THE REVELATION

OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE

Commentary by A. R. F

AUSSETT

INTRODUCTION

UTHENTICITY

.--The author calls himself

John

(Re 1:1, 4, 9; 2:8). J

USTIN

ARTYR

[

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 J

USTIN

is referred to also by E

USEBIUS

[

Ecclesiastical History,

4.18]. J

USTIN

ARTYR

, in the early part of the second century, held

his controversy with T

RYPHO

, 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." M

ELITO

, 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 E

USEBIUS

[

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 T

HEOPHILUS OF

NTIOCH

(about

A.D.

180), according to E

USEBIUS

[

Ecclesiastical History,

4.26], quoted testimonies from the Apocalypse of John. E

USEBIUS

says

the same of Apollonius, who lived in Asia Minor in the end of the second century. I

RENÆUS

(about

A.D.

180), a hearer of P

OLYCARP

, the disciple of John, and supposed by A

RCHBISHOP

SHER

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

URATORI

fragment of the canon (about

A.D.

200) refers to John the apostle writing to the

seven churches. H

IPPOLYTUS

, 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 H

IPPOLYTUS'

works, there is

specified in the catalogue on his statue, a treatise "on the Apocalypse and Gospel according to

John." C

LEMENT OF

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. O

RIGEN

(about

A.D.

233), [Commentary on

Matthew,

in E

USEBIUS

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." V

ICTORINUS

, 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 E

PHREM THE

YRIAN

(about

A.D.

378) frequently quotes the Apocalypse as canonical, and ascribes it to John.

Its

canonicity

and inspiration (according to a scholium of A

NDREAS OF

APPADOCIA

) are

attested by P

APIAS

, a hearer of John, and associate of P

OLYCARP

. P

APIAS

was bishop of

Hierapolis, near

Laodicea,

one of the seven churches. W

ORDSWORTH

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

USEBIUS

, [

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. C

YPRIAN

(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 A

LFORD'S

Prolegomena,

from whom mainly this summary of

evidence has been derived). A

THANASIUS

, in his

Festival Epistle,

enumerates the Apocalypse

among the

canonical

Scriptures, to which none must add, and from which none must take away.

EROME

[

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 A

LOGI

PIPHANIUS

Heresies,

51] and C

AIUS

the Roman presbyter [E

USEBIUS

Ecclesiastical History,

3.28], towards the end of the second and beginning of the third century,

rejected John's Apocalypse on mere captious grounds. C

AIUS

, according to J

EROME

[

Illustrious Men

], about

A.D.

210, attributed it to Cerinthus, on the ground of its supporting the

millennial reign on earth. D

IONYSIUS OF

LEXANDRIA

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 D

IONYSIUS

, scholar of

RIGEN

, and bishop of Alexandria (

A.D.

247), admits its inspiration (in E

USEBIUS

[

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. E

USEBIUS

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. C

YRIL OF

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.

Catechetical Lectures,

15 and 27, he similarly quotes from Re 12:3, 4.

LFORD

conjectures that C

YRIL

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. C

YRIL OF

LEXANDRIA

[

On Worship,

146], though

implying the fact of some doubting its genuineness, himself undoubtedly accepts it as the work

of St. John. A

NDREAS OF

ÆSAREA

, 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

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

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. A

LFORD

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 T

REGELLES'

Introduction to Revelation from Heathen Authorities.

REGELLES

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 I

RENÆUS

), 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."

ELATION OF THE

POCALYPSE TO THE REST OF THE CANON

.--G

REGORY OF

YSSA

[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 E

PHESUS

, 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

URATORI

[

Fragment on the Canon of Scripture]; E

USEBIUS

[

Ecclesiastical History,

3.24];

EROME

[

Commentary on Matthew

]; V

ICTORINUS

on the

Apocalypse;

HEODORET

[

Ecclesiastical History,

39]). A Greek divine, quoted in A

LLATIUS

, 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).

LACE AND TIME OF WRITING

.--The best authorities among the Fathers state that John

was exiled under Domitian (I

RENÆUS

[

Against Heresies,

5; 30]; C

LEMENT OF

LEXANDRIA

; E

USEBIUS

[

Ecclesiastical History,

3.20]). V

ICTORINUS

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" [B

EDE

Explanation of the Apocalypse

on chap. 1]. The following arguments favor an

earlier date, namely, under Nero: (1) E

USEBIUS

[

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) C

LEMENT OF

LEXANDRIA'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 T

ILLOCH'S

Introduction to Apocalypse. But the Pauline

benediction (Re 1:4) implies it was written after Paul's death under Nero.

O 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.

BJECT

.--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.

LFORD

, following I

SAAC

ILLIAMS

, 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 W

ORDSWORTH

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 V

ICTORINUS

(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.

UBERLEN

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,

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 M

EDE

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 E

USEBIUS

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.

