2b The Episode of the Sealed Ones (An Intervening Vision of Salvation Assured)

3 The Vision of the Seven Trumpets (The World's Judgment Proclaimed)

4 The Vision of Conflict (The Church-Historic World-Conflict of the Evil against the Just)

5 The Vision of the Seven Vials (The World's Judgment Executed)

5b The Episode of the Frog-like Spirits (An Intervening Vision of Warning to the Redeemed)

13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: 14 for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto214 the kings of the whole world215, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.

15 (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame).

The Gathering at Har-Magedon 16 And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon216.

17 And the seventh poured out his bowl upon the air; and there came forth a great voice out of the temple217, from the throne, saying, It is done: 18 and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men218 upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. 19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations219 fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, cometh down out of heaven upon men: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof is exceeding great.

(A) The Mystical Babylon and Her Fall

Chapter 17.

1 And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls, and spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters; 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication.

3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy220, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked221 with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things222 of her fornication, 5 and upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT223, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs224 of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with a great wonder.

7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go225 into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, they whose name hath not been written in226 the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall come227.

9 Here is the mind228 that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth: 10 and they are229 seven kings; the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a little while. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goeth into perdition. 12 And the ten horns that thou sawest are ten kings, who have received no kingdom as yet; but [pg 082] they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour. 13 These have one mind, and they give their power and authority unto the beast. 14 These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they also shall overcome that are with him, called and chosen and faithful.

15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire. 17 For God did put in their hearts to do his mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. 18 And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, which reigneth over the kings230 of the earth.

Chapter 18.

1 After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold231 of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For by the wine232 of233 the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen; and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness234.

4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues: 5 for her sins have reached235 even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Render unto her even as she rendered, and double unto her the double according to her works: in the cup which she mingled, mingle unto her double. 7 How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed wanton236, so much give her of torment and mourning: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. 8 Therefore in one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord237 God who judged her.

9 And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly238 with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning, 10 standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise239 any more; 12 merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble; 13 and cinnamon, and spice240, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves241; and souls242 of men. 14 And the fruits which thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous are perished from thee, and men shall find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning; 16 saying, Woe, woe, the great city, she that was arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked243 with gold and precious stone and pearl! 17 for in one hour so great riches is made desolate.

And every shipmaster, and every one that saileth any whither, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea244, stood afar off, 18 and cried out as they looked upon the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city? 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her.

21 And a245 strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all. 22 And the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and [pg 084] no craftsman, of whatsoever craft246, shall be found any more at all in thee; and the voice of a mill shall be heard no more at all in thee; 23 and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.

(B) The Triumph of the Redeemed

Chapter 19.

1 After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying,

3 And a second time they say248, Hallelujah. And her smoke goeth up for ever and ever249. 4 And the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped250 God that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah. 5 And a voice came forth from the throne, saying,

6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying,

8 And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are true words of God.

10 And I fell down before his feet to worship251 him. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: worship252 God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

(C) The Last Things

11 And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon called253 Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems; and he hath a name written which no one knoweth but he himself. 13 And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with254 blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. 15 And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness255 of the wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

17 And I saw an256 angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid heaven, Come and be gathered together unto the great supper of God; 18 that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains257, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, and small and great.

19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse, and against his army. 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped258 his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone: 21 and the rest were killed with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of his mouth: and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Chapter 20.

1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in259 his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years [pg 086] should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time.

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped260 not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection.

(6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power261; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a262 thousand years.)

7 And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out263 of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever264.

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. 15 And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

1 The Angels Holding the Winds, Ch. 7:1-3

At the bidding of another angel who ascends from the sunrising as the sign that he brings light and hope, [pg 136] and who bears the seal of the living God as the token of his authority, “the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea” restrain the winds, which are apparently those of destruction and judgment, until the act of sealing has been accomplished: the symbol of the delay of God's final judgment upon the world until all his chosen ones are sealed, i. e. are marked as the subjects of redemption, or until his redemptive purpose is complete—the choice beginning with Israel. Four, the earth number, is the number of the angels, corners, and winds in the vision, indicating the world-wide character of the judgment; and the sealing is upon earth, though apparently not to be thought of as occurring in any particular point of time, and not therefore to be placed, as by some, just preceding the final judgment, for in a wider sense the sealing stands as a symbol of redemption as a whole, viewed in effect as a process concurrent with the trials of the seals, and illustrated by its operation in Israel.407 The time of holding back the winds is the entire period of divine grace, and the sealing shows the brighter side of the former picture of trial and suffering—God is ever doing what he did in Israel.

2 The Number of the Sealed, Ch. 7:4-8

The redeemed are sealed upon the forehead, the sign of the visible and personal ownership of Christ, but the act of sealing is not revealed; as the act of God it is hidden, and only the number of the sealed is given, a hundred and forty-four thousand, i. e. the square of twelve, the national number, multiplied by a thousand, the cube of ten, the number of completeness,—twelve thousand from each tribe, or twelve, the number of the tribes of Israel, multiplied by a thousand, the number of heavenly completeness: the symbol of a vast, complete, but indefinite number chosen from the people of Israel and kept unto eternal life as the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb, the true or ideal people of Israel, who are in a sense representative of all the redeemed. Other interpreters, accepting the apocalyptic-traditional view of late writers, regard the first section of the episode (v. [pg 137] 1-8) as a reproduction in form or substance from a Jewish apocalypse, while the second section (v. 9-17), where there is so manifest an expansion of the horizon, is the Christian development of the same idea, showing how the older vision may be understood in our time.408 Such views evidently have strong attraction for the modern mind, but it may well be doubted whether such a view solves as many difficulties as it creates, for it assumes the existence of documents that have no evidence on which to rest except the theory which assumes them.

1 The Innumerable Multitude, Ch. 7:9

With the opening of the second part of the episode there is a sudden expansion of the horizon; every barrier of race and nation has disappeared, and a triumphant multitude of the saved from all peoples, a company which no man could number, far surpassing that of Israel, is seen standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, the symbol of purity,410 and having palms in their hands, the token of joy as well as victory (cf. I Macc. 13.51), and perhaps, also, as a sign of triumphant homage to the Lamb. The use of palms in the Feast of Tabernacles may have been foremost in thought here, but we need not confine the significance of the figure to the Jewish symbolism of joy. It probably includes all the ideas connected with palms that were familiar to the thought of the time, without regard to their origin; for it is not justifiable to assume that the Apocalypse contains no ideas borrowed from heathen antiquity, but moves exclusively within the circle of sacred, that is, Jewish imagery and symbols.411 This represents an opinion [pg 138] which in the light of later studies in Apocalyptic cannot be maintained, though manifestly everything has been assimilated by the Jewish conception, from whatever source it may have been derived. The phase of the vision presented in the ninth verse, affords a view of the redeemed church in its fulness, the multitude of the saved from both covenants now joined in one body in which no distinction of race or nation exists, a view much wider in its scope than the former one of the sealing.412

Many commentators, it must be recognized, view this passage differently (v. 4-9), and maintain the full identity of the hundred and forty-four thousand and the great multitude by a somewhat strained exegesis, making the hundred and forty-four thousand the symbol of the Christian church.413 In the interpretation of such symbols, however, we must always allow a latitude of view, for different interpretations appeal with varying force to different minds; and it should be remembered in holding the view accepted in this work, that while the symbol is taken from the case of Israel, and is therefore correctly interpreted as applying primarily to the people of Israel, yet it is not Jews as distinguished from Gentiles that are meant, but the saints of the Old Testament as distinguished from those of the New, the few in contrast with the many; and that in a wider sense the figure symbolizes salvation as a whole, represented here by a part in which it is shown to be effective, the main idea being salvation made certain and efficient by the divine act of sealing, while in the great multitude the symbol is that of salvation become world-wide in its results. The question of the identity of the two groups is therefore subordinate, and cannot be regarded as of any special importance.

It may be well at this point, in view of the great and radiant multitude of the redeemed, the innumerable company out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, who stand before the throne and join in the cry of “Salvation unto our God ... and unto the Lamb” (v. 10), for us to emphasize the wide-spread and triumphant effect of the gospel in the world of men which is here [pg 139] foreshown. It has been too often asserted by modern critics that the outlook of the Revelation is narrow and Jewish, and its view limited and discouraging. As against this it is well to remember the lesson of these verses, as well as that of many other similar passages throughout the book (cf. chs. 5:9; 21:24; 22:7, et al.). We should also clearly see that the Revelation from its nature and purpose deals chiefly with the plan of God for the ages, and with the causes and events which lead on to the end of the world, and that therefore its essential message is not addressed to evangelistic effort or to missionary enterprise, but to faith in God when days are dark and storms fill the sky, and to preparation for meeting him in a fairer world when earthly days are done. Yet the book just as clearly shows that the divine plan both includes and prepares for the essentially world-wide and universal mission of Christianity; and the message of the gospel to every creature is repeated and emphasized throughout in such a way as to make plain that the great work and chief purpose of the Kingdom of God in the earth is to redeem and to save the lost. And surely this important truth should never be left out of view in our perusal of the book.

2 The Cry of the Church Triumphant, Ch. 7:10-12

The whole body of the redeemed, the saved out of both covenants, the united company which no man could number, that includes both Jews and Gentiles, is heard unitedly to cry with a loud voice, “Salvation unto our God ... and unto the Lamb”, i. e. salvation is attributed unto God and the Lamb414 (the Salvation Chorus), while all the heavenly court join them in a seven-fold symphony of praise. This is the last in a series of growing doxologies. In ch. 1:6 the praise ascribed is twofold, in ch. 4:11 it is threefold, in ch. 5:13 it is fourfold, and now in ch. 7:12 it is sevenfold—“Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever”. It should also be noted that in the Salvation Chorus, for the first of three times in the book, salvation is ascribed by a voice from heaven to God, or to God and to Christ, viz. in chs. 7:10; 12:10; and 19:1.

3 The Redeemed Before the Throne, Ch. 7:13-17

John's attention is at this point specially directed to the triumphant company that is before the throne of God by one of the elders (v. 13f.)415 in order to emphasize that they of that company have come victorious out of the great tribulation of the earthly life, and therefore they are ever before the throne serving God day and night in his temple, i. e. in the ναὸς, the shrine of the temple in heaven, and sharing in the exceeding blessedness of the divine presence as their great reward. “And he that sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them ... and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.”416 It is not likely that by the great tribulation in v. 14 is meant a special period of trial such as is implied in ch. 3:10, and by the words of our Lord in Mat. 24:21, but rather the world-tribulation that belongs to the earthly life of the Christian throughout all time, “the tribulation of Jesus” (ch. 1:9) in which John felt that he had a share. Some, however, think that it is the same period of trial referred to before as preceding the end of the world.417 Thus with a prophetic view of the redeemed before the throne the episode closes, and the seventh seal is opened (ch. 8:1).

1 An Angel Offers Incense upon the Golden Altar, Ch. 8:3-5

The incense is added unto the prayers of all the saints which are thus typically purified, and they are straightway presented before the throne of God in heaven. Incense was the symbol of prayer under the Old Testament, but it becomes here, by a further development of the symbol, the vehicle for bearing the prayers to the throne, and the action apparently follows the form of the Jewish ritual worship. An angel standing over the brazen altar of sacrifice, takes fire from it in [pg 142] a golden censer or fire-pan, and much incense is then given him to add unto the prayers of all the saints, evidently for their purification and that he may offer them at the golden altar of incense which is before the throne of God. Completing this action, the angel returns again to the brazen altar to take fire from it that he may cast it as the symbol of judgment upon the earth (cf. Ezek. 10:2f). Others, however, think that only one altar, that of incense, is referred to in the action.419 In either case the worship of the Old Testament is the basis of the figure, though the scene is laid in heaven. “And there followed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake”, the tokens of God's presence and of the approaching divine judgment.

2 The Seven Angels Prepare to Sound, Ch. 8:2, 6

To the seven angels are given seven trumpets with charge of the series of impending woes; and the angels put the trumpets to their lips ready to sound, mention of which is made in order to emphasize the importance to be attached to their action as angels who stand before God. Their position implies special service, and their number doubtless indicates the perfection of their ministry.420 The trumpet, which was the common instrument for public announcement, and often connected with the idea of judgment,421 may be here intended to recall its use at the fall of Jericho (Josh. 6:4f). The seven angels may also be taken to represent the whole body of angel ministrants who serve before God, just as the seven churches symbolize the whole church.

