day, at the
seventh time, when the seven priests blew the
seven ram's horn trumpets, the people shouted,
and the walls fell flat: and then ensued the
blood-shedding of the foe. A mountain-like fiery mass
would not naturally change water into blood; nor would the
third part of ships be thereby destroyed.
9. The symbolical interpreters take the ships here to be churches. For the Greek here for ships is not the common one, but that used in the Gospels of the apostolic vessel in which Christ taught: and the first churches were in the shape of an inverted ship: and the Greek for destroyed is also used of heretical corruptings ( 1Ti 6:5).
10. a lamp--a torch.
11. The symbolizers interpret the star fallen from heaven as a chief minister (ARIUS, according to BULLINGER, BENGEL, and others; or some future false teacher, if, as is more likely, the event be still future) falling from his high place in the Church, and instead of shining with heavenly light as a star, becoming a torch lit with earthly fire and smouldering with smoke. And "wormwood," though medicinal in some cases, if used as ordinary water would not only be disagreeable to the taste, but also fatal to life: so "heretical wormwood changes the sweet Siloas of Scripture into deadly Marahs" [WORDSWORTH]. Contrast the converse change of bitter Marah water into sweet, Ex 15:23. ALFORD gives as an illustration in a physical point of view, the conversion of water into firewater or ardent spirits, which may yet go on to destroy even as many as a third of the ungodly in the latter days.
12. third part--not a total obscuration as in the
sixth seal (
Re 6:12, 13). This partial obscuration,
therefore, comes between the prayers of the martyrs under
the fifth seal, and the last overwhelming judgments on the
ungodly under the sixth seal, at the eve of Christ's
coming.
the night likewise--withdrew a third
part of the light which the bright Eastern moon and stars
ordinarily afford.
13. an angel--A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic read for "angel," which is supported
by none of the oldest manuscripts, "an eagle":
the symbol of judgment descending fatally from on high; the
king of birds pouncing on the prey. Compare this fourth
trumpet and the flying eagle with the fourth seal
introduced by the fourth living creature, "like a
flying eagle,"
Re 4:7; 6:7, 8: the aspect of Jesus as presented by the
fourth Evangelist. John is compared in the cherubim
(according to the primitive interpretation) to a flying
eagle: Christ's divine majesty in this
similitude is set forth in the Gospel according to John,
His judicial visitations in the Revelation of John.
Contrast "another angel," or messenger,
with "the everlasting Gospel,"
Re 14:6.
through the midst of
heaven--Greek, "in the mid-heaven," that
is, in the part of the sky where the sun reaches the
meridian: in such a position as that the eagle is an
object conspicuous to all.
the inhabiters of the earth--the
ungodly, the "men of the world," whose
"portion is in this life," upon whom the martyrs
had prayed that their blood might be avenged (
Re 6:10). Not that they sought personal revenge, but
their zeal was for the honor of God against the foes of God
and His Church.
the other--Greek, "the
remaining voices."
Re 9:1-21. THE FIFTH TRUMPET: THE FALLEN STAR OPENS THE ABYSS WHENCE ISSUE LOCUSTS. THE SIXTH TRUMPET. FOUR ANGELS AT THE EUPHRATES LOOSED.
1. The last three trumpets of the seven are called, from
Re 8:13, the woe-trumpets.
fall--rather as Greek,
"fallen." When John saw it, it was not in the act
of falling, but had fallen already. This is a
connecting link of this fifth trumpet with
Re 12:8, 9, 12, "Woe to the inhabiters of the
earth, for the devil is come down,"
&c. Compare
Isa 14:12, "How art thou fallen from
heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!"
the bottomless pit--Greek,
"the pit of the abyss"; the orifice of the
hell where Satan and his demons dwell.
3. upon--Greek, "unto," or
"into."
as the scorpions of the earth--as
contrasted with the "locusts" which come up
from hell, and are not "of the earth."
have power--namely, to sting.
4. not hurt the grass . . . neither
. . . green thing . . . neither
. . . tree--the food on which they ordinarily
prey. Therefore, not natural and ordinary locusts. Their
natural instinct is supernaturally restrained to mark the
judgment as altogether divine.
those men which--Greek,
"the men whosoever."
in, &c.--Greek,
"upon their forehead." Thus this fifth
trumpet is proved to follow the sealing in
Re 7:1-8, under the sixth seal. None of the saints are
hurt by these locusts, which is not true of the saints in
Mohammed's attack, who is supposed by many to be meant
by the locusts; for many true believers fell in the
Mohammedan invasions of Christendom.
5. they . . . they--The subject changes: the
first "they" is the locusts; the second is
the unsealed.
five months--the ordinary time in the
year during which locusts continue their ravages.
their torment--the torment of the
sufferers. This fifth verse and
Re 9:6 cannot refer to an invading army. For an army
would kill, and not merely torment.
6. shall desire--Greek, "eagerly desire";
set their mind on.
shall flee--So B, Vulgate,
Syriac, and Coptic read. But A and Aleph
read, "fleeth," namely continually. In
Re 6:16, which is at a later stage of God's
judgments, the ungodly seek annihilation, not from the
torment of their suffering, but from fear of the face of
the Lamb before whom they have to stand.
7. prepared unto battle--Greek, "made ready
unto war." Compare Note, see on Joe 2:4, where the resemblance of
locusts to horses is traced: the plates of a horse armed
for battle are an image on a larger scale of the outer
shell of the locust.
crowns-- (
Na 3:17). ELLIOTT explains this of the turbans
of Mohammedans. But how could turbans be "like
gold?" ALFORD understands it of the head of the
locusts actually ending in a crown-shaped fillet which
resembled gold in its material.
as the faces of men--The
"as" seems to imply the locusts here do not mean
men. At the same time they are not natural locusts,
for these do not sting men (
Re 9:5). They must be supernatural.
8. hair of women--long and flowing. An Arabic proverb
compares the antlers of locusts to the hair of girls. EWALD
in ALFORD understands the allusion to be to the hair on the
legs or bodies of the locusts: compare "rough
caterpillars,"
Jer 51:27.
as the teeth of lions-- (
Joe 1:6, as to locusts).
9. as it were breastplates of iron--not such as forms the
thorax of the natural locust.
as . . . chariots-- (
Joe 2:5-7).
battle--Greek, "war."
10. tails like unto scorpions--like unto the tails
of scorpions.
and there were stings--There is no
oldest manuscript for this reading. A, B, Aleph,
Syriac, and Coptic read, "and (they have)
stings: and in their tails (is) their power (literally,
'authority': authorized power) to hurt."
11. And--so Syriac. But A, B, and Aleph, omit
"and."
had--Greek,
"have."
a king . . . which is
the angel--English Version, agreeing with A,
Aleph, reads the (Greek) article before
"angel," in which reading we must translate,
"They have as king over them the angel,"
&c. Satan (compare
Re 9:1). Omitting the article with B, we must
translate, "They have as king an angel,"
&c.: one of the chief demons under Satan: I prefer from
Re 9:1, the former.
bottomless pit--Greek,
"abyss."
Abaddon--that is, perdition or
destruction (
Job 26:6; Pr 27:20). The locusts are supernatural
instruments in the hands of Satan to torment, and yet not
kill, the ungodly, under this fifth trumpet. Just as in the
case of godly Job, Satan was allowed to torment with
elephantiasis, but not to touch his life. In
Re 9:20, these two woe-trumpets are expressly called
"plagues." A NDREAS OF CÆSAREA, A.D. 500,
held, in his Commentary on Revelation, that the
locusts mean evil spirits again permitted to come
forth on earth and afflict men with various plagues.
12. Greek, "The one woe."
hereafter--Greek, "after
these things." I agree with ALFORD and DE BURGH, that
these locusts from the abyss refer to judgments
about to fall on the ungodly immediately before
Christ's second advent. None of the interpretations
which regard them as past, are satisfactory.
Joe 1:2-7; 2:1-11, is strictly parallel and expressly
refers (
Joe 2:11) to THE DAY OF THE LORD GREAT AND VERY
TERRIBLE:
Joe 2:10 gives the portents accompanying the day of the
Lord's coming, the earth quaking, the heavens
trembling, the sun, moon, and stars, withdrawing their
shining:
Joe 2:18, 31, 32, also point to the immediately
succeeding deliverance of Jerusalem: compare also, the
previous last conflict in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and
the dwelling of God thenceforth in Zion, blessing Judah. D
E BURGH confines the locust judgment to the Israelite
land, even as the sealed in
Re 7:1-8 are Israelites: not that there are not others
sealed as elect in the earth; but that, the judgment
being confined to Palestine, the sealed of Israel
alone needed to be expressly excepted from the
visitation. Therefore, he translates throughout, "the
land" (that is, of Israel and Judah), instead of
"the earth." I incline to agree with him.
13. a voice--literally, "one voice."
from--Greek, "out
of."
the four horns--A, Vulgate
(Amiatinus manuscript), Coptic, and
Syriac omit "four." B and CYPRIAN support it.
The four horns together gave forth their voice, not
diverse, but one. God's revelation (for example,
the Gospel), though in its aspects fourfold (four
expressing world-wide extension: whence four
is the number of the Evangelists), still has but one and
the same voice. However, from the parallelism of this sixth
trumpet to the fifth seal (
Re 6:9, 10), the martyrs' cry for the avenging of
their blood from the altar reaching its consummation under
the sixth seal and sixth trumpet, I prefer understanding
this cry from the four corners of the altar to refer
to the saints' prayerful cry from the four quarters of
the world, incensed by the angel, and ascending to
God from the golden altar of incense, and bringing down in
consequence fiery judgments. Aleph omits the whole
clause, "one from the four horns."
14. in, &c.--Greek, "epi to
potamo"; "on," or "at the great
river."
Euphrates--(Compare
Re 16:12). The river whereat Babylon, the ancient foe
of God's people was situated. Again, whether from the
literal region of the Euphrates, or from the spiritual
Babylon (the apostate Church, especially ROME), four
angelic ministers of God's judgments shall go forth,
assembling an army of horsemen throughout the four quarters
of the earth, to slay a third of men, the brunt of the
visitation shall be on Palestine.
15. were--"which had been prepared" [TREGELLES
rightly].
for an hour, and a day, and a month,
and a year--rather as Greek, "for (that is,
against) THE hour, and day, and month, and year,"
namely, appointed by God. The Greek article
(teen), put once only before all the periods,
implies that the hour in the day, and the day in the month,
and the month in the year, and the year itself, had been
definitely fixed by God. The article would have been
omitted had a sum-total of periods been specified, namely,
three hundred ninety-one years and one month (the period
from A.D. 1281, when the Turks first conquered the
Christians, to 1672, their last conquest of them, since
which last date their empire has declined).
slay--not merely to "hurt"
(
Re 9:10), as in the fifth trumpet.
third part--(See on
Re 8:7-12).
of men--namely, of earthy men,
Re 8:13, "inhabiters of the earth," as
distinguished from God's sealed people (of which the
sealed of Israel,
Re 7:1-8, form the nucleus).
16. Compare with these two hundred million,
Ps 68:17; Da 7:10. The hosts here are evidently, from
their numbers and their appearance (
Re 9:17), not merely human hosts, but probably
infernal, though constrained to work out God's
will (compare
Re 9:1, 2).
and I heard--A, B, Aleph, Vulgate,
Syriac, Coptic, and CYPRIAN omit "and."
17. thus--as follows.
of fire--the fiery color of the
breastplates answering to the fire which
issued out of their mouths.
of jacinth--literally, "of
hyacinth color," the hyacinth of the ancients
answering to our dark blue iris: thus, their
dark, dull-colored breastplates correspond to the
smoke out of their mouths.
brimstone--sulphur-colored:
answering to the brimstone or sulphur out of
their mouths.
18. By these three--A, B, C, and Aleph read
(apo for kupo), "From"; implying
the direction whence the slaughter came; not direct
instrumentality as "by" implies. A, B, C,
Aleph also add "plagues" after
"three." English Version reading, which
omits it, is not well supported.
by the fire--Greek,
"owing to the fire," literally, "out
of."
19. their--A, B, C and Aleph read, "the power
of the horses."
in their mouth--whence issued
the fire, smoke, and brimstone (
Re 9:17). Many interpreters understand the
horsemen to refer to the myriads of Turkish cavalry
arrayed in scarlet, blue, and yellow (fire,
hyacinth, and brimstone), the lion-headed
horses denoting their invincible courage, and the
fire and brimstone out of their mouths, the
gunpowder and artillery introduced into Europe about this
time, and employed by the Turks; the tails, like serpents,
having a venomous sting, the false religion of Mohammed
supplanting Christianity, or, as ELLIOTT thinks, the
Turkish pachas' horse tails, worn as a symbol of
authority. (!) All this is very doubtful. Considering the
parallelism of this sixth trumpet to the sixth seal, the
likelihood is that events are intended immediately
preceding the Lord's coming. "The false
prophet" (as
Isa 9:15 proves), or second beast, having the horns of
a lamb, but speaking as the dragon, who supports by
lying miracles the final Antichrist, seems to me to be
intended. Mohammed, doubtless, is a forerunner of him, but
not the exhaustive fulfiller of the prophecy here: Satan
will, probably, towards the end, bring out all the powers
of hell for the last conflict (see on Re
9:20, on "devils"; compare
Re 9:1, 2, 17, 18).
with them--with the serpent heads and
their venomous fangs.
20. the rest of the men--that is, the ungodly.
yet--So A, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic. B and Aleph read, "did
not even repent of," namely, so as to give up
"the works," &c. Like Pharaoh hardening his
heart against repentance notwithstanding the plagues.
of their hands-- (
De 31:29). Especially the idols made by their
hands. Compare
Re 13:14, 15, "the image of the beast"
Re 19:20.
that they should not--So B reads. But
A, C, and Aleph read "that they shall
not": implying a prophecy of certainty that it
shall be so.
devils--Greek,
"demons" which lurk beneath the idols which
idolaters worship.
21. sorceries--witchcrafts by means of drugs (so the
Greek). One of the fruits of the unrenewed flesh:
the sin of the heathen: about to be repeated by apostate
Christians in the last days,
Re 22:15, "sorcerers." The heathen who shall
have rejected the proffered Gospel and clung to their
fleshly lusts, and apostate Christians who shall have
relapsed into the same shall share the same terrible
judgments. The worship of images was established in the
East in A.D. 842.
fornication--singular: whereas the
other sins are in the plural. Other sins are perpetrated at
intervals: those lacking purity of heart indulge in
one perpetual fornication [BENGEL].
Re 10:1-11. VISION OF THE LITTLE BOOK.
As an episode was introduced between the sixth and seventh seals, so there is one here ( Re 10:1-11:14) after the sixth and introductory to the seventh trumpet ( Re 11:15, which forms the grand consummation). The Church and her fortunes are the subject of this episode: as the judgments on the unbelieving inhabiters of the earth ( Re 8:13) were the exclusive subject of the fifth and sixth woe-trumpets. Re 6:11 is plainly referred to in Re 10:6 below; in Re 6:11 the martyrs crying to be avenged were told they must "rest yet for a little season" or time: in Re 10:6 here they are assured, "There shall be no longer (any interval of) time"; their prayer shall have no longer to wait, but ( Re 10:7) at the trumpet sounding of the seventh angel shall be consummated, and the mystery of God (His mighty plan heretofore hidden, but then to be revealed) shall be finished. The little open book ( Re 10:2, 9, 10) is given to John by the angel, with a charge ( Re 10:11) that he must prophesy again concerning (so the Greek) peoples, nations, tongues, and kings: which prophecy (as appears from Re 11:15-19) affects those peoples, nations, tongues, and kings only in relation to ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH, who form the main object of the prophecy.
1. another mighty angel--as distinguished from the
mighty angel who asked as to the former and more
comprehensive book (
Re 5:2), "Who is worthy to open the
book?"
clothed with a cloud--the emblem of
God coming in judgment.
a--A, B, C, and Aleph read
"the"; referring to (
Re 4:3) the rainbow already mentioned.
rainbow upon his head--the emblem of
covenant mercy to God's people, amidst judgments on
God's foes. Resumed from
Re 4:3 (see on Re 4:3).
face as . . . the sun-- (
Re 1:16; 18:1).
feet as pillars of fire-- (
Re 1:15; Eze 1:7). The angel, as representative of
Christ, reflects His glory and bears the insignia
attributed in
Re 1:15, 16; 4:3, to Christ Himself. The pillar of
fire by night led Israel through the wilderness, and
was the symbol of God's presence.
2. he had--Greek, "Having."
in his hand--in his left hand: as in
Re 10:5 (see on Re 10:5), he
lifts up his right hand to heaven.
a little book--a roll little in
comparison with the "book" (
Re 5:1) which contained the whole vast scheme of
God's purposes, not to be fully read till the final
consummation. This other, a less book, contained
only a portion which John was now to make his own (
Re 10:9, 11), and then to use in prophesying to others.
The New Testament begins with the word "book"
(Greek, "biblus"), of which
"the little book" (Greek,
"biblaridion") is the diminutive,
"the little bible," the Bible in miniature.
upon the sea . . .
earth--Though the beast with seven heads is about to arise
out of the sea (
Re 13:1), and the beast with two horns like a lamb (
Re 13:11) out of the earth, yet it is but for a
time, and that time shall no longer be (
Re 10:6, 7) when once the seventh trumpet is about
to sound; the angel with his right foot on the sea, and
his left on the earth, claims both as God's, and as
about soon to be cleared of the usurper and his followers.
3. as . . . lion--Christ, whom the angel
represents, is often so symbolized (
Re 5:5, "the Lion of the tribe of
Juda").
seven thunders--Greek,
"the seven thunders." They form part of
the Apocalyptic symbolism; and so are marked by the article
as well known. Thus thunderings marked the
opening of the seventh seal (
Re 8:1, 5); so also at the seventh vial (
Re 16:17, 18). WORDSWORTH calls this the prophetic
use of the article; "the thunders, of which
more hereafter." Their full meaning shall be only
known at the grand consummation marked by the seventh seal,
the seventh trumpet (
Re 11:19), and the seventh vial.
uttered their--Greek,
"spake their own voices"; that is, voices
peculiarly their own, and not now revealed to men.
4. when--Aleph reads, "Whatsoever things."
But most manuscripts support English Version.
uttered their voices--A, B, C, and
Aleph omit "their voices." Then translate,
"had spoken."
unto me--omitted by A, B, C,
Aleph, and Syriac.
Seal up--the opposite command to
Re 22:20. Even though at the time of the end the
things sealed in Daniel's time were to be
revealed, yet not so the voices of these thunders. Though
heard by John, they were not to be imparted by him to
others in this book of Revelation; so terrible are they
that God in mercy withholds them, since "sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof." The godly are thus
kept from morbid ponderings over the evil to come; and the
ungodly are not driven by despair into utter recklessness
of life. ALFORD adds another aim in concealing them,
namely, "godly fear, seeing that the arrows of
God's quiver are not exhausted." Besides the
terrors foretold, there are others unutterable and more
horrifying lying in the background.
5. lifted up his hand--So A and Vulgate read. But B, C, Aleph, Syriac, and Coptic, ". . . his right hand." It was customary to lift up the hand towards heaven, appealing to the God of truth, in taking a solemn oath. There is in this part of the vision an allusion to Da 12:1-13. Compare Re 10:4, with Da 12:4, 9; and Re 10:5, 6, end, with Da 12:7. But there the angel clothed in linen, and standing upon the waters, sware "a time, times, and a half" were to interpose before the consummation; here, on the contrary, the angel standing with his left foot on the earth, and his right upon the sea, swears there shall be time no longer. There he lifted up both hands to heaven; here he has the little book now open (whereas in Daniel the book is sealed) in his left hand ( Re 10:2), and he lifts up only his right hand to heaven.
6. liveth for ever and ever--Greek, "liveth
unto the ages of the ages" (compare
Da 12:7).
created heaven . . . earth
. . . sea, &c.--This detailed designation of
God as the Creator, is appropriate to the subject of the
angel's oath, namely, the consummating of the mystery
of God (
Re 10:7), which can surely be brought to pass by the
same Almighty power that created all things, and by none
else.
that there should be time no
longer--Greek, "that time (that is, an interval
of time) no longer shall be." The martyrs shall have
no longer a time to wait for the accomplishment of their
prayers for the purgation of the earth by the judgments
which shall remove their and God's foes from it (
Re 6:11). The appointed season or time of
delay is at an end (the same Greek is here as in
Re 6:11, chronus). Not as English Version
implies, Time shall end and eternity begin.
7. But--connected with
Re 10:6. "There shall be no longer time (that is,
delay), but in the days of the voice of the seventh
angel, when he is about to (so the Greek) sound his
trumpet (so the Greek), then (literally,
'also'; which conjunction often introduces the
consequent member of a sentence) the mystery of God is
finished," literally, "has been finished";
the prophet regarding the future as certain as if it were
past. A, C, Aleph, and Coptic read the past
tense (Greek, "etelesthee"). B
reads, as English Version, the future tense
(Greek, "telesthee"). "should
be finished" (compare
Re 11:15-18). Sweet consolation to the waiting saints!
The seventh trumpet shall be sounded without further
delay.
the mystery of God--the theme of the
"little book," and so of the remainder of the
Apocalypse. What a grand contrast to the "mystery of
iniquity Babylon!" The mystery of God's scheme of
redemption, once hidden in God's secret counsel and
dimly shadowed forth in types and prophecies, but now more
and more clearly revealed according as the Gospel kingdom
develops itself, up to its fullest consummation at the end.
Then finally His servants shall praise Him most fully, for
the glorious consummation of the mystery in having taken to
Himself and His saints the kingdom so long usurped by Satan
and the ungodly. Thus this verse is an anticipation of
Re 11:15-18.
declared to--Greek,
"declared the glad tidings to." "The mystery
of God" is the Gospel glad tidings. The office
of the prophets is to receive the glad
tidings from God, in order to declare them to
others. The final consummation is the great theme of the
Gospel announced to, and by, the prophets (compare
Ga 3:8).
8. spake . . . and said--So Syriac and
Coptic read. But A, B, C, "(I heard) again
speaking with me, and saying" (Greek,
"lalousan . . .
legousan").
little book--So Aleph and B
read. But A and C, "the book."
9. I went--Greek, "I went away."
John here leaves heaven, his standing-point of observation
heretofore, to be near the angel standing on the earth and
sea.
Give--A, B, C, and Vulgate read
the infinitive, "Telling him to
give."
eat it up--appropriate its contents so
entirely as to be assimilated with (as food), and become
part of thyself, so as to impart them the more vividly to
others. His finding the roll sweet to the taste at first,
is because it was the Lord's will he was doing, and
because, divesting himself of carnal feeling, he regarded
God's will as always agreeable, however bitter might be
the message of judgment to be announced. Compare
Ps 40:8, Margin, as to Christ's inner
complete appropriation of God's word.
thy belly bitter--parallel to
Eze 2:10, "There was written therein lamentations,
and mourning, and woe."
as honey-- (
Ps 19:10; 119:103). Honey, sweet to the mouth,
sometimes turns into bile in the stomach. The thought that
God would be glorified (
Re 11:3-6, 11-18) gave him the sweetest pleasure. Yet,
afterwards the belly, or carnal natural feeling, was
embittered with grief at the prophecy of the coming bitter
persecutions of the Church (
Re 11:7-10); compare
Joh 16:1, 2. The revelation of the secrets of futurity
is sweet to one at first, but bitter and
distasteful to our natural man, when we learn the cross
which is to be borne before the crown shall be won. John
was grieved at the coming apostasy and the sufferings of
the Church at the hands of Antichrist.
10. the little book--So A and C, but B, Aleph, and
Vulgate, "the book."
was bitter--Greek, "was
embittered."
11. he said--A, B, and Vulgate read, "they
say unto me"; an indefinite expression for
"it was said unto me."
Thou must--The obligation lies upon
thee, as the servant of God, to prophesy at His
command.
again--as thou didst already in the
previous part of this book of Revelation.
before, &c.--rather as
Greek (epilaois), "concerning many
peoples," &c., namely, in their relation to the
Church. The eating of the book, as in Ezekiel's case,
marks John's inauguration to his prophetical
office--here to a fresh stage in it, namely, the revealing
of the things which befall the holy city and the Church of
God--the subject of the rest of the book.
Re 11:1-19. MEASUREMENT OF THE TEMPLE. THE TWO WITNESSES' TESTIMONY: THEIR DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND ASCENSION: THE EARTHQUAKE: THE THIRD WOE: THE SEVENTH TRUMPET USHERS IN CHRIST'S KINGDOM. THANKSGIVING OF THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS.
This eleventh chapter is a compendious summary of, and introduction to, the more detailed prophecies of the same events to come in the twelfth through twentieth chapters. Hence we find anticipatory allusions to the subsequent prophecies; compare Re 11:7, "the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit" (not mentioned before), with the detailed accounts, Re 13:1, 11; 17:8; also Re 11:8, "the great city," with Re 14:8; 17:1, 5; 18:10.
1. and the angel stood--omitted in A, Vulgate, and
Coptic. Supported by B and Syriac. If it be
omitted, the "reed" will, in construction, agree
with "saying." So WORDSWORTH takes it. The
reed, the canon of Scripture, the measuring reed of the
Church, our rule of faith, speaks. So in
Re 16:7 the altar is personified as
speaking (compare Note, see on Re 16:7). The Spirit speaks in the canon of
Scripture (the word canon is derived from
Hebrew, "kaneh," "a reed,"
the word here used; and John it was who completed the
canon). So V ICTORINUS, AQUINAS, and V ITRINGA. "Like
a rod," namely, straight: like a rod of iron
(
Re 2:27), unbending, destroying all error, and that
"cannot be broken."
Re 2:27; Heb 1:8, Greek, "a rod of
straightness," English Version, "a scepter
of righteousness"; this is added to guard against it
being thought that the reed was one "shaken by
the wind" In the abrupt style of the Apocalypse,
"saying" is possibly indefinite, put for
"one said." Still WORDSWORTH'S view
agrees best with Greek. So the ancient commentator,
ANDREAS OF CÆSAREA, in the end of the fifth century
(compare Notes, see on Re 11:3,
4).
the temple--Greek,
"naon" (as distinguished from the
Greek, "hieron," or temple in
general), the Holy Place, "the
sanctuary."
the altar--of incense; for it alone
was in "the sanctuary." (Greek,
"naos"). The measurement of the Holy place
seems to me to stand parallel to the sealing of the elect
of Israel under the sixth seal. God's elect are
symbolized by the sanctuary at Jerusalem (
1Co 3:16, 17, where the same Greek word,
"naos," occurs for "temple," as
here). Literal Israel in Jerusalem, and with the temple
restored (
Eze 40:3, 5, where also the temple is measured with the
measuring reed, the forty-first, forty-second, forty-third,
and forty-fourth chapters), shall stand at the head of the
elect Church. The measuring implies at once the exactness
of the proportions of the temple to be restored, and the
definite completeness (not one being wanting) of the
numbers of the Israelite and of the Gentile elections. The
literal temple at Jerusalem shall be the typical forerunner
of the heavenly Jerusalem, in which there shall be all
temple, and no portion exclusively set apart as
temple. John's accurately drawing the distinction
in subsequent chapters between God's servants and those
who bear the mark of the beast, is the way whereby he
fulfils the direction here given him to measure the
temple. The fact that the temple is
distinguished from them that worship therein, favors
the view that the spiritual temple, the Jewish and
Christian Church, is not exclusively meant, but that the
literal temple must also be meant. It shall be rebuilt on
the return of the Jews to their land. Antichrist shall
there put forward his blasphemous claims. The sealed elect
of Israel, the head of the elect Church, alone shall refuse
his claims. These shall constitute the true sanctuary which
is here measured, that is, accurately marked and kept by
God, whereas the rest shall yield to his pretensions.
WORDSWORTH objects that, in the twenty-five passages of the
Acts, wherein the Jewish temple is mentioned, it is called
hieron, not naos, and so in the apostolic
Epistles; but this is simply because no occasion for
mentioning the literal Holy Place (Greek,
"naos") occurs in Acts and the Epistles;
indeed, in
Ac 7:48, though not directly, there does occur the
term, naos, indirectly referring to the Jerusalem
temple Holy Place. In addressing Gentile Christians,
to whom the literal Jerusalem temple was not
familiar, it was to be expected the term, naos,
should not be found in the literal, but in the spiritual
sense. In
Re 11:19 naos is used in a local sense;
compare also
Re 14:15, 17; 15:5, 8.
2. But--Greek, "And."
the court . . . without--all
outside the Holy Place (
Re 11:1).
leave out--of thy measurement,
literally, "cast out"; reckon as
unhallowed.
it--emphatic. It is not to be
measured; whereas the Holy Place is.
given--by God's appointment.
unto the Gentiles--In the wider sense,
there are meant here "the times of the Gentiles,"
wherein Jerusalem is "trodden down of the
Gentiles," as the parallel,
Lu 21:24, proves; for the same word is used here
[Greek, "patein"], "tread
under foot." Compare also
Ps 79:1; Isa 63:18.
forty . . . two months-- (
Re 13:5). The same period as Daniel's "time,
times, and half" (
Re 12:14); and
Re 11:3, and Re 12:6, the woman a fugitive in the
wilderness "a thousand two hundred and threescore
days." In the wider sense, we may either adopt the
year-day theory of 1260 years (on which, and the papal rule
of 1260 years, see on Da
7:25; Da 8:14; Da 12:11), or rather, regard the
2300 days (
Da 8:14), 1335 days (
Da 12:11, 12). 1290 days, and 1260 days, as symbolical
of the long period of the Gentile times, whether dating
from the subversion of the Jewish theocracy at the
Babylonian captivity (the kingdom having been never
since restored to Israel), or from the last destruction of
Jerusalem under Titus, and extending to the restoration of
the theocracy at the coming of Him "whose right it
is"; the different epochs marked by the 2300, 1335,
1290, and 1260 days, will not be fully cleared up till the
grand consummation; but, meanwhile, our duty and privilege
urge us to investigate them. Some one of the epochs
assigned by many may be right but as yet it is uncertain.
The times of the Gentile monarchies during Israel's
seven times punishment, will probably, in the narrower
sense (
Re 11:2), be succeeded by the much more restricted
times of the personal Antichrist's tyranny in the Holy
Land. The long years of papal misrule may be followed by
the short time of the man of sin who shall concentrate in
himself all the apostasy, persecution, and evil of the
various forerunning Antichrists, Antiochus, Mohammed,
Popery, just before Christ's advent. His time shall be
THE RECAPITULATION and open consummation of the
"mystery of iniquity" so long leavening the
world. Witnessing churches may be followed by witnessing
individuals, the former occupying the longer, the latter,
the shorter period. The three and a half (1260 days
being three and a half years of three hundred sixty days
each, during which the two witnesses prophesy in sackcloth)
is the sacred number seven halved, implying the
Antichristian world-power's time is broken at best; it
answers to the three and a half years' period in
which Christ witnessed for the truth, and the Jews, His own
people, disowned Him, and the God-opposed world power
crucified Him (compare Note, see on Da 9:27). The three and a half, in a
word, marks the time in which the earthly rules over the
heavenly kingdom. It was the duration of Antiochus'
treading down of the temple and persecution of faithful
Israelites. The resurrection of the witnesses after three
and a half days, answers to Christ's resurrection after
three days. The world power's times never reach the
sacred fulness of seven times three hundred sixty, that is,
2520, though they approach to it in 2300 (
Da 8:14). The forty-two months answer to Israel's
forty-two sojournings (
Nu 33:1-50) in the wilderness, as contrasted with the
sabbatic rest in Canaan: reminding the Church that here, in
the world wilderness, she cannot look for her sabbatic
rest. Also, three and a half years was the period of the
heaven being shut up, and of consequent famine, in
Elias' time. Thus, three and a half represented to the
Church the idea of toil, pilgrimage, and persecution.
3. I will give power--There is no "power"
in the Greek, so that "give" must mean
"give commission," or some such
word.
my two witnesses--Greek,
"the two witnesses of me." The article
implies that the two were well known at least to
John.
prophesy--preach under the inspiration
of the Spirit, denouncing judgments against the apostate.