CHAPTER 1

Re 1:1-20. T

ITLE

: S

OURCE AND

BJECT OF

HIS

EVELATION

: B

LESSING ON THE

EADER AND

EEPER OF

T, AS THE

IME

EAR

: I

NSCRIPTION TO THE

EVEN

HURCHES

: A

POSTOLIC

REETING

: K

EYNOTE

, "B

EHOLD

OMETH

" (Compare at the

close, Re 22:20, "Surely I come quickly"): I

NTRODUCTORY

ISION OF THE

ON OF

AN IN

LORY, AMIDST THE

EVEN

ANDLESTICKS, WITH

EVEN

TARS IN

IGHT

AND.

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

UBERLEN

]. 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 [B

ENGEL

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

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 T

RENCH'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

EHOVAH

, 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

ATHER

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" [R

ICHARD OF

ICTOR

in T

RENCH

]. The nominative

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

NDREAS

and P

RIMASIUS

. 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 A

NDREAS

. 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 [A

UBERLEN

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

in . . . Patmos

--now Patmo or Palmosa. See

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)" [C

HRYSOSTOM

of,

&c.--The oldest manuscripts read "

Jesus," or "Jesus Christ." It is

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."

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. I

GNATIUS

seems to allude to "the Lord's day" [

Epistle to the Magnesians,

9], and

RENÆUS

[

Quæst ad Orthod.,

115] (in J

USTIN

ARTYR

). J

USTIN

ARTYR

[

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 P

LINY

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. T

ERTULLIAN

[

The Chaplet,

3], "On the Lord's day we

deem it wrong to fast." M

ELITO

, bishop of Sardis (second century), wrote a book

on the Lord's

day [E

USEBIUS

4.26]. Also, D

IONYSIUS OF

ORINTH

, in E

USEBIUS

[

Ecclesiastical History,

4.23,8]. C

LEMENT OF

LEXANDRIA

[

Miscellanies,

5. and 7.12]; O

RIGEN

[

Against Celsus,

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 [W

ORDSWORTH

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? [B

ENGEL

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, C

YPRIAN

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

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" [S

TIER

]) 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" [K

ELLY

]. 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;

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 J

OSEPHUS

[

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 B

OCHART

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 W

ORD

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. T

ERTULLIAN

[

Epistle against Judaizers

], takes them of the Old and the New

Testaments.

ICHARD OF

ICTOR

, "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. T

RENCH

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" [R

ICHARD OF

ICTOR

18.

Translate as

Greek,

"And

THE

IVING

": 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

" [T

HEODORET

in T

RENCH

]. 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. A

LFORD

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 A

LFORD

, from O

RIGEN

[

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!"

CHAPTER 2

Re 2:1-29. E

PISTLES TO

PHESUS

, S

MYRNA

, P

ERGAMOS

, T

HYATIRA.

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.

ERTULLIAN

[

On Baptism,

17], and J

EROME

[

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. I

GNATIUS

[

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" [T

RENCH

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

--I

RENÆUS

[

Against Heresies,

1.26.3] and T

ERTULLIAN

[

Prescription

against Heretics,

46] make these followers of Nicolas, one of

the seven

(honorably mentioned,

Ac 6:3, 5). They (C

LEMENT OF

LEXANDRIA

[

Miscellanies,

2.20 3.4] and E

PIPHANIUS

[

Heresies,

25]) evidently confound the latter Gnostic Nicolaitanes, or followers of one Nicolaos,

with those of Revelation. M

ICHAELIS'

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 T

RENCH

: 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" [C

LEMENT OF

LEXANDRIA

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

YPRIAN

, read, "

God," as in Re 3:12. So Christ calls God, "

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. P

OLYCARP

, 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. I

GNATIUS

[

The Martyrdom of Ignatius

3], on his way to martyrdom in Rome, wrote to

OLYCARP

, then (

A.D.

108) bishop of Smyrna; if his bishopric commenced ten or twelve years

earlier, the dates will harmonize. T

ERTULLIAN

[

The Prescription against Heretics,

32], and

RENÆUS

, who had talked with P

OLYCARP

in youth, tell us P

OLYCARP

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" [T

RENCH

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 P

OLYCARP'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" [T

RENCH

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 [T

RENCH

ten days

--not the ten persecutions from Nero to Diocletian. L

YRA

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

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" [T

RENCH

]. 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" [B

ISHOP

EARSON

]. "The life

of the damned is death" [A

UGUSTINE

]. 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

]. P

OLYCARP'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.

RENCH

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 [T

ACITUS

, 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

ETAPHRASTES

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. H

ENGSTENBERG

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

ENGEL

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 J

OSEPHUS

[

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 [T

RENCH

eat things sacrificed unto idols

--the act common to the Israelites of old, and the

doctrine

--teaching (see on

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 T

RENCH

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.

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

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

--T

RENCH'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

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

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 [S

TRABO

, 13:4].

Son of God . . . eyes like . . . fire . . . feet . . . like fine brass

--or "glowing brass" (see on

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, J

OSEPHUS

[

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" [A

UBERLEN

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" [T

RENCH

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,

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, A

NDREAS

, and C

YPRIAN

, 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

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

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.

" H

ENGSTENBERG

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

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,

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

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).

CHAPTER 3

Re 3:1-22. T

PISTLES TO

ARDIS

, P

HILADELPHIA, AND

AODICEA.

