THE APOCALYPSE;
OR,
THE PROPHECIES OF THE REVELATION.
-------
A SERIES OF SPECIAL LECTURES.
By JOSEPH A. SEISS, D.D.
LECTURE FIRST.
THE
SPIRIT IN WHICH THE SUBJECT IS TAKEN UP - THE PREFACE - THE SCOPE AND CONTENTS
OF THE BOOK - WHAT 1S THE MEANING OF “THE REVELATION” OR “APOCALYPSE” OF CHRIST
- WHAT THE “DAY OF THE LORD” DFNOTES - THE DERIVATION OF THE APOCALYPSE - THE
VALUE AND PRECIOUSNESS OF THIS B0OK - OUR SPECIAL STUDY DEMANDED.
Rev. Chap. 1: 1-3 (Revised
Text). - The Revelation of Issue Christ, which God gave
unto him, to show unto his servants that which must come to pass speedily; and
he signified [it] sending by his angel to his servant
John; who attested the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, what
things soever he saw. Blessed he who readeth, and those who hear the
words of the prophecy, and observe the things which are written in it: for the
time [is] near.
It
has been upon my mind, and in my heart, for a long time, to deliver a series of
special discourses upon this remarkable portion of the Holy Scriptures; not
from a conceit of superior wisdom or spiritual gifts; - not with the vain
ambition of making all mysteries plain, - nor yet out of mere curious desire to
pry into the things of the future ; but out of solemn reverence for all that
God has caused to be written for our learning, with a view conscientiously to
declare the whole counsel of God, and with an earnest desire to secure for
myself and those who hear me that special benediction which is pronounced upon
them that read, hear, and keep what is written in this prophecy.
I
am very sure, as God has promised His Spirit to them that ask Him, and directed
those who lack wisdom to seek for it at His hands, and pronounced all inspired
writings to be “for our learning” and comfort, that it will be profitable for
all of us, in humble dependence upon Divine grace and guidance, carefully to
review what this book was meant to teach.
And
may I not ask you, to give me your attention, as I proceed with these
expositions, and to unite with me in earnestly invoking God’s helpful
illuminations, that we may rightly understand his solemn message to his people.
The
words which I have announced for our present consideration, give us the Divine
Preface or superscription to this book. They are meant to advise the
reader as to that with which he is about to deal, and to prepare him to
appreciate what is to follow. They relate to three leading points:
1. THE SUBJECT AND CONTENTS OF THE BOOK.
2. ITS DERIVATION AND AUTHORSHIP.
3. ITS VALUE AND PRECIOUSNESS.
Let
us look briefly at these several particulars.
What
concerns the subject and contents of this book, I find for the most part in the
name which it gives itself. It is the common rule with Scripture
names, to express the substance of the things to which they are applied.
The name of God expresses what God is; so the names of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and all the leading names found in the Bible. Even those which the Church
has given, are often wonderfully expressive and significant. Genesis
is the generation of things; Exodus, the going
forth from bondage; The Gospel, the very heart and
substance of all God’s gracious communications - the good news. And when
God himself designates this book The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
we may rest assured that it is the very substance and kernel of the book
that is expressed in this title.
What,
then, are we to understand by “The Apocalypse of
Jesus Christ?” There are certain books
(adopted and held sacred by the Church of Rome, which we, however, receive only
as human productions), which have a name somewhat similar to this in
sound. You find them in some Bibles, between the Old and New Testaments,
bearing the name of Apocrypha. But Apocrypha is just the
opposite of Apocalypse. Apocrypha means something that is
concealed, not set forth, not authentic; Apocalypse means something
revealed, disclosed, manifested, shown. The verb means to
reveal, to make manifest, to uncover to view. The noun
means a revelation, a disclosure, an appearing, a making manifest.
The Apocalypse, or Revelation of Jesus Christ, must therefore be the revealment,
manifestation, appearing, of Jesus Christ.
And
this is the key to the whole book. It is a book of which Christ is the
great subject and centre, particularly in that period of his administrations
and glory designated as the day of his uncovering, the day of his
appearing. It is not a mere prediction of divine judgments
upon the wicked, and of the final triumph of the righteous, made known by
Christ; but a book of the revelation of Christ, in his own
person, offices, and future administrations, when he shall be seen
coming from heaven, as he was once seen going into heaven. If “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” meant nothing more
than certain communications made known by Christ, I can see no significance or
propriety in affixing this title to this book, rather than to any other books
of holy Scripture. Are they not all alike the revelation of Jesus Christ,
in this sense? Does not Peter say of the inspired writers in general,
that they were moved by the Spirit of Christ which was in them? Why then
single out this particular book as “The Revelation of
Jesus Christ,” when it is no more the gift of Jesus than any other
inspired book?
Let
me refer to a few passages bearing upon the case. Paul, in his first
letter to the Corinthians (1: 7), speaks of them as enriched in every
spiritual gift, confirmed in the testimony of Christ, and “waiting for the Apocalypse -
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The
original word here is exactly the same as that in the text; the structure of the
sentence is also much the same; but no one mistakes its meaning for a
moment. All agree that it refers to Christ in his revelation from heaven,
when he shall come in the clouds with power and great glory. And if such
is its unmistakable meaning here, why not take it in the same sense in the
text? So in Thessalonians (1: 6-10) he refers his readers to a time of rest,
“when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
(literally, at the Apocalypse of the Lord),
with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking
vengeance on them that know not God; - when he shall come to be
glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.”
No one misunderstands what the Apocalypse of the Lord Jesus is in this
passage. Paul himself explains it to be His coming, in just
such administrations as were shown John in this book.
So
again in 1 Peter 1: 7, where that apostle
speaks of his brethren as “in heaviness through
manifold temptations,” that the trial of their faith, “being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at
the Apocalypse - appearing of Jesus Christ.”
Also in verse 18, where he exhorts his
readers to “be sober, and hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought unto them at the Apocalypse - the
revelation of Jesus Christ.” All understand the reference
in these passages to be to the coming of Christ in the glory of His second
advent, when “every eye shall see Him, and they
which pierced him.” We all feel that it would be a wilful
perversion of the word of God to make the Apocalypse of Christ,
in these passages, mean anything else than his personal appearing.
And
the same is the fixed meaning of this phrase in every other passage in which it
is used. Even in that from Galatians (1: 12), which might seem to assign it a different
signification, the idea is not simply that of a revealer, but of one revealed
by personal manifestation. Paul there avers, that the gospel he preached
was not of man; “for,” says he, “I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by
the Apocalypse - through the revelation of
Jesus Christ;” that is, by Christ’s personal appearance
to him, as the succeeding verses show; for he straightway proceeds to narrate
that marvellous affair on the way to Damascus. What that Apocalypse was,
he on various occasions described. Before Agrippa, he said,- “As I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the
chief priests, at midday, 0 King, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above
the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with
me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking
unto me, and saying in a Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou
persecutest, but rise, and stand upon thy feet; for I have appeared unto
thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness
both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those
things in which I will appear unto thee.” Hence his
appeal in vindication of his apostleship. “Am I
not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our
Lord?” (1 Cor. 9: 1.) All this
shows, as conclusively as may be, that the Apocalypse of Christ, through which
he obtained at once his apostolic office and his text, was a personal
appearance, as every real Apocalypse predicated of a person must
be.
With
the meaning of this word thus established, what can that book be of which it is
descriptive, but an account of the revelation of Christ in his personal
forthcoming from his present invisible estate, to receive his Bride,
judge the wicked, and set up his eternal kingdom on the earth?
With
this also agrees the statement of John as to the circumstances under which he
came to the knowledge of the things which he narrates. He says he “was in Spirit in the Lord’s day,” in
which he beheld what he afterwards wrote.
WHAT IS MEANT BY THIS “LORD’S
DAY”?
Some
answer, Sunday - the first day of the week; but I am not satisfied with this
explanation. Sunday belongs indeed to the Lord, but the Scriptures
nowhere call it “the Lord’s day.” None of
the Christian writings, for 100 years after Christ, ever call it “the Lord’s day.” But there is a “Day of the Lord” largely treated of by
prophets, apostles, and fathers, the meaning of which is abundantly clear and
settled. It is that day in which, Isaiah says, men shall hide in the
rocks for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty; - the day which
Joel describes as the day of destruction from the Almighty, when the Lord shall
roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the
earth shall shake; - the day to which the closing chapter of Malachi refers as
the day that shall burn as an oven, and in which the Sun of Righteousness shall
arise with healing in his wings; - the day which Paul proclaimed from Mars’
Hill as that in which God will judge the world, concerning which he so
earnestly exhorted the Thessalonians, and which was not to come until after a
great apostasy from the faith, and the ripening of the wicked for destruction;
- the day in which, Peter says, the heavens shall be changed, the
elements melt, the earth burn, and all present orders of things give way to new
heavens and a new earth even “the day for which all
other days were made.”
And in that day I understand John to say, he in some sense was.
In
the mysteries of prophetic rapport, which the Scriptures describe as “in Spirit,” and which Paul declared inexplicable, he was
caught out of himself, and out of his proper place and time, and stationed amid
the stupendous scenes of the great day of God, and made to see the actors in
them, and to look upon them, transpiring before his eyes, that he might write
what he saw, and give it to the Churches.
This
is what I understand by his being “in Spirit in the
Lord’s day.”* I can see no essential difference between
the Lord’s day – and
- the day of the Lord. They are simply
the two forms for signifying the same relations of the same things.** And
if John was thus mystically down among the scenes of the last day, and has
written only what he says he has written, that is “things that he saw,” it cannot be
otherwise but that in dealing with the contents of this book we are dealing with
what relates pre-eminently to the great Apocalypse and Epiphany of our Lord,
when He cometh to judge the world in righteousness.
[*
And so Wetstein, Zullig, Dr. S. R. Maitland, Dr. Todd, and B. W. Newton.
**
Our English Translators have frequently used both these modes of expressing the
genitive case of the same noun, both in Hebrew and Greek. Compare Gen. 28: 17 and Gen.
28: 22, where “House of God” and “God’s
house” mean precisely the same. So “Lord’s law,”
Ex. 13: 9, and “Law of
the Lord,” 2 Chron. 12: 1;- “The Lord’s people,” 1 Sam.
2: 21, and “People of the
Lord,” Judges 5: 11. In all
these instances the Septuagint presents the same forms as the original.
So in the New Testament we have the same variety of expression to signify
exactly the same relations. In 1 Cor. 10: 21,
for the same grammatical form in Greek, we have “Lord’s
table,” and “Table of devils;” in 2 Cor. 2: 12, “Christ’s
Gospel” for “Gospel of Christ;”
in 2 Pet. 4: 13, “Christ’s sufferings,” and in 1
Pet. 5: 1, “Sufferings of Christ.”
The same may be seen in Rev 11: 15 where the
kingdoms of the world become our Lord’s and His Christ’s
kingdoms]
And
when we come to consider the actual contents of this book, we find them
harmonising exactly with this understanding of its title. It takes as its
chief and unmistakable themes what other portions of the Scriptures assign to
the great day of the Lord. It is nothing but Apocalypse
from beginning to end. First we have the Apocalypse of Christ in His
relation to the earthly Churches, and His judgment of them; then the Apocalypse
of His relation to the glorified Church, and the marshalling of them for His
forthcoming to judge the world; then the Apocalypse of His relation to the
scenes of the judgment, as they are manifested on earth under the opening of
the seals, the prophesying of the witnesses, and the fall of 'Babylon;
then the Apocalypse of His actual manifestation to the world in the battle
of the great day of God Almighty, the establishment of His kingdom, and the investiture
of the saints in their future sovereignties; and finally the Apocalypse of His
relation to the final act of judgment, the destruction of death and the grave,
and the introduction of the final estate of a perfected Redemption. What,
indeed, is all this, but just what was foretold by all the prophets, by Christ
Himself, and by all His apostles, as pertaining to THE DAY OF THE LORD?
Verily, this book is but the rehearsal, in another and ampler manner, of what
all the Scriptures tell us about the last day and the eternal judgment.
It is pre-eminently The Apocalypse and Epiphany of Jesus Christ.*
[*
“This divine book, let others call it what they
please, is an admirable prophecy, directed wholly to the times, immediate upon
the coming of the Lord. In which are announced all the principal matters
which shall immediately precede; in which is announced in a manner the most
magnificent the very coming of the Lord in glory and majesty; in which are
announced the admirable and stupendous events which shall accompany that
coming, and which shall follow it. The title of the book shows well to
what it is all directed; what is its argument, and what its determinate end: The
Apocalypse - Revelation of Jesus Christ.” – Emanual Lacunza,
“Coming of Messiah,” p. 200.]
2.
Notice now its derivation and authorship. The text
represents it as the gift of God to Christ. It is
called “The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ which God
gave unto him.”*
[*
If a sermon is announced or a book published under the title of the “Return
of the Jews,” we understand it to mean a description of the
Return of the Jews: and so this title signifies a
Description of the Apocalypse (or appearing) “of Jesus Christ which God
gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass
(Rev. 1: 1).]
“And he sent and signified [the same] by his angel.” In stating who
this angel was, I do not venture to be specific. His own account of
himself to John, was, “I am thy fellow-servant, and of
thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book”
(Rev. 22: 9). From this, it has been
thought, that he was one of the old prophets, or some one standing in a closer
relation to Christ and the Church than can be affirmed of angels proper.
It is also somewhat confirmative of this view, that whilst the angels are
called “ministering spirits” (Heb. 1: 14) they are not called “God’s servants,” nor fellows of the prophets and
apostles, as in the case before us. Let it suffice,
however, for us to know, that it was some heavenly messenger, commissioned by
the Lord Jesus in glory to come and make known these apocalyptic wonders.
Some
have found difficulty in tracing the agency of this angel in the book
itself. “It is remarkable,” says, one, “that this angel does not appear as the imparter of the
visions until chapter seventeen.” This would imply that what God
here says about “signifying” this book by the
angel is only true with respect to a very small fraction of it. The
proper explanation, however, of the office of the angel is to be found in the
words signified and saw. The word rendered signified,
taken in connection with the fact that the things signified were matters of
contemplation by means of the eyes, can denote nothing else than an actual
picturing of those scenes - a making of them pass before
the view the same as if they were really transpiring. The
office of the angel, then, as I take it, was, to form the connection between
John’s senses or imagination and the things which he was to describe; making
to pass in review before him what was only afterwards to
take place in fact. How this was done, I cannot say: but as the devil could
take Jesus to a high mountain, and show him at one view “all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them,”
I am sure that it falls sufficiently within the sphere of angelic natures thus
to picture things to man; and that when commissioned of the Lord for the
purpose, no good angel is wanting in ability to be the instrument in making
John see whatever visions he describes in this book.
And when God himself tells me that what is here set forth was thus signified to
John, I will persist in referring every one of the visions, with all that he
says he saw and heard, to the intervention of this angelic agent, and believe
that in all sacred things we are vastly more dependent upon angelic
ministrations than we know or can understand.
But
there is still another link in the chain of agencies through which the great
things of this book have been made known to men. Given of God, sent by
Christ, signified by an angel, they were finally recorded by John,
and by him communicated to the Churches.
Nor
need we be in doubt as to what John this is. The text describes him as
that “John, who attested the word of God, and the
testimony of Jesus Christ.” And who is it that the Churches from
the beginning have known as the attestor of the Logos, or
Word of God, and of the testimony which Christ gave, but John the Apostle, the
beloved disciple? Turn to the Gospel by John, and see whether it be not
wholly taken up with exactly these things. The first chapter gives
the only full account which the Scriptures contain respecting the pre-existence
of the Logos, or Word, in the Godhead, and the sameness of that Word with him
who was born of Mary, tabernacled in the flesh, and was called Jesus of
Nazareth. Was not this bearing “record of the
Word of God”? Do we not find another summary of the same testimony in
the first chapter of John’s first epistle? What else does he mean by the
account which he gives of his testimony, when he says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the
Word of life, declare we unto you”? Are not both his first and
second epistles but arguments, against various evil spirits which were gone
abroad, that Jesus is the Word of God, the only Christ, the Son of God, and
that all who deny this are liars and Antichrist? And in reference to the
great body of his Gospel does he not himself say, “These
things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that believing ye might have life through His name”? Does
not all this make out for John a particular distinction as the apostle “who attested the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus
Christ?”
3.
A word or two now as to the value and preciousness of this book.
A gift which the Great God thinks a befitting bestowment upon Christ; a thing
which the blessed Lord in heaven esteemed of sufficient moment to be made known
by a special embassage, which holy angels considered it an honour to be
permitted to signify, and which the tenderness of the disciple of love so
conscientiously recorded for the comfort and admonition of the people of God in
every age, certainly is not a thing of trifling significance.
If we are interested in the story of the manger and the cross; if we can
draw strength for our prayers and hopes by invoking Christ by the mystery of
His incarnation, fasting, temptation, agony, and bloody sweat; if we find it
such a precious treasure to our souls to come into undoubting sympathy with the
scenes of His humiliation and grief; what should be our appreciation of this
book, which treats of the fruits of those sufferings, and tells only of that
wronged Saviour’s glory and triumphs, and shows us our Lord enthroned in
majesty, riding prosperously, and scattering to His ransomed ones the crowns
and regencies of empire which shall never perish, and celestial
blessednesses without number and above all thought!
“All Scripture,” indeed, “is
profitable, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good
works;” but there are some portions more especially significant and
precious, and proper attention to which is fraught with particular
advantages. Of this sort is this book of the revelation of Jesus
Christ. What saith the text? - “Blessed is he
that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those
things which are written therein.” The same is repeated in chapter 22: 7, - “Blessed
is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” Of
course, the more we learn and know of Christ, the better it will be for us, if
the spirit of faith and obedience be in our hearts; and this book is
pre-eminently the Revelation of Christ. It sets out our blessed Lord, and
draws away the veil which hangs between us and Him, and lifts us up into the
sublimest things of heaven. It shows us how the Son of man has been
rewarded by the Father, and what works and offices are assigned unto that meek
Lamb. It shows us the history of our Saviour’s person, all glorious and
exalted, and His great ministrations in the Church and in the universe, until
His coming again from the throne and in the power of the Father, with all the
armies of heaven with Him.
Above
all does it dwell upon that great Apocalypse, the condition in which it will find
the world, what it will bring to His prepared and waiting saints, what it will
inflict upon lukewarm believers, infidels, and evil-doers, and what will be the
character and issues of that great day of God Almighty. It tells what the
Church will be till Christ comes, what it will be in that period of dreadful
trial, what Satan and his children will attempt, and how the Lord Jesus shall
trample them down under the glory of His power, raise the dead, renew the
world, and set up for ever His blessed [millennial] reign in it. It shows us what will be the
final triumphs and rewards of the saints for their present griefs and toils;
what will be the future of our world; how it is to be renewed, cleansed,
beautified, and invested with heavenly excellencies; and how the light, and
knowledge, and glory of God is to become its eternal possession.
It
is always important for us to be forewarned with regard to the future. It
is our nature to be forecasting, and it is one of the necessities of our
well-being to be able to anticipate with accuracy, at least with regard to the
leading things that shall concern us. He who does not shape the
conduct of to-day with reference to some end foreseen or calculated on for some
other day, is a mere fool and madman, whether it be in the things of God, or in
the things of the world. And in this book we are certified beforehand
of what God bath determined concerning the future - what the devout may hope
for, what the indifferent and unbelieving have to fear, wherein the true safety
and consolation of man is to be found, what tribulations are to come upon the
world, and what birth-pangs are yet to be passed through to reach that Golden
Age of which prophets and poets of all nations and times have spoken.*
[* “The Apocalypse completes
the Canon of Scripture; and with reverence be it said, the sacred Canon would
be imperfect without it.” - Wordsworth.]
There
is also a peculiar efficacy and power in the doctrine of Christ’s speedy
return. Like a magnet, it lifts the heart of the believer out of the
world, and out of his low self, and enables him to stand with Moses on the
mount, and transfigures him with the rays of blessed hope and promise which
stream upon him in those sublime heights. It is the most animating and
most sanctifying subject in the Bible. It is the soul’s serenest light
amid the darkness and trials of earth. And the great end and aim of this
book is to set forth this doctrine. The things of which it treats, are things
touching the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, and which it describes as “things which must shortly come to pass.”
The impending Advent of Christ is the theme which pervades
it from its commencement to its close. And just in proportion as he who
is awake to the great truth of the Saviour’s speedy coming, and is engaged in
waiting and preparing himself accordingly, is a better man, and in a safer
condition, and really more happy, than the half-christian and the lukewarm; -
in that same proportion is he who reads, hears, and keeps the words of this
prophecy blessed beyond all other people. This book, at least its
subject-matter, thus becomes to him an instrument of security and attainment to
save him from surprise when his Lord cometh, and from the tribulations which
shall try the indifferent, as well as a passport to admit him to the marriage
supper of the Lamb, and to the highest awards of eternity. Precious book!
and happy they who study it.
Nor
can I close without remarking how all this plucks up, and crushes to atoms,
those erroneous and mischievous notions entertained by many, that there is
nothing useful in prophetic studies. To say nothing of the duty of giving
heed to what God has thought it important to record, or of the folly of seeing
only peril in trying to understand what the Spirit of God has inspired for our
learning and consolation, what man is he, who, in the face of this text, and
its outspoken benediction, will venture to denounce investigation into sacred
Prophecy? What if it is often dark and mysterious? The darker and
more difficult, the greater the reason for earnest examination. Be the
obscurity and mystery what it may, God says, “Blessed
is he that readeth and they that hear the words, and keep those things which
are written.” What if this book of Revelation is the fullest of
all of dark things and perplexing mysteries? It is then a book which
above all needs our most solemn and studious attention. Nay, it is
concerning this book especially that God pronounces this blessedness upon the
devout and obedient inquirer.
Some
tell us that what is yet future ought not to be examined into till after it has
come to pass. I can hardly realise that this is seriously meant. Yet I
have had it argued to me, even in
As
Christ said to the writer of it, so He says to all His ministers, and all his
people, in all time: “SEAL NOT THE SAYINGS OF THE
PROPHECY OF THIS BOOK.” It is an open book, and meant to be ever
kept open to the view of the Church from that time forward to the end.
Woe, then, to the man who undertakes to draw away God’s people from it,
or to warn them against looking into it! He takes from the Church, which
has now been these 2,000 years among the dashing waves, the chart by which
above all Christ meant she should be guided, and wherein she may best see
whither she is bearing, what are her perils, and where her course of safety
lies! He undertakes to seal what God has said should not be sealed!
He not only “takes away from the words of the book of
this prophecy” (which who does, “God shall take
away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book”), but seeks to take away the book
itself!
And
the more dangerous and reprehensible is such a course, now that “the time is near.” Nearly two thousand years
ago, it was said of the things herein written, that they must speedily come to
pass. These records were from the first pressed upon the study of the
Church by the solemn consideration that the period of their fulfilment was
rapidly approaching. But if this argument was of force then, how much
more now?
Standing,
then, as we do, upon the very margin of the great Apocalypse, by all the
solemnities with which it is to be accompanied, I not only invite and
recommend, but conjure Christians, as they hope to be present at the marriage
supper of the Lamb, not to put this precious book from them, or to forego the
faithful study of its contents. The Lord open our hearts to its
teachings, and make us partakers of the blessings it foretells!
LECTURE SECOND
SALUTATION
- CHRISTIANITY COURTEOUS - THE CHURCHES - THE BLESSLNG IMPLORED UPOX THEM - AN EXULTANT
ASCRIPTION – THE BASIS AND CHARACTER OF IT - A SOLMN PROPHETIC ALLUSION - THE
COMING AGAIN OF CHRIST - HOW THE EARLY CHRISTIANS VIEWED THE SUBJECT - A DEVOUT
REFERENCE TO THE SAVIOUR’S TESTIMONY CONCERNING HIMSELF.
Rev. Chapt. 1: 4-8. (Revised Text) - John to the
seven churches in Asia, Grace unto you and peace, from Him who is, and who was,
and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits which [are] before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness,
The First-born of the dead, and The Prince of the kings of the earth.
Unto Him that loves us, and freed us from our sins by His own blood,
and hath made us a kingdom, priests unto Him who is His God and Father to Him
be glory and dominion unto the ages. Amen.
Behold, He cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and
they which pierced Him, and all the tribes of the land shall mourn about
Him. Even so; Amen.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord
God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
THERE
is not another book of holy scripture which opens with so much special remark
and solemnity. There is everything here to impress the belief, that there
is not another so profoundly important, or meant to be studied with such
particular care and seriousness. We have had before us the impressive
account of itself with which this marvellous book opens. We have now a
special additional preface, by John, which deals more with the writer’s personal
feelings, than with any features of the grand message itself. It is the
mere prelude to the piece - the apostolic overture to the Revelation of
Christ. But, it is a magnificent introduction. Though marked with
the frequent sententious abruptness of this apostle’s writings, there is not,
in all human literature, a more sublime or appropriate opening.
Separating it into its several parts, I find
1. AN AFFECTING SALUTATION;
2. AN EXULTANT ASCRIPTION;
3. A SOLEMN PROPHETIC ALLUSION;
4. A DEVOUT THEOLOGICAL RECOGNITION.
Having
carefully surveyed these, we shall have comprehensively explored the whole
text. May the Lord aid us in the attempt, and fill us with the Spirit of
Him whose words we are to consider!
1.
As to the Salutation, we may note first that Christianity
is courteous. It enlivens all kindly feelings, and prompts to every
gentle amenity from one to another. There is no refinement of manner, or
polish of feeling and behaviour, which it does not foster. Coarseness and
vulgarity have no place in the domain of genuine piety. He who speaks in
the text was bred in humble life, but, by the exalting power of the gospel
which he preached, he was raised into a courtliness of tone and temper, as
sincere as it was lovely. He does not venture to deliver his great
message to the Churches without first declaring his own kind wishes towards
them. Though a high officer, and addressing persons of much inferior
estate to himself, his loving heart begins with the pouring out of gracious
affection, sympathy, and benediction. By apostolic example, then, as well
as by apostolic precept, we are taught to be “kindly
affectioned one toward another” and to be “courteous
to all men.”
“John to the Seven Churches in Asia, Grace unto you and peace.”
What we sinful beings need is Grace and the peace which has its root in
grace. “By the deeds of the law shall no man
living be justified.” Grace is God’s favour to us in Christ Jesus,
notwithstanding our fallen condition. It is the forgiveness of sins, the
inspiration of a new life, the renewal of the soul to holiness. It is the
removal of God’s wrath from us and our purgation from all enmity towards God,
reconciliation and atonement with our Maker, and full participation in all the
blessings of His uninterrupted favour.
Notice
also the sources, from which he implores all this. From man, no such
blessings could come; nor yet from this or that person in the Godhead
alone. The whole Deity in its mysterious and eternal
Trinity is concerned in furnishing what is bespoken.
1.
It is first of all “from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come;” that is,
from the Absolute One, who knows no change, no dependence on time or place, but
to whom the present, the past, and the future are one and the same eternal now;
who is, and who was, and who is to be, even the infinite, incomprehensible,
unapproachable Father of lights, from whom cometh every good and every perfect
gift, and with whom is neither variableness, nor the least shadow of
turning. Hence the joyful thanksgiving, “Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope.”
2.
In the next place it is “from the seven Spirits
which are before His throne;” that is, from the Holy Ghost,
in the full completeness of His office and powers, as sent forth for the
illumination, comfort, and edification of all the subjects of God’s redeeming
grace. “Seven” is the number of
dispensational fulness and perfection; and as there are seven Churches, making
the one Church, so there are “the seven Spirits of God,”
making up the completeness of the one gracious administration of the Holy
Ghost. “Before the throne;”
that is, connected with the throne, and fulfilling the purposes of Him who
sits upon the throne.
3.
But there is a third, from whom these great blessings are implored - “from Jesus Christ.” There is neither
grace nor peace for man, except through Christ. He
is the stone which was set at naught by the builders, who is become the head of
the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4: 11, 12.) If God the Father hath
begotten us again to a lively hope, it is only “by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” If we now have
liberty to enter into the holiest, it is only “by the
blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he bath consecrated for us, through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh.” (Heb.
10: 19, 20.) And if there cometh to us peace, it is because “this man is our peace,” and standeth and feedeth in
the strength of the Lord, and in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. (Micah 5: 4, 5.)
And
as three titles are given to each of the other sources of grace and peace to
the Churches, three are also given to Christ. If the eternal Father is He
which is, and which was, and which is to come; if the Holy Ghost is spirit,
sevenfold, and before the throne: Jesus Christ is “the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the Prince
of the kings of the earth.” Isaiah prophesied of
him as “A witness to the peoples: a leader and
commander of the peoples.” God said of him, “I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the
earth,” and his throne “as a faithful witness in
heaven.” (Isa. 45: 4; Ps. 89: 27-37.)
And as was predicted, so it has come to pass. “To
this end was I born,” says he, “and for this
cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.”
Having died a martyr to his testimony, and given his life an offering for sin,
he was restored to life again, as all the Scriptures witness, and became “the first fruits of the resurrection,” “the first-born from the dead.” And having been “faithful unto death,” God hath exalted him, far above
all principalities and powers, that at his name every knee should bow, and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Conceive
of these three, then, as one Almighty and ineffable Godhead, - the Father in
the absoluteness of his unchaning nature and universal presence, the Spirit in
all the completeness of his manifold energies and diversified operations, and
the Son in the virtues of his blood-sealed testimony, of the new begotten power
of his resurrection, and of the super-royal administrations of his eternal
kinghood, each in his place, and all as one, laid under contribution, and
unreservedly and irrevocably pledged, for the blessedness of them that
believe;- sound the depths of such a fountain of good; test the firmness of
such a basis of confidence; survey the strength and majesty of such a refuge
for the soul; weigh the treasures of bliss which are opened up in such a
presentation; and you may begin to form some conception of the resources of the
saints, and of the real breadth and joyousness of this apostolic Salutation to
the churches. Is it any wonder that John’s heart took fire at the
contemplation, or that he should abruptly pass from affectionate greeting, to
jubilant doxology? Surely “the name of the Lord
is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is set on high.”
2. Let us look, then, for a few moments at this exultant
Ascription. “Unto Him that
loves us.”
The ever adorable One “loves
us” (loves -not loved). We are
apt to think of the great love of God as past; as having spent its greatest
force, and reached its highest culmination when he gave his only begotten
Son to humiliation and death in our behalf. But in this we are
mistaken. That love is a present love, and in
as full force at this moment as when it delivered up Jesus to the
horrors which overwhelmed Him on the cross. That was a love for enemies;
what must it then be for friends? That was for man in his unloveliness
and sins; what must it then be for those who have been washed from their sins,
and clothed in all the heavenly beauty of the Saviour’s righteousness?
That was a love for the self-ruined and lost, without claim upon Divine
compassion; what must it then be to the redeemed, who are recommended by all
the worth and claims of the sinlessness, and unswerving obedience, and high
Divinity of Christ? Oh, the breadth, the length, the depth, the height,
of the love of Christ! Who shall measure it? Who can comprehend
it? It encompasses us like a shoreless, bottomless sea. It passeth
knowliedge. It transcends all thought. And it is in full force now,
to make us for ever blessed. Alas, what Doxology is strong enough to
adequately acknowledge it?
“And freed us from our
sins by his own, blood.” We are prone to overlook
this as an accomplished fact. As God’s great love, in all its fulness, is
a present love; so our absolution through the blood of
Christ is a past absolution. We have not to wait and work
to be forgiven. The work has long since been done. The decree went
forth, the releasing word was spoken, the forgiveness was declared, when Jesus
left His tomb; and all that any man has to do on that subject is to believe it,
and to appropriate to Himself the glorious reprieve. What saith the
Scripture? “God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through Him miglit be saved. He that believeth on Him is
not condemned.” (John. 3: 17, 18) Is
it not written, that “there is now therefore no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit”? (
“And made us a kingdom - priests unto his God and Father.”
The glory brightgns as the account proceeds. That we should have a place in
the affectionate regard, and tender, effective love of the great Lord, is much.
That we should have forgiveness for all our sins, made perfect by his free
grace at the cost of his own life’s blood, is almost too much for belief.
But, to affection is added honour, and to salvation, official dignities.
We are not only loved, and freed from our sins, but, if indeed we are
Christians, we are princes and priests, named and anointed for immortal
regencies and eternal priesthoods. Let men despise and contemn religion
as they may, there is empire connecting with lowly discipleship, royalty with
penitence and prayers, and sublime priesthood with piety. Fishermen and
tax-gatherers, by listeuing to Jesus, presently find themselves in apostolic
thrones, and ministering as priests and rulers of a dispensation, wide as the
world, and lasting as time. Moses, by his faith, rises from Jethro’s
sheepfold to be the prince of
Consider,
then, what is embraced in the princely reign of the saints in the ages to come,
- “what untried forms of happy being, what cycles of
revolving bliss,” are before us in those high spheres, - what sceptres
are to be wielded and what altars served amid the sublimitics of our immortal
destiny, - what streams of ascending influence shall concentrate in those holy
administrations, letting forth God to His creatures, and guiding the adoration
of realms unknown as yet to the unsearchable bosom of the invisible God; - and
who that believes does not feel his heart stirred to its profoundest depths, and
the devout ascription of “glory and dominion for ever
and ever” rising unbidden to his lips, unto Him who so loved us, and has
done such great things for us? “Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works toward the children
of men!”
3.
But we pass to another topic, in which we find a pre-eminently solemn prophetic
Allusion. The mention of these kinghoods and priesthoods
of the saints, and the glory and eternal dominion of Christ, suggests an
occurrence which must precede the full realisation of these things, both for
Christ and His people. And, with his soul on fire with these sublime
contemplations, thirsting for the great consummation, and running over with
interest in the tidings which he was about to communicate, the loving apostle
seems to have felt as if the grand climacteric of time
had come: “Behold He cometh with the clouds; and every
eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him: and all tribes of the land shall
mourn about Him. Even so. Amen.”
Again
he omits to mention the name of Him of whom he is speaking. There
is, however, no room for mistake. This coming One is the same who freed us from
our sins by His own blood, and who is to have glory and dominion for ever and
ever. John was present when that blessed One left the earth. He had
heard the angels say: “Ye men of
“He cometh.” Here is the great
fact unequivocally stated. Christ has not gone to heaven to stay
there. He has gone for His Church’s benefit; and for His Church’s benefit
He will return again; not in spirit only, not in providence only, not in the
mere removal of men by death, but in His own proper person, “the Son of man.” Few believe this, and still fewer lay
it to heart. Many sneer at the very idea, and would fain laugh down the
people who are so simple as to entertain it. But it is nevertheless the
immutable truth of God, predicted by all His prophets, promised by Christ
Himself, confirmed by the testimony of angels, proclaimed by all the apostles,
believed by all the early Christians, acknowledged in all the Church
Creeds,
sung of in all the Church Hymn-books, prayed about in all the Church Liturgies,
and entering so essentially into the very life and substance of Christianity,
that without it there is only a maimed and mutilated presentation of the Gospel
of the kingdom.
That
religion which does not look for a returning Saviour, or locate its highest
hopes and triumphs in the judgment scenes for which the Son of Man must
reappear, is not the religion of this book, and is without authority to promise
salvation to its devotees. And those addresses to the Churches which have
no “Behold He cometh” pervading
or underlying them, have not been indited by “the
Seven Spirits of God,” nor sent by Him whose Apocalypse is the crown of
the inspired Canon. Murmur at it, dispute it, despise it, mock at it, put it
aside, hate it, and hide from it, as men may, it is a great fundamental article
of the Gospel, that that same blessed Lord, who ascended from Mount Olivet, and
is now at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, shall come from thence to
judge the quick and the dead, and to stand again on that very summit from which
He went up. This is true, as Christ Himself is true; and “he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear.”
Amen.
“He cometh with the clouds.” Here
is the great characteristic in the manner of His coming. “With the clouds,” that is, in majesty
and glory; - with the awful pomp and splendour of Him “who
maketh the clouds His chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind.”
“And every eye shall see Him.” Here
is the publicity of the sublime event. It is not said that all shall see
Him at the same time, or in the same scene, or with the same feelings.
Other passages teach us that some eyes will see Him whilst He is yet to others
invisible; and that He will be manifested to some at one time and place, and to
others at other times and places, and in different acts of the wonderful
drama. But there never has been and never will be that human being who
shall not see Him in some stage or another of His judicial
administrations. To every one that has lived, and to every one who shall
live, He will show Himself, and compel every eye to meet His eye. The dead
shall be brought to life again and shall see Him, and the living shall see
Him. The good shall see Him, and the wicked shall see Him. Some
shall see Him and shout: “Lo, this is our God; we have
waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for Him,
we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation;” and others shall see Him
and cry to “the mountains and rocks: Fall on us, and
hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to
stand?”
“And they which pierced Him.” Though
His manifestation shall be absolutely universal, it has an awful distinction
with reference to some. Of all beings who shall then wish to be saved
that sight will be those who murdered Him. But they shall not escape
it. They must each and all some day confront Him, and meet His
all-penetrating gaze, from the wretched man who betrayed Him, down to the
soldier who pierced His side, and all who have made common cause with them in
wronging, persecuting wounding, and insulting that meek Lamb of God, shall then
be compelled to face His judgment-seat, and to look upon Him whom they have
pierced.
“And all the tribes of the land shall mourn about Him.”
This manifestly includes the wail of penitence which shall be elicited from
long-apostate
“Even so, Amen.” Some take
this as the seal and ratification of the solemn truths which have just been
uttered. If this be the true meaning, what particular stress is to be laid upon
these things - how sure to come to pass - how unmistakably certain!
Brethren, it does seem to me, when I look at the Scriptures on this subject, that
even the best of us are not half awake. May God arouse us by His Spirit,
and not permit us to sleep till the thunders and terrors of the great day are
upon us! But I find another and more natural sense of these words.
I find in them John’s acquiescence in all that the great day is to bring, and
his prayer, as repeated at the end of the book, that the Lord would hasten its
coming. Terrible as it will be to the wicked and the unprepared, and
those who refuse the warnings which we give them, it is a precious day to the
saints, a day to be coveted, and to be prayed for with all earnestness of
desire. The poor faint-hearted Christianity of our times can hardly
contemplate it without trembling and annoyance. Many who profess and call
themselves Christians would rather not hear about it, and would prefer, if they
had their choice, that Christ might never come. It was not so in the days
of Christianity’s pristine vigour. Then the anxious inquiry of disciples
was, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what
shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom to
4.
To all this, the apostle yet adds a most devout reference to
Christ, and to Christ’s declaration concerning Himself, the further to confirm
the solemn truthfulness of His words. and to incite us to lay the more stress
upon them.
“I am .Alpha and 0mega, the beginning and the ending, saith
the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
How sublime is the majesty of our blessed Redeemer as thus set forth!
Never before had He given such an account of Himself. He had
intimated as much, and permitted His apostles to use language which implied the
same. But never till in this Apocalypse had He formally assumed to
Himself such Divine majesty. He here proclaims Himself to be the
Almighty, the very God, the One existing before anything was made,
comprehending all things in His own existence, and possessing immensity and
eternity. Look a moment at the particulars.
Alpha and Omega are the names of the
letters which begin and end the Greek alphabet. It is the same as if it
were said in English, I am A and Z. “The beginning and the ending.”
This is not found in some of the oldest and best copies of this book.
It was, perhaps, introduced merely as an explanation of the clause going before
it. It does not seem to convey any additional thought. He is the
first, because all thing took their beginning from Him; and He is the last,
because in Him shall all things have their consummation.
“Who is, and who was, and who is to come.” This sublime form of speech is used to
describe the Eternal Father ; but it belongs equally to the Son. He is
the I Am, whose being is the same through all reckonings of time. As the
Father exists in all the past, present, and future, eternal and unchangeable;
so Christ, who is the express lmage of the Father, is “the
same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” He was with the Father
before the world was. He is now at the right hand of the Father.
And He is to come in the name and glory of the Father in those eternal
administrations which are the joy and hope of His people.
“The Almighty.” Than this there is
no higher name. It declares the complete and unqualified subjection of
all created things to our Lord Jesus Christ. It leaves nothing which is
not put under Him. Oh, the adorableness and majesty of our
Redeeiner! Who could play false in such a presence? What son of
Belial may escape righteous retribution in such hands? What,
untruthfulness can there be in such a Being? What lack for the full
performance of all the will and purpose of One with such characteristics!
Rather than give way to doubt, and unbelief, let us fall down in lowly
adoration at His feet, take His truth, and rejoice in Him as our hope and our
everlasting consolation.
And
“unto Him that loves us, and freed us from our sins by His
own blood, and hath made us a kingdom - priests unto Him who is His God and
Father; to Him be glory and dominion unto the ages. Amen.”
LECTURE THIRD
THE
APOCALYPSE PROPER - FIRST SCENE – JOHN - THE BROTHERHOOD OF BELIEVERS - CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CONFESSION - PATMOS - THE WORLD AND THE CHURCH -
CHRISTIAN FREEDOM - THE GREAT VOICE - THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS - THE SON OF MAN
- HIS CHARACTER IN THIS VISION - DETAILS OF THE DESCRIPTION - MAGNIFICENCE OF
THE PICTURE - EFFECT OF IT - DREAD OF THE SPIRITUAL - COMFORTING ASSURANCE OF
CHRIST.
Rev. Chap. 1: 9-17 (Revised Text) - I, John,
your brother and copartner in the tribulation, and the kingdom, and the patient
waiting, in Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, on account of
the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. I became in Spirit in
the Lord’s day; and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying [“I am Alpha and Omega,” &c., is here without due
authority], What thou seest, write in a book, and send
it to the seven Churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to
Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
And I turned about to see the voice that was, speaking with me, and
being turned, I saw seven candlesticks
[lampstands or lamps] of gold; and in the midst of the
candlesticks [one] like to the Son of man,
clothed in a long garment reaching to the feet, and girt at the breasts with a
girdle of gold. His head and His hairs [were] white, as white wool, as
snow, and his eyes as a flame of fire, and his feet like fine brass; glowing
with fire as in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters; and
proceeding out of his mouth a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance as the
sun shineth in his strength.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid
his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not.
We
now approach the Apocalypse proper. Hitherto we have only been
considering superscriptions and prefaces. Henceforward we have to deal
with the thing itself.
The
seer of this vision was John. At the time of the
vision, he was the only remaining apostle, and perhaps the only survivor of
those with whom Christ had personally conversed. He was therefore the
most interesting and exalted Christian then living upon the carth - a most
reverend and venerable man.
But
he was as humble and meek as he was high in place. He gives himself no
titles. He says nothing of his sublime official relations. It was
enough for him to put himself on a level with the common brotherhood of
believers. Whatever may be our gifts and stations, we are all one in
Christ Jesus. The high and the low, the rich and poor, the bond and free,
those who have known the Saviour after the flesh, and those who have seen Him
only with the eye of faith, are all brethren together, children of one Father,
servants of the same Lord and fellow-heirs to the same hopes and
inheritance. John was the inspired teacher of those to whom he was
writing. His words were to be to them a rule of faith and life.
But, with all, he calls himself simply their “brother, and copartner in tribulation, and in the kingdom,
and in the patient waiting, in Christ Jesus.”
And
in this statement he brings out what were the chief characteristics of the
Christian confession in those days
namely,
a common brotherhood in Christ, a common suffering for Christ, a common royalty
and kingship as yet unrevealed, and a common hopeful and patient waiting for
the time of blessed coronation, and joyous entrance with the Lord upon the
dominion of the world. The same may serve to show in how far our
Christianity answers to the Christianity of the Apostles’ days, and to assure
us that, in so far as these characteristics appear in us, we are the brethren of
Apostles, and partakers in the same fellowship with those who saw the miracles,
heard the words, and waited about the steps of Him who now reigns in the
highest heavens, and are also to reign with Him for ever and ever.
John
was at that time in exile, upon a lonely and desolate island. But neither
seas, nor
But
the wrath of the wicked world does but bring saints the nearer to the choice
favours of God. The Patmos of persecuting
The
instant John turned to “see the voice that spake with” him, he “saw seven golden
candlesticks (or lampstands), and in the midst
of the seven candlesticks one like to the Son of man.” From the
conclusion of the chapter, we learn that these “seven
candlesticks are the seven Churches.” In all languages, truth and
knowledge are likened to light. The Psalmist speaks of God’s word as a
lamp to his feet and a light unto his path. And so the Churhes are the
larnpstands, or light-bearers. They have no light in themselves, but they
hold forth and diffuse the light which they have from the oil of grace and the
fire of the Spirit. Each [regenerate] Christian is a lighted candle. And all God’s
children are described as “lights in the world, holding
forth the word of life.” It is therefore a most significant image
by which the communities of saints are here set forth. They are so many
lampstands of God’s light and truth in a world of darkness; and as such Christ
deals with them.
These
lampstands are gold - composed of the costliest, the most precious, the most glorious,
the royal, the sacred metal. A saint is an excellent, a glorious, a
royal, in some sense a sacred being; and a congregation of Christians is
altogether the most precious thing on earth. It is the pure gold of the
world.
Seven is the number of completeness. It here
designates the whole Christian body of all times and all places.
The
“one like unto the Son of man,” is Christ
Himself. He is described in the same way in the Psalms, in the, visions
of Daniel, and in his own discourses concerning Himself. It is a form of
speech meant to set forth the essential importance and prominence of the human
element of the Saviour’s character; for it is in his Human nature that his
redemption-work is conducted, and his victories achieved. It is as the
Son of man that He came, lived, suffered, and died. It was as the Son of
man that He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will come again,
judge the world, and set up his glorious everlasting rule. But He is not
to be conceived of as nothing but a man. He is “one like unto the Son of Man.”
This word a man like sets us upon the scent of something higher
than humanity, though conditioned as humanity, and having everything in common
with it. We also read of Him as The Word made flesh - God manifested in the
flesh - the Son of God condescending to be the Son of man, - not in appearance
only, but in literal reality.
It
is not chiefly in the character of Priest, that the
Saviour appears in this vision. He is indeed a priest, even our great
High Priest that has passed into the heavens; but this is not the chief aspect
in which He comes before us in this vision. There is no mitre, no ephod,
no breastplate, no censer, no blood. The garment reaching down to the
feet is as distinctive of royal dignity as of sacerdotal functions, if not more
so. The girdle might appear to be priestly; but it is gold,
all gold, indicative of royalty; whilst the proper priestly girdle was not
gold, but simply wrought and interwoven with gold. He also wields a
sword, which is another mark of sovereignty and judicial power, which does not
belong to the sacerdotal office, albeit that sword proceeds from His
mouth. This ought to satisfy us that the character which Christ bears in
this vision is something more than a Priest. There is royalty and
magistracy, as well as priesthood. We
here have to do with the Lord and Judge of the Churches. The throne is
yet in the background, but the royal majesty is manifest. As Judge of the
world, more is to be shown hereafter; but here He appears as Judge of the
Churches. He is a Priest, but a priest invested with royal prerogatives,
and come forth to pronounce judgment upon the candlebticks which He attends.
Behold, then, 0 man, thy Lord
and Judge.
1.
He is “in the midst of the seven candlesticks.”
When He left the world, He said to his disciples. “Lo!
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” And lest
the premise should be mistaken as belonging to ministers alone, He gave the
still further assurance, that where two or three are gathered together
in His name, there He is, in the midst of them. I cannot explain to you
the method of this presence. Even in things with which we are familiar,
there is mystery attaching to what we call presence. We
speak of a man as present in a room, and of what transpires in that room as
taking place in his presence. But how is he present beyond the immediate
space occupied by his body? That his presence extends beyond the few feet
marked by the outlines of his physical frame, is a fact we all feel and
realise; but how it is so, we cannot so easily explain. I am present in
this audience-chamber. I am as much present to those in the remotest pews
as to those who are in the nearest. And yet, my body is present only in
these few feet within the pulpit. Suppose, then, you were to conceive of
me as suddenly exalted into a majesty and glory like that of Jesus.
Imagine these walls widened out in corresponding proportion. Fancy everything
now on the scale of the earthly and human expanded to the scale of the heavenly
and glorified. And it may aid you somewhat in conceiving how Christ can
be present with all His Churches, and yet occupy a definite space in
heaven. The whole world is not as great to Him as an ordinary room to us.
And if my presence can fill this Church, whilst I keep my place in this
pulpit, His presence can certainly fill all His Churches, even from His
mysterious celestial location at the right hand of the Father.
This,
however, is certain, that he is, in some sort, in all His Churches. There
is not a member which He does not see and know. There is not a Christian
service held, of which we are not authorised to say, The Lord is there.
He is in His Churches, not only by his word, by His sacraments, by His
ministers, by His authority, power, and Spirit; but He is there Himself, as the
Son of Man. He is present as Priest, as Lord, as Judge; and hence in His
own proper person as the God-man. There is another, nearer, and more manifest
presence, to be realised when He shall come again; but not more true or real
than that by which He is even now in, the midst of us. Were these dull,
dim senses of ours but unlocked and energised, after the style of that
transformation for which the saints are taught to look, we would see our
Saviour, present to-night, as really as John saw Him “walking
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.” It is a solemn and
startling thought; but it is true.
2.
“Clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and
girt at the breasts with a girdle of gold.” In
former times, and to this day in some sections of the world, the
long trailing robe is the token of dignity and honour. Thus, in Isaiah’s vision
of the Lord upon His throne, he speaks of just such a robe, the train or skirts
of which filled the temple. Righteousness is indicated by a
garment. The priestly dignity was marked by a robe of this kind, though
somewhat shorter, and hung, around the skirt with pomegranates and bells.
The high officer who drew the marks of distinction in Ezekiel’s vision of the
great slaughter was also similarly attired. One of those mighty
personages with whom Daniel dealt in his heavenly visions was clad in this way
and also girded with gold, though about his loins, indicative of service, and
not about the breasts, as indicative of privilege and
superior dignity. If, then, we are to take this attire of the Son of man
as symbolical, as commentators generally have taken it, it must describe
personal qualities, official dignity, and celestial majesty, at which we may
well bow down in the deepest reverence.
But
why not also take it literally? There is no such thing as nakedness in
heaven. Clothing and raiment enter into all the descriptions we have of
the saints in glory. They have robes, they have crowns, they have
wedding-garments. Christ is not unclothed; and when we see Him, it will
not be in a state of divesture and nudity. He has His appropriate
clothing for every scene of His grand administrations. And when we have
this minute account of His attire, why should we strive to explain it away as
mere figure and symbol? Was it not the literal Son of man whom John
saw? Did he not have it explained to him what was mystical, leaving this
to be taken just as it was seen? For my own part, I believe that our
blessed Lord is at this moment arrayed just as He is here described, and that
this is the dress in which He will deal with the Churches, and be seen of the
saints, when the judgment begins. But everything outward in heaven is in
exact correspondence with the inward. Official robes are confined to official
dignities, and whatever the attire of Christ indicates, that He is. Everything
there is reality. The garments are real, and that which they connect is
real. No saints will be there in tatters, or kings in rags, or plebeians
in royal array. All are in dress what they are in reality. Christ
in the priestly robe, is a priest; - in the royal dress, is a king; - in
judicial attire, is a judge. And in the words before us, we have all
these dignities in one, and each contributing to express the sublime power,
majesty, and glory of that great Lord and Saviour with whom we have to do.
3.
And “His head and His hairs were white like wool,
as white as snow.” The Scriptures tell us, that “the hoary head is a crown of glory.” The same
appears in Daniel’s vision of “The Ancient of Days,
whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.”
Many have taken these white hairs as symbolic of the Godhead of Christ.
Pure undistributed light certainly is the representative of Deity. Paul
also says, “The head of Christ is God.”
White hairs connect with fatherhood, and patriarchal dignity; and “with the ancient is wisdom.” But I take this
peculiarity as I take the robe and the golden girdle. It belongs to the
glory and beauty in which our Lord now appears, and will appear to His saints,
when He shall call them to Himself. It connects indeed with His eternal
Deity, but also with His human majesty, and the sublime reverence that
appertains to Him as a man. He is the everlasting Father, as well as the
Prince of Peace. He is the second Adam, with all the patriarchal honour
and dignity which would by this time attach to the first, if He had never
sinned.
4. “And His eyes were as
a flame of fire.” Here is intelligence
burning all-penetrating intelligence. Here is power to read secrets, to
bring hidden things to light, to warm and search all hearts at a single
glance. And all this is expressed in the very aspect of our Lord.
It is given as one of the marks of Cesar’s greatness, that he had fiery eyes -
a penetrating warming, revealing glance - a look which enemies and dissemblers
could not stand. Christ is the sublime and the almighty Caesar of the Church.
He trieth the hearts and reins. “His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the
children of men.” “Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the
eye of Him with whom we have to do.” The light of the human eye is
from without, and shifts its focal point as the rays happen to fall on it; but
the light in the eye of Christ is from the Divinity within, and streams forth
with steady and all-penetrating sharpness, as well in the darkness as in the
day, into the soul as upon the body. But His sharp look is one of
inspiring warmth to the good, as well as of discomfiting and consuming terror
to the hypocritical and the godless. Will you believe it, my friends,
that this is the look which is upon you, and which is to try you in the great
day! Well may we pray the prayer of David: “Search
me, 0 God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be
any evil way in me, and lead me into the way everlasting.”
5.
“And His feet [were] like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace.”
He once said, through Isaiah, “I will make the
place of my feet glorious.” But here we have the feet themselves,
those feet with which He is to tread down the wicked; and the description
corresponds with the rest of the picture. Christ is all-glorious, even to
His feet. They are like glowing brass - like brass in the
fire heated up to whiteness. The glory of this metal, in such a state, is
almost insufferable to the human gaze. It presents an image of pureness
which is terrible. And it is upon these feet of dreadful holiness that
our Lord walks among the Churches, and shall tread down all abominations, and
crush Antichrist, and Satan, and all who unhappily set aside His authority and
His claims. Beautiful are those feet to them that love Him, but terrible
and consuming to those who shall be trodden by them.
6.
“And His voice as the sound of many waters.”
How could it be otherwise, considering how He is speaking and uttering
himself throughout all His Churches, and all the world, from the beginning
until now, and onto the day of His coming? Or how could it be otherwise,
considering that the day is approaching when “all that
are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man,
and they that hear shall live”? But this majesty and power of
voice is elsewhere more especially referred to the dreadfulness of Christ
towards His faithless servants and enemies. It is particularly
characteristic of His rebukes. His word came to Jeremiah, saying, “Say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter
His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon His habitation;
he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the
inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the
earth, for the Lord bath a controversy with the nations; He will plead with all
flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.”
But whether for the overthrow of His enemies or the salvation of His people, “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is
full of majesty.” It scattereth the proud, and it giveth joy and
confidence to the lowly.
7.
“And He had in His right hand seven stars.”
“The seven stars are the angels
(ministers) of the seven Churches,” and, as
such, they are distinct from the candlesticks. Christ walks among the
candlesticks, but He holds these ministers in His right hand. The
democratic idea of Church organisation, which makes all power proceed from the
members, and makes the ministerial position nothing more than what inheres in
every Christian, is thus scattered to the winds. Ministers have relations
to Christ and to the Church, which ordinary Church members have not. They
partake directly of Christ’s authority, and are responsible directly to Him,
and are upheld by His right hand, beyond the power of men or angels to displace
them. What a lesson for ministers, as to the holiness of their office,
the solemnity of their responsibilities, the necessity of unswerving, fidelity,
and the exercise of every confidence in their sacred functions! They are
in Christ’s hand. If they are unfaithful none can deliver them out of
that hand; but if true to their position none can touch them, or quench their
light. They shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. What a
lesson for the people as to the authority of those ministrations which they are
so prone to despise. Dealing with the regular ministers of the Churches,
you are dealing with the jewels on Christ’s right hand. And what a lesson
for all as to the Divine majesty and glory of our Lord! The Pauls, and
Johns, and Husses, and Luthers, and Cranmers, and Knoxes, and Wesleys, and all
the hosts of those who have been teaching and guiding the Churches for these
1800 years, are no more than the rings upon His fingers. But they are
jewels to Him. He holds them as precious. Disregarded as they may
be of men, they are dear to Him. He holds them as a man holds what he most
esteems. He holds them, for service now, and for judgment when He cometh.
He holds them, for success against the hosts of evil, for glorious honour if
they are faithful, and for eternal disgrace if they are not.
8.
“And out of His mouth went a sharp, two-edged
sword.” The sword is the symbol of magistracy and
judgment. But this is not a hand-sword, but a
word-sword. Nevertheless, it accords exactly with what Christ has Himself
said. “He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My
words, hath one that Judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall
judge him in the last day.” Even now the word of Christ is all the
while absolving, or binding under condemnation, every one to whom it is
preached. A certain judicial process inheres in every faithful
presentation of the Gospel. It is good news - glad tidings; but
there is a sword in it; a sword of double edge; and that a sword of
judgment. The word of God is not an empty utterance. It is “quick and powerful, and starper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow.” And this potency pertains to the matter of
punishment, as well as to the matter of conviction. In the beginning, God
spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The word was
potent. And so in the Gospel and the final summing up of this word of
Christ. It will carry its own sharp execution into the Church and into
the world, into the heavens and into the earth. “BY the word of God the
heavens were of old, ... but the heavens and the earth which are now by
the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
9.
“And His countenance was as the sun shineth in
his strength.” The Churches are lamps;
the ministers are stars; but Christ is the
sun. He is to the moral world what the sun is to the natural. But
let us not consider the description exhausted by its spiritual
significations. Christ has a literal face, and that face must have a form
and expression. He is not a fiction, but a reality - not a spirit, but a
man, with all the features of a man, though it be in a glorified
condition. He has a countenance, and that countenance is “as the sun shineth in his strength.” Something
of this was seen in the Mount of Transfiguration, when “His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light.”
Something of the same was manifest when He appeared to Saul of Tarsus in “a light above the brightness of the sun.” And so
glorious and pervading is this light which issues from his face,that in the New
Jerusalem there will be neither sun, nor moon, nor lamp, nor any other light,
and yet rendered so luminous by His presence, that even the nations on the
earth walk in the light of it. And so the lightning brilliancy, which is
to flash from one end of heaven to the other at the time of His coming, and the
glory which is then to invest Him and the whole firmament, is simply the
uncovering or revelation of that blessed light which streams from His divine
person.
Such, then, is the full-drawn picture of our glorious
Lord, as He walks among His Churches, and proceeds to pass His solemn judgment
upon them. There have not been wanting some to pronounce it grotesque and
intolerable. But I cannot so regard it. If a sublimer conception of
Divine and glorified humanity, so true to the Saviour’s offices and work, ever
entered into the imagination of man, I have never seen it, and never heard of
it.
And
when I recall the magnificent portriature, the human
form, walking majestically amid golden furniture, clothed with the garment of
royalty, girded with gold, crowned with flowing locks that reflect the light
and purity of heaven, having a glance of electric power, feet glowing with the
liquid splendour of melted brass, a voice of majesty at which the earth and the
heavens shake, the right hand lit with starry jewels, a mouth whose words carry
their own execution in them, and a countenance as glorious as the noonday sun;
when I survey such majestic lineaments, and such mighty powers, and hear the
possessor of them say : “I am the First and the Last,
and THF LIVING ONE ; and I was dead, and behold, I am living for ever
and ever: and I have the keys of death and of hades;” - I say,
when I bring all this before me, and try to realise it in my imagination, I am
almost overwhelmed with the sublimity of the picture, and with the goodness,
and grace, and power, and might with which the eternal Father hath invested the
person of Jesus Christ.
In the Gospels even, I see Him mostly as a man of
sorrows, persecuted unto death, and laid in the grave, though raised again in
vindication of His righteous goodness. But here I see Him lifted up to
the right hand of power, and clothed with all majesty, that creation’s knees
might bow at His feet, and creation’s tongues confess His greatness and
proclaim His praise. Here I see Godhead in manhood, unalloyed by the
union; and humanity transformed and exalted to the sphere of the worshipful and
Divine; and all, to give greatness to the lowly, and strength to the feeble,
and honour to the despised; and to bring the lofty neck to obedience, tear away
the masks of falsehood, and enforce the rule of heaven on the earth.
I do not wonder at the effect the vision produced upon the exiled apostle as it
burst upon him in his lonely solitude.
“And when I saw him, I
fell at His feet as dead.” Had it not been that He
was in the Spirit, and sustained by the Spirit, it were hardly too much to
suppose that it would have extinauished His life altogether. There is an
awe and terror of a spiritual appearance which is indescribable. Job’s
friend says that when he saw a spirit, the hair of his flesh stood up.
Daniel, who feared not the wrath of a king, nor the lions’ den, when he saw the
vision, was left without strength in him. So also Ezekiel, and Isaiah,
and others of whom we read. God has inwrought into our nature a common
reverence for a spiritual world. And there is something fearfully
prophetic in these irrepressible instincts. They not only argue the
existence of a spiritual world, and that we have deep, mysterious, and awful
connections with it, but also that the veil which covers it is very thin, and
destined some day to be withdrawn; and that its withdrawal connects with
realities which sinful humanity well may dread.
And
if John was so overwhelmed with this vision of the Saviour, on whose bosom he
leaned, and with whose power he was so familiar, how will it be with those who
know Him not, how will it be with us, when the startling trump of God shall
make these heavens ring with the tidings of that great Saviour’s presence, and
these eyes of ours shall meet His eyes, and see Him in His glory? Will
there be no fainting, falling, swooning then? Will there be no sinking in
the souls of men, no drying up, as it were, of the very fountains of life at
the stupendous Apocalypse? Do I not hear the anxious inquiry started in
many a heart at the mere thought of it: Alas, alas, how can I behold it and
live? But a single utterance made it all right with John; and with that,
if you be indeed a Christian, I would have you comfort yourself in view of that
awful moment. Jesus said, “Fear not.”
Great
and dreadful was the glory, and power, and wonder, and majesty which had
suddenly opened upon the seer. The trumpet-sound, the scene of splendour,
the all-revealing look, the voice of power, the countenance of blazing light,
all commingling,, were enough to undo humanity. But the word was Fear
not. Still more awful scenes were coming. The Churches were
to be sifted, the saints were to be crowned, the judgment were to be opened,
the days of vengeance seals were to be revealed, the sun was to be darkened,
the moon to he turned to blood, the stars to fall, the hills to be overthrown,
the islands to be shaken out of their places, the pit to be opened, the hordes
of hell to overrun the apostate nations, the angels to shout from the sky, the
martyrs to cry from under the altar, unprecedented plagues to overwhelm the
world, the battle of the great day of God Almighty to be fought, the winepress
of the wrath of God to be trodden, the places of the wicked to be swept with
the besom of destruction, and the fowls to be called together unto the supper
of the Great God, to eat the flesh of kings, and of captains, and of mighty
men, and of multitudes of small and great. But the word was Fear
not. Thrones were to be set, the dead were to be raised, the
heavens and the earth were to be changed, death and hell were to be summoned up
for destruction, a city was to come down from God out of heaven, and
wonders of power and glory were to be enacted as at the going forth of the
words which spoke creation into being. But the word was Fear not.
The
true Christian is for ever safe. If you be in the Spirit, and
the Spirit be in you, the life that would otherwise fail you will
not fail; the fear that would otherwise overwhelm you shall not
overwhelm you. In your weakness, Christ will give you
strength. In your terror, Christ will be your consolation. In your
wild wonderment, His hand will touch, and His gracious words assure you. Only
see to it that you are on right terms with Him - that you are one of His true
people - that you are a brother of John, and a copartner in the kingdom, and in
patient waiting in Christ Jesus. Having this, you have secured your
armour against all the terrors of the Apocalypse. Let us, then, devoutly
join join in the prayer‑
“Draw near, 0 Son of God,
draw near,
Us with Thy flaming eye behold;
Still in Thy Church vouchsafe to appear,
And let our candlestick be gold.
Still hold the stars in Thy right hand,
And let them in Thy lustre glow,
The lights of a benighted land,
The angels of Thy Church below.
Make good their apostolic boast,
Their high commission let them prove,
Be temples of the Holy Ghost,
And filled with faith, and hope, and love.
Give them an car to hear Thy word;
Thou speakest to the Churches now:
And let all tongues confess their Lord,
Let every knee to Jesus bow.”
LECTURE FOURTH
THE VISION SUPPLEMENTED WITH DECLARATIONS - CHRIST THE
FIRST AND THE LAST, THE LIVING ONE, DIED, IS ALIVE, HAS THE KEYS OF DEATH AND
HADES - WHAT HE COMMANDED JOHN TO WRITE - THERE IS AN HISTORICAL AND ALSO
FUTUREST INTERPRETATION OF THIS BOOK - THE MYSTERY OF THE STARS AND
CANDLESTICKS - THE WORLD IN WHICH THEY ARE STATIONED.
Rev. 1. 17-20 (Revised
Text) - I am the first and the last, and THE LIVING
ONE; and I became dead, and behold, I am living for the ages of the ages; and I
have the keys of death and of hades. Write therefore what thou sawest,
and what they are, and what shall come to pass after these things; the mystery
of the seven stars which thou sawest upon My right hand, and of the seven
candlesticks of gold. The seven stars are [the] angels of the seven Churches, and the seven candlesticks are
[the] seven Churches.
There
is much of glory and majesty in Christ which cannot be pictured to the eye.
Hence the vision which John had of Him is supplemented with titles and
descriptions, the further to assure his faith and to deepen our apprehension of
the true nature and sublimity of our great Lord and Judge. Our business now is
to survey these supplementary declarations.
“I am the First and the Last.” This is a form of speech often employed
by the Almighty, when about to comfort His people, and to assure their
faith. We find it three times in Isaiah, and three times in the
Apocalypse; and in every in every instance used for a like purpose. Its
meaning is hardly to be mistaken; and yet it has been mistaken, by some who
wished to avoid the doctrine which it teaches, and by others who did not
sufficiently weigh it in all its connections. These take it as if the
Saviour had said: “I am He who, being the foremost and
first in all honour, became the lowest and last in dishonour, sounding the
lowest depths of ignominy and shame.” That this is true of Christ
may readily be admitted. He was, as Artemonius says, “the most excellent, and the most abject.”
But
this is not the truth meant to be expressed in this formula. It does not
fall in with the course of thought, or the end for which it is introduced, in
this or in any other connection in which it is found. In Isaiah 41: 4; 45: 6; 17: 12, and in Rev. 22: 13, it is plainly intended to express
what appertains exclusively to the divine and the eternal; and it must be so
taken here. It is not a mere statement of the extent of Christ’s
humiliation, from the estate of one first in honour to the estate of one lowest
in digrace; but a formula which sets forth the eternity of God,
and His high superiority to all created things. Creation had a
beginning; but God was first, before creation, without
beginning, Himself the beninner. All created things are continually
changing, and each particular style or order is for some end beyond itself; but
God is last,abiding when all these changes have been
wrought, and surviving every consummation, Himself the end. As
appropriated by Christ, it asserts His proper and eternal Deity, and His real
participation in all that is characteristic of Godhead. It assigns Him an
existence before creation, and after all consummations, Himself the beginner
and the consummator. Before Him none was, for He “was in the beginning with God.,” and after Him none shall be.
He is the first, in that all things are from Him; and the last, in that all
things are to Him and for Him. The beginning, was made from Him, and
everything will be consummated by Him and in Him.
The
first motion of the absolute, eternal, unapproachable Godhead towards
outwardness of expression, calling the worlds into existence, and organising
all created things, was this Christ and Son of God; and that to which all
creation, providence, and grace is ordered and tending, and in which all is to
have, not a cessation of existence, but the fulfilment of its ultimate purpose
and accomplishment, bodying forth all the harmony, richness, beauty, glory, and
perfection of every divine thought and intent, is nothing more nor less than
the conformation of all things to, and the setting out of the unspeakable
fulness of, this selfsame Christ and Son of God. It is therefore a
formula spanning the nature and philosophy of Godhead, in all His works, from
the unsearchable depths of the eternal past, to the equally unscarchable depths
of the eternal future, showing all to be from Christ, and by Christ, and to
Christ, Originating in Him, perpetuated through all successions of change by
Him, and with their final consummation standing in and embodying His fulness.
It
is the title which Jehovah takes where He declares His eternal and universal
creatorship, and His infinite superiority over all other beings: “Hearken unto Me, O Judah, and
“And The Living One.” This is another title
of Deity. It refers not to mere manifested life, but to life
inherent. The words do not relate simply to the fact of Christ’s having
lived in the flesh, but to His possession of a deeper and self-existing life,
of which that was only one manifestation. The life here claimed by Christ
is life coeval with the creation of the world, and which had an eternal subsistence
with the Father before the world was. John tells us that in Christ was
life, and that that life was the same eternal life which was with the Father. (1 Jno. 1: 1, 2.) All mere creatures are
dying ones, except as their being is sustained by Him who gave it; but God is
the Living One, as life in Him is self-existent. It needs no other to
uphold it. It came from none, and it is sustained by none, but
itself. Immortality may be imparted to creatures, but God only hath
it in and of Himself. And when Christ declares Himself to be THE
LIVING ONE, He claims and asserts a consubstantiality with the
self-existent God, from whom all things proceed, and on whom all creatures
depend.
And
yet He “became dead.” It is
impossible for our dull powers to penetrate the depths of these divine
mysteries. When the ancient sage was asked to give a definition of God,
he said‑God is a circle, whose centre is everywhere, and whose
circumference is nowhere. He had expressed the truth, but
under very contradictory conceptions. God is truly in every particular
place, and yet beyond all place at the same time, He is in every place entire,
as a centre, and yet He is bounded by no lines of limitation. And we have
like difficulty in explaining how Godhead is to be found, as in the Father, so
in the Son, or how the self-existent and eternal could yet become dead.
We are on safe and sure ground when we assert that God is ever-living,
self-existent, and eternal; and that the same is true of the Christ and Son of
God; and yet, it is equally true and certain, that this same Christ and Son of
God, in that manifestation of His eternal life which He lived in human flesh,
also died - as we say in the Creed, “was
crucified, dead, and buried.” He who had life
within Himself from all eternity, He who was made the depository of all outward
life before any creature was formed, became a dead person. It is the same
I who proclaims Himself the First and the Last, and The Living One, who says
that HE became dead. Some tell us that what was of the divine
substance in Christ withdrew when He died; this I cannot admit. It was
“God the mighty Maker died
For man the creature’s sin.”
And
yet there was no suspension of the continuity of that which is eternal and
ever-living. That there was a certain emptying of Himself on the part of
Christ in His humiliation and death is taught us. And that there was a
certain quitting of the use and claim of his Godhead in His incarnation and
submission to death - a certain putting of Himself out of self-existing life in
order to receive it again from the Father, - we must believe. But we must
at the same time hold, that it was somehow The Living One that became dead, and
the eternal life that had share in the mysterious immolation, giving virtue to
the sacrifice, and imparting itself through it.
But this becoming dead is specially connected, and
that with a note of exclamation, with another announcement, that this same
Being who became dead is, alive, and living for the, age of the ages.
The state of death was but for an instant, and was succeeded by a
resurrection, which put Him again in the possession and exercise of the
attributes of the ever-living. He laid down His life that He might take
it again, and thus gave the more brilliant proof that He is The Living
One. “So God, in order to prove that Christ, and He alone, is The Living
One, doth permit the many to come under the dominion of death; and having thus
proved that no man is The Living One, He then bringeth Christ into the same
controversy with death, who, by overcoming it, doth prove Himself the Prince of
Life, and the Master of Death; so that He could say, “I
am the Resurrection and the Life.” By being the Resurrection, He
is proved to be the Life. He is not the Life in consequence of the
resurrection, but in antecedence of it. The resurrection proves Him to be
that Being in whom it had pleased God that Life should reside as in an
invincible fortress, which was tried and proved to be death-proof.
Hence
the further proclamation, “and I have the keys of
death and of Hades.”* It is hardly possible that
the Saviour meant to represent death as a place. It
is, however, a power, and a fearful power, locking up and
holding tight all who come under its sway. What millions have gone down beneath
that power, and are now held by it! Nearly every acre of the earth is
full of them, and the bottom of every sea. I have seen their grim
skeletons on mountain summits, eight thousand two hundred feet above the level
of the sea; and I have walked upon their ashes more than a thousand feet below
that level. And from far deeper depths to still more elevated heights, on
all the slopes and hillsides, and in all the fields and valleys of the earth,
death’s victims lie in fetters of darkness, silence, and dust. Even on
the life-powers of the Son of God were these manacles made fast. But by
Him they were also unlocked; for He hath the keys of death.
[*
“So all the best MSS. and Versions have it, while the
reading of our Translation inverts the natural and logical order; for it is
death which peoples hell or Hades; it is a king of death who makes possible a
kingdom of the dead (Rev. 6: 3; 20: 13, 14); for by hell, or Hades, this invisible kingdom or dominion
of the dead is intended, and that in all its extent, not merely in one dark
province of it, the region assigned to the lost.” -Trench in
loc.]
And
as death holds the bodies of men, so Hades holds their souls.
There is an under world, intermediate between death and the resurrection,
and the souls of all the dead are in that world, the good in
rest and hope, and the wicked in unrest and fearful awaiting of judgment.
I know not where it is, nor what it is. I only know that it is Paradise
for the righteous, and anything but
And
those keys and potencies are still in His possession, and wielded by Him.
He giveth persons to death and Hades, and retains them there, as He will, and
He brings them forth again at His pleasure, as He did the nobleman’s daughter,
the widow’s son, and Mary’s brother. When He arose, He not only brought
his own soul forth, and his own body from the grave, but likewise those of
other Saints, levying tribute on those mysterious realms, as now their
Conqueror, and henceforth their Lord.*
And there is no hell so deep but He can open it, and thrust His enemies in, and
lock it that they may never more come out. Nor is there any disability of
the saints by reason of death or Hades, nor tiny doors or bands locked upon
them in their state of separation from the body, but He has the key to turn
back the dingy bolts, and set all such prisoners free. And as He said of
old, “O death,, I will be thy plague: O grave, I will
be thy destruction;” the time is coming when He will apply these keys,
and leave not a soul or body more in death or Hades which shall not be brought
forth in the power of His resurrection.
[* While it is true that some
saints were resurrected from the dead at the time of Christ’s death (Matt. 27: 52,
53); but it is highly unlikely that they never returned again to
Hades – the place of the dead, as did the prophet Samuel and Lazarus (1 Sam.
28: 14-19; John 11: 44. See Acts 2: 34 – 10 days after Christ’s ascension
after His post-resurrection ministry: why leave David – a ‘man after God’s own
heart’ behind?)]
“Write therefore what thou sawest, and what they are, and what
shall come to pass after these things.”
Trench justly observes: “It is
certainly a piece of carelessness on the part of our translators to have
omitted, which none of the previous translators had done, the (therefore), about
the right of which to a place in the text no question has ever been made.
With what intention the illative particle is used is perhaps best referred to what
goes immediately before: Seeing that I am this mighty One, the first and the
last, who was dead and am alive, do thou therefore write; for the things
declared by me are all steadfast and sure.”
“WRITE WHAT SHALL COME TO PASS
AFTER THESE THINGS."
Some
maintain that we are now living under the sixth vial, and that nearly
everything up to the eighteenth chapter has already been fulfilled. Nor
will I dispute that there is a sense, dim and inchoate, in which this is
true. Prophecy, in its fulfilment, is made up of several concentric
circles, blended in the same general picture. It is said that history is
continually repeating, itself. Much truer is this of prophecy. But
each fulfilment is in a higher fulness, till. the last sums up all. There
is but one proper and ultimate literal fulfilment of any prophecy; but, in
anticipation of that there are typical and precursory fulfilments - preliminary
rehearsals in advance of the grand performance. We can accordingly trace
out in history a very interesting, but not always distinct correspondence to
what is contained in the first eighteen chapters of this book.
But if that were the true and only fulfilment, so much learning and
acquaintance with history would be necessary in order to track it
through the multiplicity and complication of human events, that it must
needs remain an uncertain and second-hand thing to the great body of
the Lord’s people. I look then for another, simpler, more direct,
and easier understood fulfilment.
Whilst,
then, I admit that these predictions may have had a dim, imperfect., but
oft scarcely traceable fulfilment in the past, I am firmly convinced
that the true and proper fulfilment of everything beyond the third chapter is
to take place only after the Church has run its course, completed its history,
and received its judgment.* [* Unproved hypothesis]
We are elsewhere told that “judgment must begin at
the house of God.” (1 Pet. 4: 17.)
If that be true, then the judgment of the world is something subsequent, a
judgment which takes place after the judgment of the
Church. The Seals, Trumpets, and Vials, therefore, must be future in
their main fulfilment, as the judgment of the world is future; for it is the
judgment of the world that they foreshow. Read the Apocalypse in this view, and
you will find it an easy book to you, luminous and precious, which needs no
historian to explain it, or to prove it to be of God.
Look
we now a little more particularly into the mystery which John was directed to
explain, and the explanation given - the mystery of the seven stars upon
Christ’s right band, and of the seven candlesticks of
gold.
John
tells us that “the seven stars are [the] angels of the seven Churches, and the seven candlesticks are [the] seven Churches,” and a child at once understands
what no sage could otherwise have known.
The
stars are mentioned first and have the most conspicuous place.
They are the angels of the Churches. Stars are
frequently employed as representative of lordship and authority, if not in its
centre, yet in its distributions around the centre. Symbolically they
indicate high official place. They here denote the very highest officers
of the individual Churches. They are called angels, and hence some have
argued for an order of superhuman creatures. But the word angel
is more descriptive of office than of nature. It means a messenger,
one invested with a special commission. It can apply as well to men
as to celestial orders. (Hag. 1: 13; Mal. 2: 7; 3:
l.) And that it is here meant to apply to men, I gather from
the delinquencies which are subsequently laid to the charge of some of these
angels, and from the utter silence of the Scriptures with reference to any
arrangement putting the Churches under the charge and instruction of heavenly
beings.
They
are stars because they are illuminators, and because they
are heads and leaders of the flocks over which the Holy Ghost hath placed
them. They are angels or messengers, because God
bath sent them, and made them His representatives, the Guardians of His
Churches, and the stewards of His mysteries. They are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech by them. They are, for the purposes of
their office, “in Christ’s stead.” (2 Cor. 5: 20.) In Daniel we read of heavenly
angels, guardians of nations, and communicating with men in God’s name; and
here we have earthly angels, guardians of Churches, set
and authorised to exercise their ministry in the name of Christ.
“And the seven candlesticks are [the]
seven Churches.” I have already
sufficiently remarked upon the aptness of this symbol. If the ministers
are light-givers, the congregations are light-bearers
- the organisation for upholding the light. Hence the Church is elsewhere
described as “the pillar and ground of the truth.”
We must have Churches as well as ministers. This is the Divine order and
constitution. “God hath set the members every one
of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. There are many members, yet
but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of
thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more
those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.”
(1 Cor. 12: 18-22.) Yea, the whole Church,
Christ the Head, the stars on His right hand, and the entire membership of
believers clustered around them, are but one great mystic candlestick, for
setting and holding forth the great light of salvation; which saves them that
believe, and judges and condemns the world that lieth in unbelief and sin.
There
is yet one point in this mystery of the stars and candlesticks to which I will
refer. It is the realm in which they are stationed, and
its characteristics as indicated in the provision made for it. Where you see
stars, and need candles, there is darkness. And how
dark is that world, that kingdom, that community, that heart, into which
the light of Christianity has not effectually penetrated? With all
the splendour of its genius, all the glory of its arms, all the
brilliancy of its power, how savage, how beastly, how like a sepulchre,
full of chilly gloom and festering death! When the Gospel first
arose upon the world, in what state did it find mankind? Let the
apostle answer: “Given up to uncleanness through
the lusts of their own hearts; filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder,
debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful,
proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful; doing these things and having pleasure in them
that do them.” (
LECTURE FIFTH.
THE
CHURCH – “ASIA” –
Rev. 1: 20. The Seven Churches.
The
word Church stands in the English Testament as the
equivalent of a compound Greek word signifying to call out of or
from among. In three instances, our translators have rendered it assembly.
This is its primary sense, which underlies all its applications in the New
Testament, the Septuagint, and the Greek language in general. The heathen
Greeks used it to denote the select assemblies of free citizens convened for
the transaction of public affairs, in which the common populace, strangers, and
such as had forfeited civic rights, had no place. It is used by Stephen
to denote the congregation of the children of
1. THEIR
LOCATIONS. 2. THEIR SIGNIFICANCE.
The
locations of these seven Churches are twice given: first, in the general
commission which John received; and second, in the specific directions what to
write to each. The command of the trumpet voice was: “What thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven
Churches: unto
These
are not unknown places. They all lie within the scope of a few hundred miles
north of the Mediterranean and east of the outlet of the
The
first in the list is
Pergamos is the next in
the list. This lies directly north of
Twenty
or thirty miles to the south-east was Thyatira, the fourth in the
list, and once a considerable town, founded by Seleucus Nicator. In the
time of John, it was mainly inhabited by Macedonians, who had formed themselves
into various guilds of potters, tanners, weavers, rope-makers, and dyers.
From
Thyatira, some thirty miles to the southward, we come to
South-eastward,
less than forty miles, stood
[*
Col. 4: 16. It is thought by some that
the epistle here referred to has not been lost, but is the same as the Epistle
to Philemon, or the First Epistle to Timothy.]
So
much,then, for the locations of these seven Churches. We
pass to the more important matter of their significance.
This is indicated in the number seven. The earliest commentator on the
Apocalypse, whose work has come down to us, was Victorinus, Bishop of Pettau,
or Petavium, who died a martyr in the year 303. He was the contemporary of
Irenaeus, and a man of piety, diligence in setting forth the teachings of the
Scriptures, and vigorous in his perceptions of the meaning of the sacred
writers. Most of his writings have been lost, except some
fragments. His comments on the Apocalypse survive, in a text less pure
than we could wish, but sufficiently giving the substance of his views. In
his Scholia in Apocalypsin, he says that what John
addresses to one Church be addresses to all; that Paul was the first to teach
us that there are seven Churches in the whole world, and
that the seven Churches named mean the Church Catholic;
and that John, to observe the same method, has not exceeded the number
seven.
What Victorinus means, is that Paul, in writing
to seven Churches, and to seven only - viz., the Romans,
Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Thessalonians, Philippians, and Colossians -
intended to have it understood that all the Churches of all time are typically
comprehended in those seven; and that, in the same way, the seven Churches in
the Apocalypse are meant to comprise figuratively all the Churches in the
world: that is, the Church Catholic of all ages. This was also the view
of Tichaenius, of the fourth century; Arethas of Cappadocia, and Primasius
of Adrumetum, in the sixth; and Vitringa, Mede,
There
is a sacred significance in numbers: not cabalistic, not fanciful; but
proceeding from the very nature of things, well settled in the Scriptures, and
universally acknowledged in all the highest and deepest systems of human
thought and religion.*
[*The
unit, one, is the source and parent of all numbers.
It therefore stands for God, in the most hidden absoluteness of His being, in
which the whole Godhead, and all things, stand. “There
is one God, and there is none other but He.” (Mark
12: 32.) Une expresses commencement, and God
is the commencement. The unit underlies all continuation, and by God all
things consist. And nothing can so well express the absolute First Cause,
as the number ONE.
But
Godhead, as set forth to the contemplation of rational beings, is a Trinity - a
One Three and a Three One. Nearly all the loading nations of antiquity, in
harmony with revelation, have so represented Him. In this Trinity, the
Son is the second. Two, therefore, stands for Christ, but
is significant of something further wanting. It is the first from the
one, and reposes on the one, and is necessary to the making up of the first
complete complex number, but is not complete in itself. It is the
productive number, but it is only complete when the product is added. The
Spirit is the third person who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Man
and wife are two - one, but the product of dual unity is needed to complete the
family.
Three is the number of
individual completion. It is composed of three numbers, each of which is
in itself one, and which multiplied together still make
only one. Three, therefore, represents the Trinity,
each number of which is God, and yet the Three together are still only One.
It is the simplest composite unity, and forms the simplest compound
figure in geometry - the equal-sided triangle, which is indivisible, and
un-resolvable into anything else. It is the first and fixed compound unit
of mathematical science. It therefore properly stands for the Trinity and
individual completeness. As such, it has been also wrought into all God’s
works. Man is body, soul, and spirit – three-one. The family is
man, and wife, and offspring – three-one.
Four is the world
number. It proceeds from three, and includes three. And as
three represents the Trinity - the highest, and the perfect four designates
that which proceeds from the Trinity, and is dependent thereon: the creation,
the universe. Hence the world resolves itself into four elements: fire,
air, earth, and water. The points of the compass are four: north, east,
south, west. There are four seasons, four winds, four grand divisions of
the earth. The great world-powers of history and prophecy are four.
The living beings, supposed to represent the forces of providence, are four.
Ezekiel’s vision of God’s providence in the world revealed four cherubim, four
wheels with four sides, four faces, and four wings. The waters in
Five represents progress, but incompleteness. It is
the perfect three, with the imperfect tie. On the fifth day life was
created in the sea, but there was yet no life on land. Five toes, or five
fingers are but half of what pertain to a complete man. Under the fifth
seal the martyrs are impatient, but are told to wait yet a season. They are
enjoying some of the fruits of their faith, but their crowns are
deferred. The fifth vial is poured upon the seat of the beast, but does
not destroy it utterly.
Six is the Satanic number. As the darkest hour
immediately precedes the dawn, and the darkest years are the last before the
millennial Sabbath, so the number immediately preceding the complete seven is
the worst of all. The sixth body in the solar system is a shattered one.
The sixth epistle to the Churches tells of an hour of universal trial, and
suffering; the sixth seal brings destruction and death; the sixth trumpet
destroys the third part of men; and the sixth vial introduces the unclean
spirits who gather the kings of the earth and of the whole world to the war of
the great day of God Almighty. Antichrist’s number is three sixes: six units,
six tens, and six hundreds – 666 the individual completion of everything
evil. And Christ was crucified on the sixth day, which is still the
common execution day, and is popularly regarded as one of the most unlucky of
the seven.
Seven is the number of dispensational fulness.
It carries with it the idea of sacredness in that which relates to this
world. It is the Trinity and the creation in contact - the divine Three
with the worldly four. Hence, it is always connected with whatever
touches the covenant between man and God, worship, and the coming together of
the Creator and the creature. It is a sacred number. Trench
remarks, “The evidences of this reach back to the very
beginning. We meet them first in the hallowing of the seventh day, in
pledge and token of the covenant of God with man, as indeed in the binding up
of seven in the very word Sabbath.” It occurs in expressions of
the completeness of any specific sacred order or
time. The instances, at any rate, are too numerous to mention. The
Bible is full of them. And the Apocalypse, which is the book of the
consummation of all God’s dispensational dealings with mankind, is, above all,
a book of sevens. It consists of seven visions, with
the sevenfold ascription of glory to God and to the Lamb, and discloses to us
the seven Spirits of God, the seven candlesticks, the seven stars, seven lamps
of fire, seven seals, seven horns and seven eyes of the Lamb, seven angels with
seven trumpets, seven thunders, seven heads of the beast and seven crowns upon
those heads, the seven plagues, seven vials, seven mountains, and seven
regencies. And it is this book of sevens because it is the book of the
fulness of everything of which it treats - the Trinity’s consummation of all
divine dispensations. It is therefore the number of dispensational
fulness.
Eight is the number of
new beginning and resurrection. The eighth day is the beginning of a new
week. The Jewish child was circumcised the eighth day, which was its
birth into covenant relations. Noah was “the
eighth person,” and his family consisted of eight, and they started the
new world after the flood. Christ rose from the dead on the eighth
day. David was the eighth son of Jesse, and he established a new order
for
Ten is the number of worldly completion. The great
beast of worldly power, in its final form, has ten horns. The body of man, in
earthly completeness, has ten fingers and ten toes. The moral law, as
applicable to man in this world, has ten precepts. The earthly
manifestations of Christ after His resurrection were ten. The tribulation
spoken of to the Church in
Twelve
is the number of final
completeness. Hence the twelve months in the year, the
twelve signs in the zodiac, the twelve tribes of
But
I will not linger among these numbers. I have said enough to show that
they have an important significance, rooted in the nature of things, and
acknowledged in the Scriptures and in the common language and thinking
of the great mass of mankind. They are not inventions of men, but
expressions of God and His works.]
These
Churches are seven. And this number gives us
the key to the true significance of these Churches. It assigns to them
the unmistakable character of completeness. As “the seven Spirits which are before the throne”
are the one Holy Spirit, in all the fulness and
completeness of His offices and powers in this dispensation, so “the seven Churches” are the one Holy Catholic
Church, in all the amplitude and completeness of its being
and history, from the time of the vision to the end.
Nor
does this conflict with the fact that these were literal historic Churches,
existing, at the time the apostle wrote, at the places which I have
described. They were actually existing Churches of
[*
“The seven must be regarded as constituting a complex
whole - as possessing an ideal completeness. Christ, we feel sure, could
not have placed Himself in the relation which He does to them, - as holding, in
His hand the seven stars, walking among the seven golden candlesticks, those
stars being the angels of the Churches, and the candlesticks the Churches
themselves, - unless they ideally represented and set forth, in some way or
other, the universal Church militant here upon earth.” - Trench on
the Seven Epistles, p. 41. '
“The number seven is used throughout the Apocalypse in a
symbolic sense, and is admitted to be expressive of completeness or
perfection. Why should ‘the seven Churches’ be an exception to the rule? Were the seven local
Churches, the names of which are given, the only light-bearers or
candlesticks? Did the light entirely cease to shine when those Asiatic
Churches ceased to exist? Let these seven Churches, or candle-sticks, be
regarded as a sevenfold or perfect representative of the one Church, in its
responsibility to Christ as His light-bearer or witness before the world, and
we have an interpretation at once consistent with the entire character of the
book, and sufficient to account for the selection of seven local Churches, the
divers states of which furnish what was needed for this sevenfold or perfect
view of the whole professing body.”‑Plain Papers, p. 418.
“The number seven in the
Scriptures denotes something universal and complete.” ‑ Luther
(see Walch’s Luther, ix. 2063).]
There
are, however, other considerations to corroborate this view. One is found
in the seven times repeated admonition: “He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.”
Such language, seven times reiterated, as if printed in the largest
capitals, has in it an intensity of universality and urgency beyond anything in
all the volume of Scripture. Why is this? The whole Apocalypse is encircled
with a special promise of blessing to him that reads and keeps it. We
find it in the first verses, and among the last; and we argue from it that
there is something special in this book, calling for our particular
attention. And when we find this sevenfold additional admonition affixed
to the seven epistles, and in each place stated to refer to the whole seven,
what are we to gather from it but that, in the mind of Jesus, there is much
more in these seven epistles than we find on the surface of them, and that they
apply to Christians universally, and concern every man, throughout all Gospel
times, and that the peculiarities of these seven particular Churches are
types and images of the Church general in its entireness of membership and
history? Admit that these epistles contain a
panoramic outline of the whole visible Church, as that Church
and her deeds appear in the light of the throne of God, and this urgent
admonition is at once explained. If, in dealing with these epistles,
every man, of every age, has a divine thermometer whereby to tell exactly where
he or his Church stands in Christ’s judgment, and one constructed and delivered
to him from Christ Himself for this specific purpose, then this fulness and
un-limitedness of urgency is comprehensible and fitting. I must conclude,
from this sevenfold charge concerning these seven epistles, that these seven
Churches of Asia, as here described, were meant to be paradigmatic of the
whole Church, every Church, and every member of the Church, and
Christ’s judgment of them, then and thereafter, up to and inclusive of His
final apportionment of rewards and punishments to each.
The
same may be argued from the word mystery, as applied to
these Churches and their angels. It intimates, from the start, that there
is something more intended than is seen upon the surface; and what that
something is, we find in the view I have given. And, indeed, the nature
of the vision in which John received these epistles, assumes that not these
seven Churches alone, but in them the entire Church, is to be
contemplated. The angels of other Churches, and other
ages, are as much stars in Christ’s right hand as these seven,
and why should we think to leave them out of the solemn representation?
These
seven Churches, then, besides being literal historical Churches, stand for the
entire Christian body, in all periods of its history. But
how, or in what respects?
In the first place, the seven Churches represent seven phases or
periods in the Charch’s history,
stretching from the time of the
apostles to the coming again of Christ, the characteristics of which are set
forth partly in the names of these Churches, but more fully in the epistles
addressed to them. There has been an Ephesian period
- a period of warmth, and love, and labour for Christ, dating directly from the
apostles, in which defection began by the gradual cooling of the love of some,
the false professions of others, and the incoming of undue exaltations of the
clergy and Church offices. Then came the
Then
followed the Pergamite period, in which true faith more
and more disappeared from view, and clericalism gradually formed itself into a
system, and the Church united with the world, and
Then
came the Thyatiran period - the age of purple and glory
for the corrupt priesthood, and of darkness for the truth; the age of
effeminacy and clerical domination, when the Church usurped the place of
Christ, and the witnesses of Jesus were given to dungeons, stakes, and
inquisitions; the age of the enthronement of the false prophetess, reaching to
the days of Luther and the Reformation.
Then
came the Sardian period - the age of separation and return
to the rule of Christ; the age of comparative freedom from Balaam and his
doctrines, from the Nicolaitans and their tenets, from Jezebel and her
fornications; an age of many worthy names, but marked with deadness withal, and
having much of which to repent; an age covering the spiritual lethargy of the
Protestant centuries before the great evangelical movements of the last hundred
years, which brought us the Philadelphian era, marked by a
closer adherence to the written word, and more fraternity among Christians, but
now rapidly giving place to Laodicean luke-warmness,
self-sufficiency, empty profession, and false peace, in which the day of
judgment is to find the unthinking multitude who suppose they are Christians
and are not.
In the next place, the seven Churches represent seven varieties of
Christians, both true and fake.
Every professor of Christianity is either an Ephesian in his religious
qualities, a Smyrnaote, a Pergamite, a Thyatiran, a Sardian, a Philadelphian,
or a Laodicean. It is of these seven sorts that the whole Church is made
up.
Nor are we to look for one sort in one period or in
one denomination only. Every age, every denomination, and nearly every
congregation contains specimens of each. As all the elements of the ocean
are to be found, in more or less distinctness, in every drop from the ocean, so
every community of Christian professors has some of all the varied classes
which make up Christendom at large. One may abound most in Ephesians,
another in Smyrnaotes, another in Thyatirans, and others in other kinds; but we
shall hardly be at a loss to find some of each class in every Christian
community.
This last-mentioned consideration gives to
these Epistles a directness of application to ourselves, and to professing
Christians of every age, of the utmost solemnity and importance. They
tell what Christ’s judgment of each of us is, and what we each may expect in
the great day of His coming. In every age, and in every congregation,
Christ is walking among His Churches, with open flaming eyes; and these
epistles give us His opinion of what His all-revealing glance discovers.
And as we would know where we stand, and what we may expect when this
Apocalypse is fulfilled, let us carefully examine, and pray God to help us to
the true understanding of these special summaries of what the Spirit saith unto
the Churches.
LECTURE SIXTH.
THE
SEVEN EPISTLE.S - A DISTINCT AND
INVITING DELIARTMENT OF SACRED LITERATURE - STRANGELY NEGLECTED BY THE CHURCH -
EACH EMBRACES SEVEN PARTS - THEIR TEACHINGS IN RELATION TO THE PARTICULAR
CHURCHES ADDRESSED - CHRIST REMEMBERS HIS PEOPLE - SPEAKS TO THEM THROUGH THEIR
MINISTERS - THE MORAL STATE OF THE PRIMITIVE CRURCHES - THE IMPORTANCE ASSIGNED
TO THE PRACTICAL IN RELIGION – CHRIST’S USE OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE SECOND
ADVENT - THE FUTURE OF THE REDEEMED.
Rev. Chaps. 2., 3.
(Revised Text) - To the angel of the Church in Ephesus
write: These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who
walketh in the midst of the seven candlesticks of gold: I know thy works, and
thy labour, and thy endurance, and that thou canst not bear those who are evil,
and hast tried those who say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them
false, and hast endurance, and didst bear for My name, and hast not
fainted. Nevertheless, I have against thee that thou hast left thy first
love. Remember, therefore, whence thou hast fallen, and repent, and do
the first works; otherwise I am coming unto thee, and will remove thy
candlestick out of its place, if thou dost not repent. But this thou
hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
He that bath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
Churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the paradise of My God.
And to the angel of the Church in
And to the angel of the Church in Porgamos write: These things saith
He which hath the sharp sword with two edges. I know where thou dwellest, [even] where Satan’s throne
[is], and thou holdest fast My name, and didst not deny
the faith of Me, even in the days of Antipas My witness, My faithful one, who
was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. Nevertheless, I have against
thee a few things, [that] thou hast there
those who hold the teaching of Balsam, who taught Balak to put a
stumbling-block (an occasion of sin) before the sons of
And to the angel of the Church in Thyatira write: These things saith
the Son of God. who hath His eyes as a flame of fire, and His feet like unto
fine brass: I know thy works, and charity, and faith, and service, and thy
endurance, and thy last works [to be] more than the first. Notwithstanding, I have against thee
that thou sufferest thy wife Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess, and
teacheth and leadeth astray My servants to commit fornication, and to eat
things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her time that she should repent,
and she is not minded to repent of her fornication. Behold, I cast her
into a bed [of sickness, torment or lerdition],
and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, if they do not
repent of her works. And her children will I slay with death; and all the
Churches shall know that I am He who searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will
give to every one of you according to your works. But unto you who are
the remnant in Thyatira, as many as have not this teaching, who have not known
the depths, as they speak, ([depths] of Satan),
I put not upon you any other burden; only that which ye have, hold fast till I
come. And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth My works unto the end,
to him will I give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a
rod [sceptre] of iron; as the vessels of
earthenware shall they be broken to shivers; as I also received from My Father;
and I will give to him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.
And to the angel of the Church in
And to the angel of the Church in
Philadelphia write: These things saith the Holy [One], the
True, He that hath the key of David [of Hades? comp. 1: 18], Who openeth and no
one shall shut, Who shutteth and no one shall open: I know thy works; behold, I
have given before thee a door opened, which no one is able to shut; because
thou hast a little strength, didst keep My word, and didst not deny My
name. Behold, I give [those] of the
synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but do lie, behold, I
will make them that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and
that they may know that I loved thee. Because thou didst keep My word of
patient endurance, I also will keep thee out of the hour of temptation
[the appointed season of sore trial] which is about to
come upon the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth. I am
coming quickly; hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy
crown. He that overcometh, him will I make a pillar in the temple of My
God, and he shall go no more out of it; and I will write upon him the name of
My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem which cometh down
out of the heaven from My God, and Mine own new name. He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.
And to the angel of the Church of Laodiceans write: These things
saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning [Head Prince] of the creation
of God: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; would thou wert
cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I am about to spue thee out of MY mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich,
and increased with goods, and have need in nothing, and knowest not that thou
art the wretched and the pitiable [one], and
poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy from Me gold refined out of
the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness
be not made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest
see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and
repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hear My voice,
and open the door, I will enter in to him, and will sup with him, and he shall
sup with Me. To him that overcometh will I give to sit with Me on My
throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
In
the second and third chapters of the Apocalypse, upon which we now enter, we
find a distinct and unique section of sacred literature, which the learned and
devout Dr. Bengel used to commend, above everything, to the study
especially of young ministers. We call the contents of these chapters Epistles;
but they are not so much message from an absent Lord
as sentences of a present Judge, engaged in the solemn act
of inspection and decision. There is much pertaining to these sentences
to recommend them to the particular attention of Christians. They are a
prominent and vital part of the Apocalypse, which pronounces special
benedictions upon its attentive readers and hearers. Like the parables,
they consist exclusively of Christ’s own words, and are the very last which we
have directly from Him. They are, perhaps, the only unabridged records of
His addresses in our possession. They are most impressively introduced,
and so directly addressed as to beget the idea that they are something of
unusual solemnity and importance. They are also accompanied with a seven
times repeated entreaty and command to hear what is said in them. And yet
but little attention is paid to them.
Exposition
is remarkably barren with respect to these Epistles. Though in every way
marked as of equal account with the parables, they have not received a tithe of
the attention. We have hundreds of disquisitions on
other special discourses of the Saviour, where it would be difficult to find tens
devoted to these, His last and most solemn, dictated from heaven,
super-scribed with His own marvellous attestations, and urged upon all
by the sevenfold admonition to hear and ponder what they contain.
Even writers on the Apocalypse itself, in very many instances, have passed
these Epistles with hardly a word of remark. Erroneously assigning to
them nothing but what concerned the particular Churches named, and mistakenly
commencing the Apocalypse proper only with the fourth or sixth chapter, writers
on prophecy have thought they had no occasion to deal with these divine
letters, and have generally passed them by.
I
have already indicated the manner in which the seven Churches are to be
viewed. They were literal historical Churches, existing at the time John
wrote, but, at the same time, representative and
comprehensive of all other Churches of all nations, places, and ages - a
complete sample of the whole body, in the entirety of its character and
career. And it is the same with reference to these seven Epistles.
They are neither exactly nor only prophetic. They were really messages to
these particular Churches, in view of their several conditions, to stir them up
to hold fast what was right, and to amend what was wrong, as also all other
Churches in like conditions. But as the seven Churches were
representative and inclusive of the entire Church, these Epistles also give
Christ’s judgment of the entire Church, and are necessarily anticipative of its
entire history. In other words, they give us, from the beginning, the
exact picture of the whole history of the Christian Church, as
that history, when finished, shall present itself to the mind of Christ as He
contemplates it from the judgment seat, which is really the point from which
everything presented in the Apocalypse is viewed. We may therefore read
in them what was in the beginning, and what the career of the Church has been
since, and will be to the end.
In
each Epistle there are seven distinct parts: first, an
address; second, a citation of some one or more of the sublime attributes of
the Speaker; third, an assertion of His complete knowledge of the
sphere, duties, and doings of the persons addressed; fourth, a description of
the state of each, with such interspersions of praise and promise, or censure
and admonition, as the case required; fifth, an allusion to His promised coming
and the character it will assume to the persons described; sixth, a universal
command to hear; and seventh, a special promise to the ultimate victor.
In the last four, the order of succession is varied from the first three, and
the call to attention is there put after the promise “to him that overcometh;” but in each these seven parts
may be distinguished, showing that there is a completeness and fulness about
the whole, which will not admit of their being confined in their signification
to the few particular congregations to which they were originally addressed.
But
without descending into all the particulars, I propose to note briefly some
of the teachings of these Epistles, considered – IN RELATION TO THE PARTICULAR
CHURCHES ADDRFSSED.
1.
The first Churches were very obscure assemblages, unnoticed by the great
world, in the midst of which they were planted, or were observed only to be
despised. But, neglected or persecuted on earth, we see from these Epistles
that they were considered in heaven, and had the very first place in the
blessed Saviour’s regard. Wonderful doings among the potencies of this world
were about to take place. Seals were to be opened at which the heavens
should shake, the sun be darkened, the stars fall, and mountains and islands
move from their places. Trumpets were to be blown, which should turn the
very rains to hail, fire, and blood, open the pit, and fill the earth with
woe. Battles were to be fought, in heaven and on earth, and vials of
wrath emptied, and scenes enacted over which heaven should shout
hallelujah. But in advance of all, and above all, the mind of the great
Judge was on His little companies of believers, and to them He gave His first
attention. “Write,” said He, “and send to the seven Churches.”
2.
But when we come to inspect what is written, we find all addressed to the ministers
in charge of these Churches. Each Epistle is written to “the angel of the Church.” What is written we know to be
meant not for him alone, for the command is to every one to hear “what the Spirit saith to the Churches;”
but we thus encounter an item of ecclesiastical order,
binding up these congregations very closely with their pastors, and their
pastors with them. This is important. It shows there is a ministry
- an official order - in the Christian Church, which assigns one angel or
minister to one congregation, and makes him its representative and head. The
method by which these officers were appointed to their pastorate, or the precise
extent of their functions and authority, is not defined. But a
special ministerial appointment is recognised, as part of
the sacred economy, the proper life, and the wholesome ongoing of the Church,
and which no power on earth may disturb without insurrection against God, and
invasion of the dignity of our Lord.
3.
From this peculiarity in these Epistles, we may also trace something of
the nature and responsibility of the ministerial office.
It is not a lordship, but a service; not a service to be commanded of man,
but of God. It is the business of the angel or minister to hear for the
Church, receive for the Church, and to answer for the Church, which has been
committed to his care. He is its chief, its guardian, its watchman, the
under-shepherd of the flock. He is to receive the word at the mouth of
the Lord, and at the hands of His inspired servants, and to present it
faithfully to his people, and to see that it is accepted, observed, and obeyed
according to the true intent of its Divine Author. Christ sends His
Revelation to these angels above all, and looks to them for the right ordering
of His Churches. To them He addresses His judgments, His rebukes, and His
directions, as if the whole estate of the Churches were wrapped up in them, and
they responsible for that estate. And so far as they keep themselves to
their true sphere and work, whosoever heareth them heareth Him, and he that
despiseth them despiseth Him.
4. But these Epistles show its more particularly what
was the moral condition of the primitive Churches. Nor
is the exhibition what we would perhaps have expected. Churches founded
and instructed by apostles, and ministered unto by those who were the pupils of
the apostles, appointed under apostolic supervision, we would think to find
models of every excellence, and pure and free from the evils, heresies, and
defections of later periods. But these Epistles show that the Churches
then were much like the Churches now, and of all ages: that is, interminglings
of good and bad, and as full of the workings of depravity as of the fruits of a
true faith. There was much to commend, but quite as much to
censure. There were worthy sons and daughters of the Most High, whose
conversation was in heaven; but many more whose love had cooled, whose hearts
were in the world, who had a name to live, but were dead, and esteemed
themselves rich, and increased with goods, and needing nothing, not knowing
that they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. With
five out of the seven, Christ finds serious fault; and in one of these five He
finds nothing whatever to commend. Two alone pass the solemn inspection.
The
first and most distinguished was that of
Pergamos carries in its
etymology the idea of a tower, and also of marriage.* It well describes a
Church in close proximity to the centre of the kingdom of evil, and yielding
itself to sensual alliances. And such was the Church at Pergamos.
There was Satan’s throne, the darkest centre of Pagan abominations. It
had faith, and courage, and endurance, and faithful witnesses to Christ; but it
had also some of the worst of elements. It had those who held to a system
of ideas answering to the treacherous teachings of Balaam, by which
[*
Donegan’s Lexicon gives - a tower; - marriage; [and] signifies things
lofty or high.]
The
Church in Thyatira had some of the same excellencies, but conjoined with even
worse defects. It was active in services and charities, patient in
reliance upon God’s promises, and increasingly vigorous in its endeavours; but
it was lacking in proper zeal for the maintenance of godly discipline and
doctrine, and was so indulgent towards errors and errorists that falsehood and
idolatry permeated, overlaid, and modified the whole character of the Church,
obscuring the faith, deceiving the saints, and setting up in its very midst the
infamous school of Satan himself. With all that is said commendatory of
this Church, the idea of effeminacy connects with its
whole history and character. The first Christian in Thyatira was a woman,
members
of the Church with her insidious wiles.
The
name of the fifth of these Churches has been variously derived. Some
connect it with the precious stone, called sarda, which
was found about
The
Church in Philadelphia shows no interminglings of evil,
but is addressed as if embracing only a small exceptional company of earnest
believers in the midst of a larger body of mere hypocritical professors “who say they are Jews, and are not.” They are
spoken of as having kept His word, and not denied His name: as though many had
failed in these particulars, and so lost their place in the acknowledged
Christian body. These Philadelphians were but a little flock, poor in
worldly goods, and of small account in the eyes of men. They had but
little strength, and were greatly oppressed by heretical teachers and
pretenders; but they held fast to the word of Christ, in patient waiting for
His promise. They were an exceptional band, joined by cords of loving
fraternity, as the meaning of the word is, and they had promises given them of
special exemptions and special triumphs.
Very
different was the
[*From people, and judgment, or justice.].
5. We may also notice, in this connection, the stress
which our blessed Lord lays upon the practical works of
religion. It is upon these that His commendations and censures
turn. Love, ministries, patience, labours, works: these are the things to
which He refers with most delight, as the marks of the true election, and the
proper badges of approved saintship. It is in vain to boast of a correct
creed, of right theories, of sound doctrine, if there be no practical
godliness, no good works, no positive virtues, and active charities and
labours. Orthodoxy is important but orthodoxy alone will not do.
The most orthodox in this list is depictured as the deadest. Nor will
mere pleasant frames, loud professions, or dreams that we are rich in grace and
in the divine favour do; for the best pleased with itself, among these
Churches, was the worst. There must be a true faith; but also a living, working,
hearing, self-denying faith - faith which shows its life and power by love, by
charities, by gracious ministries, by active services and sacrifices for God.
There are, indeed, such things as “dead works;” works that have no life-connection with piety;
works put on from without, and not brought forth from within; fruits tied upon
the tree, and not the product of its life; which are not at all characteristics
of true religion. There may be prayers, vigils fasts, temples, altars,
priests, rites, ceremonies, worship, and still be no true piety.
Heathenism has all these. There may be Christian profession, connection
with the Church, observance of the sacraments, where saving religion has never
taken root. None of these things alone characterise a Christian.
That which distinguishes him, where all other tests fail, is his living, active
love to God and man - his CHARITY. If this be lacking, the defect is
fatal. All knowledge, all faith, all mastery of tongues, all miraculous
powers, cannot atone for such a deficiency. For “pure
religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep unspotted from the world.”
6.
These Epistles further set before us Christ’s use of the great doctrine of His Return,
and the very high place it occupies among the motives to penitence, hope,
steadfastness, and godly fear. The Second Coming of Christ is made the
subject of impressive warning and exhortation in each of these seven Epistles.
Some
tell us that death is, to all intents and purposes, the
coming of Christ to the individual, and that we are to comfort and exhort men
with reference to their mortality. But that is not the method of Christ
in these Epistles. With the exception of the one to
7.
There are also important and most interesting hints in these Epistles,
respecting the future life and honours which the coming of
Christ is to bring to the redeemed. Each Epistle has a promise to a
particular victor. These several promises unitedly give us at least a
seven-sided view of the future possessions of the saints. They rise in degree
from the first to the last. To the Ephesian victor Christ awards “to eat from off the tree of life which is in the midst of the
paradise of God.” To him who abides faithful amid the
In
whatever way we take these promises, they set before us a body of honour, and
privilege, and power, and blessedness, greater than eye hath seen, or ear
heard, or the heart of man conceived. It has been well observed by the Rev.
W. Lincoln that these seven promises together in their twofold aspect, form
by far the completest description to be found in all the Word of God, of what
good thing they are which God has prepared for them that love Him. They
set before us a destiny to which the faithful shall attain, at which the
lean, meagre, shallow, shadowy, flimsy thing some present as heaven,
sinks into insipidity and contempt. They present us with something
fitting and competent to brace up the courage of the Church, to carry her to
the pitch of bearing the cross, and crucifying herself with Christ, and
actualising her professed expatriation from this world. Let us then
think of the standard which the Saviour has here set up for His people, and seek
to animate ourselves to the zeal, self‑sacrifice, and devotion which alone can
secure the prize here held out for our attainment.
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all, the world go free?
No, there’s a cross for every one,
And there’s a cross for me.
How happy are the saints [below,*] (*Rev. 6: 9-11; 2 Tim. 2: 18.)
Who once were sorrowing here!
They ever taste unmingled love,
And joy without a tear.
The consecrated cross I’ll bear,
Till Christ shall set me free,
And then, go home, my crown to wear,
For THERE’S A CROWN FOR ME.
LECTURE SEVENTH
THE
SEVEN EPISTLES PROPHETIC - THE CHURCH TO BE NEVER 0THER THAN A MIXED SOCIETY -
THE CONSTANT CUMULATIVENESS OF ECCLESIASTICAL EVIL – CHRIST’S OPINION OF THE
PROFESSED CHURCH IN ITS VARIOUS PHASES – NICOLAITANISM – BALAAMISM - MARRIAGE
OF THE CHURCH WITH THE WORLD – JEZEBEL - THE REFORMATION - THE REVIVALS OF THE
PAST CENTURY - CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHURCH IN OUR DAY - THE EXCEEDING
VALUE OF THESE EPISTLES PROPHETICALLY VIEWED.
Rev. 3: 21 - He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the Churches.
We
have glanced over the contents of these Epistles, considered in relation
to the particular Churches addressed. But this is not the
only, nor the chief aspect in which they are to be viewed. These
particular Churches have a representative character, comprehending the
entire Church of all places and ages. It is impossible to
find an adequate reason why only these seven were written to in this manner,
except upon this assumption. The number seven is significant
of dispensational fulness, entire completeness. The Saviour speaks of
them as involving some sort of “mystery,” having
significance beyond what appears upon the surface. The seven times
repeated command hear and consider what is said is given with such urgency and
universality, as to argue something peculiarly significant to all people
of all time. Much of the language is symbolically applied,
and fits and receives a comprehensive lucidness, in a prophetic acceptation,
which it is not otherwise found to possess.
These
seven Epistles are also a very prominent and vital part of a book which is
specifically described as a book of prophecy. (Rev. 1: 3; 22: 18.) There is also an evident
historical consecutiveness in the several pictures, as well
as contemporaneousness; and such a complete successive realisation
of them can be traced in the subsequent history of the Church, even down to the
present, that it seems to me impossible fairly to get rid of the conclusion,
that these seven Churches were selected as affording, in
their respective names, states, wants, and messages, a pre-figuration of
the entire Church in its successive phases from the time John
wrote to the end of its history.
Joseph Mede has well presented the case, where he says : “If we consider their number, being, seven (which
is the number of revolution of times, and therefore in this book the seals,
trumpets, and vials also are seven); or if we consider the choice of the Holy
Ghost, in that He taketh neither all, no, nor the most famous Churches then in
the world, as Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, and many others, and such, no doubt,
as had need of instruction as well as those here named; if these things be well
considered, it will seem that these seven Churches, besides their literal
respect, were intended to be as patterns and types of the successive
several ages of the Universal Church from the beginning thereof
unto the end of the world; that so these seven Churches should prophetically
sample unto us a seven-fold successive temper and condition of the whole
visible Church, according to the several ages thereof, answering the pattern of
the seven Churches here.”*
[*Mode’s
Works, Book V., cap. x., p. 90. So also Andreas, one of the
earliest writers on the Apocalypse.]
Receiving
this, then, as the truth in the case, I now proceed to note some of the
teachings of these Epistles, considered - IN RELATION TO THE
And
so important and far-reaching is the subject that it becomes us to approach it
with solemn hearts, and to pray God to aid us with His enlightening grace, that
we may indeed hear, mark, learn, and inwardly digest what the Spirit saith unto
the Churches.
Viewing
these Seven Churches as representing seven successive phases or states of the
Church general, the Church in Ephesus becomes descriptive of the first phase or
period; that in Smyrna of the second; that in Pergamos of a third; that in
Thyatira. of a fourth; and so to the end. Regarding them in this order,
we can readily identify the growth of evil, from its first incoming, through
its various stages; to its final culmination.
In
the first Epistle, the Lord puts His finger upon the origin of the
mischief. Here is depictured a model estate, which is described as that
of “first love.” From
that “first love” the Saviour notes a
decline. It was in the very hearts of Christ’s own
people that all corruptions of Christianity and apostasy began. “Thou hast left thy first love.”
It is to the heart that Christ traces all evils. Where love declines,
bad practices soon creep in. The Ephesians waned in
original fervour, and soon were troubled with those who departed from the
simplicities of the Gospel, betook themselves to Jewish and Pagan
intermixtures, and began to put forward the ministry as a sort of priestly class,
depreciating and setting aside the laity. Of these were Diotrephes,
who coveted pre-eminence; and those of whom Peter disapproved, as undertaking
to be “lords over God’s heritage;”
and those whom Paul resisted, as seeking, to transfer to Christianity
what pertained to the Jewish ritualism and Pagan philosophy. These were
the “Nicolaitanes,”* whose
“deeds” are singled out for
reprehension. But so long as the apostles lived, their influence
was inconsiderable. At first, they had but few followers and small
success. It was not long however, as Church history shows,** until they gained
adherents and force, and laid the foundations of all subsequent defections and
troubles.
[*From
(the Greek word … meaning) to vanquish, people, or laity. ** See Mosheim’s
Ece. Hist., Cent.
What
in the first phase - that of Ephesus -
was feeble, and vigorously resisted, and found only in isolated cases,
in the second phase – Smyrna - had already
grown to be a distinguished and influential party, whose utterances were heard
and felt, and which is characterised as a “synagogue
of Satan.” And in the third picture – that of Pergamos
- what were only “deeds”
had come to be taken up as doctrine. The false
practices now appear in the shape of an article of faith. What had
previously been kept pretty well at bay, is now found nestled in the very heart
of the Church. What in the first picture was hated and withstood, was now
tolerated, and seemingly cherished. And to the Nicolaitanes were now
added Balaamites: destroyers of the people, as well as
vanquishers of them, as the meaning of the word Balaam is.* The sin of that
prophet was, that he counselled with the enemies of Israel, and advised the
drawing of them into forbidden friendships and adulterous and idolatrous
alliances, by means of which “twenty and four thousand” were destroyed. (Numb. 25: 9.) The
[*
From – ‘destruction’ - and - ‘people’.]
And
the next condition of the Church – Thyatira - gives us a still
further advance in the same disastrous tendencies. Here is an idolatrous,
impure, and bloody woman exalted to queenly dominion over God’s people,
governing them, and domineering over them, and drawing them away into spiritual
harlotry and abomination. She is even taken to the bosom of the very angel of
the Church, and suffered to assume the prerogatives of a prophetess to the
people, though in reality another Jezebel. Have we not here the plain and
indubitable evidences of continuity and growth in evil, defection, and
apostasy? From the gradual decline of first love we have one steady and
onward march, till that line of development reaches its climax in the
predominance of the scarlet woman, the Church of Rome.
But
now comes a new and reactionary movement in the estate pictured by
Another
phase is then described, that of
One
other picture is added, and it is the worst. The Laodicean
Church is not the Church in Laodicea, as in the other cases, but the “Church of Laodicea” It
would seem as if the Church, in its proper character of an elect company, had
quite faded from view, and the world itself had now become the Church.
The professing body is hardly any longer distinguishable from any other
body. It is neither one thing nor the other – “neither
cold nor hot.” And yet, in pride and boastfulness, hypocrisy, and
self-deception, there never has been its like. It claims to be rich, and
increased with goods, and having need in nothing, and yet is the wretched and
pitiable, and poor, and blind, and naked. It thinks itself all it ought
to be, and appropriates to itself all Divine favour and blessedness; and yet,
the very Lord in whom it professes to trust is denied a place in it, and is
represented as barred out, where He stands and knocks as His last gracious
appeal before giving over the infamous Babylon to the judgments which are ready
to sweep it from the earth. That professing Church which started as a
little band of loving, self-sacrificing, and persecuted saints, redeemed out of
the world, and no louger of it, comes to be a vast, wide-spread, characterless,
Christless, conceited thing, to which Jehovah says, “I am about to spue thee out of My mouth.”
In the view of these Epistles which I have been
endeavouring to brinog out, we can be at no great loss to know what Nicolaitanism
is. In their application to successive phases of the Church
general, there can be no disagreement as to the identity of the
Nicolaitanism was: a principle or doctrine which put down the people suspended
thent in their rights, and set them aside; for this is the plain import
of the name which Christ gives it. We also know from the Scriptures, and
from the common representations of all ecclesiastical historians, that the
Church was hardly founded before it began to be troubled with the lordly
pretensions and doings of arrogant men, in violation of the common priesthood
of believers, and settling upon minister’s the attributes and prerogatives of a
magisterial order, against which Peter, Paul, and John were moved to declare
their apostolic condemnation, but which grew nevertheless, and presently became
fixed upon the Church as part of its essential system. We know that there
is to this day a certain teaching and claim, and practice, in the largest part
of the professed Church, according to which a certain order severs itself
entirely from the laity, assumes the rights and titles of priesthood, asserts
superiority and authority over the rest in spiritual matters, denies the rights
of any one, whatever his gifts or graces, to teach or preach in the Church who
has not been regularly initiated into the mysterious puissance of its own
self-constituted circle, and puts forward its creatures, however glaringly
deficient in those heavenly gifts which really make the minister, as Christ’s
only authorised heralds, before whom every one else must be mute and passive,
and whose words and administrations every one must receive, on pain of exclusion
from the hope of salvation. We also know that this system of priestly
clericalism and prelatical hierarchism claims
to have come down from the earliest periods of the Church, and traces for
itself a regular cueeession through the Christian centuries, and appeals to
patristic practice as its chief basis, vindication, and boast. We know
that it first came into effective sway in the period immediately succeeding the
Pagan persecutions,* reaching its fullest embodiment in Popery, and has perpetuated
itself in the same, and in Laudism, Tractarianism, and High-Churchism, even to
our day, and to our very doors. And if we would know what the Lord Jesus
thinks of it, we have only to recur to these Epistles, in which He lays His
hand right on it, and says: “THIS THING I HATE.”
[*
Even Archbishop Craumer testifies that “the
bishops and priests were no two things, but both one office, in the beginning
of the Christian religion.” – Burnet’s Reform., App., Book III.]
Contemporaneous
with the flowering of Nicolaitanism, was another influential and characterising
feature manifested in the Church, of which the name of Pergamos
itself is significant - a certain marriage with worldly power,
which the Saviour pronounces adulterous, idolatrous, and Balaamitic.
Nor can we be in doubt respecting this, any more than the other. Its
development is located in the period immediately succeeding the Pagan
persecutions (A.D. 313), when the Church, according to all historians, sacred
and secular, did consent to one of the most marked and marvellous alliances
that has occurred in all its history. We know that there was then formed
a union between the Church and the empire, which the fall of that empire hardly
dissolved, and which has been perpetuated in the union of Church and State,
in the greater part of Christendom, down to this very hour. It was an
alliance cried up at the time, and by many since, as the realisation of the
millennium itself, and the great consummating victory of the cross. But
Christ here gives His verdict upon it, pronouncing it an idolatrous
uncleanness;
And by means of Nicolaitanism and affiliation with
worldly power, by which all sorts of corrupting elements were taken up, the
Church soon put on another phase, the distinguishing features of which are most
graphically sketched. “For such Protestant
expositors,” says Trench, “as see the
Papacy in the searlet woman of
[*
On the Seven Epistles, p. 310.]
And
in all history there is not another character which so completely
represents the Papal system - its character, works, and worship - as the tin
clean wife of Ahab, the Jezebel of these Epistles.
She was a heathen, married to a Jew; and such is the character of the Papal
system in its main elements - Paganism joined to an obsolete Judaisin.
She is described as calling herself a prophetess, and as undertaking, to be the
teacher of God’s servants; and Popery claims and professes to be heaven’s only
infallible teacher of God’s truth. She is described as having a set of “works,” emphatically “her
works,” as distinguished from others which are called Christ’s
“works;” and Popery is a
system of works - a religion of ceremonies, penances, fasts, masses, prayers,
vigils, abnegations, bodily macerations, purgatory, and supererogoatory and meritorious
holiness of saints, by which it proposes to save its devotees. She was an
adulteress ; and Popery, above all, has been characterised
by her unclean dealings with the kings and powers of the earth, lending herself
to serve their pleasure, to bring them under her sway, and teaching God’s
people to accept worldly conformity as a means of Christian victory. She was a
persecutor and murderess of God’s prophets and witnesses; and the Papacy is
marked by nothing more than its severity toward such as stood out against its
impious pretences, and its public and secret tortures and butcheries of the
saints. “For in her was found the blood of
prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”
According
to the most credible reading of these Epistles, this Jezebel is represented as
the angel’s wife; and it is characteristic of Popery to enforce celibacy upon
the clergy, holding them to be married to the Church, and hence teaching all
her sons and daughters to call them “fathers.”
This Jezebel is also described as having “children,”
alike with her unsatisfactory to Christ; and whence but from that unclean
source have we those semi-Papal national religions establishments, by which the
Church of Jesus is befouled, hindered, and disgraced, even in many Protestant
countries? We thus obtain from these Epistles Christ’s own direct verdict
upon Romanism, both in its more offensive features in the old mother, and in
its more modified forms in the daughters.
And
so, if we would know, how the Reformation (dating from
1517) stands, in the Saviour’s estimation, we also find it here depicted in the
AN OPEN BIBLE MAN’S ONLY LAW OF FAITH;
TRUST IN A CRUCIFIED SAVIOUR MAN’S ONLY JUSTIFICATION;
THE GLORIFIED JESUS THE
ONLY LORD AND MASTER OF THE CHURCH.
But
the working out of these principles was marred by human corruption, so that in
many places it may be said of Protestantism “Thou
hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” (Rev. 3: l.)*
[*
This is especially true of
Two
centuries passed, and (about 1750) the Protestant Churches assumed another
phase, prefigured as that of
There
is yet one other phase, that of
It
is Laodicean, - conformed in everything to the popular
judgment and will, - the extreme opposite of Nicolaitane. Instead
of a Church of domineering clericals, it is the
Church of the domineering mob, in which nothing may be
safely preached except what the people are pleased to hear, - in which the
teachings of the pulpit are fashioned to the tastes of the pew, and the
feelings of the individual override the enactments of legitimate authority.
It
is lukewarm – nothing decided, - partly hot and partly cold, - divided between
Christ and the world, - not willing to give up pretension and claim to the
heavenly, and yet clinging close to the earthy, - having too much conscience to
cast off the name of Christ, and too much love for the world to take a firm and
honest stand entirely on His side. There is much religiousness, but very
little religion; much sentiment, but very little of life to correspond; much
profession, but very little faith; a joining of the ball-room to the
communion-table, of the opera with the worship of God, and of the feasting and
riot of the world with pretended charity and Christian benevolence.
And
it is self-satisfied, boastful, and empty. Having come down to the
world’s tastes, and gained the world’s praise and patronage, the Laodiceans
think they are rich, and increased with goods, and have need in nothing. Such
splendid churches, and influential and intelligent congregations, and learned,
agreeable preachers! Such admirable worship and music! Such
excellently manned and endowed institutions! So much given for
magnificent charities! Such an array in all the attributes of greatness
and power! What more can be wanted?
And
will it answer to say that all this is not largely and characteristically the
state of things at this very hour? Can any man scrutinise narrowly the
professed Church of our day, and say that we have not reached the Laodicean
age? Is it not the voice of this Christendom of ours which says: “I am rich, and increased with
goods, and have need in nothing”? And is it not equally the fact
that this selfsame Christendom of ours is “the wretched,
and the pitiable, and poor, and blind, and naked”? Did the “Mene, mene, tekel uphargin” of Belshazzar’s palace
better fit the ancient heathen than this modern Christian Babylon? Men
talk of it as destined to glorious triumph. They proclaim it commissioned
of God to convert the world. They point to its onward march as about to
take speedy possession of the race for Christ and heaven. But “The Amen” hath spoken. “The
faithful and true Witness” hath given His word: “I AM ABOUT TO SPUE IT OUT OF MY MOUTH.”
Friends
and brethren, I have not made these pictures; I have found
them; and the sevenfold admonition of Almighty God with reference to them
is: “He that hath an ear, let him hear.”
They are Christ’s own history of His Church. They are Christ’s own
criticisms upon all its characteristic features and doings for nearly two
thousand years.* They are Christ’s own verdict upon all the great
questions which have agitated it, and upon all the great influences and
tendencies from within and from without, which have affected its character or
destiny in every period of its career. The touches are few, but the marks
of their divinity are in them. They are comprehensive, true, and
unmistakable to Him who will rightly approach and fairly deal with them.
[*
In general terms the Seven Church Periods are as follows: Ephesus, the first
century; Smyrna, A.D. 100 to 313; Pergamos, 313 to 600; Thyatira, 600 to 1517;
Sardis, 1517 to 1750; Philadelphia, 1750 to the present time; Laodicea,
incipiently the present period [now 2011], but chiefly
the period after the translation to heaven [Luke 21: 36] of
the Philadelphian watchful Christians.‑[EDITOR.]
And
if these Epistles have the prophetic meaning which I have represented, then we have
in them what Christians have so much felt the want of, namely, an authoritative
settlement of the great questions between us and prelatists, papists,
state-churchists, and false pretenders, errorists and radicals of many
sorts. Then also we have in them a clear revelation that nothing but the
personal coming of Christ will carry redemption into successful effect upon
earth’s depraved and rebellious peoples, and that the millennium of peace
and universal righteousness will not be wrought by present instrumentalities
and that the tendency of Christendom is not toward improvement and perfection,
but, like everything else with which fallen man has to do, is earthward,
deathward, and hellward, - and that the true flock of God is to be in this
dispensation a feeble, depressed, and hated minority. Let us see to
it, then, that we hear as these Epistles command, and learn to view the
Church’s errors, corruptions, mistakes, and sins, as Christ views them; to love
what He loves, to hate what He hates, and to hope only as He has given us
authority to hope. And to this may Almighty God grant us His helping grace!
Amen.
“Help, mighty God!
The strong man bows himself,
The good and wise are few,
The standard-bearers faint,
The enemy prevails.
Help, God of might,
In this Thy Church’s night!
Help, mighty God!
The world is waxing grey,
And charity grows chill,
And faith is at its ebb,
And hope is withering;
Help, God of might,
Appear in glory bright!”
LECTURE EIGHTH.
THE
GOSPEL NOT A FAILURE - THE CREEDS ON THE SUBJECT - HISTORICAL
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FACT THAT CHRIST HAS HIS TRUE PEOPLE IN EVERY AGE - THE
ANTE‑TRIBULATION REMOVAL OF THE PHILADELPHIAN SAINTS FROM THE EAPTH – THIS IS
TO BE EXPECTED AS AN IMMINENT EVENT - DESCRIPTION OF IT.
Rev. Chap. 4:. 1 (Revised
Text) - After these things I saw, and behold, a door
set open in the heaven, and the former voice which I heard, as of a trumpet,
speaking with me, saying Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which
must take place after these things.
These
words begin a new vision, which relates not to the things on earth, but to
things in heaven, and to things subsequent to the period covered by the seven
Churches. As the first vision - that of the Seven Churches - embraces the
entire earthly career of the Church on earth, from its organisation under the
apostles to the second coming of Christ, this second vision gives us the
state of things intervening between the removal or rapture of the saints, and
the letting forth of judgment upon apostate Christendom.* In
other words, it is the Apocalypse of Christ in relation to His elect in heaven,
after they have been “taken”- “caught up” - miraculously removed from the
world to the pavilion cloud, - and previous to the going forth of His
visitations of judgment upon those not “accounted
worthy to escape all these things,*”
and “left.” [*
See Luke 21: 36.]
But
before entering upon this sublime disclosure, there are still some things
relating to the Church in its earthly career and fate, which it will be important
first to clear up more fully.
In
applying the seven Epistles to the successive periods in the history of the
Church, a succession of pictures of growing apostasy and defection was
exhibited. Some may perhaps think, that if the tendency of the professed
Church is ever downward, then the Church must be considered a failitre, and the
Gospel regarded as inadequate to its purposes.
But
we must observe that it does not compromise the perfection or the divinity of
Christianity, or prove it to be a failure, that so large a part of its history,
throughout this dispensation, is a history of corruption and apostasy. These
very apostasics help to evidence its divinity. Being foretold, and
condemned from the commencement, their actual occurrence is proof that
Christianity is from Him who knew the end of all things from the
beginning. The very announcements of the Gospel, and all its original and
authoritative records, predicted “a falling away,”
the coming of “false prophets in sheep’s clothing,”
a “departing from the faith,” the bringing in of
“damnable heresies,” and all varieties and forms
of evil with which the Church has hitherto been marred and disgraced. The
darkest pages of its history are just what was foreseen.
With
the whole story of Christendom traced out in advance, in the foretellings of
its founders, and the facts in all their details coinciding with the
predictions, so contrary to all man’s anticipations and ideas, we are assured
of the presence of superhuman foresight, and of a wisdom which could only come
from God.
If it had been stated in the New Testament that the
Gospel was never to be misapprehended or denied by its professors, and that no
heresies, schisms, inconsistencies, falsehoods, frauds, hypocrisies, or crimes
should ever be found in ecclesiastical annals; then, indeed, such obscurations
of the sunny picture would necessitate the admission that Christianity was a
failure. But no such things are written in the New Testament. The
very reverse is found in every allusion which it makes to the estate of the
Church in this world, or to the nature and object of this dispensation.
Christ’s own miraculous ministry gathered around Him but a “little flock,” and
one of them was a devil*. [*i.e., indwelt by Satan.] The highest expectation of Paul in his great
labours, was that he “might save some!”
James declared the object of the offer of God’s grace to the Gentiles to
be, “to take out of them a people for His name,” and that “to this agree the words of the prophets.” (Acts 15: 14, 15.) The very designation of
the true subjects of divine grace singles them out as exceptional to the
general mass; as elected and chosen ones, in whose high privileges the great
multitudes in every age have no part. And he who looks upon the present
Gospel, simply as we now have it in this dispensation, before the Second Coming
of Christ, as meant, equipped, and ordained for the conversion of all mankind,
and the recovery of the whole world to holiness, believes what the Scriptures do
not teach, and is expecting what God has nowhere promised. There is
not a respectable creed in all Christendom that embodies any such
doctrine. On the contrary, the fundamental Confession of Protestants
condemns, as “Jewish notions,” all idea “that, prior to the resurrection of the dead, the godly shall
get the sovereignty in the world, and the wicked be brought under in every
place.” In like manner, the Latter Confession of Helvetia
condems “the Jewish dreams, that before the
judgment there shall he a golden world in the earth, and that
the godly shall possess the kingdoms of the world, their wicked enemies being
trodden under foot; for the Evangelical truth (Matt.
24. and 25.,
and Luke 21.) and the apostolic doctrine (in the Second Epistle to Timothy 3. and 4.) are found to teach
far otherwise.” Luther says: “This
is not true, and is really a trick of the devil, that people are led to believe
that the whole world shall become Christian (before the Second Advent of
Christ). It is the devil’s doing, in order to
darken sound doctrine, and to prevent it from being rightly understood. ...
Therefore, it is not to be admitted that the whole
world and all mankind shall believe on Christ; for we must perpetually bear the
sacred cross, that they are the majority who persecute the saints.”
Melancthon also puts it forth, as part of the essential faith, that the
Church in this life is never to attain a position of universal triumph and
prosperity, but is to remain depressed and subject to afflictions and adversities,
until the period of the resurrection of the dead. All that God has
promised concerning His Church in this dispensation, is, that by it the offer
of salvation shall be made to mankind in general; that the preaching of the
Gospel shall be effective to the taking out of an elect people for His name;
and that Christ shall have His acknowledged representatives in every
generation. No one pretends that there has been any failure in these
respects.
It is also distinctly told us, that the devil is the
prince and god of this age; that Christ’s ministers in this dispensation are
never anything but ambassadors at a foreign court; that the saints are always
mere pilgrims and strangers on the earth; that the Gospel is ever to be
preached only as a witness to the nations; that when the Son of Man cometh, He
shall hardly find [the]
faith on the earth; that the days in which He shall come will be evil
days, like the days of Noah before the flood; and that the judgment will find
mankind banded together in grand confederations of unparalleled rebellion and
wickedness.