1 The Sounding of the First Trumpet, Ch. 8:7

The sounding of the first trumpet is followed by hail and fire mingled in blood cast upon the earth: the symbol of disaster visited upon the land, and men punished by such means as in the days of Pharaoh,—for fire is a symbol of the divine presence and wrath, and the blood indicates the destructive effects about to be wrought upon both the animate and inanimate creation for the chastisement of man. The resemblance of the first four judgments of the trumpets and also of the vials to the plagues of Egypt, is too manifest to escape the attention of any careful reader of Scripture, and affords a ready proof of their representative character. These well-known historic incidents of judgment, belonging to the birth-period of the Hebrew nation, which are so deeply inwrought in the Old Testament story, and whose significance was so well understood, become the ready types of other judgments that are sent with a similar purpose and that belong to the divine order, but the intimate nature of which it was not the divine purpose to disclose. They are widely suggestive of God's power over things the most permanent and stable. The destruction of but a third part of the objects affected as the result of the trumpet series, represents a limited judgment, not an actual third but a fractional portion destroyed, a great but not the greater part. The earth, the sea, the rivers, and the heavenly bodies, on which the [pg 144] first four judgments fall, are parts of a fourfold division of the universe which is common in this book, and are intended to designate the entire created world, both here and in the vision of the vials.422 In this comprehensive designation the earth, or the land, was thought of as the nourishing mother and the dwelling-place of man; the sea as the agent and arena of commerce; the rivers as the seat of cities, the centres of population, the arteries of trade, and the source of water supply; and the heavenly bodies as the source of light, and as the rulers of destiny—together representing in common thought the great things of life to the world of men. Disaster to these, the sources of wealth and well-being, has always been among Oriental nations the type of all that is most terrible.

2 The Sounding of the Second Trumpet, Ch. 8:8-9

The sounding of the second trumpet is followed by, as it were, a great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea, thereby working widespread ruin: the symbol of disaster visited upon the sea, one part of creation which is used as God's agent for punishing mankind. To move a mountain was a token of divine power, and it was blazing with fire as a sign of the divine presence and wrath—another Sinai in effect flung into the sea. This striking figure of a mountain of fire was perhaps suggested to John's mind by a volcano, with which he must have become familiar while resident in Asia; but attention is directed more particularly in these visions, especially the first four, to the effect produced rather than to the means used, whether hail and fire, or a mountain, or a star, or the smiting of the planets.423 The effect produced is one of great terror, though the way in which it applies to men is left to be inferred, and is not attempted to be described. Such an incident was well adapted to the thought of the first century, and could not but strike terror in the mind of the beholder because of the complete helplessness of men in the presence of such a disaster. It presents a wide field for thought, the limits of which are not defined. It is in fact one way of saying that God will make all nature to strive against man because of sin.

3 The Sounding of the Third Trumpet, Ch. 8:10-11

The sounding of the third trumpet is followed by the falling of a great star from heaven, called Wormwood, upon the waters, burning as a torch and making them bitter: the symbol of disaster visited upon the rivers and fountains of waters, still another part of creation, as an act of divine judgment upon sinful men who dwell by the waters. As under the former trumpets only a third part was affected: “And many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” The falling of a star was regarded as a sign of some great disaster about to happen, and is here apparently intended to be typical of judgment sent from heaven, while the name Wormwood signifies the bitterness of the trouble which it entails upon men. But beyond this all is indefinite, a quality characteristic of Apocalyptic which often heightens rather than lessens the general effect. The bitter waters expressed the moral bitterness that men must taste because of their sin: the wide result is thus covered by an unspoken appeal to thought through a significant symbol.

4 The Sounding of the Fourth Trumpet, Ch. 8:12

The sounding of the fourth trumpet is followed by the smiting of the sun, moon, and stars: the symbol of disaster visited upon the heavenly bodies, not only destroying their light but inflicting a punishment peculiarly terrifying to the Oriental mind because of the occult influence which these bodies were supposed to exert upon the future destinies of men. We need not necessarily regard John as personally sharing in this opinion, but only as using the language and appealing to the thought of his time, as in the preceding reference to the falling star. He seems to look upon these strange occurrences mainly as signs of the divine purpose, as “wonders in the heavens and in the earth” (Joel 2:30) through which God wrought in manifesting his will. The evils resulting from this visitation in the vision, as in the former judgments, are suggested rather than named; but they lie before the mind in a haunting way to be filled in by a vivid imagination with scenes of terror and wrath.

5 The Sounding of the Fifth Trumpet, Ch. 9:1-12

The sounding of the fifth trumpet is followed by a vision of a star from heaven, fallen unto earth, the symbolic representation of Satan cast out of heaven for his sin, and by smoke as of a great furnace enveloping a swarm of locusts that ascend from the pit of the abyss, the present dwelling-place of Satan and the familiar haunt of demons: the symbol of disaster to men through Satan and his multitudinous host, “the spiritual hosts of wickedness” (Eph. 6:12), the demons from the pit. These are permitted to torment men, producing bitter anguish for five months, the usual life of the locust, and the symbol of an incomplete or limited period of time, which may here refer to the time of man's existence upon the earth. Five, the half of ten the complete number, is a symbol of incompleteness or indefiniteness. The invading army of locusts is a well-known figure of widespread disaster, as in the prophecy of Joel (ch. 2:1-11). In accordance with general apocalyptic usage the pit of the abyss is regarded as the present abode of the Devil and his angels, and is conceived of as a vast subterranean depth connecting with the surface of the earth by a great shaft or well which can be opened or closed from above, and the entrance to which may be locked or unlocked by a key.425 That which at first seems to be a cloud of smoke proves to be teeming with forms of life, an evident token of the hidden nature of the source of evil. The power of the locusts is directed immediately against the wicked, such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads, while their sting seems to be the type of the poison of sin which they infuse into [pg 147] the veins of men, and the torment which they inflict to refer to the visitation of sins that bring terrible punishment upon the offenders so that men prefer death rather than life. The description of the locusts as “like unto horses prepared for war etc.”, is a realistic touch intended to heighten the sense of terror, but not to identify them with any objects in human experience. Also the statement that “their faces were as men's faces”, implies only that they were like men in appearance, though some think this points to human agents. The star is here used in a quite different sense from that under the third trumpet,—for to insist that all objects must have a single symbolism, and that the star must mean the same in every case, i. e. a person, there as well as here, is to neglect one of the clearest lessons of Apocalyptic. Here it is a personification or symbol of Satan (Isa. 14:12), the angel of the abyss, who is named Apollyon,426 i. e. one who causes perdition to mankind, or in Hebrew, Abaddon, i. e. the destroyer, a sufficient identification for the reader of the Old Testament. The awful woe that the world of evil men suffers at the hands of Satan and his legions is the ideal content of this trumpet; and we notice that the severity of the judgments seems to increase as they progress toward the end. The first woe is now declared to be past (v. 12), but two others are foretold as yet to come.

6 The Sounding of the Sixth Trumpet, Ch. 9:13-21, and 11:14

The sounding of the sixth trumpet is followed by the loosing of four angels from the bed of the Euphrates (which is done at the bidding of a voice from the four horns427 of the golden altar of incense that is before God, and underneath which are the souls of them that had been slain for the Word of God—evidently a divine command) who had been prepared for an appointed time, even “for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men” from the earth, and by the coming of a vast invading army of horsemen, the double square of a myriad, or two hundred millions [pg 148] in all, the largest number used in the Apocalypse, the type of an innumerable multitude, which apparently act under direction of the four angels, and destroy a third part of men from the earth:428 the symbol of disaster to men through the world-forces of heathenism, which are under direction of the world-rulers of the darkness (Eph. 6:12). The unbinding of the angels is the symbol of evil let loose among men, for the angels are evil as is indicated by their being bound, by their number, and by the place of their imprisonment, i. e. the binding is the symbol of divine restraint until the appointed time; their number is four, the earth number, indicating that they belong to this world which is usually thought of as evil; and the Euphrates, the place where they are bound, is the old seat of the world-power, and the representative of heathenism with its multitudinous host. The evils inflicted by the heathen nations upon mankind, especially the evils of war with their concomitant results, are here indicated by this forceful figure; yet these, though deep and terrible, entirely fail to turn the rest of men, who escape death, from idol worship and its attendant impurities—a marvelous forecast of the path of history, for the heathen powers have time and again become the agents of woe to mankind, yet the people have not awakened to the true source of their sorrow in idolatry. The description of the horses and of their riders in the vision is purely an ideal one, intended to make them the objects of greatest terror, a true Oriental touch, appealing to the vivid Eastern imagination as such figures do with us to the minds of children. The woes of men at the hands of heathen nations is the evident content of this trumpet, as is clearly indicated in the twentieth verse of the chapter. At this point the second woe is declared to be past, and the third to be about to come quickly (ch. 11:14); but between them intervenes a vision of divine help, and of the value of the church's witness (ch. 10:1-11:13).

This view of the fifth and sixth trumpets seems to meet more fully the statements of the text than other views, and to conform best to the general character of the [pg 149] whole series; for notwithstanding the recognized obscurity of the trumpet visions, we can surely discern divine judgments for wrongdoing in the first four, under forms of physical evil visited upon the natural creation, and in the remaining three, manifestations of moral evil visited upon men for their sin. That the pit or abyss points to demoniacal forces, and the Euphrates to human agencies, is sufficiently evident without discussion.429 The application of the incidents of the fifth and sixth trumpets to Mohammedans and Turks by some of the historical school, who have even interpreted the tails of the horses as a prophetic reference to these well-known symbols of authority used by Turkish Pashas, is a curious example of capricious fancy. The fact that the events predicted under the sixth trumpet find a wide exemplification in the incursions of Turk and Mohammedan, Goth and Vandal, is only a clearer proof of their ideal character. And it is surely better to leave these highly wrought imaginative symbols of the trumpets, with their deep suggestiveness of appalling forms of coming evil, in the vague indefiniteness in which we find them, rather than to mar their beauty by weak and narrow interpretations.

[The Episode IIIb, which in this work is given after the seventh trumpet, occurs at the present point in the vision covering chs. 10:1 to 11:13. The connection is resumed in ch. 11:14, for the second woe found in that verse belongs in order of thought at the close of the sixth trumpet, the intervening part being parenthetical—see the Scripture text as paragraphed in this volume].

7 The Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet, Ch. 11:15-19

The sounding of the seventh trumpet is followed by great voices in heaven, declaring that the kingdom of the world is now become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ;430 by the elders praising God that the time of judgment and reward has come (the Victory Chorus); by the ark of the covenant, the token of God's abiding presence, being revealed in the opened temple in heaven—a traditional sign in the later Judaism of [pg 150] the coming of the Messiah;431 and by lightnings, voices, thunders, and an earthquake with great hail, the necessary accompaniments in Jewish thought of the great and final day of wrath: the multiple symbol of the final judgment, and of the glorious triumph of God's kingdom. The contents of the seventh trumpet are not fully developed, perhaps because they are too great for description, but in it we reach the climax and issue of the whole process of judgment that is exhibited in the series, the full and final establishment of the kingdom. The result is viewed in its entirety, and the millennial period of victory is not brought separately into view. The unveiling of the ark of covenant mercy and the ushering in of the kingdom close the vision, and constitute an informal transition to the vision of conflict through which the triumph has been effected.

If we now rapidly recall the whole course of the seven trumpets, we can see how with progressive movement they increase in severity as they go forward; the judgments they prefigure fall first upon the land, and then consecutively upon the sea, upon the fountains of water, and upon the heavenly bodies, as signs of God's judgment upon the physical universe, and thus upon men who in their earthly lives form part of the natural world; then with the fifth trumpet the judgments take a wider trend, and point to and include the setting free of numberless demonic forces of evil from the pit of the abyss to prey upon men, and under the sixth trumpet the loosing of the multitudinous world-forces of heathenism from the banks of the Euphrates to bring world-wide judgments upon the race, thus preparing the way for the blowing of the seventh trumpet which ushers in the day of cumulative wrath upon sin, and the final triumph of God's kingdom. This onward progress of the plan of the ages is only broken by a passing view of the possibility of recovery for men in the episode of the angel and the book, and of the two witnesses, which follows. The whole sweep of the judgments of the trumpets, in the view of Apocalyptic perspective, is toward the end of the present world and the triumph of righteousness in the final judgment. There the redeemed are left with God in his glorious kingdom; the after life is not attempted to be described; its blessings are evidently [pg 151] too great for our present comprehension. But the triumph would not be so definite, without the vision of conflict which follows, for it presents the path to victory through prevailing trial and opposition as ever leading on to complete and final triumph in the end, that is to be realized in the glorious presence of the Lamb who is revealed as standing upon Mount Zion in the midst of the redeemed.