They are described by symbol as "the two olive
trees" and "the two candlesticks," or
lamp-stands, "standing before the God of the
earth." The reference is to
Zec 4:3, 12, where two individuals are meant,
Joshua and Zerubbabel, who ministered to the Jewish Church,
just as the two olive trees emptied the oil out of
themselves into the bowl of the candlestick. So in the
final apostasy God will raise up two inspired witnesses to
minister encouragement to the afflicted, though sealed,
remnant. As two candlesticks are mentioned in
Re 11:4, but only one in
Zec 4:2, I think the twofold Church, Jewish and
Gentile, may be meant by the two candlesticks represented
by the two witnesses: just as in
Re 7:1-8 there are described first the sealed of
Israel, then those of all nations. But see on Re 11:4. The actions of the two witnesses are
just those of Moses when witnessing for God against Pharaoh
(the type of Antichrist, the last and greatest foe of
Israel), turning the waters into blood, and
smiting with plagues; and of Elijah (the witness
for God in an almost universal apostasy of Israel, a
remnant of seven thousand, however, being left, as the
144,000 sealed,
Re 7:1-8) causing fire by his word to devour
the enemy, and shutting heaven, so that it rained
not for three years and six months, the very time (1260
days) during which the two witnesses prophesy. Moreover,
the words "witness" and "prophesy" are
usually applied to individuals, not to abstractions
(compare
Ps 52:8). DE BURGH thinks Elijah and Moses will again
appear, as
Mal 4:5, 6 seems to imply (compare
Mt 17:11; Ac 3:21). Moses and Elijah appeared with
Christ at the Transfiguration, which foreshadowed His
coming millennial kingdom. As to Moses, compare
De 34:5, 6; Jude 9. Elias' genius and mode of
procedure bears the same relation to the "second"
coming of Christ, that John the Baptist's did to the
first coming [BENGEL]. Many of the early Church thought the
two witnesses to be Enoch and Elijah. This would avoid the
difficulty of the dying a second time, for these
have never yet died; but, perhaps, shall be the witnesses
slain. Still, the turning the water to blood, and the
plagues (
Re 11:6), apply best to "Moses (compare
Re 15:3, the song of Moses"). The
transfiguration glory of Moses and Elias was not their
permanent resurrection-state, which shall not be till
Christ shall come to glorify His saints, for He has
precedence before all in rising. An objection to this
interpretation is that those blessed departed servants of
God would have to submit to death (
Re 11:7, 8), and this in Moses' case a
second time, which
Heb 9:27 denies. See on Zec
4:11, 12, on the two witnesses as answering to
"the two olive trees." The two olive trees are
channels of the oil feeding the Church, and symbols of
peace. The Holy Spirit is the oil in them. Christ's
witnesses, in remarkable times of the Church's history,
have generally appeared in pairs: as Moses and Aaron, the
inspired civil and religious authorities; Caleb and Joshua;
Ezekiel the priest and Daniel the prophet; Zerubbabel and
Joshua.
in sackcloth--the garment of prophets,
especially when calling people to mortification of their
sins, and to repentance. Their very exterior aspect
accorded with their teachings: so Elijah, and John who came
in His spirit and power. The sackcloth of the
witnesses is a catch word linking this episode under the
sixth trumpet, with the sun black as sackcloth (in
righteous retribution on the apostates who rejected
God's witnesses) under the sixth seal (
Re 6:12).
4. standing before the God of the earth--A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read "Lord" for "God": so Zec 4:14. Ministering to ( Lu 1:19), and as in the sight of Him, who, though now so widely disowned on "earth," is its rightful King, and shall at last be openly recognized as such ( Re 11:15). The phrase alludes to Zec 4:10, 14, "the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." The article "the" marks this allusion. They are "the two candlesticks," not that they are the Church, the one candlestick, but as its representative light-bearers (Greek, "phosteres," Php 2:15), and ministering for its encouragement in a time of apostasy. WORDSWORTH'S view is worth consideration, whether it may not constitute a secondary sense: the two witnesses, the olive trees, are THE TWO T ESTAMENTS ministering their testimony to the Church of the old dispensation, as well as to that of the new, which explains the two witnesses being called also the two candlesticks (the Old and New Testament churches; the candlestick in Zec 4:2 is but one as there was then but one Testament, and one Church, the Jewish). The Church in both dispensations has no light in herself, but derives it from the Spirit through the witness of the twofold word, the two olive trees: compare Note, see on Re 11:1, which is connected with this, the reed, the Scripture canon, being the measure of the Church: so PRIMASIUS [X, p. 314]: the two witnesses preach in sackcloth, marking the ignominious treatment which the word, like Christ Himself, receives from the world. So the twenty-four elders represent the ministers of the two dispensations by the double twelve. But Re 11:7 proves that primarily the two Testaments cannot be meant; for these shall never be "killed," and never "shall have finished their testimony" till the world is finished.
5. will hurt--Greek, "wishes," or
"desires to hurt them."
fire . . .
devoureth--(Compare
Jer 5:14; 23:29).
out of their mouth--not literally, but
God makes their inspired denunciations of judgment to come
to pass and devour their enemies.
if any man will hurt them--twice
repeated, to mark the immediate certainty of the
accomplishment.
in this manner--so in like manner as
he tries to hurt them (compare
Re 13:10). Retribution in kind.
6. These . . . power--Greek,
"authorized power."
it rain not--Greek,
"huetos brechee," "rain shower
not," literally, "moisten" not (the
earth).
smite . . . with all
plagues--Greek, "with (literally, 'in')
every plague."
7. finished their testimony--The same verb is used of
Paul's ending his ministry by a violent death.
the beast that ascended out of the
bottomless pit--Greek, "the wild beast
. . . the abyss." This beast was not
mentioned before, yet he is introduced as "the
beast," because he had already been described by
Daniel (
Da 7:3, 11), and he is fully so in the subsequent part
of the Apocalypse, namely,
Re 13:1; 17:8. Thus, John at once appropriates the Old
Testament prophecies; and also, viewing his whole subject
at a glance, mentions as familiar things (though not yet so
to the reader) objects to be described hereafter by
himself. It is a proof of the unity that pervades all
Scripture.
make war against them--alluding to
Da 7:21, where the same is said of the little
horn that sprang up among the ten horns on the fourth
beast.
8. dead bodies--So Vulgate, Syriac, and ANDREAS. But
A, B, C, the oldest manuscripts, and Coptic read the
singular, "dead body." The two fallen in one
cause are considered as one.
the great city--eight times in
the Revelation elsewhere used of BABYLON (
Re 14:8; 16:19; 17:18; 18:10, 16, 18, 19, 21). In
Re 21:10 (English Version as to the new
Jerusalem), the oldest manuscripts omit "the
great" before city, so that it forms no
exception. It must, therefore, have an anticipatory
reference to the mystical Babylon.
which--Greek, "the
which," namely, "the city
which."
spiritually--in a spiritual
sense.
Sodom--The very term applied by
Isa 1:10 to apostate Jerusalem (compare
Eze 16:48).
Egypt--the nation which the Jews'
besetting sin was to lean upon.
where . . . Lord was
crucified--This identifies the city as Jerusalem, though
the Lord was crucified outside of the city. EUSEBIUS
mentions that the scene of Christ's crucifixion was
enclosed within the city by Constantine; so it will be
probably at the time of the slaying of the witnesses.
"The beast [for example, Napoleon and France's
efforts] has been long struggling for a footing in
Palestine; after his ascent from the bottomless pit he
struggles much more" [BENGEL]. Some one of the
Napoleonic dynasty may obtain that footing, and even be
regarded as Messiah by the Jews, in virtue of his restoring
them to their own land; and so may prove to be the last
Antichrist. The difficulty is, how can Jerusalem be called
"the great city," that is, Babylon? By her
becoming the world's capital of idolatrous apostasy,
such as Babylon originally was, and then Rome has been;
just as she is here called also "Sodom and
Egypt."
also our--A, B, C, ORIGEN, ANDREAS,
and others read, "also their." Where
their Lord, also, as well as they, was slain. Compare
Re 18:24, where the blood of ALL slain on
earth is said to be found IN B ABYLON, just as in
Mt 23:35, Jesus saith that, "upon the Jews and
JERUSALEM" (Compare
Mt 23:37, 38) shall "come ALL the righteous blood
shed upon earth"; whence it follows Jerusalem shall be
the last capital of the world apostasy, and so receive the
last and worst visitation of all the judgments ever
inflicted on the apostate world, the earnest of which was
given in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. In the wider
sense, in the Church-historical period, the Church being
the sanctuary, all outside of it is the world, the great
city, wherein all the martyrdoms of saints have taken
place. Babylon marks its idolatry, Egypt its
tyranny, Sodom its desperate corruption,
Jerusalem its pretensions to sanctity on the ground of
spiritual privileges, while all the while it is the
murderer of Christ in the person of His members. All which
is true of Rome. So V ITRINGA. But in the more definite
sense, Jerusalem is regarded, even in Hebrews (
Heb 13:12-14), as the world city which believers were
then to go forth from, in order to "seek one to
come."
9. they--rather, "(some) of the
peoples."
people--Greek,
"peoples."
kindreds--Greek,
"tribes"; all save the elect (whence it is not
said, The peoples . . . but [some] of
the peoples . . . , or, some of the
peoples . . . may refer to those of the
nations . . ., who at the time shall hold
possession of Palestine and Jerusalem).
shall see--So Vulgate, Syriac,
and Coptic. But A, B, C, and ANDREAS, the present,
"see," or rather (Greek,
"blepousin"), "look upon." The
prophetic present.
dead bodies--So Vulgate,
Syriac, and ANDREAS. But A, B, C, and Coptic,
singular, as in
Re 11:8, "dead body." Three and a half days
answer to the three and a half years (see on Re 11:2, 3), the half of seven, the full and
perfect number.
shall not suffer--so B, Syriac,
Coptic, and ANDREAS. But A, C, and Vulgate read,
"do not suffer."
in graves--so Vulgate and
PRIMASIUS. But B, C, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS,
singular; translate, "into a sepulchre,"
literally, "a monument." Accordingly, in
righteous retribution in kind, the flesh of the
Antichristian hosts is not buried, but given to all the
fowls in mid-heaven to eat (
Re 19:17, 18, 21).
10. they that dwell upon . . . earth--those who
belong to the earth, as its citizens, not to heaven (
Re 3:10; 8:13; 12:12; 13:8).
shall--so Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic. But A, B, and C read the present
tense; compare Note, see on Re
11:9, on "shall not suffer."
rejoice over them--The
Antichristianity of the last days shall probably be under
the name of philosophical enlightenment and civilization,
but really man's deification of himself. Fanaticism
shall lead Antichrist's followers to exult in having at
last seemingly silenced in death their Christian rebukers.
Like her Lord, the Church will have her dark passion week
followed by the bright resurrection morn. It is a curious
historical coincidence that, at the fifth Lateran Council,
May 5, 1514, no witness (not even the Moravians who were
summoned) testified for the truth, as HUSS and JEROME did
at Constance; an orator ascended the tribunal before the
representatives of papal Christendom, and said, "There
is no reclaimant, no opponent." LUTHER, on October 31,
1517, exactly three and a half years afterwards, posted up
his famous theses on the church at Wittenberg. The
objection is, the years are years of three hundred
sixty-five, not three hundred sixty, days, and so two and a
half days are deficient; but still the coincidence is
curious; and if this prophecy be allowed other fulfilments,
besides the final and literal one under the last
Antichrist, this may reasonably be regarded as one.
send gifts one to another--as was
usual at a joyous festival.
tormented them--namely, with the
plagues which they had power to inflict (
Re 11:5, 6); also, by their testimony against the
earthly.
11. Translate as Greek, "After the three
days and an half."
the Spirit of life--the same which
breathed life into Israel's dry bones,
Eze 37:10, 11 (see on Eze
37:10, 11), "Breath came into them."
The passage here, as there, is closely connected with
Israel's restoration as a nation to political and
religious life. Compare also concerning the same,
Ho 6:2, where Ephraim says, "After two days will
He revive us; in the third day He will raise
us up, and we shall live in His
sight."
into--so B and Vulgate. But A
reads (Greek, "en autois"),
"(so as to be) IN them."
stood upon their feet--the very words
in
Eze 37:10, which proves the allusion to be to
Israel's resurrection, in contrast to "the
times of the Gentiles" wherein these "tread under
foot the holy city."
great fear--such as fell on the
soldiers guarding Christ's tomb at His resurrection (
Mt 28:4), when also there was a great earthquake (
Re 11:2).
saw--Greek, "beheld."
12. they--so A, C, and Vulgate. But B, Coptic,
Syriac, and ANDREAS read, "I heard."
a cloud--Greek, "the
cloud"; which may be merely the generic expression for
what we are familiar with, as we say "the
clouds." But I prefer taking the article as definitely
alluding to THE cloud which received Jesus at His
ascension,
Ac 1:9 (where there is no article, as there is no
allusion to a previous cloud, such as there is here). As
they resembled Him in their three and a half years'
witnessing, their three and a half days lying in death
(though not for exactly the same time, nor put in a tomb as
He was), so also in their ascension is the translation and
transfiguration of the sealed of Israel (
Re 7:1-8), and the elect of all nations, caught up out
of the reach of the Antichristian foe. In
Re 14:14-16, He is represented as sitting on a white
cloud.
their enemies beheld them--and were
thus openly convicted by God for their unbelief and
persecution of His servants; unlike Elijah's ascension
formerly, in the sight of friends only. The Church caught
up to meet the Lord in the air, and transfigured in body,
is justified by her Lord before the world, even as the
man-child (Jesus) was "caught up unto God and His
throne" from before the dragon standing ready to
devour the woman's child as soon as born.
13. "In that same hour"; literally, "the
hour."
great earthquake--answering to the
"great earthquake" under the sixth seal, just at
the approach of the Lord (
Re 6:12). Christ was delivered unto His enemies on the
fifth day of the week, and on the sixth was
crucified, and on the sabbath rested; so it is under the
sixth seal and sixth trumpet that the last suffering of the
Church, begun under the fifth seal and trumpet, is to be
consummated, before she enters on her seventh day of
eternal sabbath. Six is the number of the world
power's greatest triumph, but at the same time verges
on seven, the divine number, when its utter
destruction takes place. Compare "666" in
Re 13:18, "the number of the beast."
tenth part of the city fell--that is,
of "the great city" (
Re 16:19; Zec 14:2). Ten is the number of the world
kingdoms (
Re 17:10-12), and the beast's horns (
Re 13:1), and the dragon's (
Re 12:3). Thus, in the Church-historical view, it is
hereby implied that one of the ten apostate world kingdoms
fall. But in the narrower view a tenth of Jerusalem under
Antichrist falls. The nine-tenths remain and become when
purified the center of Christ's earthly kingdom.
of men--Greek, "names of
men." The men are as accurately enumerated as if their
names were given.
seven thousand--ELLIOTT interprets
seven chiliads or provinces, that is, the seven Dutch
United Provinces lost to the papacy; and "names of
men," titles of dignity, duchies, lordships, &c.
Rather, seven thousand combine the two mystical
perfect and comprehensive numbers seven and
thousand, implying the full and complete
destruction of the impenitent.
the remnant--consisting of the
Israelite inhabitants not slain. Their conversion forms a
blessed contrast to
Re 16:9; and above,
Re 9:20, 21. These repenting (
Zec 12:10-14; 13:1), become in the flesh the loyal
subjects of Christ reigning over the earth with His
transfigured saints.
gave glory to the God of heaven--which
while apostates, and worshipping the beast's image,
they had not done.
God of heaven--The apostates of the
last days, in pretended scientific enlightenment, recognize
no heavenly power, but only the natural forces in
the earth which come under their observation. His receiving
up into heaven the two witnesses who had
power during their time on earth to shut heaven
from raining (
Re 11:6), constrained His and their enemies who
witnessed it, to acknowledge the God of heaven, to
be God of the earth (
Re 11:4). As in
Re 11:4 He declared Himself to be God of the
earth by His two witnesses, so now He proves Himself to
be God of heaven also.
14. The second woe--that under the sixth trumpet (
Re 9:12-21), including also the prophecy,
Re 11:1-13: Woe to the world, joy to the faithful, as
their redemption draweth nigh.
the third woe cometh quickly--It is
not mentioned in detail for the present, until first there
is given a sketch of the history of the origination,
suffering, and faithfulness of the Church in a time of
apostasy and persecution. Instead of the third woe being
detailed, the grand consummation is summarily noticed, the
thanksgiving of the twenty-four elders in heaven for the
establishment of Christ's kingdom on earth,
attended with the destruction of the destroyers of the
earth.
15. sounded--with his trumpet. Evidently "the LAST
trumpet." Six is close to seven, but
does not reach it. The world judgments are complete in
six, but by the fulfilment of seven the world
kingdoms become Christ's. Six is the number of the
world given over to judgment. It is half of twelve,
the Church's number, as three and a half is half of
seven, the divine number for completeness. BENGEL thinks
the angel here to have been Gabriel, which name is
compounded of El, G OD, and Geber, MIGHTY MAN
(
Re 10:1). Gabriel therefore appropriately announced to
Mary the advent of the mighty God-man: compare the
account of the man-child's birth which follows
(
Re 12:1-6), to which this forms the transition though
the seventh trumpet in time is subsequent, being the
consummation of the historical episode, the twelfth and
thirteen chapters. The seventh trumpet, like the seventh
seal and seventh vial, being the consummation, is
accompanied differently from the preceding six: not the
consequences which follow on earth, but those IN HEAVEN,
are set before us, the great voices and thanksgiving of
the twenty-four elders in heaven, as the half-hour's
silence in heaven at the seventh seal, and the voice
out of the temple in heaven, "It is
done," at the seventh vial. This is parallel to
Da 2:44, "The God of heaven shall set up a
kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the
kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall
break to pieces all these kingdoms, and it shall
stand for ever." It is the setting up of
Heaven's sovereignty over the earth visibly, which,
when invisibly exercised, was rejected by the earthly
rulers heretofore. The distinction of worldly and spiritual
shall then cease. There will be no beast in opposition to
the woman. Poetry, art, science, and social life will be at
once worldly and Christian.
kingdoms--A, B, C, and Vulgate
read the singular, "The kingdom (sovereignty)
of (over) the world is our Lord's and His
Christ's." There is no good authority for
English Version reading. The kingdoms of the
world give way to the kingdom of (over) the
world exercised by Christ. The earth-kingdoms are many:
His shall be one. The appellation
"Christ," the Anointed, is here, where His
kingdom is mentioned appropriately for the first
time used in Revelation. For it is equivalent to KING.
Though priests and prophets also were anointed, yet
this term is peculiarly applied to Him as King, insomuch
that "the Lord's anointed" is His title as
KING, in places where He is distinguished from the priests.
The glorified Son of man shall rule mankind by His
transfigured Church in heaven, and by His people Israel on
earth: Israel shall be the priestly mediator of blessings
to the whole world, realizing them first.
he--not emphatic in the
Greek.
shall reign for ever and
ever--Greek, "unto the ages of the ages."
Here begins the millennial reign, the consummation of
"the mystery of God" (
Re 10:7).
16. before God--B and Syriac read, "before
the throne of God." But A, C, Vulgate, and
Coptic read as English Version.
seats--Greek,
"thrones."
17. thanks--for the answer to our prayers (
Re 6:10, 11) in destroying them which destroy the
earth (
Re 11:18), thereby preparing the way for setting up the
kingdom of Thyself and Thy saints.
and art to come--omitted in A, B, C,
Vulgate, Syriac, CYPRIAN, and ANDREAS. The
consummation having actually come, they do not address Him
as they did when it was still future, "Thou that art
to come." Compare
Re 11:18, "is come." From the sounding of the
seventh trumpet He is to His people JAH, the ever present
Lord, WHO IS, more peculiarly than JEHOVAH "who is,
was, and is to come."
taken to thee thy great
power--"to Thee" is not in the Greek.
Christ takes to Him the kingdom as His own of
right.
18. the nations were angry--alluding to
Ps 99:1, Septuagint, "The Lord is become
King: let the peoples become angry." Their
anger is combined with alarm (
Ex 15:14; 2Ki 19:28, "thy rage against Me
is come up into Mine ears, I will put My hook in thy
nose," &c.). Translate, as the Greek is the
same. "The nations were angered, and Thy
anger is come." How petty man's impotent
anger, standing here side by side with that of the
omnipotent God!
dead . . . be
judged--proving that this seventh trumpet is at the end of
all things, when the judgment on Christ's foes and the
reward of His saints, long prayed for by His saints, shall
take place.
the prophets--as, for instance, the
two prophesying witnesses (
Re 11:3), and those who have showed them kindness for
Christ's sake. Jesus shall come to effect by His
presence that which we have looked for long, but vainly, in
His absence, and by other means.
destroy them which destroy the
earth--Retribution in kind (compare
Re 16:6; Lu 19:27). See on
Da 7:14-18.
19. A similar solemn conclusion to that of the seventh
seal,
Re 8:5, and to that of the seventh vial,
Re 16:18. Thus, it appears, the seven seals, the seven
trumpets, and the seven vials, are not consecutive, but
parallel, and ending in the same consummation. They present
the unfolding of God's plans for bringing about the
grand end under three different aspects, mutually
complementing each other.
the temple--the sanctuary or Holy
place (Greek, "naos"), not the
whole temple (Greek,
"hieron").
opened in heaven--A and C read the
article, "the temple of God "which is" in
heaven, was opened."
the ark of his testament--or
". . . His covenant." As in the
first verse the earthly sanctuary was measured, so
here its heavenly antitype is laid open, and the antitype
above to the ark of the covenant in the Holiest
Place below is seen, the pledge of God's faithfulness
to His covenant in saving His people and punishing their
and His enemies. Thus this forms a fit close to the series
of trumpet judgments and an introduction to the episode
(the twelfth and thirteen chapters) as to His faithfulness
to His Church. Here first His secret place, the heavenly
sanctuary, is opened for the assurance of His people; and
thence proceed His judgments in their behalf (
Re 14:15, 17; 15:5; 16:17), which the great company in
heaven laud as "true and righteous." This then is
parallel to the scene at the heavenly altar, at the close
of the seals and opening of the trumpets (
Re 8:3), and at the close of the episode (the twelfth
through fifteenth chapters) and opening of the vials (
Re 15:7, 8). See on Re 12:1, note
at the opening of the chapter.
Re 12:1-17. VISION OF THE WOMAN, HER CHILD, AND THE PERSECUTING DRAGON.
1. This episode (
Re 12:1-15:8) describes in detail the
persecution of Israel and the elect Church by the beast,
which had been summarily noticed,
Re 11:7-10, and the triumph of the faithful, and
torment of the unfaithful. So also the sixteenth through
twentieth chapters are the description in detail of the
judgment on the beast, &c., summarily noticed in
Re 11:13, 18. The beast in
Re 12:3, &c., is shown not to be alone, but to be
the instrument in the hand of a greater power of darkness,
Satan. That this is so, appears from the time of the
eleventh chapter being the period also in which the events
of the twelfth and thirteenth chapters take place, namely,
1260 days (
Re 12:6, 14; Re 13:5; compare
Re 11:2, 3).
great--in size and significance.
wonder--Greek,
"sign": significant of momentous truths.
in heaven--not merely the sky, but the
heaven beyond just mentioned,
Re 11:19; compare
Re 12:7-9.
woman clothed with the sun
. . . moon under her feet--the Church, Israel
first, and then the Gentile Church; clothed with Christ,
"the Sun of righteousness." "Fair as the
moon, clear as the sun." Clothed with the Sun, the
Church is the bearer of divine supernatural light in the
world. So the seven churches (that is, the Church
universal, the woman) are represented as light-bearing
candlesticks (
Re 1:12, 20). On the other hand, the moon,
though standing above the sea and earth, is altogether
connected with them and is an earthly light: sea,
earth, and moon represent the worldly element,
in opposition to the kingdom of God--heaven, the sun. The
moon cannot disperse the darkness and change it into-day:
thus she represents the world religion (heathenism) in
relation to the supernatural world. The Church has the
moon, therefore, under her feet; but the stars, as heavenly
lights, on her head. The devil directs his efforts against
the stars, the angels of the churches, about hereafter to
shine for ever. The twelve stars, the crown around her
head, are the twelve tribes of Israel [AUBERLEN]. The
allusions to Israel before accord with this: compare
Re 11:19, "the temple of God"; "the ark
of His testament." The ark lost at the Babylonian
captivity, and never since found, is seen in the
"temple of God opened in heaven," signifying that
God now enters again into covenant with His ancient people.
The woman cannot mean, literally, the virgin mother of
Jesus, for she did not flee into the wilderness and stay
there for 1260 days, while the dragon persecuted the
remnant of her seed (
Re 12:13-17) [DE BURGH]. The sun, moon, and
twelve stars, are emblematical of Jacob, Leah, or else
Rachel, and the twelve patriarchs, that is, the Jewish
Church: secondarily, the Church universal, having under
her feet, in due subordination, the ever changing moon,
which shines with a borrowed light, emblem of the Jewish
dispensation, which is now in a position of
inferiority, though supporting the woman, and also of the
changeful things of this world, and having on her head the
crown of twelve stars, the twelve apostles, who, however,
are related closely to Israel's twelve tribes. The
Church, in passing over into the Gentile world, is (1)
persecuted; (2) then seduced, as heathenism begins to react
on her. This is the key to the meaning of the symbolic
woman, beast, harlot, and false prophet. Woman and
beast form the same contrast as the Son of
man and the beasts in Daniel. As the Son of man
comes from heaven, so the woman is seen in
heaven (
Re 12:1). The two beasts arise respectively out of
the sea (compare
Da 7:3) and the earth (
Re 13:1, 11): their origin is not of heaven, but of
earth earthy. Daniel beholds the heavenly Bridegroom coming
visibly to reign. John sees the woman, the Bride, whose
calling is heavenly, in the world, before the Lord's
coming again. The characteristic of woman, in
contradistinction to man, is her being subject, the
surrendering of herself, her being receptive. This
similarly is man's relation to God, to be subject to,
and receive from, God. All autonomy of the human spirit
reverses man's relation to God. Woman-like receptivity
towards God constitutes faith. By it the
individual becomes a child of God; the children
collectively are viewed as "the woman."
Humanity, in so far as it belongs to God, is the
woman. Christ, the Son of the woman, is in
Re 12:5 emphatically called "the MAN-child"
(Greek, "huios arrheen,"
"male-child"). Though born of a woman, and under
the law for man's sake, He is also the Son of God, and
so the HUSBAND of the Church. As Son of the woman, He is
"'Son of man"; as male-child, He is
Son of God, and Husband of the Church. All who imagine to
have life in themselves are severed from Him, the Source of
life, and, standing in their own strength, sink to the
level of senseless beasts. Thus, the woman
designates universally the kingdom of God; the beast, the
kingdom of the world. The woman of whom Jesus was born
represents the Old Testament congregation of God.
The woman's travail-pains (
Re 12:2) represent the Old Testament believers'
ardent longings for the promised Redeemer. Compare the joy
at His birth (
Isa 9:6). As new Jerusalem (called also "the
woman," or "wife,"
Re 21:2, 9-12), with its twelve gates, is the exalted
and transfigured Church, so the woman with the twelve stars
is the Church militant.
2. pained--Greek, "tormented" (basanizomene). DE BURGH explains this of the bringing in of the first-begotten into the world AGAIN, when Israel shall at last welcome Him, and when "the man-child shall rule all nations with the rod of iron." But there is a plain contrast between the painful travailing of the woman here, and Christ's second coming to the Jewish Church, the believing remnant of Israel, "Before she travailed she brought forth . . . a MAN-CHILD," that is, almost without travail-pangs, she receives (at His second advent), as if born to her, Messiah and a numerous seed.
3. appeared--"was seen."
wonder--Greek,
"semeion," "sign."
red--So A and Vulgate read. But
B, C, and Coptic read, "of fire." In
either case, the color of the dragon implies his
fiery rage as a murderer from the beginning. His
representative, the beast, corresponds, having
seven heads and ten horns (the number of horns on the
fourth beast of
Da 7:7; Re 13:1). But there, ten crowns are on
the ten horns (for before the end, the fourth empire
is divided into ten kingdoms); here, seven
crowns (rather, "diadems," Greek,
"diademata," not stephanoi,
"wreaths") are upon his seven heads. In
Da 7:4-7 the Antichristian powers up to Christ's
second coming are represented by four beasts, which have
among them seven heads, that is, the first, second,
and fourth beasts having one head each, the third,
four heads. His universal dominion as prince of this
fallen world is implied by the seven diadems
(contrast the "many diadems on Christ's
head,"
Re 19:12, when coming to destroy him and his), the
caricature of the seven Spirits of God. His worldly
instruments of power are marked by the ten horns,
ten being the number of the world. It marks his
self-contradictions that he and the beast bear both the
number seven (the divine number) and ten (the
world number).
4. drew--Greek, present tense, "draweth,"
"drags down." His dragging down the stars
with his tail (lashed back and forward in his fury)
implies his persuading to apostatize, like himself, and to
become earthy, those angels and also once eminent human
teachers who had formerly been heavenly (compare
Re 12:1; 1:20; Isa 14:12).
stood--"stands" [ALFORD]:
perfect tense, Greek,
"hesteken."
ready to be delivered--"about to
bring forth."
for to devour, &c.--"that
when she brought forth, he might devour her child." So
the dragon, represented by his agent Pharaoh (a name common
to all the Egyptian kings, and meaning, according to some,
crocodile, a reptile like the dragon, and made an
Egyptian idol), was ready to devour Israel's
males at the birth of the nation. Antitypically the
true Israel, Jesus, when born, was sought for destruction
by Herod, who slew all the males in and around
Bethlehem.
5. man-child--Greek, "a son, a male." On
the deep significance of this term, see on Re 12:1, 2.
rule--Greek,
"poimainein," "tend as a
shepherd"; (see on Re
2:27).
rod of iron--A rod is for
long-continued obstinacy until they submit themselves to
obedience [BENGEL]:
Re 2:27; Ps 2:9, which passages prove the Lord Jesus to
be meant. Any interpretation which ignores this must be
wrong. The male son's birth cannot be the origin
of the Christian state (Christianity triumphing over
heathenism under Constantine), which was not a divine child
of the woman, but had many impure worldly elements. In a
secondary sense, the ascending of the witnesses up to
heaven answers to Christ's own ascension,
"caught up unto God, and unto His throne": as
also His ruling the nations with a rod of iron is to be
shared in by believers (
Re 2:27). What took place primarily in the case of the
divine Son of the woman, shall take place also in the case
of those who are one with Him, the sealed of Israel (
Re 7:1-8), and the elect of all nations, about to be
translated and to reign with Him over the earth at His
appearing.
6. woman fled--Mary's flight with Jesus into Egypt is a
type of this.
where she hath--So C reads. But A and
B add "there."
a place--that portion of the heathen
world which has received Christianity professedly, namely,
mainly the fourth kingdom, having its seat in the modern
Babylon, Rome, implying that all the heathen world
would not be Christianized in the present order of
things.
prepared of God--literally,
"from God." Not by human caprice or fear,
but by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, the
woman, the Church, fled into the
wilderness.
they should feed her--Greek,
"nourish her." Indefinite for, "she should
be fed." The heathen world, the wilderness,
could not nourish the Church, but only afford her an
outward shelter. Here, as in
Da 4:26, and elsewhere, the third person plural refers
to the heavenly powers who minister from God
nourishment to the Church. As Israel had its time of
first bridal love, on its first going out of Egypt into the
wilderness, so the Christian Church's
wilderness-time of first love was the apostolic
age, when it was separate from the Egypt of this
world, having no city here, but seeking one to come; having
only a place in the wilderness prepared of God (
Re 12:6, 14). The harlot takes the world city as her
own, even as Cain was the first builder of a city,
whereas the believing patriarchs lived in tents.
Then apostate Israel was the harlot and the young Christian
Church the woman; but soon spiritual fornication crept in,
and the Church in the seventeenth chapter is no longer
the woman, but the harlot, the great
Babylon, which, however, has in it hidden the true
people of God (
Re 18:4). The deeper the Church penetrated into
heathendom, the more she herself became heathenish. Instead
of overcoming, she was overcome by the world [AUBERLEN].
Thus, the woman is "the one inseparable Church
of the Old and New Testament" [H ENGSTENBERG], the
stock of the Christian Church being Israel (Christ and His
apostles being Jews), on which the Gentile believers have
been grafted, and into which Israel, on her
conversion, shall be grafted, as into her own olive
tree. During the whole Church-historic period, or
"times of the Gentiles," wherein "Jerusalem
is trodden down of the Gentiles," there is no
believing Jewish Church, and therefore, only the Christian
Church can be "the woman." At the same time there
is meant, secondarily, the preservation of the Jews during
this Church-historic period, in order that Israel, who was
once "the woman," and of whom the
man-child was born, may become so again at the close of
the Gentile times, and stand at the head of the two
elections, literal Israel, and spiritual Israel, the Church
elected from Jews and Gentiles without distinction.
Eze 20:35, 36, "I will bring you into the
wilderness of the people (Hebrew,
'peoples'), and there will I plead with you
. . . like as I pleaded with your fathers in the
wilderness of Egypt" (compare Notes, see on Eze 20:35, 36): not a
wilderness literally and locally, but spiritually a
state of discipline and trial among the Gentile
"peoples," during the long Gentile times,
and one finally consummated in the last time of
unparalleled trouble under Antichrist, in which the sealed
remnant (
Re 7:1-8) who constitute "the woman," are
nevertheless preserved "from the face of the
serpent" (
Re 12:14).
thousand two hundred and threescore
days--anticipatory of
Re 12:14, where the persecution which caused her to
flee is mentioned in its place:
Re 13:11-18 gives the details of the persecution. It is
most unlikely that the transition should be made from the
birth of Christ to the last Antichrist, without notice of
the long intervening Church-historical period. Probably the
1260 days, or periods, representing this long interval, are
RECAPITULATED on a shorter scale analogically during the
last Antichrist's short reign. They are equivalent to
three and a half years, which, as half of the divine number
seven, symbolize the seeming victory of the world
over the Church. As they include the whole Gentile times
of Jerusalem's being trodden of the Gentiles, they
must be much longer than 1260 years; for, above several
centuries more than 1260 years have elapsed since Jerusalem
fell.
