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THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE.
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(Separate vols, sent for $1.50, postpaid.) 189O.
JUDGES AND RUTH. By Rev. R. A. Watson, M.A.
THE PROPHECIES OF JEREMIAH. By Rev. C. J. Ball,
of the " Speakers' Commentary."
THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH. Vol. II. Completing the
Work. By Rev. George Adam Smith.
THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW. By Rev. J. Monro Gibson,
D.D., Author of "The Mosaic Era," etc.
THE BOOK OF EXODUS. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick.
THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE. By Rev. H. Burton.
1888-89.
THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. Ry Rev. Prof. G.
G. Findlay, B.A., Headingley College, Leeds.
THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. Chap. I. to XXXIX. By Rev.
George Adam Smith.
THE PASTORAL EPISTLES. By Rev. Alfred Plumber,
D.D., Master of University College, Durham.
THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. By
Rev. Professor Marcus Dods, D.D.
THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. By Rev. Professor
W. Milligan, D.D., of University of Aberdeen.
THE EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN. By Right Rev. W. Alex
ander, D.D., D.C.L., Lord Bishop of Derry and Raphoe.
1887-88.
THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. By Alexander
Maclaren, D.D., of Manchester.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. By Rev.
Prebendary G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh.
THE BOOK OF GENESIS. By Rev. Marcus Dods, D.D.
THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. By Rev. Professor W.
G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D.
THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. By the same Author.
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. By Rev. Principal
T. C. Edwards.
Descriptive circular with critical notices sent on application by
A. C. ABMSTRONG & SON, 714 Broadway, New York.

THE

BOOK OF REVELATION

WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D.,
Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism in the University of Aberdeen ;
AUTHOR OF "THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD," ETC*

NEW YORK:
A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON,
. 714, BROADWAY.

Yale Divinity Library
New Haven, Conn.

PREFATORY NOTE.
TN ordinary circumstances one who undertakes to
¦*• comment upon a book of the New Testament
may be justly expected to make every effort to
explain each successive clause and each difficult
expression of the book on which he writes. My aim
in the following Commentary is rather to catch the
general import and object of the Revelation of St.
John considered as a whole. The latter purpose
indeed cannot be attained unless the commentator
has himself paid faithful attention to the former; but
it is not necessary that the results of these inquiries
should in every case be presented to the English
reader. To him this book is for the most part a
perplexity and enigma, and he would only be embar
rassed by a multitude of details. It seemed well,
therefore, to treat the book in its sections and
paragraphs rather than verse by verse ; and this is
1 the course pursued in the following pages. The
translation used is for the most part that of the
Revised Version. An examination of the words and

PREFATORY NOTE.

clauses of the book, conducted upon a plan different
from that here adopted, and much more minute in
its character, will be found in the Author's Com
mentary on the Apocalypse, in the Commentary upon
the books of the New Testament edited by Professor
Schaff and published by Messrs. Clark, Edinburgh.
The principles upon which the Author has proceeded
have been fully discussed in his Baird Lectures.
The University, Aberdeen,
May 1889.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PAGE
THE PROLOGUE --- j
CHAPTER II.
THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY - - - - 21
CHAPTER III.
ANTICIPATIONS OF THE CHURCH'S VICTORY - - - 65
CHAPTER IV.
THE SEALED ROLL OPENED - 86
CHAPTER V.
CONSOLATORY VISIONS. THE SEALING AND THE PALM-
BEARING MULTITUDE - - - III
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS - - I32
CHAPTER VII.
RENEWED CONSOLATORY VISION. THE LITTLE BOOK - - 157
CHAPTER VIII.
A SECOND CONSOLATORY VISION. THE MEASURING OF THE
TEMPLE AND THE TWO WITNESSES. THE SEVENTH
TRUMPET ..... . 168

vui CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX. PAGE
THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY OF THE CHURCH - - I96
CHAPTER X.
THE SECOND AND THIRD GREAT ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH 217
CHAPTER XI.
RENEWED CONSOLATORY VISIONS. THE LAMB ON THE MOUNT
ZION AND THE HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD 238
CHAPTER XII.
THE SEVEN BOWLS -------- 259
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BEAST AND BABYLON ------- 277
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FALL OF BABYLON ------- 303
CHAPTER XV.
THE PAUSE OF VICTORY AND JUDGMENT OF THE BEAST AND
THE FALSE PROPHET ------- 316
CHAPTER XVI.
JUDGMENT OF SATAN AND OF THE WICKED - - - 335
CHAPTER XVII.
THE NEW JERUSALEM -------- 360
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE EPILOGUE - - - - - - "375

CHAPTER I.
THE PROLOGUE.
Rev. i.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show
unto His servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass :
and He sent and signified it through His angel unto His servant
John ; who bare witness of the word of God, and of the testimony
of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that
readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the
things which are written therein : for the season is at hand (i. 1-3).
THE first chapter of Revelation introduces us to
the whole book, and supplies in great measure
the key by which we are to interpret it. The book is
not intended to be a mystery in the sense in which we
commonly understand that word. It deals indeed with
the future, the details of which must always be dark to
us ; and it does this by means of figures and symbols
and modes of speech far removed from the ordinary
simplicity of language which marks the New Testament
writers. But it is not on that account designed to be
unintelligible. The figures and symbols employed in
it are used with perfect regularity ; its peculiar modes
of speech are supposed to be at least not unfamiliar to
the reader ; and it is taken for granted that he under
stands them. , The writer obviously expects that his
meaning, so far from being obscured by his style, will
be thereby illustrated, enforced, and brought home to
the mind, with greater than ordinary power. The
I

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

word Revelation by which he describes to us the general
character of his work is of itself sufficient to show this.
"Revelation" means the uncovering of that which has
hitherto been covered, the drawing back of a veil which
has hung over a person or thing, the laying bare what
has been hitherto concealed ; and the book before us is
a revelation instead of a mystery.
Again, the book is a revelation of Jesus Christ; not so
much a revelation of what Jesus Christ Himself is, as
one of which He is the Author and Source. He is the
Head of His Church, reigning supreme in His heavenly
abode. He is the Eternal Son, the Word without
whom was not anything made that was made, and
who executes all the purposes of the Father, " the same
yesterday, and to-day, and forever." * He is at the same
time " Head over all things to the Church." 2 He regu
lates her fortunes. He controls in her behalf the events
of history. He fills the cup which He puts into her
hand with prosperity or adversity, with joy or sorrow,
with victory or defeat. Who else can impart a revela
tion so true, so weighty, and so precious ?
Yet again, the revelation to be now given by Jesu
Christ is one which God gave Him, the revelation of"
the eternal and unchangeable plan of One who turneth
the hearts of kings as the rivers of water, who saith
and it is done, who commandeth and it stands
fast. Finally, the revelation relates to things that must
shortly come to pass, and thus has all the interest of
the present, and not merely of a far-distant future.
Such is the general character of that revelation
which Jesus Christ sent and signified through His angel
1 John v. 19; Heb. xiii. 8. * Eph. i. 22.