1 The Angel Foretells the End, Ch. 10:1-7

A mighty angel, the representative of Christ and bearing his insignia,435 having a book in his hand, and standing both upon sea and land as a sign of his world-wide mission, declares the coming end under the seventh trumpet, when the mystery of God's method and purpose in human life and redemption shall be fully revealed and finally manifested in the establishment of his universal kingdom. The manner of the angel is scenic and impressive, and the message is one of undoubted power.

2 The Book Delivered to John, Ch. 10:8-11

The book is Christ's revelation to John in the Apocalypse, a little open book or scroll (v. 2), evidently set in contrast with the great sealed book of God's purposes in chapter five; and it is taken by the Apostle, in obedience to a voice out of heaven, from the hand of the angel, who commands him to eat it, thereby indicating that John should digest the prophecy therein contained (Ezek. 3:1-3).437 Though it was sweet to his taste at first as a message from Christ, it became bitter afterward when its deeper meaning was understood, for it told of long continued trial and conflict instead of speedy triumph and victory. The prophecy is declared to be “over [i. e. concerning] many peoples and nations and tongues and kings”, a fourfold prediction, showing its world-wide application and indicating its ideal content.

It was the common thought of the early church that the period of the Christian dispensation would be very brief; and it may have been in order to dispel in some measure this illusion, and at the same time to inculcate patience and hope by showing the ideal shortness of the Christian age in God's eternal plan, that we are to find one of the many purposes of the Apocalypse. For it should be noted that by the end of the first century the view-point on this subject shows a material [pg 154] change. The attitude of John's Gospel toward the second coming of Christ is manifestly different from that of the Synoptists;438 the significant predictions of Christ concerning his own return are omitted, notably the discourse on the last things (Mt. 24; Mk. 13; Lk. 21); and the only references to his coming again are indirect (Jn. 14:3, 18, 28; 16:22; and 22:22-3), though from these it is evident that it is subsumed throughout, a view that is confirmed by the Epistles (I Jn. 2:28; and 3:2). This is far from showing, as some hold, that the coming predicted was only figurative, and was fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem, an event already past when John's Gospel was written; but seems rather to indicate that the earlier stage of thought, shared in by all the apostles, which expected the Lord's return within the first generation, had given way to a new and wider outlook which emphasized the continuous coming that is present and spiritual more than the personal coming that is future and outward, though without losing faith in the surety of that coming. And even if the later date of the Apocalypse be not conceded, yet coming from the same source as the Fourth Gospel, we might not unnaturally expect to find in it some anticipation of this view involving delay, for the coming thought of in the visions is undoubtedly personal and future.

1 The Measurement of the Temple, Ch. 11:1-2

The ναὸς, or inner sanctuary of the temple of God, is at this point introduced in the vision, a term which applied to the apartments of the temple building proper, including the holy of holies, the holy place, and in this case by implication the inner court, as distinguished from the ἱερὸν which applied to the whole temple and included all the buildings with the outer courts. The ναὸς in classical Greek is the sanctuary or cell of a temple where the image of the god was placed. In [pg 155] Hebrew usage, as applied to the temple at Jerusalem, it signifies the sacred edifice so called, including the holy and most holy place.439 Thus it is the true temple with the altar and them that worship therein, i. e. the entire contents of the inner court, the combined symbol of revealed religion and of those who accept its truths, especially the revelation and worshippers according to the Old Testament, which is here introduced in the vision. This is directed to be measured, i. e. it is to be subjected to careful scrutiny, and its proportions are to be observed, the sign as in Zechariah (ch. 2:1f.) of preservation and renewal, and not of destruction. The measurement apparently applies to the heavenly temple, though it may be interpreted either of the temple at Jerusalem or its counterpart in heaven, for to the Jewish mind the earthly temple was the type and shadow of the heavenly (Heb. 9:5).440 In either case the meaning is the same, viz. only that which corresponds to the outer court of the earthly,441 the unessential portion, is given up by the fall of Jerusalem to be trodden underfoot of the nations (Lk. 21:24) during forty-two months (v. 2), the indefinite period of the world's conflict with the church (see App'x. E). The true temple with its worshippers, the heart and center of the religious life of Israel, is indestructible and reappears in heaven with the ark of the covenant restored (v. 19). This is a symbolic expression of the important truth that the revealed religion of Israel is to endure, the best in Judaism is imperishable, all that is fundamental and essential is preserved though the outer form be destroyed;442 and it was designed to be [pg 156] a vision of comfort for the Jewish Christians, who naturally regarded the ruin of the temple as a profound calamity. The vision has been regarded by many interpreters as indicating that the temple and the city of Jerusalem were still standing when this was written, thus confirming the earlier date of the Revelation (circ. A. D. 69); but the weight of evidence to be attached to an Apocalyptic vision as testimony in such a case is very small, and is quite insufficient when compared with other evidences of the historical situation found in the book.443 It is evident, also, that there is a reference in the symbolism here used, i. e. in the preservation not only of the altar, but “of them that worship therein”, to the preservation of the Jews as a people, and their future restoration when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled (Lu. 21:24), though not necessarily to Palestine,444 and surely not to a rebuilded temple, which in any case would be mere incidents, but to the richer blessings of renewed fellowship with God, of which the temple and its service were to the Jewish mind the truest type (cf. Rom. 11:1f.). The late Apocalyptic-Traditional view, it may be mentioned, attributes verses one and two to a former Jewish apocalypse that has been lost, which is here quoted as an introduction to the prophecy of the two witnesses that follows. It may well be doubted, however, whether this theory of the origin of the passage adds anything effective to its interpretation.

2 The Two Witnesses and their Martyrdom, Ch. 11:3-13

The two witnesses who prophesy, i. e. bear witness for God, and whom God ever preserves throughout all vicissitudes, and delivers even out of seeming destruction, are the churches of the Old and New Dispensations which have been divinely called to witness for the truth.445 The two olive trees represent the Old and New Testament revelations which supply oil, the symbol of grace, to the two candlesticks, i. e. to the two churches,446 the Jewish and Christian, that have been and are God's special witnesses throughout the ages (cf. Zech. 4:2f.). [pg 157] The identity of the candlesticks and witnesses is shown both by the connection, and by the explicit statement of verse four: “These [two witnesses] are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the Lord of the earth,” i. e. the witnesses are, in a sense, both the Old and New Testament revelations and the churches of the Old and New Dispensations, which alike witness for the truth of God, though the connection shows that the churches are specially intended.447 Two is the number of confirmation in witness-bearing (Jn. 8:17); hence the two witnesses may also be considered to symbolize the sufficiency of the testimony of the Old and New Testament churches, as also a sufficient number in the church in every age who witness for God and truth. These have power that is not of man but divinely given, as is indicated in symbolic language (v. 5-6), yet when their testimony is finished, the Beast out of the abyss, the world-power of chapter thirteen, introduced here by anticipation, accomplishes their apparent overthrow. Out of this deadly conflict with the world, and the apparent defeat and eventually the death of the witnesses, with the exposure of their dead bodies and contemptuous refusal of burial, a personal indignity and sign of hatred and contempt, the fitting type of the world's treatment of the church in all ages and times, which in the vision occurs in Babylon, “the great city”, the type of the godless world,—out of all this seeming defeat comes ultimate victory. After three and a half days the breath of life from God enters into them, and they live again, and go up to heaven in a cloud. This points to the experience of grave peril by the church preceding her triumph, including temporary and seeming extinction at the hands of her enemies, and forming the occasion for an expression of their supreme contempt, an experience such as has occurred at different periods in her history, and which may, indeed, occur again in the future—the church persecuted, scattered, peeled, seemingly destroyed, but revived and restored by the power of God. Three and a half days of defeat,—a broken number, indicating a short but indefinite period in contrast with the three and a half years, or forty-two months, or a thousand two hundred and three score days, (v. 3), the length of the entire world-conflict,—a time of rejoicing by [pg 158] them that dwell upon the earth, is followed, as in the case of our Lord, by resurrection, ascension, and triumph, a parallel that is apparently suggested by the similarity and was doubtless intended. This is true not only of individual saints who have borne witness and suffered death only to rise again in the witness of others and in their own personal resurrection, but is especially true of the church in a collective sense, both under the Old Testament and the New, which always rises triumphant after every great disaster in her history, and shall rise again in all her members at the resurrection of the last day after her witness is complete.448 God avenges his own, as is indicated in the vision by the fall of the tenth part of the city, which is the share of the tithe under the Mosaic law, and by the death of seven thousand men, a great and complete number, seven multiplied by a thousand, who bear the punishment of their sin. As the result of the martyrdom and avengement the rest of men, give glory to God, a manifest attestation of the value of the church's witness. The world's persecution, though bitter and continued, fails to accomplish its end; the church of Christ survives, and rises again in power, and its witness becomes effective. Historical interpreters, however, generally regard the two witnesses as persons, futurists identifying them as Moses (or Enoch) and Elijah, whom they regard as yet to come, and preterists finding in them two leading characters during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, a view that restricts the vision to very narrow limits. Others, catching the larger view, interpret as “The Christian church and the Christian state”, and still others as “The law and the prophets”, or “The prophets and the priesthood”,—i. e. the whole spiritual authority of the old dispensation which, “though perverted and destroyed by the Jews (some of the best representatives of each being put to death), yet rose to new life and enthronement in Christianity”. In any case the obvious teaching is the triumph of faithful testimony for God, a principle of inestimable value for the church when in the throes of persecution. And now, having looked on the vision of the angel and the book, and of the two witnesses, the way is open for the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

It may be noted in closing our study of this episode that many commentators interpret “the great city”, in verse eight of this chapter, as referring to Jerusalem, because of the designation “where also their Lord was crucified”—Jerusalem being regarded as a world-city. The decisive reason against this, however, is the uniform usage of the book,449 for the interpretation is not otherwise materially affected. Jerusalem is everywhere else in the Revelation the type of that which is holy, and is nowhere else called “the great city”, while this name is applied seven times elsewhere to Babylon (or Rome), the type of the ungodly world, in which and by which our Lord may be truly said to have been crucified; and there seems to be no adequate reason for regarding this passage as containing an exceptional use of the phrase. Whether, however, we interpret of Jerusalem or of Babylon the general sense remains the same. In the one case the apparent defeat and contempt for the church of God, or its witness and witnesses, occurs in Babylon, the type of the godless world, while in the other it happens in Jerusalem, in that case the type of unbelieving Judaism. Either symbolism, it will be seen, is suitable to the context.

1 The Sun-Clothed Woman, Ch. 12:1-2, 5-6, and 13f.

A great sign is seen in heaven, a Woman glorious and crowned, arrayed with the sun, the bearer of light, and having the moon under her feet, i. e. triumphing over time and change, who evidently represents the church of God on earth which was first Jewish and then Christian—“the ideal community of God's people”. The moon was the Jewish divider of time, and the phases of it being marked by recurrent changes, it naturally formed a ready type of both these ideas; and it may here also include the thought of stability of existence in the midst of change of outward appearance.451 The sun and [pg 161] moon have been thought by some to indicate the relative light of the New and Old Dispensations, though it is more probable that both have been introduced mainly to enhance the conception of the church's ideal glory. The crown of twelve stars is the sign of the covenant people,—the crown is στέφανος, the crown of victory, which God designs to give the church, and the number, twelve, is the number of the tribes of Israel—while the woman's travail anguish is the figure of Jewish affliction, and of deep longing for the Messiah. Some interpret the figure of the woman as representing the Virgin Mary;452 but the symbol is clearly wider than a person, as is shown by the whole course of the persecution with its transference to the rest of her seed when the Man-Child has escaped, and evidently applies to “the mystical mother of Christ”, the church whose seed are many, though the source and appropriateness of the figure is doubtless found in the fact that Christ was born of a woman.