7. In
Job 1:6-11; 2:1-6, Satan appears among the sons of God,
presenting himself before God in heaven, as the accuser of
the saints: again in
Zec 3:1, 2. But at Christ's coming as our Redeemer,
he fell from heaven, especially when Christ
suffered, rose again, and ascended to heaven. When Christ
appeared before God as our Advocate, Satan, the accusing
adversary, could no longer appear before God against us,
but was cast out judicially (
Ro 8:33, 34). He and his angels henceforth range
through the air and the earth, after a time (namely, the
interval between the ascension and the second advent) about
to be cast hence also, and bound in hell. That
"heaven" here does not mean merely the air, but
the abode of angels, appears from
Re 12:9, 10, 12; 1Ki 22:19-22.
there was--Greek, "there
came to pass," or "arose."
war in heaven--What a seeming
contradiction in terms, yet true! Contrast the blessed
result of Christ's triumph,
Lu 19:38, "peace in heaven."
Col 1:20, "made peace through the blood of His
cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself;
whether . . . things in earth, or things in
heaven."
Michael and his angels . . .
the dragon . . . and his angels--It was fittingly
ordered that, as the rebellion arose from unfaithful angels
and their leader, so they should be encountered and
overcome by faithful angels and their archangel, in heaven.
On earth they are fittingly encountered, and shall be
overcome, as represented by the beast and false prophet, by
the Son of man and His armies of human saints (
Re 19:14-21). The conflict on earth, as in
Da 10:13, has its correspondent conflict of angels in
heaven. Michael is peculiarly the prince, or presiding
angel, of the Jewish nation. The conflict in heaven, though
judicially decided already against Satan from the time of
Christ's resurrection and ascension, receives its
actual completion in the execution of judgment by the
angels who cast out Satan from heaven. From Christ's
ascension he has no standing-ground judicially against the
believing elect.
Lu 10:18, "I beheld (in the earnest of the future
full fulfilment given in the subjection of the demons to
the disciples) Satan as lightning fall from heaven."
As Michael fought before with Satan about the body of the
mediator of the old covenant (
Jude 9), so now the mediator of the new covenant, by
offering His sinless body in sacrifice, arms Michael with
power to renew and finish the conflict by a complete
victory. That Satan is not yet actually and
finally cast out of heaven, though the judicial
sentence to that effect received its ratification at
Christ's ascension, appears from
Eph 6:12, "spiritual wickedness in high
(Greek, 'heavenly') places."
This is the primary Church-historical sense here. But,
through Israel's unbelief, Satan has had ground against
that, the elect nation, appearing before God as its
accuser. At the eve of its restoration, in the ulterior
sense, his standing-ground in heaven against Israel, too,
shall be taken from him, "the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem" rebuking him, and casting him out
from heaven actually and for ever by Michael, the prince,
or presiding angel of the Jews. Thus
Zec 3:1-9 is strictly parallel, Joshua, the high
priest, being representative of his nation Israel, and
Satan standing at God's fight hand as adversary to
resist Israel's justification. Then, and not till then,
fully (
Re 12:10, "NOW," &c.) shall ALL things
be reconciled unto Christ IN HEAVEN (
Col 1:20), and there shall be peace in heaven
(
Lu 19:38).
against--A, B, and C read,
"with."
8. prevailed not--A and Coptic read, "He
prevailed not." But B and C read as English
Version.
neither--A, B, and C read, "not
even" (Greek, "oude"): a
climax. Not only did they not prevail, but not even
their place was found any more in heaven. There are
four gradations in the ever deeper downfall of Satan: (1)
He is deprived of his heavenly excellency, though having
still access to heaven as man's accuser, up to
Christ's first coming. As heaven was not fully yet
opened to man (
Joh 3:13), so it was not yet shut against Satan and his
demons. The Old Testament dispensation could not overcome
him. (2) From Christ, down to the millennium, he is
judicially cast out of heaven as the accuser of the elect,
and shortly before the millennium loses his power against
Israel, and has sentence of expulsion fully executed on him
and his by Michael. His rage on earth is consequently the
greater, his power being concentrated on it, especially
towards the end, when "he knoweth that he hath but a
short time" (
Re 12:12). (3) He is bound during the millennium (
Re 20:1-3). (4) After having been loosed for a while,
he is cast for ever into the lake of fire.
9. that old serpent--alluding to
Ge 3:1, 4.
Devil--the Greek, for
"accuser," or "slanderer."
Satan--the Hebrew for
"adversary," especially in a court of justice.
The twofold designation, Greek and Hebrew,
marks the twofold objects of his accusations and
temptations, the elect Gentiles and the elect Jews.
world--Greek, "habitable
world."
10. Now--Now that Satan has been cast out of heaven.
Primarily fulfilled in part at Jesus' resurrection and
ascension, when He said (
Mt 28:18), "All power [Greek,
'exousia,' 'authority,' as here; see
below] is given unto Me in heaven and in earth";
connected with
Re 12:5, "Her child was caught up unto God and
to His throne." In the ulterior sense, it refers
to the eve of Christ's second coming, when Israel is
about to be restored as mother-church of Christendom,
Satan, who had resisted her restoration on the ground of
her unworthiness, having been cast out by the
instrumentality of Michael, Israel's angelic
prince (see on Re 12:7). Thus
this is parallel, and the necessary preliminary to the
glorious event similarly expressed,
Re 11:15, "The kingdom of this world is become
(the very word here, Greek,
'egeneto,' 'is come,' 'hath come
to pass') our Lord's and His Christ's,"
the result of Israel's resuming her place.
salvation, &c.--Greek,
"the salvation (namely, fully, finally, and
victoriously accomplished,
Heb 9:28; compare
Lu 3:6, yet future; hence, not till now do the
blessed raise the fullest hallelujah for salvation
to the Lamb,
Re 7:10; 19:1) the power (Greek,
'dunamis'), and the authority (Greek,
'exousia'; 'legitimate
power'; see above) of His
Christ."
accused them before our God day and
night--Hence the need that the oppressed Church,
God's own elect (like the widow, continually
coming, so as even to weary the unjust judge),
should cry day and night unto Him.
11. they--emphatic in the Greek. "They" in
particular. They and they alone. They were the persons who
overcame.
overcame-- (
Ro 8:33, 34, 37; 16:20).
him-- (
1Jo 2:14, 15). It is the same victory (a
peculiarly Johannean phrase) over Satan and the world which
the Gospel of John describes in the life of Jesus, his
Epistle in the life of each believer, and his Apocalypse in
the life of the Church.
by, &c.--Greek (dia to
haima; accusative, not genitive case, as English
Version would require, compare
Heb 9:12), "on account of (on the ground
of) the blood of the Lamb"; "because of"; on
account of and by virtue of its having been shed. Had that
blood not been shed, Satan's accusations would have
been unanswerable; as it is, that blood meets every charge.
S CHOTTGEN mentions the Rabbinical tradition that Satan
accuses men all days of the year, except the day of
atonement. T ITTMANN takes the Greek
"dia," as it often means, out of
regard to the blood of the Lamb; this was the impelling
cause which induced them to undertake the contest
for the sake of it; but the view given above is good
Greek, and more in accordance with the general sense
of Scripture.
by the word of their
testimony--Greek, "on account of the word of
their testimony." On the ground of their faithful
testimony, even unto death, they are constituted victors.
Their testimony evinced their victory over him by virtue of
the blood of the Lamb. Hereby they confess themselves
worshippers of the slain Lamb and overcome the beast,
Satan's representative; an anticipation of
Re 15:2, "them that had gotten the victory over
the beast" (compare
Re 13:15, 16).
unto--Greek,
"achri," "even as far as." They
carried their not-love of life as far as even unto
death.
12. Therefore--because Satan is cast out of heaven (
Re 12:9).
dwell--literally,
"tabernacle." Not only angels and the souls of
the just with God, but also the faithful militant on earth,
who already in spirit tabernacle in heaven, having their
home and citizenship there, rejoice that Satan is
cast out of their home. "Tabernacle" for
dwell is used to mark that, though still on the earth,
they in spirit are hidden "in the secret of God's
tabernacle." They belong not to the world, and,
therefore, exult in judgment having been passed on the
prince of this world.
the inhabiters of--So ANDREAS reads.
But A, B, and C omit. The words probably, were inserted
from
Re 8:13.
is come down--rather as Greek,
"catebee," "is gone
down"; John regarding the heaven as his standing-point
of view whence he looks down on the earth.
unto you--earth and sea, with
their inhabitants; those who lean upon, and essentially
belong to, the earth (contrast
Joh 3:7, Margin, with
Joh 3:31; 8:23; 1Jo+4:5">Php 3:19, end; 1Jo
4:5) and its sea-like troubled politics. Furious
at his expulsion from heaven, and knowing that his time on
earth is short until he shall be cast down lower, when
Christ shall come to set up His kingdom (
Re 20:1, 2), Satan concentrates all his power to
destroy as many souls as he can. Though no longer able to
accuse the elect in heaven, he can tempt and persecute on
earth. The more light becomes victorious, the greater will
be the struggles of the powers of darkness; whence, at the
last crisis, Antichrist will manifest himself with an
intensity of iniquity greater than ever before.
short time--Greek,
"kairon," "season":
opportunity for his assaults.
13. Resuming from Re 12:6 the thread of the discourse, which had been interrupted by the episode, Re 12:7-12 (giving in the invisible world the ground of the corresponding conflict between light and darkness in the visible world), this verse accounts for her flight into the wilderness ( Re 12:6).
14. were given--by God's determinate appointment, not
by human chances (
Ac 9:11).
two--Greek, "the
two wings of the great eagle." Alluding to
Ex 19:4: proving that the Old Testament Church, as well
as the New Testament Church, is included in "the
woman." All believers are included (
Isa 40:30, 31). The great eagle is the world
power; in
Eze 17:3, 7, Babylon and Egypt: in early
Church history, Rome, whose standard was the
eagle, turned by God's providence from being
hostile into a protector of the Christian Church. As
"wings" express remote parts of the earth, the
two wings may here mean the east and west divisions
of the Roman empire.
wilderness--the land of the heathen,
the Gentiles: in contrast to Canaan, the pleasant
and glorious land. God dwells in the glorious land;
demons (the rulers of the heathen world,
Re 9:20; 1Co 10:20), in the wilderness. Hence Babylon
is called the desert of the sea,
Isa 21:1-10 (referred to also in
Re 14:8; 18:2). Heathendom, in its essential nature,
being without God, is a desolate wilderness. Thus,
the woman's flight into the wilderness is the passing
of the kingdom of God from the Jews to be among the
Gentiles (typified by Mary's flight with her child from
Judea into Egypt). The eagle flight is from Egypt into the
wilderness. The Egypt meant is virtually stated (
Re 11:8) to be Jerusalem, which has become spiritually
so by crucifying our Lord. Out of her the New
Testament Church flees, as the Old Testament Church out of
the literal Egypt; and as the true Church subsequently is
called to flee out of Babylon (the woman become an harlot,
that is, the Church become apostate) [A UBERLEN].
her place--the chief seat of the then
world empire, Rome. The Acts of the Apostles describe the
passing of the Church from Jerusalem to Rome. The Roman
protection was the eagle wing which often shielded Paul,
the great instrument of this transmigration, and
Christianity, from Jewish opponents who stirred up the
heathen mobs. By degrees the Church had "her
place" more and more secure, until, under Constantine,
the empire became Christian. Still, all this
Church-historical period is regarded as a wilderness time,
wherein the Church is in part protected, in part oppressed,
by the world power, until just before the end the enmity of
the world power under Satan shall break out against the
Church worse than ever. As Israel was in the wilderness
forty years, and had forty-two stages in her journey, so
the Church for forty-two months, three and a half
years or times [literally, seasons, used for
years in Hellenistic Greek (MOERIS, the
Atticist), Greek, "kairous,"
Da 7:25; 12:7], or 1260 days (
Re 12:6) between the overthrow of Jerusalem and the
coming again of Christ, shall be a wilderness sojourner
before she reaches her millennial rest (answering to Canaan
of old). It is possible that, besides this
Church-historical fulfilment, there may be also an ulterior
and narrower fulfilment in the restoration of Israel to
Palestine, Antichrist for seven times (short periods
analogical to the longer ones) having power there, for the
former three and a half times keeping covenant with the
Jews, then breaking it in the midst of the week, and the
mass of the nation fleeing by a second Exodus into the
wilderness, while a remnant remains in the land
exposed to a fearful persecution (the "144,000 sealed
of Israel,"
Re 7:1-8; 14:1, standing with the Lamb, after
the conflict is over, on Mount Zion: "the
first-fruits" of a large company to be gathered to
Him) [DE BURGH]. These details are very conjectural.
In
Da 7:25; 12:7, the subject, as perhaps here, is the
time of Israel's calamity. That seven times do not
necessarily mean seven years, in which each day is a year,
that is, 2520 years, appears from Nebuchadnezzar's
seven times (
Da 4:23), answering to Antichrist, the beast's
duration.
15, 16. flood--Greek, "river" (compare Ex 2:3; Mt 2:20; and especially Ex 14:1-31). The flood, or river, is the stream of Germanic tribes which, pouring on Rome, threatened to destroy Christianity. But the earth helped the woman, by swallowing up the flood. The earth, as contradistinguished from water, is the world consolidated and civilized. The German masses were brought under the influence of Roman civilization and Christianity [AUBERLEN]. Perhaps it includes also, generally, the help given by earthly powers (those least likely, yet led by God's overruling providence to give help) to the Church against persecutions and also heresies, by which she has been at various times assailed.
17. wroth with--Greek, "at."
went--Greek, "went
away."
the remnant of her seed--distinct in
some sense from the woman herself. Satan's first effort
was to root out the Christian Church, so that there should
be no visible profession of Christianity. Foiled in this,
he wars (
Re 11:7; 13:7) against the invisible Church, namely,
"those who keep the commandments of God, and have the
testimony of Jesus" (A, B, and C omit
"Christ"). These are "the remnant," or
rest of her seed, as distinguished from her seed,
"the man-child" (
Re 12:5), on one hand, and from mere professors on the
other. The Church, in her beauty and unity (Israel at the
head of Christendom, the whole forming one perfect Church),
is now not manifested, but awaiting the manifestations
of the sons of God at Christ's coming. Unable to
destroy Christianity and the Church as a whole, Satan
directs his enmity against true Christians, the elect
remnant: the others he leaves unmolested.
Re 13:1-18. VISION OF THE BEAST THAT CAME OUT OF THE SEA: THE SECOND BEAST, OUT OF THE EARTH, EXERCISING THE POWER OF THE FIRST BEAST, AND CAUSING THE EARTH TO WORSHIP HIM.
1. I stood--So B, Aleph, and Coptic read. But
A, C, Vulgate, and Syriac, "He
stood." Standing on the sand of the sea, HE
gave his power to the beast that rose out of the
sea.
upon the sand of the sea--where the
four winds were to be seen striving upon the great
sea (
Da 7:2).
beast--Greek, "wild
beast." Man becomes "brutish" when he severs
himself from God, the archetype and true ideal, in whose
image he was first made, which ideal is realized by the man
Christ Jesus. Hence, the world powers seeking their own
glory, and not God's, are represented as beasts;
and Nebuchadnezzar, when in self-deification he forgot that
"the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men," was
driven among the beasts. In
Da 7:4-7 there are four beasts: here the
one beast expresses the sum-total of the God-opposed
world power viewed in its universal development, not
restricted to one manifestation alone, as Rome. This first
beast expresses the world power attacking the Church more
from without; the second, which is a revival of, and
minister to, the first, is the world power as the false
prophet corrupting and destroying the Church from
within.
out of the sea-- (
Da 7:3; compare Note, see on Re
8:8); out of the troubled waves of peoples,
multitudes, nations, and tongues. The earth (
Re 13:11), on the other hand, means the consolidated,
ordered world of nations, with its culture and
learning.
seven heads and ten horns--A, B, and C
transpose, "ten horns and seven heads." The ten
horns are now put first (contrast the order,
Re 12:3) because they are crowned. They shall not be so
till the last stage of the fourth kingdom (the Roman),
which shall continue until the fifth kingdom, Christ's,
shall supplant it and destroy it utterly; this last stage
is marked by the ten toes of the two feet of the
image in
Da 2:33, 41, 42. The seven implies the world
power setting up itself as God, and caricaturing the
seven Spirits of God; yet its true character as
God-opposed is detected by the number ten
accompanying the seven. Dragon and beast both wear crowns,
but the former on the heads, the latter on the horns (
Re 12:3; 13:1). Therefore, both heads and horns refer
to kingdoms; compare
Re 17:7, 10, 12, "kings" representing the
kingdoms whose heads they are. The seven kings, as
peculiarly powerful--the great powers of the world--are
distinguished from the ten, represented by the horns
(simply called "kings,"
Re 17:12). In Daniel, the ten mean the last
phase of the world power, the fourth kingdom divided into
ten parts. They are connected with the seventh
head (
Re 17:12), and are as yet future [AUBERLEN]. The
mistake of those who interpret the beast to be Rome
exclusively, and the ten horns to mean kingdoms
which have taken the place of Rome in Europe already, is,
the fourth kingdom in the image has TWO legs, representing
the eastern as well as the western empire; the ten toes are
not upon the one foot (the west), as these interpretations
require, but on the two (east and west) together, so that
any theory which makes the ten kingdoms belong to the west
alone must err. If the ten kingdoms meant were those which
sprung up on the overthrow of Rome, the ten would be
accurately known, whereas twenty-eight different lists are
given by so many interpreters, making in all sixty-five
kingdoms! [TYSO in D E BURGH]. The seven heads are the
seven world monarchies, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia,
Greece, Rome, the Germanic empire, under the last of which
we live [A UBERLEN], and which devolved for a time on
Napoleon, after Francis, emperor of Germany and king of
Rome, had resigned the title in 1806. FABER explains the
healing of the deadly wound to be the revival of the
Napoleonic dynasty after its overthrow at Waterloo. That
secular dynasty, in alliance with the ecclesiastical power,
the Papacy (
Re 13:11, &c.), being "the eighth head,"
and yet "of the seven" (
Re 17:11), will temporarily triumph over the saints,
until destroyed in Armageddon (
Re 19:17-21). A Napoleon, in this view, will be the
Antichrist, restoring the Jews to Palestine, and accepted
as their Messiah at first, and afterwards fearfully
oppressing them. Antichrist, the summing up and
concentration of all the world evil that preceded, is the
eighth, but yet one of the seven (
Re 17:11).
crowns--Greek,
"diadems."
name of blasphemy--So C,
Coptic, and ANDREAS. A, B, and Vulgate read,
"names of blasphemy," namely, a name on each of
the heads; blasphemously arrogating attributes belonging to
God alone (compare Note, see on Re
17:3). A characteristic of the little horn in
Da 7:8, 20, 21; 2Th 2:4.
2. leopard . . . bear . . . lion--This beast unites in itself the God-opposed characteristics of the three preceding kingdoms, resembling respectively the leopard, bear, and lion. It rises up out of the sea, as Daniel's four beasts, and has ten horns, as Daniel's fourth beast, and seven heads, as Daniel's four beasts had in all, namely, one on the first, one on the second, four on the third, and one on the fourth. Thus it represents comprehensively in one figure the world power (which in Daniel is represented by four) of all times and places, not merely of one period and one locality, viewed as opposed to God; just as the woman is the Church of all ages. This view is favored also by the fact, that the beast is the vicarious representative of Satan, who similarly has seven heads and ten horns: a general description of his universal power in all ages and places of the world. Satan appears as a serpent, as being the archetype of the beast nature ( Re 12:9). "If the seven heads meant merely seven Roman emperors, one cannot understand why they alone should be mentioned in the original image of Satan, whereas it is perfectly intelligible if we suppose them to represent Satan's power on earth viewed collectively" [A UBERLEN].
3. One of--literally, "from among."
wounded . . . healed--twice
again repeated emphatically (
Re 13:12, 14); compare
Re 17:8, 11, "the beast that was, and is not,
and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit"
(compare
Re 13:11); the Germanic empire, the seventh head
(revived in the eighth), as yet future in John's
time (
Re 17:10). Contrast the change whereby Nebuchadnezzar,
being humbled from his self-deifying pride, was converted
from his beast-like form and character to MAN'S
form and true position towards God; symbolized by his
eagle wings being plucked, and himself made to stand
upon his feet as a man (
Da 7:4). Here, on the contrary, the beast's
head is not changed into a human head, but receives
a deadly wound, that is, the world kingdom which this head
represents does not truly turn to God, but for a time its
God-opposed character remains paralyzed ("as it were
slain"; the very words marking the beast's outward
resemblance to the Lamb, "as it were slain," see
on Re 5:6. Compare also the second
beast's resemblance to the Lamb,
Re 13:11). Though seemingly slain (Greek
for "wounded"), it remains the beast still, to
rise again in another form (
Re 13:11). The first six heads were heathenish, Egypt,
Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome; the new seventh
world power (the pagan German hordes pouring down on
Christianized Rome), whereby Satan had hoped to stifle
Christianity (
Re 11:15, 16), became itself Christianized (answering
to the beast's, as it were, deadly wound: it was
slain, and it is not,
Re 17:11). Its ascent out of the bottomless pit
answers to the healing of its deadly wound (
Re 17:8). No essential change is noticed in Daniel as
effected by Christianity upon the fourth kingdom; it
remains essentially God-opposed to the last. The beast,
healed of its temporary and external wound, now
returns, not only from the sea, but from the bottomless
pit, whence it draws new Antichristian strength of hell
(
Re 13:3, 11, 12, 14; Re 11:7; 17:8). Compare the
seven evil spirits taken into the temporarily
dispossessed, and the last state worse than the
first,
Mt 12:43-45. A new and worse heathenism breaks in upon
the Christianized world, more devilish than the old one of
the first heads of the beast. The latter was an apostasy
only from the general revelation of God in nature and
conscience; but this new one is from God's revelation
of love in His Son. It culminates in Antichrist, the man of
sin, the son of perdition (compare
Re 17:11);
2Th 2:3; compare
2Ti 3:1-4, the very characteristics of old heathenism
(
Ro 1:29-32) [AUBERLEN]. More than one wound seems to me
to be meant, for example, that under Constantine (when the
pagan worship of the emperor's image gave way to
Christianity), followed by the healing, when image worship
and the other papal errors were introduced into the Church;
again, that at the Reformation, followed by the lethargic
form of godliness without the power, and about to
end in the last great apostasy, which I identify with the
second beast (
Re 13:11), Antichrist, the same seventh world power in
another form.
wondered after--followed with
wondering gaze.
4. which gave--A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and ANDREAS
read, "because he gave."
power--Greek, "the
authority" which it had; its
authority.
Who is like unto the beast?--The very
language appropriated to God,
Ex 15:11 (whence, in the Hebrew, the Maccabees
took their name; the opponents of the Old Testament
Antichrist, Antiochus);
Ps 35:10; 71:19; 113:5; Mic 7:18; blasphemously
(
Re 13:1, 5) assigned to the beast. It is a parody of
the name "Michael" (compare
Re 12:7), meaning, "Who is like unto God?"
5. blasphemies--So ANDREAS reads. B reads
"blasphemy." A, "blasphemous things"
(compare
Da 7:8; 11:25).
power--"authority";
legitimate power (Greek,
"exousia").
to continue--Greek,
"poiesai," "to act," or
"work." B reads, "to make war"
(compare
Re 13:4). But A, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and ANDREAS
omit "war."
forty . . . two month--(See
on Re 11:2, 3; Re
12:6).
6. opened . . . mouth--The usual formula in the
case of a set speech, or series of speeches.
Re 13:6, 7 expand
Re 13:5.
blasphemy--So B and ANDREAS. A and C
read "blasphemies."
and them--So Vulgate, Coptic,
ANDREAS, and PRIMASIUS read. A and C omit "and":
"them that dwell (literally, 'tabernacle') in
heaven," mean not only angels and the departed souls
of the righteous, but believers on earth who have their
citizenship in heaven, and whose true life is hidden from
the Antichristian persecutor in the secret of God's
tabernacle. See on Re 12:12; Joh 3:7.
7. power--Greek, "authority."
all kindreds . . . tongues
. . . nations--Greek, "every tribe
. . . tongue . . . nation." A, B,
C, Vulgate, Syriac, ANDREAS, and PRIMASIUS add
"and people," after "tribe" or
"kindred."
8. all that dwell upon the earth--being of earth earthy; in
contrast to "them that dwell in heaven."
whose names are not written--A, B, C,
Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read singular,
"(every one) whose (Greek,
'hou'; but B, Greek, 'hon,'
plural) name is not written."
Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world--The Greek order of words favors this
translation. He was slain in the Father's
eternal counsels: compare
1Pe 1:19, 20, virtually parallel. The other way of
connecting the words is, "Written from the foundation
of the world in the book of life of the Lamb slain."
So in
Re 17:8. The elect. The former is in the Greek
more obvious and simple. "Whatsoever virtue was in the
sacrifices, did operate through Messiah's death alone.
As He was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world," so all atonements ever made were only
effectual by His blood" [BISHOP PEARSON, Exposition
of the Creed].
9. A general exhortation. Christ's own words of monition calling solemn attention.
10. He that leadeth into captivity--A, B, C, and
Vulgate read, "if any one (be) for
captivity."
shall go into captivity--Greek
present, "goeth into captivity." Compare
Jer 15:2, which is alluded to here. Aleph, B,
and C read simply, "he goeth away," and omit
"into captivity." But A and Vulgate
support the words.
he that killeth with the sword, must
be killed with the sword--So B and C read. But A reads,
"if any (is for) being (literally, 'to be')
killed with the sword." As of old, so now, those to be
persecuted by the beast in various ways, have their trials
severally appointed them by God's fixed counsel.
English Version is quite a different sense, namely, a
warning to the persecutors that they shall be punished with
retribution in kind.
Here--"Herein": in bearing
their appointed sufferings lies the patient endurance
. . . of the saints. This is to be the motto
and watchword of the elect during the period of the world
kingdom. As the first beast is to be met by patience
and faith (
Re 13:10), the second beast must be opposed by true
wisdom (
Re 13:18).
11. another beast--"the false prophet."
out of the earth--out of society
civilized, consolidated, and ordered, but still, with all
its culture, of earth earthy: as distinguished from
"the sea," the troubled agitations of various
peoples out of which the world power and its several
kingdoms have emerged. "The sacerdotal persecuting
power, pagan and Christian; the pagan priesthood making
an image of the emperors which they compelled Christians to
worship, and working wonders by magic and omens; the Romish
priesthood, the inheritors of pagan rites, images, and
superstitions, lamb-like in Christian professions,
dragon-like in word and act" [ALFORD, and so the
Spanish Jesuit, LACUNZA, writing under the name BEN EZRA].
As the first beast was like the Lamb in being, as it
were, wounded to death, so the second is like the Lamb
in having two lamb-like horns (its essential
difference from the Lamb is marked by its having TWO, but
the Lamb SEVEN horns,
Re 5:6). The former paganism of the world power,
seeming to be wounded to death by Christianity, revives. In
its second beast-form it is Christianized heathendom
ministering to the former, and having earthly culture and
learning to recommend it. The second beast's, or false
prophet's rise, coincides in time with the healing of
the beast's deadly wound and its revival (
Re 13:12-14). Its manifold character is marked
by the Lord (
Mt 24:11, 24), "Many false prophets shall
rise," where He is speaking of the last days. As the
former beast corresponds to the first four beasts of
Daniel, so the second beast, or the false prophet, to the
little horn starting up among the ten horns of the fourth
beast. This Antichristian horn has not only the mouth of
blasphemy (
Re 13:5), but also "the eyes of man" (
Da 7:8): the former is also in the first beast (
Re 13:1, 5), but the latter not so. "The eyes of
man" symbolize cunning and intellectual culture, the
very characteristic of "the false prophet" (
Re 13:13-15; Re 16:14). The first beast is physical and
political; the second a spiritual power, the power of
knowledge, ideas (the favorite term in the French school of
politics), and scientific cultivation. Both alike are
beasts, from below, not from above; faithful allies,
worldly Antichristian wisdom standing in the service of the
worldly Antichristian power: the dragon is both lion and
serpent: might and cunning are his armory. The dragon gives
his external power to the first beast (
Re 13:2), his spirit to the second, so that it
speaks as a dragon (
Re 13:11). The second, arising out of the earth,
is in
Re 11:7; 17:8, said to ascend out of the bottomless
pit: its very culture and world wisdom only intensify
its infernal character, the pretense to superior knowledge
and rationalistic philosophy (as in the primeval
temptation,
Ge 3:5, 7, "their EYES [as here] were
opened") veiling the deification of nature, self, and
man. Hence spring Idealism, Materialism, Deism, Pantheism,
Atheism. Antichrist shall be the culmination. The
Papacy's claim to the double power, secular and
spiritual, is a sample and type of the twofold beast, that
out of the sea, and that out of the earth, or
bottomless pit. Antichrist will be the climax, and
final form. P RIMASIUS OF ADRUMENTUM, in the sixth century,
says, "He feigns to be a lamb that he may assail the
Lamb--the body of Christ."
12. power--Greek, "authority."
before him--"in his
presence"; as ministering to, and upholding him.
"The non-existence of the beast embraces the whole
Germanic Christian period. The healing of the wound and
return of the beast is represented [in regard to its
final Antichristian manifestation though including
also, meanwhile, its healing and return under Popery, which
is baptized heathenism] in that principle which, since
1789, has manifested itself in beast-like outbreaks"
[A UBERLEN].
which dwell therein--the
earthly-minded. The Church becomes the harlot: the
world's political power, the Antichristian
beast; the world's wisdom and civilization, the
false prophet. Christ's three offices are thus
perverted: the first beast is the false kingship;
the harlot, the false priesthood; the second beast,
the false prophet. The beast is the bodily,
the false prophet the intellectual, the harlot the
spiritual power of Antichristianity [AUBERLEN]. The
Old-Testament Church stood under the power of the
beast, the heathen world power: the Middle-Ages
Church under that of the harlot: in modern times
the false prophet predominates. But in the last days all
these God-opposed powers which have succeeded each other
shall co-operate, and raise each other to the most
terrible and intense power of their nature: the false
prophet causes men to worship the beast, and the beast
carries the harlot. These three forms of apostasy are
reducible to two: the apostate Church and the
apostate world, pseudo-Christianity and
Antichristianity, the harlot and the beast; for the
false prophet is also a beast; and the two beasts, as
different manifestations of the same beast-like principle,
stand in contradistinction to the harlot, and are finally
judged together, whereas separate judgment falls on the
harlot [A UBERLEN].
deadly wound--Greek,
"wound of death."
13. wonders--Greek, "signs."
so that--so great that.
maketh fire--Greek,
"maketh even fire." This is the very miracle
which the two witnesses perform, and which Elijah long ago
had performed; this the beast from the bottomless pit, or
the false prophet, mimics. Not merely tricks, but miracles
of a demoniacal kind, and by demon aid, like those of the
Egyptian magicians, shall be wrought, most calculated to
deceive; wrought "after the working (Greek,
'energy') of Satan."
14. deceiveth them that dwell on the earth--the
earthly-minded, but not the elect. Even a miracle is
not enough to warrant belief in a professed revelation
unless that revelation be in harmony with God's already
revealed will.
by the means of those miracles--rather
as Greek, "on account of (because of; in
consequence of) those miracles."
which he had power to
do--Greek, "which were given him to
do."
in the sight of the
beast--"before him" (
Re 13:12).
which--A, B, and C read,
"who"; marking, perhaps, a personal
Antichrist.
had--So B and ANDREAS read. But A, C,
and Vulgate read, "hath."
15. he had power--Greek, "it was given to
him."
to give life--Greek,
"breath," or "spirit."
image--Nebuchadnezzar set up in Dura a
golden image to be worshipped, probably of himself;
for his dream had been interpreted, "Thou art this
head of gold"; the three Hebrews who refused to
worship the image were east into a burning furnace.
All this typifies the last apostasy. PLINY, in his letter
to Trajan, states that he consigned to punishment those
Christians who would not worship the emperor's image
with incense and wine. So JULIAN, the apostate, set up his
own image with the idols of the heathen gods in the Forum,
that the Christians in doing reverence to it, might seem to
worship the idols. So Charlemagne's image was set up
for homage; and the Pope adored the new emperor
[DUPIN, vol. 6, p. 126]. Napoleon, the successor of
Charlemagne, designed after he had first lowered the Pope
by removing him to Fontainebleau, then to "make an
idol of him" [Memorial de Sainte Helene];
keeping the Pope near him, he would, through the Pope's
influence, have directed the religious, as well as the
political world. The revived Napoleonic dynasty may, in
some one representative, realize the project, becoming the
beast supported by the false prophet (perhaps some openly
infidel supplanter of the papacy, under a spiritual guise,
after the harlot, or apostate Church, who is distinct from
the second beast, has been stripped and judged by the
beast,
Re 17:16); he then might have an image set up in his
honor as a test of secular and spiritual allegiance.
speak--"False doctrine will give
a spiritual, philosophical appearance to the foolish
apotheosis of the creaturely personified by
Antichrist" [AUBERLEN]. JEROME, on Daniel 7, says,
Antichrist shall be "one of the human race in whom the
whole of Satan shall dwell bodily." Rome's
speaking images and winking pictures of the Virgin Mary
and the saints are an earnest of the future demoniacal
miracles of the false prophet in making the beast's or
Antichrist's image to speak.