». i-3-I THE PROLOGUE. 3
unto His servant John. And that Apostle faithfully
recorded it for the instruction and comfort of the
Church. Like his Divine Master, with whom through
out all this book believers are so closely identified,
and who is Himself the Amen, the faithful and true
witness,1 the disciple whom He loved stands forth to
bear witness of the word of God thus given him, of the
testimony of Jesus thus signified to him, even of ah
things that he saw. He places himself in thought at
the end of the visions he had witnessed, and re-traces
for others the elevating pictures which had filled, as he
beheld them, his own soul with rapture.
Therefore may he now, ere yet he enters upon his
task, pronounce a blessing upon those who shall pay
due heed to what he is ¦ to say. Does he think of the
person by whom the apostolic writings were read aloud
in the midst of the Christian congregation ? then,
Blessed is he that readeth. Does he think of those who
listen ? then, Blessed are they that hear the words of the
prophecy. Or, lastly, does he think not merely of
reading and hearing, but of that laying up in the heart
to which these were only preparatory ? then, Blessed are
they that keep the things which are written therein, for the
season, the short season in which everything shall be
accomplished, is at hand.
The Introduction to the book is over; and it may
be well to mark for a moment that tendency to divide
his matter into three parts which peculiarly distinguishes
St. John, and to which, as supplying an important
rule of interpretation, we shall often have occasion to
refer. There are obviously three parts in the Introduc
tion, — the Source, the Contents, and the Importance of
1 Chap. iii. 14.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

the revelation : and each of these is again divided into
three. Three persons are mentioned when the Source
is spoken of, — God, Jesus Christ, and the servants of
Jesus ; three when the Contents are referred to, — the
Word of God, the Testimony of Jesus, and All things
that he saw ; and three when the Importance of the
book is described, — He that readeth, They that hear,
and They that keep the things written therein.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia : Grace to you,
and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to
come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; and
from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the
dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loveth
us, and loosed us from our sins in His blood ; and He made us to
be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father ; to Him be the
glory and the dominion for ever and -ever. Amen. Behold, He
Cometh with the clouds ; and every eye shall see Him, and they
which pierced Him ; and all the tribes of the earth shall wail over
Him. Even so, Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the
Lord, God, which is and which was and which is to come, the
Almighty (i. 4-8).
From the Introduction we pass to the Salutation,
extending from ver. 4 to ver. 8. Adopting a method
different from that of the fourth Gospel, which is
also the production of his pen, the writer of Revelation
names himself. The difference is easily explained.
The fourth Gospel is original not only in its contents
but its form. The Apocalypse is moulded after the
fashion of the ancient prophets, and of the numerous
apocalyptic authors of the time ; and it was the practice
of both these classes of writers to place their names at
the head of what they wrote. The fourth Gospel was
also intended to set forth in a purely objective manner
the glory of the Eternal Word made flesh, and that too
in such a way that the glory exhibited in Him should

i-4-8.] THE PROLOGUE.

authenticate itself, independently of human testimony.
The Apocalypse needed a voucher from one known and
trusted. It came through the mind of a man, and
we naturally ask, Who is the man through whom it
came ? The enquiry is satisfied, and we are told that
it comes from John. In telling us this St. John speaks
with the authority which belongs to him. By-and-by
w: shall see him in another light, occupying a position
similar to ours, and standing on the same level with
us in the covenant of grace. But at this moment he
is the Apostle, the Evangelist, the Minister of God, a
consecrated priest in the Christian community who is
about to pronounce a priestly blessing on the Church.
Let the Church bow her head and reverently re
ceive it.
The Salutation is addressed to the seven churches
which are in Asia. On this point it is enough to say
that by the Asia spoken of we are to understand
neither the continent of that name, nor its great
western division Asia Minor, but only a single district
of the latter, of which Ephesus, where St. John spent
the later years of his life and ministry, was the capital.
There the aged Apostle tended all those portions of
the flock of Christ that he could reach, and all the
churches of the neighbourhood were his peculiar care.
We know that these were in number more than
seven. We know that to no church could the Apostle
be indifferent. The conclusion is irresistible, that here,
as so often in this book as well as in other parts of
Scripture, the number seven is not to be literally under
stood. Seven churches are selected, the condition of
which appeared most suitable to the purpose which the
Apostle has in view; and these seven represent the
Church of Christ in every country of the world, down

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

to the very end of time. The universal Church spreads
itself out beneath his gaze ; and before he instructs he
blesses it.
The blessing is, Grace to you, and peace; grace first,
the Divine grace, in its enlightening, quickening, and
beautifying power ; and then peace, peace with God
and man, peace that in the deep recesses of the heart
remains undisturbed by outward trouble, the peace of
which it is said by Him who is the Prince of peace,
" Peace I leave with you ; My peace I give unto you :
not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful."1
The source of the blessing is next indicated, — the
Triune God, the three Persons of the glorious Trinity,
the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son. Probably we
should have thought of a different order ; but the truth is
that it is the Son, as the manifestation of the Godhead,
who is mainly in the Apostle's mind. Hence the pecu
liarity of the first designation, Him which is, and which
was, and which is to come, a designation specially appli
cable to our Lord. Hence also the peculiarity of the
second designation, The seven Spirits which are before His
throne; not so much the Spirit viewed in His individual
personality, in the eternal relations of the Divine
existence, as that Spirit in the manifoldness of His
operation in the Church, the Spirit of the glorified
Redeemer, — not one therefore, but seven. Hence, again,
the peculiar designation of Christ, Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler
of the kings of the earth; not so much the Son in His
metaphysical relation to the Godhead, as in attributes
connected with His redemptive work. And hence,
1 John xiv. 27.

'•4-8.] THE PROLOGUE. f
finally, the fact that when these three Persons have
been named, the Seer fills up the remaining verses of
his Salutation with thoughts, not of the Trinity, but of
Him who has already redeemed us, and who will in
due time come to perfect our salvation.
Now, therefore, the Church, reflecting upon all that
has been done, is done, and shall be done for her, is
able to raise the song of triumphant thanksgiving,
Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins in
His blood, and He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests
unto His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the
dominion for ever and ever. Amen. In these words
the possession of complete redemption is implied.
The true reading of the original is not that of our
Authorised Version, " Unto Him that washed," but
" Unto Him that loosed " us from our sins. We have
received not merely the pardon of sin, but deliverance
from its power. " Our soul is escaped as a bird out of
the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and we
are escaped."1 The chains in which Satan held us
captive have been snapped asunder and we are free.
Again, this loosing has taken place " in " rather than
" by " the blood of Christ, for the blood of Christ is
living blood, and in that life of His we are enfolded and
enwrapped, . so that it is not we that live, but Christ
that liveth in us. Once more they who are thus spoken
of are " a kingdom, priests unto His God and Father,"
the former being the lower stage, the latter the higher.
The word " kingdom " has reference, less to the splendour
of royalty than to victory over foes. Christians reign
in conquering their spiritual enemies; and then, in
possession of the victory that overcometh the world,
1 Psalm cxxiv. J.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

they enter into the innermost sanctuary of the Most
High and dwell in the secret of His Tabernacle. There
their great High Priest is one with " His God and
Father," and there they also dwell with His Father
and their Father, with His God and their God.
The statement of these verses, however, reveals not
only what the Christian Church is to which the Apo
calypse is addressed ; it reveals also what the Lord
is from whom the revelation comes. He is indeed the
Saviour- who died for us, the witness faithful unto death :
but He is also the Saviour who rose again, who is the
firstborn of the dead, and who has ascended to the
right hand of God, where He lives and reigns in glory
everlasting. It is the glorified Redeemer from whom the
book of His revelation comes ; and He has all power
committed to Him both in heaven and on earth. More
particularly, He is " the ruler of the kings of the earth."
This is not a description of such honour as might be
given by a crowd of loyal nobles to a beloved prince.
It rather gives expression to a power by which " the
kings of the earth," the potentates of a sinful world,
are subdued and crushed.
Lastly, the Salutation includes the thought that He
who is now hidden in heaven from our view, will yet
appear in the glory that belongs to Him. He is the
Lord who " is to come " ; or, as it is expanded in the
words immediately following the doxology, Behold, He
cometh with the clouds ; and every eye shall see Him, and
they which pierced Him ; and all the tribes of the earth
shall wail over Him. Even so, Amen. It is of import
ance to ask what the glory is in which the glorified
Lord is thus spoken of as coming. Is it that of one
who shall be the object of admiration to every eye, and
who, by the revelation of Himself, shall win all who

i. 4-8. THE PROLOGUE.

behold Him to godly penitence and faith ? The con
text forbids such an interpretation. The tribes " of the
earth " are like its kings in ver. 5, the tribes of an un
godly world, and the " wailing " is that of chap, xviii. 9,
where the same word is used, and where the kings of
the earth weep and wail over the fall of guilty Babylon,
which they behold burning before their eyes. The tones
of that judgment which is to re-echo throughout the
book are already heard : " Give the king Thy judg
ments, O God, and Thy righteousness unto the king's
Son. He shall judge the people with righteousness,
and Thy poor with judgment " ; " Verily there is a
reward for the righteous : verily, He is a God that
judgeth in the earth."1
And now the glorified Redeemer Himself declares
what He is : / am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the
Lord, God, which is and which was and which is to come,
the Almighty. It will be observed that after the word
" Lord " we have interposed a comma not found in either
the Authorised or the Revised Version.3 On various
other occasions we shall have to do the same, and the call
to do so arises partly from the connexion of the thought,
partly from St. John's love of that tripartite division of
an idea which has been already spoken of. The former
does not lead us to the Father ; it leads us, on the con
trary, to the Son. He it is Who has been described
immediately before, and with Him the description
which follows is to be occupied. No doubt the thought
of God, of the Father, lies immediately behind the
words. No doubt also "the Son can do nothing of
Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing " ; yet
"what things soever He doeth, these the Son also
» Psalm Ixxii. I, 2; lviii. II.
• Compare the Greek text of Westcott and Hort.