2 The Great Red Dragon, Ch. 12:3-4, and 13f.

The Dragon, a mythical animal of traditionary terror, the symbol to the Jewish world of all that which was hideous and harmful, and described as red in color to indicate his sanguinary and destructive character, is introduced in order to represent the Old Serpent, the Devil, and Satan (v. 9),453 the lord of the present world and the adversary of Christ. His seven heads with diadems, and the ten horns, are symbols of his full dominion and absolute power over evil in the world during the period of conflict. The head with a crown or diadem is the natural symbol of dominion, which in the Apocalyptic literature usually signifies kings or empires (cf. Dan. 2:32; and 7:6), and the horn is a recognized Jewish emblem of power. The crown is the διάδημα, the sign of royalty, not the στέφανος, or garland crown of victory—a distinction that is carefully observed in the Revelation, as is indicated in the Revised Versions by the translation “diadem”.454 This symbolism of the seven heads and ten horns was evidently [pg 162] chosen to indicate the manifestation of Satan's power in the kings and kingdoms of this world which are adverse to the kingdom of God, as is clearly shown by their use in chapter thirteen,—that through which Satan operates and makes his power felt being attributed to him as an essential part of his being. The use of seven and ten together implies a twofold completeness, i. e. completeness of kind and completeness of parts (see App'x. E). This combination of seven, the symbol of perfection of quality which is usually moral, with ten the symbol of completeness which is usually earthly, though without necessarily implying any moral element, is used with an evil significance throughout in the Revelation, and creates some difficulty of interpretation; but it is doubtless best explained as indicating that that which was originally designed for moral perfection, signified by seven, has been combined with and prostituted to purely earthly ends, as signified by ten, which ends are in this case notably sinful. The suitability of the seven heads and ten horns belonging alike to the Dragon, who represents Satan, and to the Beast (ch. 13:1), who represents anti-Christian national government, is thus quite manifest, for both are evil. If we compare this with the combination of seven with seven in the horns and eyes of the Lamb, where the idea of a twofold spiritual perfection is indicated, something of the peculiar combination and significance of numbers in the Revelation will become apparent. The Dragon's casting down the third part of the stars from heaven (v. 4), i. e. a considerable number but not the larger part, is another sign of his power (Dan. 8:10), and may allude to the angels who lost their first estate and fell with him. He stands waiting in the vision before the Woman, the church, in order to destroy her child, the Messiah, as soon as the child is born, a purpose that he does not prove able to carry out.

3 The All-Ruling Man-Child, Ch. 12:5

The Man-Child is Jesus Christ, who was born of a woman, and whom Satan endeavors to destroy, but who was brought forth to rule or to shepherd all the nations with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:9), i. e. with irresistible power, and who was caught up to heaven by his resurrection and ascension. In this symbolic action the sufferings and death of Christ are passed over in silence [pg 163] in order to set forth at once the triumphant escape as the chief thought in mind, and the futility of the Dragon's effort.

4 The Wilderness Refuge, Ch. 12:6a, and 14a

The wilderness represents the present evil world as the place of trial during the period in which the church, like Israel, continues her pilgrimage toward the promised fulness of the messianic kingdom. There may also be a reference in this to the lands of the Gentiles, called a wilderness in contrast with Canaan the glorious land to the Jewish patriot, where the church “hath a place prepared of God”, and is now nourished like Israel of old in the wilderness; or, by a change of figure, like the prophet Elijah was fed for twelve hundred and sixty days, the equivalent of forty-two months, or three and a half years,—the time, [two] times, and half a time, i. e. three and a half times, of verse fourteen,—the symbol of the indefinite period of the church's conflict with the world, or of the world-triumph, which is a shortened time, a term that will end (see App'x E). It may be mentioned here that the preterist interpreters usually regard the wilderness refuge as a reference to the flight of the Christians to Pella before Jerusalem was destroyed, by which they escaped the three and a half years of the siege455—certainly a remarkable coincidence, though not serving to establish that interpretation—a meaning that is narrow and local instead of broad and universal.

5 The Persecution of the Woman and her Seed, Ch. 12:4-6, and 13-17

The persecution of the Woman with her seed represents Satan's malign but fruitless attempts to destroy the church. The two wings of the great eagle, i. e. the number of added strength and surety, are those of divine preservation which are given her to escape from the destroying flood cast out of the mouth of the Dragon, the apt symbol of Satan's persistent effort to overwhelm the church. To John's mind the eagle, which was inscribed upon the Roman standards, may have seemed the symbol of the Roman Empire that at first protected Christianity from Jewish persecution,456 or the [pg 164] symbol may have been suggested by that fact; but it represents as well what God is ever doing through human and earthly means for the church's deliverance. By the exceptional statement that “the earth helped the woman”, we are evidently to understand that natural causes helped Christianity, a fruitful suggestion that is remarkably exemplified in history. The Dragon making war upon the rest of the Woman's seed, i. e. all of her seed except Jesus Christ, who was caught up to heaven, indicates his continued attack upon the church and its members.

1 The First Beast—the Beast from the Sea, Ch. 13:1-10

A wild Beast fierce and bloodthirsty, and ideal composite creature, “like unto a leopard and his feet were [pg 168] as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion” (v. 2), evidently formed from the beasts in Daniel's vision (ch. 7:3f.), is seen coming up out of the tempestuous sea of the nations, and is manifestly the same as the Scarlet Beast of chapter seventeen, the one constantly referred to as “the Beast” without any other qualification. This is the symbol of the universal world-power, i. e. all the world-kingdoms are considered as one and personified in this Beast in open hostility to the church;469 national opposition to Christianity, exemplified by heathen Rome in John's day which supplied the groundwork of the conception, but extending far beyond that and applying equally to all persecuting nations during the whole forty-two months, or three and a half years, of world-domination, which represents the duration of the church-historic period of trial (v. 5), a period that is broken and incomplete (see App'x E). The Beast is described as having ten horns and seven heads, the symbol of a twofold completeness, both that of parts (ten) and that of quality or kind (seven), the same number as the Dragon, though in inverse order, indicating that the Beast is the agent of the Dragon, i. e. of Satan, and is possessed of like dominion and power,—for “the Dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority”. The heads seem to symbolize the world-power taking form, and the horns the exercise of that power. (For the further development of this symbolism, see ch. 17:9f.) And it should be noted that the ten horns and seven heads are common not only to the Dragon and the Beast, but are also the sum total of those belonging to the four beasts in Daniel's vision, i. e. to all the world-powers there designed, a symbolism which suggests that it properly applies to more than one nation, and which here seems intended to portray the persistent opposition of the Devil to the church of God, working through the power of the world in all time and in all nations. The ten crowns or diadems upon his horns denote the fulness of his sovereignty, and imply the extent of his earthly rule; the names of blasphemy upon his heads seem to refer to the divine titles and honors assumed by earthly kings, especially those of Rome, as Domitian who ordered that in official documents he should be styled “Our Lord and God”—a figure [pg 169] that is perhaps suggested here by the mitre of the high priest on which was written “Holiness to the Lord”, to which this was antipodal;470 while the wounded head that is healed refers to the death stroke, given to the world-power by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, from which there has been seeming recovery,471 for this was a true deathblow to the world-power, even though it failed of immediate realization and thereby disappointed Jewish-Christian hopes of early victory. The Beast blasphemes against God, “his name, and his tabernacle, even them that dwell in the heavens”, i. e. the inhabitants of the tabernacle. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation”; but it is only as it is “given unto him” that he can exercise his power, i. e. he is subject to divine control. And every one, “whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain”, shall worship him. Thus is depicted not only the fierce antagonism of the Roman Empire to the church in that age, but the perpetual hostility and unceasing opposition of the universal world-power in all ages and nations to the growth of the kingdom of God among men.

The symbol of the Beast, notwithstanding the difficulty of its interpretation, has certain distinguishing features that help to interpret its meaning. The close resemblance to Daniel's vision gives a clue to the thought in mind, and serves to indicate the proper method of interpretation. That the world-power in some form is symbolized in the vision, is clearly indicated; on this point all interpreters are agreed, though the majority of modern interpreters regard the Beast as the Roman Empire. That John had Rome primarily in mind can scarcely be doubted; but, in the view accepted by the symbolic interpreters, the Roman Empire served only to supply the groundwork for an idealized conception, in which the ordinary and limited view of sense has become transformed under the influence of prophetic insight into the wider vision of a world-power belonging to all time and pervading all history that rises beastlike in strength and might to oppress the people of [pg 170] God. The Beast, according to this interpretation, is the persecuting world-power in any and every age antagonizing the kingdom of God; the national and political forces of the world in their organized form arraying themselves against our Lord and his Christ; that phase of the world's life which finds expression for its opposition to the children of the kingdom under the forms of law and government, the most sovereign and irresistible of all kinds of persecution. This symbol naturally found a ready and satisfactory interpretation by the early church in the prevailing surveillance of the Roman authority; but it is an interpretation none the less true of heathen nations everywhere and always, who constantly persecute the church of God. The interpretation thus given is the one accepted by the symbolist school as the most natural and satisfactory of all, having a world-wide application and universal content; and it may be confidently adopted with an adequate degree of assurance that it conveys the meaning intended. The preterist interpreters, on the other hand, limit the meaning of the First Beast to the Roman Empire, using its power to oppose and oppress Christianity, and construe the wounded head as a reference to the death of Nero (see notes on chapter seventeen).

2 The Second Beast,—the Beast from the Land, Ch. 13:11-18.

Another wild Beast, also an ideal and composite creature, like unto yet different from the first, is seen [pg 171] coming up out of the earth,472 i. e. out of established and well-ordered society; the Two-horned Beast in whom the exercise of personal power or force is less prominent than in the First Beast with ten horns to whom he is subordinate, for the power he exerciseth is “all the power of the First Beast”. This Beast is the symbol of the universal world-religion, i. e. all the world-religions are considered as one and personified in the Second Beast, in disguised hostility to the church of Christ;473 the False Prophet of chs. 16:13 and 19:20, assuming to be what he is not, and using his authority for evil ends, who “deceiveth them that dwell on the earth”.474 His two horns like a lamb, but voice like a dragon, indicate that he has the external characteristics of a lamb, but the inner nature of a dragon, and are evidently intended to signify that he appears to be like Christ, while he is like Satan; he represents the forms of religion that assume to save men, but in fact only bind them to evil. “He doeth great signs that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men”, i. e. not a literal bringing down of fire, but a power counterfeiting the power of God as shown of old in fire from heaven, a great sign to Israel (Num. 16:35; I K. 18:38), and sembling that of the two witnesses (ch. 11:5). And he required of “them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the Beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived”, i. e. the false religions of the world, which the Second Beast represents, operate to make the people subservient to the world-power, the First Beast which had the stroke of the sword and lived, with which these religions always [pg 172] stand connected whether in Rome or in other nations;475 and the people render worship as they are directed. “And it was given unto him to give breath to the image of the Beast that it should speak and cause as many as should not worship the image to be killed”, i. e. the heathen religions give life and authority to national worship, give vitality to the world-power that it should command and compel men to join in its idolatrous forms or lose their lives by refusal. Thus the whole figure seems to indicate the spirit of the world operating against the church through the forms of religion, especially as seizing upon the natural and ethnic religions, permeating them with deceit, and subverting them to worldly ends (v. 14), the element of religion being a prominent feature throughout. Actuated by worldly wisdom, which is “earthly, sensual, and devilish” (Jas. 3:15), this Beast, we are told, bids all men worship the image of the First (v. 12 and 14), i. e. worship the deification of the world-power, thereby insidiously rehabilitating the world-power in another form, a figure likely drawn from the worship of the Emperor's image, a cult prevailing at the time, and showing how false religions rest upon and are upheld by heathen governments. John doubtless had primarily in mind the heathen priesthood of that period, especially the priesthood of Caesar-worship, which afforded the best example of the then existing world-religions, but this only formed the groundwork of the larger thought of the vision. Preterist interpreters, as a rule, would limit the meaning of the Second Beast to the heathen priesthood of that time, but this is too restricted a view. Any religion anywhere rejecting the Christ and crowning the world-power is represented by the Second Beast. It has also been suggested that the Second Beast represents the Asiarch, or chief priest of Asia, the director and instigator of Emperor-worship.476 This may possibly have been the source of John's idea; but however formed we should regard it as a universal and poetic conception of one continuous phase of the world's opposition to Christ and his kingdom, and not limit it to any particular historic [pg 173] manifestation of that opposition. Others, without sufficient grounds, have referred the title to the papacy, interpreting the First and Second Beasts as Rome pagan and papal. Another interpretation is that the First Beast is the secular persecuting power, pagan or Christian, and the Second Beast is the sacerdotal persecuting power, pagan and Christian; while still another and better interpretation is that world-force is the first, and world-worship, i. e. world-religion and superstition, the second.477 Symbolist interpreters always prefer the wider to a narrower symbolism in accordance with their general view of the book. According to this view, which is the one accepted in the present volume, all the world-religions which profess to be holy but are controlled by the same spirit, belong to the Second Beast and contribute to his power. The aspect of heathenism which here presented itself to John's mind is the most general and obvious of all its many characteristics; and although we now recognize more fully the elements of truth in the ethnic religions, and their relative value in the moral education of mankind when without the gospel, yet John's view still holds good, and is confirmed by the world-wide testimony of the mission field. The world-spirit which lies at the door of the world-religions is and always has been evil, and will always be degrading to the soul, that spirit which subordinates the moral and spiritual to purely selfish and worldly ends. The forms of the Two-horned Beast today are just as deceiving and defiling to men, and as much opposed to the kingdom of God, as they ever were of old. And not only are all the world-religions the abiding manifestation of the Second Beast, but even the Christian church also, whether Catholic or Protestant, may become subservient thereto, whenever or wherever it, or any part of it, may be dominated by the spirit of the world-religions, and thereby yields its God-given prestige to this Beast. The forms of human learning, too, as philosophy, science, literature, and art, when they trench upon the sphere of religion and become atheistic, agnostic, materialistic, or God-defying, exhibit the spirit of the world-religions in opposition to Christ, and are manifestations of the same Beast. This power is world-wide and age-long, and the vision seems to look [pg 174] through and beyond the forces then at work to their wider manifestation in history. For the Second Beast is the incarnation of the permanent and universal world-religion in each and all of its forms, and while presenting one aspect of the world-religions of John's time, yet goes far beyond that and portrays the principle of opposition to the church of Christ which underlies them all, and which would develop new forms in the period when Christianity had nominally triumphed, continuing the conflict upon different lines from the violent persecutions of the earlier ages; a period when the world's opposition to God would be expressed “by affiliation with the religion of Jesus, and by penetrating its life with false ideals”, producing a faithlessness within the church even more deadly in its results than the fatal furor of persecution, for the world within the church is one of the forms of the Second Beast, and there is nothing so dangerous to the life of the soul as irreligious religion.478