16. to receive a mark--literally, "that they should give them a mark"; such a brand as masters stamp on their slaves, and monarchs on their subjects. Soldiers voluntarily punctured their arms with marks of the general under whom they served. Votaries of idols branded themselves with the idol's cipher or symbol. Thus Antiochus Epiphanes branded the Jews with the ivy leaf, the symbol of Bacchus (2 Maccabees 6:7; 3 Maccabees 2:29). Contrast God's seal and name in the foreheads of His servants, Re 7:3; 14:1; 22:4; and Ga 6:17, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus," that is, I am His soldier and servant. The mark in the right hand and forehead implies the prostration of bodily and intellectual powers to the beast's domination. "In the forehead by way of profession; in the hand with respect to work and service" [A UGUSTINE].
17. And--So A, B, and Vulgate read. C,
IRENÆUS, 316, Coptic, and Syriac omit
it.
might buy--Greek, "may be
able to buy."
the mark, or the name--Greek,
"the mark (namely), the name of the beast." The
mark may be, as in the case of the sealing of the saints in
the forehead, not a visible mark, but symbolical of
allegiance. So the sign of the cross in Popery. The
Pope's interdict has often shut out the excommunicate
from social and commercial intercourse. Under the final
Antichrist this shall come to pass in its most violent
form.
number of his name--implying that the
name has some numerical meaning.
18. wisdom--the armory against the second beast, as
patience and faith against the first. Spiritual
wisdom is needed to solve the mystery of
iniquity, so as not to be beguiled by it.
count . . . for--The
"for" implies the possibility of our calculating
or counting the beast's number.
the number of a man--that is, counted
as men generally count. So the phrase is used in
Re 21:17. The number is the number of a man, not
of God; he shall extol himself above the power of
the Godhead, as the MAN of sin [AQUINAS]. Though it
is an imitation of the divine name, it is only
human.
six hundred threescore and six--A and
Vulgate write the numbers in full in the
Greek. But B writes merely the three Greek
letters standing for numbers, Ch, X, St. "C
reads" 616, but IRENÆUS, 328, opposes this and
maintains "666." IRENÆUS, in the second
century, disciple of POLYCARP, John's disciple,
explained this number as contained in the Greek
letters of Lateinos (L being thirty; A, one; T,
three hundred; E, five; I, ten; N, fifty; O, seventy; S,
two hundred). The Latin is peculiarly the language
of the Church of Rome in all her official acts; the forced
unity of language in ritual being the counterfeit of the
true unity; the premature and spurious anticipation of the
real unity, only to be realized at Christ's coming,
when all the earth shall speak "one language" (
Zep 3:9). The last Antichrist may have a close
connection with Rome, and so the name Lateinos (666)
may apply to him. The Hebrew letters of
Balaam amount to 666 [BUNSEN]; a type of the false
prophet, whose characteristic, like Balaam's, will
be high spiritual knowledge perverted to Satanic ends. The
number six is the world number; in 666 it occurs in
units, tens, and hundreds. It is next neighbor to the
sacred seven, but is severed from it by an
impassable gulf. It is the number of the world given
over to judgment; hence there is a pause between the
sixth and seventh seals, and the sixth and seventh
trumpets. The judgments on the world are complete in
six; by the fulfilment of seven, the kingdoms of
the world become Christ's. As twelve is the
number of the Church, so six, its half, symbolizes the
world kingdom broken. The raising of the six to tens and
hundreds (higher powers) indicates that the beast,
notwithstanding his progression to higher powers, can only
rise to greater ripeness for judgment. Thus 666, the judged
world power, contrasts with the 144,000 sealed and
transfigured ones (the Church number, twelve, squared and
multiplied by one thousand, the number symbolizing the
world pervaded by God; ten, the world number, raised to the
power of three the number of God) [AUBERLEN]. The
"mark" (Greek,
"charagma") and "name" are one
and the same. The first two radical letters of
Christ (Greek, "Christos"),
Ch and R, are the same as the first two of
charagma, and were the imperial monogram of Christian
Rome. Antichrist, personating Christ, adopts a symbol like,
but not agreeing with, Christ's monogram, Ch, X,
St; whereas the radicals in "Christ" are
Ch, R, St. Papal Rome has similarly substituted the
standard of the Keys for the standard of the
Cross; so on the papal coinage (the image of
power,
Mt 22:20). The two first letters of "Christ,"
Ch, R, represent seven hundred, the perfect
number. The Ch, X, St represent an imperfect number,
a triple falling away (apostasy) from
septenary perfection [WORDSWORTH].
Re 14:1-20. THE LAMB SEEN ON ZION WITH THE 144,000. THEIR SONG. THE GOSPEL PROCLAIMED BEFORE THE END BY ONE ANGEL: THE FALL OF BABYLON, BY ANOTHER: THE DOOM OF THE BEAST WORSHIPPERS, BY A THIRD. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE DEAD IN THE LORD. THE HARVEST. THE VINTAGE.
In contrast to the beast, false prophet, and apostate Church ( Re 13:1-18) and introductory to the announcement of judgments about to descend on them and the world ( Re 14:8-11, anticipatory of Re 18:2-6), stand here the redeemed, "the divine kernel of humanity, the positive fruits of the history of the world and the Church" [AUBERLEN]. The fourteenth through sixteenth chapters describe the preparations for the Messianic judgment. As the fourteenth chapter begins with the 144,000 of Israel (compare Re 7:4-8, no longer exposed to trial as then, but now triumphant), so the fifteenth chapter begins with those who have overcome from among the Gentiles (compare Re 15:1-5 with Re 7:9-17); the two classes of elect forming together the whole company of transfigured saints who shall reign with Christ.
1. a--A, B, C, Coptic, and ORIGEN read,
"the."
Lamb . . . on
. . . Sion--having left His position "in the
midst of the throne," and now taking His stand on
Sion.
his Father's name--A, B, and C
read, "His name and His Father's
name."
in--Greek, "upon."
God's and Christ's name here answers to the
seal "upon their foreheads" in
Re 7:3. As the 144,000 of Israel are "the
first-fruits" (
Re 14:4), so "the harvest" (
Re 14:15) is the general assembly of Gentile saints to
be translated by Christ as His first act in assuming His
kingdom, prior to His judgment (
Re 16:17-21, the last seven vials) on the Antichristian
world, in executing which His saints shall share. As Noah
and Lot were taken seasonably out of the judgment,
but exposed to the trial to the last moment [DE
BURGH], so those who shall reign with Christ shall first
suffer with Him, being delivered out of the
judgments, but not out of the trials. The Jews
are meant by "the saints of the Most High":
against them Antichrist makes war, changing their times
and laws; for true Israelites cannot join in the
idolatry of the beast, any more than true Christians. The
common affliction will draw closely together, in opposing
the beast's worship, the Old Testament and New
Testament people of God. Thus the way is paved for
Israel's conversion. This last utter scattering of
the holy people's power leads them, under the
Spirit, to seek Messiah, and to cry at His approach,
"Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord."
2. from--Greek, "out of."
voice of many waters--as is the voice
of Himself, such also is the voice of His people.
I heard the voice of harpers--A, B, C,
and ORIGEN read, "the voice which I heard (was) as of
harpers."
3. sung--Greek, "sing."
as it were--So A, C, and
Vulgate read. It is "as it were" a new
song; for it is, in truth, as old as God's eternal
purpose. But B, Syriac, Coptic, ORIGEN, and ANDREAS
omit these words.
new song-- (
Re 5:9, 10). The song is that of victory after conflict
with the dragon, beast, and false prophet: never sung
before, for such a conflict had never been fought before;
therefore new: till now the kingdom of Christ
on earth had been usurped; they sing the new song in
anticipation of His blood-bought kingdom with His
saints.
four beasts--rather, as Greek,
"four living creatures." The harpers and singers
evidently include the 144,000: so the parallel proves (
Re 15:2, 3), where the same act is attributed to the
general company of the saints, the harvest (
Re 14:15) from all nations. Not as ALFORD, "the
harpers and song are in heaven, but the 144,000 are on
earth."
redeemed--literally,
"purchased." Not even the angels can learn that
song, for they know not experimentally what it is to
have "come out of the great tribulation, and washed
their robes white in the blood of the Lamb" (
Re 7:14).
4. virgins--spiritually (
Mt 25:1); in contrast to the apostate Church, Babylon
(
Re 14:8), spiritually "a harlot" (
Re 17:1-5; Isa 1:21; contrast
2Co 11:2; Eph 5:25-27). Their not being defiled with
women means they were not led astray from Christian
faithfulness by the tempters who jointly constitute the
spiritual "harlot."
follow the Lamb whithersoever he
goeth--in glory, being especially near His person; the
fitting reward of their following Him so fully on
earth.
redeemed--"purchased."
being the--rather, "as
a first-fruit." Not merely a
"first-fruit" in the sense in which all
believers are so, but Israel's 144,000 elect are the
first-fruit, the Jewish and Gentile elect Church is
the harvest; in a further sense, the whole of the
transfigured and translated Church which reigns with Christ
at His coming, is the first-fruit, and the
consequent general ingathering of Israel and the nations,
ending in the last judgment, is the full and final harvest.
5. guile--So ANDREAS in one copy. But A, B, C, ORIGEN, and
ANDREAS in other copies read, "falsehood."
Compare with English Version reading
Ps 32:2; Isa 53:9; Joh 1:47.
for--So B, Syriac, Coptic,
ORIGEN, and ANDREAS read. But A and C omit.
without fault--Greek,
"blameless": in respect to the sincerity of their
fidelity to Him. Not absolutely, and in themselves
blameless; but regarded as such on the ground of His
righteousness in whom alone they trusted, and whom they
faithfully served by His Spirit in them. The allusion seems
to be to
Ps 15:1, 2. Compare
Re 14:1, "stood on Mount Sion."
before the throne of God--A, B, C,
Syriac, Coptic, ORIGEN, and ANDREAS omit these words.
The oldest Vulgate manuscript supports them.
6. Here begins the portion relating to the Gentile world,
as the former portion related to Israel. Before the
end the Gospel is to be preached for a WITNESS unto
all nations: not that all nations shall be converted,
but all nations shall have had the opportunity given them
of deciding whether they will be for, or against, Christ.
Those thus preached to are "they that dwell (so
A, Coptic, and Syriac read. But B, C, ORIGEN,
Vulgate, C YPRIAN, 312, read, 'SIT,' compare
Mt 4:16; Lu 1:79, having their settled home) on
the earth," being of earth earthy: this last season of
grace is given them, if yet they may repent, before
"judgment" (
Re 14:7) descends: if not, they will be left without
excuse, as the world which resisted the preaching of Noah
in the the hundred twenty years "while the
long-suffering of God waited." "So also the
prophets gave the people a last opportunity of repentance
before the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, and our
Lord and His apostles before the Roman destruction of the
holy city" [AUBERLEN]. The Greek for
"unto" (epi, in A and C) means literally,
"upon," or "over," or "in respect
to" (
Mr 9:12; Heb 7:13). So also "TO every nation"
(Greek, "epi," in A, B, C,
Vulgate, Syriac, ORIGEN, ANDREAS, CYPRIAN, and
PRIMASIUS). This, perhaps, implies that the Gospel, though
diffused over the globe, shall not come savingly
unto any save the elect. The world is not to be
evangelized till Christ shall come: meanwhile, God's
purpose is "to take out of the Gentiles a people for
His name," to be witnesses of the effectual working of
His Spirit during the counter-working of "the mystery
of iniquity."
everlasting gospel--the Gospel which
announces the glad tidings of the everlasting
kingdom of Christ, about to ensue immediately after the
"judgment" on Antichrist, announced as imminent
in
Re 14:7. As the former angel "flying through the
midst of heaven" (
Re 8:13) announced "woe," so this angel
"flying in the midst of heaven" announced
joy. The three angels making this last proclamation of
the Gospel, the fall of Babylon (
Re 14:8), the harlot, and the judgment on the beast
worshippers (
Re 14:9-11), the voice from heaven respecting the
blessed dead (
Re 14:13), the vision of the Son of man on the cloud
(
Re 14:11), the harvest (
Re 14:15), and the vintage (
Re 14:18), form the compendious summary, amplified in
detail in the rest of the book.
7. Fear God--the forerunner to embracing the love of
God manifested in the Gospel. Repentance accompanies
faith.
give glory to him--and not to the
beast (compare
Re 13:4; Jer 13:16).
the hour of his judgment--"The
hour" implies the definite time.
"Judgment," not the general judgment, but that up
on Babylon, the beast, and his worshippers (
Re 14:8-12).
worship him that made heaven--not
Antichrist (compare
Ac 14:15).
sea . . .
fountains--distinguished also in
Re 8:8, 10.
8. another--So Vulgate. But A, B, Syriac, and
ANDREAS add, "a second"; "another, a second
angel."
Babylon--here first mentioned;
identical with the harlot, the apostate Church;
distinct from the beast, and judged
separately.
is fallen--anticipation of
Re 18:2. A, Vulgate, Syriac, and ANDREAS support
the second "is fallen." But B, C, and
Coptic omit it.
that great city--A, B, C, Vulgate,
Syriac, and Coptic omit "city." Then
translate, "Babylon the great." The ulterior and
exhaustive fulfilment of
Isa 21:9.
because--So ANDREAS. But A, C,
Vulgate, and Syriac read, "which." B
and Coptic omit it. Even reading "which,"
we must understand it as giving the reason of her
fall.
all nations--A, B and C read,
"all the nations."
the wine of the wrath of her
fornication--the wine of the wrath of God, the
consequence of her fornication. As she made the
nations drunk with the wine of her fornication, so she
herself shall be made drunk with the wine of God's
wrath.
9. A, B, C, and ANDREAS read, "another, a third angel." Compare with this verse Re 13:15, 16.
10. The same--Greek, "he also," as the
just and inevitable retribution.
wine of . . . wrath of God--
(
Ps 75:8).
without mixture--whereas wine was so
commonly mixed with water that to mix wine is
used in Greek for to pour out wine;
this wine of God's wrath is undiluted; there
is no drop of water to cool its heat. Naught of grace or
hope is blended with it. This terrible threat may well
raise us above the fear of man's threats. This
unmixed cup is already mingled and prepared for
Satan and the beast's followers.
indignation--Greek,
"orges," "abiding wrath," But
the Greek for "wrath" above (Greek,
"thumou") is boiling indignation,
from (Greek, "thuo") a root meaning
"to boil"; this is temporary ebullition of anger;
that is lasting [AMMONIUS], and accompanied with a purpose
of vengeance [ORIGEN on Psalm 2:5].
tormented . . . in the
presence of . . . angels-- (
Ps 49:14; 58:10; 139:21; Isa 66:24). God's enemies
are regarded by the saints as their enemies, and when the
day of probation is past, their mind shall be so entirely
one with God's, that they shall rejoice in witnessing
visibly the judicial vindication of God's righteousness
in sinners' punishment.
11. for ever and ever--Greek, "unto ages of
ages."
no rest day nor night--Contrast the
very different sense in which the same is said of the four
living creatures in heaven, "They rest not day and
night, saying, Holy, holy, holy"; yet they do
"rest" in another sense; they rest from sin and
sorrow, weariness and weakness, trial and temptation (
Re 14:13); the lost have no rest from sin and Satan,
terror, torment, and remorse.
12. Here, &c.--resumed from
Re 13:10; see on Re 13:10. In
the fiery ordeal of persecution which awaits all who will
not worship the beast, the faith and patience
of the followers of God and Jesus shall be put to
the test, and proved.
patience--Greek,
"hupomene," "patient, persevering
endurance." The second "here" is omitted in
A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and PRIMASIUS.
Translate, "Here is the endurance of the saints, who
keep," &c.
the faith of Jesus--the faith which
has Jesus for its object.
13. Encouragement to cheer those persecuted under the
beast.
Write--to put it on record for
ever.
Blessed--in resting from their
toils, and, in the case of the saints just before
alluded to as persecuted by the beast, in resting from
persecutions. Their full blessedness is now
"from henceforth," that is, FROM THIS TIME, when
the judgment on the beast and the harvest gatherings of the
elect are imminent. The time so earnestly longed for by
former martyrs is now all but come; the full number of
their fellow servants is on the verge of completion; they
have no longer to "rest (the same Greek
as here, anapausis) yet for a little season,"
their eternal rest, or cessation from toils
(
2Th 1:7; Greek, "anesis,"
relaxation after hardships.
Heb 4:9, 10, sabbatism of rest; and
Greek, "catapausis," akin to the
Greek here) is close at hand now. They are
blessed in being about to sit down to the marriage
supper of the Lamb (
Re 19:9), and in having part in the first
resurrection (
Re 20:6), and in having right to the tree of
life (
Re 22:14). In
Re 14:14-16 follows the explanation of why they are
pronounced "blessed" now in particular, namely,
the Son of man on the cloud is just coming to gather
them in as the harvest ripe for garner.
Yea, saith the Spirit--The words of
God the Father (the "voice from heaven") are
echoed back and confirmed by the Spirit (speaking in the
Word,
Re 2:7; 22:17; and in the saints,
2Co 5:5; 1Pe 4:14). All "God's promises in
Christ are yea" (
2Co 1:20).
unto me--omitted in A, B, C,
Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic.
that they may--The Greek
includes also the idea, They are blessed, in that
they SHALL rest from their toils (so the
Greek).
and--So B and ANDREAS read. But A, C,
Vulgate, and Syriac read "for."
They rest from their toils because their time for
toil is past; they enter on the blessed rest because
of their faith evinced by their works which, therefore,
"follow WITH (so the Greek) them." Their
works are specified because respect is had to the
coming judgment, wherein every man shall be "judged
according to his works." His works do not go before
the believer, nor even go by his side, but follow
him at the same time that they go with him as a
proof that he is Christ's.
14. crown--Greek, "stephanon,"
"garland" of victory; not His diadem as a
king. The victory is described in detail,
Re 19:11-21.
one sat--"one sitting,"
Greek, "cathemenon homoion," is the
reading of A, B, C, Vulgate, and Coptic.
15. Thrust in--Greek, "Send." The angel
does not command the "Son of man" (
Re 14:14), but is the mere messenger announcing to the
Son the will of God the Father, in whose hands are
kept the times and the seasons.
thy sickle--alluding to
Mr 4:29, where also it is "sendeth the
sickle." The Son sends His sickle-bearing angel to
reap the righteous when fully ripe.
harvest--the harvest crop. By the
harvest-reaping the elect righteous are gathered out;
by the vintage the Antichristian offenders are
removed out of the earth, the scene of Christ's coming
kingdom. The Son of man Himself, with a golden crown, is
introduced in the harvest-gathering of the elect, a
mere angel in the vintage (
Re 14:18-20).
is ripe--literally, "is
dried." Ripe for glory.
16. thrust in--Greek, "cast."
17. out of the temple . . . in heaven-- ( Re 11:19).
18. from the altar--upon which were offered the
incense-accompanied prayers of all saints, which bring down
in answer God's fiery judgment on the Church's
foes, the fire being taken from the altar and
cast upon the earth.
fully ripe--Greek, "come
to their acme"; ripe for punishment.
19. "The vine" is what is the subject of judgment because its grapes are not what God looked for considering its careful culture, but "wild grapes" ( Isa 5:1-30). The apostate world of Christendom, not the world of heathendom who have not heard of Christ, is the object of judgment. Compare the emblem, Re 19:15; Isa 63:2, 3; Joe 3:13.
20. without the city--Jerusalem. The scene of the
blood-shedding of Christ and His people shall be also the
scene of God's vengeance on the Antichristian foe.
Compare the "horsemen,"
Re 9:16, 17.
blood--answering to the red wine. The
slaughter of the apostates is what is here spoken of, not
their eternal punishment.
even unto the horse bridles--of the
avenging "armies of heaven."
by the space of a thousand
. . . six hundred furlongs--literally, "a
thousand six hundred furlongs off" [W. KELLY].
Sixteen hundred is a square number; four by four by one
hundred. The four quarters, north, south, east, and
west, of the Holy Land, or else of the world (the
completeness and universality of the world-wide destruction
being hereby indicated). It does not exactly answer to the
length of Palestine as given by JEROME, one hundred sixty
Roman miles. BENGEL thinks the valley of Kedron, between
Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, is meant, the torrent in
that valley being about to be discolored with blood to the
extent of sixteen hundred furlongs. This view accords with
Joel's prophecy that the valley of Jehoshaphat is to be
the scene of the overthrow of the Antichristian foes.
Re 15:1-8. THE LAST SEVEN VIALS OF PLAGUES: SONG OF THE VICTORS OVER THE BEAST.
1. the seven last plagues--Greek, "seven
plagues which are the last."
is filled up--literally, "was
finished," or "consummated": the prophetical
past for the future, the future being to God as though it
were past, so sure of accomplishment is His word. This
verse is the summary of the vision that follows: the angels
do not actually receive the vials till
Re 15:7; but here, in
Re 15:1, by anticipation they are spoken of as
having them. There are no more plagues after these
until the Lord's coming in judgment. The destruction of
Babylon (
Re 18:2) is the last: then in
Re 19:11-16 He appears.
2. sea of glass--Answering to the molten sea or great
brazen laver before the mercy seat of the earthly temple,
for the purification of the priests; typifying the baptism
of water and the Spirit of all who are made kings and
priests unto God.
mingled with fire--answering to the
baptism on earth with fire, that is, fiery
trial, as well as with the Holy Ghost, which Christ's
people undergo to purify them, as gold is purified of its
dross in the furnace.
them that had gotten the victory
over--Greek, "those (coming) off from (the
conflict with) the beast-conquerors."
over the number of his name--A, B, C,
Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit the words in
English Version, "over his mark." The
mark, in fact, is the number of his name which
the faithful refused to receive, and so were victorious
over it.
stand on the sea of glass--ALFORD and
DE BURGH explain "on (the shore of) the sea":
at the sea. So the preposition, Greek,
"epi," with the accusative case, is used
for at,
Re 3:20. It has a pregnant sense: "standing"
implies rest, Greek "epi" with the
accusative case implies motion "towards." Thus
the meaning is, Having come TO the sea, and now
standing AT it. In
Mt 14:26, where Christ walks on the sea, the
Greek oldest manuscripts have the genitive, not the
accusative as here. Allusion is made to the Israelites
standing on the shore at the Red Sea, after having
passed victoriously through it, and after the Lord had
destroyed the Egyptian foe (type of Antichrist) in it.
Moses and the Israelites' song of triumph (
Ex 15:1) has its antitype in the saints' "song
of Moses and the Lamb" (
Re 15:3). Still English Version is consistent
with good Greek, and the sense will then be: As the
sea typifies the troubled state out of which the beast
arose, and which is to be no more in the blessed world to
come (
Re 21:1), so the victorious saints stand on it, having
it under their feet (as the woman had the
moon, see on Re 12:1); but it is
now no longer treacherous wherein the feet sink, but solid
like glass, as it was under the feet of Christ, whose
triumph and power the saints now share. Firmness of footing
amidst apparent instability is thus represented. They can
stand, not merely as victorious Israel at the Red
Sea, and as John upon the sand of the shore, but
upon the sea itself, now firm, and reflecting their
glory as glass, their past conflict shedding the brighter
luster on their present triumph. Their happiness is
heightened by the retrospect of the dangers through which
they have passed. Thus this corresponds to
Re 7:14, 15.
harps of God--in the hands of these
heavenly virgins, infinitely surpassing the timbrels
of Miriam and the Israelitesses.
3. song of Moses . . . and . . . the
Lamb--The New Testament song of the Lamb (that is, the song
which the Lamb shall lead, as being "the Captain of
our salvation," just as Moses was leader of the
Israelites, the song in which those who conquer through Him
[
Ro 8:37] shall join,
Re 12:11) is the antitype to the triumphant Old
Testament song of Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea
(
Ex 15:1-21). The Churches of the Old and New Testament
are essentially one in their conflicts and triumphs. The
two appear joined in this phrase, as they are in the
twenty-four elders. Similarly,
Isa 12:1-6 foretells the song of the redeemed (Israel
foremost) after the second antitypical exodus and
deliverance at the Egyptian Sea. The passage through
the Red Sea under the pillar of cloud was Israel's
baptism, to which the believer's baptism in trials
corresponds. The elect after their trials (especially those
arising from the beast) shall be taken up before the vials
of wrath be poured on the beast and his kingdom. So Noah
and his family were taken out of the doomed world before
the deluge; Lot was taken out of Sodom before its
destruction; the Christians escaped by a special
interposition of Providence to Pella before the destruction
of Jerusalem. As the pillar of cloud and fire
interposed between Israel and the Egyptian foe, so that
Israel was safely landed on the opposite shore before the
Egyptians were destroyed; so the Lord, coming with
clouds and in flaming fire, shall first catch up
His elect people "in the clouds to meet Him in the
air," and then shall with fire destroy the enemy. The
Lamb leads the song in honor of the Father amidst the great
congregation. This is the "new song" mentioned in
Re 14:3. The singing victors are the 144,000 of Israel,
"the first-fruits," and the general
"harvest" of the Gentiles.
servant of God-- (
Ex 14:31; Nu 12:7; Jos 22:5). The Lamb is more: He is
the SON.
Great and marvellous are thy
works, &c.--part of Moses' last song (
De 32:3, 4). The vindication of the justice of God that
so He may be glorified is the grand end of God's
dealings. Hence His servants again and again dwell upon
this in their praises (
Re 16:7; 19:2; Pr 16:4; Jer 10:10; Da 4:37). Especially
at the judgment (
Ps 50:1-6; 145:17).
saints--There is no manuscript
authority for this. A, B, Coptic, and CYPRIAN read,
"of the NATIONS." C reads "of the
ages," and so Vulgate and Syriac. The
point at issue in the Lord's controversy with the earth
is, whether He, or Satan's minion, the beast, is
"the King of the nations"; here at the eve of the
judgments descending on the kingdom of the beast, the
transfigured saints hail Him as "the King of the
nations" (
Eze 21:27).
4. Who shall not--Greek, "Who is there but must
fear Thee?" Compare Moses' song,
Ex 15:14-16, on the fear which God's judgments
strike into the foe.
thee--so Syriac. But A, B, C,
Vulgate, and CYPRIAN reject "thee."
all nations shall come--alluding to
Ps 22:27-31; compare
Isa 66:23; Jer 16:19. The conversion of all
nations, therefore, shall be when Christ shall come,
and not till then; and the first moving cause will be
Christ's manifested judgments preparing all
hearts for receiving Christ's mercy. He shall effect by
His presence what we have in vain tried to effect in His
absence. The present preaching of the Gospel is gathering
out the elect remnant; meanwhile "the mystery of
iniquity" is at work, and will at last come to its
crisis; then shall judgment descend on the apostates at the
harvest-end of this age (Greek,
Mt 13:39, 40) when the tares shall be cleared out of
the earth, which thenceforward becomes Messiah's
kingdom. The confederacy of 'the apostates against
Christ becomes, when overthrown with fearful judgments, the
very means in God's overruling providence of preparing
the nations not joined in the Antichristian league to
submit themselves to Him.
judgments--Greek,
"righteousnesses."
are--literally, "were": the
prophetical past for the immediate future.
5. So
Re 11:19; compare
Re 16:17. "The tabernacle of the testimony"
appropriately here comes to view, where God's
faithfulness in avenging His people with judgments on their
foes is about to be set forth. We need to get a glimpse
within the Holy place to "understand" the secret
spring and the end of God's righteous dealings.
behold--omitted by A, B, C,
Syriac, and ANDREAS. It is supported only by
Vulgate, Coptic, and PRIMASIUS, but no manuscript.
6. having--So B reads. But A and C, read "who
have": not that they had them yet (compare
Re 15:7), but they are by anticipation described
according to their office.
linen--So B reads. But A, C, and
Vulgate, "a stone." On the principle that the
harder reading is the one least likely to be an
interpolation, we should read, "a stone pure
('and' is omitted in A, B, C, and ANDREAS),
brilliant" (so the Greek): probably the
diamond. With English Version, compare
Ac 1:10; 10:30.
golden girdles--resembling the Lord in
this respect (
Re 1:13).
7. one of the four beasts--Greek, "living
creatures." The presentation of the vials to the
angels by one of the living creatures implies the ministry
of the Church as the medium for manifesting to angels the
glories of redemption (
Eph 3:10).
vials--"bowls"; a broad
shallow cup or bowl. The breadth of the vials in their
upper part would tend to cause their contents to pour out
all at once, implying the overwhelming suddenness of
the woes.
full of . . . wrath--How
sweetly do the vials full of odors, that is, the
incense-perfumed prayers of the saints, contrast with
these!
8. temple . . . filled-- (
Isa 6:4); compare
Ex 40:34; 2Ch 5:14, as to the earthly temple, of which
this is the antitype.
the glory of God and . . .
power--then fully manifested.
no man was able to enter
. . . the temple--because of God's presence
in His manifested glory and power during the execution of
these judgments.
Re 16:1-21. THE SEVEN VIALS AND THE CONSEQUENT PLAGUES.
The trumpets shook the world kingdoms in a longer process; the vials destroy with a swift and sudden overthrow the kingdom of "the beast" in particular who had invested himself with the world kingdom. The Hebrews thought the Egyptian plagues to have been inflicted with but an interval of a month between them severally [BENGEL, referring to SEDER OLAM]. As Moses took ashes from an earthly common furnace, so angels, as priestly ministers in the heavenly temple, take holy fire in sacred vials or bowls, from the heavenly altar to pour down (compare Re 8:5). The same heavenly altar which would have kindled the sweet incense of prayer bringing down blessing upon earth, by man's sin kindles the fiery descending curse. Just as the river Nile, which ordinarily is the source of Egypt's fertility, became blood and a curse through Egypt's sin.
1. a great voice--namely, God's. These seven vials (the
detailed expansion of the vintage,
Re 14:18-20) being called "the last," must
belong to the period just when the term of the beast's
power has expired (whence reference is made in them all to
the worshippers of the beast as the objects of the
judgments), close to the end or coming of the Son of man.
The first four are distinguished from the last three, just
as in the case of the seven seals and the seven trumpets.
The first four are more general, affecting the earth, the
sea, springs, and the sun, not merely a portion of these
natural bodies, as in the case of the trumpets, but the
whole of them; the last three are more particular,
affecting the throne of the beast, the Euphrates, and the
grand consummation. Some of these particular judgments are
set forth in detail in the seventeenth through twentieth
chapters.
out of the temple--B and Syriac
omit. But A, C, Vulgate, and ANDREAS support the
words.
the vials--so Syriac and
Coptic. But A, B, C, Vulgate, and ANDREAS read,
"the seven vials."
upon--Greek, "into."
2. went--Greek, "went away."
poured out--So the angel cast fire
into the earth previous to the series of trumpets (
Re 8:5).
upon--so Coptic. But A, B, C,
Vulgate, and Syriac read,
"into."
noisome--literally, "evil"
(compare
De 28:27, 35). The very same Greek word is used
in the Septuagint as here, Greek,
"helkos." The reason why the sixth
Egyptian plague is the first here is because it was
directed against the Egyptian magicians, Jannes and
Jambres, so that they could not stand before Moses; and so
here the plague is sent upon those who in the beast worship
had practiced sorcery. As they submitted to the mark of the
beast, so they must bear the mark of the avenging God.
Contrast
Re 7:3; Eze 9:4, 6.
grievous--distressing to the
sufferers.
sore upon the men--antitype to the
sixth Egyptian plague.
which had the mark of the
beast--Therefore this first vial is subsequent to the
period of the beast's rule.
3. angel--So B and ANDREAS. But A, C, and Vulgate
omit it.
upon--Greek,
"into."
became as . . .
blood--answering to another Egyptian plague.
of a dead man--putrefying.
living soul--So B and ANDREAS. But A,
C, and Syriac, "soul of life" (compare
Ge 1:30; 7:21, 22).
in the sea--So B and ANDREAS. But A,
C, and Syriac read, "(as respects) the things
in the sea."
4. (
Ex 7:20.)
angel--so Syriac, Coptic, and
ANDREAS. But A, B, C, and Vulgate omit it.
5. angel of the waters--that is, presiding over the
waters.
O Lord--omitted by A, B, C,
Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS.
and shalt be--A, B, C, Vulgate,
and ANDREAS for this clause read, "(which art and
wast) holy." The Lord is now no longer He that
shall come, for He is come in vengeance and
therefore the third of the three clauses found in
Re 1:4, 8; 4:8 is here and in
Re 11:17 omitted.
judged thus--literally, "these
things." "Thou didst inflict this judgment."
6. (
Re 11:18, end; Ge 9:6; Isa 49:26.) An anticipation of
Re 18:20, 24; compare
Re 13:15.
For--A, B, C, and ANDREAS omit.
7. another out of--omitted in A, C, Syriac, and Coptic. Translate then, "I heard the altar [personified] saying." On it the prayers of saints are presented before God: beneath it are the souls of the martyrs crying for vengeance on the foes of God.
8. angel--so Coptic and ANDREAS. But A, B, C,
Vulgate, and Syriac omit it.
upon--not as in
Re 16:2, 3, "into."
sun--Whereas by the fourth trumpet the
sun is darkened (
Re 8:12) in a third part, here by the fourth vial the
sun's bright scorching power is intensified.
power was given unto him--rather,
"unto it," the sun.
men--Greek, "the
men," namely, those who had the mark of the beast (
Re 16:2).