10 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
doeth in like manner."1 By the Son the Father acts.
In the Son the Father speaks. The Son is the mani
festation of the Father. The same Divine attributes,
therefore, which are to be seen in the Father, are to be
seen in the Son. Let us hear Him as He seals His
intimations of coming judgment with the assurance
that He is God, who has come who is and who is to
come, the Almighty.
I John,' your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation
and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that
is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a
great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, What thou seest, write in
a book, and send it to the seven churches; unto Ephesus, and unto
Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis,
and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see
the voice which spake with me. And having turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks ; and in the midst of the candlesticks one like
unto a Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and
girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle. And His head and
His hair were white as white wool, white as snow ; and His eyes were
as a flame of fire ; and His feet like unto burnished brass, as if
it had been refined in a furnace ; and His voice as the voice of many
waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars : and out of
His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword : and His countenance
was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw Him, I
fell at His feet as one dead. And He laid His right hand upon me,
saying, Fear not ; I am the first and the last, and the living One ;
And I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have
the keys of death and of Hades. Write therefore the things which
thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall
come to pass hereafter ; the mystery of the stars which thou sawest
upon My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven
stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candle
sticks are seven churches (i. 9-20).
After the Introduction and Salutation, the visions of
the book begin, the first being the key to all that
1 John v. 19.

i.9-2o.] THE PROLOGUE. 1 1
follow. The circumstances amidst which it was given
are described, not merely to satisfy curiosity, or to
afford information, but to establish such a connexion
between St. John and his readers as shall authenticate
and vivify its lessons.
I John, he begins, your brother and partaker with you
in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are
in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the
word of God and the testimony of Jesus. It is no longer
only the Apostle, the authoritative messenger of God,
who speaks ; it is one who occupies the same ground
as other members of .the Church, and is bound to
them by the strong deep tie of common sorrow. The
aged and honoured Evangelist, "the disciple whom
Jesus loved," is one with them, bears the same burden,
drinks the same cup, and has no higher consolation
than they may have. He is their " brother," a brother
in adversity, for he is a partaker with them of the
" tribulation " that is in Jesus. The reference is to
outward suffering and persecution ; for the words of
the Master were now literally fulfilled : " A servant is
not greater than his lord. If they persecuted Me they
will also persecute you ; " " Yea, the hour cometh, that
whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service
unto God."1 The scorn, the hatred, the persecution
of the world ! for such as were exposed to these things
was the Apocalypse written, by such was it understood ;
and if, in later times, it has often failed to make its
due impression on the minds of men, it is because it
is not intended for those who are at ease in Zion.
The more Christians are compelled to feel that the
world hates them, and that they cannot be its friends,

1 John xv. 20 ; xvi. 2.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

the greater to them will be the power and beauty of
this book. Its revelations, like the stars of the sky,
shine most brightly in the cold, dark night.
"Tribulation" is the chief thing spoken of, but the
Apostle, with his love of groups of three, accompanies
it with other two marks of the Christian's condition in
the world, — the " kingdom " and " patience " that are in
Jesus. St. John therefore was in tribulation. He had
been driven from Ephesus, we know not why, and had
been banished to Patmos, a small rocky island of the
jEgean Sea. He had been banished for his faith, for
his adherence to " the word of God and the testimony
of Jesus," the former expression leading our thoughts
to the revelation of the Old Testament, the latter to
that of the New; the former to those prophets,
culminating in the Baptist, of whom the same Apostle
who now writes tells us in the beginning of his Gospel,
that they " came for witness, that they might bear
witness of the light ; " l the latter to " the true light,
even the light which lighteth every man coming into
the world." 2 Driven from the society of his friends and
"children," we cannot doubt that St. John would be
drawn even more closely than was his wont to the bosom
of his Lord ; would feel that he was still protected by
His care ; would remember the words uttered by Him
in the most sublime and touching moment of His life,
" And I am no more in the world, and these are in the
world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them
in Thy name which Thou hast given Me " ; 3 and would
share the blessed experience of knowing that, on every
spot of earth however remote, and amidst all trials
however heavy, he was in the hands of One who stills
1 John i. 7. 2 John i. 9. * John xvii. II.

i-9-20.] THE PROLOGUE. 13

the tumults of the people as well as the waves of the
sea beating upon the rock-bound coast of Patmos.
Animated by feelings such as these, the Apostle knew
that, whatever appearances to the contrary might pre
sent themselves, the time now passing over his head
was the time of the Lord's rule, and not of man's.
No thought could be more inspiring, and it was the
preparation in his soul for the scene which followed.
/ was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard
behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, What
thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven
churches; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto
Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto
Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. The Lord's day here
referred to may have been the Sunday, the first day
of the Christian week, the day commemorative of that
morning when He who had been " crucified through
weakness, yet lived through the power of God."1 If
so, there was a peculiar fitness in that vision, now
to be granted, of the risen and glorified Redeemer.
But it seems doubtful if this is the true interpretation.
Proof is wanting that the first day of the week had
yet received the name of " The Lord's Day," and it is
more in accordance with the prophetic tone of the book
before us, to think that by St. John the whole of that
brief season which was to pass before the Church
should follow her Lord to glory was regarded as " The
Lord's Day." Whichever interpretation we adopt, the
fact remains that, meditating in his lonely isle upon
the glory of his Lord in heaven and the contrasted
fortunes of His Church on earth, St. John passed into
a state of spiritual ecstasy. Like St. Paul, he was
1 2 Cor. xiii. 4.

14 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
caught up into the third heavens ; but, unlike him, he
was permitted, and even commanded, to record what
he heard and saw.1
And I heard behind me, he says, a great voice as of a
trumpet, saying, What thou seest, write in a book, and
send it to the seven churches; unto Ephesus, and unto
Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and
unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
We need not dwell now upon these churches. We
shall meet them again. They are " the seven churches
which are in Asia " already spoken of in ver. 4 ; and
they are to be viewed as representative of the whole
Christian Church in all countries of the world, and
throughout all time. In their condition they represented
to St. John what that Church is, in her Divine origin
and human frailty, in her graces and defects, in her
zeal and lukewarmness, in her joys and sorrows, in the
guardianship of her Lord, and in her final victory after
many struggles. Not to Christians in these cities
alone is the Apocalypse spoken, but to all Christians in
all their circumstances : "He that hath an ear, let him
hear." The Apostle heard.
And I turned to see the voice which spake with me.
And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks; and
in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a Son of man.
It was a splendid vision which was thus presented to
his eyes. The golden candlestick, first of the Tabernacle
and then of the Temple, was one of the gorgeous articles
of furniture in God's holy house. It was wrought, with
its seven branches, after the fashion of an almond tree,
the earliest tree of spring to hasten (whence also it
was named) into blossom ; and, as we learn from the
1 Compare 2 Cor. xii. 4.