In
the Seven Epistles which picture the whole length of the Church’s history, the
fact stands out in noonday clearness that God has His witnessing saints in
every age. While darkness and death reign in one place, light and life
are vigorous in another. Dr. Stoughton, in his “Ages of
Christendom,” has well remarked: “Contemporary
with the waning of piety in
One
very striking statement in the Epistle to the Church at Philadelphia concerning
those Christians who shall be alive at the Second Advent of Christ, and who
shall be “keeping the word of His patience,”
is that they are to be “kept out of the
hour of temptation” - out of that [Great Tribulation] season of
trial which is then to come upon the whole world, to try those who dwell upon
the earth instead of cherishing a heavenly citizenship. (See [Rev.] chap. 3: 10.)
How this deliverance is to be wrought,
[*
“At the voice of the archangel, the dead
saints rise from the dust the living saints, in a moment - in the twinkling of
an eye - are changed; and both together are rapt up far above the clouds, to
meet the Lord in the air, long before**
He is seen by the inhabitants of the earth.” - Cunningham on
Apocalypse, 3d. ed., p. 491.
(** On the contrary, this rapture occurs at the time of our
Lord’s descent to earth at the end of the Tribulation period not
before its commencement! – Ed.)
“The being taken up to meet the Lord before the
time of trial and judgment, would seem to be the manifest import of the
promise to the faithful, in the Epistle to the Church at
Philadelphia, as also that of our Lord’s exhortation in Luke 21:. 36.” - Richard Chester,
Voice of Ballyclough, Mallow.
“Ere judgment comes on Christendom, the true Church will have
been translated to heaven. ... We are not comforted by the the assurance of our
being gathered to the grave in peace, but by the hope of being
gathered to meet the Lord in the air, so that, when the judgments come, we
shall not be amid the scene on which they are poured, but in the heavens
whence they issue.” - Plain Papers, pp. 94‑96.
“It is evident, from 2
Cor. 5: 4, that we are not to conceive of the transfiguration of the
body as taking place at the end and and in the general resurrection, for
the apostle wishes it for his own person instead of death.” - Auberlen
on Daniel and Revelation,
p. 832.]
And
such is the next great scene which may now be any day expected. I know of
nothing in the prophecies of God, unless it should be the mere deepening of the
signs that have already appeared, which yet remains to be fulfilled before this
sudden summons [of the watchful and “accounted worthy” saints]
from the skies: “Come, My people, enter thou into thy
chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were a little
moment, until the indignation be overpast; for, behold, the Lord cometh out of
His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.” (Isa. 26: 20, 21.) Any one of these days or
nights, and certainly before many more years have passed, all this shall
be accomplished. Some of these days or nights, - while men are busy with
the common pursuits and cares of life, and everything is rolling on its
accustomed course, - unheralded, unbelieved, and unknown to the gay world, here
one, and there another, shall secretly disappear, “caught
up” like Enoch, who “was not found because God
had translated him.” Invisibly, noiselessly, miraculously, they
shall vanish from the company and fellowship of those about them, and ascend to
their returning Lord. Strange announcements shall bc in the morning
papers of missing ones. Strange accounts shall be whispered around in the
circles of business and society. And for the first time will apostate
Christendom, and the slow in heart to believe all that the prophets
have written, have the truth brought home, that no such half-Christianity as
theirs is sufficient to put men amoug the favourites of the Lord.
Brethren
and friends, these are neither dreams nor fables. They are realities, set
forth in the infallible truth of God, and as literally true as anything else in
the inspired Word. And as you value the prize of our high
calling in Christ Jesus, and take this holy book as ap unfailing guide, be
not faithless, but believing.* And if
you feel yourself unready for such events, do not think of setting them aside
by scoffs and sneers.
[ * “Daniel appears to be a
type of those kept out of the hour of temptation. When
all nations, kindreds, and people are required to worship the image of the
plain of Dura, he is not there.” - Apocalypse Expounded,
vol. i..p. 207.
“John 14: 1-3 doth
absolutely require an assumption from the earth of all the saints, after the
same manner as Christ was taken up. And to this great head of
doctrine, all those legends of the Catholic Church, concerning the
assumption of the blessed Virgin, and other saints, do point. By being
taken up, to be clothed upon by our house which is from heaven, I
believe that Christ’s - [‘accounted worthy’ (Lk. 21:
36. cf. Rev. 3: 10. Ed.] - people will be delivered out of their tribulation.”
-
If
they are in the purpose of God, as He so plainly says they are, and as I
conscientiously believe they are, your unbelief cannot alter them. Better
bestir yourself to be prepared, with your loins girded and your lamp trimmed
and burning. THERE IS CHANCE FOR YOU [AMD
ME] YET to be among the favoured ones whom
God has engaged thus to keep out of the judgment plagues and sorrows; but
that this opportunity shall remain to you for another year, or month, or week,
or day, or hour, no living man can promise. What you do most be done
quickly. To your knees then, to your Bibles, and to the mercy seat of
your God, O man, O woman! “Rend your hearts, and
not your garments; turn unto the Lord your God.” Let not another
day pass leaving you still in your sins; “for in such
an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh.” And may God in
mercy grant us each the grace and diligence to be found in Him in
peace, without spot, and blameles.
LECTURE NINTH.
THE
MIRACULOUS TRANSLATION - A HEAVENLY SCENE - RELATES TO A TIME SUBSEQUENT TO THE
PRESENT CRURCH-PERIOD - COMES BEFORE THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD - IS TRULY
PROPHETIC - THE THRONE OF JUDGMENT - THE RAINBOW ENCIRCLING IT - THE SEVEN
TORCHES - THE GLASSY SEA - THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS - SUCCESSION IN THE
GATHERING OF THE SAINTS - THE FOUR LIVING ONES - THE BANNERS OF ISRAEL - THE
CHERUILIM - THE HEAVENLY ADMINISTRATORS OF THE NEW ORDER - THE DIGNITIES PROPOSED
BY THE GOSPEL - AN APPEAL TO EMBRACE THEM.
Rev. 4: 1-11 (Revised
Text) - After these things I saw, and behold, a door
set open in the heaven, and the former voice which I heard, as of a trumpet,
speaking with me, saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which
must take place after these things.
Immediately I became in the Spirit, and, behold, a throne was set in
the heaven, and upon the throne one sitting; and He that was sitting [was] like in appearance to a
jasper and a sardine stone, and a rainbow encircled the throne, in appearance
like to an emerald; and around the throne twenty-four thrones and upon the
twenty-four thrones elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and on their
heads golden crowns. And out of the throne go forth lightnings, and
voices, and thunders; and seven torches of fire burning before the throne,
which are the seven Spirits of God: and before [or, the prospect from] the throne as it ware a glassy sea, like unto crystal; and
amidst the throne, and around the throne, four living ones, full of eyes before
and behind; and the living one the first like a lion, and the second living one
like a young ox, and the third living one having the face like a man, the
fourth living one like a flying. eagle. And the four living ones, each
one of them had around them six wings apiece, and within they are full of eyes;
and they have not rest day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy [repeated
eight times in Codex Sinaiticus], Lord God the
Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.
And whensoever the living ones give glory, and honour, and thanks to
Him that sitteth on the throne, to Him that liveth for the ages of the ages,
the twenty-four elders fall down before Him that sitteth on the throne, and
worship Him that liveth for the ages of the ages, and cast their crowns before the throne,
saying: Thou art worthy, O Lord and our God, to receive the glory, and honour,
and the power, because Thou didst create all things, and by Thy will they were,
and were created.
This
open door in heaven, and this calling up of the Apocalyptic seer through that
door into heaven, indicate to us the manner in which Christ intends to fulfil
His promise to keep certain of His saints “out of the
hour of temptation;” and by what means it is that those who “watch and pray always” shall “escape”
the dreadful sorrows with which the present world, in its last years [of this evil age],
will be visited. Those of them that sleep in their graves shall he
recalled from among the dead and those of them who shall be found living
at the time [after the Tribulation], “shall be changed in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye;” and both classes “shall be caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord
in the air.” The same voice which John heard, even “the voice as of a trumpet,” whether dead or living,
they shall hear, saying to them, “COME UP THITITER.”
And there shall attend it a change and transfer as sudden and miraculous as in
his case. (Rev. 3: 21; Luke 21: 36; 1 Thess. 4: 16.)
And
as the seven Epistles show us these faithful ones in their sufferings,
conflicts, virtues, and victories on earth, the chapter before us carries us up
to the contemplation of their estate and dignities in heaven. It is high
and peculiarly holy ground that here rises to our view, and it becomes us to
venture upon it with measured and reverent steps. It would seem, indeed,
as if it were rather a subject for angels than for men; but God hath caused it
to be written for us, and has pronounced special blessing upon them that read,
hear, and keep what has been thus recorded for our learning. “Secret things belong unto the Lord,” and we may not
trespass on that reserved, mysterious realm; “but
those things which are revealed, belong unto us, and to our children for ever;”
and it is our duty, as well as our privilege, humbly to inquire and to
search diligently, into what has been prophesied of the grace and the glory
which is to come to the saints.
Discarding,
then, that false humility, which is the offspring or the cloak of spiritual
sloth, let us, in the fear of God, go forward with our investigations, and stir
ourselves up to the effort to obtain some distinct ideas of what the blessed
Saviour has thought it so important to show to His Church. Happy shall we
be if the sublime King but admit us into His court, though He may not now take
us into His counsel. We notice:-
1.
SOME OF THE SURROUNDINGS AND RELATIONS OF THE VISION.
2.THE
PARTICULARS BROUGHT TO VIEW IN IT.
And
may Almighty God open our hearts to the subject, and the subject to our hearts!
The
scene of the vision is in heaven. The door which
John saw, was an opening “in the heaven.”
The voice that he heard came from above. It
commanded him to “Come up.”
And it was potent; for “immediately” he “became in the Spirit.” It wrought an
instantaneous rapture, so that the next opening of his eyes disclosed his
presence in a supernal region.
Paul
speaks of three heavens, in the highest of which he “heard
unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” (2 Cor. 12.) But as John was commanded to
write what he saw, and to communicate it to the Churches, and Paul was
forbidden to describe what he saw and heard, this would seem to be a
diferent heaven from that called “the
third.” The truth is, that anything above the earth
- the upper air, the region of the clouds, as well as the region of the stars,
and beyond the stars - the scriptures call “heaven.”
Other circumstances connected with this subject indicate, that what is here
referred to, is simply the sky. “The sign of the Son of Man” is to be displayed in the
empyrean, no further off from the earth than to be visible to men, yet it is to
appear “in heaven.” The place where the
returning Saviour is to meet His resurrected and translated saints, is “in the air” – “in the clouds.”
The heaven of this vision would therefore seem to be, indefinately, the regions
above us - the firmament - the higher portions of the atmosphere which envelops
the earth. This, however, I take to be certain, that the location of what
John beheld, was not earth, but above the earth, and quite unconnected with the
earth.
Whether
there, was a literal bodily transportation of the seer from the earth to the
regions of space, is not stated, nor inferable from the description.
Perhaps the apostle himself was not able to perceive how it was. Paul could not
tell whether he was “in body, or out of body,”
when he was “caught up.” This only he
knew, that he was somehow present in the “third heaven,”
and that that presence was the same to him as a bodily transportation, equally
real, and equally effective. It was the same in John’s case. He
tells us that he was called by a mighty voice to come up into heaven, and
straightway “became in the Spirit”
- in some mysterious, miraculous, ecstatic state, wrought by the power of
God - which was, to all intents and purposes, a complete translation from
We
notice also, that this vision sets forth what is to be after the
fulfilment of the vision and Epistles concerning the Churches. The links
of consecutiveness are distinctly expressed, and are by no means to be
overlooked. The declared object for which the apostle was called up into
the sky was to be shown - not what existed in heaven at the time when he was
living, but “the things which must take place AFTER” the
history of the Seven Churches, which he had already seen and
described. The seven symbolic Churches, in all the amplitude of their
representative significance, were first to run their course, and the order of
things to which they belonged was to touch upon its end, before one jot of what
is here portrayed was to; be realised.* As John was called up just to be
shown “the things which must take place after
these things,” of course, all that he saw and heard consequent
upon that rapture, can only be referred to the period next following the things
of the first vision, which embraces the whole continuity of the dispensation
under which we are now living, and takes in the entire earthly Church-state,
from the time of the apostles to the end of the age; which is at Christ’s
coming again to receive His people to Himself. That “end” we regard as very near; but
so long as it is yet future, the time to which this vision refers is also
future. It relates to things which do not exist as yet, and which cannot
become reality till that to which they are specifically said to be subsequent
is fulfilled. It is, therefore, a picture of things in the sky,
immediately upon the first movement of the Saviour in His coming to judgment -
the first stage in His advent – marked by the miraculous seizing away of the
saints from their associates on earth to the clouds of heaven.
[*
“From the expression, ‘will
show thee what shall be after these things’ (Rev. 4: 1), we gather,
that the facts set out under this vision are subsequent to the facts set out
under the former vision; that all in the former vision which cometh within the
condition of time, is anterior to all in this vision which comes within the
same condition.”‑Irving in loc.]
It
is also to be observed that the things foreshown in this vision, whilst they
come after this first interference with the present order, still precede the
great tribulation, and the scenes of judicial visitation upon the apostate
Church and the guilty world. Indeed, it is from what is here
depictured that those inflictions proceed. What John sees, is
permanent. It continues through all that comes after, the same as seen at
the first. The throne, the Elders, the Living ones, retain their Places
unchanged, and have direct connection with all that
subsequently
transpires. Nay, the action of the seals, in chapters six and seven,
which brings the great tribulation upon the world, and the action of the
trumpets and vials, and the whole catena of judgments described in the
afterpart of this book, proceed from, and depend more or less on, the scene of
glory and power represented in these fourth and fifth chapters. The
realisation of what they describe must, therefore, fall intermediately
between the first removal of saints from earth and the destruction of
With
these points settled, we are now prepared to look at the particulars which the
magnificent picture brings to our contemnlation.
The
first thing named, and that which is at once the central object of the vision,
and of all that fellows it, is A THRONE. The Scriptures
continually speak of thrones, in connection with the
sovereignty and majesty of God. They tell us that “the Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His
kingdom ruleth over all” (Ps. 103: 19.)
Among the last words of the preceding chapter, Christ refers to His throne, and
the Father’s throne. And here the apostle sees “a throne in the heaven.” No
intimations are given of the form of the magnificent object. The throne
on which Isaiah saw the Lord, was “high and lifted up;”
and in another vision John saw a throne, “great and
white;” but everywhere we are left to think of the power and authority
of which the throne is a symbol, rather than of any particular form or material
structure. A visible image was presented to the eye of the seer, but he
does not stop to tell us what it was like. It was simply an undescribed,
and perhaps indescribable, seat of grandeur, greatness, majesty, and dominion.
Nor
was it the eternal throne of the Father, which has already been set up.
John sees it, not as long since fixed and settled in this locality and form,
but just being set as he was looking. The
expression is in a tense which denotes unfinished action, reaching its
completion at the time of the seeing. The placing of the
throne formed part of the vision. This is exactly what the original
expresses; and it is important, as showing that this vision refers to a new
order of things, which first comes into being at the time to which the vision
refers. The apostle’s language implies, that the act of the placing of
the throne where he saw it, was only being completed at the Inoment of
his looking. That moment was the moment of his
being called up from earth into heaven. The future rapture of the saints, then,
is the point of transition, where the present dispensation begins to end, and another,
of which this throne is the centre, takes its commencement. The passage
is an exact parallel, both as to subject and phraseology, to Daniel 7: 9, where the prophet says: “I beheld
till the thrones were set (not cast down,
as our version has it), and the Ancient of days did
sit, whose throne was like the fiery flame.” The vision embraced the
placing of the throne, as well as the throne itself, and the
locality it occupied.*
[* So agrees also the author of “The Apocalypse
Expounded by Scripture,” vol. ii., p. 13. The simple fact is that
this is the Second Advent Throne of judgment. - [EDITOR.]
“And upon the throne one sitting.” There
is no name mentioned, and no figure described; but we can be at no loss to
distinguish who is meant. John was manifestly filled with mysterious awe,
and his words sufficiently intimate that he was looking upon “the unnameable,
indestructible, Godhead,” in which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are
consubstantial and the same. And yet there was visible manifestation.
He that was sitting [was] like in appearance to a jasper and a sardine
stone;” - not as to shape, for
Deity has no shape, but in colour and flashing brilliancy. The scriptural
representations of the jasper are, that it is “most
precious,” crystalline, and purple in hue. The sardine, or
sardius, is also described as exceedingly precious, and of a beautiful bright,
red, carnation colour. It is capable of a particularly high and lasting
polish. Uniting the qualities of tint and brilliancy belonging to the purer
specimens of these precious gems, we have the appearance of flames, without
their smokiness - a pure, purple, fiery, red, crystalline, flashing
light. And this was the appearance of the unnameable and indescribable
occupant of this equally indescribable throne.
“And a rainbow encircled the throne, in appearance like to an
emerald.” The rainbow is one of the most beautiful
and majestic of earthly appearances. It is the token of God’s covenant with
all flesh, never again to destroy the earth or its inhabitants as in the flood.
(Gen. 9: 11, 17.) Encircling this
throne, the intimation is, that, although a throne of judgment, it is not a
throne of destruction, but one of conservation, which bears with it the
remembrance and the stability of the ancient promise. From what the
apostle subsequently saw go forth from this throne, and the shakings and
overturnings in heaven and earth of which it was to be the source and means,
fears might naturally arise as to the continuity of the earth as an organised
structure for the habitation of God’s creatures. But this rainbow around
the throne for ever scatters such apprehensions. All these ministrations
are under the symbol of the Noachian covenant, which standeth for ever.
The idea that this world, and its: creature inhabitants, are to pass into
oblivion is a foolish notion of poets, against which we have the special
pledge and covenant of God, rehearsed in nearly every summer shower, and borne
aloft as one of the glorious decorations of the judgment throne itself.
And
yet, the intimation is, that the fulfilment of that covenant is not to be
always in the course of nature, as we now have it. The true iris is around
the throne, but there is a change in it now. Its prevailing hue is light green
– “in appearance like to an emerald,” which
is an appearance having something additional to nature, or nature modified,
with one part of it exalted and strengthened beyond its wont. The jasper
and the sardine flash terrible glory, but over them is the soft-beaming emerald
of promise and hope - mercy remembered in wrath - salvation overspanning
the appearance of consuming fire.
“And out of the throne go forth lightninqs, and voices, and
thunders.” These
demonstrate that the throne is one of judgment, and that wrath is about to
proceed from it. When God was abont to visit
“And seven torches of fire burning before the throne, which
are the seven Spirits of God.”
These are not candlesticks or lamps within doors, but torches borne aloft
without, speaking preparation for battle. When Gideon went forth in
vengeance against the Midianites, his three hundred men took each a burning
torch in his left hand, and a trumpet in his right, and they cried, “The SWORD OF THE LORD, and of Gideon!”
(Judges 7: 16, 20.) So in Nahum’s
prophetic announcement of the day of judgment, the destroyer is described as
displaying “flaming torches in the day of his
preparation.” (Nahum 2: 3, 4.)
So the throne which is set for the judgment of the world, hath before it its “torches of fire burning,” charged with the fulness of
consuming vengeance upon all the enemies of God; for they are “seven.” The Spirit of God, in all His plenitude,
is these seven torches. That Spirit descended on Jeans as a dove; but
here He is the “Spirit of judgment, the Spirit of
burning.” (Is. 4: 4.) It is not
peaceful light, but flaming indignation, which is betokened, which at last sets
the world on fire, producing that day “that shall burn
as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble,
and it shall burn them up, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”
(Mal. 4: l.) The throne speaks
vengeance upon the guilty, and the Spirit of God is the spirit of the throne,
the spirit of devouring fire.
“And before [or,
the prospect from] the throne as it were a
glassy sea, like unto crystal.” When Moses, and
Aaron, and Nadab, and Abihu, and the seventy elders of
“And around the throne, twenty-four thrones; and upon the
twenty-four thrones, Elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and on their
heads golden crowns.” There
was more than one throne. In the centre, conspicuous, and majestic beyond
description, was the throne of the Deity; but in a wide circle around it were
twenty-four other thrones, distinct and glorious, but smaller and lower than
that which is, by eminence, called “The Throne.”
Our translators call them “seats;”
but the original word is the same in the case of the twenty-four in the
circle, as in that in the centre. They are all “seats,” certainly but a particular kind
of seats, regal seats, seats of majesty and dominion,
seats of royal assessorship with the enthroned One. Nor can we be much at
a loss as to the persons who occupy them.
They are not angels, but human beings.*
[* See R.V.] This
is ascertained by the song they sing, in which they speak of having been
gathered out of the tribes and peoples of the earth. (Chap.
5: 9.)
They are not the patriarchs, Jews, or apostles only;
for they are from “every tribe, and tongue, and
people, and nation.” (Chap. 5: 9.)
They are not unfallen beings, but ransomed sinners;
for they give honour to Christ for redeeming them – “Thou redeemedst
[*Some critics and expositors have rejected this “US” for the reason that it is omitted in the Codex
Alexandrinus, and in the Ethiopic version; though the latter is not much more
than a loose paraphrase. The Codex Sinaiticus, however, which was
discovered in 1860, and which is of equal antiquity and authority with the
Codex Alexandriuns, contains it. The Codex Basilianus, in the
They
are not disembodied spirits of
the saints, but glorified saints in resurrection bodies; for
they are enthroned, crowned, and robed in white, which is
a fruition of blessedness and honour which is everywhere reserved till
after the resurrection and the glorifying rapture. Paul
tells us that he was to receive his “crown of
righteousness,” not at his decease, but “at
that day” - the day of Christ’s coming to awake and
gather His saints, - and that the same is true of “all”
who are to be partakersof that crown. (2 Tim. 4: 8.)
The entire scriptural doctrine concerning the state of the dead, forbids the
idea that disembodied souls are already crowned and enthroned, although at
rest in the bosom [‘paradise’] of God. Such rewards Christ is to bring
with Him (see chap. 22: 12; 11: 18; Is. 52: 11);
hence, no one receives them until He comes. recalls the sleepers, and completes
that redeniption of power for which all things wait. (See Rom. 8: 22, 23.)
The coronation time, is the resurrection time; and no one can be
crowned until he is either resurrected if dead, or translated if living. Any
other doctrine overthrows some of the plainest teachings of the Scriptures, and
carries confusion into the whole Christian system. And as John beholds
certain subjects of redemption, robed, and crowned, and enthroned, as
priests and kings in heaven, we here have (let it be noted) positive
demonstration, that, at the time to which this vision relates, a resurrection
and a translation have already taken place. It will
not do to say, that the picture is anticipative of the
position and triumphs of the Church after the seals, trumpets,
and vials have run their course. The resurrection saints occupy these
thrones, while yet the closed book, which brings forth the seals and trumpets,
lies untouched in the hand of Him that sits upon the throne. They see it
there, and they proclaim the Lamb worthy to open it. They behold Him
taking it up, and fall down and worship as He holds it. They are in their
plsces when heaven at a later period receives the accession of the multitude
which come “out of the great tribulation.” (Chap. 7: 11-14.) They are clearly
distinguished from the company of the hundred and forty-four thousand gathered
round t the Lamb on
[*
The Four Living Ones and Twenty-four Elders represent the deceased saints
raised from their graves; but the 144,000 in Rev.
14. represent the exact number of the quick or living saints who shall be
found worthy and ready to be translated to heaven without dying at the first
stage of Christ’s Second Advent. ‑[EDITOR]
They
are “Elders,” not only with
reference to their official places; for that term is expressive
of time rather than of office. The elder, is
the older man; and in the original order of human society, he was the
ruling man because he was the older man. These enthroned ones are elders,
not because they are officers, but they are officers because
they are elders. They are the older ones of the
children of the resurrection. They are the first-born from the dead - the
first glorified of all the company of tho redeemed - the seniors
of the celestial assembly; not indeel with respect to the number of their
years on earth, - but with respect to the time of their admission into
heaven. They have had their resurrection in advance of the
judgment-tribulations, and are crowned and officiating as kings and priests in
glory. They do not represent, by any means, the whole body of the
redeemed, as some have supposed, but are exactly what their name imports - the
seniors of them - the first-born of the household - the oldest of the family, -
and hence the honoured officials.
There
certainly is, as we shall more fully see hereafter, a succession in the order
in which the saints are gathered into their final glory. There are some
who “escape” the “great tribulation,” being taken to heaven before it comes; there
are others who suffer it, and are only taken to heaven out of it -
including those under Antichrist, “who had not
worshipped the beast, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in
their hands,” all of whom together make up the fulness of “the first resurrection.” And of these successive
companies and orders, the enthroned twenty-four Elders of this vision are among
the first. They are the seniors – “the
Elders.”
John
saw but twenty-four of them; but these were the
representatives of many others. There were many priests and Levites under
the old economy. The number of those who “were set to forward the work of
the house of the Lord, was “twenty and four thousand.” (1 Chron. 23: 3, 4.) But they were all arranged in courses
of twenty-four (1 Chron. 24:
3-5.) so that never more than twenty-four were found on duty at a tinie.
There were also many prophets appointed to praise God with instruments of song;
but they too were arranged in twenty-four courses, each course with its own
individual representative. (1 Chron. 25.)
These were not human devices, things specially directed by the Spirit of the
Lord (1 Chron. 18: 11-13, 19), and meant to
be “figures of the true,” and “patterns of things in the heavens.” (Heb. 9: 23, 24.) Accordingly, we are to see
in these twenty-four royal priests, but one course of as many more courses, all
of which together do but represent thousands upon thousands of the same high
and privileged class. Heaven is not an empty place, nor is it stinted in
the number of its honoured dignitaries.
I
find, then, in these enthroned Elders,the highest manifested glory of the risen
and glorified saints. They are in heaven. They are around the
throne of Deity. They are pure and holy, wearing white “which is the righteousness of the saints.” They
are partakers of celestial dominion. They are kings of glory, with golden
crowns. They are settled, and at home in their exalted dignities; not standing
and waiting as servants, but seated as royal
counsellors of the Almighty. They are assessors of the great Judge of
quick and dead, the spectators of all that transpires in heaven and earth, and
participants in the judgment of the world for its sins, the Church for its
apostasies, Babylon for her impurities, Antichrist for his blasphemies, and
that old Serpent and his brood for their ungodliness and wickednesses during
all these weary ages.* They are the Elders of the glorious house of the
redeemed, and kings and priests in the temple and palace of the Lord God
Almighty, whom all the earth shall obey, and all the ages acknowledge.
[“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?
Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” (1 Cor. 6: 2, 3.)]
And
yet, there is another picture in the vision, which some take to be still
higher.
“Amidst the throne and around the throne,”
John saw “four Living ones” (unfortunately
called “beasts” by our
translators), “full of eyes before and behind;
the first like a lion, and the second like a young ox, and the third having the
face like a man, and the fourth like a flying eagle. And the four Living
ones, each one of them, had around them six wings apiece, and within they are full
of eyes; and they have not rest day and night, saying, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS, AND WHO IS,
AND WHO IS TO COME.”
What
are we to understand by these? They sing precisely the same song (chap. 5: 9, 10) which the Elders sing. They give
praise to the Lamb for having died for them, and for redeeming them by His
blood “out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and
nation.” They say to the Lamb, “Thou redeemedst
us to God by Thy blood!” This settles the point that they
are also glorified men, not “beasts” at all, nor
mere personifications of mute creation or nature’s forces. The schoolmen,
and some of the later Fathers, took them to be the four Evangelists.
Hence, the lion of St. Mark, the eagle of
Perhaps
the easiest and shortest way for us to get at the true explanation of this
remarkable manifestation, is to go back to the ancient dispensation, so much of
which was copied exactly from these heavenly things. The Jewish writers
tell us, that the standard of each tribe of Israel took the colour of the stone
which represented it in the high priest’s breastplate, and that there was
wrought upon each a particular figure - a lion for Judah, a young ox for
Ephraim, a man for Reuben, and an eagle for Dan. These were the
representative tribes, and all the rest were marshalled under these four
standards (Num. 2.); - Judah, on the east,
with Issachar and Zebulon; Reuben on the south, with Simeon and Gad; Ephraim on
the west, with Manasseh and Benjamin; and Dan on the north, with Asher and
Naphtali. In the centre of this quadrangular encampment was the
tabernacle of God, with four divisions of Levites forming an inner encampment
around it. It was thus that
To
cover and guard, is thought to be the proper signification of the word cherub.
After the expulsion of our first parents from
And what Ezekiel’s cherubim were in the ancient
order, these “Living Ones” of the Apocalypse
are in the order which obtains at the time to which this vision of John
refers. They represent redeemed men, glorified, and
related to the judgment-throne in heaven, and to the interests and affairs of
the future, kingdom on earth, just as Ezekiel’s cherubim
are related to the throne and kingdom now, and in the former dispensations.
The Living Ones are the cherubim of the new order. They
are joined directly to the throne of the new order. They are in the midst
of it. They are around it. They are expressions of it. And
they take the forms of the lion, the man, the young ox, and the flying eagle,
for the reason that they are the heavenly powers who guard and cover the camp
of the Lord, which, under them, the entire world is to become. Jesus
tells us that “they which shall be accounted worthy to
obtain that world [age] and the resurrection
from among the dead, … are equal unto
the angels” (Luke 20:
35, 36); and this is the vision of that declaration fulfilled, showing
us certain pre-eminent classes of the eclectic resurrection and translation, not
only angelic as to their form of existence, but in the exact positions which
the angels held in other dispensations.
Ezekiel
saw but four cherubim. The fourfold number symbolised the
scene of their ministrations - the world. And
these four included and represented many more; for “the
chariots of God” are “twenty thousand, even many
thousands of angels.” (Ps. 68: 17.)
And for the same reason John saw but four of these “Living
Ones.” This is the worldly number, and denotes that their office has
reference to God’s providence in the world. But in these four
Living Ones are embraced thousands of glorified ones (see Ezek. 7: 10), whose high distinction is to share
the throne with their Divine Redeemer, as His ministers and as
executors of His will throughout eternal ages.
They
have wings, for they are angelic now; and more wings than their angelic
predecessors, showing how fully they are capacitated for motion, and how much
wider is the sphere of their movements. The
They
are full of eyes, before, behind, and within; which is the symbol of intense
intelligence, looking backward into the past, and forward into the future, and
inward upon themselves and into the nature of things, and able to direct their
ways and administrations with unlimited penetration and discretion.
And
they never rest, in the fervency and grandeur of their zeal, perpetually
expressing the holiness and glory of the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is,
and is to come.
Some
have taken these four Living Ones to be the same as the twenty-four Elders,
only in other relations, and in other features of their dignities and
blessedness. I cannot so understand it. They have, it is true, the
same priestly censers as the Elders, and they sing the same song of a common
redemption, kinghood, priesthood, and dominion over the earth. But they
have, as a class, an individual distinctness, which is never lost sight of, and
never confounded with the eldership. Even on earth, “there are diversities of gifts, and differences of
administrations;” and much rather will there be varieties of place and
function in heaven. The Elders have crowns and thrones distinct from the
central throne; but these Living Ones have for their crown the very throne
itself. They are joined to the throne; they are in the midst of
it, and directly express it.* They also lead the Elders in their
adorations; for “whensoever they give glory, and
honour, and thanks to Him that sitteth on the throne,” then it is that “the twenty-four Elders fall down before Him that sitteth on
the throne, and worship Him that liveth for the age of the ages, and cast their
crowns before the throne,” giving, glory, honour, and power to the
Almighty Maker of heaven and earth. The one class have more the semblance
of counsellors, the other, that of executors,
and the two together are the closest to God of all the redeemed.
[*
“These four beasts are _livine emblems and ornaments
of the throne, denoting a nearer admission than the twenty-four Elders.”
- Bengel’s ‑Gnomon in loc.]
And
these, my friends, are the dignities and glories to which you, and I,
and all who hear the Gospel of Christ, are called and invited. There is
not a prerogative of that celestial eldership - not an office or possession of
these living ones - not a sonog they sing - not an attribute they wear - not a
place they fill - which is not this night held out and offered to every one of
us. Oh, the grandeur, the blessedness, the sublimity of the overtures of
the Gospel of Christ! And with your eye on these heavenly splendours,
these celestial princedoms and priesthoods, these eternal royalties with God
and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and with your heart warmed with the
contemplation of their unfathomed excellency, I ask you, whether you are
willing to despise and cast away this your golden opportunity to obtain
them? I wish to put it to your conscience, O man, O woman, whether, after
all this has been put within your reach, you can still hope for clemency, if
you wilfully turn a deaf ear, and carelessly let your chance go by! I
wish to have your honest, sober, practical decision on the question, whether
you are willing to allow this world’s fleeting vanities, and damning sins and
follies, to occupy and possess you in prefer-powers? Believe me, that I
am in earnest in this appeal; for I make it a messenger of God, ordained to
deal with these holy things for your salvation. The Lord fasten it on
your soul, and give each of us grace to let go friends, pleasures, comforts,
home, country, freedom, life, everything, rather than let slip so
blessed an opportunity for so great a prize!
LECTURE TENTH.
THE
SEALED BOOK - NOT A BOOK OF REVELATIONS, BUT OF A FORFEITED INHERITANCE -
REDEMPTION STILL LARGELY FUTURE - THZ INHERITANCE FORFEITED - THE INCOMPETENCE
OF ALL CREATURES - THE SEER’S TEAM - THE GREAT CONSOLATION - THE LAMB - HIS
ATTITUDE, HORNS, AND EYES - HIS TAKING OF THE BOOK - M0MENTOUS SIGNFICANCE OF
THE ACT - THE UNIVERSAL JOY - THE GOLDEN BOWLS AND HARPS OF THE LIVING ONES AND
ELDERS - SAINTS TO REIGN ON THE EARTH.
Rev. 5: 1-14 (Revised
Text) “And I saw upon the right
hand of Him that sitteth upon the throne, a book [or roll], written on the
inside and on the back, fast-sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty
angel proclaiming with a great voice: Who is worthy to open the book, and to
loose the seals of it? And no one was able, in the heaven, nor on the
earth, nor under the earth, to open the book, nor even to look upon it.
And I was weeping much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, nor
even to look upon it. And one from among the elders saith to me: Weep
not; behold the Lion from the tribe’s of Judah, the Root of David, overcame [see chap. 3: 21], to open the book and its seven seals.
And behold, and amidst the throne and the four living ones, and
amidst the elders, a Lamb, standing, as it had been slain, having seven horns
and even eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the
earth. And He came and took [the book] from the right hand of Him that sitteth upon
the throne.
And when He took the book, the four living ones and the twenty-four
elders, fell down before the Lamb, having each a harp and golden bowls full of
incenses, which are the prayers of the saints; and they sing a new song,
saying: Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals of it; for Thou
wert slain, and redeemedst us to God by Thy blood, out of every tribe and
tongue, and people, and nation, and Thou madest us* unto our God, kings and priests,
and we shall reign on the earth.
[*
Some of the best MSS. read “them”
in place of us; but the sense is not altered by it, or by reading “they,” as some MSS. do in the next
clause, instead of “we;” for the
subject is settled by the preceding declaration to be the persons uttering the
song, namely, by the phrase “redeemedst us;”
the genuineness of which must be considered established aince the
discovery of the Codex Sinaiticus.]
And I saw and heard a voice of many angels around the throne, and
the living ones and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads,
and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb which
hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and
honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in the
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and upon the sea, and all the
things in them, heard I saying, To Him that sitteth upon the throne and to the
Lamb [be] the
blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion for the ages of the
ages. And the four living ones said, Amen; and the elders fall down and
worshipped.
This
chapter continues the description of the vision last had under
consideration. The scene is still in the sky. The throne, the Elders,
the Living Ones, are still in view, the same as in the preceding chapter.
But there is a making.ready for great things, and hence a disclosure of new
items, which now claim our attention.
Prominent
and first among these is a book, or roll,
upon the right hand of Him that sitteth on the throne written on the inside and
on the back, fast-sealed with seven seals. It was doubtless there from
the very first glance the seer had of this sublime display; but it was kept out
of his notice, at least reserved from the particulars of his description, until
this point, at which starts one of and the occasion of the most tremendous
convulsions and changes on earth. The meaning of it has been differently
represented by different expositors. But the outlying facts, that it, and it
alone, brings upon the scene the Prime Mover of the new song in heaven, and the
Great Actor of all the succeeding events of earth; that He appears and deals
with this: book only in the character of the “Lamb
which had been slain;” and that what He does with it is
something from which all creation has shrank back in unworthiness. and
inability to perform, ought to be sufficient to set us upon the track of the
conclusion, that this book has its primary avid most essential reference to redemption.*
In this conclusion we are confirmed by the song which the Living Ones and the
Elders sung, over the taking of the book, which is altogether a song of
redemption – “the redemption of the purchased
possession.”
Redemption
has its roots and foundations in the past in the Cross of Christ, but its true
realisation lies in the future, and connects directly with the period and
transactions to which our text relates. The Scriptures everywhere point
forward to Christ’s Apocalypse, as the time when first the mystery shall be
finished, and the long process reach its proper consummation. Jesus
talked to His disciples about the signs which were to precede His coming, and
said, “When these things begin to come to pass,
then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth
nigh.” (Luke 21: 28.) In His
view, then, redemption proper, in its true reality, lies more in the future
than in the past; so much more that the past is hardly
to be named apart from what is yet to come. And with all Paul’s glorying
in the cross, he did not hesitate to say: “If in this
life only we have hope in Christ, we are, of all men, most miserable;”
and that “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in
pain together until now; and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the
first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.”
(1 Cor. 15: 19; Rom. 8: 22, 23.) He speaks
of Christians as indeed “sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise,” which he commends greatly, but which he pronounces the mere “earnest” or pledge-penny of something vastly greater -
of an “inheritance” still future, which is only
to come at a yet unaccomplished “redemption of the purchased
possession.” (Eph. 1: 13, 14.)
To him, therefore, redemption is still largely a subject of hope. There
is an inheritance pledged, and a possession purchased, but
it is not yet redeemed. The action of claiming, disencumbering, and
taking, possession of this inheritance is still future. And it is just
this action that is brought to our view in the taking up of this book and the
breaking of its seals.
The
word redemption comes to us, and takes its significance
froin certain laws and customs of the ancient Jews, which made it the right of
the nearest of kin to one who, through distress or otherwise. had alienated his
inheritance to another party, to step in and redeem it; that is, to buy it
back, and retake it, at any time, or at such times not falling within certain
stipulated intervals. When an inheritance was thus disponed away by its
rightful possessor, there were two books, or instruments
of writing, made of the transaction, the one open - and
the other sealed, specifying price and particulars.
These books or mortgage-deeds went into the hands of the one to whom the
property was thus made over. A sealed book thus
became a standing sign of an alienated inheritance, but so
held as to be liable to be recovered on the terms specified. And when any
one legally representing the original proprietor, was found competent to buy
back what had been disponed away, and thus to regain that sealed instrument, he
was called the goel, or redeemer, and the inheritance was
considered redeemed, so far that he now had full right to dispossess of it
whoever might be found on it, and to enter upon its undisturbed
fruition.* From this it will be seen, that the transactions which John
witnessed, in regard to this sealed book, accord with this ancient arrangement
for the redemption of inheritances.
[*
In this connection, see Ruth, chapter 4.]
We
also know very well that there has been an inheritance forfeited
and disponed away for these thousands of years, and that for all this time the
proper heirs have lain out of it, and had no proper possession of it.
That inheritance we know to be just - the all things – in
which man, in his first creation, was installed, and which God made good,
and sin made evil. Everything testifies that it was a high, holy, and
blessed investiture. But, alas! its original possessor, the First Adam,
sinned, and it passed out of his hands to the disinheritance of all his
seed. The sealed book, the title-deeds of the forfeited inheritance, has
lain in the Almighty’s hands from the days of Adam until now, with no one to
take it up or to dispossess the aliens. And even when the saints are
caught up to the sky, they will find it still lying there, awaiting this very
scene of the text, when the Goel adjudged worthy shall appear and take it up
and break its seals.*
[*
This Sealed Book or Lamb’s Book of Life must be regarded as the Title
Deeds of the Inheritance, and not the Mortgage Deed.
The latter when recovered, is generally cancelled and destroyed, but the former
is always carefully preserved, which is, of course, the case of the Lamb’s Book
of Life, - Ed.]
But,
along with the scaled book, appeared a mighty angel, asking with a great voice,
if any one was prepared to take the book and break its seals. The time
had come, when, if a competent Goel was to be found, he should come forward and
exercise his right. The result of the call was, that “no one was able in the heaven, nor on the earth, nor under
the earth, to open the book, nor even to look upon it.”
Angels shrunk back from it as beyond their qualifications. Heavenly
principalities and powers stood mute and downcast as they surveyed the
requirements for the work. The lost inheritance of mankind can never be
recovered by man, or angel, or spirits of the under world.
It
is a sad and melancholy contemplation. Heaven, itself, seems to grow
silent and breathless under it. And the tender and loving heart of John
overflows as the picture opens before him. “I was wee ping much, because no one was found worthy to open
the book, nor even to look upon it.”
These
tears were not tears of disappointed curiosity at being unable to discover the
contents of the sealed book. No, no; John knew by that Spirit in which he was,
what that sealed book meant. He knew that if no one was found worthy
and able to take it from the hand of God, and to break its seals, that all the
promises of the prophets, and all the hopes of the saints, and all the
preintimations of a redeemed world must fail. He understood the
office of the Goel, and that if there was failure at this point, “the redemption of the purchased possession”
must fail. Could it be possible that this should be? Had he
all this while been hoping and preaching, and prophesying what should, after
all, not be accomplished? Was the promised inheritance, now at the
ripened moment for its recovery, to go by default into eternal
alienation? How could he bear the thought? Yet such were some of the
suggestions of this interval of blankness and awful pause in heaven. And
in this view of the case, well might an earnest prophet weep without damage to
his meekness or his honour. But in this chief mourner over the unopened
book, we may see the state of the Church up to that time, - a widowhood
household, weeping before the Lord over the spoliation of its
inheritance. That book, unlifted and unopened, is
the Church’s grief and distress. It bespeaks the inheritarce unredeemed -
the children still estranged from their purchased possession. But that book
opened, is the Church’s joy and glory. It is the assertion
of her reinstatement into what Adam. Lost - the recovery to her of all of which
she has been so long and cruelly deprived by sin. Until, therefore, the
book is opened, and the seals broken, the people of God must remain in
privation, sorrow, and tears.
But,
blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Such anxious
and tearful longing for the “better country” and
the ransomed inheritance, is noticed in heaven, has many precious assurances
from thence. One of the Elders said unto John: “Weep not; behold the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root
of David, overcame to open the book and its seven seals.”
And this is what the Church has been hearing from her elders, and prophets,
and apostles, and ministers in all the ages. It is the very essence of
the Gospel, which has been sounding ever since the promise in
“And behold, and amidst the throne, and the four Living Ones,
and amidst the Elders, a Lamb, standing, as it had been slain.” The description of the location of
this Lamb, is of the same sort with that of the Living Ones. They were “amidst the throne, and around the throne;” that is,
they were seen everywhere within the bounds of the throne, from centre to
circumference, as if the life and being of it, present in every part. And
so this Lamb was amidst the throne, the Living Ones, and the Elders - visibly
omnipresent within these bounds, as if the animating soul of all - the Life of
the life of the throne, and of the forms of being and dignity about it.
He
who appears here as a Lamb, is the same whom the Elder had just described as a
Lion. The two titles might seem to be incongruous. What more
opposite than, the, Monarch of the forest in strength and majesty, inflicting
terror and death, and the lamb, in its uncomplaining meekness, - in the
hands of the sacrificer! But the two pictures do not conflict. They
supplement each other, and combine to bring what could not be otherwise so well
portrayed, and yet what the nature of the case required. The opening of
the seals, is an act of strength - an exploit of war - a going forth of power
to take possession of a kingdom. As one after another is broken, out
flies a strong One in fierce assault upon the enemies and usurpers who occupy
the earth. There is terror and destruction at every successive
movement. And in the accomplishment of this, Christ is a Lion, clothed
with power, and majesty, and terribleness. But the character in which He
overcame, and became in that respect qualified for this work, and that in which
He presents Himself before the throne as a candidate to be adjudged worthy to
do it, is that of the sacrificial Lamb, who had innocently and meekly suffered,
bearing our sins in His own body, and vanquishing all legal disabilities by His
atoning blood. It is in this character of a Lamb that was slain, who
overcame by His perfect obedience unto death, and who paid the price of
redemption in His meek sufferings, that He is adjudged “worthy to take the book, and to open the seals of it.” It is
by His sacrifice as a Lamb slain, that He comes to the qualifications for the
further office of a Lion, to assert and enforce His supremacy. Both these
characters are essential, hence, both appear in the description. “He was led as a Lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened,not His mouth”
(Is. 53: 7); but He is yet to “send forth judgment unto victory” (Matt. 12: 20). As the Lamb, He hath “borne our sorrows and carried our iniquities.”
And stands before the throne in passive humiliation and loyal stiffering, but
it is reserved for Him, as
He
is here described, not by the ordinary word used to signify a lamb, but by
another [word]
more intensely significant of gentleness and domesticity - a pet lamb - in
sharp contrast with the wild beasts, in opposition to whom
He is arrayed. This, the more fully brings out His particular mildness and
familiar identification with His people, and the utter inexcusableness and
guilt of those savage and untamable ones who persist in rejecting, persecuting
and warring against Him. They wrong and injure the gentlest and most
inoffensive of beings - they murder the pet Lamb of the family of God.
You
will notice the attitude of this Lamb – “standing.”
Though He had all the appearances of recent slaughter, He is alive, upon His
feet. The resurrection of Christ is not a myth, but a fact.
The same John who saw Him dead on
“Having seven horns.” Here is the intimation that something
more than sacrifice and intercession is now to be His business. The horn
is the symbol of strength and agressive power. Moses, in blessing Joseph,
says: “His glory is like the firstling of His bullock,
and His horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them He shall push the
people together to the ends of the earth.” (Dent.
33: 17.) We find the same imagery in Psalms
(89: 17, 24), applied both to Christ and His
people, and in both instances connected with strength and conquest. Zechariah (1: 18, 19)
says: “I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four
horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me: What be
these? And he answered me: These are the horns [that is, the
powers], which have scattered
And with the “seven horns”
are “seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of
God sent forth into all the earth.” When Isaiah
prophesied of the Rod out of the stem of Jesse, he said: “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon [have its home
in] Him.” And he enumerated seven in the blessed
fulness of the holy endowment: First, “the spirit of
wisdom;” second, “the spirit of understanding;”
third, “the spirit of counsel;” fourth, “the spirit of might;” fifth, “the
spirit of knowledge;” sixth, “the spirit
of the fear of the Lord;” and seventh, “the
spirit of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.” (Isa. 11: 1-3). Thus has inspired prophecy
identified, and described in advance, these very “seven
Spirits of God,” which here come His horns show to view as the “seven eyes” of the Lamb. His fulness of imperial
power; His eyes show His fulness of intellectual and spiritual
power. His is not a blind force, but an almightiness directed by
perfect and all-searching intelligence, and divine understanding. Upon
that BRANCH which God was to lay as the chief corner-stone of the mystic
temple, were also “seven eyes – eyes of the Lord, which
run to and fro through the whole earth.” (Zech.
3: 8, 9; 4: 10.) And this Lamb is that selfsame Branch and
Corner-stone; and these are the selfsame eyes of all-penetrating vision and
completeness of spiritual and universal wisdom. Three grand qualities of
the Goel are thus brought to view sacrificial virtue, to take away sin; second,
aggressive strength to conquer and to overcome all foes; and third,
perfect and universal intelligence, direct from the indwelling Spirit of
God in all its fulness. Such were the qualifications with which He
appeared amidst the throne, the Living Ones, and the Elders, and advanced to
take the book and break its seals. And when it is considered, that no
qualifications less than these would answer, we need not wonder that no one
else in heaven, earth, or under the earth, was found worthy to open the book,
or even to look upon it. Who among the angels of God could show such
spotless innocence, maintained amid such trials - such meek and meritorious
submission - such victory over the inexorable demands of a violated law - such
triumph over the unmutilated power of death - such perfection of aggressive
might - such intensity of spirituality, intelligence, wisdom, and Godly comprehension!
Well might the mightiest messenger of God, with the greatest voice, send out
through the universe, and all heaven pause in mute and solemn waiting, and not
find such another. Brethren, there is but one sun in our system, and
there is but one Christ in the universe.
“And He came and took [the book.] from the right hand of Him that sitteth npon the throne.”
This is the sublimest individual act recorded in the
Apocalypse. It is the act which includes all that suffering creation, and
the disinherited saints of God have been and crying, and waiting for, for all
these long ages - for six thousand years of grief and sorrow. It is the
act which carries with it all else that is written in the succeeding
part of this glorious revelation. It is the act by virtue of which the
world is subdued,
“And when He took the book,” there went
a thrill through the universal heart of living things. “The four Living ones, and the tiventy‑four. Elders fell down
before the Lamb.” A son.which was never sung before, broke
from their lips. John hears the lofty anthem rolling sublime through
hqaven: “THOU ART WORTHY TO TAKE THE BOOK, AND TO OPEN
THE SEALS OF IT; for Thou wert slain, and redeemedst us to God by Thy
blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and peaple, and nation, and Thou madest
us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on tho earth.”
Nor they alone were moved to new and intenser adoration; but “around the throne, and the Living Ones, and the Elders,”
and afar in the depths of space, he “heard the
voice of many angels, and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and
thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: WORTHY IS THE LAMB WHICH HATH BEEN SLAIN TO RECEIVE THE
POWER, AND RICHES, AND WISDOM, AND MIGHT, AND HONOUR. AND GLORY, AND BLESSING.”
And wider, and still wider spread the sympathetic response of adoring
rapture. There was not a holy heart unmoved, nor a holy tongue
that did not lift up its song. “Every
creature which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and
upon the sea, and all things in them,” John “heard saying, TO HIM THAT SITTETH UPON THE THRONE, AND TO THE LAMB, [BE] THE BLESSING, AND THE HONOUR, AND THE GLORY, AND THE
DOMINION FOR THE AGES OF THE AGES. And the four Living Ones said,
AMEN; and the Elders fell down and worshipped.”
In
the preceding chapter, when the Living Ones and Elders paid their adoration, it
was unto Him that sitteth upon the throne; and their cry of WORTHY, was
to Him Who CREATED all things, and by whose will they were, and were
created. But here they fall down before the Lamb, and cry their WORTHY,
unto Him that was slain, and had REDEEMED them with His blood. And
in connection with their new song to Him who holds the book, they are described
as “having each a harp and golden bowls full of
incenses, which are the prayers of the saints.” I find
here nothing of that saint mediatorship with which the Church in some sections
and ages has been so much defiled, and the glory of her true Intercessor so
much obscured. Christ has just now been acknowledged as the possessor of
the ability and the right to enter, with His redeemed ones, upon their
inheritance. It is therefore the time for all the prayers of all the
saints of all the ages to come into remembrance, that that which has ever been
their chief burden may now be answered and fulfilled. “THY KINGDOM COME.
THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IS IN HEAVEN.” So have
all Christians ever prayed. Such is the theme of all true supplication,
as it looks out over futurity, and utters the spirit of faith and hope.
And who can reckon up the volunies and oceans of such entreaties, which remain
to this day unanswered? But, not one of them is lost. They are all
carefully treasured in golden bowls. They are as sweet incenses before
God and before the Lamb. And when we come to take our places with our
Lord, and He takes the book of the forfeited inheritance to break its debarring
seals, then will those supplications come into play; and blessed he who has his
bowl full of them. The picture is not that of saints in heaven
officiating for saints on earth; but of saints in heaven holding up to Christ
their own prayers, and the prayers of one another, and the prayers of all
saints, that now they may be fulfilled to the making of things on earth as they
are in heaven - that now the answer which has been so long delayed may be
speedily accomplished.
Why
do these Living Ones and Elders sing to Him who holds the lifted book, “And we shall reign on the earth”? Why
express themselves thus, just at this point? Because this taking up of
the book was the pledge and proof that now He was fully investedland ready to
redeem the inheritance, and to carry into effect the blessed promises, that “the meek shall inherit the earth,” and that “the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom
under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most
High.” (Matt. 5: 5; Dan. 7: 27.)
It was now certain to sight that all was about to be literally
fulfilled, and that their golden crowns and, dignities were not mere empty
things, but carrying with them all that such marks import.
Some
people tell us that it is quite too low and coarse a thing to think of the earth
in connection with the final bliss of the saints. They preach that we
do but degrade and pervert the exalted things of holy Scripture, when we hint
the declaration of the wise man, that “the earth
endureth for ever,” and that over it the glorious and everlasting
kingdorn of Christ and His saints, is to be established in literal
reality. But if the ransomed in heaven, with golden crowns upon their
brows, kneeling at the feet of the Lamb, before the very throne of God, and
with the prayers of all saints, and the predictions of all prophets in their
hands, could sing of it as one of the elements of their loftiest hopes and
joys, I beg to turn a deaf ear to the surly cry of “carnal” - “sensual”
- “unspiritual” - with which some
would turn me from “the blessed hope.”
Shall the saints in glory shout: “We shall reign on
the earth,” and we be accounted heretics for
believing that they knew what they were saving? Shall they, from thrones in
heaven, point to earth as the future theatre of their administrations, and
give adoring thanks and praises to the Lamb for it, and we be stigmatised as
fanatics and Judaisers, for undertaking to pronounce the blessed fact in mortal
hearing?
Shall
we then keep silence on the subject? - When the Livin-Ones and Elders fail to
sing about it in heaven; when inspired apostles no longer admit the subject
into their holy writings; then, but not till then, let it be dropped from the
discourses of our sanctuaries, and from the inculcations of thern that fear
God. And woe to that man who is convinced of its truth, but, for the
sake of place or friendship, refrains from confessing it! Well has it
been said of him “He barters away his kingdom for
the applause of men. He eclipseth the glory of Christ to enhance his own.”
He stultifieth the adoring sons of celestial kings, that he may win a little
empty favour by base pandering to the pleasure of an ignorant, unbelieving and
godless worId.
LECTURE ELEVENTH.
OPENING
OF THE SEALS - TO WHAT THEY REFER - NOT MAINLY THE EARTHLY HISTORY OF THE CHURCH,
ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE A PRECURSORY SHADOWY FULFILMENT THROUGHOUT THIS DISPENSATION
- DENOTES A NEW ADMINISTRATION AFTER THE PRESENT - SHOWS THE PROCEEDING BY
WHICH CHRIST JUDICIALLY TAKES POSSESSION OF THE EARTH - THE TIME EMBRACED - DAY
OF JUDGMENT MORE THAN TWENTY‑FOUR HOURS - FIRST SEAL - UTTERANCE OF THE LIVING
ONES - HORSES, EARTHLY IMAGES OF DIVINE POWER - SPECIFIC WORK OF THE
FIRST HORSEMAN - A GREAT REFORMATION AND REVIVAL AMONG CHRISTIANS AFTER THE
JUDGMENT BEGINS.
Rev. 6: 1, 2 (Revised Text).
“And I saw when the Lamb opened one from among the
seven seals, and I heard one from among the four living ones, saying, as the
voice of thunder, Go! [or, Come!
The words, “and see,” are
doubtful, and generally rejected by critics.]
And I saw, and, behold, a white horse; and he that sat on him having
a bow; and a crown was given to him: and he went forth conquering, and to
conquer.
A
NEW turn of the vision which John began to describe in the fourth chapter, now
comes before us. The scene and actors are unchanged, but the
manifestations all move earth-ward. The sealed book has been lifted out
of the hand of the Sitter on the throne. It is in the possession of Him
found worthy to take it, and able to break its seals. The universal thrill
of exultation over the fact has subsided. Everything in the heavenly
presence has become quiet with reverent expectancy. And the Lifter of the
document now proceeds to destroy its seals. May God help us to a right
comprehension of the mysterious transaction!
Two
things are to be considered,‑
1.
THE SUBJECT TO WHICII IT REFERS
2.
THE PARTICULAR OCCURRENCES WHICII IT PORTRAYS.
1.
There are many who assume, that what is here treated of under the imagery
of the opening of the seven seals, is the continuous fortune of the
Christian Church and the Roman world, from the time of John’s banishment, or
soon thereafter, to the consummation of all things. By this class of
interpreters, the opening of the seals was the opening of a prophetic roll,
containing an outline of the triumphs of the Gospel, in connection with the
great world-powers, down to the coming of Christ and. the introduction of the
Millennial reign. That there is truth of some
sort underlying this view, we may readily admit. But the
amazing pomp, solemnity, and universal demonstration, with which the opening of
these seven seals is approached in the two preceding chapters, forbids the
assumption that nothing more is meant than the disclosure to the Church of a
dimepitome of its earthly history.
The
several particulars in the preliminary description prove that something
transcendently higher is intended than has yet transpired since the vision was
seen. The Elders already have their crowns, the giving
of which belongs to the resurrection period. (2 Tim. 4: 8.) The throne comes to
its place just at the moment in which John beholds it (chap. 4: 2), betokening a new administration other
than that which had previously been. Christ appears as the Lamb, which is
not the character of a Revelator; but it is the character of the predicted “Ruler of the land” about to take possession of the
inheritance. (Is. 16: l.) And the
character of the manifestations, along with concurrent explanations, as seal
after seal was broken; besides the numerous cross lights from other parts of
Scripture; all combine to prove, that something else is signified than only the
history of the present dispensation.
There
is also a link of consecution, given in the record itself, which must not be
overlooked. We hold it to be out of the question, in all just exegesis,
to give an adequate explanation of the vision of the stars and candlesticks,
including the seven Epistles, without making it span the entire earthly Church
state throughout this dispensation. The objections that have been urged
to the contrary, are futile in the extreme, and can be made to weigh as heavily
against any scheme of Apocalyptic interpretation, as against this. And if
the scope of the first vision stretches to the period of the consummation, it
is settled that everything relating to this book and its seals, refers above
all, not to things which run parallel with the earthly Church state, but to “the things which must take place; AFTER these things” (chap. 4: 1), that is, to another and subsequent
administration, which is the consummation of the present dispensation.
There
is, then, a solid basis on which, within certain limitations, the views of the Preterist,
Who traces the events under the opening of the seals in the course of
history since John’s time, and the views of the Futurist, who
refers them to the period of the judgment hereafter, may be harmonised, and
both accepted, without either one impairing the distinctness or truthfulness of
the other. The only prerequisite to the entertainment of both is, that
the two should be homogeneous, and that the one fulfilment should be
regarded as inchoate,and only a sort of preliminary and imperfect rehearsal or
earnest of the other. It is not to be doubted or denied,
that many sacred prophecies have embraced events of the past, which
nevertheless still travail with blessing, and await a further and completer
fulfilment. Many of the Old Testament predictions of the coming of the
Christ, if not the most of them, embraced at the same time, and without
distinction, what was partially fulfilled in His first coming but is to be much
more largely fulfilled at His second coming. Who can question that Haggai 2: 6, 7, has received some partial
illustration in the first advent? Yet the Holy Ghost, in Heb. 12: 26, teaches us still to await its
complete fulfilment. The inspired Peter informs us that the promise
given, in Joel 2: 28, has, in part, at
least, been accomplished. (Acts 2: 47.)
And yet, surely, the word is big with blessed things for the future.
Bacon
has well observed, that there is a “latitude which is agreeable unto Divine prophecies, being of
the nature of the Author, with whom a thousand years are but as one day, and
therefore they are not fulfilled punctually at once, but have springing and
germinant accomplishments throughout many ages, though the height or fulness of
them may refer to some one age.”* And it is altogether reasonable,
and accordant with the nature of the subject, to agree, that something of this
sort is to be found in the instance before us, giving us precursively and
imperfectly the same things through the course of centuries, which are to be
finally and perfectly consummated in the new administrations which the period
of the great judgment is to bring forth.
[*
Bacon’s Advancement of Learning, Book 2.]
Without
questioning, therefore, that these prophecies embrace.the general tenor of the
Church’s history in this world, or that an imperfect and germinant fulfilment
of the opening of these seals may be traced through the events of the past
dispensation, I must yet refer their height and fulness altogether to the
future, and assign them their complete fulfilment only in that momentous
section of time, which intervenes between the termination of the present order,
and the full establishment of the everlasting kingdom and reign of Christ and
His saints over all the earth.
With
a very able and eloquent preacher of the early part of this century, I take the
opening of these seals as significant of the Lion-Lamb’s entry, by successive
stages, upon the right and possession of the earth, and His actings of judicial
power and sovereignty whereby He asserts His claim and title as the victorious
Kinsman of our fallen race, to the end that all its territory, kingdomd,
peoples, and tongues may thenceforth be manifestly and in fact His
forever. In other words, it sets before us the Apocalypse of Jesus
Christ, in His relation to the world, and His administrations toward the
nations, after His elect of the Church have been caught up from their trials
and their graves to their heavenly thrones. It is the judical proceeding
of the Almighty Goel, to rid “the
purchased possession” of the dynasties of wickedness, to cast out the
rulers of the darkness of this world, to restore the earth to its proper
fertility and peace, and to bring in the empire of righteousness and salvation.
The
period of time more directly covered by these seven seals, is that which lies
between the assumption of the resurrected and translated saints of the first
class, and the subsequent full instalment of the millennial economy, when Satan
is bound, the first resurrection completed, and the blessed and holy who have
part in it reign with Christ as His kings and priests.
I
have several times explained, that the first thing to be looked for in the
great and marvellous transactions embraced in the consummation of all things,
is the mysterious coming of the Lord Jesus to take those that wait and watch
for Him, with such of the dead as have fallen asleep in the same
attitude. Good people are apt to be thinking of dying, and of being ready
for death. But no true Christian has any right to count on dying.
There is something that is more certain than death. There are some who
will never die. Those who are alive and waiting for Christ when He comes,
shall never taste of death.
They
shall be “taken” as Enoch
was taken, as Elijah was taken, as Romanists allege that the Virgin Mary was
taken, and as some say the Apostle John was taken. The words of Paul upon
this point are too plain to be misunderstood. He says, “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
… and we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up ... in the clonds, to meet the
Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord!” (1 Thess. 4: 16, 17.) I have no idea
that a very large portion of mankind, or even of the professing Church, will be
thus taken.
The first translation will embrace only the select few who “watch and pray always,” that they “may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall
come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21: 36) “In
that night there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other
shall be left. Two shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the
other left. Two shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the
other left.” (Luke 17: 34, 36.)
The general body of the Church Militant will be “left.”
And this assumption of the saints to immortality, which may occur any of these
passing days or nights, and certainly is to be devoutly awaited as very near,
is the first signal act by which the great period of the consummation is to be
introduced.
But
it will not, of itself, materially change the ordinary course of earthly
things. The world will still stand, with all its wicked populations, and
its apostate churches. Indeed, then only will commence the time when evil
shall rush unhindered to its highest bloom of daring and blasphemy. That
which hindered, being taken away, “then shall that
wicked be revealed, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power
and signs and lying wonders, and all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them
that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might
be saved.” ( 2 Thess. 2: 7-10.)
What
immediately follows the translation of the elect saints, has two aspects: one
as it relates to things in heaven, the other as it relates to things on earth.
What relates to heaven, we have had described to us in the sublime vision
of the Throne, the Living Ones, and the Elders. What relates to earth is
set forth under the opening of these seven seals.
The,
exact number of years covered by what is described under these seals, is not
specifically given. It may be the mystic seventieth week of Daniel
(seven years), as generally supposed by the Fathers, and affirmed by
well-deserving modern interpreters. To the latter portion of this period,
there is a specific duration assigned. A term of “forty and two months” –
“a thousand two hundred and threescore days” – “a time, times, and half a time,” - that is, a period
of three years and a half, - is several times mentioned;
first, in reference to the treading down of the city by the Gentiles; second,
in reference to the prophesying of the witnesses; third, in reference to the
flight of the woman into the wilderness; and fourth, in reference to the
beast’s persecuting power. All these appear to be synchronous, and to
fall very much, if not entirely, within the same period of time. And as
the dominion of the beast ends with the battle of the great day, with which the
action of the seals, trumpets, and vials sums up, we have only to date back
from that consummation, to find AT LEAST three and a half years before
the end, through which the opening of these seals is to run.
The
day of judgment, like the day of the Lord, is not a day limited to twenty-four
hours, as people often erroneously imagine. All the acts described under
these seven seals, are acts of judgment. Every scene is a judgment scene.
The throne is a judgment throne. The agencies are all messengers of
judicial power. Their operations are all connected with judicial awards. The
finished work presents Satan and his world-powers vanquished, the saints in
resurrection glory on their thrones, and the kingdoms of this world become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ for ever. There is another and
final judgment scene, at the end of the thousand years (Rev. 20.); but that is only the finishing up of what is here so
vigorously begun. The one gives us the morning, and the other the
evening, of the great day of judgment viewed as a whole.
The
day of judgment is not one simple act, but a series of varied administrations,
which do not reach all alike, nor all at the same time. It begins at the
house of God, before it at all touches the world, except in a mere symptomatic
way. And when it comes upon the present world-powers, it takes in many
diverse and successive acts, running through the course of years and finally
concludes a thousand years afterward, by the consignment of Satan and all his
seed to “the lake of fire,” which is “the second death.” (Rev.
20: 14, 15.)
We
accordingly have in the events set out under the opening of these seals, the
characteristics and leading facts of a grand transition period. A time of
judgment is always a time of transition. It is the closing up of one
order of things, and the opening of another. And this is eminently the
nature of the transactions here described. They show us how the present
world-powers, with their Satanic intermixtures, are to terminate, and the exact
particulars by and through which another and better order is to be reached.
2.
With these remarks touching the scope of these seals, we proceed to the
particulars described.
The
number of the seals is seven, indicative of the completeness of
the administrations to which they refer. The first four seals are mainly
distinguished by the part which the four Living Ones have in the proceedings,
and the appearance of a horseman in connection with each. In all of them,
the action goes out from heaven, and proceeds from the enthroned powers on
high. The effect, however, is uniformly on earth, or on what relates to
the earth. Some of the scenes are exceedingly disastrous and
revolutionary. It would sometimes seem as if everything were falling into
utter destruction. But, amid all the extraordinary and fearful shaking,
upheaval, and commotion, in earth and sky, our planet still continues revolving
in its place, and reappears from every scene, however terrible, neither
depopulated of its generations, nor stripped of its proper investiture or
elements. There is sufferinlg, change, and an accumulation of awful and
destructive prodiaies; but there is no missing of our mundane orb, and no
interruption to the succession of its seasons, or the continuity of the orders
of being with which God has peopled it.
As
soon as the first seal was broken, “one from among the
four Living Ones” spoke. Some have said that
it was the lion; but it is not said which it was. Neither does it matter,
as all four are equally concerned, and successively speak precisely the same
thing.
It
is, perhaps, worthy of note, that where the Living Ones and Elders speak
separately, there is this distinction between them: that when the subject
concerns heaven, and matters of instruction, the Elders speak; and when it
concerns earth, and the going forth of power, the Living Ones speak.
The
speaking in this case was as with “the voice of thunder.”
It is the tone of terror, majesty, and judgment, in keeping with the
character of the throne, and the nature of the proceeding, which is that of
judicial administration.
The
cry itself is very brief! It may be equally rendered Go, or
Come! Our translators give it about as often one way as the
other. It does not alter the sense here whichever way we take it.
It is not an address to John, as many have regarded it, and as the
questionable addition to the text – “and see”
- would seem to require. John was already on the spot, beholding all
that was transpiring, and did not need to be called any nearer, or to remove
any further off. And if his nearer approach or further departure had been
needed in the case of the first horseman, it could not have been needed for the
succeeding ones. But we find the same command repeated in each successive
instance. Neither can we explain why it should be such a voice of
thundering power, if it was simply a call to the seer. Critics agree that
the words, “and see,” should be
omitted.
Nor
is it a call addressed to Christ, as others have supposed. That the
Saviour should come, or go forward with His grand redemptive administrations,
may well be conceived to be the earnest desire of the Living Ones in heaven, as
it should be of the saints on earth, and as it is of the whole suffering
creation. But the same cry is uttered in the case of the three succeeding
horsemen, in neither of which is Christ the rider. The cry is also one of
official command, rather than of supplication. The voice of thunder is
not the voice of prayer. And, at the time of this cry, Christ is already
present. The prayer for His coming is then not properly in place.
The expression is really nothing more nor less than a command of
power, calling the several horsemen into action.
It
is the teaching of Christ and His apostles, that “the
saints shall judge the world” – “shall judge
angels.” (1 Cor. 6: 2, 3.) They
are to share in the administrations of power against the ungodly world, and
against the hosts of the wicked one, both human and angelic. And here is
where the fulfilment of that teaching, in part at least, comes in. These
Living Ones are glorified saints. They are connected with the throne of
judgment. They express the mind, and enact the will of that throne.
Much of its power toward the earth goes out through them. They are
enactors of the judicial energy of Him who sits upon the throne. And it is
in this capacity that they speak the word “Go!”
And as they speak, so it is. As soon as it is uttered by them in
heaven, it is already potent on earth. John hears the command above, and
at once he sees it doing execution below. What, then, does he see?
Mere power is an abstract quality, and not a subject of sight. It
must put on shape in order to be seen. Mere effects would not so well, so
clearly, and in so summary a manner display its character and movements.
The significance of the command accordingly embodies itself in living
forms. John beholds horses, with riders on them. They are not
literal horsemen, but symbolic pictures, in which are shown the characteristics
and doings of the invisible Goers, put into action through
the Living Ones. They are the powers of the Lion-Lamb, as
the Almighty Lord and Judge of all, administered by glorified saints, exalted
to participation in His sublime prerogatives. Judgment upon the world has
commenced, and here are the symbols of its manifestation.
“And I saw, and, behold, a white horse; and he that sat on him
having a bow; and a crown was given to him: and he went forth and to conquer.”
Many regard this as a symbol of the progressive success of a preached
Gospel. The progress of the truth is indeed included, after the manner
that I have explained; but past history furnishes nothing which can be set down
as the fulfilment of this prophetic picture. The Gospel, as now preached,
is not, and in the present dispensation, never will be universally triumphant.
This is demonstrated in the seven Epistles, and is the common teaching of
the Scriptures on the subject. A leading feature in its entire history
is, that it is mostly rejected. It is universally preached “as a witness to all nations,” but nations as such,
with all their patronage, have never received it, and have ever been the
slayers of its witnesses.
The description, again, is not one of progress merely,
but of a primary sending forth. The Gospel, as now
preached, was sent forth more than half a century before this vision. And
the vision itself is prefaced with the statement, that it refers to what was to
take place after the seven Churches, and hence after the
time of the apostle.
Zechariah says, “I saw by
night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle
trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were red horses, speckled, and
white. Then said I, 0 my lord, what are these? And the angel that
talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these be. And the man
that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the
Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.” (Zech. 1: 8-11.) Were these the ministers of
grace and evangelic overture? Were they not rather the powers of
God's providence and government of the world? Hear
further: “And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and
looked, and behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains;
and the mountains were mountains of brass. In the first chariot were red
horses; and in the second chariot black horses; and in the third chariot white
horses; and in the fourth chariot grizzled and bay horses. Then I
answered and said unto the angel that talked with me What are these, my lord?
And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four Spirits of
the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.”
(Zech. 6: 8.) And when Elisha prayed
that his servant’s eyes might be opened to behold the mighty powers of God, by
which He protects His people, and inflicts judgment upon their enemies, what
did he see? Let the sacred word itself tell us: “And
the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha,”
and the hosts, of Syria were smitten, and hurled back whence they came. (2 Kings 6: 15-18.)
Is
it difficult then to divine, what horses signify in connection with the Divine
government and administrations? Is not the whole idea that of swift
and irresistible power? What then are we to see in these
horsemen, but earthly images of the swift, invisible,, resistless power
of God, going forth upon the proud, guilty, and unbelieving
world? So far as the preaching of the Gospel is a potent war-power,
and an agent of judicial visitation upon the wicked, so far it is included
in this symbol of the white horse and his crowned and conquering rider, but no
further.
There
is something special, which I have not seen satisfactorily explained, touching
the nature of the work accomplished by this first horseman.
It is not war and bloodshed between man and man; for that is the work
of the rider of the red horse. It is not famine and scarcity; for that is
the work of the rider on the black horse. Neither is it pestilence and
mortality; for that is the work of the rider on the pale or livid horse.
What then is the character of the demonstration by which this crowned
rider of the white horse pushes forward the conquest for the heavenly dominion?
That it involves a demonstration of judgment, is an
idea which we dare by no means let go. This is rooted in the whole spirit
of the scene, and required by the tenor of the transactions along with which
this horseman appears. What then was the specific form of judgment unto
victory which is here adumbrated?
Several
peculiarities in the description may help us toward the true meaning.
Of the four horsemen, only this one has “a crown.”
His conquests, therefore, are specifically conquests of the
crown-achievements augmentative of heavenly dominion. The colour of the
horse is “white” - the colour of righteousness,
triumph, peace. The picture must then somehow link itself with something
righteous and good, though associated with a judicial proceeding. The
rider of this horse has “a bow.” This is
an instrument of war; but as no literal slaughter connects with this horseman,
it cannot refer to the destruction of life, but to a moral effect.
Similar imagery is used, to denote conquest resulting in salvation.
Habakkuk says, “Thou didst ride upon Thine horses
and Thy chariots of salvation. Thy bow was made quite naked, even
Thy word.” (Chap. 3: 8, 9.)
The disclosure and demonstration of Divine truth by judicial
visitations of power, and its triumphant subjugation of those who would
not yield to it, would be a legitimate and fitting conception to be associated
with this part of the picture. The language employed concerning the
career of this horseman, is also suggestive. He goes forth “conquering, and to conquer.” There is an idea of
continuity in the expression. It describes an ongoing of the work.
It is not a past, or mere present success, but a continuous one,
resulting, along with what else comes upon the scene, in complete and sovereign
dominion.
Is
there, then, anything in the declarations of Holy Scripture, or justly
inferable from them, touching the period of the judgment, which conforms at all
to these intimations? There is; and it is strange that futurist
interpreters have not been more impressed with it. “When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the
world will learn righteousness.” (Is.
26:. 9) “God shall shoot at them [that
encourage themselves in an evil speech] with an arrow;
suddenly shall they be wounded. And men shall fear, and shall declare the
work of God; for they shall wisely consider of His doings.” (Ps. 64: 7-9.) “Thy people shall be willing,” themselves presenting
themselves as living sacrifices, “in the day of
Thy power.” (Ps. 110: 3.)
These are all Messianic prophecies. They can be clearly identified as
referring to the period of judgment. And they each affirm a mighty moral
subjugation to the Lord, as the result of judicial administrations.
Daniel also affirms of “the time of the end,”
that “many shall be purified, and made white, and
tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall
understand,” (Dan. 12: 8-10.)
And After the unwatchful and evil servant shall have been surprised by
the presence of his lord whom he thought still far away, and after he has been
judicially cut off from partaking of the high privileges and rewards of the “faithful and wise servant,” THEN the kingdom of
heaven shall assume the character of ten virgins going forth with uniform zeal
and activity to meet the Bridegroom. (Matt. 24: 42
– 25: 1.)
To
locate the state of things represented in this parable, except where the
Saviour Himself puts it, namely, after the manifest and decisive judgment of
the Church has commenced, is to miss more than half its significance. And that
it shows a state of conviction, zeal, and general earnestness and anxiety
touching the movements of the returning Christ, altogether
different and more uniform than was ever witnessed before, no attentive
observer can fail to note. It therefore proves to us, that the opening
scenes of the judgment include revolutions in the religious views and
feelings of men, subduing many of them into submission to the word and
sovereignty of God in unexampled generality and power. To the
same effect is the prophecy of Joel, where he connects the great outpouring of
the Spirit of God, with the incoming of the “great and
terrible day of the Lord.” (Joel 2: 28-32.)
*
[*
Prophecies foretell that even during an era of great judgments - in one of the
very crises of the world’s tribulations - the evangelisation and salvation of
mankind, so far from being arrested, shall proceed and triumph. ‘For when Thy judgments are in the earth,’ saith the prophet
Isaiah, ‘then the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness;’ – “Thy heaviest inflictions will subserve Thy purposes of mercy
in the salvation of mankind.” - The Great Cominission, by
J. Harris, D.D., p. 131.
And
whence indeed are we to derive that “multitude which no
man could number,” described in chapter 7:
9-17, if not in part at least from among the living population
of the earth after the crowned elders and the Living Ones have been taken?
They are specifically described as persons who “come
out of the great tribulation.” And as they are said to have “washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb,” - remedied the deficiency which kept them out of the first
translation, - it is legitimate and reasonable to refer this wonderful
cleansing to a new impulse which the incoming of that tribulation imparted to
the minds and hearts of people who had been so unsanctified in their
surroundings before. Bickerstoth has properly said, “The return of our Lord Jesus Christ will be accompanied by
unprecedented effusions of the Divine Spirit, and this with such enlarged
knowledge, that judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness in
the fruitful field.” The wicked will persevere in their
perverseness, but understanding shall come to multitudes who would not be
instructed till enlightened by the Spirit of judgment, which for ever cuts them
off from the first dignities of the kingdom.]
We
are therefore authorised to expect, that when the great transactions of the
coming judgment begin and the Lord lays bare the literal truthfulness of
His word by the marvellous demonstrations then to be made, there will be a
conquering of the hearts of many men to the sovereignty of Heaven, such
as has never been.
Nay,
if there be any truth in the doctrine of successive translations of the saints,
- a doctrine so necessary to a consistent and satisfactory construction of a
great variety of passages, - it is plainly to be foreseen, that great and
mighty changes for the better must ensue, wherever there is any moral
susceptibility left. The simultaneous disappearance from the
Churches of so many watching and praying ones, the demonstration thus
given of the reality of all these things, and the certain excision of all the
rest from the first honours of the kingdom, must needs have an effect upon
those that are “left,” which none but the
hopelessly hardened can fail to feel in their deepest souls. Their eyes
will open then, as they never were opened before. Quite naked to
them then, will have become God’s bow, even His Word. Gone then,
will be all their spiritualising, and rationalising with which they so long and
sadly deluded themselves. At one stroke the whole Bible will have become
to them a new book, and prophecy an unmistakable reality. And to all
shall be added the certainty, not only that they have for ever missed the high
honours which once were within their reach, but that a few brief years of
terror and tribulation, furnish their last hope and chance of
being saved at all. How then can it be otherwise, but that there
will be a breaking down of hearts in penitence, and a stirring up of souls to
religious activity, and an earnestness of seeking unto the Lord ere His eternal
judgments go over them, such as has never been in all the periods of time!
And
this is the sort of conquest and triumph which is set forth by the white horse,
and his crowned rider, going forth conquering, and to conquer. It is the
bloodless conquest of men to God, by the potencies of a present judgment.
It is the first great effective symptom that the earth and its
inhabitants are about to become our God’s and His Christ’s. It is a
conquest of Judgment. It is the result of the laying bare of God’s word
and power by a judicial wound, cutting off from the exalted blessedness to
which the Gospel now calls. It is the fruit of a proceeding, not in the
line of humble entreaty, but in the line of penal infliction, driving home with
resistless demonstration the awakening truth, that the first honours are clean
gone, and that stern necessity has come for speedy and thorough work ere the
last chariot of salvation shall have gone by for ever. It is the knock of
Christ at the door of the Church of the lukewarm Laodiceans - the sharp knock
of terrifying judgment - in which He makes His last proposal to them, even of
so much as to share of His supper.
Let
us then learn the truth, and profit by it while we may, that this easy half-way
Christianity will not avail. God requires something decisive, earnest, and hearty;
- a religion which truly renounces the devil and all his works, the vanities of
the world, and the sinful desires of the flesh; - a devotion which puts upon us
a difference from the world, and makes us in heart and life as citizens of a
heavenly country, only sojourning here; - a sanctification of our earthly
investments, as well as an inward looking to Christ to save us. After
such a religion let us seek, and such a faith let us endeavour to exemplify;
denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and living soberly, righteously, and
godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us,
that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works.
LECTURE TWELFTH
OPENING
OF THE SECOND SEAL - BRINGS WARS AND BLOODY STRIFES - THIRD SEAL - BRINGS
SCARCITY AND FAMINE - FOURTH SEAL – BRINGS GOD’S FOUR SORE JUDGMENTS - THE WAY TO
ESCAPE THESE DREADFUL CALAMITIES - THE FAITHFUL SERVANTS OF GOD EVER SAFE
Rev. 6: 3-8 (Revised
Text). - And when He opened the second seal, I beard
the second living one saying, Go! And there went forth another, a red horse;
and to him that sat on him - to him was given to take away peace out of the
earth, and that [men] shall slay one another:
and there was given to him a great sword.
And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living one
saying, Go! And I saw and behold a black horse, and he that sat on him
having a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard as if a voice in the
midst of the four living ones, saying, A measure [choenix] of wheat for a penny
[denarius], and three measures [choenixes] of barley for a penny [denarius]; and the oil and the wine injure thou not.
And when He opened the fourth seal, I heard [the] voice of the fourth
living one saying, Go! And I saw, and behold a pale-green horse, and he
that sat on him [was] named Death, and Hades was
following with him, and there was given to them power over the fourth part of
the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and by the
wild beasts of the earth.
It
must be borne in mind, in dealing with these seal-openings, that we are dealing
with the scenes of the judgment. They relate to “the
day of the Lord.” Anticipatory fulfilments have occurred, but the proper
breaking of these seals, and whatever is connected with their opening, belongs
to the future, and to that momentous period, now at hand, which is to close up
the entire order of things now existing. The whole scene presents the
action of the judgment-throne in heaven, toward those then living upon the
earth.*
[*
The resurrection of the righteous is different from the resurrection of the
wicked, both in character and in time. The one is a resurrection “in glory,” and the other is a resurrection of “shame and everlasting contempt.” The one is “adoption, the redemption of the body,” and the other
is “the resurrection of condemnation.” The
one is a “change of our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious body,” and the other is a mere
reversal of the state of death, with all the corrupt fruits of the sowing to
the flesh still clinging to him who is the subject of it. (Gal. 6: 7, 8.) The one is the peculiar
privilege of the elect, of those who are Christ’s, who rise at Christ’s
coming, and live and reign with Him the thousand years; the other is subsequent
- afterwards, - and embraces “the rest of the dead”
who live not again until the thousand years are finished. (1 Cor. 15: 23, 24; Rev. 20: 4, 5.)]
I have shown that horses, in prophetic vision,
are images of God’s swift, invisible, resistless power for the
defence of His people, especially in its going forth upon the proud, guilty,
and unbelieving world. It was so in the case of those seen by Elisha’s
servant, and in the case of those mentioned by Zechariah.
In
these four different horses and horsemen, we are to see four different forms of
the coming forth of the judicial power of God upon the inhabitants of the
earth, looking to the breaking up of the dominion of wickedness, the punishment
and casting out of transgression, and the consummation of that long-pending
revolution whose accomplishment is at once the fulfilment of all prophecy and
all prayer.
They
are consecutive in their incoming, in the main stress of
them, and in some of their more marked circumstances, but the action of the first
horseman certainly is continuous; for he goes forth in conquest
unto conquest, which terminates only in the complete victory in which the
opening of the seals ends. His career, therefore, runs on through that of
his three successors, and through all the remaining seals. No such
intense continuity is expressed with reference to the action of the other
horsemen; and the nature of their work is such as not likely to extend itself
so far.
We
have seen that the white horse, and his crowned rider, and bloodless
conquests, indicate mighty moral victories for the heavenly Kingdom, wrought by
the spirit of judgment. When God’s judgments are in the
earth, then will the inhabitants thereof learn righteousness. People
shall be made willing in the day of His power.
But
John beheld a second horse, called into action in like manner as the first, - “a red horse; and to him that sat on him, was given to take
away peace out of the earth, and that [men] shall
slay one another: and there was given to him a great sword.”
The
colour of this horse is red – fiery - the hue of blood. This
itself is indicative of vengeance and slaughter. The great
dragon is “red,” and he is “a murderer from the beginning.” The mighty Here,
of Salvation, travailing in the greatness of His strength, and crushing His
enemies beneath His feet is “red” in His
apparel, emblematic of His work of violent destruction. Nor can we be
mistaken in regarding this horse and his rider as significant of bloody
times. His work is specifically described to
be the taking of peace out of the earth. A great and terrible weapon is
also put into his hand; not the ordinary sword of war, but a great sword of one having the power of life
and death. And the result of his presence is war, much taking of life
by public executions, and mutual killing among men.
The
picture is particularly terrific. It presents not only disturbance of the
relation of nations, the rising of nation against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom; but internecine collisions, civil wars, the murderous hate of one
portion of citizens exercised against another portion, and bloody commotions
all over the face of society, having no issue but wretchedness and
depopulation. It is the rampage of human passion raging to all forms of
bloodshed, and the authorities of state in vain drawing the sword to put it
down.
A
small specimen of this state of things was enacted in the days of Asa, when
Israel had been “a long season without the true God,
and without a teaching priest, and without law;” in which times “there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came
in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And
nation was destroyed of nation and city of city; for God did vex them with all
adversity.” (2 Chron. 15: 3, 5.)
Another
small specimen of the same was realised in those times of which Josephus
writes, when “the disorders in all Syria were
terrible, and every city was divided into two armies, encamped one against
another, and the preservation of the one party was the destruction of the
other: so the daytime was spent in the shedding of blood, and the night in fear.”
And again, when, as he writes, “There were besides
disorders and civil wars in every city: and all those that were quiet from the
Romans turned their hands one against another. There was also a bitter
contest between those that were fond of war, and those that were desirous of
peace. At first, this quarrelsome temper caught hold of private families,
who could not agree among themselves: after which, those people that were the
dearest to one another, broke through all restraints with regard to each other,
and every one associated with those of his own opinion, and began already to
stand in opposition to one another, so that seditions arose everywhere, while
those that were for innovations, and were desirous of war, by their youth and
boldness, were too hard for the aged and the prudent; and in the first place,
all the people of every place betook themselves to rapine: after which they got
together in bodies, in order to rob the people of the country, insomuch that
for barbarity and iniquity, those of the same nation did no way differ from the
Romans; nay, it seemed a much lighter thing to be ruined by the Romans than by
themselves.”
Fancy
a world which has no peace in it - no concord but that of lawless and selfish
passion - no regard for life when it stands in the way of covetousness or
ambition - no amity between its nationalities, or internal harmony and
toleration between citizens of the same city or state - but every man’s sword
is against his fellow, and every one’s hand rises up against the hand of his
neighbour, and international slaughter, civil butchery, and private revenge and
murder are the order of the day, - and you have what the earth will be under
the judgment power of this red horse and his rider. Of old, already,
Jehovah threatened to bring a sword to avenge the quarrel of the covenant; and
to “call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the
earth.” (Jer. 25: 29.) And in this
horseman, with his great sword taking peace from the earth, and desolating the
world with violence and bloodshed, we have the final fulfilment of that
threat. Nor need any one be at a loss to see how everything is already
tending to just such a condition of society and the world.
But the breaking of the third seal starts
another horse – “a black horse” -
at whose appearance the seer is moved to exclamation: “And I saw, and, behold, a black horse, and he that sat on him
having a pair of balances in his hand.”
More feeling is expressed at the appearance of this
power, because a more general and unmanageable plague is
the subject of contemplation. Long ago did Jeremiah say: “They that be slain with the sword are better than they that
be slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the
fruits of the field.” (Lam. 4: 9.)
Black is the colour of death and famine.
When Jeremiah contemplated Judah and his gates “black unto the ground,” it was a picture “concerning the dearth.” (Jer.
14: 1, 2.) The same prophet says: “Our
skin was black like an oven, because of the terrible famine.”
(Lam. 5: 10.) It is the hue of mourning;
and the rest of the description identifies it as mourning by reason of
scarcity.
The
rider of this black horse carries a pair of balances in his hand. There
is close and careful weighing: and the things weighed are the common articles
of food. John also heard as if a voice in the midst of the four Living
Ones, saying: “A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and
three choenixes of barley for a denarius.” When things are
plentiful, exact weight or measure is not regarded. The Spirit, as given
to Christ, was given without measure. So, also, in Joseph’s gathering of
corn, and in David’s gathering of copper for the temple. And when
corn is abundant, it is sold by gross measure, and no attention is paid to a
few hundred grains, one way or the other. But when it becomes high in
price and scarce, then it is strictly weighed, and every ounce is taken into
account. And, in numerous places in Scripture, the weighing out of the
bread to be eaten, is given as one of the marks of great scarcity and want. (Lev. 26: 20; Ez. 4: 10, 16.)
But the picture is further shown to be one of scarcity,
by the prices of provisions which John heard declared. People do not
generally suppose that God has much to do with price-lists. They go up
and down, and millions higgle over them every day, but no one thinks of
anything Divine connected with them. But whether men realise it or not,
price-lists are made in heaven. John hears the rates of corn and bread
announced by the same heavenly powers by which these mystic horses are called
into action. Whatever the weather, the crops, the quantities of money in
the country, the extent of speculation in the market, or other subordinate
causes may have to do with it, the prime and all-controlling cause is the
decree of the throne. It is God from whom we have our daily bread, and it
is by His will that it is plentiful and cheap, or scarce and costly.
The prices here given, are judgment prices, indicative
of extreme scarcity and distress. A choenix is about a pint
and a half of our measure, and is the ordinary allowance of wheat to a man for
one day’s scanty subsistence. A denarius was the
ordinary wages for a full day’s labour. And when a choenix of wheat costs
a denarins, it is as much as a man can do to earn the bread he himself
consumes, leaving nothing for his family or for his other wants.
But
even at these ruinous rates there is not wheat enough. People have to betake
themselves to barley - the food of horses and beasts of burden. Yet the
barley is as difficult of procurement as the wheat. In ordinary times, a
denarius would buy twenty-four choenixes of barley; but here a denarius will
buy but three - the scanty allowance for a day’s
subsistence for a slave. The arrival of things at such a pass,
accordingly argues severity of hard times, distress, and want, almost beyond
the power of imagination to depict. Yet, it is but the natural result of
the state of things under the red horse. The two are closely connected as
cause and effect. Take away peace from the earth, and inaugurate
universal wars, civil strifes, and bloody feuds, and terrible scarcity of the means
of subsistence must follow.
One
mitigation attends this fearful judgment. The command to the invisible
messenger is, “The oil and the wine injure thou not.”
These would naturally be less affected by the diversion of the population from
their proper business to their bloody work, than those crops which depend more
upon human efforts. Olive-trees and vines, when once established,
will grow and produce year after year without much attention; but not wheat and
barley. Yet these also depend upon God, and grow and produce only by His
command. And it is by His special order that their fruitfulness is
preserved in the midst of this reigning scarcity of other things. And it
is a matter of grace, that the minister of vengeance is so far restrained.
But
the very reservation also reflects the intensity of the famine as respects the
ordinary means of subsistence. It carries with it the intimation that, but for
the preservation of the oil and wine, it would be impossible for men to find
sufficient food on which to keep themselves alive. Nay, though a thing of
mercy as regards men’s lives, it also bears with it a moral aggravation of the
affliction. It is everywhere set forth as one of the characteristics of
the last times, that people shall be given to luxurious habits, and inordinate
appetency for superfluities of diet. “Eating, and
drinking,” and every extreme of carnal indulgence, is then to mark their
modes of life. The staple food of mankind is despised, and every
expensive luxury is impatiently pursued. Hence, God shuts them in to their
luxuries, partly in mitigation of judgment, but at the same time also in
aggravation of it. Just as Israel, lusting after flesh, and no longer
satisfied with the bread Jehovah provided, was compelled to live on flesh until
it became almost impossible for the people to swallow it (Numbers 11: 19, 20); so God in judgment takes away
what men despise, and forces them to live on luxuries made loathsome because
there is nothing else, that they may learn the folly of their wisdom, and taste
the fearfulness of their guilty hallucination.
But
while all this is being experienced, a fourth seal is broken, and out comes
another horse, and horseman still more terrible. This is the last, and the
climax of this particular series of terrific images. The first horse is
pure white, mighty, but bloodless in his career; the second is fiery red,
blood-coloured, and revengeful; the third is black, mournful, gloom-shaded; and
when we would think everything dreadful in colour exhausted, another
breaks upon the view, more terrible than any that have gone before. A
pale, death-green horse appears. translated pale,
denotes a leprous colour. (Lev. 13: 49; 14: 37.)
It properly means green, and is several times so
translated in the Apocalypse and elsewhere. (Rev.
8: 7; 9: 4; Mark 6: 39.) There are instances of its use in the
classics to denote the wan and deathly expression of the face when overwhelmed
with fright or faintness. When applied as here, it can only mean a
greenish ghastliness, something like the colour of a corpse or putrefying
flesh. It describes this last horse as unspeakably more horrible than
either of the others.
But
his rider and attendants intensify the awfulness of the picture. That
rider is Death, and Hades follows
with him. There is also given to them power over the fourth part of the
earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and by means
of the wild beasts of the earth. The preceding pictures continue, and
repeat themselves in this, but with increased intensity and still other
additions. The rider of the red horse is War, destroying
peace and exciting all manner of strife and bloodshed. The rider of the
black horse is Famine, taking away the staff of bread and
oppressing the world with terrible scarcity. And the rider of this
ghastly-coloured horse carries on the work of his predecessors to still more
horrible excesses, and matures their fruits in Death-plague and
depredations of the animal tribes. The several forms
of affliction advance from the lesser to the greater, and one naturally grows
out of the other. General war and bloody strife becomes the occasion of
famine; and famine brings pestilence; and their combined depopulation of the
earth encourages the increase and ferocious instincts of wild beasts, and the
multiplication of noxious creatures. God does not work miracles where
none are needed; and evils are all so closely related, that it is only
necessary to start one, to bring down the whole train. A state of general
war and bloody civil strife is terrible enough, but when to it is added
scarcity, black hunger, desolating pestilence, and the ravages of depredacious
animals - when, as in this instance, Death takes the reins, and the living
world is overrun by the legions of the dead - then comes “the great and terrible day of the Lord.”
Death is not a being, but the fruit of a power which
operates through many different agencies. It is here personified and
represented under the picture of some mighty Caesar, mounted, and riding forth
in fearful triumph.
Hades is not a being, it
is the grave [place of the souls of the dead] - the dark [underworld] region of the dead - the realm which remorselessly
swallows up all the living. It is here personified under the image of
some great voracious monster, stalking after the rider on the ghastly horse,
indicating that whither this horseman comes, Hades comes, and the world of the
dead takes the place of the world of the living.
The
means by which these awful desolations are wrought, are God’s “four sore judgments, - the sword, and the famine, and the
noisome beast, and the pestilence to cut off man and beast.” (Ezek. 14: 21.) These are the most dreadful
plagues with which God usually chastises men. They are not reserved
exclusively for the last periods of time. We can trace them under Roman
emperors, but also before there were Roman emperors, and since Roman emperors
have ceased to be. But the height and fulness of them falls within the
period to which these seals relate. The true sample, as it was in some
sort the beginning of the tribulation set forth under these horses, was given
in what befell the Jews in the last period of their state. War was there
in all its fearfulness. Commotion and strife distracted and distressed the
whole land. Wholesale butchery was the order of the day. Whole cities
were turned into mere graves, full of dead. Millions of men, women,
children, fell by the sword, famine, exposure, fright, and other forms of
death. Shut in at last to their holy city by the tight cordon of Rome’s
legions, the soul sickens over the recitals of the sufferings, oppressions,
cruelties, and living death which settled down upon the doomed people.
Perishing by houses and families every day, the dead became too numerous for
the living to bury; and the wretchedness was so great that men, and even
mothers, forgot their sympathies. Affection died; all regard for the
rights of one another died; and the glorious city of David and Solomon was
turned into a tomb under the prancings of the ghastly horse, whose rider is
Death, whose attendant is Hell, and who is yet to dash through the world and
trample it in like manner under his dreadful hoofs.
We
are not to infer, however, that there is to be an utter extirpation and
extinction of the race of mankind under these visitations. Only “the fourth part of the earth” is put under this fourth
horseman’s sway. There are also other seals to be broken, and other
judgment scenes to be enacted, of which men in the flesh, nations, and earthly
confederations are largely the subjects. We have thus far only the first
acts in the terrible drama. We have been contemplating merely the
beginning of sorrows, which multiply and grow in fearfulness till the last seal
is broken, the last trumpet sounded, and the last bowl of wrath emptied.
Other
and worse impieties are to come, and still more awful displays of Almighty
vengeance upon the enactors of them. The greatest masterpiece of hell yet
awaits full development, and the greatest thunders of God’s judgment remain for
its wreck, and the final ruin of its unsanctified abettors.
I
know not, my friends, what degree of credit or thought you may give to these
things, but, as Paul told the assembly on Mars Hill, so I tell you, that “God hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the
world [the living world of mankind] in righteousness, by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof
He hath given assurance unto all men; in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”
(Acts 17: 31.) You may shrink back and
exclaim as Balaam did, “Alas, who shall live
when God doeth this!” Like Balaam, you may also turn away from it
to pursue the wages of unrighteousness. But, I beseech you to beware,
lest you procure for yourself a Balaam’s end. The picture may be dark,
and awful beyond what you are willing to contemplate; but it must be filled out
in the real world some day, as certainly as God’s word is true.
Neither
has it been so graphically sketched without a purpose. The Almighty
intends that we should look at it, that we should be premonished by the
contemplation of it, and that it should have effect upon our hearts and
lives. He would have us see and know to what this vain, proud, and guilty
world is coming, that we may separate ourselves from it, and secure a better
portion. And with all the universal agony in which its presumptuous
dominion shall expire, there is this to be added by way of comfort, that there
is no necessity that any of us should ever feel it. A way of escape
exists. As there was an ark for Noah when the world was drowned, and
a Pella for the saints when Jerusalem sank under God’s resentment for the
murder of His Son, so there is a place of safety provided for us, where we may
view these horsemen, as unharmed by their fearful doings, as was the apostolic
seer himself. It was of this the Psalmist sung, when he said: “In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in
the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me.” (Ps. 27: 5.)
Nor
is the grave this hiding-place.* Should these scenes begin to-night, the
refuge is as available and as availing as if they should tarry yet a thousand
years. God’s pavilion is above the clouds, not under the ground. Not
hades, but heaven, is the true centre of the aspirations of the saints.
And as Isaiah beheld these desolating judgments about to sweep the earth, he
heard a voice of sweetness going before them, saying: “Come,
My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide
thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.”
(Is. 26: 20.) That voice comes from
heaven. It is none other than the loving Saviour’s voice. It is a
voice addressed to His true [faithful and
obedient] people. It is a voice which calls
them to where He is. Hence the same prophet adds: “They that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings as eagles.” (Is.
40: 31.) Hence the apostle still more plainly declares: “We which are alive and remain [until the coming of the Lord] shall be caught up ... in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4: 17.)
Hence also that admiring song of David: “Oh how great
is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou
hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men! Thou
shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride of man: Thou shalt
keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.” (Is. 31: 19, 20.) And the direction of the
apostle is, that we “comfort one another with these
words.” (1 Thess. 4: 18.)
[* Here is reference to the first
translation of living saints before the Great Tribulation
commences, (Luke 21: 34-36; Rev. 3: 10): the
reference to 1 Thess. 4: 8, referes to the
translation of those alive at its end, when our Lord returns to establish His
millennial kingdom; we should distinguish one rapture from the other by the
time of the event.]
The
only question is, as to how we stand in relation to the Lamb who breaks the
seals. Do we accept and rely upon Him as our hope and [future]
salvation? Are we trusting to His meritorious sacrifice as the
satisfaction for our guilt, and to His victorious exaltation to the right hand
of the Father, as compassing every thing needful to make us forever safe?
Have we truly taken Him as our Lord, confessed ourselves to His Gospel, and
given our hearts and our all to His service? Are we making it the great
business of our lives to “watch and pray always,” and to keep ourselves in
fellowship with Him, patiently waiting upon Him as our all-sufficient
portion? Oh, blessed, blessed, is that servant who, when His Lord cometh,
shall be found so doing! He is safe. His judgment is passed. No
dregs of wrath remain for him to drink. Christ will not leave him to
suffer with hypocrites and unbelievers. And while these storms of woe are
desolating the earth, he shall be rejoicing in a heavenly crown.
Yea,
and I would be recreant to my commission as a minister of Christ, if I did not
declare the Master’s readiness this hour to receive and seal every one of you
against all dangers of the great day of wrath. Indeed, these pictures of
coming woe have been given to awaken us from our false security, to quicken us in
the search for the refuge set before us, and to bring us to unreserved
consecration to the Lord our Redeemer. Only fall in with His offers, and
“salvation will God appoint for walls and for bulwarks.”
(Is. 26: 1.) Cleave unto Him, and to
His unfailing promises, and “ye shall have a song, as
in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one
goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty one of
Israel.” (Is. 33: 29.) Rest in
Jesus, and do His commandments, and the place which He has gone to
prepare is yours; and before His wrath breaks forth upon the guilty world, He
will come again, and receive you to Himself, that where He is, there may you be
also. (John 14: 1-3)
You
have read in the Scriptures of the superior favours of “the wise,” in relation to the day of judgment. The wise
virgins* went in with the Bridegroom when the
door was shut against their foolish companions. Solomon wrote: “The wise shall inherit glory.” But an essential
part of that blessed wisdom is, to “observe these
things” - to understand this, to consider what the end shall be. “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself.”
To close our eyes and ears against these foreshowings of God, or to delay
earnest and energetic effort in view of their speedy fulfilment, is not
wisdom. There must be the wakeful, observant, far-seeing eagle eye, if
there is to be a timely and triumphant eagle flight.
[* “The
parable belongs to bridesmaids alone. All Ten – with torches in
hand – thought that the Advent was immediately at hand, and eagerly responded
to its call. But it is the responsibility side of the Virgin
character, as ten – so Ten Commandments, Ten Plagues, Ten Talents, etc. –
always indicates responsibility: so the Ten Virgins are divided not into good
and bad, much less into saved and lost, but into ‘wise’ – prudent, far-seeing,
rightly regardful of their own interests – and ‘foolish’ – imprudent, improvident, spiritually thriftless. The
same reward is proposed and suggested to all, the inaugural Banquet of the
Kingdom:” – D. M. Panton.]
And
if we would “escape all these things that shall come to
pass,” and find a place of safety in the presence of the Son of Man, we
must learn to realise that the day of these fearful visitations is approaching,
and that we have no time to lose, and no opportunities to be neglected. “The voice of free grace cries escape to the mountain;”
but it is a voice which we have occasion to heed with solemn care and prompt
obedience. “For if the word spoken by angels was
steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense
of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which,
at the first, began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them
that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs, and wonders,
and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will?”
(Heb. 2: 2-4).
LECTURE THIRTEENTH.
THE
CHARACTER OF THE FIFTH SEAL - INDICATES BLOODY PERSECUTION - THE
TESTIMONY FOR WHICH MEN SHALL BE SLAIN IN THE PERIOD OF THIS SEAL - DISEMBODIED
SOULS - THEIR LIVING CONSCIOUSNESS - THEIR PLACE BENEATH THE ALTAR - THEIR CRY
TO CHRIST - THE ANSWER THEY PECEIVE - COMMENTS ON THEIR CASE TOUCHING THE
CONSUMATION.
Rev. 6: 9-11 (Revised
Text) - And when He opened the fifth seal I saw beneath
the altar the souls of those that had been slain on account of the word of God,
and on account of the testimony which they hold fast: and they cried with a
great voice, saying: Until when, Thou Master, the holy and true, dost Thou not
judge and avenge our blood from them that dwell on the earth? And
there was given to each of them a white robe, and it was said to them that they
should rest yet a little time, until their fellow-servants also, and their
brethren, shall have been completed, who are about to be slain as also they
themselves [had been].
As
certainly as the Apocalypse is the book of the consummation of God’s providence
with this present world, and as certainly as the action under these seven seals
is the action of judgment upon faithless Christians, usurpers, and rebels, just
so certainly does this fifth seal refer to a particular stage and phase in
these judicial transactions, and to a class of events which only then come to
their full development. As the throne is a judgment throne, and the whole
administration proceeding from it is an administration of judgment, every seal
that is broken must lay open a phase of judgment, in one direction or
another. All the seals, thus far, have been judgment seals; and
the two that follow are judgment seals; capable of being identified as such,
from the nature of the events attending them. The symmetry of the whole
would therefore be interrupted, and an unaccountable break made in the
distinctly connected series, if this fifth in the list were to be taken in any
other acceptation. The four horsemen are judgment powers. The
earthquake and the terrific commotions in earth and sky, under the sixth seal,
are directly linked with the presence of judgment. The seventh seal is
nothing but judgment from beginning to end. And whatever peculiarities
may attend the breaking of the particular seal now before us, it can be nothing
other than judgment also.
The
manifestations under the breaking of this seal differ, in some respects, from
the four preceding. There is here no expression from the Living
Ones. There are no horsemen or horses. And the burden of the
description is exhibited in the results rather than in the processes.
Still, everything turns out as belonging to the same general category of trial
and suffering. Under the first seal we have the picture of moral conquest,
by means of the arrow of truth, sped by the power of sorrowful
judgment. Under the second, we have war, disorder,
strife, and bloodshed. Under the
third, we have famine and distressing
scarcity. Under the fourth, we have the combined fruit of
all these, - pestilence, death-plague, and the living
world largely overrun with the legions of the dead. And, under this
fifth seal, we have added, bloody persecution of
those who hold and testify to the truth. The entire population of
the earth, at that period, being alike rejected from the company of those
accounted worthy to escape these evil times, is alike made to feel the stripes
of judgment. The good as well as the bad suffer the hour of trial.
And though there shall be multitudes then brought to the knowledge of the
truth, they will all be such as had failed to improve their more favourable
opportunities in the preceding days of Divine longsuffering and forbearance;
and hence, by way of judgment for their previous folly, their piety, at this
late hour, becomes a thing of sore cost. Having been unbelieving,
worldly-minded and hypocritical, when they might have walked with God without
serious risk, they now find the way of salvation judicially become a way of
torture and of death. Evil and depravity will hold the sovereignty and
power in this world unto the last. And it would be strange if the bad passions,
which then are to reach their most aggravated intensity, should not also
develop particular violence in the direction from which the Church, in every
age, has suffered more or less.
Hence,
this fifth seal is the picture of Persecution and
Martyrdom. As soon as it was opened, John saw souls of people “slain on account of the word of God, and on account of the
testimony which they held fast.” It sets before us the solemn
fact, that people who will not give their hearts to God now, when once these
judgment times set in, if they ever get to heaven at all, will be compelled to
go there through fire and blood.
There
are no voices of command from heaven under this seal, and no messengers
despatched from the throne; for the reason, that bloody persecutions of God’s
servants come from beneath - not from above. It is the devil who is the
murderer from the beginning, and by him, and his seed, has all martyr-blood
been made to flow that ever has flowed or ever will. It is the
Dragon that makes war with the saints. Celestial powers are concerned in
it no further than to permit the malignant butchery. It is not flashed
forth from the sky, like the calamities with which the wicked and rebellious
are overwhelmed; but it is left to develop itself from Satan’s reign and
domination in the hearts of his children, unmoved by any direct agency from
heaven. The Living Ones do not say, Go! for they are neither directly nor
indirectly concerned in bringing suffering upon God’s servants for their
fidelity to the truth. No horses dash out upon, the scene, because no
Divine powers are employed in martyring the saints. The entire earthly
part of the proceeding enacts itself by the powers already in sway among
depraved mortals, and John beholds only the results. The seal opens, and
the invisible world has a vast accession of souls of martyrs, slain on account
of the word of God, and on account of the testimony which they held fast.
They are not the martyrs of the past ages, for those, by this time, already
have their crowns, and are seated on their heavenly thrones, and are with
Christ in glorified form, as we saw in chapters 4.
and 5. These are, therefore, martyrs
of this particular period - martyrs who suffer the great tribulation which all
preceding saints and martyrs escape - martyrs of the judgment times, who lose
their lives for their faithful testimony during the sharp and troublous era in
which God’s judgments are in the earth.*
[* The author has failed to
distinguish the Resurrection of the Dead from Rapture
of the Living; hence he believes a RESURRECTION of the
DEAD will accompany a translation of the LIVING before the Great
Tribulation commences! This forces him to conclude that there must be another
distinct group of martyrs (tribulation martyrs) in Hades, after ‘the martyrs of past ages’ are resurrected: but the DEAD
are not resurrected until the return of Christ at the
end of the Tribulation; and this event will be accompanied by another
rapture of the living saints who are “left”.
(1 Thess. 4: 17.)]
In treating of them more
particularly, we may notice,
1. THE CAUSE OF THEIR MARTYRDOM;
2. THEIR ESTATE AS JOHN BEHOLDS THEM;
3. THE CRY THEY UTTER;
4. THE ANSWER THEY RECEIVE.
1. THE CAUSE OF THEIR MARTYRDOM
It is an old maxim: Non est mors, sed causa
mortis quoe facit martyrem. “It is
not death, but the cause in which death is incurred, which constitutes a martyr.”
Millions upon millions perish under the preceding seals, but they are not
therefore martyrs. The cause for which the persons mentioned here were
slain, constitute them true martyrs. They “had been slain on account of the word of God, and on account of the
testimony which they held fast.” However sceptical,
rationalistic, or unbelieving they may have been previous to the setting in of
the judgment, the occurrences under the first four seals had quite cured them
of their erroneous thinking and indifference. What they once held only in
the coldness of mere speculative faith, or received only with much subtle
refining, and rasping down to a materialistic philosophy, or disbelieved altogether,
they had now learned, to their sorrow, to have been the literal and infallible
word of God. The Bible they now read with new eyes, and received and
obeyed with a new heart. Its literal teachings they now were brought to
understand, appreciate, live, and proclaim as the unmistakable Revelation of
the Lord God Almighty.
There
will still be plenty of unbelief, scepticism and utter rejection of the
Scriptures; and the dominant spirit of the times will be the spirit of
rebellion against the Lord, and of contempt for His word. But that spirit
will now have been quite cast out of the persons brought to view in this
vision. Having learned to deny themselves, to crucify their self-seeking,
to cease from their confidence in their own fancies, and to accept, live, and
testify to the true will and word of God, they will have come to be genuine
servants of the Most High. And this is one of the procuring causes of the
world’s hatred of them and wish to have them put out of the way.
But
there is something more special entering into the cause of their
martyrdom. In addition to their close adherence to the Divine word, and
as one of the most marked fruits of it, there was a particular “testimony which they held fast;” and on account of which,
more directly, the world could not abide them. Many have regarded their
whole testimony as nothing different from the common testimony of good and
faithful men in every age. John says that he “was
in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony
of Jesus Christ;” and the testimony of these martyrs is considered to be
the same for which John was banished. But the phraseology is not the same, and
seems to indicate something personal to these martyrs themselves. It was
not the testimony of Jesus in general; but – “THAT
testimony, which they held fast,"
- some particular testimony specially in question in their times, and specially
obnoxious to the then reigning spirit.
And
when we consider the character of the period in which they were called to
testify; what it was that had operated to bring them into this attitude of zeal
for the Divine word; what would naturally be uppermost in a mind enlightened as
to the times on which they had fallen, and what would be most offensive to an
unbeliever in those times, we can be at no loss to have suggested to us what
the particular character of that testimony was. It was necessarily a
testimony touching the judgment already begun; a testimony which interpreted
all the plagues, disorders, and horrors around them, as the veritable
inflictions of the Almighty, now risen up to pay off all the long accumulating
arrearages of His wrath upon transgressors; a testimony that the true elect had
already been received [rapt] up into glory, and that, in a few short years more,
the whole mystery of God should be finished, and all His enemies cast down to
irretrievable perdition; a testimony that swift and utter destruction now
impended over all the governments, fabrics, powers, and hopes of this world; that
the fires were then already burning which should never more be extinguished or
repressed till everything of this world, and all its devotees, should be
consumed from root to leaf; that Christ, the angry Judge, was then present in
the clouds, ready to be revealed in all the terrors of His consuming power;
that the day of grace was in its last darkening twilight of departure, after
which nothing should remain but everlasting discomfiture and death; a testimony
that the world was then already trembling in the agonies of its dissolution,
and that the last hope of salvation was flickering in its socket, ready to
expire.
In
a modified degree, this is ever the testimony of the true people and ministers
of God; but, at such a time, and in such surroundings as these martyrs
testified, there would needs be an intensity, a certainty, and a pressing
urgency in their convictions and utterances, such as had never before
appeared. People who had been cool, complacent, and philosophic in their
religion before, will then have been awakened to a state of warmth, and
earnestness, and excitement, and zeal, a thousand-fold more irrepressible and
energetic than what they had previously regarded as sheer fanaticism, and piety
run mad. Oh, there will be fervour then, and outspoken testifying for God
then, and warnings with tears and entreaties then, and striking expositions of
the prophecies then, and appeals and outpourings from the men of God more
thrilling than the cries of Jonah in the streets of Nineveh! It will be
more than the hardened hearts of scorning unbelievers can bear.
And
because of being besieged and pressed by the resistless arguments and fervency
which then shall be brought to bear upon them, they will seize the witnesses of
the truth, and punish them, and resort to all sorts of murderous violence, to
silence them, and put them out of the world. Thus, then, because their
days of indifference toward the Divine predictions have passed away, and
because they now are faithful in standing to the truth as to what God has said,
and as to what times they have fallen upon, and because they will no more keep
silence touching the awful perdition about to break forth upon the guilty
world, they are massacred and slain.
2. THEIR ESTATE AS JOHN BEHOLDS THEM.
They
are “souls” - disembodied souls -
souls in that state which ensues as the result of corporeal death.
Their
slaying, then, is not the end of them. It is not the total interruption
of their being in all respects. It makes them invisible to men in the
flesh, in the natural state; but it does not hinder their living on as souls,
or their being visible to heavenly eyes, or to the eyes of John in his
supernatural and prophetic exaltation. The Holy Apocalyptist tells us
that he “saw” them, although they “had been slain;” and heard them speaking with loud
voices, though their material tongues had, been burnt to ashes, and their
corporeal organs of speech had been stiffened in death.
lt
is altogether a wrong interpretation of the Scriptures which represents the dead
in a state of non-existence, unconsciousness, or oblivion. I am not among
those who think that “they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished,”
either for ever, or for a limited time. There is such a thing as an
intermediate state between death and the resurrection; but it is not a
state of utter dilapidation and cessation of being. It is an abnormal and
unsatisfactory state, far below what is to be gained by the resurrection; but
it is not a state of vacancy and nothingness. However strongly the
ruinous character and evil of death may be stated in some Old Testament
passages, there are others in the Scriptures which, by all just and fair
exegesis, prove and demonstrate that mental and psychical life continues under
it, and continues in wakeful consciousness. And if any one has doubts
upon this point, let him candidly consult and determine the positive meaning of
the following texts:
Matt. 10: 28: “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill
the soul: but rather fear Hint which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell.” The argument from this text is plain,
unanswerable, and conclusive. If the soul dies, or goes into oblivion,
when the body dies, then He that kills the body would, with the same stroke,
kill the soul too. But our Saviour tells us that those who kill the body
cannot kill the soul. And if it be said that this is meant only of the utter
destruction of the soul. God having promised a resurrection to life again
then our Saviour might as well have denied that it is in the power of man to
kill the body, because God certainly will raise it again at the last day.
But our blessed Lord grants that the body may be killed by man, in the same
sense wherein He denies that the soul can be; and therefore He is not speaking
with reference to the resurrection at all. There is, then, a life which
the death of the body cannot touch.
Luke 20: 38: “He [the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob] is not the God of the dead,
but of the living: for all live unto Him.” So
far as the righteous are concerned, we are here assured that, although they “sleep in Jesus,” as regards the body, and are “absent from the body,” as regards the soul, they still
“ALL LIVE UNTO GOD.” This the Saviour quotes
from the Old Testament, where “Moses calleth the Lord
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; for He is not a
God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him.” The argument
assumed is, that a negation of existence dissolves all covenant
relations. God cannot be called the God of beings who no longer exist, or
the continuity of whose existence has been interrupted by a blank. Whatever
else He may be, it is no property of His to be a God of nonentities. “HE IS NOT A GOD OF THE DEAD, BUT OF THE LIVING.”
But Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were dead, and had been dead for centuries; and
yet He proclaims Himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob.” The conclusion is thus deduced by the Saviour, that
though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were dead, as to their bodies, they were
still, in some sense, living unto God.
Very
pertinent also, was this argument to the question of the resurrection, in
support of which it was produced. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, being still alive
unto God, though corporeally dead, God’s covenant with them
still held - held because both parties were still in being; and because it
still held, the promises which it included had yet to be fulfilled, which could
only be in the resurrected state. In this text we accordingly
have existence and life predicated of the righteous dead, and that existence
and life put forward as the basis of the continued validity of the covenant, which
covenant necessitates a resurrection that its promises may not fail.
And though this passage specifically refers to but one class of the dead, yet,
by disproving the non-existence, and establishing the continued life of
departed believers, it overthrows the doctrine of the oblivion of the dead in
the abstract, and fastens very strong unlikelihood upon its truth in any case.
Luke 16: 19-31: the case
of the rich man and Lazarus. In this startling parable, if parable such
an unveiling of the invisible world may be called (it is not called a parable
in the Scriptures), we have not only principles on which to argue the
non-oblivion of the dead, but literal instances and illustrations of the
continued life and consciousness of departed souls of both classes - good and
bad. That the scene of this narrative is laid in the state immediately
succeeding death, and anterior to the resurrection, is indisputable.
Hades is to be destroyed at the final resurrection; and it is not in Hades that
the wicked are to have their ultimate portion. That is the Abyss, the
lake of fire, the second death. (See Rev. 20: 14.)
But this rich man was in Hades – “in Hades he lifted up
his eyes, and seeth Abraham and Lazarus.” And at the very
time he is suffering in Hades, he still has relatives living in the flesh,
whom he wishes to have warned, that they may not encounter similar
sufferings. “He said, I pray thee, therefore,
father, that thou wouldst send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have
five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest
they also come into this place of torment.” Either,
then, there will be probation after the general judgment, and godless men
living in the flesh upon the earth after the wicked are adjudged to their final
punishment, or this picture must relate to the state intermediate between death
and the resurrection. The first alternative is as unscriptural as it is
absurd. The latter, then, must be the fact, and the whole scene
necessarily fixes itself to the period immediately succeeding the death of
the body. All the terms and relations of the narrative require this
location of it. The received belief of the orthodox Jews was such that
they could not otherwise understand it. And there is no show of right to
accept the picture in any other relation. Taking it, then, as we are in reason
bound to take it, we have it settled by Christ Himself, that wicked souls
have a life and consciousness which death does not interrupt,
and that there is still a form of being for both good and bad between death
and the resurrection.*
[*
The soul in Hades is not altogether disrobed of sensitive and vehicular
clothing - it is not a mere thought-principle, a substance without parts,
extension, or circumspection - a mere nobody. Such is not the doctrine of
the Scriptures. Man is a trinity. The apostle assigns to his
composition a body, a soul, and a spirit. (1 Thess. 5: 23.) There is such a thing as
the “dividing asunder of soul and spirit” (Heb. 4: 12), but there is nothing to show that
death can do this, or that anything of the sort occurs at death. And why
may not the soul serve to give the mental principle a locality and a
sensibility to outward impressions in the state after death, somewhat as the
body serves the soul in this life? Besides, as the world in which the
scene is depicted is spiritual, which the whole narrative assumes, what right
have we to condition its flames by the laws which apply only in the natural
world? The torments which the rich man suffered were, of course, of a
sort answering to the character of the world in which he felt them, and of a
nature to take effect on the sort of existence in which the scene is
laid. Leaving the earth, the flames are no longer to be considered flames
of earthly fire, or the thirst as earthly thirst, or the water desired as
earthly water, or the pain as earthly pain. All is of a class with the
new state and character of things. It is not figurative, as some have
been willing to claim, but neither is it corporeal, as these men would
assume. And if it were, we have no proof that material fire can affect a
resurrected body any more than a disembodied soul. It is precisely of the
nature of Hades, and of the nature of man’s form of being in Hades, that all
this is affirmed. So the narrative alleges, and in no other way is it
allowable to argue with reference to these flames or sufferings. At any
rate, Hades is specifically indicated as the place and state, and
the lifetime of his “five brethren” in the flesh
is noted as the time, in which these conscious pains and
anxieties were experienced by this godless deceased worldling. Hence, if
Christ is to be accepted as authority, wicked souls are alive and conscious
between death and the resurrection.]
Luke 23: 43: “Verily I say unto you, To-day thou shalt be with Me in
Paradise.” Language more clear and precise, as to
the life and conscious happiness of a saved soul immediately after death,
cannot be framed. All that Psychopannychists have been able to do with it
on their theory, is, to say that the case of the penitent thief is so “peculiar,” that we cannot infer from it what will be
the lot of other men. But it concerned the dying Christ as
well as the dying thief; and He certainly died as deep a death as any of His
saints. And as both died that day, so they both went that day, and before
the resurrection of either, into Paradise. Be that Paradise what it may,
Christ and the thief were not yet in it while they lived on their crosses, and
yet were in it before the day ended, and while their bodies yet hung upon those
stakes. It was not a state of non-existence or oblivion, for it was the
subject of consoling hope and promise, and the declaration embraced the idea of
conscious presence and fellowship with each other, on reaching the blessed
place. Being is affirmed – “thou SHALT BE”. Communion is
affirmed – “WITH ME”. Conscious
happiness is affirmed – “IN PARADISE”.
Time is specified, not the time of the
resurrection, or after a long and indefinite period of nothingness, but, “THIS DAY” - the
very day they hung side by side on Calvary, and before the setting of the sun
then sinking beyond the sea.*
[*
Some have proposed to change the punctuation in the passage, so as to make it [the Greek word …]
refer to the time of the utterance of the promise, and not the time of its
fulfilment. But whence the reason for so solemnly asserting that He said
in that day, when it was evident that He was speaking it that
day, and not on some other day? Well has Dean Alford
observed: “This attempt, considering that it not only
violates common sense, but destroys the force of the Lord’s promise, is surely
something worse than silly.” And every interpretation of these
words which cuts out of them the recognition of the conscious life and
blessedness of righteous souls between death and the resurrection, so far as we
have seen, does but put an equivoke - [From ‘equivocate’ – i.e., ‘to use words ambiguously, esp. to conceal truth.’] - in those holy lips, otherwise as guileless as the
heavens.]
The
case of Paul (Phil. 1: 2) is
also in point. If ever son of Adam lived a noble life on earth, it was
this great apostle. To him to live was an
unspeakable blessing to the Church, and to a zeal and joy, and divinest
fellowship with the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ. To him to
live was Christ. And yet he adds, “To ME TO DIE IS GAIN,” - gain even upon such a
life. “Then, surely,” as William
Arthur puts it, “it was not to enter into
nothingness, and to continue in nothingness while the world stands. From
the life of an apostle to a state of torpor, is progress, not from glory to
glory, but from glory to death – not gain but blank and benumbing loss.
Though his life here had many burdens, Paul proclaimed its joys to all; yet he
had a desire to depart to be with Christ, which is far better. He does
not mean that the resurrection life is better, for it would not be delayed a
day by his staying to profit the churches here, nor hastened by his
departing. The better state he had in view is manifestly one which is
postponed while he remains in the body, but which will open so soon as he
goes hence. Is it, then, better to be nothing than to be an apostle? to
miss days and years, than to improve them? to be as inanimate as water spilled
upon the ground, than to be communing with God and serving man? Had Paul
expected that, in departing, he would become inanimate, surely he would have
regarded each moment added to his holy labours, not as a delay of a far better
life, but as so much golden time rescued from emptiness. Who can
reconcile to his heart the notion of Christ’s great ambassador desiring to
depart and be a blank? And, at last, that great soul stands on life’s
extremest verge, crying, “I have finished my
course.” A moment and it is gone!
And what now is it in its new dwelling? A dark and vacant thing, mere
emptiness?” Then nothingness is gain on apostolic usefulness, and
communion with God! Then to lie in oblivious death, is better than
to hope, and pray, and praise, and live Christ Himself! Who can believe
it for a moment!
Consider
also the experiences of dying believers, and the
consciousness which they sometimes manifest in their last moments, of the
presence of a world which they, then, for the first time, see, and among, the
bright dwellers in which they feel themselves going to take their places as,
earth “recedes and disappears.” Shall we
say that these visions of a new-dawning life, and bliss, and conscious
fellowship, is all hallucination, the mere fantasies of an outgoing being, the
delusions of the holy soul bidding farewell to the universe and God, until the
archangel’s trump shall sound? Shall we draw the black line through all
these cherished testimonies of those saints of God who have gone from us, and
account them all meaningless, eccentric sparks of scattering existence, as it
sinks to dark oblivion? Believe it who wishes; I have not so learned
Christ, or the portion of His saints.*
[*
Refer also to 1 Peter 3: 19, 20, which,
grammatically and literally interpreted, proves not only the conscious activity
of Christ’s own soul, in the interval between His death and resurrection, but
also the consciousness of those human spirits to whom He went and preached in
the unseen world. Consider, too, the facts and doctrines concerning demons,
and the desires of these beings to be incorporated with living bodily
organisms, and the laws and scriptural prohibitions of necromancy and communion
with the souls of the dead. Was this all superstition? And did God
legislate against intercourse with nonentities?]
Nor
ought it to be necessary for any one to go beyond the text itself, to be
assured of the fact, that the death of the body is not the death of the
soul. These martyrs were “slain,” and yet
John sees and hears them in living and speaking sensibility between their death
and their resurrection. It will not answer to say that the whole thing is
only a vision. It was a vision of the reality - a
miraculous view, in advance of the facts, indeed, but of the facts
themselves, as they are actually to transpire. The slaying of these
martyrs was, likewise, nothing but a vision; but no one thinks of assuming that
no literal martyrdom is in contemplation. Why then suppose that the
asserted continuation of their soul-life, after their corporeal death, is not
to be understood as equally a matter of literal reality? When an author
gives us a thing as a matter of fact, that has occurred in his own experience,
we must either accept what he says as true, or impeach his credibility or his
competency. And when John tells us that he saw and heard
“the souls of those that had been slain,”
either he is not to be believed, or he saw what had no manner of existence,
or the souls of dead saints do live, and act, and speak, in
a state of separation from the body.
John
saw the souls of these martyrs “beneath
the altar.” Many regard this as “simply symbolical;” but I am not clear that it is so
to be taken. No earthly altar is meant, for none such existed at the time
of the vision, or shall exist at the time of its fulfilment; at any rate, none
acknowledged of God. Nor is it exactly a material altar, as we are
conversant with material things. It is something heavenly, and partaking
of the same heavenly and spiritual nature of the scene out of which all these
proceedings issue, and from which they are contemplated. There is a
heavenly Temple, and everything that related to the earthly one, was patterned
after the celestial one. There is a “true
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man,” of which that which
Moses built was the material picture and copy. (Heb.
8: 1-5; 9: 21-24.) And this altar pertains to that heavenly
sanctuary whence the “pattern” of the earthly
was taken. It was at the altar of burnt-offerings that all bloody
sacrifices were made. Under it there was a deep excavation in the solid
rock, into which the blood of the slain victims was poured. The law
commanded the officiating priest to “pour all the blood
of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt-offering, which is at
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” (Lev. 4: 7.)
The
ancient arrangement for the reception of this blood is still visible. I
have myself stood in the opening, under the rock, on which the altar had its
place, and stamped my foot upon the marble slab which closes the mouth of the
vast receptacle, and satisfied myself, from the detonations, that the excavated
space is very deep and large. And as the life of the animal was in its
blood, this vast subterranean cavity was, naturally enough, regarded as the
receptacle of the lives of the victims which there were slain. The
Mahommedans, to this day, as I was told on the spot, regard it as the place
where spirits are detained until the day of judgment. They call it The
well of spirits. It is in the centre of the Mosque of Omar, whose
interior had, for ages, been most rigidly guarded from the visits or
eyes of any but Moslems, but, by firman from the government, can now be seen.
And as the deep cavern under the earthly altar was the appointed receptacle of the
lives of the animal sacrifices, so the souls of God’s witnesses, who fall in
His service, are received into a corresponding receptacle beneath the heavenly
altar.
Some
describe that altar as Christ, under whose protection and shade the souls of
the martyrs are preserved, free from all perils and evils, till their recall,
in renewed bodies, by the resurrection. It denotes a near and holy
relation to God; a place of sacred rest under the protection of Christ and His
sacrifice, and a state of blessedness, to which, however, higher stages are to
come. The idea of sacrifice also pervades the language of Scripture in
general, respecting eminent devotion in tile Divine service, especially
when life is jeoparded or lost in consequence of it. Hence our bodies are
to be offered a willing sacrifice unto the Lord. Hence Paul spoke of his
sufferings for Christ, and of his approaching martyrdom, as an offering in the
sacrificial sense. All martyrs are contemplated as sacrifices to
God. And as sacrifices to the heavenly altar, their souls pass into the
sacred receptacle beneath that altar. It is precisely the place where we
would most naturally expect them to be, and where they are most sacredly kept,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.*
[*
“The souls of Martyrs repose in peace under the Altar,
and cherish a spirit of patience (patientiam pascunt) until others are
admitted to fill up their company of glory.” - Tertullian,
Scorpiace, c. xii.
“The souls of the departed go to the place assigned them by
God, and there abide until the Resurrection, when they will be reunited with
their bodies; and then the saints, both in soul and body, will come into the
presence of God.” - Irenaeus, Grabe, v. 31.]
3. THE CRY THEY UTTER.
It is not a mere metaphorical cry, like that of the
blood of Abel from the ground; but a literal cry of visible and conscious
existences - an articulate cry, the voice of which is heard, and the utterances
of which are in literal words. “Until when,
Thou Master, the holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood from
them that dwell on the earth?” It appears, from
this, that their murderers are then still living. Consequently, these
crying ones are a specific class of martyrs, who had then very recently been
slain. It is another item to fix the vision to this particular time.
The
cry is addressed to the Throne. It is not a vindictive cry, although it
looks to the avenging of their blood. If the whole scene did not relate to the
judgment period, it would be difficult to avoid attaching the idea of intense
vindictiveness to this utterance. Such a cry would be out of season,
except in this place. But it is the time of judgment. The judgment
throne is set. The judgment proceedings have commenced. The years
have come in which God had long ago promised that the principles of His
righteous government should be enforced, to the recompense of His people, the
vindication of their wrongs, and the overthrow of evil. They had
every assurance that such was the Divine intention, and that this was the
period for its fulfilment. They could not, therefore, understand why
there should be delay. The thing had begun, why was it not at once
carried to its consummation? They had sacrificed their lives to this
particular testimony, and everything had appeared to them in the very article
of the long-predicted fulfilment; how was it, then, that it now tarried?
Even the titles by which they address the Lord, show that this was the feeling
and spirit of their inquiry. It was not so much impatience that their
blood was not avenged, as their perplexity about the hesitation which seemed to
retard the ongoing of what they knew had commenced. They do not address
Christ as the Saviour, but as …; - the centre of
irresistible power already in force - the holy and true DESPOT, now on
His judicial throne.
Their
hearts are set, as they were in life, on the glorious consummation begun before
they were slain. They had died for their testimony that the time for that
consummation had come. And as it still delayed, and could only be
realised in the visitation of vengeance upon the wicked hosts who had murdered
them, they cry to the great and holy Avenger, to know why it tarried, and how
long the suspense was to last. It was an utterance from the world of
disembodied saints, somewhat akin, in feeling and meaning, to that which John
the Baptist sent from his prison to the Saviour. (Matt.
11: 2-10.) It shows us that the intermediate state is still an
imperfect state, and that the proper hope of saints is connected with the
resurrection of the body. Bede has remarked upon this passage,
that “those souls which offered themselves a living
sacrifice to God, pray eternally for His coming to judgment; not from any
vindictive feeling against their enemies, but in a spirit of zeal and love for
God’s glory and justice, and for the coming of that day, when sin, which is
rebellion against Him, will be destroyed, and their own bodies raised.”
4. THE ANSWER THEY RECEIVE.
Jehovah
does not disdain to lend an ear to the cry of His faithful servants. He
is concerned for their rest, comfort, and right information even while they lie
disembodied beneath His altar. The prayers of His people are always
precious before Him, and their peace He will ever consult. He heard the
appeal of His slain ones, and came to minister to their souls the requisite
comfort. Living or dead, if we are faithful to God and His word, we shall
not want any merciful grace and help appropriate to us. The Lord remembers
us in our sufferings and trials on earth, and He will not fail to come
to us under the altar, to comfort and establish us concerning His purposes and
ways. He will not forget or disregard us when dead, any more than when
living; and our necessities, apart from the body, are as graciously cared for
as those in the flesh. Indeed, His promises over-span every possible
contingency of our existence, in the body or out of the body, in time or in
eternity. His word to us is, that He will never leave
nor forsake us.
“There was given to each of them a white robe.”
Can lifeless shades and non-existences receive white robes? Can spilled
blood, dead and absorbed in the earth, wear the livery of heaven? Yet
these souls of slain ones received each the celestial stola, even while their
resurrection delayed. And that stola was the symbol of their
justification - the Divine assurance of the truth and acceptableness of their
testimony - the cheering token from the throne that they were approved, and precious,
and near to their Lord, and blessed with His favour, notwithstanding that what
they hoped and testified was still deferred. White robes, in such
connections, are always the emblems of Divine approval, and blessed
relationship with God. And the giving of them to these zealous and
anxious souls under the altar was the cheering proof of their preciousness
in the Master’s sight.
“And it was said to them” - … Mark; how could dead ashes hear and
understand? Where was the use and meaning of speaking promises to
unconscious dust, which knows not anything? Where is the sense or
intelligibility of such a converse, if no living and wakeful beings are
concerned? God does not speak His comforts and promises to
nothings. And yet it was said to these souls of martyrs, in advance of
their resurrection, “that they should rest yet a
little time.” This implies that they had
been resting, and, that their state was one of blessed repose and quiet, though
imperfect. The dead in the Lord are not wandering, melancholy ghosts.
They are experiencing the meaning of that sweetest word of our language - rest.
And over their ashes, at least, we may confidently
sing:‑
“Happy the dead! they
peacefully rest them,
From burdens that galled, from cares that
oppressed them;
From the yoke of the world, and from
tyranny,
The grave, the grave hath set them free,
The grave hath set them free.”