9. men--Greek, "the men."
repented not to give him glory-- (
Re 9:20). Affliction, if it does not melt, hardens the
sinner. Compare the better result on others,
Re 11:13; 14:7; 15:4.
10. angel--omitted by A, B, C, Vulgate, and
Syriac. But Coptic and ANDREAS support it.
seat--Greek,
"throne of the beast": set up in arrogant
mimicry of God's throne; the dragon gave his throne to
the beast (
Re 13:2).
darkness--parallel to the Egyptian
plague of darkness, Pharaoh being the type of Antichrist
(compare Notes, see on Re 15:2,
3; compare the fifth trumpet,
Re 9:2).
gnawed their tongues for
pain--Greek, "owing to the pain"
occasioned by the previous plagues, rendered more appalling
by the darkness. Or, as "gnashing of teeth" is
one of the accompaniments of hell, so this "gnawing of
their tongues" is through rage at the baffling of
their hopes and the overthrow of their kingdom. They
meditate revenge and are unable to effect it; hence their
frenzy [GROTIUS]. Those in anguish, mental and bodily, bite
their lips and tongues.
11. sores--This shows that each fresh plague was
accompanied with the continuance of the preceding plagues:
there was an accumulation, not a mere succession, of
plagues.
repented not--(Compare
Re 16:9).
12. angel--so Coptic and ANDREAS. A, B, C,
Vulgate, and Syriac omit.
kings of the east--Greek,
"the kings who are from the rising of the sun."
Reference to the Euphrates similarly occurs in the
sixth trumpet. The drying up of the Euphrates, I
think, is to be taken figuratively, as Babylon
itself, which is situated on it, is undoubtedly so,
Re 17:5. The waters of the Euphrates (compare
Isa 8:7, 8) are spiritual Babylon's, that is, the
apostate Church's (of which Rome is the chief, though
not exclusive representative) spiritual and temporal
powers. The drying up of the waters of Babylon expresses
the same thing as the ten kings stripping, eating, and
burning the whore. The phrase, "way may be prepared
for," is that applied to the Lord's coming
(
Isa 40:3; Mt 3:3; Lu 1:76). He shall come from the
East (
Mt 24:27; Eze 43:2, "the glory of the God of
Israel came from the way of the East"): not
alone, for His elect transfigured saints of Israel and the
Gentiles shall accompany Him, who are "kings
and priests unto God" (
Re 1:6). As the Antichristian ten kings
accompany the beast, so the saints accompany as
kings the King of kings to the last decisive
conflict. DE BURGH and others take it of the Jews,
who also were designed to be a kingdom of priests to
God on earth. They shall, doubtless, become
priest-kings in the flesh to the nations in the flesh at
His coming. Abraham from the East (if
Isa 41:2, 8, 9, refers to him, and not Cyrus)
conquering the Chaldean kings is a type of Israel's
victorious restoration to the priest-kingdom. Israel's
exodus after the last Egyptian plagues typifies
Israel's restoration after the spiritual Babylon, the
apostate Church, has been smitten. Israel's promotion
to the priest-kingdom after Pharaoh's downfall, and at
the Lord's descent at Sinai to establish the theocracy,
typifies the restored kingdom of Israel at the Lord's
more glorious descent, when Antichrist shall be destroyed
utterly. Thus, besides the transfigured saints, Israel
secondarily may be meant by "the kings from the
East" who shall accompany the "King of
kings" returning "from the way of the East"
to reign over His ancient people. As to the drying
up again of the waters opposing His people's
assuming the kingdom, compare
Isa 10:26; 11:11, 15; Zec 10:9-11. The name Israel (
Ge 32:28) implies a prince with God. Compare
Mic 4:8 as to the return of the kingdom to Jerusalem.
DURHAM, several centuries ago, interpreted the drying up of
the Euphrates to mean the wasting away of the Turkish
power, which has heretofore held Palestine, and so the way
being prepared for Israel's restoration. But as
Babylon refers to the apostate Church, not to
Mohammedanism, the drying up of the Euphrates (answering to
Cyrus' overthrow of literal Babylon by marching into it
through the dry channel of the Euphrates) must answer to
the draining off of the apostate Church's resources,
the Roman and Greek corrupt Church having been heretofore
one of the greatest barriers by its idolatries and
persecutions in the way of Israel's restoration and
conversion. The kings of the earth who are earthly
(
Re 16:14), stand in contrast to the kings from the
East who are heavenly.
13. unclean spirits like frogs--the antitype to the plague
of frogs sent on Egypt. The presence of the "unclean
spirit" in the land (Palestine) is foretold,
Zec 13:2, in connection with idolatrous
prophets. Beginning with infidelity as to Jesus
Christ's coming in the flesh, men shall end in the
grossest idolatry of the beast, the incarnation of all that
is self-deifying and God-opposed in the world powers of all
ages; having rejected Him that came in the Father's
name, they shall worship one that comes in his own, though
really the devil's representative; as frogs croak by
night in marshes and quagmires, so these unclean spirits in
the darkness of error teach lies amidst the mire of filthy
lusts. They talk of liberty, but it is not Gospel
liberty, but license for lust. There being three, as
also seven, in the description of the last and worst
state of the Jewish nation, implies a parody of the two
divine numbers, three of the Trinity, and
seven of the Holy Spirit (
Re 1:4). Some observe that three frogs were the
original arms of France, a country which has been the
center of infidelity, socialism, and false spiritualism. A
and B read, "as it were frogs," instead of
"like frogs," which is not supported by
manuscripts. The unclean spirit out of the mouth of the
dragon symbolizes the proud infidelity which opposes
God and Christ. That out of the beast's mouth is
the spirit of the world, which in the politics of men,
whether lawless democracy or despotism, sets man above God.
That out of the mouth of the false prophet is lying
spiritualism and religious delusion, which shall take the
place of the harlot when she shall have been
destroyed.
the dragon--Satan, who gives his
power and throne (
Re 13:2) to the beast.
false prophet--distinct from the
harlot, the apostate Church (of which Rome is the chief,
though not sole, representative),
Re 17:1-3, 16; and identical with the second
beast,
Re 13:11-15, as appears by comparing
Re 19:20 with Re 13:13; ultimately consigned to the
lake of fire with the first beast; as is also the dragon a
little later (
Re 20:10). The dragon, the beast, and the false
prophet, "the mystery of iniquity," form a
blasphemous Antitrinity, the counterfeit of "the
mystery of godliness" God manifests in Christ,
witnessed to by the Spirit. The dragon acts the part of God
the Father, assigning his authority to his representative
the beast, as the Father assigns His to the Son. They are
accordingly jointly worshipped; compare as to the Father
and Son,
Joh 5:23; as the ten-horned beast has its ten horns
crowned with diadems (Greek,
Re 13:1), so Christ has on His head many
diadems. While the false prophet, like the Holy Ghost,
speaks not of himself, but tells all men to worship the
beast, and confirms his testimony to the beast by
miracles, as the Holy Ghost attested similarly to
Christ's divine mission.
14. devils--Greek, "demons."
working miracles--Greek,
"signs."
go forth unto--or "for,"
that is, to tempt them to the battle with Christ.
the kings of the earth and,
&c.--A, B, Syriac, and ANDREAS omit "of the
earth and," which clause is not in any manuscript.
Translate, "kings of the whole habitable world,"
who are "of this world," in contrast to "the
kings of (from) the East" (the sun-rising),
Re 16:12, namely, the saints to whom Christ has
appointed a kingdom, and who are "children of
light." God, in permitting Satan's
miracles, as in the case of the Egyptian magicians who
were His instruments in hardening Pharaoh's heart,
gives the reprobate up to judicial delusion preparatory to
their destruction. As Aaron's rod was changed into a
serpent, so were those of the Egyptian magicians. Aaron
turned the water into blood; so did the magicians. Aaron
brought up frogs; so did the magicians. With the
frogs their power ceased. So this, or whatever is
antitypical to it, will be the last effort of the dragon,
beast, and false prophet.
battle--Greek, "war";
the final conflict for the kingship of the world described
in
Re 19:17-21.
15. The gathering of the world kings with the beast against
the Lamb is the signal for Christ's coming; therefore
He here gives the charge to be watching for His coming and
clothed in the garments of justification and
sanctification, so as to be accepted.
thief-- (
Mt 24:43; 2Pe 3:10).
they--saints and angels.
shame--literally,
"unseemliness" (Greek,
"aschemosunee"): Greek,
1Co 13:5: a different word from the Greek in
Re 3:18 (Greek, "aischunee").
16. he--rather, "they (the three unclean spirits)
gathered them together." If English Version be
retained, "He" will refer to God who gives
them over to the delusion of the three unclean spirits; or
else the sixth angel (
Re 16:12).
Armageddon--Hebrew,
"Har," a mountain, and
"Megiddo" in Manasseh in Galilee, the
scene of the overthrow of the Canaanite kings by God's
miraculous interposition under Deborah and Barak; the same
as the great plain of Esdraelon. Josiah, too, as the ally
of Babylon, was defeated and slain at Megiddo; and the
mourning of the Jews at the time just before God shall
interpose for them against all the nations confederate
against Jerusalem, is compared to the mourning for Josiah
at Megiddo. Megiddo comes from a root, gadad,
"cut off," and means slaughter. Compare
Joe 3:2, 12, 14, where "the valley of
Jehoshaphat" (meaning in Hebrew, "judgment
of God") is mentioned as the scene of God's final
vengeance on the God-opposing foe. Probably some great
plain, antitypical to the valleys of Megiddo and
Jehoshaphat, will be the scene.
17. angel--so ANDREAS. But A, B, Vulgate, and
Syriac omit it.
into--so ANDREAS (Greek,
"eis"). But A and B, "upon"
(Greek, "epi").
great--so B, Vulgate, Syriac,
Coptic, and ANDREAS. But A omits.
of heaven--so B and ANDREAS But A,
Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit.
It is done--"It is come to
pass." God's voice as to the final consummation,
as Jesus' voice on the cross when the work of expiation
was completed, "It is finished."
18. voice . . . thunders . . .
lightnings--A has the order, "lightnings
. . . voices . . . thunders." This
is the same close as that of the seven seals and the seven
thunders; but with the difference that they do not merely
form the conclusion, but introduce the consequence, of the
last vial, namely, the utter destruction of Babylon and
then of the Antichristian armies.
earthquake--which is often preceded by
a lurid state of air, such as would result from the vial
poured upon it.
men were--so B, Vulgate,
Syriac, and ANDREAS. But A and Coptic read,
"A man was."
so mighty--Greek,
"such."
19. the great city--the capital and seat of the apostate
Church, spiritual Babylon (of which Rome is the
representative, if one literal city be meant). The city in
Re 11:8 (see on Re 11:8), is
probably distinct, namely, Jerusalem under Antichrist
(the beast, who is distinct from the harlot
or apostate Church). In
Re 11:13 only a tenth of Jerusalem falls whereas
here the city (Babylon) "became (Greek) into
three parts" by the earthquake.
cities of the nations--other great
cities in league with spiritual Babylon.
great . . . came in
remembrance--Greek, "Babylon the great was
remembered" (
Re 18:5). It is now that the last call to escape from
Babylon is given to God's people in her (
Re 18:4).
fierceness--the boiling over
outburst of His wrath (Greek, "thumou
orgees"), compare Note, see on Re 14:10.
20. Plainly parallel to
Re 6:14-17, and by anticipation descriptive of the last
judgment.
the mountains--rather as Greek,
"there were found no mountains."
21. fell--Greek, "descends."
upon men--Greek,
"the men."
and men blasphemed God--not those
struck who died, but the rest. Unlike the result in the
case of Jerusalem (
Re 11:13), where "the remnant . . .
affrighted . . . gave glory to the God of
heaven."
was--Greek, "is."
Re 17:1-18. THE HARLOT BABYLON'S GAUD: THE BEAST ON WHICH SHE RIDES, HAVING SEVEN HEADS AND TEN HORNS, SHALL BE THE INSTRUMENT OF JUDGMENT ON HER.
As Re 16:12 stated generally the vial judgment about to be poured on the harlot, Babylon's power, as the seventeenth and eighteen chapters give the same in detail, so the nineteenth chapter gives in detail the judgment on the beast and the false prophet, summarily alluded to in Re 16:13-15, in connection with the Lord's coming.
1. unto me--A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic
omit.
many--So A. But B, "the
many waters" (
Jer 51:13);
Re 17:15, below, explains the sense. The whore is the
apostate Church, just as "the woman" (
Re 12:1-6) is the Church while faithful. Satan
having failed by violence, tries too successfully to seduce
her by the allurements of the world; unlike her Lord, she
was overcome by this temptation; hence she is seen
sitting on the scarlet-colored beast, no longer the
wife, but the harlot; no longer Jerusalem, but spiritually
Sodom (
Re 11:8).
2. drunk with--Greek, "owing to." It cannot be pagan Rome, but papal Rome, if a particular seat of error be meant, but I incline to think that the judgment ( Re 18:2) and the spiritual fornication ( Re 18:3), though finding their culmination in Rome, are not restricted to it, but comprise the whole apostate Church, Roman, Greek, and even Protestant, so far as it has been seduced from its "first love" ( Re 2:4) to Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, and given its affections to worldly pomps and idols. The woman ( Re 12:1) is the congregation of God in its purity under the Old and New Testament, and appears again as the Bride of the Lamb, the transfigured Church prepared for the marriage feast. The woman, the invisible Church, is latent in the apostate Church, and is the Church militant; the Bride is the Church triumphant.
3. the wilderness--Contrast her in
Re 12:6, 14, having a place in the
wilderness-world, but not a home; a sojourner here,
looking for the city to come. Now, on the contrary, she is
contented to have her portion in this moral
wilderness.
upon a scarlet . . .
beast--The same as in
Re 13:1, who there is described as here, "having
seven heads and ten horns (therein betraying that he is
representative of the dragon,
Re 12:3), and upon his heads names (so the oldest
manuscripts read) of blasphemy"; compare also
Re 17:12-14, below, with
Re 19:19, 20, and Re 17:13, 14, 16. Rome, resting on
the world power and ruling it by the claim of supremacy, is
the chief, though not the exclusive, representative of this
symbol. As the dragon is fiery-red, so the beast is
blood-red in color; implying its blood-guiltiness,
and also deep-dyed sin. The scarlet is also the
symbol of kingly authority.
full--all over; not merely "on
his heads," as in
Re 13:1, for its opposition to God is now about to
develop itself in all its intensity. Under the harlot's
superintendence, the world power puts forth blasphemous
pretensions worse than in pagan days. So the Pope is placed
by the cardinals in God's temple on the altar to sit
there, and the cardinals kiss the feet of the
Pope. This ceremony is called in Romish writers "the
adoration." [Historie de Clerge, Amsterd.,
1716; and LETTENBURGH'S Notitia Curiæ
Romanæ, 1683, p. 125; H EIDEGGER, Myst.
Bab., 1, 511, 514, 537]; a papal coin [Numismata
Pontificum, Paris, 1679, p. 5] has the
blasphemous legend, "Quem creant,
adorant." Kneeling and kissing are
the worship meant by John's word nine times used in
respect to the rival of God (Greek,
"proskunein"). Abomination, too, is
the scriptural term for an idol, or any creature worshipped
with the homage due to the Creator. Still, there is some
check on the God-opposed world power while ridden by the
harlot; the consummated Antichrist will be when, having
destroyed her, the beast shall be revealed as the
concentration and incarnation of all the self-deifying
God-opposed principles which have appeared in various forms
and degrees heretofore. "The Church has gained outward
recognition by leaning on the world power which in its turn
uses the Church for its own objects; such is the picture
here of Christendom ripe for judgment" [AUBERLEN]. The
seven heads in the view of many are the seven successive
forms of government of Rome: kings, consuls, dictators,
decemvirs, military tribunes, emperors, the German emperors
[WORDSWORTH], of whom Napoleon is the successor (
Re 17:11). But see the view given, see on Re 17:9, 10, which I prefer. The crowns
formerly on the ten horns (
Re 13:1) have now disappeared, perhaps an indication
that the ten kingdoms into which the Germanic-Slavonic
world [the old Roman empire, including the East as
well as the West, the two legs of the image with five toes
on each, that is, ten in all] is to be divided, will lose
their monarchical form in the end [AUBERLEN]; but see
Re 17:12, which seems to imply crowned kings.
4. The color scarlet, it is remarkable, is that reserved
for popes and cardinals. Paul II made it penal for anyone
but cardinals to wear hats of scarlet; compare Roman
Ceremonial [3.5.5]. This book was compiled several
centuries ago by MARCELLUS, a Romish archbishop, and
dedicated to Leo X. In it are enumerated five different
articles of dress of scarlet color. A vest is
mentioned studded with pearls. The Pope's miter
is of gold and precious stones. These are the
very characteristics outwardly which Revelation thrice
assigns to the harlot or Babylon. So Joachim an abbot from
Calabria, about A.D. 1200, when asked by Richard of
England, who had summoned him to Palestine, concerning
Antichrist, replied that "he was born long ago at
Rome, and is now exalting himself above all that is called
God." ROGER HOVEDEN [Annals, 1.2], and
elsewhere, wrote, "The harlot arrayed in gold is the
Church of Rome." Whenever and wherever (not in Rome
alone) the Church, instead of being "clothed (as at
first,
Re 12:1) with the sun" of heaven, is arrayed in
earthly meretricious gauds, compromising the truth of God
through fear, or flattery, of the world's power,
science, or wealth, she becomes the harlot seated on the
beast, and doomed in righteous retribution to be judged by
the beast (
Re 17:16). Soon, like Rome, and like the Jews of
Christ's and the apostles' time leagued with the
heathen Rome, she will then become the persecutor of the
saints (
Re 17:6). Instead of drinking her Lord's
"cup" of suffering, she has "a cup full of
abominations and filthinesses." Rome, in her medals,
represents herself holding a cup with the self-condemning
inscription, "Sedet super universum."
Meanwhile the world power gives up its hostility and
accepts Christianity externally; the beast gives up its
God-opposed character, the woman gives up her divine one.
They meet halfway by mutual concessions; Christianity
becomes worldly, the world becomes Christianized. The
gainer is the world; the loser is the Church. The beast for
a time receives a deadly wound (
Re 13:3), but is not really transfigured; he will
return worse than ever (
Re 17:11-14). The Lord alone by His coming can make the
kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and
His Christ. The "purple" is the badge of empire;
even as in mockery it was put on our Lord.
decked--literally,
"gilded."
stones--Greek,
"stone."
filthiness--A, B, and ANDREAS read,
"the filthy (impure) things."
5. upon . . . forehead . . . name--as
harlots usually had. What a contrast to "HOLINESS TO
THE LORD," inscribed on the miter on the high
priest's forehead!
mystery--implying a spiritual fact
heretofore hidden, and incapable of discovery by mere
reason, but now revealed. As the union of Christ and the
Church is a "great mystery" (a spiritual truth of
momentous interest, once hidden, now revealed,
Eph 5:31, 32), so the Church conforming to the world
and thereby becoming a harlot is a counter
"mystery" (or spiritual truth, symbolically now
revealed). As iniquity in the harlot is a leaven working in
"mystery," and therefore called "the
mystery of iniquity," so when she is destroyed,
the iniquity heretofore working (comparatively) latently in
her, shall be revealed in the man of
iniquity, the open embodiment of all previous evil.
Contrast the "mystery of God" and
"godliness,"
Re 10:7; 1Ti 3:16. It was Rome that crucified Christ;
that destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the Jews; that
persecuted the early Christians in pagan times, and
Protestant Christians in papal times; and probably shall be
again restored to its pristine grandeur, such as it had
under the Cæsars, just before the burning of the
harlot and of itself with her. So HIPPOLYTUS [On
Antichrist] (who lived in the second century), thought.
Popery cannot be at one and the same time the
"mystery of iniquity," and the
manifested or revealed Antichrist. Probably it
will compromise for political power (
Re 17:3) the portion of Christianity still in its
creed, and thus shall prepare the way for Antichrist's
manifestation. The name Babylon, which in the image,
Da 2:32, 38, is given to the head, is here given
to the harlot, which marks her as being connected with the
fourth kingdom, Rome, the last part of the image. Benedict
XIII, in his indiction for a jubilee, A.D. 1725, called
Rome "the mother of all believers, and the
mistress of all churches" (harlots like herself). The
correspondence of syllables and accents in Greek is
striking; "He porne kai to therion; He numphe kai
to arnion." "The whore and the beast; the
Bride and the Lamb."
of harlots--Greek, "of
the harlots and of the abominations." Not
merely Rome, but Christendom as a whole, even as formerly
Israel as a whole, has become a harlot. The invisible
Church of true believers is hidden and dispersed in the
visible Church. The boundary lines which separate harlot
and woman are not denominational nor drawn externally, but
can only be spiritually discerned. If Rome were the
only seat of Babylon, much of the spiritual profit of
Revelation would be lost to us; but the harlot
"sitteth upon many waters" (
Re 17:1), and "ALL nations have drunk of the wine
of her fornication" (
Re 17:2; Re 18:3; "the earth,"
Re 19:2). External extensiveness over the whole world
and internal conformity to the world--worldliness in extent
and contents--is symbolized by the name of the world city,
"Babylon." As the sun shines on all the earth,
thus the woman clothed with the sun is to let her light
penetrate to the uttermost parts of the earth. But she, in
externally Christianizing the world, permits herself to be
seduced by the world; thus her universality or catholicity
is not that of the Jerusalem which we look for
("the MOTHER of us all,"
Re 21:2; Isa 2:2-4; Ga 4:26), but that of
Babylon, the world-wide but harlot city! (As Babylon
was destroyed, and the Jews restored to Jerusalem by Cyrus,
so our Cyrus--a Persian name meaning the sun--the
Sun of righteousness, shall bring Israel, literal and
spiritual, to the holy Jerusalem at His coming. Babylon and
Jerusalem are the two opposite poles of the spiritual
world). Still, the Romish Church is not only accidentally
and as a matter of fact, but in virtue of its very
PRINCIPLE, a harlot, the metropolis of whoredom, "the
mother of harlots"; whereas the evangelical Protestant
Church is, according to her principle and fundamental
creed, a chaste woman; the Reformation was a protest of the
woman against the harlot. The spirit of the heathen world
kingdom Rome had, before the Reformation, changed the
Church in the West into a Church-State, Rome; and in
the East, into a State-Church, fettered by the world
power, having its center in Byzantium; the Roman and Greek
churches have thus fallen from the invisible spiritual
essence of the Gospel into the elements of the world
[AUBERLEN]. Compare with the "woman" called
"Babylon" here, the woman named
"wickedness," or "lawlessness,"
"iniquity" (
Zec 5:7, 8, 11), carried to Babylon: compare
"the mystery of iniquity" and "the man of
sin," "that wicked one," literally,
"the lawless one" (
2Th 2:7, 8; also
Mt 24:12).
6. martyrs--witnesses.
I wondered with great admiration--As
the Greek is the same in the verb and the noun,
translate the latter "wonder." John certainly did
not admire her in the modern English sense.
Elsewhere (
Re 17:8; 13:3), all the earthly-minded ("they that
dwell on the earth") wonder in admiration of
the beast. Here only is John's wonder called
forth; not the beast, but the woman sunken into the
harlot, the Church become a world-loving apostate, moves
his sorrowful astonishment at so awful a change. That the
world should be beastly is natural, but that the faithful
bride should become the whore is monstrous, and excites the
same amazement in him as the same awful change in Israel
excited in Isaiah and Jeremiah. "Horrible thing"
in them answers to "abominations" here.
"Corruptio optimi pessima"; when the
Church falls, she sinks lower than the godless world, in
proportion as her right place is higher than the world. It
is striking that in
Re 17:3, "woman" has not the article,
"the woman," as if she had been before
mentioned: for though identical in one sense with the
woman,
Re 12:1-6, in another sense she is not. The elect are
never perverted into apostates, and still remain as
the true woman invisibly contained in the
harlot; yet Christendom regarded as the woman
has apostatized from its first faith.
8. beast . . . was, and is not--(Compare
Re 17:11). The time when the beast "is not"
is the time during which it has "the deadly
wound"; the time of the seventh head becoming
Christian externally, when its beast-like character was put
into suspension temporarily. The healing of its
wound answers to its ascending out of the bottomless
pit. The beast, or Antichristian world power, returns
worse than ever, with satanic powers from hell (
Re 11:7), not merely from the sea of convulsed
nations (
Re 13:1). Christian civilization gives the beast only a
temporary wound, whence the deadly wound is always
mentioned in connection with its being healed up the
non-existence of the beast in connection with its
reappearance; and Daniel does not even notice any change in
the world power effected by Christianity. We are endangered
on one side by the spurious Christianity of the harlot, on
the other by the open Antichristianity of the beast; the
third class is Christ's little flock."
go--So B, Vulgate, and ANDREAS
read the future tense. But A and IRENÆUS,
"goeth."
into perdition--The continuance of
this revived seventh (that is, the eighth) head is short:
it is therefore called "the son of perdition,"
who is essentially doomed to it almost immediately after
his appearance.
names were--so Vulgate and
ANDREAS. But A, B, Syriac, and Coptic read
the singular, "name is."
written in--Greek,
"upon."
which--rather, "when they behold
the beast that it was," &c. So
Vulgate.
was, and is not, and yet is--A, B, and
ANDREAS read, "and shall come" (literally,
"be present," namely, again: Greek,
"kai parestai"). The Hebrew,
"tetragrammaton," or sacred four letters
in Jehovah, "who is, who was, and who is to
come," the believer's object of worship, has its
contrasted counterpart in the beast "who was, and is
not, and shall be present," the object of the
earth's worship [BENGEL]. They exult with wonder
in seeing that the beast which had seemed to have received
its death blow from Christianity, is on the eve of
reviving with greater power than ever on the ruins of
that religion which tormented them (
Re 11:10).
9. Compare
Re 13:18; Da 12:10, where similarly spiritual
discernment is put forward as needed in order to understand
the symbolical prophecy.
seven heads and seven mountains--The
connection between mountains and kings must be
deeper than the mere outward fact to which incidental
allusion is made, that Rome (the then world city) is on
seven hills (whence heathen Rome had a national festival
called Septimontium, the feast of the seven-hilled
city [PLUTARCH]; and on the imperial coins, just as here,
she is represented as a woman seated on seven hills.
Coin of Vespasian, described by CAPTAIN SMYTH [Roman
Coins, p. 310; ACKERMAN, 1, p. 87]). The seven heads
can hardly be at once seven kings or kingdoms
(
Re 17:10), and seven geographical mountains. The
true connection is, as the head is the prominent
part of the body, so the mountain is prominent in
the land. Like "sea" and "earth"and
"waters . . . peoples" (
Re 17:15), so "mountains" have a symbolical
meaning, namely, prominent seats of power. Especially such
as are prominent hindrances to the cause of God (
Ps 68:16, 17; Isa 40:4; 41:15; 49:11; Eze 35:2);
especially Babylon (which geographically was in a
plain, but spiritually is called a destroying
mountain,
Jer 51:25), in majestic contrast to which stands Mount
Zion, "the mountain of the Lord's house" (
Isa 2:2), and the heavenly mount;
Re 21:10, "a great and high mountain
. . . and that great city, the holy
Jerusalem." So in
Da 2:35, the stone becomes a
mountain--Messiah's universal kingdom supplanting
the previous world kingdoms. As nature shadows forth the
great realities of the spiritual world, so seven-hilled
Rome is a representative of the seven-headed world power of
which the dragon has been, and is the prince. The
"seven kings" are hereby distinguished from the
"ten kings" (
Re 17:12): the former are what the latter are not,
"mountains," great seats of the world power. The
seven universal God-opposed monarchies are Egypt (the first
world power which came into collision with God's
people,) Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Medo-Persia, Rome, the
Germanic-Slavonic empire (the clay of the fourth
kingdom mixed with its iron in Nebuchadnezzar's image,
a fifth material,
Da 2:33, 34, 42, 43, symbolizing this last head). These
seven might seem not to accord with the seven heads in
Da 7:4-7, one head on the first beast (Babylon),
one on the second (Medo-Persia), four on the
third (Greece; namely, Egypt, Syria, Thrace with Bithynia,
and Greece with Macedon): but Egypt and Greece are in both
lists. Syria answers to Assyria (from which the name Syria
is abbreviated), and Thrace with Bithynia answers to the
Gothic-Germanic-Slavonic hordes which, pouring down on Rome
from the North, founded the Germanic-Slavonic empire.
The woman sitting on the seven hills implies the Old
and New Testament Church conforming to, and resting on, the
world power, that is, on all the seven world kingdoms.
Abraham and Isaac dissembling as to their wives through
fear of the kings of Egypt foreshadowed this. Compare
Eze 16:1-63; 23:1-49, on Israel's whoredoms with
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon; and
Mt 7:24; 24:10-12, 23-26, on the characteristics of the
New Testament Church's harlotry, namely, distrust,
suspicion, hatred, treachery, divisions into parties, false
doctrine.
10. there are--Translate, "they (the seven heads) are
seven kings."
five . . .
one--Greek, "the five . . . the
one"; the first five of the seven are fallen (a
word applicable not to forms of government passing
away, but to the fall of once powerful empires:
Egypt,
Eze 29:1-30:26; Assyria and Nineveh,
Na 3:1-19; Babylon,
Re 18:2; Jer 50:1-51:64; Medo-Persia,
Da 8:3-7, 20-22; 10:13; 11:2; Greece,
Da 11:4). Rome was "the one" existing
in John's days. "Kings" is the Scripture
phrase for kingdoms, because these kingdoms are
generally represented in character by some one prominent
head, as Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, Medo-Persia by Cyrus,
Greece by Alexander, &c.
the other is not yet come--not as
ALFORD, inaccurately representing AUBERLEN, the
Christian empire beginning with Constantine;
but, the Germanic-Slavonic empire beginning
and continuing in its beast-like, that is, HEATHEN
Antichristian character for only "a short space."
The time when it is said of it, "it is not" (
Re 17:11), is the time during which it is
"wounded to death," and has the "deadly
wound" (
Re 13:3). The external Christianization of the
migrating hordes from the North which descended on Rome, is
the wound to the beast answering to the earth
swallowing up the flood (heathen tribes) sent by the
dragon, Satan, to drown the woman, the Church. The emphasis
palpably is on "a short space," which
therefore comes first in the Greek, not on "he
must continue," as if his continuance for some
[considerable] time were implied, as A LFORD wrongly
thinks. The time of external Christianization (while the
beast's wound continues) has lasted for centuries, ever
since Constantine. Rome and the Greek Church have partially
healed the wound by image worship.
11. beast that . . . is not--his beastly
character being kept down by outward Christianization of
the state until he starts up to life again as "the
eighth" king, his "wound being healed" (
Re 13:3), Antichrist manifested in fullest and most
intense opposition to God. The "he" is emphatic
in the Greek. He, peculiarly and pre-eminently:
answering to "the little horn" with eyes like the
eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things, before
whom three of the ten horns were plucked up by the
roots, and to whom the whole ten "give their power
and strength" (
Re 17:12, 13, 17). That a personal Antichrist
will stand at the head of the Antichristian kingdom, is
likely from the analogy of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Old
Testament Antichrist, "the little horn" in
Da 8:9-12; also, "the man of sin, son of
perdition" (
2Th 2:3-8), answers here to "goeth into
perdition," and is applied to an individual, namely,
Judas, in the only other passage where the phrase occurs
(
Joh 17:12). He is essentially a child of destruction,
and hence he has but a little time ascended out of the
bottomless pit, when he "goes into perdition" (
Re 17:8, 11). "While the Church passes through
death of the flesh to glory of the Spirit, the beast passes
through the glory of the flesh to death"
[AUBERLEN].
is of the seven--rather "springs
out of the seven." The eighth is not merely one
of the seven restored, but a new power or person proceeding
out of the seven, and at the same time embodying all
the God-opposed features of the previous seven concentrated
and consummated; for which reason there are said to be not
eight, but only seven heads, for the eighth
is the embodiment of all the seven. In the birth-pangs
which prepare the "regeneration" there are
wars, earthquakes, and disturbances [AUBERLEN],
wherein Antichrist takes his rise ("sea,"
Re 13:1; Mr 13:8; Lu 21:9-11). He does not fall
like the other seven (
Re 17:10), but is destroyed, going to his own
perdition, by the Lord in person.
12. ten kings . . . received no kingdom as yet;
but receive power as kings . . . with the
beast--Hence and from
Re 17:14, 16, it seems that these ten kings or
kingdoms, are to be contemporaries with the beast in its
last or eighth form, namely, Antichrist. Compare
Da 2:34, 44, "the stone smote the image upon
his feet," that is, upon the ten toes,
which are, in
Da 2:41-44, interpreted to be "kings."