i.9-20.] THE PROLOGUE. 15
elaborateness and beauty of the workmanship, from the
symbolical numbers largely resorted to in its construc
tion, and from the analogy of all the furniture of the
Tabernacle, it represented Israel when that people,
having offered themselves at the altar, and having been
cleansed in the laver of the court, entered as a nation
of priests into the special dwelling-place of their
heavenly King. Here, therefore, the seven golden
candlesticks, or as in ver. 4 the one in seven, represent
the Church, as she burns in the secret place of the
Most High.
But we are not invited to dwell upon the Church.
Something greater attracts the eye, — He who is " like
unto a Son of man." The expression of the original is
remarkable. It occurs only once in any of the other
books of the New Testament, in John v. 27, although
there, both in the Authorised and Revised versions, it
is unhappily translated " the Son of man." It is the
humanness of our Lord's Person more than the Person
Himself, or rather it is the Person in His humanness,
to which the words of the original direct us. Amidst
all the glory that surrounds Him we are to think of
Him as man ; but what a man !
Clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about
at the breasts with a golden girdle. And His head and
His hair were white as white wool, white as snow ; and
His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto
burnished brass as if it had been refined in a furnace;
and His voice as the voice of many waters. And He had
in His right hand seven stars; and out of His mouth
proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance
was as the sun shineth in His strength. The particulars
of the description indicate the official position of the
Person spoken of, and the character in which He

16 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
appears, (i) He is a priest, clothed with the long
white garment reaching to the feet that was a distin
guishing part of the priestly dress, but at the same
time so wearing the girdle at the breasts, not at the
waist, as to show that He was a priest engaged in the
active service of the sanctuary. (2) He is a king, for,
with the exception of the last mentioned particular, all
the other features of the description given of Him point
to kingly rather than to priestly power, while the pro
phetic language of Isaiah, as he looks forward to Eliakim
the son of Hilkiah, language which we may well suppose
to have been now in the Seer's thoughts, leads to the
same conclusion : " And I will clothe him with thy robe
and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit
thy government into his hand." J The " Son of man,"
in short, here brought before us in His heavenly glory,
is both Priest and King.
Not only so. It is even of peculiar importance to
observe that the attributes with which the Priest-King
is clothed are not so much those of tenderness and
mercy as those of power and majesty, inspiring the
beholder with a sense of awe and with the fear of
judgment. Already we have had some traces of this
in considering ver. 7 : now it comes out in all its force.
That hair of a glistering whiteness which, like snow on
which the sun is shining, it almost pains the eye to
look upon ; those eyes penetrating like a flame of fire
into the inmost recesses of the heart ; those feet which
like metal raised to a white heat in a furnace consume
in an instant whatever they tread upon in anger; that
voice loud and continuous, like the sound of the mighty
sea as it booms along the shore ; that sword sharp, two-
* Isa. xxii. 21 ; comp. also ver. 22 with Rev. iii. 7,

i-9-20.] THE PROLOGUE. 17
edged, issuing from the mouth, so that no one can
escape it when it is drawn to slay ; and lastly, that
countenance like the sun in the height of a tropical
sky, when man and beast cower from the irresistible
scorching of his beams, — all are symbolical of judg
ment. Eager to save, the exalted High Priest is yet
also mighty to destroy. " Thou shalt break them with
a rod of iron ; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a
potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye Kings ;
be instructed, ye judges of the' earth. Serve the Lord
with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son,
lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when
His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they
that put their trust in Him."1
The Apostle felt all this ; and, believer as he was in
Jesus, convinced of his Master's love, and one who
returned that love with the warmest affections of his
heart, he was yet overwhelmed with terror. And when
I saw Him, he tells us, I fell at His feet as one dead.
In circumstances somewhat similar to the present, a
somewhat similar effect had been produced upon other
saints of God. When Isaiah beheld the glory of the
Lord he cried, "Woe is me ! for I am undone ; because
I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips ; for mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts." 2 When Ezekiel beheld
a visior of the same kind, he tells us that he " fell upon
his face."3 When the angel Gabriel appeared to
Daniel in order to explain the vision which had been
shown him, the prophet says, " I was afraid, and fell
upon my face." 4 Here the effect was greater than in
any of these instances, corresponding to the greater
1 Psalm ii. 9-12. ' Isa. vi. 5. * Ezek. i. 28. * Dan. viii. 17.
2

18 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
glory shown ; and the Apostle fell at the feet of the
glorified Lord as one " dead." But there is mercy
with the Lord that He may be feared ; and He laid His
right hand upon me, adds St. John, saying, Fear not :
and then follows in three parts that full and gracious
declaration of what He is, in His eternal pre-existence,
in that work on behalf of man which embraced not
only His being lifted on high upon the cross, but His
Resurrection and Ascension to His Father's throne,
and in the consummation of His victory over all the
enemies of our salvation, — I. / am the First and the
Last, and the Living One; 2. And I became dead, and
behold, I am alive for evermore; 3. And I have the keys
of death and of Hades.
A few more words are spoken by the glorified
Person who thus appeared to St. John, but at this
point we may pause for a moment, for the vision is
complete. It is the first vision of the book, and it
contains the key-note of the whole. As distinguished
from the fourth Gospel, in which Jesus clothed as He
is with His humanity is yet pre-eminently the Son
of God, the Saviour while here retaining His Divinity
is yet pre-eminently a Son of man. In other words,
He is not merely the Only Begotten who was from
eternity in the bosom of the Father : He is also-
Head over all things to His Church. And He is this
as the glorified Redeemer who has finished His work
on earth, and now carries it on in heaven. This work
too He carries on, not only as a High Priest " touched
with the feeling of our infirmities," but as One clothed
with judgment. He is a man of war, and to Him the
words of the Psalmist may be applied :
" Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Mighty One,
Thy glory and Thy majesty.

'".9-z°-] THE PROLOGUE. 19
And in Thy majesty ride prosperously,
Because of truth and meekness and righteousness:
And Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp ;
The peoples fall under Thee ;
They are in the heart of the King's enemies."1
Yet we cannot separate the body of Christ from the
head, who is Son of man as well as Son of God. With
the Head the members are one, and they too therefore
are here contemplated as engaged in a work of judg
ment. With their Lord they are opposed by an
ungodly world. In it they also struggle, and war,
and overcome. The tribulation, and the kingdom and
patience " in Jesus," 2 are their lot ; but living a resur
rection life and escaped from the power of death and
Hades, salvation has been in principle made theirs, and
they have only to wait for the full manifestation of that
Lord with whom, when He is manifested, they also
shall be manifested in glory.3
Thus we are taught what to expect in the book of
Revelation. It will record the conflict of Christ and
His people with the evil that is in the world, and their
victory over it. It will tell of struggle with sin and
Satan, but of sin vanquished and Satan bruised beneath
their feet. It will be the story of the Church as she
journeys through the wilderness to the land of promise,
encountering many foes, but more than conqueror
through Him that loved her, and often raising to
heaven her song of praise, "Sing unto the Lord, for
He hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider
He hath cast into the sea." 4
Now then we are prepared to listen to the closing
words of the glorious Person who had revealed Him-
* Psalm xlv. 3-5. s Ver. 9. * Col iii.4. * Exod. xv. I.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

self to St. John, as He repeats His injunction to him
to write, and gives him some explanation of what he
had seen : Write, therefore, the things which thou sawest,
and the things which are, and the things which shall come
to pass hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars which
thou sawest upon My right hand, and the seven golden
candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches; and the seven candlesticks are seven churches.
The golden candlesticks and the stars, the churches
and the angels of the churches, will immediately meet
us when we proceed to the next two chapters of the
book. Meanwhile it is enough to know that we are
about to enter upon the fortunes of that Church of
the Lord Jesus Christ in the world which embraces
within it the execution of the final purposes of the
Almighty, and the accomplishment of His plans for
the perfection and happiness of His whole creation.