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

ELITO

, 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 [E

USEBIUS

Ecclesiastical History,

4.26]; he also wrote a commentary on the

Apocalypse [E

USEBIUS

Ecclesiastical History,

4.26; J

EROME

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 [A

LFORD

]. "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" [J

UAN

'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

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.

RENCH

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 B

ENGEL

, "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" [A

UGUSTINE

]. 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 [T

RENCH

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

earth, and that of

glory,

which the Lord has appointed for them, about to be estimated by the law

itself of grace" [V

ITRINGA

]. Contrast Ac 13:46.

5. white

--not a dull white, but glittering, dazzling white [G

ROTIUS

]. 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.

Re 2:7

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 [T

RENCH

]. 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).

(See on

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 [T

ACITUS

, 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, G

, 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,

Re 3:8

). The promise to

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 O

RIGEN

and no man openeth

--Two oldest manuscripts, B,

Aleph, Coptic Version,

and O

RIGEN

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 A

QUINAS

], 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.

ROTIUS

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" [T

RENCH

]. So

LFORD

. 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

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

Re 2:7

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, S

TRABO

[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

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?" [A

UGUSTINE

in T

RENCH

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

(see on

spiritual things, as Re 3:17 describes. See on

13.

(See on

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" [B

ENGEL

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. G

IBBON

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."

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 [T

ACITUS

, Annals,

14.27]. This

wealth (arising from the excellence of its wools) led to a self-satisfied, lukewarm state in

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.;

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 [T

RENCH

beginning of the creation of God

--not he whom God created first, but as in Col 1:15-18

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

Re 3:15

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" [A

LFORD

]. 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

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

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 M

" (

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" [A

UGUSTINE

]. 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 B

ENGEL

, 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" [N

ICOLAUS

ABASILAS

in T

RENCH

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. T

RENCH

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).

CHAPTER 4

Re 4:1-11. V

ISION OF

OD'S

HRONE IN

EAVEN; THE

OUR AND

WENTY

LDERS;

THE

OUR

IVING

REATURES.

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

Re 1:10

): I was completely rapt in vision

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."

--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

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,

BRARD

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

Re 15:2

). The "four

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

URGH

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 [A

LFORD

]. But T

REGELLES

translates, "Upon the twenty-

four thrones (

I saw:

omitted in two oldest manuscripts) elders sitting": which is more probable,

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

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" [G

ROTIUS

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).

the molten sea

before

the sanctuary (see on

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" [A

LFORD

]. But see the analogue in the temple,

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" [A

LFORD

]. 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." A

LFORD

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

full of His glory." But in Revelation this is deferred until the glory of

THE

ORD

fills

the earth,

His enemies having been destroyed [B

ENGEL

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,

eagle,

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 D

URGH

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

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

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

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.

ONGINUS

[

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.

CHAPTER 5

Re 5:1-14. T

OOK WITH

EVEN

EALS

: N

ONE

ORTHY TO

PEN

T BUT THE

AMB

: H

AKES

T AMIDST THE

RAISES OF THE

EDEEMED, AND OF THE

HOLE

EAVENLY

OST.

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 [A

LFORD

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

" [D

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

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?

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, O

RIGEN

, C

YPRIAN

, and H

ILARY

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 L

YRA

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. G

ERHARD

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

LFORD

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, C

YPRIAN

, &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. B

ENGEL

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.

The book lay on the open hand of Him that sat on the throne for any to take who was

found worthy [A

LFORD

]. 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" [T

REGELLES

]; 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

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

Re 20:2-6

). So far from

reigning on the earth

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 C

YPRIAN

, 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" [B

ENGEL

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.

" A

LFORD

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

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. K

ELLY

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

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" [B

ENGEL

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 [A

LFORD

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

Compare

Note,

see on

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,

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.

CHAPTER 6

Re 6:1-17. T

PENING OF THE

IRST

IX OF THE

EVEN

EALS.

Re 5:1. Many (M

EDE

, F

LEMING

, N

EWTON

, &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.

LFORD

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 G

ROTIUS

, 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

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).

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

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" [A

LFORD

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.

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."

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 [W

ORDSWORTH

] 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

LFORD

, "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 A

LFORD

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).

--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.

CHAPTER 7

Re 7:1-17. S

EALING OF THE

LECT OF

SRAEL

. T

OUNTLESS

ULTITUDE OF THE

ENTILE

LECT.

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" [A

LFORD

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 [D

URGH

], 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 "

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

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,

given above (see on

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.

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 A

LFORD

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

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 [B

ENGEL

]. The twelve times twelve thousand sealed

ones of Israel are the nucleus of transfigured humanity [A

UBERLEN

], 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

Re 7:3

Re 6:11

; also Re 3:5, 18; 4:4).

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

white robes

--(See on

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" [A

LFORD

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 C

YPRIAN

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 C

YPRIAN

read, (eternal) "

life's

fountains of

waters." "Living" is not supported by the old authorities.

CHAPTER 8

Re 8:1-13. S

EVENTH

EAL

. P

REPARATION FOR THE

EVEN

RUMPETS

. T

IRST

OUR AND THE

ONSEQUENT

LAGUES.