The ten kingdoms are not, therefore, ten which arose in the
overthrow of Rome (heathen), but are to rise out of the
last state of the fourth kingdom under the eighth head. I
agree with ALFORD that the phrase "as
kings," implies that they reserve their kingly rights
in their alliance with the beast, wherein "they give
their power and strength unto" him (
Re 17:13). They have the name of kings, but not
with undivided kingly power [WORDSWORTH]. See
AUBERLEN'S not so probable view, see on Re 17:3.
one hour--a definite time of
short duration, during which "the devil is come
down to the inhabitant of the earth and of the sea, having
great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time." Probably the three and a half years (
Re 11:2, 3; 13:5). Antichrist is in existence long
before the fall of Babylon; but it is only at its fail he
obtains the vassalage of the ten kings. He in the first
instance imposes on the Jews as the Messiah, coming in his
own name; then persecutes those of them who refuse his
blasphemous pretensions. Not until the sixth vial, in the
latter part of his reign, does he associate the ten kings
with him in war with the Lamb, having gained them over by
the aid of the spirits of devils working miracles. His
connection with Israel appears from his sitting "in
the temple of God" (
2Th 2:4), and as the antitypical "abomination of
desolation standing in the Holy place" (
Da 9:27; 12:11; Mt 24:15), and "in the city where
our Lord was crucified" (
Re 11:8). It is remarkable that IRENÆUS
[Against Heresies, 5:25] and CYRIL OF J ERUSALEM
[RUFINUS, Historia Monachorum, 10.37] prophesied
that Antichrist would have his seat at Jerusalem and would
restore the kingdom of the Jews. J ULIAN the apostate, long
after, took part with the Jews, and aided in building their
temple, herein being Antichrist's forerunner.
13. one mind--one sentiment.
shall give--So Coptic. But A,
B, and Syriac, "give."
strength--Greek,
"authority." They become his dependent allies (
Re 17:14). Thus Antichrist sets up to be King of
kings, but scarcely has he put forth his claim when the
true KING OF KINGS appears and dashes him down in a moment
to destruction.
14. These shall . . . war with the Lamb--in
league with the beast. This is a summary anticipation of
Re 19:19. This shall not be till after they have
first executed judgment on the harlot (
Re 17:15, 16).
Lord of lords, &c.--anticipating
Re 19:16.
are--not in the Greek.
Therefore translate, "And they that are with Him,
called chosen, and faithful (shall overcome them, namely,
the beast and his allied kings)." These have been with
Christ in heaven unseen, but now appear with Him.
15. (
Re 17:1; Isa 8:7.) An impious parody of Jehovah who
"sitteth upon the flood" [ALFORD]. Also, contrast
the "many waters"
Re 19:6, "Alleluia."
peoples, and multitudes, and nations,
and tongues--The "peoples," &c., here mark
the universality of the spiritual fornication of the
Church. The "tongues" remind us of the original
Babel, the confusion of tongues, the beginning of
Babylon, and the first commencement of idolatrous apostasy
after the flood, as the tower was doubtless dedicated to
the deified heavens. Thus, Babylon is the appropriate name
of the harlot. The Pope, as the chief representative of the
harlot, claims a double supremacy over all peoples,
typified by the "two swords" according to the
interpretation of Boniface VIII in the Bull, "Unam
Sanctam," and represented by the two keys:
spiritual as the universal bishop, whence he is crowned
with the miter; and temporal, whence he is also crowned
with the tiara in token of his imperial supremacy. Contrast
with the Pope's diadems the "many
diadems" of Him who alone has claim to, and shall
exercise when He shall come, the twofold dominion (
Re 19:12).
16. upon the beast--But A, B, Vulgate, and
Syriac read, "and the beast."
shall make her desolate--having first
dismounted her from her seat on the beast (
Re 17:3).
naked--stripped of all her gaud (
Re 17:4). As Jerusalem used the world power to crucify
her Saviour, and then was destroyed by that very power,
Rome; so the Church, having apostatized to the world, shall
have judgment executed on her first by the world power, the
beast and his allies; and these afterwards shall have
judgment executed on them by Christ Himself in person. So
Israel leaning on Egypt, a broken reed, is pierced by it;
and then Egypt itself is punished. So Israel's whoredom
with Assyria and Babylon was punished by the Assyrian and
Babylonian captivities. So the Church when it goes
a-whoring after the word as if it were the reality,
instead of witnessing against its apostasy from God, is
false to its profession. Being no longer a reality itself,
but a sham, the Church is rightly judged by that world
which for a time had used the Church to further its own
ends, while all the while "hating" Christ's
unworldly religion, but which now no longer wants the
Church's aid.
eat her flesh--Greek plural,
"masses of flesh," that is, "carnal
possessions"; implying the fulness of carnality into
which the Church is sunk. The judgment on the harlot is
again and again described (
Re 18:1; 19:5); first by an "angel having great
power" (
Re 18:1), then by "another voice from heaven"
(
Re 18:4-20), then by "a mighty angel" (
Re 18:21-24). Compare
Eze 16:37-44, originally said of Israel, but further
applicable to the New Testament Church when fallen into
spiritual fornication. On the phrase, "eat
. . . flesh" for prey upon one's
property, and injure the character and person, compare
Ps 14:4; 27:2; Jer 10:25; Mic 3:3. The First
Napoleon's Edict published at Rome in 1809,
confiscating the papal dominions and joining them to
France, and later the severance of large portions of the
Pope's territory from his sway and the union of them to
the dominions of the king of Italy, virtually through Louis
Napoleon, are a first instalment of the full realization of
this prophecy of the whore's destruction. "Her
flesh" seems to point to her temporal dignities and
resources, as distinguished from "herself"
(Greek). How striking a retribution, that having
obtained her first temporal dominions, the exarchate of
Ravenna, the kingdom of the LOMBARDs, and the state of
Rome, by recognizing the usurper Pepin as lawful
king of France, she should be stripped of her dominions by
another usurper of France, the Napoleonic dynasty!
burn . . . with fire--the
legal punishment of an abominable fornication.
17. hath put--the prophetical past tense for the
future.
fulfil--Greek, "do,"
or "accomplish." The Greek,
"poiesai," is distinct from that which is
translated, "fulfilled," Greek,
"telesthesontai," below.
his will--Greek, "his
mind," or purpose; while they think only of
doing their own purpose.
to agree--literally, "to do"
(or accomplish) one mind" or
"purpose." A and Vulgate omit this clause,
but B supports it.
the words of God--foretelling the rise
and downfall of the beast; Greek, "hoi
logoi," in A, B, and ANDREAS. English
Version reading is Greek, "ta
rhemata," which is not well supported. No mere
articulate utterances, but the efficient words of
Him who is the Word: Greek,
"logos."
fulfilled-- (
Re 10:7).
18. reigneth--literally, "hath kingship over the kings." The harlot cannot be a mere city literally, but is called so in a spiritual sense ( Re 11:8). Also the beast cannot represent a spiritual power, but a world power. In this verse the harlot is presented before us ripe for judgment. The eighteenth chapter details that judgment.
Re 18:1-24. BABYLON'S FALL: GOD'S PEOPLE CALLED OUT OF HER: THE KINGS AND MERCHANTS OF THE EARTH MOURN, WHILE THE SAINTS REJOICE AT HER FALL.
1. And--so Vulgate and ANDREAS. But A, B,
Syriac, and Coptic omit "And."
power--Greek,
"authority."
lightened--"illumined."
with--Greek, "owing
to."
2. mightily . . . strong--not supported by
manuscripts. But A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic read, "with (literally, 'in') a
mighty voice."
is fallen, is fallen--so A,
Vulgate, Syriac, and ANDREAS. But B and Coptic
omit the second "is fallen" (
Isa 21:9; Jer 51:8). This phrase is here prophetical of
her fall, still future, as
Re 18:4 proves.
devils--Greek,
"demons."
the hold--a keep or prison.
3. drunk--
Re 14:8, from which perhaps "the wine" may
have been interpolated. They have drunk of her
fornication, the consequence of which will be
wrath to themselves. But A, B, and C read, "(owing
to the wrath of her fornication all nations) have
fallen." Vulgate and most versions read as
English Version, which may be the right reading
though not supported by the oldest manuscripts. Babylon,
the whore, is destroyed before the beast slays the two
witnesses (
Re 11:7), and then the beast himself is
destroyed.
the wine--so B, Syriac, and
Coptic. But A, C, and Vulgate omit.
abundance--literally,
"power."
delicacies--Greek,
"luxury." See on 1Ti
5:11, where the Greek verb "wax
wanton" is akin to the noun here. Translate,
"wanton luxury." The reference is not to earthly
merchandise, but to spiritual wares, indulgences,
idolatries, superstitions, worldly compromises, wherewith
the harlot, that is, the apostate Church, has made
merchandise of men. This applies especially to Rome;
but the Greek, and even in a less degree Protestant
churches, are not guiltless. However, the principle
of evangelical Protestantism is pure, but the
principle of Rome and the Greek church is not so.
4. Come out of her, my people--quoted from
Jer 50:8; 51:6, 45. Even in the Romish Church God has a
people: but they are in great danger; their only safety is
in coming out of her at once. So also in every apostate or
world-conforming church there are some of God's
invisible and true Church, who, if they would be safe, must
come out. Especially at the eve of God's judgment on
apostate Christendom: as Lot was warned to come out of
Sodom just before its destruction, and Israel to come from
about the tents of Dathan and Abiram. So the first
Christians came out of Jerusalem when the apostate Jewish
Church was judged. "State and Church are precious
gifts of God. But the State being desecrated to a different
end from what God designed it, namely. to govern for, and
as under, God, becomes beast-like; the Church apostatizing
becomes the harlot. The true woman is the kernel: beast and
harlot are the shell: whenever the kernel is mature, the
shell is thrown away" [AUBERLEN]. "The harlot is
not Rome alone (though she is pre-eminently so), but every
Church that has not Christ's mind and spirit. False
Christendom, divided into very many sects, is truly
Babylon, that is, confusion. However, in all Christendom
the true Jesus-congregation, the woman clothed with the
sun, lives and is hidden. Corrupt, lifeless Christendom is
the harlot, whose great aim is the pleasure of the flesh,
and which is governed by the spirit of nature and the
world" [HAHN in AUBERLEN]. The first justification of
the woman is in her being called out of Babylon the harlot,
as the culminating stage of the latter's sin, when
judgment is about to fall: for apostate Christendom,
Babylon, is not to be converted, but to be destroyed.
Secondly, she has to pass through an ordeal of persecution
from the beast, which purifies and prepares her for the
transfiguration glory at Christ's coming (
Re 20:4; Lu 21:28).
be not partakers--Greek,
"have no fellowship with her sins."
that ye receive not of her plagues--as
Lot's wife, by lingering too near the polluted and
doomed city.
5. her sins--as a great heap.
reached--Greek, "reached
so far as to come into close contact with, and to
cleave unto."
6. Addressed to the executioners of God's wrath.
Reward--Greek,
"repay."
she rewarded--English Version
reading adds "you" with none of the oldest
manuscripts. But A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic omit it. She had not rewarded or
repaid the world power for some injury which the world
power had inflicted on her; but she had given the
world power that which was its due, namely,
spiritual delusions, because it did not like to retain God
in its knowledge; the unfaithful Church's principle
was, "Populus vult decipi, et decipiatur."
"The people like to be deceived, and let them be
deceived."
double--of sorrow. Contrast with this
the double of joy which Jerusalem shall receive for
her past suffering (
Isa 61:7; Zec 9:12); even as she has received
double punishment for her sins (
Isa 40:2).
unto her--So Syriac, Coptic,
and ANDREAS. A, B, and C omit it.
in the cup-- (
Re 18:3; Re 14:8; 17:4).
filled--literally
"mixed."
fill to her double--of the Lord's
cup of wrath.
7. How much--that is in proportion as.
lived deliciously--luxuriously: see on
Re 18:3, where the Greek is
akin.
sorrow--Greek,
"mourning," as for a dead husband.
I sit--so Vulgate. But A, B,
and C prefix "that."
I . . . am no widow--for the
world power is my husband and my supporter.
shall see no sorrow--Greek,
"mourning." "I am seated (this long
time) . . . I am no widow
. . . I shall see no sorrow," marks
her complete unconcerned security as to the past, present,
and future [BENGEL]. I shall never have to mourn as one
bereft of her husband. As Babylon was queen of the East, so
Rome has been queen of the West, and is called on Imperial
coins "the eternal city." So Papal Rome is
called by AMMIAN MARCELLIN [15.7]. "Babylon is a
former Rome, and Rome a latter Babylon. Rome is a daughter
of Babylon, and by her, as by her mother, God has been
pleased to subdue the world under one sway"
[AUGUSTINE]. As the Jew's restoration did not take
place till Babylon's fall, so R. KIMCHI on Obadiah,
writes, "When Rome (Edom) shall be devastated, there
shall be redemption to Israel." Romish idolatries have
been the great stumbling-blocks to the Jews' acceptance
of Christianity.
8. death--on herself, though she thought herself secure
even from the death of her husband.
mourning--instead of her
feasting.
famine--instead of her luxurious
delicacies (
Re 18:3, 7).
fire--(See on Re
17:16). Literal fire may burn the literal city of Rome,
which is situated in the midst of volcanic agencies. As the
ground was cursed for Adam's sin, and the earth under
Noah was sunk beneath the flood, and Sodom was burnt with
fire, so may Rome be. But as the harlot is mystical (the
whole faithless Church), the burning may be mainly
mystical, symbolizing utter destruction and removal. BENGEL
is probably right in thinking Rome will once more rise to
power. The carnal, faithless, and worldly elements in all
churches, Roman, Greek, and Protestant, tend towards one
common center, and prepare the way for the last form of the
beast, namely, Antichrist. The Pharisees were in the main
sound in creed, yet judgment fell on them as on the unsound
Sadducees and half-heathenish Samaritans. So faithless and
adulterous, carnal, worldly Protestant churches, will not
escape for their soundness of creed.
the Lord--so B, C, Syriac, and
ANDREAS. But A and Vulgate omit. "Strong"
is the meaning of God's Hebrew name,
"EL."
judgeth--But A, B, and C read the
past tense (Greek, "krinas"),
"who hath judged her": the prophetical
past for the future: the charge in
Re 18:4 to God's people to come out of her
implies that the judgment was not yet actually executed.
9. lived deliciously--Greek, "luxuriated."
The faithless Church, instead of reproving, connived at the
self-indulgent luxury of the great men of this world, and
sanctioned it by her own practice. Contrast the world's
rejoicing over the dead bodies of the two witnesses
(
Re 11:10) who had tormented it by their faithfulness,
with its lamentations over the harlot who had made
the way to heaven smooth, and had been found a useful tool
in keeping subjects in abject tyranny. Men's carnal
mind relishes a religion like that of the apostate Church,
which gives an opiate to conscience, while leaving the
sinner license to indulge his lusts.
bewail her--A, B, C, Syriac,
Coptic, and CYPRIAN omit "her."
10. God's judgments inspire fear even in the worldly,
but it is of short duration, for the kings and great men
soon attach themselves to the beast in its last and worst
shape, as open Antichrist, claiming all that the harlot had
claimed in blasphemous pretensions and more, and so making
up to them for the loss of the harlot.
mighty--Rome in Greek
means strength; though that derivation is doubtful.
11. shall--So. B. But A and C read the present, "weep
and mourn."
merchandise--Greek,
"cargo": wares carried in ships:
ship-lading (compare
Re 18:17). Rome was not a commercial city, and is not
likely from her position to be so. The merchandise
must therefore be spiritual, even as the harlot is not
literal, but spiritual. She did not witness against carnal
luxury and pleasure-seeking, the source of the
merchants' gains, but conformed to them (
Re 18:7). She cared not for the sheep, but for the
wool. Professing Christian merchants in her lived as if
this world not heaven, were the reality, and were
unscrupulous as to the means of getting gain. Compare
Notes, see on Zec
5:4-11, on the same subject, the judgment on mystical
Babylon's merchants for unjust gain. All the
merchandise here mentioned occurs repeatedly in the
Roman Ceremonial.
12. (See on Re 17:4).
stones . . .
pearls--Greek, "stone . . .
pearl."
fine linen--A, B, and C read
Greek, "bussinou" for
"bussou," that is, "fine linen
manufacture" [ALFORD]. The manufacture for which
Egypt (the type of the apostate Church,
Re 11:8) was famed. Contrast "the fine linen"
(
Eze 16:10) put on Israel, and on the New Testament
Church (
Re 19:8), the Bride, by God (
Ps 132:9).
thyine wood--the citrus of the
Romans: probably the cypressus thyoyides, or the
thuia articulata. "Citron wood" [ALFORD]. A
sweet-smelling tree of Cyrene in Lybia, used for
incense.
all manner vessels--Greek,
"every vessel," or "furniture."
13. cinnamon--designed by God for better purposes: being an
ingredient in the holy anointing oil, and a plant in the
garden of the Beloved (
So 4:14); but desecrated to vile uses by the adulteress
(
Pr 7:17).
odours--of incense. A, C,
Vulgate, and Syriac prefix "and
amomium" (a precious hair ointment made from an
Asiatic shrub). English Version reading is supported
by Coptic and ANDREAS, but not oldest
manuscripts.
ointments--Greek,
"ointment."
frankincense--Contrast the true
"incense" which God loves (
Ps 141:2; Mal 1:11).
fine flour--the similago of the
Latins [ALFORD].
beasts--of burden: cattle.
slaves--Greek,
"bodies."
souls of men-- (
Eze 27:13). Said of slaves. Appropriate to the
spiritual harlot, apostate Christendom, especially Rome,
which has so often enslaved both bodies and
souls of men. Though the New Testament does not
directly forbid slavery, which would, in the then state of
the world, have incited a slave revolt, it virtually
condemns it, as here. Popery has derived its greatest gains
from the sale of masses for the souls of men after
death, and of indulgences purchased from the Papal chancery
by rich merchants in various countries, to be retailed at a
profit [MOSHEIM, III, 95, 96].
14. Direct address to Babylon.
the fruits that thy soul lusted
after--Greek, "thy autumn-ripe fruits of the
lust (eager desire) of the soul."
dainty--Greek, "fat":
"sumptuous" in food.
goodly--"splendid,"
"bright," in dress and equipage.
departed--supported by none of our
manuscripts. But A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic read, "perished."
thou shalt--A, C, Vulgate, and
Syriac read, "They (men) shall no
more find them at all."
15. of these things--of the things mentioned,
Re 18:12, 13.
which--"who."
made rich by--Greek,
"derived riches from her."
stand afar off for the fear--(Compare
Re 18:10).
wailing--Greek,
"mourning."
16. And--so Vulgate and ANDREAS. But A, B, and C
omit.
decked--literally,
"glided."
stones . . .
pearls--Greek, "stone . . .
pearl." B and ANDREAS read "pearls." But A
and C, "pearl."
17. is come to naught--Greek, "is
desolated."
shipmaster--Greek,
"steersman," or "pilot."
all the company in ships--A, C,
Vulgate, and Syriac read, "Every one who
saileth to a place" (B has ". . . to
the place"), every voyager. Vessels were
freighted with pilgrims to various shrines, so that in one
month (A.D. 1300) two hundred thousand pilgrims were
counted in Rome [D'AAUBIGNE, Histoire de la
Reformation]: a source of gain, not only to the Papal
see, but to shipmasters, merchants, pilots, &c.
These latter, however, are not restricted to those
literally "shipmasters," &c., but mainly
refer, in the mystical sense, to all who share in the
spiritual traffic of apostate Christendom.
18. when they saw--Greek,
"horontes." But A, B, C, and ANDREAS read,
Greek, "blepontes," "looking
at." Greek, "blepo," is to
use the eyes, to look: the act of seeing without
thought of the object seen. Greek,
"horao," refers to the thing seen
or presented to the eyes [TITTMANN].
smoke--so B, C. But A reads
"place."
What city is like--Compare the similar
beast as to the beast,
Re 13:4: so closely do the harlot and beast approximate
one another. Contrast the attribution of this praise to
God, to whom alone it is due, by His servants (
Ex 15:11). MARTIAL says of Rome, "Nothing is equal
to her;" and ATHENÆUS, "She is the epitome
of the world."
19. wailing--"mourning."
that had ships--A, B, and C read,
"that had their ships": literally,
"the ships."
costliness--her costly treasures:
abstract for concrete.
20. holy apostles--So C reads. But A, B, Vulgate,
Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read, "Ye saints
and ye apostles."
avenged you on her--Greek,
"judged your judgment on (literally, exacting it
from) her." "There is more joy in heaven at
the harlot's downfall than at that of the two beasts.
For the most heinous of all sin is the sin of those who
know God's word of grace, and keep it not. The
worldliness of the Church is the most worldly of all
worldliness. Hence, Babylon, in Revelation, has not only
Israel's sins, but also the sins of the heathen; and
John dwells longer on the abominations and judgments of the
harlot than on those of the beast. The term
'harlot' describes the false Church's essential
character. She retains her human shape as the woman,
does not become a beast: she has the form of
godliness, but denies its power. Her rightful lord and
husband, Jehovah-Christ, and the joys and goods of His
house, are no longer her all in all, but she runs after the
visible and vain things of the world, in its manifold
forms. The fullest form of her whoredom is, where the
Church wishes to be itself a worldly power, uses politics
and diplomacy, makes flesh her arm, uses unholy means for
holy ends, spreads her dominion by sword or money,
fascinates men by sensual ritualism, becomes 'mistress
of ceremonies' to the dignitaries of the world,
flatters prince or people, and like Israel, seeks the help
of one world power against the danger threatening from
another" [AUBERLEN]. Judgment, therefore,
begins with the harlot, as in privileges the house
of God.
21. a--Greek, "one."
millstone--Compare the judgment on the
Egyptian hosts at the Red Sea,
Ex 15:5, 10; Ne 9:11, and the foretold doom of Babylon,
the world power,
Jer 51:63, 64.
with violence--Greek,
"with impetus." This verse shows that this
prophecy is regarded as still to be fulfilled.
22. pipers--flute players. "Musicians," painters
and sculptors, have desecrated their art to lend
fascination to the sensuous worship of corrupt
Christendom.
craftsman--artisan.
23. What a blessed contrast is
Re 22:5, respecting the city of God: "They need
no candle (just as Babylon shall no more have
the light of a candle, but for a widely different
reason), for the Lord God giveth them light."
candle--Translate as Greek,
"lamp."
bridegroom . . . bride
. . . no more . . . in thee--Contrast
the heavenly city, with its Bridegroom, Bride, and
blessed marriage supper (
Re 19:7, 9; 21:2, 9; Isa 62:4, 5).
thy merchants were--So most of the
best authorities read. But A omits the Greek article
before "merchants," and then translates,
"The great men of . . . were thy
merchants."
sorceries--Greek,
"sorcery."
24. Applied by Christ ( Mt 23:35) to apostate Jerusalem, which proves that not merely the literal city Rome, and the Church of Rome (though the chief representative of the apostasy), but the WHOLE of the faithless Church of both the Old and New Testament is meant by Babylon the harlot; just as the whole Church (Old and New Testament) is meant by "the woman" ( Re 12:1). As to literal city, ARINGHUS in BENGEL says, Pagan Rome was the "general shambles" for slaying the sheep of Jesus. FRED. S EYLER in BENGEL calculates that papal Rome, between A.D. 1540 and 1580, slew more than nine hundred thousand Protestants. Three reasons for the harlot's downfall are given: (1) The worldly greatness of her merchants, which was due to unholy traffic in spiritual things. (2) Her sorceries, or juggling tricks, in which the false prophet that ministers to the beast in its last form shall exceed her; compare "sorcerers" ( Re 21:8; 22:15), specially mentioned among those doomed to the lake of fire. (3) Her persecution of (Old Testament) "prophets" and (New Testament) "saints."
Re 19:1-21. THE CHURCH'S THANKSGIVING IN HEAVEN FOR THE JUDGMENT ON THE HARLOT. THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB: THE SUPPER: THE BRIDE'S PREPARATION: JOHN IS FORBIDDEN TO WORSHIP THE ANGEL: THE LORD AND HIS HOSTS COME FORTH FOR WAR: THE BEAST AND THE FALSE PROPHET CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE: THE KINGS AND THEIR FOLLOWERS SLAIN BY THE SWORD OUT OF CHRIST'S MOUTH.
1. As in the case of the opening of the prophecy,
Re 4:8; 5:9, &c.; so now, at one of the great
closing events seen in vision, the judgment on the harlot
(described in
Re 18:1-24), there is a song of praise in heaven to
God: compare
Re 7:10, &c., toward the close of the seals, and
Re 11:15-18, at the close of the trumpets:
Re 15:3, at the saints' victory over the
beast.
And--so ANDREAS. But A, B, C,
Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit.
a great voice--A, B, C, Vulgate,
Coptic, and ANDREAS read, "as it were a
great voice." What a contrast to the lamentations
Re 18:1-24! Compare
Jer 51:48. The great manifestation of God's
power in destroying Babylon calls forth a great
voice of praise in heaven.
people--Greek,
"multitude."
Alleluia--Hebrew, "Praise
ye JAH," or JEHOVAH: here first used in Revelation,
whence ELLICOTT infers the Jews bear a prominent
part in this thanksgiving. JAH is not a contraction of
"JEHOVAH," as it sometimes occurs jointly with
the latter. It means "He who Is": whereas Jehovah
is "He who will be, is, and was." It implies God
experienced as a PRESENT help; so that
"Hallelujah," says KIMCHI in BENGEL, is found
first in the Psalms on the destruction of the
ungodly. "Hallelu-Jah" occurs four times in
this passage. Compare
Ps 149:4-9, which is plainly parallel, and indeed
identical in many of the phrases, as well as the general
idea. Israel, especially, will join in the Hallelujah, when
"her warfare is accomplished" and her foe
destroyed.
Salvation, &c.--Greek,
"The salvation . . . the glory
. . . the power."
and honour--so Coptic. But A,
B, C, and Syriac omit.
unto the Lord our God--so ANDREAS. But
A, B, C, and Coptic read, "(Is) of our
God," that is, belongs to Him.
2. which did corrupt the earth--Greek,
"used to corrupt" continually.
"Instead of opposing and lessening, she promoted the
sinful life and decay of the world by her own earthliness,
allowing the salt to lose its savor" [AUBERLEN].
avenged--Greek, "exacted
in retribution." A particular application of the
principle (
Ge 9:5).
blood of his servants--literally shed
by the Old Testament adulterous Church, and by the New
Testament apostate Church; also virtually, though not
literally, by all who, though called Christians, hate their
brother, or love not the brethren of Christ, but shrink
from the reproach of the cross, and show unkindness towards
those who bear it.
3. again--Greek, "a second time."
rose up--Greek, "goeth
up."
for ever and ever--Greek,
"to the ages of the ages."
4. beasts--rather, "living creatures."
sat--Greek,
"sitteth."
5. out of--Greek, "out from the throne" in
A, B, C.
Praise our God--Compare the solemn act
of praise performed by the Levites,
1Ch 16:36; 23:5, especially when the house of God was
filled with the divine glory (
2Ch 5:13).
both--omitted in A, B, C, Vulgate,
Coptic, and Syriac. Translate as Greek,
"the small and the great."
6. many waters--Contrast the "many waters" on
which the whore sitteth (
Re 17:1). This verse is the hearty response to the
stirring call, "Alleluia! Praise our God" (
Re 19:4, 5).
the Lord God omnipotent--Greek,
"the Omnipotent."
reigneth--literally,
"reigned": hence reigneth once for all.
His reign is a fact already established. Babylon, the
harlot, was one great hindrance to His reign being
recognized. Her overthrow now clears the way for His advent
to reign; therefore, not merely Rome, but the whole of
Christendom in so far as it is carnal and compromised
Christ for the world, is comprehended in the term
"harlot." The beast hardly arises when he at once
"goeth into perdition": so that Christ is
prophetically considered as already reigning, so soon does
His advent follow the judgment on the harlot.
7. glad . . . rejoice--Greek,
"rejoice . . . exult."
give--so B and ANDREAS. But A reads,
"we will give."
glory--Greek, "the
glory."
the marriage of the Lamb is come--The
full and final consummation is at
Re 21:2-9, &c. Previously there must be the
overthrow of the beast, &c., at the Lord's coming,
the binding of Satan, the millennial reign, the loosing of
Satan and his last overthrow, and the general judgment. The
elect-Church, the heavenly Bride, soon after the
destruction of the harlot, is transfigured at the
Lord's coming, and joins with Him in His triumph over
the beast. On the emblem of the heavenly Bridegroom and
Bride, compare
Mt 22:2; 25:6, 10; 2Co 11:2. Perfect union with Him
personally, and participation in His holiness; joy, glory,
and kingdom, are included in this symbol of
"marriage"; compare Song of Solomon everywhere.
Besides the heavenly Bride, the transfigured,
translated, and risen Church, reigning over the
earth with Christ, there is also the earthly bride,
Israel, in the flesh, never yet divorced, though for
a time separated, from her divine husband, who shall then
be reunited to the Lord, and be the mother Church of the
millennial earth, Christianized through her. Note, we
ought, as Scripture does, restrict the language drawn from
marriage-love to the Bride, the Church as a
whole; not use it as individuals in our relation to
Christ, which Rome does in the case of her nuns.
Individually, believers are effectually-called
guests; collectively, they constitute the bride.
The harlot divides her affections among many lovers: the
bride gives hers exclusively to Christ.
8. granted--Though in one sense she "made
herself ready," having by the Spirit's work in her
put on "the wedding garment," yet in the fullest
sense it is not she, but her Lord, who makes her ready by
"granting to her that she be arrayed in fine
linen." It is He who, by giving Himself for
her, presents her to Himself a glorious Church, not
having spot, but holy and without blemish. It is He
also who sanctifies her, naturally vile and without beauty,
with the washing of water by the word, and puts His own
comeliness on her, which thus becomes hers.
clean and white--so ANDREAS. But A and
B transpose. Translate, "bright and pure"; at
once brilliantly splendid and spotless as in
the bride herself.
righteousness--Greek,
"righteousnesses"; distributively used.
Each saint must have this righteousness: not merely be
justified, as if the righteousness belonged to the Church
in the aggregate; the saints together have
righteousnesses; namely, He is accounted as
"the Lord our righteousness" to each saint on his
believing, their robes being made white in the blood of
the Lamb. The righteousness of the saint is not, as
ALFORD erroneously states, inherent, but is
imputed: if it were otherwise, Christ would be merely
enabling the sinner to justify himself.
Ro 5:18 is decisive on this. Compare Article XI, Church
of England. The justification already given to the saints
in title and unseen possession, is now GIVEN them in
manifestation: they openly walk with Christ in
white. To this, rather than to their primary
justification on earth, the reference is here. Their
justification before the apostate world, which had
persecuted them, contrasts with the judgment and
condemnation of the harlot. "Now that the harlot has
fallen, the woman triumphs" [A UBERLEN]. Contrast with
the pure fine linen (indicating the simplicity and
purity) of the bride, the tawdry ornamentation of the
harlot. Babylon, the apostate Church, is the antithesis to
new Jerusalem, the transfigured Church of God. The woman
(
Re 12:1-6), the harlot (
Re 17:1-7), the bride (
Re 19:1-10), are the three leading aspects of the
Church.
9. He--God by His angel saith unto me.
called--effectually, not merely
externally. The "unto," or into," seems to
express this: not merely invited to (Greek,
"epi"), but called INTO, so as to be
partakers of (Greek, "eis");
compare
1Co 1:9.
marriage supper--Greek,
"the supper of the marriage." Typified by the
Lord's Supper.
true--Greek,
"genuine"; veritable sayings which shall surely
be fulfilled, namely, all the previous revelations.
10. at--Greek, "before." John's
intending to worship the angel here, as in
Re 22:8, on having revealed to him the glory of the new
Jerusalem, is the involuntary impulse of adoring joy at so
blessed a prospect. It forms a marked contrast to the
sorrowful wonder with which he had looked on the
Church in her apostasy as the harlot (
Re 17:6). It exemplifies the corrupt tendencies of our
fallen nature that even John, an apostle, should have all
but fallen into "voluntary humility and worshipping of
angels," which Paul warns us against.
and of thy brethren--that is, a
fellow servant of thy brethren.
have the testimony of Jesus--(See on
Re 12:17).
the testimony of--that is,
respecting Jesus.
is the spirit of prophecy--is the
result of the same spirit of prophecy in you as in myself.
We angels, and you apostles, all alike have the testimony
of (bear testimony concerning) Jesus by the operation of
one and the same Spirit, who enables me to show you these
revelations and enables you to record them: wherefore we
are fellow servants, not I your lord to be
worshipped by you. Compare
Re 22:9, "I am fellow servant of thee and of thy
brethren the prophets"; whence the "FOR
the testimony," &c., here, may be explained as
giving the reason for his adding "and (fellow servant)
of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus." I
mean, of the prophets; "for it is of
Jesus that thy brethren, the prophets, testify
by the Spirit in them." A clear condemnation of Romish
invocation of saints as if they were our superiors to be
adored.
11. behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him--identical with Re 6:2. Here as there he comes forth "conquering and to conquer." Compare the ass-colt on which He rode into Jerusalem ( Mt 21:1-7). The horse was used for war: and here He is going forth to war with the beast. The ass is for peace. His riding on it into Jerusalem is an earnest of His reign in Jerusalem over the earth, as the Prince of peace, after all hostile powers have been overthrown. When the security of the world power, and the distress of the people of God, have reached the highest point, the Lord Jesus shall appear visibly from heaven to put an end to the whole course of the world, and establish His kingdom of glory. He comes to judge with vengeance the world power, and to bring to the Church redemption, transfiguration, and power over the world. Distinguish between this coming ( Mt 24:27, 29, 37, 39; Greek, "parousia") and the end, or final judgment ( Mt 25:31; 1Co 15:23). Powerful natural phenomena shall accompany His advent [AUBERLEN].