But,
after this rest, comes a brighter day and sublimer station. “Yet a little time,” these slain ones are told, and
then that day will come. The reason for the delay is also explained, to
them. Their number is not yet full, and the world is not yet quite ripe
for its doom. Hence it was said to them, “that
they should rest yet a little time, until their fellow-servants
also, and their brethren, shall have been completed, who are about to be slain,
as also they themselves [had been].” John
is made to hear these words, because they are a prophecy for the Church on
earth, as well as an explanation to the souls waiting in heaven. They
tell of continued persecution and bloody sufferings for God’s witnesses among
men. Many good people are wont to think the days for killing men, on
account of their religious principles, have long since passed, never to
return. They flatter themselves that the world has become too
enlightened, too humane, too civilised, too much pervaded with a reasonable and
forbearing spirit, ever to repeat such scenes as were enacted by Pagan rule, or
in the dark ages of Christendom.
But
they are entirely mistaken. We may think the world has changed, but it
still has that ancient murderer for its god and prince, and its malignity
towards the Lord’s people, especially when they come to be sifted out from
their present adulterous intimacy with the world, will again head up into an
intensity to which there has been no parallel in the past. This fifth
seal is a revelation of nothing but slaughter for the saints, as regards this
world, and the times to which it relates. It shows us slaughtered saints
in heaven, and tells of the slaughter of many more. And elsewhere, in
this book, we are advised of coming times, when an idol shall be the object of
the world’s adoration, and as many as will not worship it shall be killed. (Rev. 13: 15.)
This
might seem to be but poor consolation to these resting souls; and yet, a real
consolation it was. It assured them that they were not alone in the
sufferings they had experienced that theirs was but the common lot of all
faithful ones in those trying times; that, though they were dead, the cause in
which they died still had representatives, who would stand to it unto death, as
they had done; and that, though the consummation was delayed yet for a little
while, their sufferings were over, and there was a flood
of sorrow still to deluge the earth from which they now were
free.
But,
above all, was the assurance, pervading and implied in each particular, that
what they had hoped and testified was presently to be accomplished. Those
white robes were the earnest of a sublimer life. Their martyrdom for
their steadfast maintenance of the truth, was duly remembered, and, in a little
while, should be fully requited to them, and to the godless hosts who had
inflicted it. Their blood was not long to remain un-avenged from them
that dwell on the earth. The years of waiting and of suffering were now
on the margin of their close. Yet a little time, and the consummation
should be complete. Yet a little while, and the wicked should not be:
yea, they should diligently consider his place, and it should not be. The
thrones were already set; the work was really in progress; the time of the end
had verily come; and, after a short space more, they would be able to say: “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself
like a green bay-tree; yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: yea, I sought
him, but he could not be found” (Ps. 37: 35,
36)
Striking
and impressive is the fact here brought to view, that that which the saints of
all ages have been “looking for,” and which has
been their “blessed hope” in every time of
earthly trial and adversity, even “the glorious
appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2: 13, 14), is also the chief comfort and
stay of the pious dead in their heavenly rest. “Until
when, Thou Master, the holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood
from them that dwell on the earth?” is the cry which they utter “with a great voice” from beneath the altar. They
rest, but their desire for the end still rises, and glows, and pleads.
And the chief element of the consolation which they receive is, that that
consummation cometh.
And
if the holy martyrs, in their white robes under the heavenly altar, make so
much of it, and find their chief comfort in the contemplation of its nearness,
how unreasonable and unjust that we should be accounted enthusiasts and
fanatics, for pointing to it as our hope and joy amid these earthly
tribulations? Why should it be branded as lunacy, when we wish and pray,
with departed saints, that sin’s long war against the majesty of heaven were
over - that the rending strife of spiritual evil, which has so long torn God’s
world, should come to an end - that the vast train of wrongs, with which Satan
has been oppressing Heaven’s sons and beautiful creations, should be done
away? Would it really be for the peace, and piety, and consolation of the
Church, that all such interest should cease, and that all such testimony should
be silenced? Would it really be God’s kingdom come, and His will done on
earth as it is in heaven, if all prayer and prophecy of coming and nearing
judgment were to be hushed from such a world as ours? Or, should we not
rather be grateful that there are on earth, and will be, even in its darkest
times, some to echo the spirit which thrills in the hearts of departed souls,
testifying to an evil and adulterous generation, of a coming vengeance, in
order to a completed redemption? Let men scowl, and mutter their
ill-timed reproaches, if they will, and persecute, even unto death, those who
hold it fast, there is in this theme what constitutes the true hope of the
saints, whether suffering in the flesh or resting in heaven, and on account of
which we may well ever
“Thank God, there’s still a
vanguard
Fighting for the right!
Though the throng flock to rearward,
Lifting, ashen-white
Flags of truce to sin and error,
Clasping hands, mute with terror,
Thank God, there’s still a vanguard
Fighting for the right!
Through the wilderness advancing,
Hewers of the way,
Forward! far their spears are glancing,
Flashing back the day.
‘Back!’ the leaders cry, who fear them;
‘Back!’ from all the army near them;
They, with steady step advancing,
Cleave their certain way.
Slay them! From each drop that falleth
Springs a hero armed.
Where the martyr’s fire appalleth,
Lo, they pass unharmed.
Crushed beneath thy wheel, oppression,
Bold. their spirit holds possession,
Loud the dross-purged voice out‑calleth,
By the death-throes warmed.
Thank God, there’s still a vanguard
Fighting for the right!
Error’s legions know their standard,
Floating in the light.
When the league of sin rejoices,
Quick outring the rallying voices
Thank God, there’s still a vanguard
Fighting for the right!”
LECTURE FOURTEENTH.
THE
SIXTH SEAL - WRONG APPLICATIONS OF IT - DESCRIBES FEARFUL PRODIGIES IN NATURE -
GENERAL CONVULSION - DARKENING OF SUN AND MOON - FALLING OF THE STARS - RECOIL
OF THE HEAVENS - MOVING OF MOUNTAINS AND ISLANDS - STATE OF SOCIETY WHEN THESE
THINGS COME - THE DISMAY THEY OCCASION - HOW PEOPLE WILL INTERPRET THEM - THE ABSURDITIES
TO WHICII THEY WILL DRIVE MEN.
Rev. 6: 12-17 (Revised
Text) - And I saw when He had opened the sixth
seal, and there was a great shaking; and the sun became black as backcloth of hair,
and the whole moon became as blood; and the stars of the heaven fell to the
earth, as a fig-tree sheddeth her untimely [or winter]
figs when shaken by a great wind. And the heaven
recoiled as a book [or scroll] rolling itself together; and every mountain and island were
moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men,
and the captains of thousands, and the rich, and the mighty, and every slave,
and every freedman, hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains.
And they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from
the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
because the great day of His [or, as some MSS., their]
wrath is come, and who is able to stand!
Whatever
secondary and imperfect fulfilments this opening of the sixth seal may have had
in the history of the past, it is impossible for any one to look at it
attentively with out feeling that the day of judgment itself must come in order
to exhaust the description, and that it belongs properly and only to those
great events which immediately precede and usher in the great consummation.
And
yet it does not refer to the last acts of that terrible drama. It is only
the sixth seal, while there is yet a seventh to follow it. With all its
terrors, it is only one link in the chain of judicial wonders which the great
day will bring. Much of the language employed, and the descriptions which
follow, show that we still have to do with the present order of things,
although in its last stages. The action of all the seals is the action of
judgment, after the saints have been taken to their Lord in the sky; and we
here have the sixth in the series, whilst the final catastrophe is still
deferred. Neither Titus, nor Diocletian, nor Constantine,
has anything whatever to do with it (as some allegorizers have fancied); but
only those people who shall be living, upon the earth in “the time of the end.”
The
words before us present two classes of facts:‑
1. FEARFUL PHYSICAL PRODIGIES;
2. THE EFFECTS OF THEM UPON MANKIISTD.
We
will consider them in the order in which they are narrated, looking to God to
enlighten and bless us in the attempt.
1.
Great commotion in the fabric of nature. “I saw when He had opened the sixth seal, and there was a
great shaking.” The common version says earthquake;
but the original word is not so limited and specific. Though usually
rendered earthquake, it denotes quakings in general, and
is often used for any sudden and violent shaking in any part of the
world. In the following verse it is applied to the shaking of the
fig-tree. Matthew employs it to express tempestuous commotion of the air
and sea (Matt. 8: 24); and in the Greek
translation of Joel (2: 10), it is used to denote violent disturbances in the
heavens. In the form of a verb, it signifies to shake, toss, jolt,
agitate, - whether the things shaken be the earth, the air, the sea, the sky,
or anything else. It here includes a general shaking of the earth, as is
plainly manifest from the context; but there is the same reason for extending
it beyond the earth to the atmosphere, sky, and heavenly regions. The
whole system of the world is implicated in the vastness and violence of the
commotion.
In
very many places, great convulsions of nature are spoken of in connection with
special manifestations of Deity, particularly when those manifestations are of
a judicial character. When God gave the law, which was for the restraint
and condemnation of sin, “Mount Sinai was altogether on
a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke
thereof ascended as the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mount quaked
greatly.” (Ex. 19: 18.) When Elijah
made complaint unto the Lord that Israel had shed the blood of His prophets,
and trembled for his own safety, “The Lord passed by,
and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks;
and after the wind an earthquake.” (1 Kings
19: 1l.) When Jesus was murdered, “the
veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth
did quake, and the rocks rent.” (Matt. 27:
50, 51.) And when Paul and Silas were beaten, imprisoned, and put
into the stocks, and appealed unto the Lord in songs and prayers, “suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the
foundations of the prison were shaken, and all the doors were opened, and every
one’s bands were loosed.” (Acts 16: 26)
Especially
are such convulsions prophesied of in connection with the judgment, and the
approach and consummation of the end of this world [age]. Jesus has plainly told us that “famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,”
are more and more to characterise the coming of the end. (Matt. 24 7-9.) In the preceding visions we
have had the famines, pestilences, and persecutions, and here we behold the
commotions of nature. Haggai has prophesied: “Thus
saith the Lord of Hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake
the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land” (Hag. 2: 6); and all this in specified
connection with the coming of the Desire of nations. Paul, commenting
upon this and like ancient predictions, speaks of a shaking of the earth and of
the heaven, and connects this shaking with the coming administrations which are
to determine and end the dispensation. (Heb. 12:
26-28)
We
know something of earthquakes - how they overturn and change the surfaces of
countries, sink the hills, alter the courses of rivers, overwhelm vast
populations, dry up lakes, set the mountains to vomiting fire, and agitate the
mightiest seas. But, in the time to come, when God shall judge the
nations for their iniquities, there shall be enlargements and inteusifications
of such convulsions. The commotions are to be “great,” and they are to extend to the
whole system of our world, and to involve the very heavens.
2.
To the general convulsion is added the darkening of the sun.
“And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair.”
I take all this literally. There is neither reason nor piety in
undertaking to explain away the plain terms of Scripture, where there is no
necessity for departure from their common meaning. When the Lord came
down on Sinai the mountain was shrouded in darkening smokiness. When Jesus
hung upon the cross, “There was darkness over all the
earth until the ninth hour, And the sun was darkened.” (Luke 23: 44, 45.) When the judgment of God
was upon Egypt, “There was a thick darkness in all the
land three days.” (Ex. 10: 22.)
By Isaiah (33: 9, 10) the word came forth “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and
fierce anger, to lay the earth desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners
thereof out of it. The sun shall be darkened in his going forth.”
The same was repeated by Joel (3: 9-15).
And the blessed Saviour Himself has told us, that “immediately
after the tribulation of those days,” and soon before the appearance of
the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, “shall the
sun be darkened.” (Matt. 24:
29, 30.)
In
what manner this darkness is to be produced, is nowhere told us. It may
be by some natural eclipse, or it maybe by some extraordinary putting forth of
the power of God for the purpose. We cannot explain the three days'
darkness sent upon the Egyptians, nor the darkness which prevailed during the
Saviour’s crucifixion. It is easy enough for Omnipotence, either by
natural or miraculous causes, to fulfil His own word. Extraordinary
obscurations of the sun have more than once happened, and they can just as readily
be made to happen again, if God so wills, and in a still more marvellous degree
of intensity. On the 19th of May, 1780, a wonderfully
dark day was experienced throughout the north-eastern portion of the United
States. The witnesses of it have described it as supernatural and
unaccountable. It was not an ordinary eclipse, for the moon was nearly at
the full. It was not owing to a clouded condition of the atmosphere, for
the stars were visible. Yet it was so dark from nine o’clock in the
morning throughout the usual hours of sunshine, that work had to be suspended,
houses had to be lit with candles, the beasts and fowls went to their rest as
in the night-time. And though the sun was visible, it had the appearance
of being shorn of all its power of illumination. Connect such an
occurrence with the general convulsions which have just been described, extend
it over the world, intensify it according to the description of the text, and
you may form some conception of this feature of what the opening of the sixth
seal shall bring, when the sun shall be dull and rayless as the haircloth of a
Bedouin’s tent.
3.
A further particular is the ensanguined appearance of the moon. “And the whole moon became as blood.” A writer on the
Apocalypse has said: “The further I advance in the
exposition of this book of prophecy, the more convinced I feel that the key to
its interpretation is to be found in the great outline of things which shall be
hereafter sketched out by our Lord Jesus Christ in His prophecy on the Mount of
Olives.” Recurring to that “outline,”
we find this lunar phenomenon distinctly referred to. As the sun is to be
darkened, so also “the moon shall not give her
light.” (Matt. 24: 29.)
The nature of the portentous obscuration is also described. With the privation
of its usual effulgence, the moon is to be converted into an object of
horror. In place of the genial silver disk, men shall behold, as it were,
an orb of blood-dark, dim, sickly, and portentous. The same is spoken of
in other prophecies. In Joel (2: 30)
we read, that before thoe consummation of “the great
and terrible day of the Lord,” not only “the sun
shall be turned into darkness,” but also “the
moon into blood.” Anticipations and foreshadows of this have, in like
manner, occurred. Great convulsions in the earth and atmosphere often
produce such appearances of the sun and moon. When the earth is shaken by
the wrath of God, the heavenly luminaries sympathise with the general
commotion; and along with this “great shaking,”
a shaking, not of the earth only, but of heaven also, we might well expect
the sun to put on blackness, and the full moon to appear as if deluged in
blood. Whatever the specific details of the manifestation may be, by
whatever means produced, or however long continued, the general character of it
will be sufficiently marked and terrific to correspond with the awfulness of
the occasion to which it relates. Similar language may have applied to
other scenes, but it will then be realised with a fulness and literalness which
have never yet been, and on a scale altogether unprecedented.
4.
Then comes the falling of stars. “And
the stars of the heaven fell to the earth, as a fig-tree sheddeth her untimely
[or winter] figs, when
shaken by a great wind.” Some see in this an impossibility in the
way of accepting this description as literal. But they are thinking only
of the great and unknown bodies which shine in the vast fields of
immensity. It remains to be proven, however, that the apostle had his eye
upon stars of that character. Those heavenly orbs, of which astronomy
tells are not the only objects to which, in common language, the word stars
literally applies. Even science speaks of “shooting
stars,” and “falling stars,” which are
not worlds at all, but meteors, visible only while they fall, and leaving no
discoverable remains where they seem to alight. It used to be thought that they
were generated in our atmosphere, but learned men now regard them as
incandescent fragments of matter, detached perhaps from their proper places,
and set on fire and consumed by contact with the atmosphere of the earth.
Such a convulsion as the text describes, would naturally multiply the number of
such loose particles, which, precipitated into our atmosphere, and ignited by
contact with it, would not only fill it with moving incandescent points, such
as we call shooting or falling stars, but also fulfil the
image to which the apostle likens the falling. Conceiving of the physical
universe as a great fig-tree, he beholds it terrifically shaken, but in no way
blown down or destroyed. Only its unseasonable fruit, which winter has
overtaken, and incongenial weather has rendered ready to drop, is made to fall.
There
is also something peculiar in the apostle’s designation of these fallin,g
stars, which does not appear in the common version, but which is worth
notice. He calls thein “the stars of the heaven.” Not simply “the stars,” as if there could be no mistake as to the
objects intended - nor yet “the stars of the heavens”
generally considered - but “the stars of the
heaven;” some particular stars of some particular
heaven. And when we call to mind that the word heaven is
often used to denote the air, the atmosphere which surrounds the earth, the
region in which the clouds move, it becomes more than probable that he is here
referring to objects which pertain to this particular region alone. The
stars proper are certainly still found in their places after the fulfilment of
this vision, (See chap. 8: 12.) And
remembering that the Scriptures speak in the common language of men, without
reference to the distinctions of science, and that even science itself still
popularly speaks of “falling stars,” when it
means simply meteoric phenomena, it appears but reasonable that we should
understand the apostle to be speaking of something of the same sort. Professor
Stuart agrees that the meaning of the words is sufficiently met by such an
interpretation, and that the reference most likely is to some meteoric
manifestation, the like of which has once in a while happened, and which we
find spoken of, among the people and in the books, under the name of
falling stars.
A
most marvellous meteoric shower of this class was witnessed on the night of the
13th of November, 1833. It is perhaps remembered by many now
present. During the three hours of its continuance, hundreds and
thousands of people, of all classes, were thrown into the utmost consternation,
and filled with the belief that the very scene described in this text, was actually
transpiring. Fiery balls, as luminous and as numerous as the stars, came
darting after each other from the sky, with vivid streaks of light trailing in
the track of each. They were of various sizes and degrees of splendour,
flashing as they fell, and so bright as to awaken people from their
sleep. It seemed as if every star in the firmament had suddenly shot from
its sphere, and was falling to the earth. And all who saw it will bear
witness that it was a most terrific spectacle.
Conceive,
then, of a repetition of that scene, intensified and extended according to the
spirit of this vision, with stunning explosions added to the general commotion,
and the alarming rush of hissing balls of fire, darting like rain-drops from
the sky, and you have exactly what John foresaw in this part of his vision of
the opening of the sixth seal.
5.
“And the heaven, recoiled as a scroll rolling
itsef together.” We have here the same particular heaven.
With the prodigies already named, the sky folds upon itself. The fastenings
which held it outstretched, are loosed in the general convulsion, and it rolls
up. Great, massive, rotary motion in the whole visible expanse, is
signified, as if it were folding itself up to pass away for ever. Some
tell us that this never can literally happen, and that we are not therefore to
expect it to be fulfilled in any physical fact. But why not? Does not
Peter, in a plainly literal passage, tell us of just such commotions in
the aerial heavens? Does he not say, in so many words, that they shall be
loosed and move with a noisy rushing, after the manner of
a tempest? (2 Pet. 3: 10-12.) And so
significant and awful is to be the nature of the fact, that nearly all the
prophets have taken notice of it, and foretell the same in language which we
must monstrously pervert to understand in any other than a literal sense.
We may not be able to describe it in the language of modern science, and
philosophers may laugh at the unsophisticated descriptions of God’s prophets;
but, everything that relates to the coming of Christ, and the day of judgment
has upon it the same disability. And if the literal truthfulness of the
record will not hold in one case, I cannot see by what reason we can insist
upon it in another. God certainly is able to fulfil literally all that He
has spoken, and here John tells us that he really saw what Peter and other
prophets have said shall come to pass.
6.
And all this is further attended with fearful changes in the
configuration of the earth. “And every
mountain and island were moved out of their places.” These are but
the natural effects of the terrible convulsions that shake everything. On
a smaller scale, the same has often happened. Within the space of a month
past, the world has been astounded with accounts of an earthquake along the
Pacific coast of South America, by which cities and villages by the score have
been blotted from the earth, islands moved in their places, mountains shaken,
vast districts of shore engulfed in the sea, thousands and thousands of lives
lost, and hundreds of millions of treasure destroyed. Extend the same to
every country and every sea; let all the dwellers on earth be made to feel such
a shock, intensified so as to hurl the mountains from their seats, and wrench
the islands from their roots, and convulse each ocean from centre to
circumference; let the hills exchange places with the waters, and all the
consequences of such vast and sudden transformations be spread over the face of
the world, with their natural effects upon its cities, its traffic, and its
thronging populations, and you may have some idea of the dreadfulness of what
John beheld as ordained to come to pass under the opening of this seal.
Such,
then, are the physical prodigies bore foreshown. Let us now look at the impression
they make upon those who witiless them. “And the
kings of the earth, and the great men [nobles, lords, princes], and the captains of thousands, and the rich, and the mighty,
and every slave, and every freedman, hid themselves in the caves, and the rocks
of the mountains; and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us,
and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb: because the great day of His wrath is come, and who is able to
stand!”
1.
We have here a glimpse of the constitution and general condition of society at
the time these prodigies befall the world. Some believe and teach that
free institutions are destined to become universal, and that monarchy is doomed
to fall before the march of modern civilisation. We here see that such
hopes will not be realised. Kings are still on their thrones, and princes and
orders of nobility remain, till the judgment comes. Some are looking for
a blessed time of peace and prosperity in this world, when all wars shall
cease, all armies be disbanded, all nations transmute their implements of
destruction into instruments of husbandry, and the clash of arms be hushed for
ever. We here see that there will still be soldiers and military
commanders pursuing their bloody profession up to the time of the end.
Some will have it that universal emancipation has but a few more battles to
fight, and that human slavery is as good as at an end. We here see that
the day of judgment still finds slaves in the world, as well as men who have
but recently been freed, and all the present distinctions of class and fortune
unchanged. Suppose that the sixth seal were to be opened to-night; what
would it find? Kings and emperors on their thrones; princes, nobles,
dukes, and lords, securely priding themselves in the prerogatives of their
caste and station; standing armies at rest and in action, and military
commanders with swords upon their sides; rich people wallowing in wealth and
luxury: men and women in high places and low, working the wires that fashion
events; slaves toiling at their tasks, and freedmen just out of their bondage;
and evidences everywhere of a depraved and disordered state of
things. This is what the judgment would find if it came to-night.
And this, John tells us, is what it finds when it does come in reality.
Let political reformers and theologians then say to the contrary what they
please, human society as it is; and as it has been for these ages, with all its
burdens, disorders and inequalities, will continue the same till Christ Himself
shall come to judge it for its sins.
2.
There is one thing, however, which shall be very different under the opening of
the sixth seal, from what it is now. The self-security and composure with
which godless people live, will then be driven to the winds. Though all the
judgments under preceding seals may have failed to appal or arouse them, they
will not be able to maintain their equanimity under what this shall bring
forth.
I
have said that we know something of the dreadfulness of earthquakes. And
yet, we, who know them only by descriptions, cannot at all enter into the
feeling of alarm and horror which they produce. A gentleman who has had
some experience on the subject says: “Although I am
not a man to cry out or play the fool on such occasions, yet I do fairly own
that these earthquakes are very awful, and must be felt to be understood.
Before we hear the sound, or, at least, are fully conscious of hearing it, we
are made sensible, I do not know how, that something uncommon is going to
happen. Everything seems to change colour. Our world appears to be
in disorder. All nature looks different to what it was wont to do.
And we feel quite subdued and overwhelmed by some invisible power, beyond human
control or comprehension. Then comes the terrible sound, distinctly
heard; and immediately the solid earth is all in motion, waving to and fro like
the surface of the sea. Depend upon it, a severe earthquake is enough to
shake the firmest mind. No custom can teach any one to witness it without
the deepest emotion of terror.” But when this seal opens, not only
the earth here and there, but everywhere, and the sea, and the air, and the
heavens, shall shake, as for their final dissolution. And with the sun
turned to blackness, and the moon to blood, and the mountains toppling from
their bases, and the whole framework of nature jarring and creaking like a
wrecking ship, there will come over the hearts of men a discomfiting
consternation, such as they never felt or imagined.
We
know something of the alarm and terror which the meteoric shower of 1833 struck
into the hearts and minds of men. People now laugh at the strange
demonstrations which were then enacted, and wonder how it was possible that
intelligent and reflecting men could become so terrified, or act so contrary to
all that had ever distinguished them before. But the truth is, that it is
a good deal easier to play brave toward such things after they are over, than
when they are upon us with all their solemn sublimity. And when to the
falling of the stars is added the rocking of the earth, the loosening of the
mountains, the darkening of sun and moon, and the tempestuous collapse of the
firmament, men may think they can muster the nerve to stand it, but they will
fail.
Nor
does it matter who or what men may be, they will be alike overwhelmed with
inexpressible dismay and horror. Kings, princes, nobles, men used to the
shocks of battle, the rich, the great, the wise, the bond, the free, high and
low, without exception, become the victims of their fears, and tremble, and
howl, and pray, and rush to the fields, to the cellars, to the caves of the
rocks, to the clefts in the mountains, to every place where shelter and
concealment is dreamed of amid the general desperation. So John foresaw
the scene, and so it will be. Self-possession, unshaken courage, dignified
composure, philosophic thinking, hopefulness, assurance, and the last remains
of the stern intrepidity and statue-like imperturbability which characterise
some men now, will then have vanished from humanity. That day will
destroy them utterly
3.
We notice, also, the correct interpretation which mankind will then put upon
the terrific disturbances of nature around them. Storms, earthquakes,
eclipses, and unusual phenomena in the heavens, are natural symbols of Divine
wrath. The ancients regarded them as auguring and embodying the
destroying power and wrath of Deity. They are always and everywhere
precursors and prophecies of the forthcoming judgment of God. They are so
presented in the Scriptures, and accordingly inwrought with all inspired
diction. There is also an instinct to the same effect, which has ever
lingered with the race, and which cannot be entirely suppressed. Modern science
calls it superstition. Savans of earthly wisdom propose to explain all
upon philosophic principles, and think to prove to us that neither God, nor His
anger, nor His judgments, have aught to do with it. People also have
become so enlightened nowadays, as to be above alarm at strange commotions in
the elements, or signs in the sky. They have learned better. These
things may all be naturally accounted for. Why, a little care might give us
tables of them for a thousand years to come, with the days, and hours, and minutes
noted. Indeed, men have become so knowing about Nature and her laws, that
they do not see much necessity any more for a God at all, much less for
any judgment or interference of His in the affairs of the universe. This
is the spirit of much that men call science, a spirit which is working itself
into the popular mind, and, sad to say, largely affecting even the theological
thinking and teaching of the day.
But
when the vision of the text comes to be realised, woe to the materialistic,
pantheistic, and atheistic philosophies with which men suppose they have rid
themselves of the superstitions of antiquity! One flash from the judgment
throne will confound them utterly. When the sixth seal breaks, and the
vibrations of it are upon the universe, turning sun and moon to darkness and
blood, convulsing the firmament, shaking down the stars, and moving mountains
and islands from their places, not the ignorant only, but the philosophic and
the learned-kings and magnates of science and state, and all classes and kinds
of men together, rush from their dwellings, strike for the caverns, cry out
like terrified babes, confess to the presence of a Divine Power whose existence
their superior learning had put down as a fable, and with one accord now preach
and proclaim the advent of a day which they had pronounced impossible!
Why this consternation - this change in their way of regarding and treating
these advent doctrines - this preaching of the judgment - this trepidation and
horror about the day of wrath now? This is not the way they used to deal
with this subject. There is a mighty shaking indeed but earthquakes are
all from natural causes! Rather remarkable eclipses truly; but such
things are easily explicable on natural principles! An extraordinary
star-shower; but these are innocent periodic things which belong to the natural
on-going of the universe! Unusual storms and atmospheric commotions; but
they are the results of natural causes! Why, then, this dismay at the
sublime activities of nature, which a philosophic understanding should be able
calmly to contemplate and really enjoy? Cowardly fools! shall we call
them, to break down in the conclusions of their superior intelligence, amid
such splendid opportunities for enjoyable scientific observation? Alas,
alas, the old superstition is too strong for the modern wisdom! The
horror-stricken world-kings, savans, heroes - with strained eyeballs and
bloodless lips, fall prostrate and confess that these beautiful activities of
nature and her laws, are, after all, somehow linked in with the wrath and
judgment of God and the Lamb!
4.
Nor is it so much the physical argue, that renders the dismay so unsupportable
there were nothing but the convulsions of the body of nature, terrific as they are,
there would be a chance for some to endure them without becoming so thoroughly
unmanned. But the chief consternation arises, not simply from the outward
facts, but from the unwelcome conclusions which they force upon the soul.
The physical manifestations may be in the line of physical laws, and in no way
contrary to them; but whether miraculous or not, they are so terrific and
Divine, that they compel the most atheistic to see in them the hands, and arms,
and utterances of a Being transcendently greater still, and to feel the
demonstration in their souls that He has verily risen up in the fierceness of
just indignation against long neglect and defiance of His authority. It
is not that nature has ceased to be herself, or that the principles of her activities
have been repealed, that overwhelms them, but the resistless proof that all her
awful potencies, now in such terrific motion, are God’s direct powers, aroused
and inflamed with His dreadful anger, and charged as heralds and executioners
of His Almighty wrath.
It
is not the shaking, the obscured sun, the bloody moon, the falling stars, the
recoiling heavens, the moving mountains, so much as the moral truths they flash
into the spirit, to wit, that God is on the throne, that sin is a reality, that
judgment is come, and that every guilty one must now face an angry
Creator. It is not nature’s bewildering commotions for they would
willingly have the falling mountains cover them, if that would shelter them
from what is much more in their view, and far more dreadful to, them.
What they speak of is, God upon the throne, the fear of His face, the day of
reckoning and the wrath of the Lamb. These are more than all the horrors
of a universe in convulsions. These are the daggers in their hearts - the
thunderbolts that rend and rive their souls - the fires that kindle the flames
of hell within them.
5.
And how pitiable and absurd the expedients to which they are driven! Many
an opportunity for prayer had they neglected. Always had they contemned
such humiliating employment. It did not suit their ideas of dignity, or
their theories. But now they pray, and have a grand concert of prayer, in
which kings and mighty ones join with the meanest and lowest. They had
often laughed and sneered at praying men; but now they all pray. Some
prostrate in the dust, some on their knees in dens and caves, some clinging to
the trees, and all shrieking out in unison their terror-moved entreaties.
O, imbecile people! When prayer would have been availing, they scorned and
detested it as mean and useless; and now, that it is futile, they go at it with
a will.
Still
more absurd is the direction in which they address their prayers. Once
they considered it folly that man should call on the living God; but now they
pray to dead rocks! Once they thought it philosophic to deny that He who
made the ear could hear prayers, or that He with whom is the Spirit, and whose
is the power, could answer them; but now they supplicate the deaf and helpless
mountains!
And
yet weaker and more insane is the import of their prayers and efforts.
Beautifully has the Psalmist sung: “Whither shall I go
from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If 1 ascend
up into heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell [Sheol], behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the
morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand
lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness
shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness
hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the
light are both alike to Thee.” (Ps. 139:
7-13.) Omniscience and omnipresence are among the natural
attributes of God. The very things before these people’s eyes should have
been enough to teach them this. And yet, philosophers as they are, their
proposal is to conceal themselves from the Almighty, and so elude His
wrath! Often had shelter and peaceful security been offered them in the
mercies of the loving Saviour, and as often had they despised and rejected
them; but now the silly souls would take the miserable rocks for saviours! 0,
the foolishness of men who think it folly to serve God! “He that fleeth of them, shall not flee away, and he that
escapeth of them, shall not be delivered. Though they dig into hell
[sheol],” saith
the Lord, “thence shall Mine hand take them; though
they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down; and though they hide
themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence.”
(Amos 9: 1-3.)
These
kings and mighty ones of the earth had highly estimated the terrors of death,
and had tried to restrain and terrify men with fears of them. As shown in
the preceding seal, they had been persecutors of the saints, and shed their
blood to silence their testimony. Yet, what they then thought so awful,
they are now themselves willing and anxious to suffer; yea, and to go down into
everlasting nothingness, as a happy alternative to what they find coming upon them.
“They say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on
us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the
wrath of the Lamb!” O, miserable extremity to which guilt brings
men at last! There are those whom these judgments shall not thus
overwhelm. Hid in Jesus, and His sheltering grace, they are secure
against all such dismay. But “the day of the Lord
of Hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon every one
that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” (Isa. 2: 12.) Friends and brethren, what a
mercy that that day is not yet upon us! There is a Rock to which we still
may fly and pray, with hope of security in its wide-open clefts. It is
the Rock of Ages. There are mountains to which we may yet betake ourselves,
and be for ever safe from all the dread convulsions which await the world. They
are the mountains of salvation in Christ Jesus. I believe that I am
addressing some who have betaken themselves to them. Brethren, “Hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering; for
He is faithful that promised.” (Heb. 10: 23.)
But others are still lingering in the plains of Sodom, who need to take this
warning to heart as the never yet have done. O ye travellers to the
judgment, seek ye the Lord while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is
near! And may God in His mercy hide us all from the condemnation that
awaits an unbelieving world!
“Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly;
While the billows near me roll,
While the tempest still is high;
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm of life be past,
Safe into the haven guide,
Oh, receive my soul at last.”
LECTURE FIFTEENTH.
THE
SEALING OF THE 144,000 - MERCY IN THE MIDST OF JUDGMENT – THESE APE 144,000
JEWS - ARE DESCRIBED BY THEIR TRIBAL NAMES - THE NUMBER OF THEM - THE NATURE OF
THEIR SEALING - NOT A MERE ARBITRARY OR EXTERNAL WORK - THE AGENT PERFORMING IT
- AN IMPARTATION OF THE HOLY GHOST - HOW MANIFESTED IN THESE SEALED ONES - THE
INTENT AND EFFECT OF THIS SEALING - GOD NOT YET DONE WITH THE JEWS - OUR
CALLING.
Rev. 7: 1-8 (Revised Text)
- After this I saw four angels
standing over the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth,
that wind might not blow upon the earth, nor upon the seal nor upon any tree.
And I saw another angel going up from the sun-rising, having a seal
of the living God; and He was crying with a great voice to the four angels to
whom it was given to injure the earth and the sea, saying: Injure ye not the
earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God
upon their foreheads.
And I heard the number of the sealed: a
hundred and forty-four thousand [were] sealed, out of every tribe of the children [rather,
sons] of Israel; but of the tribe of Juda, twelve
thousand [were] sealed; out of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; out of the
tribe of Gad, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand; out
of the tribe of Nepthalim, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Manasses,
twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand; out of the tribe
of Levi, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand; out of
the tribe of Zabulon, twelve thousand; out of the tribe of Joseph, twelve
thousand; out of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand [were] sealed.
These words describe the continuation of the action
and course of events signified by the breaking of the sixth seal. It is,
therefore, still the period of the judgment with which we here have to
do. But in the midst of wrath, God remembers mercy. With all the
fearful physical prodigies which mark the first shock under this seal, and the
terror and dismay of mankind in general in view of those prodigies, the
material universe remains, the earth continues in its place, and gracious
operations still go on among its remaining populations.
Though the heavens and the earth are terrifically
shaken, and the whole system of nature is thrown into commotion, as if on the
verge of utter ruin, there is a lull in the storm; the angels who have charge
of the disturbing blasts are commanded to hold them back for a season; and a
scene of calm, and of gracious manifestation to certain of the children of men,
ensues, before the great and terrible day of the Lord advances to its
meridian. The judgment has begun, and has progressed through a number of
its most important stages, but still Divine compassion lingers, grace has not
entirely departed, and the merciful act of the sealing of the 144,000 has to be
completed before another step in the succession of judicial wonders can
occur. And this sealing, it is, which is to occupy our attention this
evening. We may consider,
1. THE SUBJECTS OF IT;
2.. THE NATURE OF IT;
3. . THE EFFECTS OF IT.
And
to this end, may, God help us with the illumination and guidance of His Holy
Spirit!
1.
Who, then, are these 144,000 sealed ones? This
is a vital question, in the right interpretation of this part of holy
writ. Did people only keep themselves to the plain reading of the words
as they are, without subjecting them to chemical treatment to bring them into
affinity with radically false conceptions of the Apocalypse, they would save
themselves much perplexity, and their readers much confusion.
If
we only take to heart, that, when John writes “children of Israel,” he
means “children of Israel” - the blood
descendants of the patriarch Jacob, - and that, when he mentions “the tribe of Juda,” “the tribe
of Reuben,” “the tribe of Gad,” “the tribe of Aser,” “the tribe
of Nepthalim,” “the tribe of Manasses,” “the tribe of Simeon,” “the
tribe of Levi,” “the tribe of Issachar,”
“the tribe of Zabulon,” “the tribe of Joseph,” and “the tribe of
Benjamin,” he verily means what he says, we will at once have the
subjects of this apocalyptic sealing unmistakably identified. But many
are so morbidly prejudiced against everything Jewish, that it is concluded in
advance, that anything merciful, referring to the Israelitish race, must needs
be understood some other way than as the words are written.
Though all the prophets were Jews, and Jesus was a
Jew, and the writer of this Apocalypse was a Jew, and all the Apostles were
Jews, and salvation itself is of the Jews, and the Jews as a distinct people
are everywhere spoken of as destined to continue to the world’s end, it is
regarded as the next thing to apostasy from the faith, to apply anything
hopeful, that God has said, to this particular race. Though Paul
says, that, to his “kinsmen according to the flesh,”
“the promises” pertain; that “God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew;”
“that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until
the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” but only in part, and
only until then; and that God’s unchanging covenant still has something
favourable for them in reserve even many otherwise enlightened
Christians become impatient, and will not at all hear us, when we presume to
pronounce God’s own words as if He really meant what He has said.
There is no vice or device of sacred hermeneuties,
which so beclouds the Scriptures, and so unsettles the faith of men, as this
constant attempt to read Church for Israel,
and Christian peoples for Jewish tribes. As I read the Bible, when
God says “children of Israel,”
I do not understand Him to mean any but people of Jewish blood, be they
Christians or not; and when He speaks of the twelve tribes of the sons of
Jacob, and gives the names of the tribes, it is impossible for me to believe
that He means the Gentiles, in any sense or degree, whether they be believers
or not. And this would seem to be so plain and self-evident a rule of
interpretation, that I can conceive of no legitimate variation from it, except
in such case as the Holy Ghost Himself may explain to the contrary.
There
is a sense in which a man may be a Jew outwardly, and yet not be one according
to the spiritual calling of the Jews; and there is a sense in which even
Gentiles, if they be true believers, are “Abraham’s
seed;” but I know of no instance in which the descendants of the twelve
tribes of Israel include the Gentiles, or in which, what is discoursed
specifically of persons out of the tribes of Juda, Reuben, Gad, Aser,
Nepthalim, Manasses, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zabulon, Joseph, and Benjamin, is
to be understood only of “the blessed company of all
faithful people, gathered together from all parts of the world, and
constituting the Church universal.”
These
144,000 Jews can by no possibility “represent the glorified
company of the whole church.” There is no proof that they
represent anybody but themselves. Everything shows that they are a class
of the saved, separate and distinct from all others. The Elders and
Living Ones are glorified, and have received their golden crowns, before
these 144,000 have even been sealed on earth.
And
when we take along with us the apostolic commentary upon the ancient covenants,
to wit: that, after the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, the scales are to
drop from the eyes of Israel’s blinded descendants, and a fresh current of
salvation is to set in towards them; the argument seems to me conclusive and
overwhelming, that these 144,000 are just what John says they are - Jews,
descendants of the sons of Israel.
If
we look a little further on in the chapter, we find another company described
whose nationalities are also distinctly given. They are “out of every nation, and [of all] tribes, and peoples, and tongues.” Literal
nationalities are therefore an important element in the whole chapter.
And as those said to be out of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues cannot
be Jews only, so those said to be out of the twelve tribes of the children of
Israel cannot be Jews and Gentiles indiscriminately.
But
these 144,000 are not simply Jews, but also Jews of a particular class, singled
out from the Israelitish populations on account of spiritual attainments and
character not found in the rest. They are not only descendants of the
Hebrew patriarchs, living in the time of the judgment, but such of those
descendants as shall then correspond in their characteristics to the
signification of the several tribal names by which they are designated.
In
Genesis 5, we have the names of the
antediluvian patriarchs, from Adam to Noah. In the meaning of those
names, taken in the order in which they stand, we have a singular epitome of
the history of the race, and of the principal teachings of holy Scripture from
first to last. Taking these tribal names of the 144,000 in the same way,
we also find a very striking indication of their personal character, on the
ground of which their peculiar honours are based. All Jewish names are
significant, and the meaning of those which here are given, is not hard to
trace. Juda, means confession or praise of God;
Reuben, viewing the Son; Gad, a company;
Aser, blessed; Neptlialim, a wrestler or
striving with; Manasses, forgetfulness; Simeon, hearing
and obeying; Levi, joining or cleaving
to; Issachar, reward, or what is given by
way of reward; Zabulon, jamin a home or dwelling-place
; Joseph, added or an addition; Benjamin,
a son of the right hand, a son of old age.
These
144,000, then, are Israelites, living in the period of the judgment, who are
only then brought to be confessors and praisers of God, whilst
the most of their kindred continue in unbelief and rebellion. Viewing
the Son, as their fathers never would view Him, they acknowledge
Him as their Messiah and Judge. As Jews, they thus constitute a distinct
company to themselves, and are blessed. As
the result of their conversion, they are also very active in practical
righteousness. They strive and wrestle against their
own and their nation’s long forgetfulness to the truth as
it is in Jesus, hearing and obeying now the voice of the
Lord, cleaving unto the shelter and heavenly home
promised by the prophets as the portion of those who call upon the name of
the Lord even at that late hour. They are a super-addition to the Church
- a supplementary body. As Paul in his apostleship was like one born out
of due time, so they are in the position of children belated in their birth; sons
of God indeed, but sons begotten in the day of
God’s right hand, in the period of His power and judgment, in the last
extremity of this age.
As
to the number of this company, there could, not be a clearer or more definite
announcement than that which is given. John says: “I heard the number of the sealed: a hundred and forty-four
thousand,” - twelve thousand out of each of the twelve
tribes named, - twelve times twelve, - not a unit more, nor a unit less. Owing
to the fact that some expositors suppose this company, to embrace all
the saved of all the natural children of Jacob, or the whole, Israel of God
both Jewish and Gentile, they have generally taken these, numbers as mystical -
a definite number for an indefinite. Unwilling to believe, as they well
might be, that only 144,000 of all the children of men, or of all the
children of Abraham, are finally saved, they propose to understand a
much greater number than the figures give. But such views of this
body of sealed ones are thoroughly erroneous. These 144,000 are
not all the saved, either from among the Jews and Gentiles together, or from
among the Jews alone. They are a particular class of the saved,
gathered up from among the seed of Jacob in and during the period of the
Judgment. And hence there is every reason for taking these numbers in a
literal sense. John heard the number of them announced as twelve times
twelve thousand; and I know not by what right they are to be accounted any more
or any less.
2.
We come, then, to inquire into the nature of the sealing of
which these 144,000 are the subjects.
1.
It is manifest that the transaction takes place on earth, and in the case of people
contemporaneously living in the flesh. It does not run co-ordinately with
the entire Christian dispensation, for it only begins after the Judgment has
begun. It is also completed and finished before the opening of the
seventh seal; for the opening of the seventh seal is the letting loose of the
four hurtful blasts which are commanded to be held back until the sealing is
done. Under the sounding of the fifth trumpet particularly, we find these
sealed ones living and moving among those upon whom the plague falls, and
exempted from it by reason of their having been sealed.
2.
This sealing involved the impartation of a conspicuous and observable
mark. A sealing is necessarily a marking of some
sort. It is a common thing in God’s administrations to have some fixed
and understood token by which His people are distinguished. Under the Old
Testament He set a visible mark in the flesh of His chosen. When He
visited Egypt with death, He exempted the children of Israel by a mark which He
commanded to be put upon their dwellings. When Jericho fell, He saved
Rahab by the mark of the scarlet line which she was directed to bind
about her window. Antichrist, in his mimicry of Christ, causes a mark to
be put upon the right hand or forehead of his people, and will not permit any
one to buy or sell who has not the mark. And we hence infer, that this sealing
also involves the impressment of some manifest sign upon those who are the
subjects of it.
[*
The sealing of these 141,000 Jews is going on throughout the whole of the three
and a half years’ Great Tribulation, and therefore many are already sealed at
the time of the fifth trumpet, which is fulfilled daring that
Tribulation. The Sealing Angel has not, however, completed the sealing of
the whole of these 114, 000 Jews even at the beginning of the Sixth Seal, and
therefore cries out to the four angels to hold back the four winds until he has
completed the sealing. When it is subsequently finished, the Seventh Vial
is poured out (Rev. 16: 17), and there is an
unparalleled earthquake, shaking down the cities of the nations, and every
island flees away, and the mountains are not found.‑EDITOR.]
Ezekiel
describes a similar transaction, under similar circumstances, in which
reference may be to precisely the same thing beheld in this vision. In
the one case the executioners of vengeance appear with slaughter weapons in
their hands, in place of the four angels with their hurtful blasts in this
instance. But in that description also, a single sealer appears, who is
sent out before the slaughterers, to “set a mark upon
the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for the abominations,”
on account of which judgment impends. That mark was to be a visible means
of identifying those who receive it, and of securing their safety in the midst
of general destruction. And so these 144,000 have impressed upon them
some manifest token, at least as conspicuous and prominent as a physical
inscription upon their foreheads, if not, indeed, a physical mark. It is
described as a sealing “in their foreheads,” and
it cannot be otherwise than something particularly distinguishing.
3.
It is something Divine. The seal with which the
sealing is done, is “a seal of the living God.”
The affixing of a seal of God can only be by Divine authority and
appointment. It is so intensely an official act, and connects so fully
with the direct administrations and government of God, that it must needs be
done by the hand or ordination of the Almighty Himself. It so pledges
Him, and to Him, that it must be regarded as His own act.
4.
The office of this sealing is in the hands of an Angel, who
comes forth from the sun-rising. He is a high officer of God. He
carries a seal of the miracle-working God, and He gives commands to the angels
of judgment. Many take Him, to be the Lord Jesus Himself. There is
much to sustain this view. The star which heralded His nativity came from
the East. He is Himself called “the bright and
morning star.” Ezekiel beheld the Shekinah returning to the
deserted temple from the East. His second coming is referred to as the
lightning which shines from the East even unto the West. The promise to
the Jews with reference to the judgment time is: “Unto
you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise;” which
involves a going up from the East. And He is the sender of the Holy
Ghost. With these representations the vision of this Angel well
harmonises.
We
may, therefore, readily regard this Sealer as verily the Jehovah-Angel, even
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who comes forth, invisibly it maybe, for the
sealing of the144, 000. That He appears as an Angel, that He speaks of
God as His God, and that He alludes to the sealing as if other agencies were associated
with Him in the work, does not at all interfere with this conclusion.
Like language is found in the lips of Jesus in other portions of the
Scriptures; and one of His most characteristic titles represents Him as the
Messenger from God - the Angel of the Lord. He is here also very
particularly distinguished from, and assigned an authority over, the four
angels of judgment. It really does not alter the character of the matter
whether this Sealer, from the sun-rising be Christ in person or not. It
is, at any rate, a high officer of God who has charge of the work; and what he
does, proceeds from Christ’s mediatorial achievements.
5. This sealing was moreover a moral,
and not a mere arbitrary or external thing. Those who receive it are
described as “the servants of our God,”
as contradistinguished from other classes of men. They are very
eminently and very peculiarly God’s servants. This their extraordinary
sealing is connected with, and based upon, their extraordinary spiritual
characteristics. This was also the case in the parallel instance in the
ninth of Ezekiel. It was the men who sighed and who cried for the
abominations that were done, upon whom the mark was set. And it is the
common law of the Divine proceedings, that His special honours are never
otherwise conferred than in connection with special dutifulness and fidelity
under very special trials and difficulties. Every branch that bringeth forth
fruit He purgeth, that it may bring forth more fruit; and he who doth not
profit by the talents bestowed, from him shall be taken away even that which he
hath.
These were people who had humbled themselves under the
mighty hand of God. They had learned rightly to interpret the signs of
judgment enacting about them in the heavens above and in the earth
beneath. They had learned, and effectually taken, to heart, the
true character of the times in which they were living, what God was doing in
their day, and what place they occupied in the ongoing of the Divine
purposes. And the fruit of all was a vigour of faith, confession, and
holy consecrations seldom attained among the children of men. All their
idolatries, and and unbeliefs, they had most solemnly abjured They had
now given up to know nothing but God and His service, in the most unfaltering
trust in that Lion of the tribe of Judah under whose wondrous power the whole
earth was trembling and smarting, as if in the agonies of dissolution.
And because of this thorough spiritual transformation, and their holy sighing and
crying for the abominations that cover the world, “the
Angel of the covenant” comes up from the quarter of grace to honour
their devotions, and to set apart and seal them for a peculiar destiny of
favour and exaltation.
6. And from this we are enabled to get a still deeper
glance into the nature of this peculiar sealing. The seal of God is the
Spirit of God, particularly in His more unusual gifts. Thus Christ
Himself was sealed by the Father, when the Holy Ghost
descended upon Him from heaven, marking Him out, and endowing Him for His
wonderful career. (John 6: 27.) Thus,
also, Paul wrote to the Ephesians (1: 13) –
“After that ye believed, ye were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance;”
and besought them: “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
(Eph. 4: 30; also, 2
Cor. 1: 22.) We may, therefore, conceive of this sealing of
the 144,000 as special and extraordinary impartation of the Holy Ghost;
which again connects this vision with particular Old Testament
promises. By the mouth of Joel, the Lord said to Israel: “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.” This
was indeed a general promise, but with it was coupled another, which is not so
general, but particularly to Israel: “And your sons and
your daughters [O Jews] shall prophesy, your old
men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the
servants and upon the handmaidens in those days will I pour out MY Spirit.”
Peter
tells us that this began to be fulfilled in the miracle of Pentecost; but the
fulfilment did not end there. There are also particulars in the passage which
were not fulfilled upon the primitive Church - particulars which refer to the
judgment times, and connect directly with the scenes to which this sealing of
the 144,000 is related. “Wonders in heaven
and earth blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke,” are spoken of; and the
turning of the sun into darkness, and the moon into blood; and all, directly on
the eve of “the great and terrible day of the Lord.”
In this we distinctly recognise the occurrences under the red horseman of the
second seal, the physical prodigies of the sixth seal, and the exact
manifestations under the first and fifth trumpets. And in connection with
these wonders, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be delivered, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be
deliverance as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom, the Lord shall call.”
(Joel 2: 28-32.) Pre-eminent among this “remnant” are these 144,000. In them, therefore,
is fulfilled, above all what is foreshown of mercy and grace thus mixed up with
the terrors of the judgment. They are the sons and daughters of the
people whom the prophet addressed. - They are the ones who, above others
of their time, call upon the name of the Lord. They are related to Mount
Zion and Jerusalem as none of the Gentiles are.
And
it is not too much to say, that their peculiar sealing at least embraces
this self-same miraculous endowment with the Spirit of God, which is so
often referred to its the seal of God. They shall be made to dream
God-begotten dreams, and to see God-shown, visions. The Pentecostal Baptism
from heaven shall be renewed in them with its original vigour. All the
fruits and manifestations of the Holy Ghost, which: characterised the apostles
and early Christians at the beginning shall reappear in them, perhaps with
augmented power. And whether particular ceremonies connect
with the thing or, not this is the chief element and essence of this sealing
with “a seal of the living God.” At any
rate, those sealed, by virtue of their scaling, have the Father’s name in them;
and so in them, as to mark and distinguish them as though a
visible inscription stood written upon their foreheads. And those
who are so eminently and peculiarly the bearers of the Father’s name, must
needs be partakers, in very extraordinary degree of the gifts and powers of the
Holy,Ghost. Besides, the title of “the living God” is seldom, if ever, used except in connection with
some display of His power in the sphere of the miraculous.
7.
Very various and diverse, hence would also be, the outward manifestations of
this mark. It would show itself in the doctrines professed by the sealed
ones, in the power with which they announce and defend them, perhaps in
miraculous works wrought in proof of them, in a particularly holy, prayerful,
and self-denying life, in a bravery and fearlessness before gainsayers which no
earthly powers can daunt, and in a wisdom and heavenliness of demeanour, making
them appear like beings from another world, and lighting up their very faces,
perhaps, like the face of Moses when he came down from the mount, or like the
face of Stephen in the midst of his murderers.
3.
We come, now, to the intent and effect of this marvellous sealing.
It
is agreed, on all hands, that it is a merciful and gracious act. Its
first effect is to stay the blasts of judgment, and to produce a lull in the
work of vengeance. Four angels, stationed over the earth at the four
points of the compass, have already received power to hurt the earth and the
sea. But the sealing Angel, with a great voice, commands them to hold
back their blasts, until these servants of God are sealed.
And
so it is ever. God’s people are the salt of the earth. But for
them, and God’s gracious purposes toward them, judgment and ruin would
instantly break over the globe. It is only for the elect’s sake that the
world stands, that the sun shines, that the fields yield their increase, and
that men’s greatest blessings are not at once turned into curses. It is
only because God has His servants in the world, and saints preparing for glory,
and children among earth’s populations who sigh and cry for the abominations
that are done, that the chariots of destruction do not rush over all that is.
Governments stand, society exists, the waters flow; the trees live, the
sea retains its salubrity, the grasses grow upon the earth, and the
death-blasts of the destroying angels are restrained, only because the Lord is
engaged taking out from among the nations a people for His name, the number of
which must first he made up. Ten righteous persons in Sodom would have
put off the ruin of that sink of sin; and even when the terrific scenes of the
great day have begun, and advanced to the very margin of their culmination, the
whole process is made to delay till the 144,000 servants of God are
sealed. O the compassion and forbearance of Jehovah, and the intensity of
His faithfulness to them that call upon Him! Nor do the proud and haughty
ones of this world begin to comprehend, neither can it be measured, how much
they owe to those meek children of obscurity, whose faith, devotions, and
concern about the judgment, they so often ridicule, and so much despise.
But
this sealing was more particularly for the comfort, assurance, and security of
the scaled ones themselves. In the parallel passages in Ezekiel and Joel, the preservation
of the marked ones, and the deliverance of those who call upon the name of the
Lord, are specifically asserted. Here also, in the general commission of
the agents of destruction and torment against men in general, there is a
reservation in favour of those who have the seal of God in their
foreheads. The nature of the sealing itself is such as to forewarn and
empower those who receive it against the impending evils. The restraint
upon the blasts until this sealing is completed, also shows a relation of this
sealing to those blasts, implying securement against them. And all such
Divine markings, in every other case had protection and deliverance for their
object. It was so in the case of the children of Israel in Egypt.
It was so in the case of Rahab. Hence, as remarked by Wordsworth,
“this action of sealing with the seal or signet of
God, is equivalent to a declaration, that they, who are so sealed, appertain to
God, and are distinguished as such from others who do not thus belong to Him, and
are assured by Him of His protection against all evil.”
As
the gift of the Holy Ghost certified and assured the apostles, of the Divinity
of the cause they had espoused, of their acceptance as God’s acknowledged
ambassadors, of the certain fulfilment unto them of all that their Lord had
promised, and of their everlasting life, triumph, and glory, no matter what
men might do unto them, or what might happen; so this sealing with the seal
of the living God certified and assured these 144,000 of the unmistakable
character of their faith, of their election as a first fruits of incoming new
administrations, and granted unto them, not only security amid the blasts of
heightening judgment upon earth, but also a peculiar and blessed portion with
Jesus in His glory. And as the Baptism of the Spirit secured the
safety of the primitive Christians when Jerusalem was overwhelmed, so this
sealing secures the safety of the sealed ones as the judgment of the great day
goes over the nations. They trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for
Him; and the Psalmist’s words are fulfilled unto them: “When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.”
From
this, then, we see, that God has not yet done with the Jews. Their
national restoration is not necessarily involved in this text; though such a
restoration in advance of this sealing, would admirably agree with the vision,
and with other predictions relating to the same transactions. But it is
involved, that the Jews shall remain a distinct people upon earth up to the day
of judgment; and that, before the final consummation, God will again turn
Himself toward them, and begin to deal with them once more in mercy, as in the
days that He brought them up out of the land of Egypt. Edom, and those
who disbelieve with Edom in Jacob’s birthright, may sneeringly ask,: “Watchman, what of the night?” But, there is a
morning coming. A stormy morning it may be; but it morning
nevertheless, and not without its sunshine and its rays of blessing.
They err, who tell us that all God’s promises to Israel as a race are dead,
never again to be revived. The Giver of them does not so speak.. His
inspired Apostle, even after Jerusalem had fallen, wrote, with regard to this
very subject, that, “the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance;” and that for the self-same Israel which has fallen,
and been cast down, and broken off, there is a coming fulness, recovery, and
grafting in again, when the Deliverer shall come. (See in Rom. 11.)
And
the visible pledge of something special yet in reserve for this marvellous
race, is written in all their history, from the fall of Jerusalem to
this hour. Else why the unparalleled preservation of this people, with
such unwaning and ever-active life-energy, “against such overwhelming odds,
through the storms of so many centuries, the vicissitudes and perils of so many
generations, and amid, the wrecks of so many buried empires”? Else why
that undying presentiment, which throbs in the universal Jewish heart, and
which no adversity can quench or prosperity entirely charm into quiet, of some
future return to the high estate of their fathers? The very land itself,
in its perpetual refusal to give peaceful and secure home to any of the
Gentiles who have overrun it, throughout all its sad desolations, gives out its
plaints and prayers that Jehovah would not forget His covenant with the house
of Israel, and utters from every hill and valley, shore and sea, the prophecy
of some future of hope and blessing which cannot be delayed for ever.
What that hope is, we need not here inquire. But linked in with it is the
sealing of 144,000 out of the twelve tribes of the children of Jacob, to stand
as God’s servants and witnesses upon earth amid the ongoings of the judgment,
and finally to take their places amid the Halleluiahs and harpings of heaven. (Rev. 19: 1, 3, 4)
Friends
and brethren, it is not for us to be a part of :this Jewish 144,000. But
we have our calling also, and a much superior one. The Jehovah
Angel from the sun-rising even now at work throughout the world, marking and
sealing men for kinghoods and priesthoods far sublimer than all the honours
of these 144,000 Jews. His proposal is made alike to all, whether Jew
or:Gentile, male or female bond or free; and that proposal is, by His word,
sacraments; and Spirit, to set a seal upon each of us, not only for our safety
in the day of judgment, but for our admission into the royalties of heavenly
empire. And it is only to allow time for the making up of the full number
to reign, with Him for ever, that the blasts of vengeance are restrained, and
the day of judgment tarries.
Child
of Adam, hast thou, then, the mark? Hast thou been set apart to God, and
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise?
I
am addressing some who hope they have the seal of God. Baptised into His
name, enrolled among His professing people, communing punctually at His table,
lifting oft their hearts and voices unto Him as their stay and strength amid
earth’s trials, believing with all their soul in Jesus as their salvation, and
with the desire ever burning in their breasts to be found of Him in peace, they
promise well to be among the first-born in heaven. But, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
(1 Cor. 10: 12.) No one of us is
out of danger yet; and the word of the Master is: “Hold
fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Rev. 3: 11.)
But
I am addressing others who have forfeited their right to any such hope.
Though baptised, it is the same as if they had not been, except that they
have vows upon them which they do not fulfil. Though outwardly grafted
into the Church, no life-connection has been formed, and to-night they are mere
dead branches, leafless, fruitless, unsightly, and ready for the burning.
They are witnesses against themselves that they have chosen them the Lord
to serve Him; but they have not done it. O ye backsliding children,
remember whence ye are fallen, and repent, and do the first works, lest your
Lord come in an hour when ye think not, and assign you place with hypocrites
and unbelievers. Though you may never have run to the same excess of
riot with many around you, if you have lived forgetful and neglectful of God
and duty, it would be blasphemy for you to say that you are ready for the
judgment. Up, then, and be doing; for your opportunities will soon be
past.
And
yet others are listening to me who have not so much as been baptised; whose
names are nowhere on the records of the pious; who have hitherto been living
without God and without hope in the world; and who are conscious that no saving
mark is on their foreheads. Prayerless and careless, they have passed the
precious hours in which they might have become the sons of God, and are
to-night on the road to everlasting death, 0 sinful, self-deceiving mortal, to
thee, once more, the word of this salvation sent!
“Jesus ready stands to save
thee,
Full of pity joined with power!”
With
the seal of the living God in hand, He waits consent to stamp its saving
impress on thy brow. Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and thou shalt
find. But let not another day or hour be lost, lest there should be no
more hope for thee.
LECTURE SIXTEENTH
THE
VISION OF THE PALM‑BEARING GREAT MULTITUDE - NOT FIRST CLASS SAINTS - NOT THE
CHURCH GENEPAL - HARDLY ANY RESURRECTED ONES AMONG THEM - ARE RANSOMED MEN -
PEOPLE WHO LIVED THE JUDGMENT TIME - THE “LEFT”
WHEN THE CHURCH WAS TAKEN - THEIR CONVERSION AND FINAL BLESSEDNESS - HIGHER
BLESSINGS THAN THEIRS.
Rev. 7: 9-17 (Revised
Text).‑ After these things I saw, and behold a great
multitude which no one could number, out of every nation, and [of all] tribes,
and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne a before the Lamb, clothed
in white robes, and palm-branches in th hands; and they cry with a great voice,
saying, The salvation [be ascribed] to our God who sitteth on the throne, and
to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne, and the
Elders, and the four Living Ones; and they fell before the throne on their
faces and worshipped God saying, Amen, the blessing, and the glory, and the
wisdom, and the thanks-giving, and the honour, and the power, and the might, be
to our God unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
And one of the Elders answered, aying unto me, These that are
arrayed in the white robes, who are they? and whence came they? And I
said unto him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said (to me), These are they that
come out of the tribulation, the great [one]; and they have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. On this assount they are
before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He
that sitteth on the throne [Codex Sinaiticus: knows them] shall tabernacle over them. They shall not hunger any
more, nor thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, no, nor any
scorching heat: because the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne is their
shepherd, and shall lead them to fountains of waters of life, and God shall
wipe away every tear out of their eyes.
Three
visions are embraced in the results of the breakiig of the sixth seal: first,
the prodigious commotions which fill the world with
consternation; second, the sealing of the 144,000 Jews; and here
thirdly, the multitude of palm-bearers before the throne. The first two
of this particular series relates to the earth and to people in the flesh; the
one which we are now to consider relates to heaven and to people in
heaven. What it presents is subsequent in time, both to the great shaking
and the gracious sealing. The great and terrible Day of the Lord is not
one ordinary day of twelve or twenty-four hours. All these seals, and the
varied occurrences under them, belong to that day; but it is very manifest that
each of them covers a continuous period of months and years. The vision
now before us refers to one section in a series of successive judicial wonders.
The
rapt apostle John is, at the period of this Sixth Seal, in heaven. He was
called thither at a very early stage of these successive visions, and from
thence he contemplates all that he narrates after the beginning of the fourth
chapter. It was from heaven that he beheld the shaking and the sealing;
and from the same point of observation he sees this company of
palm-bearers. They stand before the throne, and before the Lamb.
They shout and praise God for their redemption. The angels form a grand
circle around them; the throne, with the Living Ones and the Elders, as
described in the fourth chapter, being in the centre. They are arrayed in
bright robes, are acknowledged as servants of God, and pronounced, for ever
free from tribulation, and, from whatever might distress them or interfere with
their blessedness.
The
picture would seem to be a very plain one, and one easy to be understood.
There was also such a particular announcement of the history and character of
the multitude in view, that there would appear to be no room for difficulty in
this recrard.
It
is sometimes profitable to consider questions negatively. It serves to
narrow the inquiry, and to free and clear the subject for more direct solution
and settlement. And this method seems to be called for in this case. In
order, therefore, to decide rightly who these palm-bearers are, I will first
show who they are not.
Evidently,
they are not the first and highest class of redeemed men. As
we have seen in the fourth and fifth chapters, there is a body of ransomed
ones, glorified, crowned, and promoted to pre-eminent dignity in heaven, where
the apostle beheld and heard them before the book was taken, and hence
in advance of all the judgment plagues developed under the seals. These
are the Tweaty-four Elders and the Four Living Ones, redeemed out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation - the seniors in glory,
and highest of all the saints - crowned with golden crowns, and related to
the throne as none others. No sooner had John seen the judgrnent throne
set, than he also saw other thrones around it, and these princely Elders seated
on them, ready to take part in the solemn adjudications about to be visited
upon the earth; and also Living Ones conjoined with the throne, and sharing in
the administration of its decrees. These same Elders and Living Ones
appear again in the vision before us, occupying the same nearness to the throne
and the same royal dignity in which the seer first beheld them. They are
distinguished in various particulars from the palm-bearing multitude.
They, sit; the palm-bearers stand. They
have crowns and thrones; the palm-bearers are not stated to have either.
They appeared in their places and received their rewards before the sorrows of
judgment began; the palm-bearers only come to their place before the throne after
the judgment has progressed to the sixth seal. The Elders were in
heaven before “the hour of trial” came, being “accounted worthy to escape all these things;” the
palm-bearers were in that “trial,”
add only reach heaven “out of the tribulation,
the great one.” The Elders and Living Ones are
“Kings and Priests” (Rev. 5: 10); the
palm-bearers are not stated to be gs, although connected with the same general
company.
I
have seen it put forth by an otherwise creditable writer, and upon the
authority of the vision now before us, that there is no such thing as a
rapture of the Church before the great tribulation; that these
palm-bearers show us the whole Church in .final salvation; and
that they all pass under the great tribulation, and only come to glory
through it. But he is sadly mistaken. Where do the gold-crowned
Elders and Living Ones come from, if there is no rapture of the Church before
the great tribulation? They are glorified saints, clearly identified as
such, in chapters 4. and 5.; and they are glorified and crowned before the
great judgment tribulation begins, being saved from that “hour of trial.” If there is no rapture of the
Church until the final termination of the judgment troubles, and all the saints
together only then are introduced into glory, how shall we account for
John’s mental questionings and uncertainties with reference to these
palm-bearers? If they represent the finally complete
Church, did he not know that the Church was to be thus exalted
and glorified? Was he so ignorant of the character and destiny of
that chosen body of which he was an apostle and a chief, as not to know it, or
whence it came, upon encountering it in heaven? Would it not be a sorry
impeachment of his apostolic character and enlightenment, besides very stupid
and unreasonable, to suppose such ignorance on his part? The manifest
fact that he was perplexed and in doubt with reference to these palm-bearers,
and that the Elder interfered to solve his questionings, proves that they are
not the whole glorified Church, but the Church of the after-born,
if of the Church at all; that is, a body of saved ones, with a history and
place peculiarly their own, and not as yet exactly understood by the
apostle. “These are they which came out of the Great Tribulation!” (Rev. 7: 14)
We
have the testimony of Christ Himself, that mighty gusts of the Great
Tribulation are expended before the opening of the sixth seal. The
darkening of the sun, the obscuration of the moon, the falling of the stars,
and the shaking of the whole system of nature, described in Matthew 24: 29, and Mark
13: 24, are precisely identical with the great physical prodigies which
John beheld at the opening of the sixth seal and which are the great
characteristics of the sixth seal. And yet, in both instances, these occurrences
are located by the Saviour “after”
and “immediately after,”
very sore and “great tribulation, such as was not since
the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” (Matt. 24: 21.)
Referring
back to the second, third, fourth, and fifth seals - to the red horseman,
taking peace from the earth and filling it with strife, havoc, and bloodshed -
to the black horse of scarcity and famine - to the livid horse, with
death-plague on his back and greedy hell at his heels, overrunning, the world -
and to the persecution and butchery of men for their faithful testimony for God
under the fifth seal - we behold an accumulation of sufferings and horrors
which, if they belong not to the Great Tribulation* of the judgment times, I
know not how to place or what to call. And as these palm-bearers do not
appear upon the heavenly scene until after the opening of the sixth seal, they
must needs have been partakers in these dreadful trials, and hence are rightly
described as coming out of “the tribulation, the great
one,” though translated and in heaven before its last blasts smite the
guilty world.
[*
It is quite untenable to assign the unequalled tribulation of Matt. 24: 21 to the fall of Jerusalem in
A.D. 70, and the subsequent afflictions of the Jewish people, in any sense,
except as a mere preliminary sample in advance, for in Daniel
12: 1, this unparalleled time is unmistakably connected with the
deliverance, not with the destruction, of that people.
Properly, therefore, it relates to the ending of the times
of the Gentiles, and not to the beginning of them.]
It
is doubtful, even, whether there are any resurrected people at all
among this multitude. There may be such, but there is no proof to that
effect. There is nothing said about resurrection, and nothing which
necessarily involves it. A rapture or translation, like that of
Enoch or Elijah, is implied; for these people are in heaven, and
have received their places and rewards; but it is not intimated that any of
them had ever died. They are to hunger and thirst no more;
but it is not added that they shall die no more. To
those under the fifth seal, who had lost their lives for Christ, the
word was that they must rest as disembodied souls under the altar, until
others of their brethren should be slain as they had been.
But we read of no more such slaying of witnesses for the truth before the
opening of the seventh seal. This would seem to imply that no
resurrection occurs between the fifth and seventh seals. It is but a
remote implication, and cannot be regarded as conclusive; but if correct, it
precludes the possibility of any resurrected ones being among this palm-bearing
multitude. At any rate, as all of them come “out of the tribulation, the great one,” there can be no
resurrected ones included, except such as died during the
great tribulation time.
We
thus find our inquiry greatly narrowed, and ourselves far on the way to a
satisfactory understanding of the whole matter. I therefore proceed to
state more positively who these palm-bearers are, and whence they come.
1.
They are ransomed human, beings. They were once
sinners and sufferers on the earth, and members of its tribes and
peoples. They were cleansed and sanctified by the blood of Jesus.
They ascribe their salvation to God and to the Lamb. Whether they be
rated with the Church proper, or not, they are by nature of the stock of Adam,
and by grace of the family of the redeemed.
2.
They are people who were living on the earth in the period of the Judgment.
The great tribulation times are everywhere inseparably linked with the judgment
times (see Dan. 12 ; Matt 24.; Mark 13.; Rev. 1: 7);
and this whole multitude is made up of those who come out of the great
tribulation. This is positively stated by the hierophant
Elder, and is so recorded by John. It is therefore true, and no man is at
liberty to question it.
Some
make a great deal of the allusion to the nuinber of these
palm-bearers, and might perhaps bring this forward against so large a number
being contemporaries in one particular period of the world’s history. But
Dr. Hengstenber has well observed that “this
magnifying of the numbers here to something beyond all bounds,” is not
legitimate. When John speaks of these palm-bearers as “a great multitude which no one could number,” he
speaks relatively, not absolutely. (Compare his language in John 21: 25). And if we add to the number of
the scaled ones, but twenty-five for one, we will have more than 4,000,000
(four millions) of people, who, if viewed in one congregation, as in this
vision, would be vastly in excess of the capacity of one man to count, and
hence “a great multitude which no one could number.”
And when we consider the import of the opening of the first seal, the
moral and spiritual revolution which it sets forth in vast
masses of mankind, and the continuous ongoing of these conquests,
judgment-aided, under all the subsequent seals, there certainly is no just
reason for hesitating to believe, that by the time the end of the sixth seal is
reached, there will be people enough, won from the half-christianity,
lukewarmness, unbelief, and sins in which the beginning of the judgment found
them, to make up even “a great multitude which no man
could number.” At any rate, we are not to allow reasonings of our
own, upon expressions altogether indefinite, to stand against the clear and
positive Divine statement, that all these palm-bearers come out of the
great tribulation, and hence must of inecessity have lived upon
the earth contemporaneously during that judgment time.
3.
They are people whom the Second Advent of Christ “into
the air” at the first stage of that Advent, found unprepared, and who
consequently were “left” when the rapture of the
Church took place. The Scriptures are everywhere very particular in
forewarning us that the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night -
that it will come as a snare on all them that dwell on the earth - that the
great mass of men, and even of the professing Church, shall be overtaken by it unawares
- and that, “in that night, there shall be two in one
bed,” one of whom “shall he taken, and the other
left;” and “two grinding at the mill,”
one of whom “shall be taken, and the other left;”
and two in the field, one of whom “shall be taken, and
the other left.” (Luke 17: 34.)
The representations are also very clear, that great will be the number of those
who will thus be “left.” Indeed, the intimations are, that so few will he
found ready and waiting for their Lord, that their removal will cause no very
noticeable depletion in the poptilation of the earth. The great body of
the professed Church of that day will be “left,”
at well as the entire,commtinity who do not profess to belong to it: for “when the Son of man cometh shall He find [the] faith on the earth (Luke
18: 8.) And to all that are then found unready and are “left,” gone forever will be the highest privileges and
honours “of the Church of the first-born!”
Grovelling worldlings, profane blasphemers, blinded sceptics, may not
understand it, and, for the most part go on in their sins; but, for millions
upon miliions, then left on the earth, “there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth,” and the dark waves of the great tribulation.
But,
even then, not yet everything will be lost. Salvation may still be
attained. There will still be palms to be secured. The pains of the
great tribulation will then have to be endured, but there will remain a
possibility of coming out of it, before it culminates in eternal
perdition. And many, whose repcntance comes, alas, too late for
eternity’s higher glories, will turn themselves in sorrowful earnestness to
that Saviour whose sublimer offers they let slip for this paltry and perishing
world. “For when God’s judments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Is. 16: 9.)
But
not by any means all, who are “left” when the
Church. is translated, will thus turn unto the Lord. The corrupt world
will continue to be the same base and God-defiant world, until the waves of
hell go over it for ever. “Many shall be
purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly.”
(Dan. 12: 10.) As the calamities
thicken and deepen, evil will become more outbreaking, and rush with giant
strides to its final consummation. But, amid much painful disappointment,
regretful tears, and great tribuldtion, Laodicean Christians, who thought they
were rich, and increased in goods, and had need of nothing, will discover how
wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked they were the while, and repent,
and profit by their chastenings, and find salvation, though having lost their
crowns; and many more, who would not give themselves to Jesus in order to be
eternal Kings, will learn to think themselves happy to follow Him in the fires
of judgment, if they may only be servants in the kingdom of heaven. And
these are they whom John here beholds “standing before
the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in their
hands.”
All
this,is latently contained in what is recorded of these palm-bearers. “These are they that come out of the tribulation, the great
one; and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb.” On this acctint “they are
before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.”
Having been “left” when the elect were “taken,” John would naturally be surprised to find them
in heaven. Having come under the judgment pains, he would naturally infer that
heaven was not for them. Hence his silent astonishment at beholding so
large a company of after-comers exalted into the presenze of God; and hence the
special explanation of the Elder.
It
is one of Christ’s messages from heaven to His people on earth: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth,
and keepeth his garments.” (Rev. 16: 15.)
The implication of the Elder’s words is, that these people had failed to comply
with these conditions, while the judgment delayed; but were worldly in their
temper, had their “garments spotted by the flesh,”
and so were without right to the promises. Making themselves at home in
the ways, and thinking, and emoluments of this world, of course they were
unready for the Second Advent of Christ. The Apostle was, therefore,
justly surprised to see them in heaven. But the Elder explains it.
Having been “left” behind when others were “taken,” and made to feel their failure by the
fierceness of judgment sorrows, they came to a better mind. Their spotted
garments they washed in the blood of the Lamb. Their false philosophising
they gave up for the simplicities of the faith; and the prophetic truths they
once accounted fanaticism, they found to their sorrow and at length confessed
to be realities. And by the depths of their penitence, amid the pains of
the great tribulation, and by the sorrowful earnestness of their seeking unto
Jesus in the last extremities, they obtained forgiveness, and were recovered
from their sins. “On this account,” the
Elder says, they are saved, though out of the fires of judgment; - admiited
into heaven, permitted to stand “before the throne of
God,” - made servants in God’s house, though not of the high order of
royal sons.
Having,
then, ascertained who these Palm-bearers are, the next point to be considered
is their blessedness. We have not the time now for
such a discussion of it as it deserves; but a few observations are demanded,
before dismissing the subject.
1.
They are in heaven. This is a great thing to say of any
one. It is to be in the enjoyment of an estate, by the side of which all
the exaltation, honour, and glory this world can bestow, shrinks into utter
nothingness. Lazarus in heaven, is a far sublimer picture than that of any rich
man on earth, however royally clad, or sumptuously luxuriant in worldly
possessions. “Oh, if I can only get to heaven!”
is often the highest ejaculation of the noblest and purest hearts. And
this goal of pious longing, these Palm-bearers have reached. They are where the
gold-crowned Elders and the glorious Living Ones are. They are where the
holy angels stand round them in serried ranks of glory upon glory. They
are where the Almighty’s throne is located, where God is, and where the Lamb
shows Himself in all His sublime benignity and power. They are where the
pure worship ascends for ever in the presence of eternal Godhead, and the Amens
to every strain of adoration come in from principalities and powers.
They are in Heaven! True, they stand, while some others sit, and serve while others
reign. True, they come in after the royal places of the first-born are
filled. But still, they are in Heaven! - bright,
beautiful, lovely, untainted, imperishable HEAVEN!
2.
They are “before the throne of God,”
- that throne which John saw set in heaven, encircled with an iris of emerald,
and filled by Him whose appearance is like crystalline and smokeless flame;
that throne around which all other thrones are stationed, and out of which go
forth the lightnings, and voices, and thunders of the eternal forces.
They are not joined to the throne, exactly like the Living Ones; nor nssociated
with its Occupant in subregencies, precisely like the Elders; but they are in
the presence of it, before it, near it; - nearer even than the angels. To
be admitted into the presence of the King, to be permitted to stand before the
throne when the King is there in the majesty and state of His eternal daminion,
and to be allowed to remain in such a station permanently, is an honour not to
be despised. It was the high distinction of David to btand before King
Saul, after his victory over Goliath. It is a privilege which is awarded
to none but those who find favour in the King’s sight. And these
Palm-bearers “stand before the throne, and before the
Lamb.”
3.
They are “clothed in white robes.” They
wear the garments of saints - they are attired in unspotted righteousness and
faultless splendour, acquired throulgh the Saviour’s blood. They were
sinners once, but they are holy now. They were naked once, but they are clothed
now; and their clothing is the pure and shining raiment of heaven.
To be free from sin! - to he sure that our hearts are clean! - to be
released for ever from the soils of earth and its corruptions! - to be clothed
with the unsullied purity of the spiritually perfect! - is the deepest,
greatest, heaviest sigh of every child of God! But these Palm-bearers
realise what it is to have these yearnings satisfied. They have robes;
and those robes are spotless bright, having been washed and whited in the blood
of the Lamb.
4.
They have “palm-branches in their
hands.” The joy of the feast of tabernacles is
theirs. God ordained for His ancient people that, after the harvest was
gathered, they should take the branches of palm-trees, and dwell. In booths, and
rejoice before Him, as the Lord that brought them up out of
5.
They serve day and night in the
6.
Nor are they without God’s distinct and favourable acknowledgment. “He that sitteth on the throue knows them;” or, as in
other copies of the text, He “shall spread His tent upon them,” “tabernacle over them.” As the Shekinah brooded
over the pilgrim Hebrews by day and by night, the glorious symbol of the Divine
presence, protection, and favour, so these Palm-bearers abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. As in the final consummation the tabernacle of God shall
be with men, and He shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be with them as their God; so shall His pavilion cover
these Palm-bearers, and they shall be His people, and He will be their God.
7.“They shall not hunger any more, nor yet thirst any more;
neither shall the sun light on them, no, nor any scorching heat.”
Oh, to be delivered from the straits, and wants, and painful necessities of
mortal life! - to be released from these earthly burdens, vicissitudes, and
deaths!‑to find some blessed homestead, where these aching, wasting, dying
natures may once know what it is to have abiding rest! Man’s anguished
spirit knows no intenser hunger and thirst than this. But what we all
thus yearn for, is the everlasting possession of these saints. Once they
felt the weight of famine, the plague of drought, the fires of trial, and the
burdens of toil; but, gone for ever, now, are all “the
burdens that galled, and the cares that oppressed them.”
And
the reason why they fare so happily, as stated by the Elder, is, “because the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne is their
shepherd, and shall lead them to fountains of waters of life, and God shall
wipe away every tear out of their eyes.”
0
the blessedness, the peace, the comfort, the everlasting satisfaction, which is
the portion of these Palm-bearers! Our souls thrill with the mere
contemplation of it! What must it then be to possess it - to feel it to
be our own - to enjoy it without let or hindrance for ever! A home so
happy, a rest so glorious, a place so high, a bliss so exquisite and enduring
would not be too dearly purchased at a cost of all the pains of the great
tribulation. It is verily the very mount of trans1ation to which we are
carried by this theme. We feel ourselves overshadowed with the cloud of
brightness. We cannot open even our drowsy eyes to the scene, but our
lips mutter: “Lord, it is good for us to be here.”
Fain would we set up our tabernacles where we might ever contemplate the
blaze of living glory. Here we would sit for ever viewing bliss so
great, so true, so high. This glorious Lamb! This glorious
throne! These glorious ones with their glorious crowns! This
effulgence of gracious Godhead! These sinless splendours! These eternal
consolations! These holy services! These smiles of favour beaming
from the King! These never-withering palms! These evershining
robes! These ever-thrilling songs! These ever-flowing springs of
never-failing life! These joy-speaking eyes which never weep, and singing
lips, which never thirst, and uplifted hands which never tire, and comforts
from God as a mother would comfort the child she loves, and sorrow and sighing
for ever fled away! 0 blessed, blessed, blessed contemplation!
And
yet, this is only an inferior part of Heaven. There are higher dignities
and sublimer joys. “It doth not yet appear what
we shall be.”
“I know not, 0 I know not,
What royal joys are there!
What radiancy of glory, .
What light beyond compare!
And when I fain would sing them,
My gpirit fails and faints;
And vainly would it image
The possessions of the saints.”
But
from these high scenes, we must go down again into the common world, where
tears, sin, and death still hold dominion. Duties, and pains, and trials
await us there; and often we may grow faint and weary under them. Let us,
then, go to thern, humbler, wiser, and better men, determined to do, and bear,
and wait, and watch, till the Master says, It is enough. But let us not
omit to carry with us the strengthening, quickening, and purifying inspiration
of what we have seen and learned this night. These Palm-bearers reached their
blessedness through the pains of the great tribulation; but to us is offered a
better and higher portion than theirs, and without the judgment sorrows which
they were made to feel. If we will but keep our garments, and the word of
Christ’s patience, and work, and watch, and pray, as He has given command, His
word is out to keep us from the hour of trial which shall come upon the
lukewarm, the worldly-minded, and the unbelieving in that day, now so near at
hand. Let us then know and improve our privileges, and ever press
toward the mark for the prize of our high calling; remembering the words of
the Lord Jesus, how He said: “Behold, I come quickly;
hold fast that thou hast that no man take thy crown.”
LECTURE SEVENTEENTH
THE
SEVEN ANGELS OF GOD'S PRESFNCE - THF HIGHEST CREATED BEINGS - ECONOMY OF
THE HEAVENS - THE SEVEN TRUMPETS - SIGNI FICANCE OF TRUMPETS - ORIGINALS OF THE
ANCIENT RITES – “ANOTHER ANGEL” - REASONS FOR
REGARDING HIM AS THE SAVIOUR - WHY THE PRAYERS OF SAINTS ARE HERE OFFERED -
THEIR GREAT BURDEN - THEIR ACCEPTANCE - THE POWER OF PRAYER - THE FIRE OF
JUDGMENT - WHY MEN ARE DAMNED - THE FIRE CAST UNTO THE EARTH - ITS EFFECTS - A
VINDICATION OF THE STUDY OF THESE THINGS.
Rev. Chap. 8: 2-5 (Revised
Text) - And I saw the seven angels who stand in the
presence of God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
And another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden
censer; and there was given to him many incenses, that he might offer [them] for [or with] the prayers of all the saints on the altar of gold before the
throne. And the smoke of the incenses went up for [or with] the prayers of the saints, out of the hand of the angel, in
the presence of God. And the angel took the censer and filled it out of the
fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth; and there followed thunderings,
and lightenings, and voices, and an earthquake.
A
company od angels now make their appearance on the heavenly arena. They
are seven in number. They are of particular rank and distinction, for not
all angels are of the same dignity and office. Paul enumerates “dominions, principalities, and powers” among the
celestial orders. Daniel speaks of some chief princes. Paul and
Jude refer to archangels. Angelic beings are not therefore, of one and
the same grade. The sons of God, in general, come before Him only at appointed
times (John 1: 6), but the Saviour speaks of
some angels who “do always behold the face of the
Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 18: 10.)
And the sublime angents which John here beheld are described as “the seven angels who stand in the presence of God.”
The
Jews were familiar with seven angels of this particular class. Gabriel is
one of them, is he himself said to Zacharias “I
am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God.” (Luke 1: 19.) Michael is another, as he is ranked with
Gabriel in the book of Daniel, and there pronounced one of the princes, even
“the great prince” of the prophet’s people. In the Apocryphal book of
Tobit, Raphael is named as still another, where he announces himself, and
says, “I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels,
which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the
glory of the Holy One.” Whether we take this book as inspired, as
the Romainists do, or as not inspired, as the Protestants generally regard it,
there is no matter touching this point. The passage referred to (Tob. 12: 15)
shows what the ancient people of God held for truth, and the representation
harmonises with the text and with the accepted books of Holy Scripture.
The ancients believed that there are seven presence angels, and
the Apocalypse ratifies that belief.*
[*
The book of Enoch (chap. xx.) has the following: “These are the names of the angels who watch. Uriel,
one of the holy angels, who presides over clamour and terror; Raphael, one of
the holy angels, who presides over the spirits of men; Raguel,one of the holy
angels, who inflicts punishment on the world and the luminaries; Michael, one
of the holy angels, who, presiding over human virtue, commands the
nations; Sarakiel, one of the holy angels, who presides over the spirits
of the children of men that transgress; Gabriel, one of the holy angels, who
presides ovor Ikesat, over paradise, and over the cherubim.”]
These
presence-angels are the highest and mightiest of created beings. It is
their privilege to “stand in the presence of God.”
They stand; this is the posture of service; but standing
in the presence of God is to be above all other
servants. The seven Persian princes who “saw the
kings face,”were the highest officers of the realm, and next to the
monarch in rank and power. (Esth. 1: 14.)
And what these princes were to the Persian kings, these presence-angels are to
God.
We
thus get a glance into the economy of heaven. A democratic chaos for the
state, and a Laodicean herd for the Church, constitute the world’s ideal of
perfection in these days. But the heavenly state is very different.
It is not a monotonous and lawless commonalty, but a complete organism, in
which each has his prescribed sphere and office, in orders towering above
orders, and princedoms over princedoms, till we reach the seven archangels,
standing in the immediate presence of God, and holding place next to the
eternal throne itself.
And
these sublimest ministers of God appear here as the prime executors of the
oncoming administrations. The Saviour, Himself said: “In the end of this world, the Son of Man shall send forth His
angels, and they shall gather out of'His kingdom all things that offend, and
them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.” (Matt.13: 40-42.) And here John beholds those
angels - the glorious septemvirate of celestial archregents - the mightiest and,
the highest creatures in the universe - presenting themselves for the momentous
work.
“And to them were given seven trumpets.” - Trumpets are expressive instruments. The
voice of the trumpet is the most significant voice known to the Holy
Scriptures. God Himself gave His ancient people very special directions
with regard to the use of the trumpet. It is itself described as a cry -
a loud and mighty cry - which related only to important occasions. The
time for the blowing of trumpets was always a time of moment - a time of
solemnity - a time for men to bestir themselves greatly in one way or another.
Trumpets
connect with war. The command was: “If ye go to war in your land against
the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets.”
Jeremiah cries “0 my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war!” (Numb. 10: 9; Jer. 4: 19.)
Trumpets
were for the convocation of the people and the moving of the camps of
Trumpets
proclaimed the great festivals. “Ye shall blow
with the trumpets over burnt-offerings, and over the sacrifice of your
peace-offerings.” “Ye shall have a Sabbath, a
memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.” “Thou shalt cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound, in the
day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout the land.”
And so “when the burnt-offering began, the song of the
Lord began also with the trumpets.” (Numb.
10: 10; Lev. 23: 24; 25: 3; 2 Chron. 29: 27)
Trumpets
also related to the announcements of royalty. Zadok the priest and Nathan
the prophet were directed to anoint Solomon kinz over
Trumpets
are also associated with the manifestation of the terrible majesty and power of
God. When the Almighty appeared on
Trumpets
connect with the overthrow of the ungodly. It was at the blowing of the
trompets that the walls of
Trumpets
also proclaimed the laying of the fotindations of God’s temple. (Esdras 3: 10.)
With
these facts before us, we are already in a degree prepared to anticipate what
these seven trumpets are to bring forth. Their number is the complete
number, and we may expect from them everything to which trumpets stand related
in the Scriptures. Are they related, to war? Then war is coming;
yea, “the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Are they for the
calling of convocations and signals for motion? Then we may look for
great gatherings and mighty changes. Do they herald great solemnities and
blessed feasts and sacrifices? Then may we anticipate the sublimest
festivals, and victories, and jubilee, and burning up of the victims of sin,
that the world has ever yet seen. Do they declare investiture with
dominion and the commencement of a new reign? Then may we look for the
setting up of a new administration, and the opening of the reign of the true
David, the greater than Solomon. Do they declare the presence of God in
His awful majesty? Then may we expect a revelation of Divine power and
Godhead which shall fill heaven and earth with trembling. Do they bring
the fall of the cities of the wicked and the destruction of their
inhabitants? Then we may look for the end of great
We
thus also come upon an important fact, which is, for the most part, very
strangely perverted. Writers on the Apocalypse generally treat it as if
it depended for its imagery and materials upon the ancient Jewish
regulations. They thus put the copy for the original, and deal with the
original as if it were the copy. All the ancient regulations were nothing
but copies and types. They were commanded to be made after some heavenly
model, of which they were to be the remembrancers and prophecies. They
were not the true - the real - but only earthly imitations of it. The
trite ideal is what John beholds in this book. These seven
presence-angels, with their seven trumpets, are the true heavenly realities,
with reference to which all the ancient laws relating to trumpets were
ordained. What we here have, is not the work of John elaborating a
dramatic poem out of the elements of the ancient ritual, but an Apocalypse of
the great realities themselves, with reference to which those old appointments
were constructed, as earthly pictures and mimic predictions.
We
go back to the ancient laws, and we there see reflected in earthly forms what
John beholds in heavenly reality; and we reverse the whole order and involve
ourselves in inextricable confusion, when we take the images in his visions as
mere earthly and Jewish drapery, and not rather as the very things from which
those Jewish ceremonies took their existence and peculiarities. The
Apocalypse is not a poem in Jewish dress, but the Jewish ceremonies were an
earthly poem of the Apocalypse. Let this be understood, and much of the
darkness hanging over the meaning of this book will at once. disappear.
But,
before these presence-angels sound their trumpets, “another angel” appears, and another
scene intervenes, to which our attention must be given.
Many
understand by this angel, the Lord Jesus Himself - the Jehoyah-Angel of the Old
Testament, and the same referred to in the preceding chapter as the Sealer of
the 144,000 Jews. In both instances the officer is called “another angel,” which, whilst it
associates him with angels as to ministry, seems to imply some Being very
different from angels as to nature. This angel has a censer of gold, an
implement belonging to the Holy of holies, and used only by the high priest;
which would seem to indicate our great High Priest that has passed into the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God. This angel casts fire into the earth; and
Jesus says of Himself: “I came to cast fire into the
earth; and what could I wish if it were already kindled? ... Suppose ye that I came to give peace, to the earth? I tell
you nay, but rather division.” (Luke 12:
49-52.) This is in some sense realised in the course of the
history and doings of the Church; but we know that it is to be much more
literally and terribly fulfilled in the day of judgment; and here would seem to
be its exact accomplishment. This angel offers the prayers of all the
saints, and renders them savoury before God. Such an office is nowhere in
the Scriptures assigned to angels proper, but is everywhere assigned to the
Lord Jesus Christ.
There
would seem to be strong reason, therefore, for supposing that this Angel is
really the Jehovah-Angel and none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, in His
capacity of our great High Priest. Primasius says: “The Angel here is our Lord, by whom all our prayers have
access to God (Eph. 2: 18; 3: 12), and therefore the Apostle says, through Him we offer
sacrifices of praise to God continually (Heb.
13: 15; 1 Pet. 2: 5); and
Neither
does it overthrow this view, that the incenses offered up by this angel are
represented as “given to Him.”
If the incenses here are to be taken as explained in chap. 5: 8, that is, as the prayers themselves, of
course they are given to Him, for He offers no prayers of
saints which have not been put into His hands. And if it is the virtue of
His Mediatorship that is to be understood by the incenses, there is still an
important sense in which that is given to Him. It is
given to Him in the sense of award, both by the saints themselves, who credit
and trust in Him as able to do for them, and by Sovereign Majesty, who adjudges
Him entitled to exercise such offices and powers. Even all the glories of
His Apocalypse are represented (chap. 1: 1)
as given to Him, though they are equally His own right,
and the result of His personal obedience unto death, with His merits as our
Advocate and Intercessor. It was no evidence that a champion in
the ancient games had not lawfully and in his own person entitled himself to
the honours of the victory, when the rightful judges and all
The
object of the giving of these incenses was, “that
He might offer [them] for the prayers of all the saints.” Not for
those prayers in the sense of in their stead, but
in the sense of furthering them, benefiting them, and prospering them; for
the prayers themselves are included in the offering. Strictly rendered,
He was to offer them to the prayers; but [see
Greek] is a dativus commodi,
and rather gives the sense of in behalf of - with
- as a helper of their success. The idea is complex. There is an
offering of incenses; those incenses come to the prayers to enrich and forward them;
and the incenses imparted to the prayers are offered as the prayers. They
are given to the prayers, and with the prayers, and for the prayers.
But
why this offering just here, as the trumpets are about to be sounded? Man
have taken it as denoting a state of much prayerfulness in the earthly Church
about this time. But there is not a word said about an earthly
Church. Indeed, the Church proper is no longer on earth at the time to
which these trumpets belong. There are still true worshippers of God on
earth - the two olive-trees - and those who refuse to adore the Beast; but,
their prayers cannot be taken for “the prayers of all
the saints.” The words are very comprehensive, and take in
all the holy prayers ever offered.
We
had an allusion to these precious treasures in chapter
5., where the account is given of the Living Ones and Elders falling
down before the Lamb, and holding up golden bowls full of incenses. Those
incenses, like these of the text, were the prayers of the saints. There
the saints themselves hold them up before the Lamb, as an adoring act of
confidence that He was now about to enter upou their complete fulfilment, and
as yet backstanding and waiting for an answer. Here Christ offers
them, as the Great High Priest. He bears them in the golden censer, and
perfumes them with the precious fragrance of His own meritorious favour and
righteousness, and sanctifies them with the sacred fire, and presents them upon
the golden altar before the throne of infinite Godhead. Not one of them
is forgotten or lost. Those that came up when time was young, and those
offered but yesterday, are all present and in hand. Jesus Himself is not
ashamed of them, and handles them with holy care. He bears them in a
heavenly vessel of gold, and presents them on the highest altar in the
universe. He offers them as approved and indorsed by Himself, and for
such acceptance that their fulfilment may no longer be delayed. He
presents them now, because the fulness of the time has come for them to be
brought into remembrance, seeing that all things are in final readiness to
execute what is to satisfy them for ever.
The
great burden of all holy prayer, is put by Christ Himself into the lips and
hearts of His people, is: “THY KINGDOM COME! THY
WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!” This is verily the
sum and substance of all saintly supplication, the very crown and goal of all
holy prayer. And for what purpose are those trumpets in the hands of the
seven angels? To what intent is this calling forward of such mighty ones
to pour out blasts over the earth? What is to be achieved by the sublime
activities in which they stand ready to move? What, but the revelation
of the power and the glory of that very Kingdom, for the coming of which the
saints have never ceased to pray? What, but the enforcement of the
reign of God where iniquity and usurpation now hold jubilee? What, but
the dethronement of sin, and death, and hell, and the setting up in their place
of a heavenly order, in which God’s will shall be done on earth as it is in
heaven?
Need any one ask, then, why this sublime offering of
the prayers of all the saints is made just here, as the presence-angels are
about to put their awful trumpets to their lips? When prayers are to be
answered, then is the time for them to be brought into remembrance. That
which results from the sounding of those trumpets, is to fulfil what has been
the great burden of the Church’s prayers in all ages. Those prayers,
therefore, have a most profound connection with the sounding of these mighty
trumpets. And hence it is that they here come into view, and appear upon
the golden altar of God.
Nor
are they offered up vain. Whe ascension of their sweet vapour into
the presence of God is equivalent to an announcement that they are heard.
The coming up before God of the prayers and alms of Cornelius, was the
good pleasure of God toward what thus ascended; and the like ascent of the
sweet,vapour of these perfumed prayers is the token of a like approval and a
like speedy answer. It is the effectual going up of the voices of them
that cry day and night unto God. It is the signal that the time has come
to avenge His own elect. And at once the mighty action begins.
“And the Angel look the censer, and filled it out of the fire of
the altar, and cast into the earth.” The Saviour
Himself thus initiates the oncoming climax of the day of wrath. The
people under the sixth seal thought the last and worst had come, but it was
only the herald of still greater things which now begin.
Nor
is it to be overlooked, that all this occurs in answer to the prayers of the
saints. There are those who think meanly of prayer, and are always
asking: “What profit should we have if we pray unto the Almighty?” (Job 21: 15.) The true answer is, “much every way.”
“There is an eye that never
sleeps
Beneath the wing of night;
There is an ear that never shuts
When sink the beams of light.
There is an arm that never tires
When human strength gives way;
There is a love that never fails
When earthly loves decay.
That eye is fixed on seraph throngs;
That arm upholds the sky;
That ear is filled with angel songs;
That love is throned on high.
But there’s a power which man can wield,
When mortal aid is vain,
That eye, that ear, that love to reach,
That listening ear to gain.
That power is PRAYER, which soars on
high,
Through Jesus, to the throne;
And moves the hand which moves the world,
To bring salvation down!”
Here,
prayer moves the Son of God - moves eternal Majesty upon His everlasting seat -
sets the highest angels in motion - brings on the awful scenes of the day of
judgment – influences the administrations in the heavens and induces wonders
upon the earth.
And
as these climaxes of judgment come in answer to “the
prayers of all the saints,” the implication also
is, that where there is no prayer there is no piety, no holiness, no salvation,
and that people who do not wait, and long, and pray for the coming again of the
Lord Jesus and this consummation are not saints, but belong to the population
against whom these fiery revelations occur.
Fire is the great consumer. It always bespeaks
wrath, torture, and destruction to the wicked. It tells of burning fury
and the most dismal effects - even “vengeance upon them
that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It is the common figure of divine terribleness toward the guilty - one of the
great agents in the administrations of the great day - the chief torment of the
lost. And when the sublime Priest-Angel of heaven turns His fire-filled
censer on the earth, we have come to the day that shall burn as an oven, in the
which all the proud and ungodly shall be as stubble to the devouring flames. (Mal. 4: 1.)
This fire is taken from the altar. It
is one of the fearful charaeteristics of God’s gracious operations, that they
breed and heighten the damnation of the disobedient and the unbelieving. It is
not Adam’s guilt, for there is full remedy in Christ against that. It is
not the condemnation in which the Gospel finds them, for it comes with a full
and everlasting reprieve. But here is the mischief, that when the great
and costly salvation of God is carried to theni they despise it, and make light
of it, and go their way as if it were nonsense or nothing. It is not that
their sins are too great for them to be saved, but because they tread under
foot the Son of God, and count His sanctifying blood an unholy thing, and
render despite to the Spirit of grace. Out of the very altar of
sacrifice, therefore, comes their damnation. It is the saving word
refused, which is a savour of death unto death in them that perish. The same
fire which wafts the devotions of the obedient into the presence of God,
kindles the hell of the unbelieving and the neglectful. Perdition is
simply abused or perverted grace. It is the same censer, filled with the
same ingredients, only turned downward in the case of those who believe not.
And
when the glorious Angel (if intercession emptied the fiery contents of His
censer toward the earth, “there followed
thunderings, and lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake.”
These are the signs and instruments of God’s judgments upon His foes. No
age has ever been entirely without them, as no age has ever been without
earnests. and. foretokens of the great day. But they mistake, who think
to find the description fulfilled in events of the past, or in anything but the
scenes which, are to terminate the history of this present world. Indeed,
it is the very climacteric of the day of judgment which is here betokened.
John perceives the awful effects before they have passed into actual fact on
earth. We read and know things only from their outward symptoms, in or
after their accomplishment. In heaven they read and know things from
their inward principles, even before they have been wrought into historic
fact. It is under the action of the trumpets that these, thunderings,
lightnings, voices, and convulsions are worked into the experiences of the
earth and its inhabitants; and it is only according to the interior view of
them, from the heavenly standpoint, that the events to be achieved are thus
summarily described. As the trumpets are sounded, and we come to consider
the scenes they develop, we will see these thunderings, and lightnings, and
voices, and convulsions, as they manifest themselves on the earthly theatre.
Meanwhile,
I suggest just one thought more. It is in reference to the interest which
holy beings take in these subjects of sacred prophecy. There is a very
sublime picture, presented by the Apostle Peter in his first epistle, where he
represents the ancient prophets as “inquiring and
searching diligently” to understand “what, or
what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when
it testifled beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should
follow;” and the angels of heaven bending from their lofty thrones,
desiring to look into these things. It is a masterly touch, to set forth
the greatness, majesty, and glory of the Gospel, which makes us feel as we read,
that here is a theme at once the wonder of the universe, and challenging the
profoundest attention and study of man. It is an overwhelming vindication
of any amount of absorbing captivation by the topics referred to. All
agree to this. But what shall we say, then, for the themes with which the
text stands connected?
Here
is a subject which has engaged the devotions of “all
the saints,” and been the grand goal of all their holy desires since
time began. Here are transactions which fill heaven with awe, and turn
the songs of eternity into silence. Here are administratious which call
the seven archangels into action, and for looking after the results of which
the universe is spellbound and mute with solemn expectation! Here are
things, the mere prayers for which the Son of God holds in the golden censer,
and offers on the golden altar, and sends up with awful solemnity into the
presence of eternal Majesty! Is not this, then, a subject to command and
justify the holiest and profoundest interest, study, and attention of rational
beings! And yet there are people - men claiming to be Christians -
leaders of religious thouoht - ministers ordained to teach the way of God truly
- who have not hesitated to sneer at it as the theme of fools, the hobby of
enthusiasts, or the plaything of religious idiots!
But,
while I find these things treated with all soberness in the Scriptures, and
blessing spoken from heaven upon those who give them devout and studious
attention, and the Holy Ghost interpreting them as involving the highest hopes
and prayers of “all the saints,” and the whole
celestial world becoming mute and motionless in the intensity of its interest
as they unfold into fact, and prophets of God, and angels of gjory, and
Archangels of the Almighty’s presence, and the blessed Christ at the heavenly
altar, and the universe of holy beings, occupied with heart and soul with
reference to them, I must persist in a different judgment and ask to be excused
for believing that we have here, not only a legitimate and fitting theme for
our devoutest study, but one as high and momentons as ever was presented to the
contemplation of man, which grasps deep into everything dear to us for time or
eternity, and which he who wilfully ignores, has reason to fear for his safety
against the terrific plagues written in this book, and for the security of his
part in the holy city.
May
God, in mercy, save us from such dangerous unseemliness. Amen.
LECTURE EIGHTEENTH.
PREPARATION
OF THE ANGELS - FIRST TRUMPET - A LITERAL TEMPEST OF HAIL, FIRE, AND BLOOD -
SECOND TRUMPET - A METEOR STRIKES THE SEA, TURNS IT TO BLOOD, DESTROYS LIVING
THINGS AND SHIPPING - A LITERAL PROPHECY - THIRD TRUMPET - A METEOR OR COMET
FALLS ON THE EARTH, POISONS THE WATERS, AND CAUSES MANY TO PERISH - ALSO
LITERAL - FOURTH TRUMPET - THE SUN, MOON, AND STARS OBSCURED - ALSO LITERAL.
Rev. 8: 6-12 (Revised
Text) - And the seven angels which had the seven
trumpets prepared themselves that they might sound.
And the first sounded; and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and it was cast into the earth; and the third of the earth was burned,
and the third of the trees was burned, and all green grass was burned.
And the second angel sounded; and as it were a great mountain
burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third of the sea became blood;
and the third of the creatures in the sea, the things which had lives [Gr.. souls], died; and the
third of the ships was destroyed.
And the third angel sounded; and there fell out of the heaven a
great star, burning as a torch, and it fell upon a third of the rivers, and
upon the springs of the waters; and the name of the star is called wormwood;
and the third of the waters was turned into wormwood; and many of men died from
the waters, because they were made bitter.
And the fourth angel sounded; and the third of the sun was smitten,
and the third of the moon, and the third of the stars, so that the third of
them should be darkened, and the day should not shine for the third of it, and
the night likewise.
We
have reached a point in the history of the Apocalypse, at which the prayers of
all the saints have come up with acceptance before God, who has promised to
avenge them. The coals and ashes of holy indignation have dropped from
the golden censer to lodge upon the doomed world. May the Lord Almighty
give us grace to contemplate the awful scenes foreshown, as becomes both the
subject and ourselves! Observe:‑
1. THE PREPARATION.
“And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared
themselves that they might sound.”
Not
all seven of these angels were to sound at once. Mighty events of varied
character were to be induced by their several soundings. It was necessary,
therefore, that there should be some prearrangement, both as to the order of
time for each to sound, and the particular class of results each one’s sounding
should control. No attentive reader can fail to observe a complete and
forestudied system and order in these trumpets and their successive
effects. No two of them are alike, and yet there is a gradual rising, one
over the other, to the end. One touches the ground, the trees, and the green
grass. Another touches the sea, the ships, and the creatures in the
sea. A third touches the rivers and the springs of water. A fourth
touches the sun, moon, and stars. A fifth breaks open the door of
separation between earth and hell [Hades]. A sixth unlooses the dreadful army of horses
and horsemen, the seven thunders, and the mighty struggle and murder of the two
witnesses. And the last brings on “the
battle of the great day of God Almighty.” There is a particular
distinction between the first four and the last three; and again between the
last of the three and the two which immediately precede it.
2. THE SOUNDING OF THE FIRST TRUMPET.
“And the first sounded, and there followed hail and fire
mingled with blood, and it was cast into the earth; and the third of the earth
was burned, and the third of the trees was burned, and all green grass was
burned.”
Here
is the first touch of what fell from the censer of the Priest-Angel. I
take the language as it stands. This book does not give things veiled,
but unveiled. It is the Apocalypse, the uncovering. The results
here described are heralded by the sound of a trumpet; what is published by a
trumpet is no longer a secret. The phenomena are of a very stupendous
sort; but the actors are Archangels, the occasion is the day of judgment, and
the business is the closing up of the history of a doomed world [age]. In such
a case we may well look for wonders. God has also declared His purpose to
renew the miracles of Eggypt, and to do “marvellous
things” like unto what He did in the days of
And
“as it was in the day that
The
whole picture is that of tremendous tempest of hail-stones, lightnings, and
bloody products of the infuriated elements. Blood-red rains and blood-red
snows are not unknown to the world. We occasionally hear of them.
On the 17th of August, 1819, Captain Ross saw the mountains at
Hail,
and fire pour upon the world with such fury that the third of the earth
is burned. Our English version says nothing of the burning of the
earth. It speaks only of trees and grass. But the best manuscripts
specify the earth also. Modern critics agree that the
omission of the earth is unwarranted. “The
third of the earth was burned” - set on fire and charred
by the fierce lightnings of heaven, and a corresponding destruction was, of
course, wrought among buildings, flocks, herds, and human life.
“The third” is mentioned, not with rigid
strictness, as absolutely just that proportion, but, as we would say in general
terms, one-third of the earth was burned. And so also, “the third of
the trees.” The Egyptian plague “smoke
and brake every tree of the field;” this destroys
many more in the aggregate, because the visitation is so much more widespread, but
it does not consume all. It carries fearful havoc
among the forests, orchards, and timber-lands of the earth, but still the major
part of the trees escape. Not so, however, with the grass and the more
tender portions of vegetation. The Egyptian plague destroyed “every herb
of the field,” and it is the same in this case. “All green grass was burned.” A scene
of distressing and far-reaching desolation is thus foreshown, in which a large
portion of the earth’s surface is charred with fire, many towns, cities,
forests, and plantations reduced to ashes, every field and meadow stripped of
its growing crops, and bloody and putrid blackness spread over all the smitten
world.
3. THE SOUNDING OF THE SECOND TRUMPET
“And the second angel sounded; and, as it were, a great
mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third of the sea
became blood; and the third of the creatures in the sea, the things which had
lives, died; and the third of the ships was destroyed.”
Here
is one of the hints I speak of as indicating that a thing is not to be
literally taken. The image of a burning mountain is before the
writer. But it is not literally a mountain; it is only something having
the general appearance of a mountain and he plainly tells us so. He saw as
it were a mountain. Of course, then, we are to take it,
not as a real mountain, but as something resembling a mountain. A certain
Writer insists that the plague under this trumpet is not to be taken literally,
because a mountain falling into the sea could never turn it into blood.
But John does not say it was a mountain. He says it was something that looked
like a burning mountain. Exactly what it was, he could no
better tell us, except that its effect upon the waters of the sea was, that it
turned them into blood. An ordinary mountain would not do this; but that
falling, fiery mass, which had the appearance of a burning mountain, did it.
Some
conceive of this fiery mass as a volcano, but neither is this the exact
image. John says nothing of a mountain vomiting fire, but of a mountain
burning with fire, which might be a volcanic mountain, or it might not.
When God descended on Sinai, “the mountain burned with
fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness”
(Dent. 4: 11); but there is no evidence that
it was a volcanic eruption. The idea of John’s language is rather of a
great mountainous mass of matter falling from the sky, clothed in seething,
thundering, and flashing flames, and dashing into the ocean. The whole
image is meteoric, rather than volcanic.
The
plunging of this awful fiery mass into the sea, affects it wonderfully.
It turns the waves to blood. And if any are disposed to doubt the
possibility of such a thing let them turn to the account of the exode of Israel
from Egypt, where it is written that Moses “lifted up
the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh,
and in the sight of his servants, and all the waters that were in the
river werd turned to blood.” (Ex.
7: 20.) In the Psalms also (105: 29)
it is written: “He turned their waters into blood;”
and again (78: 44): “He turned their rivers into blood, and their floods, that they could not
drink.” It was fresh water in that case, and it is sea or salt
water in this; but if God could work such changes by the staff of Moses, what
is to hinder Him from producing like changes, even on all the waters of the
ocean, by means of this fiery mass, as it were a burning mountain? And if
the one was literal, as all admit, why not the other, although upon a mightier
scale, corresponding to the momeutousness of the great day?
This
burning mass is plunged into “the sea.”
It would seem as if some particular sea was meant. If so, most
likely the Mediterranean Sea, around which the greatest
recorded events of the world and of the Church have been enacted, and which is
the central sea of all history, both sacred aud
profane. Its very name etymologically means the middle of the earth.
The result is, that the third of it becomes blood - poisonously
bloody - so that a tbird of the living things in the sea perish.
It.
would seem, also, as if tempestuous commotion of the elements is to attend this
awful precipitation. Both the vastness and the fiery condition of the
mass ejected into the sea, naturally suggests such effects. Hence, “the third of the ships was destroyed.”
burned, sunk, or dashed ashore.
And
all this finds place also in some of the plain, old unsymbolic predictions
concerning the day of the Lord. Fishes constitute one of God’s precious gifts
to man. They were among the principal food of Jesus, and were the
subjects of some of His most marvellous miracles. And, in punishment of
the sins of men, it is but reasonable to expect the fishes of the sea to be
smitten, as well as the trees and the fruits of the earth. Hence, in
foretelling the Divine judgments, Hosea
said: “The fishes of the sea also shall be taken
aivay.” (4: 1-3.) So
the Lord, also, said by Zephaniah (1: 3), “I will consume the
fowls of heaven, and the fishes of the sea.”
Isaiah further declares: “The day of the Lord of
hosts shall be upon every one that is high and lofty, … and upon all the ships of Tarshish.”
(Is. 2: 16.) And here, under
the second trumpet, the blessed John beholds exactly how these predictions are
to be fulfilled.
4. THE SOUNDING OF THE THIRD TRUMPET.
“And the third angel sounded, and there fell out of the heaven
a great star, burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third of the rivers, and
upon the springs of the waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood;
and the third of the waters was turned into wormwood; and many of them died
from the waters, because they were made bitter.”
Here
is another marvellous meteoric phenomenon; perhaps a comet striking the earth.
Apart
from his stilted system of symbolisation, D. N. Lord finds the
description of the apostle very plain, and reproduces it in a way which well
exhibits its literal import. “The star,
obviously, was not a solid globe, but a thin, transparent meteor [or
comet], which, as it swept along near the surface and
sunk to the ground, still left the objects it enveloped perceptible to the
apostle, and was soon absorbed by the waters and the earth. He beheld the
rivers and fountains still running, discerned a change wrought in them by the
meteor, and saw that it was the new element infused into them that rendered
them deadly to many who drank of them.”
A
name is assigned to this meteor, not
as though it had previously been known or should become known by this name, but
in a way descriptive of its qualities and effects. Properly designated, “the name of the star is called Wormwood;” or,
according to some manuscripts, emphatically, “the
wormwood.” Wormwood, or absinth,
is a bitter, intoxicating and poisonous herb. Used freely, it
produces convulsions, paralysis, and death. And this star is
appropriately named “the Absinth,”
as the embodiment of the very quintessence of all wormwood. It is
bitterness itself - the poisonous bitterness of absinth.
And
this bitterness is communicated to whatever it touches. It falls upon the
third of the rivers, and upon the springs of waters. It sinks into the
earth and impregnates the fountains and the wells. It touches the sources
of many waters, and turns them into bitterness. Such a thing is by no
means impossible. On the 21st of March, 1823, in one of the
The
result of this embittering of the waters is fearful distress on account of the
absence of wholesome drink, and great mortality among men.
5. THE SOUNDING OF THE FOURTH TRUMPET.
“And the fourth angel
sounded, and the third of the sun was smitten, and the third of the moon, and
the third. of the stars, so that the third of them should be darkened, and the
day should not shine the third of it, and the night likewise.”
We
have seen the judgments of God going forth on the land, with its trees and
herbage - on the sea with its fishes and its ships - on the rivers and springs
- and everywhere spreading disaster, suffering, and death. This trumpet
carries us above, to portents and afflictions from the heavenly bodies.
Jesus has told us, “there shall be signs in the sun,
and in the moon, and in the stars” (Luke 21:
25); and here John beholds some of them. We have had some of them
before, but they increase and intensify as the end draws near. We shall
see more of thein hereafter.
This
is a judgment scene of the great day that is foreshown, and it is a fearful and
disastrous obscuration of the sources of light and heat to our world, so that
sun, moon, and stars will shine with only the third of their force, disturbing
the seasons, hindering the ripening of fruits and harvests, and filling the
world with chilliness and sickening gloom. The same was prophesied by Isaiah (13: 9),
where it is said: “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,
cruel both with wrath and ficree anger, to lay the earth desolate; and He shall
destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and
the constellations thereof shall not give their light, the sun shall be
darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their
iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay
low the haughtiness of the terrible.” (Compare Jer.
4: 23, 28; Ezek. 32: 7, 8; Joel 2: 10, 30, 31; 3: 15; Amos 5: 20; Zeph. 1:
14-16; Matt. 24: 29.) Nor can we consider this unlikely or
improbable, when we call to mind the plague of “thick
darkness,” for three days, which attended God’s judgments upon
Thus,
then, we have the significance of the first four trumpets. The first
angel sounds, and a fearful tempest of hail and fire, mingled with blood,
follows. The third of the land is burned, and the third of the trees, and
all green grass; - a judgment upon the world for its wickednesses.
The
second angel sounds, and a great meteoric mass, like unto a mountain burning
with fire, is plunged into the sea, turning the third of its waters to blood,
killing the third of all living things in the sea, and utterly destroying the
third of the shipping on the sea; - anotber sore judgment upon the guilty and
God-defying chfidren of men.
The
third angel sounds, and a great starlike meteor falls out of the sky, blazing
like a torch, aud is absorbed by the earth and waters, embittering the third of
the rivers, and the wells, and fountains, so that large portions of mankind die
because of the poison it imparts to the waters; - another sore judgment upon
the wicked dwellers upon the earth.
The
fourth angel sounds, and calamity befalls the luminaries of the sky. The
sun, moon, and stars are one-third obscured, making the days gloominess and the
darkness of the nights still darker, with all the attendant distresses of such
a beclouded and chilly state of things; - a further judgment upon the
generations of the unsanctified.
And
yet these are only the preliminaries and preludes of still intenser woes to
follow. Ah, yes; sin has a voice that is heard in heaven. Though
sentence against an evil work be not executed speedily, it will be executed at
last. Jezebel may flourish in her iniquities for many years, but,
finally, the horses trample her body in the streets, and the dogs of Jezreel
gnaw and crunch her royal bones. Long was the old world left to drive its
crimes, jeer at Noah’s odd notions, and fling defiance into the face of God;
but presently the earth broke down beneath their feet, and their lifeless
bodies dashed upon each other amid the waves of an ocean world! The
trampled law will assert its rightful honour, and Christ will not endure the
smiting, taunts, and wrongs of Pilate’s hall for ever. And when these
trumpets once give out their clangour, the vibrations will run through the
universe, and everything created for human blessedness shall turn into a source
of disaster and trouble to them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of
Christ.
“Day of anger, day of wonder!
When the world is driven asunder,
Smote with fire, and blood, and thunder!”
And
will any one who hears these solemn things go away from the contemplation of
them, not caring whether he is involved in these plagues or not? There is
now a free salvation from all of them offered through faith in Christ
Jesus. Hid and housed in Him and His redeeming grace, not one of these
calamities shall ever touch us. Who, then, can reconcile himself to retire from
the exhibitions of this hour, without having his heart and mind made up, God
being his Helper, never more to neglect or give over his devout endeavours to
find the only shelter from the miseries of that terrible day?
“King of Majesty tremendous,
Who dost free salvation send us!
Will of Mercy! 0 befriend us!”
LECTURE NINETEENTH.
THE
WOE-TRUMPETS - THE EAGLE IN MID-HEAVEN - ONE OF'TME EAGLE SAINTS OF THE FIRST
TRANSLATION - MERCY IN JUDGMENT – THE FIFTH TRUMPET - SATAN THE FALLEN STAR WHO
OPENS THE ARYSS - THE LOCUSTS FROM THE ABYSS - THEIR FORMS, INTELLIGENCE, AND
TORMENTS FOR FIVE MONTHS - AM INCHOATE FORESHADOWING OF THIS PLAGUE IN THE
SARACENIC SCOURGE FOR 150 YEAR-DAYS - APOLLYON NOT SATAN - HELL TORMENTS A
REALITY.
Rev. 8: 13; 9: 1-12
(Revised Text) - And I beheld and heard onc eagle
flying in mid-heaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woo, to the dwellers
on the earth, by reason of the remaining voices of the trumpet of the three
angels who are yet to sound.
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star out of the heaven fallen
into the earth; and to him was given the key of the well-pit of the abyss; and
he opened the well-pit of the abyss; and there came out of the well-pit smoke,
as smoke of a great furnace; and the sun was darkened, and the air, from the
smoke of the well-pit. And out of the smoke came forth locusts into the
earth; and to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have
power. And it was commanded them that they shall not injure the grass of
the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who have not the
seal of God upon their foreheads. And it was given to them that they
should not kill them, but that they shall be tormented five months; and their
torment [is] as
the torment of a scorpion when he hath struck a man. And in those days
the men shall seek death, and they shall not find it; and they shall fervently
desire to die, and death fleeth from them.
And the forms of the locusts [are] like unto horses prepared for war; and on their heads as it
were crowns like unto gold, and their faces as it were faces of men. And
they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as of lions. And
they had breast-plates, as breast-plates of iron; and the sound of their wings,
as the sound of chariots of many horses running into battle. And they
have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails their power to
injure the men five months. They have over them a king, the angel of the
abyss, his name in, Hebrew, Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath name Apollyon.
The one woe, is past; behold, there cometh yet two woes after these
things.
Four
trumpets have been considered. The three most distinguished ones yet
remain. They have a special preface, consisting of a heavenly
proclamation of woe, woe, woe to the dwellers on the earth. It is a
pre-announcement of the general character of what is to come, and a merciful
forewarning of the judgments which these remaining trumpets are to bring.
It is from this that they have the name of woe-trumpets. Let us then look
-
1. AT THIS PRELIMINARY PROCLAMATION
2. AT THE NATURE OF THE FIRST WOE.
Our.English
version describes this proclamation as made by an angel.
This is admitted to be an erroneous reading. It is not sustained by
the best and oldest manuscripts. The Codex Sinaitieus, the Codex
Alexandrinus, and the Codex Vaticanus, the very best and most reliable
authorities on the true reading of the New Testament, have eagle,
instead of angel. The Syriae has eagle.
Griesbach, Scholz, Lachman, Van Ess,
Hengstenberg, Stuart, Tischendorf, Tregelles,
Wordsworth, Ewald, Alford, and the best critics in
general, accept eagle as the proper and original
reading. Bengel, a century and a half ago, wrote “the Italian version, and other most ancient authorities, widely
separated from each other in age and clime, and in very great numbers, clearly
vindicate the reading of [the Greek word
…] eagle, from all suspicion of gloss.” As this agent
is in heaven and speaks intelligent words, it is easily to be seen how interpreters
and transcribers, on the ground of congruity, might be tempted to read angel
instead of eagle; but, on the supposition that the
original was angel, it is impossible to explain how the
best, and the vast majority of ancient copies, came to have it eagle.
I, therefore, take the true reading, and the only one critically
defensible, to be eagle.
Are
there, then, rapacious birds in heaven? No; nothing of the kind.
There are other eagles besides birds. The Saviour Himself has spoken of
them in more than one place. Speaking of the day of His future coming, He
said to His disciples “I tell you, in that night there
shall be two men in one bed the one shall be taken, and the other shall be
left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and
the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,
and the other left. And they answered and said unto Him, Where [whither], Lord?
And He said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will
THE EAGLES be gathered together.” (Luke
17: 34-37)
Here
then, those ready and watching saints, who are to be mysteriously conveyed away
from the earth upon the first manifestation of the day of the Lord - the first
stage of His Second Advent - are called eagles. We find
them spoken of also in the Saviour’s great prophetic discourse in Matt. 24: 26-28, where He admonishes His people
not to trouble or disturb themselves to find Him in the day of His coming, and
not to heed those who shall say, Behold, He is here, or there, “for,” says He, “as the
lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also
the coming of the Son of mau be; for wheresoever the carcass [slain body] is,
there will the EAGLES be gathered together.” Here,
as Hilary, observes, “He calls His saints eagles,
soaring, as it were, to Him, the body, by a spiritual flight.”
There
are some who take these eagles to mean the Roman armies, which bore the eagle
on their standards; and consider the carcass to be the corrupt Jewish population
and state which the Romans destroyed. But the whole face and intent of
the passage, and the common voice of antiquity, and of the great reformers,
unite in referring the description to Christ and His [watchful
and obedient] people, at the time of the Second
Advent. We are naturally repelled from the idea that Christ should be
represented as a dead body, or that His meek followers should be likened to
birds of prey. But when more carefully considered, there appears eminent
propriety in the figure.
Jesus
is the Saviour, most of all by His death. It is by
His fall that we rise, and by His death that we live. “He that was dead” is one of His particular titles,
though He is alive for evermore. He gave His flesh for the life of the
world. His own word is: “Except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso
eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him
up at the last day: for My fesh is meat iudeed, and My blood is drink indeed.”
(John. 6: 53-55)
He
has also instituted a holy sacrament, concerning which He says: “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you.
Drink; this is My blood which is shed for you and for many for the remission of
sins.” He is the Lamb “slain from the
foundation of the world.” He is, therefore, the true slain
body on which all saints feed, to whom they are gathered in spirit,
faith, and loving sympathy, now, and to whom they shall be gathered in person hereafter,
to see Him as He is, and to be with Him for ever. And as saints havetheir
life from the slain Christ, they are rightfully likened to the eagles which
live on fallen bodies. They are eagles of faith. They feed on the body
and blood of their Saviour, broken and shed for them.*
[*
“The congregated eagles are the
assembly of saints and martyrs.” - Chrysostom. “Christians are compared to eagles, because they partake in
the royalty of Christ.” - Origen. “Eagles
are the saints whose youth is renewed like the eagles (Psa. 103: 5), and who, according
to the saving of Isaiah (40: 31), mount up with wings as eagles, that they may aseend to
Christ.” - Jerome. “Christ’s
body crucified is that of which it is said: ‘MY flesh is meat indeed.’” (Jno.
6: 55.) “The eagles, which fly on the
wings of the Spirit, flock to this body. To this body the eagles are
gathered who believe Christ to have come in the flesh.” (Jno. 4: 2.) “They
fly to Him as to a dead body, because He died for us, so as all
the saints fly to Christ wherever He is, and hereafter, as eagles, will be
caught up to Him in the clonds.” - Augustine. “As the eagles are gathered where the carcass is, so shall
Christ’s people be gathered where He is.” - Luther.
As
additional authorities on the same subject, we name Ambrose, Theophylact,
Euthemius, Calvin, Brentius, Bullinger, Bucer,
Gaulter, Beza, Pellican, Flacius, Musculus, Paraeus,
Piscater, Cocceius, Jansenius, Quesnel, Da Veil,
Calovius, Suicer, Ravanell,
But
not all Christians are to the same extent, and so preminently, the eagles.
The eagle is a royal bird. It stands at the head
of the feathered tribes, as the lion among beasts. There are also
different orders and classes of saintship, as there are degrees of sanctity and
spiritual attainment. When the Saviour first comes, according to His own
word, He will take some and leave others - honour some servants, and cut off
some other servants. And those who are “taken”
while others are “left,” are particularly and
emphatically “the eagles.”
They are the heirs of royalty and dominion. They are to
have crowns. They are to share in the official honours of [millennium and] eternity,
as none but themselves ever will. And the qualities of these are
eminently the qualities of eagles.
1.
Eagles are great watchers. They have a quick, clear,
penetrating, and far-reaching vision. In this respect they excel all
birds. It is almost impossible to surprise or deceive tliem. Audubon,
the ornithologist, once placed himself in ambush to watch an eagle’s
nest. The parent birds were absent when he took his position. When the
female returned, “ere she alighted she glanced her
quick and piercing eye around, and instantly perceived her haunt had been
discovered, and, dropping her prey, with a lond shriek communicated the alarm
to her mate.” And the eagle saints are those who are not
taken unawares when the day of the Lord comes. That day is to
come as a thief, with stealth, unobserved by the common world; but it cannot
surprise them. They are on the look-out for it. They have a clear and
keen vision for all signs of its nearness, and they exercise that vision.
They are ever on the watch, as commanded by the Lord. Whatever the duties
in which they are engaged, both in their going out and in their coming in, they
are never unmindful of what may at any time occur. They know their danger
and they know their safety, and exercise a corresponding circumspection.
2.
Eagles have elevated aspirations and instincts. They
prefer the heights, both when they soar and when they
rest. They make their homes among the most inaccessible crags, and excel
all birds in their sublime ascensions. So eagle saints have their
citizenship in heaven. They live in the world, but all their feelings,
aims, affections, and desires are above it. Their greatest impulses are
upward, ever upward. They love the higher atmosphere and the sublimer
sunlight above the clouds and malarious mists and dangers of earthiness. They
build their nests in the mountains of God, and prefer and long to be where they
are never more annoyed with the vexations and dangers of this sordid world.
3.
Eagles are stronger of wing than other birds. Their swiftness
and power are astonishing. So the eagle saints
are distinguished by their vigour of faith and hope. They are
particularly strong in those truths and promises which lift heavenward,
anticipate the dawn of a sublimer economy, and sit “in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Isaiah referred, in his day, to
saints of these eminent qualities, and likens them to eagles, where he says:
“They who wait for Jehovah, gain fresh strength, lift up their wings as
eagles, run and are not weary, go forward and do not faint.” (Isa. 40: 30, 31; Delitch’s Translation.)
And in Deuteronomy (32: 11, 12), Jehovah is likened to a parent eagle,
and His elect to young eagles, whom He feeds, and upbears, and teaches to fly
and rise to Himself.*
[*
“This image, used in Exodus
(19: 4), is
fully verified in Him who is called the Great Eagle (Rev. 12: 14), and who
bears His Church on eagle’s wings through the wilderness of this world, and who
[will] ascended up to heaven with His young ones on His wings, and
to whom, as their Parent, and their Life, and their Food, all true eagles of the Gospel, as His children, are gathered now
on earth, and will be gathered for ever hereafter [and] in heaven.”‑ Wordsworth in loc.
“The comparison of Himself to the hen was
adapted to the time of His first advent in humility. This latter
reference to the eagle has relation to the time of His second advent in glory,
when the eagles of the Gospel will be gathered together [to reign with Him] where the body is.” Ibid., on 2 Thess. 2: 1.]
We
thus identify a class of eagles, other than the rapacious
birds denoted by this name;‑eagles that have voices, intelligence, and place in
heaven. These eagles are also in heaven before the judgment occure to
which these trumpets refer. The Saviour Himself, in Matt. 24., puts their
gathering together where the body is, in advance of the sending forth of His
angels with the great trumpet-sounding. When the sun is darkened, and the
moon is obscured, and the stars fall, and the powers of the heavens, are
shaken, and, the sign of the Son of Man appears, and all the tribes of the
earth mourn; these eagles are already where the Lord, on whom they live, is.
John saw them there, among other images, under that of “a flying eagle”
(Rev. 4.), before the Lamb took the book or
ever a seal was broken; where also he heard them sing unto the Lamb: “Thou art worthy; for Thou wert slain, and redeemedst us to
God by Thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and
Thou madest us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on
the earth.” (Rev. 4: 5-10; 5: 8-10.)
And from among these was He whom John here beheld and heard flying in
mid-heaven, saying with a great voice, “Woe, woe, woe,
to the dwellers on the earth, by reason of the remaining voices of the
trumpet of the three angels who are yet to sound.”
The
manner in which this eagle is spoken of, implies that there are others of the
same class. The seer says: “I beheld and heard one
eagle” thus flying and saying. This “one eagle” presupposes more eagles; as
“one scribe,”
in Matt. 8: 19, presupposes more
scribes; as “one voice from the horns of the
golden altar” (9: 13) presupposes
more voices; as “one mighty angel”
(19: 21) presupposes more angels.
The
Church of the first born is to have a part in the administrations
of the judgment upon the guilty world. “Do you
not know that the saints shall judge the world? Cor.
4: 2.) Hence, when the last seals were broken, the voice of power
was heard from the Living-Ones, “Go!” And
so here, “one eagle,” has a
mission which he executes between the sounding of the fourth and fifth
trumpets, as the prelude to what the last three trumpets are to produce.
Verily we know not and cannot half conceive what ministries and agencies of
heavenly sublimity await us, if only we are faithful, We shall fly, like
eagles, in mid-heaven, and mingle our voices with the trumpets of judgment, and
fill offices of honour and celestial dignity among the transactions of
archangels, as they go forth to close up the history of a rebellious world!
The
precise manner in which this proclamation of the eagle is to reach men, is not
stated. That it is to be heard on earth, I am quite sure. We can
discern no reason why heaven should he thus specifically notified that the
succeeding trumpets are woe-trumpets; nor yet for the introduction of such a
special agency to inform John that they were to be woe-trumpets. The results of
the blowing of them would necessarily make this sufficiently manifest to
him. The intention of the proclamation itself is evidently
merciful. I take it as a heavenly signal, given in
the midst of the ongoing of the scenes of the day of judgment, to apprise men
of the terrible plagues next to be enacted, that those then living, who have
not become utterly blind and deaf to sacred things, may take warning and seek
refuge against the oncoming calamities.
It
is one of the principles of the Divine administrations, that mercy is
remembered in the midst of wrath; and; as long as there is any possibility of bringing
men to a right mind, the opportunity for it is given. These three
woe-trumpets are to conclude the history of this world [or
age] and to end for ever this present
economy. Hence, on the very eve of the end, and when the last awful
visitations are about to fall upon the ungodly, still a mighty voice of warning
goes forth from mid-heaven, that such as will heed it may prepare themselves
and cry for mercy before mercy is clean gone for ever. God gives up the
world to perdition with great reluctance. He has always said that He has
no pleasure in the death of the wicked; and we thus behold Him true to His word
up to the last.
2.
We come, then, to the first of these eagle-announced woes. The fifth
trumpet brings it. It is quite different in character from the four
preceding trumpets. All are blasts of judgment, and all belong to the
great day of the Lord; but no two of them are alike except in this, that they
all bring calamity and suffering to the wicked dwellers upon the earth.
Thus
far the trumpets have blown upon only the objects of physical nature, and
wrought their effects through disturbances in the material world. The
first trumpet smote the land, the trees, and the grass. The second smote
the waters of the sea, the fishes, and the ships. The third smote the
fountains, wells, and rivers. And the fourth obscured and darkened the
sources of light and heat to the world. From these several successive
blasts great suffering and mortality result to the children of men. But
the trumpet now before us goes beyond the physical world and calls into action
quite other agencies. The doors of separation between the earth and
the prison of evil spirits are opened, and mysterious and nialignant tenants of
the under-world are permitted to overrun the globe, and to
inflict torture and woo upon its unsanctified inhabitants.
John
hears the fifth angel sound, and beholds a fallen star in the earth. This
is not a meteor like that which he beheld on the sounding of the third
angel. He does not see the falling, but recognises the star as a fallen
one - fallen, he does not say when or how. This star is an
intelligent agent, for things are distinctly ascribed to “him” which could not be said except of a living
being. A key is given him. He takes that key. He uses it for
the unlocking of a door, and he lets forth from their prison some of the
tenants of the abyss. All this argues active and intelligent agency, and
furnishes the Divine intimation that we are not to consider this star to be of
the same kind as the star under the third trumpet. It is not a material,
but a spiritual star, and a fallen one - one fallen out of the heaven.
We
know of such spiritual and celestial stars. When the capstone of the
grand pyramid of creation was laid, the Almighty Himself hath declared that “the morning stars sang together, and all
the sons of God shouted for joy.” (Job 38: 4‑7.)
These were angelic beings. We know, also, that there are “angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own
habitation.” (Jude 6.) We read
of “the angels that sinned,” whom
God did not spare. (2 Pet. 2: 4.)
These are of various orders and degrees, “principalities
and powers.” (Eph. 6: 6; Col. 2: 15.)
Among them is one of pre-eminent dignity, the leader and prince of all the rest
– “the great dragon, that old serpent, called the Devil
and Satan.” (Rev. 12: 9.)
Hence, we read of “the Devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25: 41.)
Here,
then, are fallen stars of a spiritual sort, and one of
particular distinction and magnitude, answering to the description of the
text. For the present they have possession of the aerial or heavenly
spaces. (Eph. 6: 12.) Satan is particularly
described as “the prince of the power of the air.”