1. The Redeemed with the Lamb, Ch. 14:1-5

We see here a vast and virgin multitude, a hundred and forty-four thousand, a large and perfect number, the former symbol of the complete first-fruits from Israel (ch. 7:4), now used by synecdoche to represent all the redeemed who have been chosen from among men, the best of their race, who are called “the first-fruits unto God and unto the Lamb”,485 and who stand with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, having his name and the name of his Father written upon their foreheads, signifying to whom they belong and marking them as antipodal to those who have received the mark of the Beast (ch. 13:16), and who sing a new song, the song of victory (the Incommunicable Chorus), known only to the redeemed. Of this blessed company it is said that “they are without blemish”, i. e. they are sinless before God, which is apparently an explanation of the symbolism used in saying that they are “virgins”, and “not defiled with women”,—or “among women”. Roman Catholic commentators, however, usually interpret literally, and apply the passage to those women who have never entered into wedlock for the kingdom of heaven's sake—a construction that it scarcely seems to bear.486 Futurists generally maintain that the vision refers to the earthly Zion, and connect the incident with the second advent, making the hundred and forty-four thousand to consist of Jews alone.

2. The Three Angel Messages, Ch. 14:6-11

These are distinct notes of divine warning, prelusive of the End, which are given by the mouth of three different angels, showing their separate and individual importance; they are three in number, the symbol of the spiritual, indicating the nature of their contents; and they are introduced as preparatory to the scenes of anticipated judgment in verses fourteen to twenty, and are premonitory of the End. The End is an ever-recurrent note that always finds place in the deeper strains of Apocalyptic literature. The End that victory may come, was the natural cry of a spirit that despaired of the present world, and believed that God could only be vindicated by the consummation of all things. This was a fundamental weakness of the Apocalyptic point of view, which found the proper design of the world in its speedy ending and not in its longer continuance, a mistake that unfortunately has been perpetuated in Christian thought as though it were fundamental to it, whereas the victory and the End may well be as far apart as the creation from the victory. The Apocalypse sounds the note of the End without hesitancy or discussion. The difficulties that embarrass us did not enter into the thought of that time.

3. The Blessedness of the Holy Dead, Ch. 14:12-13

The author at this point expresses his sympathy with the church, setting forth the need of patience in the conflict (v. 12); and then he records a voice heard from heaven (v. 13), declaring that the dead who die in the Lord are blessed “henceforth”, i. e. after death, for they have both rest and reward,487 and possibly including, also, the additional thought that they have thereby escaped from the great tribulation even though by martyrdom. Thus once more the redeemed are placed in opposition to the unredeemed, the saved are set over against the lost, as those who have secured the better part.

4. The Harvest of the Elect, Ch. 14:14-16

One like unto the Son of Man (or a son of man), i. e. one sharing our humanity—a designation of the Messiah after the time of Daniel488—is seen sitting upon [pg 180] a white cloud, the traditional covering of the divine majesty and a symbol of the divine presence, having on his head a golden crown, the token of glory and of victory, and in his hand a sharp sickle, the instrument for reaping. And on the announcement of another angel489 from out the temple that the hour was come, he cast his sickle upon the earth and gathered all the faithful into his kingdom as a harvest that was ripe, a symbol of the ingathering of all the redeemed preceding the punishment of the wicked (cf. Mat. 25:31-46). The action set forth in this part of the vision is preparatory to and anticipates the judgment, yet the process of judgment is not described. The vision is occupied rather with pointing out how the path of history inevitably leads to the judgment bar. The incident serves to introduce the seventh and last of the mystic figures of this wonderful vision of conflict, the Son of Man on the Cloud, who represents Christ as the theanthropic Redeemer and Judge, a quite different aspect of his character from the Man-Child where he is set forth subject to the conditions of his mysterious incarnation, and therefore requiring an entirely different symbol.

5. The Vintage of Wrath, Ch. 14:17-20

Still another angel came out from the shrine or sanctuary of the temple in heaven, at the summons of the angel who had power over fire, i. e. the fire of the altar, which is here the symbol of judgment, and gathered all the ungodly as vintage from the earth, and cast them into the winepress, the great winepress, of the wrath of God, a figure of the ingathering and fearful punishment of the wicked at the end of the world. According to this view the two gatherings described in verses fourteen to twenty, are regarded as depicting the opposite fate in store for the faithful and the wicked, instead of a twofold account of the same event repeated in different form for the purpose of emphasis. This interpretation agrees best with the general tenor of the chapter and the common method of contrast throughout the book; others, however, regard the passage as a double figure of the judgment.490 The scene is laid outside [pg 181] the city, i. e. Jerusalem, most likely the New Jerusalem, the home of God's people, without the gates of which are the wicked who perish (ch. 22:15). The figure may have been drawn from the scenes of terror and bloodshed which attended the fall of the earthly city under Titus, a view quite possible if the later date of authorship be accepted, though possibly there may have been no definite city in mind. Some connect this passage with the struggle in chapter twenty (v. 7-10), where the nations compass the beloved city, and connect both with the advent, interpreting literally,—a view common with the futurists. And we are told that when the winepress was trodden “there came out blood, from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses,”491 a symbol of the terrible destruction of life that ensued, a flowing stream that reached as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs, i. e. almost two hundred Roman miles, or somewhat farther than the entire length of Palestine, a Jewish synonym for a great distance. Sixteen hundred is also the square of four, the earth number, multiplied by the square of ten, the number of completeness, which perhaps indicates that the punishment is complete throughout the whole created world. The passage in its essential thought is an echo from the rhapsody of Joel (ch. 3:13), combined with the vision of judgment in Isaiah's Zion redeemed (ch. 63:3-6), and recalls his Assyrian flood, reaching even to the neck (Isa. 8:7-8).492 The transition to the vision of vials is now made by a sudden change of theme, and a return to the world-process of judgment that is age-long and world-wide in its scope and purpose.

1. The Angels with the Plagues, Ch. 15:1-2a

Seven angels appear, to whom is entrusted the execution of the seven plagues, which are called “the last” because they lead to the end of the world and to the bar of judgment;495 and the sea of glass, formerly described as “like unto crystal”, now becomes “mingled with fire”, the sign of the flushing of victory through anticipated judgment felt by all those who share in that great boundless life which exists before the throne, and whose experience is symbolized by the sea with its wide relation to the people of God in the past (cf. notes on ch. 4:6).496

2. The Victors by the Sea, Ch. 15:2b

The victors over the Beast and his image stand by rather than upon the sea,497 indicating their close relation to it, having harps of God prepared for tuneful melody. The figure seems to be drawn from the triumph of Israel at the Red Sea, though the significance of the sea cannot be quite the same, for in the old sense 'the sea is no more' (ch. 21:1); it has here become the symbol of the calm and fulness of life and joy in the presence of God.

3. The Song of the Redeemed, Ch. 15:3-4

The united song of all the redeemed before God, (the Adoration Chorus of Moses and the Lamb) who belong [pg 185] alike to the Old Dispensation and the New, to Moses and to Christ, represents the essential unity of faith and life under both parts of God's redemptive plan which is now about to be completed. It is an outburst of praise and adoration addressed to the Lord God, the Almighty, the King of the Ages, whose wondrous works and righteous judgments have been and are about to be made manifest before all nations. The song is the counterpart of the song of deliverance by the shore of the Red Sea, but it has a new and deeper fulness that is consonant with its theme.

4. The Judgment Made Ready, Ch. 15:5-8

The temple, the ναὸς or inner shrine of the tabernacle of the testimony (i. e. of the tabernacle of the law of God), is seen in heaven opened, and the seven angels who are clothed as priests and have charge of the plagues come out of it as the vindicators of that law. These are “arrayed with precious stone”, according to the variant reading adopted in the Revised Version, which has the weight of manuscript authority in its favor; but, as this reading differs from the Authorized Version only by a single letter in the Greek word, and only yields sense by the insertion of the word “precious”, it is best to regard it as due to a very early mistake of a copyist, and keep the old reading, “clothed in linen”, (Ezek. 9:2).498 The thought is in either case practically the same, viz. that these angels are clothed like priests, for the phrase “arrayed with precious stone”, if we adhere to that reading, recalls the breastplate of the high-priest, as the phrase “clothed in linen” evidently refers to the garments of the priesthood. There are seven angels in the vision to symbolize the universal character of the punishments, and there are given unto them by one of the four living creatures who represent all created life, seven golden vials or bowls full of the wrath of God (cf. Jer. 25:15f) to indicate the nature of their mission. “And the temple was filled with smoke”, the sign of the presence and glory and terror of the Lord; and, as at Sinai, no one could enter his presence while the judgments were being manifested.

(1.) The Command to Pour Out the Vials, Ch. 16:1

Preceding the opening of the series a great voice is heard out of the temple, i. e. from the inner shrine of the temple in heaven, apparently from God himself, though possibly from one of the Angels of the Presence, saying to the seven angels, “Go ye and pour out the [pg 187] seven bowls [or vials] of the wrath of God into the earth”; and in obedience to this command each angel empties his vial into, or upon, an appointed object. The first three vials are poured into the objects named, while the last four are poured upon them, as indicated by the prepositions είς and ἐπὶ; but, so far as can be seen, no special purpose is served by this use.

1 The Harlot and the Interpretation, Ch. 17:1-18

The vision of the Harlot is a figurative and profoundly significant view of the world's sin as unfaithfulness to God, described under the analogue of unfaithfulness to the marriage relation, according to the familiar method of Hebrew thought. The world is presented as a spiritual harlot, one that has proved untrue to her Lord and that merits condign punishment.

2 The Fall of the City Proclaimed, Ch. 18:1-24

The mystery of the Harlot and of the Beast having been revealed, another angel now declares the doom which awaits them. The downfall of the city and the destruction of her wealth is set forth as the type of the overthrow of corrupt society with all pertaining to it, in order that the fulness of Christ's kingdom may be ushered in among men. In the vision of the prophet the ruin is viewed as already complete; attention is centered so fully upon the result attained that the method [pg 204] by which it is accomplished is left quite out of view. But the closing verses of the preceding chapter serve to indicate the source of her destruction, viz. in the ten horns, or subdivisions of the world-kingdom, which rise against the Harlot and overthrow her (ch. 17:16-17),—the historic fate of world-empires and world-cities in revolution and ruin. It is here worthy of note how clearly we find in this chapter reverberating echoes from Isaiah's Doom of Babylon and of Tyre (Isa. ch. 13:23, 47), and from Jeremiah's Doom of Babylon (Jer. chs. 50 and 51), as well as from Ezekiel's Doom of Tyre (Ezek. chs. 26-28).526 Though the fall of the heathen city of Rome was doubtless foremost in John's mind, let us not forget that it only formed the basis of the wider thought of the ultimate fate and fall of the great godless world which it so clearly foreshadowed, the foresight of which was a part of the prophetic vision.527

1 The Choral Song of Hallelujahs, Ch. 19:1-8

In response to the heavenly summons to rejoice (ch. 18:20), a thrice repeated note of victory, the Hebrew “Hallelujah”, Praise ye Jehovah! is heard in heaven; first from the voice of a great multitude, who say a second time, “Hallelujah”, and then from the four and twenty elders, the representatives of the redeemed church, together with the four living creatures, the representatives of all created life, who reply, “Amen; Hallelujah.” After this again, in response to a message from the throne (v. 5), another “Hallelujah” is heard from the voice of another multitude (v. 6-8), as the sound of many waters, the voice of those who are praising God in full and joyful chorus because he has avenged the blood of his servants, and who are now rejoicing with exceeding gladness (v. 7) because “the marriage of the Lamb is come”, i. e. the complete and final union of Christ with the redeemed church, for his wife, the church, hath made herself ready. The word “Hallelujah” occurs four times in this passage, and is not found elsewhere in the New Testament: it should be noted, too, that it is used here, as it is chiefly used in the Old Testament,530 in connection with the punishment of the wicked. The first voice in this chorus of hallelujahs (v. 1f) is apparently that of the great multitude of the angelic host in heaven, which is responded to by the four and twenty elders, and the four living creatures; while the second voice (v. 6f) is that of the multitude of the universal church who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. The description of the pure array of the Bride (v. 8), which is the symbol of her righteousness and is in such marked contrast with the clothing of the Harlot, may be an explanation added by the Apostle, as indicated in the text of the Revelation given in the preceding part of this book by including the verse in a parenthesis, though it was apparently regarded by the American Revisers as part of the words of the redeemed church.