CHAPTER II.
THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY.
Rev. ii., iii.
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write ; These things saith
He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, He that walketh in
the midst of the seven golden candlesticks : I know thy works, and
thy toil and patience, and that thou canst not bear evil men, and
didst try them which call themselves apostles, and they are not, and
didst find them false ; and thou hast patience and didst bear for My
name's sake, and hast not grown weary. But I have this against
thee, that thou didst leave thy first love. Remember therefore from
whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works ; or else I
come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except
thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou 'hatest the works of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, to
him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of
God. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write ; These things
saith the first and the last, which became dead, and lived again : I
know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the
blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and they are not, but
are a synagogue of Satan. Fear not the things which thou art about
to suffer : behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison,
that ye may be tried ; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. And to
the angel of the church in Pergamum write ; These things saith He
that hath the sharp two-edged sword : I know where thou dwellest,
even where Satan's throne is : and thou boldest fast My name, and
didst not deny My faith, even in the days of Antipas My witness, My
faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth. But
I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that
hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-
block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols

THE BOOK OF REVELATION

and to commit fornication. So hast thou also some that hold the
teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner. Repent therefore ; or
else I come to thee quickly, and I will make war against them with
the sword of My mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, to him will
I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and
upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he
that receiveth it. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write ;
These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like a flame of
fire, and his feet are like unto burnished brass : I know thy works,
and thy love and faith and ministry and patience, and that thy last
works are more than the first. But I have this against thee, that
thou sufferest thy wife Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess ;
and she teacheth and seduceth My servants to commit fornication,
and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time that she
should repent ; and she willeth not to repent of her fornication.
Behold, I do cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with
her into great tribulation, except they repent of her works. And I
will kill her children with death ; and all the churches shall know
that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts : and I will give
unto each one of you according to your works. But to you I say, to
the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this teaching,
which know not the deep things of Satan, as they say; I cast upon
you name other burden. Howbeit 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 as a
shepherd he shall tend them with a sceptre of iron, as the vessels of
the potter are they broken to shivers ; as I also have received of My
Father : and I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. And to the angel
of the church in Sardis write ; These things saith He that hath the
seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars : I know thy works, that
thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead. Be thou
watchful, and stablish the things that remain, which were ready to
die : for I have found no works of thine fulfilled before My God.
Remember therefore how thou hast received and didst hear; and
keep it, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come
as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
But thou hast a few names in Sardis which did not defile their
garments : and they shall walk with Me in white ; for they are worthy.
He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments ; and I
will in nowise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess
his name before My Father, and before His angels. He that hath an

ii., hi.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 23
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. And to the
angel of the church in Philadelphia write ; These things saith He that
is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that
openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth : I
know thy works (behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which
none can shut), that thou hast a little power, and didst keep My
word, and didst not deny My name. Behold, I give of the synagogue
of Satan, of them which say they are Jews, and they are not, but do
lie ; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet,
and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou didst keep the
word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial,
that hour which is to come upon the whole inhabited earth, to try
them that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly: hold fast that
which thou hast, that no one take thy crown. He that overcometh, I
will make hiin a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall come no
more forth : 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 heaven from My God, and Mine own new name. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. And to
the angel of the church in Laodicea write ; These things saith the
Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of
God : I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot : I would
thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither
hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of My mouth. Because thou
sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing ;
and knowest not that thou art the wretched one, and miserable and
poor and blind and naked : I counsel thee to buy of Me gold refined
by fire, that thou mayest become rich ; and white garments, that thou
mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not
made manifest, and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest
see. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten : be zealous therefore,
and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man
hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and be with Me. He that overcometh, I will give to him
to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down
with My Father in His throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith to the churches (ii., iii.).
THE fortunes of the Church are to be traced in the
Revelation of St. John ; and the first thing
necessary therefore is that we shall learn what the
Church is. To accomplish this is the leading aim of

24 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
the second and third chapters of the book. An object
precisely similar appears to determine the arrangement
of the fourth Gospel. The Introduction or Prologue of
that Gospel is found in chap. i. 1-18; and there can
be no doubt that we meet there, in brief and compen
dious form, the ideas afterwards illustrated and enforced
by its selection of incidents from the life of Jesus.
After the Prologue follows a section, extending from
chap. i. 19 to chap. ii. II, in which it is obvious
that that struggle of Jesus with the world, together with
His victory over it, which it is the chief purpose of the
Evangelist to relate, has not yet begun. The question
thus arises, What is the aim of that section ? and the
answer is, that it is to set forth the Redeemer with
whom the Gospel is to be occupied as He enters upon
the field of history. Thus also here. The first chapter
of Revelation is the Introduction or Prologue of the
book, containing the ideas to be afterwards illustrated
in the history of the Church. The struggle of the
Church with the world does not yet begin, nor will it
begin until we come to chap. vi. In the meantime
we are to see in chaps, ii. and iii. that Body of Christ
the struggle and victory of which are to engage our
thoughts. These chapters consist of seven epistles addressed
to the churches of the seven cities of Asia named in
chap. i. II, and now written to in the same order,
beginning with Ephesus and ending with Laodicea.
Each epistle contains much that is peculiar to it, but
we shall fail to understand the picture presented by
the two chapters as a whole if we look only at the
individual parts. General considerations, therefore,
regarding the seven epistles first demand our
notice.

ii, iii.j THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 25
Each epistle, it will be observed, is addressed to the
"angel" of the church named. The object of this
commentary, as explained in the prefatory note, renders
an examination of the meaning of the word "angel"
here used a point of subordinate importance. A few
remarks, however, can hardly be avoided. The favourite
interpretations of the term are two : that the "angels
of the churches " are either the guardian angels to
whom they were severally committed, or their bishops
or chief pastors. Both interpretations may be unhesi
tatingly rejected. For as to the first, there is a total
absence of proof that it was either a Jewish or an early
Christian idea that each Christian community had its
guardian angel ; and as to the second, if there was, as
there seems to have been, in the synagogues of the
Jews, an official known as the "angel" or "messenger,"
he occupied an altogether inferior position, and pos
sessed none of the authoritative control here ascribed
to the several "angels" mentioned. Besides this, both
interpretations are set aside by the single considera
tion that, keeping in view what has been said of the
number seven in its relation to the number one, the
seven angels, like the seven churches, must be capable
of being regarded as a unity. But this cannot be the
case with seven guardian angels, for such a universal
guardianship can be predicated of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the great Head of the Church, alone. Nor can
seven bishops or chief pastors be reasonably resolved
into one universal bishop or the moderator of one
universal presbytery. The true idea seems to be that
the " angels " of the churches are a symbolical repre
sentation in which the active, as distinguished from
the passive, life of the Church finds expression. To
St. John every person, every thing, has its angel. God

26 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

proclaims and executes His will by angels.1 He
addresses even the Son by an angel.2 The Son acts
and reveals His truth by an angel.3 The waters have
i an angel.4 Fire has an angel.6 The winds have an
angel.6 The abyss has an angel.7 On all these occa
sions the " angel " is interposed when the persons or
things spoken of are represented as coming out of
themselves and as taking their part in intercourse
or in action. In like manner the " angels of the
churches " are the churches themselves, with this
mark of distinction only, — that, when they are thus
spoken of, they are viewed not merely as in possession
j of inward vigour, but as exercising it towards things
I without. The interpretation now given is confirmed by the
fact that the "angels," as appears from the words of
chap. i. 20, " The seven stars are the angels of the
seven churches," are not different from the "stars," for
it is the province of the star, instead of hiding itself in
some secret chamber, to shine, and from its place in
the firmament to shed light upon the earth. The
uniformity of treatment, too, which must be claimed
for the number seven when used both with the churches
and the stars, is thus rendered possible; for if the
former may represent the universal Church in what
she is, the latter will represent the same Church in
what she does. Thus, then, in the seven "golden
candlesticks" and in the seven "stars" or "angels"
we have a double picture of the Church ; and each of
the two figures employed points to a different aspect
1 Chaps, vii. 2 ; viii. 2 ; xiv. 6, 8, 9 ; xv. I, 6.
» Chap. xiv. 15. 6 Chap. xiv. 18.
* Chaps, i. I ; xx. 1 ; xxii. 6. " Chap. vii. I.
* Chap. xvi. 5. ' Chap. ix. 11.