(Eph. 2: 2.)*
[*
Bishop Wordsworth has this note upon the place: “Satan and his sngels, being cast down from heaven, but not being yet
consigned to hell, have their empire in this lower air, and are therefore
called the powers of the air and of darkness.” The [Greek] word …
is sometimes rendered heaven and sometimes air.]
He
is fallen morally, and fallen from the proper heaven of glory, and is
eventually to be entirely ejected from the heavenly places now occupied by him
and his angels, previous to the great binding which is to shut him up in the
abyss. The Saviour refers prophetically to this, where He says: “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” (Luke 10: 18.) This ejectment, in its final
completeness, is described by John in the twelfth chapter, where he speaks of “war in the heaven,” and the ejection of “Satan and his angels” by Michael and his hosts. After
that, these impure spirits have no more place in heaven for ever. But,
even after this precipitation from the aerial regions, their work on earth is
continued for a time with augmented fierceness and wrath. Satan is this
fallen spiritual star, and John beholds him fallen into the earth with
particular malignity, and bent on letting loose against men all the evil powers
which he can command. He also stands related to the inhabitants of
the abyss as their chief lord, in a way which. renders it
congruous and fitting with all that we know of him, that we should see him in
this “star out of the heaven fallen into the earth.”
And
because of the wickedness of the world, special powers are granted him.
As people prefer the service of the devil, God allows them a full experience of
his administrations. It has always been so. Because the nations before
Christ, when they knew God, glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful,
but became vain in their imaginations, and changed the truth of God into a lie;
He dropped the reins to them and gave them up to uncleanness, vile affections,
and a reprobate mind, to be filled with all unrighteousness, and to receive in
theinselves that recompense of their error which was meet. (
John
beholds and describes how this is done. To this fallen star, he says “was given the key of the well-pit of the abyss.”
It was “given” to him,‑ as
all that Job had was given to the same fallen one, to do
with it as he might list. Though Satan has great power, he is under bonds
and limitations, beyond which he cannot go without permission. He is now
allowed to employ his demons, but not to bring forth all the evil agencies who
would fain serve him in his work of malignity. But, in the great day of
judgment, and in augmentation of the punishmeits of the ungodly, he will be
allowed to call into his service multitudes of evil beings now restrained and
imprisoned in [‘Hades’/‘Sheol’] - the
under-world. Nor will he fail to use this power any more than he failed
to exert his full liberty against Job. With the key to the well-pit of
the abyss, he opens it, breaks down in part the wall of severance between earth
and hell, and evokes a plague, such as the world has never before experienced.
Jehovah
once said to. Job: “Have the gates of
Sheol been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?”
(Job. 37: 17.) There are worlds of
being and of darkness upon which man has never looked. There is a tenanted
abyss of which the demons know, and concerning which they besought the Saviour
that He would not send them into it.* It is a dark and horrible prison,
in which many, many strange and evil beings are shut up. Satan knows of
that world, and would fain bring forth its malignant inhabitants into the earth
if he only dared. At last, however, he receives permission to bring them,
and the fifth trumpet gives the result.
[*
See Luke 8: 27-31, upon which Doddridge
remarks of the “abyss,” that
it is “the prison in which many of these fallen
spirits are detained, and to which some, who may, like these, have been
permitted for a whi1e to range at large, are sometimes by Divine justice and
power remanded.”]
As
soon as the mouth of the pit is opened, a thick blackness issues from it like
the black smoke of a great furnace - a blackness which fills the air and
obscures the sun; and out of the smoky blackness proceed living, things,
horrible in shape, malignant in disposition, and armed with power to afflict
and torment men’s bodies. John calls them locusts; but they are supernatural,
infernal, not earthly locusts. They neither consume nor injure any of the
grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree. They do not appear
to eat at all, though they have teeth like the teeth of lions. They are
winged creatures, and their flight is noisy, sounding like chariots and horses
rushing into battle. They seem to dwell mostly in the air and in the
smoke and darkness. Neither is there any indication that they are capable of
being caught or killed.
The
forms of these creatures are particularly described They are a sort of infernal
cherubim - antipodes of the Livino, Ones conjoined with the
heavenly throne. The horse, the man, the lion, the scorpion, are combined
in them. Their general appearance is like horses caparisoned for
battle. Their heads are surmounted by the semblance of crowns seemingly
of gold. They have faces resembling the faces of men. They are
hairy, with hair like women’s hair. Their backs and breasts are encased
as if with iron plates, after the manner of a Roman soldier, and they have
tails of the size and shape of a scorpion. Their dimensions are not
given. Scorpions vary in size; some kinds are six inches in length.
Figuring to ourselves then, an outline of body, the tail of which would
correspond to the size and make of a large scorpion, we reach quite formidable
proportions.
These
horrible creatures have a certain degree of intelligence. Commands are
addressed to them. They are able to distinguish between those who have
the seal of the living God upon their foreheads and other people. They
have a king whom they obey. Earthly locusts have no king (Prov. 30: 27); but these have a king over them.
This king is not Satan himself. Satan is, indeed, chief of all the powers
of darkness, but he has archons and princes under him, with their own
particular commands. It is Satan who opens the door for the egress of
these hosts from the pit; but their immediate king is one of Satan's angels – “the angel of the abyss.”
This
king has a descriptive name. It is given in Hebrew and in Greek, showing
that this administration has to do with Jews and Gentiles. Christ is
named Jesus because He is the Saviour. This king is named Abaddon
in Hebrew, and Apollyon* in Greek, because he is a destroyer
- the opposite of saviour.
[*Dr.
Bleek, Dr. Croly, and other
expositors justly understand Apollyon to mean Napoleon, which
will be the name of the future Great Antichrist, who will be killed by a sword
(Rev. 13: 3, 12), and his soul descend into
the abyss of condemned spirits, and will then come up out of the abyss and
re-enter his dead body, so that it will be raised to life again. Thus the
Napoleonic Antichrist will be a resurrection man during the final three
and a half years.- [EDITOR.]
But
the destructive power of these locusts is limited. As Satan was not
allowed to touch Job’s life, so these creatures are forbidden to kill men, and
the sealed ones they are not permitted to touch at all. The extent of
their power is to horrify and torment “the men who have not the seal of God
upon their foreheads.” They inflict their torment by means of stings,
like the stings of scorpions. These stings are in their tails, which
tails resemble scorpions. They have power “as the
scorpions of the earth have power.” They are not “of the earth” as scorpions are “of the earth.” They are supernatural beings, but
they have the capacity to injure and torture men which natural scorpions have.
The
pain from the sting of a scorpion, though not generally fatal, is, perhaps, the
intensest that any animal can inflict upon the human body. The insect
itself is the most irascible and malignant that lives, and its poison is like
itself. Of a boy stung in the foot by a scorpion, Laborde relates
that, although of a race which bears everything with remarkable patience, he
rolled on the ground, grinding his teeth, and foaming at the mouth. It
was a long time before his complainings moderated, and even then he could make
no use of his foot, which was greatly inflamed. And such is the nature of
the torment which these locusts from the pit will inflict. They are also
difficult to be guarded against, if they can be warded off at all, because they
fly where they please, dart through the air, and dwell in darkness.
The
duration of this extraordinary plague is “five months.”
No single generation of earthly locusts ever lasts so long. Twice is the
period mentioned, as if the Holy Ghost would call special attention to it as
marking the great severity of the plague. To be subjected to such intense
anguish, and to have it endure for “five months,”
fills out a leneth and breadth of woe which only they who feel can fully
know. Death itself would be preferable to such an existence.
Willingly, also, would the sufferers of this torment resign life in preference
to the continuance of it in such torture, if there were no interference to
prevent death. But there is such interference. Not only are the
locusts forbidden to kill, but the people afflicted by them are hindered from
dying. The statement is, that they shall “fervently
desire to die,” and “shall seek death;”
but the woful peculiarity of “those days,” is,
that they cannot find death, and are obliged to live, whatever efforts they may
make to escape from life. This trumpet accordingly introduces the very torments
of hell upon the theatre of this present world.
Judgments
prefigure each other, and every feature of the great consummation has its
forerunners and prelibations. And so there may have been a dim and
inchoate likeness of this trumpet in the Saracenic scourp. But the height and
fulness of it, and its only proper fulfilment, remains to
be accomplished in the great day to come - the Day of the Lord - the period of
Christ’s unveiling - when it will be literally realised in all its
horrible details.
In
the plenary fulfilment the “five mouths” must
mean five months, and not 150 years, and the locusts from
the pit cannot be the Saracens, or anything else than what they are literally
described to be. They are extraordinary and infernal agents, whom Satan
is permitted to lot loose upon the guilty world, as a part of the judgment of
the great day. All the seals, trumpets, and vials,of this book relate to that
day. It is a day of miracle throughout - a day of, wonders, a day of fierce
and tormenting wrath. It is everywhere so described in the
Scriptures. And we do greatly mistreat the records which God has given
for our learning, if we allow the sceptical rationalising of our own
darkened hearts to persuade us that such supernatural things are impossible,
and therefore must not be literally understood. On the same ground the
whole doctrine of the judgment may be explained away, and every article of the
distinctive Christian faith.
It
appears, then, that hell and hell-torments [in the
underworld] are not the mere fictions which
some have pronounced them. Neither are they as remote from this present
world as men often dream. There is a fiery abyss, with myriadsof evil
beings in it, malignant and horrible, and there is but a door between
this world and that.* Heaven is just as near; but heaven is above, and
hell [Hades/Sheol] is
beneath. Mortal man and his world lie between two mighty, opposite,
spiritual spheres, both touching directly upon him, each operative to
conform him to itself, and he predestined, as he yields to one or the other, to
be conjoined eventually to, the society on high, or to companionship with
devils and all evil beings [in a compartment of
the lower Hades] beneath. To doubt this,
is to mistake concerning the most momentous things of our existence, and to,
have our senses closed to the most startling realities of our lives. As
we are heavenly in our inclinations and efforts, and open
and yielding to things Divine, heaven opens to us, and spirits of heaven become
our helpers, comforters, protectors, and guides; and as we are devilish
in our temper, unbelieving defiant of God, and self-sufficient, the doors
of separation between us and hell gradually yield, and the smoke of the pit
gathers over us, and the spirits of perdition come forth to move among us and
to do us mischief. And at the last, as the saints of God are taken up [at the time of rapture or resurrection
(Luke 21: 34-36; 1 Thess. 4: 17; Jonh 14: 3; Phil.
3: 11; Rev; 20: 4-6, etc.)] out of the
world on the one side, the angels of hell with their malignity and torments are
let in on the other.
[*King,
in his Morsels of Criticism, after commenting on Is. 24: 22; Ps. 69: 15; Ezek. 26: 20; 31:
16; Is. 14: 9; Numb. 16: 33; Eph. 2: 10; Ps. 28: 1; 38: 4; Job 17: 16;
Luke 8: 31; 1 Pet. 3: 18-20, &c., remarks: “Upon the whole, therefore, we may, consistently both with
the words of Holy Scripture and with philosophical ideas, conclude, or at
least suspect, if we do not venture to affirm it, that there is a
place of habitation, of some kind or other, in the lowest depths,
and in the heart of the earth, and that this.place, is. indeed
…(called ‘Hades’/ ‘Sheol’) or (as translated in
the A. V. and other translations as) “hell.” The abyss cannot
possibly mean the sea . (The
Greek word … ) is by no means a word made use of in any of the Gospels for the
sea.”Vol. ll., pp‑373‑404.]
People
are prone to persuade themselves that this world of sense and time is all that
we need be concerned about, and hence have no fears of an unseen world of evil,
and no decided or active desire for the blessings of an unseen world of
good. They live only for earth, not dreaming that this brief life is only
the vestibule to worlds of mightier and eternal moment. Their houses are
built by the very margin of hell, and yet the rest and feast in them without a
feeling of insecurity or of danger. The flames of perdition clamour after
them beneath the pavements on which they walk, but they have no sense of fear
or serious apprehension. God and angels are ever busy to win their
attention to the ways of safely, but they turn a deaf ear and drift along as
they list, crying, Peace! Peace! And so will the wicked and the
unbelieving go on, until ignored and offended Omnipotence gives over the power
to Satan to let loose upon them these horrid beings from the abyss, under whose
torment they will wish they never had lived at all, and vainly attempt to make
their escape from what they once considered their chief and only good.
Friends
and Brethren: Thejudgments of God are coming - they are coming. The
agents for them are ready and at hand. They are to alight with awful
severity upon all the rebellious and ungodly. They will not be delayed
either till this life is over. They are coming in this present world. Men
shall feel them while yet they stand upon their feet, and go on with
their unbelief and earthiness. Hell is to be let in upon the living
earth, and no human hand can stay its torments. And as the generations of
the rebellious and the unsanctified complete their five months of horror and
writhing under the scorpion stings of these infernal tormentors, the first woe
will lie fulfilled, whilst yet two other and more horrible ones follow.
God Almighty, in His mercy, save us from the evils of those days! Amen
LECTURE TWENTIETH.
THE
SIXTH TPUMPFT - STATE OF SOCIETY AT THIS PERIOD - DEMON WORSHIP – SPIRITUALISM
- REVIVAL OF IDOLATRY - HEATHENISH CONDITION OF MORALS - A PERIOD OF MURDER, SORCERY,
LEWDNESS, DISHONESTY - THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT INDUCED - CRY FROM THE HORNS OF
THE ALTAR - THE FOUR EUPHRATEAN ANGELS - PLACE OF THEIR DETENTION - SPIRIT
HORSES - THEIR MEANS OF HARMING MEN - THEIR HAVOC WITH HUMAN LIFE - HOW LONG
THEY CONTINUE THEIR DESTRUCTIVE WORK - THE INTENT OF THIS WOE - NO REFORMATION
WROUGHT - THE FOLLY OF WAITING FOR JUDGMENTS TO BRING TO A BETTER LIFE.
Rev. 9: 13-21 (Revised
Text) - And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard one
voice out of the four horns of the altar of gold [which is] before God, saying
to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet. Loose the four angels which are
bound upon [over or near] that great river
And there were loosed the four angels who hid been made ready for
the hour, and day, and month, and year, that they should kill the third of the
men. And the number of the hosts of horse [was] two myriads of myriads; I
heard the number of them.
And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them:
they have fiery, hyacinthine, and sulphureous coats of mail; and the heads of
the horses as it were heads of lions; and out of their mouths issuath fire, and
smoke, and sulphur.
From these three plagues were killed the third of men, by the fire,
and the smoke, and the sulphur, which issueth out of their mouths; for the
power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails; for their tails [are] like serpents, having
heads, and with them they injure.
And the rest of the men, who are not killed by these plagues,
repented not from the works of their hands, that they should not worship the
demons, and the idols of gold, and silver, and copper, and stone, and wood,
which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk; and they repented not out of their
murders, nor out of their sorceries [or use
of drugs], nor out of their fornication, nor
out of their thefts.
These
words describe one of the greatest and most terrifioc judgments we have thus
far encountered. In approaching its consideration, I propose to notice:-
1. THE STATE OF
2.. THE NATURE OF THE JUDGMENT VISITED UPON IT.
The
Apostle Paul assures us, that, as time advances toward its conclusion, “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived.” (2 Tim. 3: 13.)
I have also repeatedly quoted his startling description of the “perilous times”
which will come “in the last days.” (2 Tim. 3: 1-5.) But Paul was not alone in
these gloomy anticipations. Peter and Jude likewise speak of them.
Nor were these statements without full warrant in the utterances of the Saviour
Himself, who particularly and often admonished His disciples, that the
gigantic iniquities and sensualities of the days of Noah and of
It
would, hence, be strange, if, in the visions of those terrible adjudications,
we were to find no corresponding notices of the bad state of morals then
prevailing. And when such notices are found, as in the words before us,
it would be contrary to the tenor of the Scriptures on the subject, to take
them as mere poetic exagerations, or as anything other than a literal and true
portraiture of the world at that time. Taking the words, then, as they
have been written for our learning, we here have an account of the moral state
of mankind in the period of the sixth trumpet.
1.
It is a period of abounding demon-worship. What demons
are, is to some extent an unsettled question. Justin Martyr, and some
other Christian fathers, regarded them as the spirits of those giants who were
born of the sons of God and the daughters of men, in the days preceding the
flood. John of Damascus considered them the fallen angels.
According to Plutarch, Hesiod, as he himself, held demons to be “the spirits of mortals when separated from their earthly
bodies.” Zoroaster, Thales, Pythagoras, Plato,
and the heathen authors generally, viewed them as spiritual beings,
intermediate between supreme Deity and mortals, and mostly the souls of heroes
and distinguished persons who had departed this life. Lucian makes
his dialogist ask: What is man? Answer : A mortal god.
And what is a god? Answer: An immortal man. This
gives the common heathen doctrine on the subject. Philo says,
“The souls of dead men are called demons.”
The
account which demons themselves mostly give of themselves, according to
sorcerers and, spiritualist mediums who have most to do with them, is, the
same. Josephus gives it as the orthodox Jewish opinion, that
demons are none other than the spirits of the wicked dead. With very few
exceptions, the Christian fathers were of like opinion. Justin Martyr,
Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Augustine, and the vast majority of early
Christian writers, regarded demons as the souls or spirits of the unsanctified
dead. And the burden of evidence
and
authority is to the effect, - that demons are the souls of dead men,
particularly the spirits of those who bore a bad character in this life.*
[*
See an argument on this subject elaborated in the Lectures and Addrcsses
of Alexander Campbell, pp. 379-402.]
It
is acknowledged, both in Scripture and in the classics, that the “immortals” whom the heathen adored, were once men; and
Paul assures us that the sacrifices of the Gentiles made to these “immortals,” were sacrifices to demons, and that their
sacred feasts were in honour of demons. (1 Cor. 10:
20, 21.)** This would seem to give us scriptural authority for believing
that demons are what the Jews and early Christians believed them to be. They
are, at any rate, invisible spiritual beings, unholy in character, belonging to
the kingdom of evil, and having a vicious and pernicious penchant to interfere
in the affairs of mankind in the flesh. The Scriptures always use the
word with reference to unclean and wicked spirits only. There is no such
thing known in the Bible as a good demon. The Scriptures everywhere
distinguish demons from “the devil,” Satan; but
our English translators continually call them “devils,”
a name which fitly describes them.
[**
Compare Deuteronomy 18: 10; 32: 17; Leviticus 17: 7,
et seq; 2 Chronicles 11: 15; Psalm 106: 37.]
Among
the Jews, in the Saviour’s time, these wicked spirits incorporated themselves
in the bodies of living men, intruding themselves between the soul and
the nervous organism, getting possession of men’s physical powers measurably
superseding the wills of those affected, so as to speak and act by means of
human organs.
Among
the Gentiles, many of the persons thus affected were accepted as inspired
prophets and prophetesses; and it had become a reaular science to know how to
induce such connections with demonic powers, and how, at option, to bring their
influence to bear, whether for religious or for secular purposes.
There
always have been ways of coming into communication with these unclean spirits,
of consulting them, and securing their aid. Hence the scriptural
allusions to those who have familiar spirits, enchanters, wizards, witches,
magicians, soothsayers, diviners, necromancers, and the like. Long before
the time of Moses, we read of consultations of the spirits of the dead, and the
veneration of demons as helpers and guides, to whom it was the custom to
resort. Special statutes were given against it in the laws of Moses, as
great unfaithfulness and sin against God. The assumption all the way
through is, that there was reality in what was pretended in these instances,
and a very dangerous iniquity. The lying prophets whom Ahab
followed to his ruin, were really inspired by wicked spirits. Paul
encountered a girl at
Modern
spiritism, or so-called spiritualism, is but a revival of the same thing - a
branch of the same iniquity. There doubtless is some reality in it; and it is
confessedly a system of intercourse with the dead, whose spirits are invoked in
various forms and methods, to teach wisdom;. to dictate faith, religion, and
life; to comfort and help in trouble and necessity; and to serve as saviours
and as gods. It is demon-worship brought to life again. It claims to have
vast multitudes of adherents, even among the baptised, [regenerate] and nominally Christian. It is influencing
whole communities of men and women, who are prepared to commit themselves, body
and soul, for time and eternity, into the care of these lying demon
guides. It has made inroads upon people of all classes, and is received,
by many as a distinct and the only true religion. Its oracles are loud
and hopeful in the prediction that it will soon enlist to itself the
governments and reigning classes of the whole world.
The
Word of God also forewarns, that it will be vastly suecessful. “The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils* speaking lies in hypocrisy, having
their conscience seated with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to
abstain from meats.” (1. Tim. 4: 1‑3.)**
Instead of fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things, people will
bestow their loving confidence upon unclean spirits, invoking them for
guidance, and placing religions dependence in their impious falsities.
Having no relish for the saving Gospel of Christ, God will send them strong
delusion, that they may believe a lie, and be visited with the damnation their
perverseness deserves. And at the time this sixth trumpet sounds, the
prevailing religion of the world will be this self-same worship of demons, and
following of demons’ doctrines.
[See
Greek:- doctrines suggested by demons; doctrines
engendered by the operation of evil spirits. The sense of this passage
has been wrongly given by some, in understanding the genitive as objective, as
if it meant doctrines concerning demons. The true
and only tenable exegesis is, not that men shall apostatise by accepting
doctrines about demons, but that they will decline from
the true mystery of godliness by taking into their confidence doctrines
which demons teach.‑See Wordsworth, Alford, Conybeare and
Howson, etc.
**
For an exposition of this text in its application to modern “spiritualism,”
see Prophetic Times, vol. ii., pp. 158, 174, 185; vol. iii., pp. 14,
30, 46, 62, 75; vol. v., p. 134. On the general subject, see the
author’s monograph, entitled “The Wonderful Confderation.” Epiphanius,
as given and translated by Mede (p. 637), thus paraphrases the
passage: “Some shall apostatise from the sound
doctrine, giving heed to fables and doctrines of demons; for they shall
be worshippers of dead men, as they were worshipped in Israel.”]
2.
In connection with this demon-worship, will be the revival of idolatry.
It is itself idolatry; but, with it, idols of gold, find silver, and
copper, and stone, and wood, which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk, will
again command the genius of men for their construction, and be set up to please
their demon-lords, to facilitate spiritual intercourse, and to help out the
foul devotions of the infatuated people.
It
may appear too disparaging to the understanding of this enlightened age, to
entertain the possibility of a return to the ancient worship of images.
People may feel insulted at the thought. But the way for it is opening,
and the process to effect it is already going on. The minds of
anti-christian religionists everywhere are fast relapsing into the old
heathenish philosophies, and I know not what is to hinder their acceptance of
the religions with which those philosophies are conjoined. Modifications
of them may be made, to conform them somewhat to the requirements of an altered
condition of the public mind and taste; but idol-worship will
again become, as it is even now becoming the religion of some who claim to
be among the most enlightened and the very illuminators of mankind.
Socrates
had his demon-guide, and Socrates
approved idolatry; and if men accept the Socratic philosophy in preference to
the religion of the Bible, and submit to be taught by demons as their most trustworthy
oracles, what is to prevent them from becoming philosophic idol-worshippers,
especially if their spirit-friends should so dictate, and accompany these
dictations with the power of working wonders? A little further on in this
book,we read of a “false prophet,” who teaches
the dwellers upon earth to make an image, to which he
gives the power of utterance, so that it both speaks and causes all who refuse
to worship it to be put to death. (Rev. 13: 14-16.)*
All this will be simply the culmination of the system then in vogue, showing a
base, persecuting, and murderous idolatry, also the source and manner of its
introduction. The symptoms and tendencies are even now strongly in this
very direction.
[*
In describing these idols, in verse 20, John
says that they “can neither see, nor hear,
nor walk;” but he specially refrains from saying that they
cannot speak, or give out oracles; for here he tells us that one at least does speak,
so as to give intimation of the will of the gods who communicate through
it. Grotius relates out of an ecclesiastical writer, that there
was a statue of the notorious magician, Apollonius, which spoke, being
actuated by soine assistant demon.]
What
are the numerous and various inventions, constructed by the votaries of
Spiritualism to please the spirits, and meant to serve as material forms and
instruments through which the demon-gods are to manifest themselves and hold
communion with their devotees? Is not much of the base science and mechanical
skill of spiritualists now employed, in answer to spirit-bidding, fashioning
implements for closer and easier commerce with these invisible powers? Do
not such machines and images of gold, and silver, and copper, and stone, and
wood, already exist? And are they not kept in devoted places as holy
things, made the centres of circles of people gathered around them for
intercourse with devils, as with the world of hope and blessedness, consulted
with pious affection, and guarded and revered with all the awe, and sometimes
tearful devotion with which the ancient heathen approached the oracles and
images of their gods?
Only
let all this grow and mature, in the line in which it has begun and is growing,
and bald image-worship will soon live again in what claims, to be the
enlightened society of modern times, and men and women of boasted intelligence
will everywhere be found paying their adorations at the shrines of devils, as
to gods. And just this is one of the leading features of the time when
the sixth trumpet sounds.
3.
And corresponding with the heathen character of the dominant religion, will
then be a heathen state of morals also.
Murder will be amoug the
commonest of crimes. Sensual and selfish passion will make sad havoc of
human life, with no serious thought about it on the part of the leaders of
public sentiment. Foeticide, infanticide, homicide, and all forms of sin
against human life, will characterise society, and be tolerated and passed as
if no great harm were done. And well would it be for us, if such were not
largely the state of things even now.
Sorceries, impure practices with evil agencies, and particularly
with poisonous drugs, is also given as one of the dominant forms of vice and
sin in those days. The word specially includes tampering with one’s own
or another’s health, by means of drugs, potions, intoxications, and often with
magical art’s and incantations, the invocation of spiritual agencies, the
putting under influences promotive of sins of impurity both bodily and
spiritual. We have only to think of the use of alcoholic stimulants,* of
opium, of tobacco, of the rage for cosmetics and medicaments to increase love
attractions, of resorts to the pharmacopoeia in connection with sensuality, - of
the magical agents and treatments alleged to come from the spirit-world for the
benefit of people in this, - of the thousand impositions in the way of
medicines and remedial agents, encouraging mankind to recklessness in
transgression with the hope of easily repairing the damages of nature’s
penalties, - of the growing prevalence of crime induced by these things,
setting loose and stimulating to activity the vilest passions, which are eating
out the moral sense of society, - for the beginnings of that moral degeneracy
to which the seer here alludes as characteristic of the period when the sixth
trumpet is sounded.
[*
Matheetees, Apocalypse Expounded, says: “It is remarkable, that the sin
of drunkenness is not among those enumerated.” He is entirely mistaken.
The word … - the use of … - directly embraces indulgence in intoxicating
potions. It is a generic term including drunkenness among its leading
species.]
And
interlinked with these sorceries, and reacting the one on the other, will also
be the general subversion of marriage and its laws, and the deluging of society
with the sins of fornication and adultery. The Apostle uses the word “fornication” alone, as embracing all forms of
lewdness, but as if to intimate that marriage will then hardly be recognised
any more. And already we, hear the institution of legal wedlock denounced
find condemned by Spiritualists and Socialists as tyrannical, and all rules,
but those of affinity and desire, repudiated as unjust. Already, in some
circles, we find the doctrines of free love put forth and
defended in the name of right, a better religion, and a higher law. And
it would he strange indeed, if the revival of the old heathen philosophies and
religions, which justified, sanctioned, and sanctified promiscuous concubinage,
did not also bring with it a revival of all these old heathen
abominations. So also has the holy apostle written, that “in the last days ... men shall
be ... incontinent.” And here the
seer enumerates “fornication” as one of the
outstanding features in the social character of those times.
And
last in the catalogue stands the statement of general and abounding dishonesty,
the obliteration of moral distinctions, the disregard of other’s rights,
and the practice of fraud, theft, and deceit wherever it is possible. Pollok
makes his ancient bard of earth tell of a time, when
- “Blood trod upon the heels
of Blood;
Revenge, in desperate mood, at midnight met
Revenge; War brayed to War, Deceit deceived
Deceit, Lie cheated Lie, and Treachery
Mined under Treachery, and Perjury
Swore back to Perjury, and Blasphemy
Arose with hideous Blasphemy, and Curse
Loud answered Curse; and drunkard,
stumbling fell,
O'er drunkard fallen; and husband husband
met
Returning each from other’s bed defiled;
Thief stole from thief, and robber on the
way
Knocked robber down; and Lewdness, Violence
And Hate met Lewdness, Violence, and Hate.
And Mercy, weary with beseeching, had
Retired behind the sword of Justice, red
With ultimate and unrepenting wrath.”
And
that time, with just this condition of things, will have come, when this sixth
truntpet sounds. We need not wonder, therefore, that it brings a plague
of horror and judgment upon mankind, exceeding all that we yet have had to
contemplate.*
[* “We may, a moment or two,
compare the state of men at that time with former times, when the
long-suffering of God was exhausted, and judgment burst forth.
“1. This day is worse than the times of the flood. Then
the earth was corrupt before God, and filled with violence. Here
corruption of every kind, both between man and man, and man and
the Most High, prevails; and murders, the highest of the crimes of violence,
are numerous. Besides this, there are idolatry and demon-worship, which
are not named as existing before the flood. If then, even in that
day, and despite of their few advantages, wrath broke out, overturning
the usual course of things, how much more then!
“2. Of the men of
“3. Oppression, rising even to murder, sorcery, and idolatry,
wore found in.Egypt. But other sins are found here. No marvel then,
if plagues like those of
“4. Like to these were the sins of the nations of Canaan,
when God commanded their extermination by
“5. The days of Ahab and Jezebel resemble these. Then
was there murder of the righteous, and taking of his inheritance by fraud;
fornication, idolatry. and sorcery. Then fell the judgment of three and a
half years’ drought. Why should it not fall again on earth under like or
greater sins?
“6. These are like the times of
“The world has heard the Gospel and refused it. Far greater is
its responsibility in that day, than in any previous one. Far stouter and
more deeply rooted is its attitude of resistance, than at any former time.
“Things are advancing with no slack pace towards this dismal
consummation. Beneath the thin crust of formal Christianity, the germs of
these trespasses here and there peep forth. Idolatry is putting forth its
feelers: and the giving heed to seducing spirits is already
visible. On this basis all the other evils will establish themsolves.”
– Ths Apocalypse Expounded by Scripture, vol. ii., pp. 438, 439.]
Notice
then, in relation to this sixth trumpet,
2. THE NATURE OF THIS VISITATION.
1.
It is evoked by a cry out of the four horns of the altar. It
comes from the immediate presence of God, and therefore with the sanction
of God. The call itself is the common voice of all four of the horns of
the altar, indicating the energy and the universality of the demand for
vengeance, and of that venance itself. The call from the altar also
reflects the character of a particular apostasy for which this invitation is
sent. When there is a voice invocative of judgment, the locality of it
expresses where the sin has been which is to be avenged. The voice that
went up against Cain for the murder of his brother, cried from the ground which
had received Abel’s blood. The voice of woe to him that buildeth a town
with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity, comes from the stones and
beams of the houses of that town and city. And when a call for retribution
comes from the altar, it is because of some great crimes against that altar,
and what connects with it.
The
united outcry of these golden horns tells of iniquity, with special reference
to them. They were not mere ornaments. God ordered them there to receive
the blood of sacrifice for
It
is terrible enough when sin cries to God against the transgressor; but when the
very altar, sin’s only recourse, and the very horns
of the altar, the sinner’s only availing pleaders, unite in that cry, and utter
it before God as their own, it is impossible to conceive an intenser density of
gathering retribution, or a heavier surcharge of the enginery of the Almighty’s
judgments.
2. The command issues to the Angel who sounds
this trumpet. This is further proof that these angel-trumpeters
are of a superior order. Other angels are concerned, and yet this
particular angel has binding and loosing power over them. The command
itself, is the command of the contemned Saviour. It goes out from the
presence of Almighty Sovereignty, and with its sanctions. But it is
addressedto the angel. He obeys it as his Divine commission, and thus
presides over the administration ushered in by his trumpet. He looses the
imprisoned forces, and sets them free for action. And thus, from under
his hand, go forth the powers which smite the impious dwellers on the earth
with terror, death, and torment.
3.
Other angels are.the more direct executors of the woe. Some
have taken these to be good angels. I do not so regard them. Good
angels are free, not bound. Good angels would not destroy men, except by
special command of God; but these had only to be loosed, and
they at once rushed forth for slaughter, impelled to the dreadful business by
their own malicious nature. But for their being bound, the implication is
that they would have done the same all along. We also read of apostate
angels whom God hath “delivered into chains of
darkness, to be reserved unto the judgment of the great day.” (2 Pet. 2: 4; Jude, 6.) This would seem to
imply that, when the great day comes, they may perchance, for particular
purposes, have their bonds relaxed.
The
common idea is that they are reserved, for their own judgment; but it may after
all be for some one else’s judgment. These woes all belong to the
administrations of “the great day.” This
sixth trumpet is quite on the margin of the mighty consummation of all that
day’s proceedings. And if the record implies any such loosing of those
everlasting chains, here is the place and time for it; and what this
trumpeter-angel did, would seem to be the very loosing referred to. They
are not loosed for salvation - not loosed from their reservation unto eternal
punishment, - but loosed from their restraint against inflicting death and
torment upon men, and now in judgment permitted to act out their evil will upon
earth’s guilty inhabitants. They were bound in mercy to our race, and
here they are let loose in wrath and judgment.
These
bound angels “had been made ready for the hour, and
day, and month, and year.” How had they been made ready, except as
fallen angels they had been put in chains, and held in constraint during all
the preceding ages, with the foreknowledge and intent of their being loosed at
this particular time for this particular judgment?
These
angels are four in number. We know not how many kept not their
first estate. There doubtless were very many, and not all of the same
rank. Paul enumerates various classes of wicked agencies - the devil,
chiefs, powers, world-lords, spirits of wickedness in the aerial regions. (Eph. 6: 12.) These four are a particular
four, “the four.” Either
the wicked angels, then, are not all bound at one and the same place, or these
four are to be regarded as specially distinguished from others in the relation
they hold to the kingdom of evil. I infer that they are particular
magnates in the realm of evil powers, with large commands and dependencies
subject to them. The myriads of subordinate agents which their loosing
brings into action, argues in this direction.
Perhaps
there are but four fallen angels of this particular rank, authority, and
temper; with Satan as the chief of all. At any rate, the four evil angels
here spoken of are a particular four, confined to a particular place, held for
a particular service, and representatives of myriad hosts, bound with their
binding loosed with their loosing, and acting their will the moment the bands
of their forced inaction are taken off. Their number also indicates the
universality of their operations.
A
particular locality is named as the place of their detention “upon, over, near,
at, - that great, river
[*
It is an old Rabbinical tradition, dwelt upon by Heinrichs, that evil spirits
are detained, and have their place in the deserts bordering on the
4.
The moment the four bound angels are released from their constraint, hosts of death-dealing
cavalry overrun the earth. There are such things as
supernatural horses. Horses of fire took up Elijah into heaven. Horses
and chariots of fire protected Elisha at
The
number of these “hosts of horse” is enormous.
Such a cavalcade in point of multitude, has never been marshalled on
earth. John could not count them. No spectator could count
them. They are as multitudinous as the Psalmist’s chariots of God. (Psa. 68: 17.) John “heard the number of them:” “two
myriads of myriads,” just two hundred millions, one-sixth as many as the
present entire population of the globe! This one particular should settle
for ever, that Turkish cavalry and the Moslem conquests are in no plenary sense
the subjects of this vision.
What
the seer describes, he calls horses, while yet he says that, they
are not proper horses. Their heads are like lions’ heads. Their
tails are serpentine, eels, one of the fathers calls them,
and terminate in heads like serpents’ heads. They have riders, and yet
the riders are parts of themselves, to whom no separate actions are
ascribed. It is not the riders, but the horses which
do all the mischief. They are covered with coats’ of mail, the colours of
which are the colours of fire, and hyacinthe, and sulphur, answering to the
elements which they emit from their mouths. They do not eat, nor does it
appear that they are capable of being wounded or killed. “Out of their mouths issueth fire, and smoke, and sulphur,”
the very elements of hell. Though leonine, they do not seize with their
jaws, nor take flesh into their mouths, nor slay with teeth or claws.
They stifle and destroy with their sooty, sulphureous, fiery breath - with “the fire, and the smoke, and the sulphur, which issueth out
of their mouths.”
These
are the elements of hell hurled upon the guilty while they still live in
the flesh; through the agency of malicious and infernal spirit-powers, which
are permitted to put themselves forth in these horrid forms.
[*
“We must not think of earthly human horsemen.”
- Ebrard in loc.]
These
agents have two means of harming men. They stifle and kill by what they
belch forth from their mouths, and they hurt and injure with their snake-headed
tails; “for the power of the horses is in their mouths,
and in their tails.” As to what issues from their mouths, it would
seem as if it were not always the same, but varying and alternating between
fire, smoke, and sulphureous fumes; either being fatal to human life. The
fire would scorch and burn men to death, and the smoke or the sulphur would
stifle and smother them. The three things are named as “three plagues,” and the description is, that life is
destroyed by each separately, as well as by the three conjointly.* Hence,
to meet one of these two hundred millions of infernal horses face to face, is certain
death, either by burning or stifling. As to the serpentine tails, nothing
is said of power to kill, but only of power. to injure, to lame, maim, sting,
or hurt.
[*
“We have here three destructive agencies, emphatically
distinguished as separate agencies. It is first stated generally that
the third part of men was destroyed by these three, and then, to prevent as it
were a mistake, the three are again separately enumerated, each with its own
article, by the fire, and by the smoke, and
by the brimstone.” - T. K. Arnold. Ebrard
interprets the passage in the same way.]
The
idea of serpentine tails suggests a capacity for lashing with painful and
disabling strokes; whilst the snake-heads at the ends suggest the additional
capacity to bite and sting. At any rate, the tails of these horses are
parts of the horses themselves, used by them as instruments of mischief, by
which great spffering is inflicted. Yet Elliott, Barnes, and
commentators of their class, see nothing in these appendages, but the tails cut
from dead horses, dried, and hung on poles, which the Turks carry as
standards! Well may Alford remark, “I
will venture to say, that a more self -condemnatory interpretation was never
broached than this of the horsetails of the Pachas.”
5.
Fearful havoc of human life is made by these infernal horses. To
say nothing of the dread and horror which their presence inspires, and the
confusion which their advent strikes into every department of society, it is
here written, that, by these horses, one out of every three of the whole
human family is killed, destroyed from the face of the
earth. It was a dreadful time for
6.
The continuance of this plague is equally extraordinary. The
tormenting locusts continued for five months; this, it would
seem, is to continue for more than thirteen mouths.
“The hour, and day, and month, and year,” noted
by the seer, measure the exact duration of the plague. If so, it is to
last one year, one month, one day, and one hour. The four specifications
are given with a single article, which accordingly embraces them as a single
period of time; and the adding of these specifications together assigns to
these operations just a day and an hour more than thirteen months.* Think
of having to live amid such perils and such scenes, subject every moment to be
horrified, smitten, stung, stifled, and destroyed, for the space of three
hundred and ninety-one, days, with men, women, and children, associates and
friends suffering and dying about you every day and every hour, killed by the
visible monsters of hell, that throng about your path by day and about your
dwelling at night! The mere contemplation of it makes one’s flesh chill
with horror! What, then, must it be for those who experience it!
[*
So Elliott conceives the meaning of the passage, aggregating together
the hour, day, month, and year. There is a parallel instance in Daniel 12: 7, where the Septuagint has …; ‘for a time, times, and half a time,’ which
is accepted as a chronological formula equivalent to the aggregated sum of the
three specifications; that is, a year, two years, and half a year added
together, making twelve hundred and sixty days. So here we have the
same … followed by similar specifications of time, which, aggregated into
one sum, make a period of thirteen months, one day, and one hour, during which
this killing and injuring are to go on.]
7.
The object of this woe is partly retributive and partly reformatory.
It belongs to the judicial administrations of the great day. It is
God’s terrific judgment upon the world, which has disowned allegiance to Him,
and rejected the mediation of His Son. It is the righteous indignation of
outraged justice which can no longer endure the superlative wickednesses of
Men. The trampled law of eternal right must assert its dignity. Christ
cannot submit to the taunts, and thongs. and mockery of Pilate’s hall for
ever. The blood of the covenant cannot be trampled under foot, and
accounted an unholy thing, with unceasing impunity. There is a point over
which the greatest forbearance and long-suffering dare not go, and at which
mercy itself cries out for unsparing justice. And as these people,
against all the light and warnings sent them, still drive on with their
devil-worship, idolatry, murders, sorceries, lewdness, and dishonesties, until
they have filled the measure of their guilt, and wearied out the very patience
of indulgent God, the horses of hell are let loose upon them, to sweep
one-third of them to speedy perdition.
And
yet, in wrath God remembers mercy. He suffers only one-third of the race
to fall a prey to this tremendous woe. Two-thirds of mankind He spares,
not because they deserve to he spared, but that by means of their awful trials
they might perchance be led to repent of their sins, and lay hold of salvation
before it is clean gone for ever. Ah, yes, the Lord is good and gracious,
even in the severest of His visitations. He delighteth not in the death
of the wicked, but would rather that they should turn from their evil ways and
live.
But
alas for those who continue in sin till trouble brings them to a better
life! Those content to give their good days to the devil’s service,
seldom come to reformation in their evil days. While the pressure of
judgment is on them, they may cry, God have mercy! and think to lead a
different life; but their vows and prayers vanish with their sorrows, and they
are presently where they were before, only the more hardened in their
iniquities. Thus will it be in this case. The powers of hell are let loose
upon the guilty world. Times of danger, death, and horror, fall, upon the
people. The wrath of offended God flashes through the earth for thirteen
months, until it seems as if the entire race would be consumed. A plague
unprecedented strips the globe of one-third of its population, by a form of
death giving visible demonstration of the truth of God’s warnings to the
wicked. There is left no room for any one any more to doubt the reality of
hell, or his close proximity to it; for hell is come in upon the earth!
And yet, “the rest of the men who were not killed by
these plagues, repented not from the works of their hands, that
they should not worship the demons, and the idols of gold, and silver, and
copper, and stone, and wood, which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk; and they
repented not out of their murders, nor out of their sorceries, nor out
of their fornication, nor out of their thefts.”
Such
is depraved and infatuated human nature. “Through
thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not
his foolishness depart from him.” (Prov. 27:
22.) If people will not listen in the days of peaceful
opportunity, there remaineth very little hope for them. “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded, though one rose from the dead,” (Luke
16: 31.)
LECTURE TWENTY-FIRST.
VISION
OF THE CLOUD-ROBED ANGEL – NOT A CREATED ANGEL – HIS ATTIRE – HIS FACE – HIS
FEET – THE PLACING OF HIS FEET – HIS LION-CRY – “THE
SEVEN THUNDERS” – THEIR UTTERANCES SEALED – THE LITTLE BOOK OPENED IN
THE HAND OF THE ANGEL – JOHN’S EATING OF IT – ITS SWEETNESS AND BITTERNESS –
THE OATH OF THIS ANGEL – THE MYSTERY OF GOD – PREACHING OF THE CONSUMMATION – “DAYS OF THE SEVENTH ANGEL” – DELAY OF THE LORD’S
COMING – ITS CERTAINTY NEVERTHELESS.
Rev. 10: 1-11 (Revised
Text). – And I saw another, a mighty angel descending
out of the heaven, clothed about with a cloud, and the rainbow on his head, and
his face as it were the sun, and his feet as it were pillars of fire, and having
in his hand a little book [or roll] opened; and
he set his right foot upon the sea, but the left upon the land, and he cried
with a great voice even as a lion roareth; and when he cried, the seven
thunders uttered their voices; and when the seven thunders spoke, I was about
to write; and I heard a voice out of the heaven saying, Sealup these things
which the seven thunders spoke, and write them not.
And the angel whom I saw standing uponthe sea and upon the land
lifted up his right hand into the heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for the
ages of the ages, who created the heaven and the things in it, and the earth
and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there shall be no
more delay; but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall
sound, the mystery of God is [to be] fulfilled, even as he preached (glad tidings) to his
servants the prophets.
And the voice which I heard out of the heaven [I heard] again speaking with
me, and saying: Go, take the book [or roll] which is opened in the hand of the angel who standeth upon
the sea and upon the land. And I went to the angel, saying to him, Give
me the little book.. And he saith to me, Take, and eat it, and it shall
make bitter thy belly, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey. And I
took the little book out of the hand of the angel and ate it; and it was in my
mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was made
bitter. And it was said to me, Thou must prophesy again upon peoples, and
nations, and tongues, and kings many.
This
part of the Aposalypse is sometimes treated as an episode, thrown between the
second and third woe-trumpets, and having little or no relation to
either. This is an error. We have still to deal with the blast of
the sixth Trumpet. It is only in the fourteenth verse of the eleventh
chapter, that we find the note of indication that the woe of the sixth Trumpet
is accomplished. What now comes before us accordingly pertains to the
sixth Trumpet, the same as the sealing of the 144,000 Jews, in chapter seven,
pertained to the sixth Seal. It introduces new subjects and phases of the
judgment administrations, but continues the same general narrative and burden
found in what precedes and follows. God give us soberness of thought and
earnestness of consideration, as we proceed to unfold what is here written for
our learning! We observe,
1. A VISION OF A VERY NOTABLE PERSON.
John
writes, “And I saw another, a mighty angel
descending out of the heaven.” This person I take
to be the Lord Jesus Himself. He is called an Angel, but
there is nothing in that to prove him a created being. Angel is
a title of office, not of nature. In the Old Testament the Son of God is
continually described as the Jehovah-angel. We had a somewhat corresponding
vision in the first chapter; yet, he who there appeared, announced himself as
the First and the Last, the Living One who became dead and is alive for
ever. We had an account of an angel in the seventh chapter, and again in
the eighth, whom there was reason to regard as none other than the Lord
Jesus. We do know that He appears in the Apocalypse as a Lamb, as a Lion,
and as an armed Warrior, and there is nothing to hinder His appearance also as
an Angel.
This
person is also very particularly distinguished from other angels who appear in
these visions. He is not one of the four loosed from the
He
is further described as “a mighty angel.”
This would seem to identify him as the “strong”
Lord who judges
The
attire of this angel indicates Deity. John beholds him “clothed about with a cloud.” Wherever
clouds are connected with glorious manifestations, there we find the presence
of Divinity. If there is a cloud, there is mystery; and if there is
mystery, there is suggestion of Deity. The Lord descended on
He has “the rainbow on
his head;” not a rainbow, but the
rainbow. This is a further mark to show that He is not a created
angcl. We had this rainbow in the fourth chapter, where it is given as
one of the grand appurtenances of the throne. It refers back to God’s
ancient covenant with the earth. It was originally ordained as God’s mark
in the cloud, and the sign of His, and no mere angel’s covenant. We never
read of any one surrounded with the rainbow, but the person is God. The
clouds are indicative of Divine judgment, and storms, and rains, and floods of
wrath; and so the rainbow is indicative of Divine mercy in the midst of
judgment, and a covenant of security to the believing, even though everything
seem to be going to destruction. A garment of cloud, and a tiara of the iris,
would, therefore, well befit the Saviour, in the administrations which we are
now considering, but would in no manner of truth be suitable to a mere angel,
however mighty.
“And his face as it were the sun.” This
again identifies him as the same who appeared unto John in his first
vision. It is there said of Him who walks in the midst of the golden
candlesticks, that His countenance was “as the sun
shineth. in his strength.” This luminousness of face is also
one of the ascertained characteristics of Christ, in connection with the final
revelation of His kingdom. Peter speaks of the appearance on the
Mount of Transfiguration, as a foretaste and earnest of the power and coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ; and yet, in that sublime picture, the record is, “His face did shine as the sun.” It
was thus that He appeared unto Saul of Tarsus, on his way to
“And his feet as it were pillars of fire.”
These are manifestly the same feet beheld in the vision of the first
chapter. There they dazzled the eyes of the seer, like fine brass melted
and glowing in a furnace; and they were the feet of Him who was dead, but is
alive for evermore, and has the keys of death and of hell [Hades]. There
they presented an imag of terrible pureness, and here they furnish an image of
steadfast and consuming majesty, which no one can encounter and live.
Nothing of the kind is ever affirmed of a created angel. We observe
again,
2. A NOTABLE ACT OF THIS PERSON.
“And he set his right .foot upon the sea, but the left upon
the earth.” This was a distinct and deliberate
act, and is full of significance. To set one’s foot in a place, expresses
a purpose to take possession of that place. Jehovah said to
[* This can only refer to the
coming Millennium; the eternal state will be upon ‘a new
earth’ which will have ‘no longer any sea’. (Rev. 21: 1,
N.I.V. ]
He
does it also in a way which shows how useless it will be for His foes to resist
Him. Those feet are mighty columns of fire. Who can stand against
columns oi fire? The image is one of invincible power and steadfastness,
joined with consumming destruction to those who venture to withstand.
Pillars are firm and mighty; and pillars of fire are steadfastly irresistible
and Christ plants His feet on sea and land “as pillars
of fire.” They are then immovable, and must needs consume all
opposition.
And
with the symbolic act, and as part of it, there is a corresponding utterance. “He cried with a great voice, even as a lion roareth.”
It was not a cry of distress and fear, but a shout of power, and the herald
of vengeance upon enemies and usurpers. We have already seen who it is
that is called “the Lion from the tribe of
3.
A NOTABLE RESPONSE FROM HEAVEN.
“And when He cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices.” Interpreters have been much
tasked to tell what particular thunders are here meant. Seven times is
thunder called “the voice of the Lord,” in the 29th Psalm.
They
are mentioned with the definite article.* The force of this is
that there are thunders of which the Apostlee assumes that his readres already
have some knowledge. And if we will only go back in the record,
we will find that we have heard of them before. In the vision of the
fourth chapter, John saw “a rainbow” encircling
the throne, and here he speaks of that rainbow as upon the
head of this mighty Angel. And in that same vision he beheld and said “out of the throne go forth lightnings, and voices, and thunders.”
They are not specified as “seven,”
but in the nature of the case, upon the principle on which the number seven
is employed in this book, seven is their number. That is the number of
dispensational completeness, and these thunders from the judgment throne are the
thunders of the entire administration from that throne.
[*
This is one of several instances of the established rule that where
anything is mentioned that has been spoken of before, it is preceded by the
definite article. Therefore if the 144,000 Christians in Rev. 14. were the same as the 144,000 Jews on
earth in Rev. 7., tha definite article the
would be prefixed to them, but it is not so prefixed, therefore in Rev. 14. we read, “I
looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on
They
may, therefore, be very properly referred to as specifically “the seven thunders.” Some
detonations of these same thunders were also remarked in the eighth chapter;
for, as the Priest-Angel turned the contents of his fire-filled censer upon the
earth, “there followed thunderings, and
lightnings, and voices.” They are the judgment thunders, and hence
must proceed from the judgment throne, and everything attendant on that throne
takes the characteristic number seven: “seven torches,”
“seven spirits of God,” “seven seals,” “seven angels,” “seven trumpets,” “seven vials;”
and for the same reason, and in the same sense, necessarily “seven thunders” of the Divine indignation.
“The seven thunders” are the judgment thunders of the
throne of God. And when the Lion from the tribe of
There
is also a sort of personality ascribed to these thunders. It is amazing
how everything takes animation, and becomes instinct with life, intelligence,
and sympathy with the heavenly movements, in these awful processes. The
very thunders have distinct articulation added to their terrific
detonations. They speak; they give forth
intelligible utterances. John heard what they said; and when the period
to which he refers once comes, the dwellers on the earth will doubtless also
hear and understand them. Thunder is an expression of the majesty of God,
and of His wrath upon transgressors; and the voices of these “seven thunders” were voices of consummated divine
indignation to be launched upon the guilty world, though the seer was not
permitted to record what they uttered.
At
the beginning of these wonderful visions, he was commanded to write what he
saw, and to make it known unto the churches. Therefore lie says, “When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write: and I
heard a voice out of the heaven saying, Seal up those things which the seven
thunders spoke, and write them not.” The command was
absolute, and the holy apostle obeyed it. What the seven thunders said,
is therefore unwritten and unknown, and must needs remain unknown, till, amid
the ongoings of the judgment as here foreshown, they shall answer the great
voice of the mighty Angel. And, until then, it is enough, and best, that
the children of men should know no more upon this point than that there are
such thunders; that they have utterances to give in sympathy with the lion-cry
of Christ when in the act of proceeding to take possession of the sea and land;
and that those voices, in all their terrific majesty, will be heard when the
time comes. We observe,
4. A NOTABLE DOCUMFNT IN THE HAND OF THIS PERSON.*
[*
Here again we have another instance of the establishect rule reterred to at verse 3, as regards the definite article the.
If this little book were the same as the previously mentioned “Lamb's book of Life scaled with seven seals,” in Rev. 5. and 13: 8,
it would be spoken of as “the Little Book,” but
instead of this, it is introduced as “a little book” in verse 2. It is therefore most assuredly not the sealed
book previously mentioned in Rev. 5., but it
is the Bible, which at this epoch is to be again opened
and preached afresh by religious Reformers to the nations. The idea that
St. John should eat up the Lamb’s Sealed Book of Life which is required to be
produced at the last judgment scene (Rev. 20: 12,
15) is, of course, utterly untenable. But to eat the words of the Bible
is quite intelligible on the part of a prophet: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them” (Jeremiah 15: 16.)‑[EDITOR.]
As
the Angel. proceeded to set his right f oot upon the sea and his left upon the
land, the Apostle saw “in his hand a little book,
or roll.” This is a marked feature, and not without
important significance. It is not the main thing in the vision, as Alford
and some, others have supposed, but it is an expressive accessory to the
thrilling revelation.*
John
says, “The voice which I heard out of the heaven
[I heard] again speaking with me, and saying,
Go, take the book [or roll] which is opened in the hand of the Angel who standeth upon the sea and
upon the land. And I went to the Angel, saying to him, Give me the little
book. And he saith to me, Take, and eat it. And I took the little
book [or roll] out of the
hand of the Angel, and ate it.”
There
is nothing sweeter than the Gospel to a willing and
believing soul. The good things Jesus has obtained for us from the
Father, and especially the title to them, are so suitable to us that every
child of God can exclaim with the Psalmist: “How sweet
are Thy words to my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to the month!”
The victory of the Lamb over sin and death - the meritorious repurchase of our
alienated inheritance - the acknowledged right, and power, and gracious
promise of our Lord, to tread down Satan under our feet, and bring us into the
goodly land of rest - all these are involved with the roll from the Saviour’s
hand, and are like living waters to the thirsty, and precious manna to the
hungry. But,
“E’en the rapture of pardon
is mingled with fears,
And the cup of thanksgiving with penitent
tears.”
No
one can truly eat the book, but he “must prophesy.”
Its power in us is to send on errands, lead through scenes, and charge with
offices and duties, full of hardships, trials, and many a bitterness. The
roll is GOD’S WORD to
5. A NOTABLE PROCLAMATION.
“And the Angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the
land, lifted up his right hand into the heaven, and sware by Him that liveth
for the ages of the ages, who created the heaven and the things in it, and the
earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there shall
be no more delay; but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he
shall sound, the mystery of God is [to
be] fulfilled, even as he preached glad tidings
to* his servants the prophets.”
[* The word here is to address with good
tidings, to preach the Gospel, to declare, including in the
declaration always glad tidings, particularly of salvation.]
The Mystery of God is nothing more nor less than the
final sum of all God’s revelations and doings for the reinstatement of man into
his lost inheritance. The fulfilment of this mystery is the final
accomplishment of the last items of the Divine administrations which make up
that sum - the ultimate realisation of all the foreannouncements made to and by
any and every one of God’s prophets in all the ages - the Gospel of the kingdom
of heaven at length merged into full and everlasting fruition of that kingdom -
the consummation of all things. And concerning this consummation, sundry
particulars are here observable.
(1.) It is true Gospel. What God has made known
concerning it is glad tidings, good news, the proper evangely. People shake
their heads, and say, that we are quite beside the Gospel, if not beside
ourselves, when we preach about the second coming of Christ and the end of all
things; but this mighty Angel is of a different mind. Himself the very
heart and soul and life of everything that is gospel, and apart from whose
person, utterances, and work there is no gospel, He not only makes this
consummation the one sole theme of, perhaps, the most majestic, solemn, and
formal proclamation ever put upon record, but at the same time, and after the
same manner, and as part of the same awful discourse, affirms, that the same
was and is the prime subject of all God’s inspirations of all His
prophets. We, therefore, plant ourselves upon all the divinest of
records, and upon the most authentic, direct, and solemn of all sacred
utterances, and say, that he whose gospel drops and repudiates from its
central themes the grand doctrine of the consummation of all things, as
portrayed in this Apocalypse, is not the true Gospel of God.
(2.)
It is to be accomplished in the period of the seventh trumpet – “in the days of the seventh angel, when he shall sound.”
I say period of the seventh trumpet, for it spans a
section of time, and its sounding is not over in an instant. The word is
not day, but “days;”
as “the days of Abraham,”
“the days of David,” “the days of youth,” “the days of Christ’s sojourn on earth.”
The greatest events of time transpire under this trumpet, and it may overspan
years. It is the grand climacteric of the Apocalypse, and so of these
mysterious administrations of God. And in the days which it embraces, the
whole Mystery of God shall be fulfilled, and everything foretold by the
prophets consummated.
(3)
It will only come after long, repeated, and trying delay, if not on the part of
God, yet in the estimates and expectations of His people. This is
distinctly implied in the proclamation, the gist of which is to meet a feeling
that the whole thing has receded so far into the distance as hardly to be any
more within the bounds of sober credence. The idea is, that there has
been delay, and repeated delay; that time has intervened, and lengthened itself
out to very suspicious proportions; but that, notwithstanding, as God lives,
and has made and controls all things, when once the period of the sixth trumpet
is reached, there shall be no more delay.
The
Scriptures often allude to this postponement beyond all anticipation, and the
temptation and ill-effects of it upon men. Peter tells of people to whom
the thing is put off so long, that they finally turn scoffers, and say, “Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers
fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning;” and
in the same chapter he apologises for the fact that the grand event is so Iong
deferred. It is implied in the fact that some servants shall say, “The Lord delayeth His coming.” The same is
perceptible in the parable of the Ten Virgins, where it is indicated that there
will be such tarrying and delay, that all the animation and zeal upon the
subject largely subside, and all sink into apathy and slumber with regard to
it.
There
is no warrant for any one, at any time since the blessed Saviour ascended, to
put away into the distant future that day when judgment shall begin. The
true attitude of the Church, and that to which all the representations and
admonitions of the Scriptures are framed, is to be looking and ready any day
and every day for the coming of Christ to seize away His waiting and watching
saints. But in faithfully assuming this attitude, and thus hoping and
expecting the speedy fulfilment of what has been promised, the Church has been
made to see one notable and quickening period after another pass away without
bringing the consummation which was anticipated. Eve thought the promise
on the point of fulfilment when Cain was born, for she exclaimed, “I have gotten the man from the Lord;” but He whom she
was expecting was yet 4,000 years away. When Simeon took the infant Saviour to
his bosom, and sang his exulting Nunc dimittis, he supposed that
the time for the consummation had arrived; but it was only the preliminary
advent that he had lived to witness. When John the Baptist thundered his rugged
calls to repentance through the wildernesses of
The
early Christians were lively in their expectations that yet in their day the
standard of the coming One would be seen unfurled in the sky, and all
their hopes be consummated; but the days of the Apostles and of the apostolic
fathers passed, and still “the Bridegroom tarried.”
The Reformation, with the revival of the primitive faith, revived the primitive
hope, that the great day must needs be very close at hand; but the days of the
Reformers passed, and yet the momentous period has not arrived.
(4.)
Though the coming of the final consummation be slow, it will come. There
is not another truth in God’s word that is so peculiarly authenticated.
All the holy prophets since, the world began have foretold it. All the
evangelists and apostles have inwrought it in all their writings as one of the
central and fixed things in the Divine purpose. Jesus Himself has given
us parable on parable, precept upon precept, and promise upon promise, all
directed to this one thing. And God hath certified it to all men, in that
He hath raised up Christ from the dead. But after all the rest of the
canon of Inspiration was finished, another book was indited, making this its
particular and specific theme; and in that book is a particular vision, in
which the mighty Judge Himself appears, and gives forth the most intense and
awful asseveration on the subject.
With
clouds for His garments and the rainbow for His crown - with His face shining
as the sun and His feet glowing like pillars of fire - with a roll in His hand,
lifted by His merit from the throne of infinite majesty, He stretches up His
right hand into the sky, and swears, - swears by the Eternal - swears by the
power which has given birth and being to all things, that, in spite of all the
mistakes, disappointments, delays, and consequent doubts upon the subject, what
was made known to the prophets shall be, and that the time shall come when there
shall be no more delay!
Shall
we then have any doubt upon the subject? Shall we suffer the many and
long delays that have occurred, or that ever may occur, to drive us into the
scoffer’s ranks? True as the life of God - certain as the
Divine eternity - unfailing as the Power which made the
worlds - immutable as the oath of Jesus - the great
consuming day will come, when the whole Mystery of God shall be
fulfilled. Unbelief, away! Misgiving, be thou buried in the depths
of the sea! Doubt, be shamed into everlasting confusion? “Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him,
and they which pierced Him. Even so, Amen.”
Holy
One of heaven, have mercy upon us, and help us to hold fast the profession of
our faith without wavering; for He is faithful that promised!
LECTURE TWENTY-SECOND.
CONNECTION
OF THIS CHAPTER WITH THE PRECEDING - THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN MUST PROPHESY AGAIN -
MEASURING OF THE TEMPLE – “THE HOLY CITY” - THE
JEWS AGAIN IN THE F0REGROUND - CASTING OUT OF THE GENTILES - ZION REDEEMED WITH
JUDGMENT - THE FORTY-TWO MONTHS.
Rev. 11: 1, 2 (Revised
Text) - And there was given to me a reed like to a rod,
saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who
worship in it. And the court which is outside the temple, cast out, and
measure it not; for it is given to the Gentiles; and they shall trample the
holy city forty and two months.
It
is evident that the events here narrated are of a piece with what was described
in the preceding chapter, and follow directly from it. Concerning the
relation between these two chapters, Elliott justly says, “The connection between what concludes the one, and what
begins the other, appears to be as close as it well could be; seeing that the
Angel who before addressed St. John still continues here to address him; and
the new injunction, Rise and measure, is but a sequel to His previous
injunction, ‘Thou must prophesy again.’”*
We there saw the glorious Angel, which is Christ Himself, in the sublime
attitude of taking possession of the earth, by setting His feet upon it, and
swearing that there should be no more delay. And what now comes before us
must, therefore, relate to the same transaction, and to the time and
occurrences in which the same is to be carried into effect. In other
words, it describes to us the ongoing of the judgment, now rapidly moving to
its climax.
[*Horae
‑Apocal. in loc.]
John
having beheld the Angel, is withdrawn from the position of a mere seer
and made an actor. A voice from heaven directs him to take the
document from the Angel’s hand, to eat it, and so to make it his own by
incorporating it with his very being; whilst it is further announced to him: “Thou must prophesy again upon peoples, and nations, and
tongues, and kings many.”
It
is a very common thing in the delivery of sacred prophecies. For the
individual prophet to act in himself what is meant to be understood of thoise
whom he represents. “As remarked long since
Irenaeus, the ancient prophets fulfilled their office predicting, not merely in
the verbal delivery of predictions, but by themselves seeing, hearing, or
acting out the things in type, which were afterwards to be seen, heard, or
acted out by others in reality - and this whether in real life,
or perchance in vision. In all which cases they were to be considered, as
they are called in Isaiah and in Zechariah, mophthim; that
is, figurative or representative persons.”* And
such a representative is
[*Elliott,
Horae Apoc., vol. 1., p. 281.]
Nor
can we be in any doubt as to the persons of whom he is thus the representative.
He is an Apostle, and hence a divinely constituted representative of the
Church. He is in heaven at the time, and so a representative of the
Church thus shown to be in heaven at the time the vision is fulfilled, that is,
of the resurrected, translated, and glorified saints. To the whole body
of redeemed ones are we therefore to understand this giving of the little book
to be.
But
as John receives and eats the little book as the representative of glorified
saints, it is as the self-same representative of the self-same saints, that it
is said to him: “Thou must prophesy again,”
and that it is further commanded him to “Rise
and measure the
To prophesy is not simply to foretell future events; but to
exercise the functions of a witness for God. In the verses following, the
Two Witnesses get their name from their work, and that work is called prophesying.
To declare the will and purpose of God, or to act as His ambassador
and mouthpiece, is to fill the office of a prophet. Aaron was to be
Moses’ prophet, which is explained to mean that he should
be a spokesman and a mouth for
Moses. And so, to be the agent or instrument throuoh which God utters
Himself to men whatever may be the nature or the subject of the utterance, is
to prophesy. Such witnesses and mouthpieces Jehovah has always upon
earth. The whole Church is such a witness and prophet. In and
through it the word of God ever sounds, and the mind and purpose of God ring
out into the ears of the world; and even principalities and powers in the
heavenly places are being instructed by the Church.
Every
individual Christian is a confessor of the true God, in whose confession the
will and purpose of God in Christ Jesus is testified and proclaimed. No
one can become or continue a faithful Christian without this. In so far,
then, every genuine Christian is a real prophet. Through him God speaks
continually. His whole career on earth as a Christian confessor is a
continuous prophesying against the wickedness of the
world, of the necessity of godliness, and of the way of salvation in Christ.
But even after the saints have gone from this world, they have still not yet
done prophesying. As here said to John, they must prophesy again.
After they have been “caught up together to meet
the Lord in the air,” and have “put on
immortality,” and the day of judgment has progressed to the second
woe-trumpet, the Mighty Redeemer having delivered to them the little book, new
commissions issue; and from being mere spectators of the ongoing judgment, they
become actors in its administrations, and once more assume the office of
witnesses for God. And what is involved in this prophesying again,
together with its attendants and results, it is the object and intent of
this chapter to set before us. Let us, therefore, approach it with due
reverence and prayerfulness.
“And there was given to me a reed like to a rod, saying, Rise,
and measure the
These
words set forth the initial processes of the actual taking possession of the
earth by our triumphant Redeemer. Like the judgment administrations as a
whole, it is not a summary, but a gradual work. It certainly extends
through years, and involves various particulars and stages. How, and
where, and in what, the commencement is to be made, we may here learn.
A
remarkable feature in the case is, that the glorified saints are the chief
actors. It is John who receives the equipment and the commission, but in
him, as their representative, the glorified saints in general are included.
This is true in every instance in which he is taken out of the position of a
mere spectator and made an actor in
what is narrated. His call and transfer to heaven, described in the
fourth chapter, set forth the catching up into the aerial spaces all God's
ready and waiting saints when once the time for the fuffilment of these wonders
has come. And so his reception and eating of the little
book, from the nature of the case, must be understood of the whole [watchful and translated]
Church in heaven at the time these scenic representations become reality.
So then likewise must we understand the prophesying again, and hence also the
equipment and commission in the words in hand; for they all necessarily go
together as parts of each other, and must be accepted in one and the same way
throughout. The giving and the command are to John, but only for the
convenience of the description, whilst in the fulfilment they are to the whole
body of glorified saints, for John here stands in place of the saints.
Nor
need we be surprised at this, as if it were something foreign to the teachings
of the Scriptures in general. Paul, in a plain and didactic epistle, says: “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge Me world
?” (1 Cor. 6: 2.) So also
says the Psalmist: “Let the saints be joyful in glory:
let them sing aloud upon their couches: let the high praises of God be in their
mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the
heathen and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and
their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment
written. This honour have all the saints.” (Psa. 149: 5-9.)
The
office assigned in this particular instance, is the measuring of the temple and
altar of God, and those who worship therein. Measuring is
a judicial act - the laying down of lines and borders which are to mark and determine
dimentions and boundaries. It is the sign of appropriation. When it
is proposed to take possession, and to have things put to their purpose, men
begin to measure. In the settlement of some new order, as beheld by
Ezekiel, there is a great deal of measuring and marking out of portions and
possessions. And so when the triumphant Redeemer is about to enter upon
the inheritance, He gives command to measure. What is measured
is
from that moment His, and so designated by the measuring. What the lines
of the measurement include, He acknowledges and claims; and any indignity
rendered toward it becomes a heinous sin against High Heaven. And what is
outside of those lines, and not measured, is not acknowledged by Him, but is
rejected, and held and treated as defiled.
The
first things thus measured are the temple, the altar, and the worshippers in
that temple. The measuring here commanded implies that what is measured
had not, up to that time, been acknowledued on the part of Christ. This
could not be true of the Church. The language is peculiarly Jewish.
There is a fane, an altar, and a court of the Gentiles spoken of; which accords
with the Jewish economy, but not with the Christian.* There is a “holy city” here alluded to, which is given to the Gentiles
to trample for a time, which carries us directly to Jerusalem, and indicates
that we are here unmistakably on Jewish ground. There is no other city on
earth so called in the Scriptures. In the account of the return from
[* Dr. Andrew Clarke, in loc. Says: “This must refer to the
What, then, is the implication, but that when this period
is once reached,
Important
changes are likewise indicated by this measuring. Where there is a new
laying out of lines, the old is cast away, and things take a new shape.
The same is indicated in the character of the rule or instrument of the
measurement. In measuring the New Jerusalem in heaven (Rev. 21.) the instrument is a “golden reed.” Here it is “a reed like to a rod” - a
measuring implement, but having the prevailing aspect of an instrument of
chastisement - hence indicative of an afflictive, revolutionising
measurement. There will, therefore, be rejections of some things, and
additions of others. In other words, there will be a purging of the
temple after the style of the proceeding of the Saviour when He took a scourge
in His hand, and somewhat disturbed the business of the money-changers and them
that sold doves. It is a measuring which is to proceed according to a
rule which operates as a rod.
It
appears, therefore, that, from the time of the measuring here described, there
is again to be a true and divinely acknowledged
For how can that be sacrilegiously desecrated
which God refuses to acknowledge or disown? The
great aggravation of the sin of Antichrist is, that he sets up an idol in
Jehovah’s place, and turns God’s true and acknowledged temple into a house of
murderous idolatry. There must, therefore, be a true
The
measurement of the temple, its altar, and its worshippers, is the receiving
again of the Jew, his regrafting upon the old theocratic root and native
olive-tree, and his reestablishment as the chosen of God among the nations of
the earth; and the casting out of the court of the Gentiles, is the
diminishing, cutting off, and casting away of the Gentiles from their present
rank and privileges.
But
though God be again choosing
It
is what is measured that suffers under the trampling, and the purged temple is
again briefly defiled by the Gentiles. Nay, the measuring itself involves
chastisement and trouble to those who are the subjects of it. The reed with
which it is done, is “like to a rod;”
and a rod in the Apocalypse always denotes an instrument of chastisement. (See chapters 2: 27; 12: 5; 19: 15.) It is likewise
written of those then to be received into particular favour: “I will bring them through the fire, and will refine them as
silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried.” (Zech. 13: 9.) And the ordeal includes just
such a spoliation of the holy city as is here described; for God says He “will gather all nations (Gentiles) against
But
the trouble, though sharp and severe, will not be perpetual, nor long; for “then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations
(Gentiles) as when He fought in the day of
battle. And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives,
which is before
“Forty and two months” is the holy city to be trampled that is,
THREE YEARS AND A HALF, no more, and no less. It is a literal city that
is trampled and defiled; it is a literal oppression and affliction that befalls
it; and so the months which compute the duration of the trouble are also
literal months.
The
computation is given in “months,” which is common in the
Scriptures when troubles and afflictions are the subject. The beginning
and duration of the flood is expressed in months. The
ark was in the country of the Philistines seven months. The locusts
torment men five months. And
The
number of the months is forty-two - six times the period
that the ark was in captivity. Six is the number of evil, and seven of
dispensational completion, and these are two marked factors of forty-two
; which would seem to sipify a fulness or completion of the evil in
those months.
But
ere the forty-two months are accomplished, there are yet many other things to
come to pass, among the most marked of which is the history of The Two
Witnesses. But what I have to say concerning these must be
reserved for another occasion. Meanwhile, may the Lord add His blessing
to what has been said, and cause it to be fruitful in bringing forth praises to
His holy Name!
LECTURE TWENTY-THIRD.
THE
TWO WITNESSES – THEIR CONSPICUOUSNESS – THE ACCOUNT OF THEM DICTATED BY CHRIST
– THEIR NUMBER – THEIR PERSONALITY – THEIR INDIVIDUALITY – ARE SAINTS FROM
HEAVEN – DISTINCT FROM RESURRECTED AND GLORIFIED SAINTS – ENOCH AND ELIJAH
ANSWER TO THE DESCRIPTION – BEINGS FROM HEAVEN HAVE COME TO EARTH AND DIED –
THE PERSONAL RETURN OF ELIJAH AFFIRMED BY MALACHI, CHRIST, THE JEWS, THE
CHRISTIAN FATHERS – A TWOFOLD ELIJAH COMING – ANOTHER PROPHET TO ACCOMPANY
ELIJAH – ENOCH THAT PROPHET – BOTH ARE JUDGMENT PROPHETS – THEIR CLOTHING – HOW
“THE TWO OLIVE-TREES AND THE TWO LAMPS” – THEIR STANDING BEFORE THE LORD OF THE
EARTH.
Rev. 11: 3, 4 (Revised
Text). – And I will give to My two witnesses and they shall
prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.
These are the two olive-trees and the two lamps, which stand before
the Lord of the earth.
Whoever
these witnesses may be, they are the most extraordinary of whom there is any account.
Many martyrs perish under the Beast (see chapters
13: 15; 20: 4); but none of them receive a tithe of the notice given to
these two. Antichrist himself, in all his despicable pre-eminence and
vast dominion, does not more conspicuously stand out on the record than
they. Nay, in all the earth there are none to cope with him but
them. He tramples the world beneath his feet, and they alone are more
formidable against him than all other men besides.
These
Witnesses are not presented to John in vision. They are described to him
by the glorious angel, who is the Lord Jesus Himself. The account we have
of them is not John’s account, as in most other instances in this book; but it
is Christ’s account, given in Christ’s own words. But few
interpreters have remarked this, though a striking feature of the case, which
shows that we here have to do with something altogether extraordinary and
special.*
[*
“From verse 3, to the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the matter is not
exhibited in a vision, but was dictated to John by an Angel representing
Christ; the observation whereof is of no small consequence.” - Joseph
Mode, Key of the Rev. in loc.]
The
narrative is also somewhat anticipative. It brings together into one
compendious account the whole history, some of the details of which relate to
agencies and scenes which are only afterwards described in full. The Beast who
makes war with these Witnesses, and slays them, is not seen coming up till we
reach the thirteenth chapter. Their career accordingly reaches into
subsequent visions, and overspans scenes and events which remain to be
afterwards narrated. And the fact that the whole story of these Witnesses
is presented separately from everything else, in a different manner, and
somewhat in advance of some of its connections, conclusively argues a
peculiarity, conspicuity, and extraordinariness in the matter, which cannot
well be exaggerated.
These
Witnesses are two in number. This duality is three times repeated, and is
an essential part of the record. As stated by Alford, “no interpretation
can be right which does not retain and bring out this dualism. Why two,
we do not fully know. Both the law and the Gospel calls for two witnesses
to establish important truth. (Dent. 17: 6; Matt.
18: 16.) God generally sets His heralds and witnesses in pairs, as
Moses and Aaron, Caleb and Joshua, Zerubbabel and Jeshua, Peter and John, the
twelve and the seventy, “two by two.” And
in the trying circumstances here described, two could better uphold and console
each other than one without companionship.
These
witnesses are persons. Ten times do we find this
word … in the New Testament, and in every place it denotes persons.
In more than fifty places in the Old Testament, the corresponding Hebrew
word denotes persons only. These Witnesses prophesy.
This is the work of a person. More than one
hundred times does this word … occur in the Bible, and never, except once by
metonymy, but of persons. These Witnesses wear clothing of sackcloth, of
which we read much in the Scriptures, but always of persons.
They work miracles and execute judgments, but nothing of the sort is ever
predicted of anything but personal agents. Not without the greatest
violence to language and fact, therefore, can we regard these Witnesses as
other than real persons.
These
witnesses are individuals. No reader of the account,
having no preconceived theory to defend, would ever think of taking them for
bodies, or successions of people. All the early fathers, from whom we
have any testimony on the subject, regarded them as two individual men.
WHO, THEN, ARE THESE TWO WITNESSES?
The
connection in which the account of them is given, may serve to put us somewhat
on the track of the right answer. These Witnesses come upon us suddenly
in the midst of the scenes of the judgment. The glorious Angel, which is
Christ, is in the act of taking possession of the carth. New commissions
have gone forth, which introduce the saints in heaven to new activities
relating to the earth. In the person of John they are commanded to
measure the temp1e, its altar, and the worshippers in it. And in
connection with this command, and as part of the same address of the glorious
Angel, the word is: “And I will give to my Two
Witnesses, and they shall prophecy a thousand two hundred and sixty days.
These are the two olive-trees, and the two lamps which stand before the Lord of
the earth.”
Now,
as saints from heaven are to do the measuring and the Two Witnesses are promised,
in part it least, to accompany the measuring, would it not be natural to
suppose them also to be some noted saints from heaven?
Saints from heaven are in the field. These Witnesses fulfil their office
in connection with a work assigned to those saints, and in some sort by way of
co-operation or supplement of the same. Why should we then think of their
being any other than also saints from heaven? Hence, with the whole body
of the early Church, I take them to be none other than two such saints from heaven.
The
saints who have once died, and been resurrected and glorified, have put on
immortality*, and are no longer capable of
death. “Once to die” is the lot
appointed unto men; and having paid that debt, bodily death hath no more power
over them. And as these Two Witnesses die subsequent to their
prophesying, we are driven to search for some saints in heaven, who never
have died.
Nor
will our search be a fruitless one. The Scriptures tell of two
noted prophets, who have now been thousands of years in heaven,* and who, for aught we know to the contrary, are
just as capable of death and resurrection as ever; especially if God has so
arranged and intended. Need I say more plainly to whom I allude?
They are so marvellously distinguished in the Scriptures from all others of the
race, that it is at once suggested to the Christian mind who they are.
They were, and still are, God’s pre-eminent witnesses. They were God’s
most noted prophets while they sojourned upon earth, and, in the manner of
their removal from among men, they are the only witnesses of the kind that God
ever gave. One of them lived on the other side of the flood, “and was not, for God took him.” The other was a
Jew, of the degenerate times of Ahab, and Jezebel, who “went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” The one is ENOCH,
the seventh from Adam; the other is
ELIJAH, the Tishbite.
[* It is questionable that
the Two Witnesses ascended into the highest heaven – the dwelling
place of God – without immortal bodies! Furthermore, there
is no scriptural accout to suggest that they came to earth
from heaven! They must therefore have
ascended from Hades/Sheol – the intermediate place of the saints until the time
of the “First
Resurrection.” Only then will they “have put on immortality” as suggested
above: See John 3: 13. cf. 1 Sam. 28; Matt. 27: 52. “Those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age
and in the resurrection [out] from the dead … can no longer die; for they are like the
angels:” (Luke 20: 35, 36,
N.I.V.). Was this not the error of Hymenaeus and Philetus? A
failure to distinguish all precious resurrections, (where those resurrected
died later) from “the First Resurrection,”
which will occur at “the coming of the Lord” at
the end of the Great Tribulation: (Rev.
20: 6; 2 Tim. 2: 18; 1 Thess. 4: 15, 16: Matt. 24: 30. )]
It
may strike the modern ear with some surprise to hear of these saints,
or any saints, returning again to earth here to suffer and be
killed. We live in a very materialistic and sceptical age;
- one slow to believe, and very unwilling to receive anything outside of the
common round of human observation. People see things running on in one
channel, and call it Nature, and will not hear of the possibility of any
variation from it, though what they reject may really be no more unnatural than
what they admit. They are so impressed with the uniformity and stability
of things around them, though knowing almost nothing about them, that they give
out with great confidence: “Since the fathers fell
asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation”
(2 Pet. 3: 4), and ridicule the credulity of
those who can listen to anything else. They forget how the Scriptures
pronounce against such a temper, and foretell it as one of the marked symptoms
of the last days, and warn us to beware of it as unspeakably dangerous with
regard to the predicted wonders of the judgment time. We must, therefore,
make due allowance for the sceptical spirit of our modern atmosphere, and not
reject extraordinary truth simply because it strikes us as too extraordinary.
“There are more things in
heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Neither
is it so unheard-of or improbable a thing after all, that beings from heaven
[or Hades] should come to the earth, and suffer, and die, and rise again.
An infinitely longer time than since the rapture of Enoch, had the blessed and
adorable Son of God been in heaven; yet He came to earth, suffered, died, and
rose again. Even after His incarnation, on the mount with Peter, James,
and John, He was as much arrayed in heavenly glory as Elijah who there appeared
in converse with Him; yet, from that holy mount, and glory, and sublime
transfiguration, he came down, and suffered, and died. Paul
was once in heaven, caught up, he knew not how, and saw and heard things he
dared not tell; and yet, he came back, and preached, and suffered, and
died. John was called up to heaven, to behold the wonders that are
described in this Book; yet he also returned, and suffered, and died.
And
if the the eternal Son of God, from the very throne of Deity, and the Son of
Mary from the mount with Moses and Elijah in glory, and Paul in the third
heaven, and John amid the wonders of the scenes he writes of in the Apocalypse,
could and did come from thence to preach, and suffer, and die,
what laws of things, or word of Revelation, can be produced to preclude the
possibility of a like return, suffering, and death on the part of Enoch and
Elijah? There are no such laws, and there is no such word.
But
so marvellous a truth is not to be rested on mere likelihoods and
probabilities. We must have something positive and decided for it, or
dismiss it as a fancy. Something positive and decisive, however, we have.
Turning
back to the ancient prophets, we find this word: “Behold,
I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord,
whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the
covenant, whom ye delight in: behold He shall come, saith the Lord of
hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand
when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap: and
He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of Silver: and He shall purify the sons
of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord
an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of
This
is God’s own word - the closing word of the Old Testament. It names
Elijah the prophet, even Elijah the Tishbite, and says that God will send him
again upon earth, to minister among men as the forerunner of the great and
terrible day of the Lord - the day of the final overthrow of all the hosts of
the wicked.
Here,
then, we would seem to come upon solid Scriptural ground. If Elijah means
Elijah, and the great and terrible day of the Lord is the day of Christ’s final
coming in judicial majesty to crush out Satan and his seed, there is no
alternative left to believers in God’s word, but to receive the doctrine that
Elijah is to come again to prophesy and execute works of judgment upon earth,
and just in that period of time to which the Apocalypse assigns these Two
Witnesses. Whatever else may be compassed by the prediction, and in
whatever narrower circles it may have been fulfilled, if words are not utterly
deceitful, and certainty can at all be predicated of God’s very specific
promises, this prophecy cannot be considered fulfilled or accomplished in the
past, nor until Elijah the Tishbite, in propria persona, returns again
to the earth.
We
accordingly find that the book of Ecclesiasticus (which the Roman
Catholic Church receives as inspired, which the fathers and Reformers highly
honoured, and which Protestants often have bound in their Bibles between the
Old and New Testament), eulogises Elijah and says, that he is anointed by God’s
order to appear again in the world, to rebuke evil, declare the impending
judgment, reconcile the children of Jacob, rescue many, and make the way for
the great and terrible day then about to break. (Chap.
48: 1‑1l.) Hence also the ancient Jewish believers up to the time
of Christ, as all strict Jews since, looked for the reappearance of Elijah in
the flesh as the herald of the victorious Messiah.
[*See
Etheridge’s Targums on the Pentateuch, I, 33, 34.]
**
“Pesiqta Rab., fol. 62, col. 1, speaks of It.
JaIkuth Shimoni, fol. 53, col. 3, gives the same view: ‘Elijah will come
three days [years ?] before the
Messiah;’ quoted in Eisenmeng. Entdeckt. lud., II., p. 696. So the
Talmund, Tract. Shabbath, fol. 118, col. 1; Rabbi Bechai, Shulcan Arba, fol. 5,
col.4; Jalkuth Shimoniin in Mal., fol.88, col. 4; each and all repeat the same
sentiment, Eisenm., ut supra, p. 712. Emek Hammelakh repeatedly declares
the same thing; quoted in Eisenm., H., 714, 715.” - Stuart
in loc.,
II,222.
“The passages from later Jews
may be found collected in Frischmuth (De Eliae Adventue,
“Indeed, the Jewish belief in
the literal appearance of Elias as the herald of the Messiah was universal, and
so universal close it continue to this hour, oven after the lapse of eighteen
centuries, that the Jews at their marriage feasts always place a chair and
knife and fork for Elijah. They also set a chair for him at their
passover feast, at which time they more especially look for him.” - Armageddon,
vol. i., p. 131.
“In the celebration of the
Passover two large cups are filled with wine. One of these is taken by
the master of the house, and a blessing pronounced. After this blessing
the head of the family gives the cup to all those sitting around. He then
brings forth the hidden cake, and distributes a piece to each. The second
cup of wine, called ‘Elijah’s cup,’ is then placed before him;
the door is opened, and a solemn pause of expectation ensues. It is at this
moment that the Jews expect that the coming of Elijah will take place to
announce the glad tidings that the Messiah is at hand. Well do I
remember the interest with which, when a boy, I looked towards the door, hoping
that Elijah might really enter; for, notwithstanding the disappointment year
after year, his arrival is still confidently expected.” – Herschell’s
Brief Sketch p. 61.]
Some
say that this was a mistake - a mere Jewish notion. If so, it was a most
extraordinary mistake. What was so devoutly accepted, taught, and
believed by the holiest saints from Malachi to Christ, the theme of so many
holy prayers and songs, and given out for the truth of God by the most eminent
Christian fathers down to and inclusive of Jerome and Augustine,
cannot safely be set down as a groundless conceit. We also have the
highest Scriptural reasons for believing that it was not an empty notion, but a
part of the true and abiding Revelation of God. Jesus Himself has affixed
His own infallible authentication to it, and in such explicit terms that we can
only wonder how people can speak so contemptuously of it as some writers who
call themselves Christians.
On
the mount of Christ’s glorious Transfiguration Elijah appeared. The
disciples saw him and knew him. And, as they were coming down from the
mount, they asked the Master about this very point, alleging the doctrine of
the scribes that “Elias must first come.”
And He answered and said unto them: “ELIAS TRULY
SHALL FIRST COME, AND RESTORE ALL THINGS.” (Matt.
17: 1l.) This passage is decisive. “The
great Interpreter of prophecy gives right to that interpretation of the
prophetic word which the scribes maintained,” says Trench.
It cannot refer to John the Baptist, for John was then dead, while every part
of it specifically relates to the future. “Elias truly shall come,* and shall restore all things.”**
Besides, the restoration or “restitution of all things”
in the which it is affirmed that the coming Elias is to take part, is
specifically referred by the Apostle Peter to the time of Christ’s second
coming. (Acts 3: 19.)
[*
The [Greek] word
here is …, which is indeed in the present tense, and might be read cometh,
or is coming, which would still not admit of
application to John, whose whole career was then in the past; but it is a
well-known rule in Greek composition to use the present tense when it is meant
to emphasise the certainty of something still future, representing the thing in
contemplation as actually commenced already. See Jelf’s Greek
Grammar, 397, and Winer’s Idioms, 41, 2.
But, in the next clause, which describes the work of the coming Elias, is
in the future, and can by no means be applied to the work of
John, which was then entirely in the past. Our translators have, therefore,
rightly rendered it shall come.
**
“Did John restore anything? He restored
nothing. He was the inspired rebuker of a country’s sins, and he bade
them prepare for the reception of that country’s Lord; but he literally
restored nothing. And, therefore, this must apply to what shall be, and
not to that which has already been.” - Cumming, in loc.]
In
all its terms and relations, therefore, we are compelled to accept this solemn
declaration of the Saviour as looking to the future, and meant to set forth
what yet awaited fulfilment. John the Baptist is here out of the
question, unless indeed he is to come again. Dr. Stier has rightly
said: “Whoever, in this answer of Christ, would
explain away the manifest and striking confirmation of the fact that a coming
of Elias was yet to take place, must do great violence to the words, and will
never be able to restrain the future of their form and import so as to be
applicable to John the Baptist.”
But,
it may be asked, Did not Christ say in the same connection, that Elias had come
already, leaving it to be understood that He spoke of John the Baptist?
The answer is, Yes; but in a way entirely distinct from the declaration we have
just been considering. Elsewhere also he says of John: “If ye will receive [it,
him, or something else] this is Elias, which
was for to come.” (Matt. 11: 14.)*
This proves that there is a sense in which John the Baptist was Elias, but
certainly not such a sense as that in which the Jews were expecting Elias, nor
yet such a sense as that in which He declared, after John was dead: “Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.”**
John was not the literal Elias. This we are compelled to admit, or else he
did not tell the truth; for when the priests and Levites asked him, “Art thou Elias?” he answered, “I AM NOT.” (John 1: 21.)
[*
Our translators here have not been very happy in their rendering. [The
Greek] ... does not mean Elias which was for to come in the
exclusive sense that there could be no further coming of Elias more literally than
in John the Baptist, but rather bears the intimation that a further coming is
to be awaited. The literal translation would be, “He [in some sense] is Elias who is
about to come.” John had come and was then in
prison, but the true, the literal Elias-coming is given as future.
**
The apodosis in this passage is not between the two affirmstions as to
the truth of one and the falsity of the other, for both are given as
true. There is no limitation or negation of the first clause by what is
said in the second; but the distinction indicated is, that one contemplates the
Elias in one sense of the promise, i.e., literally, and the other in another
sense, i.e., figuratively; neither being at all inconsistent with the
other. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias
[on the one hand, in one respect] is coming first, and shall
restore all things; [i.e., on the other hand, in another respect], I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and
they knew him not.” As Alford expresses it, “The double allusion is only the
assertion that the Elias (in spirit and power) who foreran our Lord’s first
coming, was a partial fulfilment of the great prophecy which announces the real
Elias, who is to forerun His greater and second coming.”
(in loc.) The Lord answers, not by hinting that the scribes
were mistaken in their literal interpretation, but by intimating a double
fulfilment of the promise. He asserts at once the partial fulfilment of
it already, and its future accomplishment. The holding of both these views
is absolutely necessary to render this passage intelligible - Govett
on Rev., p. 158. Jesus declares the opinion of the scribes concerning
the coming of Elias in person, according to Mal. 4:
5, to be wholly correct, and defines the kind of labours in which he is
to be engaged; but intimates that one had already exercised for Him this
office, one whom the scribes had put to death, one who had wrought in the
spirit and power of Elias. – Olhausen in loc. “Jesus confirms the literal accuracy of the prophecy, showing
that John was in truth what the angel Gabriel had announced he would be, one
coming in the spirit and power of Elias, but not the
predicted Restorer of all things, for he was the forerunner of the dissolution
instead of the restoration of the Jewish polity and nation. But speaking
in the future tense, he says, that Elias truly shall first come and restore all
things.” - Armageddon,.vol. L, 112.]
And
this clear and positive denial is farther sustained by the facts (1) that he
did not restore all things as was predicted of Elias, and (2) that the great
and terrible day, which was to be ushered in immediately upon the finishing of
the Elijah ministry, did not succeed the ministry of John, but is even yet.
Future. Whilst, therefore, there is a sense of much importance in which
John was Elias, there is another, more literal and equally
important sense, in which he was not Elias, and in which Elias is
still to be expected, according to the Saviour’s own word.
There
was a twofold ministry embraced in the ancient promise to send Elijah, just as
there was a twofold advent in the predictions concerning the Messiah. In
neither case did the Old Testament clearly distinguish between these two, but
viewed them both as if they were but one. And as the two Messiah-comings
are widely separated in time, though belonging to one and the same
work; so there are two Eljah-commings, equally separated in time,
and equally comprehended in the predictions. Hence John, as the
forerunner of Christ in the first advent, was Elias; that is, he filled the
Elijah place? operated in the Elijah spirit and energy, did for that occasion
the Elijah work, and so far fulfilled the Elijah promise. As the angel
said of him before he was born, he went before Christ “in the spirit and power of Elias” (Luke 1: 15-17); which implies that he was not
Elias himself.
The
Saviour could, therefore, truly say of him while living, “If ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come;”
and so likewise,after he was dead, “Elias is come
already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.”
John the Baptist operated in the spirit and energy of Elias, and performed the
Elijah mission for the first advent, and so far “was Elias,” but, according to the word of
the angel, only the virtual, and not the literal
Elias. He could accordingly answer the Jews, who had in mind the
literal Elias, that he was not Elias, while yet, in
another respect, he was Elias. In him the prediction
in Malachi concerning the sending of Elijah had a true and real fulfilment, but
only a partial, germinant, preliminary fulfilment, whilst the highest and
ultimate fulfilment respects another advent of the Messiah, and the coming of
the literal Elijah as the herald of it.
Such
also is the view which the fathers took of the matter and so they held and
taught on the subject with great unanimity.
Justin Martyr says, “If Scripture compels.
you to admit two advents, shall we not allow that the word of God has proclaimed
that Elijah shall be the precursor of the great and terrible day, that is, of
His second advent? Accordingly our Lord in His teachings proclaimed that this
very thing would take place, saying, that Elijah would also come. And we
know that this shall take place when our Lord Jesus Christ shall come in glory
from heaven; whose first manifestation the Spirit of God who was in Elijah
preceded as herald in John.”*
[*
Dialogue with Trypho, cap. 49.]
Hippolytus says, “As two advents of our
Lord are indicated in the Scriptures, also two forerunners are indicated, the
first was John, the son of Zacharias. He first fulfilled the course of
forerunner. But since the Saviour is to be manifested again at the end of
the world, it is matter of course that His forerunners must appear first, as He
says by Malachi, I will send to you Elias the Tishbite before the day of the
Lord, who shall come and proclaim the manifestation of Christ that is to be
from heaven, and perform signs and wonders.”*
[*
Concerning Christ and Antichrist, 44, 45, 46.]
So
too Origen: “The vision upon the
mountain in which Elias was seen, did not appear to agree with what the scribes
had said; for it seemed Elias came not before Jesus, but after
Him. They asked the question, therefore, supposing that the scribes had
misled them. But to this the Saviour answers, not contradicting the
tradition about Elias, but declaring that there was another
coming of Elias before Christ, which had been unknown to the scribes.”*
[*
on Matt. 17: 10 seq.]
Victorinus, Methodius,
Cyprian, and Lactantius
express the same belief and expectation that Elijah is yet to come in
person.*
[*
See Elliott’s Horae Apoc., vol. iv., Appendix.]
Chtysostom says, “As John was the
forerunner of the first coming, so will Elias be the forerunner of the second
coming” – “Christ called John Elias on account
of his performing the same office.”*
[*
See Suicers Thesaurus, vol. i., p. 1317, art. 1 …, where the
criginal quotations are given.]
Theophylact says, “By saying that Elias cometh,
He shows that he was not yet come; he will come as a
forerunner of the second Advent, and will restore to the faith of Christ all
the Jews who are open to persuasion.” “If we
will receive it, that is, if ye will understand it wisely (if we will
not take it too literally), this [John] is he of whom the prophet Malachi spoke as the coming Elias;
for the forerunner and Elias perform the same service.”*
[*
See Suicers Thesaurus, vol. i., p. 1317, art. 1 …, where the criginal
quotations are given.]
Jerome writes, “Elias himself, who
will truly come in the body at the second
coming of Christ, has now come in the spirit through the
medium of John the Baptist.”*
[*
See Suicers Thesaurus, vol. i., p. 1317, art. 1 …, where the
criginal quotations are given.]
And
so the great Augustine: “It is a
familiar theme in the conversation and heart of the faithful, that in the last
days before the judgment the Jews shall believe in the true Christ by means of
this great and admirable prophet Elias, who shall expound the law to
them. For not without reason do we hope that before the coming of our
Judge and Saviour Elias shall come.”*
[*
De Civ. Dei, xxii. 29.]
And
so profoundly and universally was this belief rooted and grounded in the early
Christian heart and teaching, that De la Cerda says, “All the ancient fathers have delivered it;” and Huetius
testifies, “It is the constant and most received
opinion of the Church, and all the fathers;” and Maldonatus
declares, “It was always the most constant opinion of
Christians that Elias was to come before the day of judgment;”* and Bellarmine
gives it as his belief that to reject this doctrine is, vel haeresis
vel haeresi proximus error - either heresy, or error next
thing to heresy.**
[*
Quoted by
See
this whole subject more fully discussed in Armageddon, by a Master of
Arts of the University of Cambridge, vol. i., pp. 97-116; Gresswell On
the Parables, vol. 1., p. 153 seq.; Homes’s Resurrection
Revealed, pp. 219.226.]
And
so likewise it was expected and believed by both Jews and Christians, that the
returned Elijah would be accompanied by some other great prophet of the olden
time, who was almost uniformly believed to be Enoch. Hence
the book of Ecclesiasticus (according to the rendering of Bossuet,
who regarded it as inspired and canonical) sets forth that Enoch is to come
again, turn the hearts of the disobedient, and give repentance to the
generations then living (Wisd. 44: 16),
after the same manner that it speaks of Elijah. Hence, when John the
Baptist told the messengers of the Jews that he was not Elias, they immediately
asked him the farther question: “Art thou that prophet?”
and wondered who he could be if “not that
Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet.” (John 1: 19-25.)
The
apocryphal Gospels, Acts, &c., which, though we go not to them for
doctrine, belong to the early literature of the Church, and hence are competent
witnesses as to the opinions current among Christians at the time they were
written, are also very positive and clear in the assertion that Enoch,
with Elijah, is to witness again upon earth. In the history of
Joseph the carpenter, Jesus is represented as saying: “Enoch
and Elias must, toward the end of time, return into the world and die, namely,
in the day of commotion, terror, perplexity, and affliction; for Antichrist
will slay them.” (Chap. 31.) So
in the Gospel of Nicodemus, two old men are found living in their bodies
in paradise, one of whom says: “I am Enoch who
was well-pleasing to God, and who was translated hither by Him; and this is
Elias the Tishbite; and we are also to live until the end of the world; and
then we are to be sent by God to withstand Antichrist, and to be slain by him,
and after three days to rise again, and to be snatched up in clouds to meet the
Lord.” (Chap. 9. alias 25.)
So
also in an ancient book called Revelation of John, a voice from heaven
is represented as saying: “Three years shall those
times be. ... And then I shall send
forth Enoch and Elias to convict him [Antichrist]; and they shall show him to be a liar and deceiver; and he
shall kill them at the altar, as said the prophet.” So also Tertallian
(De Anima, 50): “Enoch was translated, and so was
Elijah; nor did they experience death; it was deferred; they are reserved for
the suffering of death, that by their blood they may extinguish Antichrist.”
Arethas (on Rev. 11: 13) declares the
two Witnesses to be Enoch and Elijah, and claims that this was held with one
accord in his day - concorditer affirmatur. Ephraem the Syrian,
in quite another section of the Church, speaking of the Antichrist and the
great day of judgment, says, “But, before these
things, the merciful Lord will send Elijah the Tishbite, and with him Enoch, to
teach religion to the human race: and they shall preach boldly to all men the
knowledge of God, exhorting them not to believe in the tyrant through
fear. They shall cry out and say, ‘This is a deceiver, 0 ye men.
Let none of you in any way believe him: for in a little while he will be
utterly abolished. Behold, the Lord, the Holy One, cometh from heaven!’”*
[*
Sermon on Antichrist. See Maitland’s Apost. School of Proph.
Interp., p. 218.]
So
also Ambrose, who reproves Victorinus for substituting the name
of Jeremiah in the place of Enoch as the companion of Elijah in the last years
of this present world. And scarcely, until after the first half of the
Christian ages, do we hear of any other testimony on the subject.
Whenever we hear of the last great Antichrist and the Witnesses who withstand
him unto death, Elijah and Enoch, Enoch and Elijah are the
names we hear from the lips of the most eminent teachers, bishops, apologists,
and martyrs, from the time of the Apostles onward. Modern Christendom has
well nigh dropped these names from all such connections, as it has also well
nigh dropped most of the characteristics of primitive Christianity itself; but
nothing that it has substituted in place of these names can claim even a moiety
either of the Scriptural or the traditional evidences, which still, in spite of
everything, continue to proclaim Enoch and Elijah
The Two Witnesses.*
[*
Luther thus expresses himself on the subject: “The
old opinion that Elias and Enoch are to come again in the time of Antichrist,
is derived from the text where Christ says, Elias truly shall first come and
restore all things. It has found place in all the books, and has
spread itself through the entire Church. We have no controversy with
those who entertain this old belief. They may even wait for a coming of
Enoch and Elijah, if they will also permit us to regard it as only an
opinion. It is also allowed to believe it possible to interpret the passages
in Malachi and Ecclesiasticus as predicting that Elias shall come again.”
- Walch vol.xii., 208.
“The whole question rests on this, whether the prophet
Malachi is speaking of the second coming of the Lord at the end of the world,
or of the first coming in the flesh and in the Gospel. If he is speaking
of the day of judgment, then certainly Elias is to be looked for again; for God
cannot lie.” Walch, vol. xi., col. 140.
“What shall be said then of the coming again of Elias and
Enoch to withstand Antichrist? I answer: concerning the coming again of
Elias I hang between heaven and earth, and waver the more with reference to it,
that I am of opinion he will not come bodily. I also do not contend hard
against it. I let those believe it who are so minded. St. Augustine
in one place says, ‘that the coming of Elias and the Antichrist is clearly
shown to Christians.’”- Walch, vol. xii., 208.]
It
is also to be observed that these Witnesses are described as specially Christ’s
witnesses. He styles them by emphasis “My two
Witnesses” - not so much witnesses for Christ in general as the Mediator
and Redeemer of men, but the witnesses of Christ in the particular character
and relations in which He was then speaking, namely, as the Mighty
Judgment-Angel coming down from heaven, robed in clouds, His face like the sun,
and His feet as pillars of fire, about to execute vengeance on His foes, and
Himself take possession of the earth. And of all men that have ever lived,
Enoch and Elijah are the judgment prophets. This
particular impress was upon their ministry from the very beginning.
As
to Enoch, this characteristic is particularly emphasised. Milton sings of
him, that he
- “spake much of right and
wrong,
Of Justice, of Religion, Truth, and Peace,
And Judgment from above;”
but
from a higher inspiration than that of Milton we learn, that the grand
substance of his faith, and preaching, and prophesying, was the last
named. We do not know of a single other word that he ever uttered save on
this theme of “Judgment from above.” There
is no evidence that he ever preached on any other subject. The
all-absorbing, all-comprehending as all-characterising topic of his entire
ministry, as attested by the New Testament, was this, that he prophesied,
saying “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand
of His saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that are ungodly
among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of
all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
(Jude 14, 15.) He was, therefore, the
great prophet of judgment before the flood, and hence one special witness of
Christ in the specific character of the strong Angel coming down from heaven in
the clouds to execute vengeance upon the guilty.
As to Elijah, he was also pre-eminently a messenger
and prophet of judgment. The Book of Ecclesiasticus says of him, that he
stood up as fire, and his word burned like a lamp; he brought sore famine upon
the guilty, and by his zeal he diminished their number, and brought kings to
destruction, and anointed kings to take revenge. (Ecel.
48: 1-8.) Words and works of death and portent to the wicked
constituted the great outstanding characteristic of his whole prophetic career,
interspersed with the power of resurrection. His spirit was not the
evangelic, but the judgment spirit.
That
wild figure, that stern voice, those deeds of blood, that vehemence of judicial
administration, which stand out in such startling relief from the pages of the
old records concerning him, have become somewhat silvered over in the
Christian’s thoughts with the light of the Mount of Transfiguration; but the
fiery zeal, and destructive wrath, and rugged outline of the old prophet of woe
and death to Ahab and Jezebel, Baal and Ashtaroth, is still the true and
characteristic, picture of Elijah, identifying him, of all others since his
time, as a peculiar Witness and Messenger of the Judgment-Angel. We
search in vain for any other two prophets so peculiarly, intensely, and characteristically
Judgment-prophets, or that so specially take on the
features of heralds and representatives of the coming of the mighty
Judgment-Angel.
They
are further said to be “clothed with sackcloth.”
This also is significant. It shows that they are individuals, and not
bodies of men extending through a dozen centuries. “It
is hard to conceive how whole bodies of men and churches could thus be
described. The principal symbolic interpreters have left out, or passed
very slightly, this important particular. One does not see how bodies of
men who have lived like other men can be said to have prophesied in sackcloth.”*
It also shows that we here have to do with another order of things, and not
with the present Gospel dispensation. Neither the prophets, nor the
children of the New Testament, come thus arrayed in the garb of judgment-times,
calamity, and burdens of woe. When we put on Christ, it is not sackcloth
we put on, nor is it the spirit of heaviness we enter into; but a wedding
garment has clothed us, a garment of praise has arrayed our spirit. The
wearing of sackcloth, and the sort of life which it betokens, befit not these
years of grace and jubilee, and relate to other times and another ritual.
The mention of it here is a distinct indication that the dispensation has
changed. Assuming, however, that Elijah and Enoch are to be these
witnesses, the description fits entirely to what is written concerning them in
the past, and is just what we would expect in case of their return as heralds of
the judgment.
[*Alford’s
N. T., in loc.]
Elijah,
that prince of Hebrew prophets, with all his holy zeal, was a solitary and
savage man, rough and shaggy as a lion, dwelling in the hills and caves and
unfrequented ravines of Palestine, when not confronting thrones or hewing false
prophets to pieces. The Bible tells of the girdle of skin he wore around
his loins, and the hairy cloak in which he wrapped himself, to which it gives a
name never applied to any garment but his, and shows at every point of reference
to him what wild and ascetic austerity and severity marked his whole style of
life, as he traced and trod the footprints of Jehovah, and surged hither and
thither by the mighty inspiration of God, insulted and outraged by the
idolatries of Israel, and the abominations of its kings.
Nor
was it different with Enoch. The nature of the times in which he lived
necessarily made him a man much like Elijah. Whatever else is couched in
that pregnant statement that he “walked with God,”
it tells of a life sequestered from that of other men, rugged, isolated,
and singular. Walking with God, he did not walk with men. If we may
at all credit the Book which bears his name, “he was
wholly engaged with the holy ones, and with the watchers in his days;”*
only coining forth betimes to reprove the wicked world, and to sound forth upon
unwilling ears the herald voice and midnight cry of coming judgment. And
these two great prophets returned to earth again as they were of old, to
reprove still greater sins and declare the forthcoming of still greater
judgment, would give the exact outline of these Two Witnesses prophesying in
sackcloth, and tormenting them that dwell upon the earth.
[*
The Book of Enoch, by Archbishop Laurence,. 3d ed., p, 13.]
These
Witnesses are furthermore “the two olive-trees
and the two lamps which stand before the Lord of the earth.”
Who are the two olive-trees? All agree that the allusion is to
Zechariah’s vision. (Zech. 4.) He saw
“a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of
it, and his seven lamps thereof, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are
on the top of it; and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of
the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.” He
asked, “What are these two olive-trees upon the right
side of the candlestick and upon the left thereof?” and
again, “What be these two olive-branches which
through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?”
The answer was, “These are two anointed
ones [oil‑children] that
stand before the Lord of the whole earth.”
What
was the meaning of this vision? The Angel gave it: “This is the word of
the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, “Not by might, nor by
power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” That is to say,
it was a material image of the mysterious organism through which the heavenly
potencies were coming forth to give success unto completion to the work in
which Zerubbabel was then engaged. That work was the restoration of
Jerusalem, its temple, its worship, and its system of ordinances - the type of
the building of the spiritual temple of the Christian Church, and the pattern
and prophecy of that final rebuilding and restoration when the times of the
Gentiles are fulfilled. That candlestick of gold stands for the national
Church of the Jews, and thence also for the Christian Church (see Rev. 1: 20), whilst the two olive-trees - the
anointed ones - standing between God and the people, were Zerubbabel the
prince, and Jeshua the high priest. Hence, when Christ declares these
apocalyptic Witnesses “the two olive‑trees,”
the meaning is, that they are the Zerubbabel and Jeshua of the final
restitution;- great ministers of God corresponding to Zerubbabel and
Jeshua of old, and occupying a similar position as the organs of heavenly potencies
put forth for the occasion. The two olive-trees in the vision are two
individual persons; so then these two Witnesses are likewise two individual
persons, for they are “the
two olive-trees” for their day, as Zerubbabel and Jeshua
were in a former day.
But
whilst they are “the two olive-trees” of their
time, as viewed through the medium of Zechariah’s vision, the whole order of
things is changed from what it was in Zechariah’s day, or what it is in the
present Church-period. The golden candlestick, with its many conduits and
multitudinous burners, is missing. All of that arrangement has
disappeared.* Gospel ministers are stars; but these
Witnesses are not stars. There are neither “stars” nor candlestick left in the time of these
Witnesses.
[*
Concerning the absence of the candlestick here, Mede says: “I confess I am here at a nonplus, neither have
I yet found out a reason of this difference, apt and evident enough.”
Had he located these Witnesses in the judgment-times, where alone they belong,
he could have been at no such loss for an explanation.]
As
the more direct and special messengers of God, like Zerubbabel and Jeshua, who
gave out the golden oil into the golden bowl and candlestick, the two
olive-trees remain; but they are alone, with no golden organism of lightbearers
to feed and supply. They are themselves the only light-bearers now; for
they are at once “the two olive-trees and the two
lamps.” This clearly demonstrates that the economy is a
new one, whilst it at the same time singularly agrees with the two characters
whom we take it to describe. Such a lone and self-supplying lamp
was Enoch - the sole lightbearer to the old world, then on the eve of
submersion in the great waters of judgment; and such a lone and self-supplying
lamp was Elijah to the nation of Israel, then in great darkness, and drawing
near its great captivity.
Many
distinguished individual light-bearers have graced the several aces of time,
but none of them so marked and conspicuous in self-standing loneness as these
two. Never but once did the human race depend for a knowledge of God’s
purposes upon one mere man as it depended upon Enoch; and never but once did
the Hebrew faith hang upon one mere man, as it hung upon Elijah and his ministrations.
He was himself “the chariot of Israel and the horsemen
thereof.” (2 Kings 2: 12.) Looking
through the world for two men pre-eminently entitled to the name of “the two
lamps,” we must inevitably settle upon Enoch and Elijah, who,
as “the two lamps,” are
mysteriously preserved to come again for the illumination of still darker
times, after the same style as of old.
“Which stand before the Lord of the earth.”
This is peculiar language, but exactly fitted to the same conclusions.
“Lord of the earth” is not
the Christian title of God; for the Church, like Abraham in Canaan, is only a
pilgrim and a sojourner here, and Satan is now the god of this world. The
characteristic name of our God in the Gospel is, “The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yet,
when Israel was about to cross the Jordan, and to possess the Promised Land as
a divine nation, God was called “Lord of all the
earth.” (Josh. 3: 11-13.)
When Jerusalem was conquered and its people carried away captive to Babylon,
the Most High took the name of “the God
of heaven.” (Dan. 2: 18,
28, 37, 44, &c.) When they came back to rebuild the temple,
and repossess their land, and re-establish their holy state, God was again
called “the Lord of the whole earth.”
(Zech. 4: 14.) But when He is
styled Lord of the earth, the word is Adon, Master,
and not Jehovah.
It
would, therefore, seem to be a theocratic title, having relation to a divine
nationality and government upon the earth. If so, the occurrence of it
here, again bespeaks the Jew in his own land, and Jerusalem and the temple
rebuilt; and proves that this part of the Apocalypse relates, not to the middle
centuries of Christendom, as so many think, but to that time when the glorious
Christ is taking forcible mastery of the earth, and setting up upon it His own
visible supremacy and [millennial] kingdom.
These
two Witnesses “stand before the
Lord of the earth.” This standing before or in the presence of the
Lord, or the king, ordinarily signifies the enjoyment of a near relation,
acceptableness, and authority, as the servants or officers of the Lord or
king. But this is otherwise so clearly expressed and implied with regard
to these Witnesses, that we are prompted to look for something more peculiar
and characteristic in the phrase as here employed. If we keep to the
strict reading of the text, this standing of the Witnesses before the Lord of
the earth was already a matter of fact when the statement was given to
John. It is not said that they will stand before the Lord
in the time and office of their prophesying, but that they were then,
while the Angel was speaking standing before the Lord
of the earth.
To keep rigidly to the words then, these
Witnesses were persons already living, in the time of John, and hence not churches
and bodies of men born centuries afterwards; - living also a true bodily life,
for still capable of bodily death, as shown from the killing of them by the
Beast. But John’s earthly contemporaries have all been dead for ages, and
were all dead long before the time at which any one has located these two
Witnesses. Being alive then in the time of John, and still living a
bodily life susceptible of bodily death, and thus surviving all John’s earthly
contemporaries, they must have been living in heaven,* [or in ‘Paradise’ i.e., in the underworld of Sheol/Hades] having been taken thither without
dying. This would also seem to be the more particular sense of the phrase
“standing before the Lord.”
[* It
would not be the first time such a thing has happened! (See Num. 16: 32; Psa. 139: 8b.]
When the Saviour exhorts to watchfulness and prayer,
that we may be accounted worthy to escape the judgment sorrows, “and to stand before the Son of Man,” what
is it that He most of all proposes to us, but transference to the presence of
Jesus in the heavenly spaces without the intervention of death? And if
so, why may not this standing of the two Witnesses before the Lord of the earth
in the time of John, be taken as specially descriptive of a corresponding
transfer and continuity of bodily existence bestowed upon them? Dying
is falling - ceasing to stand - becoming prostrate; and, by just
antithesis, standing is living - continuity of bodily life, uninterrupted by
death. And in this sense, to stand before the Lord must
involve transfer to where the Lord is, without the suffering of death.
If
then these two Witnesses, destined to be murdered by the Beast, were standing
before the Lord in uninterrupted bodily life at the time these words concerning
them were spoken to John, who could they be but ENOCH and ELIJAH? Of all
men that have lived in heaven or on earth, these lone two answer to the
description.* They were still standing
in the time of John, never having fallen under the
power of death; and they were standing before the Lord of the earth,
having been miraculously conveyed away from among men into the mysterious
heavens, where they still stand in waiting readiness to
fulfil any commands of their Lord, even though it should be to return to the earth,
here to repeat in increased intensity their great deeds of old, and have added
to their crowns that of martyrdom also.
[* There are some who believe
Moses (not Enoch), will accompany Elijah at this time.
Moses was with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, a preview of the
coming kingdom (Matt. 16: 28; Mark 9: 1;2
Pet. 1: 19); and Moses is representative of the dead,
(accounted worthy to reign with Christ/Messiah), who will be Resurrected (not
translated alive) at the “First Resurrection” (Rev. 20: 6)
–a resurrection of reward, which will give immortality
to all who “attain” to it (Phil. 3: 11. cf. Luke
14: 14; Heb. 11: 35b; Luke 20: 35, etc.), when Messiah returns to this
earth to establish His millennial kingdom here.]
Thus,
then, it would seem to me, that we have sufficiently identified these
mysterious Witnesses, and also in strict accord with all the terms and
surroundings of the record, without straining language or forcing history, as
in every other interpretation that has been given. Other arguments lie
couched in what further is revealed concerning them, which will be brought out
when we reach the places. But I must close for the present, which I do in
the words of Paul, written not without some relation to this very subject; “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”
(Rom. 11: 33.)
LECTURE TWENTY‑FOURTH.
THE
TWO WITNESSES CONTINUED - THEIR TIMES, NOT GOSPEL TIMES, EVIL TIMES, TIMES OF
INTENSE SUPERNATURALISM, JUDGMENT TIMES - PROPHETS OF THE COMING JUDGE - EVINCE
THE JUDGMENT SPIRIT - INFLICT GREAT PLAGUES - ARE RESTITUTIVE PROPHETS FOR JEWS
AND GENTILES - PREVENT THE UTTER DESTRUCTION OF THE RACE - IMMORTAL TILL THEIR
WORK IS DONE, FINALLY VANQUISHED AND SLAIN - REFUSED BURIAL - JOY OVER THEIR
DEATH - THEIR RESURRECTION AND RECALL TO HEAVEN - THE EFFECT - A GREAT
EARTHQUAKE – THOUSANDS DESTROYED – MIGHTY TERROR – CONCLUSION OF THE SUBJECT.
Rev. 11: 5-14 (Revised
Text). – And if any one willeth to injure them, fire
issueth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies; and if any one willeth
to injure them, thus must he be killed.
These have power to shut the heaven that rain may not fall during
the days of their prophesying: and they have power upon the waters to turn them
to blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they will.
And when they shall have completed their testimony, the beast that
cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome them, and
kill them; and their corpse [shall lie] upon the broad place of the great city, which is called
spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. And [certain
ones] from among the peoples and tribes and tongues and
nations behold their corpse three days [and] half,
and suffer not their corpses to be put into a sepulchre.
And they that dwell in the land rejoice upon them, and make merry,
and shall send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented them
that dwelt in the land.
And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God
entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon
those who beheld them.
And they heard a great voice out of the heaven saying to them, Come
up hither. And they went up into the heaven in a cloud, and their enemies
beheld them. And in that hour there happened a great earthquake, and the
tenth of the city fell, and were killed by the earthquake, seven thousand names
of men; and the remainder became terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The second woe is past; behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
I
have noted some of the reasons for the uniform belief of the early Church, that
the Two Witnesses here spoken of are individual persons, and that they are none
other than Enoch [or, as some believe, Moses] and Elijah, returned again to this world in its
last evil days, according to other sacred prophecies and ancient beliefs.
The subject is full of interest, and is far from having been exhausted. A
number of important inquiries and circumstances remain to be considered; and to
these I now propose to direct attention.
Assuming
that I have sufficiently identified these Witnesses as the returned Enoch and
Elijah, I invite you to note more particularly,
1. THEIR TIMES; 2. THEIR DOINGS; 3. THEIR END; -
praying
- [that the Holy Spirit]
- the God of prophecy to prosper the attempt to search out the mysteries of His
holy Word, and to guide us into a right knowledge of the predictions He has
given for our learning.
1.
As to the Times of these Witnesses quite a good deal has necessarily been
anticipated in the preceding lecture; but, that we may have the picture more fully
before us, a few further observations are necessary.
1.
The times are not Gospel times. “The
two olive-trees” appear, but the golden candlestick is gone, and in its
place is nothing but two lone lamps, - the two Witnesses
themselves. Ministers of God are present; but their spirit and method
are entirely different from what pertains to ministers of the Gospel in the
present dispensation. These witnesses kill, torment, deal out fiery
judgments upon their enemies, and avenge and resent the very wish to injure
them, even before it is outwardly manifested in act. This is not
according to the Christian spirit, and very unlike the commands which are upon
us now. We are not to avenge ourselves, not to render evil for evil, not
to smite and kill our enemies, but to love them and do good to them, and to be
“harmless as doves.” Even Jesus Himself,
who had all power, refused to exercise it after the style of these Two
Witnesses, and has given us commandment to follow His steps. He tells us
that He came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them; and in this spirit
His servants have ever acted. Stephen is stoned, James is
beheaded, Paul and Silas are beaten and imprisoned, Peter
is crucified, Polyearp is burned, Antipas is put to death; but
neither of them resists, nor attempts to defend himself by miracle, or to
avenge the wrong inflicted.
But
here are ministers of God of another order. “Fire
issueth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any one willeth
to injure them, thus must he be killed.” The preaching of the
Gospel is a thing of joy and gladness. “How
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth
salvation!” (Is. 52: 7.) But
these Witnesses are arrayed in sackcloth, and their very garb betokens calamity
and judgment. Nature itself is joyful over the course of the messengers
of grace. The prophetic word was, “The mountains
and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of
the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the
fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree.” (Is. 55: 12, 13.) But here the heavens are
shut up that no rain falls, the waters are turned to blood, the earth is
smitten by many a plague, and they that dwell on it are tormented. “Peace on earth and good will toward men” is the
keynote of the Gospel; but the ministry of these Witnesses is one of the three
great Apocalyptic woes.
It
is simply impossible, therefore, to find place for these Witnesses as Gospel
ministers of the present dispensation. They have quite another
commission, and operate for quite other ends. They remind us rather of
the old theocratic order, when Jeroboam’s hand was withered by the unnamed “man of God” when put forth to lay hold on him, and
fire from heaven consumed the soldiers of Ahaziah that came against Elijah on
the hill.
2.
They are very evil times - times of great affliction and sorrow for
God’s true ministers. This is signified by their habit. They gird
themselves in sackcloth, as Jacob when he mourned for his son, as King David in
his grief and abhorrence at the unjust killing of Abner, as Daniel when he came
before the Lord to lament the sins of Israel, as Hezekiah when he heard the
blasphemies and boasts of Sennacherib, and as the priests of God when the holy
services of the temple were intercepted. The world is so full of
malignant evil, that they cannot maintain a being in it without the power of
miracle. Hell has incarnated itself upon earth. From the
abyss he has come up a mysterious Beast, to whom Satan gives power and
authority as his chosen agent, whose month is open in blasphemies against God
and His tabernacle, after whom all the world wonders, and whom the great mass
of men worship and adore. War rages against the holy ones and overcomes
them, and kills even the fire-guarded Witnesses themselves, whilst the people
congratulate each other and make merry over the death of God’s most extraordinary
prophets. Times there have often been for good men to sigh, and cry, and
wrap themselves in the habiliments of lamentation and woe because of the
wickedness and evils of the world, but none to compare with these times of the
Two Witnesses.
3.
They are also times of intense supernaturalism and miracle. All
the ordinary laws of things are shaken and bent, like reeds in a swollen river;
and extraordinary agencies and results put themselves forth from all sides.
Saints from heaven and potencies from hell are upon the scene, as never was the
case to the same extent or in the same manner before. Here are Enoch and
Elijah, who so miraculously disappeared from the earth so many ages ago, again
as miraculously moving and ministering among men, and breathing fire which
devoureth those who will to injure them. They have power to shut heaven,
so that no rain falls during all their ministry; they have power over waters to
turn them to blood; and every species of plague is in their hands wherewith to
smite the earth and torment its wicked inhabitants.
And
a similar preternaturalism presents itself on the side of evil. When
Moses comes to Pharaoh with his heavenly signs and wonders, hell’s priests are
there too with their perplexing mimicries and lying wonders. So
here. Supernatural divine prophets appear, and they are at once
confronted with a supernatural man from the abyss, and his false prophet at his
right hand, doing great wonders, making fire come from the sky
in the sight of men, deceiving them that dwell on the earth by those miracles
which he had the power to do, giving life and speech to an image, causing men
to worship it, and all to be beheaded who will not conform to the detestable
idolatry. “As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses,
so do these also resist the truth.” The worst impieties of all
ages shall concentrate in one. All the power of hell itself shall come
into play upon earth.
Such
times the world has not yet seen. Indeed, human philosophy has become so
wise as to banish from the range of possibility even the smaller variations
from the ordinary course of nature which stand recorded of the past. Bat
all such wisdom is folly. There is nothing permanent in nature. It
is not true that “all things continue as they were from
the beginning of the creation.” Mighty changes and variations have
occurred, and will yet occur. Nature’s laws are not God, and are ever
subject to modifications both from heaven and from hell. Satan could
impoverish and sicken Job as Moses could afflict Pharaoh. Nay, here it
stands written, from the lips of Him who is the Alpha and Omega, that there
shall come times when spiritual potencies, good and bad, will show their
activity on the earth, as if nature herself were about to be entirely
superseded. Men are astounded, and hold back from believing when they
read the doings of Abraham’s God among the idols of Egypt, or in the camp of
the pilgrim Hebrews. They hesitate, and talk of fiction, metaphor,
superstition, orientalism, exaggeration, when the life and deeds of Jesus are
the theme. But their doubts about the supernatural, and all their grave
science on the subject, shall yet be utterly confounded.
Here
are times indicated, which shall bring men on earth face to face with living
powers from heaven and hell in the gigantic struggle of their last conflict,
and fill the world with wonders, of which those in Egypt were but the dim fore
shadows; - times when that Devil, whose existence some count a mere myth, will
put himself forth in things so marvellous that, if it were possible, the very
elect would be deceived, whilst the deluded world gathers as one man to his
worship as their God and Saviour. People may doubt, and shake their
heads, and vaunt the sobrieties of their better philosophy; but such will be
the times of these Two Witnesses.
4.
The same will of course be judgment times. We must not lose
sight of the fact that in all these wonders of the Apocalypse, we have to do
with “the Day of the Lord,” and the winding up
of all the affairs of this present world [evil age]. This is the
one great theme, from the seven Epistles, onward. Phase after phase, and
act after act, of the drama of this world’s ending have already passed before
us, as we have gone forward with these expositions. In the preceding
chapter we saw this self-same speaker of the text, who is none other than
Christ Himself, setting His burning feet on sea and land, holding in His
possession the open title to both, and swearing by the eternal Maker of all
things that there should be no more delay. The days of the seventh angel,
when he sounds, bring the consummation of the whole matter; and that angel
stands ready to sound as soon as these Witnesses pass from the stage.
Their times, therefore, belong to the period when judgment is hastening to its
culmination. The old prophesy also says that Elijah is to be sent
immediately “before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord;” that is immediately anterior
to the outpouring of God’s consuming wrath upon the wicked in its highest
stress and fulness, while the woes of judgment are surging hither and thither
through the world all ready for the final consummating act. And one of
these Witnesses is Elijah. Their times are, therefore, the fearful times
of the judgment.
2.
We come, then, to note THEIR DOINGS OR WORK.
1.
They are here presented in the special character of Witnesses - prophetic
Witnesses. A witness is one who deposes to the truth, explains it,
attests it. All the prophets were God’s Witnesses. So were the
Apostles, who so solemnly and convincingly testified to the Gospel and its
facts. So, too, all the confessors of Christ, who gave up their lives
rather than surrender their faith, are called Martyrs, Witnesses.
And so even Christ Himself is “the faithful and
true Witness,” because of what He taught and testified, sealing it with
His blood. The character, therefore, under which these two Witnesses are
described, indicates the nature of their administrations. They are great
messengers from God, sent into the world in its last dreadful extremity, to
teach, explain, and attest His truth and purposes.
As
Enoch and Noah in the old world, as Moses before Pharaoh, as Jonah in Nineveh,
as Elijah against Ahab and Jezebel, as John the Baptizer to Jerusalem and
Herod, and as the Apostles in the world lying in sin, so are these Witnesses to
the populations and powers of their day. They rebuke reigning iniquity,
unmask Satan’s falsities, insist upon the prompt repentance of sinners, and
maintain righteousness over against apostasy and abounding wickedness.
They prophesy, expound the Scriptures, demand obedience to
God, point out the only way of escape from oncoming damnation, and labour to
turn men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God.
2.
But they are not only prophetic Witnesses, but by emphasis the Witnesses
of the Angel who is speaking to John, “My
Witnesses.” This is proof positive that the Angel is Christ
Himself. Angels are often God’s ministers, but He has never rent and
endowed prophets to be the servants and messengers of angels. Nor have
angels anything going on in this world so as to have use for
witnesses. We everywhere read of prophets and witnesses of God and
Christ, but nowhere do we read of prophets and preachers of angels. Yet,
here are two of the most extraordinary prophetic Witnesses we know of, whom
this Angel designates as emphatically His Witnesses. The same must,
therefore, be Christ Himself, and cannot, in the nature of things, be any
other.
But
this Angel is not Christ in His present office and attitude as our sinbearer
and intercessor; but Christ as the mighty Judge and King, about to close up the
whole history of this present world, having already set His burning feet upon
it, and sworn by Him that liveth for ever and ever that there shall be no more
delay. And it is in this particular attitude and work that these
Witnesses are by emphasis His. They are not Gospel ministers according to
the present order. They are extraordinary persons for an extraordinary
work. They witness for Christ, not as the bleeding and pleading Lamb of
God, but as the avenger of His elect, who is about to break His enemies with a
rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. They are Judgment
prophets sent to resist the gigantic blasphemies of the final Antichrist, give
to the infatuated world its last awful warning, assure of the coming avalanche
of destruction, and put into condition for deliverance a people to be carried
over to that new and better order of things which is then to follow.
3.
To this also agree the powers which they exercise. Everything is full of
the spirit of judgment. “Fire issueth out of
their mouth and devoureth their enemies.” Gospel ministers also
have enemies, who often hate and persecute them unto death; but they are not at
liberty thus to defend themselves. These Witnesses live in other
times. The Angel has placed His feet of fire upon the earth, and His
Witnesses are armed with fire, with command to use it. They emit or
breathe fire from their mouths the same as the Euphratean horsemen.
I can make nothing of the record except to take it literally as it is
written. Nor do I find any difficulty in the way of such an
acceptation. The horsemen were supernatural beings from
hell, and the Two Witnesses are
supernatural beings from heaven [or as
some believe, from the
underworld of Hades/Sheol]; and,
in either case, I know not why the thing may not be true to the exact
letter.
If
we are to understand the fire to be gunpowder in the case of the Euphratean
horsemen (as some historical figurative expositors suggest), we must do the
same here, and set down these Witnesses as a brace of sharpshooters. We
do, indeed, know of holy prophets using miraculous fire against the wicked, but
I know of no case in which they carried rifles. Nor would it seem
congruous for Enoch and Elijah, after having been these thousands of years in
heaven, to go about the earth as holy messengers of God with each a breech-loader
on his shoulder. They will need no such weapons. He who, after his
brief sojourn in Sinai, could speak fire from heaven which consumed fifty
soldiers at a time, and repeat the operation at will, certainly would be at no
loss to speak killing fire upon his assailants, after having gone to heaven in
a chariot of fire, and lived there amid the celestial splendours for thousands
of years. And come now again into the world as God’s great judgment
prophet, it befits the times, himself, and the Angel whose he is, to prove to
the doomed world by the very breath of his mouth that the devouring wrath of
the Almighty is fully kindled, and ready to break forth in fiery destruction to
all who stand out against His messengers, or seek to destroy them.*
[*
“And if any one willeth to injure them, thus [by
fire] must be killed.” Even the Beast from
the abyss, who shall finally slay these Witnesses, will be cast alive into the
lake of fire (Rev. 19: 20). So that
every one seeking to do them harm will be overwhelmed with the same element,
first or last.]
But
these Witnesses not only have power and command to kill their assailants with
fire, but otherwise to torment and afflict the wicked world. They breathe
the law-spirit, and they execute law-penalties. Of old the threat upon
apostasy was: “Thy heaven that is over thy head shall
be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall
make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon
thee, until thou be destroyed.” (Dent. 28:
23, 24.) And now that the time has come for all God’s threats to
be executed, these messengers of His come to attest the true state of things, “shut the heaven that rain may not fall during the days of
their prophesying.” When Elijah was the first time
on earth, “he prayed earnestly that it might not rain:
and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months”
(James 5: 17, 18); and the same will be
repeated when he comes again, - repeated in token of the presence and anger of the
same sin-avenging Jehovah.
It
is for the great sin of idol worship, trust in false gods, and sacrilegious
desecration of God’s temple, that this shutting off of rain is the
special penalty. (Lev. 26: 1, 19; Zach. 10: 1, 2;
Jer. 14: 22; Hag. 1: 9-11.) We thus see reflected something of the
characteristics of the times of these Witnesses, and of the more specific aim
of their prophetic endeavours. The shutting of the heaven tells of
infamous idolatry, false confidence, and defilement of the temple, and the
infliction of this particular chastisement by these Witnesses likewise tells of
efforts on their part to set on foot again the true worship of Jehovah in His
own chosen house.
One
of the great plagues which Moses brought upon Egypt was the
turning of the waters into blood. It was an infliction particularly
related to the bloody and oppressive tyranny which had been enacted against
God’s people. In like manner these Witnesses “have
power upon the waters to turn them to blood.” The thing having
been done once, there is nothing to hinder it from being done again. And
as oppression, persecution, and wholesale murder were the particular forms of
sin which brought this plague in the days of Moses, its
recurrence here tells of similar transgression, and shows further against what
the endeavours of these Witnesses are directed. They come to rebuke and
resent the blasphemies of unprincipled power, the oppressions of assumed
authority, the murders of persecuting government, attesting by the nature of
their infliction the near coming of the Almighty to overwhelm these bloody
tyrants and all their hosts for ever. Nay, “to
smite the earth with every plague, as often as they will,” is the
entrusted prerogative of these Witnesses, that they may prove how, everything
is in the hand of Him who sends them, and is now ready to be turned into
enginery of irresistible destruction to those who still persist in their
impieties.
4.
These Witnesses are “the two olive-trees.”
This refers us back to Zachariah, where Zerubbabel and Jeshua appear as the
two olive-trees. These were the two special ministers of God, the one a
prince and the other a priest, who led the advance in Israel’s return from the
great captivity, stirred up the people to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the
temple, and restored again something of the old polity and worship to its
ancient place. A still greater desolation has since come upon Israel for
the rejection of Christ and His salvation. It is to continue “till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled,” and the
present Church order has run its course. Then is to come another
restoration, and a “restitution of all things,”
when God “will take the children of Israel from among
the heathen, whither they be gone, and gather them on every side, and bring them
into their own land, and will make them one nation in the land upon the
mountains of Israel, ... and they shall dwell therein, even they, and
their children, and their children’s children for ever; and He will set His sanctuary
in the midst of them for evermore.” (Ezek.
36.)
The
time for this is everywhere given as the judgment time - somewhere about the
period of these Two Witnesses. And if they are Zerubbabel and Jeshua in
some sort over again, we thus have a very distinct light thrown upon the
character of their work. They are to lead the restoration of fallen
Israel. They are to go up with the vanguard to their ancient seat.
They are to inaugurate the work of bringing back to the ancient worship God’s
long-rejected and afflicted people. They are to labour for the setting
up again of the temple and the theocratic rule, and for the return of the
smitten nation to its true God and Saviour King.
5.
But all this is made still clearer when we connect with it the literal
prophecies concerning the coming again of Elijah. We find those
prophecies in the Old Testament and the New, from the servants, and from the
Lord Himself. It was the work of Elijah when he lived on earth to
convince and lead back the apostate people to the God of their fathers, and
with the spirit of judgment to testify against the heathen falsities which had
taken possession of the nation. John the Baptiser, who came “in the spirit and power of Elias,” fulfilled a like
office, called the people to repentance, and by the threats of impending doom
incited them to flee from the coming wrath, and put themselves in readiness for
the Messiah King, even then standing unrecognised among them. And so Malachi
tells us that, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,
Elijah the prophet will come, “and he shall turn
the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to
their fathers.” (Mal. 4: 5, 6.)
So, too, the Saviour Himself tells us that “Elias truly
shall first come, and restore all things.” (Matt. 17: 11.)*
[*
It is simply impossible, on any true principles of interpretation, to refer
either of these passages simply and only, or in their true grammatical import,
to John the Baptiser. They had him in view, but only, so to speak, as a
spiritual Elias, one who performed in some sort the Elias work for the first
coming, but not the true and real Elias of the second coming. The
observations of the learned Joseph Mede are here very forcible.