2 The Blessedness of the Marriage Supper, Ch. 19:9

John is directed by the angel to record a blessing upon those who are bidden to the marriage supper, i. e. who are invited to share in the nearer fellowship of the redeemed with Christ, and to partake of the rich and abundant spiritual food that awaits them in the new relations of the heavenly life—a further symbol of the spiritual union of the church with Christ added to that of the bride and the marriage, setting forth the joys of the heavenly life under the familiar figure of a marriage feast, the great social event of the East, and the popular type of the highest enjoyment, as well as the public acknowledgement of the consummation of the union. The marriage of the Lamb is put in vivid contrast with the fornication of the Harlot, in the usual method of the Apocalypse.

3 Worship Refused by the Angel, Ch. 19:10

The Apostle is so overwhelmed by the impression of the vision that he falls at the feet of the angel to worship him—probably the interpreting angel of the opening verse of the book, though some think identical with the vial-angel of chapter seventeen; but the worship is refused,531 because, as the angel declares, he is only a fellow-servant with John, and shares in “the testimony of Jesus” which “is the spirit of prophecy”. This significant phrase is characteristic of the Revelation,532 and we find in it a key to the general interpretation, a principle to be applied throughout, viz. that the mysteries of the Old Dispensation find their only proper solution and fulfilment in the clearer teaching of the New. “The testimony of Jesus” is the witness for the truth borne by Christ in the world, which gathers up into one and gives expression to the essential and animating thought of all prophecy. Others interpret the passage as applying to the witness borne for Christ and the truth by his disciples in the world; and it is possible that both meanings are included, for if broadly interpreted they both merge into one.533

1 The End of the Holy War, Ch. 19:11-21

This part of the vision sets forth the final victory over all the powers of this world which is eventually to be attained by the supreme power of “The Word of God”, the ever conquering Christ, who is here described by this transcendental name for our Lord which is a distinctive title with the Apostle John.535 Beginning with a view of the triumphant Word going forth to conquer as under the first seal (ch. 6:2), Christ appears in the opened heaven riding on a white horse; he is called “Faithful and True”, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes are a flame of fire, the type of purity and judgment; upon his head are many diadems, the crowns of conquered nations; he hath a name written which no man knoweth but himself,—evidently the “new name” of chapter three (v. 12) which John cannot interpret; and he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood, the token of his redemptive work. The armies of heaven, which apparently include the redeemed, such as have already entered there, follow him [pg 211] on white horses,536 clothed in fine linen white and pure; out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations,537 for he shall rule them then with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the wine of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty, thereby bringing punishment upon the evil. His divine right is clearly seen, for he hath on his garment and on his thigh (i. e. both on the garment and on the thigh, or else on the garment covering the thigh), a name written, “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords”. And the Beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, are gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse and against his army, i. e. against Christ and his kingdom to attempt to overcome them. Thus with sublime imagery the vision leads up and on to the close of the great battle with the world-forces, which was briefly described before in chapter sixteen as occurring at Har-Magedon; the war is the same, the battle between the sinful world and the hosts of God which is ever going on through the ages to final victory in the end. Now, by a further view, the Beast, and the False Prophet (or Second Beast) who misguides the people in spiritual things, are seen to be taken, and they twain are cast alive into the lake of fire, while all their followers are slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of his mouth (v. 15); and all the birds that fly in mid-heaven are called by an angel standing in the sun to feed upon their flesh, as in Ezekiel's prophecy of the Judgment of Gog (ch. 39:17-22), a judgment exceedingly repulsive to the Hebrew mind. The lake of fire is only a more fully developed form of the Jewish conception of Gehenna as a furnace of fire (Mat. 13:42, and 50). The symbolism here used may have been suggested to John's mind by the appearance of a sea or lake during the eruption of a volcano, a view not unfamiliar to those resident in Asia.538 This lake in the Revelation is the place of final punishment of the wicked, and is clearly distinguished from the pit of the abyss, the abode of Satan during the present world-period. Thus [pg 212] is signified the triumphant overthrow of the World-Power and of the World-Religion as manifested in history. These together with the World-City are now broken and destroyed, while only the World-Lord, or Satan, remains to carry on the conflict, and the way is thereby prepared for the great millennial victory.

This section is considered by many to refer to Christ's second coming, the Parousia, and, if that view were established, it would serve to support the opinion of those who hold that the second advent will be premillennial; but such an interpretation is beset with many difficulties and cannot be sustained by what is said in these verses. The description does not correspond with the account of Christ's coming again which is given in the Synoptic Gospels and the Epistles, nor with the passing foregleams of it in the preceding chapters, but rather with the delineation of Christ's conflict with the world as it is set forth in this book, which is depicted in its beginnings under the first seal where Christ goes forth conquering and to conquer, and which is now seen to pass through the thick of battle to the crowning of victory. For while the second coming is manifestly the one great objective event ever retained in the background of the visions, overshadowing and interpenetrating every part of the Apocalypse, yet it is at no time definitely introduced or particularly described; and the most accurate and impartial interpretation throughout is that which regards both the time of its occurrence and the position it occupies in relation to other events of the last days as nowhere revealed in the Apocalyptic vision. With the present author this view has grown through time from that of a possible solution of a much vexed question into a settled conviction of its correctness.539 And it should be seen, that with this section (ch. 19:11-21) in grave doubt, to say the least, concerning its application to the advent, if indeed it should not be regarded as entirely inapplicable, there is nothing definitely taught in the Revelation in regard to the time of Christ's second coming; for whatever opinion we may entertain concerning the time of that glorious event so dear to the Christian heart, we cannot regard this [pg 213] passage as decisive in the matter unless we interpolate into it a meaning which it does not necessarily contain.

2 Satan Bound, Ch. 20:1-3a

The temporary destruction of Satan's power is here indicated by his being bound for a season; and this marks another advance in the triumphal march of events. An angel coming down from heaven with the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand, lays hold upon the Dragon, the Old Serpent, Satan, and binds him for a thousand years, and then shuts him up in the abyss, his present dwelling-place, from which he can now emerge at will during the period of conflict, and seals it over him that his power may be restrained until the end of that time. The binding of Satan indicates the limiting of his authority over the nations, with the subsequent ushering in of the triumph of the gospel among men, when, according to the announcement of the seventh trumpet, “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” (ch. 11:15), a promise partially fulfilled at this stage, but awaiting its complete fulfilment in the final consummation. The limiting of Satan's power is a preparatory stage to the events that follow, and precedes the first resurrection, as it also precedes the millennium.

3 The First Resurrection, Ch. 20:4-6

The resurrection, which is the effective redemption of the body from death, that is necessary for complete victory over sin and for the full consummation of man's life in eternity,540 is at this point begun,541 and is marked in the Revelation by two successive stages, the first accompanying the triumph of the messianic kingdom, and the second preparatory to the final judgment. These two parts of the resurrection are separated in the vision by the whole millennial period. The first resurrection is special and compensative (scil. “the resurrection out of the dead”—Gr. ἐκ νεκρῶν—Phil. 3:11), consisting of certain [pg 214] of the saints and martyrs who by reason of their enduring resistance of the forces of evil in their lives and deaths are adjudged worthy to attain unto this resurrection, viz. “of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the Beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand.” The first resurrection which is evidently limited to this particular class, and is compensative in character for evils endured, precedes the second or general resurrection by a thousand years, or the whole duration of the millennium, which is not a definite, numerical thousand years, but in accordance with the general use of numbers in the Apocalypse is a period of vast but indefinite length. The cry of the martyrs (ch. 6:9) has been heard, and they who have part in this resurrection shall live and reign with Christ throughout the whole millennial era, i. e. shall share in his presence and glory as a reward for their superior faithfulness, shall be with him where he is, evidently in heaven, for nothing is said of any new or different relation of Christ or of the saints to those who dwell upon the earth as now begun, or as entered upon at any time during this period. We are simply told that the redeemed saints shall live and reign with Christ, i. e. they shall enter upon the new and fuller life with Christ which follows the resurrection of the body, and they shall share in the triumphant rulership of Christ in heaven. The main thought in the phrase “with Christ”, it will be seen, is not so much that of location, as of association with him in messianic rule.542 The statement here made that “they shall be priests of God and of Christ” (v. 6) evidently does not mean that they are to exercise the function of mediators for the rest of mankind during that intermediate period,—for no such service in heaven is anywhere taught in Scripture—but only that they are granted familiar access to and fellowship with God and Christ such as the priests had who drew near under the old covenant; they stand in his presence as the priests of old stood in the temple and waited and served and worshipped.

4 The Millennium, Ch. 20.: 2b, 3b, 4b, 5a, 6b and 7a

The millennium is the Latin equivalent of the Greek phrase χίλια ἔιη or a thousand years, which has now attained a permanent place in Christian thought. In the prophetic view of the apocalyptic vision this is the crowning period of the church upon earth so long looked for and foretold, the triumphant realization of messianic prophecy, the dénouement of redemptive history in the world, a time of rest and victory when evil shall be restrained though not extinguished, and righteousness shall rule among men. The millennial reign of the saints with Christ, while Satan is limited in his sphere, as is indicated by his being bound with a great chain, is evidently intended to represent the period of the church's triumph. The length of time implied by the millennium is a period of multiple completeness which is represented by a thousand, the cube of ten, the symbol of a duration that is of great but indefinite extent, covering a long period of time, stretching to untold generations, during which the rule of Christ shall be triumphantly established upon the earth.543 The chief thought in the thousand years is doubtless that of great and enduring victory. This period, as has been effectively said, “may well be of such an indefinite length as to lead to the salvation of unnumbered multitudes—multitudes so vast and countless that all the lost of all the ages will be but an infinitesimal fraction in comparison.”544 Such a view serves to lighten in a measure the dark places of Scripture and history with a vision of blessing and hope, though it cannot be said to disperse to any great extent that impenetrable shadow which hangs over God's purpose in the world's long deep night of sin and death.

No other passage in the New Testament has taken a deeper or more permanent hold upon the minds of believing men than this pregnant prophecy of a millennium, in which the thousand years is six times named in as many verses. Unfortunately interpreters have not been agreed concerning the meaning of the passage; in fact no part of the Word of God has, perhaps, been so much in dispute as these verses in the Revelation. It may [pg 216] be worth while, therefore, to say that in the interpretation we should clearly recognize upon the one hand that the promise of a millennium was intended to create in the minds of men a pervasive hope of ultimate divine triumph in the world; while upon the other hand we should avoid making this glorious promise the groundwork of purely human fancy. The blessings of the millennial period here set forth evidently pertain both to the saints in glory and to the kingdom of God in this world. The particular nature of the reign of the saints with Christ during the thousand years is not revealed; but we know assuredly that Christ and his kingdom have prevailed upon the earth. The millennium manifestly presents a natural and complete antithesis to the long period in which the church suffered oppression under domination of the world-powers. The part allotted to the saints in the triumph of the kingdom in which they live and reign with Christ, is set forth in terms of long prevailing and deeply cherished Jewish ideals. To occupy “thrones of judgment” was part of the recognized hope of Israel (Ps. 122:5), and is clearly a human way of conceiving of superhuman relations. That this hope is to be realized in the final spiritual supremacy of God's children, specially promised to the twelve of the inner circle (Mat. 19:28; and Lu. 22:30), and evidently to be shared in a particular degree by all those who have part in the first resurrection, though ultimately in some measure also by all the redeemed, does not admit of serious doubt, but the exact form in which it will be realized is not made plain.