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

OHN

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;

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

. 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

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

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

': '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.

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,

". . .

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

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

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

ships

be thereby destroyed.

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 (A

RIUS

according to B

ULLINGER

, B

ENGEL

, 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" [W

ORDSWORTH

]. Contrast the converse change of bitter

Marah water into sweet, Ex 15:23. A

LFORD

gives as an illustration in a physical point of view,

the conversion of water into

firewater

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."

CHAPTER 9

Re 9:1-21. T

IFTH

RUMPET

: T

ALLEN

TAR

PENS THE

BYSS

HENCE

SSUE

OCUSTS

. T

IXTH

RUMPET

. F

OUR

NGELS AT THE

UPHRATES

OOSED.

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

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.

Joe 2:4

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

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). E

LLIOTT

explains this of the

turbans

of Mohammedans. But how could

turbans be "like gold?" A

LFORD

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. E

WALD

in A

LFORD

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

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

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."

NDREAS OF

ÆSAREA

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 A

LFORD

and D

URGH

, 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.

Re 8:7-12

Joe 1:2-7; 2:1-11, is strictly parallel and expressly refers (Joe 2:11) to

THE DAY OF THE

ORD

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

URGH

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

YPRIAN

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 R

OME

), 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" [T

REGELLES

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

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 C

YPRIAN

omit "and."

Re 9:20, on "devils"; compare

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 E

LLIOTT

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 9:1, 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 [B

ENGEL

CHAPTER 10

Re 4:3

Re 10:5

), he lifts up his right hand to

Re 10:1-11. V

ISION OF THE

ITTLE

OOK.

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 I

SRAEL AND THE

HURCH

, 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, 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

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

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).

ORDSWORTH

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. A

LFORD

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

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.

CHAPTER 11

Re 16:7). The Spirit speaks

Re 11:3, 4

Re 11:1-19. M

EASUREMENT OF THE

EMPLE

. T

ITNESSES'

ESTIMONY

HEIR

EATH

, R

ESURRECTION, AND

SCENSION

: T

ARTHQUAKE

: T

HIRD

: T

EVENTH

RUMPET

SHERS IN

HRIST'S

INGDOM

. T

HANKSGIVING OF THE

WENTY-FOUR

LDERS.

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 W

ORDSWORTH

takes it.

The

reed,

the canon of Scripture, the measuring reed of the Church, our rule of faith,

speaks.

in Re 16:7

the altar

is personified as

speaking

(compare

Note,

see on

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

, A

QUINAS

, and

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 W

ORDSWORTH'S

view agrees best with

Greek.

So the

ancient commentator, A

NDREAS OF

ÆSAREA

, in the end of the fifth century (compare

Notes,

see on

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

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. W

ORDSWORTH

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

Da 7:25

;

Da 8:14

;

Da 12:11

), or

Da 9:27

). The three and a half, in a word, marks the time in which the

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

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.

--emphatic.

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

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

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

Re 11:4

. The actions of the two witnesses are just those of

Zec 4:11, 12

, on

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

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). D

URGH

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

ENGEL

]. 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

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 A

NDREAS

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. W

ORDSWORTH'S

view is worth consideration, whether it may not constitute a

secondary sense:

the two witnesses, the olive trees, are

THE TWO

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

11:1

, which is connected with this,

the reed,

the

Scripture canon,

being the measure of the

Church: so P

RIMASIUS

[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 A

NDREAS

. 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.

Re 11:9

, on "shall not suffer."

where . . . Lord was crucified

--This identifies the city as Jerusalem, though the Lord was

crucified

outside

of the city. E

USEBIUS

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" [B

ENGEL

]. 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, O

RIGEN

, A

NDREAS

, 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

said to be found

ABYLON

, just as in Mt 23:35, Jesus saith that, "upon the Jews and

ERUSALEM

" (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 A

NDREAS

, the present, "see," or

rather (

Greek,

blepousin

"), "look upon." The prophetic present.

dead bodies

--So

Vulgate, Syriac,

and A

NDREAS

. 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

11:2, 3), the half of seven, the full and perfect number.

shall not suffer

--so B,

Syriac, Coptic,

and A

NDREAS

. But A, C, and

Vulgate

read, "do not

suffer."

in graves

--so

Vulgate

and P

RIMASIUS

. But B, C,

Syriac, Coptic,

and A

NDREAS

, 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

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

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 H

USS

and J

EROME

did at Constance; an orator ascended the tribunal before the

representatives of papal Christendom, and said, "There is no reclaimant, no opponent."

UTHER

, 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

up,

and we shall

live

in His sight."

into

--so B and

Vulgate.

But A reads (

Greek,

en autois

"), "(so as to be)

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 A

NDREAS

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

--E

LLIOTT

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. B

ENGEL

thinks the angel

here

to have been Gabriel, which name is compounded

El,

, 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

See on

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 K

ING

. 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 K

ING

, 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.

--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,

YPRIAN

, and A

NDREAS

. 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 J

, the ever present Lord,

WHO IS

, more peculiarly than

EHOVAH

"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).

Da 7:14-18.

the vials (Re 15:7, 8). See on

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

Re 12:1, note at the opening of the chapter.