As
to the prophecy given in the last chapter of Malachi, quoted by St. Mark, and
by our Saviour, Matt. 11: 14, Mode
says: “It seems by Malachi himself to be applied, not
only to the first coming of Christ, but also to His second coming to
judgment. For in his last chapter, speaking of the coming of that day
which shall burn like an oven, wherein all the proud, yea and all that do
wickedly, shall be as stubble, and it shall burn them up, leaving neither root
nor branch, and he addeth, ‘Behold [saith the Lord], I will send
you Elijah the prophet before the coming of that great and dreadful day of the
Lord: and he shall turn [or restore] the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse.’ If we will not admit the day
here described to be the day of judgment, I know scarce any description of
that day in the Old Testament but we may elude. For the phrase of turning
(or, as I had rather translate it, restoring, as the
LXX … the heart of the fathers, &c., the
meaning is, that this Elias should bring the refractory and unbelieving
posterity of the Jewish nation to have the same heart and mind their holy
fathers and progenitors had, who feared God and believed His promises, that so
their fathers might as it were rejoice in them, and own them for their
children: that is, he should convert them to the faith of that Christ whom
their fathers hoped in and looked for; lest continuing obstinate in their
unbelief till the great day of Christ’s second coming, they might perish along
with the rest of the enemies of His kingdom. Therefore the son of Sirach, in
his praise of Elias the Tishbite, paraphraseth this place after this manner:
‘Who wast ordained (saith he) an …; or type [he should rather
have said a means of testing, confuting, reproving, convincing,
as in the presence of great presumption and false pretences and claims; for
this is the meaning of [the Greek word …],
and answers well to the office of a Witness as in the case
before us], for the times to come, to pacify the wrath of the Lord’s judgment
before it break forth into fury, and to turn the heart of the father unto the
son, and to restore the tribes of Israel.’ (Ecclesiasticus
48: 10.)
“For the better understanding of this we must know that the
old prophets for the most part spake of the coming of Christ indefinitely and
in general without that distinction of first and second coming which we have
more clearly learned in the Gospel. For this reason the prophets (except
Daniel, who distinguisheth those comings, and the Gospel out of them) speak of
the things which should be at the coming of Christ indefinitely and all
together, which we, who are now more fully informed by the revelation of His
Gospel of this distinction of a twofold coming, must apply each of them to its
proper time: these things which befit the state of His first coming unto it,
and such things as befit the state of His second coming unto the second: and
that which befits both alike (as this of a harbinger or messenger), may be
applied to both [one being viewed through the other].
“Matt. 17: 10,
11, where His disciples
immediately upon His transfiguration ask Him, ‘Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come?’ Our Saviour answers, ‘Elias truly
shall first come, and shall restore all things.’ These words our
Saviour spake when John Baptist was now beheaded, and yet speaks of a thing
future, Elias shall come, and shall restore all
things. How can this be spoken of John Baptist, unless he be to come
again? Besides, I cannot see how this restoring of all things
can be verified of the ministry of John Baptist at the first coming of
Christ, which continued but a very short time, and did no such thing as these
words seem to imply; for the restoring of all things belongs
not to the first, but to the second coming of Christ, if we will believe St.
Peter in his first sermon in the temple after Christ’s ascension (Acts 3: 19, &C.), where he thus speaks unto the Jews: ‘Repent (saith he) and be converted for the blotting out of your sins, that the
times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may
send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you; whom the heavens must
receive until the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken
by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.’ The word is the same. If the time of restoring all
things be not till the second coming of Christ [as here proven], how could John
Baptist restore all things at his first? If the Master come not to
restore all things till then, surely His harbinger, who is to prepare His way
for restoring all things, is not to be looked for till then.” –
Mede’s Works, I,25, pp. 98, 99.]
We
may not be able to tell the full meaning of these words; but the
reference is, above all, to the Jewish people. Malachi introduces the
announcement of the coming again of “Elijah the prophet,”
with special command to remember “the law of Moses,”
and “the statutes” given through him
in Horeb for all Israel. The “fathers”
must needs be the heads of the Jewish race and economy, who first received
God’s Institutes, and best understood and observed them. The “children,” then, must be their remoter descendants,
contemplated as apostate and quite estranged from their holy ancestors.
The turning and restoring must accordingly relate above all to the Jewish
people, whatever minor relations it may have to the Gentiles. There is to
be a bringing back of the branches that have been broken off, to be grafted
again into their own native stock, purified, delivered, and settled after their
old estates.
And
for this, among the rest, these Witnesses are sent, at least Elijah, whom we
believe to be one of them. Hence the words of Augustine, that “it is a familiar theme in the conversation and heart of the
faithful, that in the last days before the judgment the Jews shall believe in
the true Christ by means of this great and admirable prophet Elias, who shall
expound the law to them. For not without reason do we hope that before
the coming of our Judge and Saviour Elias shall come, because we have good
reason to believe that he is now alive. ... When, therefore, he is come, he shall give a spiritual
explanation of the law which the Jews at present understand carnally, and shall
thus ‘turn the heart of the fathers to the
children.’ ... The meaning is, that the sons, that is the Jews, shall
understand the law as the fathers, the prophets, and Moses himself among them,
understood it. For the heart of the fathers shall be turned to the
children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, when the children
understand the law as the fathers did, and have the same sentiments.”*
[*
Civitate _Dei, xx., 629.]
As
John was sent “in the spirit and power of Elias,”
we may also see in his stirring mission an indication of what the work of the
real Elias shall be. His office was, as declared by the Angel, “to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the
disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the
Lord.” (Luke 1: 16, 17.) We
know something of the thrilling power with which his voice rung out from the
wilderness of Judea, assaulting the apostasies and sins of the nation, and
demanding instant repentance and return to the ancient faith on pain of a
speedy destruction. He was a bright and shining light in the midst of a
perverse and crooked generation, turning “many of the
children of Israel to the Lord their God,” and making ready a people
from among whom the Gospel derived its first adherents and the Church its
apostolic leaders and princes. And thus, on the superior scale in which
the original excels the picture, and the Second Advent exceeds the first, will
Elijah suddenly flash out the sharp messages of Jehovah in the last evil times,
and draw forth from amid the incurable ungodliness a portion of the house of
Jacob to become the centre of a new order in the final restoration [of this earth].
6.
And such an office with regard to the Jews on the part of Elijah, suggests and
argues a corresponding office with regard to the Gentiles on the part of his
fellow-Witness. Enoch was not a Jewish prophet. He lived and
prophesied long before Moses and the law. It was through his ministry
that a seed was prepared to survive the awful flood to become the heads and
princes of the re-peopled earth. The son of Sirach celebrates him as
taken up alive to heaven, that he might be a token, teacher, witness, herald,
of repentance to other generations.* Such a token and witness he was in
his own
degenerate times. Patristic poetry sings of him as the “signal ornament” of the patriarchal Church, who
“By counsel strove
To recall peoples gone astray from God
And following misdeed, while raves on earth
The horde of robber renegades;” **
and
inspiration tells of the pungency and fire with which he prophesied of the
fearful coming of the Lord to execute Judgment upon all, and settle accounts
with the wicked for all their hard speeches and ungodly deeds. (Jude 14, 15.) And as the future ministry of
Elijah is to wear the same features as the first, only in tensified and
exalted, the same must also be true of Enoch, who comes with him as one of the
Two Witnesses. His first mission was to the common world at large, then
drawing toward its end in the flood; and so will be his future mission at the
end of this present world, to prepare a people from among the Gentiles also to
survive the great day, even though many whom he recovers to obedience may meet
the fate of holy martyrs under the bloody reign of Antichrist.
[*
Eccles. 44: 16, on which Arnold remarks:
“As we meet with no account in Scripture of Enoch’s
sinning or repentance, it seems better to understand [the Greek words …]
of his exhorting the people that shall then be alive
to a speedy repentance, to prepare for the approaching judgment, and to resist
the power of Antichrist.”‑ Com. in loc.]
[**
Five Books of Reply to Marcion, III, 20. See Clarke’s Ante‑Nicene
Fathers, xviii., p. 344.]
7.
The work of these Witnesses is then a merciful work. Though
they appear in judgment times, and evince the severity of the judgment spirit,
dealing out plague and fire, lashing and harassing the impious Beast from the
abyss, tormenting them that dwell on the earth, killing all who venture to harm
them, and causing all nations to feel the disturbing effect of their presence,
they are still messengers of mercy on an errand of good and grace. True,
their ministry will not be more effectual than it was when they prophesied of
old. Israel as a nation will not then be turned back from its apostasy,
and the world will not be deterred from acknowledging and worshipping the
Antichrist. Because men love not the truth, even miracle and judgment
will not persuade them. (2 Thess. 2: 9-12.)
Still, the sending and ministrations of these Witnesses is an act of mercy in
the midst of wrath, and accomplishes a gracious purpose. Some are
rescued and saved. But for these supernatural messengers the whole race
would yield to the Antichrist, and perish with him. It is that the earth
may not be utterly swallowed up under the terrible ban of final judgment, that
they are sent.
This
is specifically stated in connection with the promise of the coming again of
Elijah. The word is, “I will send you Elijah the
prophet, ... and he shall turn the heart
of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest
I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Mal. 4: 6.) The Hebrew word here rendered curse
denotes utter destruction. It is one of the most
fearful words in use among the Jews, and was specially applied to the
extermination of the Canaanites, whose cities were razed to their foundations,
and their inhabitants utterly destroyed.* And this fate would befall the
whole race but for the ministry of these Witnesses, and the gathering out of an
elect remnant by their instrumentality, for which remnant’s sake the desolating
and all-consuming terrors of “the great and dreadful
day of the Lord” are measurably pacified and softened. When
Jerusalem fell, except those days of awful suffering had been shortened, none
could possibly have survived; “but for the elect’s sake
those days” were “shortened.” (Matt. 24: 21, 22.) And a corresponding
modification in the stress of tribulation and ruin is to occur again in
connection with the last awful catastrophe, by reason of what these Witnesses
achieve.
[*
See Henderson’s Minor Prophets, in loc.; also Newcome’s Minor
Prophets, in loc.]
3.
Notice, then, WHAT BECOMES OF THEM. Their career, though illustrious,
and crowded with miracle from beginning, to end, is very brief. “They shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days”
- just three years and six months. The mightiest of sacred
ministries on earth have been the shortest.
1.
These Witnesses are immortal till their work is done. How they are
nourished, or whether they partake at all of earthly food, is not told
us. Elijah was supernaturally fed when on earth the first time; nor can
much less be said of [Moses in the desert and] John, the spiritual Elias; and there is no reason
for doubting that it will be more eminently so when the true Elijah comes
again. At any rate, nothing can harm these Witnesses till they “have completed their testimony.” They that
undertake to injure or interfere with them are instantly burned to death.
No
power of earth or hell can touch or bind them. There was a time when
Elijah fled from the face of Jezebel, and Herod imprisoned John, and finally
cut off his head. But there can be no intimidation, no imprisonment, no
killing of these holy messengers till they have quite fulfilled all that the
are sent to do.
2.
When their work is finished they become vanquishable and are vanquished.
“When they shall have completed their testimony, the
Beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome
them, and kill them.” Whether in consequence of a
withdrawal of their power of self-defence and the gradual wasting of their
heavenly vigour, like the fading of the celestial halo from the face of
Moses, or by an enlarged licence to hell to act out its murderous
malignity, the potencies of the underworld eventually seize them and put them
to death. What form of death they die is not described. The
reference to crucifixion in verse 8 can
hardly be applied to them. We know that beheading will be the
ordinary mode of execution under the Antichrist. (Rev. 20: 4.) John, who was the spiritual
Elias, was beheaded. And it may be inferred that so these Witnesses are
killed.
3.
Their dead bodies are denied sepulture. Their corpses are exposed “upon the broad place of the great city, which is called
spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”
“It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem”
(Luke 13: 33); and there these last great
prophets, like their Lord before them, meet their end. Jerusalem is
called a “great city;” * and as there is another
great earthly city spoken of in this book, the further mark is given, that it
is the one “which is spiritually called Sodom and
Egypt.” The introduction of this word
“spiritually” settles the literalness of the
narrative. Only the names “Sodom and Egypt” are to be spiritualised, or
taken in a sense different from the letter. Jerusalem is not Sodom; and
yet, “spiritually” considered, or Jerusalem in
apostasy, is a Sodom, and is repeatedly so called by the
prophets. (Is. 1: 9, 10; 3: 8, 9; Dent. 32: 30-33;
Jer. 23: 14.) So also is it “spiritually”
likened to an Egypt, because of its idolatries, (Ezek.
23: 3, 4, 8, 19.) But to identify the place beyond mistake, it is further
described as the city “where also their Lord was
crucified,” which was none other than the literal
Jerusalem. The main description is a moral one, indicative of the
ripeness of affairs for the great destruction that impends, but it is likewise
local and geographic, to distinguish the city now in question from “Great Babylon,” with which some improperly confound
it. Everything betokens that we are here on Jewish soil, and have to do
with the Jewish capital.
[*
Alford in loc. erroneously says that “Jerusalem
is never called by this name.” Nehemiah describes Jerusalem as a “city large and great.” (7: 3, 4.) Jeremiah, speaking of the desolation of
Jerusalem, says, “They shall say every man to his neighbour,
wherefore hath the Lord done this unto this great city?” (22: 5, 8.)]
And
there, in the broad place of public concourse,* the dead bodies of these
Witnesses are exposed. “And certain ones
from among the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations behold their corpses
three days and a half and suffer not their corpses to be put into a sepulchre.”
This is so intense an outrage upon common decency and humanity, that it is
full of significance here. Even to the worst of criminals the law awarded
burial on the same day of their execution (Dent.
21: 22, 23); but all law and right feeling is set at defiance with
regard to these prophets of God. The exposure of their dead bodies tells
of is most extraordinary malignity and spite, and attests the extraordinary
potency and effectiveness of the, objects of it. It shows at once a
devilishness of unwonted intensity in the people, and a terribleness of
efficiency in the Witnesses in provoking a fiendishness and resentment so
monstrous and un-relenting that it could not be placated by their death, but
continued to reek and vent itself upon their lifeless remains after they were
dead.
[*
In 1 Esaras 60: 83, we read of “the whole, multitude coming together into the broad
place of the holy porch toward the East.” See also Jer. 5: 1; 2 Chron. 32: 6; 1 Kings 32: 10.]
4.
Great joy is experienced over their death. “They that dwell in the land rejoice upon them and make merry, and shall
send gifts one to another.” These Witnesses were a
terrible dread and annoyance to the Beast and his adherents; and many a sore
torment, had they occasioned to the wicked. Those torments were indeed
but the earnests and precursors of far greater woes now ready to break
forth. But so insane, are Satan’s dupes, that, they count their
redemption come, if only they can get rid of God’s, faithful ministers.
Now that the two mighty Witnesses are dead, they dismiss all further fear,
consider their greatest trouble at an end, and send presents and
congratulations to each other, as upon some grand jubilee.*
[*
The joy over a reputed enemy’s death, and refusal to bury him, have been man’s
modes of expressing enmity in all ages and countries. Thus it was at the
death of Phocion, of Cleomanes, of Tiberlus Gracchus, and
others. Over John Huss, burnt at Constance, the Council held
banquets, and testified their joy, an over enemies destroyed. - Matheetees,
in loc.]
5.
Three days and a half the holy prophets lie in death, their corpses
a public spectacle, their killing celebrated as a general benefaction.
The days are literal days, not years.
Corpses could not endure to be thus exposed for three and a half
years. Three years and a half they prophesied, and
three days and a half they lie under the power of death. It was
long enough to prove the reality of their death, of which the representatives
of the nations were so anxious to be perfectly assured.
6. But they do not remain dead. “After the three days and a half the spirit* of life from God
entered into them, and they stood upon their feet.”
The extraordinariness of the death and resurrection harmonises well with
the extraordinariness of the hisitory of Enoch and Elijah throughout. Of
old, they left the world as no other mortal ever did, and here they are
resurrected in a band by themselves, and under circumstances quite differing
from all other resurrections. Whilst their exposed corpses were being
watched and guarded by men overjoyed at their destruction, those lifeless
frames took vitality again. The spirit of life from God re-entered them,
and they arose from their prostration, and stood upright, gazing round upon the
terrified people who beheld them, and flashing a fresh and still deeper alarm into
the guilty souls late so joyous over their death. “The
triumph of the wicked is short;” and the “great
fear” which now “fell upon
those who beheld them,” was only the intenser because of
the fiendish indignities which had since been added to the sum of previous
crimes.
[* Compare with, Luke 8:55; James 2: 26; Job. 34: 14, etc.
This ‘spirit,’ and not the ‘soul,’ is what returns to God at the time of
death: (Luke 23: 46; Acts 7: 59.)]
Conscience
is a fearful executioner. A very hell of plagues and torments instantly
throng the imaginations of these astounded spectators. They remember the
power and terribleness of these Witnesses while they lived; how the mere will
to injure them was resented with sudden death; and what revolting and distressing
afflictions they had given forth upon the worshippers of the Beast. And
now that organised and Satanic war, and veritable killing, and the baseness of
the most malignant insults after the killing, had been perpetrated, what was to
be apprehended from this their sudden resurrection! But these holy
messengers had completed their work on earth, and Jesus Himself was now to be
their avenger. No more devouring fire issues from their mouths and no
further plagues do they inflict.
By
the power of God life is restored to them, even a higher, more glorious, more
indestructible life than that which was given them in their marvellous
translation. They rise and stand upon their feet. Their enemies
behold them. The reality of their resurrection is as manifest as was the
reality of their death. The fiendish joy of the enemy is suddenly turned
into overwhelming terror. Guilty consciences are now the prophets that
torment the people. The Witnesses prophesy no more. They only stand
up, and other fires seize their adversaries, souls.
7.
Heaven immediately recalls them. They stood by Christ in their testimony,
faithful unto death; and Christ now rewards their fidelity, receives them to
Himself, and crowns them among His heavenly princes. “They heard a great voice out of heaven saying to them, Come
up hither. And they went up into the heaven in the cloud, and their
enemies beheld them.” People who would not believe in the
resurrection and ascension of Christ for their hope and consolation, are now
compelled to witness the resurrection and ascension of His last Witnesses, to
their horror and dismay. The record is literal. As well might we
think to do away with the literal reality of the death, resurrection, and
ascension of Christ Himself, as with the literal reality of the death,
resurrection, and ascension of these Two Witnesses. Against their
wishes and theories, many have been compelled to admit the inevitable
literalness of “the first resurrection”
in chapter 20; but much more clear,
circumstantial, and certain is the literalness of the amount of these Witnesses
and their marvellous end. I therefore receive and hold it for a literal
history.
When
Jesus ascended, and His friends stood gazing after Him in tearful wonder and
adoration, holy angels lingered by with words of promise and comfort.
Here there is another gazing into heaven, as His prophets go up. But the
gazers now are His murderous foes. Marvels follow here also; but they are
marvels of judgment. Not loving angels with words of consolation, but
executioners of divine vengeance with signs of doom show their presence.
“In that hour there happened a great earthquake.”
It is a literal earthquake, for it overthrows
buildings
and kills men. “The tenth of the city fell,
and were killed by the earthquake seven thousand names of men.”
Earthquakes attended the death and resurrection of Jesus also, but we read
of no deaths occasioned by them. Those were days of mercy and promise;
these are days of judgment. A tenth part of the city is thrown into
ruins, and many people are slain. Seven thousand men are enumerated as
killed by this earthquake. The record says “names of men;” but men’s
names stand for those who have them, and they have them in proportion as those
names are in people’s mouths. Hence many understand by it men of
name, note, and distinction, being seven thousand in
number. When Jesus said to the Church in Sardis (Rev.
3: 4), “Thou hast a few names even
in Sardis which have not defiled their garments;” He meant persons
in Sardis. So when the same Speaker here talks of names
being killed by an earthquake, it is equally clear that the reference is to
persons. Perhaps the phrase is meant to denote only
men of name, but it certainly denotes men, of whom seven
thousand perish from the earth. They would not allow burial to the slain
Witnesses, and now they themselves are buried alive in the ruins of their own
houses, and in hell for ever.
We
may well suppose that such a cluster of stunning marvels would not he without
effect, even upon the hardened wretches of those evil times. Amazement,
conviction, terror, strike in upon their guilty souls, and for the moment they
acknowledge the hand of God, and seem ready to repent. “The remainder,” that is, those not
destroyed with the seven thousand, “became
terrified and gave glory to God.” To see those
dreaded Witnesses come to life again, and go up in triumph to the sky, and, in
the same hour, one house in every ten of the city fallen, seven thousand men of
name killed by the disaster, and the world itself rocking as if in the throes
of dissolution, was more than even their indurated hearts could bear.
Against their will they are forced to the confession that God’s almighty power
is in it.
Bengel
thinks we have token here of an ample
conversion. He is evidently mistaken. Such a terror-extorted giving
of glory to the God of heaven, bears not the marks of genuine penitence.
Neither do we find it bringing forth fruits meet for repentance. The
Beast goes on with his iniquities, and the masses continue to serve and adore
him. When true repentance shows itself, judgment delays or lingers; but
there is no postponement here. The consternation of the survivors of the
earthquake concludes the second woe; but instantly the word is, “Behold, the third woe cometh quickly.” And
that third woe is the consummation of woes. We, therefore, do violence to
the record to take this forced confession as evidence or token of revival and
reformation.* Pharaoh and his magicians smarting tinder the plagues of Moses,
the Philistines under the sore afflictions which accompanied their profanation
of the holy Ark, and the Roman centurion amid the signs that attended the death
of Jesus, made similar acknowledgments, and gave utterance to similar
convictions; but in neither are we assured of any real conversion to God.
Startling calamities and bitter afflictions sometimes turn men from their
careless and wicked ways; but the religion of fear and dread is never to be
trusted. Remove the pressure, and things relapse into their former
estate.
[*
“That the words in themselves are capable of a good
sense, i.e., that they might well be employed to designate true repentance
and conversion, is not to be denied. But that they do of necessity
imply anything more than a temporary impression made by divine judgments,
is plainly an erroneous assumption. The New Testament is full of the like
idiom, when speaking of men according to external development made at a
particular time, when they are deeply impressed by divine judgments, wonderful
miracles, or powerful preaching. So Jesus was by all in the Synagogue at
Nazareth, and yet the same individuals who applauded him, soon led Him forth to
cast Him down a precipice. See Luke 4:
15, seq. So the whole multitude of
Jews who had seen His miracles, on another occasion, are said ‘to have been filled with fear, and to have glorified God.’
Luke 5: 26.
The same thing for substance may be found in Luke
17: 12-18; 23: 47; 18: 43; Matt. 9: 8; 15: 31; Acts 4: 21. So Felix trembled at the
preaching of Paul. Acts 24: 25. Herod heard John gladly and did
many things in consequence of it. Mark 6: 20. The
stony ground hearers received the word with joy, yet they soon
became offended. Matt. 13: 20, 21. Many of the Jews believed on Jesus, who
nevertheless forsook Him. John 2: 23-25; 8:
30, seq. Many became disciples,
who soon left Him. John 6: 60-66. Simon Magus himself believed.
Acts 8: 13; Ps. 106: 12. In all these, and many more texts of the like kind,
it is easy to perceive that the sacred writers have merely said what
appeared to be matter of fact from profession, or from temporary
outward demeanour. We must consult the context, i.e., the history
of such cases, in order to know whether the glory, or belief,
or fear or discipleship, in question is genuine
and permanent, or only temporary and apparent. The nature of the case before us
shows that only a temporary fear and praising of God is connected with the
present instance. ... Indeed, when we
view the whole case, either in the light of the general plan of the work, or in
that of New Testament philological usage, we may well say that the cases are
rare, at the present day, where an exegesis appears more arbitrary than in the
present instance; I mean the exegesis adopted here [by
Bengel] and defended by Bleek, De Wette, and Ewald.” – Moses Stuart in
loc.
“It is said, Luke 5: 26, ‘they were all amazed, and
glorified God.’ This is spoken of the
Scribes and Pharisees, upon the view of a miracle performed on a paralytic; yet
was there no religion in it. The same we find recorded of a very mixed
multitude, convened at the funeral of the widow’s son, whom Christ in their
sight raised from the dead, Luke 7: 16, ‘there came fear on all,
and they glorified God.’ So that here we
are under no necessity of understanding this as a sign of a hearty and entire
conversion to God in this remnant; though I shall not doubt but God might
thereby work upon the hearts of some in a saying manner. But there
is no ground from this expression to think so of the whole herd; for
God may be said to be glorified, in Scripture language, many a time when the
person that does it is wanting in grace. God may be said to be glorified
when His power is acknowledged in any emergency; as the magicians said unto
Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.’” Ex. 8: 19. - James Robertson,
Minister at Leuchars, Exposition of the Revelation (1730), p. 199.
“It is not understood of a real work of repentance.” –
James Durham, Minister in Glasgow (1680), Com. On Rev. p. 326, in loc.]
These
people were terror-stricken. Their alarm carried them captive for the
moment. They saw and felt that Jehovah’s hand was in these things, and
confessed it. But their emotions were only transient, had no right seat
in the heart, and brought forth no lasting fruits unto holiness. When the
demons encountered Christ, they, too, were terrified, confessed his Deity,
acknowledged His power, and stood aghast at His approaching judgments; but no
elements of change in their character were thereby betokened. And when
men have sinned away their day of gracious visitation, fighting, killing, and
glorying in the destruction of God’s prophets, they are not likely to be
suddenly transformed into saints by the constraints and terrors of the day of
doom, though obliged to confess that it is the invincible God of heaven that is
dealing with them.
Here,
then, I conclude this review of the case of The Two Witnesses -
their times, their doings, and their end. It is a marvellous history,
hard for the rationalistic and materialistic temper of our day to receive, or
to treat with respect. I am also well convinced that men will dispute and
reject all such presentations of it till these Two Prophets themselves appear
again; and even then the dupes of Antichrist will still dispute and reject it,
to their everlasting perdition. But that will not alter the record which
God has given, nor do away with the reality of what He has so solemnly
foretold.
Nor
is it a small satisfaction to me, to be able to say, that I have spoken in
accord with the common teaching and belief of the Church of Christ and its
greatest lights for ages next after the Apostles; - with Justin, the
noble Apologist and Martyr; - with Hippolytus, the saint, bishop, and
confuter of heresies; - with Origen, the learned preceptor and
annotator, who, with all his aberrations, was never charged with error for holding
it to be a declaration of Christ that there is to be another coming of Elias; -
with Victorinus, Methodius, Cyprian, and Lactantius;
- with Chrysostom of the golden mouth; - with Jerome, the great
critic and scholar; - and with Augustine, the illustrious bishop and
theologian. In such society it would seem hardly possible to go very far
astray. To believe and teach what these with one accord have held and
taught, can scarcely be in conflict with the faith, or with the duty and
proprieties of a sober Christian teacher.
I
am not willing to believe that these saints, scholars, bishops, martyrs, and
champions of the faith against the errors of their times, have all missed the
sense and meaning of God’s revelations on these points. Not on their
authority, but on that of the same records which guided them, I follow in their
track.
So,
then, I must believe and teach, till better knowledge proves me in the wrong;
and,
“With faltering footsteps, I
will journey on,
Watching the stars that roll the hours away,
Till the faint light that guides me now is
gone,
And, like another life, the glorious day
Shall open o’er me from the empyrean height
With warmth, and certainty, and boundless
light.”
LECTURE TWENTY-FIFTH.
TITE SEVENTH TRUMPET - THE GRAND CLIMACTERIC – “DAYS” INCLUDED-TEXT A SYNOPSIS - VOICES IN HEAVEN -
EMOTION OF THE ENTHRONED ELDERS - TEMPLE IN HEAVEN OPENED - ARK APPEARS -
NATURE AGITATED - GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD CHANGED – EARTH’S DESTROYERS
DESTROYED - THE DEAD JUDGED - THE PROPHETS AND SAINTS REWARDED - ALL CONCERNED
IN THESE THINGS.
Rev. 11: 15-19 (Revised
Text) - And the seventh angel sounded; and there were
great voices in the heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world is become our
Lord’s and His Christ’s; and He shall reign to the ages of the ages.
And the twenty-four elders which sit before God on their thrones,
fell down upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give to Thee thanks,
O Lord God the Almighty, who art and who wast [and art to come, is an addition without
adequate authority here], because Thou hast taken to
Thee Thy great power, and shown Thyself King. The nations indeed were
angry, and Thy indignation is come, and the time [or season] of the dead to be judged,
and [the time or season] to
give the reward to Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them
that fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy the destroyers of
the earth.
And there was opened the temple of God in the heaven, and there was
seen the ark of His covenant in His temple; and there were [or, ensued] lightnings,
and voices, and thunderings, and earthquake. and great hail.
We
here approach the grand climacteric of this world, and of the judgment-work of
the Almighty One. The seventh angel, restrained so long from ushering in
the final scenes which separate us from the glorious world to come, at length
pours out his wondrous blast. It is the Last Trumpet, so often referred
to by the sacred writers, and by the Saviour Himself, as bringing with it the
mightiest scenes and changes in the whole history of earth and time, that here
sounds. And if there is anything in all the round of human thought to
absorb, fix, and intensify interest and attention, we have it in this subject.
It
is an important point to remark, that the seventh trumpet does not sound merely
for one instant or for one day. In that solemn oath of the
cloud-robed Angel, which we were called to consider in chapter
10., and in which it was said that the fulfilling of the mystery of God
should be finished at the sounding of the seventh angel, it is distinctly
implied, that the sounding extends through a period of time. It is there
said, that “in the days of the
voice of the seventh angel, when he shall sound, the mystery of God is [to be]
fulfilled.” “Days” are
included. What measure of “days,” or how
many of them, we are not told; but a period of time is specifically
indicated. In the case of the other woe trumpets there is unmistakable
continuity, - “five mouths” the one, and “thirteen months” the other. And the presence of
this distinct note of continuity here, taken along, with the tremendousness of
what turns out under this trumpet, is evidence enough that it is a mistake to
confine this last and great woe trumpet to a mere instant of time.
As
regards the contents of the Last Trumpet, we may note
1. THE SYMPTOMS WHICH ATTEND IT.
And
may He who sent His angel to disclose these wonders, open our eyes and hearts
by His Holy Spirit, that we may rightly apprehend and ponder the same!
1.
Great voices in heaven utter themselves. There
is not only a stir and great activity excited there, but a great outcry, a
giving forth of mighty intimations. Whose voices they are, is not here
told us; but there is tremendous commotion. Even eternity cannot keep
quiet when this crisis comes. The inhabitants of glory have seen too much
of earth, its behaviour toward God, and God’s doings for it, not to be excited
when the final termination is announced. Their silence breaks, and heaven
rings with mighty voices.
2.
The twenty-four Elders fall down upon their faces, and worship
with sublimest thanks. When the mighty Goel
took the sealed book in Revelation 5.,
they also fell down before the Lamb, and gave their solemn and adoring vote to
His worthiness; but here the prostration is still lowlier. They not only
fall into the posture of reverent adoration, but “upon their faces;” bury their immortal countenances in the
pavement around the throne; by their very emotion hurled from their golden
seats, overwhelmed and almost undone. There they expressed their adoring
sense of the Saviour’s worthiness, exulting in the prospect of what was to
result; but here they celebrate the whole issue reached, the blessed consummation
come, the thing of hope for all these ages now translating into fact; and,
crowned princes of heaven, and anointed co-regents with the great Eternal as
they are, they cannot contain themselves.
These
Elders are the representatives of the first-born of the resurrection.
They are the seniors of the celestial congregation of the redeemed. They
are already glorified, but that does not diminish their interest in the ongoing
and completion of the same process in the case of others. They have their
golden crowns, but that does not withdraw their hearts and sympathies from
those still on earth, or from the still remaining fulfilment of all God’s
word. There is no vanity and selfishness in heaven; no pride of privilege
and place; no vaunting of authority. The crowned Elders on their thrones
are even more concerned over the conflicts still pending and the victories yet
to be achieved, than they were in those through which they had won their own
crowns. The destroyers of the earth were not yet destroyed. The
great multitude of the dead had not yet been finally judged. The mass of men
had not yet been assigned their just deserts. The reward had not yet
fully come to the prophets and saints and fearers of God. The divine
righteousness and honour had not yet been fully vindicated. The usurpation of
Satan had not yet been overthrown. The great redemption had not yet been
fully wrought out into ultimate fact. But the trumpet which brings all
this was now ringing out its unmistakable notes, and not even these blessed
kings could keep their seats, or, restrain the outpouring of their hearts in
grateful, adoring, and exultant thanks.*
[*
It is noticeable in this adoring thanksgiving that God is no longer addressed
as … , who is to come. The common text has this addition,
but wholly without authority. All critics agree in rejecting it as an
interpolation of some cpyist who erroneously supposed that it should come in
here the and same as in chapter 1: 4, 8.
There He is called … because not yet manifested as He should be manifested for
the great consummation; but here it is already the time of the last trumpet, in
which that manifestation is no longer future, but is already come. Hence,
He is no longer addressed as the One who in to come, but as already in actual
operation and present in that very respect in which He was previously …. So Bengel,
who remarks: “Interpreters have long ago seen this.”
Ansbert says: “They do not here subjoin as they
were accustomed, and who art to come, they speak of Him as
already present.” Haymo, who usually treads in the
footprints of Ansbert, says: “It must be observed that
he does not add, as before, who art to come, for they show Him
already present in the judgment by which all these things are accomplished, and
therefore they by no means speak of Him as yet to come.” John Purvey, in his commentary,
published with the preface of Luther, says: “He
does not add the third clause, which he has usually added, namely, and
who is to come, for this reason, that the prophet [rather the Elders]
then saw God, as it were, already sitting in judgment.” ‑Bengel in
loc.]
3.
And the temple of God in heaven opened. There is a heavenly
temple and worship, from which the tabernacle and temple of the Jews was
copied. When Jehovah directed the building of them, He said to Moses: “Look that thou make them! after their pattern, which was
showed thee in the mount” (Ex. 25: 40);
and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews call them copies or
likenesses of things in the heavens (Heb. 9: 23). The heavenly and the earthly worship
were once in close and manifest union. It was sin that divorced them, and
separated between man and the divine, excluding him from the sacred communion
of Paradise, and all but the consecrated priests from the sanctuary, and all
but the high priest from the holy of holies in the Jewish tabernacle and
temple, and even him, except once in a year, when alone he might enter it
enveloped in clouds of incense. Sin has obscured and hidden from man the
sacred and divine. It has repulsed heaven from his view and fellowship,
with only a lingering ray left here and there, and even that so buried away as
to be, for the most part, entirely unapproachable. Hence, when Christ
paid the ransom-price for human sin, and introduced an availing righteousness
for the race, and a new dispensation of mercy and grace received its
foundation-stone, the veil of the temple rent, the way into the holiest opened,
and the divine began to be visible and approachable again.
And this opening of the temple in heaven at the last
trumpet expresses the same idea. Knowledge and vision of heavenly things,
and closer fellowship and intimacy between the worshippers on earth and the
worshippers in heaven, belong to the great consummation. As the Saviour
has taught us to pray, then it is to be, “as
in heaven so on earth.” Oneness is again to be restored
between the worship of both worlds. All this is shown in the twenty-first chapter, where the finished mystery,
is described. Hence, as this trumpet begins to sound, the mists begin to
lift from sacred things, the excluding barriers give way, the seclusion yields
to human gaze and approach, the veil withdraws, the holy begins to disclose
itself again, and the temple of heaven opens.
4.
And with that opening, of the heavenly temple the ark of God’s covenant
appears. It is no unholy or profane exposure, but a
hallowed manifestation setting forth still further the glory of the
occasion. All the compacts of God with His people, and all His solemn
promises to them, are in that ark. All His engagements, whether
particular or general, are lodged and treasured there. In that sacred
casket they have long been hidden away, as Jeremiah is said to have hidden the
Jewish ark when the Chaldeans took Jerusalem.* But, though buried from view, it
is not lost, and its holy contents have all been preserved. Not a promise
is obsolete or dead. And now, at the ending of time, that golden box reappears.
As the Jews believed the old ark would be brought out again in the day Of
Israel’s blessing, so the ark of God’s covenant, is now seen in the temple on
high. A divine potency goes along with that ark. On earth the
waters of Jordan rolled asunder beneath the shadow of it. The walls of
Jericho fell down before it. The enemies of God were scattered where it
set forward. The many thousands of Israel were in safety and blessedness
where it rested.
[*
See 2 Maccabees 2: 4-8.]
And
its appearance here is a token of the recurrence of all these wonders, only on
a completer, grander, and sublimer scale. It tells of the speedy
fulfilment of all that God hath spoken, and the putting into living force of
all that He has engaged to do. Whether as respects the seed of Abraham or
the Gentiles, friends or enemies, the living or the dead, the Church or the
world, blessing or punishment, all that the Almighty has covenanted is now to
be fulfilled. And in token of this the ark, the sign and bearer of His
promises, appears. There could all now see the pledge of God’s,
remembrance of His holy covenant, and of His oath which He swore to Abraham,
and of all that He hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the
world began.
5.
And lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and earthquakes, and great hail
ensued. “The days of the voice of
the seventh angel, when he shall sound,” are terrible days; days of sore
scourgings and afflictions to the wicked dwellers on the earth, and the breaking
forth upon them of sorrows which never end. When God revealed Himself on
Sinai He charged the people to beware, lest He should break through upon them;
and now He is about to break through. The sky flashes with
electric fires. Portentous voices ring out in stunning power. The
air is filled with thunder. The earth trembles and quakes. The
winds rush in noisy fury, and great hailstones fall upon the earth.
Jehovah is now risen up from His place to punish the wicked. And as the
ark of His covenant is revealed to give joy and hope to the parties to that
covenant, lower nature is set in dread commotion to harbinger the bursting
forth of His indignation upon His adversaries.
Such;
then, are the predicted symptoms which attend the sounding of the Last
Trump. Let us now look at‑
2. THE ITEMS WHICH IT EMBRACES.
l.
The first named is, a radical change in the government of the world.
This is what all the great unidentified voices that first speak on the
sounding of the seventh angel utter, as it is the sum of great consummation.
The mighty administrators in the upper world exultantly proclaim, “The kingdom (not kingdoms, as the
common reading is, but [Greek word…] abstract - the sovereignty) of the world [Gk. … - of the constituted order
on the earth] is become our Lord’s and His
Christ’s; and He shall reign to the ages of the ages.” The
tense of the expression is that peculiar to prophetic language, which fixes
upon a result yet future, or only beginning to be, as if already
accomplished. It is not until the scenes narrated in chapters 20. and 21.
are fulfilled, that this change of sovereignty is finally completed; but when
God announces a thing, and especially when He proclaims Himself in motion to do
a thing, it is the same to the heavenly orders as if it were already wrought
out. The word of God is truth, and what it says is the same as
fact and verity already, although not yet distributed out and located in
present time. His word has virtue to make its contents present to those
who really know Him. The seventh trumpet brings this change, and on the
first tone of it all heaven sees and celebrates the work as already done, and
the kingdom of the world become their Lord’s and His Christ’s.
Not
yet has the sovereignty of this world become the Lord’s. All earthly
governments, principalities, and powers, from the beginning until now, are
uniformly represented in the Scriptures as wild beasts, having no lawful owner,
and full of destructive savageness and offensive uncleanness. A lion with
eagle’s wings, a bear crunching bones and flesh, a four-winged and four-headed
leopard, a nondescript with many horns, dreadful and terrible and strong
exceedingly, having great iron teeth to devour and break in pieces; these are
the prophetic symbols of the greatest and most lauded of them. Even the
premiership of Daniel himself in one of them does not alter its general
character. It is but folly and fanaticism for men to talk of Christian
states and governments in this world. Christian and good men may be
concerned in their administration, and Christian ideas may sometimes temper
their enactments, but earthly states and governments themselves are not
Christian, and in the nature of things cannot be. They are all the products
of devastated nature’s wilds, and full of savage nature’s passions and
ungodliness. Fix it as we may, such is the result. The best-planned
institutions and the wisest laws are ever disappointing their framers.
The very law which God Himself promulgated from Sinai’s thunder-shaken heights
was “weak through the flesh,” and did not serve
to keep the Jewish commonwealth from like apostasy to that of other
nationalities.
To this hour there is nothing so great a desideratum
among men as good and just government, nor another department in which the
native evilness and God-antagonising passions of men are so potent and
defiant. True, the kingdom is by right the Lord’s. All authority
and power originates with Him and belongs to Him. Government is His own
ordinance. But since the apostasy of the race to Satan's standard,
usurpation, falsehood, and other powers than the rightful sovereign of
men and nations, have held and directed the sway in this world. Many
revolutions have been wrought, and men have laboured, and sacrificed, and bled,
and died to achieve them, believing that now they would secure the precious
boon for which the race has sighed and cried for ages; but it was only the
turning of the sick man on his bed, who keeps his pain however he may change his
place. In our day especially people are looking and labouring for a grand
jubilee of nations, shaped to popular rule, and compacted by common laws,
interests, and creed, in which enlightened ideas shall be the king, and all the
world be one; but the result will be only a more horrible beast than any that
preceded it, a leopard with bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth, full of heads and
horns and names of blasphemy; the very embodiment of hell, whose infamies so
outrage High Heaven as to bring the great day of God Almighty upon the world.
The world’s revolutions, and reforms, and progress of
liberal ideas, and overturning of old creeds, and grand conventionalities in
revision of the Decalogue, and internationalities for the redemption of the
world without Christ, and glorious philosophies ruling out a personal God and
exalting self and passion n His place, and all its glittering ideals to which
to reconstruct society and relocate the highest interests of man, much as they
may promise, and successfully as they may draw the heart and energy of the
world after them, are but the nurslings of Satan’s bosom in which this world
lies, and the inspirations of his foul breath. Dream, and prate, and
preach, and glory as men may, the devil is de facto the god and
king of this world. His mantle may be often changed, and every day may
exhibit a new garb, but the presiding genius within is still and always the
devil, with all his pride, and malice, and spoliating falsities. And so
it will go on, “wicked men and seducers waxing
worse and worse,” till the
last trumpet sounds.
But
then shall come another order; not developed from below, but enforced with
sudden and resistless power from above. How, we will see when we come to
consider the details of the ensuing chapters. Meanwhile, however, the
fact itself is sure to the exultant voices in heaven. God is king, and
the sovereignty hath He given to His Son, Jesus Christ. And having given
the world six thousand years in which to choose and settle upon its proper allegiance,
and finding after all only an intenser and more malignant apostasy, He causes
the final trump to sound, breaks in with His Almightiness, and enforces His
rightful dominion. A kingdom comes which breaks in pieces, and consumes
all other kingdoms, and stands for ever. Laws are given to be changed no
more. And the true Anointed reigns on earth in an empire of sinless,
deathless life and peace, to [those resurrected
or translated into immortality for] the ages of
the ages. The government is changed.
2.
And closely connected with this change, and one of the things involved in it,
is the destruction of earth’s destroyers. This is
announced in the thanksgiving of the Elders. The same word is used to
denote Jehovah’s act that describes the character of those on whom the action
is inflicted. What men and governments in this world sow, that shall they
also reap. They that are a curse to the world, shall be accursed.
The word … means to spoil, corrupt, ruin, make away with, kill, destroy; and those
who act in this line, shall be dealt with in the same line. Usurpers,
liars, tyrants, persecutors, and murderers, who thus spoil God’s world, shall
be reacted upon by the violence of their own deeds, overwhelmed, and utterly
put out of the way.
Peter
gives it as one of the great objects to be achieved by the awful demonstrations
of the day of the Lord, that then shall come “the
perdition of ungodly men.” That day shall find wickedness and
confederation in iniquity ripened to the full. The very prince of hell
shall then have incorporated himself personally in the government of the world,
speaking through its heads, dictating its religion and its laws, controlling
its trade, enforcing the worship of himself as God, cutting off the heads of
those who dissent, filling the world with the worst of blasphemies, and
compelling all that would live to receive the mark of allegiance to him.
All existing nations on the prophetic earth shall have organically
conjoined themselves with him as the representative of all authority and power,
“and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him.”
But
when the seventh trumpet sounds, the end of this infamous confederation has
come. Then the maddened nations shall suddenly be dashed to atoms as a
vessel of pottery struck with a rod of iron; and their armies slain by the
blasts of Jehovah, as the Syrians of old; and the great beast that did rule
them, and the deceiver that was with him, shall be cast alive into the lake of
fire; and great Babylon shall fall, as a millstone cast into the sea; and the
dragon shall be seized and shut up in his proper hell; and death and the grave
shall be extinguished; and all the destroyers of the earth shall be
destroyed. O! glorious riddance of our weary world, when “the Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall
gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do
iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire!” (Matt. 13: 41, 42.) Well may the enthroned
Elders fall on their faces, and cry their thanks to the Lord Almighty for it.
3.
And still another item in the grand schedule of the last trumpet is the
judgment of the dead. This also is recited in the
thanksgiving of the Elders. When men die, and their bodies waste in the
ground, it is not the end of them. Whatever may be their state meanwhile,
they reappear again. John sees them, the small and the great, given up by
the sea, and death, and hades, all standing before the great white throne, to
be judged, every one of them, according to their works. There is to be a
resurrection, even, of the wicked. They that put an end to their
existence on earth, resolving not to live any more, must still live, and take
the judgment and sentence of Heaven for all their deeds. Not one of all
the race can escape it. And the time of the dead to be judged is “in the days of the voice of the seventh angel.”
This
side the grave, full justice is never done; and up to the great day, no one
receives entirely all his deserts. That is reserved for the period of
resurrection. Soul and body, having, wrought together,
shall reap together of what they have sown. Only the resurrection life
is full retribution life. Incomplete and unequal are all the
administrations here. Many a great criminal dies without having had his
guilt so much as known whilst perchance innocent ones have had to suffer for
his sins The wicked go unpunished, are even honoured in their crimes, and
pass away with no experiences to mark how they stand in the estimate of
God. Fortunes are made, and enjoyed, and respected, and their holders
held in favourable esteem to the end of their days, every dime of which is
stained with blood, corroded with crime, and marked with fraud, oppression, and
soul-damning deeds of injustice.
So
marked and constant are the inequalities that occur, that even the holiest of
men have often been tempted to despondency, and doubt whether their faith and
godliness are not after all a mistake. Nor is there any stay for the good
man’s confidence, or adequate justification of his course, but in the fact that
the end of the matter is not in this world. Beyond is the theatre
on which final settlement is to be made, and there is the invincible throne of
inexorable justice. There shall all earth’s wrongs be righted, all
present inequalities adjusted, and the administrations of God for ever
vindicated. The dead have not gone beyond His reach. The grave does
not cover them from His sight, nor bar them from His approach and power.
Having escaped unpunished from this, world, their just portion still awaits
them in the next. People may call it fable and dream, and reason it an
impossibility; but that will not alter it. And when the seventh
angel sounds, there will be exultant thanksgivings in heaven, that “the time of the dead to be judged” is come.
4.
And with this, yet one other point, the giving of reward to the prophets,
and the saints, and to them that fear God, the small and the great.
Piety and the fear of God are poor recommendations for the favours of this
world. Our religion is the religion of the cross, and that cross has to
be borne by all who are faithful and true. Nothing can abolish it - nothing can
exempt from it. Since the days of Abel, whose confiding, devotion and
humble obedience to his God cost him his life, there has been no age, no
nation, no realm or country on earth, where saintship and holiness have not
subjected to losses, trials, and pains. The prophets all were persecuted
and injured men, who lived martyr lives if they did not come to martyr
deaths. For all these ages, the children of God have been children of
affliction and sorrow. Some were tortured; others had trial of cruel
mockings and scourgings, of bonds and imprisonments; some were stoned, sawn
asunder, tempted, slain with the sword; some wandered about in sheepskins and
goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, compelled to hide themselves
in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
He
that would come after Jesus must deny himself. He that would live godly
in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. There is no rest, no recompense,
no hope for us here. For, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we
are of all men most miserable. But no Christian looks for his
compensation in this present world. So long as he is in this
tabernacle, he groans, being burdened, troubled on every side, distressed,
perplexed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
And the only thing that reconciles to such a lot is, that God’s servants “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen.” Glorious promises have come forth, and these the
good have embraced, and are persuaded of them, and confess themselves strangers
and pilgrims on the earth, looking for a better country, believing that God
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. And the realisation
of all these fond desires and blessed hopes belongs to the time of the seventh
angel, when he shall sound. Piety may not pay as regards this world, but
it will pay then. Not even the gift of a cup of water to the thirsty
shall then go unrewarded; nor a loss, or pain, or labour of love, or pang of
hardship, or tear of sorrow, incurred for Jesus or His truth’s sake,
fail of its just recompense.
Rewards
– rewards - for the wronged prophets, for the suffering saints, and for all
that fear God, small and great, are in reserve. Jesus hath gone to make
them ready. In heaven, in the counsel and purpose of God, in His covenant
and promise, in His hand, secure from all peradventure, they are stored
away. Faith sees them there, and waits for them with eager hope.
And when the last trumpet sounds, they shall be given. Then shall Paul
get his crown of righteousness, and all the apostles take their everlasting
thrones. Then shall Daniel stand in his lot [in
the Holy Land], and Moses possess the
recompense to which he had respect, when he chose rather “to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season.” And every one that hath
forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or
children, or lands, for the sake of God and His Christ, shall receive
an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Nor
is all this without the most intense moment to us. We are all concerned
with that last trumpet’s sound. Our sublimest eternal interests are wrapt up in
what it is to bring. Big is it with the doom and destiny of every one,
and everything that is. Be our place, our state, our occupation what it
may, our fate, and lot, and every question, every doubt, shall then come to
final settlement. Near or remote as those scenes may be, we shall all be
in them, and take from thence the character of our for-ever. Believe it
or not, we every one shall be there; there as victims of the great day of
Almighty wrath, as prisoners brought forth for final execution, or as the
friends and servants of Jesus, to be confessed, rewarded, and glorified by our
blessed Lord.
And
as we spend these swift-passing days, and conduct ourselves in this brief
life, will be the character of our experience and portion then.
Building on Jesus in humble faith and lowly steadfastness, we are safe, and our
work is safe. Then may we sing, and exult, and give thanks with all the
holy ones of heaven, as we see the day approaching. Then
may we rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is the reward that we shall
get. Otherwise there is no dreader sound than that of the Last Trump. And
when we think of the millions of dead and living for whom it has no blessing,
and of the utter destruction which it shall bring on them that know not God and
obey not the Gospel, is there not reason for us all to be moved with fear, lest
that day should come upon us unawares? It will be too late then to remedy
present mistakes, negligence’s and omissions. If we are to meet that day
with joy, and escape the horrors it brings to the unprepared, we must be getting
ready now; getting ready, by honest repentance of our sins, joining ourselves
to Christ and His people, and with all our heart and energy seeking to be in
accord with His word and will. Happy they, who, when the Last Trumpet
sounds, shall be found in such a case!
“Jesus, do Thou mine eyes
unseal,
And let them grow
Quick to discern whate’er Thou dost reveal,
So shall I be delivered from that woe,
Blindly to stray
Through hopeless night, while all around is
day.”
LECTURE TWENTY-SIXTH
THE SUN-CLAD WOMAN - THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH - HER
WOMANLINESS - HER PREGNANCY - HER VICTORY - HER ROYALTY - HER TRAVAIL NOT
PERSECUTION FROM WITHOUT, BUT LABOUR-PAINS FROM WITHIN, TO BRING TO THE EARTH A
GLORIOUS BODY OF HEAVENLY SONS AT THE RESURRECTION TRUMPET TO BE CAUGHT UP TO
CHRIST IN THE AIR.
Rev. 12: 1, 2 (Revised
Text) - And a great sign was seen in the heaven, a
woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a
crown of twelve stars, and, being with child, she crieth out, travailing and
agonising herself to bring forth.
This
book of the Apocalypse is one of the most wonderful in the Sacred
Scriptures. As the Bible among literature, so is this part of it among
the inspired writings. Though it has had to fight its way in every age,
and to struggle to maintain its place in the sacred canon, there is not another
book in the volume of inspiration more strongly attested, or more fully
authenticated. Its superscription, its historical statements, its catena
of testimonies, and the nature of its contents, amply evidence its genuineness,
and its divine original. Its imposing scenery, its grand similitudes, its
pregnant maxims, its significant dialogues, its stirring exhortations, its
glowing prayers, its evangelic songs, and its sublime doxologies, give to it
all the majesty of the book of the mighty consummation, not of inspiration only,
but of the grandest revealed plans and purposes of God.
And
there is not another of the inspired books which so solemnly enforces itself
upon the attention of the Churches, or that is compassed about with guards and
penalties more explicit and severe. It is the highest interest and duty
of every earnest Christian to read and try to understand it, so as to take in
its momentous presentations among the most settled and potent things by which
to direct his way and fashion his expectations. Therefore, with a devout
and able living, divine beyond the sea, I would say, “Join
your prayers with mine, my brethren, that our resumption of the study of this
Divine Book may be fruitful, not in curious speculation and intellectual
gratification, but above and before all else, in the quickening of our
Christian vigilance, and in the increase of our knowledge of God in His Son.”
In
the passage which we are now to consider, we have the picture of a marvellous
Woman, clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a
crown of twelve stars, and she herself agitated and agonising with the
anxieties of parturition.*
This,
the Apostle tells us, is a sign, [the Greek
word … is] a word which he here uses for the
first time in the Apocalypse, and which serves to show that the apparition is
not simply a “wonder,” as
our version has it, but a wonder intended to bring before us something
beyond itself. I have repeatedly remarked, that when the Scriptures
use figures or symbols, or speak in a way not intended to be taken literally,
like all serious writings they always give some intimation of it, in one way or
another. The text is a case in point. What is described is said to
be a sign, a representation or picture of something else -
a symbol. And the fact that we are here told that this is a sign,
goes far to prove that the Apocalypse in general is to be taken literally,
except where indication to the contrary is given. It would be quite
superfluous to tell us that this thing is a sign, and that certain things mean
certain other things, except upon the assumption that whatever is not so
labelled is to be taken just as it reads, a woman for a woman, a star for a
star, a mountain for a mountain, and so on.
[*
The woman is evidently the Christian Church militant on earth during the time
of the Second Advent of Christ, and represents the general body of
Christians. The manchild is the lesser body of them who are sufficiently
devoted, consecrated, unworldly, and openly confessing their belief in the
speedy Advent of Christ, so as to be accounted worthy to escape the Great
Tribulation by being caught up to God and the throne. The woman represents only
the collective body of Christians living in the world at the time of Christ’s
Second Advent, and consequently the manchild denotes a number of living
Christians taken out from amongst all the living people of God. The
resurrected dead saints are not represented by the woman or manchild, but by the
Four Living Creatures and the twenty‑four Elders. The 144,000 in Rev. 14. are the same translated body of
Christians as is represented by the manchild, and are altogether a different
company from the 144,000 Jews mentioned in Rev. 7.
This view of the woman and manchild and 144,000 is held by the Revs. J. G.,
Gregory, R., Polwhele, R. A., Pardon, 0., Beales, J.
Coleman., J. Hooper., W. Taunton., T. Evill.,
&c..‑EDITOR.]
But,
whatever else is literal in this book, this woman is not for the Apostle says
it is a sign - a picture - a symbol of something else, which is
the true subject of contemplation. He further tells us that it is “a great sign.” In itself it was something very
imposing and sublime to the eye which beheld it. But the greatness cannot
be well understood, except with reference to the thing signified. It was
a great sign as indicating something great, remarkable,
momentous. The whole picture is itself so marvellous and extraordinary as
to necessitate the idea of something of the greatest excellence, conspicuity,
and importance. And when it is yet added, that the sign is a “great” one that to which it refers must needs
be of the utmost consequence and consideration, and no trifling object or
ordinary event can be admitted as fulfilling the majesty of such a picture.
This
sign appeared “in the heaven.”
But that does not seem to be of special significance. In the verses
following we read of another “sign,” which
appeared in the same place, whilst both the woman and the dragon are really as
much on earth as in heaven. It is simply the scene of vision that is
indicated. The seer is in the heavenly regions, and in those regions
these signs appear, though relating to both earth and heaven.
A more important question is that respecting the
object intended to be symbolised by this Woman. Who is she, and
what are we to understand by her? *
A common view, in which there is a general agreement,
is, that this woman somehow represents the Church, the body
of God’s professed people. It belongs to the ordinary
Scripture imagery to speak of the Church under the figure of a woman, a spouse,
a mother. We read of “the Daughter of Zion”
as a personification of this kind under the Old Testament, and Paul speaks of the
spiritual Jerusalem as “the mother of us all.”
The Canticles, which certainly are to be taken in a mystic sense, show how
familiar such conceptions were to the Jews; and the same sort of language is
everywhere employed, in one form or another, in the New Testament. And
when we contemplate all the splendid particulars respecting this woman, how she
is assailed by Satan, and the destiny of the offspring, she bears, there is
hardly any room left for a doubt, that it is the collective body of the
Church or people of God that we are to see in this picture.
[* It cannot be a picture of the Virgin Mary giving
birth to the blessed Saviour. If the Apostle had believed it a
representative of Mary, he doubtless would have said so; neither is it
congruous thus mysteriously to give us the picture of one woman so
superlatively exalted, in order to denote another woman so poor and lowly as
Mary at the birth of our Lord. Nor was Mary ever clad and adorned as here
set forth. She has also long since passed away from the earth, while this
woman continued even until after the sounding of the last trumpet. When Christ
was caught up to God, this Apocalypse was not yet written, nor for half a
century afterwards, whereas it was said at the time of the writing that it referred
to things still future.]
It
is necessary to bear in mind that we are here dealing with consummations.
The Apocalypse is the Book and revealer of consummations. It is the
climax of the great judgment period, when all that has gone before comes to its
full, and is finally disposed of. It would therefore harmonise best with
the time, and with the character of the connected administrations, that any
picture of the Church here introduced should embrace it in
its largest fulness, as related to the great consummating events pertaining to
the end.
It
is wonderful what a profound and complete view of the Church, in all its
deepest peculiarities, excellences, office, and prospects, is here given in one
single picture, at once as simple as it is sublime.
1.
We have here the image of a woman. Woman was made out of
Adam. A deep sleep fell upon him for the purpose, and of that sleep woman
came into being. From a rib out of his side was she builded. There
was but one made, and Adam had none other. She was brought unto the man,
and accepted and loved as bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, and made
one with him in the closest of all earthly relations. This is not only
history, but also parable and prophecy. Paul is very particular to tell
us that it is “a mystery,” a sacred revelation
set in historic facts, to show the character and relations of the Church.
Adam was “the figure of Him that was to come.”
Christ is “the Second Adam.” And the wife
of the Second Adam is the Church [of the
first-born], made out of Him by the hand and
Spirit of God from that deep sleep of His for the sins of the world. It
is but one, and beside it there is none other. It is Christ Himself
begotten in His people, and joined to Him in holy compact, service, fellowship,
and love, so deep and close as to be really organic; for “we are members of His body, and of flesh, and of His
bones” - one with Him as the branches with the vine - sharing
each other’s characteristics, estates and destiny. And to say nothing of
the feminine qualities as distinguished from the masculine, there is here the
profoundest reason for the representation of the Church in the figure of a
woman, - a pure, beautiful, sublime, and perfect woman. The Church is the
woman, in her creation from the second Adam, in her naming after Christ, and in
her receptivity, love, maternity, trusting dependence, beauty, and willing
obedience. She is the betrothed of the Lord, His Bride, His
Queen, partaker of His inmost love, and all His estate and kingdom,
having her joy in Him and His in her. Nor is there another image known to
man which more richly and truly sets forth that mystic body, which we recognise
and identify as the Church [of the firstborn] or [obedient and
faithful] people of God.
2.
This woman is in the way of motherhood. This is the
characteristic of the Church specially in reference to what is to be fulfilled
when the last trumpet shall sound. She bears in her body the maturing
germs of a mighty birth awaited in the future. There is one individual
outward figure, but that figure incloses and carries within it an invisible
seed, the royal sons of a royal sire. The Church is meant for the
work of begetting and bearing saints. It is not for show, but for
fruitfulness, - for the carrying and bringing forth of a royal seed of God,
to inherit His kingdom, and to rule and reign in the ages of
eternity. God’s fact-picture of the Church is, that she is burdened with
a seed begotten of God, which is being nurtured from her own body for a
glorious birth-hour when time reaches its close. The
earnest messengers of God come weeping with Isaiah that men will not believe
their report. But the Church lives nevertheless, and is “with child.” Notwithstanding all discouragements and
defections, there are within her body, unseen to mortal eyes, princes
maturing for the birth to celestial and eternal rulership.
Blessed revelation which the dear Saviour thus sends us from heaven! Why
then should we despond or grow weary in our work?
3.
This woman is magnificently arrayed. It is sometimes
decried as a woman’s weakness that she is fond of becoming attire, and has an
irrepressible instinct for personal adornment. It is not a weakness, but
an instrument of power, if kept within proper bounds. It is part of her
nature, as the original type and representative of the Church. She may
abuse it, and fall into many silly mistakes and sins by reason of it, but it
belongs to her proper womanliness to be as becomingly and appropriately arrayed
as she honestly can. She owes it to herself, to her sex, to her husband,
and to society. A slattern is a monstrosity to the Divine ideal. The
Church [of the firstborn] is, the truest and heavenliest woman, and she is splendidly
arrayed. She is “clothed with the sun.”
Of
course, no mere creature, or any number of creatures, can be literally dressed
with the sun. That sublime luminary cannot be worn as a garment. It
is only a pictorial representation, which is to be figuratively
understood. But it is a gorgeous and most expressive figure.
The
sun is the fairest and most brilliant thing our eyes have
ever seen. It is the great orb of brightness. To be clothed with
it, one would needs be clothed with light. And so it is with the Church
and the people of God. Jesus says, they are “the
children of light.” (Luke 16: 8.)
It is the office and end of all God’s merciful appointments “to turn men from darkness to light.” (Acts 26: 18.) Of those whom the Apostles
enrolled as members of the Church of Christ, it is written, “Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the
Lord.” (Eph. 5: 8.) The
Church has ever been an illuminated body. Its children are not of
darkness, but of the day. God, who caused the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined into their hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of His
own glory. They “walk in the light.” They wear it about them as a
garment. If there be any light in the Divine revelations, they have it
as their constant possession. If there be any teaching and illumination
of the Holy Ghost, they enjoy it. They are an instructed people,
illuminated from on high. They are the truly wise. They have the true
philosophy of things, and are the widest awake to the highest truth and
wisdom. While others grope in darkness, they are arrayed in light.
The
sun is at the same time the great light-giver. It
radiates brightness as well as possesses it. Light streams from it as the
illuminator of this whole sublunary world. And to be clothed with the sun
one must necessarily be a glorious dispenser of illumination. And such is
the Church [of the firstborn], Its members and ministers have been the brightest
lights of the ages. It is the pillar and ground of the truth - the golden
candlestick of God amid the abounding and otherwise sunless darkness of this
alien world. It is constituted and ordained for the teaching of the
nations, and the bearing of the light of heaven to the benighted souls of
men. People can learn the way of truth only through its testimony and
confession. Christ hath said of His people [‘disciples’],”Ye are the light of the world” (Matt. 5: 14). By them it is that the
knowledge and joy of salvation [in all its
aspects] are carried over the earth, and
ministered unto the dwellers in darkness and the shadow of death. They
are the dispensers of the light of God. It is a great and wonderful
endowment and office; but this treasure hath the Lord given to
His Church. Oh, that His [redeemed] people may know and realise it!
The
sun is likewise an orb of great excellence and purity. Nothing
can diminish its glory, or taint its rays. To be clothed with it, is to
be clothed with unsullied excellency. And so it is with the Church.
It may have shabby members, but they are not really of it. Whatever may
be the native corruption of men, or their entanglement with the errors and
vices of an ungodly world, in becoming God’s people they are washed, they are
sanctified, they are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God. They are the purest and holiest of the race.
They are the flower of mankind. They are the jewels of the Lord of
hosts. They are saints, having put on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is “the Sun of Righteousness.”
Light is the garment of God. It is the symbol of
His own nature. And as all true people of His are “partakers of the divine nature,” being begotten unto
Him from above, they enter also into the same clothing. The Church is
robed with the sun.
4. This woman is victorious in her position.
She has “the moon under her feet.”
Needless is the perplexity which men have felt in ascertaining what we are here
to understand by the moon. As the sun is the king of day, so the moon is
the empress of night; and hence a fit picture of the kingdom of darkness.
And as to be clothed with the one is to be “light in
the Lord,” a glorious light-bearer to the world, a possessor of great
excellence and purity; so to tread the moon under foot is the image of victory
over the powers of darkness, whether of nature, or aught else. And this
is a blessed characteristic and honour of the Church [of
the firstborn]. All her true members are
conquerors. Not all have yet come to the final triumph. This is not
a picture of the Church triumphant, for the woman is still the
subject of persecution, compelled to fly into the wilderness for her life.
But even now, all who have come to real standing and
membership in the household of faith, must needs have gained certain victories,
and attained to the character of conquerors. By whatever Divine helps and
gratuities it has been achieved, they have vanquished their native ignorance
and hatred of God. They have subdued their prejudices, and brought their
bodies and passions under the sway of another and better dominion and
discipline. With some the battle still rages, and “there remaineth yet much land to be possessed.”
But they have not warred in vain. Some glorious vantage-grounds have been
won. They have conquered so far, that if they will only stand firm,
their final triumph is sure. On fields once held by Satan, they have
succeeded in planting the banners of Jehovah. And from the heights they
have already gained, they see the victory from afar, and realise it even
now. The moon in under their feet.
And
the same is equally true of the Church as a body. She is the child and
hero of battles, sufferings, and victories. Without having anything in
this world, she has successfully made her way into it, in spite of all the
antagonism and power of the devil, who has never ceased to assail and resist
her with all the might of earth and all the craft and subtlety of hell.
Mostly in weakness and in pain, straitened betimes as if it were impossible for
her to survive, she has moved on, through blood and fires, floods and
wildernesses, never surrendering never losing a jot of her character and
office, and doing her work against all the powers arrayed against her. Kings
have combined to exterminate her, tyrants have oppressed her, treason has been
raised in her own bosom, children have betrayed her, friends have deserted her,
prisons have closed upon her, despotism has stamped its feet upon her neck, men
in power have taken pleasure in dashing her little ones against the walls and
giving their flesh to the beasts of the earth, and many a time have her foes
sent up their congratulations to each other that at last she was effectually
vanquished. But still she has lived on, like the bush of Moses, unharmed
by the fires, gathering children as trophies from the ranks of her enemies,
pushing her influence to the very throne of Satan, making mighty champions of
truth out of the veriest sons of hell, penetrating into all the nations, and
to-day still waves aloft the palm of ten thousand contests, singing her paeans
of thanksgiving to her God, as when Miriam struck the cymbals on the Red Sea’s
further shore. Small, and weak, and feminine, and despised, and pursued
by the great destroyer, and seemingly ever on the point of destruction, she has
continued victorious through all, God Himself turning her worst calamities to
triumphs, and the very malice of her foes to her glory. The moon is under
her feet.
5.
Still further: this woman is royal in rank and dignity. Regal
gems glitter about her brow. There is “on her
head a crown” - a crown “of stars,” -
stars to the sacred number of completeness,- “twelve
stars.” Whatever the particular allusion may be, whether to
patriarchs, or tribes, or apostles, or all of these, or to the totality of her
teaching agency, there flashes forth from this the unmistakable idea of
kinghood and authority; yea, of celestial royalty and dominion. And this,
too, is one of the sublime possessions of the Church. [Overcoming]
Christians are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.”
(1 Peter 2: 9.) By anticipation at
least, all who are washed from their sins in the blood of Jesus, are “Kings and priests unto God.”
(Rev. 1: 6.) All who are called by the
Gospel, are called to [‘attain’ (Phil. 3: 11) to a] royal place and dignity, and in so far as they have
made that calling sure, whatever be their earthly estate or
place, they are anointed and sealed as lords and princes of the eternal
realm. They are ‘joint heirs’ with Him to
whom all power in heaven and earth is given. Time only is needed to instate to
them in immortal thrones. Crowns are theirs, and the glory of
imperishable empire. The Church [of the
firstborn] is Jehovah’s Queen - the Mother of
Eternity’s Kings - a Royal Woman crowned with the stars of heaven.
6.
And she is in travail to bring forth. She is persecuted;
but these are not so much pains of persecution. The pains of persecution
come upon her from without; this anguish is from within.
Persecution proceeds from the wicked, for the purpose of destruction; this agony
proceeds from a treasure of heavenly sons, and is a travail to produce.
Persecution has its spring in hell’s malignity; this agonising has
its origin in the love, and faith, and hope of a pious maternity.
Friends
and Brethren: There is a grand and glorious birthday on hand, - a
birthday foreshadowed by the seizing away from earth of Enoch and
Elijah, and fore-pledged by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave,
and His sublime ascension to the right hand of the Father, - a birthday which
Paul had in his eye when he wrote, “The trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
(1 Cor. 15: 52.) To that all the
promises point. Of that the patriarchs were persuaded when they confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth? (Heb.
11: 13.) To that the twelve tribes under the law, instantly
serving God day and night, hoped to come. (Acts 26:
7.) For that the great Apostle of the Gentiles counted all his
sacrifices and sufferings as nothing, and ever pressed, through stripes, and prisons,
and losses, and privations, as the mark and prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3: 4-14.)
And, in all the ages, this is the grand birth-hour for
which the Church ever cries to God, and agonises and strives. It is the
goal of all her being. It is the pole-star of her hope, and faith,
and labours. It is the opening of the consummation for which her inmost
nature ever yearns. And the effort to bring her sons to that birth,
is the travail and anxiety here portrayed.
For
this present we are in heaviness and tribulation. Heaven is not in this
world. Our inheritance is beyond, and only the [select] resurrection can bring us to the full fruition of
it. In the day of the resurrection trumpet, the mystery of God shall be
finished, and His saints come to that for which they look, and long, and cry
out, in all these years of waiting. Think, then, what a time that will be
when once the object of all these prayers, sufferings, and endeavours has at
last been reached! What, indeed, is all the glorious light, and victory,
and royalty, and joy of faith and hope we now possess, compared with the
fulness of joy which shall come with that glad consummation! We have
seen, then, that God has a Church [of firstborn
sons] on earth. We have seen its features
and characteristics as pictured by Himself. And blessed above all is the
fact that it exists for us. It is, and lives, and agonises thus, that we
may be members of it, and be nurtured and disciplined in it for the glories of
immortal regency. And all this cheering light concerning it is given to
draw us into it, here to steady and improve us in faith and duty, that we may
be God’s [firstborn]
sons and daughters, and share the destiny of its children. God grant that
none of us may fail of the transcendent honours!*
[*
There is much reason to believe that this travail of the Woman, prior to the
birth of the manchild or translation of watchful Christians to heaven, denotes
a period of great stir, commotion, and excitement throughout the Christian
Church during the first two years of the seven year of the Covenant-week of the
final seven years, and that the translation will take place somewhere about two
years and a fortnight after the date of the Covenant. The grounds for this
belief are stated in the preface to the English edition of this book, and also
in the book, Forty Coming Wonders, with Fifty Pictures, at the
same publishers.‑EDITOR.]
LECTURE TWENTY‑SEVENTH.
THE
GREAT RED DRAGON - HIS TAIL THAT DRAWS ALONG AND CASTS DOWN THE STARS OF THE
HEAVEN - HIS HEADS AND HORNS – HIS COLOUR - HIS GREATNESS - HIS ATTITUDE AND
BEARING TOWARD THE CHURCH OF GOD.
Rev. 12: 3, 4 (Revised
Text) - And there was seen another sign in the heaven,
and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his
heads seven diadems. And his tail draweth along the third of the stars of
the heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stands before the
woman which is about to bring forth, that when she has brought forth he
may devour her child.
In
connection with the apparition of the woman (clothed with the sun, “there was
seen another sign in the heaven,” which is described to us in the text.
It is “another sign” - and
therefore to be interpreted figuratively after the same manner as the
preceding.
The
image presented is that of “a dragon”
- a sort of being better known to heraldry, fable, and fanciful art, than
to natural history. In the book of Job (chap.
41.) there is a description of some semi-marine animal, clad in a
panoply of hard scales, “esteeming iron as straw, and
brass as rotten wood, counting darts as stubble, and laughing at the shaking of
a spear,” setting at defiance all the power and courage of man. It
is there called Leviathan, but the same, or some
corresponding serpentine creature, is elsewhere identified as “the dragon.” (See Isa. 27: 1, and 64:
13, 14.) Some think it the crocodile, others the whale, and others
perhaps one of those gigantic reptiles whose remains are occasionally dug up
out of the earth. Evidently we are to conceive of it as some terrible
serpentine creature, inhabiting the estuaries of rivers, or the marshes and
margins of the sea, clawed, and armed at every point, and delighting to attack,
terrify, and devour. When Jeremiah would act forth the terrible voracity
and oppression of Babylon, he assigned to it the characteristics of this beast,
saying, “he hath swallowed me up like a dragon.”
(Jer. 51: 34.) Hence, it was given
place on the escutcheon of Egypt, and adopted as one of the military ensigns of
imperial Rome. The legions of the latter bore it aloft, with the winds
whistling through its wide-open throat, causing it to hiss as if in a rage,
while its tail dangled or floated in various folds to the breeze.
But
while the picture here is in general that of a dragon, it is one altogether
peculiar, and different from common dragons. It is “a great dragon,” one in size and
bulk vastly in excess of the ordinary idea, and with every dragon-feature
hugely magnified. It is also of a peculiar colour, “red” - fiery, or red as fire. It
has “seven heads.” Dragons
ordinarily were assigned but one head; but this is possessed of seven, and each
head has on it a diadem or crown – “upon his
heads seven diadems.” He is armed also with “ten horns.” And he has a most extraordinary “tail,” which “draweth
along the third of the stars of the
heaven.” The image is most formidable and
terrific. And the attitude is equally threatening and terrible. The
monster confronts the Woman as a great and malignant destroyer, in determined
readiness to devour her child the moment it is born.
What,
then, are we to understand by this Dragon? Who is he? What is thus meant
to be brought to our view?
Fortunately on this point we can speak with entire
confidence and certainty. The answer is given in the ninth verse, by the inspired writer himself.
We there read that “the great dragon” is none
other than “the old serpent, that is called the
Devil and Satan, who seduceth [or misleadeth] the whole world.” Whatever men’s
theories of the Apocalypse may be, they cannot evade this statement. It
is one of those divinely settled points by which the whole interpretation must
accord, in order to be true. The Dragon, then, is not Egypt as such, nor
Babylon, nor the Roman Empire, nor anything, but what John here tells us it is,
namely, the Devil, even Satan. So the early interpreters all taught and
maintained. Even catechumens in the fifth century are addressed by their
teacher as all-knowing, “that this dragon is the devil.”
He is not literally a dragon, as the Church is not literally a woman, but the
Dragon here described is a divinely-given image or symbol of him.
And as we are now dealing with consummations, we are
to take this image of the Devil in the same way in which we took the image of
the Church. As the sun-clad woman denotes the Church in its
entirety with reference to the final termination, this
dragon denotes the devil in his entirety with reference to the same.
There
is, then, a Devil. Of this the chapter before us is
authoritative proof. If there were no other passages on the subject, this
would be sufficient to settle the question. But we read of him from the
very beginning. In the Pentateuch, in Job, in the Gospels, and in the
Epistles there are the most direct allusions to him, his origin, his malignity,
and his works. The Bible tells of evil spirits, and of Satan as the head
of them. Reason is reluctant to receive such doctrine. It is one of
the favourite resorts of Satan to try to persuade men that no such being as he
exists. Some think it impossible for such an evil power to find place in
the realm of almighty Goodness. But there is no greater difficulty in explaining
or construing the existence of wicked angels than the existence of wicked and
devilish men. The very nature of moral government implies and
necessitates the possibility of evil. God never made an evil being; but,
having constituted moral agents, the ability to do wrong as well as good had to
be in them. And with the ability to do wrong, there is nothing improbable
in the doctrine that some have exercised that ability, perverted their being,
and lost their character, standing and place as holy creatures.
That
evil exists is a plain and evident matter of fact. And if it is possible
for men to be evil, it is just as possible and likely that other creatures,
higher in the scale than we, likewise have among them some who are apostate and
depraved. And if so, reason itself is sufficient to suggest the doctrine
of some great leader and prince in evil, in exact accord with the Scripture
teaching with regard to the Devil. At all events, Revelation tells us of
a crafty and powerful spiritual being who was the cause of the fall of our
first parents, who was the direct agent of Job’s afflictions, who tempted and
assailed Christ, and who is the head and soul of a great empire of evil, which
has eaten its way into the glorious creation of God, drawing some of His
sublimest works into peril and ruin. And with these teachings we can most
safely abide, believing what our gracious Father in heaven has caused to be
written for our learning, and ordering our thinking accordingly.
We could not but admire in our last the wonderful
beauty and fulness with which the Church was portrayed to us in the
sun-clad Woman. But no less remarkable and complete is the picture of
Satan as sketched in this “great red dragon.”
The subject, of course, is not so inviting, but still it is
very important. Let us look at it then with something of the care and
solemnity which is called for by the circumstantial particularity with which
God has caused it to be here introduced.
1.
When Moses was commanded to take up the serpent, into which his rod had been
turned, he was told to “take it by the tail.” (Ex. 4: 4.) And this may be a very proper way
to take hold of this Dragon, “the old serpent.”
His tail is certainly one of the most striking features in the picture, and
with it very marvellous execution is done. It swings through heaven,
coils about celestial principalities, and “draweth
along the third of the stars.”
These,
however, are quite other stars from those in the crown of the Woman.
Those were simply “stars,” her coronal gems; but
these are “the stars of the heaven” - some
particular stars. Neither are they literal stars, for the whole thing is
a “sign” - a symbol. Vitringa
hit the truth successfully, when he spoke here of the angels.
These are truly “the stars of the heaven.”
When God brought the world into being we are told that “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.”
(Job 38: 4-7.) These were the angelic
hosts. They are fitly called stars by reason of their beauty and glory;
and they are pre-eminently “the stars of the heaven,”
as they pertain to heaven, and are the sublimest ornaments of the celestial
world. Satan himself was once one of these stars, as we saw in chapter 9: 1. Isaiah (14: 12) alludes to this, where the exclamation is,
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer
[literally, day-star], son
of the morning!”
Has
there then been any calamity among the angelic hosts to answer the description
before us? The Scriptures distinctly tell us that there has. Jude (6) speaks
of “angels which kept not their first estate
[their principality], but left their own habitation.”
Peter refers to “the angels that sinned,” whom “God spared not.” (2 Pet.
2: 4.) A time there has been when evil got in among these heavenly
orders, infected many of these shining sons of light, soiled their robes,
tarnished their crowns, silenced their songs, dislodged them from their
glorious seats, and eat out of them every noble impulse and holy
affection. How the sorrowful disaster came about, is suggested in various
places, and distinctly indicated in the picture before us. Satan, one of
the brightest and mightiest among them, was the cause and author of it
all. Abusing his moral liberty, he dared to lift himself up against his
Maker, and instituted a revolt against the throne and the majesty of God.
By his example, instigations, and persuasions, he infected others, imbued them
with his spirit, and made them co-partners in his plot.
“By their aid, aspiring
To set himself in glory, above his peers,
He trusted to have equalled the Most High,
And, with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Raised impious war in heaven and battle
proud.”
Here
then was this dragon exerting his strength in the heaven, insinuating his coils
about the sons of light, and
drawing
them along with his presumptuous cause. All these
“The Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal
sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion down.”
How
many were thus involved is not told us. The text says that the terrible
apostasy embraced “the third of the stars of the
heaven.” This statement is definite, and will bear the
interpretation that just one-third of all the angelic host fell through that
Satanic rebellion. Milton imagines a great multitude, greater than
that which the north of Europe emptied out,
“When her barb’rous sons
Came like a deluge on the south, and spread
Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands.”
These were “cast to the
earth.” We are here contemplating “a sign,” and we must interpret accordingly. Contrasted
with the visible heavens, the earth is simply the lowest place - the ground -
the base. For a star to be cast down to the earth, is to be plucked out
and thrown down from its setting as a star. And so these rebel angels
have been plucked from their places, dethroned, and abased. Hence we read
of them as “reserved in chains, under darkness, unto
the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6).
Having failed voluntarily to keep to their proper place, they are now kept
against their will, in the power and purpose of God, for a doom not yet
fully executed. They lost their heavenly principality. In place of
their starry brightness they are now darkness, which clings to them, as chains
to a prisoner, and holds them for eternal punishment. They still roam at
large, particularly about our earth, and in the atmosphere which surrounds it;
for the devil “goeth about” to do
mischief. But, like tethered cattle, or chained dogs, their liberty is
bounded, and they can go no farther than that tether’s length. And this
is the casting down and disability which the picture before us symbolises.
So
much, then, for the tail of this dragon, his chief power, which draws along the
third of the stars of heaven, and casts them to the earth.*
[*
It is a strong confirmation of our correctness here, that the two verbs are in
quite different tenses. The drawing, … is in the present,
denoting an action in continuity at the time John wrote, which is the fact
with regard to Satan’s influence over these fallen powers, but not the fact
with regard to any other interpretation proposed. The casting down,
… is in the second aorist, denoting an action past, as
the deposition and dejection of the wicked angels is, and was at the apostle’s
time a past event. Satan’s drawing of them along with him began before
their expulsion from heaven, and it continues long after, till now, and even
under the last trumpet. To no other interpretation will the direction
thus accurately fit.]
2.
We advance now to his heads and horns, which look
formidable enough; for he has “seven” of the
one, and “ten” of the other.
The
head is the governing power, and implies rule. When crowned, it implies
political rulership. These seven heads of the dragon are all crowned
heads. He is an imperial person. Each one of his heads has on it a
diadem, indicating imperial rulership and autocratic administration. And
just so far as these heads show themselves on earth, terrestrial magistracy and
government are implied. The number of these crowned heads is seven,
which is the number of dispensational fulness, the earthly complete
number. They are seven heads, in the same sense that we read of “the seven Spirits of God” - a manifold
unity. Daniel* beheld the imperial authority of this world up to the
great judgment day, under four successive beasts,
these several beasts together had also seven heads, to indicate the whole
aggregate completeness of earthly empire.**
[*
The lion, bear, and ten-horned beast in Daniel 7.
were not stated to have more than one head each, and the leopard had four
heads, so that these four animals had seven heads altogether
among them. The ten-horned beast is, however, stated in Revelation 13. and 17.
to have seven heads at the crisis of the consummation. Dr. Seros
admits, in his lecture on Rev. 17., that it
denotes the Roman Empire, and this is the universal opinion of
commentators. The Devil being symbolised as a Dragon with seven heads and
ten horns, shows that it is the invisible being that inspires and animates and
openly works through the Roman Empire nations and their
governments, which are prefigured by this Beast with seven heads and ten horns.
– EDITOR.]
[**
The city of Rome was built on seven hillocks, and seven administrations, or
forms of dominion, or dynasties, are also said to have marked the history of
the Roman Empire.]
And
they are the Devil’s heads. All Sovereignty is, indeed, of God; but, in
this world, Satan has usurped much of it. When he pointed out to Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,”
and offered them as a compromise and compensation to the blessed Christ if He
would but “fall down and worship” him, it was
not mere boast and false pretence. Three times the Saviour pronounces him
“The Prince of this world” (John 12: 31; 14: 30; 16: 11). Paul styles
him the very “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4: 4). The glorious ones in heaven
are witnesses to us, that “the kingdom of the world”
is not yet “our Lord’s and His Christ’s,” nor
will be till the last trumpet sounds, and the grand events under it are
consummated. John testifies that “the whole
world lieth in the wicked one” (1
John 5: 19); that is, reposes in his bosom, as the source of its warmth
and life, its lord and its resting-place. Its governments, therefore,
above all, must be in his power, and pertain to his administration. Good
elements, in a greater or less degree, may here and there be in earth’s
governments, and sometimes they may largely conform to what is right and true;
for God has not resigned His providence over the world; but Satan has hold of
them, and operates by them nevertheless. He wears the diadems of the
dominion of this earth, and through the world-powers puts himself forth over
against the kingdom of God.
Horns are the weapons of animals, their means of inflicting
injury, their power for evil. As symbols, they do not so much represent
rulership or dominion, as power to harm, wound, and afflict. The “four horns” in Zechariah’s vision, were the powers
which devastated Palestine, “scattered Judah,”
and injured, oppressed, and destroyed the people of God. (Zech. 1: 18-21.) And such are the horns of
this Dragon. The number of them is ten, the number of worldly
completeness, especially in the line of worldly evil. They are his horns,
with which he gores, and wounds, and scatters, and destroys. Every
manifestation in the world, in the line of violent and oppressive injury or
mischief, is from the Devil. And whatever the persons, combinations, or
powers, whether governmental or otherwise, by which the damage is inflicted,
they are the Devil’s horns, which he uses with mighty effect till the great
judgment sits and he is put out of the way.*
[*
In addition to any general figurative meaning, it is clear that in a particular
literal sense at the consummating crisis, these ten horns of the Dragon
indicate that he will specially work through the ten horns of the beast which
be raises up in Revelation 17. and 13., where the ten horns are expressly stated to
be ten kings of a revived ten-kingdomed Roman
Empire during the concluding few years of this dispensation. ‑EDITOR.]
3.
We look next at his colour; for nothing in the description is without
significance. This Dragon is “red,”
the hue of fire and blood. This was the colour of the horse whose
rider was to take peace out of the earth, who carried the great sword of
execution, and who filled the world with bloodshed and slaughter. (Rev. 6: 4.) It is the colour of the
apparel of the Almighty King, when He puts on His strength to crush out His
enemies. (Is. 63: 2-4; Rev. 19: 11-15.)
It tells of flaming heat, of intensity of fierceness, of bloody
administrations. And this well describes the inmost nature of Satan, as
everywhere portrayed. He is a fierce and murderous being cruel,
bloodthirsty, and ever intent on destruction. Jesus says, “He was a murderer from the beginning.” (John 8: 44.) Peter warns all Christians
against him, as one that walketh about, as a rearing lion, seeking whom he may
devour. (1 Pet. 5: 8.) He is the
Destroyer of both souls and bodies. He seduceth and misleadeth the whole
world, promising good and peace only that he may the more effectually entrap
and ruin. With what murderous malignity did he attack the innocence of
our first parents, and the heavenly purity of Jesus! With what carnage
and misery has he over flooded the earth! There has never been a murder,
but he caused it. There has never been a sanguinary war, but he
instituted it. There has never been a death-scene, but it is traceable to
him. Every blight of human happiness, every failure of human peace, every
sorrow of human life, has come from him. All the fiery passions that
rankle in men, and break forth in deeds of violence and blood, are his
inspirations. Never a being has been perverted from the beneficent object
of its existence, never a soul has lost its Creator’s image or gone down to
perdition, never a life has been disabled or extinguished, never a heart has
been broken or a wretchedness enacted, of which he is not the primal
cause. All graves, all tears, all mutilations and dismemberments of
earth’s families, nations, or the race, are results of his doings and
malignity. And when we think of the blood that has been shed, and the
murders committed, since Cain raised his hand against his brother’s life; how
rapine, and plunder, and violence have disgraced and tormented the world in
every age; what hellish devastations war alone has wrought; how human society
has been continually spoliated and cursed with intemperance, ignorance,
uncleanness, and vice; and remember that all these, with all the calamities,
misfortunes, and sufferings of time and eternity, have their source in Satan,
and are but out-births, enactments, or results of his spirit; how could a truer
characterisation be given of him, than that of a monster, in-dyed with flames
and blood! He is red, for he is the Satan, the
Devil.
4.
Still another feature specially noted, is his greatness. He
is a fierce, malignant, and bloody monster, and a “great” one. But how shall we get a right
conception of what is thus portrayed? Milton talks of him as
Titanian, long and large, extending many a rood; his shield, like the broad
circumference of the moon; and his spear so great, that to it the tallest pine
“Hewn on Norwegian hills to
be the mast
Of some great admiral, were but a wand.”
But,
not in this way can we get a right idea of Satan’s greatness. We must
lift our thoughts to much wider and mightier contemplations.
Looking
out from this world into the depths of space about us, we see “an outward, visible universe, studded with constellations of
suns and their attendant systems, circling in unmeasured orbits around an
invisible and omnipotent centre, which controls them all. Amazed and
overwhelmed at these stupendous displays of creative power, wisdom, and
goodness, in adoring ecstasy we inquire into the uses of these mighty orbs,
which, in such untold millions, diversify and adorn those undefined fields of
ethereal beauty which fill unbounded space. Reasoning from all our native
analogies, and from the scattering rays of supernal light that have reached our
world, we must infer that all these orbs are the mansions of social beings, of
every conceivable variety of intelligence, capacity, and employment, and that
in organised hierarchies, thrones, principalities, and lordships, they
constitute each within itself an independent world,” though all together
but so many members of the one immense family of creation.
Now,
in all these intellectual assemblages, spread over the immeasurable area
of universal being, there are but two distinct and essentially diverse
confederations - two empires, with two primal heads. On
the one hand sits the almighty and ineffable Jehovah, whose
majesty transcends all human thought or comprehension; His being eternal; His
nature, perfect His throne, absolute; to whom “every
creature which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and
upon the sea,” in one form or another, is compelled to give the
blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for the ages of the
ages. But, on the other hand, stands a mimic god, a
creature, indeed, and not at all beyond the Almighty’s government and control,
but one of the sublimest of anaelic beings, a prince among the celestial
hierarchies, set against God, seeking to overturn heaven, aiming to supplant
the kingdom, authority, and rightful worship of the great Eternal, himself
grasping for the reins of universal sovereignty. We tremble as we think
of the awful daring. The ambition and adventure of earthly despots in
setting out to conquer this world, is startling; and because of what men have
done towards accomplishing it, history calls them “great.”
Yet
here is a being Satan - who has adventured upon the exploit of conquering the
universe, of wresting creation from its Maker! Under the mysterious
economy of God, he has also been enabled to make mighty strides towards the
realisation of his fell purposes. Principality after principality, in the
celestial realms, succumbed, and fell in line beneath his banner. A
third of the very stars of the heaven joined his cause, and
followed in his train. Adam, the appointed lord and sovereign of the
earth at the beginning, was betrayed into his power, and all earth’s naturally
engendered children were made his born slaves and servants. And so there
now exists a mighty confederation of evil, made up of
angels and men, disembodied and in the flesh, numbering millions on millions of
disloyal spirits, who burden our atmosphere, and overspread our planet with
disorders, anarchy, misrule, darkness, gloom, sorrow, death, and ten thousand
embitterments of existence, from which uncounted creatures sigh, and groan, and
cry to be delivered! Long ago, indeed, an effectual check was put upon
the growth and sway of this impious coalition in heaven. Also, in the
decrees of God, the unalterable determination stands, to uproot and destroy it
utterly.
But
till the eternal Son of Deity undertook the case, not a potency in all the
circle of created things could shake its hold upon this world of ours.
Neither could He, without centuries on centuries of preliminary work, and then
the resignation of His place in the Divine bosom, the conjoining of Himself to
human flesh and blood, and the enactment of a humiliation, as astounding to all
heavenly intelligences as it was unparalleled in the history of things.
No, nor even then without battle and conflicts so intense and horrible that
they wrung even His mighty soul with anguish unspeakable, shook the fabric of
His immortal being to the verge of annihilation, and put the very Lord of glory
under the pangs, and bonds, and darkness of death and the grave! And only
when we have surveyed the dimensions of an empire so gigantic,
and counted the cost at which alone its hold could be broken, are we in
position to estimate the greatness of that Fell Spirit, who created it out of
his own subtle deceit and unholy ambition, sits as its head, giving force and
direction to all its parts, and wields it with a genius and will inferior only
to that of eternal uncreated Mind. Ah, yes, the Dragon is “great.”
5.
And yet one feature more is given in this picture, to wit, his attitude
and bearing towards the Church of God. “The dragon stands before the woman which is about to bring
forth, that when she has brought forth he may devour her child.”
How intensely does this sum up the whole history of the case! The Church
and the Devil, the kingdom of heaven and the powers of darkness, have ever been
the two great antagonising forces on the earth. The one is the spirit of
mercy, embodied in the work of man’s deliverance; the other is the spirit of
malignity, going about to crush and kill every tendency, power, or prospect of
man’s salvation.
With
the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was lodged the promise of spiritual
sonship and glorious dominion. Out of them was to be developed the seed
of the woman to redeem and rule the world. At Bethlehem, as the great
Head and chief of all, this divine seed appears. We hear the angels sing
and the shepherds rejoice. We see the stars giving unusual indications,
mighty sages of the far-off land coming to lay their royal treasures at His
feet, and everything aglow with a sense of the wonderfulness of the
event. But the Dragon is there, with rage inflamed, and eager to
devour. In Herod he inquires, and plots, and sends his executioners to
slay all the children in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two
years old and under, to make doubly sure of reaching this child’s life, and
destroying this whole seed for ever.
So
has it also been in all succeeding time. While Jesus was going up and
down among the villages of Palestine, fulfilling the prophecies and maturing
God’s plans for begetting a people for Himself, the earthly powers about Him
were ever prowling and plotting to destroy both Him and His work, and finally
seized Him, killed Him, and sealed up His mangled body in the sepulchre.
When, by the Spirit of God, He rose again, and gave new commissions and
endowments to His apostles, threatening and slaughter pursued them, and the
sword, the cross, and the stake awaited them. Rome joined with Jerusalem
in oppressing, banishing, and destroying them, and all who adhered to them.
Emperors sported themselves with their sufferings, and edict after edict went
forth from the throne of the world for their extermination. Ten mighty
persecutions fell on Christians throughout all the jurisdiction of the
Caesars. The earth was repeatedly deluged in martyr blood. And what was
it all but this seven-headed and ten-horned Dragon confronting the travailing
woman, determined to make an end of her royal seed!
Nor was it essentially different after Paganism was
dethroned, and the cross appeared upon the imperial banners. The tactics
changed, but it was still the Dragon that wrought. Outward oppression was
broken, but then came inward assaults, corruption, and decay. The sword
of state for a while was sheathed, but then was drawn the more killing weapon
of domineering heresy. Soon also the tiara became the imperial crown, the
wearer of it the world’s dictator, and kings and governments the slaves and
menials of another Rome, robed in Christian symbols indeed, but at heart the
Dragon still, with faggot, and bloody inquisition, and bans of terrible
damnation, striving to enforce its blasphemous assumptions and soul-destroying
lies. Men the holy Reformers began again to shake the torch of evangelic
truth to light the nations to their salvation, the Vatican thundered with its
bulls, armies rallied for the onslaught, and massacres and butcheries filled
many lands with the blood of God’s confessors, or lighted them with flames to
consume the bodies of the saints. And even to this day and hour, the old
serpent lies coiled in the Church’s path, and in the forms of a pretended
superior science, a false philosophy, a perverted Gospel, and many an ugly
persecution, still strikes, assails, and mightily struggles to crush the meek
Galilean’s power from the earth, and keep the God-child from his royal destiny
and dominion.
So
true is it that “The Dragon stands before the
woman which is about to bring forth, that when she has brought forth he may
devour her child.”
Behold
then, my friends, what a mysterious battle-field this world is. A contest
here is waging which enlists and engages the mightiest powers that exist.
It is the great and far-reaching conflict between good and evil, between truth
and falsehood, between right and usurpation, between the Kingdom of God and the
Empire of Satan, between Heaven and Hell - the great war of a divided universe
coming to final issue upon this little world of ours! It is largely
silent and invisible. Though raging round us every hour, we perceive so
little of it, that many doubt its reality. But its very hiddenness is
evidence of its awful greatness. The “noise of the captains,” the
“shouting,” the rattle of arms, the boom of artillery, marking earthly battles,
is but the fuss and ado pertaining to the local and circumscribed exhibits of
man’s doings. Whether we are conscious of it or not, such a mighty strife
exists, and we ourselves are all parties to it, and combatants in it. If
not of the glorious Woman, we are of the seven-headed and ten-horned Dragon, at
war with her, her seed, and her God. Nor are any of us of the glorious
Woman, who have not renounced Satan and all his works, and confessed ourselves
to Christ in obedience to His Gospel. From these holy oracles of truth I
make it known to you, that if you have not yet enlisted under the banner of
Emmanuel, and at His altar sworn unfaltering allegiance to Him, you are under
the Dragon’s standard, serving his will, helping on his foul and murderous
work, and on the way to share his destiny. God help every one in such a
case to see it before it be for ever too late. Though involved in Satan’s
coils, it is not impossible yet to change sides; but it must be done quickly,
if ever. Hence, the very first question which we are bound to ask
of those to whom we are to deliver the promise of salvation is – “Do you renounce the Devil and all his works, the vanities of
the world and the sinful desires of the flesh?” And
for those who decline to do this, now in the time of their probation, there is
no hope and no promise of eternal life.
LECTURE TWENTHY-EIGHTH.
THE
MAN-CHILD - IT IS MANIFESTLY NOT BORN UNTIL JUST AT THE END OF THIS AGE, AND
THEREFORE CAN BE ANYTHING IN THE PAST - THIS WOMAN AND CHILD DENOTE THE VISIBLE
AND INVISIBLE CHURCH - THE BIRTH IS THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF GOD AND
THEIR GLORIFICATION AT CHRIST’S SECOND ADVENT - MANHOOD OF THIS CHILD - IS
MEANT FOR RULERSHIP AND DOMINION - THE OBJECT OF SATAN’S PARTICULAR MALICE - THE
CATCHING UP TO GOD’S THRONE OF TRUE SAINTS AT CHRIST’S COMING - THE GLORY OF
THE CHRISTIAN CALLING.
Rev. 12: 5 (Revised Text)
- And she brought forth a son, a male [neuter,
embracing either sex], who is to rule [shepherdise]
all the nations with a rod of iron: and her
child was caught away to God, and to His throne.
In
the discourses which last engaged our attention, we saw what is to be
understood by the wonderful Woman clothed with the sun; and likewise
ascertained who the great red Dragon is that stands before her. But we
have not quite done yet with either of them. This Woman was travailing
and agonising herself to bring forth, and really did bring forth, even in the
face of the murderous Dragon. It remains, therefore, to inquire
concerning this Child, the nature of the birth spoken of, and the results which
followed; remembering, of course, that we are still dealing with a symbolic
picture, “a sign.”*
[*
The Editor of Lange on the Apocalypse understands the Man-child to
denote the company of the 144,000 in Rev. 14.
There is much ground for adopting this view in the sense of the 144,000 watchful
Christians or Wise Virgins of the parable, who are to be translated without
dying, at the first stage in Christ’s Advent, and are thus a small body taken
out of the general body of the visible Christian Church on earth at that time.‑
EDITOR]
We
have, I may venture to say, ascertained, that this image of the Woman clothed
with the sun denotes the visible Church. In one way
or another, there is a somewhat general agreement with Vaughan, from Hyppolytus
and other of the Fathers, that “the Woman clothed with
the sun, and having on her head a crown of twelve stars, is the Church of
God.”
It
is also a most conspicuous particular in the description itself, that this
mystic Woman is in the way of motherhood. Within her
body, concealed from human view, but consciously to herself, there is a mystic
seed, maturing for manifestation, to bring which to the birth is the one great
object of her most intense anxieties.* This is one of the most marked and
striking characteristics of the picture, and no application of it can be the
true one which does not throughout answer to this travail and self-agonising of
the Church to bring forth this invisible seed into open day and proper life.
[*
The figurative phrases of pregnancy and travailing in birth-throes are applied,
alike in ancient and modern languages, to the mind’s full possession by any
momentous truth or object of desire, and earnest longing to be delivered of it;
whether in the announcement of that truth, or accomplishment of that
object. Of scriptural examples refer to Isaiah
26: 17; 66: 8; and Romans 8: 22. Add Micah
5: 3; Hos. 13: 13; Psalm 7: 14; James 1: 15.” – Elliott’s Horce
Apocalyptice, iii., p. 24.].
Still
another landmark in the case is, that the birth here spoken of is not
consummated before the period of the end of this age. It
is not fully accomplished till the day of judgment comes. This
child is unborn until the period of the end is reached. We
cannot, therefore, legitimately understand it of anything in the past history
of the Church, or of anything that comes to its maturity and is outwardly
manifested, anterior to the judgment times. Any and everything of
whatsoever kind or character, which is born, matured, and outwardly manifested,
prior
to the day of judgment, is not, and cannot be, this manchild; for
he is not born, at least his birth is not fully accomplished, till the
end of this age is come.
With
the way thus cleared, we are in position to inquire more directly, and
to inform ourselves more surely, as to who this man-child is.
If
this Woman is the visible Church, who can that divine seed
which she, carries and nurtures within her body be, but just these genuine
children of God, whose characteristics are yet hidden,
and who are only to be manifested at the great day, to wit, the invisible
Church? Those who constitute the invisible Church are in the
visible Church and for the present are still joined to the visible Church as a
most important part thereof. They are her chief treasure. The
visible Church exists for their begetment, and nurture. Where she is,
they are also. It is on their account she has all her trials, her anxieties,
and her assaults of Satan. It is with them that she ever travails, and
cries out, and agonises herself, that they may be brought safely to birth
and manifestation as the sons of God. This is what we are to
understand by this mystic Child. Look for a moment at a few additional
particulars.
1.
There is a peculiar manliness ascribed to this child. It is not only “a man child,” as our English version
renders the phrase, but more literally “a son, a
male,” or a son who is a male. There
is special emphasis laid upon the masculinity. The
letter of the description is such as to prove that this child is collective
and composite, the same as the mother, and likewise
includes people of both sexes. The word … which means male,
has the peculiarity of being in the neuter gender, and so applies to both
men and women, and cannot apply to any one individual. We have a somewhat
similar instance in 2 Tim. 3: 6, where the
apostle speaks of certain perverted religionists, “which
creep into houses and lead captive silly women”, that is, silly
women of the neuter gender, and so women, or womenish ones, of both
sexes. Sex, however, is not so much the subject of this [word] as the
higher qualities of manhood common to both men and women. A body of
persons is here meant, and this body includes women as well as men, and men as
well as women. But it is a body at the same time distinguished throughout
with a special masculinity, which knows no sex; that is, with the most manly of
virtues, and the most vigorous and heroic of characteristics. By this
man-child we understand saints begotten of the Holy Ghost, and pervaded with
the highest qualities of virtue, courage, self-denial, and strength. They
are all conquerors. They all have overcome the world, triumphed over the
powers of darkness, won the race of faith, and through the grace of God
possessed themselves of titles to everlasting crowns and honours. Their
masculinity in these respects is unquestionable and most intense, whether they
be men or women as to sex. Here we find all the noblest and best of the race,
and the embodiment of the highest virtue and wisdom that ever pulsated in the
arteries of humanity. Here is the proper “man-child,”
if ever there was or will be one upon earth.
2.
This child “is to rule [shepherdise] all the
nations with a rod of iron.” He is to reign, with
unrivalled and irresistible authority and power, over the world. He is to
govern, discipline, and control all the peoples of the earth (during the
subsequent millennium of a thousand years), as a shepherd deals with his
flock. To shepherdise with an iron sceptre, is to exercise a dominion
which is inflexible, irrefragable, and that cannot be withstood.
Strength, absoluteness, and perpetuity of rule, is unmistakably indicated; and
that rule is specifically said to be over “all
the nations.” It is universal. This is not
true of any king or state in any period, from the beginning of the world till
now. But it is true to the letter with respect to the regenerated and victorious
children of God. All the true members of Christ’s [overcoming] Church are
Kings. From the days of the ancient prophets, the divine promise has
been, that “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness
of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall he given to the people of the
saints of the Most High.” (Dan. 7: 27.)
It is spoken of in the New Testament in the plainest language. In the
last words of Christ, and uttered from heaven after His ascension. the promise
rings out to and through the Church of Thyatira, “He that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him
will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron;
as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: EVEN AS I RECEIVED OF MY FATHER” (Rev. 2: 26, 27.) That same “power over the
nations,” and shepherdising with a sceptre of iron, is still held out as
part of the hope and reward of every overcomer. It must therefore be
still future. Moreover, the language touching the official destiny of
this child falls in precisely with the second Psalm. And that Psalm
refers particularly to the judgment time, and pre-eminently to Jesus Christ,
that greatest Son, as well as Lord, of the Church, in whom and with whom all
the blessed and holy who have part in “the first resurrection” shall “reign for a thousand years.” (Rev. 20: 6.)
3.
This child is the special object of Satan’s murderous malignity. It is on
the child’s account that he assails the woman, takes his station before her,
and stirs up all his power to hinder and destroy. It is not so much she,
as the child, that he is bent to devour. Here is something
peculiar, special, and against which all the malice of hell is aroused and
concentrated. We can very well understand this, and the tremendous
painting comes out in all its significance, when we see in this Child the
collective body of God’s true saints. To devour these, or to stop these
from reaching the kingdom and thwart their exaltation to the authority and
dominion for which they are destined, is the great malignant intent of the
Dragon. Their success is his defeat. Hence this intent of the
unparalleled attempt to overwhelm them at the final extremity.
But
what, now, are we to understand by this Child’s Birth? for
this is the crisis of the entire matter. All that
precedes this looks to it, and all that comes after dates from it.
A
man’s birth is the most important event in his life. Everything that can
come of him depends upon his being born. It is only
by his birth that he comes into the possession of his own separate being.
It is only by his birth that he begins to enter upon his proper life.
Hence the birth of this child must needs be the chief event in all its history
- the event on which its separate and proper existence as well as everything in
its subsequent career depends. Without this birth it conies to nothing,
and its entire being miscarries. And if it is the invisible Church [of the firstborn],
the body of true saints, that is represented by the Child, then this birth must
refer to the very greatest and most momentous occurrence in the whole history
of the redeemed, even that on which their proper existence and glory
depends. It is, in fact, their great and glorious Birth into immortality
and everlasting life in glory at the Second Advent of Christ.
(1 Corinth. 15: 51, 52; 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17.)
The
birth and catching up of the saints represented by the Man-child to meet the
Lord in the heavens, is the goal of the intensest anxieties and most
agonising endeavours that ever occupied the thoughts and energies of the
saints, and the sublimest transition in the form of their being to which the
Scriptures refer. It is their first entrance upon that proper life which
till then is only a matter of promise and hope, toward which
there is a growing indeed, but which only then becomes fruition. Prior to
then, the saints are indeed generated, begotten, quickened by the Holy Ghost,
and full of prophetic yearning for what is beyond; but they are still
invisible, hidden, inclosed, restrained, disabled. They do not yet know
what they shall be. They pulsate with a heavenly life, but it remains for
them to be set free, to be “brought forth,” to
be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God.” And that deliverance is
only consummated when the trumpet sounds, bringing with it “the adoption” for which we groan, to wit, “the redemption of our body.”
A
birth is a manifestation, a bringing to the light,
the making visible of what was before invisible. And so the Scriptures
speak of “the manifestation of the sons of God,”
which in this present order of things is expected and yearned after, but which
only takes place at the coming of Christ. (Rom. 8:
19.) Malachi refers to that time when the Lord of hosts shall make
up His jewels, and says, “Then shall ye discern between
the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth
Him not.” (Mal. 3: 17, 18.)
Isaiah (25: 7, 8)
sings of a day when death shall be swallowed up of victory, and notes it as one
of the glad concomitants, that then the covering shall be taken away.
Paul, with unmistakable pointedness, writes to the Colossians (3: 4): “When, Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye
also appear with Him in glory.” And many other
passages teach us how then for the first time it is to be demonstrated and
shown who are all the regenerate [overcoming] children of God. Then the saints shall be
revealed with their Redeemer, and the sons of God shall be manifested.
For
the present the true congregation of God’s ransomed ones is invisible, but it
is “kept by the power of God through faith unto [a future] salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
(1 Pet. 1: 5.)
And
yet, there is still one other particular in the text which would seem to make
it impossible to get away from this interpretation. The instant this
Man-child is born, it is “caught away to God, and
to His throne.” We have just seen that it is the
destiny of the saints to be kings. It is everywhere
told us that they are to have crowns; that they are to sit on thrones; that
they are to reign with Christ. Jesus says, “To him that overcometh
will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set
down with My Father in His throne.” (Rev. 4: 21.) On this point there can
be no question. This throne is not an earthly throne [during this evil age],
like Caesar’s, nor yet a mere moral influence, such as the saints already
possess and wield; but a heavenly and divine [millennial] throne, to which belongs a sceptre of iron, and a
rulership which involves irresistible force and judicial power, breaking to
shivers whatsoever rises against it; even the mighty throne of Jesus Christ
in His glory, which all His [overcoming] people are to share with Him. And the
time for this sublime coronation and investiture of the saints
is the time of [the first] resurrection, the time of the Revelation of
Jesus Christ.
When
Paul gave out his last farewell to the world, he said, “Henceforth. there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day,”
the day of. judgment, and not before. (2 Tim.
4: 8.) Peter writes to “the elect
through sanctification of the Spirit,” and says to them, “When the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown
of glory that fadeth not away.” (1 Pet. 5: 4.)
Daniel (7: 26, 27) tells us
specifically that the time when “the kingdom and dominion
and the greatness of the kingdom” is given to the saints, is the time when “the judgment shall sit,”* even that great judgment
under which the final Antichrist is finally destroyed.
[* This judgment must take
place before the time of the “first
resurrection,” to determine who will been judged worthy to inherit the
coming kingdom. Like Paul, Christians should be striving to “attain” unto that select resurrection
of reward, out from the dead, (Phil. 3: 11.
cf. Heb. 11: 35; Luke 14: 14; Luke 20: 35,
etc.).]
And
as the birth of this Man-child synchronises with, or is instantly followed by
his coronation and enthronement in heaven, and the time of that coronation is
specifically defined to be the time of resurrection, it is simply impossible to
locate this birth anywhere else than at the resurrection time. And if the
birth is thus positively located in the resurrection time, what can it be but
that very resurrection change, by which all the genuine
saints of God have their full birth into immortality and exaltation to
their immortal [millennial] crowns?
Nor
does it at all militate against this view that some saints are raised,
translated, or glorified in advance of others, and that the “change involved does
not take place with the entire number at precisely the same instant.”
It is part of the Divine plan always to give fore-pledges and earnests of what
is to come. There is in every instance some “first
fruits” before the general harvest. So Christ was raised and
glorified long in advance of the final redemption of His people, and many of
the saints also arose with Him. These were the preliminary specimens of
what was to come long afterwards. So Enoch and Elijah were translated
without tasting of death, as a sort of earnest of the promised translation of
those who are alive and ready when Christ comes. All these belong to what
is subsequently called “the first resurrection,”
to which “everything belongs that is raised to
immortality before the last day.”*
[*
Selnecker’s Exp. of the Rev. of St. John and the Prophet Daniel, Jena,
1517; Rev. xx. 5.]
And
so we are taught, as Ambrose, and Luther, and Kromayer,
admit, that other particular resurrections and translations of certain eminent
saints occur at intervals preceding the full completion of the glorified
company. The very figure before us would indicate successive stages in the
case. A birth is never so sudden a thing, but that some parts of the
body appear before others. The picture is plainly meant to be a
summary one. It is the symbol of the full consummation of the whole
matter. In such a picture there is no occasion for the noting of minor
distributions or details. It is enough to give the Birth and exalted
destiny of the Child, without entering into the particulars of the
presentations, which are sufficiently set forth in other places. And yet,
even in so general and summary a picture, the fact, that not all
belonging to the body come to the Birth at one and the same instant, is
still not overlooked, nor precluded, but really involved.*
[*
We have had some of these earlier resurrections and translations of particular
bands or companies, in the preceding portions of this book. One is given
in the fourth and fifth chapters. A translation of another special
company, “the great multitude,” is indicated in chapter
7: 9-17. And so there is another in chapter 14., before the process is finished, and the whole body
of the glorified completed, as behold in chapter
20: 4-6. All these, however, occur in the judgment period,
within so short a time of each other, that the more general passages on the
subject take no special account of them, but grasp them into one and the same
view. They are fully distinguishable only when we come to examine the Apocalyptic
chart of the great fulfilment. Here, however, each comes in its proper
order and place, though it is the whole of them together that
completes the glorious body of the Church of the first born in
heaven. (Consult an article on the Successive Stages in the Removal of
the Church, by Rev. E. E. Reinke, in Prophetic Times, vol.
iv., pp. 56‑63; also one by the author of these Lectures in the same
volume, pp. 172‑175.)]
Behold,
then, my friends, the dignity and glory of the Christian calling! Having
put on Christ, we belong to a fellowship, for which the sublimest things are
reserved! Living a life of faith on the Son of God, we are maturing for a
wondrous accouchement! These wrappings and disabilities of time are soon
to give place to the liberty and blessedness of a glorious immortality!
Instead of these aches, and ills, and toils, and disabilities, and many
anxieties, shall presently be the elastic vigour and untiring strength which we
now see in the angels! Instead of these doubts, and fears, and contests with
evil in and around us, there shall be accomplished redemption, beyond all
further vicissitude or danger! And for these crosses shall come crowns of
imperishable dominion with Jesus! It amazes and confounds me when I
attempt to survey the astounding changes that await the faithful.
I am overwhelmed with the sublimities of exaltation and power which are
set before the poor sinful children of men in the Revelations of God.
We
are often disheartened with our hardships and trials, and begin to think it too
hard a thing for us to be Christians. Nature is so weak and depraved;
there is such a burden in this incessant toil, and self-denial, and
watchfulness, and prayer; the way is so steep, and narrow, and difficult; we
are tempted again and again to give up. But when we think what the dear
Lord has done for us, what glories He has set before us, what victories are to
come to us, what princedoms and thrones in the great empire of eternity await us,
and how sure is all if we only press on for the prize; we have
the profoundest reason to rejoice and give thanks every day that we live, that
such opportunities have been vouchsafed to us, were the sufferings even tenfold
severer than they are.
Blessed
be God, for His holy Church! Blessed be God, that He has called us to be
members of it! Blessed be God, that every faithful one in it is on
the way to a glorious birth-hour to immortal regency and [millennial]
power! Only let us see to it, that we rightly appreciate
our mercies, and give the diligence to make our calling and election sure.
And “the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal - [i.e., ‘age-lasting’ in this context]
- glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have
suffered awhile, make you perfect, [e]stablish, strengthen, settle you. To whom be
glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
LECTURE TWENTY-NINTH.
THE
WAR IN HEAVEN - A LITERAL REALITY - THE FORCES MARSHALLED - WHO MICHAEL IS -
THE DRAGON AND HIS ANGELS - SATAN THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETRREN - THE OCCASION OF
THE CONFLICT - DISPUTE ABOUT THE BODY OF MOSES A FOREINTIMATION OF IT - THE
NATURE OF THE BATTLE - THE ISSUE OF THE ENGAGEMENT - THE DRAGON DEFEATED - EJECTED
FROM THE HEAVENLY REGIONS - REJOICING IN HEAVEN - ENCOURAGEMENT TO CHRISTIANS.
Rev. 12: 7-12 (Revised
Text) - And there came to be war in the heaven: Michael
and his angels warred with the Dragon; and the Dragon warred and his angels,
and they prevailed not, neither was even their place found any more in the
heaven.
And the great Dragon was cast down, the Old Serpent, who is called
the Devil and the Satan [adversary], he who seduceth [or misleadeth] the whole inhabited world: he was cast down into the
earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
And I heard a great voice saying in the heaven, Now is come the
salvation, the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the dominion of His
Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down who accuseth them before
our God by day and by night. And they conquered him by reason of the
blood of the Lamb, and by reason of the word of their testimony, and they loved
not their life unto death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that
tabernacle in them.
From
the earliest periods of the human race till now, its sublimest poets have
occupied their sublimest numbers
With
pictures and descriptions of conflicts in the heavenly worlds, and battles of
the gods. Contemporaneous with these dreams and songs, have also been the
sneers and scoffs of the sceptic mind, ridiculing the idea, astonished that
reasonable men should give entertainment to such fictions, no matter in what
magniloquence arrayed. And it is
“Strange,
At first, that angel should with angel war,
And in fierce hosting meet, who wont to
meet
So oft in festivals of joy and love
Unanimous, as sons of one great sire
Hymning th’ eternal Father.”
But
much as any one may be disposed to doubt and question,
there is a background of solid reality in the case. Since Homer wrote,
and Deborah and Barak sung of the stars fighting in their
courses, there has been an increasing, revelation of the spiritual economies,
and in it accounts of conflict and war involving all beings in all
worlds. Especially, in the great and wondrous outcome and consummation of
the affairs pertaining to our race, a momentous collision in the heavenly
spaces is fore-announced, in which the highest and mightiest of
created beings are to be the combatants. The seer of Patmos, in rapport
with the divine Spirit and prescience, was shown it, and by command of God has
put it on record for the instruction of the Church, as a sober and settled part
of Christian anticipation and eschatological theology.
And
here, among other stupendous visions of what is to come to pass hereafter, he
has written it down for our learning that “there came
to be war in the heaven: Michael and his angels warred with the dragon; and the
dragon warred and his angels, and they prevailed not, nor was even their place
found any more in the heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the old
serpent, who is called the devil and the Satan (or
adversary), he who seduceth (or misleadeth) the whole
inhabited world, he was cast down unto the earth, and his angels were cast down
with him.”
I
take all these terms and statements of the Apostle John literally, except where
he gives plain intimation that they are to be otherwise taken. I locate
all in the time and place in which he locates it, and in the order in which he
gives it, conditioned with this one fundamental consideration, that the entire
Book is intended to give to the Church an apocalyptic chart of the outcome and
consummation of all history, in connection with the coming again of the Lord
Jesus. Accordingly, I take the text as it stands, as the account of a
real commotion in the aerial spaces, - a violent collision among immortals - a
literal “war in the heaven,” -
concerning which we are called to notice,
1. THE FORCES MARSHALLED;
2. THE OCCASION OF THE CONFLICT;
3. THE NATURE OF THE BATTLE;
4. THE ISSUE OF THE ENGAGEMENT.
May
God help us to consider these particulars as the solemnity and
momentousness of the subject deserves!
Let
us look, then, at the Forces marshalled. These
are specifically described. On the one side, “Michael and his angels” are the
warriors; on the other, “the Dragon and his
angels.”
Who,
then, is Michael? Many answer, The Lord Jesus Christ, claiming that it
would impinge upon the dignity and prerogatives of Christ to attribute all that
is here implied to a mere angel, however exalted. But I do not find that
those most inclined to this view are the most clear and decided in their
recognition of the proper Deity of Christ. And though the Lord Jesus has
His angels, there is nothing in that to prove that an archangel may not have
angels as well. Satan has his angels, why may not Michael have them
too? What if the name does mean, One like God? As
a title of Christ, it would rather disprove than prove His proper Deity.
There is also an unquestionable Godlikeness in all holy beings, which must be
very exalted in those pre-eminent among the ministers of the throne.
What
if Michael is called a leader or prince of angels, and, by way of emphasis, “the archangel”? We know from Daniel that there are
other “chief princes” in the angelic
world. Paul (1 Thess. 4: 16) also
refers to “an archangel” (see
original) in a way which presupposes other archangels. The angel who
communicated with Daniel calls Michael “one of
the chief princes,” which implies the existence of others
of similar rank (Dan. 10: 13). He also
speaks of Michael as “holding with him,” and not
he with Michael, as the diction would be were Michael the same as the Son of
God. What if he is “the great prince which
standeth for the children of the prophet’s people” in the time of their
trouble? Michael is a great prince, and one whom the Jews have always
acknowledged, whilst they rejected and crucified Christ, and nationally refuse
to have Him for their prince.
What
if the bruising of the serpent’s head, and the destruction of the works of the
devil, and the spoiling of Satan’s goods, are ascribed to Christ?
Anything done by the agent is done by the principal; and that Christ has
appointed angels to minister to the heirs of salvation, and to execute such
parts of the grand administration as may be appropriately assigned to them, is
part of the clear teaching of the Scriptures. The war in this case is
plainly in behalf of the child which the mystic woman brings forth, and the
Head and front of that composite child is Christ Himself. As part of the
body fought for, He is thus distinguished from “Michael and his angels”
who do the fighting, just as Michael is distinguished from the Divine Son in
the Book of Daniel. What if the establishment of the reign and dominion
of Christ is the result of this war? The general who conducts a campaign
to victory is not therefore the king to whom the results of that success
belong. In Christ’s own explanation of some of these matters (Matt. 13.) He says “The
Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His
kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;” but He is
no less the great Judge on that account, neither is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory a whit less His.
Michael
the Archangel was the disputant in the matter about “the
body of Moses” (Jude 9); but it is
there said of him that “he durst not bring against the devil a
railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” This shows a
clear distinction between Michael and the Lord, as well as a law and restraint
upon Michael which pertains only to a creature and a subject, and not to the
almighty Son of God, who had not yet then become incarnate. Jesus could
say, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” but
Michael dared not speak thus. Besides, “Michael”
is everywhere used in the Scriptures as a proper name, the same as Gabriel,
or Jesus, or John; and occurring here the same as in all other
places, there would seem to be no more authority for making it mean the Lord
Jesus than for making John mean Daniel, or Mary mean Martha. The Bible,
indeed, abundantly speaks of the Angel of Jehovah, who plainly is none other
than the only-begotten Son of God; but there is no proof that this
Jehovah-Angel is ever called Michael. And as the name here is Michael,
I know not by what right any one can take it as meaning any other than
Michael, the created archangel, who is not less than five times referred to by
this name in the holy Scriptures.*
[*
“Michael is not to be identified with Christ, any more
than any other of the great angels in this Book. Such identification here
would confuse hopelessly the actors in this heavenly scene. Satan’s being
cast out of heaven to the earth is the result not of his contest with the Lord
Himself, of which it is only an incident leading to a new phase, but of the
appointed conflict with His faithful fellow-angels led on by the Archangel
Michael.” - Alford in loc. Bengal maintains
the same view, and refers to Collado, Eglinus, Jonas Le Buy,
Grotius, Cluver, Made, Dimpelius, and others, as
recognising here the created angel named, and not a symbol of Christ.]
According
to the Jewish teachings, Michael is one of seven Archangels, and the chief of
the seven. In this the Christian Church has ever been disposed to
concur. Hence the Church references to “Michael
and all angels.” Hence also, in the highiest of all the Christian
services from the beginning, “with Angels and
Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify God’s
glorious Name.” And as the very chief of all angels, though
himself one of them, Michael would have “his angels,”
though no less God’s, just as a general-in-chief has his aids, officers, and
soldiers, who nevertheless all belong to the king. He would also thus be
the proper one to stand at the head of the grand Army of heaven, when called
out in force to put down “the Devil and his angels.”
All the holy angels, therefore, with “Michael the
Archangel” as their chief, constitute the sublime forces on the one
side, marshalled for this “battle of the gods.”
Nor
need we be at a loss to identify those on the opposite side. The
Scriptures abundantly assure us of the existence of great spiritual powers and
principalities ever arrayed against human welfare, and who are the enemies of
God and all good. Paul (Eph. 6: 11, 12)
tells us that we are continually exposed to assaults, surprises, and dangers
from an unseen and most subtle confederation of spiritual agents; that there is
a “devil,” from whose “wiles”
and agents we are in perpetual jeopardy that our contest is not only with blood
and flesh, but with “the principalities, the powers,
the sovereigns of this present darkness, the wicked spirits in the aerial
regions;” that there stands opposed to us, and to all good, a great
malignant kingdom, a vast spiritual empire of evil. There are “angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own
habitation.” (Jude 6.) God
never made an evil being; but He made angels, principalities, and powers
capacitated for mighty joys and distinctions in His glorious domain, yet with
free will, implied in the very creation of moral beings, which they could
exercise for their everlasting weal or woe. Many have remained steadfast, to
wit, “Michael and his angels.” But some
abode not in the truth, but revolted against the rule of Heaven, and became the
unchanging enemies of God and His Kingdom.
Among
these is one of peculiar power and despicable pre-eminence, who drew his associates
into his revolt, and ever stands as the head and leader of them. He is
called The Devil, a name which the Scriptures, in the
original, never use in the plural, and never apply but to one being. All
others belonging to his wicked empire are “his angels,”
morally like him, but in place and position grouped around him, under
his direction, agents of his imperial will. He is called “a prince,” “the prince of this
world,” “the prince of the powers of the air,”
“the god of this world.” And the same is
here called “the great Dragon, the Old Serpent, the
Satan, or Adversary who seduceth or misleadeth the whole populated world.”
“The course of this world” is declared to
be “according to” him. He, with his
confederates, “rules in the darkness of this world,”
“blinding the eyes of them that believe not,” “working in the children of disobedience,”* and
leading men captive at his will. All apostates, [i.e., disobedient
regenerate believers,] and false Christians are
called his children, the tares of his sowing. The Man of sin, that Wicked
One to whom the Scriptures impute such a terrible career of lawlessness and
tyranny in the last period of the present world, is the incarnation of his
spirit and evilness. The evil princes who had the sway over ancient
Persia and Greece, and who withstood the good angels who communicated with
Daniel, were his archons or world-lords, as Paul’s word is. - Demons,*
whoever they may be, also belong to the empire of the Dragon, but they are
of a lower order - the plebeians of this detestable confederacy.
[*
See my Uriel, pp. 237‑240.]
These,
then, make up the opposing Forces in this battle.
2.
Let us look now at the Occasion of the conflict. In
the preceding verses we had the picture of a woman, glorious in her apparel,
victorious in her position, royal in dignity, and travailing to bring forth a
child destined to rule all nations. Before her stood the great red
Dragon, bent upon devouring this child as soon as it should be born. We
have seen, as Methodius also taught, that this woman represents the
Church as a visible body, and the unborn child the invisible Church, which lies
concealed in the visible, and consists of true saints only. We have further
seen that the Birth to which the woman labours to bring the child, is the birth
into immortality by resurrection and translation, otherwise called “the manifestation of the sons of God,” which occurs
when “the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead
in Christ shall rise, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air,” and to
receive the promised crown of glory.
And
it is in immediate connection with this Birth of the Man-Child, and its being “caught away to God, and to His throne,” that this “war in the heavens” comes on. Already in Daniel
we are told that the time when Michael stands up for the sons of the prophet’s
people, is the time when every one that is written in the book shall be
delivered - the time when many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake to everlasting life to shine as the firmament and the stars for ever.
It is this glorious exaltation of the saints that the devil and his angels have
ever been most bent on defeating. For this they have been operating through all
the ages, the Dragon ever standing before the travailing woman to destroy her
seed. For this all the subtlety and power of hell are exerted, and are
becoming the more intense as the resurrection time approaches. And no
sooner are the graves of the saints about to open, and the true people of God
to come forth into the honours and glories of immortality, than Satan stirs up
all his power to prevent it, and thus arouses this commotion in heaven.
A
prelude to this controversy, on a small scale, is referred to by Jude as
occurring in connection with the body of Moses. There is reason to believe
that Moses is now raised from the dead. He did indeed “die in the mount,” according to the command of God;
but he was seen alive in the days of the Saviour on the mount of the
Transfiguration, seen “in glory,”* and hence in resurrection life. He must therefore
have been raised again from the state of death, - raised in advance of the
general resurrection of the saints, as Enoch and Elijah were translated
before the general translation of God’s waiting and watching ones at the coming
of the Lord.
[* Here is proof that Moses
will be resurrected at the “First Resurrection,” for the Transfiguration is a preview
of the coming kingdom of Messiah, (Matt. 16: 28; 2
8.) Moses was not allowed to enter Canaan – a type
of our earthly inheritance during the coming Millennium (1 Cor. 10: 1-11). In anger, he disobeyed God
and struck the Rock (which “was Christ” (1 Cor. 10: 4), twice: illustrating
for us that God is no respecter of persons in judgment.
However, he most certainly will reign with Christ during the Millennium
because, - “ALL
the prophets,” (Luke 13: 28) – (and
Moses was one of the greatest prophets of God) - will inherit “the kingdom of Christ and of God.” That
millennial “Kingdom” is shown to be one of reward;
and not all who are regenerate will inherit it, (Gal.
5: 21; Eph. 5: 5-7).]
And
if we are at all warranted in this belief, the dispute between the archangel
Michael and the devil “about the body of Moses,”
was a contention about his resurrection, the one standing up for the recovery
of that body from death, and the other resisting. Thus we have the
precise parties named in the text, and a fierce contest over the same thing in
one individual case, which we have here in the case of the saints in general.
It was the resurrection and glorification of Moses which was the subject of
collision then, and it is the resurrection and glorification of the saints in
general which is the subject and occasion of the war here. It is Michael
again, joined now by all his angels, that here stands up in behalf of the true
people of God emerging into resurrection life and glory; and it is the same Old
Serpent, stirring up now all the power of his kingdom to hinder and
prevent the sacred seed of faith from attaining [and
realizing] their promised [conditional]
exaltation.
There
is also every reason why the whole strength of the great adversary should be
interposed to prevent this glorious coming forth of the children of God to
immortal glory and power. With the dominion of death broken the whole
empire of darkness breaks with it, the reign of hell is dissolved, and the
victory of redemption is complete. With the curse of mortality and
corruption thus swallowed up of life, the devil’s sway is gone, his kingdom
mutilated, and all his malignant hopes against the Church overwhelmed. To
yield here without the most stubborn resistance would be to give up the aim of
all his plans and endeavours since he first tempted man in Paradise, to let his
whole empire collapse, to permit the chief power of his dominion to go by
default. Hence his rallying of all his forces. Hence his most determined
resistance just at this point. And hence this “war
in the heaven.”
3.
Having thus identified the combatants and found the occasion of the conflict,
we are also far on the way to a right apprehension of the Nature of the
Battle. The poet has ventured a description of it where he
says:-
“Michael bid sound
Th’ archangel trumpet: through the vast of
heaven
It sounded, and the faithful armies rung
Hosanna to the Highest: nor stood at gaze
The adverse legions, nor less hideous
joined
The horrid shock: now storming fury rose,
And clamour such as heard in heaven till
now
Was never; arms on armour clashing brayed
Horrible discord, and the madding wheels
Of brazen chariots raged; dire was the
noise
Of conflict; overhead the dismal hiss;
Of fiery darts in flaming volleys flew,
And flying vaulted either host with fire
So under fiery cope together rushed
Both battles main, with ruinous assault
And inextinguishable rage; all heaven
Resounded, and had earth been then, all
earth
Had to her centre shock.”
“The accuser of our brethren
is cast down, which accuseth them before our God day and night.”
Satan appears here in his old character of the seducer and accuser, in which he
has been for so long misleading and preventing the world, making the wrong seem
right, and the right seem wrong, inciting to misjudgement, ruinous passion, and
all the deadly consequences of moral and spiritual obliquity. As he appeared
among the sons of God in the history concerning Job, sneering at the virtues of
that man of God; insinuating the unreality and sordidness of his piety, and
insisting that a fair trial would prove him nothing but a hypocrite he is here
described as accusing the saints, and God for proposing to do such sublime
things for them, denying the reality of their virtues, the adequacy of the
tests of their obedience, and their right to be thus glorified.
Every saint of God embraced in the body symbolised by
the Man-Child was born a sinner and by sin forfeited the favour of God and a
blessed immorality. One of Satan’s accusations doubtless is, How can the
Almighty be just and true to His nature, laws, and threatenings, and yet lift
these people in honour and glory from their graves, receive them to His throne,
and give them place in the heaven of His holy administrations? “He accuses the brethren, the saints, by day and by night.”
He insinuates that these people are not fit for and not worthy of such
honours; that God disowns His holiness, and casts dishonour on His throne by
awarding to people such a portion and such a destiny; that all reasonable being
and intelligence is set at nought and outraged by such proceeding. But
the record says that the saints overcame him by means of the blood of the Lamb
and the word of their testimony, not having loved their lives to save them from
death. Sinners indeed were all those who belong to the company of this
mystic Child, and for ever contrary is it to the nature and government of God
to connive at sin, or to look with allowance upon iniquity; but these people
are not therefore without a maintainable cause. An ample atonement has
been made. A Lamb has bled, whose meritorious blood, weighed in all the
strictness of eternal right, by which the carping malignity of hell itself is
silenced, covers the whole amplitude of their deficiencies, and cleanses away
all account of their sins. “Who shall lay
anything to the charge of, God’s elect? It is God that
justifieth. Who is he that condemeth? It is Christ that died.”
“Blood of the Lamb!” This is
the everlasting fortress of the saints; and the saints stand foremost of all
the means by which the accuser is driven back.
4. I now come to say a word or two about the Issue of
the Engagement.
As we would expect from such a contest, the Dragon id
defeated. With all his skilled generalship and energy, and all the
desperate fury of his hosts, the effort is fruitless. “They prevailed not.” He might have
known that this would be the result. But pride, depravity, and
malice have wonderful power to blind the mind to reason and truth, and to give
brazen hope even where there is not the slightest ground for hope. Satan
has ever been so successful in the past, both in heaven among the angels, and
on earth with the human race, and his proud daring is so unbounded, that he
does not hesitate to believe that he can break even the decrees of
Almightiness. Every onset is adequately withstood. Not all his own great
genius, nor all the strength and determination of his hosts, is of any
avail. He once drew with him a third of heaven, and succeeded in making
himself “the god of this world;” but daring now to think to thwart the good
purpose of Omnipotence, he finds only
“Joylesss triumphals of his
hoped success,
Ruin, and desperation, and dismay.”
Stunned
and effectually repulsed, he is pursued by the celestial forces to an utter
rout. Henceforward neither he nor his angels are any more to have the
liberty of the heavenly spaces. Henceforward “their place is not found any more in the heaven.”
With his defeat and conviction, ejectment, complete ejectment, follows.
It
may not be in every one’s mind that the aerial regions, the air, the
cloud-heavens, the spaces above the earth, are now the chief lurking-places of
evil spirits. But so the Bible teaches. Paul says we wrestle not
only with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, with wicked
spirits in high places, literally “in
the heaves,” “in the aerial regions”
(Eph. 6: 12). Hence also Satan is
called “the prince of the power of the air,”
more literally, “the prince of the aerial
host,” meaning wicked spiritual powers dwelling in the
aerial heavens
(Eph. 2: 2). Thus
the Satanic confederation has its seat in the upper air - in the atmospheric
heaven - in the spaces above and around our world. There they are
permitted to this great result of its coming was even then preliminarily
begun. And looking onward to the end, He said, “I
saw, or was beholding, Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” And
so the words of Isaiah in describing the great oppressor’s fall, also reach
forward to, and include what is first realised in its fulness in connection
with this war in heaven: “How art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” It is therefore fact and
not costume-reality and not poetic drapery - that the Dragon and his angels,
when this vision comes to fulfilment, are ejected from the spheres which they
have held so long, and find place there no more for ever.*
[*
I would appeal in passing to the solemnity of the
terms here used, and the particularity of the designation, and ask whether it
is possible to understand this of the mere casting down of Paganism from the
throne of the Roman empire? whether the words themselves do not indicate their
plain literal sense, as further illustrated by the song which follows?”