ii., iii.J THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 27
of her being. It is possible also that the double
designation may have been chosen in conformity with
a rule, often observed in the Apocalypse, which leads
the writer to speak of the same thing, first under an
emblem taken from Judaism, and then under one from
the wider sphere of the great Gentile Church. The
" golden candlestick " burning in the secret of God's
Tabernacle gives the former, the "star" shining in
the firmament the latter.
Such then being the case, the seven epistles being
addressed to the seven churches, and not to any
individual in each, the following particulars with regard
to them ought to be kept in view : —
I. They are intended to set before us a picture of
the universal Church. At first sight indeed it may
seem as if they were only to be looked at individually
and separately. The different churches are addressed
by name. In what is said of each there is nothing
out of keeping with what we may easily suppose to
have been its condition at the time. There is as much
reason to believe that each epistle contains an actual
historical picture as there is to believe this in the
case of the epistles of St. Paul to Rome, or Corinth,
or Ephesus, or Philippi. Any other supposition would
convey a false idea of the principles upon which the
Apocalypse is framed, would destroy the reality of the
Apostle's writing, and would compel us to think that
his words must have been unintelligible to those for
whom, whatever their further application, they were
primarily designed. The question, however, is not
thus exhausted ; for it is perfectly possible that both
certain churches and certain particulars in their state
may have been selected rather than others, because
they afforded the best typical representation of the

28 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
universal Church. Several reasons may satisfy us that
this was actually done.
(i) We have good ground for believing that, besides
these seven churches of Asia, there were other churches
in existence in the same district at the time when the
Apostle wrote. One of the early fathers speaks of
churches at Magnesia and Tralles It is also possible
that there were churches at Colossae and Hierapolis,
although these cities had suffered from an earthquake
shortly after the days of St. Paul. Yet St. John
addressed himself not to seven, but to "the seven
churches which are in Asia," as if there were no more
churches in the province.1 More, however, there cer
tainly were ; and he cannot therefore have intended to
address them all. He makes a selection, without saying
that he does so ; and it is a natural supposition that his
selection is designed to represent the universal Church.
(2) Importance must be attached to the number seven.
Every reader of the book of Revelation is familiar with
the singular part played by that number in its structure,
and with the fact that (unless chap. xvii. 9 be an excep
tion) it never means that numeral alone. It is the
. number of unity in diversity^of unity in that manifold-
ness of operation which alone entitles it to the name of
unity. Such expressions, therefore, as the " seven
Spirits of God" or the " seven eyes of the Lamb," ate
evidently symbolical. The same idea must be carried
through all the notices of the number, unless there be
something in the context clearly leading to a different
conclusion. Nothing of that kind exists here. Were
these two chapters indeed out of harmony with the
rest of the book, or had they little or no relation to it,
1 Chap. i. 4.

ii., iii.J THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 29
it might be urged that they were simply historical, and
that no deeper meaning was to be sought in them than
that lying on the surface. We have already seen,
however, that their connexion with the other chapters
is of the closest kind ; and we cannot therefore avoid
bringing them under the scope of the same principles
of interpretation as are elsewhere applicable. Their
number — seven — must thus be regarded as typical of
unity, and the seven churches as representative of the
one universal Church.
(3) The nature of the call to the hearers of each
epistle to give heed to the words addressed to them
leads to the same conclusion. Had each epistle been
designed only for those to whom it was immediately
sent, that call would probably have been addressed to
them alone. Instead of this it is couched in the most
general form : He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches.
(4) The character in which the Saviour speaks to
each of the seven churches is always taken from the
vision of the Son of man beheld by St. John in the
first chapter of his book. It is true that in the case of
one or two of the particulars mentioned this is not at
once apparent ; but in that of by far the larger number
it is so clear that we are entitled to infer the existence
of some secret link of connexion in the mind of the
sacred writer even when it may not be distinctly per
ceptible to us. The descriptions, too, of the epistles
are no doubt fuller and more elaborate than those of
the vision; but this circumstance is easily accounted
for when we remember that the seven different delinea
tions of our Lord contained in the second and third
chapters are in the first chapter combined in one.
Keeping these consideration^ in view, the main point is

30 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
incontestable that the germ of the epistolary description
is to be found in every case in the preliminary vision.
Thus to the first church— that of Ephesus — Jesus
introduces Himself as He that holdeth the seven stars in
His right hand, He that walketh in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks1; and the description is evidently
that of chap. i. 12, 13, 16, where the Seer beheld " seven
golden candlesticks ; and in the midst of the candle
sticks one like unto a Son of man ; and He had in His
right hand seven stars." To the second — the church
of Smyrna- — Jesus introduces Himself with the words,
These things saith the first and the last, which became
dead, and lived again'2 ; and the description is taken
from chap. i. 17, 18 : "I am the first and the last, and
the Living One ; and I became dead, and behold, I am
alive for evermore." To the third — the church of
Pergamum — the introduction is, These things saith He
that hath a sharp two-edged sword3 ; and the original
of the description is found in chap. i. 16 : and out of
His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. To the
fourth — the church of Thyatira — the Saviour begins,
These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes
like a flame of fire, and His feet are like unto burnished
brass*; and we see the source whence the words are
drawn when we read in chap. i. 14, 15, "And His eyes
were as a flame of fire ; and His feet like unto burnished
brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace." Of the
latter part of the salutation to the fifth church — that
of Sardis — which runs, These things saith He that hath
the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars,6 it is un-

1 Chap. ii. I. • Chap. ii. 13.
1 Chap. ii. 8. * Chap. ii. 18.
5 Chap. iii. I.

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD UF HISTORY. 31
necessary to speak ; but the first part is more difficult
to trace. Comparing chap. v. 6 and chap. iv. 5, we
learn that the seven Spirits of God are the possession
of the Redeemer, and that they are symbolized by
seven lamps burning before the throne of God. Turn
ing now to chap, i., we find the Seer speaking in ver. 4
of "the seven Spirits which are before the throne,"
those very spirits which in chap. v. 6 he tells us that
the Redeemer " hath." This latter thought therefore he
is accustomed to associate with them ; and though in
chap. i. 4 he does not expressly say that the seven
Spirits there referred to are the possession of Jesus,
this view of them is obviously a part of his general
conception of the matter. In chap. i. 4, therefore, the
source of the words addressed to Sardis is to be found.
To the sixth church — that of Philadelphia — it is said,
These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He
that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and none
shall shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth 1; and we
can have no difficulty in recognising the germ of the
extended description in chap. i. 14, 18, where we are
told that Jesus Christ, in token of His holiness, hath
" His head and His hair white as white wool, white
as snow," and that He hath " the keys of death and
of Hades." Lastly, we have the introductory address
to the seventh church — that of Laodicea — These things
saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning
of the creation of God '2; and the origin of it is to be seen
in chap. i. 5, where we are told of " Jesus Christ, who
is the faithful Witness, and the first-born of the dead,
and the Ruler of the kings of the earth." Each saluta
tion of the seven epistles is thus part of the description
' Chap. iii. 7. 2 Chap. iii. 14.

32 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of the Son of man in the first chapter of the book ; and it
is a legitimate inference that the contents of the epistles
are, like the salutations, only portions of one whole.
(5) Many expressions are to be met with in the
seven epistles which find their explanation only in
those later chapters of the book where a reference to
the Church universal cannot be denied. The tree of
life of the first epistle meets us again, more fully
spoken of, in the description of the new Jerusalem.1
The second death mentioned in the second epistle is
not explained till judgment upon the Church's enemies
is complete.2 The writing upon believers of the new
name, promised in the third epistle, is almost unin
telligible until we behold the hundred and forty-four
thousand upon Mount Zion.3 The authority over the
nations, and more especially the gift of the morning star,
referred to in the fourth epistle, cannot be compre
hended until we are introduced to the vision of the
thousand years and the last utterances of the glorified
Redeemer.4 The white garments of the fifth epistle
can hardly be rightly understood until we see the white-
robed company standing before the throne and before
the Lamb. The mention in the sixth epistle of the city
of My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out
of heaven from My God, remains a mystery until we
actually witness her descent.6 And, finally, the sitting in
Christ's throne of the seventh epistle is only elucidated
by the reign of the thousand years with Him.7
1 Chaps, ii. 7 ; xxii. 2, 14.
1 Chaps, ii. 11; xx. 14.
8 Chaps, ii. 17; xiv. I.
* Chaps, ii. 26, 28 ; xx. 4, 5 ; xxii. 16.
' Chaps, iii. 5 ; vii. 9, 14.
• Chaps, iii. 12; xxi. 2, 10.
• Chaps, iii. 21 ; xx. 4. Comp. Trench, The Seven Epistles, p. 37