According to the usual premillennial view the first resurrection is interpreted as consisting of all believers who have died previous to that time, and not of those only who share in it by reason of special service and testimony; and the millennial reign of those who rise from their graves in this resurrection is held to be upon the earth, and is to be ushered in by the second coming of Christ who will establish a new dispensation in which he will be personally manifest, and will rule in the world, either from an earthly capital as Jerusalem, or from heaven in close communication with the saints.545 This view, it will be seen, rests upon Jewish conceptions, and derives its support from a sternly literal interpretation [pg 217] of Old Testament prophecies. But, notwithstanding its natural attractiveness to the minds of men, it fails of adequate confirmation in the text. Upon the other hand most of the symbolical school interpret the first resurrection figuratively, as a resurrection to spiritual life, and regard the millennium as now in progress. The prevalence of this view seems to be largely due to the early influence of Augustine,546 who identified the millennium with the period of the Christian church on earth, and held that for those who belong to the true church the first resurrection is past already, making it the equivalent of the resurrection to spiritual life spoken of in John's Gospel (Jn. 5:25),—a passage which, though showing that a spiritual resurrection is a distinct Johannine conception, does not serve to break the natural force of these words in their present connection. The usual interpretation of the thousand years given by the symbolical school cannot be considered as satisfactory,547 viz. that the phrase expresses a quality, i. e. completeness, and not a period of time; and that the meaning of the phrase “bound him for a thousand years” is that Satan was completely bound. The symbolical use of the number one thousand is evident, but that does not deprive it of all quantitative value, it only affects its literal significance; and the denial that the word “years” has any reference to time is without proper exegetical support and must be rejected.548 According to the current symbolical interpretation the entire passage (ch. 20:1-10) is regarded as an episode which is descriptive of the complete safety and spiritual deliverance of Christ's people throughout the whole period of the age-long conflict;549 and thus the millennium as a period of triumph and blessedness for the saints on earth, preceding and distinct from the final blessedness of the world to come, fades away into a figure of speech, while the triumph of the gospel is obscured. But this view cannot be sustained except by a sacrifice of the [pg 218] natural, if we may not certainly say the correct exegesis; for the paragraph will not fit a purely figurative interpretation.550 This view would dispose of the question of a pre- or post-millennial coming by denying that there is any millennium, in the historic sense of the term, taught in the Revelation. But the expedient is a fallacious one, if John spoke as a prophet by the inspiration of the Spirit, for his words incorporated the thought of his time in which the millennium had a definite meaning; and that he foresaw and described it as such is fairly evident, though he manifestly modified its extravagances. The idea of a triumphal period of the Messiah's reign is too deeply inwrought in the Apocalyptic literature which preceded the present Apocalypse to be put aside lightly as a symbol of completeness.551 The duration of this time was a frequent and favorite subject of Jewish speculation;552 and according to the general laws of language, the phrase used in the text, “a thousand years”, necessarily carries with it the conception of a period of time, but in accordance with the usage of the author, it loses its definite numerical significance and indicates a period of long but unmeasured duration; it becomes the symbol of a period that is complete.

It will be recognized by the attentive student of the Word of God that this passage and its connections form the crux interpretum of the whole book of Revelation; and it is well, perhaps, not to speak with too much positiveness on a subject so differently understood by many of the most eminent scholars and interpreters. The view presented above seems to be the most natural meaning that can be given to the words of the vision, and seems also to accord more fully than any other with the many promises of God concerning the outcome of all that great and progressive movement among men which we call the Kingdom of Heaven in the earth. For without such a period of victory, the whole evolutionary movement in human life and history, which so manifestly [pg 219] marks the purpose of God and the plan of redemption, would somehow seem to fail of any proper consummation; while in this view the millennium, marking the triumph of the gospel, would vindicate the present method of history and redemption, just as the premillennial view would abandon it and introduce a different order. Indeed, it may be well here to say, what should be clearly seen by every student of the Revelation, that the premillennial view introduces practically three dispensations into the plan of redemption, viz. the first, that of Moses which measurably failed; the second, that of Christ which is also to fail of complete success; and the third, that of the Holy Spirit which shall absolutely triumph. Whether, indeed, such a view is justified by what the Gospels teach and the Epistles indicate, is a question that each interpreter of Scripture must determine for himself; though it must be said that the large majority of Christians in all ages have not so understood the message of the Word. And it would certainly be remarkable if Christ, who was so wonderful a teacher, had intended to predict a premillennial coming to his own, and yet left it in such an indefinite form that the majority of earnest Christians would forever fail to apprehend it. But, in any case, to give up the expectation of the final supremacy of the gospel in the world, whether we look for it to be attained before or after the coming of the Lord, through the method of history or contrary to it, is to empty of its richest content the Christian hope for the world of men, and to contradict the deepest longing of the pious heart.553

5 Satan Loosed Again and Overthrown, Ch. 20:3c, and 7-10

A renewal of Satan's activity is permitted by divine authority, as is indicated by his being loosed again out of his prison, and seems to be of the nature of a reaction in favor of evil, a sequence for which we are scarcely prepared at this juncture, after the millennial period of Christian ascendancy. We find described in these verses a recrudescence of organized opposition to Christ and his kingdom, indicated by Satan coming forth again out of the abyss, according to the prevailing [pg 220] method of the Apocalypse by which evil comes in periodic onsets. In the elucidation of the passage most interpreters, who regard the millennium as representing the triumphal period of Christ's kingdom upon earth, consider this incident, together with Satan's previous binding without the complete destruction of his power until the end when he is cast into the lake of fire, as showing conclusively that opposition to Christ has only been subdued during the millennial period but not extinguished, so that like a smouldering fire it bursts forth into flame again before the end.554 It can scarcely be denied that such is the underlying assumption of the passage, as is generally conceded, though the usual symbolist view, relying upon this, minimizes the character of the millennial triumph, and regards the opposition to Christ as being subdued only so far as believers are concerned, toward whom Satan is then completely bound, the millennium and the conflict going on simultaneously—a view that is not adequately sustained by the text. On the other hand the futurist view magnifies the nature of the millennial triumph, and leaves no reasonable room for this final outburst of sin; for the millennium with Christ dwelling among his people upon earth is heaven already begun, and the Scriptures nowhere teach either the continuance of evil after Christ's second coming, or the existence of an interval between Christ's coming and the judgment. The interpretation here given is accepted by many modern scholars and follows a median line, regarding the millennium as a period of relative triumph followed by a fresh outbreak of sin, as seems to be indicated in this passage. If we compare these verses with that strange apocalyptic passage in Paul's Second Epistle to the Thessalonians (II Thess. 2:3f.), we find that he there predicts a falling away from the faith and the coming of the Man of Sin before the advent, which seems to refer in the figurative language of Apocalyptic to this same period of final struggle preceding the end. And the Man of Sin there foretold may perhaps be regarded as an ideal personification of the sin of man then prevailing, “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth”. This last struggle is, however, only for a little time (v. 3), [pg 221] i. e. for a season that is short in comparison with the millennial period, and is apparently permitted in order to bring about the triumphal termination of the conflict that Satan may be completely and forever overthrown and flung into the lake of fire (v. 10), the final place of punishment, together with the Beast and the False Prophet whose destruction has been already described.

Though the general idea of the paragraph is relatively plain, the particular meaning of the prediction is involved in much obscurity, viz. that of a war in which Satan deceives the nations of the earth, Gog and Magog,555 whose number is as the sand of the sea, and who go up under his leadership to compass the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but who are destroyed by divine intervention through fire from heaven. The description is evidently symbolic, and Gog and Magog were doubtless not intended to be identified as particular nations; nor can the fulfilment be literally understood. Like many of the prophecies of the past it is surrounded by a haze of indefiniteness that prevents its full interpretation until its meaning is revealed by the course of events. The source of the symbolism is found in the Old Testament invasion of Gog, a passage in Ezekiel (ch. 38-39), a prophetic scene of war, which becomes here the formal type of the last struggle between the hosts of sin and those of righteousness, and seems to refer to some new, national, and world-wide form of opposition to Christ and his kingdom in which all the earth-forces of evil are gathered together for their extinction—a final stage of the conflict necessary for the completeness of the victory, which is to be postmillennial, and in which all the powers of evil shall be speedily and finally overthrown.556 It may also be that the view of battle here given is intended to be partly retrospective [pg 222] in its purpose, and to link this struggle with the age-long conflict which culminates when the Beast and the False Prophet are taken, giving another view of Har-Magedon in which now, after a period of quiescence, Satan's overthrow forms the final part.

6 The Second Resurrection, Ch. 20:11-12a, and 13a

This is the final and complete resurrection which occurs at the end of the world, and comprises all those, whether believers or not, who failed to participate in the first resurrection. The completeness of this resurrection is specially emphasized. Even the sea gave up the bodies of the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the souls of the dead that were in them (v. 13a), in preparation for the judgment. The description here given of the second or general resurrection, it will be seen, presents the ordinary view of Scripture, while that of the first resurrection introduces a new and different conception, viz. that of a special resurrection. The main distinction between the two resurrections may be regarded as chiefly one of order rather than time, though the precedence of the first in point of time is also included. In each case a resurrection of the body is meant, but the first is partial in extent, consisting of a particular class, while the second is universal, comprising all classes.557 The paragraph, when thus interpreted, affords a clearer view of the resurrection as a whole, showing its proper order or sequence, and separating into two main parts that which is mostly regarded in the New Testament in its entirety as a single event occurring at the last day. In fact the doctrine of two resurrections taught in this passage, and the clearness with which the resurrection of the wicked for judgment is set forth, together constitute the most notable contribution of the Apocalypse to the eschatology of the New Testament;558 for “whatever may be the difficulties involved, and however they may be solved, we must recognize that John here predicts an anticipative and limited resurrection of the same character [pg 223] as the general resurrection which is to follow.”559 This was undoubtedly the thought presented to John's mind in the vision, whether we attach any didactive significance to it or not, and it ought not to be overlooked in our interpretation.

At this point it may be not amiss to say, what must be apparent to every careful student of Scripture, that it was not the divine purpose in the book of Revelation to reveal the intimate nature or detail of the great events which lie at the close of man's history on the earth; but rather to give a general outline of the divine order, which would serve to invigorate our faith and stimulate our hope in the onward path of Christian duty. And while it is for the most part fruitless to inquire particularly concerning that which is not clearly revealed, at the same time the general bearing of this passage should not be allowed to escape our attention, for it is one of the most significant in the book of Revelation, and we may well pause a moment to consider its proper meaning. We have here, apparently,—if one may offer an opinion on so obscure a subject,—a hint that the resurrection which has just been described as occurring in two periods, first and second, is to be regarded as a process rather than as an event that is single and separate in itself, one which in its entirety covers a long period of time, and is to be accomplished in progressive stages in which the righteous share first according to their relative worth—a process which is apparently marked by two principal periods that are specially in mind in the description before us. In the light of this view it may be well to recall some of the events in the Scripture record which seem to support it. The translation of Enoch and Elijah in the Old Testament, the equivalent of an immediate resurrection, which anticipated the victory of Christ over death, would otherwise be an unexplained anomaly. But according to this interpretation it forms a part of the divine order; their resurrection was not anomalous; it was only one step in the ever progressive plan of the ages. The mysterious hiding, too, of Moses' grave [pg 224] in the valley of the land of Moab, finds an adequate explanation if he was subsequently translated when the divine purpose in his burial was accomplished—the burial vindicating the divine honor, while his resurrection was immediate and triumphant. The record, also, in the closing chapter of Daniel (Dan. 12:1-3) though obscure, points to a stage in the resurrection in which not all but many shall rise, and includes as well those who rise to shame and everlasting contempt, though no indication of the time when this will occur is given by the prophet. But more particularly in Matthew's account of the crucifixion of our Lord (Mat. 27:52-3), we find that his death was followed not only by the rending of the veil in the temple, indicating the departure of the divine glory, but that “the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints which had fallen asleep were raised, and coming forth out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared unto many.” It is a weak exegesis that interprets their resurrection as merely spectral, or as only temporary and transient, even though it were for the purpose of witnessing to the divinity of our Lord. The natural meaning is that they arose as a part of the victory of Christ, and were ready to enter with him into the rest that remaineth for the people of God. These passages all seem to point to a progressive resurrection that is to be accomplished in successive stages, and they cannot well be otherwise interpreted except by indirection. It is true that the subject is only incidentally touched upon in the New Testament, yet it seems to be here clearly implied that precedence in resurrection is divinely accorded to those who are prepared for it, as a part of the reward of righteousness, and that this belongs to the divine order.560 Beyond this we cannot safely go, for it is not well to be too confident in maintaining any view that depends so largely upon the interpretation of single passages, even though the inference, as in this case, seems to be natural and conclusive.