– Alford in loc.]
And
as a still further result, all heaven is filled with rejoicing. In mighty
volume the triumphal song rings out: “Now is come the
salvation, the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the dominion of His
Christ; for the accuser of our brethren, who accuseth them before our God by
day and by night, is thrown down. Because of the blood of the Lamb, and
of the word of their testimony, and of their not holding life too dear to be
given up to death, he is overcome. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye
that tabernacle in them!” This is [a
future] salvation, and this is the power of the
divine kingdom and the dominion of Christ, when Satan’s hold is broken, when
his foul sway is overthrown, when he and his hosts are dislodged from their
abodes, when he can no longer accuse and assail the saints or tyrannise over
them. And when this great daring attempt to prevent their entrance into
glory is vanquished, it is one of the gladdest events in time, and all holy
beings thrill at the sight of its accomplishment. Verily, “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
that repenteth;” for it is the dislodgment of Satan from that
heart. And when this great victory is achieved, and he and all his angels
are for ever cast out of all the upper localities, all heaven breaks forth with
jubilations and sings with diapason power:-
“Hail, Son of the Most High,
heir of both worlds,
Queller of Satan, on Thy glorious reign
Now enter, basting complete redemption!
Thou didst defeat and down from heaven cast
The false attempter of Thy Fathers throne,
And frustrated the conquest fraudulent;
He never more will dare to set his foot
In Paradise to tempt: his snares are broke.
A fairer Paradise is founded now
For Adam and his chosen sons, whom
Thou, A Saviour, comest down to re-instal,
Where they shall dwell secure, from sorrow
free,
Of tempter and temptation without fear!”
Such,
then, is the story of this battle in the heaven.
Many
cheering lessons, my friends, may be gathered from this singular
foreshowing. Suffice it to say that we here may see what friendly and
sympathetic interest is felt for us in heaven; what mighty princes and
courageous hosts stand ready there to espouse our cause and maintain our title
to the glorious promises, when adverse powers assail, and prove too mighty for
our feebleness; what blessed hopes are guaranteed if only we trust in Jesus and
His atoning blood, and continue true to our confession of His name, ready to
die rather than disown Him as our only Lord and hope.
Take
courage, then, O Christian, and gladly labour on. Heaven is on
thy side. The object of thy fond aims shall yet be thine.
The kingdom comes [when the Lord returns]. The Saviour’s meritorious blood shall bring
thee through in spite of all thy weaknesses and lamented sins. Thy
works and sacrifices for thy Lord shall not be forgotten. Satan’s
accusations shall yet drop powerless at thy feet. And with the exulting
hosts that sing his fall shall thy place and portion be.
LECTURE THIRTIETH.
[THE
FLIGHT OF THE WOMAN - THE CONDITION OF THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD AFTER THE
REMOVAL OF THE MAN-CHILD - DEVILISM DEVELOPED TO THE FULL - HARD FATE OF THE “LEFT” - WHY THE WOMAN FLEES - WHITHER SHE FLIES - THE
WATERS CAST AFTER HER - INCREASED RAGE OF THE DRAGON - TURNS UPON THE REMAINDER
OF THE WOMAN’S SEED - WHO WILL BE NEW CONVERTS, OR SOME OF THE CHRISTIANS LEFT
BEHIND ON EARTH AFTER THE CHOSEN ONES REPRESENTED BY THE MAN-CHILD HAVE BEEN
CAUGHT UP TO HEAVEN AT CHRIST’S ADVENT.
Rev. 12: 12-17 (Revised
Text) - Woe to the earth and the sea! because the devil
is come down to you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a
short time.
And when the Dragon saw that he was cast down into the earth, he
persecuted [or pursued] the woman which brought
forth the male [child]. And to the woman
were given the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the
wilderness, to her place, where she is there nourished a time, times, and half
a time, away from the face of the Serpent. And the Serpent cast from his
mouth after the Woman water like a river, that he might cause her [to
be] carried away by the river. And the earth
helped the Woman; yea, the earth opened her mouth and drank up the river which
the Dragon cast forth from his mouth. And the Dragon was enraged against
the Woman, and went away to make war with the remainder of her seed, who
keep the commandments of God, and hold fast the testimony of Jesus.
The
ejectment of Satan from heaven will lodge him upon the earth. This is the
final cleansing of the heavenly
spaces
from his foul presence. His revolt began in heaven, and the effectual
overthrow of his power commences there. The victory over evil follows the
order in which it came into existence. The earth was the last conquest of
the Devil, and he is thus cast to the earth here to await his further doom.
We
would think that so signal a defeat in the heaven would cure him of his
malignity, at least induce him to refrain from any further attempts against God
and His people. But he is hopelessly depraved, and nothing but absolute
force can quell his devil nature. There is no cure for a being so totally
perverted. And his ejectment from heaven and confinement to the earth
only angers him the more, and calls forth increased violence, inducing a state
of things by far the worst that this world ever experienced.
That
which hinders the full revelation of devilism now is the Holy Spirit of God,
embodied in His Church and people; but that Spirit will not always strive with
men. The birth of the Man-child into immortality takes out of the world
the best material in it. Being made up of the truest and most devoted of
God’s saints, the Man-child is caught away to God, and to His throne, and the
earth is left minus the presence, prayers, activities, and moral forces of its
holiest population. The removal of these faithful ones to their Lord is
such a depletion of the spiritual power in earthly society, such a diminution
of the salt of the earth and the light of the world, such a vacation of the
most potent and active elements of good, as to give the field almost entirely
to the Devil and his angels.
And
it is in punishment of the faithless and unbelieving [and disobedient redeemed]
ones “left,” when the Man-child is caught up,
that the Devil and all his are precipitated upon the earth, and circumscribed
to it, here to act out the final scenes of his enraged malice, blasphemy, and
spite. Hence, while heaven thrills with rejoicing over his defeat there,
his, ejectment to the earth commingles with the song of triumph a sad note of
woe and pity for the dwellers here. “Woe to
the earth and the sea! because the devil is coine down to you, having great
wrath, because he knoweth, that he hath but a short time.”
Everything
in this record shows that it belongs to the very last years of this world’s [evil age’s]
history. It is the judgment time; for it is the time of resurrection* and
translation - of the seizing away of God’s holy and prepared people to Him, and
to His throne. It is the time when the gold-crowned Elders are giving
thanks to the Lord God Almighty that He has taken to Him His great power to
assert His sway, to give reward unto His servants the prophets, the saints, and
them that fear His name, and to destroy the corrupters of the earth. It
is the time when the Devil himself is convinced, and swollen with unwonted rage
and fury because he sees and knows that but a few brief years remain till his
reign is over and, the abyss is his prison-house. But this “short time”
must be improved to the utmost. The text tells us that when the Dragon sees
himself thus cast to the earth, he begins to stir himself for further
mischief. Milton has not inaptly described the case, where he
makes the arch-fiend address his prostrate confederates, saying:
“Princes and potentates,
Warriors, the flower of heaven once yours,
now lost!
If such astonishment as this can seize
Eternal spirits; or have ye chosen this
place,
After the toil of battle, to repose
Your wearied virtue, for the case you find
To slumber here, as in the vales of heaven?
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn
T’ adore the Conqueror, who now beholds
Seraph and cherub rolling in the flood,
With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon
His swift pursuers from heaven’s gates
discern
Th’ advantage, and descending, tread us
down
Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of the gulf?
Awake, arise, or be for over fallen!”
We
have seen that the mystic Woman, whose child is caught up
to God and His throne, is the sign or symbol of the visible Church
in its broadest sense, man earthly and outward organisation, the
unborn Man-child being the invisible Church [of the firstborn], in the narrower and truer sense of “the congregation of believers,” those who are really
begotten of God, and joined to Christ as the spiritual body of which He is the
invisible Head. The bringing forth and catching away to heaven of the
child, is not therefore the removal of the mother. She still continues on the
earth, a visible body, though very greatly diminished and weakened by the birth
and removal of the child. This is very clearly exhibited in the vision;
for when the Man-child is brought forth, separated from her, and caught up to
God and His throne, the seer still beholds her on earth, fleeing into the
wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, and where they nourish her a
thousand two hundred and sixty days. The cause of her flight was not at
first stated. The narrative was interrupted to relate the “war in the heaven,” and the casting down of the Dragon
and his angels. That being told, the narrative returns to the Woman and “the remainder of her seed,” both of which are
contemplated as still on the earth and the subjects of the Dragon’s
persecution.
And
so it is everywhere told us, that when the translation time comes, not
all professed Christians will be “taken.”
The Saviour Himself has solemnly said, in so many words: “I tell you, in that night night there shall be two in one
bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two shall be
grinding together; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two shall
be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left.” (Luke 17: 34-36) So again He speaks of
professed servants of His, who say in their hearts, “My
Lord delayeth His coming,” and hence indulge themselves in un-charities,
un-watchfulness, and worldly compliances, and so shall be overtaken in their
un-readiness, cut off from the high honours of the
faithful servants, and compelled to remain in the world to suffer here with
hypocrites and unbelievers amid the sorrows of the Great Tribulation. (Matt. 24: 42-5l.)
Hence,
also, His special command to His people: “Watch ye,
therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape
all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man”
(Luke 21: 36); that is, be kept “from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the
world,” after the waiting and ready saints have been “caught up to God and to His throne.” (Rev. 3: 10.) And these professed Christians
who are “left” or “cut off” when the chosen ones are “taken,” together with such as shall be recovered to a
pious life and right faith amid the sorrows of the judgment time, will
constitute the Woman and “the remainder of her
seed” on earth, after the Man-child has made its ascension to glory.
And
a hard time of it they will have. Then shall be “a time of distress, such
as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
(Luke 21: 22.)
First
of all shall be the “weeping and gnashing of teeth”
– the self-crimination and disappointment – at having lost the first
honours of the kingdom, and at being compelled now to unlearn the
mistaken philosophy and theology in which they trusted, and to begin again as
little children to learn the truth which they so unreasonably sneered at,
neglected, or denounced. And a very sore grief this will be to
them. To have had the whole matter so plainly before them in God’s Word,
and yet not to have seen it; - to have so glorious a prize within their reach,
and counted so hopefully on it - [as an unconditional gift from
God] – and now to find it lost and gone from them beyond recovery; - to have
grown grey, venerable, and mighty in learning, in wisdom, and in championship
for the Gospel, and yet not to have learned the simple practical truth of
waiting, watching, and keeping in readiness for the coming again of the Lord
Jesus, - and for ever deprived now of the highest place in “the Church of the first-born,” with nothing left to
them but in sorrow and humiliation to make their way to the secondary places in
eternity; - these shall be among the scorpion stings which too many, alas, will
then have to endure! Had they but known in what “watch
the thief would come,” they would have watched, and would not have
suffered their house to be thus broken up.
Something
of this, owing to a misapprehension which had been palmed upon them, was felt
by the Thessalonian Christians in St. Paul’s time. They were “shaken in
mind,” they were “troubled,” they were in the deepest mental distress, because
they were made to believe that the day of Christ was then present,
had, arrived, was come; that the resurrection was “past
already;” that the time for the rapture and glorification of the saints
was here; whilst the blessings, joys, and honours which they as Christians
connected with it were not realised. In other words, they thought
themselves “cut off” and “left.” Just they were previously disturbed
and sorrowing over their deceased friends as possibly disabled for the joy and
glory to be realised at the Lord’s coming, which they were so eagerly
expecting, so now they were filled with perturbation and alarm, under the
tidings that Christ had come and had not taken them. It was a deep,
terrible, and soul-agonising distress, - one which called forth the apostle’s
sympathy, and all the energy of his great spirit and strongest words to roll
off the load from their hearts.
But
when that day shall have once come in literal truth, and all
half-Christians, self-deceivers, and unfaithful and un-watching ones, have it
flashed upon them that they are “left,” there will he a worse shaking than
these Thessalonians felt, with no apostle to come with better tidings to their
relief. And though a hope of [a future] salvation may still remain to
them in case of a prompt and earnest, repentance, still, the Saviour
says, “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
But
this is not the worst. The Man-child being caught up to God and to “His
throne,” the period of Satan’s great anger comes, and hence the most terrible
persecutions. The Hinderer being removed, “then
shall that Wicked be revealed, whose coming is after the working of Satan with
all power, and signs, and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness.” (2 Thess. 2: 8-10.)
Then the great Dragon rages, because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time. He persecutes and pursues the Woman, as typified in the
infamous proceedings of Antiochus Epiphanes in the Maccabean
times. As the text clearly implies, and as more specifically set forth in
the succeeding chapter, things shall be made so hot and oppressive to the
Church that no Christians could live, except for the miraculous help of
God. Weakened and depleted as the Woman is, she must flee, as of old time
“it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled.”
The Dragon pursues her, as the avenger of blood, while
his heart was hot, pursued the manslayer.
The
lament of Jeremiah will then reach its deepest pathos in the lips of God’s
people: “Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of
the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the
wilderness.” (Lam. 4: 19.) Then
shall be the cry: “Plead my cause, O Lord, with them
that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold
of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the
spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am
thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my
life: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my
hurt. Let them be as chaff before the wind; and let the Angel of the Lord
chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery; and let the Angel of the
Lord persecute them. For without cause they have hid for me their net, in
a pit which without cause they have digged for my soul. Let destruction
come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into
that very destruction let him fall. O Lord, keep not silence: O Lord, be,
not far from me. Stir up Thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my
cause, my God and my Lord.” (Ps. 35.)
It is with reference to this very time that the Saviour Himself says: “Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh
be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” (Matt. 24: 22.)
Why does the Woman fly? Evidently because she cannot sustain herself
or live without it. The persecution of the professed
followers and worshippers of God is so severe and bloody as to compel
them to fly in order to save their heads. It is the period
of the dominion of the Beast as described in the chapter next succeeding; and
there we are told that as many as will not worship the image of the Beast shall
be beheaded, And that whosoever will not receive the mark of the Beast in the
right hand or forehead, shall not be allowed to buy or sell. There will
be no living under him without accepting him in the place of God and of Christ.
And this Beast is the embodiment of the Dragon’s rage against the Woman and
such of her seed as still remains upon the earth. He has his power, and
his seat, and his great authority from the Devil; and the known worshippers of
Jehovah must then fly or die; there is no other help. It is a dreadful
strait; but into it will all remaining Christians come when once the Hinderer
is taken away, and the Man-child has been caught up to God. It was thus
that Antiochus decreed that whosoever would not do according to his
command, and totally abolish every vestige and observance of Jehovah’s law
should die (1 Macc. 1: 41-50) and so, in yet
fiercer vigour, shall it be under the Beast then.
But
though such suffering and dread temptations and necessities come upon the
unready ones after their more watchful and faithful brethren have entered the
celestial apartments, they are not utterly forsaken. If true to their
profession, then God will help them by His own great power.
When
Israel came out of Egypt, God marvellously strengthened every muscle and
invigorated every weakness. “There was not one feeble
person amidst their tribes.” Not a foot swelled, and not even a
garment or a shoe waxed old for forty years. And when they came to the
wilderness of Sinai, where God spoke to them from the flaming mountain, He
said: “Ye have seen how I bore you on eagles’
wings, and brought you unto Myself.” (Ex. 19: 4.) Again it was said: “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,
spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings,
so the Lord alone did lead him.” (Deut. 32:
11, 12.)
And
those same wings here appear again. “And to the Woman were given
the two wings of the great eagle that is, the special and direct
help of God. In like miraculous manner the hand of the Lord was upon
Elijah, enabling him to outrun the hasting chariot of King Ahab, even from
Carmel to Jezreel. (1 Kings 18: 46.)
The sore trial is not lifted off, but miraculous assistance is given according
to the occasion.
But whither does the Woman fly? When those wings were lent to Israel in the
flight from the Dragon in Egypt, they carried the people into the wilderness,
even to Sinai. And here we have “the wilderness”
again, as well as the same eagle’s wings. It is here called “her place” - a place belonging to her
which God hath prepared for her. And, remarkable enough the
Wilderness of Sinai was the locality to which Moses fled for
security from the wrath of Pharaoh, - to which Israel fled from the tyranny and
rage of the Egyptians, - to which Elijah betook himself for refuge from the
wrath of the bloody Jezebel, - to which the faithful Jews retired from the
persecutions of the Syrian kings in the Maccabean times. (1 Mace. 2: 28‑31.) Having served as the
place of shelter for God’s faithful ones in so many instances, and on such
marked occasions, it may well be called “her place,”! - the one
locality of all on earth prepared and consecrated as the desert asylum of God’s
persecuted people.*
[* It is quite an open question whether one wilderness
or many wildernesses in general throughout the world are here meant. Why
should Christians in Australia or America be carried to the wilderness of
Sinai? The persecution of Christians will be carried on in all parts of
the world, although undoubtedly it will be more intense throughout the ten
kingdoms of the Roman Empire. Antichrist will “make
war with the saints throughout all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
(Rev. 13: 7.) Persecuted Christians in
Australia and America will probably find hiding places in wildernesses in those
countries without going to Sinai. - EDITOR]
It
is further stated that there the Woman is nourished. The idea is that of
a miraculous feeding, and the past is prophecy of the future. It was
there that God sent the manna to feed the fugitive thousands of Israel in the
days of Moses. Elijah was miraculously fed by an angel, and received a
meal from heaven, in the strength of which he went forty days, in his flight to
this “mount of God.”
The
feeding of the Woman here, indicates the depth of her straits, and her utter
helplessness in any resources of her own. She is in great need, and no
amount of activity on her part can supply her with sustenance. But for
some provision, answering to that made there for Israel of old, these poor
distressed fugitives would all perish. But like the multitudes which followed
Jesus into the desert place, she is fed in the wilderness; and there she is
nourished for three and a half years, the entire term of the
persecuting dominion of the Beast, far away from the face of the serpent.
It is a sore thing to be chastised of the Lord; but it is a blessed thought
that He will not forsake those who cleave to Him, and that His grace shall be
sufficient for them that meekly trust in Him.
But
even in her mountain retreat the Dragon’s enmity and rage against the Woman
continue. He is bent on destroying her if he can.
When
Pharaoh-Necho went up with his armies against Babylon, Jeremiah exclaimed: “Who is this that cometh up like a flood, whose waters
are moved as the rivers? Egypt riseth up like a flood, and
his waters are moved like the rivers.” (Jer. 46: 7, 8.) When Nebuchadnezzar came
with his Chaldean forces against Tyre and Sidon, the Lord said, “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and
shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is
therein; then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall
howl. At the noise of the stamping of hoofs of his strong horses, at the
rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall
not look back to their children for feebleness of hands.” (Jer.47: 2, 3.) And so here. John beheld, “And the serpent cast from his mouth after the Woman water
like a river, that he might cause her [to be] carried away by the river.”
The
interpretation is evident. Soldiers are despatched to assail and
overwhelm her in her retreat, and to destroy her there where God is nourishing
her. It is not “a flood,” or a vast and
universally devastating army, but “water like a
river,” a smaller expedition for one definite purpose,
which keeps within its own track to the one end; to wit, the destruction of
these fugitives lodged in the wilderness. It was thus a detachment of the
Syrian army was sent after the faithful fugitives in the time of the Maccabees.
(1 Mace. 2: 31-38.) But it is a force
sufficient for its purpose, in all ordinary calculation. It is more than the
Woman in her own strength could possibly withstand. It would sweep her
away - quench her existence in blood - if no help came to her relief. But man’s
extremity is God’s opportunity. What saith the record? “The earth helped the Woman; yea, the earth opened her mouth
and drank up the river which the Dragon cast forth from his mouth.”
Exactly
what sort of calamity befalls the armed forces of the Beast, we may not be able
definitely to determine. When the hosts of Pharaoh, in mad pursuit of ancient
Israel, were overwhelmed by the sea,, the exulting song of Moses and his people
was, “Who is like unto Thee, O Lord! Thou
stretchedst forth Thy right hand, - the earth swallowed them.”
(Ex. 15: 11, 12.) In the
wilderness, when God’s anger was visited upon Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, for
their rebellion against Moses and Aaron, “the ground
clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth, and
swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that
pertained unto Korah, and all their goods: they, and all that pertained to
them, went down alive into the pit,- [Sheol – the underworld of the dead]- and
the earth closed upon them, and they perished.” (Num. 16: 31-33.)
It
will be the region and time of miracle when this drinking up of the river which
the Dragon sends against the woman occurs. It is the region and time when
there is to a renewal of wonders, “like as it was to
Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” (Is. 11: 15, 16.) It is the region and time
of great earthquakes and disturbances in the economy of nature. (Zech. 14: 4; Luke 21: 25, 26; Rev. 11: 13, l9.)
And there is reason to think that it is by some great and sudden rending of the
earth that these pursuing hosts are arrested in their course, if not en
masse buried in the convulsion. At least, the object of
their bloody expedition is thwarted. They fail to reach the Woman in her place
of refuge. The very ground yawns to stop them in their hellish madness.
But
though completely baffled in this attempt to destroy the Woman, the rage of the
Dragon is not assuaged, but only burns the more fiercely. Compelled to
desist from his attempt to destroy her, he turns about to seek after the lives
of such remnants of her seed as may be elsewhere found. “His plans turn
to dust in his mouth; yet he is only angry, not penitent.” Defeated
beyond redress in this scheme, he abandons it; but only to enter upon a further
war with every fraction of humanity still within his reach which may be found
adhering to the commandments of God or the testimony of Jesus.
Two
classes appear to be referred to. Abraham was promised a twofold seed: an
earthly, likened to the sands of the sea; and a heavenly, likened to the stars
of the sky. And from the beginning of the Gospel there have always been
two classes of believers: the Jewish and the Gentile. So, “the commandments of God” suggest to us God’s older
revelation by Moses, and the Law given through him; and “the testimony of Jesus” calls to mind the Christian
profession. The allusion would, therefore, seem to be (1) to Jewish
believers the 144,000 of whom, described in chapter
7., are then still on the earth; and (2) Gentile, servants of God who
hold fast the confession of Christ over against the prevalent abominations of
the time. These are now sought out with desperate hate, wherever they may
be, and proceeded against with determination to conquer them to the worship of
the Beast, or, failing in that, to cut off the heads of all who refuse to
yield. This is also the time during which the Two Witnesses are
prophesying; and they, and those awakened by their witness, embracing both Jews
and Gentiles, are specially noted in chapter 11: 7,
as those against whom the Beast shall make war, and overcome them, and kill
them.
It
is not the organised Church which is the object of this new outbreak of the
Dragon’s wrath; for the Church as a visible body is in the wilderness beyond
his grasp. According to the terms, this remaining portion of the
Woman’s seed consists rather of individual believers here and there, whose
organic association with each other has been broken up, and who from the stress
of the times no longer have their visible assemblies. Nevertheless,
they are everywhere sought out, under the fell resolve to exterminate them from
the earth.
The
organs through which the Dragon puts forth all this bloody rage against the
Woman and the remnants of her seed are described in the next chapter, and those
that succeed it, where further details are given. I will not anticipate
them here. At another time, God willing, I propose to enter upon
them. Meanwhile, let us reflect a little over the subject-matter which
has been engaging us to-night.
Note
how dark is the outlook of the Church of Jesus with respect to this present
world! We wonder betimes at the smallness of its success, and the hard
struggle it ever has for its existence. But why should we wonder? Think
of the might of the Devil and his angels, of their malignity against it, and
how deeply the whole world is in their possession. By reason of the
depravity that is upon our race, every human being born is brought forth under
Satan’s dominion. We .scarcely succeed in winning and training some to
truth and holiness, till death comes and takes them away, leaving the same work
to be gone over again and again continually, with the same result awaiting it
every time. And while faithful ones are labouring, multitudes of their fellow-professors
are a
mere
incubus on their exertions, hindering by their indifference and
inconsistencies, whilst the great world continually opposes, and a universal
depravity, inflamed of hell, perpetually fights against the calls and claims of
heaven. Ever dreaming of victory to bring us the reign of righteousness
and rest, we still find ourselves at the bottom of the hill, toiling to reach
the unreachable summit. And how can we expect it ever to be otherwise as
long as this present order of things lasts, seeing that Satan continues with
ever-deepening malice and activity to the very end of the world, and that the
last days are the wickedest and the worst! All that we can do is
to work like Paul if that by any means we may “save
some.”
2.
Note the true source of dislike and hatred to the Church. There be many
who think more of anything on earth than the Church. They may consider it
well enough to have services when they die, but whilst they live they only
neglect and despise it, and are only offended and enraged when claims are
pressed. They forget that this is the very spirit the Devil. There
is nothing which Satan so much hates, which he so energetically opposes, which
he persecutes to end with such an unrelenting and undying rancour, or that
tries so hard to keep out of heaven and obliterate from earth, as the
Church. We are justly amazed at the intensity of his malice toward the
mystic Woman and her seed, pursuing her with ever-increasing rage, even when
God’s judgments multiply upon him for it. And every one who dislikes,
hates or persecutes the Church and people of God, has in him Devil’s spirit,
acts the Devil’s will, and is one of the Devil’s children.
3.
Note what a lesson of rebuke and duty addresses itself Christians from the
Devil’s example. He never rests from murderous endeavours. He stops
for no losses, succumbs to adversities, desists for no hindrances, turns back
from no counters, and surrenders not even to the Almighty’s judgments so long
as he has liberty to act or time in which to operate. His energy and
activity increase the more as he sees and knows that his end is near. He does
it out of wicked spite a mere evilness, and with no prospect but utter defeat
and eternal damnation. And how should we, then, who claim to love God, and
believe that everlasting crowns of glory and blessing are to be the reward of
our fidelity, stand rebuked for our coldness in the presence of such an
example! His day runs from the beginning to the end of time, yet he works
incessantly to its last hour. Our day is measured by a few brief years,
half of which is spent in infancy and sleep, whilst the whole may at any moment
end in death; yet we fritter away our time and energies and opportunities as if
no necessities were upon us, or as if we had no [future] salvation to secure, no hell [hades] to escape, no
God to serve, no heaven to win –[a thousand
years before the general resurrection of the remaining dead.] Alas, alas, for such indifference!
Brethren, look at the untiring energy of Hell for destruction, and learn wisdom
for eternal [age-lasting] life.
4.
Finally, note the pressing need there is to keep ourselves awake and in
readiness for the coming of the Lord. Over and over we are told that He
shall come as a thief in the night - when men think not - when many of His own,
servants are saying and believing that it is not possible that He should come
in their day - when the great multitude is counting on nothing but peace and
safety. And if that day should come upon us unawares, and find us unprepared,
even though we should not be finally lost, these presentations show that
terrible experiences await us. No wonder that the beneficent and loving
Jesus should make it one of His most constant and most urgent admonitions to
watch and pray that we come not into these dreadful tribulations. As
we value our peace, let us not then be indifferent to things so solemn.
LECTITRE THIRTY-FIRST.
THE
BEAST FROM THE SEA - THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING ANTICHRIST - THIS BEAST IS A
SYMBOL OF THE FINAL POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY OF THE WORLD - IT IS AN ULTIMATE
COMPOUND OF THE FOUR BEASTS OF DANIEL 7.
REPRESENTING THE BABYLONIAN, MEDO-PERSIANI, GRECIAN, AND ROMAN EMPIRES - AN
INDIVIDUAL POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION EMBODIED IN ONE PARTICULAR MAN FOR A
DEFINATE PERIOD OF THREE AND A HALF YEARS - A SUPERNTURAL PERSONAGE WHO, HAVING
ONCE LIVED, AND BEING KILLED BY A SWORD, IS TO UNDERGO RESURRECTION FROM THE
ABYSS OR UNDERWORLD OF LOST SPIRITS, AND TO REIGN FOR THREE AND A HALF YEARS -
HIS ATTRACTIVENESS AND GREATNESS - THE CONSUMMATE ANTAGONIST AND SUPPLANTER OF
EVERYTHING DIVINE - REFERENCE OF HIS SEVEN HEADS TO THE ROMAN EMPIRE - THE DEEP
AND SOLEMN IMPORTANCE OF THESE FORESHOWINGS.
Rev. 13: 1-10 (Revised
Text). – And I [some MSS he, the
Dragon] stood upon the sand of the sea; and I saw a
beast [or wild beast] coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and
seven heads, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of
blasphemy.
And the beast which I saw was like to a leopard [or panther], and his feet as
of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the Dragon gave him
his power, and his throne, and great authority.
And (I saw) one of his heads as having been slain to death [killed], and
the stroke of his death was healed; and all the earth wondered after the
beast. And they worshipped the Dragon because he gace the authority to
the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like to the beast! And who is able to war with him!
And a mouth was given him speaking great and blasphemous things; and
authority was given him to act for forty-two months.
And he opened his mouth for blasphemies towards God, to blaspheme
His name, and His tabernacle, they which tabernacle in heaven.
And it was given him to make war on the saints, and to overcome
them, and authority was given him over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and
nation. And all that dwell upon the earth shall (will) worship him – [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.
If any one bath an ear, let him hear. If any one [is] for captivity, into
Captivity he goeth; if any one will kill with the sword, with the sword must he
be killed.
Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
The
Apostle John, writing to no particular Church, but in a general Epistle to a
wide circle of churches, makes this remarkable statement: “Little children, ye have heard that Antichrist shall come.”
(1 John 2: 18.) Where and how
had the Christians of his time thus heard about “the
Antichrist,” and become familiar with the fact of his coming? The
answer is, that this was a part of the common instruction given to God’s
people, both under the Old Testament and the New. It was distinct and
prominent in the writings of the ancient prophets, and it was among the
teachings of Christ, and those sent to preach and teach in His name. Even
the light of the first promise of a coming Deliverer, had with it the dark
adumbration of an antagonising power to bruise His heel, and of a serpent brood
to mass its strength against the mother’s seed.
And
through all the ages of our world, there has been a Cain for every Abel, a
Jannes and Jambres for every Moses and Aaron, a Babylon for every Jerusalem, a
Herod for every John the Baptist and a Nero, for every going, forth of God’s
consecrated apostles, - all the types and precursors of the ultimate heading up
of all evil in one final foe, who will be the Antichrist. Nor has it been
possible for the teachers of God in any age to give full instruction touching
the history of human salvation, without embracing in it the doctrine concerning
this foul personage. It is part of the background of all Revelation,
promise, and hope, given for the admonition and strengthening of God’s
people. And it is this Serpent seed, in its ultimate development, even THE
MANIFESTED ANTI-CHRIST, whose portrait is given us in the chapter on which
we now enter. May God help us to handle it with wisdom and soberness!
In
the preceding chapter we were called to contemplate the great Dragon, the Old
Serpent, his influence over our world, his perpetual malignity toward the
saints, his casting out from the heavenly spaces at the glorification of the
Church of the first-born, his great rage at being cast down into the earth, and
his consequent determination to destroy all the people of God yet to be found
among mortals. But Satan is a spirit, and cannot operate in the affairs
of our world except through the minds passions and activities of men. He
needs to embody himself in earthly agents, and to put himself forth in earthly
organisms, in order to accomplish his murderous will.
And
through the inspired seer, God here makes known what that organism is, and how
the agency and the enraged Dragon will be exerted in acting out his
blasphemies, deceits, and bloody spite. The subject is not a pleasant
one, but it is an important one. It also has features so startling and
extraordinary that many may be repelled, and led to treat it as a wild and
foolish dream. Nevertheless, we all need to look at it, and to understand
it. No one is safe in refusing to entertain it. And whether we are
able to grasp it fully in all its particulars or not, it is here set forth for
our learning that we may know just how things will eventually turn out.
John
“in the spirit,” finds himself stationed on the
sands of the sea, - that same great sea upon which Daniel beheld the winds
striving in their fury. He beholds a monstrous Beast rising out of the
troubled elements. He sees horns emerging, and the number of them is ten,
and on each horn a diadem. He sees the heads which bear the horns, and
these heads are seven, and on the heads are names of blasphemy. Presently
the whole figure of the monster is before him. Its appearance is like a leopard
or panther, but its feet are as the feet of a bear, and its mouth as the mouth
of a lion. He saw also that the Beast had a throne, and power, and great
authority. One of his heads showed marks of having been fatally wounded
and slain, but the death-stroke was healed. He saw also the whole earth
wondering after the Beast, amazed at its majesty and power, exclaiming at the
impossibility of withstanding it, and celebrating its superiority to
everything. He beheld, and the Beast was speaking great and blasphemous
things against God, blaspheming His name, His tabernacle, even them that
tabernacle in the heaven, assailing and overcoming the saints on earth, and
wielding authority over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation.
He saw also that all the dwellers upon earth, whose names are not written in
the book of life of the Lamb slain, did worship this Beast. And for
forty-two months the monster holds its place and enacts its resistless
will. This is the picture. What are we to make of it? What
does it mean? How are we to understand it?
1.
My first remark on the subject is, that we have a symbolic presentation of the
political sovereignty of this world at the final crisis. The Beast has
horns, and horns are the representatives of power. On these horns are
diadems, and diadems are the badges of regal dominion. The Beast is said
to possess power, a throne, and great authority. He makes war. He
exercises dominion over all tribes, and peoples, and. tongues, and nations.
He has control of buying and selling, and fixes the conditions on which
they are carried on. He furnishes the power to slay every one who will
not come under his regulations. All of which proves political sovereignty
and imperial earthly dominion. He is a monstrous Beast, including in his
composition the four beasts of Daniel. He comes out of the
same agitated sea, and behaves as they behaved. From the interpreting
angel we know that Daniel’s four beasts denoted “four
kingdoms,” that arose upon earth. The identification thus becomes
complete and unmistakable, that this monstrous Beast is meant to set before us
an image of earthly sovereignty and dominion. And if any
further evidence of this is demanded, it may be abundantly found in chapter 17: 9-17, where the same Beast is further
described, and the ten horns are interpreted to be “ten kings,” together with other particulars,
which identify the whole representation with this world’s political
sovereignty.
2.
My second remark is, that we here, are shown the world-power in its final
consummation - in one figure, as it will be in the last three and a half years
of its existence. The duration of the dominancy of this Beast as such is
explicitly given as forty-two mouths, or three and a half years; and when he
finally falls, as described in chapter 19.,
he goes into perdition, and all this world’s kings, armies, and administrations
end forever. He is therefore the embodiment of this world’s political
sovereignty in its last phase, in the last years of its existence. Daniel’s
beasts were successive, empires, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persion, the Graeco-
Macedonian, and the Roman. But the lion, the bear, the leopard, and the
nameless ten-horned monster, each distinct there, are all united in one here.
“Every tribe, and people, and tongue and
nation,” is included under, the dominion of this Beast.*
[*
The general opinion of commentators is that this seven-headed and ten-horned
beast is Casar’s Roman empire as prefigured by the ten-horned beast of Danie1 7: 7, but revived in the last days in
a somewhat enlarged form, so as to include all the former Babylonian, Persian,
and Grecian empires, as well as the Roman. The ten horns are stated to be
ten kings, who shall, arise in the last days and reign
conjointly in an allied confederacy over the whole extent of the Roman empire (Dan. 7: 24). … ]
My
third remark is that this Beast is an individual administration, embodied
in one particular man. Though upheld by ten kings or
governments, they unite in making the Beast the one sole Arch Regent of their
time.
Ever
since the period of the Reformation until now, the battle of the commentators
has hung heavy over the question whether this Beast is to be construed as an
individual imperial person, or a mere system, power,
government, or influence, having its life in a succession of agents or
representatives. Some take one side, and others the opposite. Both
parties are largely in the right as to the fact, though the more common
historical interpretation is greatly at fault in the manner in which it applies
the fact. There can be no kingdom without a king, and no empire without
an emperor; neither can there be a king in fact without a kingdom. We cannot
consistently speak of imperial power and dominion apart from a personal head
which represents and embodies that power.
A person
is necessarily included in the conception, as well as an imperial
dominion which that person holds and exercises. So far as the mere symbol
is concerned, a succession of persons wielding the same authority might be
embraced; but it cannot be so in this case. The period of this Beast’s
dominancy is specifically limited to three and a half years, and there is no
room for much of a succession in that space of time. The 42 months are 42
months, and the 1260 days are 1260 days, not years; and the Beast, the measure
of whose reign is thus limited, cannot stand for a series of successive
sovereigns, but must be understood of one individual person. And other
particulars require the same conclusion. This Beast is worshipped as a
god; but people never worship an empire as such; neither do they make a
succession of emperors into an object of religious devotion. The paying
of divine homage to kings has been a common thing in the world’s history, but
it has always been rendered to individuals. An image or statue of this
Beast is set up, and the worship of it demanded of all on pain of death; but
antiquity tells of no images or statues of empires or dynasties set up for the
religious reverence of subjects. It has always been the image or statue
of the emperor, or the king; and so it must needs be in this instance.
This Beast also has a proper name, - a name expressive of a particular number,
and that number “a number of a man;”
which cannot be conceived except on the idea of an individual person. This
Beast is, by common consent, identical with “that
Wicked,” of which Paul wrote to the Thessalonians; but that monster
instrument of Satan is called “that man of sin.”
An apocalypse is also ascribed to him, the same as to Christ, and various
actions and position, nothing of which can be fairly understood except as
applied to a person. This Beast is also
clearly identifiable with the wilful king of Daniel; but that
king is in every respect treated of as an individual person, the
same as Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius, Xerxes, or Alexander. This Beast is
finally damned. He goes into perdition, into the lake of fire, where he
continues to exist and suffer, after passing from this earthly scene (chap. 17: 11; 20: 10), which cannot be true of
systems of government. We would, therefore, greatly err from the
Scriptures, as well as from the unanimous conviction and teaching of the early Church,
were we to fail to recognise in this Beast a real person, though
one in whom the political power of the world is finally concentrated and
represented.*
[*
“The sense is not identical merely with a collective
or abstract idea, that of Romanism or Paganism, the Roman monarchy, and such
like. The expressions appear natural only when they are explained
of a definite person.” – Dr. F. BLEEK’S Lectures
on the Apocalypse, 1875, p. 92.
“The representation given of Antichrist plainly describes him
as a person, as an individual. A stream of antichristian sentiment and
conduct pervade the whole history of the world. From this stream, in the
last days, proceeds Antichrist, as the completed evil fruit; it will express itself
in many individuals, but by all these one personality will be considered as the
centre of all their striving, and acknowledged as the master by whom they let
themselves be guided. All great movements in the history of the world
have definite personages for pillars. That the last and utmost development of
evil will also attain to its centre in a personality, has the analogy of
history entirely in its favour. That in Anti-christ evil is only to be
conceived as an abstract clearly contradicts the teaching of the Scriptures.”
- OLSHAUSEN, on 2 Thess. 2.
“Taking the Bible as our guide, it seems strange that any
other idea should be entertained of the Antichrist than that he will be an individual
human being. Endless as are the passages referring to himself,
his actings, and his end, they all, with one accord, so far as I understand
them, proclaim him to be an individual man. All the attributes,
circumstances, as well as appellations of individual humanity, are addressed
and ascribed to him. He is distinctly called, and declared to be, a man,
‘that man of sin,’
which itself, and in the absence of any positive contradiction to it elsewhere
in Scripture, ought to be conclusive. In Rev.
13: 18, he is called a man. Also he is called
‘the son of perdition,’ as was Judas; but Judas was a man, and the inference is
that such also will be his anti-type. John. speaking of the
Antichrist, says, ‘Even now are there many
antichrists.’ Who were these but
Christ-denying men? And who, then, or what would be
the Antichrist yet to come, but a man too? Evidently the one to come
was to be of the same nature as the ‘many’ then already come. Christ was
a man, a God-man, but still man, sin only excepted. Then the Antichrist,
who is to appear as a false Christ, must needs be a man too, or
how is it possible he could pass himself off for Christ? Antichrist is
described as a King, even as other kings. Daniel (7: 24) teaches that ‘ten kings arise’ and then ‘another,’ and that other, as
verse 25 explains,
undoubtedly is the Antichrist. That Antichrist would be an individual
man, was never questioned in the first and purer ages of the Church. The
idea of a power or system, or even series of individuals, being symbolised by
the Man of Sin, was utterly unknown.” - MOLYNEUX’S Lectures on
Israel’s Future, 1860, pp. 68-70.
“The old Fathers of the Church were for three centuries at
least quite at one in understanding by ‘the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition,
the ‘Lawless One,’
not a system of falsehood and unrighteousness, nor a succession of individuals
at the head of such a system, but, according to the most obvious and natural
import of the language, - some one man, the personal Antichrist,
the recipient of all Satan’s energy, in whom Satan should, to so speak,
become incarnate, and thus bring to a decision the long-standing feud between
himself and the Woman’s seed. This ancient faith hath in it elements of
truth which must be combined with the Protestant interpretation before we can
get at the full import of this Divine Revelation” – DR. JOHN LILLIE’S
Lectures on Thessalonians, 1860, pp. 537, 538.]
4.
My fourth remark is, that this Beast is a supernatural personage.
As a political power, he rises out of the convulsed sea of peoples,
the same as world-powers in general; but as a person, his origin is
peculiar. He is repeatedly described as “the
Beast that cometh up out of the abyss.” “The abyss” cannot mean less than the under-world, the
world of lost spirits [disembodied souls], the receptacle and abode of demons,
otherwise called hell [Hades]. Ordinary men do not come from
thence. One who hails from that place must be either a dead man
brought up again from the dead, or some evil spirit which takes possession of a
living man. Many of the early Christians held and taught that the
Emperor Nero is the Antichrist, and that he will return again to
the earth, get possession of its empire, and enact all that is affirmed of the
Man of Sin.* They explained the passages referring to the matter to mean, either
that Nero, was not really dead, but - in some mysterious way kept alive,
presently to come upon the scene as this Beast; or that, being dead, he
will be satanically resurrected for this purpose. But even if not
literally resurrected, he, or some other tenant of hell, might still fulfil the
idea, after the style in which certain spirit mediums claim to be
animated and possessed, so as to think, speak, and act only as
the will of the foreign spirit impels. In either case, the Beast, as a
person, is an extraordinary and supernatural being. Nor can we adequately
explain what else is said of him without assuming that such is the fact.
[* Victorinus, in loc, says: “Nero will be raised from
the dead, appear again at Rome, persecute the Church once more, and finally be
destroyed by the Messiah, coming in His glory, and being accompanied by the
prophet E1ijah.”
Lactantius
refers to this opinion, though not holding to it himself, that “Nero will come, the
precursor and forerunner of the Devil, coming to lay waste the earth.”
Sulpicius Severns wrote: “Nero, the basest of men and even of monsters, was well worthy of
being the first persecutor; I know not whether he may be the last, since it is
the current opinion of many that he is yet to come as Antichrist.”
Augustine says: “What means the
declaration that the mystery of iniquity doth already work? Some suppose
it to be spoken of the Roman Emperor, and therefore Paul did not speak in plain
words, although he always expected that what he said would be understood as
applying to Nero, whose doings already appeared like those of
Antichrist. Hence it was that some suspected that he would rise from the
dead as Antichrist.” ‑Civit. Dei, xx. 19.]
John
tells us that he beheld one of the Beast’s heads “as
having been slain to death.” The expression is so strong,
definite, and intensified, that nothing less can be grammatically made of it
than that real death is meant to be affirmed. It is further described as
a sword-wound, “the stroke of his death,” or a
stroke which carries death to him who experiences it. A man who has undergone
physical death is therefore in contemplation. Whether he comes up again in
literal bodily resurrection, or only by means of taking demoniacal possession
of some living man, we may not be able to decide. Whatever the mode, it
will be in effect the same as a resurrection. The record is that his
death-wound becomes effectually negatived, and so far healed, and made of
non-effect, that, though dead, he enters again upon all the activities of life
the same as if he never had been killed. Similar phraseology is used in
this book with regard to Christ, but all agree that there it means return to
life by resurrection after a real bodily killing. How, then, can it
mean less here? In the subsequent portions of the history this Beast
is repeatedly spoken of as “he whose stroke of death
was healed;” “the beast which had the stroke of
the sword, and lived,” or became alive again, - “the beast that was, and is not, and yet is,”
or as the Codex Sinaiticus has it – shall soon again be here.
These expressions inevitably carry with them the notion of a violent and real
death, and as real a return again to presence and activity on the earth.
Indeed, it seems to be this revivescence and re-manifestation of one known to
have been dead that causes the universal wondering after this Beast. Be
the explanation what it may, the implication strongly is, that this Beast
is a man who once was living, who was fatally wounded, whose place was in the
abyss of lost souls, who somehow comes forth from thence in convincing
evidences of his real identity, and who, having been slain, returns again to
take the lead in the activities and administrations upon earth, to the great
wonder and astonishment of the whole world.
The
source whence he derives his extraordinary character and power is clearly
indicated. It is from no intervention of God in his behalf, though for
the punishment of the godless world permitted. The record says: “The Dragon gave him his power and great authority.”
It is therefore by the Devil’s power that he is revived, just as all demonism,
necromancy, and witchcraft are of the Devil. When Christ was on earth,
the Devil took Him into an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms
of the world, and the glory of them, and said to Him: “All
these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.”
There certainly was supernaturalism here. The holy Jesus, indeed, spurned
the offer; but Satan eventually finds one to accept his conditions. This
Beast is a worshipper of the Devil, and causes all under him to worship the
Devil. In return, he gets what was proposed to Christ. The Devil makes
over the infernal dominion into his hands, brings him again from the abyss, and
constitutes him his great vice-regent in the sovereignty of the world. He
thus becomes in some sense an incarnation of the Devil. Accordingly, it
is written that his manifestation “is after the working
of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all
deceivableness and unrighteousness.” (2
Thess. 2: 9.) Unmistakably, then, we have here to do with a man
altogether different from anything ever beheld in humanity before – with one
who hails from the bottomless pit, endowed with all the energy and power of
Satan himself.
5.
My fifth remark is, that this “Man of Sin” will
be an exceeding attractive, fascinating, and bewitching personage. He
draws upon himself the intensest admiration and homage of the world. John
beheld, and “all the world wondered after the
Beast.” Ankind are represented as so struck, captivated,
and entranced by the contemplation of his wonderful qualities and powers, that
they even render willing homage to the one who could give them so glorious a
leader, and join in honouring and glorifying him as a very god of wisdom,
power, daring, and ability. They can conceive of none like him and
celebrate his praise as the Invincible. The adoring cry is: “Who is like the Beast? And who is able to war with him?”
It cannot therefore be otherwise than that this man is supreme in whatever is
admirable to the taste, judgment, and imagination of the world.
There
has been much in the great empires of the past for men to wonder at and
love. In Babylon was the golden majesty and splendour of sovereign rule,
always so captivating to the souls of men. In Medo-Persia was the
towering prowess and massive ponderousness of power, at which the world has
ever stood in wondering awe. In Greece was the polish and elegance of intellect
and art, combined with heroism for liberty, for which the human heart has ever
been full of enthusiasm. And in Rome was the idea of justice, the iron
strength of law and martial discipline, to which the nations still look with
admiration. Conceive, then, the resistless attractiveness of these all
combined in one, and attended with the results thereto pertaining. How
would mankind even now idolise such an exhibition? And how much the more
if concentrated in an individual man, and he recognised and acknowledged as one
of the great illustrious dead? God means soon to manifest a man, even the
Man who is His fellow, as the centre and channel of all majesty, wisdom, glory,
and power. So Satan, as anti-God, glorifies with his glory the final
Antichrist; whilst men in their depravity and delusion rejoice in it, and cry
their devoutest vive le Rio to his hell-derived majesty.
Imagine
all that has ministered to the glory of worldly empire in the ages past – the
imposing array of intellect, knowledge, arts, and arms – the splendour of
Oriental monarchs, the valour and grandeur of mighty heroes and conquerors –
the eloquence, wisdom, and power of statesmen, orators, and poets, and all the
varieties of mental accomplishment and external greatness united in one
marvellous man, possessed of all the hitherto divided power and
distributed attractions of all preceding times, and where is the soul, untaught
of God, that would not run wild with enthusiastic adoration over him? Yet
this is the sort of appeal which this Beast makes to the unsanctified millions
of his time. Not as an instrument of terror, dismay, and horror is his
revelation, but with all the blandishing allurements of the sublimest champion
of human interests and greatness. Men will not fly from him, but love him,
and delight and glory in him as the consummate sage and hero of all time.
He will be the idol of the world. All kings will gladly yield him their
thrones, and give their dominion to him; and all the nations will think their
millennium come in the splendour, and wisdom, and miraculous greatness of his
teachings and his deeds.
In
Nimrod’s days, when the people combined to build a city, and a tower which
should reach to heaven, and make themselves a name, lest they should be
scattered abroad upon the earth, what was it but one grand ceremonial of
worship to earthly greatness?
And
if they could thus glory and sacrifice to the ambition and schemes of Nimrod,
how, much more to the wonderful Antichrist? If the genius and exhibitions
of such men as Caesar, Charlemagne, Frederick Napoleon, Voltaire, Mirabeau,
Byron, and the like have been able to delight the souls, fascinate the minds,
and lead captive, the wills of the children of disobedience, how can it be otherwise,
when the glories of intellect and taste, of war and conquest, of miracle and
majesty, of recovery from death, of mastery over all the mysterious forces of
nature and spirit come forth in, one sublime embodiment!
The
very cities and regions over which this Beast rules will add to the fatal
delusion of those times. Where, indeed, have the thoughts of men so
fondly lingered as in Rome, in Greece, in Egypt, in Babylon, in
Jerusalem? All the associations of greatness, conquest, taste, learning,
eloquence, art, and religion are mostly bound up with these places. And
these are to rise up again under the Antichrist, as if from the world of death,
whence he himself comes, mimicking the glories of the true restitution which
the Son of God is then about to bring.
And
to the natural impulses of the human heart will be added the unwonted
instigations of the Devil himself operating behind and through all, influencing
the hearts, and tongues, and energies of men. And so they will be
deluded, bewitched, and rallied to the worship of the Beast, and to the
acceptance of him as the true and only God.
6.
My sixth remark is, that this Beast will be the consummate antagonist and
supplanter of everything Divine. He is exhibited in the vision
as having “on his heads names of blasphemy.”
To the same effect it is added, that “a mouth was given
him speaking great and blasphemous things,” - that “he opened his mouth for blasphemies towards God, to
blaspheme, His name, and His tabernacle, they which tabernacle in the heaven.”
The seven heads of the Beast are explained in chapter 17. to be “seven
kings,” or powers, five of which were fallen at the time, one of which
then existed, and the seventh was not yet come. That is an allusion to a
succession of imperial headships, of which the Antichrist is the
consummation. It may refer either to the emperors of Rome,
or to the successive great dominions of all time, the Roman
emperorship being the one existing when the Apostle wrote. Taken in
either way, we have the key to something of the nature of the blasphemy which
comes to its highest culmination in this Beast. Counting back from Rome
as the sixth, we find five great empires,‑the Grecian, Medo‑Persian,
Chaldean, Egyptian, and old Assyrian, and in every one of these the deification
of the monarch, and the claiming and giving of divine honours to him, was part
of the common piety of the state. Such was particularly the case with the Emperors
of Rome. Julius Caesar took divine titles, accepted divine
honours while he lived, and had temples erected to his worship after he was
dead. Augustus Caesar favoured the erection of temples for
the worship of his uncle, and of others devoted to the worship of
himself. At Angora the remains of one of these may still be seen, and on
it the inscription: “To the God Augustus.”
In the same locality there is an inscription, “To Marcus
Aurelius, unconquered, august, pious, successful, by one most
devoted to his Godhead.” Nero
was styled God while he lived. Lamps have been found devoted to the Emperor
Domitian as “our God and
Lord.” Nor can there be any question of the
profession and award of Deity in the case of all the great heads of secular
power from the beginning on. They all wore names of blasphemy. And
these names of blasphemy will be received by this Beast in augmented intensity
and impiousness, and worn as of right his own. Daniel says of him: “He will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every
god. He will speak marvellous things against the God of gods. He
will not regard any god, for he will magnify himself above all.” Paul
says. “He opposeth and exalteth himself above all that
is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God.” (2
Thess. 2: 4.) He is at once Anti-God, Anti-Christ, and
Anti-Spirit, antagonising each particular Person of the adorable Trinity,
trampling on their claims, usurping their honours, putting himself into their place,
and abolishing all worship and recognition of either.
As
a necessary concomitant, he is a consummate persecutor. The Apostle in
vision saw it “given him to make, war with the saints,
and to overcome them.” It is he that wars with the Two Witnesses,
and overcomes them, and kills them (chap. 11: 7.)
It is through him that Satan persecutes and pursues the Woman, and turns to
make havoc of the remainder of her seed. It is under him that as many as
will not worship his image shall he slain, and no one can either buy or sell
without accepting his mark in hand or forehead as his slave and devotee.
All this is set forth again and again in the Old Testament and the New.
A
particular object of his blasphemies is “God’s
tabernacle, they which tabernacle in the heaven.” This is a side-proof
that our interpretation of the birth and rapture of the Man-child is
correct. It will then be known and acknowledged that a resurrection and
translation of saints has occurred. It will then be known and understood that
they are in the pavilion cloud with the Lord in the heavenly spaces. (Ps. 27: 5; 31: 20.) Even the Beast, with all
his setting aside, and ridicule of everything divine and sacred, is conscious
of the presence of these glorified ones on high, and annoyed at thought of
them. He speaks of them; he acts with reference to them; and he pours out
his special blasphemies with regard to them. This is a necessity to
him. The catching away to heaven of so many people of God must needs
leave a deep impression behind it. The slain and abused bodies of the Two
Witnesses are visibly revived, and taken up into the sky before the eyes of
Antichrist’s minions. This will be a grand and most convincing evidence
against him and all his infamous pretensions, a manifest token of his devilish
falsity and approaching doom. And he needs above all to break it down, to
cast discredit and dishonour upon it, and to root out the very idea if he
can. Hence his particular railing and impatience with reference to this
divine tent of the glorified ones, and his virulent blaspheming of those who
tabernacle in it. The Dragon’s wrath at the defeat of his efforts against
these chosen ones is thus outwardly vented in this blasphemy of the Beast, and
his bloody persecution of all on earth who dare to believe and hold contrary to
his will. How blessed are they who through faith and watchfulness have
been accounted worthy to escape his power by being caught up to God ere he is
revealed!
7.
My seventh and last remark, for the present, is that Christians have great need
to study and understand what is thus foreshown. There is appended to the
vision a special admonition and command: “If any
one hath an ear, let him hear.” It is the same
which the Great Divine Teacher has laid upon mankind with reference to the most
vital things of His Gospel. It shows that something of the most intense
and urgent importance is involved in these things, not only for theologians and
scholars, but for every Christian - for all classes of men - for every
one that hath an ear for the learning of divine truth. It shows that the
predisposition will be, and is, to ignore and disregard this and such like
subjects - to treat them in wild speculations - to pass them by as destitute of
practical worth, if not as positively injurious. It shows that God’s idea
of the study of prophecy, and of the drawing from it of doctrine and admonition
to condition our faith and shape our lives, is very different from that which
many modern Christians inculcate. And it makes plain as language can
tell, that it is the solemn and gracious will of heaven for every one to “mark, learn, and inwardly digest,” for living
practical use and effect, what is here foreshown of the character and doings of
this Beast.
Nor
is it difficult to see that the admonition to hear and understand this matter
is rooted in the deepest practical necessities. Without a proper idea of
the revelation of the final Antichrist, of the grievousness and abominations of
his times, of his wonderful career and destiny, of the tribulations which his
administrations will inflict, and of the offered privilege of being entirely
saved from these awful trials, we cannot half fulfil the Saviour’s commands to
watch and pray for that salvation, and to aim at being accounted worthy to
escape all these things. Without a proper knowledge of the subject
treated in this vision, we cannot fully appreciate our Saviour, the offers He
makes to us, the redemption He proposes, or the character of the
administrations in which His kingdom comes. And particularly for those
who are “left,” and living on the earth at the
time when this Beast comes into power, there is no security, hope, or
consolation whatever, except as they understand these things and establish
themselves upon them.
It
will be a time of such “deceivableness of
unrighteousness,” that if it were possible the very elect would be
cheated out of their faith, and deluded to certain perdition. It will
be a time of such awful pressure, that no one can maintain himself at all except
as he is forewarned, forearmed, and entrenched in the fortifications provided
in these revelations. For any one who holds fast to the name of
Christ in those days there will be no alternative left but to recant, to accept
the mark of the Beast, and go to inevitable perdition with him; or be driven
away into the mountains, the wilderness, the dens and caves of the earth.
To hope for deliverance by the sword, or to take up arms against the Beast, can
bring no relief; for if any one will kill with the sword, with the sword must
he perish. If any one is ready to accept flight or exile for his safety,
into captivity he will have to go, with no pity for him, and no relaxation of
the hard necessity. Even the Two miracle-girded Witnesses, who maintain
themselves for a time, are eventually overcome and slain; and no mortal can
live where the Beast’s power reaches, without letting go Christ for Antichrist.
Many
a sore trial of their patience and faith have the saints of God experienced
from the persecuting powers of this godless world; but they will all be as
nothing compared with the tribulations of these last evil days. Not under
the Chaldean oppressions, - not under the Seleucid despots, - not under the
bloody persecutions of the Caesars, - not under the inquisitions of the Popes,
- but “here is the patience and the
faith of the saints.” Under the Antichrist shall all true
worshippers be tested and tried as never in all the ages before. Nor can
any one hold out faithful then except he be posted and grounded beforehand in
the divine teachings concerning the infernal character of the power which then
reigns, the sure interference of Heaven for its speedy destruction, and the
certain damnation of all who abet its blasphemies or accept its mark.
My
dear friends, let me then add a word of solemn caution with regard to this
subject. Having listened with so much patient
attention to the imperfect sketch I have given, be careful that you do not go.
away and jest over it as nonsense and
imbecility. Remember the words with which this Book of the Apocalypse
opens: “Blessed is he who readeth, and those
who hear the words of this prophecy, and observe the things which
are written in it.” Remember also what the holy Apostle appends to it
when he says: “I testify unto every man that heareth
the words of the prophecy of this Book, If any man shall add unto these things,
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book; and if any
man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part out of the Book of
Life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this
Book.” Mysterious and impossible as
it may all seem to man’s ordinary experience and reason, the thing is too
overwhelm ingly important and solemn to be ridiculed, or to be treated with
indifference. Nor can any one tell how vitally his own security and
salvation are wrapped up in right apprehensions of these very things. I
therefore press the admonition which God Himself has affixed to this particular
subject: “If any one hath an ear to hear, let him hear.”
LECTUCTURE THIRTY‑SECOND.
THE
ANTICHRIST NOT ALONE - THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENT IN HUMAN SOCIETY - COUNTERFEIT OF
THE ADORABLE TRINITY - COMMENTATORS ON THE BEAST FROM THE EARTH - AN INDIVIDUAL
PERSON - WHAT HIS RISE OUT OF THE EARTH SIGNIFIES - HIS TWO LAMB-LIKE
HORNS - HIS DRAGON SPEECH - AT ONE WITH THE FIRST BEAST - A SUCCESSFUL OPFRATOR
- CAUSFS “THE EARTH” TO WORSHIP THE BEAST - THE
WEIRD ACCOUNT LITERALLY PROBABLE, WHEN WE REMEMBER THE FORMER WORSHIP OF ROMAN
EMPERORS AND POPULAR HEROES.
Rev. 13: 11, 12 (Revised
Text) - And I saw another beast coming up out of the
earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he was speaking as a dragon.
And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and
causeth the earth and those that dwell in it to worship the first beast whose
stroke of death was healed.
The
Antichrist, though an individual, is not alone. He not only has the ten
sovereignties working into his hand with all “their
power and strength,” but he has a more intimate and more potent
companion, hardly less remarkable than himself, duplicating his power, and
without him he could not be what he is – a Two-horned Beast from the earth, who
is also called “the False Prophet.” (Rev. 16: 13; 19: 20).
When
Pharaoh lifted himself up against Jehovah, and against God’s two Witnesses,
Moses and Aaron, the magicians, Jannes and Jambres,
were summoned as necessary helpers, to compete with their miracles, and to
withstand their claims. When Balak, king of Moab, sought to destroy
Israel, Balaam was in requisition to prophesy for the king as the
arm of his success. When Dan, in marauding avarice, settled in Laish, he
must needs have the Levite son of Gershom, to set up a worship
for him, though he had to steal both priest and gods. Absolam, the
murderer and fratricide, plotting for his father’s throne and life, and warring
against God’s anointed king, could do but little without Ahithophel
to aid his treason, and further his practical schemes. Jeroboam, in
revolt, found necessity for a new religious administration, with new gods and
new observances, requiring priests and prophets to abet his wilfulness.
Ahab, the seventh head of the line of Israel, could not have been Ahab except
for Jezebel, with her herd of foreign priests. And
thus the final Antichrist, of whom these were types and forerunners, cannot be
the Antichrist without his great spiritual consociate and false prophet.
The
religious element is one of the most powerful in humanity. Its great
potency appears in all the history of mankind. It cannot be ignored,
suppressed, or put aside. It may be misled and perverted, but its
presence and power are inevitable wherever man is man. Nothing can
securely stand against it. No other power can be sustained without its
aid. True or false, human nature must have a religion. If the State
does not provide one it must allow of it, and throw some sanction over it, or
it kills itself. There can be no society, no kingdom, no commanding
administration without it. Even the French Atheists of 1793 who
pronounced against all traditional religion, and sought to abolish God, yet
glided into one, carved images and idols of Liberty and Equality, offered
incense to them, sung hymns to them, and knelt down before them in great civic
ceremonials. Napoleon, who became the great military head of this
revolution, held it as one of his maxims, that the State cannot live without a
religion.
Alison, the historian, has told us how the Emperor, actuated
by no spirit of oppression, by no jealousy of a rival authority, but out of
what he viewed as essential to the solidity of his empire, sought to connect
the Pope with his government, and to establish the See of Rome in close
connection and subserviency to himself at Paris. And so the Antichrist,
though opposing and exalting himself “above all that is
called God, or that is worshipped,” still finds it essential to have a
religion. Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King; and he who proposes to
take His place, and to be the world’s Christ as against the incarnate Son of
God, must needs fill out the same departments. To do this, his Devil
wisdom simply inverts the order, assigns to himself the central and all-conditioning
position of absolute King, and accepts and adopts a grand religious
establishment, whose head and centre is another great Beast, administering in
the department of priesthood and prophecy.
The
Eternal Power and Godhead is a Trinity. “The true
Christian faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in
Unity; neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For
there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy
Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. And in this Trinity
none is afore, or after other, none is greater or less than another; but the
whole three Persons are co-equal; so that in all things, as aforesaid, the
Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.”
The
truth of this holy doctrine is reflected in the copy of it which appears in the
constitution of the Devil’s grand system as the anti-God. The full
embodiment of all evil in our world comes out in an infernal Trinity, the
mimicry of eternal realities. First, is the unseen and
hidden Father, the Dragon, that old serpent, the Devil. Second,
is the seven-headed and ten-horned Beast from the sea, “the Son of Perdition,” begotten of the Devil, his
earthly manifestation, who dies, and revives again, and reappears on earth
after being in the invisible world as a false Christ, and is awarded the power
and throne of his father the Devil. And to this comes a third,
the two-horned Beast from the earth, who proceeds from the Dragon Father
and Dragon Son, for his speech is the Dragon’s speech, and “he exerciseth all the authority of the first Beast in his
presence,” carrying into living effect the Satanic will of both the
Dragon father and son.
Thus
we perceive three distinct personalities, the Devil, the
Antichrist, and “The False Prophet;” and these
three are one, - one vital essence, one economy, and one administration.
The Dragon sets up as the anti-God; the ten-horned Beast,
his son, is the anti-Christ; and the two-horned Beast,
proceeding from and operating in the interest of both, is the anti-Holy
Ghost. And these three together are Hell’s Trinity in
Unity, the Devil’s Unity in Trinity, as revealed and operative in our world,
when iniquity has once come to the full.
At
present we are to consider the third in this infamous Trinity, as exhibited in
the vision before us. The Lord God of heaven and earth guide us into a
right understanding of His truth!
The
first, most direct, and most natural question on the subject is: Who and
what is this Beast, with two horns like a lamb? Many
commentators say this Beast is the Pope, or the papacy, or the papal kingdom,
or the Roman clergy, or the spiritual Roman Empire, or the various spiritual
orders under the papacy. Sir Isaac Newton thinks the Greek Church
is this Beast. Galloway thinks the French Republic is
intended. Fysh thinks it means the Jesuits. Mulerius
thinks it refers to the Roman Catholic theologians. Hengstenberg thinks
it means the earthy, carnal wisdom, including the heathen philosophies, false
doctrines, and the like. Stuart says it is the heathen
priesthood. Gebhardt holds that witchcraft and soothsaying, the
heathen religion as divination and magic, is meant.
Every
item in this record indicates that an individual person is
here meant, as do all the relations of the subject. When Jesus told His
disciples, “there shall arise false Christs, and false
prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were
possible they shall deceive the very elect” (Matt.
24: 24), every one agrees that he referred to persons that is, to
individual men, who should severally give themselves out as if they were
Christ, or claim to be endowed with all wisdom and power to command the
reverence and obedience of their fellows. But when the Saviour thus
prophesied of the rise of false prophets, it is impossible to suppose that “the false prophet” which this second Beast is thrice
declared to be (chaps. 16: 13; 19: 20; 20: 10),
was not embraced. He certainly is one of those many, nay, the
impersonation of them all, as he is by emphasis “The
False Prophet,” as the
first Beast is “The Antichrist.”
But
being thus one of many whose individuality is conceded on all hands, he must
also be of the same kind and nature with the rest; that is, not a system,
church, philosophy, school, corporation, order, or general spirit, but an
individual person. Being a prophet, he must, of course,
have a doctrine, a system which he puts forth, an economy or system which he
seeks to sustain, and consociates and followers who operate with him; but with
whomsoever or whatsoever coalescing confederated, or conjoined he is not the
False Prophet on their account, but in his own individual personality.
All the prophets that have ever been, whether true or false, pagan, Jewish, or
Christian, have been individual persons. And when it comes to, “The False Prophet,”
the last and greatest of his class, the very consummation of all false
prophets, we would do violence to all language or the use of terms, not to
admit and recognise an individual personality.
This
Second Beast, as such, is not a person, but a symbol, which covers the
whole economy and administration of the False Prophet; yet, for
that very reason and,- above all, it includes a personal administrator,
in whom the entire thing has its being and centre. It is also
impossible for me to conceive how this False Prophet can be made the subject of
divine punishments, be cast into the lake of fire, and be kept there in torment
from age to age on account of his wickedness, as the record is (Rev. 19: 20; 20: 10), if he be not a true and real
person. Do states, false churches, systems, hierarchies, and the like
exist and suffer as such in hell?
Prophecy
and prophetic administration imply inspiration and miraculous power. In
the case of true prophets the inspiration is from above, and the power from on
high. This Beast is a false prophet, the
consummation of all false prophets, and his inspiration and power must needs
come from beneath. Hence he is represented as coming up out of
the earth, as the first Beast comes out of the sea.
If the sea in the one case means the political agitation of peoples, the earth
in the other case represents what is more settled and firm in
human thought and society. And so we find that the religious sentiments
and systems have always been more firm and fixed than political
sentiments. A prophet has to do with the religious element; and the
coming of this Beast out of the earth may refer to the evolution
of his system out of the religions that have place among men,* and
the progress of human society with reference to beliefs and spiritual
things. But this may not be the whole meaning.
[*
Dr. Seiss’ definition of this Two-horned Beast or False Prophet as a
grand religious establishment whose personal head is the False Prophet ‑ a new
and powerful universal religion‑an infernal system of idolatry, accompanied by
Satanic miracle‑ a system evolved out of the religions that have place among
men, is a just and true definition. It will necessarily be
an amalgamation and modification of all existing false systems of
religion; for, as the universally established religion of the
whole world, it will absorb and swallow up all other religions. It will be, in
fact, “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots
(false religious systems),” as represented under the correlative figure of the
Scarlet Woman, in Rev. 17. It will
come up out of the earth, as being simply a peaceful
reorganisation of existing religious systems, and not a violent creation of an
entirely new ten-kingdomed Roman empire coming up out of the sea
of tumultuous agitation. This two-horned beast is germinantly the Roman
Catholic Church, which will, as the future “Mother of
Harlots,” unite with itself the Greek Church, Mahommedanism, Judaism,
Buddhism, Hindooism, Confucianism, Spiritualism, &c., and the Last Pope
will be the False Prophet or personal head of this universal religious system.
It will also be an intensely Communistic, Socialistic system, teaching the most
extreme democratic doctrines.‑EDITOR.].
There
is a particular oppressor referred to in the tenth
Psalm (ver. 15), who is described as
“The Man of the Earth”, and who
meets his fate in the great judgment time. According to the uniform
patristic application of this Psalm, the reference must be to one or the other
of these Beasts; but, as the first Beast is distinguished as the Beast from the
Sea, and the second as the Beast from the Earth,
this “Man of the Earth” must be this second
Beast, if either. If so, his particular and emphatic characterisation as
“the Man of the Earth” so early as the days of
David must mean something special and peculiar. The apparition to the
witch of Endor came up “out of the earth”
(1 Sam. 28: 13). It was from [Hades/Sheol] - the
spirit-world, usually conceived of in the Scriptures and located under or in
the interior of the earth.
Hence
a recent writer, with whom I have often found good reason to agree, concludes
that this Beast, as to his personality, is a man from the under-world, whom he
identifies as Judas Iscariot, returned again to the activities of this world,
either by Satanic resurrection, or by some form of demoniacal possession,
something after the manner of the first Beast, whose spirit will come up out of
the abyss. This would harmonise with the fact that neither of these
Beasts dies; each goes down alive into the lake of fire (chap. 19: 20). The startling character of
the idea is also much relieved when we consider, as Heingstenberg
observes, that the separation between earth and hell is at that time very
slight, and the communication very easy. Even in the ordinary course of
things, either heaven or hell, God or the Devil, spirits from above or spirits
from beneath, are always in the background of all the spiritual and
supernatural activities upon earth; and very much more potent will be the
putting forth of Hell in those last evil times, when everything pertaining to
heaven is largely withdrawn, and all that remains in the earth is mostly
abandoned for the time to the rule of the infernal powers.
I
should not wonder, therefore, if this would turn out to be the true
interpretation, namely, that this coming up out of the earth means
a coming from the under-world, and that this Man of the
Earth, this Beast as to his personality, is, in one sense or another, that very
Judas, “Son of Perdition,” who betrayed his
Lord. He is at least a man, one who fills the office of a prophet in
consociation with the first Beast, one possessed of supernatural powers, and
one who has all his inspiration and miraculous potency from beneath, in
contrast with that of true prophets, which is from above. This second
Beast has “two horns like a lamb.”
Horns are the symbols of power; but these horns have no diadems, and are
like the horns of a gentle domestic animal. Political sovereignty, war
conquest, and the strength of military rule are therefore out of the question
here. This Beast is a Prophet, a spiritual teacher,
and not a king or warrior. His power has certain softness and domesticity
about it, which is sharply distinguished from the great, regal horns of the
first Beast, although in reality of the same Wild Beast order, and belonging to
the same Dragon brood.
Though
having but the two horns like a lamb, he yet speaks like a Dragon. He is
lamblike in that he proposes to occupy only the mild, domestic, and inoffensive
position of spiritual adviser. What more gentle and innocent than the counselling
of people how to live and act, for the sacrament of their happiness! But
the words are like the Dragon, in that such professions and claims are in fact
the assumption of absolute dominion over the minds, souls, consciences, and
hearts of men, to bind them irrevocably, and to compel them to think and act
only as he who makes them shall dictate and prescribe. Only to the
eternal God belongs such a power; and when claimed by a creature, is, indeed,
the speech of the Devil, the spirit of hell usurping the place and prerogatives
of the Holy Ghost.
Hence,
also, in so far as this Beast is able to maintain and enforce these prophetic
claims, “he exerciseth all the authority of the first
Beast.” There is no more complete or exalted dominion under the sun
than such a sway over the intellect and will of universal humanity. The
first Beast, in all his imperial power, has no greater authority than the
common acknowledgment of such claims would give. When this is exercised,
all the authority of the first Beast is exercised. But the first Beast is
quite willing that his hellish consociate should assert and press these claims;
for the two are but different persons in the same infernal Trinity, the second
witnessing to the first, as the Spirit witnesseth to the Son. It is all
in the one interest of the Dragon, out of whom the whole administration comes,
and it matters not through which of the Persons the Devil work is done, whether
by the first Beast as imperial dictator, or by the second as the absolute spiritual
adviser and teacher. Therefore, the latter exerciseth all the authority of the
former, “in his presence,” with
his approbation and consent, and as his consociate and prime minister.
It
is not common for great impostors and powers in evil thus to agree. When Mahomet
was ruling at Medina there arose another pretender of the same order with
himself. The second proposed to make common cause between them, and wrote
a letter to Mahomet which read: “From Moseilma, the
prophet of Allah, to Mahomet, the prophet of Allah. Come now, let us make
a partition of the world, and let half be thine, and half be mine.” But
Mahomet answered: “From Mahomet, the prophet of God,
to Moscilma, the Liar;” and there was nothing but
hatred and war between them. When Napoleon, in the grandeur of his
power, sought to avail himself of the authority and influence of the Pope, and
to endow the pretended See of St. Peter with glory and honour as an instrument
of imperial rule, the Pope answered him with a bull of excommunication.
When certain vagabond Jews of Ephesus proposed to adorn and dignify themselves
with the credit of casting out evil spirits in the Saviour’s name, the demon’s
answer came: “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who
are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and
overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house
naked and wounded.” (Acts 19: 15, 16.)
But between these last two outgrowths of hell there is a perfect understanding,
harmony, and concord. It is Akiba and Barchocebas repeated
on a mammoth scale - the Satanic mimicry of the sacred ministrations of the
Holy Ghost to the Divine Saviour’s cause.
And
a most efficient minister does this False Prophet prove to be. Eight
times it is written of him that “he causeth.”
He is a successful executor. And what “he causeth”
is the most extraordinary in all the history of falsehood and wickedness.
The account is full and specific, and needs to be considered in detail.
First,
we have the statement that “he causeth the earth
and those that dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose stroke of death
was healed.”
If
the coming of this Beast “out of the earth”
means a coming from the place of depraved spirits, the worshipping ascribed to
“the earth” may mean worship rendered by these
evil spirits. The statement may then mean, that this Beast first of all
induces the tenants of the under-world (in the abyss inside
the earth) to adore the great Son of perdition, who was wounded to death and
became alive again. When it is said that “the
whole earth wondered after the Beast,” we can readily understand it to
mean the inhabitants of the earth; but when the earth is named separately along
with its inhabitants, it is an open question whether it merely means the
inhabitants only.
But,
whatever the fact may be with regard to the full meaning here of the term “the earth,” there can be no question about “the dwellers in it!” They are induced to accept
the Beast as the Deity, and to worship him as God. In the first instance,
when this man’s great wonderfulness and power burst upon the view of the world,
the astonishment, admiration, and celebration of him as the Invincible seems to
have been spontaneous, a mere wild breaking forth and overflow of astounded
popular feeling. But it was evidence of an impression in a direction of
which the Devil could well avail himself for the better accomplishment of his
ends. The second Beast accordingly appears as a sacred prophet to direct
it, reduces it to a system, and enters upon the organisation of a new
religion, an infernal religion, of which he is the sublime oracle, and the
Antichrist the supreme god.
The
attempt proves a grand success. “The earth
and those that dwell in it worship the first Beast, whose stroke of death was
healed.” It seems like a fable from the land of
dreams - like the wild story in Southey’s Thalaba, in which the
sorcerers
“Hasten to the inner cave,
And all fall fearfully around the giant
idol’s feet,
Seeking salvation from the power they
served.”
For
here, almost, if not quite, as there, the picture is, that
“Where the sceptre in the
idol’s hand
Touched the round altar, in its answering
realm,
Earth left the stroke, and ocean rose in
storms;
And ruining cities, shaken from their
seats,
Crushed all their inhabitants.
His other arm was raised, and its spread
palm
Upbore the ocean weight,
Whose naked waters arched the sanctuary,
Sole prop and pillar he.”
But,
with all the weird strangeness of the record, the literal realisation of it is
neither impossible nor improbable. There is nothing in it to which
depraved human nature is not competent, and even predisposed and prone. Alexander
the Great was but a young man when he died, and never was more than a
natural man; yet he claimed and received divine honours as a god. Reading
in Homer that the ancient heroes were sons of gods, he did not see that they
were any better than himself, and hence began to think himself the son of
Jupiter, and so announced to the priests, who oracularly proclaimed him such,
and exhorted all inquirers to render to their victorious king the honours of a
deity. The vile Antiochus Epiphanes was awarded an
apotheosis, and assigned a place among the holy gods in the worship of
Egypt. Herod, with all his baseness and his crimes, was hailed as
a god, and took it as his due. (Acts 12: 21-23.)
Julius Caesar was honoured as a god, and after his death many temples
were raised and frequented for his worship. Statues, temples, altars, and
trophies were consecrated to Augustus Caesar. Tiberius
rendered sacred homage to his statues, and also accepted similar honours to
himself and his favourite, Sejanus. Trajan worshipped Nerva,
and honoured him with a chief priest, with altars, and with sacred gifts.
The
younger Pliny proclaimed it as Trajan’s due, that his statue should be
cut in ivory, or cast in gold, and that the choicest victims should be
sacrificed to his divinity. Caligula claimed to be a god, clothed
himself with the acknowledged names of deity, assumed the attributes and
ornaments of all the divinities, accepted temples, prayers, offerings, and
sacrifices as pertaining to him, appointed a college of priests, consisting of
all the richest men in Rome, to superintend the ceremonies of honour and
worship to his sacred majesty. He even boasted that every nation of the
earth, except the Jews, adored and worshipped him. The King of Parthia,
kneeling before Nero, said to him: “You are my God,
and I am come to adore you as I adore the sun. My destiny is to be
determined by your supreme will;” to which Nero replied: “I make you King of Armenia, that the whole universe may know
it belongs to me to give or to take away crowns.” Domitian
filled the world with his statues, to which sacrifices were continually
offered, and required that all letters written or published in his name should
always begin, “Our Lord and God commands.”
And so common, universal, and stoutly demanded was this worship of the
successors of the Caesars, that the chief reason for the martyrdom of the
Christians of their day was, that they would not sacrifice to the emperor as
God.
It may be said that these were ancient, pagan, and
benighted times, and that such abominations can never again be palmed upon
mankind. But they were the times which produced our classics. The
same has also occurred in later days, with far less reason or apology, and
among those who claim to be the most advanced and enlightened of
mortals. How was it in the comparatively recent period of the French
Revolution? How was it with those world renowned savants,
whose boast it was to dethrone the King of heaven as well as the monarchs
of the earth? Did they not sing halleluias to the busts of Marat and
Lepelletier, not only in the streets of Paris and Brest, but in many of the
churches all over France? How came it that Robespierre was named
and celebrated as a divinity, a super-human being, “The
New Messiah”! Can we blot out what Alison, and Lacretelle, and
Thiers have written, that “Marat was universally
deified,” that the churches received his statues as
objects of sacred regard, and that a new worship was everywhere set up in their
honour? Is it to be ignored how the foremost men of the nation, in state
ceremony, conveyed a woman in grand procession to the Cathedral of Notre
Dame, unveiled and kissed her before the high altar as the Goddess of Reason,
and exhorted the multitude to cease trembling before the powerless thunders of
the God of their fears, and “sacrifice only to such as
this”?
Nay,
at this very hour, there resides a man in the city of Rome, whom
one-half of Christendom itself hails, honours, and adores as the Vicar of Jesus
Christ, the Vicegerent of God upon earth, Infallible, and sole possessor of the
Keys of heaven, - a man whom the greater festivals exhibit as a Divinity, borne
along in solemn procession on the shoulders of consecrated priests, whilst
sacred incense fumes before him, and blest peacocks’ feathers full of eyes wave
beside his moving throne, and every mortal on the street where he passes,
uncovers, kneels, and silently adores; - a man who, once a year, takes his seat
upon the high altar of the sublimest church in Christendom, in the broad light
of this favoured century, and there receives the adoration of the whole college
of his most exalted subjects, who reverently bow amid chants, music, and
burning lights to kiss the toe of “His Holiness”!
Let there come, then, a man front among the
distinguished dead; let him prove by signs evident that he is
verily a great emperor returned to life again; let him
show the intelligence, the energy, the invincible power, and whatever else has
made and marked the glory of the mighty, and let there come with him a
great prophet to exercise all this power in the one direction of a new
universal religion, advising and urging with eloquence and
miracle, in the name of the absolute Wisdom, the worship and adoration of that
man, as the only right worship in the universe: and what is there
in humanity to withstand the appeal! As surely as man is man, the same
that he has hitherto been, it will and must be a grand success. As
certain fact, the Saviour so anticipated, and says, that if it were possible to
break Jehovah’s promises, the very elect would be deceived.
There is, then, to be a new religion for our world, as
scientists and reformers already claim and proclaim. It will also be
a powerful and universal religion. It will ground itself in
pretentions to the profoundest wisdom, intelligence, reason, truth, and
progress. It will sway the earth, and carry with it all who are not
written in the Lamb’s book of life. It will be the final coronation of
the progressivism of human perfectibility. But it will be a religion
whose God is Antichrist, and whose sacraments are the seals of damnation,
inevitable and eternal. God save us from unfaithfulness to His Gospel,
that the “strong delusion” which leaves no hope
may never touch any one who hears this warning of what is to come!
LECTURE THIRTY-THIRD
THE
FALSE PPOPTIET CONTINUED - THE CONDITION OF THINGS WHEN HE COMES - HOW HE
IMPOSES ON THE WORLD - MIRACLES TRUE AND FALSE - MAKING FIRE COME DOWN FROM
HEAVEN - HIS ARGUMENT FROM THE SUPERNATURAL CHARACTER OF THE BEAST - THE
IMAGE OF THE BEAST - ARGUMENTS FOR IT - THE CAUSING OF IT TO SPEAK - THE
ADMINISTRATION COMPLETE - THE BLOODY TYRANNY - THE MARKING - THE HELPLESSNESS
AND HOPELESSNESS OF MEN UNDER THE BEAST - WISDOM CONCERNING HIS NAME.
Rev. 13: 14-18 (Revised
Text). - And he doeth great miracles, so that he even
maketh fire come down from the heaven to the earth in the presence of men, and
he deceiveth those that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was
given him to work in the presence of the beast, saying to those who dwell on
the earth they should make an image to the beast, which had the stroke of the
sword, and lived.
And it was given him to give spirit to the image of the beast, that
the image of the beast should even speak, and should cause that as many as
would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
And he causeth all, that small and the great, and the rich and the
poor, and the free and the bond to receive a mark [Gk. stamp of brand] on the right hand, or on their forehead, that no one shall
be able to buy or sell except he who has the mark, the name of the beast, or
the number of his name.
Here is the wisdom. Let him who hath understanding reckon the
number of the beast; for it is a number of a man, and the number of him is 666.
In
the last Lecture we were engaged in considering the Beast from the earth, the
False Prophet, the consociate and prime minister of the final Antichrist.
We then saw something of his origin, character, the sphere of his operations,
the nature of his pretentions, and his success in introducing a new
universal worship, or religion. It remains to be considered how
he imposes on the world, and what oppressive and murderous use he makes of his
power. The Lord help us to understand the matter truly!
Before
proceeding directly to the subject it may be well to glance first at the
antecedent state of things, by which the way is paved for his operations.
No great movements or revolutions in human affairs ever come without
preparative conditions and causes, some preliminary plantings which gradually
mature until they ripen into the great ultimate results. It was so with
the reformation wrought by Christ. It was so in the reformation which
culminated in connection with the labours of Martin Luther. It has been
so in science and philosophy. It has been so in every great political
revolution. And when such gigantic changes and disasters come as fore
shown in this chapter, they necessarily have had their roots in something which
has gone before, of which they are the fruits, and which the nature of the
times has served to favour and develop. Nor have the Scriptures failed to
indicate various preliminary conditions and forerunners which serve to
introduce the final false Christ and his abominations.
Speaking
of the Man of Sin and his doings, Paul writes that that day shall not
come, “except there come a falling away first.”
There is then to be a general sinking from the true faith, and the substitution
of human conceits, philosophies, and “science falsely
so called,” in the place of the divine verities, eating away the
substance of true religion, and dissolving its hold on the hearts and minds of
men. Such a terrible deceit could not be unless all society were first
thoroughly corrupted. And so it will be. The Apostle says: “Know this, that in the last days perilous times shall come
for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural
affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of
those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof;”
- times “when they will not endure sound doctrine, but
after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
and shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
(2 Tim. 3: 1-6; 4: 3, 4.)
Among
the active causes of all this we are forewarned of a certain boastful and
blatant scientism and naturalism which does not hesitate
dogmatically to negative the doctrines of faith, and likewise of a
demonic spiritualism, which denies that Jesus Christ has come,
or is to come, in any literal sense, and sets up quite other revelations as the
hope and dependence of the world. In so many words, it is affirmed “there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after
their own lasts, and saying [as a matter of doctrine and science], Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers
fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation;” and further more, “that in the latter
times some [certain men] shall depart from the
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons,
speaking lies in hypocrisy, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain
from meats.” (2 Pet. 2: 3, 4 ; 1 Tim. iv. 1‑3.)
As a necessary concomitant and result, we are further told of a perturbed,
restless, and disabled condition in political affairs, a weakening of the laws,
an unmanageableness of things of state and social order, making all the old
formulae and codes of none effect, and engulfing the whole world in a quagmire
of confusion, from which there is no retreat, and whence the only prospect is
of worse disaster ahead.
The
Saviour assures us that as before the flood “the earth
was corrupt before God, and was filled with violence,” justice and law
having been supplanted by the base will of the corrupt multitude, so it shall
be when the present world nears its end. (Matt. 24:
37-39.) Besides, it is a time when the patience of God is about
wearied out with the perverseness and inventions of the wicked, - when judgment
has commenced,‑when the One who hinders the revelation of the Man of Sin is
taken away,‑when the Holy Ghost, so long grieved and insulted, begins to
withdraw from the world then approaching its doom, when the holiest and best of
earth’s population is taken away, caught up to the heavenly pavilion, - when
the very candlestick of sacred illumination is removed, - when they that love
not the truth are given over, judicially blinded, and allowed a loose rein to
believe lies and hasten their own damnation, - when the doors of the abyss are
unlocked, and the powers of perdition are given wider liberties, - and when
Satan is angered to the intensest degree, because he knows that “he hath but a short time.” And in this crisis
and condition of things, when evil is ready to bloom forth in final maturity,
and every form of it is confluent, and all that impeded it has well nigh
disappeared, the great embodiment of Hells subtlety and deceit begins his
ministry. The world, having rejected the Evangely of God, is therefore
ripe and ready for the Gospel of the Devil, and his great Apostle comes.
Observe,
then, in the next place, by what means this Prophet brings the world to his
unholy cause.
We
have seen what his pretensions are. We have seen that he has the two
horns, i.e., all the powers by which a religion, as such, makes its way
upon the minds and hearts of men. We have seen that he presents himself
as the bearer and interpreter of the absolute truth, the master and prophet of
all that can rightfully demand the attention and obedience of any being.
And what he thus professes and claims. he also proposes to prove and
demonstrate, by exhibiting a supernatural control of all the forces and powers
of Nature. “And he doeth great miracles
… And he deceiveth those that dwell on the
earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to work in the presence of
the Beast.”
Miracles
have ever been the chief evidence of the presence of what is worshipful and
divine. It is by these especially that men’s faith is begotten and
controlled. It is by seeing and experiencing what is manifestly above and
beyond all natural human power, and what cannot be accounted for on natural
principles, that the human mind is forced to a conviction of the presence of
some great and worshipful potency superior to Nature. It was by such
demonstrations that Moses evidenced Jehovah’s almightiness and his own legation
as Jehovah’s prophet, till the most inveterate unbelief was compelled to admit
and confess that here was “the finger of God.”
It was one of the ways in which Jesus proved His Messiahship, and established
for all ages that He is a teacher sent from God; for, as Nicodemus said, no man
could do the miracles which He did, except God were with him.
Paul,
in enumerating the powers by which he persuaded the Gentiles to faith in the
Gospel, says, that it was in very deed the power of signs and wonders which
Christ did by him in the power of the Holy Ghost, that he made his conquests. (Rom. 15: 18.) And this arch-prophet of
falsehood knows well how needful and mighty is the force of miracles to
establish his credit, and to secure belief in his claims. The religion of
God is a religion of miracles, and to make his infernal deception appear the
only true and rightful religion, he needs to mimic and counterfeit all that
supernaturalism on which the true faith reposes. To this, therefore, he
sets himself, and becomes one of the greatest workers of signs and wonders the
earth has ever seen.
Nor
need we he surprised at this. There is A supernatural power which
is against God and truth, as well as one for
God and truth. A miracle, simply as a work of wonder, is not necessarily
of God. There has always been a devilish supernaturalism in the world,
running alongside of the supernaturalism of divine grace and salvation. “Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, and
it, becamd a serpent.” Here was divine miracle. But Pharaoh
went and called his wise men and sorcerers, and “the
magicians of Egypt also did in like manner with their enchantments; for they
cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents.” Here was
devil miracle, in imitation of the divine. In the same way the turning of
the waters to blood was counterfeited, as also the plague of frogs. Only
when it came to the creation of swarms of insect life did the magicians give
up, and admit that this was beyond their power. (See Exod., chaps. 7., 8., and 9.)
So,
again (in Dent. 13: 1-5), God assumes and
asserts that there may be supernatural revelations in behalf of idol worship;
for He gives it as a law for His people: “If there
arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a
wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee,
saying, Let us go after other Gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve
them; thou shalt not harken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of
dreams; for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” So the
Saviour tells us that many will come up in the day of judgment, saying, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy
name cast out devils? and in Thy name have done many wonderful works (all
manner of miracles)? And then I
will profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”
(Matt. 7: 12, 23.) Of the “false Christ’s and false prophets” whom He foretold,
He says they “shall, show great signs and wonders.”
(Matt. 24: 24.)
Paul
says of Antichrist, and the doings in connection with him, that his “coming is after the working of Satan, with all power,
and signs, and lying wonders.” (2
Thess. 2: 9.) “Lying wonders”
does not mean unreal wonders, mere trick, jugglery, and
legerdemain; but wonders wrought for the support of lies, that
is, devi1 Miracles. Mere pretended miracles have nothing of
miraculous power; but in this case the worker comes “with all power.” There is no emptiness
or unreality about them. They are genuine miracles, wrought in the
interests of Hell’s falsehoods. The test of a miracle is its
supernaturalness; the test of its source, is the doctrine, end, or interest for
which it is wrought. If in support of anything contrary to God and His revealed
will and law, it is no less a miracle; but in that case it is a work of the
Devil; for God cannot contradict Himself. (See 1
John 4: 1-3.)
It
is also plainly intimated in the Divine Word, that, in judgment upon the wicked
world for its refusal of Christ, and its setting at naught of all the divine
miracles, the present bonds and limitations of Satanic power will be relaxed,
the Devil and his demons allowed free range upon this planet, and those in love
with falsehood and unrighteousness given over to delusions then so much
stronger than ever before. (See 1 Kings 22:
18, 22; 2 Chron. 18: 18, 22; Isaiah 6: 9, 10; Ezek. 14: 9; Rom. 1: 21, 25, 28;
2 Thess. 2: 11, 12.) It is therefore in strict accord with all
history and revelation, that the consummate False Prophet “doeth great miracles, and deceiveth those that dwell on the
earth by reason of the signs which it was given him [permitted him of
God] to work.”
An
example of these great miracles is described. The power of the False
Prophet extends so far, “that he even maketh fire
come down from the heaven to the earth in the presence of men.”
It is useless to talk of trickery and mere sham in this case. Of the
rebels, in chapter 20., it is said. “Fire came down from
God out of heaven, and devoured them;” and of the Two Witnesses it is
said: “If any one willeth to injure them, fire issueth
out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies.” (Chap. 11: 5.) In both these instances we
have literal fire; for it consumes men; and the same terms in this case must
mean the same thing. Nor is it the first time Satan shows his power over
the fire and lightnings of heaven. When God allowed him to assail and
tempt Job, the report came: “The fire of God is fallen
from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them.”
(Job 1: 16.) It was Satan who directed
and brought down that fire; so then he is able to do it again for his own great
Prophet. There is also special reason why this particular miracle should
be wrought at this time. The Two Witnesses showed this command over fire, and
it was necessary to offset it by something of the same character.
Besides,
it was the test by which Elijah proposed to decide between the Godhead of Baal
and Jehovah, insisting that “the God that
answereth by fire” is to be accepted as the true God. And
“the fire of the Lord fell” at the call of
Elijah, and thus settled the question of Jehovah’s Deity and majesty over
against the impotent Baal. (1 Kings 18.)
There needs, therefore, to be a meeting of that test on the part of this new
Prophet, in order to make out his claim, as over against the God of the
Bible. And as men refuse to abide by the Jehovah-answer by
fire, this man is permitted to imitate that test, that it may appear how
very ready and facile wicked people are to believe the Devil’s miracles in
preference to those of God.
Whether
the fire in this case is allowed to be used for destruction, as it was in the
ministry of Elijah, is not said
but
it certainly comes, and it comes “in the presence of men”
- men, not babes, not idiots, not imbeciles. The subtle performer
anticipates all suspicions of imposture, and provides against the possibility
of having it said that it is nothing but a cheat, a mere piece of
cunningly-devised pyrotechnics. When it comes to supernaturalism and
miracle, people call for an open field, a fair test, the exclusion of every
chance for collusion, and thorough care against deception by mechanical
contrivances or a better knowledge than they have of nature’s laws. The sceptical
heart of man is jealous of miracles. But here every demand is met; for
the whole world is convinced, and all its science satisfied. Out of the
open sky, on the broad plain, in the clear light of day, under the keen
scrutiny of the keenest adepts of science, before the most competent of
witnesses, this agent of perdition calls, and the fire comes and descends to
the earth, attested as an unmistakable reality.
Every
year, at Easter time, the Greek patriarch at Jerusalem goes through the farce
of calling down fire from heaven, by which all the lamps of the Greek churches
and shrines are lit for that year. Dean Stanley, from having been
an eye-witness, has given a graphic account of the proceeding, and the terrific
furore which attends it.* But there, the one who gets the fire is locked
up alone in the darkness of a ceiled and covered vault, and no one sees the
fire until it is put forth through an aperture at the top of the cell. No
sensible person is deceived by it. It stands acknowledged a poor and disgraceful
trick. It is not so in this case, for here every one’s scruples are
satisfied. The closest investigators and observers see and confess that
the miracle is genuine, and, are persuaded that the god of this man is divine,
even, on Elijah’s test, though without doing full justice to Elijah’s case.
[*
Sinai and Palestine, pp. 464‑170.]
Thus
substantiating his own professions, this infernal Prophet points next to the
supernatural character of the man whom he seeks to have adored. Hengstenberg
agrees that the reason or ground on which the worship of the ten-horned Beast
is solicited and urged, is the continually repeated and tremendously emphasised
fact, that he was wounded to death, and that the stroke of his death was,
healed. With all his wonderful power, wisdom, and
greatness, this is his sublimest personal characteristic; and on this account
the adoration of him is chiefly founded.
It
is on account of Christ’s obedience unto death and resurrection from the dead
that He has His place and glory, as the head of all power, and the object of
worship, honour and blessing. The songs of heaven are to “the Lamb; that was slain.” The
Antichrist is the mimic Christ; and he must have honour too, because he died
and is alive again. Though “Christ died for our
sins accordiing to the scriptures, and was buried, and rose again the third day
again, according to, the scriptures,” and “showed
Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs,” and after
forty days was visibly, taken up into heaven, whence also He shed forth a
regenerating and miraculous power, proving that He is for ever exalted at the
right hand,of the Father almighty, worthy of the
everlasting adoration of all creatures; still, the wicked world will not
believe in, Him, nor award Him the honour that is His due.
But
when the Antichrist comes, because he died of a sword-wound and went to
his fitting perdition, and reappears from out the abyss, it will
be preached, and taught, and argued that he above all is worthy of the homage,
credit, and worship of mankind! And because a miracle-working prophet
says so, and because they have the infernal Beast in his grand administrations
before their eyes, they who could see no reason for hearkening to the
miracle-working Apostles, listen, and are persuaded in favour of this new
gospel, and agree that the foul monster shall be their Lord and only Deity!
And
to make the infamous delusion the more easy and effective, this False Prophet avails
himself further of the abomination which has been the besetting sin of
the race, the great defilement of the ages. I cannot explain exactly what
it is, but there has always been a peculiar witchery in the worship of
idols. Even Aaaron himself was persuaded to make a golden calf,
and within hearing of the thunder of God’s almightiness the people gathered
themselves together, and paid willing homage to the similitude of an ox that
eateth grass. This infernal messenger knows the advantage to be gained
from this strange proneness of mankind, and therefore he counsels and directs,
as the chosen method for giving due homage to the god, that “they should make an image to the Beast which had the stroke
of the sword, and lived.” A statue was to be
constructed; and it was to be at once a statue “to the Beast,” and “of the Beast,”
- a material likeness of himself, set up in sacred honour of his majesty.
Hengstenberg observes that one image is
spoken of, “but in regard to the sense a multitude of
images is meant.” If so, this would give a sort of ubiquitous
presence to the Beast, and would greatly facilitate his worship in all parts of
his dominion. The vision, without excluding the idea of multiplication,
contemplates one original in particular, which, according to other passages
bearing on the subject, has its location at Jerusalem, and finds its way into
the temple built for Jehovah, and is there set up as “the
abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet.” (Dan. 9: 27; 11: 45; Matt. 24: 15; 2 Thess. 2: 4.)
The
worship of such a statue would be the worship of the Man himself, for this was
the understanding and meaning of all image-worship. It is on this idea
that Rome sanctions the veneration of images of Christ, the Virgin, and other
saints. Chrysostom records: “When
the images of the emperor are sent down and brought into a city, its rulers and
multitude go out to meet them with carefulness and reverence, not honouring the
tablet or the representation moulded in wax, but the standing of the emperor.”
Hence Basil says: “The image of the
emperor is also called the emperor, because honour paid to the image passes to
the original.” “He
that honours not the image, honours not the person represented.” So also Athanasins
says: “He who worshippeth the image, in it
worshippeth the emperor; for the image is his form and likeness.”
And so in all the history of ancient Rome, whatsoever was done to the
statue of a god or man, was construed as done to him whose statue it was.
The making of this image of and to the Beast is therefore a formulation of the
worship of the Beast.
Nor
is it difficult to trace what sort of arguments will be brought to bear for the
making of this image. In the ages of great worldly glory and dominion
statues were raised to the honour of the great of every class, but who of
all the great ones of the earth is so great as the Antichrist!
Statues have ever been common for the commemoration of great events; but
what greater event and marvel has ever occurred than that in the history of
this man, in that he shall be wounded to death, and yet restored to life and
activity, with far sublimer qualities than he possessed in his first
life? How much more worthy of memorialisation this than the scar of
Scipio, or the appearance of a star supposed to be miraculous which Octavianus
commemorated on the consecrated image of his imperial foster-father?
If
the grand old Romans thus honoured their human emperors and benefactors, why
withhold this veneration from one so evidently and eminently superhuman?
And who will there be among the proud sons of earth to stand out against such
arguments? The leaders of the apostate world will cheerfully acquiesce in
the pre-eminent propriety of such a memorial, and an image of the Beast, and to
his sacred honour, is made and set up, particularly emphasising his great
characteristic, that he once was wounded to death, and that he has come back to
life again with his death-wound healed.
But
with the image constructed and in its place, another hellish wonder is wrought,
perhaps the most marvellous of all the doings of this minister of
perdition. “The idols of the heathen are silver
and gold; they have mouths, but they speak not.” (Is. 35: 15, 16.) But the powers of falsehood
have by this time become mightier than of old. To the False Prophet it is
given “to give it to the image of the Beast, that
the image of the Beast should even speak.” The
unbelieving may laugh, and sneer, and say, “It is
nonsense and impossibility.” And so, indeed, it way be to them and
their power. But, of old, it was written, “Woe to
him that saith to the Wood, Awake! to the dumb stone, Arise,
it shall teach.” (Hab. 2: 19.)
And here is the man who does it. For thus it stands recorded in the
Revelation of God. And when it comes to pass, men will be only the more
carried away by it, because of their previous unbelief of the possibility of
anything of the sort. As God’s word is true, and heaven and earth will sooner pass
away than one jot or tittle of it go unfulfilled, this thing will be done.
Like
as the power of God restores breath and life to the Two Witnesses, so shall
this arch magician have power to give animation and speech to this dead
statue. And why not? The infernal power which brings up a dead man
from the abyss, and reinstates him in all the activities of a new life of
wonder and greatness, certainly can be at no loss to make an image speak, and
through its metallic mouth to give forth his oracles. Old Pagan and
Christian writers have recorded instances in which the idols spake and gave
forth oracles. The Papists affirm the same for veritable truth
concerning some of their images. The Hindoos to this day hold and
maintain that a degree of life and supernatural power takes possession of their
images when solemnly consecrated according to the prescribed ceremonies.
But
if there be no truth or reality in these affirmations and beliefs, the thing
will become literal fact under the ministrations of this son of perdition.
This image speaks; and the closest observation of all the
science, wisdom, and scepticism of the time is satisfied of the fact.
There will be no machinery, no collusion, no make-believe, no trick or deceit
about it; for the whole world is convinced. The image speaks.
Oracles and commands come out of the dead metal. People may institute
and apply what tests they please, and scrutinise with all the science the earth
affords, but the result of all is the universal admission, that the image
does speak. The Scriptures cannot be broken; and John, in the
spirit saw, and has written it down by command of God, that “it was given the False Prophet to give spirit to the image of
the Beast, that the image of the Beast should even speak.”
The Beast is supernatural; the False Prophet is supernatural; and the
image, though made by man, likewise takes on of the supernatural and all the savants
of the time will agree and maintain that it is even so. They cannot
help it. They cannot hold out against absolute demonstration.
Thus
it is, then, that the False Prophet imposes on the world, wins credence to his
professions and claims, and sways the public sentiment to the acknowledgment of
a new divinity, demanding a new religion, whose vulgar abominations are thought
but right and reasonable.
But
with the grand machinery thus organised and completed in a Devil church united
with a Devil state, the consummated Devil-rule goes into full effect.
With the Beast systematically deified, an image set up and consecrated to his
adoration, and the testimony, argument, and eloquence of a great
miracle-working Prophet ringing through the world in his behalf, the Oracle
speaks and the edicts issue - edicts from which we would think Pandemonium
itself would recoil with horror. Behold, and see, the “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity” which the
unbelieving world so much adores, when once fully matured and put into
universal command.
There
be some in those days who cannot accept the new worship, - elect ones whom God
has written in the Lamb’s book of life, who cannot be deceived. There be
Jews, with whose being it is ingrained never to accept the worship of an idol,
and [regenerate] Christian
believers, whom nothing can buy over to an abomination so foul and
blasphemous. The voice of God’s Two Witnesses is heard over against the
grand speeches and miracles of the False Prophet, and some there be who take
heed to its warnings, and keep themselves aloof from the terrible
idolatry. But how do these fare at the hands of this sublimated
embodiment of the supreme Reason and finished Progress of which it
prates? Where is the “Liberty, Equality, and
Fraternity” for them? From the mouth of the image, by the sanction of
the great Prophet, and by the authority of the idolised Beast, the demand is, “that as many as will not worship the image of the Beast shall
be killed.”
Abbe
Barruel has told us about the
worshippers of Liberty and Equality in France, how that on a great civic
occasion at Brest, while the municipal officers, the justices of the peace, the
tribunal, and the National Guards were lying self-prostrated before a carved
image of Airabeau, some one whose conscience pricked him exclaimed” “Wretches, you are guilty of idolatry!” but his voice
being heard above the noise of drums and trumpets, the adorers of the idol at
once cried out: “Kneel down, or you shall die!”
But what was only mild impulse and sudden fury then, will be finally
framed into a great imperial enactment, into a sacred universal law,
which admits of no exceptions and no exemptions. No one, of any class
or race, is allowed to live under the dominion of these Beasts, if unwilling to
conform to the worship they set up. Hence the flight of the Woman into
the wilderness, her miraculous help and defence, where the Beast endeavours in
vain to overwhelm her.
Thus,
in the name of Democracy and popular rights, will come absolute Dictatorship
and Imperialism; in the name of Freedom will come complete and universal
enslavement; in the. name of the better Reason, which tramples on religion and
Revelation will come a great consolidated system of gross idolatry in the name
of a charitable Liberalism, which disdains allegiance to any creed, will come a
bloody Despotism, which will compel men to worship the base image of a baser
man, or die! Here is one star in the crown of this
world’s boasted Progress.
But
the religion of Christ has its holy Sacraments; - its mark of baptismal
consecration, and its pledges of sacred fellowship and communion given into the
hands. This god of the godless also travesties these. The subjects
of Antichrist must show their allegiance and wear the badge of their infernal
Lord. The False Prophet “causeth all, the
small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, to
receive a stamp or brand, on their right hand, or on their forehead.”
As masters in old time branded their slaves, and as owners of stock brand
and mark their cattle, so are the people branded under the Antichrist.
Declining the Baptism of Christ, they must take upon their bodies the sign and
seal that they are sold and held as the goods and chattels of hell! Money
and place cannot buy them off. The rich and great are not exempted any
more than the poor. The master must submit the same as the veriest
slave. The ten kings themselves lie under the inexorable requirement.
The
“mark” itself is at once a number and a
name. The Apostle tells us what it is. As he gives it, it is made
up of two Greek characters which stand for the name of Christ, with a third,
the figure of a crooked serpent, put between them, the name of God’s Messiah
transformed into a Devil sacrament. This horrid sign must every one
receive on one of the most conspicuous parts of the body, cut, stamped, or
branded in, thereto abide indelibly. No one may either “buy or sell” without this “mark,”
and all who do receive it take upon their bodies the token and seal of their
damnation!
To
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be baptised into His name, for the
washing away of sin, and the securement of eternal life, is too much for some
people. It is to them a humiliating nonsense, to which their superior
dignity cannot stoop. But when the Devil-Messiah comes, in him they will
believe and trust; to him they will sell themselves, and to his branding-irons
they will submit as helpless slaves and cattle, with no choice but to yield or
die; and yielding to perish everlastingly. I say, perish. everlastitigly,
for there is no more salvation for any one upon whom is this “mark.” From heaven the clear, distinct, and
awful sentence is: “If any man worship the Beast and
his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall
drink of the wine of the Wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into
the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the
smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest
day nor night, who worship the Beast and his image, and whosoever
receiveth the mark of his name.” (Chap. 14: 9-1l.)
This
also proves that this Beast is not any Pope in the past for not all under the
Pope are lost. And it is just for the eternal ruin of such as will not
accept the true and only Christ that this monster is permitted. People
dislike the truth and refuse to obey the holy Gospel, and this minister of hell
is allowed to make them the victims of his awful delusions that they may reap
the fruits of their unbelief. And all is thus mercifully foreshown, that
they may see and know to what a consummation their antichristian philosophies,
beliefs, philanthropies, reforms, and proud self-will in sacred things is
tending, and so learn righteousness before it is too late. God’s
Christ rejected is the opening of the soul to the Devil’s Messiah, to the great
impersonated lie of the universe, whose meretricious good is but the lure to
infinite degradation and eternal death. And when men’s dissatisfaction
with the Lord’s Christ and His institutes has worked itself out, and the seeds
which it generates have come to their ripened fruits, they will find themselves
in the position of slaves and cattle of a mighty tyrant, against
whom they can do nothing but hold still, and receive upon their flesh the
indelible seal of inevitable damnation. Hence the peroration with which
the vision closes. If men wish light, they can find it in these
showings. If they wish to be wise, “here
is wisdom.” And if any one hath understanding, let him learn the
number of the Beast and stand aloof. As regards the arithmetic of it, and
the hidden indication which it carries of the precise man who is to be the
final Antichrist, - when the monster comes, “the righteous shall
understand.”** The figures 666 may spell Nero
Caesar in Hebrew, and “the
Latin,” in Greek; but whether this is certainly what the
Spirit meant, no one can tell. The wisdom required by us now is to
detect and discern the antichristian badness, the ill principles which lay men
open to Antichrist’s power, the subtle atheism and unfaith by which people are
betrayed into his hands. Six is the bad number, and when multiplied by
tens and hundreds, it denotes evil in its greatest intensity and most
disastrous manifestation. This number of the Beast's name thus gives his
moral standing in the estimate of Heaven, and fixes attention on that as well
as on the numerical spelling of the name he will bear on earth. If we can
only know the principles pertaining to his badness; if we can only have
understanding to detect his spirit which already works so powerfully in so many
specious forms about us, we shall have accomplished an important reckoning of
the number of his name. And without this, we may be carrying his damming
“mark” upon our souls, even whilst we think ourselves forearmed against his
power by what we have discovered of the word by which his contemporaries will
designate him. The moral insight into his nature is the wisdom we
require, as well as the orthography of the name by which he is called. In
this, therefore, let us try to skill our souls, cleaving ever to our only Lord
God, and His Son Jesus Christ our Saviour, in the meekness of a confiding faith
and obedience, that no marks or stains of the Beast, or his abominations, even
in spirit, way ever be found upon our souls. .
[*
The plain statement in Rev. 11: 11 that the
proper name, the patronymic, the surname of the Antichrist shall be Apollyon,
or Apoleon in the aorist form, points significantly to Napoleon
as the predicted name of the Antichrist (as is the opinion of Dr. Bleek,
Dr. Croly, E. Flower, and other expositors), and there is no
man’s name which contains 666 in Greek in the dative inscriptive dedicatory
form more exactly … The sum total of the numerical value of its letters
is 666….]
[* D. M. Panton has
indicated, in one of his writings, his belief that Nero is the coming
Antichrist.]
LECTURE THIRTY-FOURTH
THE
144,000 – THEIR CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS – THEIR PECULIAR REWARD – THE FOUR
ANGEL-MESSAGES.
Rev. 14: 1-13 (Revised
Text). – And I saw , and behold, the Lamb standing on
the Mount Sion, and with Him an 144,000, having His name and His Father’s name
written on their foreheads.
And I heard a sound out of the heaven and a sound of many waters,
and as a sound of great thunder: and the sound which I heard [was] as of harp-singers
harping with their harps. And they sung a new song in the presence of the
four Living Ones and the Elders: and no one was able to learn the song but the
144,000 who have been redeemed from the earth. These are they who were
not defiled with women, for they are virgins; these [are] they who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth; these were
redeemed from men, a first-fruit to God and to the Lamb; and in their mouth was
not found what is false; they are blameless.
And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having a Gospel
everlasting to preach [upon
or over] those who dwell upon the earth
and to [upon or over] every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people, saying with a great
voice, Fear God and give to Him glory, because the hour of His judgment is
come: and worship Him who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea and
fountains of waters.
And there followed another, a second angel, saying, Fallen, fallen,
the great Babylon, which hath made all the nations drink from the wine of the
wrath of her fornication.
And there followed them another angel, a third, saying with a great
voice, If any one worship the beast and his image, and receive [the] mark on his forehead, or
on his hand, even he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
mingled without dilution in the cup of His anger, and shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the angels and in the presence of the
Lamb: and the smoke of their torment goeth up to the ages of ages; and they
have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever
receiveth the mark of his name.
Here is the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God
and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice out of the heaven saying,
Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith tha
Spirit, that they [may, in that they] shall rest out of their labours; for their works follow with
them.
The
blackest storms often give place to the loveliest sunsets. The winds and
thunders, exhaust themselves. The clouds empty and
break. And from the calm heavens behind then comes a golden light,
girthing the remaining fragments of gloom with chains of brightness, and
overarching with the bow of promise the path along which the terrible tempest
has just passed. Like this evening glory after the summer’s gust, is the
chapter on which we now enter.
We
have seen the coming of the Antichrist in all the frowning blackness of Satan’s
angry malice, and have shuddered at the awful shadow, distress, and darkness
which he casts upon the world. We have seen what havoc he makes with
human peace, and the base humiliation he brings upon the proud oaks and lofty
cedars of the mountains of human conceit and self-will. We have felt the
sickening shock of horror at the contemplation of his hellish power, his, blasphemies,
and his unparalleled tyranny. We have gazed on the progress of the most
disastrous storm hell’s malignant wisdom can devise, or that is ever allowed to
afflict our race. We have watched the thickening blackness of darkness
amid which the indignatioa of God is poured upon the intoxicated nations which
will not have Christ to rule over them.
But
now the scene beffins to change. The reign of terror cannot last.
God’s merciful goodness cannot allow it long. The earth would dissolve
under it if those days were not shortened, but for the elect’s sake they are
shortened. Three and a half years is the fulness of their duration.
In heaven’s count the tempest holds but for an “hour.”
And here already we begin to see the light breaking in from behind the clouds
and darkness. Further details of what is to befall these terrible Beasts, their
systems and their followers, remain to be looked at; but the golden rays begin
to show themselves. Where perdition has been holding grand jubilee of
destruction, appear the symptoms of a better order. The still lingering
gloom begins to show some gilding of its edges. And over the path-way of
“the abomination of desolation” are seen the
forming outlines of the arch of beauty, hope, and peace.
In
place of the horrid Beasts, the Lamb now comes into view. In place of the
blaspheming herd, the redeemed appear, with the name of the Father and the Son
upon their shining brows. Voices from heaven, intoned with mighty joy,
and attuned to golden harps, are heard in song, - “new
song,” fit to be sung before the throne and all the celestial
company. A first-fruit of a new beginning is waved before God.
Successive angels cleave the air on outspread wing proclaiming messages of hope
and patience.
1.
Who are these 144,000? A considerate glance at the
particulars of this vision will at once discover a direct and strong contrast
having special relation to what went before in the preceding chapter. The
account of the 144,000 is really only another side of what is related of the
Beasts, the counterpart of the same history. Over against the wild and
savage monster is a gentle and loving Lamb. Over against the confessors
and worshippers of the Beast, having his mark, is the company of the Lamb’s
followers, having, their mark, even the name of the Father and the Son written
in their foreheads. Over against the Beast’s moral system, which is
nothing but harlotry, spiritual and literal, the worship of idols and the
trampling under foot of all God’s institutes, here is an opposing style of life
- a virgin purity free from all defilement. Over against the slavery of
those who sell themselves to the power of perdition which then have command of
the world, here is redemption from the earth and from man, a ransom out of the
thraldom which holds others.
Over
against the new order of things set up on earth by the Antichrist, these sing,
“a new song,” - a victory and glory never shared by any but them. Over
against the going of the Beasts and their dupes into perdition, there is here a
going whithersoever the Lamb goeth. Over against the doings in the
presence of the Beast, under his patronage and authority, the doings here are
in the presence of the Throne, and in the presence of the Living Ones and
Elders, under the approval and counsels of Heaven. Everything in the
mouth of the Beasts and all theirs, is pseudos, false, a
lie; the special characteristic of these is, that nothing pseudos,
false, or a lie, is found in their mouth. The Beast’s number, and
that by which he marks and numbers all his, is six sixes, the bad number
intensified; the number and numbering here is by twelves, the sacred number of
completenss.
2.
What are the chief marks or characteristics of these 144,000?
The first and foremost is that of a true and conspicuous confession.
They have the name of the Lamb and the name of His Father written on their
foreheads. This is their public mark as against the mark of the
worshippers of the Beast. There is nothing more honourable in God’s sight
than truth and faithtulness of confession. “With
the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom.
10: 10.) The confession of these people is in opposition to the
unbelieving Jew, who rejects and repudiates the Son; and in opposition to the
Antichrist, who denies both the Father and the Son.
Another
particular is their unworldliness. Whilst most
people in their day “dwell upon the earth,” sit
down upon it as their rest and choice, derive their chief comfort from it,
these are “redeemed from the earth,” - withdrawn from it, independent
of it, as no longer a part of it.
A
third point is their pureness. We are not to suppose
with some that these 144,000 are all males who have never been married; for
there is no more impurity in marriage than in abstinence from marriage.
Celibacy is not the subject or virtue in this description, but puity,
freedom from contamination by the corruptions which prevail in their
time. From all such defilement these people have kept themselves
unspotted. “They are virgins,” in that
they have lived chaste lives, both as to their faithfulness to God in their
religion, and as to their pureness from all bodily lewdness. The
kingdom of heaven is likened to “ten virgins.”
The object of Paul’s ministry to the Corinthians was, that he might present
them “as a chaste virgin to Christ.” And
this is the sort of virginity attained and maintained by these people.
A
further quality is their truthfulness. “In their mouth was not found what is false.”
There is a peculiar depth in John’s conception of truth and its opposite
falsehood. Any one who fails to confess Christ in all the length and
breadth of His nature and offices, any one who fails to live his profession or
to show by his works what he speaks with his lips, is to Him a liar. The
meaning here has the same deep significance. It is a great thing for
people to be careful about their conversation, always conforming their words to
the reality of things. To speak falsehood, to exercise a deceitful and
untrustworthy tongue, is a devilish thing; for Satan is a liar and the father
of lies. These people were truthful in these respects, but had also a
higher and profounder truthfulness. The last times are times of hell’s
worst lies, - times when the whole world has gone mad over lies, - times when
the entire order of society is s lie, - times when men’s religion is a lie, -
times when everything is prayed away from the foundation of truth by the
dreadful leverage which perdition then possesses. And it is over against
all this that nothing false is found in their mouth. They have the true faith;
they hold to it with a true heart; they exemplify it by a true manner of life.
They are the children of truth.
3.
What, then, is their Reward? Taking the last particular
first, they stand approved, justified, and accepted before God. “They are blameless.” To stand before God approved and
blameless from the midst of a condemned world, - a world given over to the
powers of perdition by reason of its unbelief and sins, - a world which has
become the theatre of all the consummated wickedness of the ages, - is an
achievement of grace and faithfulness in which there may well be mighty
exultation.
In
the next place, they have a song which is peculiarly and exclusively
their own. Though not connected with the throne, exactly
as the Living Ones are, nor crowned and seated as the Elders, they have a
ground and subject of joy and praise which neither the Living Ones nor the
Elders have; nor is any one able to enter into that song except the 144,000.
None others ever fulfil just such a mission. None others ever have
just such an experience, in such a world as that through which they come to
glory. None others share with them in that particular administration of
God which brings them away from the earth and from men to their place on Mount
Zion. Therefore, as angels cannot sing the song of the redeemed, never
having been the subjects of redemption, so no other saints can sing the
peculiar song of this 144,000. They have a distinction and glory, a joy
and blessedness, after all, in which none but themselves can ever share.
They
stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. To be with the Lamb, as
over against being with the Beast, is a perfection of blessing which no
language can describe. It is redemption. It is victory. It is
eternal security and glory.
They
are “a first-fruit to God and to the Lamb”
not the first-fruit of all the saved, for the Living Ones and the Elders are in
heavenly place and glory above and before them; but a first-fruit of another
and particular harvest. It pertains also to their honour and blessedness
to attend the Lamb whither soever He goeth. They are His heavenly suite
and train in all His reign on Mount Zion.
4.
What, now, of the Angel-Messages? When Christ made His
last entry into Jerusalem, and fault was found with the loud proclamations
which were ringing to His praise as the Messiah-King, He answered: “If these should hold their peace, the stones
would immediately cry out,” The truth of God and His claims must
be spoken. If men are silent, other things must become vocal to
testify for Jehovah. The heavens speak; and the angels become the
preachers. Mid-heaven is their pulpit, and all nations, tribes, tongues,
and peoples are their auditors. Hell may slay, imprison, and silence
every human witness for God, but cannot chain the proclamation of His truth.
God’s word cannot be bound. It liveth and abideth for ever.
It must be heard.
The First Message.
Here, then, Angels* are the
preachers, with three or four distinct messages: one “having
a gospel ever‑lasting;” one proclaiming the doom of Babylon, and one
denouncing eternal damnation upon every worshipper of the Beast, or wearer of
his mark. Here we have a different order of things from that which now
obtains. The same is also intimated in the features of the Word preached.
It is no longer the meek and entreating voice, beseeching men to be
reconciled to God, but a great thunder from the sky, demanding of the nations
to Fear the God, as over against the false god - to Give glory to
Him, instead of the infamous Beast - to Worship the Maker of
all things, as against the worship of him who can do no more than play his
hellish tricks with the things that are made; and all this on the instant,
for the reason that “the hour of judgment is come.”
Here,
when “the judgment is come,”
an angel from heaven preaches, and what he preaches is
not “the everlasting
Gospel” as the English version is, but “a Gospel everlasting.” It is not indeed “another Gospel,” for it is in inner substance the same
old and everlasting Gospel, but now in the dress and features of a new order of
things - the Gospel as its contents shape themselves in its address to the
nations when “the hour of judgment is come,” and
the great final administrations are in hand.
[*The
word angel is used in the Bible ambiguously and interchangeably to mean either
glorified men, as in Rev. 22: 8, 9, or
angelic beings. The Angel here denotes a body or company of
winged messengers from heaven, either saints or angels - perhaps the company of
the 144,000 themselves. ‑EDITOR]
Mercy
towards the poor infatuated world still lingers in the very hour of wrath.
In the heat and height of His indignation God still remembers it.
Hence still something of a Gospel message sounds. An angel from
heaven, uttering himself from the sky, proclaims to the guilty nations where
they are, what has come, and what immediate revolution is needed, if they would
not sink at once to everlasting destruction. It is Gospel, but it is the
Gospel in the form it takes when the hour of judgment has set in. It is
one of the very last calls of grace to an apostate world.
The Second Message. -
With the hour of judgment comes the work of judgment. A colossal
system of harlotry and corruption will then be holding dominion over the
nations. There is no country, no people, but is won to it, and
intoxicated by it, and induced to cast off all the bonds of sacredness for the
infamous delusions of the Antichrist and his false prophet. God has
allowed it for the punishment of those who would not have Christ for their
Lord, but now He will not allow it longer. Therefore another Angel comes
with the proclamation: “Fallen, fallen, the great
Babylon, which hath made all the nations drink from the wine of the wrath of
her fornication.” The
announcement is by anticipation as on the very eve of accomplishment, and as
surely now to be fulfilled. The particulars are given in the seventeenth
and eighteenth chapters. There also the explanation of the object of this
announcement is given. It is mercy still struggling in the toils of
judgment, if that by any means some may yet be snatched from the opening jaws
of hell; for there the further word is, “Come out of
her, My people, that ye may have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues.”
The Third Message. - And for the still more potent enforcement of this
call a third Angel appears, preaching and crying with a great voice, that
whosoever is found worshipping the Beast and his image, or has the Beast’s mark
on his forehead or on his hand, even he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of
God which is mingled without dilution in the cup of His anger, and shall be tormented
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the angels and in the presence of
the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascends to the ages of ages, and they
have no rest day and night! It is an awful combination; but these will be
times of awful guilt, infatuation, and wickedness.
And
when men are in such dangers, marching direct into the mouth of such a terrible
perdition, it is a great mercy in God to make proclamation of it with all the
force of an Angel’s eloquence. The same is also for the wronged and
suffering ones who feel the power of these terrible oppressors. It tells
them how their awful griefs shall be avenged on their hellish persecutors.
So, therefore, with mighty energy the Angel proclaims the eternal doom of
the abettors of the Antichrist.
There
be those who mock and jeer at the idea of an eternal hell for the wicked.
Many are the jests they perpetrate at the expense of these preachers of
fire and brimstone. But here a great and mighty Angel from heaven is the
preacher, and his sermon from beginning to end is nothing but fire and
brimstone, even everlasting burning and torment for all who take the mark of
Antichrist! Shall we believe our modern sentimental philosophers, or
abide by the word of our God and of His holy angels? Alas, alas for the
infatuated people who comfort themselves with the belief that perdition is a
myth - the bug-bear of antiquated superstition
The Fourth Message. -
There is no suffering for any class of God’s people in any age, like the
sufferings of those who remain faithful to God during the reign of the
Antichrist. Here, at this particular time and juncture, is “the patience or endurance of them that keep the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus.” To come out of Babylon, and to
stand aloof from its horrible harlotries, will be a costly thing. It will
be equivalent to a voluntary coming forward to the State-block to have their
heads chopped off. Therefore there is another proclamation from heaven
for their special strengthening and consolation. Whether this word is
also from an Angel we are not told; but it is a message from glory and from
God. And it is a sweet and blessed message. It is a message which
John is specially commanded to write, that it may be in the minds and hearts of
God’s people of every age, and take away all fear from those who in this evil
time are called to lay down their lives because they will not worship
Antichrist. That message is: “Blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may, in that they shall, rest out of their labours, for their works follow with
them.” This is true of all the saints of all ages,
but it is pre-eminently and specially true of those who at this time
shall lose their lives for their faithful obedience. It may look like
calamity, but in comparison with the miseries of a life under a hellish despot
as Antichrist, it is a blessedness.
Death
to a good man at any time is a greater beatitude than a disaster; and when a
life of truth and honour becomes so great a sorrow, as at this time, it is
blessedness to have it ended. The implication is, that from this point on
till death itself is vanquished, there is no more peace or comfort for a good
man on earth, and therefore that no better thing can happen him than to
die. When there is no more peace for us but in death, why should we wish
to live? When all hope for earth has faded out, why should we desire to
remain in it? When to open our mouths for Christ, or to bow the knee or
speak a prayer to the God that made us, exposes to indignity and torture, why
not welcome death, and account it good fortune to have the chance for such a
release? Rest - Rest! What would not those dupes of
Antichrist finally give for Rest! But what they can never
have, they that die in the Lord get through death.
Like
the worn mariner wearied out with his long and painful endurance of the
tempests, dangers, and hardships of the sea, enters the calm port for which he
steered so hard;‑like the soldier, scarred, mutilated, and sick of the miseries
of deadly conflict, comes back from the field of blood to repose in the peace
and security of his happy home;‑so do the saints rest out of their labours.
And their works follow with them. The very hardships past make the
peace the sweeter. Not a word of faithful testimony, not a tear of
sympathy, not a sigh of prayer, not a gift of a cup of water in a disciple’s
name, shall fail in its contribution to the blessedness. Therefore it is
written: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from
henceforth.” And when violence, cruelty, and slaughter are the
consequence of a life of truth and purity, the sooner it is over the greater
the beatitude.
Here,
then, is the comfort of the saints. Whatever they suffer, their peace is
sure. Unable to live, death is their blessedness. Heaven speaks it.
The Spirit confirms it. The apostles of God have written it.
And from it springs a consolation‑
“Which monarchs cannot grant,
nor all the powers
Of earth and hell confederate take away;
A liberty which persecution, fraud,
Oppression, prisons, have no power to bind.”
LECTURE THIRTY-FIFTH.
THE
VISION OF THE HARVEST - THE PARTICULARS OF THE DESCRIPTION - THE REAPING - THE
VISION OF THE VINTAGE - THE ANGEL OUT OF THE TEMPLE - THE GREAT CRY FROM THE
ALTAR FOR THE STINDING OF THE SHARP SICKLE - THE GATHERING OF THE VINE OF THE
EARTH - THE TREADING OF THE WINE PRESS.
Rev. 14: 14-16 (Revised
Text). - And I saw and behold a white cloud, and upon
the cloud is seated one like a son of man, having on his head a crown of gold,
and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple,
crying with a great voice to him that sat on the cloud, Send thy sickle, and
reap; because the time to reap is come, because the harvest of the earth is
dried [dead ripe].
And he that sat on the cloud cast his sickle on the earth, and the
earth was reaped.
And another angel came out of the temple which is in the heaven, he
also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the altar, he
who hath power over the fire; and he cried with a great cry to him who had the
sharp sickle, saying, Send thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the
vine of the earth, because her grapes are fully ripe.
And the angel cast his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine
of the earth, and cast [what he gathered] into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. And the
wine-press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came forth out of the
wine-press up to the bits of the horses, for a distance of a thousand six
hundred stadia.
Proclamation
having gone forth that the hour of judgment is come, that great Babylon is on
the brink of her fall, and that the damnation of every worshipper of the Beast
is at hand, we find ourselves face to face with the last great administrations
of divine Providence. And the nature and machinery of those
administrations is the matter which now comes before us. The more
specific details are given in the succeeding chapters, but a general summation
is first presented in two visions, the Harvest and the Vintage, which, for
solemn brevity of narration and expressiveness of imagery, are two of the most
wonderful in all this wonderful Book. God help us to consider them with
reverent and believing hearts!
1. THE VISION OF THE HARVEST.
Some
worthy expositors take this as a foreshowing of the final gathering home of the
people of God. That the Scriptures often speak of such a harvest of the
good seed of the Saviour’s sowing there can be no question. John the Baptiser
spoke of a time of threshing, when the Lord “will gather the wheat into His
garner.” (Luke 3: 17.) The Saviour
commenced His heavenly instructions with an account of His sowing and
husbandry, the harvest of which He said would be “the
end of the age,” when He “will say to,
the reapers, Gather the wheat into My barn.” (Matt.
13.) He also said, “So is the kingdom
of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep and rise
night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how; for
the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after
that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth,
immediately he putteth in the sickle because the harvest is
come.” (Mark 4: 26-29.)
“I saw, and behold a white cloud.” From
this we may be quite sure of what is coming. That cloud is the signal of
the second advent of the Lord Jesus. When He ascended, “a cloud received Him out of their sight;” and at the
same time it was told from heaven, “This same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1.) The cloud took Him, and the
cloud shall bring Him. “They shall see the Son of
man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
(Luke 21: 2 7.) And what was thus
predicted, the Apocalyptic seer here beholds fulfilling.
“On the cloud is seated one like a Son of man.”
No one else is here to be thought of but our blessed Lord Jesus.
In John’s first vision he saw, in the midst of the golden candlesticks, “One like to a Son of man;” and that One said, “I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; and I became
dead, and behold I am living for the ages of the
ages, and I have the keys of death and of hell.” (Rev. 1: 17.) It was the glorified Son of
Mary there, and it is the same here. As the Judge of the quick and the
dead, it belongs to Christ to reap the earth.
“Having on His head a crown of gold.” Daniel
“saw in the night vision, and behold one like the Son
of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and there
was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.” (Dan. 7: 13, 14.) It was the same Son of man,
in the same cloud, settled in all the regal prerogatives of the same supreme
dominion, and manifested for the same purpose of dispossessing and destroying
the Beast. The sitting of Christ on the throne of His glory is for the
judgment of the nations (Matt. 25: 31, 32),
and the taking to Him of His great power as the King is to destroy them that
corrupt the earth, that He may set up in their place His own glorious dominion.
(Rev. 11: 17, 19; 19: 16.) And to this
end, this heaven-crowned King holds “in His hand
a sharp sickle.”
Thus
seated in regal majesty, with His instrument in hand for His appointed judicial
work as the Son of man, there goes up to Him a mighty cry to send forth His
sickle and reap, claiming that the time of the reaping has come, and that “the harvest of the earth” is dried to dead ripeness.
This cry is from an angel, called “another angel,” in
allusion to those mentioned in verses 6, 8, 9.
Some take it as the commission of the Father for Christ to proceed; but
that commission the great Harvester must already have had
in order to take the position and equipment in which He here appears. It
is not so much a commission as a prayer, a plea, an
urgency.
The
interests of God on earth are all more or less under the guardianship of
angels. An angel had charge of the healing in Bethesda’s pool, and angels
have charge of God’s temple too. The Archangel Michael presides over the
affairs of the children of Daniel’s people, and in the time of the Antichrist
it is prophesied that he shall stand up for them. (Dan.
12: l.) And this angel-cry from the temple to the crowned, seated,
and armed King of Judgment, to send His sickle and reap, is plainly connected
with the administrations of these angel-helpers. And as the cry is, the answer
comes. “He that sat on the cloud cast His sickle on, or against, the earth, AND
THE EARTH WAS REAPED.”
2. THE VISION OR THE VINTAGE.
“And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven,
he also having a sharp sickle.” He is “another” as a comer forth from the
temple, and he is an “angel” with reference to
his mission, not with reference to his nature; for this
angel is really the same as the Sitter on the white cloud. As to office Christ is often represented as an angel, both in
this Book and elsewhere. His very name, Christ, or Messiah, implies as much. He is the One sent and appointed of the
Father. In the Old Testament He is
continually spoken of as the Jehovah-angel.
In chapters 10. and 20. He appears as an angel. And in the very nature of the case we must
here understand the Lord Himself, though in the character of an angel. The work is so great, and belongs so
essentially to the mission and prerogatives of Christ, that it would trench
upon the honour and appointment of Him to whom the Father hath committed all
judgment, to refer it to a single ordinary angel. The destruction wrought is unquestionably the
same which is more particularly described in the latter part of chapter 19.; but there it is specifically assigned
to the Lord Jesus Himself. And so in
Isaiah 63., the treader of the wine-press, corresponding to the picture here
given, is none other than Christ. We
would therefore involve ourselves in too many difficulties, not to admit that
this another
messenger is the same as the
Sitter on the cloud.
He comes “out of the temple which is in heaven;” the temple which is in heaven, as
distinauished from the temple which is on earth. “The holy places made
with hands are the figures of the true,” fashioned after “the patterns of things in the heavens.” (Heb. 10: 23, 24.)
It is in the heavenly temple that Christ now is, there appearing in the
presence of God for us, as our great High Priest; and out from thence He is to
come when He comes the second time. (Heb. 10: 24-28.) We have here reached the time appointed for
the destroying of them that corrupt the earth.
Hence the great commissioned One appears. He leaves His place in the temple which is in
heaven, and stands ready, with sharp sickle in hand, for the work
assigned. Where He stands is not said;
but the silence naturally carries us back to the white cloud.
Appearing with the sharp sickle, a great cry goes up
to Him: “Send Thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters
of the vine of the earth, because her grapes are fully ripe.” He who makes this cry is an angel who
comes “out of the altar,” of course the earthly altar, or it
would be otherwise stated, as in the preceding verse. This angel is “he who
hath power over the fire.” The
altar-fire is the fire of divine justice; the fire which ever burns against sin
and sinners; the fire which spares no victim however innocent when in the place
and stead of transgressors; the fire which ever cries out with mighty voice for the burning up of all rebels against
God’s righteous authority. There is a
living spirit in charge of it; and that spirit calls for vengeance against the
Antichrist. The grapes in this case are
the grapes of
“And the Angel cast
His sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth.” The
vine of the earth is that which stands over against “the
vine of heaven.” The true vine is
Christ, and Christians are the branches. “The vine of
the earth” is Antichrist, and its branches are his adherents and
followers. The saints are not of the
earth, but born from above; these are of the earth., born from the wisdom that
is from below - the seed of the Devil’s sowing - the children of the wicked one. The grapes of this vine of the earth are the
matured children of wickedness, and “their wine is the
poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps.” (Dent. 32: 32, 33.) They
have this time gone as far as, in the nature of things, they can go. They are “fully
ripe.” Hence the sharp sickle of the geat
judgment strikes, and the vine of the earth is cut, and its clusters gathered
into the great wine-press of the wrath of God.