CHAPTER 12

Re 12:1-17. V

ISION OF THE

OMAN

, H

HILD, AND THE

ERSECUTING

RAGON.

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 [A

UBERLEN

]. 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)

URGH

]. 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

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

). D

URGH

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

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

Re 12:1,

Re 2:27

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" [A

LFORD

]: 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

rule

Greek,

poimainein,

" "tend as a shepherd"; (see on

rod of iron

--A rod is for long-continued obstinacy until they submit themselves to

obedience [B

ENGEL

]: 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

Eze 20:35, 36): not a

wilderness

literally and

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 [A

UBERLEN

]. 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

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.

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

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, "

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."

Re 12:7). Thus this is parallel,

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

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.

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 A

NDREAS

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 (M

OERIS

, 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) [D

URGH

]. 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 [A

UBERLEN

]. 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.

CHAPTER 13

Re 13:1-18. V

ISION OF THE

EAST THAT

AME

UT OF THE

: T

ECOND

EAST

, O

UT OF THE

ARTH

, E

XERCISING THE

OWER OF THE

IRST

EAST, AND

AUSING THE

ARTH TO

ORSHIP

IM.

1. I stood

--So B,

Aleph,

and

Coptic

read. But A, C,

Vulgate,

and

Syriac,

He stood."

Standing on the sand of the

sea,

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

Re 8:8

); out of the troubled waves of

Re 17:3

). A characteristic of the

little horn

in Da

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

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 [A

UBERLEN

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! [T

YSO

in D

URGH

]. 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. F

ABER

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 A

NDREAS

. 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

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

slain," see on

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

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)

UBERLEN

]. 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 A

NDREAS

read, "

because

he gave."

power

Greek,

the authority

" which it had;

its

authority.

Re 11:2, 3

;

Re 12:6

Re 12:12

;

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 A

NDREAS

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 A

NDREAS

omit "war."

forty . . . two month

--(See on

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 A

NDREAS

. A and C read "blasphemies."

and them

--So

Vulgate, Coptic,

NDREAS

, and P

RIMASIUS

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

Joh 3:7

7. power

Greek, "authority."

all kindreds . . . tongues . . . nations

Greek,

"every tribe . . . tongue . . . nation." A, B, C,

Vulgate, Syriac,

NDREAS

, and P

RIMASIUS

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 A

NDREAS

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" [B

ISHOP

EARSON

Exposition of the Creed

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" [A

LFORD

, and so the Spanish Jesuit,

ACUNZA

, writing under the name B

ZRA

]. 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,

bottomless pit.

Antichrist will be the climax, and final form. P

RIMASIUS OF

DRUMENTUM

, 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 [A

UBERLEN

]. 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 A

NDREAS

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.

LINY

, 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 J

ULIAN

, 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 [D

UPIN

, 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" [A

UBERLEN

]. J

EROME

, 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, I

RENÆUS

, 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

QUINAS

]. 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

RENÆUS

, 328, opposes this and maintains "666." I

RENÆUS

, in the second century, disciple of

OLYCARP

, 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

UNSEN

]; 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)

UBERLEN

]. The "mark" (

Greek,

charagma

") and "name" are one and the same. The first

two radical letters of

Christ

(

Greek,

Christos

"),

and

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

ORDSWORTH

CHAPTER 14

Re 14:1-20. T

AMB

EEN ON

ION WITH THE

144,000. T

HEIR

ONG

. T

OSPEL

ROCLAIMED BEFORE THE

ND BY

NGEL

: T

ALL OF

ABYLON, BY

NOTHER

: T

OOM OF THE

EAST

ORSHIPPERS, BY A

HIRD

. T

LESSEDNESS

OF THE

EAD IN THE

ORD

. T

ARVEST.

INTAGE.

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" [A

UBERLEN

]. 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 O

RIGEN

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."

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 [D

URGH

], 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 O

RIGEN

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,

RIGEN

, and A

NDREAS

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 A

LFORD

, "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 A

NDREAS

in one copy. But A, B, C, O

RIGEN

, and A

NDREAS

in other copies

read, "falsehood." Compare with

English Version

reading Ps 32:2; Isa 53:9; Joh 1:47.

for

--So B,

Syriac, Coptic,

RIGEN

, and A

NDREAS

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,

RIGEN

, and A

NDREAS

omit these

words. The oldest

Vulgate

manuscript supports them.

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, O

RIGEN

Vulgate,

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" [A

UBERLEN

]. 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 "

every nation" (

Greek,

epi,

" in A, B, C,

Vulgate, Syriac,

RIGEN

NDREAS

, C

YPRIAN

, and P

RIMASIUS

). 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 A

NDREAS

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 A

NDREAS

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 A

NDREAS

. 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

Re 13:10. In the fiery ordeal of persecution

shall be made drunk with the wine of God's wrath.

A, B, C, and A

NDREAS

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 [A

MMONIUS

], and accompanied with a purpose of

vengeance [O

RIGEN

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

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 P

RIMASIUS

. 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,

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 A

NDREAS

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

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,

Re 12:1

); but it is now no

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. K

ELLY

]. 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 J

EROME

, one hundred sixty Roman miles.