7 The Last Judgment, Ch. 20:11-15

The final divine inquiry into the sum and fruitage of each and every life, which is retributive in its [pg 225] purpose, is entered into at the end of the world when all the dead, small and great, stand before God to be judged, after the resurrection is complete.561 The great judgment throne in the vision is white, the symbol of purity, and he that sat upon it is not named, but throughout the book the judge is the Father as distinguished from the Son. The two principles of the judgment given in this graphic account, which is a reflection of the Vision of Judgment in the prophecy of Daniel (Dan. 7 and 12), are first “according to their works” which are written in the books of record that are now open; and second according to the divine purpose which is “written in the book of life”. The “book of life” was originally the name used for the roll of Jewish citizens kept from at least the ninth century before Christ (cf. Ezr. 2:62; Neh. 7:5, 64; and 12:22, 23) from which the names of the dead were erased, that is now applied to the Lamb's book of life (ch. 21:27), the roll of living citizens of the New Jerusalem.562 Those not found in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire together with death and Hades, both of which are now merged into this final and fitting retribution for sin, i. e. physical death as experienced by men in this world, and Hades the abode of the dead during the intermediate state, are both abolished as temporary conditions in preparation for the new heaven and the new earth of the righteous, and are succeeded by the lake of fire for the sinful. This is the last event of time, the issue of the earthly life, the End563 foretold by prophecy, the crisis that marks the transition to eternity, the closing scene in the great drama of human history. The view now passes at once from this scene of terror and judgment to the sublime vision of joy and triumph in the far and fadeless glory beyond.

(1) The Tabernacle of God with Men, Ch. 21:3-4

The city in its entirety becomes the antitype of the tabernacle of Israel, especially of the inner sanctuary or holy of holies, where God forever dwells with men, and they shall be his peoples,568 and sorrow, pain, and death shall be no more, for the former things are passed away. [pg 228] This is authoritatively declared by a voice out of the throne, a divine message, possibly given by one of the Angels of the Presence, as a comforting and assuring promise of the divine nearness and guardianship in the future life of God's people.

(2) The Bride, the Lamb's Wife, Ch. 21:2, 9-10

The city, the dwelling-place of the redeemed, and the symbol of the new conditions of the glorified church in the midst of eternity, becomes now by metonymy the symbol of the redeemed church herself, the Bride of Christ, the inhabitants being thought of to the exclusion of all else. The great city, the holy Jerusalem, is seen coming down out of heaven from God,569 as a bride adorned for her husband on her marriage day,—a figure of the intimate and tender relation of Christ with his people in the final state of the blessed. The city in these verses (9-10) is manifestly the symbol of the church that dwells within it; but the view that makes the New Jerusalem the symbol solely of the redeemed church, not only here but throughout the entire passage,570 fails to realize the flexibility of prophetic usage. The idea of place and local surroundings in the general description of the city undoubtedly stands first in the Apocalyptist's thought, and would seldom be questioned by the ordinary reader, though it includes also the inhabitants as well, and may be used for the inhabitants alone, as is done in this part of the passage, without invalidating the general meaning. In the ninth verse, with the announcement of the angel, “Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb”, the account in verse second is resumed, and is wrought out in detail. One of the vial-angels carries John away in the Spirit into a mountain great and high that he may see the vision more fully, an indication of its importance.

(3) The City of New Things, Ch. 21:5-8

All things are declared new and changed, and to be the inheritance of those that shall overcome,571 to whom [pg 229] also the fulness of divine sonship is awarded; but the craven and unbelieving, the sinful and impure, shall be cast into the lake of fire which is the second death. These words of authority, promise, and threatening, are spoken by him who sitteth on the throne, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, who now himself, when all is fulfilled, speaks openly instead of through those mysterious voices that have hitherto issued from out the throne and temple, another token of the nearer communion of the saints with God in the new heaven and the new earth.572 And John is again commanded to write, for the words spoken are “faithful and true”, and “they are come to pass”, i. e. all God's promises and threatenings have been fulfilled, even the things of the new creation have already come into being, and the mystery of God is ended, according to the prediction of the angel with the book (ch. 10:7), i. e. the mystery of the divine purpose in the great work of creation and redemption has now been fully made known.

(4) The City of Glory573, Ch. 21:11-21

“Having the glory of God”, i. e. the glory of his abiding presence, which is reflected in the glory of gate and wall and street, yet the city is described for our better understanding in terms of the earthly creation. Its light is like unto a stone most precious, and the materials of its structure are most costly; the building of the wall is of jasper, the city and the street of pure gold, and the foundations of the wall adorned with all manner of precious stones,574 while the several gates are each of a single pearl,—the mingled symbols of brilliancy, glory, costliness, and beauty. The city lies foursquare, a perfect figure, the distinctive number of the earthly creation still, though new, with twelve foundations, gates, and angels, the church number, reflecting the number of the tribes of Israel and of the apostles of the [pg 230] Lamb, and with walls one hundred and forty-four cubits high, the square of the church number, and twelve thousand furlongs in length on each of the four sides,575 the church number multiplied by a thousand, and the number of the sealed in each tribe (ch. 7:5f.),—pertinent symbols, all of these, of the perfect home of the redeemed, as well as of the symmetry of the perfect church. The city is further described as a perfect cube like the holy of holies in the sanctuary, the length and breadth and the height of it being equal (v. 16) which perhaps means that in the height is included the eminence on which it stands, though others think that there is an intentional absence of all verisimilitude.576 The symbolical meaning of the cubical dimensions is evidently that of a symmetrical and ideal perfection which is proportional in all its parts, and like to the holy of holies in the earthly temple.577 The circuit of the walls is forty-eight thousand stadia, i. e. four times twelve thousand furlongs or stadia, and seems to be a designed reference to the city of Babylon, the greatest city of the ancient world, the circuit of which was four hundred and eighty stadia, i. e. four times one hundred and twenty furlongs or stadia, while that of the New Jerusalem is greater a hundredfold, which is evidently the language of symbolism.578 The city which is first seen from afar, coming down out of heaven (v. 11-14), is afterward measured, and its glories pointed out by the angel (see the divisions indicated by paragraphs in the text of the Revelation given in the first part of the volume).

(5) The City of Many Nations, Ch. 21:24, and 26

The nations walk amidst the light thereof, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it, a description which seems to reflect the thought of a new earth that will be peopled as well as the holy city, as implied in the first verse of the chapter, and perhaps designed to show the cosmopolitan character of the New Jerusalem.

(6) The City of Exclusions, Ch. 21:1, 4, 22, 23, 25, 27; and 22:3, 5

The city has no more sea, i. e. the old, earthly, turbulent sea of conflict and unrest (v. 1); no more death, neither mourning, crying, nor pain any more (v. 4); no separate temple or inner sanctuary of partial access to God, for the city is all temple, and God forever dwells among his people (v. 22); no sun, nor moon, nor night, for the Lamb is the light thereof, his spiritual light superseding the physical (v. 23, 25, and ch. 22:5); no shut gates of defence or hindrance, for there is no longer either night or enemy abroad (v. 25); and no more curse, nor any unholy to renew the conflict, nor anything unclean or that maketh an abomination and a lie, for Christ is throned as victor (v. 27, and ch. 22:3). In this final view of heaven not only has the temple disappeared, but also the elders, and the four living creatures, and all that accessory symbolism of the earlier visions which was appropriate to the church-historic period. These are no longer needed, for the conditions which they served to symbolize have passed away. Even the angels are no longer seen within, for this is a vision of redeemed men who look upon the face of their Redeemer.

(7) The City of Life, Ch. 22:1-2

As the antidote of death the eternal city is seen to possess a “river of water of life” that flows out from the throne of God and of the Lamb in the midst of the street thereof, the source of enduring life to all the holy (Ps. 46:4-5). The city is, also, seen to have the “tree of life”,579 the seal of God's first covenant in Eden (Gen. 2:9; 3:22), bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and with leaves for the healing of the nations, which has at last wrought its beneficent results and forever removed the curse. The word tree is in the singular, but the context shows that it is to be understood generically, i. e. a tree of life which is found on this side of the river and on that, or trees of life growing by the river-side.580 We notice, also, that the river, [pg 232] which in the earthly Paradise was parted and became four heads when traced to its source, is now replaced by a single river of water of life in the heavenly; and the Scripture story of man, viewed from its beginning to its close, is seen to finally lead up from the lost Paradise of creation to the Paradise regained by redemption. And in that city forever dwell only those “that are written in the Lamb's book of life”.

(8) The City of God, Ch. 22:3-5

The crowning glory of the holy city is the abiding presence of Jehovah, for the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein, and the redeemed shall see his face581 in the beatific vision, and his name shall be upon their foreheads, and they shall reign for ever and ever. Then and there man redeemed, who has so long been separated from the face of God by the ruinous results of sin, shall be at last restored to the fulness of the divine presence to abide throughout eternity.582 Whether, indeed, God in his essential being can ever be directly apprehended by the finite spirit, is a question that with our present light we cannot definitely determine. It may well be in eternity as in time, there as well as here, that for us to see the Son is to see the Father, and that the beatific vision for which men have so often longed and hoped and prayed in the past, is to be realized in a way quite different from the common thought, by the blessed vision of the glorified and exalted Christ in the fadeless life of the perfected kingdom of God in heaven. The name which shall be upon the foreheads of the redeemed is evidently the “new name” of chapter three (v. 12) which sums up in itself all the fulness of the future revelation of God to the glorified, the transcendental and ineffable name to men upon earth “which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it”, i. e. in the future life of the heavenly kingdom.

It is surely worthy of our attention here to note in closing, how all God's revelations of himself have not only tended to grow in intensity and clearness, but also to center in the name by which he is made known. Beginning with the announcement of his sacred name [pg 233] Jehovah, as distinct from his former name Elohim, in connection with the great events of Israel's redemptive history, there is a manifest movement in the historical self-revelation of God to men that is marked by progressive steps which lead on through all the promise and mystery of the incarnate Christ to this final revelation of himself, lying beyond history, that shall be made to the redeemed under the “new name” when redemption is complete. He who was first promised to men, to be born “of the seed of the woman”, and “of the seed of Abraham”, and was afterward more clearly revealed to Israel as “the son of David”, “the servant of Jehovah”, “Immanuel”, “the Son of Man”, and “the Messiah”, and who was made known to men in his incarnation as “Jesus”, “the Christ”, and “our Lord”, was finally recognized by the church under his full redemptive title as “the Lord Jesus Christ”, by which name he shall be known throughout all the centuries to the end of time. But the vision of the city of God reaches far beyond this, and tells of his name to be then written upon the foreheads of the redeemed, manifestly his “own new name” (ch. 3:12) that is to be revealed to the glorified when redemption is complete, which stands for the full, final, and complete revelation of God in Christ in the new relations of the great future life in heaven.

Thus, with the redeemed enthroned in power, and dwelling in the unveiled presence of God revealed, there is completely fulfilled the ultimate divine purpose of man's creation and redemption. This, in John's view, is the consummation of all things, that

The transition to the closing part of the book is now made, but it is not very definitely marked, and in the division into chapters it was overlooked entirely, for the twenty-second chapter should begin at this point. Some would make the break at the close of verse seven, but it more properly belongs at the close of verse five, where the description of the New Jerusalem ends.

(1) The Witness of the Angel, Ch. 22:6-7

The sayings of the book are declared to be true and faithful, and of divine authority; the speedy coming of Christ is announced,584 i. e. “quickly” in the divine view which covers all eternity, but not to be understood as at once or soon from the ordinary or human point of view; and a blessing is pronounced upon those who keep the words of the prophecy of this book in anticipation of their complete fulfilment.

(2) The Witness Confirmed by John, Ch. 22:8a

To the declaration of the angel is added the direct testimony of John that he saw and heard these things, a parenthetical remark, strengthening the statement of the angel and confirming the words of the book.

(3) Worship from John again Refused, Ch. 22:8b-9

The form and presence and message of the angel overwhelm John with awe, and he tenders his worship; [pg 235] but the angel, as before (ch. 19:10), acknowledges himself a fellow-servant with John, and bids the Apostle worship God—probably a protest against angel worship which may already have begun.