What plagues descend with that sharp sickle! What a crash comes with its alighting upon a
world now dead ripe for final judgment!
What powers and systems fall before it!
What sores and agonies it brings to them that bear the mark ot the Beast
and worship his image! What pestilential
putrescences it strikes into the sea whence that Beast rises, and into the
rivers and fountains whence his subjects drink!
What new blazes of consuming heat it gives to the sun! What torment it inflicts upon the throne of
the Beast, and darkness and anguish upon his kingdom! What cries, and thunders, aud lightnings, and
earthquakes, and hailstorms, and trembling of nations, and anxieties of men, it
arouses into activity! How does every
upas growth give way before the sharp edge of that terrible sickle! It cuts from their foundations all the main
sinews of the Antichrist. It includes
all the disasters that come from the pouring out of the great bowls of
wrath. It brings down great
A more particular description of this gathering of
the hosts of Antichrist into the wine-press, and the treading of it by the King
of kings, and Lord of lords, is given in the latter part of chapters 16. and 19. It is in reality a war scene, the gathering
of armies, the bringing together of the kings of the earth and of the whole
world to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. It is for military purposes that they come,
seduced, drawn, and impelled by unclean spirits that issue out of the month of
the Dragon, out of the month of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet. The region of their assemblage is the
“Armageddon” is the
place named in the Apocalypse, which is the mount or city of
The probabilities are that all these particular
localities are included, and that a line of encamped forces shall extend from
Bozrah, on the south-east, to
The march of the terrific indignation of God on this
occasion would, therefore, seem to be from the Sinaitic hills, crashing through
Idumea, thundering by the walls of the holy city, and thence on to the great
field of Esdraelon, where the chief stress of the awful pressure falls. Along this line will the main bodies of these
assembled nations lie, eager, determined, and confident in the schemes that
occupy them, not knowing that they are already in the great wine-press of the
wrath of God. “Multitudes,
multitudes,” armies on armies, hosts on hosts, are there. The Beast is there; the False Prophet is
there; and the kings, captains, mighty men, and drilled legions of all the
nations in league with Antichrist are there; all gathered into one great pen of
slaughter.
“And the wine-press was trodden.” What strength
have grapes against the weight and power of a man when he comes to set his feet
upon them? And the riper they are, the
more helpless. They must needs be
crushed, their existence destroyed, their life-blood poured out. And so with these “fully
ripe” clusters, now gathered into the great wine-press of the wrath of
God. No weapon they can raise, no
resistance they can make, can avail them.
The Beast was hailed as the Invincible; but his invincibility is nothing
now. The False Prophet could make fire
come down from heaven in the presence of men, but he can command no fires to
withstand the lightnings of the angry and inexorable Judge. The heel of Omnipotence is upon them, and
they can only break and sink beneath it.
Long ago had Jehovah spoken of this time and said: “Let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and
all things that come forth of it. For
the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their
armies; He hath utterly destroyed them, He hath delivered them to the
slaughter. Their slain also shall be
cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the
mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the hosts of heaven shall
be loosed, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their
host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a fallen
fig from the fig-tree. For My sword
shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the
people of My curse to judgment. For it
is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the
controversy of
It is “outside of the city” that this treading of the wine-press
takes place. “The
city,” mentioned thus absolutely, with no other note of identification,
can be none other than “the holy city,” the city of
Joel says, Jehovah shall then utter His voice with
power from
A power which could thus cleanse and clear the temple
and city of everything contrary to God, and hold at bay all attempts of the
unsanctitied to enter, would be a thing wholly intolerable to Antichrist. He who claims to be the only rightful object
of human adoration, could not endure the presence of such temerity against his
majesty. If strength in earth and hell
exists to subdue and crush it, that strength must be called forth. And thus these kings and nations, with their
armies, are convened. It is meant to
make sure of success. They fill the land
with their collected forces. They mass
themselves in line from Bozrah to
“And blood came forth
out of the wine-press up to the bits of the horses for a distance of 1,600
stadia!” A river of human blood 160 miles in
length, and up to the bridles of the horses in depth, tells an awful story.
When the Romans destroyed
It is “the great wine-press
of the wrath of God.” It
is the last great consummate act of destruction which is to end this present
world [evil age]. The masses on whom it is executed are “the kings of the earth and of the whole world, and their
armies” (Rev. 16: 14; 19: 19),
stationed in a line from Bozrah in
Ah, yes; men in their unbelief may laugh at the
Almighty’s threatenings. Because
sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, their hearts may be
fully set in them to do evil. And the
proud rationalism of many may persuade them that God is too good and merciful
ever to fulfil in any literal sense these sanguinary comminations. But it will be no laughing matter then, no
mystic fancy, no meaningless orientalism of the age of extravagant speech. God hath set His own eternal seal to it, and
said: “Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord, and read:
no one of these things shall fail.” (Is. 34:
16.) And yet people make light of
it, and turn away to their sins and follies as if it were all nothing!
Child of Adam, hear, and be admonished now while
salvation is so freely offered. Be not
deceived, for God is not mocked. Those
impieties of thine, those guilty sports and gaieties, will yet have to be
confronted before the judgment seat.
Those gatherings in the gambling-hells and drink-shops of Satan, those
sneers and witty jests at sacred things, those fiery lusts burning on the
altars of carnal pleasure, are all written down in the account-books of
eternity to be brought forth in the great day.
That wicked profanation of thy Maker’s name, that broken pledge, that
unfulfilled vow to God and man, that scene of riot, that hidden going to the
haunts of the profligate, all are noted for future settlement. The blood of wronged and murdered innocence
will not always cry in vain. The wail of
trampled helplessness will not be unheard for ever. The mother who destroyed her babe, the clerk
who dipped too deep in his employer’s till, the enemy who set fire to his
neighbour’s goods or sought to blacken his good name, the boy who cursed his
parents in secret, the spiteful slanderer and persecutor of God’s ministers and
people, and every despiser and neglecter of the great salvation, must each
answer at the tribunal of eternal justice.
And if clean repentence out of
these and all such sins be not speedy and complete, there is no hope or mercy
more. Before us stands the Angel
with the harp sickle for all the enemies of God, and beside Him is the great wine-press
of destruction. Think, 0 man, 0 woman,
how would you fare were He this night to strike! If not in the city of salvation, in reconciliation with the King, outside is only
death and damnation, and nothing can make it different.
LECTURE THIRTY-SIXTH
THE SIGN OF THE
SEVEN LAST PLAGUES - THE VISION OF THE
SEA OF GLASS MINGLED WITH FIRE - THE HARP-SINGERS STANDING BY IT - THE SEVEN
PRIEST-ANGELS - THE GOLDEN BOWLS - NOT THE FRENCH REVOLUTION - THE PLAGUE OF
SORES - THE PLAGUE OF THE BLOODY SEA - THE PLAGUE OF THE BLOODY RIVERS AND
WATER-SPRINGS - PLAGUE OF SUN-HEAT - THE PLAGUE OF DARKNESS - NO PENITENCE FROM
THESE JUDGMENTS.
Rev. 15: 1-8 (Revised Text). - And I saw another
sign in the heaven great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues, the
last, because in them the wrath of God was completed.
And I saw like to a sea of glass mingled with fire,
and those who conquer from the beast, and from his image, and from the number
of his name, standing on
[over
or by]
the sea of glass, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses, servant of
God, and the song of the Law: saying, Great and marvellous Thy works, 0 Lord
God, the Almighty, just and true Thy ways, Thou the King of the nations: who
shall not fear, 0 Lord, and glorify Thy name? because alone holy, because all
the nations shall come and worship in Thy presence, because Thy judgments [righteous
doings] have been made manifest.
And after these things I saw, and there was opened
the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in the heaven; and there came
forth the seven angels who had the seven plagues out of the temple, clothed in
pure, bright linen, and girdled about their breasts with golden girdles. And one from among the four Living Ones gave
to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who liveth to
the ages of the ages. And the temple was
filled with the smoke from the glory of God, and from His power; and no one
could enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were
completed.
REV. 16: 1-11 (Revised Text). - And I heard a great
voice saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath
of God into the earth.
And the first went forth, and poured out his bowl
into the earth there became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men who had
mark of the beast, and those who worshipped his image.
And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and
it became blood as of one dead, and the things in the sea, and every soul of
life died.
And the third
poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of waters; and they
became blood. And I heard the angels of
the waters saying, Righteous art Thou, who art, and who wast, holy One, because
Thou hast judged thus: because they have shed blood of saints and prophets, and
Thou hast given them blood to drink; deserving are they. And I heard the altar saying, Yea, Lord God
the Almighty, true and just are Thy judgments.
And the fourth poured out his bowl on [or
over] the sun;
and it was given to it to scorch men with fire.
And the men were scorched with great scorching, and they blasphemed the
name of the God, He who hath authority over these plagues; and they repented
not to give glory to Him.
And the fifth poured out his bowl on [or over] the throne of the beast and his kingdom
became darkened, and they bit their tongues from the pain, and they blasphemed the
God of the heaven from their pain, and from their sores, and repented not out
of their deeds.
The
accomplishment of the Harvest and the Vintage brings us to the end of this
present world. The next in succession
would be the setting up of the eternal Kingdom, and the evolution of the new
heavens and earth. But the Harvest and the Vintage do not adequately set forth
all that we need to know about these closing scenes. Further particulars included in this momentous
period require to be shown in order to complete the picture. The fate of the infernal Trinity,‑the Dragon,
the Beast, and the False Prophet,‑and of what pertains to them, is to be more
fully described before we come to the Millennium, the descent of the New
Jerusalem, and the planting of God’s Tabernacle with men. Hence the same ground covered by the visions
of the Harvest and Vintage is traversed again and again with reference to
particular objects and administrations.
As we have four distinct Gospels to give us a full and accurate portraiture
of the one glorious Saviour, so we have these several presentations with
reference to one and the same
momentous period of the end. Each
vision, however, has its own particular office, scope, and features, giving
some special aspect or phase in the general sum of events. It is not mere repetition of the same thing,
but the separate presentation of particular administrations or occurrences of
which the whole is made up.
John begins by telling of “another sign in the heaven.” In chapter 12. he told of two signs: the sign of the
sun-clad Woman, and the sign of the great Red Dragon. It is with reference to them that he calls
this “another sign.” This
sign is “great and marvellous.” It is great, as involving so much more in range and intensity than anything of
the kind that has ever been; and it is marvellous, with reference to the
unparalleled character of what it foretells.
What it describes is altogether extraordinary, and on an astounding
scale. It is the consummation of marvels
in this present world. The sign itself
is, “Seven Angels having seven plagues, the last ones,
because in them the wrath of God was completed.” Signs of healing accompanied the preaching of
the Gospel; signs of death attend the end of the world. Much of the Apocalypse treats of plagues- “the plagues that are written in this book.” Those here signified are “the last,”
with reference to what happened to
But before proceeding to give the particulars of this great
and marvellous “sign,” the Seer interjects
another vision, of a more gracious order, though connected with these
outpourings of the plagues. When the
wicked are cut off, the righteous
shall see it; and when these plagues fall upon Antichrist and his hosts, those
who through suffering and death keep clear of his worship and mark, are on
high, singing, and harping, and giving glory to God and the Lamb, as stroke
upon stroke from the heavenly temple smites their oppressors. John writes: “I saw
like to a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who conquer out from the
Beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing on, over,
or by the sea of glass, having harps of God.”
This likeness to a sea of glass reminds of that “glassy sea” which spread out before the throne in chapter 4.
If it is the same, it has become ominously commingled now; for there it
was “like unto crystal” in clearness, but here
it is “mingled with fire.” There it seemed to be a part of the economy
and pavement of the heaven; here it appears rather as a mighty reservoir of
just judgments about to be precipitated upon the world below. There it looked like a sort of base on which
the whole celestial establishment rested, representing perhaps the purity,
vastness, and strength of God’s counsels, on which all things depend; here it
does not seem to be the support of anything, though the victors named may be
over, by, or even on it. It is probably
meant to symbolise the vastness, purity, justice, and severity of the divine
counsels in those retributions about to fall upon the wicked.
The picture of these victorious ones standing on the shore of
this sea, holding harps of God, and singing the song of Moses, directly recalls
the rescued and victorious children of
Of old it was prophesied, that, when “the king” for whom Tophet is ordained and prepared is
smitten, the victory over him shall be celebrated “with
tabrets and harps” (Is. 30: 32, 33);
and here John beholds the fulfilment.
They stand by the sea of glass mingled with fire, having harps of God,
and they sing, saying, “Great and marvellous are Thy
works, 0 Lord God, the Almighty, just and true are Thy ways, Thou, the King of
the nations! Who shall not fear, 0 Lord,
and glorify Thy name, alone holy? because all the nations shall come and
worship in Thy presence, because Thy judgments have been made manifest!” When consuming wrath falls on the servants of
the false god, the true God’s worshippers are beyond the fiery sea, singing
their adoration to their Deliverer.
Having felt the Dragon’s wrath, they are joyously free and secure from
the great wrath of God. And their
outlook is one of abiding blessedness.
Verily, there is nothing like being firm and true to what is right. Whatever it may cost for the time, it will be
amply recompensed in the great day.
With this statement concerning those whom the Beast and False
Prophet cannot conquer, the holy Apostle proceeds with what he began to tell
about as “another sign in the heaven” - the
seven last plagues. He first describes
the heavenly economy of them, and then the execution of them, together with
their several effects. Let us follow him reverently.
He saw “the temple of the
tabernacle of the testimony in heaven opened.” This
was the innermost part of the temple, the
The tables of stone, inscribed with the precepts of the Law,
which God gave to Moses, are called the “tables of
testimony.” These were commanded
to be put into the holy Ark, which thence was called “the
From the depth of this holiness issued seven angels. They
are priest-angels, for they are clothed in pure bright linen, and girded about
their breasts with golden girdles, which is the priest’s dress. They appear as priests, because they come for
the sacrificing of a great sacrifice to the offended holiness and justice of
God. The girdle of the Jewish high priest was a mixture of blue, and
purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen, along with the “gold” (Lev. 16: 4);
the girdles here are pure gold for the temple is higher, and the administration
holier and the officiators belong to heaven, not earth.
“And one from among the four Living Ones gave to
the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God.” This
is not the first time we hear of these Living Ones taking part in the actual
administration of judgment. They are
indeed glorified men; but “do ye not know that the
saints shall judge the world?”. (1 Cor. 6:
2, 3.) When the horsemen of Revelation 6. were sent forth, “one from among the four Living Ones” gave the command,
as with a voice of thunder. Here a
corresponding part of the same judgment work is to be executed, and the vessels
containing the wrath of God are handed out by one of the same Living Ones. The vessels themselves were not bottles,
as our English version would
intimate, but shallow, pan-like, golden bowls, or censers, such as were used in the temple to hold the fire when
incense was burned. They are priestly censers, as in chapter
8: 5. That which gives vitality
to the prayers of saints and sustains the Jehovah worship, at the same time
carries the burning coals of judgment, upon the wicked. That which seethes and smokes in these holy
censers is God’s punishment upon transgression, the consuming intolerance of
His holiness toward sin and sinners.
Seven of these bowls, full to the brim with the wrath of “Him, who liveth for the ages of the ages,” are thus
handed to the seven priest-angels to be poured upon the sacrifice preparatory
to its final consumption. And terrible
is the smoke of their burning.
When the first tabernacle was dedicated, a cloud filled it,
and Moses was not able to enter into it because of the cloud of the glory of
the Lord. (Ex. 40: 34, 35.) When Solomon’s temple was dedicated the cloud
of the Divine glory so filled the house that the priests could not stand to
minister because of it. (1 Kings 8: 10, ll.) It was a cloud then, veiling the
insufferable brightness of that Jehovah-presence which it indicated; but here
is the day of the fierceness of Divine wrath, and in place of the shadowing
cloud is the lurid fiery smoke;‑the same which Isaiah saw (6: 1‑4) in his vision of the enthroned
Jehovah. It fills the temple in heaven;
and so intense is the manifestation of the Divine glory and power that no one,
even of the sons of God, is able to enter until the filled censers have been
quite emptied out upon the doomed world.
And from the midst of these awful signs a great voice sounds, like the
trumpet sounding from the smoke and fire on
The greatest plagues of judgment of which we read in the past
were those poured out upon ancient
The first priest-angel “poured out his bowl into the earth, and there became a
grievous sore upon the men who had the mark of the Beast, and those who worship
his image.” This plague touches only such as have the
mark of the Beast. The sores of Lazarus
at the rich man’s gate were not Romish errors, nor French infidelity; but the
sore of this angel’s outpouring is denoted by the same word which described the
ailment of Lazarus. It is the Egyptian
plague of ulcers intensified. Burnt
earth was there scattered, “and it became a boil,
breaking forth with blains, upon man and upon beast;” and it was “upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.” (Ex. 19: 8-12.)
When Moses afterwards pronounced the curses of heaven upon those who
disown God and throw off allegiance to Him, he said: “The
Lord will smite thee with the botch of
“And the second poured out his bowl into the
sea; and it became blood, as of one dead, and the things in the sea, every soul
of life, died.” One of the plagues of
“And the third poured out his bowl into the
rivers and the fountains of waters; and they became blood.” When Moses stretched out his hand upon
the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon all their
pools of water, “all the waters that were in the river
were turned to blood; and the fish that were in the river died; and the river
stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there
was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.” (Ex.
7: 19-2l.) And what thus happened
with one river and one country, will now occur in all waters in all countries. Under the third trumpet (chap. 8: 10, 11), a third of the rivers and
water-springs became nauseous and noxious with bitterness; but this plague
touches them all, and turns them into blood, so that the hosts of Antichrist
can find nothing to drink but blood. A
more dreadful plague can hardly be imagined; but it is just.
“The angel of the waters,” he
who has the administration of this plague, is amazed at the greatness of the
infliction, but breaks forth in celebration of the righteousness of Him who
was, and is [now no longer to come, because already come], and praises Him for having thus
judged. The punishment is full of
horror; but it is deserved. They shed
the blood of saints and prophets, and it is due that now their only drink is
blood. “Yea,
Lord God the Almighty,” answers the altar, “true
and just are Thy judgments!” When
God once comes with His terrible awards upon the wicked, the righteousness of
them will be so conspicuous, and the justice and truth of His administrations
will be so clear and manifest, that it will not be in the power of any holy
being to find a flaw, to raise a question, or to withhold the profoundest
Amen. And when the earth refuses to
yield any drink but blood to its apostate population, angels, and altar, and
all heaven must confess and answer that it is just; they deserve it.
“And the fourth poured out his bowl [here the Greek preposition changes …] on or over the sun; and it was given to it [the
sun] to scorch men [mankind] with fire. And the men
were scorched with great scorching.” This belongs to the
predicted “signs in the sun.” Under the fourth trumpet (chap. 8: 12), the heavenly bodies were affected;
but in a different way from this. There the
sun was one-third darkened; here its power and heat are increased, till its
rays become like flames. The sun exists
and shines by God’s command; and He can make it scorch and torture, as well as
cheer and warm. Moses and Malachi have
spoken of that day as one that shall “burn as an oven,”
when men shall be “devoured with burning heat.”
(Deut. 32: 24; Mal. 4: l.) Here also belongs the fulfilment of Isaiah’s
words: “The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world
languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish;
because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken down
the everlasting covenant, therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they
that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and
few men left.” (Is. 24: 4-13.) An allegorising expositor has said, “It is
not of the natural scorching of the sun’s rays, and of the injurious effects
flowing from it, such as excessive heats, drought, and famine, that we are here
to think;” but of what else can we think? It is the sun that is smitten that smiting
causes the emission of rays that scorch and burn to a degree that John says
they are fire; and to think of
anything but scorching and consuming heat from the sun is simply to browbeat
the words of inspiration. Men are here
scorched by an extraordinary power of the sun, oppressed, burned, killed by its
fiery rays, smitten with sunstroke, overwhelmed with siroccos, suffocated with
solar heat. Here is one of the last
plagues of “the great and terrible day of the Lord;”
and it is nothing less than God’s glorious sunshine, intensified with fiery
heat, so that it burns and scorches earth and man, decimating the inhabitants
of city and country alike. Disastrous
plague!
We would think that such a succession of ills would bring the
most infatuated to their senses, and that there would come forth from all the
world one loud repentant cry to God for mercy.
We would think it impossible for people with souls in them to hold out
against such exhibitions of angry Almightiness.
But no; they only blaspheme the name of the God having command of these
plagues, and repent not to give glory to Him.
They have all sold themselves to hell and received the sacrament and
seal of it upon their bodies, and they only dare and sin on to their inevitable
damnation.
Many are waiting for times of affliction and death to bring
them to repentance and salvation; but those
who wilfully sin away their good days count in vain on something softening and
remedial from the judgments of their despised and incensed Maker. The sun may scorch, and extort still further
blasphemies, but it cannot change the stubborn heart, or burn into it the
saving fear and love of God. Sin is a
cancer, which, if left to run too long, can never more be cured. Another judgment-plague descends, but with no
better effect.
“The fifth Angel poured out his bowl on or over
the throne of the Beast; and his kingdom became darkened, and they bit their
tongues from the pain, and they blasphemed the God of the heaven from their
pain, and from their sores, and repented not out of their deeds.” The effects of these judgments overlap
each other. The sores of the first
plague are still felt during the second and third, and even here under the fifth. This proves that these plagues all fall upon
the people of one and the same generation, and hence cannot be extended through
centuries. The Antichrist has but three
and a half years, and all seven of these last plagues fall upon him and his
followers. Here his very throne is
assailed, and his entire dominion is filled with darkness. The last but one of the Egyptian plagues was
a plague of darkness. The Book of Wisdom (17: 21) says: “Over them was spread a
heavy night, an image of that darkness which should afterward receive them; but
yet were they unto themselves more grievous than the darkness.” Here is
a corresponding darkness, co-extensive with the world-wide empire of this
Beast. From the centre of his kingdom,
even to its utmost limits, everything is darkened.
Isaiah prophesied of this when he said, “Behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and
gross darkness the people.” (Is.60:
2.) Joel prophesied of it when he said: “The day of the Lord cometh, a day of darkness and of gloominess,
a day of clouds and thick. darkness.” “The
sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood.” (Joel 2: 1, 2, 3l.)
Nahum prophesied of it when he said that the fierceness of God’s anger
shall be poured out like fire, and “darkness shall pursue His enemies.” (Nah.
1: 6, 8.) Our blessed Saviour
prophesied of it when He declared: “In those days,
after that tribulation, the sun shall be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall
fall,” failing in all
their offices of light-givers. (Mark 13: 24, 25.) And great are the miseries of that darkness;
for it causes those who feel it to bite their tongues by reason of the distress
which it adds to all the rest of their torments.
The darkness which thus comes over the kingdom of the Beast
must be literal, as that of
This darkening of the Beast’s kingdom, added to the earlier
inflictions, brings terrible distress.
The description indicates the intensest writhings of anguish, the very
madness of vexation and pain. The
people, who suffer these plagues bite their tongues, chew them, gnaw them, as
their best diversion from their misery.
Their tongues have spoken blasphemies, and they themselves thus punish
them. Earth has become like hell for wickedness, and so it becomes like
hell for darkness and torment, - nay, still further like hell, because there is
no repentance in its inhabitants.
Instead of cursing themselves for their impieties, they curse God as the
offender, for thus interfering with their preferences and their peace. To the ulcers, the bloody waters, the
sun-scorches, now comes this horrible darkness; and a God of such administrations
they disdain to honour, even under all their miseries. They will gnaw their tongues with pain and
rage rather than speak a prayer of penitence to Him. Nothing but cursing and horrid denunciations
will they utter. When they saw the two
slain Witnesses come to life again and ascend to heaven, they were willing to
own that the God of heaven is God, and to give Him something of His glory. But it was only a temporary reverence, which
soon faded away. Here they are again
compelled to acknowledge Him as “the God of heaven,”
but it is only to heap new blasphemies on His name.
Some talk of conversion in hell, and of an ultimate
restoration of the wicked. Does this
presentation look as if such a thing were possible? If hell-torments can cure men of their
wickedness, why are not these people subdued to penitence? These are the outpourings of that very divine
wrath which makes hell; but where is the remedial impression, the turning from
sin, the seeking for reconciliation?
While sin lasts, hell must last.
These people have rebelled until the very spirit of perdition has
settled in upon their souls, and henceforth there is no more hope for
them. Another bowl of wrath is poured
out; but its effect is the opening
of the ways for the gathering of them together to the scene of slaughter; and
then follows the last, which lets loose upon them all the long-chained thunders
of angered Omnipotence, overwhelming their works and lives in a sea of blood!
Many, my friends, are the pictures of God’s judgments upon
those who reject His Gospel, and refuse to have Him rule over them. A dreadful catalogue we have before us
here. But with how poor and feeble an
interest do many regard these momentous revelations! There is, perhaps, nothing which a sinner, or
neglecter of God and his soul, so little expects, as the punishment of his
sins. Of ungodliness in general, its
sinfulness, its danger, and the certain judgment of God upon it, he can
discourse with fluency and confidence.
He has no doubt that God is a holy God, and will by no means spare those
who fail to make their peace with Him.
But when it comes to his own sins, negligence, and disobedience, what
thought or feeling has he of that awful accountability which in the abstract he
so readily admits? To what extent does
he realise that his sins will find him out, or that he is the one in danger? He
listens; he assents; he hears with pleasure the array of reasoning about
righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come; he even admires the vivid and
faithful preaching of the sure and terrible wrath of God upon transgressors and
yet he goes on in his sins and disobedience, betimes a little disturbed, but
soon recomposed in his impenitence, unconverted from his old ways, till the end
comes, and he dies as he lived, unreconciled to God, unsanctified, and unsaved.
Have I thus hit upon the case of any one now listening to
me? Then let this subject be to you an
effectual warning. Here is the laying
open to your view of what must come upon the unbelieving world. Here is the sacred foreshowing of the end which
awaits them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of His Son. There is an
indissoluble ligament which binds together impenitence in sin and inevitable
damnation. Even the incense bowls of the
holy altar are full of the wrath of God for all despisers and neglecters of the
great salvation. Angels of the heavenly
temple stand girt in gold, prepared and ready to pour them out. And we need only listen with an attentive ear
to hear the rustle and mutter of the dreadful thunder of those cataracts of God’s
indignation upon them that turn not from their sins. Have you never felt the sting and rankling
poison in your soul, if not in your very bones, of some past transgressions of
which you have made yourself guilty? Has
your conscience never smitten you, and made you sleep uneasy, and tinged your
thinking with bitterness, for the sort of life you have been leading? Is there not some conscious shame and sense
of wretchedness going along with the indulgence even of those daring lusts and
dislike of sacred things which you allow to have place in your heart? And what is all this but the premonitory
drops of that wrath of God which must presently come in great deluging
showers? O child of man, give heed, and
turn, and fly to Christ for pardon, before the threatening avalanche of the
Almighty’s judgment comes! And now,
whilst any feeling of anxiety and disturbance is upon you, let it not pass
without a thorough change in all your ways; lest the next time the feeling of
compunction comes, it may find you amid the hopeless torments of eternal death.
LECTURE THIRTY-SEVENTH
THE SIXTH BOWL OF WRATH - THE EUPHRATES LITERALLY DRIED - THE
UNCLEAN SPIRITS - THE ENTHUSIASM THEY AWAKEN - A SINGULAR NOTE OF WARNING -
HARMAGEDDON - THE SEVENTH BOWL OF WRATH - ITS EFFECTS SYNOPTICALLY GIVEN -
CONVULSIONS IN THE AIR - IN THE EARTH - TOPOGRAPHY OF JERUSALEM CHANGED - GREAT
BABYLON REMEMBERED IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD - CONFIGURATION OF THE EARTH ALTERED
- AN UNPRECEDENTED HAILSTORM – INVETERATE - DEPRAVITY.
Rev. 16: 12-21 (Revised Text). - And the
sixth poured out his bowl on [or over] the great river, the
And the seventh poured out his bowl on [or over] the air;
and there came forth a voice out of the temple from the throne, saying, It is
done. And there became lightnings, and voices,
and thunderings; and there became a great earthquake, such as became not since
there became a man on the earth, such an earthquake, so great. And the great city became into three parts,
and the cities of the nations fell, and
The vision of the seven last plagues presents a distinct
series of events, giving details of the last great afflictions which fall upon
the world, then quite given over into the Devil’s hands. Thus far we have briefly considered five of
these disastrous outpourings from the golden bowls. Two more remain to engage our present
attention. Let us not forget to look
devoutly to God our Father to help us understand them.
“And the sixth angel
poured out his bowl on or over the great river
And this drying up of the great river
From time immemorial the
When the unexampled wickedness of Ahab was come to the full,
and it was determined in heaven that an end should be made of him, “The Lord said: Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and
fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that
manner. And there came forth a spirit,
and stood before the Lord, and said: I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he
said: I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his
prophets. And He said. Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also; go
forth and do so.” So the Lord put
a lying spirit in the mouth of all Ahab’s prophets; and he went up to
Ramoth-Gilead, and was wounded between the joints of his harness, and was
brought back a dead man, and the dogs licked up his blood. (1 Kings 22: 19‑38.) A spirit of hell was allowed to go forth to
inflame and deceive him to his ruin.
And so it is in this case, only on a vastly greater scale, and
with mightier demonstrations, to persuade and deceive all the kings and
governments of the earth to join in an expedition which proves the most
terribly disastrous of all the expeditions ever undertaken by man. In Ahab’s case there was but one evil spirit;
here are three, indicating
three different kinds of spirits. It is
something of the plague of frogs repeated; and then the number was
infinite. By these demon spirits the
cause of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False ]Prophet, is furnished with a
universal ministry. They are sent out by
this infernal Trinity, issue from it, do its bidding, act for it and in its
interest. They have the power of working, miracles, Satanic miracles, by which
they offset everything divinely supernatural, and persuade by their preaching,
oracles, and lying wonders, stirring up all the powers that be to unite in one
universal movement to suppress and exterminate the incoming kingdom and power
of the Lamb. But this is not the
only place where their agency and
successes are mentioned. Paul tells us that the Spirit speaketh expressly, that
in the latter times seducing spirits shall manifest themselves, even “teaching demons,” deceiving men with their lies. (1 Tim. 4: 1, 2.)
They are spirits; they are “unclean spirits;”
they are “demon spirits;” they are sent forth into
activity by the Dragon Trinity; they are the elect agents to awaken the world
to the attempt to abolish God from the earth; and they are frog-like in that
they come forth out of the pestiferous quagmire of the universe, do their work
amid the world’s evening shadows, and creep, and croak, and defile, and fill
the ears of the nations with their noisy demonstrations, till they set all the
kings and armies of the whole earth in enthusiastic commotion for the final
crushing out of the Lamb and all His powers.
As in chapter 5., the seven Spirits
of God and of Christ went forth into all the earth to make up and gather
together into one holy fellowship the great congregation of the sanctified; so
these spirits of hell go forth upon the kings and potentates of the world, to
make up and gather together the grand army of the Devil’s worshippers.
Nor need we wonder at their success. Those
who will not hear and obey the voice of God, are sure to be led captive by the
Devil and his emissaries. How great
was the stir, and how intense the enthusiasm, awakened throughout
Just here, however, there breaks in a singular note of warning. Whilst the unclean spirits are successfully
stirring up the kings of the whole habitable world and gathering them for the
battle of the great day, John hears a voice, which says, “Behold I
come as a thief; blessed he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, that he
walk not naked, and they see his shame.” What means this strange
announcement here? It is plainly the
voice of Jesus, and the word is like to that so often given to the Church with
reference to His coming again; but how does it apply here, after the great body
of the saved are already in heaven, with all their anxious watching past? The
explanation is that there is here a
gathering of saints under these plagues to glory, as well as a gathering of
the armies of the apostate world to destruction. Those who live at the time of the Antichrist do not all worship
him or his image. Some hold out to the
last against the acknowledgment of Anti-christ as God, and will not be marked with
his number or his name. Most of them die
martyrs to their faith, but they conquer all the blandishments and bloody
persecutions of the Beast, unstained by his impious idolatry.
At this second stage of the Coming of Christ there is a
resurrection and translation for them, as there had been a resurrection and
translation for other saints at an earlier stage of these judgment
administrations. The occurrence of the
vision of their blessedness in connection with these last plagues indicates
that it must be in among these outpourings that Jesus comes for them. When
once the kings of the earth and their armies begin to gather for the great
battle, the last act is close at hand, and the last of the Gospel age is
reached. Somewhere about this time,
then, Christ comes for this last band of the children of the resurrection,
whether dead or yet living. Of course,
it is a coming of the same kind and character as His coming for those saints
who were taken earlier; for it is the completion of that One Coming for His people which is everywhere set
forth.
Here also, as in all
other cases, nothing but a state of watchful readiness when the call comes can
secure a share in the blessing.
Though these people may previously have fought valiantly, yet if at this time they be not found steadfast
and faithful at their posts, they must lose their reward. And failing in readiness at this last
stage of Christ’s coming for His saints, there would necessarily be
entailed upon them a peculiar and irremediable nakedness. Whatever might, be left for them on earth, it
would strip them for ever of all opportunity to share in any privileges or
honours of the children of the [‘first’ and ‘better’] resurrection.
Hence this particular admonition interjected at this particular
place. It is a note of indication that
at this period Christ is about to call for such of His people as yet may be on
earth. It is a note of instruction and
direction to keep themselves in strictest readiness by watchful expectation and
careful severance from the defiling abominations around them. And it is a note of warning that if found
unready their nakedness and shame will be beyond remedy, as then the whole
matter will be over, and the door of admission into the peculiar kingdom of the
elect will be closed for ever. There is a blessedness for them even down
amid these last extremities of the judgment time; but it can only be secured,
as in every other case, by constant watchfulness, prayer, and readiness for the
summons when it comes.
But, with this admonitory note from the Saviour, the narrative
proceeds as if nothing had occurred. So
indifferent will the world be to what happens to the saints, that their sudden
eruption to glory causes no interruption to the wild doings of the nations, and
produces not even a ripple in the current of their movements. The mission of
the unclean spirits effects its purpose.
The whole world is in a furor of enthusiasm to conquer and dethrone the
Lamb, and to crush out of the earth
every vestige of His authority and power.
From one end of the world to the other, everything is alive and
bristling with this thought. The spirits
of demons have so taught the nations, and they proceed accordingly. East, west, north, and south the call to
battle sounds; and kings, nations, and armies are on the march - on the march
to the scene of conflict – “to the place which
is called in Hebrew Harmageddon.”
Harmageddon means the Mount of Megiddo, which has also given its name to
the great plain of Jezreel, which belts across the middle of the Holy Land,
from the Mediterranean to the
“And the seventh angel poured out his bowl on or
over the air; and there came forth a voice out of the temple from the throne,
saying, IT IS DONE.” This tells us direct from the Judgment-seat itself that here the end is
reached, and that with this out-pouring the whole contents of the wrath of
God upon this present world are exhausted.
When Christ yielded up His life on the cross, He said: “IT IS FINISHED!”
The great sacrifice was complete.
It was the ending up of all judgment upon them that believe, leaving
nothing more of divine condemnation to come upon them. Here a similar word is given; for it is the
completion of another sacrifice, the ending up of all judgment on them that
believe not, but leaving nothing more of probation, help, or hope for them.
The particular consequences of this seventh outpouring are
more fully described in the chapters which follow; but the commotions and
disasters which it brings upon the earth are here stated in general, and they
are without a parallel in the history of man.
“And there became lightnings, and voices, and
thunders.” These are aerial convulsions. The contents of this bowl are poured upon the
air, and the first impressions are in the air.
The whole earth is to be affected, therefore the pouring is upon the
most universal and all-inclosing element.
There have been many atmospheric commotions during the progress of these
judgment scenes, but here they reach their climax and consummation, fulfilling
what so many of the prophets have spoken touching the changing and folding up
of the heavens (Ps. 102: 25, 26; Is. 51: 6),
the shaking of their powers (Matt. 24: 29; Heb. 12:
25), the passing of them with a great noise, and the dissolving of them
with fire (2 Peter 3: 10, 12). Speaking of this very time, when “the multitude of all the nations fight against Ariel,”
Isaiah says: “The Lord of hosts shall visit with
thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the
flame of devouring fire.” (Is. 29: 6.) Of the same did Asaph sing: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence, a fire shall
devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and
to the earth, that He may judge His people.” (Ps.
1: 3, 4.) A world is to be
finally ended, and these are the signs and attendants from above. But below they are correspondingly terrible.
“And there became a great earthquake, such as became not since
there became a man on earth, such an earthquake, so great.”
Here is the fulfilment of what
Isaiah prophesied concerning the arising of the Lord “to
shake terribly the earth” (chapter 2:19, 21.)
Here is what Haggai wrote about, when he recorded the saying of the Lord
of hosts: “Yet once, and I
will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land and 1 will
shake all nations” (chapter 2: 3, 4.) The full force of this earthquake,
unprecedented in time for its extent and violence, is indicated in its
effects. By reason of it, John says: “The great city became into three parts, and the cities of the
nations fell.” The
great city here is
But the calamity to “the great city”
is not so great as the effect of this unprecedented earthquake upon the cities
of the Gentiles. The great city is rent into
fractions, but it does not utterly fall; “the cities of
the nations” are universally ruined.
The whole earth is shaken terribly by this bowl of the wrath of God, and
we are told of no city in all the world that escapes.
“And
And interlinked with the rest of the effects wrought by these
convulsions of an ending world, the configuration of the earth is changed. John beheld: “And every
island fled, and mountains were not found.” He does not say that
islands ceased to be, or no mountains are to remain or exist afterwards; but
that there is to be a sudden recession of the islands from their present places,
and that some mountains that now are shall disappear. In other words, great portions of the earth
as it now stands will be quite altered in their positions and relations. The globe itself is not to be
annihilated. The matter of which it is
composed is not to pass out of existence. But some of its elevations shall be
depressed, and the present lines between sea and land shall in some cases be
greatly altered, making ready for another climate, and for a better heavens and
earth. What particular mountains shall
sink, what shores be changed, and in what directions or to what extent the
islands shall be moved, we are not told.
The general facts alone are stated.
There was something of this change under the sixth seal, an
the effect of the great earthquake there beheld; but that was little more than
the mere
loosing of the mountains and
islands from their places. (Rev. 6: 14.) Here there is an entire disappearance of some mountains, and a fleeing,
or running away from their
old places, on the part of the islands.
That was the beginning of the change; this is the consummation of
it. Desolation comes to all that now is,
and chaotic confusion to the whole face of the world. Looking down to this very period, and to
these very occurrences, Jeremiah says (3: 23-26):
“I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void. I beheld the mountains, and lo, they
trembled, and all the hills moved lightly,” - leaping and gliding from their
places. “I
beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord,
and by His fierce anger.”
And along with all the rest of these terrific and destructive
convulsions comes also a most, disastrous precipitation from the sky. John says: “A great hail,
like as a talent [in weight], fell
out of the heaven on the men [or mankind].” The Jewish talent for silver-weight was
about 115 pounds, and that for weighing other things was about 135 pounds. The Egyptian talent was about 86 pounds, as
also the Greek. Some make the Attic
talent about 56 pounds, and a talent was used at
[* Few persons can form a conception of the terrible character
of great hailstorm. Here is an account
of one which occurred at
“After an uncommonly sultry night,
threatening clouds arose about six in the morning, and a noise between thunder
and tempest, and yet not to be compared to either, increased every moment, and
the inhabitants of the capital, roused from their sleep, awaited with anxious
expectation the issue of this threatening phenomenon. Their uncertainty was not
of long duration; lamps of ice as large as a man’s foot, falling singly, and
then like a thick shower of stones, which destroyed everything with which they came in
contact. The oldest persons do not remember ever
to have seen such hailstones. Some were
picked up half an hour afterwards which weighed above a pound. This dreadful storm passed over
Constantinople and along the Bosphorns, over Therapia, Bojukden, and
What would it have been if the ice masses had been fifty or
one hundred times larger?]
The stones thrown by the Roman catapults against
“Day of anger! Day of
wonder!
When the earth sh’ll read
asunder,
Smote with hail, and fire,
and thunder!”
But what is the moral effect?
Do the people bend, and own their sins, and sue for Heaven’s pity and
forgiveness? Alas for those in whom the
spirit of hell has once taken firm root!
No one having the brand of Antichrist ever repents. John beheld: “And the
men blasphemed God on account of the plague o the hail, because the plague
thereof is exceedingly great.” Such obstinacy in sin and
guilt was unknown when the world was younger.
When the hailstorm was heavy upon
Friends and brethren, I am at a loss at which to wonder most:
whether at the severity of Almighty God upon the finally impenitent, or at the
unconcern, neglect, and hardihood of men, who, with all this dreadful outcome
before their eyes, still march calmly on in the very path which can have no
other termination. 0 how dreadful!
Retreat to the Lazar-house to refresh one’s self with the groans and miseries
of the wretched, a dance in the chamber of death, the singing of glees around
the coffin of a beloved and honoured friend, the making of merry jests over the
fresh grave of one’s own dear mother, would not be half so unseemly, so
unfeeling, and so insane, as to go on in a life of indifference and
impenitence, with eyes open and ears informed of all the horrible consequences
which must come of it!
There is but one explanation, - people do not half
believe. They profess to receive and
honour the Bible, but they do not credit what it so plainly says. They would feel indignant and resentful were we
to call them infidels, and yet they are infidels. They may not speak the infidel’s
creed, but they live it every day, and think well of themselves whilst they do
it. The inner temper of their souls -
their spiritual tone - is infidel. The
practical spirit which influences and controls them is the infidel spirit, and
accords with the infidel reasoning. Either they do not think at all, and so
reduce themselves to the level of the irrational brute; or their thinking is
secretly, if not confessedly, tinged with the suspicion that these mighty
revelations are nothing but unsubstantial speculation or doubtful theory. They have a deep persuasion of the certainty,
regularity, and permanence of what they call natural laws, and have schooled
themselves into such a trust and confidence and worship of Nature, that they
see no need or likelihood, or possibility of any other divinity or divine
administrations.
Thunder, lightning, tempests, plagues, pestilences, famines,
earthquakes, eclipses, comets, at which mankind once trembled as signs of God’s
angry interference with human affairs, they find so largely explainable on
natural principles that they are slow to admit that God has anything to do with
these things, or that He is able to use them as His weapons of judgment. They talk of God, but to them He is an
impotent God. Consciously or unconsciously,
their souls are thus in a condition of scepticism, which empties the Divine
Word of all reality to them. They hear
it, and see what it says, but have a lingering feeling that it cannot be true
just as it reads, and so pass it by as a dead letter.
0 ye people of earthly
wisdom, be not deceived! Where there
are such effective laws as you speak of, there must needs be an Almighty
Lawgiver who made them and put them into force; and He who could make them can
also unmake them, and modify them as He pleases. Is efficient government any less the
administration of sovereign power because it acts through great, settled, and
well-known laws? Is His majesty disabled
by having shown itself so great? What is
more irrational than rationalism? Is God
helpless to fulfil His word because He in Nature proves Himself Almighty? Hath He made the blunder of binding His hands
with His own Omnipotence? Such would
seem to be the essence of some men’s reasoning.
Be admonished then, dear hearer, and
be not deluded to your ruin by the impertinent indifference and un-wisdom of
these evil times. Be sure that God is
God, and that His Word must stand, though worlds dissolve. Now is your golden opportunity. You see what is the end that cometh. You see strokes of death are still held back,
that men may hear and fear, and turn to Him and live. There is eternal security, if, with a true
and honest heart, you will only believe what is written, and set your soul to
obey and trust as He counsels and directs.
It may cost you some sharp trials now, but it will bring you safety and
salvation when the sceptical and blaspheming world goes down under the
fierceness of His just anger.
Overwhelmingly dreadful as the foreshowing is, there is no cause for
despair if you will but take warning now.
Only fix your trust in Jesus, and
follow and obey Him in sincerity and in truth, and when His judgment strikes,
it shall not harm you.
“Though
mountains from their seats be hurled
Down to the deep, and
buried there,
Convulsions shake the solid
world,
Our faith shall never yield
to fear.”
LECTURE THIRTY-EIGHTH.
GREAT BABYLOW - PROMINENCE OF THE
SUBJECT - THE TWO WOMEN - NOT ROME ALONE - THE NAME CONNECTS WITH THE PRIMAL
APOSTASY AFTER THE FLOOD - NIMROD AND HIS INVENTIONS - THE WORLD’S INTOXICATION
WITH THEM - THE HARLOT’S OWN DRUNKENNESS WITH THE BLOOD OF SAINTS - THE WATERS
ON WHICH SHE SITS - THE BEAST SHE RIDES.
Rev. 17: 1-17 (Revised Text). - And there came one
of the seven angels who had the seven
howls, and talked with me, saying, Hither, I will show thee the judgment of the
great harlot that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth
committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk from
the wine of her fornication.
And he bore me away in spirit into a wilderness, and
I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having
seven heads and ten horns. And the woman
was clothed in purple and scarlet, decked with gold and precious stone and
pearls, having a cup of gold in her hand full of abominations and the unclean
things of her and of the earth’s fornication, and upon her forehead a name
written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the
abominations of the earth.
And I saw the woman drunken from the blood of the saints, and from the blood of martyrs [witnesses] of Jesus: and I wondered great wonder
when I saw her.
And the angel said to me, Wherefore wonderest thou?
I will tell to thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth
her, having the seven heads and ten horns.
The beast which thou sawest, was and is not, and is
to ascend out of the abyss, and goeth into perdition: and they shall wonder who
dwell upon the earth, whose names are not written upon the book of life from
the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast, because he was, and is
not, and shall once more be here [or come again].
Here [is] the mind that hath wisdom: the seven heads
are seven mountains where the woman sitteth upon them, and are seven kings; the
five are fallen, the one is, the other in not yet come, and when he shall come,
he must continue a little time. And the
beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is out of the seven, and
goeth into perdition.
And the ten horns which thou sawast are ten kings which have not yet received kingdom; but
they receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and give their power and
authority to the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall
conquer them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they who are with Him, called and chosen
and faithful.
And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest,
where the harlot sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and
tongues. 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 with fire. For God gave into their hearts to do His
mind, and to make one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the
words of God shall be fulfilled.
We have already twice heard of Great Babylon, and calamity to
her; once in chapter 14: 8, and once in chapter 16: 19,
where her sins were said to have come into remembrance, and the cup of the
fierceness of the wrath of God to have been administered to her. The particulars of that visitation, as well
as the whole character and relations of this mystic personage, are given in the
chapters upon which we now enter. So,
that these further accounts are somewhat
retrogressive, and go back to exhibit in
all its length and breadth what in the previous chapter was only synoptically
stated.
The general body of preterist historical expositors have taken
Great
Babylon as meaning the City, the church, or the ecclesiastical system of
The first thing that strikes me in the study of this subject,
is one which I have nowhere seen duly noticed, namely: the evident correlation and
contrast between the Woman here pictured and another Woman described in the
twelfth chapter. There, “a great
sign was seen in the heaven, a Woman;” here, it is
remarked, he bore me away in spirit into a wilderness, and I saw “a Woman.” Both these Women are mothers; the first “brought forth a son, a male [neuter, embracing either sex], who is to rule all the nations;” the second “is the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.” Both are splendidly dressed; the first “is clothed with the sun.” Her raiment is light from
heaven. The second “is clothed
in purple, and scarlet, decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearls.” All her ornaments are from below, made up of
things out of the earth and the sea.
Both are very influential in their position; the first has “the moon,” the empress of night, the powers of
darkness, “under her feet;” the second “hath rule, or kingdom, upon the kings of the earth.” Both are sufferers; against the first is the Dragon,
who stands watching to devour her child, and persecutes and pursues her, and
drives her into the wilderness, and sends out a river to overwhelm her, and is
at war with all her seed that he can find; against the second are the ten
kings, who ultimately hate her, and make her desolate and naked, and eat her
flesh, and burn her with fire, whilst God in His strength judgeth her, and
visits her with plague, death, and utter destruction.
Both are very conspicuous, and fill a large space in the
history of the world, and in all the administrations of divine providence and
judgment. That they are counterparts of
each other there can hardly be a reasonable doubt. The one is a pure woman, the other is a
harlot. The first is hated by the powers
on earth, the second is loved, flattered, and caressed by them. Where the one has sway, things are heavenly;
where the other lives, it is “wilderness.” The one produces masculine nobility, which is
ultimately caught away to God and to
His throne; the other produces effeminate impurity, which calls down the
fierceness of the divine wrath. The one
is sustained and helped by celestial wings; the other is supported and carried
by the Dragon power, - the Beast with the seven heads and ten horns. The one has a crown of twelve stars, wearing
the patriarchs and apostles as her royal diadem; the other has upon her
forehead the name of the greatest destroyer and oppressor of the holy people,
and is drunken with “the blood of prophets and of
saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.” The one finally comes out in a heavenly city,
the new Jerusalem, made up of imperishable jewels, and arrayed in all the glory
of God and the Lamb; the other finally comes out in a city of this world’s
superlative admiration, which suddenly goes down for ever under the intense
wrath of Heaven, and becomes the habitation of demons, and a hold of every
unclean spirit.
These two Women, thus related, and set over one against the
other as opposites and rivals, must necessarily be interpreted in the same
way. As Antichrist stands in contrast to
Christ as a rival and antagonist, so Great Babylon stands in contrast to to the
Woman that bears the Man-child, as her rival and antagonist.
By recalling, therefore, who and what is meant by the first
Woman, we will be in position to understand who and what is meant by the
second.
Beyond question, the sun-clad Woman is God’s great symbol of
the visible Church [of the firstborn], - the Lamb’s Wife,‑the bone of His bone, and flesh
of His flesh, fashioned out of His rifted side as the Second Adam, who fell
into the deep sleep of death for that purpose.
As Methodius taught, “The woman seen in heaven, clothed with the sun, and adorned
with a crown of twelve stars, is, in the highest and strictest sense, our
Mother. The prophets, considering what
is spoken of her, call her
What then can this rival Woman - Great Babylon - be but the organised
Anti-church, the pseudo-church, the Bride made out of Satan, the universal body
and congregation of false-believers and false-worshippers? As Christ has a visible Church, embodying the
wisdom and spirit of heaven, and maintaining the confession of His truth and
worship, so has the Devil a corresponding following, embodying the sensual and
devilish wisdom and spirit, and maintaining the profession and teaching of
Satan’s lies. And as the first Woman
denotes the one, so the second Woman denotes the other. The proofs of this will appear as we consider
the particulars of the case
1. One of the most characteristic features of this Woman is
her harlotry. The Angel calls her “The
Great Harlot,” and she wears on her forehead, as her name, “The mother of the harlots, and of the abominations of the
earth.” Harlotry is the standing
symbol in the word of God for a debauched worship, idolatry, and false
devotion. When people worship for God what is not God, or give their hearts to
idols, or institute systems, doctrines, rites, or administrations, to take the
place of what God has revealed and appointed, the Scriptures call it whoredom,
adultery, fornication. (Jer. 3: 6, 8, 9; Ez.
16: 32; Hosea 1. and 2.; Rev. 2: 22.)
The reasons are obvious. The
breaking down of the divine laws and ordinances necessarily carries with it the
dishonour of the marriage institution, and hence all supports of godly chastity
and pureness. Accordingly all false
religions are over attended with lewdness, even in connection with their most
honoured rites. The sacredness of marriage has no place in them. Besides, the very essence of the divine law
is that we love God our Lord with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength. This is Jehovah’s due and requirement of all
that live. Hence the bestowal of worshipful affection on any other object, or
the putting of anything whatever in the place of the true God, is, in the very
nature of the case, a great spiritual harlotry; for it is the turning of the
soul from the only legitimate object of its adoration, to take into its embrace
what has no right to such room and place.
And as this Woman is a harlot, “the great Harlot,” and “the mother of the harlots and the abominations of the earth,”
she must needs be the great embodiment, source, and representative of all
idolatry, false worship, and perversion of the word and institutes of God. This helps to determine her character as the
rival and antagonist of the Woman clothed with the sun, and makes her the
symbol of the universal body of the faithless, just as the sun-clad Woman is the symbol of the universal
body and congregation of [regenerate and
obedient] believers. She can by no means be
Papal Rome alone.
2. This conclusion is rendered the more necessary by the
name which this Woman has
written upon her forehead – “The mother of the
harlots and of the abominations of the earth.” We have
here the motherhood of various harlots, or systems and economies of harlotry and abominations of
the earth. Papal
3. Accordingly, also, we have in the very front of this
Woman’s name a designation, “Babylon the Great,” which carries us back to the
commencement of the whole ill-condition of things in this present world. Idolatry originated with old Babylon, and
Babylon’s first king, the great rebel Nimrod, that very Bar‑Chus (son of Cush), or Bacchus, who figures among the Greek and Roman
gods as the great overflowing enlivening, healing, and directing power. It is also a fact that all the Pagan
mythologies and idolatrous devotions the world over, whatever their
diversities, show a oneness of character, and
an underlying likeness which proves that they are from one original source, and but modifications of one and the
same primal invention, traceable to old Babylon and the Nimrodic plan to defeat
the purposes of the God of Noah. The
original design was thwarted by the confusion of tongues. Contrary to their oaths to the Dove-goddess
of their standards, the people were obliged to disperse and leave off the building of their tower. But the charming novelties of idolatry which
Nimrod taught them were not lost. The seeds
of the fascinating invention went with the dispersion, planting themselves in
every new settlement, and growing ever fresh crops as the streams of humanity
ran on amid the centuries, but ever reproducing the likeness of the original
mother. Whatever changes or additions
came, it still was the old Babylonish idolatry, which ever abides, potent
through all the ages, and known to the judgment angels as “
4. It is further said of this Woman
that “the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk from
the wine of her fornication.”
This is not true in the fullest sense of Rome, Pagan or Papal; for the
earth has had a hundredfold more inhabitants untouched and uninfluenced by one
or the other than ever were under the tutorage of both of them together. To ta1k of “the Roman
earth” in such a description is worse than impertinence. “The inhabitants of the earth” are the
inhabitants of the earth, and
the people of the generations where
The cup held out is golden. To the
sensual and carnal heart and imagination the world’s religion and progress is
something bright and glorious, the glittering fulness of good and
blessing. But in that shining cup is
only abomination and uncleanness - spiritual prostitution - nothing but
spiritual prostitution.
The cup is one; and in all the varied systems of false faith and false worship
which taint our world there is held out and received, but one and the same
essence; and that essence is the harlotry of old Babylon. It is most direct in Paganism; but it is in
Mohammedanism, in Papism, in the degenerate Catholicism of the Eastern churches,
and in all the heretical isms and infidelities.
So true is it that Great Babylon, the mother of the harlots and of the
abominations of the earth, hath made the inhabitants of the earth drunk with
the wine of her fornication.
5. This Woman is also herself drunken – “drunken from the blood of the saints, and from the blood of
the martyrs or witnesses of Jesus.”
“In her was found the blood of prophets, and of
saints, and of all that have been slain [as martyrs] upon the earth.” Here
is proof positive that this Great Harlot
is not Papal Rome only, for drunken as the Romish power has made itself
upon the blood of the witnesses of Jesus, Roman government is not chargeable
with the shedding of all the martyr blood that has flowed upon the earth. It is, however, very certain, and beyond
dispute, that all the persecution and slaying of saints, and prophets, and
witnesses for God that have ever occurred upon earth, past or present, ancient
or modern, stand charged against the mystic kingdom of idolaters, false
religionists, and such as
accepted fellowship with spiritual harlotry.
Persecution of God’s prophets or people is itself a mark and evidence of
spiritual whoredom. It shows alienation
from God and His true worship. And
wherever such presentation finds place, or saints are sacrificed for their
faith, there this great Harlot is in living and visible force and presence, whether among Pagans or Jews, Mohammedans
or nominal Christians, Catholics or Protestants. It is old
6. Again, this mystic Woman sits upon many waters, which waters, the angel says, “are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and
tongues!” There is a vastness and universality in these terms, and in the extent of
these symbolic waters, which ill accords with the extent of the Papal
dominion. Though extending over many
peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, there are many, many more peoples,
and far greater multitudes, and numbers of nations, and tongues, over which the
hierarchy of
7. John further saw this Woman sitting upon a scarlet Beast,
full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. This
Beast is the same as described in chapter 13. He is referred to here, not so much to make
us better acquainted with him, as to give us a full understanding of the Great
Harlot and her relationships. The “wisdom” or inner sense and meaning of the presentation
is, that “the seven heads are seven mountains, where
the Woman sitteth upon them, and are seven kings.” These words are generally supposed to fix the
application of the picture to the city of
A mountain, however, or prominent elevation on the surface of the
earth, is one of the scriptural images, symbols, or representatives of a kingdom,
regal dominion, empire, or established authority. So the Lord in His threat
against the throne and power of
Of these seven regal mountains, John was told “the five are fallen,” dead, passed away, their
day over; “the one is,” that is, was standing, at that moment, was then in sway and
power; “the other is not yet come, and when he shall
come, he must continue a little time.” What regal mountain, then,
was in power at the time John wrote?
There can be no question on that point; it was the
It requires but a glance at history to see that spiritual
harlotry has ever been the particular pet and delight of all the Beast-powers
of time. If over the worship and
requirements of the true God won their respect and patronage, they soon
corrupted it to their own selfish and ambitious ends, or never were easy until
freed from the felt restraint.
True religion and an uncorrupted Church have never suited the
representatives of power, or pleased them long. Dragon agencies are ill at case
without some form of Dragon worship. Only what will dignify, if not deify, lust and
selfishness, is in accord with their spirit.
They simply favour and honour their own when they favour and cherish the
base Woman. Her gaudiness and pomp, her
gaiety and ready compliances, her ennoblement of “the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” enamour
them, and make them glad to bear her on their shoulders. It is a sad commentary on humanity, but it is
the truth, that all the great world-powers, from first to last, are the paramours
and props of the Harlot Woman.
Government is indeed a thing of God, instituted for human good,
necessary to man, and invested with rights from the eternal throne; but Satan
has ever known too well how to pervert it to his own base ends. And so the mountains of worldly power have
ever served him as grand homes for his adulterous Bride. God help us all to keep ourselves from idols!
LECTURE THIRTY-NINTH.
GREAT
Rev. 17: 18 (Revised Text). - And the Woman whom thou sawest, is the great city, which hath
rule [kingdom] upon the kings of the earth.
When John
was taken to see “the judgment of the Great Harlot,”
he was borne “into a wilderness.” This
description of her dwelling-place is very expressive. Where spiritual harlotry occupies the place
of the true worship of God, there is desolation. There may be riches and worldly glory, as
here. There may be the fulness of power
and dominion; there may be purple, and scarlet, and gold, and gems of stone,
and pearls, and drink from golden cups; there may be luxuries, sumptuous
living, pomp, display, and everything to delight the sensual heart; and yet,
where the word, worship, and institutes of God are trampled under foot, it is wilderness.
Some
set great store on general, education, on the achievements of science, on the
progress of man in his material and social interests, on the success of reforms
in government and laws, on the universal spread of liberty, equality, and
fraternity, wrought out by the diffusion of intelligence and right reason. Those claiming to be leaders in this line of
thought are everywhere full of prognostications of a great and glorious condition
of humanity to be achieved by the new ideas over against what they consider the
old nonsense, superstition, and ignorance, which, as they say, have too long
held dominion. And in proportion to the
confidence and zeal in these hopes is the aversion to the Bible and its
teachings, or any such way of receiving it as takes it for what it says. Indeed the Church, its doctrines and
confessions, are ignored, sneered at, and more and more resisted and set aside,
as the particular impediment to the true interests of man, and the worst
hindrances to human progress and blessedness.
But the Scriptures have anticipated this, and tell us that so
things will go on until the world believes itself wiser than its reputed
Maker. And when the gospel of the
sensual and devilish wisdom has once won its way to victory, as it surely will;
and when the atheistic materialism to which so many are betaking themselves has
attained its bloom, the result will be a universal wilderness, with nothing but a monster Beast from the abyss
for government, a hell‑inspired self-will for law, and the uncleannesses of a
gaudy Harlot for Paradise. And this is the world in its final outcome, when
Antichrist reigns and Great Balylon reaches its full development. The true people of God will then have
been removed to the heavenly pavilion, or killed off by the powers of a
blaspheming persecution, or concealed in hiding-places. According to the prophet’s figure, they will
have become as scarce on earth as the remaining grapes after the vintage has
been gathered. The Living Ones will have
reached their places in connection with the celestial throne. The Elders will have obtained their crowns
and golden seats. The salt of the earth
and the light of the world will have been mostly withdrawn. And whatever of accumulated wealth, gorgeousness,
luxury, or perfected human civilisation may remain, what can this habitation of
mortals be but one great moral wilderness and desolation, where the powers are
full of blasphemy, and the accredited worship is abomination? Such, at least, in the pictured scene of
things to which the Apostolic Seer was carried to see the Great Harlot and the
end that awaits her.
When John beheld the Woman, he was much astonished. He tells us himself that he “wondered great wonder.” When the Beast first displayed
himself all the world wondered after the Beast. (Chap.
13: 3.) But that was a wonder of
admiration; this is a wonder of perplexed horror. He had had a view of that Beast before. He had beheld and described his heads and
horns. He had seen the wounding to death
and the healing from the wound, and how men were carried captive by the
marvel. But he experienced no such
astonishment as here. But he had seen and described the glorious Woman, whose
mystic child was caught up to God and to His throne. Could it be that this was the same Woman, -
the Bride of Heaven transformed into
such a character, with such names on her forehead, and thus associated with the
Son of Perdition? God had once exclaimed
over the defections of
But the angel at once interposed to relieve him. The Beast is the same which he saw in chapter 13., but the Woman is not. And the Beast is here seen in the fulness of
his development. No colour was noticed
on his first rise; but by this time he has developed his bloody hue by his slaughter of the saints. Then he had names of blasphemy on his heads; by this time he is full
of them all over. There his infernal origin did not so
fully appear; by this time he has demonstrated that he comes up out of the
abyss. His seven heads were there left
in mystery; here they are explained, and his true history and relations indicated. There his ten horns were noted; but only here
is it told that they are ten contemporaneous kings, who arise contemporaneously with the
Beast, and who colleague with him in one mind and policy, and give their power
and authority to him, and join with him and each other in desolating and
devouring the Woman whom at first they carried in affection, and finally make
war against the Lamb in a contest for the sovereignty of the world.
There is a twofoldness of the judgment upon this great
Harlot. Not only is her fall mentioned
twice, and each time with a double fall; but two sorts of visitation, and
seemingly at different times, are here described. At first the Beast carries the Woman; but the
angel says that the ten horns, in connection with him, eventually “hate the Harlot, and make her desolate and naked, and shall
eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.”
In the next chapter, however, there is a different picture, and her
final ruin takes the form of a sudden and complete overthrow of a great city, over which these same kings lament and
mourn. These two different presentations
are owing to the two different aspects in which the Woman is contemplated. In chapter 17.
we have the picture of Great Babylon in mystery only, in which she has various centres and forms, and presents
herself in a variety of ways. The last
forms of
But Great Babylon in final revelation is also a local
city. As a system, its essential principle is alienation of soul from God, and so
whatever is developed from the carnal wisdom, either against or in the place of
the true worship. But as the sun-clad
Woman develops in Revelation 21. into a
heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, embodying all the ultimate glories pertaining
to the spiritual wisdom and the true devotion, so the Great Harlot also
develops in Revelation 18. into an earthly
city, embodying all the completed temporal results of the sensual wisdom and
the ultimate bloom of human apostasy.
Hence her final overthrow sums up in the fall and destruction of a
great, rich, and powerful city. Hence,
also, the angel says: “The Woman whom thou sawest is the
great city which hath rule
upon the kings of the earth.” It
is the same Woman which, as a system of false worship, rode upon all the
governments and powers of earth, but which makes its final presentation in the
form of a literal city.
Some think only an ideal city is meant, but nearly all
interpreters, however diverse their ways of looking at these visions, agree
that we must here understand a real city.
Most of them say it is the city of
The city here described is pre-eminently, if not exclusively, a
commercial city, - a great
commercial city, - a mart of nations.
There is nothing military, nothing ecclesiastical, nothing educational,
alluded to in the account; everything is commercial, or merged into the one idea of exchange, trade, and what relates
to mercantile aims and accumulations.
Ships, merchants, commodities, are the main subjects of the description.
And when this city falls, it is “the merchants of the
earth” that “mourn and weep over her,”
and with them such as are most concerned with commerce, - “every ship-master, and every one who goeth by sea, and
sailors, and as many as trade by sea,” for “all
who had ships in the sea were made rich from her costliness.” The lamentation is of the same character as
that over the fall of
What power is it that to-day monopolises nearly all
legislation, dictates international treaties, governs the conferences of kings
for the regulation of the balance of power, builds railways, cuts ship-canals,
sends forth steamer-lines to the ends of the earth, unwinds electric wires
across continents, under the seas,
and around the world, employs thousands of engineers, subsidises the press,
tells the state of the markets of the world yesterday that every one may know
how to move to-day, and has her living organisations in every land and city,
interlinked with each other, and coming daily into closer and closer
combination, so that no great government under the sun can any longer move or
act against her will, or without her concurrence and consent? Think for a
moment, for there is such a power; a power that is everywhere clamouring for a
common code, a coming currency, common weights and measures; and which is not
likely to be silenced or to stop till it has secured a common centre on its own
independent basis, whence to dictate to all countries and to exercise its own
peculiar rule on all the kings and nations of the earth. That power is COMMERCE; the power of the ephah and the talent in Zechariah 5: 1, - the power borne by the winged
women, the one with her hand on the sea and the other with her hand on the
land, - the power which even in its present dismemberment is mightier than any
pope, any throne, any government, or any other one human power on the face of
the globe. Let it go on as it has been
going, and will go, in spite of everything that earth can interpose to hinder,
dissolving every tie of nationality, every bond of family or kindred, every
principle of right and religion which it cannot bend and render subservient to
its own ends and interests; and the time may come when it will settle itself down
somewhere on its own independent base, and where Judaism and Heathenism, Romanism and Protestantism,
Mohammedanism and Boodhism, and every distinction of nationality, - English,
German, French, Italian, Greek, Turk, Hindoo, Arab, Chinese, Japanee, or what
not, - shall be sunk in one great universal fellowship and kingdom of commerce.*
[* G. Rawlinson, in
his notes on Herodolus, says, with General Chesney’s Euphrat Expedition, that the Euphrates “is
navigable without any serious interruption from Samosata to the sea, nearly
1,200 miles;” that from Busrah to the sea it is on an average 30 feet
deep and 1,200 yards wide, and at Babylon it averages 15 feet in depth a 200
yards in width, vol. i., pp. 446, 447.]
And then the old Babylonish idolatry would necessarily be the
chief spirit of the whole thing. Zealous
and earnest worship there would needs be, but a worship concentrated upon the
ephah and the talent; a worship which makes temples of banks, and warehouses,
and exchanges, and pleasure-parks; a worship not of the sun, or moon, or stars,
or emperors, or popes, but of pounds, and francs, and piastres, and dollars;
the worship of greed, and epicurean luxury; the worship of Mammon perfected,
and overriding and supplanting all other devotions; the perpetuation and crown
of the great moral defilement of the ages, only taking to the soul’s embrace and
into the place of God the meaner object which the Divine Word stigmatises as “filthy lucre.” Covetousness is idolatry, and a form of
it which is the root of all evil; and here will be covetousness, deep-wrapped
in the embracing arms of its god, and dazing and defiling the world with the
glory and grandeur of its abominations.
It would be a strange thing if the ancient city of
[* In 1857 a work was published in London, entitled “Memoir of the Euphrates Valley Route to India, with Official
Correspondence and Maps,” by W. P. Andrew, F.R.G.S., &c. After a large circulation the same was
enlarged, and published in a volume, entitled “The
Scinde Railway and its Relations to the
The author of this book recounts the many and glowing
histories which cluster around the Euphrates and its tributary, the Tigris;
points out the extraordinary capabilities of the country, and adds: “Every way,
commercially, historically, and politically, the Euphrates Valley route is a
grand scheme, and must affect immediately the commerce, and in some measure the
destinies of our race depends not on a thorough traffic, but holds within its
own confines the elements of a great prosperity.
“Why have the governments and peoples
of the West combined to uphold the Sultan in the possession of
So, also, an article in Colburn’s
Monthly, quoted by this author, says: “England and
France, and oven other nations, appear now called to great works, which throw
into the shade the most striking deeds of history. Among these works of the
future it appears that the opening of the
Mr. Andrew further says: “Amongst the
numerous administrations of a wise and merciful design of Providence, it is not
unreasonable to believe that the opening of the valleys of the Euphrates and
the Tigris, and the resuscitation of the great nations of antiquity, are amongst
the events designed to minister to the growing wants and improvements of the
human race … It in not too much to say that there is no existing or projected
railroads that can for a moment compare, in point of interest and importance,
with that of the Euphrates Valley. It brings two quarters of the globe into
juxtaposition, and three continents, - Europe, Asia, and
In the “Life of Sir C. Napier,” vol. iv., p. 70, there is
given an extract from his journal, in which he writes: “Civilisation was travelling west in Alexander’s time, but now how changed
is the drama! More than 2,000 Years have
passed, and civilisation arises on the rear of barbarism; we English have
seized the baggage, are following up our blow, and in a few years shall be at
A letter written at
All these statements are quite apart from what many are too
prone to call more Prophetic speculations.]
I conclude these remarks with the reflection, Do not be
envious at the prosperity of the wicked.
Let the gold, and the silver, and the scarlet, and the purple, and the
fine linen be to those who make them their God.
We have quite another Saviour, and quite another calling. They that worship these things shall lose
them, and perish with them; but they who, for
the kingdom of heaven’s sake, deny themselves and refuse to be beguiled and
swayed by the deceitful glitter and sumptuous allurements of wealth and
fortune, shall live to enjoy a far sublimer estate,‑one which shall never fade
away. Yet a little while, and they
shall come forth in a city whose gates are pearl and its streets gold,
themselves as pure as the gates through which they pass, and as excellent and
glorious as the streets on which they tread; immortal parts pf a new and
everlasting system of God, when Babylon the Great has gone down into perdition,
as a millstone cast into the midst of the sea.
LECTURE FORTIETH
THE FALL OF GREAT BABYLON – CHRIST’S SECOND COMING COMPLEX AND
DISTRIBUTIVE - THE ANGEL WHO PROCLAIMS THE FALL - THE TWOFOLD FALL - THE PEOPLE
CALLED OUT - FORMS OF THE DESTRUCTION - ADMINISTRANTS OF THE CALAMITIES -
MEASURE OF THE TORMENT - THE TOTAL EXTINCTION - THE CRIMES WHICH PROCURE THIS DOOM - THE POWER AND GODLESSNESS
OF COMMERCE - THE NATURE OF ITS SORCERY - ITS PRESUMPTUOUS SELF-GLORIFICATION
AND ARROGANCE.
Rev. 18: 1-8 (Revised Text). - After these things
I saw another angel coming down out of the heaven, having great authority, and
the earth was lighted up from his glory.
And he cried with mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen Babylon the
great, and become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit,
and a hold of every unclean and hated bird; because of the wrath of her
fornication all the nations have fallen, and the kings of the earth committed
fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth became rich out of the
power of her wantonness.
And I heard another voice out of the heaven, saying,
Come out of her, My people, that ye may have no fellowship in her sins, and that
ye receive not of her plagues; because her sins have been builded together as
far an the heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward to her even as she rewarded, and
double double according to her works; in the cup which she mixed, mix for her
double; insomuch an she glorified herself and was wanton, to that proportion
give to her torment and grief; because she saith in her heart, I sit a queen
and am not a widow, and shall see no mourning; therefore in one day shall come
her plagues, death, and mourning, and famine, and with fire shall she be burnt,
because strong the Lord who bath judged her.
We
come now to the consideration of the final fall of
But before proceeding directly to that subject, it may be well
to remark upon some popular misapprehensions of what the day of the Lord means, and the length of the period
which it covers. It is a mistake to take
the day of the Lord, or the coming again of our Saviour, as if one particular
moment of time, and one single event or scene were to be understood. What the Scriptures describe as the day of
the Lord, I and the second coming of Christ, is no more limited to a single
event or moment of time than was the day of His first coming, which extended
over more than thirty years, and embraced various stages and successive
presentations. If we take the prophecies
concerningh the first advent, we find it impossible to apply them to any one
day, year, or scene, in the evangelic history.
Micah said that Christ should “come” out
of
And just as it was then, so it will be again. The second coming, like the first, is complex
and distributive, extending through
a variety of successive and diverse scenes, stages, events, and manifestations,
requiring some years. Just what length of
time will intervene between the first sudden catching away of the
watching and ready saints, and the final overthrow of
But it is with the fall of
A glorious being from heaven appears. To John he seems like an angel, but quite “another” from the one who was showing him these
things. This angel does not speak from
heaven, but comes down out of the heaven.
He comes also with “great authority.”
There is reason to believe that it is Christ Himself whom we are to see
in this angel; for the Father “hath given Him authority
to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.” (Jno. 5: 27.)
When Satan was cast out of heaven the celestial worshippers celebrated
this authority, dominion, or power,
as the particular possession of Christ, who is appointed to “put down all rule and all authority and power.” (Cor. 15: 24.)
It is here said that “the earth was
lighted up from His glory.” Such language is nowhere used concerning
created angels, but is quite common to all the prophets with regard to our
Divine King and Saviour. The Psalmist (72: 18, 19) blesses the glorious name of the Lord
God of
From this glorious being the word goes forth in tremendous power:
“Fallen, Fallen,
But before the mighty word of this glorious angel goes into
full effect upon the final
The particular calamities which then break forth are described
as death,
mourning, famine, and burning with fire. And amid it all comes the
great unprecedented earthquake, by which the cities of the nations are thrown
down. Fires break forth. The whole city burns to ashes and all its
population with it, “as when God overthrew
“Come down,
and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon sit on the ground; there is
no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans for thou shalt no more be called tender
and delicate. Sit thou silent, and get
thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be
called, the lady of kingdoms. Thou
saidst, ‘I shall be a lady for ever,’ so that thou didst not lay these things
to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given
to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, ‘I am, and
none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss
of children;’ these two things shall come
to thee in a moment, in one day, the loss of children and widowhood; they shall
come upon thee in their perfection, for the multitudes of thy services, and for
the great abundance of thine enchantments.
For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, ‘None seeth me.’ Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it has perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine
heart, ‘I am, and none else beside me.’ Therefore shall evil come upon thee;
and thou shalt not know from whence it riseth; and mischief shall fall upon
thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off; and desolation shall come upon thee
suddenly, which thou shalt not know. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with
the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if
so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy
counsels. Let now the astrologers, the
star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire
shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame,”
(Isa. 47: 1-15.)
In connection with these final plagues upon Babylon the voice
from heaven says: “Render to her even as she rewarded, and double [the] double according to her works; in the cup which she mixed,
mix for her double; insomuch as she glorified herself and was wanton, to that
proportion give to her torment and grief.” Some take this as a
commission to the returning house of Israel, which is to become a cup of
trembling and a burdensome stone to the people round about in connection with
these events; but I do not so understand it, Israel will at that time be so
enclosed, and under the heel of the great Beast, as to be quite disabled from
such an office until Christ Himself has gone forth to avenge them of their
enemies. Besides, the final judgment
upon Great Babylon is so miraculous and direct from heaven, that mere earthly
agents have but little to do with it, if anything. There is also another and far mightier class
of operators in the infliction of these great judgments. Angels
are concerned, and the descended Son
of God Himself.
But there are others in addition to these, and taking part with them in these administrations‑viz., the
glorified saints. Among the promises to the overcomers out
of the seven churches, was one that they should have authority over the
nations, and rule or judge them with a rod of iron, and break them to shivers as a
vessel of pottery is dashed to pieces. (Rev.2: 26, 27.) Of old it was sung of the saints in glory,
that, with the praises of God in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their
hand, they should execute vengeance upon the nations, even punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with
chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment
that is written. “This honour have all the saints.” (Ps. 149 5‑9.)
Paul reminded the Corinthians, as if indignant at their low appreciation
of the Christian calling: “Do ye not know that the
saints shall judge the world” (1
Cor. 6: 2.) Of the mystic
Man-child caught up to God and to His throne, the record was that He should
rule or shepherdise all the nations with a rod of iron. (Rev. 12: 5.)
When the Beast and the False Prophet, and their allied kings and armies
perish at Harmageddon, the saint-armies of heaven, robed in fine linen, and
riding on white horses, are those taking part in the terrible vengeance then to
be executed. And it would be strange,
indeed, if in the rendition of final judgment upon
In the days of mercy and forbearance God is not strict to mark
iniquity, or to punish it at once according to its deserts. There is much that He winks at and suffers to
pass for the present. But it is all
written in His book, and when the final recompense comes there is no more
sparing. As the sinner has measured, so
it will be measured to him again. It is
an awful thought, but true, that by the ills and wrongs which people do on
earth they are themselves setting the gauge or measure by which they are to
have judgment dealt to them at the last.
The language
here might seem to imply that God meant to double up vengeance upon
The result of all this is that Great
When Jesus was upon the earth, He said: “Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in
Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matt.
18: 6.) But who or what is a
greater stumbling-block to the believers in God, and to the faith of Jehovah’s humble
worshippers, than Great Babylon? In
every form in which she has existed, and through all the ages, in all the
world, she has been holding up the golden cup of her abominations wherewith she
has intoxicated and demented the nations, and filled the whole earth with
spiritual madness. Therefore, to her
neck the stone is hanged, and into the depths she is cast, descending with
still increasing speed towards the seething
abyss of
everlasting fires.
The world’s greatest power will be concentrated there, which
all the kings of the earth delight to court and serve; but “in one hour” all her greatness, might, and majesty,
come to nought. She will be a mart for
the nations, enriching multitudes on land and sea, but in one day the harvest
of her soul’s desire is gone, and all her bright and dainty things perish, with
no one left to buy or enjoy them any more.
She had “great riches,” and was “clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked
with gold, and precious stone, and pearl,” but not a scrap or fragment
of all her costliness and treasure is
left. She was the very paradise of
musicians, harp-singers, and flute-players, and trumpeters; for these are
always a great feature and one of the chief glories of a rich, gay, luxurious,
and worldly city; but every note is silenced, and no voice of song, or dance, or opera, is ever heard
there again. The finest artists and
artisans of the world, of every order, had found there a very
When the curse upon Jerusalem was spoken, it was that “the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride,”
should cease from her streets (Jer. 7: 34);
but it was at the same time added that God would “restore
the captivity of the land, as at the first,” and that, in the place of the
threatened desolation, there should yet again be “the voice of joy, and the voice
of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice
of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts; for the Lord is good; for His
mercy endureth for ever.” (Jer. 33: 10, 11.) But in the case of Great Babylon there is to
be no recovery, no restoration. There
shall be no remnant left to rebuild it, no workman to lift up tool to
reconstruct it, no mills to sound there any more, no light of candle or token
of joyous civilisation to shine again amid its darkness; but it shall be “a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit,
and a hold of every unclean and hated bird;” and “it shall be no more inhabited for ever, neither shall it be
dwelt in from generation to generation.” (Jer.
1: 39, 40.)
So great a judgment argues gigantic
crimes. Glance a moment then at these,
that we may learn to stand in awe and “have no
fellowship in her sins.” Every
place is
To the credit of
But who that looks with an attentive eye but can see in it the
coming forth of a wisdom which is not from above, but which savours of him who
said to Jesus, “All these things will I give Thee, if
Thou wilt fall down and worship me.”
Commerce is not necessarily sinful.
Exchange on just and right principles may be a thing of beneficence and
good, involving nothing against God or His truth. But the tendency is otherwise. The disposition is to concentration and
consolidation on selfish principles for selfish ends. The struggle is continually more and more to
monopolise, to crush out rivalry and competition, and to enter into world-wide
combinations to seize first one interest and then another, till everything is
finally swallowed up in one great centralised aristocracy of unbounded wealth,
to which all the kings and governments on the earth must truckle.
In our day an association of merchants has commanded the
riches of the Indian seas, dragged along with it the armies and legislation of
England to effect its ends, and enriched itself at the sacrifice of innocent
blood, national treasure, and every honourable principle, whilst the good Queen
Victoria, helpless in its hands, must submit in royal gratitude to bear for it
the title of the Empress of India! The eloquence
of a Burke, in sentences which shall never die, has given a tongue to a few of
the abominations which have accompanied those administrations; but not a moiety
of them has been told, as they have added stain upon stain to the escutcheon of
England, and dishonoured the whole Anglo-Saxon race. This is but one instance, and one belonging
to the babyhood of these great commercial combinations what then may we not
expect when these privileged associations, which control the local exchanges,
money markets, and commercial affairs of the nations, have fully consolidated,
and a great, united, money aristocracy, takes command of the commerce of the
world? These would indeed be “the great men of the
earth,” and their rule would be the rule of the earth.
But what sort of a rule would it necessarily be? Would it be God’s kingdom come, and God’s
will done, on earth as it is in heaven?
So the arguments and oratory of the priests of that interest would seem
to say. But, is it so? Can it possibly be so? Look at the root-principle of these
commercial compacts. Co-equality of man
with man is to them the greatest absurdity.
What right, or place, or standing, can a man who has no. money have in
them? Wealth is the only ticket of
admission, and for that all seats are absolutely reserved. But who would ever think of going among these
money-lords and bourse-kings to find saints of God! There are some rich men from whose hearts the
Holy Ghost has not been choked out; but “how hardly
shall they that have riches enter the
And when it comes to these great and ever magnifying
commercial compacts and interests, there is not a law of God or man which is
not compelled to yield if found in the way.
Protestant and Papist, Pagan and Jew, Mohammedan and Infidel, believer
and unbeliever, Bible, Talmud, Vedas, Shasters, Koran, and Book of Mormon, are
all alike, and stand in these organisations on one and the same footing,
provided only that there is power of wealth to aid and direct the one great
scramble for the world’s trade and riches.
If the question were ever pressed in these circles, What is truth? it
would be hooted and laughed to scorn.
The cry would be, “What have we to do with that? Let every one quietly enjoy his own
opinions. Give each a share, not only,
in the protection of the government, but in its fostering and sustaining care,
for the office of government is to minister for the governed, not to concern
itself with the laws and revelations of God.”
Accordingly, also, the greatest mercantile government on
earth, England, Protestant England, which claims to maintain the only true
church, and hails all her sovereigns as “Defenders of
the Faith,” at the dictation and demand of secular and commercial
interests makes her appropriations to Romish institutions, salaries Roman
priests and professors, advances Jews to her highest offices, expends her blood
and treasure to sustain the tottering existence of the deadly curse of
Mohammedan dominion, pensions Brahmin nobles, and pays and pampers Pagan
priests. And such is the tendency and
bearing of legislation in general, and from the same causes. Governments are in the hands of commerce and
the money-kings; and commerce knows no God but gold, and no law but
self-interest and worldly gain, Church is nothing, State is nothing, creed is
nothing, Bible is nothing, Sunday is nothing, religious scruples are nothing,
conscience is nothing, everything is practically nothing, except as it can be
turned or used to the one great end of accumulation and wealth.
To make common cause with all classes
of men, to honour Mohammedan festivals and Jewish rites alike with those
commanded by the one only rightful King of the world, to pay Hindoo and Romish
priests, to endow their seminaries, and to give aid and comfort to their
idolatries alike with all Christian institutes, - which is now not only being done, but advocated and defended on the
ground that this is the only rightful sphere of government, and these the only
principles on which the true progress of humanity depends,‑is already the
incipient dethronement of all positive truth, the turning of it into a lie, or
into a mere ideal thing without claims upon the human soul; the systematic
inauguration of a latitudinarian infidelity, removing human society into many
degrees of greater distance from God than ever it has been in all the
ages. And when once the earth has come
to acknowledge the representatives and embodiments of such a system of ideas
and rule as its true and only “great Men,”
there lies couched in this one simple statement a whole world of iniquitous
apostasy, which well deserves the doom which makes an end of Great Babylon. Yes,
commerce will yet have an account to
settle, at which the world shall shake.
Another ingredient in the cup of
It is hardly possible to separate traffic, and especially great
commercial combinations and schemes, from covetousness, which is idolatry. But
naked covetousness is not attractive.
Even the natural heart is repelled by it, and is ready to condemn and
denounce it. When the possession of
wealth is made the final end, when it is treasured in the coffer and not
expended, or when means disreputable are adopted for its attainment, the
pursuit of riches is regarded with disdain.
The acquisition, under such circumstances, is connected with what is so
repulsive to pride, and taste, and respectabilities which hold in approved
society, that it meets only with frowns and disfavour. To
array it in honourable garb, to dignify it, to make it appear good and
praiseworthy, so that men may love, bless, and follow it as something noble and
beneficent, - this is what calls for the magician’s wand and the wizard’s
power.
And here it is that Great Babylon’s delusive witchery comes
in. If a godless and unscrupulous
commerce can be made to appear as the great and only availing civiliser, if it
can show its end to be, not only the welfare of individuals, but the prosperity
of nations and peoples; if its office is the development of the resources of
the whole earth, and for that end visits every land and traverses every sea; if
it is really the great stimulant to
intellectual effort, the helper of science, the procurer and disseminator of
all useful wisdom and intelligence, the rewarder of inventive genius and
engineering skill, the self-sacrificing handmaid of all social, moral, and legislative
improvement; if it is not the mere possession of wealth for its own sake, but
to secure the beneficent power, and influence and glory to result from its wise
and proper employment that makes up the end and aim of its endeavours, then
will the ugliness of avarice be voided, bitter will have been made sweet, and
all attendant deflections from right and truth swallowed up in the grandeur,
and beauty, and beneficences of its purposes.
The demon of covetousness would then have become an angel of light. A halo of glory
would encircle its head. Nations would
hail its undertakings, admire its enterprise, and praise its wonderful
benignity. The arts and the sciences,
the museums and the universities, would lay their chaplets at its feet. Kings and governments would cheerfully become
its nurses and patrons. Religions would
be glad to bestow upon it their prayers and benedictions. The apostles and prophets of this world’s
progress would clap their hands and shout over its success. And myriads would celebrate its triumph as
the ushering in of the long-dreamed millennium.
And here is the sorcery with which Great Babylon leads all the
nations astray. Linking the false
doctrines of human progress and perfectibility to the worst of passions, she lures
the world to her support, and makes mankind the willing slave of her base
idolatry. And already, from pulpit and
platform, from philosopher and political economist, from orator and poet, are
we compelled to hear just these very glorifications of the cupidities of man as
the forerunner, if not the instrument, of this world’s regeneration. Alas, for such philosophy and such
hopes! What estimate God put upon them
may be learned from what He has revealed of the doom of
I can mention now but one more particular in the count of
Great Babylon’s sins, and that is her presumptuous self-glorification, conceit,
and arrogance. She has no rights of
kingdom from God or man, and yet she presumes to bear rule over all the kings of the earth, to dictate their policies, to
fashion their laws, and to be their protector and redeemer. She acknowledges no God, no Christ, no Holy
Ghost, and yet proposes to do for the world what she assumes to be beyond the
power of the institutes and administrations of heaven. She makes no claims to sacred prophecy,
acknowledges no sacred books, and glories in being entirely secular in her
sphere and aims, and yet presumes to teach the nations the ways and means of
their highest prosperity and redemption, and to realise for them their
sublimest peace and good. She is but
human in her derivation her principles and her power, and purely earthly in her
dependence, her treasures, and her glory; yet she presumes to think herself
invincible, immortal, and for ever sufficient in her own possessions against
all adversity.
“She saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am
not a widow, and shall see no mourning.” She thus exalts herself
over the
The people of God have perpetual sorrow and trial on earth.
Like their Lord, they are poor, despised, persecuted, with scarce a place to
lay their heads in peace from their enemies.
Great
Friends, let us learn the lesson. It is to this end that all these things have
been written. Participation in Great
Babylon’s sins must needs bring Great Babylon’s doom, be the offender who or
where he may. And to but little avail
will we have considered this subject if it does not serve to imprint upon our
souls at least this one eternal truth of God, that “whosoever
exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 14: 11.)
LECTURE FORTY‑FIRST.
SEQUENCES OF THE FALL OF BABYLON - THE
WAILS OF ROYALTY - THE WAILS OF THE MERCHANTS - THE WAILS OF OTHER CLASSES -
HEAVENS GLADNESS - THE SAINTS, APOSTLES, AND PROPHETS AVENGED - THE DOUBLE
HALLELUIA - THE AMEN - FURTHER ITEMS OF THE JOY - THE TAKING OF THE KINGDOM -
BLESSEDNESS OF THE RULE OF GOD.
Rev. 18: 9-24 (Revised Text). - And shall wail and mourn over her the kings of the earth, who committed
fornication with her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off
through the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas (woe, woe), the great city
And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over
her because no one buyeth their merchandise [or ship’s freight] any more, - merchandise of gold, and of silver, and of
precious stone, and of pearl, and of fine linen, and of purple, and of silk,
and of scarlet, and all thyne [or citron] wood, and every article of ivory, and every article of most
costly wood, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble; and cinnamon, and
amomum, and odours, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine
meal, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and [merchandise] of horses, and of chariots, and of bodies and souls of
men. And thy harvest of the soul’s
desire has departed from thee, and all dainty things and bright things have
perished from thee, and they shall not find them any more. The merchants of these things, who were made
rich from her, stand afar off through the fear of her torment, weeping and
mourning, saying, Alas. alas (woe, woe), the great city which was clothed in
fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stone,
and pearl, because in one hour such great riches hath been desolated.
And every shipmaster, and every one who goeth by
sea, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off and cried out
when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What is like to the great
city! And they cast heaped-up earth upon
their heads, and cried out, weeping and mourning, saying, Alas, alas (woe,
woe), the great city by which all who had ships in the sea were made rich from
her costliness [or treasures], because in one hour she hath been
desolated!
Rejoice over her, O heaven,
and saints, and apostles, and prophets, because
God bath judged your judgment out of her.
And one, a mighty angel, took up a stone, as a great
millstone, and cast [it] into the sea saying, Thus with a bound shall the great
city
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of
saints, and of all that have been
slain upon the earth.
Rev. 19: 1-6 (Revised Text). - After these things I heard as a
great voice of much multitude in the heaven, saying, Alleluia, the salvation,
and the glory, and the power, of our God, because true and righteous His
judgments, because He judged the great harlot that corrupted the earth with her
fornication, and avenged the blood of His servants out of her hand. And a second time they say, Alleluia; and her
smoke goeth up for the ages of the ages.
And the twenty-four Elders and the four Living Ones
fell down and worshipped the God, the sitter upon the throne, saying, Amen,
Alleluia.
And a voice came out from the throne, saying, Praise
our God all His servants, those that fear Him, the small and the great.
And I heard as a voice of much multitude, and as a
voice of many waters, and as a voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia,
because the Lord God the All-Ruler hath assumed the kingdom.
The fall of Great Babylon is one of the most marvellous events of
time. More is said about it in the
Scriptures
than perhaps any one great secular occurrence. And when it comes to pass the whole universe
is thrilled at the sight. But the
emotions are not all of the same kind.
Two worlds are concerned, and in nothing are they more sharply in
contrast than in the manner in which they are respectively affected by the
dreadful catastrophe. Great
First of all the
apostolic Seer hears the wailings of royalty and dominion. “The kings of the earth wail and mourn.” They were all in close affinity with
Next come “the merchants of the
earth,” full of tears and grief over the sudden collapse of
their enriching trade. It was promised
that the wand of the sorceress would give prosperity to nations, and that as
commerce ruled, all people would be blest by its administrations; and a great
tidal wave of mercantile thrift and glory is indicated as having come over the
world by this grand unification. There never was so great a market or so
brisk a trade as that which grows up with the system of Great Babylon. The whole world becomes alive with traffic in
“merchandise of gold, and of silver, and of precious
stone, and of pearl, and of fine linen, and of purple, and of silk, and of
scarlet, and all thyne or citron wood, and every article of ivory, and every
article of most costly wood, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble; and
cinnamon, and amomum [a precious preparation from an Asiatic shrub], and odours, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and
oil, and fine meal, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and merchandise of
horses, and of chariots, and of bodies and souls of men.” Never before
was there such a demand for these things, and for all things dainty and goodly.
“The merchants of these things” the world over
never before experienced so great a harvest, and double up riches on riches
with, a rapidity which seems like miracle.
Everything looks like secure and perfect triumph for earth’s wisdom and
inventions. But all at once this mighty
commerce stops, and all its wheels stand, still. The mercantile circles of the whole earth are
stricken with consternation. Every
counting-room becomes a place of mourning.
The great traders all weep and mourn, not so much for Babylon’s
sufferings, for man’s sympathy for man shall then have been eaten away by the
common sordidness; nor yet for their great sins, for the day of repentance is
then over for them. The centre of their
distress is that their market is gone, that
“no one buyeth their merchandise any more,” that
“in one hour such great riches bath been desolated,”
that the scorching of the great city’s torment reaches them even at the
remotest distances. Alas, alas,‑woe, woe,‑is the cry that comes from all their
warehouses and homes.
But there is a third and still larger class of mourners. Great firms have more employes than heads,
and very many are dependent on them for occupation and livelihood. Ship-masters, and sea-goers, and sailors, and
as many as trade by sea, with all their helpers and crews, also have their
harvest out of this great and enriching Babylonian traffic. And these still more sorely feel the calamity
of its sudden interruption. Therefore,
from them also comes the cry of lamentation when they behold the smoke of
Thus, from every throne on earth, and from every power behind
the throne, from every seat of trade and every city, - from every continent, every
island, every sea, and every ship that plies upon the sea, - comes forth the voice of woe and irremediable
disaster. It is a triple voice, each
part of which is double. It is the evil
six complete. It is the inconsolable
lament of all the potencies and activities of earth, exhibiting another star in
the crown of this world’s wisdom and progress.
But whilst the chorus of lamentation, disappointment, and
terror is upon the earth, a grand jubilation fills the sky. As this world’s great ones, and rich ones,
and dependent ones cry Woe, woe, over Great Babylon’s fall, all the peoples on
high pour out their mightiest Halleluias. No sooner has the harlot city gone down amid her judgment fires, than
a voice springs up spontaneous over all the holy universe: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and saints, and apostles, and
prophets, because God hath judged your judgment out of her.”
For all the ages had God’s messengers
and people been protesting, prophesying, and declaiming against them worldly,
philosophies, systems, hopes, and spirit.
It lies in the very nature and essence of the profession of all saints
to “renounce the Devil and all his works, the vanities
of the world, and the sinful desires of the flesh.” No one in any age
can have place among God’s holy ones without this. As Noah by his faith, so the children of God
in all time, by the very act of becoming God’s children, “condemn the world,” and give judgment against its
wisdom, its principles, its spirit, and its hopes. So, too, all the teachings of the apostles,
all the holy messages of the prophets, and all the sermons of God’s faithful
ministers the world over. What, indeed,
has been the great controversy ever since the race begun, but that between the
revelation and the sensual wisdom, between the system of God’s salvation and
the system which men propose to work out for themselves, between the bringing
up of the world on principles of human progress and the only redemption through
faith in Christ Jesus?
And between these two there is an inherent, irreconcilable,
and eternal antagonism. That which makes
and marks the saints, the apostles, and the prophets, is at perpetual variance
with what characterises and animates all the rest of the world, condemns it,
and ever pronounces and prophesies against it.
Thus far, however, as respects this world, the saints, apostles, and
prophets have had the worst of it.
Always in the minority, the world at large has never listened to them,
never agreed with them, never consented to accept their system, never
sympathised with their hopes, never respected their profession. They depreciate its interests too much. They
are too severe on its principles. They
are in the way of its liberties. They
would draw a cowl over its joys. They
would disable its prosperous progress.
They are pessimists, who shut off all blessed outcome from its
philosophies and efforts touching the amelioration of the condition of the
race. In a word, they are intolerable to
the world, a poor croaking set, fit only to he killed off by the hand of power
where they are too persistent and loud, and unfit at best to receive respectful
attention.
If the world can find a Balaam, ready to compromise himself
for gold, to bless it for a price, and to speak God’s benediction on its lusts
and passions, him it will honour, and to him will Balak’s nobles come; but for
the Elijahs, Isaiahs, Jeremiahs, Peters, and Pauls, their fate has ever been to
be mocked, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, sawn asunder, slain with the sword, nailed to the cross, thrown to wild
beasts, or compelled to seek asylum in deserts, mountains, and dens and caves
of the earth, being destitute, tormented, afflicted, because they condemn the
godless world, its Ahabs, its Jezebels, its Herods, and its sins. Compared with the great mass of mankind, the
true Church has always been a “little flock,”
toiling with difficulties, opposition, and hatred, and never able to make
effective headway against the powers holding sway over the race. Now and then the course of history seemed on
the point of justifying her principles and profession, but then came internal
defections, setting her back again, and almost extinguishing her being. And so it will he unto the end. So far as
this present world is concerned, the general verdict of man kind, sustained by
the great current of human history for 6000 years, is against the faith and
testimonies of the saints, apostles, and prophets of God. To the general
population of the earth their profession stands branded as mere hallucination.
But at last their vindication will come. When the vaunted wisdom, and progress, and
experiments of unregenerate man are consummated, and there is nothing to show
from it but desolation, with the whole earth from highest kings to meanest
subjects howling in helpless lamentations, terror, and despair, history will
have added its seal to all that saints, apostles, and prophets have said and
maintained. Then will their judgment
have been judged out of that world which despised and persecuted them, and
spurned their hated pessimism for more flattering philosophies. Then will their renunciation of this world
and its delusive hopes be justified by the ruin of its most cherished
greatness. Then will the false verdict
under which they have lain and suffered for sixty centuries be reversed in the
living facts, of which they never ceased to tell and prophesy. Now they have sorrow, and can only weep and
lament, whilst the world rejoices and sets them at naught; but then the sorrow
and joy will exchange places, and the sorrow of the one be turned to joy, and
the joy of the other to enduring lamentation.
It is in answer to this call for heaven, saints, apostles, and
prophets to rejoice, that the sublime outbursts described in this chapter
occur. John listens and looks, and sounds
fall on his ears, and sights pass before his eyes, which stir and affect him
more deeply than anything he yet had seen or heard since the first vision.
First of all he hears “a great voice of
much multitude in heaven, saying, Alleluia.” Here, for the first time in the New
Testament, we come upon one of the most admirable words of praise ever made
known on earth. It is the same that
occurs so often in the most exultant of the Hebrew Psalms. Auselm,
of
“Loud as from
numbers without number,
Sweet as from blest voices
uttering joy.”
It is one of the very highest acknowledgments and celebrations
of God. Where it is understandingly sung
there is at once the profoundest adoration and the most exultant joy. And this is the feeling and experience in the
heaven when the proud system of this world’s apostate wisdom and glory falls.
We are not told precisely from whom this voice comes. It may be from the souls under the altar who
waited so long to be avenged. It may be
from that multitude which no man could number who come out of the great
tribulation. It may be, but not so
likely, from the host of holy angels who had been ministering for all these
ages for what is then being realised. It
may be from the 144,000 Jews remembering the terribleness of the Anti-christian
severities they suffered. But whoever
the particular parties may be, it is the voice of a multitudinous company of
people in the heaven, and it is the voice of exultant adoration, celebrating “the salvation, and the glory, and the power of our God.” Thus, what the kings, merchants, and
shippers on earth mourn and lament as destruction, is celebrated in heaven as
divine “salvation.” What is considered nothing but woe here is
praised as divine glory there. And what
is here regarded as the unmaking of all that earth called mighty is sung there
as the very triumph of divine goodness.
Heaven’s estimate of things is widely different from that entertained by
this world. The object of earth’s
fondest love and delight is the object of God’s intensest wrath. That which men most work for, and most fondly
serve, is that which God most severely judges.
And that which the great ones most deplore is the very thing which
evokes the sublimest heavenly Aalleluias.
The destruction of Great Babylon is an illustrious exhibition
of the truth and righteousness of the divine administrations. Often it would seem as if God had forgotten
His word, or quite abandoned the earth, so great is the prosperity of the
wicked, the triumph of injustice, the wrongs and afflictions which those who
most honour Him suffer. But it is not So. He is true.
His ways are just. Everything
will come out fully equalised at the last.
And here is it signal demonstration of the fact. The godless wisdom and pride of men are left
to work themselves out to the full, but when the harvest is ripe the sweep of
the sharp sickle of judgment comes against it and it suddenly falls, and all
its just deservings it gets. The harlot
And what the unnamed heavenly multitude so exultantly express,
the twenty-four Elders and the four Living Ones equally feel and endorse. They even prostrate themselves in profoundest
adoration, and “worship the God, the sitter upon the
throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia.”
And
here we meet with another of those peculiarly sacred and expressive words,
reasonably supposed to have had their origin in heaven. From our first meeting with this word Amen in the Scriptures (Numb. 5: 22) to the concluding word of this Book,
we find it used as the special word of holy acquiescence and sacred
ratification. It was constantly on the lips of the Saviour in His most solemn
enunciations. It is the sealing word to
all the Gospels and Epistles. It is not
an oath, yet it has much of the solemnity and force of an oath. It contains no adjuration or appeal, yet it
authenticates, confirms, binds, seals, and pledges to the truth of that to
which it is affixed. It is not an
imprecation upon him who utters it, but it is a tying up and giving over of his
whole being and life to what he thus acknowledges and confirms. When placed at the end of an utterance or act
of devotion, as placed by the Saviour at the end of the prayer He propounded as
our model and form, it has the office of an underwriting or subscription,
carrying the hearty consent and confidence of the worshipper with what has gone
before.
It is the word of fervency and self-earnestness by which every
utterance is grasped up again, and renewedly laid before God, as the full and
ardent desire of our hearts, and as that which our souls most feel and most
sacredly rest in. And so it is in the
case now before us. The Elders and the
Living Ones hear the triumphant celebration of the salvation, and the glory,
and the power of our God, as sounded forth in the great voice of the much
multitude, and feel the convictions and emotions of their own souls so
completely expressed that they adoringly bow down and sacredly make it their
own. All heaven is of one mind and of
one soul. Therefore the self-prostrated
Elders and Living Ones answer the Halleluias of the unnamed host with a third Halleluia, prefaced with the Amen, which makes the other two theirs also.
But this triple utterance of exultant praise and celebration
of the salvation, glory and power of our God, is still further urged on by a
voice that comes out from the throne itself, saying, “Praise
our God, all His servants, those that fear Him, the small and the great.”
We are not told whose voice this is. Some take it as the voice of Christ, who is
elsewhere said to be “in the midst of the throne.”
(7: 17) lf it is His voice, He thus
recognises the Father as His God, as He did in the days of His earthly life,
and at the same time owns all the glorified as His associates. But whether it is Christ’s voice or not, it
is the voice of the throne, a voice having authority to command and lead off in
further exultation for the marvellous things then being accomplished. Nor is it unlikely that the Saviour Himself
loads in the praise enjoined. So the
promise runs in Psalm 22.: “I will declare Thy name
unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee. Ye
that fear the Lord, praise Him. My praise shall be of Thee in the great
congregation; I will pay my vows before them that fear Him.”
The subject of the praise here called
for seems to look two ways, embracing the judgment just executed, and new
glories about to be realised, of which that judgment is the pledge and inauguration. The voice which gave the first and second Halleluias was the voice of a vast heavenly
multitude. The Amen and third Halleluia were from the Elders and the Living Ones. These all centre in the display of divine
truth, justice, and almightiness in the judgment of Great Babylon, and the
avenging of the blood of the saints out of her hand. If there be any other servants and fearers of
God, great or small, they are also called to join in the exulting praises for
the same. But as response comes to this
admonition from the throne, the songs take in other subjects, and seem to
embrace all that is described in the latter part of the chapter. The Halleluia which now comes with redoubled power and majesty celebrates the
assumption of the kingdom by the Lord God, which would seem to imply that the
victory in the battle of the great day is included. The marriage of the Lamb, the readiness and
array of the Bride, and the blessedness of those who are called to the marriage
banquet are likewise recounted.
No sooner does the voice from the throne give command for
praise than John “heard as a voice of much multitude,
and as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia,
because the Lord God, the All‑Ruler hath assumed the kingdom.” This
is a mightier Halleluia than either
of the preceding. It refers also to an
ampler subject. The judgment of Great
Babylon demonstrated, indeed, that God is mighty, and that he is the All‑Ruler. It also showed a potent taking up and
enforcement of His sovereign and righteous authority. But what was thus shown in one aspect and
relation is at once followed out to a much wider and more direct assumption of
active rule and sovereignty. When the
seventh trumpet was sounded a great voice anticipatively exclaimed: “The kingdom of the world [not kingdoms, as some versions and unsupported copies read, but … as all the great manuscripts have it,
rendered by Wickliffe, the Rheims version, the old Vulgate, and
the still older Syriac, the kingdom of the world], is become our Lord’s and His Christ’s.” The
kingdom of the world means the political sovereignty of the world, the
rulership of the world, the kingly dominion or government of the world, the
same which is now exercised by the potentates and authorities of the earth.
And this [millennial] kingdom of the world, this sovereignty, this rule,
this power of making and enforcing the
laws regulating human society, the great voice said was then about to pass into
the hands of the Lord. It does not mean
the leavening of existing governments with Christian principles, the spiritual
conversion of countries and empires, leaving them in existence, and simply
Christianising them so as to exhibit something of Christ’s spirit in their
administrations; but the total
displacement of all this world’s sovereigns and governments, the taking of all
dominion and authority out of their hands, and the putting of it in the hands
of Christ as the true and only King of the world. And the actual assumption of this rulership
of the earth in the place and stead of existing governments and lordships is
what the song of praise to God here so mightily celebrates. “As a voice of much multitude, as a voice of many waters, and
as a voice of mighty thunders,” comes forth the grand “Alleluia because the Lord God, the All‑Ruler hath assumed the
kingdom;” that is, has Himself entered upon the actual administration of the sovereignty
and government of the world.
The fall of Great Babylon heralds and begins the political
regeneration of the earth.
And well may the tide of holy exultation swell to its
sublimest height over such an actuality.
What is the crown consummation of that prayer which the Lord Jesus put
upon the lips and into the hearts of all his followers when he said, pray,
“THY KINGDOM COME”?
Does it mean no more than that our own hearts may be
thoroughly subdued to our Maker, purged of idolatry and lust, purified by the
Holy Ghost, and filled with all pureness, heavenly knowledge, devotion,
obedience, and grace? That might be, and
yet the earth be crushed with misrule, tyranny, corruption and oppression. Does it mean simply that the Church may be
ever dear and faithful to God, its ministers multiplied, its membership
increased, its Scriptures distributed, its faith kept pure, its sacraments
observed, its defections healed, its weaknesses removed, its success augmented,
and all its members blessed with all spiritual riches in Christ Jesus? That
might all be and the world still be to her a
When Isaiah
prophesied of Christ, he said: “The government shall be
upon His shoulder; of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the
throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and justice.”
(Is. 9: 6, 7.) When the Holy Ghost explained the meaning of
the all-crushing stone in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, which broke to atoms the
whole statue of worldly power and dominion, took its place, and filled the
whole earth, the word was, This is the kingdom which the God of heaven shall
set up, which shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, and it
shall stand for ever. (Dan. 3: 32-45.) When Daniel was beholding till “the judgment was set and the books opened,” he saw in
the night visions, like to the Son of Man, brought before the Ancient of days,
“and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a
kingdom, that all people,
nations, and languages should serve Him,” even “the
kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven,” “an everlasting
kingdom.” (Dan. 7.) When Gabriel announced to Mary the child
to be born of her, he said: “He shall be great, and
shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord shall give unto Him the
throne of His father David,
and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end:” (Luke 1: 26‑33.)
When He Himself was among men, because some “thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear,”
He spake a parable, and said that the matter is as a nobleman going “into a far country to receive for himself a
kingdom, and to return,”
meanwhile entrusting to his servants certain possessions with which to trade
and occupy till he should come. (Luke 19: 11‑13.) And so again he said: “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy
angels with Him, then shall He sit in the throne of His glory.” (Matt.
25: 3l.) All these and many like
passages treat of that very kingdom, for
the coming of which all are commanded to pray. Nor can they be explained
according to their plain and pointed terms without taking in the coming again
of Christ to reckon with His servants, to take the rule out of the hands of
those who have usurped dominion over the earth, to dethrone Satan and all his
agents, and to reign from sea to sea, the
only rightful King of the
world. And thus, when Great Babylon
falls, it will be God’s kingdom come, as it never yet has come, and the burden
of the prayer of all these weary ages answered.
This assumption of the rule of the world will likewise
bring with it the great desideratum of the race. When Adam was in Eden God was king. In the days of
The best governments man has ever tried have invariably
disappointed their founders, and proven themselves too weak or too strong, too
concentrated or too dissevered, and in one way or another have turned into
instruments of injustice, ambition, selfishness, and affliction. The demonstration of the ages is, that “that which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which
is wanting cannot be numbered.”
So true is this that one has said, with a pathos that shows how deep the
conviction was, “I know no safe depository of power
among mortal men for the purposes of government. Tyranny and oppression, in Church and State,
under every form of government, - social, civil, ecclesiastical, monarchical,
aristocratical, or democratic, - have, sooner or later, characterised the
governments of the earth, and have done so from the beginning.”
Bad government is doubtless better than no government. In the nature of things we must have
government of some sort. Because of the
worse ills of anarchy we take the lesser afflictions of government in such form
as we can get it. But what
right-thinking and right-feeling man is not outraged every day at the
injustice, maladministration, perversion, and abominations that go along with
every government of man? So it ever has
been, and so it ever will be while “man’s day” lasts. “The kingdom is the Lord’s,” and till He comes and
assumes it there will be disappointment, misrule, revolution, and incurable
trouble in all human calculations and affairs.
Nothing but the sway and reign of heaven can redeem this fallen world
out of the pestilential morasses of
its incompetent and oppressive governments.
But there is an All‑Ruler who
will yet assume the kingdom, and give the race the reign of blessedness.
“He shall come down like rain upon the
mown grass, as showers that water the earth.
In His days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long
as the moon endureth. He shall have
dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the
earth. They that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before Him, and His enemies shall lick the dust. All kings shall fall down before Him; all nations
shall serve Him. For He shall deliver the needy when He crieth, the poor also,
and him that hath no helper. He shall
redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be
in His sight. He shall live, and to Him
shall be given of the gold of
Thus flowed the glorious numbers from David’s prophetic harp, telling of
the All‑Ruler’s assumption of the kingdom, and exulting in it, until the royal
singer’s soul tired up into the very Alleluia of the text, crying, “Blessed be His
glorious name for ever! And the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen.” Human utterance could go no
higher. The mountain summit of the
promised blessedness was reached. And
there the prayers of David, the son of Jesse ended. (Ps. 72.)
We thus begin to see something of the dawn and character of those
better times to come when once the mystery of God is finished. Tyrants, despots, and faithless and
burdensome governments shall then be no more.
Like wild beasts, full of savage instinct for blood and oppression, have
the world-powers roamed and ravaged the earth, treading down the nations, their
will the only law, the good and happiness of men the furthest from their
hearts. But it will be otherwise
then. “The Lord
shall be king over all the earth,” and therein is the signal and pledge
of the dominion of right and everlasting peace.
Wars shall be no more. Injustice and unequal laws shall be done
away. Enemies will be powerless. Men will then have their standing according
to their moral worth. The salvation of God will be nigh to them that fear Him. Truth will spring out of the earth, and
righteousness shall look down from heaven.
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Therefore the voice of eternal right is, “Praise
our God, all His servants, those that fear Him, the small and the great,”
and from all the holy universe comes the song, in volume like the sea, in
strength like the thunder, “ALLELUIA, BECAUSE THE LORD GOD THE ALL-RULER HATH ASSUMED THE
KINGDOM.”
LECTURE FORTY‑SECOND.
THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB - THE
BRIDEGROOM - THE BRIDE - SEVERAL CLASSES OF THE SAVED - THE BRIDES MAKING OF
HER-SELF READY - THE MARRIAGE - CURIOUS OPINIONS OF INTERPRETERS - THE TAKING
POSSESSION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM - THE MARRIAGE SUPPER - THE GUESTS - THE
CERTAINTY OF THESE THINGS.
Rev. 19: 7-10 (Revised Text). - Let us rejoice and
exult, and we will give the glory to Him, because is come the marriage of the
Lamb, and his wife [the
Woman] prepared
herself. And it was given to her
that she should clothe herself in fine linen, bright pure; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the
saints.
And He saith to me, Write, Blessed they who have
been called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb. And He saith to me, These are the true words
of God.
And I fell down before His feet to worship Him. And He said, Take heed, no; I am a
fellow-servant of thee and of thy brethren that have the witness of Jesus;
worship God; for the witness of Jesus is the spirit of the prophecy.
The fall of Great Babylon lifts a heavy load from the hearts
of all the holy universe. The day and reign of apostate man then
reach their final close. The hopes and
prayers of faith, and all the gracious prophecies and promises of God, then come to the goal of their fulfilment. Earth’s true, invincible, and eternal king then takes the sovereignty, never again
to pass it into other hands. The
heavenly worlds understand it, and pour forth their mightiest exultations. And thick and thronging are the subjects of
joy which now crowd upon their enraptured attention.
Among the rest is one singled out with special interest and
delight. Whilst the song of Halleluia swells to the dimensions of mighty
thunders, because the Lord God, the All‑Ruler hath assumed the kingdom, a call
goes forth, “Let us rejoice and exult, and we wiill give the
glory to Him, because is come The Marriage of Lamb.” The Harlot swept away, the faithful
Woman comes to her rightful honours. The
betrothed, so long waiting amid privation, persecution, and contempt, now
becomes a Bride. The time of her marriage has at length
arrived, and the grand nuptial banquet begins.
And that marriage and that banquet are what we are now to consider. God help us to understand it, and to rejoice ourselves
in the contemplation!
Expositors generally have taken it for granted that this
marriage is so familiar to the readers of holy Scripture, and so well
understood, as to need no explanation.
Perhaps had they attempted to set forth in definite form what they pass
as so plain, they would have found the task less easy than they thought. Though the subject is common to both
Testaments, there is not another of equal prominence and worth upon which so
little direct attention has been bestowed by modern divines, or upon which
clear ideas are so scarce. In my study
of it, question after question has come up, even with regard to some of the
most essential points, which I find it very hard to answer satisfactorily. And if others have found it so plain and easy
as to render the explanation of it a work of supererogation, they would have
relieved me much, as well as an almost total blank in our theologies with
regard to one of the most frequently recurring subjects of Holy Writ, if they
had condescended to record the results of their examinations. As it is, we must examine for ourselves.
1. Who is the Bridegroom?
On this point, fortunately, there is not much room for
misunderstanding It is “The Lamb,” the blessed Saviour, who gave Himself to
death as a sacrifice for our sins, and is alive and living for ever. It is the everlasting Son of the Father made
incarnate for our salvation, and in His twofold nature exalted, glorified, and
enthroned in eternal majesty. And yet it
may be a question whether, in His character and marriage as The
Lamb, everything is to be
understood to which the Scriptures refer under the figure of man’s marriage to
God; whether there is not some particular and special intimacy or relationship
meant to be set forth in this case; whether it respects the Jewish people only,
or Christian people only, or all saints alike.
The Old Testament Church is everywhere represented as betrothed to God
as a candidate for a glorious union with Him in due time, (Isa. 14: 1‑8; Ezek.
16: 7 seq.; Hos. 2: 19 seq.) It is the same with regard to the
John the Baptist spoke of Christ as the Bridegroom, and of
himself as “the friend of the Bridegroom, which
standeth and heareth him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom’s
voice.” (Jno. 3: 29.) Paul speaks of those whom he begat in the
Gospel as espoused to one husband, whom he desired to present as a chaste
virgin to Christ. (2 Cor. 11: 2.) Earthly marriage is likewise spoken of as a
mystery, significant of Christ’s relation to His Church, (Eph. 5: 23‑32.)
All this proves, as clearly as may be, that in the economy of grace and
redemption our blessed Saviour takes the character and relation of a Bridegroom
or Husband to His people, of one class or another, and that a great and blessed
union between Himself and them remains to be celebrated. Whether the marriage
in each case is precisely one and the same thing or respects the same identical
parties, it is equally certain that it is The Lamb, - the glorified Lord Jesus
Christ, - who is here contemplated as the Bridegroom and Husband.
2. Who is the Bride? Upon
first blush the answer would be, the Lord’s true and faithful people, all who
by faith and obedience were
affianced to Him, and continued faithful
to the end. In a general way this
answer may be accepted as the truth, but in a narrower and closer view of
things it cannot be taken as strictly and absolutely correct.
The 45th Psalm
unmistakably refers to this subject. The
qualities and doings of the King, come forth from the ivory palaces, are there
described with great vigour and animation.
But there is also the Queen, the King’s Bride, standing on his right
hand, in gold of Ophir, and all glorious within. It is said of her that “she shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needle-work.” But, besides the Queen, the King’s Bride,
there is another blessed company, who are also to enter with rejoicing into the
King’s palace, and to share the light of his countenance. They are called “the
virgins,” the “companions,” associates,
and bosom friends of the Queen, but plainly distinct from the Queen
herself. They do not go with her when
she is taken, but “follow her,” - come after
her, and are “brought unto the King” at a
subsequent time, and in quite another capacity from that of the Queen and
Bride.
All of them belong to the general congregation of the
saved. All of them are made for ever
happy in their Lord, the King. But the
Queen is one class, and “the virgins her companions
that follow her,” are another class.
So, too, in the Song of Solomon (6:
8, 9), we read of queens, concubines, and virgins, whom the fathers, for
the most part, understood as referring to the various classes which make up the
Church as a whole. For if not, why are
they called by names so descriptive of the King’s most intimate associates and
household? Or how could they have that
devout and admiring sympathy with the Bride, blessing and praising her as they
do, if not of the same general fellowship with her? The oldest Christian interpretation, and that
which is best sustained, sees in them none but genuine believers, but of different
degrees of honour and nearness to their Lord; in which case, again, not all have the Bride’s place.
It is the common doctrine of the Scriptures that there are
great diversities in the portions awarded to the saints. There are some
greatest and some least in the kingdom of heaven. There are some who shall be first and some
who shall be last. There are some who
get crowns, and there are some who get none.
There are some who are assigned dominion over ten cities, some over
five, and some who lose all reward, and are saved only “so as by fire.” The four
Living Ones, and the four-and-twenty Elders, are the representatives of men
saved from the earth. They sing the song
of redemption by the blood of Christ.
But they are in heaven, crowned, glorified, and installed in blessed
priesthoods and kinghoods in advance of the vast multitude (Rev. 7: 9) whose rewards are inferior. Diversities so great are incompatible with
the peculiar honours and regality of the wife of a king.
Besides, princesses and queens, above all on occasions of
their marriage, always have their associates, companions, maids of honour,
attendants, suites, and friends, who, in a general way, are counted with them
as making one and the same company, but who in fact are very distinct in honour
and privilege from those on whom they find it their happiness to attend. Just as the Bridegroom comes not alone, but
with attendants, companions, and a long train of rejoicing ones who make up his
party, the whole of whom together are called the Bridegroom’s coming,
whilst, - strictly speaking, there is a
wide difference between him and those with him; so it is on the side of the Bride. She has her companions and attendants too, -
“virgins which follow her.” They make up her company and train. In coming to wed her the Bridegroom comes
also into near and close relation to them.
To a blessed degree they share the Bride’s honours. And in general terms we must include them
when we speak of the Bride, although, in strict language, they are not all the
Bride. The Bride has relations to the
Bridegroom which belong to her alone, and it is only because of her and their
association and companionship with her, and not because they are the Bride in
actual fact, that the whole company of the saved
Hence, also, the angel directed John to write, “Blessed they who have been called to the supper of the marriage
of the Lamb.” It is the wider and
the more general blessedness of the occasion that the seer was thus to attest.
If all the saved were actually the Bride, it would have been enough, and more
to the point, to say, “Blessed they that are called to
be the Wife of the Lamb.” But
there is a blessedness of being called to witness His marriage, and a
blessedness of participation with the bridal company in the marriage banquet,
as well as a more special blessedness of being, the actual Bride of the Lamb. The call is indeed to make up the Bride. It is exit of these called ones that the
Bride is chosen. But the choosing of the
Bride does not, therefore, exclude the rest of the company from the honours and
privileges of the marriage supper, or from companionship with the Lamb and His
Wife. The blessedness of the marriage
supper is much wider than that of becoming the Bride, though the Bride has
honour and nearness to the Lord which belong to her only. Hence the writing was to be, not simply “Blessed they that are
called to be the Wife of the Lamb,” but “Blessed
they who are called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb;” - called
as in the parable of the marriage of the king’s son, which call includes the
opportunity to become the Bride as well as happy guests.
In this sense also am I constrained to take the subsequent
showing of “the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife,” “that great city, the holy
3. What is the making of Herself ready? The allusion seems to be to something of the
same sort with the putting on of the wedding garment, of which so much is made
in the parable of the marriage of the king’s son. (Matt.
22: 1‑14.) There one of the
guests was found without a wedding garment, and for that deficiency was put
away from the happy company amid shame and sorrow. But in this case the Bride “prepared herself. And it was given to
her that she should clothe herself in fine linen, - bright, pure, - for the
fine linen is the righteousness of the
saints.” Thus it is said in
Isaiah (61: 10), “I
will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He
hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the
robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a
bride adorneth herself with jewels.”
Thus, also, when the seer saw the holy city coming down from God out of
heaven, she was “prepared is a bride adorned for her
husband.” (21: 2.) The excellencies in which the Bride here
arrays herself are described as the finest linen, of the intensest purity and
lustre; but it is at the same time a spiritual linen, which is “the righteousness of
the saints.”
Three things appear in the notice of this ready-making. (1) There is self-activity on the part of the Bride to prepare herself. (2) There is gratuity and bestowment, putting
what is requisite at her command. And
(3) she is receptive and obedient in
making the intended use of what is given her.
The description evidently takes in the whole previous career of those who
make up the Bride. The preparation
refers not only to something that is done at this time, but also to what has been in the course of doing all
along, and now comes to its fruit and award. The coming to Christ, the learning of Him,
the espousal to Him in holy confession, and justification by faith in His blood
and merit, are unquestionably included.
Paul was aiming at this very preparedness and honour of the Bride of the
Lamb, and counted all temporal possessions as nothing and exerted himself in
every way to be fit for it. But that
fitness, he tells us, was his being found not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, - a mere show
of human works, - but having that righteousness which is through faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. (Phil.
3: 8‑14.) But the righteous acts and good works of the
justified are also included. The
word is in the plural – “the righteousnesses of the saints.” Some call it the plurality of dignity, and
make nothing special of it. Others say
it is the distributive plural, in allusion to the many who have it. But parallel instances are wanting to sustain
either of these theories. It distinctly implies that the saints have
more than one righteousness, as the Scriptures elsewhere teach.
There is a righteousness of justification, and a righteousness
of life and sanctification. There is a
righteousness which is the free gift of God in Christ Jesus, and a
righteousness of man’s own active obedience to God’s ordinances and
commands. True saints have both; a
righteousness by imputation through faith without works, and a righteousness which is the fruit of faith, consisting of works
springing from and wrought in faith. And both enter into that adornment of the Bride wherein she maketh herself
ready. She is clothed with the fine
and shining linen of “the righteousnesses of the saints,” the
righteousness of a free justification by faith in her Lord who died for her, and the righteousness of a life of earnest,
active, and grateful devotion to make herself meet and worthy for so good and
gracious a Husband. (Comp. Luke 20: 35; 21: 36;
Eph. 4: 1; Col. 1: 10; Rev. 3: 4.)
But it is not certain that the clothing of herself in these
righteousnesses is all that is embraced in the Bride’s preparation for the
wedding. That is the part of her ready‑making
as respects this life; but who knows what else remains for her to do after this
life is over, or what practical activities remain for the saints between the
moment of their removal to immortality and the heavenly solemnities which are
shadowed to us under the idea of the marriage of the Lamb? Heaven is no more a scene of quiescence than
earth. There is history in the career of
saints after they leave this world as well as in it, and far greater and
sublimer history than pertains to them here. And who knows into what grand
activities the people of God are ushered when their mortality is swallowed up
of life? or with what preparations they may then be called to busy themselves
for the sublime events and ceremonies that lie before them in their instalment
into the relations and dignities of their everlasting estate? The celestial population seem to know of
ready-making in heaven, which comes after the ready-making on earth, which is
to them a subject of glad rejoicing, and of new and special giving of glory to
God. But just what it is, or exactly to
what it relates, we must content ourselves not to know till the time for it
comes.
4. What is the Marriage?
Here again we must be satisfied with very imperfect information. John did not see the marriage, neither was it
explained to him. He only heard the
heavenly rejoicing that the time for it had come, that the Bride had prepared
herself, and that he was to declare the blessedness of those who are called to
the banquet then to be spread. That the
marriage and the supper are not one and the same thing, the nature of the case,
as well as the manner in which they are referred to, would seem to make
evident. The marriage is accompanied with a becoming feast, but the feast is
one thing and the marriage is another, though occurring at the same time and
most intimately correlated.
It is curious to observe how various are the notions which
interpreters have given of this marriage of the Lamb. Beza, Robertson (of Leuchars), Clarke,
and others are confident that it refers to a happy condition of the Church in
this world, when “whole contemporary churches are in
covenant with Christ in a most upright manner.” It is supposed by these that when the Church
becomes more pure in her doctrines, more pious in her experiences, and more
righteous in her conduct than ever she has yet been, this whole showing will be
exhausted. Dr. Vaughan speaks of the marriage as “the
ideal concourse and combination of the blessed company of all faithful people
on their entrance into their rest.”
This would seem to accord with the presentations as to time and place,
but tells nothing as to what the marriage itself is. Dusterdieck
understands it to be “Christ’s distribution of the
eternal reward of grace to His faithful ones, who then enter with Him into the
full glory of the heavenly life;” which may be true enough in general,
for the marriage is surely the result, award, and consummation of grace toward
the Bride; but it still leaves us in the region of mist and darkness as to any
difference between the marriage and the judgment. The translator of Lange (in loc.) comes
closer to the truth when he represents the marriage as “the union of the whole body of the saints with a personally present
Christ in glory and government - the establishment of the kingdom.”
As the writer of The Apocalypse Expounded says, “It is a scene taking place in the heaven, after the
resurrection of the saints, and ere Jesus and His risen ones are manifested to
the earth, as heaven is not opened till the marriage has occurred.” The
blessedness of it is not inaptly described by Lange to be “the reciprocal operation of a spiritual fellowship of love.” It is Christ in the character of the Lamb,
the mighty Goel, formally acknowledging
and taking to Himself as copartners of His throne, dominion, and glory, all
those chosen ones who have been faithful to their betrothal, and appear at last
in the spotless and shining apparel of the righteousness of the saints,
thenceforward to be with Him, reign with Him, and share with Him in all His
grand inheritance, for ever.
Just what the ceremony of this marriage is we are nowhere
told. Some have thought that it is the
first opening of the city of
5. What is the Marriage Supper?
Contrary to all congruity, many take it as about one and the same
with the marriage itself. Marriage is
the establishment of relationship and status; a marriage feast is the refreshment, the eating and
drinking, and general social joy on the part of those attending upon a
marriage. First the Bridegroom comes,
next the marriage is solemnised, and then the assembled company is invited to
the special repast provided for the occasion.
And so in this case. The
Bridegroom appears, the marriage takes place, and then the grand banquet ensues;
so that the supper is a different thing from the marriage, though following
immediately upon it.
Everywhere in the Scriptures do we hear of this feast. As in the matter of the marriage, something
of it is to be enjoyed already in this life.
There is a supper of Gospel blessings of which we may now partake. But as the actual marriage occurs in heaven
subsequent to the resurrection, so also the fulness of the Gospel supper is
deferred till then. Isaiah (25: 6‑9) sung of a feast of fat things, of wines
on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined,
which the Lord of Hosts is to make. The
feast of Gospel blessings is doubtless included; but this is a feast whose
glorious fulness is beyond the grave. A
chief part of its glory is that then “death is
swallowed up in victory,” tears are all wiped away by Jehovah’s hand,
the disabilities and hardships of His people are gone, and the shout is, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him; we will be glad
and rejoice in His salvation.” Of
that same feast the Saviour spoke when He said to His disciples, “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until
that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” (Matt. 26: 29.)
So, also, when He had finished the paschal supper, and said, “I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the
Of what that supper shall consist we cannot yet know. The Scriptures speak of bread of heaven and
angels’ food, and the Saviour tells of eating and drinking there. He who supplied the wedding at Cana, and fed
the thousands in the wilderness, and furnished the little dinner to His worn
disciples as they came up from the sea of toil to the shore trodden by His glorified
feet, can be at no loss to make good every word, and letter, and allusion which
the Scriptures contain with reference to that high festival. The angels know something about it, and the
angel told John that it would be a blessed thing to be there. “Write,” said
the heavenly voice, “write, Blessed
they who have been called to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb.”
6. Who, then, are the Guests?
Chief of all who sit down to
the marriage banquets on earth are the bridegroom and the bride. It is in honour of their union that the feast
is held, and to them is assigned the most conspicuous place. This is a genuine marriage feast, the
antitype of all the marriage feasts of time, and this particular feature cannot
be wanting there. In the after chapters
we are told that the Lamb is the light of the golden house in which it is
held. He, therefore, is there in
unveiled glory, the observed, the adored, the sublimest joy of all. And where
He is there His bride is also, for they are united now, never to be separated
any more. She is there in all her
perfected loveliness, “not having spot, or wrinkle, or
any such thing,” but “all glorious within,”
and enfolded in her garments of needlework, and gold, and in the faultless and
radiant linen of the righteousnesses of the saints. There also are “the
virgins, her companions that follow her,” and make up her sublime and
glorious train. And whosoever, in any
age, in any land, of any language, of any tribe, has heard of the promised seed
of the woman, and believed in Him, and listened to the calls and promises of
God, and directed his heart and pilgrim steps for that blest city, shall
likewise be there. Whether as bride or guest, the whole Church of the first-born,
from Adam down to the last martyr under the Antichrist, shall be there,
radiant in that redemption for which they hoped and suffered. The quaint old hymn says truly:
“There be
prudent Prophets all,
The Apostles six and six,
The glorious Martyrs in a
row,
And Confessors betwixt.
There doth the
crew of righteous men
And nations all consist;
Young men and
maids that here on earth
Their pleasures did resist.
The sheep and lambs that hardly ’scaped
The snare of death and
hell,
Triumph in joy eternally,
Whereof no tongue can tell;
And though the
glory of each one
Doth differ in degree,
Yet is the joy of all
alike,
And common certainly.
There David stands, with
harp in hand,
As master of the choir;
A thousand times that man
were blessed
That might his music hear.
There Mary sings
‘Magnificat,’
With tunes surpassing
sweet;
And all the virgins bear
their part,
Singing about her feet.
‘To Deum,’ doth St. Ambrose
sing,
St. Austin doth the same;
Old Simeon and Zacharie
Anew their songs inflame.
There Magdalene hath left
her moan,
And cheerfully doth sing,
With all blest saints whose
harmony
Through every street doth
ring.
And in that holy company
May you and I find place,
Through worth of Him who
died for us,
And through His glorious
grace;
With Cherubim and Seraphim,
And hosts of ransomed men,
To sing our praises to The
Lamb,
And add our glad Amen.”
7. What authority have we for all
this? There be those who count it all a dream,
a pleasant fancy, a sweet hallucination, by which enthusiastic souls impose
upon themselves. And if it were, why
deny to poor, sorrowing, and afflicted humanity its consoling radiance? Be it a mere conceit, is not the race the
happier and the better for believing it?
But no, it is not delusion. The
very blessedness which it diffuses through the souls that take it to their
thoughts is a voucher for its heavenly reality.
The holy being who told of it to the seer propounds it as the sum of all
sacred revelations, and says, “These are the true
words of God.”
Ah, yes; there is a Lamb, once slain, now risen and glorified,
moving serene and mighty amid the principalities of eternity, himself the
highest of them all, to whom all believers stand betrothed and plighted,
preparing and waiting for a wedding day to come, when they shall be joined to
him in fellowship, glory, and dominion for ever. There is a city of gold, - and light, and
jewels for God’s people, building for these and now near its readiness for
their everlasting habitation. There is
in store a banquet when once the honoured Bride sets foot upon its golden
streets, the call to which, if heeded, is man’s superlative blessedness. Room for doubt, is none; for “these are the true words of God.”
The revelation
to John was overpowering. It so thrilled
upon his soul, and so stimulated his sense of grateful wonder and adoration,
that he fell down before the angel’s feet to worship him. It was an error to offer such honour to a
fellow-servant with himself, and the same was promptly checked; but it helps to
tell the entrancing magnificence of the final portion of the saints - the
overwhelming majesty of the glory to come when the Bridegroom comes. It bends
the soul in awe even towards the messengers who tell of it. It is more than heart of flesh can well stand
up under, even in prospect. What then
will be the actual realisation? A holy
apostle falls upon his face in adoration when he hears of it, and the glorified
in heaven cry, “Let us rejoice and exult, and we will
give the glory to God,” when the time for it arrives. What then, O man, O woman, is the state and
feeling of your heart concerning it? To
you has come the call to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb; what is the
response you have made to it? To you is
offered the wedding garment to appear there in honour and glory; have you
accepted it, and put it on, and kept its purity unsoiled? The cry has long been ringing in your ears,
“Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!” Are
your loins girded about, your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto those
who wait for their Lord? Five virgins
once set out to reach that festival, but when they came “the door was shut.” They knew what was required; but the Bridegroom came, and this was the
consequence of their unreadiness. God
forbid that this should be your [our] experience!
“Wake, awake,
for night is flying,
The watchmen on the heights
are crying;
Awake,
Midnight hears the welcome
voices,
And at the thrilling cry
rejoices;
Come forth, ye virgins,
night is past!
The Bridegroom comes,
awake,
Your lamps with gladness
take;
Halleluia!
And for His marriage feast
prepare,
For ye must go to meet Him
there.”
LECTURE FORTY‑THIRD
BATTLE OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY
- THE SUBLIME HERO - COMES OUT OF THE HEAVEN - HIS HORSE - HIS CHARACTER - HIS
EYES - HIS DIADEMS - HIS NAMES - HIS CLOTHING - HIS SWORD - HIS TITLE – HIS
FOLLOWERS – THEIR HORSES - THEIR CLOTHING - THE ARMIES HE ENCOUNTERS - THE
LAUGH OF GOD - BIRDS INVITED TO THE SLAUGHTER - THE BEASTS AND FALSE PROPHET’S
FATE - THE SLAYING OF THE ARMED HOSTS - THE VICTORY.