ENGEL

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.

CHAPTER 15

Re 15:1-8. T

AST

EVEN

IALS OF

LAGUES

: S

ONG OF THE

ICTORS OVER THE

EAST.

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

--A

LFORD

and D

URGH

explain "on (the shore of) the sea":

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

the sea, and now

standing

it. In Mt 14:26,

where Christ walks

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

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

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 C

YPRIAN

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 C

YPRIAN

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.

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 A

NDREAS

. It is supported only by

Vulgate, Coptic,

and P

RIMASIUS

, 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 A

NDREAS

), 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.

CHAPTER 16

Re 16:1-21. T

EVEN

IALS AND THE

ONSEQUENT

LAGUES.

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 [B

ENGEL

, referring to S

EDER

LAM

]. 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,

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 A

NDREAS

support the words.

the vials

--so

Syriac

and

Coptic.

But A, B, C,

Vulgate,

and A

NDREAS

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 A

NDREAS

. 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 A

NDREAS

. But A, C, and

Syriac,

"soul of life" (compare Ge 1:30;

7:21, 22).

in the sea

--So B and A

NDREAS

. But A, C, and

Syriac

read, "(as respects) the things in the

sea."

(Ex 7:20.)

angel

--so

Syriac, Coptic,

and A

NDREAS

. 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 A

NDREAS

and shalt be

--A, B, C,

Vulgate,

and A

NDREAS

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

(compare

Notes,

see on

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."

(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 A

NDREAS

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 A

NDREAS

. 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 A

NDREAS

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

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 [G

ROTIUS

]. 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 A

NDREAS

. 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. D

URGH

and others take it

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. D

URHAM

, 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 "

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 A

NDREAS

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 A

NDREAS

. But A, B,

Vulgate,

and

Syriac

omit it.

into

--so A

NDREAS

(

Greek,

eis

"). But A and B, "upon" (

Greek,

epi

").

great

--so B,

Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic,

and A

NDREAS

. But A omits.

of heaven

--so B and A

NDREAS

But A,

Vulgate, Syriac,

and

Coptic omit.

Re 11:8), is

Re 14:10

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 A

NDREAS

. 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

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

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."

CHAPTER 17

Re 17:1-18. T

ARLOT

ABYLON'S

AUD

: T

EAST ON

HICH

IDES

AVING

EVEN

EADS AND

ORNS

, S

HALL

E THE

NSTRUMENT OF

UDGMENT

ER.

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

Re 17:9, 10

, which I prefer. The crowns

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 L

ETTENBURGH'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" [A

UBERLEN

]. 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 [W

ORDSWORTH

], of whom Napoleon is the

successor (Re 17:11). But see the view given, see on

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 [A

UBERLEN

]; but see Re 17:12, which

seems to imply crowned

kings.

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 M

ARCELLUS

, 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." R

OGER

OVEDEN

[

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 A

NDREAS

read, "the filthy (impure) things."

5. upon . . . forehead . . . name

--as harlots usually had. What a contrast to "H

OLINESS TO

THE

ORD

," inscribed on the miter

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

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 H

IPPOLYTUS

[

On Antichrist

] (who

lived in the second century), thought. Popery cannot be at one and the same time the "

mystery

iniquity," and the

manifested

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

UBERLEN

]. 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."

--So B,

Vulgate,

and A

NDREAS

read the future tense. But A and I

RENÆUS

, "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 A

NDREAS

. 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 A

NDREAS

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 [B

ENGEL

]. 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).

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 [P

LUTARCH

]; and on the imperial coins, just as here, she is

represented as a

woman seated on seven hills.

Coin of Vespasian, described by C

APTAIN

MYTH

[

Roman Coins,

p. 310; A

CKERMAN

, 1, p. 87]). The seven heads can hardly be at once

seven

kings

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 A

LFORD

, inaccurately representing A

UBERLEN

, 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" [A

UBERLEN

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

Re 17:3

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

UBERLEN

], 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 A

LFORD

that the phrase "

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

ORDSWORTH

]. See A

UBERLEN'S

not so probable view, see on

one hour

--a definite

time

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 I

RENÆUS

[

Against Heresies,

5:25] and C

YRIL OF

ERUSALEM

UFINUS

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 K

ING 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" [A

LFORD

]. 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

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 L

OMBARD

s, 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,

delicacies

Greek,

"luxury." See on

B, and A

NDREAS

. 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.

CHAPTER 18

Re 18:1-24. B

ABYLON'S

ALL

: G

OD'S

EOPLE

ALLED

UT OF

: T

INGS AND

ERCHANTS OF THE

ARTH

OURN

, W

HILE THE

AINTS

EJOICE AT

ALL.

1. And

--so

Vulgate

and A

NDREAS

. 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 A

NDREAS

. 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."

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

Re 18:3

, where the

Greek is akin.

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" [A

UBERLEN

]. "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" [H

AHN

in A

UBERLEN

]. 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."