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 33

(6) It is worthy of notice that the descriptions of our
Lord given in the first and last epistles have a wider
application than to the churches of Ephesus and
Laodicea, to which they are immediately addressed,
thus making it evident that, while each of these epistles
has its own place in the series, it is at the same time
treated as the first or last member of a group which is
to be regarded as a whole.
To the church of Ephesus the Saviour describes
Himself as He that holdeth the seven stars in His right
hand, He that walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks1; and the description has no more reference
to Ephesus than to any other of the churches named.
In like manner to the church of Laodicea He describes
Himself as the Amen, the Witness faithful and true, the
Beginning of the creation of God.2 The first of these
appellations is no doubt derived from Isa. lxv. 16,
where we have twice repeated in the same verse the
formula " God Amen ; " and the meaning of the name
as applied to Jesus is, not that all the Divine promises
shall be accomplished by Him, but that He is Himself
the fulfilment of every promise made by the Almighty
to His people. The second appellation reminds us of
John xviii. 37, where Jesus replies to Pilate's question
in the words, " To this end have I been born, and to
this end am I come into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth." His whole mission is summed
up by Him in the idea of "witnessing." He is the
perfect, the true, the real Witness to eternal truth in
its deepest sense, in its widest and most comprehensive
range. The third appellation, again, cannot be limited
to the thought of the mere material creation, as ii-
1 Chap. ii. 1. 2 Chap. iii. 14.

34 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
equivalent to the statement that by the Word were all
things made. It would thus fail to correspond with
the two appellations preceding it, which undoubtedly
apply to the work of redemption, while at the same
time the addition of the words "of God" would be
meaningless or perplexing. Let us add to this that
in chap. i. 5, immediately after Jesus has been called
the " faithful Witness," He is described as the " first-
begotten of the dead," and we shall not be able to
resist the conviction that the words before us refer
primarily to the new creation, the Christian Church,
that redeemed humanity which has its true life in
Christ. It may not indeed be necessary to exclude
the thought of the material universe ; but, in so far
as it is alluded to, it is only as redeemed, in its
ideal condition of rest and glory, when the new"
Jerusalem has come down out of heaven, and when the
Church's enemies have been cast into the lake of fire.1
The three appellations, it will be observed, have thus
a general rather than a special aspect ; and the saluta
tion containing them is to be distinguished from the
salutations of the other epistles, all of which, with
the exception of the last, exhibit the closest possible
connexion with the contents of the epistles to which
they respectively belong. It is no mere fancy, therefore,
when we say that we have in this a proof that the first
and last epistles are not simply members of a con
tinuous series, the last of which may leave the first far
behind, but that they are binding terms which gather
up all the members of the series and group them into
one. (7) It ought to be noticed that all the cities to which

1 Comp. Rom. viii. 21. 22 ; James i. 18.

ii., iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 35
the seven epistles are addressed were situated beyond ''
the boundaries of the Holy Land, and that the Christian
Church in each was certainly composed, at least in large
measure, of Gentile converts. These churches cannot
therefore represent the Jewish Church alone, but must
embody that wider idea of the Christian Church which
was brought in when the middle wall of partition
between Jews and Gentiles was broken down, and
when both were reconciled in one body' by the Cross,
becoming one Church in the Son and in the Father.
Were we dealing with the Jewish-Christian Church,
we should unquestionably find it located in Jerusalem
or in some of the cities of Palestine. When we are
taken to heathen soil, and to churches known to have
been at least for the most part Gentile, it is a proof
that we have before us that great Gentile Church in
the very conception of which lies the thought of
universality. (8) The view now taken is confirmed by the general
nature of the Apocalypse. That book is symbolical.
It begins with a symbolical representation in the first
chapter. Symbolism, by the admission of all, is
resumed in the fourth chapter, and is continued from
that point to the end. Now it is certainly possible
that between these two groups of symbols a passage
only strictly historical might be introduced. But if
there be reason on independent grounds to think that
here also we have facts used at least to a certain extent
to serve a higher than a simply historic thought, it
cannot fail to be allowed that the general unity of the
book is thus preserved, and that a completeness is lent
to it which we are entitled to expect, but which would
be otherwise wanting.
The seven churches then of chaps, ii. and iii. are

36 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
thus intended to represent the one universal Church.
The Seer selects such particular churches of Asia and
such special features of their condition as afford the
best illustration of that state of God's kingdom in the
world which is to be the great subject of his prophet c
words. He is to keep in view throughout all his reve
lation certain aspects of the Church in herself and in
her relation to the world. But these aspects were not
merely in the bosom of the future. Still less are they an
ideal picture drawn from the resources of the writer's
own imagination. To his enlightened eye, looking
abroad over that part of the world in which his lot was
cast, they were also present, one in one church, another
in another. St. John therefore groups them together.
They are " the things which are," and they are types of
" the things which shall come to pass hereafter."1
The universalism of the Apocalypse is from the first
apparent. 2. A second characteristic of the epistles addressed
to the seven churches demands our notice, for these
epistles are clearly divisible into two portions, the first
consisting of the first three, the second of the other
four. Every inquirer admits the fact, the proof resting
upon the difference of place assigned in the two portions
to the call, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches. In the first three this call
comes in as a central part of the epistle, immediately
before the promise to him that overcometh2 ; in the last
four it closes the epistle.3 There is a still more interest
ing difference, though the Authorised English Version
conceals it from view. According to the best attested
1 Chap. i. 19.
¦ Chap. ii. 7, 11, 17.
* Chaps, ii. 29; iii. 6, 13, 23,

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 37
readings of the original, the second and third epistles —
those to Smyrna and Pergamum — omit the words, found
in all the others, / know thy works. The circumstance
is at least remarkable, and it seems to admit of only
one explanation. In the mind of the writer the first
three epistles were so closely associated together — more
closely perhaps than even the seven or the last four —
that these words occurring in the first epistle were
thought by him to extend their influence over the
second and third, much in the same way as the descrip
tion of the exalted Lord in the same epistle sent its
voice forward, and that in the last epistle its voice back
ward, through the rest. At all events, it is impossible
not to see that the first three epistles and likewise the
last four, to whatever extent they form parts of one
whole, constitute in each case a special unity. What,
we have now to ask, is the ground of the distinction ?
In what light is the Church viewed in each of the two
portions spoken of?
There are two aspects of the Church which may be
said to pervade the whole Apocalypse : first, as she is
in herself, in her own true nature; and secondly, as
she is engaged in, and affected by, a struggle with the
world. The distinction between the two may be traced
in the grouping of which we speak. The first three
•epistles lead us to the thought of the Church in the
former, the remaining four to the thought of her in the
latter, aspect. In the first three she is the pure bride
of Christ; in the last four she has yielded to the
influences of the world, and the faithful remnant within
her is separated from her professing but unfaithful
members. The numbers into which the two portions of the
seven epistles are distributed illustrate this. Three

38 7 HE BOOK OF REVELATION.
is the number of the Divine ; four, as appears from
many passages of this book, is the number of the
world. The simple fact that we have a group of three
as distinguished from one of four epistles is sufficient
to lead to the impression that, in one way or another
the thought of the Divine is more closely associated
with the former, and the thought of the world with the
latter. This impression is confirmed when we look at the
contents of the epistles. Let us take the first three,
and we shall find that in not one of them is a
contrast drawn between the whole Church and any
faithful remnant within her borders, that in not one
of them is the Church represented as yielding to
the influences of the world. No doubt she has evil
in her midst ; and evil always springs from the world,
not from God. But she is not yet conscious of the
sin by which she is surrounded. She has not yet
begun to traffic with the world, to accommodate her
self to it, or to lust after what it bestows. The
great charge against the church in Ephesus is that
she has left her first love.1 She has passed out
of the bright and joyous feelings which marked the
time of her espousals to the heavenly Bridegroom.
But from sin the Church as she actually exists in the
world can never be wholly free ; and, so far in parti
cular as the Nicolaitans are concerned, she shares in
Ephesus the feelings of her Lord, and views them with
the hatred which they deserve. No reproach is directed
against the church in Smyrna. She is rather the
object of her Lord's perfect confidence ; and He is only
preparing trial for her in correspondence with the
1 Chap. ii. 4.