Rev. 19: 11-21 (Revised Text). - And I saw
the heaven opened and behold a white horse, and one seated upon him, Faithful
and True, and in righteousness He judgeth and warreth; His eyes flame of fire,
and on His head many diadems, having a name written which no one knoweth but
Himself, and clothed in vesture dipped [or stained] with blood, and His name is called THE WORD OF GOD. And the
armies, the ones in the heaven were following Him on white horses, clothed in
fine linen, white, pure. And out of His
mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it He may smite the nations; and HE shall rule [or sheperdise] them with a rod
of iron. and HE treadeth the
winepress of the wine of the anger of the wrath of the God, the All‑Ruler. And He hath upon His vesture, even upon His
thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.
And I saw a certain angel standing in the sun, and he
cried with a great voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in mid-heaven,
Hither, be gathered together to the great supper of God, that ye may eat flesh
of kings, and flesh of captains of thousands, and flesh of mighty men, and
flesh of horses, and of those that sit on them, and flesh of all [classes], both
free and bond, and small and great.
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and
his armies, gathered together to make the battle with the sitter upon the
horse, and with His army. And the beast
was taken, and with him the false prophet who wrought the miracles in his
presence with which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and
those who worship his image; these two were cast alive into the lake of fire
which burneth with brimstone; and the rest were slain with the sword of the
sitter on the horse, which (sword) proceedeth out of his mouth; and the fowls
were filled from their flesh.
The marriage of
the Lamb, and the grand banquet which attends it, are speedily followed with the
closing scene of this present world. It
is a scene of war and blood. It is the
battle of the great day of God Almighty.
It is the coming forth of the powers of eternity to take forcible
possession of the earth. It finds all
the confederated kingdoms of man mustered in rebellion against the anointed and
rightful sovereign of the earth. A
collision ensues, which is the most wonderful that ever occurs under
heaven. And the result is a victory for
the right, which is to be for ever. The
description is one of the grandest contained in these Revelations. In proceeding to contemplate it four things
are to be considered:
1. THE MIG1ITY CONQUEROR.
2. THE HOSTS WHICH FOLLOW HIM.
3. THE ARMIES HE ENCOUNTERS.
4. THE COMPLETENESS OF HIS TRIUMPH.
God help us to take in these particulars to our edification
and spiritual profit.
1. THE MIGHTY CONQUEROR.'
The sublime Hero of the scene is none other than our ever
blessed Lord Jesus. His name is not
given, but the marks and inscriptions which He bears, and all that is said of
Him, infallibly identify Him as the same Jesus who went up into heaven from the
summit of
He comes forth out of the heaven. For this purpose John saw it opened. When Jesus
came up from the waters of baptism, “the heavens were
open unto Him,” and the Spirit descended upon Him, and a voice from the
empyrean depths said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3: 16.) When Stephen
was martyred he saw “the heavens opened, and the
Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” (Acts
7: 55.) When Jesus was on earth
He promised His disciples that they should see the heaven opened. (Jno. 1: 51.) At the beginning of these visions
John beheld a door opened in the heaven, and through that opening he was called
up, while all was closed to the general mass of men. (Rev.
4: l.) But here was quite a
different opening from any that has occurred or will occur till then. This is that rending of the heaven for the
glorious Epiphany of Christ with His people, to which the Scriptures refer so
much. For, as we believe that “He
ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father
Almighty,” so we believe that “from thence He shall
come to judge the quick and the dead.”
So the Lamb, being married now, leaves
the Father’s house and comes forth to take possession of what is peculiarly His
own.
He rides upon a white horse. This horse tells of royalty,
judgment, and war. His white colour
tells of righteousness and justice.
Light is the robe of divine majesty, and white is the colour that most
attaches to Christ in all these judgment scenes. When the first seal broke He rode a white
horse; when the great harvest is reaped He sits upon a white cloud and at the end of the thousand
years He sits upon a white throne; and so here He is seated on the white steed of battle, for “in righteousness doth He make war.” In the
day of His humiliation He rode but once - when He came to the Jewish nation as
its anointed king. But He then rode upon
an ass, a colt, the foal of an ass. Then
He was the meek and lowly one; but here the little domestic animal is exchanged
for the martial charger, for this is another and mightier coming as the King of the World, “just and having salvation.” In His majesty He rides prosperously, because
of truth, and meekness, and righteousness.
He is Faithful and True. This presents Him in sharp contrast with those whom He cometh
to judge and destroy. The Dragon is the
deceiver; the Beast is the False Christ; his companion is the False Prophet,
and the great confederacy is made up of false worshippers. These are to be handled now, and it is the embodiment of all faithfulness
and truth that comes to deal with them.
There is then no hope for them, for if justice be done them they have no
show whatever. The worst thing that can
happen to some is to give them what they deserve. But greatly do these attributes exalt this
Hero. They lift Him far above the level
of humanity. They bespeak Almightiness and essential Godhead. (Comp. chaps. 3: 7; 6: 10; 15: 3; 16: 7.) They cannot be predicated of any mere
man. “Cursed be
the man that trusteth in man.”
There is too much deceit and treachery in human nature for it to be
always and implicitly trusted. (Comp. Ps. 72: 9;
116 11; 118: 8; Jer. 17: 5.) But
here is One who is absolutely true and faithful. It is not in Him to be or to prove
unreliable. Though all men be liars, He
is true, and cannot disappoint.
In righteousness He judgeth and warreth. In the letter to the Laodiceans He was “the Faithful and True Witness,” reproving and instructing His friends here He is the Faithful
and True Warrior and Judge, for
the punishment of His enemies. Heaven
cannot be at peace with iniquity, and justice cannot be when sin is once at
amity with falsehood and rebellion. When
sin is once incorrigible, and incurable by remedial measures, it must be put
down by force of arms. Mercy slighted
and abused brings the executioner. The
world banded together in arms against its true Sovereign brings against it the
sword of insulted majesty. Not as human
kings and nations war, - out of covetousness, pride, and an ambition for
selfish greatness and dominion, - but in absolute justice and right, and in
strictest accord with every holy principle and every holy interest he now
unsheaths and wields the sword of infinite power. Dreadful is the carnage which follows, but no
one can ever say that it is not precisely what was merited and demanded. The powers of judging and making war are
often separated in earthly sovereignties, but it is only a conventional
separation. They necessarily go together
after all. Wherever there is war there
is first a judgment made or entertained against those upon whom it is made, or
in behalf of those whom it is to benefit.
The general in the field is simply the sheriff and hangman of the court.
And Christ is both judge and executioner, all powers in one, and all exercised in righteousness. To the Church He is the High Priest, with
girdle and ephod, stars and lamps, the Minister of righteousness unto salvation. To the world in armed rebellion He is the
mounted Warrior, the Minister of righteousness unto destruction; but in both and always “Jesus
Christ the Righteous.”
His eyes flame of fire. To judge rightly He
must see through and through, search all depths, look beneath all masks,
penetrate all darkness, and try everything to its ultimate residuum. Hence this flaming vision, which likewise
tells of the fierceness of His wrath against His enemies. There is often something wonderfully
luminous, penetrating overawing, in the human eye. Men have been killed by the look of
kings. It is like the living intellect
made visible, which seems to read all secrets at a glance, and before which the
beholder cowers. It is this infinitely intensified, flashing like a sword of
fire from the visual orbs, that the holy apostle here beheld in this Warrior
Judge. It is an eye-flame of Omniscient perception and out-breaking
indignation and wrath, which seizes and unmans the foe before he feels the
sword.
On His head many diadems. He is not only Judge and General, but at the same time
the King Himself. When David conquered
the Ammonites, he put the crown of the vanquished king on his own head, in
addition to the crown he already had. (2 Sam. 12: 30.)
When Ptolemy entered
He has an unknowable Name. John saw it written, and was awed with its splendour; but it
was too much for him, or any other man, to understand or know. Jesus once said, “No
man knoweth the Son but the Father” (Matt.
11: 27); and here He appears in all those unrevealed and unknowable
wonders which connect Him with incomprehensible Godhead. The Beast is full of
names, great, high, and awful names; but they are false names - “names of blasphemy.” This Warrior, Judge, and King has a name
ineffable and unknowable, but it is a true and rightful name, - a name of
reality, “which is above
every name.” We do not yet
know all the majesty of attributes or being which belong to our sublime
Saviour; and when He comes forth out of heaven for the war upon the Beast, He
will come in vast unknowableness of greatness, - in heights of majesty and
glory, “which no one knoweth but Himself.” (Comp. Judges
13: 18; Rev. 2: 17.)
Clothed in vesture dipped or stained with blood. Some are embarrassed, that the blood should here appear
upon Christ’s garments before the engagement begins, and so talk of
anticipation. It is a needless
perplexity, although these bloodstains are certainly not from His own blood. They have no reference whatever to His having
died upon the cross. They are stains
from the blood of enemies slain, - enemies previously vanquished, - and so the
marks of a veteran in battle. This
conquering Hero is not now for the first time to try His capacities for
war. Who but He was it that “cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon?” Who but He was it that fought for
His Name is called THE WORD OF GOD. This is one of the pre-eminent designations
of the Son of God, who became
incarnate in Jesus Christ. “By the Word of the
Lord wore the heavens made.” (Ps. 33: 6.) “In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him. And the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jno. 1: 1-14.)
He is the Word of God - the Logos - as the true and only expression of
the eternal Godhead, as the great subject and substance of the written Word, as
the accomplishment and fulfiller of the written Word, and the very expression
and revelation of the Father, the same as words express the thoughts of the heart.
Out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it Me
smite the nations.
Some take this
as “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;”
but that is an instrument of mercy and salvation; this is an instrument of
wrath and destruction. It is “sharp” like the sickle, and fulfils the same
office. It is the Word of almighty
justice. It proceeds out of HIS
mouth. So Isaiah (11: 4) said, “He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with
the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.” This shows the ease with which He
accomplishes His purposes. He speaks, and it is done. He commands, and it is accomplished.
Something of this was pre-intimated when the armed mob came forth
against Him in
And He hath upon His vesture, even upon His thigh a nane
written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Thus the Psalmist in anticipation sung, “Gird
Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most Mighty.” (Ps.
45: 3.) It is on his thigh that
the warrior carries his sword; but here the sword proceeds from the mouth, and
hence in its place is a name representing it; for the Psalmist defines the
sword in this case as His glory and majesty. The sword stands for authority and
the right to punish rebels and evildoers.
It tells of the majesty and dominion of Him who bears it. And the authority, majesty, and dominion of
Christ is this, that He is “King of kings and
Lord of lords,” now no
longer in mere theory or appointment, but in present assertion, armed to
enforce His rights. For ages the
government of the world had been in other hands. Beasts held the sword and reigned. They have ever abused it against Him and His
people. And now they have confederated
with Hell to hold it even against the forces of Omnipotence. Dreadful miscalculation! The Lion of the tribe of
Such then, is the mighty Hero who comes forth from the opened
heavens to fight this “battle of the great day of God
Almighty.” Let us look next at
the hosts which follow Him, -
2. THE HOSTS THAT FOWOW HIM.
When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, in flaming fire
taking vengeance upon them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel, He
does not come alone. He is married now,
and His Bride is with Him. Even before
the flood, Enoch prophesied of this Epiphany of the promised One, and said, “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints to
execute judgment upon all.” (Jude 14, 15.) They are with Him now, therefore they must
have been taken before. John saw, and
writes, “The armies, the ones in heaven, were following
Him.” Christ is the Head and Leader, and He
goes before; His saints follow in His train.
The promise from the beginning was, that the seed of the woman should
bruise the serpent’s head, and here it is emphasised that “He Himself
treadeth the winepress of the wine of the anger of the wrath of the God, the
All‑Ruler.” He Himself is the
Great Hero and Conqueror in this battle.
But He is “Jehovah of hosts.” He has many under His command. The armies of the sky are His, and He brings
them with Him, even “the called and chosen, and
faithful” (chap. 17: 14.)
On white horses. The great Captain is mounted, and they are mounted too. He comes as the Warrior, Judge, and King and
they share with Him in the same character.
They are warrior judges and kings with Him. In chapter 9.
we were introduced to cavalry from the under world, of spirit horses from
beneath; why not then celestial horses also?
Horses and chariots of fire protected Elisha at
Whether literal horses are to be understood, it is not
necessary to inquire. Power is an
abstract quality, incapable of being seen with the eye. It must put on shape in order to become
visible. It is best shown in living
forms. So we had to do with symbolic
horses in chapter 11. But here the whole character of the showing
is different. This opening of the
heaven, the coming forth of Christ with His heavenly armies to the battle which
ensues, the destruction which is wrought, the victory which is won, and the
kingdom which is set up, is so essentially literal in each particular, that it
is hard to find room in the record for any other conclusion than that the
horses are as literal as the sitters on them.
They are at least the pictures of holy power bearing the King and His
hosts to battle and victory over literal armies. There was reality in the powers which carried
up Elijah, and there is reality in the powers on which these heavenly armies
ride forth to the battle of the great day; and I know not why these powers
should not be in the form of real horses, of the character of the world to
which they belong. “The four Spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing
before the Lord of all the earth,” were shown to Zechariah (6: 8) as horses, drawing four chariots; and I know
not why we may not here understand the same or similar “spirits of the heavens,” put forth in similar forms. Habakkuk (3: 8),
referring to this very scene, addresses the Lord, and says, “Thou didst ride upon Thine horses, Thy chariots of salvation.” There
are “chariots of God;” and so there must be
horses of God. It is never safe to
explain away what may have in it a momentous literal reality, even though it
may be very different from anything we know of.
At any rate, the armies of heaven, as they here appear, are all cavalry.
“Clothed in fine linen, white, pure.” The
fine linen was explained in the verses preceding. It is “the righteousness of the saints.” Therefore these armies are saints, and not
angels, as some have supposed. Those who
share the kingdom with Christ are everywhere called “the
righteous,” and these have the apparel of the righteous, even that with
which it was given the Bride to be clothed.
Long ago, referring to this very scene, the Psalmist (58: 10, 11) sung, “The
righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in
the blood of the wicked; so that a man shall say, verily there is a reward for
the righteous: verily He is a God that judgeth in the earth.” They reign
with the mighty Conqueror after the battle; and so they share in the battle and
triumph which bring the Kingdom. “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?”
(1 Cor. 6: 2.)
They wear no armour. They are immortal, and cannot be hurt; and they are not the
executors of this vengeance. It is
Christ’s own personal victory, in accordance with the Apostolic declaration,
that “for this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that He might destroy the works of the Devil.”
(1 Jno. 3: 8.) He bears the only sword, and He alone uses
it. He treadeth the winepress alone. Those
who accompany Him in the scene of conflict therefore need no weapons. The sword of the great Captain is
enough. Their defence is in Him, and
their victory is in Him. They follow up
the achievements of His sword. They ride
through the blood it causes to flow. They “wash their
feet in” it, for it is up to the horses’ bridles. But it is David who slays Goliath, and the hosts of God’s
3. THE ARMIES HE ENCOUNTERS.
Here we are left in no doubt. John says, “I saw the
Beast and the kings of the earth, and his armies, gathered together to make the
battle with the Sitter upon the horse, and with His army.” How they were gathered, we were told in
what occurred under the pouring out of the sixth bowl of wrath (chap. 16: 12‑16).
Devil agents working devil miracles, were brought into requisition. They went forth “unto
the kings of the earth, even of the whole world, to gather them to the battle
of that great day of God Almighty.”
It was through these devil oracles that they learned of Christ’s coming
to unseat and destroy them and by these devil miracles they were led to believe
themselves competent to withstand all the armies of the heaven. Therefore they agreed to try it, and to
defeat all these Jehovah purposes of ill to their usurped dominion and
blasphemous pretensions.
Had they not (the demon spirits will suggest to them) a
supernatural and immortal leader in the Beast, that was not but is again
present? Had they not with him a great
supernatural and equally immortal Prophet, who knew everything, who had power
over the forces of nature, who could even command fire from heaven and give
spirit to a metallic image? Would not these additional miracle-working spirits
be their efficient helpers? If they made
no effort, no resistance, what hope was there for them? Was not the Beast God, “above all that is called God?” Had eternity anything
that could harm or vanquish such powers?
Had not every soldier in their armies learned how to strengthen and
sustain himself by spirit influences far above unaided human ability? Let the Rider on the white horse come; - let
Him be supported by myriads of His white-robed cavalry on their white horses; -
if He did work miracles in His lifetime, neither He nor His followers ever
wrought such as those which the potencies now urging them to armed resistance
had shown. The struggle might be a hard
one, but a combined and energetic effort would surely be successful.
So will they be taught by the demons; so they reason; so they
believe. “Strong
delusion” is upon “them that
they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned.” (2 Thess. 2: 9‑12.)
So they all with one accord go zealously into a great hell-indited and
hell-scaled compact and confederation, to make battle with the Lamb, the Sitter
on the horse, and His army.
We may wonder how rational men could be carried with one
impulse into an attempt so daring and so absurd; but when people put the truth
from them, and submit themselves to the Devil’s lead, what is there of delusion
and absurdity into which they are not liable to be carried? How many among us comfort and assure
themselves in their selfishness and sins with the belief that either there is
no God, or that He is too good and merciful to fulfil His threatenings upon transgressors? To this there needs to be added only one step
more, to defy His judgments, and with that goes pledge of battle and
declaration of war with His Omnipotence.
And the final outcome of this world’s wisdom, unbelief, and
repudiation of the rule and government of Jesus Christ, is the assembly of all
the kings and armies, and captains of thousands, and mighty men, and men of all
ranks and classes, upon the hills and valleys of Palestine, from Idumea to
Esdraelon, equipped, resolved, eager, and confident of success, to meet the Son
of God and His army in hostile collision, to
decide by dreadful battle whether they or He shall have the sovereignty in the
earth. Every one that denies Christ,
is on the way to defy Christ, and take up arms for the Usurper to conquer
Christ. Every one who refuses to be baptised into Christ, and objects to the
oath of allegiance to Christ, is a fit subject for the branding irons and
infamous mark of the Antichrist; and when that is once impressed, there is
no more recession from this gathering together to fight Christ, and to be
dashed to destruction against His invincible throne.
And when Hell’s emissaries come, with all their marvel of word
and deed to encourage the enemies of God to join, assemble, strike, and have
the world for ever to themselves, deluded mortals are persuaded, and march
their armies to that field of blood from which there is no more return. “The heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing. The
kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder,
and cast away their cords from us.” (Ps. 2:
1‑3.) Never was there a more
wicked or more disastrous madness. But
when men cut loose from the bonds of obligation to their Maker, there is no
limit to the delusions to which they expose themselves, and no enormity of
daring or wickedness into which they are not liable to be betrayed, thinking it
the true wisdom. And thus the kings of the earth and their armies gather toward
4. THE COMPLETENESS OF HIS TRIUMPH.
One of the most awful expressions in the Word of God, is that which
the Psalmist utters with regard to these enraged and deluded kings, and this
their expedition, where he says, “He that sitteth in
the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.”
(Ps. 2: 4.) That laugh of God, who
shall fathom it! How shall we even begin
to tell its dread significance! From the
depths of His eternal being, He so loved the world, as to give His co-eternal
and only begotton Son for it. No gift
was too precious in His sight, no sacrifice too great, to be made for its
redemption. For six thousand years He
has been ordering His gracious
The demonstrations of these confederates with the Beast are
tremendous. The whole world moves with one heart, one aim,
with all its genius and power concentrated on one end, and with all the
potencies of Hell to nerve and help and guide it. Never before was there such a combination of
forces, natural and supernatural, directed with such skill, or animated with so
daring and resolved a spirit. Yet,
Jehovah laughs! What an infinitude of
majesty and sovereign contempt does He thus express? The rebels are confident. They believe their leader invincible. They are sure of powers to handle all
nature’s forces. They have no question
about being able to cope with mortals or immortals, with men or gods. They despise alike the names and the sword of
Him who rides the white horse, and all His heavenly cavalry. They deem themselves ready and equal for any
emergency of battle even with Him who calls Himself Almighty. But God laughs! Oh the disappointment and destruction which
that laugh portends!
An angel stationed in the sun anticipates the coming
result. With a great voice he cries to
all the birds of prey that fly in mid-heaven to come to a supper on the flesh
of kings, captains, mighty men, horses and their riders, free and bond, small
and great. This tells already an awful
story. It tells of the greatest of men
made food for the vultures; - of kings and leaders, strong and confident,
devoured on the field, with no one to bury them; - of those who thought to
conquer Heaven’s anointed King rendered helpless even against the timid birds;
- of vaunting gods of nature turned into its cast off and most dishonoured
dregs. And what is thus foreintimated
soon becomes reality.
The Great Conqueror bows the heavens and comes down. He rides upon the cherub horse, and flies
upon the wings of the wind. Smoke goes
up from his nostrils, and devouring fire out of his mouth. He moves amid storms and darkness, from which
the lightnings hurl their bolts, and hailstones mingle with the fire. He roars out of
And the Beast was taken. The great Judgment strikes the head and leader first. He is not a system; or he would not fall till
the myriads of his supporters fall. He
is a person, as truly as his Captor is a
person. He is distinct from his armies,
as Christ is distinct from His; or he could not be taken in advance of his
armies. He is the living god and confidence
of all his hosts, and all this war is for his glory; therefore the assault is
first made upon Him. He is a
supernatural being, a man
resurrected from the dead by the Devil’s power, and seemingly incapable of
corporeal death; for he is not slain. No
sword smites him. He does not die.
In contradistinction from all save his companion, the False
Prophet, it is specifically stated that he is simply “taken” - taken “alive,”
and “cast alive into the
lake of fire.” His worshippers
held him to be invincible. They asked in
the utmost confidence and triumph, Who is like unto the Beast? Who can war with him? But, without the
striking of a blow, and with all his worshippers in arms around him, he is “taken,” captured as a lion seizes his prey,
dragged away from the field as a helpless prisoner. With all his power, greatness, and resurrection-vigour
and immunity from death, he is “taken.” With greater ease than the Jewish mob took
the unresisting Jesus; the Sitter on the white horse catches him away from the
very centre of his hosts. All the
resistance he makes is the same as if it were not. He cannot help himself, and all his armies
cannot help him. He must go whither his
mighty Captor would take him. Tophet
gets its own. And into the lake of fire
he sinks to rise no more.
And with him the False Prophet who wrought the miracles in his
presence.
This is no
warrior; but still a main author of this culminated wickedness of the
nations. From him, together with the
Dragon and the first Beast, went forth the miracle-working spirits who wrought
this terrible deception, and stirred up the world to this war. By his instigations were these armies
equipped and gathered to the dread attempt to vanquish the Son of God. He caused men to adore the Beast, and he
shares the Beast’s fate. He is no
system, no abstraction, no succession, no mere ideal figure, but a person. He is not slain; he does not die; he seems
like the Antichrist incapable of death.
But he is “taken,” as the Beast was taken, made a captive and hurried away to the same
seething prison. All his miraculous
power cannot save him. All his boasted
wisdom cannot help him. All the armies
of the world cannot rescue him from the grasp of the Sitter on the white horse.
The two great leaders gone, short work is made with their
followers. A few awful words tell the
story. They are mortals all, and there
is no salvation for them. In terrible
brevity, the Seer records what came to pass. “And the
rest were slain with the sword of the Sitter on the horse, which sword
proceeded out of His mouth; AND THE FOWLS WERF
FILLFD FROM THEIR FLESH.” Such a
feast of death was, perhaps, never before seen.
Long ago had the holy prophets sung of this Mighty One, and
this His triumph. As the Psalmist
foresaw, His arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies, whereby the
people fall under Him. (Ps. 45: 5.) He sends out His arrows, and scattereth them;
and shoots out lightnings, and discomfits them. (Ps.
18: 14.) He marches through the
land in indignation; He threshes the heathen in anger. (Hab. 3: 12.) All the
strength of the nations is dashed to fragments before Him, like pottery struck
with an iron rod. (Ps. 2: 9.) The stone from the eternal mountain falls on
the great statue of this world’s power, and it is ground to powder, never again
to be re-gathered. (Dan. 2: 35; Matt. 22: 44.) The victory of the Sitter on the white horse
is complete!
And He shall rule or shepherdise them with an iron rod. With many a severe judgment on the survivors of that
day, the Conqueror now assumes the dominion.
With their heads and armies destroyed in the winepress of the wine of
the anger of the wrath of God, the All‑Ruler, He now sends forth the new law
from
Thus ends this present world [evil
age]. Thus comes in the final [millennial] reign
and kingdom of the Prince of Peace. It
only remains to tell the Devil’s fate, and then come the glorious pictures of
the other side of this “great and terrible day of the
Lord.”
I only add, that our contemplations will fail of their end, if
they do not serve to teach us, and to write it indelibly upon our hearts, that
rebellion against God is death; - that no weapon formed against Jehovah can
prosper; - that those who will not have Christ to rule over them must
perish! Though the wicked should wield
the power of archangels, they cannot withstand the punitive majesty of the
Warrior Judge and King who rides upon the white horse. His sword is mightier than Satan, mightier
than the Beast deemed invincible, mightier than the command of infernal miracle
over nature’s laws, mightier than all the forces of earth and hell
combined. And that sword is pledged to
drink the life-blood of all who neglect His mercy, despise His laws, and stand
out against His authority.
All may seem well and promising now. People may indulge their unbelief and passions
during these days of forbearance and grace, and see no disadvantages growing
out of it. They may get angry at our
earnestness, and account us croakers and fools when we put before them the
demands and threatenings of the Almighty. But “woe to
him that striveth with his Maker!”
There is a deluge of bottled fury yet
to be poured out on them that refuse to know God, and on the families that call
not on His name, from which there is no escape, and from whose burning and
tempestuous surges there is no deliverance.
God help us to be wise, that we come not into that sea of death!
“Righteous
Judge of retribution,
Grant Thy gift of
absolution
Ere that day’s dread
execution!”
LECTURE FORTY-FOURTH.
THE BINDING OF SATAN - HIS FOUR NAMES
- THE ANGEL WHO APPREHENDS HIM - A LITERAL TRANSACTION - THE ECONOMY OF THE
UNDERWORLD- THE WORD “HELL,” SHEOL, HADES –
CHRIST’S DESCENT INTO HELL - HADES NO LONGER THE ABODE OF THE DEPARTED SAINTS –
“ABADDON,” THE ABYSS – TARTARUS - GEHENNA - THE BEAST AND FALSE PROPHET IN
GEHENNA - SATAN IMPRISONED IN THE ABYSS - OBJECT OF HIS IMPRISONMENT - SATAN
NOT BOUND AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA, NOR AT THE CONVERSION OF
CONSTANTINE, BUT IS YET LOOSE.
Rev. 20: 1‑3 (Revised Text). - And I saw an angel
coming down out of the heaven,
having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in [or resting upon] his hand. And he laid
hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil, and satan, and bound
him a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and locked and sealed [it] upon him, that he should not lead astray the nations any
more until the thousand years be accomplished: after these he must be loosed a
little time.
The issue of the battle of the Great
Day goes beyond the disaster to those found in arms against the Sitter on the
white horse. There is another and still
greater Being at back of those armies, by whose instigation this war was
undertaken, whose influence these kings and mighty ones with their troops were
deceived into the fatal idea of conquering the King or of kings and Lord of
lords, and by whose malignant cunning they were marched into the winepress of
the wrath of God. The judgment,
therefore, proceeds to deal with this chief culprit.
He is called by four names, the same that were given him in chapter 12: 9.
The Sitter on the white horse also had four names; and as in His case,
so here, the names describe the being who wears them. He is called “the
Dragon.” This is his
designation with particular reference to his connection with earthly sovereignties
and his administrations through the political world-powers, which, up to this
great day, are continually contemplated in the Scriptures as the Dragon
powers. But when these kings and their
armies fall, the Dragon power ceases.
Though the same evil spirit comes up again after the thousand years, he
comes with only two of his four names, and not as “the
Dragon;” for he never again gets possession of the sovereignty of the
earth. Christ and His saints reign on
the earth from this time forth for ever; so that whoever those may be whom
Satan then deceives and brings into rebellion, they are not the governors,
king, and rulers of the earth. They are
from its distant corners, not its great central administrations. He is the Dragon now, as he ever has been
since the days of Nimrod, and as he ever will be till the confederated kings of
the earth meet their final fall at Harmageddon; and he is “the Dragon” with particular reference to the relation
which he holds to this world’s political powers.
He is further called “the Old Serpent;”
– “old” in allusion
to the fact that he has been in existence since the beginning of human history;
and “the Serpent” in allusion to his subtlety, his crooked and deceiving ways, his
subtle poisons, and his deadly malignity.
It was as the serpent that he beguiled our first parents and seduced
them into sin and death. It is as the
serpent that he deceives souls, insinuates false doctrine, unbelief, and
presumption into the human heart, corrupts the purity of the Church, and deludes
men with a false and perverted wisdom.
It refers, particularly, to his subtle temptations of the good. Since the days of Adam’s innocence in
The word Devil means a slanderer, a calumniator, a malignant liar; and this has
been one of this evil spirit’s chief characteristics from the beginning. His first suggestions to Eve were full of
base aspersions cast upon God, and
burdened with all manner of ruinous falsehood.
Hence the Saviour says: “He was a murderer from
the beginning, and abode not in the truth; when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (Jno. 8: 44.)
This is his essential character, the same everywhere and always. And as a murderous liar, calumniator,
slanderer, and author of malignant untruth, he comes up again subsequent to the
thousand years. The lie is his deepest nature, and it is that which makes him
in bad pre-eminence “the Devil.”
Satan means an adversary, an accuser. It is a Hebrew word simply transferred. It is mostly used as a proper name of some
great spirit of evil. It is used in this
sense about forty times in the Scriptures.
It denotes one who lies in wait to entrap, to oppose, to disable, to
bring under condemnation or into disaster.
And such the evil one has ever shown himself. So he accused and opposed God at the beginning. So he accused Job and sought to destroy his
peace. So he assailed Christ,
questioning His divine Sonship and power, if not proven to him as he chose to
dictate. And so he is the adversary of
all the children of God, and still stands as their accuser before God, even
when the time comes for their birth to immortal glory. In this character he also reappears after the
thousand years, stirs up enmity to God’s holy people, and instigates an attack
upon their citadel.
It is in all these particular aspects that this great spirit
of evil was concerned in bringing about this war against the Sitter on the
white horse and His army. It was first
and principally as “the Dragon” operating with
and through the political powers; for he gave the Beast his power, throne, and
great authority, and sent the lying spirits to influence the kings of the earth
in this fatal business. It was next as “the Old Serpent,” beguiling deceiving and leading into
the wickedest unbelief and false faith.
It was furthermore as “the Devil,”
calumniating and blaspheming God and Christ, all true worship, and all rightful
divine authority. And it was finally as
“Satan,” the malignant adversary and opponent of God and all good, disputing
His right to reign, and bent on defeating His becoming the King of the
earth. And as this great spirit was thus
the life and soul of all this tremendous rebellion against the Son of God, the
anointed All‑Ruler, it was impossible that he should be permitted to escape, or
to remain at liberty, when the Warrior King and Judge comes forth to enforce
His royal rights.
We accordingly read of an Angel from heaven advancing to
dispose of this old, malignant, and subtle Deceiver. Who this Angel is, we are not told. The particulars would seem to indicate, as
many able commentators have concluded, that he is the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. It was Christ who, in the first
vision, claimed to have “the Keys of Hades and of Death,”
which would most naturally seem to include “the Key of
the Abyss,” which this Angel possesses.
The whole achievement of this victory is also so emphatically ascribed
to the Saviour Himself, that it would seem incongruous, if not conflicting, to
make the arrest of the chief of all this dreadful antagonism the work of a
created Angel. The mere fact of the
angelic appearance argues nothing against its being Christ Himself, for we have
seen Him appearing several times already in the character of an Angel. (Comp. chap. 10: 1‑7; 14: 18, 19; 18: l.)
When He comes to vanquish and destroy armies, it is fitting
that He should appear as a mighty Warrior; but when He appears for the seizure
and binding of a fallen angel, it is equally fitting that He should appear as
an Angel. His appearances continually
vary according to the work to be done, and, all things considered, we would
most naturally expect that this particular act would be done in the character
of an Angel. The point is of no great
consequence either way; for it is still the act of Christ, and part of His
victory, whether done by Himself or by a created angel. It was Michael the
Is this a literal transaction?
Certainly it is. The battle is
literal; the taking of the Beast and the False Prophet is literal; the slaying
of the kings and their armies is literal; Satan is literal; and his binding
must be equally literal. It will not
resolve itself into anything else, and fit to the connections or the
terms. Some have asked, with an air of
triumph, How can a chain of iron or brass bind a spirit, and that spirit an
archangel? But the record does not say
that it is a chain of iron, or brass, or steel, or any other material of
earthly chains. It is a chain of divine
make, as the sword that proceeds from the mouth of the Son of God. It is a spirit-chain, as the horses of the
celestial army are spirit-horses. It is
a chain of a character that can bind spirit and fetter angels. Jude tells of
such chains, actually holding now (Jude 6),
and which not even the angels can break.
What they are made of, and how they serve to bind the freedom of
spiritual natures, it is not for us to know or show; but they are not therefore
any less real and literal chains.
Figures, tropes, and shadows cannot bind anybody, unless it be some
commentators, who seem to be hopelessly entangled in them.
The Abyss is a reality, and the chain is also a reality, or it
is not what inspiration says it is. It
is called “a great chain;” and “great” it must
be to hold and confine the great Red Dragon.
But it is adequate to its purpose. Heaven makes no miscalculations. It is fastened on the limbs of the old
monster. He cannot resist it, nor shake
it off. Archangel as he is, he is
compelled to submit, bound as a helpless prisoner, and violently cast into his
dungeon, there to lie in his fetters for a decade of centuries.
The place into which Satan is cast is called the Abyss (the bottomless pit). This
is a different place from that into which the Beast and the False Prophet are
cast. They were thrown into “the lake of fire which burneth with brimstone.” The Devil, after the thousand years, is also
cast into that same burning lake (chap. 19: 10);
but here he is cast into “the Abyss,” whence the Beast came (chap. 17: 8), and also the terrible plague of the
spirit-locusts (chap. 9: 1‑3).
The question thus arises, What is the
difference between “the Abyss” and “the lake of fire?”
I might answer truly, that “the lake of fire”
is the final Hell, the place of the eternal punishment of the damned; whilst
“the Abyss” is a sort of fore-hell, a prison in which evil spirits are detained
prior to their final judgment. The
relation between the two is much like that of
county jail in which accused prisoners are detained prior to
their sentence, and the State Penitentiary to which they are assigned for final
punishment. But as the question call up
the whole economy of the underworld, about which the
Scriptures tell us more than is generally suspected or understood, it may be
proper and desirable to look a little deeper into the matter.
In general, people have very dim,
confused and inadequate ideas with regard to the whole unseen world. This is owing in part to the reserve of the
Scriptures on the subject, but more particularly to the obscuration of what is
revealed, by the faulty manner in which
our English translators, though generally so correct, have dealt with the words
and phrases of the sacred writers referring to this particular subject,
begetting erroneous impressions, which reappear in our theological systems. Thus the word Hell, which in the Saxon vocabulary means simply the covered or unseen
place, is used as the equivalent of words of very different signification,
whilst those for which it is properly the equivalent are frequently rendered by
other words which carry the mind quite aside from the real meaning. And so again, in popular language, the word Hell is carried away from its etymological
signification, and made to stand for the place of final punishment, with which
all other terms referring to the hidden abodes of wicked spirits are again
confounded, whilst some of the original terms for which it is made to stand do not
refer to the place of final punishment at all.
The whole matter has thus become most sadly confused, involving in that
confusion the article of the Creed respecting Christ’s descent into Hell, and
urgently needing to be unravelled and set right according to the true ideas of
Revelation and of the early Church.
There is a word
used sixty-five times in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, which our
English translators in thirty-one instances render Hell, in thirty-one instances
Grave,
and in three instances the pit. That word is Sheol, uniformly rendered Hades in the Greek of the Old Testament, and
wherever the New Testament quotes the passages in which it occurs. By common consent the Greek word Hades
is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol. It occurs eleven times in the New Testament,
and always in the same sense as the Old Testament Sheol. To all intents and purposes, therefore, Sheol
and Hades denote one and the same thing.
But Sheol or Hades is never used to denote the Hell of final punishment.
Neither is it ever used to denote the mere receptacle of the body after
death, the grave. Nor yet is it ever
used to denote the mere state of being
dead as to the body; and still less to denote the pit or Abyss
as such. A careful inventory of all the
passages conclusively proves that Sheol
or Hades is the name of a place in the unseen world,
altogether, distinct from the Hell of
final punishment pr of Heaven of final glory.
Its true and only meaning is, “the
place of departed spirits,” [or disembodied
‘souls’] - the
receptacle of souls which
have left the body. To this place all departed spirits, good and bad, up
to the time of the resurrection of Christ, went.* In it there was a department for the good,
called ‘Paradise’ by the Saviour on the cross,
and another department for the bad. Thus
both the rich man and Lazarus went to Hades when they died; for the word is, “in Hades he lifted up his eyes, and
seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.” Lazarus was then in Hades too, as well as
Abraham; and the only difference between them and Dives was, that the good were
separated from the bad by an impassable gulf, and that Lazarus was comforted
and Dives tormented.** So the dying
Saviour told the penitent malefactor that they would yet that day be together
in Paradise; that is, in the more favourable part of Hades. There they were neither in Heaven proper, nor
in Hell proper; but simply in Hades – [ i.e., in the intermediate state and place
of ‘the dead,’
between the time of their Death and their Resurrection.] To this Hades all departed spirits [souls] went, the
good with the good, and the bad with the bad.
There was comfort there for the pious, and privation and torment for the
wicked; and they of the one part could not pass over to the other part; but
still they could see and converse with each other, and none of them were yet in
their final happiness or [final] misery. Even
at the best, it was not a place to be coveted.
With all the blessed release which it brought to pious sufferers, and
the good promise it bespoke of something better for them at the resurrection,
the Scriptures everywhere describe it as a sombre world, - a place of detention
and waiting even for the best. There is nothing ever said about going up
to it, or of full compensation there for works of piety and deeds of love. The ancient saints drew satisfaction from the
thought of being gathered to their fathers, and of resting there with the holy
dead; but never as enjoying there the bright presence of God and the society of
angels.*** All the higher and better recompenses to
which they looked, they invariably connected with the resurrection, and located
quite beyond the Hadean world. It was to
the
[* “Translating the word Hades, according to its etymology and
its use among the Greeks, it is rendered an invisible place, which was all that
Homer intended when he said the souls
of his brave heroes were hurried, by the Trojan war, into Hades, where he
exhibits them celebrating the Elysian games.
The fathers, therefore, condemn the language of our translation (of the
New Testament), and in the article of what is called the Apostles’ Creed, which
says Christ descended into Hell, misleading the vulgar by an English word,
which now conveys an idea not contained in the original. This is so well known as to require no
argument; but so little regarded as to demand repeated protest.” - Bennett’s Theology of the Early Christian
Church, pp. 323, 321.]
“I cannot give a better periphrasis
of it (the word Hades) than by translating it, that invisible place where the souls that leave their bodies live, whether it be a place of bliss or
torment. In this sense it is taken in
Scripture, the Apocrypha, Fathers, yea, and in heathenish authors too. And as for the Latin inferi, it is often taken in the same sense, and mostly used to
express Hades.” - Beveidge on the
XXXIX Arts, pp. 115, 116.
[** “Lazarus in
Hades obtained comfort in Abraham’s bosom; the rich man, on the other hand, the
torment of flame.” – Tertullian,
De Idol. 13.]
[*** It is a mistake to imagine God not in
Hades: “…Wither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
If I make by bed in Sheol (Gk. ‘Hades’),
behold, thou art there,” (Psa. 139: 7, 8, R.V.): hence the importance of ‘First Resurrection’
of Reward. Rev. 20: 4-6. cf. Heb. 11: 35b; Luke 14: 14; 20: 35, etc.]
But this going
of Christ into the place of departed spirits with the penitent thief was not
the descent into Hades of which the Creed speaks. By virtue of having died,
Christ thus became an inmate of Hades, just as all other good men who had died
before Him; whilst the descent into Hades, of which the Creed speaks, was part
of His active redemption work, and the beginning of His exaltation as the
successful Redeemer, which wrought a great change in Hades itself, and in the
whole condition of the pious dead from that time on. His dead body having been re-quickened and
glorified by His divine power, recalling His departed soul to it, even before
He reappeared on earth. He went to
Hades, not as a subject of death, but as the Conqueror of death, heralding His
victory to the spirits [and disembodied souls] therein detained (1 Pet. 3: 18, 19), and actually bringing out with
Him all faithful souls, even resurrecting many of them, (Matt. 27: 52, 53; Ps.
68: 18.)* It is with special reference
to this, that He announced Himself to John, in the first vision, as having “the Keys of Death and of Hades.”
[* This resurrection was not unto
immortality but, like that of Samuel, was a temporary recall from Hades to
Earth, (1 Sam. 28: 15). To teach that Hades was emptied of all regenerate
souls at the time of Christ’s Resurrection out from the dead is a mistake for
it is written: “David” - fifty days after the
death of our Saviour, and ten days after His post resurrection
ministry, “ASCENDED NOT INTO THE HEAVENS” (Acts 2:
34), and, by to say or imply that the Resurrection as “PAST ALREADY,” is an overthrow of the faith, (2 Tim. 2: 18): it is an undermining of the belief
and ‘hope’ that regenerate believers will be “accounted worthy to that world [age] and the resurrection
[out] from the dead” (Luke 20: 35).]
The “grave”
holds the victory now just as it ever has done, but Hades does not; and the
victory of which the Apostle speaks and gives thanks is a victory over Hades,
not over the grave. Hence our Confession says, “Christ descended into Hades, and abolished it for all
believers.” (Formula of Con.)* Hades now is, therefore, the receptacle of
only such departed spirits as have no share in Christ’s redemption, - a mere
prison of bad and unbelieving souls, who there pine over their crimes, awaiting
the day of judgment, when all in Hades, and Hades itself, shall be cast into
the Hell of final punishment. (chap. 20: 14). Sheol or Hades then is not Hell, except in the old and now obsolete
sense of the covered place, the
hidden temporary receptacle of departed spirits, into which all departed souls
formerly went at death, but since Christ’s resurrection only the bad and
unbelieving go.***
[* Speaking of the several opinions
concerning the descent of Christ into Hades, and the efficacy of it, Bishop Pearson makes this observation.
“Of those who did believe the name of Hades to belong to that general place which
comprehended all the souls of men, as well those who died in the favour of God
as those who departed in their sins, some of them thought that Christ descended
to that place of Hades, where the
souls of all the faithful, from the death of the righteous Abel to the death of
Christ, were detained; and there dissolving all the power by which they were
detained below, translated them into a far more glorious place, and estated
them in a condition far more happy in the heavens above.” Pearson
did not himself accept this view, which is so evidently that of the
Scriptures, still he adds this testimony concerning it: “This is the opinion generally received in the schools, and
delivered as the sense of the Church
of God in all ages; but though it were not so general as the schoolmen would
persuade us, yet it is certain that many of the fathers did so understand it.” He then quotes Eusebius, Cyril, Ambrose, and Jorome in evidence of this fact.
The same author quotes Justin
Martyr, Irenoeus, Tortullian, Hillary, Gregory of Nyssa,
and others, as holding and teaching that the souls of believers do not
enter heaven immediately upon their death, but go into the bosom of Abraham,
into Paradise, where the patriarchs and prophets are, where they all remain till the
time of the resurrection, when first they get their crowns, and
enter upon the fulness of their blessedness…
**From these representations of the
economy of the underworld, which are the result of a more matured study of the
whole subject, some obvious modifications are required to the statements made,
which were written some fourteen years prior to the writing of this Lecture. I then believed that all departed souls
went to Hades, whereas, it is now plain to me that, since the resurrection
of Christ, none of the souls of the
saints ever go there, as they did previously. When a man has learned better, it is due that
he should be allowed to correct himself. *
* The effect of Gnosticism and
Spiritism upon prominent members of the
The Old Testament speaks of another place in the underworld,
called in Hebrew Abaddon (Greek Apoleia), which our English Bible
renders destruction. Thus we read “Hades
is naked before him, and Abaddon hath no covering.” (Job 26: 6) “Abaddon and death say, We have heard the fame thereof.” (Job 28: 22.)
“It is a fire that consumeth to Abaddon.”
(Job 31: 12.) “Shall
Thy loving kindness be declared in the grave, or Thy faithfulness in Abaddon?”
(Ps. 88: 12.) “Hades and Abaddon are ever before the Lord.” (Prov. 15: 11.)
“Hades and Abaddon are never full.” (Prov. 27: 20.) Abaddon thus connects with Sheol or Hades,
but is a deeper, darker, and a more wretched place. “The
pit of the Abyss,” referred to in chapter 9:
1-3, and from which came the plague of spirit-locusts, seems to identify
with this Hebrew Abaddon; for the Angel of this pit, and the King over these
locusts, has a name “which in the Hebrew tongue is
Abaddon, but in the Greek
tongue hath his name Apollyon.” Nine times do we read of this Abyss in the New Testament. The demons whom Christ cast out of the
wretched man of
It does not appear that fallen angels now have their place in
Hades. The Lucifer of whom Isaiah (14: 15) speaks as having been “brought down to Hades” is explained (verse 4) to be the
king of
The burning lake is the only true Apoleia, perdition, destruction, second death, or the final Hell.
It too has its own proper name.
It is called Tophet in the Old
Testament. (Is. 30: 33; Jer. 7: 31, 32.) In the New it is twelve times called Gehenna, which, in the Greek, is the same as
Tophet in Hebrew. From denoting a place
of horrible burning on earth, it came to be used to denote the place of final
punishment. Our translators have
uniformly translated Gehenna by the word Hell. But Gehenna is altogether a different
Hell from Sheol, Hades, the Abyss, or Tartarus.
Thus the Saviour says, that whosoever indulges malignant and devilish
spite towards his brother “shall be in danger of Gehenna fire” (Matt.
5: 22); that it is much better to sacrifice a right eye or a right hand
in this world than that the whole body should be “cast
into Gehenna” (Matt. 5:
29, 30); that we are not to fear them which kill the body, but rather to
fear Him “who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna”
(Matt. 10: 28); and that “it is better to enter into life with one eye, than having two
eyes to be cast into Gehenna fire” (Matt. 18: 9). Thus also he denounces the hypocritical
Pharisees as the candidates for “the greater damnation,”
“the children of Gehenna,” (Matt. 23: 14, 15),
and asks them, “How can ye escape the damnation of Gehenna?” (Matt. 23:
33). This Tophet or Gehenna, as
will be seen at once, is something different from Hades, Tartarus, or the
Abyss. It is manifestly the same which
John here calls “the lake of fire which burneth with brimstone,” and into which the Beast the False
Prophet, Satan, Death, Hades, and whosoever is not found written in the book of
life, are finally cast, and swallowed up for ever; that is, it is the ultimate
Hell of full punishment.
Into this final Hell no one has ever yet entered. It is “prepared for
the Devil and his angels”; but none of them is there now. The first persons that ever go into this
place are the Beast and the False Prophet, at the time of the battle of the
great day of God Almighty (chap. 19: 20). The next to get into it is Satan himself,
more than a thousand years afterwards (chap. 20: 10),
where the Beast and the False Prophet are represented as still alive and
suffering at the time when he is cast in with them. And then follows the casting in of all the
wicked, along with Death and Hades (chap. 20: 14,
15).
It is not
a little surprising that things should come out so clearly from the original
Scriptures, and that there should be such confusion on the subject in the
popular mind, and even in our theologies.
But in the light of what I have thus briefly indicated, any one can
readily see the consistency and propriety of all these terms and references
touching the underworld, and what is meant by the different places from which
or to which these infernal actors either come or go. The Beast is from the Abyss, the under-pit of
Hades, as twice distinctly stated. The
False Prophet, his companion and prime minister, is doubtless from the same
place. Under the fifth Trumpet, “the Key of the Abyss” was given to the fallen star,
which is none other than Satan, and he unlocks the Abyss for the bringing up of
the spirit-locusts, and then for the bringing forth in Satanic resurrection
from thence these two great instruments of his malice and deception, the Beast
and the False Prophet.
It is not in the Devil’s power thus to resurrect any one from the Abyss now; but in the
ongoing of the judgment, and for the greater punishment of the unbelieving, the
power is given him to do it, and he does it. He is allowed to have “the Key,” and he uses it, unlocks the Abyss, and
brings forth again into the activities of life the two ablest of his particular
servants. They go through with their
blasphemous and dreadful work in judgment upon the world for its unbelief. And when the end comes, they are at once cast
into the final Hell, the very first that ever try those awful fires, which they
so richly deserve. The kings and armies
whom they deceive into this presumptuous war are mortal men, who are simply “slain,” – “killed,”
and so turned into Hades, there, with
the wicked dead, to await the judgment at the end of the thousand years, when
they all shall be brought forth together, and assigned their place in the same
final Hell of the burning lake. The old
Serpent, the Devil, who has been at the back of it all, is arrested and
imprisoned. But there is still a reason
in the divine purposes why he should not yet be finally disposed of; therefore
he is not yet cast into the burning lake of ultimate perdition. Nevertheless, he is chained as to his power,
and locked and sealed up as to his place, in that under-pit of Hades, where
only the foulest and basest of spirits are, - in the Abyss whence he brought up
the two Beasts and their demon helpers, - there to writhe in his helplessness
till the thousand years are fulfilled.
The particular object of this binding, and imprisonment of
Satan is not so much for his due punishment, as for the temporary restraint and
prevention of his deceptions of men. It
is specially stated to be, “that he should not
lead astray the nations any more until the thousand years be accomplished.” Ruinous deception is the Devil’s trade,
and all false ones and deceivers are his apprentices and children. The truth is ever against him; therefore falsehood
is his particular recourse and instrument.
But naked falsehood is only repulsive.
What we know to be a lie cannot command our respect, “In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird.” There is in the very framework of the soul an
impossibility of feeling toward known falsehood the same as if it were truth.
The structure of our being revolts against it.
Untruth can only gain credence and acceptance by being so disguised as
to appear to be the truth. Falsehood can
have no power over us until we are led to believe and conclude that it is the
truth. And this deluding of men, getting
them to accept and follow lies and false hopes, under the persuasion that they
are accepting and following truth, is the great work and business of Satan in
every age. From this work and business
he never rests so long as he has the liberty to act. In this work and business he has been engaged
from the beginning. And in this work and
business he is engaged now for his binding and imprisonment do not occur until
after “the
If ever there was a time when the Devil was loose, active and
potent in human affairs, that time is now, in the days in
which we live. The Devil’s dominion is
the enthronement of error, falsehood, deception, lies, and moral rottenness;
and when was this dominion ever more patent than in these years of the existing
generation? The Devil is not yet bound!
The people who claim to be the most enlightened, and occupy the very top
waves of modern progress, do not hesitate to give out that it is with them a
matter of serious doubt whether there is a God, a Providence, a soul to live
after this life, anything eternal but matter, any Lord but Nature, any
retribution but what natural laws administer in this world, any principles of
morality but expediency, and scout all idea of a personal incarnation of Deity,
of atonement by divine sacrifice, of justification by faith in the merits of a
substitute, of any coming again of Christ as King to judge the world and reign
in righteousness. We look abroad upon
society in general, and what do we see?
Reverence, that great balance-wheel in the economies of life, scarcely
exists any more; oaths are nothing; good faith is scarce as grapes after the
vintage; and all moral bonds are trampled down without compunction under the
heels of greed, and lust, and deified selfishness. Falsities and treacheries confront us
unblushingly at every point. People not
only make falsehoods, speak falsehoods, print falsehoods, and believe
falsehoods, but they eat them, and drink them, and wear them, and act them, and
live them, and make them one of the great elements of their being. One half, at least, of all that the eye can
see, or the ear hear, or the hands touch, or the tongue taste, is bogus,
counterfeit, pinchbeck, shoddy, or some bash or other of untruth. A man cannot move, or open his eyes, without
encountering falsehood and lies. In
business, in politics, in social life, in professions, and even in what passes
for religion, such untruthfulness reigns, that he who would be true scarcely
knows any more whom to trust, what to believe, how to move, or by what means to
keep his footing amid the ever-increasing flood of unreality and deception.
Do I colour the picture too deeply? Look, consider, and see for yourselves. Is not the world full of people, many of them
your neighbours and personal acquaintances, some of them under your own roofs,
in your own homes, - people with their apostles, male and female, on the
rostrum everywhere with applauding crowds around them, - people to whom the
Church is a lie; the ministers of the Gospel, a fraud; the sacraments,
absurdity; prayer, a week delusion; the Bible, a dull record of superannuated
beliefs; special providence, an impossibility; a personal God or Devil, a
superstitious conceit; moral accountability to a future judgment, a thing to be laughed at; society, marriage, and the body of our laws, mere faulty
conventionalities; government a mere device of the ambitious and self-seeking;
immortality, a mere fiction; and even life itself, something of an impertinent
imposition, or a mere freak of mother Nature!
And with such ideas afloat, and swaying the hearts and minds of the
multitude as the new Gospel of advanced thought and human progress, what is
truth? Where is it? On what are we to
rest? How find a foundation to build on
for anything? To such a philosophy, what
is not a lie, a perversion, a delusion, a superstition, a cheat?
And, on the other hand, if our Gospel be true; if what the
Bible says of God, and Christ, and the nature and destiny of man, is indeed
reality; was there ever a more subtle, more specious, more potent, more Satanic
deception, and misleading of the race, than that which the wiseacres and
savants of our time would thus palm upon our world? By what eccentricity of the human intellect,
or freak of human intelligence, or stultification of man’s common-sense, could
such all-revolutionising and infernal falsehood find place on earth, and pass
current for the true and higher wisdom, but for the living presence and
effective operations of that old Deceiver who cheated our first parents out of
Paradise, beguiled the early world to its destruction in Nosh’s flood, and is
now engaged preparing the way for his favourite son to captivate all the great
powers of the earth to their inevitable damnation
The Devil, that old Serpent, is not yet bound. He is
loose. He ranges at large, with his ten
thousand emissaries, all the more active and earnest in his Satanic schemes as
he seeth that his time is short. He has
his nests and conventicles in every city, town, and hamlet all over the world,
labelled with all sorts of attractive and misleading names. Clubs, institutes, circles, societies,
conventions, lyceums, and a thousand private coteries, under show of
investigating science, improving knowledge, inquiring into truth, and
cultivating the mind, free from the disturbing influences of sect, religion,
tradition, and old fogy notions - these are among the common machinery through
which he instils his deceits and subtle poisons. A broader philosophy, a more compliant church,
a more active humanity disdaining theological dogmas and positive creeds, a
larger liberality to take every one for a child of God who refrains from
denouncing the devilish atheisms and heresies of the times, - these are the
flags he hangs out for the rallying of his unsuspecting dupes.
And see how he induces men to usurp ministerial functions
without ministerial responsibilities, and gives them power on the plea of
breaking down denominationalism and making better saints without any church at
all; how he prostitutes the pulpits to entertaining sensationalisms, defying
all sense and sacred decency, or narrows them down to sweet platitudes which
serve to bury the true Gospel from those whom it was meant to save, - and how
he stirs up Christian ministers of place and influence to say and make believe
that all this attention to sacred prophecy is nothing but a stupid craze, that
the holy writers never meant just what they said, and that all these
ill-bodings touching the destiny of this present world are but the croakings of
birds that love to fly in storms! O, ye
people, on your way to the nearing judgment of the great Day, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked.” You may be sincere, but that is not
enough. Eve thought she was innocent and
safe when she took the Devil’s recommendation of the forbidden fruit; but her
trustful confidence did not excuse her.
No delusion can serve to justify before God. No tricks or disguises can impose on Him. He will be true though that truth should make
every man a liar. His old and
everlasting Word must stand till every jot and tittle of it be fulfilled. The existence of a Devil is not a myth, but
an awful reality, and to his doings and destiny we have other relations than
that of mere spectators. His dread power
over those who will not have Christ as their Saviour is not a nightmare fancy,
or the dream of a disordered mental digestion, but a thing of living fact. And these solemn and momentous Revelations
are Jehovah’s finger-boards, sat up in mercy along the path of human life, to
point out the places of danger and the way of safety. To despise, neglect, or disregard them is not
a characteristic of wisdom. To refuse to
note and heed them, is to try the insane experiment of seeing how near you can
graze the brink of perdition, and yet win the credit of not tumbling in. Can you be wiser than God who made you? Then mark the signals he has given, and
follow them implicitly.
LECTURE FORTY‑FIFTH.
VISION OF THE ENTHRONED SAINTS - ITS CONNECTION WITH PRECEDING
CHAPTER - THE SHEPHERDISING OF THE NATIONS - THE SHEPHERDISERS - THEIR THRONES
- THEIR JUDGING POWER AND REIGN – SECIAL NOTICE OF THE MARTYRS - THE WORD “SOULS” - A CORPOREAL RESURRECTION NECESSARILY IMPLIED.
Rev. 20: 4, 5 (Revised Text). - And I saw thrones,
and they sat upon them, and judgment [the power of judging] was given to them.
And (I saw) the souls of them who had been beheaded on
account of the testimony of Jesus, and on account of the Word of God, and
[of those] who did not worship the Beast nor yet his
image, and did not receive the mark on [their] forehead
and on their hand; and they lived (= lived again) and reigned with the Christ a
thousand years.
The rest of the dead ones lived not (again) until
the thousand years be completed; this [being] the resurrection the first.
A rich and magnificent revelation here comes before us, but
the consideration of it much needs the aid and guidance of the Holy Ghost to
keep the inquirer in balance and temper, to look and see with unprejudiced
eyes, and to form conclusions with sound and conscientious regard to what has
been written for our learning. God help
us in our handling of the subject that we may rightly conceive, embrace, and
rest on his own everlasting truth!
1.
The first point to which I direct attention, and one too much
overlooked, is the connection of these
presentations with the scenes and statements of the preceding chapter. We there saw the heaven opened, and the
Lord of lords and King of kings, with His risen and glorified saints, coming
forth to meet the Beast and his confederated kings and their armies in dreadful
battle. The result was the taking and
casting of the Beast and the False Prophet alive into the final Hell, the
slaying of the rest with the sword, and the
chaining and locking up of Satan in the prison of the Abyss. But, in connection with these
administrations, it was said of the Sitter on the white horse, as it was said
of the Manchild in chap 12: 5, “And he shall rule or shepherdise the nations with a rod of
iron” (chap 19: 15). The repetition of this declaration renders it
particularly significant, and calls for our special attention. The numerous references to it in the
Scriptures assign to it every element of a special dispensation.
That it does not refer only, if at all, to the calamities
inflicted on the Beast and his armies is clearly evident from the record. The instrument of that infliction was not a rod, but is twice stated to be the
sharp sword, proceeding from
the mouth of the Sitter upon the white horse.
The effect in that instance was slaughter and death; but shepherdising, with whatever severity of judgment and
invincible force, is not the taking of life. The word …
occurs often in the New Testament, but always in the sense of feeding,
tending, directing, and helping, with
a view to preservation, not destruction.
Thus Christ was fore-announced by the Father, as “a Governor that shall shepherdise (margin, feed) my people
Besides, this shepherdising is a dealing with “the nations”
as such; whilst the subjects of the
destruction at Harmageddon are not “the nations”
as such, but “the kings of the earth and their armies.” Kings may fall, and armies in the field of
battle be destroyed, and the nations, or peoples to which they belong still
continue to exist. The defeat and
capture of Napoleon III. at
The Shepherdiser is the same who conquers in the battle with
the Beast and his confederate kings. He
is the All-Ruler, and it is His power and dominion which are thus enforced with
justice and with judgment. But His army
of glorified saints accompanies Him.
They follow Him in His victorious treading down of His armed
enemies. They ride through the blood of
His foes up to the horses’ bridles. They
pursue the triumph with Him. And
particularly in this shepherdising with the rod of iron, the Scriptures
everywhere assign to them a conspicuous
share. Hence the Psalmist sung: “Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon
their beds (resting-places). Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a
two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and
punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles
with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: THIS
HONOUR HAVE ALL HIS SAINTS.” (Psa. 149.)
The same is also very pointedly declared by the Saviour
Himself. To His twelve Apostles He said,
that when He should sit in the throne of His glory, they also should “sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
[* See Lectures 26. and 28.]
It is therefore scripturally certain that this ruling or
shepherdising with the rod of iron, which follows up the destruction of the
armies of the Antichrist, is a thing in which the glorified saints have a very
conspicuous part.
Where, then, in the apocalyptic chart do we find this very
particular administration but in the grand vision now before us? As I have been led to view things, we have
here the
picture of the victorious Christ,
with His enthroned and glorified saints, in the rule or shepherdising of all
the nations with a rod of iron, the
same which is celebrated by the Psalmist, promised by Christ, and so distinctly
affirmed in the description of the Manchild, as well as in the account of the
coming forth of the Sitter on the white horse.
2.
With this view of the connection and scope of this vision, we pass to the more direct consideration of its
presentations, every item of which goes to prove that this is the natural,
true, and necessary conception of the whole matter.
John saw “thrones.” Judicial
or regal administrations imply seats of authority. The Sitter on the white horse came crowned. His
shepherdising of the nations is in His character as conquering King. It is therefore, in its very nature, an
administration of sovereign authority.
The saints share with Him in it, as we have seen. Hence the need for thrones, or royal seats,
for these sovereign shepherdisers. Daniel speaks of these same thrones. He
saw them set, and the going, forth of authority from them, which is further
described as the authority of one like a Son of man, to Whom was given “dominion, glory, and a
kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him.”
(Dan. 7: 9‑14.) They are the same of which the Saviour spoke
to His twelve Apostles, and concerning which He has promised, “To him that overcometh
will I give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with
My Father on His throne.” (Rev. 3: 21.)
These are not empty seats. John says: “They sat upon them.” The sitters on these
thrones are those to whom this implied judicial-regal authority is everywhere
promised. Nor are the passages few in
which those promises are given. In the
text itself it is expressly said that these sitters upon these thrones are “priests of God and of Christ, and reign with Him,”
– “reign with
Christ.” But
what attentive reader of the Bible does not know that God’s chosen and
anointed kings and priests are none other than His true and faithful people? In the opening of this Book, John spoke
of himself and fellow-Christians, - all who are freed from sin by Christ’s
blood, as those whom God hath made kings and priests (chap.
1: 5, 6). The Living Ones and the
Elders gave glory to the Lamb for making them “kings and
priests of God,” destined
to “reign on
the earth.” Who are they but glorified men, redeemed unto God by the
blood of the Lamb “out of every tribe, and tongue, and
people, and nation?” (Rev. 5: 9, 10.) These king-priests must therefore be God’s
ransomed people; Peter pronounces his fellow-Christians “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,” who, “when the chief
Shepherd shall appear,” for this
shepherdising of the nations, “shall receive a glorious
crown.” (1 Pet. 2: 9; 5, 4).
To what did he thus refer but these very dignities, and to the
true people of God as the inheritors of them? Daniel, in vision, saw the
judgment sit, and the dominion of the Beast taken away by the mighty power of
God, and declares that then “the Kingdom and
dominion, and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be
given to the people of the saints of the Most High.” (Dan. 7:
26, 27.) What did he mean but the
very thing here beheld by John, and that the sitters on these thrones are the
saints of God? Paul wrote of “a crown,"
for which he strove, which is to be the possession of all “good soldiers of Jesus Christ,” and which the Lord,
the righteous judge, would give him “at that day,” and “unto all them that love His appearing.”
(2 Tim. 2: 3‑5; 4: 7, 8.) And
so the Saviour Himself exhorts. His “little flock”
not to fear, as it is the Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom (Luke 12: 32),
enjoins upon His disciples to hold fast that no one take their crown (Rev. 3: 11),
and promises every faithful and good servant to “make
him ruler
over all his goods” (Matt. 24: 46, 47).
It is also an inevitable principle, that the conquerors take the
dominion? The Sitter on the white horse
conquers in the
Their sitting upon these thrones is not an empty show. As Christ’s taking of the sovereignty of the
earth is a sublime reality, so must that of His victorious peoples’
participation in it also be. Nor are we
left to gather this by mere inference.
John says expressly that “judgment was given
to them,”… - the act or Power of judging, including
the forming of sentences and the execution of the same, as in Matt. 7: 2; 19: 28; Jno. 9: 39;
[* “The [Greek] word … in this clause may be
interpreted as applying to the supervision or making of statutes, ordinances,
arrangements, &c., by those who are in a superior station. This seems to many to be the Inost #any and
natural construction.” - Stuart in loc.]
Once it was the fate of believers to be judged by the ungodly
world-powers. Jesus told His followers
that they should be brought before councils, governors, and kings, and that
time would come when men would think it a holy thing to adjudge them worthy of
stripes, imprisonment, and death. So
Paul stood before the courts of earth, saying: “I stand
and am judged.” But
man’s day has a limit, and then comes another order, when, as Mary sung, God “shall put down the mighty from their seats,” and “exalt them of low degree,” - when the Pauls shall be
the royal judges, and the Felixes, and Festuses, and Agrippas, and Caesars,
then in place, shall be obliged to accept the sentences of heavenly justice
from God’s immortal, potentates, who once stood helpless at earth’s tribunals;
for so it is written, “the saints shall judge the world”
(1 Cor. 6: 2), and “shall
take the Kingdom, and possess the Kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever”
(Dan. 7: 18); and Christ, the victorious All‑Ruler,
according to His promise, will “give them authority
over the nations, to
shepherdise them with a rod of iron” (Rev.
2: 26, 27), invincibly and effectually.
Among those who suffer the greatest penalties and privations
for their faith are the holy martyrs and those who hold out faithful under the
dreadful Antichrist. When a man lays
down his life for his Lord, he surrenders all that he can surrender, and lets
go what all the instincts of humanity lead one to cling to to the last. Human law knows no heavier penalty than the
taking of a man’s life; and when this is accepted, rather than deny the Saviour or His Word, the common world, as
well as Christianity, takes it as the sublimest testimony a man can give of his
devotion. And when people consent to
suffer nakedness, banishment, and death, rather than make themselves guilty of
an act of homage to the Antichrist, it is a demonstration of steadfastness as
great as it is possible to furnish.
Hence there is a somewhat special vision vouchsafed to the Apocalyptic
seer to indicate the rewards of such fidelities.
Not only does he behold the sitters on
the thrones in general, and the giving of judicial and royal authority to the
body of the [faithful]
saints as a whole, but he is particularly shown that the martyrs, and those who
worship not the Beast, are surely among them.
Thus he tells us:
“And (I saw) the souls of them who had been beheaded on account of the testimony of
Jesus, and on account of the Word of God, and [of those] who did not worship
the Beast nor yet his image, and did not receive the mark on [their] forehead and upon
their hand; and they lived ( lived again) and reigned with the Christ.”
Whilst the body of the saints in
general participate in these rewards, it is thus shown that the martyrs
in particular, together with
the faithful ones of the last evil time, are specially included. The martyrs and the faithful ones under the
Beast are not different parties from the sitters on the thrones, but special classes specifically
included. A somewhat parallel
presentation occurs in chapter 1: 7, where
it is said of the Saviour at His great Epiphany, that “every
eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him.” The meaning is not that they which pierced
Him “form a separate class apart from every eye,”
but that even those who slew Christ shall also be among those denoted by “every eye,” and that they too shall look upon
Him. It deserved to be thus noted,
specially that the murderers of Christ will have to confront Him, as well as
men in general; and so here it deserved to be noted specially that the holy martyrs,
and the faithful ones under the Antichrist, have their part and place with the
sitters upon the thrones, and that they particularly are among those who reign
with Christ.
Special notice of the martyrs in their
disembodied state was taken in chapter 6: 9. They were not enthroned then, but in
depression, anxious for their final vindication. The record says: “When
He opened the fifth seal, I saw beneath
the altar the souls of those
that had been slain on account of the
Word of God, and on account of the
testimony which they held fast: and
they cried with a great voice, saying, Until when, Thou Master, the holy and
true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood from them that dwell on the
earth. And there was given to each of
them a white robe, and it was said to them that they should rest yet a little
time, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, shall have been
completed, who are about to be slain as also they themselves had been.” The very parties there spoken of are here
specified as among the sitters upon the thrones; to wit, the martyrs then under
the altar, and their fellow-servants who were subsequently to fall because of
their refusal to worship the Beast. A
necessity was thus begotten for some subsequent notice of them in connection with the final
outcome for which they were told to wait.
That notice we have
in this text, in the gracious note of testimony from heaven to the greatest
sufferers for Christ that, when it comes to the inheritance of the Kingdom and
the reigning of the saints with their Lord, they are to be specially
considered. Having laid down their lives for their faith, or having held out
faithfully against the horrible deceptions and persecutions of the Antichrist,
the assurance is, that they particularly shall he among these priests of God
and of Christ, to share in His sublime dominion. Though in the ashes before, they are to live
again for this very purpose.*
[* There is nothing here to suggest that
these martyrs are only those who were martyred under Antichrist. The clause must include martyrs throughout
the ages, who laid down their lives for the cause of Christ and the word of
God: they await their Resurrection at the Return of Messiah, and the
establishment of His Millennial Kingdom.]
Some stumble at the word souls
by which these martyrs are denoted, as if that introduced a peculiarity
determinative of the whole character and interpretation of the vision. But it is nothing but a metaphysical quibble,
by which to obscure and get rid of a plain doctrine of the Word of God which
some do not like. It is a sufficient
answer to say, that one of the common
uses of this word in the New Testament is to
denote individual beings, and persons in the body, rather than spirits of
men out of the body. So the converts on
the
day
of Pentecost are called “about three thousand souls;” and Jacob and his
kindred who went down into
That the word souls, in John’s vision
of the martyrs beneath the altar, means persons dead as to their bodies, is very
evident, not, however, from the meaning
of the word, but from the accompanying statement that the souls he saw were people,
slain on account of their faith.
He sees the same people, persons, souls, here; but this time … “they lived again”*
[* “I argue
from the Greek text that the souls must in this instance be a synecdoche for the
persons, and that the living
again must signify the union of body and soul. For first, in the passage ‘which, or who, had not worshipped the Beast,’ the word which is in the masculine gender, whereas souls,
which is the antecedent to it, is feminine.
So, also, ‘the rest of the dead,’ is in the masculine, in antithetical opposition to those
that were beheaded, …” – Dr. N.
Holmes’s Resurrection Revealed,
p. 58.]
As mere souls separate from the body
they never were dead [to God]. John saw
them, and heard them speaking and beheld them invested
in white robes, and recognised them as still living [in the underworld] and
waiting, [for immortality in Resurrection] though dead as to their bodies. The living
again in which he now sees them, must therefore be a living in that in
which they were dead when he first saw them, that is corporeally dead. There is a resurrection of the
bodies of dead men, but there
is no such thing as the resurrection of the spirits of dead men. For living men there may be a spiritual
resurrection from the death-state of sin, but there is no such
spiritual resurrection for dead men.
John had seen these “souls” under death as to their bodies, but here as
“living again;” of course, living, now in that in which
they were dead then; that is, in corporeal resurrection, for as to their spirit life they had
not been dead.*
[* “How can we avoid coming to the
conclusion that [the Greek word …] here must mean reviving, or rising from the dead? The use … elsewhere
in the Apocalypse shows very plainly that it may mean revived, lived again, in reference to the body which had
been dead. Thus the Saviour speaks of
Himself, in Rev. 2: 8, as being He who had been dead, …, and had revived,
lived again, after the death of the body.
Thus, too, it is said of the Beast (Rev.
13: 14) which had the deadly wound of the
sword, that …, it revived. Thus also it is said, the rest of the dead …, lived not again. Surely the
writer does not mean that Christians of lower rank, or the wicked, have no
existence at all after the death of the body.” - Stuart
in loc.]
“It does not mean that they lived spiritually, for so they did before, and whilst
they bore their testimony to Christ and against Antichrist previous to their
death; nor in their successors, for
it would not be just and reasonable that they should be beheaded for their witness of Christ and His word, and others should live and reign with Christ in
their room and stead. Nor is this to be
understood of their living in their souls, for so they live in their separate
state; the soul never dies; God is not the God of the dead, but of the
living. But the sense is, that they
lived again, as in verse 5, they lived corporeally; their souls lived in their
bodies, their bodies being raised again,
and reunited to their souls; their whole persons lived, or the souls of
them that were beheaded lived; that is, their bodies lived again, the soul
being sometimes put for their body; and
this is called the first resurrection in the next verse.” - Dr. John Gill in loc.]
So far, then, from this word souls introducing an element
requiring the exclusion of any thought of literal corporeal resurrection, it
the rather proves that we cannot possibly understand any other sort of
resurrection. That of which their martyrdom deprived them, their living
again restores to them;
hence, necessarily, corporeal resurrection, -
the only resurrection of which
martyrs are capable. Spiritual
resurrection is out of the question, for they were spiritually resurrected
before they became martyrs, and could not be holy martyrs without it.
So likewise the antithesis between the
living again of these “souls” and the non-living
again of “the rest of the dead till the thousand years
be completed,” evidences that the resurrection [here] spoken of is a literal resurrection. The deadness of this “remainder of the dead” certainly is a bodily deadness. Their living again at the completion of the
thousand years is a bodily resurrection; for they come up out of the sea, out
of death, out of Hades, where they could not have been without being
corporeally dead. John says expressly
that they are “the dead, the great and the small” and that they thus live again, in a
state of recovery from death and Hades, for the purpose of receiving their
final doom. If this does not signify a
literal resurrection of them at the end of the thousand years, there is no way
of proving that there ever will be a literal resurrection for anybody. But if their living again fit the termination
of the thousand years is a literal resurrection, then their non-living again
during those thousand years must be a state of literal corporeal deadness – [i.e., a
remaining in Hades until the end of Christ’s Millennium.]. And if their non-living
again till the thousand years are accomplished is a continuation in a state of
corporeal death, then the living again of those to whom they stand correlated
as “the remainder of the dead” must be a literal
corporeal resurrection also. There is no
escape from this argument. As Alford well says, -
“If in a passage where two
resurrections* are mentioned, where certain ‘souls’ live again at the
first, and ‘the rest of the dead’ live again only at the end of a specified period after the
first, - if in such a passage the first resurrection may be understood to mean spiritual
rising with Christ, while the second means literal rising from
the grave; then there is an end of all significance in language, and Scripture
is wiped out as a definite testimony to anything. If the first resurrection is spiritual, then
so is the second; but if the second is literal, then so is the first, which, in
common with the whole primitive Church and many of the best modern expositors,
I do maintain, and receive as an article of faith and hope.” (Gr. Test.
in loc.)
[* “In the phrases first resurrection, and second, a
discrepancy as to time is implied. Any great change from a degraded and wretched
condition, temporal or spiritual, may indeed be figuratively called a resurrection, a restoration to life, i.e., to happiness; but it would be
out of the question to name it a first resurrection. This implies
of necessity a comparison with a second, in which the first must be like the second in kind.” - Stuart in loc.]
Furthermore, it is inwoven and implied in every particular in
the presentation concerning these sitters on these thrones, that the scene to
them is a scene after their
resurrection.
In chapter 11: 18, it was
adoringly said by the holy Elders, that the time of the sounding of the seventh
trumpet is the time or season for judging the dead, to give reward to the servants of God, the prophets,
the saints, and them that fear His name, the small and the great. The description before us belongs to the
season of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which terminates at this point a
thousand years before another resurrection of any sort occurs. This, therefore, sets forth the reward given
to the servants, prophets, and saints of God, inclusive of their resurrection - [of reward, (See Luke 14: 14; Phil. 3: 11, etc.).].
Paul says, that when Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall
His people appear with Him in glory. (Col. 3: 4.) But here Christ has appeared. The heaven has opened, and He has come forth
as triumphant King of kings and Lord of lords, crowned with all His many
diadems, consigning the Beast and the False Prophet to final perdition,
striking their assembled armies dead, and locking up the Devil in the
Abyss. Where, then, are His people who
are to be revealed with Him in resurrection glory when these things come to
pass, if these sitters upon these thrones be not they?
These enthroned ones have had their judgment and obtained
reward; otherwise they could not be thus enthroned, for enthronement is
reward. But the time of such reward of
the saints is the time of their resurrection, and not before; therefore, these
enthroned ones must here be in their resurrected and glorified estate.
They occupy thrones, and they reign; therefore, they must have
received their crowns; but the saints are not crowned till the chief Shepherd
appears, and they have been recalled from their graves (2 Tim. 4: 8; 1 Pet. 5: 4); therefore, again, these crowned ones
must here be in their resurrected condition.
They are kings and priests, they reign, they are enthroned as
royal judges and potentates, they share with Christ in His judging and shepherdising
of the nations; but it is only to
those who have overcome, and been crowned by the great Judge of all as
victors, - to the Manchild born into immortality and caught up to God and His
throne - that this power over the nations thus to rule or shepherdise is given.
(Rev. 2: 26, 27; 12: 5.) These enthroned and reigning ones cannot,
therefore, be any other than resurrected saints, in possession of post-resurrection
rewards and [millennial]
glory.
And still the evidence is not exhausted. There is a word in the record which makes the
matter doubly sure. This whole presentation concerning the lifting and placing
of these enthroned ones in their royal seats to live and reign with Christ for
a thousand years, John pronounces “The Resurrection” – “The Resurrection the First.” The word Resurrection is never once used in the New
Testament, except to denote the coming up again of the fallen body from the
grave. It occurs more than forty times, and always in this one, uniform, and
exclusive sense. Yet the emplacement of
these people in these sublime seats is called their … - their Resurrection. Nay,
more, the Holy Ghost calls it emphatically
the
Resurrection, partly in its
relation to a second, and partly with reference to its own transcendent pre-eminence,
as the particular object of our highest Christian
hopes. Men, who profess
loyalty to the Scriptures, and hold themselves in conscience bound to the Word
of God, cannot get over such facts, and reduce the whole picture of this
glorious enthronement of the saints to a mere revival of the martyr spirit and
faith in times of glory for the Church on earth, when there is no more room for
martyrs. These thrones, this royal
judgeship, this reigning with Christ, this thousand years’ dominion and rulership,
this lifting of the holy martyrs INCLUDING
PROPHETS and apostles into seats of sovereignty and shepherdising of the
nations, manifestly belongh TO THE
AWARDS which only the literal bodily RESURRECTION
can bring.
How sublime and glorious is the portion which remains for
God’s true [obedient and worthy] people!
Here are thrones to last a thousand years, and for ever, and they are to
occupy them. Here is sovereignty and
judical rule over the nations [upon this earth], and they are to exercise and wield it along with
their victorious Redeemer and King. Here
are a thousand years of glorious life over AGAINST A THOUSAND YEARS IN THE
SOMBRE ABODES OF HADES, - a life which they are to possess and enjoy for ever
free from all fear or power of “the second death.” What is beyond [the
thousand years] will appear as we come to the
concluding chapters; but this alone presents a PROSPECT and HONOUR for
the saints WELL WORTH A LIFE OF
SUFFERING AND TRIAL, and for WHICH
LIFE ITSELF IS NOT TOO DEAR A PRICE.
LECTURE FORTY-SIXTH.
THE FlRST RESURRECTION - A
RESURRECTION OF SAINTS ONLY - TAKES PLACE IN SUCCESSIVE STAGES - NOT DESCRIBED
IN ANY ONE VISION - INTRODUCES A WONDERFUL CHANGE IN THE EARTH’S HISTORY -
PROMOTES ITS SUBJECTS TO A TRANSCENDENT DIGNITY AND GLORY.
Rcv. 20: 6 (Revised Text). - Blessed and holy he that hath part in the resurrection the
first! Over these the second death has
no power, but they shall be priests of the God and of the Christ, and reign with
Him a thousand years.
My conviction
is clear and positive that the resurrection here spoken of is the resurrection
of the saints from their graves, in the sense of the Nicene Creed, where it is confessed: “I
look for the Resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” With the distinguished Dean of Canterbury, Dr. Alford, to whose critical labours
the Christian world is much indebted, “I cannot
consent to distort words from their plain sense and chronological place in the
prophecy, on account of any considerations of difficulty, or any rise of abuses
which this doctrine may bring with it.”
With Paul, “I can do nothing against the truth,
but for the truth.” (2 Cor. 13: 8.)
The word here rendered Resurrection is more than forty times used in the New Testament and four times in
the Apocrypha, and always in the one only sense of a rising again of the body
after it has fallen under the power of death.
The emphasising of it as The Resurrection cannot, with any degree of propriety, be understood of any mere
metaphorical or symbolic rising. The
placing, of it as the first in a
category of two resurrections [unto immortality], the second of which is specifically stated to be
the literal rising again of such as were not raised in the first, fixes the
sense to be a literal resurrection. What it describes is located in the time
of the judging of the dead and the giving of reward to the saints, for which
recovery from their graves is a prerequisite. It exalts to an office of
judging, shepherdising, and reigning, the same office which is elsewhere
dependent upon the final victory and the complete redemption of the whole
man. All the rewards, dignities, and
honours promised to saints at and after
the resurrection, are necessarily included in what is assigned to those who
share in this resurrection. All the connections and surroundings, antecedent
and consequent, and the impossibility of consistently adjusting it to the rest
of the Apocalypse or the Scriptures in general on any other supposition, combine
to show that the reference is and must be to persons in resurrection life and
glory. I cannot,
therefore, but take it as the true meaning and intent of the Holy Ghost, that
we should here understand a real and literal resurrection of saints and martyrs
from their graves.
Who partake in it? is the question suggested and answered in
the text now before us, concerning which I remark:
1. It is a resurrection of saints only, and not of any of the wicked.* They
that have part in it are “blessed and holy.” Whether the reference be to the
qualifications for it, or to what it brings, or to both, the result is the
same, that none but true members of Christ are in this resurrection; for none
but such are “blessed and holy.” Neither in this
life, nor in that which is to come, can an unbeliever, a wicked or profane
person, be reckoned with the “blessed and holy;”
but every one that hath part in this resurrection is “blessed
and holy.”
[* Keep in mind that some who
were regenerate within the
Many have the idea that there is but
one resurrection for all men, good and bad alike. It is also true that “as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1
Cor. 15: 22.) But it is immediately
added, “every man in his own order.” It is not a summary thing, all at
once, and the same in all cases. The
resurrection of the wicked is in no respect identical with that of the saints,
except that it will be a recall to some sort of corporeal life. There is a “resurrection of life,” and there
is a “resurrection of damnation” (Jno. 5: 29); and it is
impossible that these should be one
and the same. There is a “resurrection of the just,” - “a better resurrection,” – “a resurrection out
from among the dead” for which great zeal and devotion are
requisite (Luke 14: 14; Heb. 11: 35; Phil. 3: 10, 11),‑which is everywhere empha sised and distinguished from another, more
general, and less desirable. As it is “the resurrection of the just,” the unjust have no share in it. As it is a resurrection from among the dead ones,
it is eclectic, rising some, and leaving others, and so interposing a
difference as to time, which distinguishes the resurrection of some an in
advance of the resurrection of the rest.
Hence the Scriptures continually draw a line of distinction between
the resurrection of the good and the resurrection of the bad; and when the two are mentioned together, the
resurrection of the good is always mentioned first. Hence, in the celebration of the standing up again of the congregation of the
righteous, the Psalmist is particular to say that sinners shall not
stand up with them. (Ps. 1: 5.)
Thus Paul also assured the Thessalouians that “the dead - [but not ALL as many erroneously suppose] - in Christ shall rise first.” (1 Thess. 4: 16.) If we understand this “first” as over against the translation of living
saints, as some take it, or as over against the resurrection of the dead not in Christ, as Professor Stuart claims the meaning
to be, it is all the same. The
declaration is that only “the dead in Christ”
are partakers of this resurrection;
and if there is this difference in time between
“the resurrection of the dead in Christ” and the translation of the living “in
Christ,” all the more surely will there
be a still wider difference in time between the rising of , the dead in Christ
“and the rising of the dead not in Christ who
are altogether excluded from those who are said to rise first. It is not true,
therefore, that we go contrary to the analogy of Scripture when we construe
“the first resurrection,” in which only the blessed and holy have part, as a literal resurrection of the saints,
occurring long before and apart from the
resurrection of the non-blessed.*
[* “There is
a general impression that the belief in the First Resurrection at a different
time from that of the general resurrection rents solely on this passage. (Rev. 20: 6.) But this is a great mistake. Omitting the passages from the Old Testament
Scriptures, sustained by the promises of which the ancient worthies suffered
and served God in hope of ‘a better resurrection’ (Heb. 11: 35), our Lord makes a distinction between the resurrection
which some shall be accounted worthy to obtain, and some
not. (Luke 20: 35.)
2. It is a resurrection which takes place in different stages, and not all at one and the same
time. Paul tells us expressly that there
is an “order” in it, which brings up
some at one time, and others at other times.
It starts with “Christ the first fruits;”
afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming; then (still later) the end, “completion, or
last.” (1 Cor. 15: 23, 24.) Christ’s resurrection was also attended with
the resurrection of others. The Gospel
says: “The graves were opened, and many bodies of the
saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection,
and went into the holy city.” (Matt. 27: 52,
53.) This, Selnecker, one of the
authors of the Formula Concordice, say,
“places and parcels out the resurrection of those who
are raised to eternal life before
the general resurrection at the last day; and the meaning properly is, that not
only those of whom the Evangelist is writing become alive again, but also
others, as Luther and Ambrose have written, and that such
resurrections occur at various times throughout the whole period or
dispensation of the New Testament, even up to the final day.” These various particular resurrections he
also calls “The First Resurrection, to which,”
he says, “belongs everything raised up again to eternal life before the final day.”*
[* Exp. of Rev. and
Daniel, Gena, 1567. See also Danhauer. Kromayer’s
Elenchticus in Aug. Conf., 501‑2, and
Lang’s Ap. Licht, … Recht 179.]
This statement agrees also with what we have found in the
course of our exposition of this Book. In
chapter 4., immediately following the
sentences to the Churches, John saw a door open in the heaven, through which he
was called to come up. That door and
ascension indicate a resurrection and rapture of saints (answering to 1 Thess. 5: 16, 17); for John immediately beheld Living
Ones and Elders in glory. They were saints from earth, for they sing of
being redeemed by Christ’s blood “out of every kindred,
and tongue, and tribe, and people.” They are in resurrection life, for
they are enthroned and crowned; and no saints are crowned till “the resurrection of the just.” They correspond to “the
Eagles” gathered together where the body they live on is, who are thus
sheltered in the heavenly pavilion from the sorrows of the great tribulation, (Matt. 24: 27, 28; Luke 20: 34‑36; Rev. 3: 10.) They are already in heaven, before ever a
seal is broken, a trumpet sounded, or a bowl of wrath emptied.
Further on, in chapter 7.,
under the sixth seal, a great multitude was
seen, also in heaven, clothed with white robes, and bearing palms of
victory. John beheld them with the
Living Ones and Elders, but distinct from them, and then just arrived. Whence they came, is asked and explained. They come “out of
the great tribulation,” - a tribulation from which the Elders or
seniors in heaven were saved altogether, being “accounted
worthy to escape all these things.”
They answer to those who were not ready when the watchful and
far-sighted Eagles were “taken,” but who, in
sorrow and mortification, had now repented out of their mis-beliefs, taken up
the lamps of a better confession, and gone out in true advent faith to meet the
Bridegroom, thus washing their robes and making them white in the blood of the
Lamb, securing a heavenly portion indeed, but with certain losses, and at a
period subsequent to the taking up of the Elders and Living Ones.
So also, after the revelation of the blasphemous Beast, two
great Witnesses appear, whom he finally slays.
Three days and a half their bodies lie unburied. But, at the end of that time they come to
life again, stand on their feet, and ascend to heaven in sight of their
enemies. Here is certainly another
special or particular resurrection which goes to make up the company of the “blessed and holy.”
And in chapter 14., another
special company appears, quite distinct from any thus far named, consisting of
144,000, “redeemed from the earth” and “from among men,” singing a new song of their own, and
joined with the Lamb to follow Him whithersoever He goeth. They certainly belong to “the children of the resurrection,” to the congregation
of God’s glorified saints; but the season of their inbringing does not seem to be the same as that of the others referred
to.
So in connection with the gathering of
the kings and their armies at Harmageddon, there is a note of indication that
other saints were then on the eve of being taken. (Chap.
16: 15.) And again here in Rev. 20: 6., in the vision of the whole body
finally made up, some are described as having lived in the very last days of
the Antichrist, yet did not worship him or receive his mark; indicating that
the first resurrection is not finally complete until the very last period of
the Man of sin.
It is thus clear and manifest, even to the extent of
demon-stration itself, that the First Resurrection is not one summary event,
but is made up of various resurrections and translations at different times,
beginning with the resurrection of Christ, who is the head and front of “the resurrection of the just,” and receiving its last
additions somewhere about the final overthrow of the Beast and his armies.
3. It is a Resurrection which as a whole is nowhere
pictorially described. As it does not occur all at once, it is
not fully given in any one vision, as in the case of the resurrection of “the rest of the dead.”
It is quite too varied and diverse in its several sections, and in the
different parts which the blessed and holy have in it, for any one picture
adequately to represent it. Hence there
is no such picture. What John here sees
and describes is not so much the scene of its occurrence as the body of its
subjects, the estate to which it brings them, the blessedness and honour with
which it clothes and endows them. He
beholds who and what they are that have part in it; but when, how, or in
connection with what times, formalities, and surroundings they are made to live
again, he does not here see or state, as in the case of those who live not again till the thousand years are
ended. The reason is, that the subject
is not capable of it, because so parcelled out in various particular scenes,
relating to different classes and times, and with very diverse circumstances
and attendant facts.
It is not so with “the rest of the
dead,” who are raised at the end of the Millenium. As none of them share in the First
Resurrection, so none of them belong to “the blessed
and holy.” They are all of the
one general class of the non saved. The
reading in the Codex Sinaiticus is that they are all … condemned.
The book of life is opened and searched from end to end, but
there is no account of any name of any one of them being found there. Leaving out the Beast and the False Prophet,
who are then already in the lake of fire, they are all resurrected
together. They all have their judgment
at one and the same time, and all meet the same fate. One picture can readily give the whole scene,
with all the circumstances and particulars.
And so it is given, in connection with the great white throne. But, in the nature of the case, thus it could
not be with “the
resurrection of the just.”
Nor does Christ ever mount a throne of judgment toward His
Church and people. They are His familiar
servants, friends, and brethren. Leaving
the world, He leaves them to occupy for Him, and in His name. The Kingdom He gets is not against them, but
for them, and they may share it with Him.
They are of the King’s party and household. When He comes, He comes, according to the
Parables, first to one, and then to another, and so in succession, advancing
each band of faithful and good servants to their reward one after another, “every man in his own order.” He meets and rewards the best first, and so
descends from class to class, as from time to time, till the whole body of His
redeemed ones is made up in all its variety of orders and degrees, according to
fidelity to His word and service.
4. The completion of this First Resurrection introduces a wonderful change
in the earth’s history. It is the breaking through of an immortal
power; - a power which sweeps away, as chaff before the wind, the whole economy
of mortal and Dragon rule, and thrusts to death and Hades every one found
rising up or stiffening himself against it; - a power which shears the Old
Serpent of his strength, binds him with a great chain, locks and seals him up
in the Abyss, pulls down all his works, tears off and clears away all his hoary
falsehoods, which have been oppressing, deceiving, misleading, and swaying the
world to its destruction for so many ages; - a power which gives to the nations
new, just, and righteous laws, in the administration of immortal rulers, whose
good and holy commands men must obey or die; - a power which cuts at once the
cords of life for every dissembling Ananias and Sapphira, blasts every Nadab
and Abihu that ventures to offer strange fire before the Lord, consigns to
death and burning every Achan that covets the Babylonish garment or wedge of
gold which God hath pronounced accursed, and causeth the earth to open her
mouth and swallow up on the spot every Korah, Dathan, and Abiram that dares to
open his mouth against the authority of the holy princes whom Jehovah hath
ordained. It will be the manifestation
of a power which grasps hold of the plethoric fortunes accumulated in meanness
and oppression and held in greedy avarice for the pampering of lust and pride,
hewing them down in righteousness and scattering them in restitutions to those
out of whom they have been so uncharitably and dishonestly ground and wrung; -
a power which goes forth in vindication of the worthy poor, the oppressed, the
weak, the friendless, and the downtrodden, the righting of their cause, the
maintenance of their just claims and the enforcement of truth and brotherhood
between man and man; - a power whish lifts the mask from deceit, pretence, and
false show, puts each one in his true place according to what he really is,
gives credit only where credit is due, stamps an effectual condemnation on all
false weights and measures, and tries everything and everybody in the balances
of a strict and invincible justice.
I think of the coming in of that power, - of the havoc it must
needs make in the whole order of things, - of the confusion it will cause in
the depraved cabinets, and courts, and legislatures of the world, - of the
revolution it must work in business customs, in corporation managements, in
political manipulations, in mercantile and manufacturing frauds, in the lies
and hollowness which pervade social life, - of the changes it must bring into
churches, into pulpits, into pews, into worship, into schools, into the
newspapers, into book-making and book-reading, into thinking and philosophy,
and into all the schemes, enterprises, judgments, pursuits, and doings of
men, - of how it will affect literature,
art, science, architecture, eating, drinking sleeping, working, recreating - of what it must do concerning playhouses,
and rumshops, and gambling hells, and the unhallowed gains by which many people
have their living and keep themselves up in the world.
And as I thus begin to realise in imagination what the
irresistible enforcement of a true and righteous administration in all these
directions and relations necessarily implies, I can see why the Book of God
describes it as a shepherdising with a rod of iron, and calls it a breaking like the dashing to pieces of an article
of pottery. Think of the sudden collapse
of all the haunts of sin, the rooting out of the nests and nurseries of
iniquity, the clearing away of the marshes and bogs of crime, where every style
of damning pestilence is bred, and the changes that must hence come; - think of
the summary abolition of all infamous cliques, combinations, and rings, -
political rings, whiskey rings, municipal rings, State rings, railroad rings,
mercantile rings, communistic, and other rings, - all the children of
wickedness, hindering just law, suppressing moral right, crippling honest
industry, subsidising legislation, corrupting the press, robbing the public
treasuries, eating up the gains of honourable occupation, perverting public
sentiment, spotting and ostracising men who cannot be made the tools of party,
transmuting selfish greed and expediency into principle, subverting the
dominion of virtue and intelligence, subordinating the common weal to
individual aggrandisement, and setting all righteous administration at
defiance.
Think of the universal and invincible dragging, forth to
divine justice of every blatant infidel, perjurer, liar, profane swearer,
drunkard, drunkard-maker, whoremonger, hypocrite, slanderer, trickster, cheat,
thief, murderer, trader in uncleanness, truce-breaker, traitor, miser,
oppressor of the poor, bribe-taking legislator, time-serving preacher,
mal-practitioner, babe-destroyer, friend-robber, office-usurper,
peace-disturber, and life -embitterer; - think of the instantaneous going forth
into all the world of a divine and unerring force, which cannot be turned or
avoided, but which hews down every fruitless tree, purges away all chaff from
every floor, negatives all unrighteous laws, overwhelms all unrighteous
traffic, destroys all unrighteous coalitions, burns up every nest of infamy and
sin, ferrets out all concealed wickedness, exposes and punishes all empty
pretence, makes an end of all unholy business, and puts an effectual stop to all
base fashions, all silly conceits, all questionable customs, and all the hollow
shams and corrupt show and fastidiousness of what calls itself society,
transferring the dominion of the almighty dollar to Almighty Right, and
reducing everything in human life, pursuits, manners, and professions to the
standard of rigid truth and justice.
Think of the tremendous revolution, in all that the eye can
see, the ear hear, the hand touch, the heart feel, or earthly being realise,
that must needs attend the putting into living practical force of such an
administration, - the high it must make low, the famous it must make infamous,
the rich it must make poor, the mighty it must make powerless, the loud it must
sink to oblivion, the admired and worshipped it must turn to disgrace and
abhorrence, and the despised and contemned poor it must lift into place and
respectability, - the different impulse under which every wheel must then turn,
every shuttle move, every hammer strike, every footstep, every mind calculate,
and every heart beat; - the change that must come over the houses we enter,
over the streets we walk, over the
people we meet, over the words we pronounce, over the food we eat, over the air
we breathe, over the sunlight of the day, over the repose of the night, over
the spirit of our waking hours and the very dreams of our slumbers, and over
all the elements, relations, activities, and experiences which go to make up
what we call life; - think, I say, of all this tremendous revolution, and
conceive it going into invincible effect, unchangeably, without compromise, at
once, and for ever; and you may begin to have some idea of the alteration which
The
First Resurrection is to
introduce into the history of our earth.
For this, and nothing less than this, is the meaning, of this sitting
upon thrones, receiving power of judgment, shepherdising the nations, and
reigning on the earth, on the part of these blessed and holy immortals.
And a good thing it will be for the nations when that day
comes. There can be nothing better than
God’s law. There can be nothing more just, more reasonable, more thoroughly or
wisely adapted to all the well-being, of man and the highest wholesomeness of
human society. All the blessedness in
the universe is built upon it. All that
is needed for the establishment of a holy and happy order is for men to obey
that law, for it to be put in living force, for it to be incarnated in the
feelings, actions, and lives of men. And
this is what is to be effected when “the children of
the resurrection” get their crowns, and go into power, with Christ the
All‑Ruler at their head. They are to
shepherdise, and deal with the nations, and with all that make up the nations,
as unerring and immortal kings and priests, to direct, instruct, and feed them
with all the loving care of angels, but with a “rod of
iron” in their hands to enforce docility, obedience, and unreserved
surrender to all the laws and requirements of the Lord God Almighty. And under this reign shall be fulfilled what
the prophets have prophesied, and sung in golden numbers, about the peace and
blessedness which is in reserve for this sin-hurt and long downtrodden
inheritance of man. You may call it
Judaism, if you like; you may sneer at it as fantastical conceit; you may
denounce it as a carnal dream; you may brand it as heresy; but it is
nevertheless the truth of God, to which you, and I, and all men, are inexorably
bound; and which has every prospect of becoming experimental fact before the
century approaching has passed away. I
hail its coming, and I bid it welcome, as the great hope and regeneration of
our depraved and misgoverned world.
5. The completion of this Resurrection promotes the subjects
of it to a transcendent glory. Saintship
means honour. It is not so in this
present world. The greatest of the
Apostles, with all his great achievements and sublime experiences, was
compelled to say, “If in this life only we have hope in
Christ, we are of all men the most miserable.” (1
Cor. 15: 19.) The great Master of
all told His disciples from the beginning, “If ye were
of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
(Jno. 15: 19.) The unregenerate heart does not like the
Gospel philosophy and the Gospel requirements; and whilst it continues
unregenerate, it has no favours for those who defend and live it, and insist on
its acceptance as the only hope for man.
Hence the history of the Church, wherever it has been truest, purest, and
most itself is a Book of Martyrs. But “the
resurrection of the just” brings the people of God their
compensation. “Blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the Resurrection the First! Over these the Second Death has no power, but
they shall be priests of the God and of the Christ, and reign with Him a
thousand years.” Analyse a little the exultant statement.
First of all, they are partakers of resurrection, the first resurrection, the blessed
resurrection. Not all of them actually
suffer death. Such of them as are alive,
and remaining, and ready, when the time comes, are “caught
up,” translated, carried off into the resurrection life, without dying
at all. But the translation in those
instances is the equivalent of the resurrection. It is the same change to incorruption and
immortality, not from the grave indeed, but from mortal life, and so is
included in the one term, which means, that, to all of them alike, a power is
vouchsafed which strikes from every one of them for ever every vestige of the
old slavery to corruption, death, or mortal disability. Mere living, again, great and wonderful as
that is, is the smallest part of the matter. By the prophets, by Christ, and by
the apostles, some were recalled to life, resuscitated, made to live again after
they were dead, and yet died again as men ordinarily die, the same as if they
had never been recalled from death. The
living again in this case involves a far “better
resurrection,” even the renewal of the whole corporeal being, refashioned
to a heavenly model, with heavenly qualities, and to a vastly sublimer life
than ever was enjoyed before; - a resurrection, in which corruption puts on incorruption, dishonour puts on
glory, weakness puts on power, and the earthy body becomes a spirit body,
lifted quite out of the sphere of the earthly life, and over which neither the
first death nor the second has any further power. Having been “accounted
worthy to attain that world,” they “neither
marry nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are equal
unto the angels; and are the
children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” (Luke 20: 35, 36.)
They are holy. They were holy in their
lives and aims while they lived in the flesh.
They had “the testimony of Jesus,” and “the word of God,” and confessed it over against a
gainsaying world, and held it fast against persecution and death, and willingly
suffered the loss of all things, counting them but refuse and offal, rather
than let go their confession and hope in Christ Jesus. They were the salt of the earth and the light
of the world, the golden candlesticks of eternal truth in the realm of
abounding sin and darkness, yet never content with that to which they had attained,
but ever reaching forth unto still higher and better things, and, like the
Olympian racers, pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God. Reviled, persecuted, evil spoken
of, and accounted the very offscourings of the world, because of their faith,
devotion, and self-sacrifice for their Saviour and His cause, they resented
not, but counted it all joy, and were exceeding glad, sure that it was working
for them a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory. Many of them were tortured, not accepting
deliverance, that they might obtain the better resurrection; and others had
trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, of bonds and imprisonments, were
stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain with the sword, wandered about in
sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the
world was not worthy.
But consecrated and set apart to God as His servants and
light-bearers in their earthly lifetime, they are a hundredfold holier
now. Released for ever from the
death-working law in their fleshly members, their whole being has come under
the power of a complete and untemptable sanctification, which sets them apart
and consecrates them to a sublime and unapproachable holiness, to which
dwellers in the flesh must stand in greater awe than ever was called for in the
sublimest of earthly kings or the most sacred of Jewish high-priests; - a
holiness which inspires while it awes, which attracts while it reproves and
condemns, and which lifts and assures those whom it strikes with humiliation and dread.
When Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon His Almighty throne, and the
seraphim with covered faces round about Him saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the
Lord God of Sabaoth, he fell down and cried, “Woe is
me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell among a
people of unclean lips.” (Is. 6: 1‑5.) And something of this same awful holiness is
then to appear in the immortal king-priests of this resurrection, before which
men and angels will veil their eyes in reverence; for in them and through them
God will set His glory among the nations, and all the earth shall be filled
with it. (Ezek. 29: 21; Is. 6: 3.)
There is a great and awful majesty of consecration in a true
child of God even while living and walking here in the flesh. To the outward eye and carnal view there is
but little that is special. The
thoughtful brow, the sober mien, the dignified behaviour, the reserved and
careful utterance, the keeping aloof from the world’s wild pleasures and
gaieties, and the solemn regard for holy names and holy things, along with a
calm and firm confession of the truth as it is in Jesus, is about all that can
be externally noticed. But his name is
in the books of heaven. He is there
enrolled as a celestial citizen and prince.
The angels are ministers and servants to him. He is allied by
regeneration to the blood-royal of eternity.
He is marked with the name and sacrament of the King eternal, immortal
and invisible. He has upon him an unction
from the Holy One, consecrating him for transfiguration to Supernal principality. He is brother and joint-heir with Him Who
sits enthroned at the right hand of eternal Majesty, and Who is presently to be
revealed as the King of kings and Lord of lords. The very ground on which he treads takes on
sacredness from his presence. The Holy
Ghost dwells in his body, breathes in his breath, walks in his steps, and
speaks in his words. Through that
Saviour in Whom he trusts, he is already in a measure a divine man, partaker of
the divine nature. All of which shall be
made complete, manifest, and visible when he comes forth in the sublime
sanctity of the First Resurrection; for, “blessed and holy is
he that hath part in the Resurrection the first.”
Further, they have very exalted place and
occupation. John saw them seated on thrones. He beheld them endowed with judgeship. He pronounces them kings and priests. They share in the administrations of
government. They reign with Christ.
Their business is to shepherdise nations. These things all tell of official relations
and prerogatives. They are not mere
names and empty titles. The saints know
no sinecures. No meaningless ceremonials
or hollow designations find place in heaven.
Nothing is there but substantial realities. The children of the resurrection are no sham
kings, and no mock judges, but everything which these high titles and offices
imply. They are not co-regents and
co-shepherdisers with Christ, without being, and doing what such words import
and express. The dignity is
transcendently exalted, but it is all real; and the reality of the offices
necessitates the reality of the activities which pertain to them. I said that saintship means honour; but saint
honour means duty, activity, work, not idleness, not quiescence.
There is no heaven for laziness; much less is heaven made up of it. Not for parade badges, but for corresponding
services, do the children of this resurrection get their dignities.
As kings, they are to fill the places and do the work of
kings. As judges, they are to judge and
administer in justice. As
priest-regents, they are charged with the cares and duties of royal
priesthood. They not only have the name
and place of sovereigns, but they reign, as truly and really as ever Saul, or David, or Solomon reigned. The
end of their salvation is not to sit on clouds and sing psalms, or to luxuriate
in the idle bliss of an eternal languor or ecstasy. They are redeemed and glorified for sublime
offices and the work pertaining to those offices. The life of Christ in heaven is an intensely
busy life. He is administering the
Kingdom of the universe. When the
present dispensation ends He will deliver up that Kingdom to the Father, and
enter upon a new and particular administration of His own, in which the
children of the resurrection are to be joined with Him, as angels are now
associated with Him in the administration of the Kingdom of the Father, yea, in
a still closer union.
The work to be done is the shepherdising of the nations with a
rod of iron, - the following up of the victory of the great day of God
Almighty, putting in force the rule of eternal right and justice where the
blasting rule of the Dragon has so perverted things and held disastrous sway
for so many ages. For this they have
their thrones. For this judgment is put
into their hands. For this they are
lifted high above all the infirmities of mortal life. For this they are perfected in holiness and
invested with such divine and awful consecration. And in this they have their honour and their
blessedness. Through their completed
redemption in Christ Jesus they come into such full harmony with the mind and
will of God, and into such living consociation with their Redeemer, as to know
no higher dignity or joy than to fill out the great administration of reducing
the mortal survivors of the awful day to divine order, and to employ their
immortal energies in tutoring the race from which they have sprung till
returned to that Paradise from which it has been in exile for 6000 years.
These are quite different ideas from those usually entertained
about heaven. People spiritualise and
explain away the great things of God’s Revelation until the whole matter
evaporates in their hands, and the true Christian hope vanishes into insipidity
and nothingness. They make ado about
getting to heaven, but have lost all understanding of what it means. All the singing, and longing and fond
anticipation on the subject really amounts to very little more than a going to
see Jesus, to meet some departed friends, and to make the acquaintance of some
distinguished people who once lived.
Crowns are sometimes alluded to, but they are only fancy crowns,
glittering shadows, empty dreams, badges without corresponding dignities,
administrations without subjects, thrones to which nobody is amenable. They talk of rest; but rest is not heaven, any more than
sleep is life.
And the impossibility of finding realities with which to fill
up the scriptural images and descriptions of the final portion of the redeemed,
on the part of those who spiritualise the First Resurrection, is ample evidence
of their tremendous mistake. They, in effect, abolish everything that makes
heaven heaven, and all their pictures of futurity are simply the taking, of
God’s ransomed kings into a world of shadows, to find their eternal bliss and
ever-growing greatness in the langour of songs, or the dreamy joys of an
endless spiritual intoxication, all as impossible as it is uninviting to
rational natures, or to beings invested with immortal powers. No, the joys and honours of the children of
the resurrection are, that they are made kings and priests unto God and Christ,
installed and endowed as immortal benefactors of the nations upon the earth,
the unerring lords, rulers, and invincible shepherds, of a renewing and renewed
world, the everlasting guides, judges, and potentates of a redeemed race. So the word before us is; and to this outcome
all the promises in the Book of God are fitted.
LECTURE FORTY‑SEVENTH.
THE MILLENNIUM, A PERIOD OF A THOUSAND
YEARS - ANOTHER DISPENSATION - CONDITION OF THINGS THEN - ITS BLESSEDNESS DOES
NOT END WITH THE THOUSAND YEARS - THE LOOSING OF SATAN - THE REBELLION OF GOG
AND MAGOG - THE DESTRUCTION OF THE REBELS - CASTING OF SATAN INTO GEHENNA - THE
GREAT WHITE THRONE - ITS OCCUPANT - THE FINAL RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT - THE
BOOKS OPENED - GRADES OF PUNISHMENT - THE LAKE OF FIRE.
Rev. 20: 7-15 (Revised Text). - And when the
thousand years art completed, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and
shall go out to lead astray the nations which are in the four corners of the
earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together into war, of whom the number (of
them) as the sand of the sea.
And they went up on the breadth of the earth [or land], and encompassed
the citadel of the saints and the beloved city.
And there came down fire out of the heaven, and devoured them. And the Devil, who leadeth them astray, was
cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where also the Beast and the False
Prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and
night to the ages of the ages.
And I saw a great white throne, and the One sitting
upon it, from the face of Whom fled the earth and the heaven, and place was not
found for them.
And I saw the dead Ones the great and the small
standing in the presence of the throne, and books [or rolls] were opened, and
another book [or roll] which is [that] of the life;
and the dead ones were judged out of the things written in the books according
to the works of them.
And the sea gave the dead ones in it, and Death and
Hades gave the dead ones in them, and they were judged [Codex Sin. were condemned] every one according to their works.
And Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the death the second, the lake of fire.
And if any one was not found written in the book [or roll] of
the life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
The reign of Christ
and His glorified saints will be a reign
on or over the earth. It will be a shepherdising of “the nations” and “nations”
belong to the race of man in the flesh.
The Living Ones and Elders sung of being made priests unto God, and
proclaimed themselves thus ordained to “reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:
10.)
This reign is to last “a thousand
years,” a millennium, a chiliad.
Any thousand years is a millennium; but because of the peculiarities and
pre-eminence of this particular thousand years, it has come to be called The
Millennium, about which there
is much unfounded oratory and empty song.
The prevailing modern doctrine is, that the world is to
progress, and is progressing, towards a golden age of wisdom, righteousness,
liberty, and peace, when error, false worship, vice, wickedness, oppression,
and all anti-christianism, will be effectually eradicated, and all nations and
peoples brought under the sway of a purified and all-governing Christianity;
that this is to be accomplished by the gradual advancement of civilisation,
science, reforms, political revolutions, the spread of liberality, beneficence,
and Christian principles, and the revival of the churches in devotion and
missionary zeal, helped by increased measures of the Spirit of God, and such
providential directions of human affairs as may augment the efficiency of the
appliances we now have; and that this is the consummation for which all
Christians are to look, labour, and pray, as the glorious outcome of this
world’s history. This men call The
Millennium, and about this
they dream, and sing, and preach. You
will find it in nearly all the popular teachings of our times, just as I have
stated it. That this doctrine involves
some elements of truth, may be admitted but they are sadly disfigured by the
idea associated with them that this Millennium will precede the personal advent of Christ.
The Church in its very name and divine designation, is an Ecclesia, a body called out from the rest of
mankind, with the majority ever outside of itself. By every saying and foreshowing of the
Saviour, it lies under the cross for the whole period of its earthly career,
and from that state is never lifted until the resurrection and the Second
Advent. The tares and the wheat occupy
the same field, and both grow together till the harvest, which is the end of
the age, the termination of the present dispensation. Everywhere
the last days are painted as the worst days, and men as waxing worse and worse
till the end comes. And, all the
precepts and admonitions divinely given to the Church to be looking constantly
for the Coming again of the Lord Jesus, are such as to render it impossible for
them to be kept by any people of any generation believing that a thousand years
of universal righteousness would have to pass before that Coming could take
place.
1. Notice then the Scriptural
teachings with regard to what is called the Millennium.
1. It is a period of “a thousand years,”
dating from the overthrow of the Beast and his confederates, in the battle of
the Great Day of God Almighty, the casting of him and the False Prophet into
the lake of fire, and the binding and locking up of Satan in the Abyss. I understand these to be literal years, the
same as all other dates given in the Revelation.
2. These thousand years begin only after this present world, … age,
or dispensation is closed. The intent of
the Church period during the present age is stated to be the gathering together
of an elect body, the taking out of a people for the name of the Lord, the
development and qualification of a particular number of the human family to be
Christ’s immortal king-priests. That
object being attained, all the present arrangements terminate. There is not a command to preach, make
disciples, baptise, observe the Eucharistic supper, or anything else peculiar
to the Church, which is not limited in its own specific terms to the second
coming of Christ to avenge
His people, and judge His enemies. Such
a coming was shown us before the introduction of these thousand years; but no
such coming is shown us at their termination.
A fiery judgment is there, and a great white throne of terrific
adjudication upon the unholy dead, but not a word about any coming of Christ
either for or with His people, any gathering together of His elect, any taking
of the eagle watchers to where He is, any coming as He was seen going up from
Mount Olivet, or any coming whatever. The fact that the saints appear on thrones,
in the blessedness and holiness of resurrection life and glory, at the
beginning of this thousand years, and that they reign through it, demonstrates
that Christ’s coming to raise His saints to glory, give them their rewards, and
thus end this dispensation, has then already taken place. This Millennium, therefore, lies altogether
on the further side of that occurrence; and the present Church, and so far from
finding an earthly blooming time in it, does not get into it at all, except in
the immortal king-hoods and priesthoods of the children of the resurrection.
3. The so-called Millennium brings
with it an altogether different dispensation from that under which we now
live. During the whole course of the
present order of things, Satan is loose and active in his work of leading
astray; but he is bound, locked
up in the Abyss, and not allowed to enter the world at all, either personally,
or with any of his agents, for all this thousand years. The
great work and office of the Church now is to preach the Gospel to every
creature, and to witness for Christ to an adverse and gainsaying world; but
there is not one word said about any such office in mortal hands during all
that long period. In its stead, however,
there is to be a shepherdising of the nations with a rod of iron, an
authoritative and invincible administration of right and justice on the part of
immortal king-priests, and a potent disciplining of men and nations far beyond
anything which the mere preaching of the Gospel ever has wrought or ever was
intended to do for earthly society. Now
the sovereignty of the earth is in the hands of the Dragon, moulded by his
influence, and not at all under the command of saints; but then it is to be
exclusively in the hands of the Lord of lords and His immortal
king-priests. Now we can only beseech
men in Christ’s stead to be reconciled to God; then they will be compelled to
take the instructions given them, to serve with fear and rejoice with trembling,
to kiss, give the required adoration to the Son, or perish from the way. (Ps. 2: 10‑12.)
Now it is left to men’s option to serve God or not, with nothing to
interfere with their choice but the judgment to come; then they will be obliged
to accept and obey his laws, or be smitten and blasted on the spot.
The present is the period of God’s mercy and long-suffering;
that will be the period of prompt and rigid administration, when sentence
against an evil work will be executed speedily.
Now the dutiful and obedient are obliged to suffer, to endure manifold
wrongs, and to wait for their reward till the resurrection of the just; but “then shall the righteous flourish” in proportion to
their righteousness, and they “shall go forth and grow
up as calves of the stall,” “and the work of
righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and
assurance for ever.” (Is. 32: 17.) Now it is a hard and self-sacrificing thing
to be a saint, justly made hard because of the transcendent dignity and glory
to be gained; but then the difficulty and hardship will be on the other side,
so that people can scarcely help being what they ought to be, and sin will be
embarrassed with greater disadvantages than a life of faith has ever been. Thus, in every particular, the dispensation
of things will then be wholly changed from what it is now.
4. The general condition of the earth, and man upon it, will
then also be vastly improved. All the
intimations show that this whole terrestrial economy will then be far on in the
process of that “regeneration” and renewal of
which the Saviour speaks (Matt. 19: 28), and
in which “the creation the whole creation”- “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom.
8: 21, 22.) Great and mighty
changes in the configuration of the earth are foreshown in the visions of the
judgment-time preceding this thousand years, - changes in the relations of sea
and land, - changes in the mountains, hills and islands, - changes in the
atmospheric heavens, - changes in the sun, moon, and stars, - changes which
must needs alter the whole climate, fruitfulness, and habitability of the
earth. As it is the time when “God shall judge the people righteously and govern
[shepherdise] the nations upon earth,” so it is
the time when “the earth shall yield her increase,”
and when the nations shall “be glad and sing for joy.”
(Ps. 77.)
As it is the time when “the Lord bindeth up the
breach of His people,” so it is the time when “rivers
and streams of waters shall be upon every high mountain and every hill,”
and “the increase of the earth shall be fat and
plenteous,” and “the light of the moon shall be
as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the
light of seven days.” (Isaiah 30: 18-26.)
The physical condition of man will be greatly
ameliorated. “The
inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.” (Is.
33: 24.) Life will be wonderfully
prolonged. “There
shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled
his days.” One dying at the age
of a hundred years will die so young only as a judgment for sin, and will be
accounted as having died a child at that great age. The days of a man are to be as the days of a
tree, as in the antediluvian world. (See Isaiah 65:
20-23.) Indeed we read of no
deaths during this thousand years, except those which occur by reason of
transgression and disobedience. The
population of the world will have been greatly thinned down by the various
judgments, removals, and plagues which precede this Millennium; but “instead of the fathers shall be the children, who may be made
princes in all the earth” (Ps 45:. 16);
and a blessed and happy fruitfulness shall be upon the race of humanity, as
well as in the whole system of nature, so that by the end of the thousand
years, even the remote corners of the world will be able to muster people as
multitudinous as the sands of the sea.
It will not yet be the eternal state, called “the new earth,” in which there is no more sin, nor death,
nor curse, nor tears; but it will be a mighty stride toward it, and the stage
next to it. The mental, moral, social,
and political condition of the people who then live will necessarily be like
heaven itself, compared with the order of things which now prevails; for they
shall be shepherded by Jesus and His immortal co-regents, and “the deaf
shall hear the words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of
obscurity and darkness; the meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and
the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel” (Is. 29: 18, 19); “and
wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of the times and the strength of
salvations.” (Is. 33: 6.)
5. The ending of this period will not be the ending of the
blessedness which it introduces. The
years terminate, but what it begins to realise of the new heavens and earth
abides. What marks the end of the
thousand years, and distinguishes it from the years that succeed, is not a
cessation of the order that has been established. Men do not cease to live in the flesh. But that which marks the end of the thousand
years, and divides it off from the eternal state which follows, is the letting
of Satan loose again for a little time, the testing of the loyalty and devotion
of the nations which have experienced these high favours, the rebellion of Gog
and Magog, the destruction of the rebels by fire from heaven, the casting of
Satan into the final hell, the calling up of all the wicked dead to judgment
and final doom, and the putting forth of what further touches are requisite to
complete “the restitution of all things.”
2. Notice then more particularly what
immediately follows this thousand years.
1. The Devil is let loose. He who lets him loose is, of course, the
same who bound him, and sealed him in the prison of the Abyss. God uses even the wickedest of beings, and
overrules the worst depravity, to His own good and gracious ends. He allows Satan liberty, and denies him
liberty, and gives him liberty again, not because the Devil or the Devil’s
malice is necessary to Him, but to show His power to bring good out of evil, to
make even the worst of creatures praise Him, and to turn their very wickedness
to the furtherance of the purposes they would fain defeat.
It seems like a great pity, after the world has rested for a
thousand years, that this arch-enemy of its peace should again be let loose
upon it. But there seems to be some sort of necessity
for it. The statement to John was, that
“he must be loosed a little time” (v. 3). Some
interest of righteousness and moral government renders it proper that he should
be allowed this last limited freedom. If
for nothing else, it is not unimportant that he should have this opportunity to
prove how little an imprisonment of a thousand years had served to change him,
or reform his malignity. Even the Devil
is granted a final trial to make a better record to himself, if so minded. But neither judgment nor mercy has the least
effect. He is, and remains to the last,
the same depraved and wicked being and employs even the little time of freedom
before he is cast into perdition in tempting, seducing, and deceiving the happy
and peaceful world. Perhaps, too, it was
necessary for the millennial nations to be taught that, even after having been
so far redeemed as to live a thousand years of holy obedience, they still are
unable to stand without the special help and grace of Almighty God. At any rate, this brief period of Satan’s
last freedom proves, that he is still Satan, and that man is still man, after a
thousand years of bonds and imprisonment for the one, and a thousand years’
experience of next thing to Paradise for the other; the Devil being just as
eager to tempt and deceive, and man liable to be tempted and deceived. Nor can it be of small account to the after
ages, or for the generations to whom it is foretold, that the full
demonstration of these facts should be made before things are finally settled
into the eternal state. Hence Satan is
let loose for a little time.
2.
He seduces Gog and Magog into rebellion. He does not send forth this time to “the kings of the earth,” for there are then no mortal
kings to be led astray, but he goes direct to some of the nations (who for a
thousand years’ will have been under the personal government of Christ and His
saints) insinuates his malice against the rule under which the King of kings
has placed the nations, and seeks to persuade them into an attempt to overthrow
it. To those who dwell in the out-skirts
and darker places of the earth, he wends his sullen way. He made b is first attempt in
Just who Gog and Magog are we perhaps cannot tell. A thousand years of uninterrupted peace and
prosperity are likely to make some changes in the distribution and location of
peoples. But the allusion to the “corners of the earth” as the regions whence these
rebels come, sufficiently indicates that they are among the hindermost of
peoples and the least advanced and cultured among the millennial nations. It has taken more than a thousand years to
develop the civilisation which marks the better portions of the present
populations of the globe; and a thousand years, even of millennial tutelage, may
not avail to bring up the darker and more degraded sections to a very exalted
height. And among these ruder peoples
Satan finds the pliant materials for a new and last revolt.
Jerome and Theodoret identify Gog and Magog with “the Scythian nations, fierce and
innumerable, who live beyond the Caucasus and the
3. A terrible disaster ensues. A
madder thing than Gog and Magog’s attempt was never undertaken upon earth. It is simply a march into the jaws of death,
for no such rebellion can be tolerated.
The insane war is quickly terminated.
One brief sentence tells the fearful story: “There
came down fire out of the heaven and devoured them.” When
4. Satan meets his final perdition.
He was imprisoned in the Abyss before; but he is now “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where also the
Beast and the False Prophet [are].”
When the Saviour was on earth, he discoursed to His disciples about an “everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels.”
(Matt. 25: 41.) This is it; and this is the
time when he for whom it is prepared first feels those terrific flames. Thus ends the last rebellion ever seen upon
this planet, the last sin, and the last deaths, that ever occur in this dwelling-place
of man.
3. Notice now what happens to “the rest of the dead,” who did not have part in the
first resurrection.
1. A great white throne appears. A similar throne was beheld by John at the commencement of the great
judgments which precede the Millennium. (Rev. 4:
2-6.) That was set in the heaven;
where this is set we are not told. That
had a rainbow over it, to indicate fulfilment of covenant promises; this is
naked, for it has no hopes to offer, no covenant of good to fulfil. Out of that proceeded lightnings, thunders,
and voices, indicative of revolutionary judgments upon the living world; to
this nothing is ascribed but greatness and whiteness, indicative
of immeasurable power, and of pure, complete, unmingled, and invincible
justice. There is no more probation on
the part of those against whom its adjudications issue, and hence no further
threatenings of coming judgement, as in lightnings and thunder. Around that first throne were sub-thrones,
occupied by associate judges, and with it were conjoined Living Ones, taking
part in the administrations, for they are varied and mingled, both as to kinds
and subjects, and many find occupation in them; here the throne is one only,
for the administration is of but one kind, summary, direct, and having respect
to but one class. Seven burning torches,
representing the seven Spirits of God, were with that throne, because its
adjudications were to be partly gracious and remedial, as well as retributive,
toward those with whom it dealt; this is accompanied with nothing gracious, for
its dispensations are purely retributive, and only dawning to what they strike.
That throne had before it a glassy sea, pure and crystalline,
like a grand celestial pavement, indicative of a place of blessed heavenly
refuge, for it was about to exalt many to glory; here there is no celestial
landing-place, no platform of heavenly peace, for it has no salvations to
dispense. In connection with the first
throne there was singing, joyful exultation, the giving of mighty praises to God
and the Lamb, for it was the setting, in of an administration which was to
bring saints to their consummated redemption and rewards; here there is not a
song, not a voice of gladness, not a note of exultation, for it is simply and
only the administration of retributive justice, which consigns the unsanctified
to their final perdition, and which has nothing whatever of gladness about it.
The presentations in both instances correspond to the
proceedings issuing from them, and the one helps to explain the other. Indeed, they are counterparts of one another,
- the right hand administrations and the left hand administrations, the morning
and the evening of the Great Day of Judgment viewed as a whole.
2. This throne has an awful Occupant.
Of course it is the same beheld in the first instance. There is no name, no figure no shape, in
either case; but only an awful, mysterious, and composed presence, which can be
nothing less than the One, unnameable, indescribable, eternal Godhead. If it were the Lord Jesus Christ, simply as
the God-man, He would appear in some definite form, as in every other
instance. He is indeed the Judge, to
whom all judgment is committed, and He does the judging in this instance; but
He does it under and in the presence of the enthroned Godhead of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and not as the absolute and eternal King over all
things. In the first instance, the
Sitter on the throne had a particular appearance, - an appearance like to a
jasper and a sardine stone, a reddish, crystalline brilliancy, like pure and smokeless
flames, attractive even in its awfulness; here there is nothing but the naked
presence of Almightiness, so dreadful that the very earth and heavens seem to
flee into nothingness before it.
3. A resurrection occurs. No
trumpet is sounded; for the sounding of the trumpet is for those in
covenant with the King, as His armies and friends; but these are not His people
nor His friends. There is simply the
going forth of eternal power, into the sea, into the graves, into Hades, into
all the depositories of the souls and bodies of the unholy dead, and all the
vast multitudes in them suddenly
stand in the presence of the throne.
Everyone of them that ever lived and died, from the beginning of the
world till then, save and except the Beast and the False Prophet, is in that
un-blest congregation. “The great and the small,” the big sinners and the
little sinners, rulers and subjects, nobles and plebeians, the learned and the
ignorant, the refined and the vulgar, the civilised and the barbarous, emperors
and beggars, all alike are there. We
read of no white robes, no spotless linen, no palms, nothing but naked sinners,
before the naked majesty of enthroned Almightiness, awaiting their eternal
doom.
4. Books are opened. Heaven
keeps record of all the deeds of men, and of all the thoughts and feelings
under which they act. Myriads of human
beings have lived and died of whom the world knows nothing; but the lives they
lived, the deeds they wrought, the thoughts and tempers they indulged, still
stand written where the memory of them cannot perish. Not a human being has ever breathed earth’s
atmosphere whose career is not traced at full length in the books of eternity. Yes,
O man! O woman! Whoever you may be, your biography is written. An
unerring hand has recorded every item, with every secret thing. There is not an ill thought, a mean act, a
scene of wrong in all your history, a dirty transaction, a filthiness of
speech, or a base feeling that ever found entertainment in your heart, but is
there described in bold hand, by its true name, and set down to your account,
to be then brought forth for final settlement, if not clean blotted out through
faith in Christ’s blood before this present life of yours is ended. And if no other books are to be thought of, the
book of your own conscience, and the book of God’s remembrance, will then and there attest your every
misdeed and ill-desert. Think, ye that
fear not God, and make nothing of
trampling his laws, how your case will stand when those books are opened!
But there is “another
book, which is that of the life,” - the roll-book of the
regenerate in Christ Jesus, - the register of the washed and sanctified through
faith in His redeeming blood. This must
needs be opened too; for many there be whose lives are fair and honest, who
spend their days in conscientious purity, who live and die in the persuasion
that they have fulfilled all the requirements of virtue, but who have never
experienced the regenerating power of the new creation, who have never felt the
need of atonement by the propitiation of a crucified Saviour, and who have
disdained to build on the merit and righteousness of the one only Mediator as
the sole hope of diseased and guilty humanity.
Exalted as they may have been in their own goodness and morality, they
have not believed on the only begotten Son of God, and therefore have not life,
and so are not written in the book of life.
The record of their own deeds is therefore not enough for the determination of their proper
place and standing. Men may appear well
in these, and still not be prepared to pass the final inquisition. There is another and still mightier question
in the case, and that is whether they have come to a regenerate and spiritual
life through faith in Christ Jesus.
Therefore the book of life must be opened too, and its testimony brought into the decision. If the name of any one is not on that roll,
no matter how virtuously and honestly he may have lived, there is no help for
him; for only “he that believeth on the Son bath everlasting
life.” (Jno. 3: 36.)
5. But judgment is given as the works have been. There
is just gradation in the sorrows of the lost, as well as in the rewards of the
righteous. If there is anything in any case
to modify the guilt of sinners, or in any measure to palliate their
deficiencies and crimes, the plain intimation is that every just allowance
shall be made. Though all the finally
condemned go into one place, they do not all alike feel the same pains, or sink
to the same depths in those
dreadful flames. But the mildest hell is
nevertheless hell, and quite too intolerable for any sane being to be content to
make experiment of it.
The judgment of these people according to these books is, in
each instance, a judgment of condemnation, whether to the lesser or the greater
damnation. There is no account of the
name of any one of them being found in the book of life; “and if any one was not found written in the book of the life,
he was cast into the lake of fire.”
And the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the very oldest and best of the ancient
manuscripts of the New Testament, here reads: “The sea
gave the dead ones in it, and Death and Hades gave the dead ones in them, and
THEY WERE CONDEMNED, EVERY ONE, according to their deeds.”
6. And sentence is followed with
immediate execution. When the Beast and the False Prophet were
taken, they “were cast alive into the lake of fire
which burneth with brimstone.” (Chap. 19: 20.) A thousand years afterwards, when Satan
proved himself the same deceiver he always was, he “was
cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” And into that same “lake
of fire” all the condemned ones in this judgment are hurled. What that “lake of
fire” is I cannot tell, I do not know, and I pray God that I may never
find out. That it is a
place, everything said about
it proves. People raised up to corporeal
life, as these condemned ones are, must needs have locality. That it is a place of woe, pain, and dreadful
torment, is specifically stated, and is the chief idea in every image of the
description.
What God adjudges a just punishment for the wickedness of
Satan, the great head of all evil, for having ruined many of the sublimest
creatures in heaven, and for the mischiefs, impieties, and desolations wrought
in our world by more than six thousand years’ un-remitted exertions against the
peace of man and the gracious purposes of God, certainly must involve a length,
and breadth, and depth, and height of misery at which the universe may well stand
aghast. He who understands it best,
calls it “a lake of fire and brimstone,” and I
do not know what mortal man can tell us better.
Even if we could suppose that it is not material fire, or the brimstone
which feeds it is not the article which commerce handles, it must still be fire
of some sort, fed with
its proper fuel, - fire which can take hold on body and spirit, - fire
which preys on the whole being, clothed with corporeity, - fire kindled and kept
alive by almighty justice, and a great lake of it, commensurate with the
infinite holiness of an infinite law. It
is called “The Second Death.” Hence
some think it means extinction of existence, annihilation, a cremation of body
and spirit, which leaves no ashes after it.
But the Beast and the False Prophet will be in that death for more than
a thousand years, and at the end of that time the implication is that they are
still alive. Concerning those who are
compelled to make proof of that death, the specific statement is, “they shall be tormented day and night, to the ages of the
ages.” This does not look like either
annihilation or final restoration.
Nor is Death an extinction of all existence. The first death is a killing of the body, a
mutilation of the being, but not an extinction of it. If death is the equivalent of annihilation,
then these resurrected ones are condemned and punished for the crimes and
defects of some other beings than themselves, and are not the people who did
what is written in these books. The
first death is a terrible mutilation and degradation, especially to a wicked
man; though not a blotting out of his being and identity. “The Second Death”
must needs be still more terrible and disastrous, for it is a more inward fret;
but not therefore a reduction to absolute nothingness. Angels are regarded in all the theology as
immortal by inherent constitution; yet wicked angels are under the horrors of
this Second Death. The children of the
better resurrection are “as the angels of God;” so
these partakers of the “resurrection of damnation”, are as the Devil and his angels. If “the lake of
fire” is not annihilation to one, so neither is it to the other. But it is Death, and it is torment; and there
is every reason to believe that it is eternal. It is “to
the ages of the ages.” Confirmed
depravity cannot be cured where no means of grace are, neither can those cease
to sin whose whole nature has been turned to sin. And if there can be no end of the sinning how
can there be an end of the suffering?
Remorse cannot die out of a spirit ever conscious of its self-imposed
damnation! Therefore, “their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:
44, 48.)
And Death and Hades, here viewed as if they were personal
beings, share the same fate. They, of
course, cease to be. There is nothing
more of temporal death or of the place of departed spirits after this. Thus, in an ever-burning Hell, from which
there is no more deliverance, all the enemies of God and His Christ find
themselves at last.
And now, in the presence of these awful verities, what shall I
say to those who know it all, yet go deliberately on in ways which can have no
outcome but this Second Death? I look at
them, and think; and the terribleness of their hallucination paralyses my
utterance. I would fain arouse better
senses; but when I speak, my intensest words seem but ashes in my mouth in
comparison with the alarum for which their situation calls.
Oh, ye unbelieving men, - ye dishonest men, - ye profane Men,
- ye lewd men and women, - ye slaves of lust and appetite, - ye scoffers at the
truth of God, - “How can ye escape the damnation of
hell?” (Matt. 23: 33.) Ye men of business, - ye whose
souls are absorbed with the pursuit of gain, - ye people of wealth without
riches toward God, - ye passengers on the voyage of life, without prayer,
without Church relations, without concern for your immortal good, your God, or
the eternity before you, - hear: “Hell hath enlarged
herself, and opened her mouth without measure, and your glory, and your
multitude, and your pomp, and your rejoicing, shall descend into it!” (Is. 5:14.) Ye
almost [uninformed and ignorant] Christians, lingering these many years on the
margin of the [Millennial] Kingdom [of reward], looking in through the gates, but never quite
ready to enter them (Matt.
5: 20), intending but never performing,
often wishing but still postponing, hoping but without [any
works of righteousness, and therefore no] right of hope, - an appeal is to YOU: “How
shall YE escape if YE neglect so great salvation?” (Heb. 2: 2-4.)
And ye [Anti-Millennialists] who call yourselves Christians but have [glossed over God’s responsibility truths and
aligned yourselves with Satan in your theology, and] forgotten
your covenant promises, - ye Terahs and Lot’s wifes, who have started out of
the place of sin and death but hesitate half way, and stay and look back, - ye
baptised Elymases, and Judases, and Balaams who, through covetousness and
feigned words make merchandise of the grace of God, - see ye not that “your judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and your
damnation slumbereth not.” (2 Pet. 2: 3.) And if there be any one oblivious or
indifferent toward these great matters, - asleep amidst the dashing waves of
coming tribulation, - the MESSAGE IS TO
YOU: “What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God
shall think upon thee, that thou perish not!” (Jon.
1: 6.) *
If any one be not written in the Book
of Life, he must be swallowed up by the
[* This would suggest that there will be those whose names will be found
written in “the Book of Life”; but they were not
“accounted worthy” to rise out from the dead at
the “First Resurrection,” and therefore forfeit
their earthly inheritance, by being overcome by the trials and
testings of this life!]