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

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 A

NDREAS

. 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

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

widow . . . I

shall

see no sorrow," marks her complete unconcerned security as to the past,

present, and future [B

ENGEL

]. 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 A

MMIAN

ARCELLIN

[15.7]. "Babylon is

getting gain. Compare

Notes,

see on

fire

--(See on

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" [A

UGUSTINE

]. As the

Jew's restoration did not take place till Babylon's fall, so R. K

IMCHI

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).

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. B

ENGEL

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 A

NDREAS

. But A and

Vulgate

omit. "Strong" is the meaning

of God's

Hebrew

name, "

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 C

YPRIAN

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

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

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

Re 17:4

the Roman Ceremonial.

12.

(See on

stones . . . pearls

Greek,

"stone . . . pearl."

fine linen

--A, B, and C read

Greek,

bussinou

" for "

bussou,

" that is, "fine linen

manufacture" [A

LFORD

]. 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" [A

LFORD

]. 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

NDREAS

, 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 [A

LFORD

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 [M

OSHEIM

, 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 A

NDREAS

. But A, B, and C omit.

decked

--literally, "glided."

stones . . . pearls

Greek,

"stone . . . pearl." B and A

NDREAS

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'A

AUBIGNE

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 A

NDREAS

read,

Greek,

blepontes,

" "looking at."

Greek,

blepo,

" is to

use the eyes,

look:

the act of seeing without

thought of the object seen.

Greek,

horao,

" refers to the thing

seen

or presented to the eyes

ITTMANN

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). M

ARTIAL

says of Rome, "Nothing is equal to her;"

and A

THENÆUS

, "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 A

NDREAS

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" [A

UBERLEN

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,

RINGHUS

in B

ENGEL

says, Pagan Rome was the "general shambles" for

slaying the sheep of Jesus. F

RED.

EYLER

in B

ENGEL

calculates that papal Rome, between

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."

CHAPTER 19

Re 19:1-21. T

HURCH'S

HANKSGIVING IN

EAVEN FOR THE

UDGMENT ON THE

ARLOT

. T

ARRIAGE OF THE

AMB

: T

UPPER

: T

RIDE'S

REPARATION

OHN

ORBIDDEN TO

ORSHIP THE

NGEL

: T

ORD AND

OSTS

OME

ORTH FOR

: T

EAST AND THE

ALSE

ROPHET

AST INTO THE

AKE OF

IRE

: T

INGS AND

HEIR

OLLOWERS

LAIN BY THE

WORD

UT OF

HRIST'S

OUTH.

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 A

NDREAS

. But A, B, C,

Vulgate, Syriac,

and

Coptic omit.

a great voice

--A, B, C,

Vulgate, Coptic,

and A

NDREAS

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 J

," or J

EHOVAH

: here first used in Revelation, whence

LLICOTT

infers the

Jews

bear a prominent part in this thanksgiving. J

is not a contraction

of "J

EHOVAH

," 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 K

IMCHI

in B

ENGEL

, 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 A

NDREAS

. 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" [A

UBERLEN

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 A

NDREAS

. 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 A

NDREAS

. 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 A

LFORD

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

(

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.

Re 12:17

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

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 [A

UBERLEN

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 K

ING 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,

RIGEN

, and C

YPRIAN

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 C

YPRIAN

omit "and," which

RIGEN

and A

NDREAS

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 A

NDREAS

reads. But A, B,

Vulgate, Coptic,

and O

RIGEN

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), [M

ENOCHIUS

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 A

NDREAS

read, "be gathered,"

omitting "and."

of the great God

--A, B,

Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic,

and A

NDREAS

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

NDREAS

, there is found "

His

armies" in A.

war

--so A

NDREAS

. 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

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 [A

UBERLEN

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.

CHAPTER 20

Re 20:1-15. S

ATAN

OUND, AND THE

IRST

-R

ISEN

AINTS

EIGN WITH

HRIST, A

HOUSAND

EARS

; S

ATAN

OOSED

, G

ATHERS THE

ATIONS

, G

OG AND

AGOG

OUND THE

AMP OF THE

AINTS, AND

INALLY

ONSIGNED TO THE

AKE OF

IRE; THE

ENERAL

ESURRECTION AND

AST

UDGMENT.

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 [A

QUINAS

on ch. 11].

Thousand

symbolizes that the world is perfectly

leavened and pervaded by the divine; since

thousand

ten,

the number of the world, raised to

the

third

power,

three

being the number of God [A

UBERLEN

]. It may denote

literally

also a

thousand years.

3. shut him

--A, B,

Vulgate, Syriac,

and A

NDREAS

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,

Heb 4:9

and Heb 4:9,

Margin;

see on

Re 14:13

. P

APIAS

Da 7:22

). The office of judging was given to

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

USTIN

ARTYR

, I

RENÆUS

, and C

YPRIAN

, 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 A

NDREAS

. 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

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 [T

REGELLES

]. 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 A

NDREAS

read, "and." A and

Vulgate

omit it.

again

--A, B,

Vulgate, Coptic,

and A

NDREAS

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

ENGEL

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" [B

ENGEL

]. 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 [A

UBERLEN

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

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

Eze 38:2

). Magog is a general name for

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

well as the

reward of service

" [D

URGH

7. expired

Greek, "finished."