12. Identifying Him with the Son of man similarly
described,
Re 1:14.
many crowns--Greek,
"diadems": not merely (Greek,
"stephanoi") garlands of victory, but
royal crowns, as KING OF KINGS. Christ's diadem
comprises all the diadems of the earth and of heavenly
powers too. Contrast the papal tiara composed of three
diadems. Compare also the little horn (Antichrist) that
overcomes the three horns or kingdoms,
Da 7:8, 24 (Quære, the Papacy? or some
three kingdoms that succeed the papacy, which itself,
as a temporal kingdom, was made up at first of three
kingdoms, the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the
Lombards, and the state of Rome, obtained by Pope Zachary
and Stephen II from Pepin, the usurper of the French
dominion). Also, the seven crowns (diadems) on
the seven heads of the dragon (
Re 12:3), and ten diadems on the ten heads of the
beast. These usurpers claim the diadems which belong to
Christ alone.
he had a name written--B and
Syriac insert, "He had names written, and a
name written," &c., meaning that the names
of the dominion which each diadem indicated were
written on them severally. But A, Vulgate,
ORIGEN, and CYPRIAN omits the words, as English
Version.
name . . . that no man knew
but . . . himself-- (
Jud 13:18; 1Co 2:9, 11; 1Jo 3:2). The same is said of
the "new name" of believers. In this, as in all
other respects, the disciple is made like his Lord. The
Lord's own "new name" is to be theirs, and to
be "in their foreheads"; whence we may infer that
His as yet unknown name also is written on His
forehead; as the high priest had "Holiness to the
Lord" inscribed on the miter on his brow. John saw it
as "written," but knew not its meaning. It
is, therefore, a name which in all its glorious
significancy can be only understood when the union of His
saints with Him, and His and their joint triumph and reign,
shall be perfectly manifested at the final consummation.
13. vesture dipped in blood--
Isa 63:2 is alluded to here, and in
Re 19:15, end. There the blood is not His own,
but that of His foes. So here the blood on His
"vesture," reminding us of His own blood
shed for even the ungodly who trample on it, is a
premonition of the shedding of their blood in
righteous retribution. He sheds the blood, not of the
godly, as the harlot and beast did, but of the
blood-stained ungodly, including them both.
The Word of God--who made the world,
is He also who under the same character and attributes
shall make it anew. His title, Son of God, is
applicable in a lower sense, also to His people; but
"the Word of God" indicates His incommunicable
Godhead, joined to His manhood, which He shall then
manifest in glory. "The Bride does not fear the
Bridegroom; her love casteth out fear. She welcomes Him;
she cannot be happy but at His side. The Lamb [
Re 19:9, the aspect of Christ to His people at His
coming] is the symbol of Christ in His gentleness. Who
would be afraid of a lamb? Even a little child, instead of
being scared, desires to caress it. There is nothing to
make us afraid of God but sin, and Jesus is the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world. What a
fearful contrast is the aspect which He will wear towards
His enemies! Not as the Bridegroom and the Lamb, but as the
[avenging] judge and warrior stained in the blood of His
enemies."
14. the armies . . . in heaven--Compare "the
horse bridles,"
Re 14:20. The glorified saints whom God "will
bring with" Christ at His advent; compare
Re 17:14, "they that are with Him, called, chosen,
faithful"; as also "His mighty
angels."
white and clean--Greek,
"pure." A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and CYPRIAN
omit "and," which ORIGEN and ANDREAS retain, as
English Version.
15. out of his mouth . . . sword-- (
Re 1:16; 2:12, 16). Here in its avenging power,
2Th 2:8, "consume with the Spirit of His
mouth" (
Isa 11:4, to which there is allusion here); not in its
convicting and converting efficacy (
Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12, 13, where also the judicial
keenness of the sword-like word is included). The Father
commits the judgment to the Son.
he shall rule--The HE is emphatic, He
and none other, in contrast to the usurpers who have
misruled on earth. "Rule," literally, "tend
as a shepherd"; but here in a punitive sense. He, who
would have shepherded them with pastoral rod and
with the golden scepter of His love, shall dash them in
pieces, as refractory rebels, with "a rod of
iron."
treadeth . . . wine-press--
(
Isa 63:3).
of the fierceness and wrath--So
ANDREAS reads. But A, B, Vulgate, Coptic, and ORIGEN
read, "of the fierceness (or boiling
indignation) of the wrath," omitting
"and."
Almighty--The fierceness of
Christ's wrath against His foes will be executed with
the resources of omnipotence.
16. "His name written on His vesture and on His
thigh," was written partly on the vesture, partly on
the thigh itself, at the part where in an equestrian figure
the robe drops from the thigh. The thigh symbolizes
Christ's humanity as having come, after the flesh, from
the loins of David, and now appearing as the
glorified "Son of man." On the other hand, His
incommunicable divine name, "which no man knew,"
is on His head (
Re 19:12), [MENOCHIUS].
KING OF KINGS--Compare
Re 17:14, in contrast with
Re 19:17, the beast being in attempted usurpation a
king of kings, the ten kings delivering their kingdom
to him.
17. an--Greek, "one."
in the sun--so as to be conspicuous in
sight of the whole world.
to all the fowls-- (
Eze 39:17-20).
and gather yourselves--A, B,
Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read, "be
gathered," omitting "and."
of the great God--A, B, Vulgate,
Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read, "the great
supper (that is, banquet) of God."
18. Contrast with this "supper,"
Re 19:17, 18, the marriage supper of the Lamb,
Re 19:9.
captains--Greek, "captains
of thousands," that is, chief captains. The
"kings" are "the ten" who "give
their power unto the beast."
free and bond--specified in
Re 13:16, as "receiving the mark of the
beast." The repetition of flesh (in the
Greek it is plural: masses of flesh) five times
in this verse, marks the gross carnality of the
followers of the beast. Again, the giving of their flesh to
the fowls to eat, is a righteous retribution for their not
suffering the dead bodies of Christ's
witnesses to be put in graves.
19. gathered together--at Armageddon, under the sixth vial.
For "their armies" in B and ANDREAS, there
is found "His armies" in A.
war--so ANDREAS. But A and B read,
"the war," namely, that foretold,
Re 16:14; 17:4.
20. and with him the false prophet--A reads, "and
those with him." B reads, "and he who was with
him, the false prophet."
miracles--Greek,
"the miracles" (literally,
"signs") recorded already (
Re 13:14) as wrought by the second beast before
(literally, 'in sight of') the first beast.
Hence it follows the second beast is identical with
the false prophet. Many expositors represent the
first beast to be the secular, the second beast to be the
ecclesiastical power of Rome; and account for the change of
title for the latter from the "other beast" to
the "false prophet," is because by the judgment
on the harlot, the ecclesiastical power will then retain
nothing of its former character save the power to deceive.
I think it not unlikely that the false prophet will be the
successor of the spiritual pretensions of the papacy; while
the beast in its last form as the fully revealed Antichrist
will be the secular representative and embodiment of the
fourth world kingdom, Rome, in its last form of intensified
opposition to God. Compare with this prophecy,
Eze 38:1-39:29; Da 2:34, 35, 44; 11:44, 45; 12:1; Joe
3:9-17; Zec 12:1-14:21. Daniel (
Da 7:8) makes no mention of the second beast, or false
prophet, but mentions that "the little horn" has
"the eyes of a man," that is, cunning and
intellectual culture; this is not a feature of the first
beast in the thirteenth chapter, but is expressed by the
Apocalyptic "false prophet," the embodiment of
man's unsanctified knowledge, and the subtlety of the
old serpent. The first beast is a political power; the
second is a spiritual power--the power of ideas. But both
are beasts, the worldly Antichristian wisdom serving
the worldly Antichristian power. The dragon is both lion
and serpent. As the first law in God's moral government
is that "judgment should begin at the house of
God," and be executed on the harlot, the faithless
Church, by the world power with which she had committed
spiritual adultery, so it is a second law that the world
power, after having served as God's instrument of
punishment, is itself punished. As the harlot is judged by
the beast and the ten kings, so these are destroyed by the
Lord Himself coming in person. So
Zep 1:1-18 compared with
Zep 2:1-15. And Jeremiah, after denouncing
Jerusalem's judgment by Babylon, ends with denouncing
Babylon's own doom. Between the judgment on the harlot
and the Lord's destruction of the beast, will intervene
that season in which earthly-mindedness will reach its
culmination, and Antichristianity triumph for its short
three and a half days during which the two witnesses lie
dead. Then shall the Church be ripe for her glorification,
the Antichristian world for destruction. The world at the
highest development of its material and spiritual power is
but a decorated carcass round which the eagles gather. It
is characteristic that Antichrist and his kings, in their
blindness, imagine that they can wage war against the King
of heaven with earthly hosts; herein is shown the extreme
folly of Babylonian confusion. The Lord's mere
appearance, without any actual encounter, shows Antichrist
his nothingness; compare the effect of Jesus'
appearance even in His humiliation,
Joh 18:6 [AUBERLEN].
had received--rather as Greek,
"received," once for all.
them; that worshipped--literally,
"them worshipping" not an act once for all
done, as the "received" implies, but those
in the habit of "worshipping."
These both were cast . . .
into a lake--Greek, ". . . the lake
of fire," Gehenna. Satan is subsequently cast into it,
at the close of the outbreak which succeeds the millennium
(
Re 20:10). Then Death and Hell, as well those not found
at the general judgment "written in the book of
life"; this constitutes "the second
death."
alive--a living death; not mere
annihilation. "Their worm dieth not, their fire is not
quenched."
21. the remnant--Greek, "the rest," that is, "the kings and their armies" ( Re 19:19) classed together in one indiscriminate mass. A solemn confirmation of the warning in Ps 2:10.
Re 20:1-15. SATAN BOUND, AND THE FIRST-RISEN SAINTS REIGN WITH CHRIST, A THOUSAND YEARS; SATAN LOOSED, GATHERS THE NATIONS, GOG AND MAGOG, ROUND THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS, AND IS FINALLY CONSIGNED TO THE LAKE OF FIRE; THE GENERAL RESURRECTION AND LAST JUDGMENT.
1. The destruction of his representatives, the beast and
the false prophet, to whom he had given his power,
throne, and authority, is followed by the
binding of Satan himself for a thousand years.
the key of the bottomless pit--now
transferred from Satan's hands, who had heretofore been
permitted by God to use it in letting loose plagues on the
earth; he is now to be made to feel himself the torment
which he had inflicted on men, but his full torment is not
until he is cast into "the lake of fire" (
Re 20:10).
2. that old--ancient serpent (
Re 12:9).
thousand years--As seven
mystically implies universality, so a thousand
implies perfection, whether in good or evil [AQUINAS
on ch. 11]. Thousand symbolizes that the world is
perfectly leavened and pervaded by the divine; since
thousand is ten, the number of the world, raised
to the third power, three being the number of
God [AUBERLEN]. It may denote literally also a
thousand years.
3. shut him--A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and ANDREAS omit
"him."
set a seal upon him--Greek,
"over him," that is, sealed up the door of the
abyss over his head. A surer seal to keep him from getting
out than his seal over Jesus in the tomb of Joseph, which
was burst on the resurrection morn. Satan's binding
at' this juncture is not arbitrary, but is the
necessary consequence of the events (
Re 19:20); just as Satan's being cast out of
heaven, where he had previously been the accuser of the
brethren, was the legitimate judgment which passed on him
through the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ
(
Re 12:7-10). Satan imagined that he had overcome Christ
on Golgotha, and that his power was secure for ever, but
the Lord in death overcame him, and by His ascension as our
righteous Advocate cast out Satan, the accuser from heaven.
Time was given on earth to make the beast and harlot
powerful, and then to concentrate all his power in
Antichrist. The Antichristian kingdom, his last effort,
being utterly destroyed by Christ's mere appearing, his
power on earth is at an end. He had thought to destroy
God's people on earth by Antichristian persecutions
(just as he had thought previously to destroy Christ); but
the Church is not destroyed from the earth but is raised to
rule over it, and Satan himself is shut up for a thousand
years in the "abyss" (Greek for
"bottomless pit"), the preparatory prison to the
"lake of fire," his final doom. As before he
ceased by Christ's ascension to be an accuser in
heaven, so during the millennium he ceases to be the
seducer and the persecutor on earth. As long as the devil
rules in the darkness of the world, we live in an
atmosphere impregnated with deadly elements. A mighty
purification of the air will be effected by Christ's
coming. Though sin will not be absolutely abolished--for
men will still be in the flesh (
Isa 65:20) --sin will no longer be a universal power,
for the flesh is not any longer seduced by Satan. He will
not be, as now, "the god and prince of the
world"--nor will the world "lie in the wicked
one"--the flesh will become ever more isolated and be
overcome. Christ will reign with His transfigured saints
over men in the flesh [A UBERLEN]. This will be the
manifestation of "the world to come," which has
been already set up invisibly in the saints, amidst
"this world" (
2Co 4:4; Heb 2:5; 5:5). The Jewish Rabbis thought, as
the world was created in six days and on the seventh
God rested, so there would be six millenary periods,
followed by a sabbatical millennium. Out of seven years
every seventh is the year of remission, so out of the seven
thousand years of the world the seventh millenary shall be
the millenary of remission. A tradition in the house of
Elias, A.D. 200, states that the world is to endure six
thousand years; two thousand before the law, two thousand
under the law, and two thousand under Messiah. Compare
Note, see on Heb 4:9 and
Heb 4:9, Margin; see on Re
14:13. PAPIAS, JUSTIN MARTYR, IRENÆUS, and
CYPRIAN, among the earliest Fathers, all held the doctrine
of a millennial kingdom on earth; not till millennial views
degenerated into gross carnalism was this doctrine
abandoned.
that he should deceive--so A. But B
reads, "that he deceive" (Greek,
"plana," for
"planeesee").
and--so Coptic and ANDREAS. But
A, B, and Vulgate omit "and."
4, 5. they sat--the twelve apostles, and the saints in
general.
judgment was given unto there--(See on
Da 7:22). The office of
judging was given to them. Though in one sense having to
stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yet in another
sense they "do not come into judgment (Greek),
but have already passed from death unto life."
souls--This term is made a plea for
denying the literality of the first resurrection, as if the
resurrection were the spiritual one of the souls of
believers in this life; the life and reign being that of
the soul raised in this life from the death of sin by
vivifying faith. But "souls" expresses their
disembodied state (compare
Re 6:9) as John saw them at first; "and they
lived" implies their coming to life in the body
again, so as to be visible, as the phrase,
Re 20:5, "this is the first resurrection,"
proves; for as surely as "the rest of the dead lived
not (again) until," &c., refers to the
bodily general resurrection, so must the first
resurrection refer to the body. This also accords with
1Co 15:23, "They that are Christ's at His
coming." Compare
Ps 49:11-15. From
Re 6:9, I infer that "souls" is here used in
the strict sense of spirits disembodied when first
seen by John; though doubtless "souls" is often
used in general for persons, and even for dead
bodies.
beheaded--literally, "smitten
with an axe"; a Roman punishment, though
crucifixion, casting to beasts, and burning, were the more
common modes of execution. The guillotine in revolutionary
France was a revival of the mode of capital punishment of
pagan imperial Rome. Paul was beheaded, and no doubt
shall share the first resurrection, in accordance
with his prayer that he "might attain unto the
resurrection from out of the rest of the dead"
(Greek, "exanastasis"). The above
facts may account for the specification of this particular
kind of punishment.
for . . . for--Greek,
"for the sake of"; on account of";
"because of."
and which--Greek, "and the
which." And prominent among this class (the
beheaded), such as did not worship the beast. So
Re 1:7, Greek, "and the which," or
"and such as," particularizes prominently among
the general class those that follow in the description
[TREGELLES]. The extent of the first resurrection is
not spoken of here. In
1Co 15:23, 51; 1Th 4:14 we find that all "in
Christ" shall share in it. John himself was not
"beheaded," yet who doubts but that he shall
share in the first resurrection? The martyrs are put first,
because most like Jesus in their sufferings and death,
therefore nearest Him in their life and reign; for Christ
indirectly affirms there are relative degrees and places of
honor in His kingdom, the highest being for those who drink
his cup of suffering. Next shall be those who have not
bowed to the world power, but have looked to the things
unseen and eternal.
neither--"not yet."
foreheads . . .
hands--Greek, "forehead . . .
hand."
reigned with Christ--over the earth.
5. But--B, Coptic, and ANDREAS read,
"and." A and Vulgate omit it.
again--A, B, Vulgate, Coptic,
and ANDREAS omit it. "Lived" is used for lived
again, as in
Re 2:8. John saw them not only when restored to life,
but when in the act of reviving [BENGEL].
first resurrection--"the
resurrection of the just." Earth is not yet
transfigured, and cannot therefore be the meet locality for
the transfigured Church; but from heaven the transfigured
saints with Christ rule the earth, there being a much freer
communion of the heavenly and earthly churches (a type of
which state may be seen in the forty days of the risen
Saviour during which He appeared to His disciples), and
they know no higher joy than to lead their brethren on
earth to the same salvation and glory as they share
themselves. The millennial reign on earth does not rest on
an isolated passage of the Apocalypse, but all Old
Testament prophecy goes on the same view (compare
Isa 4:3; 11:9; 35:8). Jesus, while opposing the carnal
views of the kingdom of God prevalent among the Jews in His
day, does not contradict, but confirms, the Old Testament
view of a coming, earthly, Jewish kingdom of glory:
beginning from within, and spreading itself now
spiritually, the kingdom of God shall manifest itself
outwardly at Christ's coming again. The papacy is a
false anticipation of the kingdom during the
Church-historical period. "When Christianity became a
worldly power under Constantine, the hope of the future was
weakened by the joy over present success" [BENGEL].
Becoming a harlot, the Church ceased to be a bride going to
meet her Bridegroom; thus millennial hopes disappeared. The
rights which Rome as a harlot usurped, shall be exercised
in holiness by the Bride. They are "kings"
because they are "priests" (
Re 20:6; Re 1:6; 5:10); their priesthood unto God and
Christ (
Re 7:15) is the ground of their kingship in relation to
man. Men will be willing subjects of the transfigured
priest-kings, in the day of the Lord's power. Their
power is that of attraction, winning the heart, and not
counteracted by devil or beast. Church and State shall then
be co-extensive. Man created "to have dominion over
earth" is to rejoice over his world with
unmixed, holy joy. John tells us that, instead of the
devil, the transfigured Church of Christ; Daniel, that
instead of the heathen beast, the holy Israel, shall rule
the world [AUBERLEN].
6. Blessed--(Compare
Re 14:13; 19:9).
on such the second death hath no
power--even as it has none on Christ now that He is
risen.
priests of God--Apostate Christendom
being destroyed, and the believing Church translated at
Christ's coming, there will remain Israel and the
heathen world, constituting the majority of men then alive,
which, from not having come into close contact with the
Gospel, have not incurred the guilt of rejecting it. These
will be the subjects of a general conversion (
Re 11:15). "The veil" shall be taken off
Israel first, then from off "all people." The
glorious events attending Christ's appearing, the
destruction of Antichrist, the transfiguration of the
Church, and the binding of Satan, will prepare the nations
for embracing the Gospel. As individual regeneration
goes on now, so there shall be a "regeneration"
of nations then. Israel, as a nation, shall be
"born at once--in one day." As the Church
began at Christ's ascension, so the kingdom
shall begin at His second advent. This is the humiliation
of the modern civilized nations, that nations which they
despise most, Jews and uncivilized barbarians, the negro
descendants of Ham who from the curse of Noah have been so
backward, Cush and Sheba, shall supplant and surpass them
as centers of the world's history (compare
De 32:21; Ro 10:19; 11:20, &c.). The Jews are our
teachers even in New Testament times. Since their rejection
revelation has been silent. The whole Bible, even the New
Testament, is written by Jews. If revelation is to
recommence in the millennial kingdom, converted Israel must
stand at the head of humanity. In a religious point of
view, Jews and Gentiles stand on an equal footing as both
alike needing mercy; but as regards God's
instrumentalities for bringing about His kingdom on earth,
Israel is His chosen people for executing His plans. The
Israelite priest-kings on earth are what the transfigured
priest-kings are in heaven. There shall be a blessed chain
of giving and receiving--God, Christ, the transfigured
Bride the Church, Israel, the world of nations. A new time
of revelation will begin by the outpouring of the fulness
of the Spirit. Ezekiel (the fortieth through forty-eighth
chapters), himself son of a priest, sets forth the priestly
character of Israel; Daniel the statesman, its kingly
character; Jeremiah (
Jer 33:17-21), both its priestly and kingly character.
In the Old Testament the whole Jewish national life was
religious only in an external legal manner. The New
Testament Church insists on inward renewal, but leaves its
outward manifestations free. But in the millennial kingdom,
all spheres of life shall be truly Christianized from
within outwardly. The Mosaic ceremonial law corresponds to
Israel's priestly office; the civil law to its kingly
office: the Gentile Church adopts the moral law, and
exercises the prophetic office by the word working
inwardly. But when the royal and the priestly office shall
be revived, then--the principles of the Epistle to the
Hebrews remaining the same--also the ceremonial and civil
law of Moses will develop its spiritual depths in the
divine worship (compare
Mt 5:17-19). At present is the time of preaching; but
then the time of the Liturgy of converted souls
forming "the great congregation" shall come. Then
shall our present defective governments give place to
perfect governments in both Church and State. Whereas under
the Old Testament the Jews exclusively, and in the New
Testament the Gentiles exclusively, enjoy the revelation of
salvation (in both cases humanity being divided and
separated), in the millennium both Jews and Gentiles are
united, and the whole organism of mankind under the
first-born brother, Israel, walks in the light of God, and
the full life of humanity is at last realized. Scripture
does not view the human race as an aggregate of individuals
and nationalities, but as an organic whole, laid down once
for all in the first pages of revelation. (
Ge 9:25-27; 10:1, 5, 18, 25, 32; De 32:8 recognizes the
fact that from the first the division of the nations was
made with a relation to Israel). Hence arises the
importance of the Old Testament to the Church now as ever.
Three grand groups of nations, Hamites, Japhetites, and
Shemites, correspond respectively to the three fundamental
elements in man--body, soul, and spirit. The flower of
Shem, the representative of spiritual life, is
Israel, even as the flower of Israel is He in whom all
mankind is summed up, the second Adam (
Ge 12:1-3). Thus Israel is the mediator of divine
revelations for all times. Even nature and the animal world
will share in the millennial blessedness. As sin loses its
power, decay and death will decrease [A UBERLEN]. Earthly
and heavenly glories shall be united in the twofold
election. Elect Israel in the flesh shall stand at the head
of the earthly, the elect spiritual Church, the Bride, in
the heavenly. These twofold elections are not merely for
the good of the elect themselves, but for the good of those
to whom they minister. The heavenly Church is elected not
merely to salvation, but to rule in love, and minister
blessings over the whole earth, as king-priests. The glory
of the transfigured saints shall be felt by men in the
flesh with the same consciousness of blessing as on the
Mount of Transfiguration the three disciples experienced in
witnessing the glory of Jesus, and of Moses and Elias, when
Peter exclaimed, "It is good for us to be here";
in
2Pe 1:16-18, the Transfiguration is regarded as the
earnest of Christ's coming in glory. The privilege of
"our high calling in Christ" is limited to
the present time of Satan's reign; when he is bound,
there will be no scope for suffering for, and so afterwards
reigning with, Him (
Re 3:21; compare Note, see on 1Co 6:2). Moreover, none can be
saved in the present age and in the pale of the Christian
Church who does not also reign with Christ hereafter, the
necessary preliminary to which is suffering with Christ
now. If we fail to lay hold of the crown, we lose all,
"the gift of grace as well as the reward of
service" [DE B URGH].
7. expired--Greek, "finished."
8. Gog and Magog-- (
Eze 38:1-39:29; see on Eze
38:2). Magog is a general name for northern nations of
Japheth's posterity, whose ideal head is Gog (
Ge 10:2). A has but one Greek article to
"Gog and Magog," whereby the two, namely, the
prince and the people, are marked as having the closest
connection. B reads the second article before Magog
wrongly. H ILLER [Onomasticon] explains both words
as signifying "lofty," "elevated." For
"quarters" the Greek is
"corners."
to battle--Greek, "to
the war," in A and B. But ANDREAS omits
"the."
9. on the breadth of the earth--so as completely to
overspread it. Perhaps we ought to translate,
". . . of the [holy]
land."
the camp of the saints and the beloved
city--the camp of the saints encircling the beloved
city, Jerusalem (Ecclesiasticus 24:11). Contrast
"hateful" in Babylon (
Re 18:2; De 32:15, Septuagint). Ezekiel's
prophecy of Gog and Magog (
Eze 38:1-39:29) refers to the attack made by Antichrist
on Israel before the millennium: but this attack is
made after the millennium, so that "Gog and
Magog" are mystical names representing the final
adversaries led by Satan in person. Ezekiel's Gog and
Magog come from the north, but those here come
"from the four corners of the earth." Gog
is by some connected with a Hebrew root,
"covered."
from God--so B, Vulgate, Syriac,
Coptic, and ANDREAS. But A omits the words. Even during
the millennium there is a separation between heaven and
earth, transfigured humanity and humanity in the flesh.
Hence it is possible that an apostasy should take place at
its close. In the judgment on this apostasy the world of
nature is destroyed and renewed, as the world of history
was before the millennial kingdom; it is only then that the
new heaven and new earth are realized in final perfection.
The millennial new heaven and earth are but a
foretaste of this everlasting state when the upper and
lower congregations shall be no longer separate, though
connected as in the millennium, and when new Jerusalem
shall descend from God out of heaven. The inherited
sinfulness of our nature shall be the only influence during
the millennium to prevent the power of the transfigured
Church saving all souls. When this time of grace shall end,
no other shall succeed. For what can move him in whom the
visible glory of the Church, while the influence of evil is
restrained, evokes no longing for communion with the
Church's King? As the history of the world of nations
ended with the manifestation of the Church in visible
glory, so that of mankind in general shall end with the
great separation of the just from the wicked (
Re 20:12) [AUBERLEN].
10. that deceived--Greek, "that
deceiveth."
lake of fire--his final doom: as
"the bottomless pit" (
Re 20:1) was his temporary prison.
where--so Coptic. But A, B,
Vulgate, and Syriac read, "where
also."
the beast and the false prophet are--
(
Re 19:20).
day and night--figurative for
without intermission (
Re 22:5), such as now is caused by night interposing
between day and day. The same phrase is used of the
external state of the blessed (
Re 4:8). As the bliss of these is eternal, so the woe
of Satan and the lost must be. As the beast and the false
prophet led the former conspiracy against Christ and His
people, so Satan in person heads the last conspiracy. Satan
shall not be permitted to enter this Paradise regained, to
show the perfect security of believers, unlike the first
Adam whom Satan succeeded in robbing of Paradise; and
shall, like Pharaoh at the Rod Sea, receive in this last
attempt his final doom.
for ever and ever--Greek,
"to the ages of the ages."
11. great--in contrast to the "thrones,"
Re 20:4.
white--the emblem of purity and
justice.
him that sat on it--the Father
[ALFORD]. Rather, the Son, to whom "the Father hath
committed all judgment." God in Christ, that is, the
Father represented by the Son, is He before whose
judgment-seat we must all stand. The Son's mediatorial
reign is with a view to prepare the kingdom for the
Father's acceptance. When He has done that, He shall
give it up to the Father, "that God may be all in
all," coming into direct communion with His creatures,
without intervention of a Mediator, for the first time
since the fall. Heretofore Christ's Prophetical
mediation had been prominent in His earthly ministry, His
Priestly mediation is prominent now in heaven between His
first and second advents, and His Kingly shall be so during
the millennium and at the general judgment.
earth and heaven fled away--The final
conflagration, therefore, precedes the general judgment.
This is followed by the new heaven and earth (
Re 21:1-27).
12. the dead--"the rest of the dead" who did not
share the first resurrection, and those who died during the
millennium.
small and great--B has
"the small and the great." A,
Vulgate, Syriac, and ANDREAS have "the great and
the small." The wicked who had died from the time of
Adam to Christ's second advent, and all the righteous
and wicked who had died during and after the millennium,
shall then have their eternal portion assigned to them. The
godly who were transfigured and reigned with Christ during
it, shall also be present, not indeed to have their portion
assigned as if for the first time (for that shall have been
fixed long before,
Joh 5:24), but to have it confirmed for ever,
and that God's righteousness may be vindicated in the
case of both the saved and the lost, in the presence of an
assembled universe. Compare "We must ALL
appear," &c.
Ro 14:10; 2Co 5:10. The saints having been first
pronounced just themselves by Christ out of "the book
of life," shall sit as assessors of the Judge. Compare
Mt 25:31, 32, 40, "these My brethren."
God's omniscience will not allow the most insignificant
to escape unobserved, and His omnipotence will cause the
mightiest to obey the summons. The living are not
specially mentioned: as these all shall probably first
(before the destruction of the ungodly,
Re 20:9) be transfigured, and caught up with the saints
long previously transfigured; and though present for the
confirmation of their justification by the Judge, shall not
then first have their eternal state assigned to them, but
shall sit as assessors with the Judge.
the books . . . opened-- (
Da 7:10). The books of God's remembrance, alike of
the evil and the good (
Ps 56:8; 139:4; Mal 3:16): conscience (
Ro 2:15, 16), the word of Christ (
Joh 12:48), the law (
Ga 3:10), God's eternal counsel (
Ps 139:16).
book of life-- (
Re 3:5; 13:8; 21:27; Ex 32:32, 33; Ps 69:28; Da 12:1; Php
4:3). Besides the general book recording the works of
all, there is a special book for believers in which their
names are written, not for their works, but for the work of
Christ for, and in, them. Therefore it is
called, "the Lamb's book of life."
Electing grace has singled them out from the general
mass.
according to their works--We are
justified by faith, but judged according to
(not by) our works. For the general judgment is
primarily designed for the final vindication of
God's righteousness before the whole world, which
in this checkered dispensation of good and evil, though
really ruling the world, has been for the time less
manifest. Faith is appreciable by God and the
believer alone (
Re 2:17). But works are appreciable by all.
These, then, are made the evidential test to decide
men's eternal state, thus showing that God's
administration of judgment is altogether righteous.
13. death and hell--Greek, "Hades." The essential identity of the dying and risen body is hereby shown; for the sea and grave give up their dead. The body that sinned or served God shall, in righteous retribution, be the body also that shall suffer or be rewarded. The "sea" may have a symbolical [CLUVER from AUGUSTINE], besides the literal meaning, as, in Re 8:8; 12:12; 13:1; 18:17, 19; so "death" and "hell" are personifications (compare Re 21:1). But the literal sense need hardly be departed from: all the different regions wherein the bodies and souls of men had been, gave them up.
14. Death and Hades, as personified representatives of the
enemies of Christ' and His Church, are said to be cast
into the lake of fire to express the truth that Christ and
His people shall never more die, or be in the state of
disembodied spirits.
This is the second death--"the
lake of fire" is added in A, B, and ANDREAS.
English Version, which omits the clause, rests on
inferior manuscripts. In hell the ancient form of death,
which was one of the enemies destroyed by Christ, shall not
continue, but a death of a far different kind reigns there,
"everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord": an abiding testimony of the victory of
Christ.
15. The blissful lot of the righteous is not here specially mentioned as their bliss had commenced before the final judgment. Compare, however, Mt 25:34, 41, 46.
Re 21:1-27. THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH: NEW JERUSALEM OUT OF HEAVEN.
The remaining two chapters describe the eternal and consummated kingdom of God and the saints on the new earth. As the world of nations is to be pervaded by divine influence in the millennium, so the world of nature shall be, not annihilated, but transfigured universally in the eternal state which follows it. The earth was cursed for man's sake; but is redeemed by the second Adam. Now is the Church; in the millennium shall be the kingdom; and after that shall be the new world wherein God shall be all in all. The "day of the Lord" and the conflagration of the earth are in 2Pe 3:10, 11 spoken of as if connected together, from which many argue against a millennial interval between His coming and the general conflagration of the old earth, preparatory to the new; but "day" is used often of a whole period comprising events intimately connected together, as are the Lord's second advent, the millennium, and the general conflagration and judgment. Compare Ge 2:4 as to the wide use of "day." Man's soul is redeemed by regeneration through the Holy Spirit now; man's body shall be redeemed at the resurrection; man's dwelling-place, His inheritance, the earth, shall be redeemed perfectly at the creation of the new heaven and earth, which shall exceed in glory the first Paradise, as much as the second Adam exceeds in glory the first Adam before the fall, and as man regenerated in body and soul shall exceed man as he was at creation.
1. the first--that is the former.
passed away--Greek, in A and B
is "were departed" (Greek,
"apeelthon," not as in English
Version, "pareelthe").
was--Greek, "is,"
which graphically sets the thing before our eyes as
present.
no more sea--The sea is the type of
perpetual unrest. Hence our Lord rebukes it as an unruly
hostile troubler of His people. It symbolized the political
tumults out of which "the beast" arose,
Re 13:1. As the physical corresponds to the spiritual
and moral world, so the absence of sea, after the
metamorphosis of the earth by fire, answers to the
unruffled state of solid peace which shall then prevail.