8. Gog and Magog

-- (Eze 38:1-39:29; see on

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

"corners."

to battle

Greek,

"to

the

war," in A and B. But A

NDREAS

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 A

NDREAS

. 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) [A

UBERLEN

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 [A

LFORD

]. 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 A

NDREAS

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 "

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

faith, but judged

according to

(not

) 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 [C

LUVER

from A

UGUSTINE

], 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 A

NDREAS

. 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.

CHAPTER 21

Re 21:1-27. T

EAVEN AND

ARTH

: N

ERUSALEM

UT OF

EAVEN.

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

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 A

NDREAS

; 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 [B

ENGEL

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 A

NDREAS

. 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 A

NDREAS

. But A, B,

Vulgate,

and

Syriac omit.

true and faithful

--so A

NDREAS

. 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

light. Compare

Note,

see on

sense, the believer "shall never thirst."

inherit all things

--A, B,

Vulgate,

and C

YPRIAN

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:

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."

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 C

YPRIAN

. 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

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, "

them." But A, B,

Syriac, Coptic,

and A

NDREAS

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. B

ENGEL

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.

Re 4:3

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" [T

REGELLES

Greek,

endomeesis.

gold, like . . . clear glass

--Ideal gold, transparent as no gold here is [A

LFORD

]. Excellencies

will be combined in the heavenly city which now seem incompatible.

19. And

--so

Syriac, Coptic,

and A

NDREAS

. 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

LFORD

20. sardonyx

--a gem having the redness of the cornelian, and the whiteness of the onyx.

sardius

--(See on

chrysolite

--described by P

LINY

as transparent and of a golden brightness, like our topaz:

different from our pale green crystallized

chrysolite.

beryl

--of a sea-green color.

topaz--P

LINY

[37.32], makes it

green

and transparent, like our chrysolite.

chrysoprasus

--somewhat pale, and having the purple color of the amethyst [P

LINY

, 37, 20,

21].

jacinth

--The flashing violet brightness in the amethyst is diluted in the jacinth [P

LINY

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 A

NDREAS

read, "(shine)

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 A

NDREAS

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.

Re 20:12

;

Re 20:15

). As all the filth of the old

Re 21:26

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

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, A

LFORD

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

CHAPTER 22

Re 22:1-21. T

IVER OF

IFE

: T

REE OF

IFE

: T

THER

LESSEDNESSES OF

THE

EDEEMED

. J

OHN

ORBIDDEN TO

ORSHIP THE

NGEL

. N

EARNESS OF

HRIST'S

OMING TO

AN'S

TERNAL

TATE

. T

ESTIMONY OF

ESUS

, H

PIRIT, AND THE

RIDE

, A

DDITION TO

HICH, OR

UBTRACTION FROM

HICH

, S

HALL

TERNALLY

UNISHED

. C

LOSING

ENEDICTION.

1. pure

--A, B,

Vulgate,

and H

ILARY

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."

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.

Re 12:1

;

street of it

--that is, of the city.

on either side of the river

--A

LFORD

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 M

EDE

, 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 D

URHAM

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 21:14

). A

RCHBISHOP

HATLEY

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). A

LFORD

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.

Greek,

their foreheads." Not only shall they personally and in secret (Re 3:17) know

Re 17:6

;

Re 19:9, 10

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 A

NDREAS

. 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,

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 A

NDREAS

. 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 [N

ANGLE

]. They are no dreams of a visionary, but the realities of

God's sure word.

holy

--so A

NDREAS

. 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 [B

ENGEL

] (1Pe 1:11; 2Pe 1:21).

be done

Greek,

"come to pass."

"And" is omitted in

Coptic

and A

NDREAS

with

English Version,

but is inserted by A, B,

Vulgate

and

Syriac.

blessed

-- (Re 1:3).

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 [A

UBERLEN

], see on

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. B

ENGEL'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.

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,

NDREAS

, and C

YPRIAN

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 [A

UBERLEN

];

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

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 E

USEBIUS

) 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,

NDREAS

, and C

YPRIAN

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 C

YPRIAN

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 M

. But B in T

ISCHENDORF

, and A,

Syriac, read, "is."

13. I am Alpha

Greek,

". . .

the

Alpha and

the

Omega." A, B,

Vulgate, Syriac,

RIGEN

and C

YPRIAN

transpose thus, "the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." A

NDREAS

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 C

YPRIAN

. 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

Re 6:1

. In

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,

privilege,

is founded, not on our merits, but on God's grace.

through

Greek,

the gates."

15. But

--so

Coptic.

But A, B, H

IPPOLYTUS

, A

NDREAS

, and C

YPRIAN

omit.

dogs

Greek,

"the dogs"; the impure, filthy (Re 22:11; compare Php 3:2).

maketh

--including also "whosoever

practiceth

a lie" [W. K

ELLY

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" [B

ENGEL

]. 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

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,

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 A

NDREAS

read, "I"

emphatic in the

Greek.

testify."

unto these things

--A, B, and A

NDREAS

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 A

NDREAS

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 A

NDREAS

. 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 A

NDREAS

. 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.