The sea, though severing lands from one another, is
now, by God's eliciting of good from evil, made the
medium of communication between countries through
navigation. Then man shall possess inherent powers which
shall make the sea no longer necessary, but an element
which would detract from a perfect state. A
"river" and "water" are spoken of in
Re 22:1, 2, probably literal (that is, with such
changes of the natural properties of water, as correspond
analogically to man's own transfigured body), as well
as symbolical. The sea was once the element of the
world's destruction, and is still the source of death
to thousands, whence after the millennium, at the general
judgment, it is specially said, "The sea gave
up the dead . . . in it." Then it shall
cease to destroy, or disturb, being removed altogether on
account of its past destructions.
2. And I John--"John" is omitted in A, B,
Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS; also the
"I" in the Greek of these authorities is
not emphatic. The insertion of "I John" in the
Greek would somewhat interfere with the close
connection which subsists between "the new heaven and
earth,"
Re 21:1, and the "new Jerusalem" in this
verse.
Jerusalem . . . out of
heaven-- (
Re 3:12; Ga 4:26, "Jerusalem which is above";
Heb 11:10; 12:22; 13:14). The descent of the new
Jerusalem out of heaven is plainly distinct from the
earthly Jerusalem in which Israel in the flesh shall
dwell during the millennium, and follows on the creation of
the new heaven and earth. John in his Gospel always writes
[Greek] Hierosoluma of the old city; in the
Apocalypse always Hierousaleem of the heavenly city
(
Re 3:12). Hierousaleem is a Hebrew name,
the original and holy appellation. Hierosoluma is
the common Greek term, used in a political sense.
Paul observes the same distinction when refuting Judaism
(
Ga 4:26; compare
Ga 1:17, 18; 2:1; Heb 12:22), though not so in the
Epistles to Romans and Corinthians [BENGEL].
bride--made up of the blessed citizens
of "the holy city." There is no longer merely a
Paradise as in Eden (though there is that also,
Re 2:7), no longer a mere garden, but now the city
of God on earth, costlier, statelier, and more
glorious, but at the same time the result of labor and
pains such as had not to be expended by man in dressing the
primitive garden of Eden. "The lively stones"
were severally in time laboriously chiselled into shape,
after the pattern of "the Chief corner-stone," to
prepare them for the place which they shall everlastingly
fill in the heavenly Jerusalem.
3. out of heaven--so ANDREAS. But A and Vulgate
read, "out of the throne."
the tabernacle--alluding to the
tabernacle of God in the wilderness (wherein many signs of
His presence were given): of which this is the antitype,
having previously been in heaven:
Re 11:19; 15:5, "the temple of the tabernacle of
the testimony in heaven"; also
Re 13:6. Compare the contrast in
Heb 9:23, 14, between "the patterns" and
"the heavenly things themselves," between
"the figures" and "the true." The
earnest of the true and heavenly tabernacle was afforded in
the Jerusalem temple described in
Eze 40:1-42:20, as about to be, namely, during the
millennium.
dwell with them--literally,
"tabernacle with them"; the same
Greek word as is used of the divine Son
"tabernacling among us." Then He was in
the weakness of the flesh: but at the new creation
of heaven and earth He shall tabernacle among us in the
glory of His manifested Godhead (
Re 22:4).
they--in Greek emphatic,
"they" (in particular).
his people--Greek, "His
peoples": "the nations of the saved"
being all peculiarly His, as Israel was designed to be. So
A reads. But B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic
read, "His people": singular.
God himself . . . with
them--realizing fully His name Immanuel.
4. all tears--Greek, "every tear."
no more death--Greek,
"death shall be no more." Therefore it is not the
millennium, for in the latter there is death (
Isa 65:20; 1Co 15:26, 54, "the last enemy
. . . destroyed is death,"
Re 20:14, after the millennium).
sorrow--Greek,
"mourning."
passed away--Greek,
"departed," as in
Re 21:1.
5. sat--Greek, "sitteth."
all things new--not recent, but
changed from the old (Greek,
"kaina," not "nea"). An
earnest of this regeneration and transfiguration of nature
is given already in the regenerate soul.
unto me--so Coptic and ANDREAS.
But A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac omit.
true and faithful--so ANDREAS. But A,
B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic transpose,
"faithful and true" (literally,
"genuine").
6. It is done--the same Greek as in
Re 16:17. "It is come to pass." So
Vulgate reads with English Version. But A reads,
"They ('these words,'
Re 21:5) are come to pass." All is as sure as if
it actually had been fulfilled for it rests on the word of
the unchanging God. When the consummation shall be, God
shall rejoice over the work of His own hands, as at the
completion of the first creation God saw everything that
He had made, and behold it was very good (
Ge 1:31).
Alpha . . .
Omega--Greek in A and B, "the Alpha
. . . the Omega" (
Re 1:18).
give unto . . . athirst
. . . water of life-- (
Re 22:17; Isa 12:3; 55:1; Joh 4:13, 14; 7:37, 38). This
is added lest any should despair of attaining to this
exceeding weight of glory. In our present state we may
drink of the stream, then we shall drink at the
Fountain.
freely--Greek,
"gratuitously": the same Greek as is translated,
"(They hated Me) without a cause,"
Joh 15:25. As gratuitous as was man's hatred
of God, so gratuitous is God's love to man:
there was every cause in Christ why man should love Him,
yet man hated Him; there was every cause in man why
(humanly speaking) God should have hated man, yet God loved
man: the very reverse of what might be expected took place
in both cases. Even in heaven our drinking at the Fountain
shall be God's gratuitous gift.
7. He that overcometh--another aspect of the believer's
life: a conflict with sin, Satan, and the world is needed.
Thirsting for salvation is the first beginning of,
and continues for ever (in the sense of an appetite and
relish for divine joys) a characteristic of the believer.
In a different sense, the believer "shall never
thirst."
inherit all things--A, B,
Vulgate, and CYPRIAN read, "these
things," namely, the blessings described in this whole
passage. With "all things," compare
1Co 3:21-23.
I will be his God--Greek,
"I will be to him a God," that is, all that is
implied of blessing in the name "God."
he shall be my son--"He" is
emphatic: He in particular and in a peculiar sense,
above others: Greek, "shall be to me a
son," in fullest realization of the promise made in
type to Solomon, son of David, and antitypically to the
divine Son of David.
8. the fearful--Greek, "the cowardly," who
do not quit themselves like men so as to
"overcome" in the good fight; who have the spirit
of slavish "fear," not love, towards God; and who
through fear of man are not bold for God, or "draw
back." Compare
Re 21:27; 22:15.
unbelieving--Greek,
"faithless."
abominable--who have drank of the
harlot's "cup of abominations."
sorcerers--one of the characteristics
of Antichrist's time.
all liars--Greek, "all
the liars": or else "all who are
liars"; compare
1Ti 4:1, 2, where similarly lying and dealings
with spirits and demons, are joined together
as features of "the latter times."
second death--
Re 20:14: "everlasting destruction,"
2Th 1:9; Mr 9:44, 46, 48, "Where THEIR worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched."
9. The same angel who had shown John Babylon the
harlot, is appropriately employed to show him in
contrast new Jerusalem, the Bride (
Re 17:1-5). The angel so employed is the one that had
the last seven plagues, to show that the ultimate
blessedness of the Church is one end of the divine
judgments on her foes.
unto me--A, B, and Vulgate
omit.
the Lamb's wife--in contrast to
her who sat on many waters (
Re 17:1), (that is, intrigued with many peoples and
nations of the world, instead of giving her undivided
affections, as the Bride does, to the Lamb.
10. The words correspond to
Re 17:3, to heighten the contrast of the bride and
harlot.
mountain--Compare
Eze 40:2, where a similar vision is given from a
high mountain.
that great--omitted in A, B,
Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and CYPRIAN. Translate then,
"the holy city Jerusalem."
descending--Even in the millennium the
earth will not be a suitable abode for transfigured saints,
who therefore shall then reign in heaven over the earth.
But after the renewal of the earth at the close of the
millennium and judgment, they shall descend from
heaven to dwell on an earth assimilated to heaven itself.
"From God" implies that "we (the city) are
God's workmanship."
11. Having the glory of God--not merely the Shekinah-cloud,
but God Himself as her glory dwelling in the midst of her.
Compare the type, the earthly Jerusalem in the millennium
(
Zec 2:5; compare
Re 21:23, below).
her light--Greek,
"light-giver": properly applied to the heavenly
luminaries which diffuse light. Compare Note,
see on Php 2:15, the only
other passage where it occurs. The "and" before
"her light' is omitted in A, B, and
Vulgate.
even like--Greek, "as it
were."
jasper--representing watery
crystalline brightness.
12. And--A and B omit.
Eze 48:30-35, has a similar description, which implies
that the millennial Jerusalem shall have its exact antitype
in the heavenly Jerusalem which shall descend on the
finally regenerated earth.
wall great and high--setting forth the
security of the Church. Also, the exclusion of the
ungodly.
twelve angels--guards of the twelve
gates: an additional emblem of perfect security, while the
gates being never shut (
Re 21:25) imply perfect liberty and peace. Also, angels
shall be the brethren of the heavenly citizens.
names of . . . twelve
tribes--The inscription of the names on the gates implies
that none but the spiritual Israel, God's elect, shall
enter the heavenly city. As the millennium wherein
literal Israel in the flesh shall be the mother
Church, is the antitype to the Old Testament earthly
theocracy in the Holy Land, so the heavenly new
Jerusalem is the consummation antitypical to the
spiritual Israel, the elect Church of Jews and Gentiles
being now gathered out: as the spiritual Israel now is an
advance upon the previous literal and carnal Israel, so the
heavenly Jerusalem shall be much in advance of the
millennial Jerusalem.
13. On the north . . . on the south--A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read, "And on the north and on the south." In Ezekiel, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan (for which Manasseh is substituted in Re 7:6), are on the east ( Eze 48:32); Reuben, Judah, Levi, are on the north ( Eze 48:31); Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, on the south ( Eze 48:33); Gad, Asher, Naphtali, on the west ( Eze 48:34). In Numbers, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun are on the east ( Nu 2:3, 5, 7). Reuben, Simeon, Gad, on the south ( Nu 2:10, 12, 14). Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, on the west ( Nu 2:18, 20, 22). Dan, Asher, Naphtali, on the north ( Nu 2:25, 27, 29).
14. twelve foundations--Joshua, the type of Jesus, chose
twelve men out of the people, to carry twelve stones over
the Jordan with them, as Jesus chose twelve apostles to be
the twelve foundations of the heavenly city, of which He is
Himself the Chief corner-stone. Peter is not the only
apostolic rock on whose preaching Christ builds His Church.
Christ Himself is the true foundation: the twelve are
foundations only in regard to their apostolic testimony
concerning Him. Though Paul was an apostle besides the
twelve, yet the mystical number is retained, twelve
representing the Church, namely thirty the divine number,
multiplied by four, the world number.
in them the names, &c.--As
architects often have their names inscribed on their great
works, so the names of the apostles shall be held in
everlasting remembrance. Vulgate reads,
"in them." But A, B, Syriac,
Coptic, and ANDREAS read, "upon them."
These authorities also insert "twelve" before
"names."
15. had a golden reed--so Coptic. But A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "had (as) a measure, a golden reed." In Re 11:2 the non-measuring of the outer courts of the temple implied its being given up to secular and heathen desecration. So here, on the contrary, the city being measured implies the entire consecration of every part, all things being brought up to the most exact standard of God's holy requirements, and also God's accurate guardianship henceforth of even the most minute parts of His holy city from all evil.
16. twelve thousand furlongs--literally, "to twelve thousand stadii": one thousand furlongs being the space between the several twelve gates. BENGEL makes the length of each side of the city to be twelve thousand stadii. The stupendous height, length, and breadth being exactly alike, imply its faultless symmetry, transcending in glory all our most glowing conceptions.
17. hundred . . . forty . . . four
cubits--twelve times twelve: the Church-number squared. The
wall is far beneath the height of the city.
measure of a man, that is, of the
angel--The ordinary measure used by men is the
measure here used by the angel, distinct from
"the measure of the sanctuary." Men shall then be
equal to the angels.
18. the building--"the structure" [TREGELLES],
Greek, "endomeesis."
gold, like . . . clear
glass--Ideal gold, transparent as no gold here is [ALFORD].
Excellencies will be combined in the heavenly city which
now seem incompatible.
19. And--so Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS. But A, B,
and Vulgate omit. Compare
Re 21:14 with this verse; also
Isa 54:11.
all manner of precious
stones--Contrast
Re 18:12 as to the harlot, Babylon. These precious
stones constituted the "foundations."
chalcedony--agate from Chalcedon:
semi-opaque, sky-blue, with stripes of other colors
[ALFORD].
20. sardonyx--a gem having the redness of the cornelian,
and the whiteness of the onyx.
sardius--(See on Re
4:3).
chrysolite--described by PLINY as
transparent and of a golden brightness, like our topaz:
different from our pale green crystallized
chrysolite.
beryl--of a sea-green color.
topaz--PLINY [37.32], makes it
green and transparent, like our chrysolite.
chrysoprasus--somewhat pale, and
having the purple color of the amethyst [PLINY, 37, 20,
21].
jacinth--The flashing violet
brightness in the amethyst is diluted in the jacinth
[PLINY, 37.41].
21. every several--Greek, "each one severally."
22. no temple . . . God . . . the temple--As God now dwells in the spiritual Church, His "temple" (Greek, "naos," "shrine"; 1Co 3:17; 6:19), so the Church when perfected shall dwell in Him as her "temple" (naos: the same Greek). As the Church was "His sanctuary," so He is to be their sanctuary. Means of grace shall cease when the end of grace is come. Church ordinances shall give place to the God of ordinances. Uninterrupted, immediate, direct, communion with Him and the Lamb (compare Joh 4:23), shall supersede intervening ordinances.
23. in it--so Vulgate. But A, B, and ANDREAS read,
"(shine) on it," or literally,
"for her."
the light--Greek, "the
lamp" (
Isa 60:19, 20). The direct light of God and the Lamb
shall make the saints independent of God's creatures,
the sun and moon, for light.
24. of them which are saved . . . in--A, B,
Vulgate, Coptic, and ANDREAS read "(the nations
shall walk) by means of her light": omitting
"of them which are saved." Her brightness shall
supply them with light.
the kings of the earth--who once had
regard only to their glory, having been converted, now in
the new Jerusalem do bring their glory into it, to lay it
down at the feet of their God and Lord.
and honour--so B, Vulgate, and
Syriac. But A omits the clause.
25. not be shut . . . by day--therefore shall never be shut: for it shall always be day. Gates are usually shut by night: but in it shall be no night. There shall be continual free ingress into it, so as that all which is blessed and glorious may continually be brought into it. So in the millennial type.
26. All that was truly glorious and excellent in the earth and its converted nations shall be gathered into it; and while all shall form one Bride, there shall be various orders among the redeemed, analogous to the divisions of nations on earth constituting the one great human family, and to the various orders of angels.
27. anything that defileth--Greek,
"koinoun." A and B read [koinon,]
"anything unclean."
in the Lamb's book of life--(See
on Re 20:12; Re
20:15). As all the filth of the old Jerusalem was
carried outside the walls and burnt there, so nothing
defiled shall enter the heavenly city, but be burnt
outside (compare
Re 22:15). It is striking that the apostle of love, who
shows us the glories of the heavenly city, is he also who
speaks most plainly of the terrors of hell. On
Re 21:26, 27, ALFORD writes a Note, rash in
speculation, about the heathen nations, above what
is written, and not at all required by the sacred text:
compare Note, see on Re
21:26.
Re 22:1-21. THE RIVER OF LIFE: THE TREE OF LIFE: THE OTHER BLESSEDNESSES OF THE REDEEMED. JOHN FORBIDDEN TO WORSHIP THE ANGEL. NEARNESS OF CHRIST'S COMING TO FIX MAN'S ETERNAL STATE. TESTIMONY OF JESUS, HIS SPIRIT, AND THE BRIDE, ANY ADDITION TO WHICH, OR SUBTRACTION FROM WHICH, SHALL BE ETERNALLY PUNISHED. CLOSING BENEDICTION.
1. pure--A, B, Vulgate, and HILARY 22, omit.
water of life--infinitely superior to
the typical waters in the first Paradise (
Ge 2:10-14); and even superior to those figurative ones
in the millennial Jerusalem (
Eze 47:1, 12; Zec 14:8), as the matured fruit is
superior to the flower. The millennial waters represent
full Gospel grace; these waters of new Jerusalem represent
Gospel glory perfected. Their continuous flow from God, the
Fountain of life, symbolizes the uninterrupted continuance
of life derived by the saints, ever fresh, from Him: life
in fulness of joy, as well as perpetual vitality. Like pure
crystal, it is free from every taint: compare
Re 4:6, "before the throne a sea of glass, like
crystal."
clear--Greek,
"bright."
2. The harmonious unity of Scripture is herein exhibited.
The Fathers compared it to a ring, an unbroken circle,
returning into itself. Between the events of Genesis and
those at the close of the Apocalypse, at least six thousand
or seven thousand years intervene; and between Moses the
first writer and John the last about one thousand five
hundred years. How striking it is that, as in the beginning
we found Adam and Eve, his bride, in innocence m Paradise,
then tempted by the serpent, and driven from the tree of
life, and from the pleasant waters of Eden, yet not without
a promise of a Redeemer who should crush the serpent; so at
the close, the old serpent cast out for ever by the second
Adam, the Lord from heaven, who appears with His Bride, the
Church, in a better Paradise, and amidst better waters (
Re 22:1): the tree of life also is there with all its
healing properties, not guarded with a flaming
sword, but open to all who overcome (
Re 2:7), and there is no more curse.
street of it--that is, of the
city.
on either side of the river--ALFORD
translates, "In the midst of the street of it (the
city) and of the river, on one side and on the other"
(for the second Greek, "enteuthen,"
A, B, and Syriac read, ekeithen: the sense is
the same; compare Greek,
Joh 19:18); thus the trees were on each side in the
middle of the space between the street and the river. But
from
Eze 47:7, I prefer English Version. The antitype
exceeds the type: in the first Paradise was only one
tree of life; now there are "very many trees
at the bank of the river, on the one side and on the
other." To make good sense, supposing there to be
but one tree, we should either, as MEDE, suppose
that the Greek for street is a plain
washed on both sides by the river (as the first Paradise
was washed on one side by the Tigris, on the other by the
Euphrates), and that in the midst of the plain, which
itself is in the midst of the river's branches, stood
the tree: in which case we may translate, "In the
midst of the street (plain) itself, and of the river
(having two branches flowing) on this and on that side, was
there the tree of life." Or else with DURHAM suppose,
the tree was in the midst of the river, and
extending its branches to both banks. But compare
Eze 47:12, the millennial type of the final Paradise;
which shows that there are several trees of the one kind,
all termed "the tree of life." Death reigns now
because of sin; even in the millennial earth sin, and
therefore death, though much limited, shall not altogether
cease. But in the final and heavenly city on earth, sin and
death shall utterly cease.
yielded her fruit every
month--Greek, "according to each month";
each month had its own proper fruit, just as different
seasons are now marked by their own productions; only that
then, unlike now, there shall be no season without its
fruit, and there shall be an endless variety, answering
to twelve, the number symbolical of the world-wide
Church (compare Note, see on Re
12:1; Re 21:14). ARCHBISHOP
WHATLEY thinks that the tree of life was among the trees of
which Adam freely ate (
Ge 2:9, 16, 17), and that his continuance in
immortality was dependent on his continuing to eat
of this tree; having forfeited it, he became liable to
death; but still the effects of having eaten of it for a
time showed themselves in the longevity of the patriarchs.
God could undoubtedly endue a tree with special medicinal
powers. But
Ge 3:22 seems to imply, man had not yet taken of the
tree, and that if he had, he would have lived for ever,
which in his then fallen state would have been the greatest
curse.
leaves . . . for
. . . healing-- (
Eze 47:9, 12). The leaves shall be the
health-giving preventive securing the redeemed against,
not healing them of, sicknesses, while "the fruit
shall be for meat." In the millennium described in
Eze 47:1-23 and Re 20:1-15, the Church shall give the
Gospel-tree to the nations outside Israel and the Church,
and so shall heal their spiritual malady; but in the
final and perfect new Jerusalem here described,
the state of all is eternally fixed, and no saving process
goes on any longer (compare
Re 22:11). ALFORD utterly mistakes in speaking of
"nations outside," and "dwelling on the
renewed earth, organized under kings, and saved by the
influences of the heavenly city" (!) Compare
Re 21:2, 10-27; the "nations" mentioned (
Re 21:24) are those which have long before, namely, in
the millennium (
Re 11:15), become the Lord's and His Christ's.
3. no more curse--of which the earnest shall be given in
the millennium (
Zec 14:11). God can only dwell where the curse and its
cause, the cursed thing sin (
Jos 7:12), are removed. So there follows rightly,
"But the throne of God and of the Lamb (who redeemed
us from the curse,
Ga 3:10, 13) shall be in it." Compare in the
millennium,
Eze 48:35.
serve him--with worship (
Re 7:15).
4. see his face--revealed in divine glory, in Christ
Jesus. They shall see and know Him with intuitive
knowledge of Him, even as they are known by Him (
1Co 13:9-12), and face to face. Compare
1Ti 6:16, with Joh 14:9. God the Father can only be
seen in Christ.
in--Greek, "on
their foreheads." Not only shall they personally and
in secret (
Re 3:17) know their sonship, but they shall be known as
sons of God to all the citizens of the new Jerusalem, so
that the free flow of mutual love among the members of
Christ's family will not be checked by suspicion as
here.
5. there--so ANDREAS. But A, B, Vulgate, and
Syriac read, "(there shall be no night) any
longer"; Greek, "eti," for
"ekei."
they need--A, Vulgate, and
Coptic read the future, "they shall not
have need." B reads, "(and there shall be) no
need."
candle--Greek,
"lamp." A, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic insert "light (of a candle, or
lamp)." B Omits it.
of the sun--so A. But B omits
it.
giveth . . .
light--"illumines." So Vulgate and
Syriac. But A reads, "shall give
light."
them--so B and ANDREAS. But A reads,
"upon them."
reign--with a glory probably
transcending that of their reign in heaven with Christ over
the millennial nations in the flesh described in
Re 20:4, 6; that reign was but for a limited time,
"a thousand years"; this final reign is
"unto the ages of the ages."
6. These sayings are true--thrice repeated (
Re 19:9; 21:5). For we are slow to believe that God is
as good as He is. The news seems to us, habituated as we
are to the misery of this fallen world, too good to be true
[NANGLE]. They are no dreams of a visionary, but the
realities of God's sure word.
holy--so ANDREAS. But A, B,
Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read, "(the
Lord God of the) spirits (of the prophets)."
The Lord God who with His Spirit inspired their spirits so
as to be able to prophesy. There is but one Spirit, but
individual prophets, according to the measure given them
(
1Co 12:4-11), had their own spirits [BENGEL] (
1Pe 1:11; 2Pe 1:21).
be done--Greek, "come to
pass."
7. "And" is omitted in Coptic and ANDREAS
with English Version, but is inserted by A, B,
Vulgate and Syriac.
blessed-- (
Re 1:3).
8. Both here and in
Re 19:9, 10, the apostle's falling at the feet of
the angel is preceded by a glorious promise to the Church,
accompanied with the assurance, that "These are the
true sayings of God," and that those are
"blessed" who keep them. Rapturous emotion,
gratitude, and adoration, at the prospect of the
Church's future glory transport him out of himself, so
as all but to fall into an unjustifiable act; contrast his
opposite feeling at the prospect of the Church's deep
fall [AUBERLEN], see on Re 17:6; Re 19:9, 10.
saw . . . and heard--A, B,
Vulgate, and Syriac transpose these verbs.
Translate literally, "I John (was he) who heard and
saw these things." It is observable that in
Re 19:10, the language is, "I fell before his feet
to worship him"; but here, "I fell down to
worship (God?) before the feet of the angel."
It seems unlikely that John, when once reproved, would fall
into the very same error again. BENGEL'S view,
therefore, is probable; John had first intended to worship
the angel (
Re 19:10), but now only at his feet intends to
worship (God). The angel does not even permit this.
9. Literally, "See not"; the abruptness of the
phrase marking the angel's abhorrence of the thought of
his being worshipped however indirectly. Contrast
the fallen angel's temptation to Jesus, "Fall down
and worship me" (
Mt 4:9).
for--A, B, Vulgate, Syriac,
Coptic, ANDREAS, and CYPRIAN omit "for";
which accords with the abrupt earnestness of the
angel's prohibition of an act derogatory to God.
and of--"and (the fellow servant)
of thy brethren."
10. Seal not--But in Da 12:4, 9 (compare Da 8:26), the command is, "Seal the book," for the vision shall be "for many days." The fulfilment of Daniel's prophecy was distant, that of John's prophecy is near. The New Testament is the time of the end and fulfilment. The Gentile Church, for which John wrote his Revelation, needs more to be impressed with the shortness of the period, as it is inclined, owing to its Gentile origin, to conform to the world and forget the coming of the Lord. The Revelation points, on the one hand, to Christ's coming as distant, for it shows the succession of the seven seals, trumpets, and vials; on the other hand, it proclaims, "Behold, I come quickly." So Christ marked many events as about to intervene before His coming, and yet He also says "Behold, I come quickly," because our right attitude is that of continual prayerful watching for His coming ( Mt 25:6, 13, 19; Mr 13:32-37 [AUBERLEN]; compare Re 1:3).
11. unjust--"unrighteous"; in relation to
one's fellow men; opposed to "righteous," or
"just" (as the Greek may be translated)
below. More literally, "he that doeth unjustly,
let him do unjustly still."
filthy--in relation to one's own
soul as unclean before God; opposed to holy,"
consecrated to God as pure. A omits the clause, "He
which is filthy let him be filthy still." But B
supports it. In the letter of the Vienne and Lyons Martyrs
(in EUSEBIUS) in the second century, the reading is,
"He that is lawless (Greek,
'anomos') let him be lawless; and he that is
righteous let him be righteous (literally, 'be
justified') still." No manuscript is so old. A, B,
Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, ANDREAS, and CYPRIAN read,
"let him do righteousness" (
1Jo 2:29; 3:7). The punishment of sin is sin, the
reward of holiness is holiness. Eternal punishment is not
so much an arbitrary law, as a result necessarily following
in the very nature of things, as the fruit results from the
bud. No worse punishment can God lay on ungodly men than to
give them up to themselves. The solemn lesson derivable
from this verse is, Be converted now in the short time left
(
Re 22:10, end) before "I come" (
Re 22:7, 12), or else you must remain unconverted for
ever; sin in the eternal world will be left to its own
natural consequences; holiness in germ will there develop
itself into perfect holiness, which is happiness.
12. And--in none of our manuscripts. But A, B, Vulgate,
Syriac, Coptic, and CYPRIAN omit it.
behold, I come quickly--(Compare
Re 22:7).
my reward is with me-- (
Isa 40:10; 62:11).
to give--Greek, "to
render."
every man--Greek, "to
each."
shall be--so B in MAI. But B in
TISCHENDORF, and A, Syriac, read, "is."
13. I am Alpha--Greek, ". . . the Alpha and the Omega." A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, ORIGEN, and CYPRIAN transpose thus, "the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." ANDREAS supports English Version. Compare with these divine titles assumed here by the Lord Jesus, Re 1:8, 17; 21:6. At the winding up of the whole scheme of revelation He announces Himself as the One before whom and after whom there is no God.
14. do his commandments--so B, Syriac, Coptic, and
CYPRIAN. But A, Aleph, and Vulgate read,
"(Blessed are they that) wash their
robes," namely, in the blood of the Lamb
(compare
Re 7:14). This reading takes away the pretext for the
notion of salvation by works. But even English
Version reading is quite compatible with salvation by
grace; for God's first and grand Gospel
"commandment" is to believe on Jesus. Thus our
"right" to (Greek, "privilege"
or "lawful authority over") the tree of life is
due not to our doings, but to what He has done for us. The
right, or privilege, is founded, not on our
merits, but on God's grace.
through--Greek, "by
the gates."
15. But--so Coptic. But A, B, HIPPOLYTUS, ANDREAS,
and CYPRIAN omit.
dogs--Greek, "the
dogs"; the impure, filthy (
Re 22:11; compare
Php 3:2).
maketh--including also "whosoever
practiceth a lie" [W. KELLY].
16. mine angel--for Jesus is Lord of the angels.
unto you--ministers and people in the
seven representative churches, and, through you, to testify
to Christians of all times and places.
root . . . offspring of
David--appropriate title here where assuring His Church of
"the sure mercies of David," secured to Israel
first, and through Israel to the Gentiles. Root of
David, as being Jehovah; the offspring of David as man.
David's Lord, yet David's son (
Mt 22:42-45).
the morning star--that ushered in the
day of grace in the beginning of this dispensation and that
shall usher in the everlasting day of glory at its close.
17. Reply of the spiritual Church and John to Christ's
words (
Re 22:7, 12, 16).
the Spirit--in the churches and in the
prophets.
the bride--not here called
"wife," as that title applies to her only when
the full number constituting the Church shall have been
completed. The invitation, "Come," only holds
good while the Church is still but an affianced
Bride, and not the actually wedded wife.
However, "Come" may rather be the prayer of the
Spirit in the Church and in believers in reply to
Christ's "I come quickly," crying, Even so,
"Come" (
Re 22:7, 12);
Re 22:20 confirms this view. The whole question of your
salvation hinges on this, that you be able to hear with joy
Christ's announcement, "I come," and to
reply, "Come" [BENGEL]. Come to fully glorify Thy
Bride.
let him that heareth--that is, let him
that heareth the Spirit and Bride saying to the Lord Jesus,
"Come," join the Bride as a true believer, become
part of her, and so say with her to Jesus,
"Come." On "heareth" means
"obeyeth"; for until one has obeyed the
Gospel call, he cannot pray to Jesus "Come"; so
"hear" is used,
Re 1:3; Joh 10:16. Let him that hears and obeys
Jesus' voice (
Re 22:16; Re 1:3) join in praying "Come."
Compare
Re 6:1, 10; see on Re 6:1. In the
other view, which makes "Come" an invitation to
sinners, this clause urges those who themselves hear
savingly the invitation to address the same to others, as
did Andrew and Philip after they themselves had heard and
obeyed Jesus' invitation, "Come."
let him that is athirst come--As the
Bride, the Church, prays to Jesus, "Come," so she
urges all whosoever thirst for participation in the
full manifestation of redemption-glory at His coming to
us, to COME in the meantime and drink of the living
waters, which are the earnest of "the water of life
pure as crystal . . . out of the throne of God of
the Lamb" (
Re 22:1) in the regenerated heaven and earth.
And--so Syriac. But A, B,
Vulgate, and Coptic omit "and."
whosoever will--that is, is willing
and desirous. There is a descending climax; Let him that
heareth effectually and savingly Christ's voice,
pray individually, as the Bride, the Church, does
collectively, "Come, Lord Jesus" (
Re 22:20). Let him who, though not yet having actually
heard unto salvation, and so not yet able to join in
the prayer, "Lord Jesus, come, "still
thirsts for it, come to Christ. Whosoever is
even willing, though his desires do not yet amount
to positive thirsting, let him take the water of
life freely, that is, gratuitously.
18. For I testify--None of our manuscripts have this. A, B,
Vulgate, and ANDREAS read, "I" emphatic in
the Greek. "I testify."
unto these things--A, B, and ANDREAS
read, "unto them."
add . . . add--just
retribution in kind.
19. book--None of our manuscripts read this. A, B,
Aleph, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read,
"(take away his part, that is, portion) from the
tree of life," that is, shall deprive him of
participation in the tree of life.
and from the things--so
Vulgate. But A, B, Aleph, Syriac, Coptic,
and ANDREAS omit "and"; then "which are
written in this book" will refer to "the holy
city and the tree of life." As in the beginning of
this book (
Re 1:3) a blessing was promised to the devout, obedient
student of it, so now at its close a curse is denounced
against those who add to, or take from, it.
20. Amen. Even so, come--The Song of Solomon ( So 8:14) closes with the same yearning prayer for Christ's coming. A, B, and Aleph omit "Even so," Greek, "nai": then translate for Amen, "So be it, come, Lord Jesus"; joining the "Amen," or "So be it," not with Christ's saying (for He calls Himself the "Amen" at the beginning of sentences, rather than puts it as a confirmation at the end), but with John's reply. Christ's "I come," and John's "Come," are almost coincident in time; so truly does the believer reflect the mind of his Lord.
21. our--so Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic. But
A, B, and Aleph omit.
Christ--so B, Vulgate, Syriac,
Coptic, and ANDREAS. But A and Aleph omit.
with you all--so none of our
manuscripts. B has, "with all the saints." A and
Vulgate have, "with all." Aleph
has, "with the saints." This closing benediction,
Paul's mark in his Epistles, was after Paul's death
taken up by John. The Old Testament ended with a
"curse" in connection with the law; the
New Testament ends with a blessing in union with the Lord
Jesus.
Amen--so B, Aleph, and ANDREAS.
A and Vulgate Fuldensis omit it.
May the Blessed Lord who has caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, bless this humble effort to make Scripture expound itself, and make it an instrument towards the conversion of sinners and the edification of saints, to the glory of His great name and the hastening of His kingdom! Amen.