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY.

39

law by which He trains His people : " Every branch
that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it, that it may bear
more fruit." x Remarks of a similar kind apply to the
church in Pergamum. There is no charge against
the church there that she is allowing the world
to gain dominion over her. She has certainly persons
in her midst who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans,
but they are few in number ; they are no more than
"some,"2 and she lends them no countenance. On
the contrary, though dwelling in the place where Satan
has his throne, she has remained true to her Lord,
and has been purified in the fires of persecution then
raging even unto death. In none of the three cases
is the church perfect, but in none is she really
faithless to her trust. She is in danger; she needs
to be perfected by suffering3; by suffering she is
perfected : but she knows that he who will be the
friend of the world is the enemy of God, and the
enemies of God are her enemies.
When we turn to the second group of the seven
epistles, we at once breathe a different atmosphere ; and
the contrast is rendered more striking by the fact that
in the first of the four we have the very sins spoken
of which have already twice crossed our path in the
epistles to Ephesus and to Pergamum. According to
the best critical reading of chap. ii. 20, the charge against
Thyatira is, " Thou sufferest" (Thou lettest alone; thou
toleratest) " thy wife Jezebel." Jezebel was a heathen
princess, the first heathen queen who had been married
by a king of the northern kingdom of Israel. She was
therefore peculiarly fitted to represent the influences of
the world; and the charge against Thyatira is thus

1 John xv. 3. * Chap. ii. 14, 15. * Comp. Heb. ii. 10.

40 THE BOOK OF REVELATION
that, in the persons not of a few only, but of her united
membership, she tolerated the world, with its heathen
thoughts and practices. She knew it to be the world
that it was ; but notwithstanding this she was content
to be at peace, or even to ally herself, with it. The
church in Sardis is not less blameable. There are a
few names in her that have not defiled their garments ;
but the church as a whole has deeply sinned. She has
reproduced the Pharisaic type with which the Gospels
have made us acquainted, substituting the outward for
the inward in religion, and then yielding to the sins of
the flesh to which she has thus given the supremacy.
The church in Philadelphia, like that in Smyrna, is
not blamed, and it is well that there should be one
church even in the midst of the world of which this
can be said ; yet even Philadelphia has only a little
power1 while the exhortation, Hold fast that which thou
hast2 appears to indicate that she has been losing
much. Lastly, no one can mistake the willing identifi
cation of herself with the world on the part of the
church in Laodicea. She says that she is rich, that
she has gotten riches, that she has need of nothing?
Her members are well-to-do and in easy circumstances,
and they have found so much comfort in their worldly
goods that they have become blind to the fact that man
needs something better and higher for his portion. In
all these four churches, in short, we have an entirely
different relation between the Church and the world
from that set before us in the first three. There is not
simply danger of decay within, and the need of trial
with the benefit resulting from it. There is actual
conflict with the world ; sometimes, it may be, a victory
* Chap. iii. 8. * Chap. iii. ii. • Chap. iii. 17.

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 41
over it, at other times a yielding to its influences and
an adoption of its spirit. In the first three churches
all, or all with few exceptions, are on the side of Christ ;
in the last four the " remnant " alone is true to Him.
Attention to the promises to him that overcometh in
the different epistles seems to confirm what has been
said. There is a marked contrast between the tone of
these promises as they are given in the two groups of
epistles ; and even where a certain amount of simi
larity exists, the promises in the second group will be
found to be fuller and richer than in the first. At
Ephesus, at Smyrna, and at Pergamum " he that over
cometh " is rewarded much, as one still in a simple
and childlike state would be. The first promise made
to him is that he shall eat of the tree of life, which is
in the Paradise of God1; the second, that he shall not
be hurt of the second death2 ; the third, that he shall eat
of the hidden manna, and be like the high-priest in the
innermost recesses of the sanctuary.3 All is quiet.
The appeal of Him who promises is to the gentler sus
ceptibilities of the soul. The privileges and enjoyments
spoken of are adapted to the condition of those who
have not yet experienced the struggle of life.
When we turn to the second group of epistles there
is a different tone. We enter upon rewards conceived
in bolder and more manly figures. The first promise
now is, He that overcometh, and he that keepeth My works
unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations :
and as a shepherd he shall tend them with a sceptre of iron ;
as the vessels of the potter are they broken to shivers} This
is the reward of victory after well-fought fields. The

•• Chap. ii. 7. * Chap. ii. 17.
* Chap. ii. II. 4 Chap. ii. 26, 27.

42 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
warrior trjus crowned must have braved the strife and
won with difficulty. The second promise is not less
marked in its character. He that overcometh shall not
simply, as in the case of Smyrna, receive the reward of
not being " hurt of the second death ; " he shall be
arrayed in white garments, and Jesus will confess his
name before His Father, and before His angels. The
third promise is at least a large extension of that given
to Pergamum, for of him that now overcometh it is said,
/ will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he
shall come no more forth — that is, shall come no more
forth to a struggle with the world similar to that in
which he has been engaged — 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 heaven
from My Goa, and Mine own new name} Finally, the
fourth promise is the noblest of all : He that overcometh,
I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as
I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His
throne? All the promises of the second group of epistles
are clearly distinguished in tone and spirit from those
of the first group. They presuppose a fiercer struggle,
a hotter conflict ; and they are therefore full of a more
glorious reward.
Such seems to be the relation to one another of
the two groups into which the seven epistles naturally
divide themselves. In the first group the Church
has stood firm against the world. She is full of toil
and endurance; in her poverty she is rich; and the
troubles of the future she does not fear. She holds
fast the name of Christ, and openly confesses Him.
Seeds of evil are indeed within her, which will too
1 Chap. iii. 5. J Chap. iii. 12. • Chap. iii. 21.

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 43
soon develop themselves ; but she has the Divine life
within her in as much perfection as can be expected
amidst the infirmities of our present state. She walks
with God and hears His voice in her earthly paradise.
In the second group the evil seed sown by the enemy
has sprung up. The Church tolerates the sins that
are around her, makes her league with the world,
and yields to its influence. She rallies indeed at
times to her new and higher life, but she finally
submits to the world and is satisfied with its goods.
There are many faithful ones, it is true, in her midst.
As in the Jewish Church there was a "remnant
according to the election of grace," so in her there
are those who listen to the Saviour's voice and follow
Him. Yet they are the smaller portion of her members,
and they shall eventually come forth, out of her.
It is the same sad story which has marked all the
previous dispensations of the Almighty with His
people, and which will continue to be repeated until
the Second Coming of the Lord. That story culminates
in this book of the Revelation of St. John, when the
bride, allying herself with the world, becomes a harlot,
and when the Seer hears " another voice out of heaven,
saying, Come forth, My people, out of her, that ye
have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive
not of her plagues." x
We have considered the epistles contained in these
chapters as a unity representative of the universal
Church in the two main aspects of her condition in the
world ; but before leaving them it will be well to look
at them individually, and to mark the peculiar condition
of each Church addressed.

* Chap, xviii. 4.

44 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
I. The first epistle is that to Ephesus, the central
or metropolitan city of the district to which all the
seven churches belonged, and with which the almost
unanimous voice of antiquity associates the later years
of the pastorate of St. John himself. Hence, in part
at least, as we have already seen, the general nature
of the salutation with which the glorified Lord presents
Himself to that church. He does not merely hold
its star in His right hand, nor does He merely walk
in the midst of it alone. He holdelh the seven stars in
His right hand. He walketh in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks. He is present in every part of His
Church on earth. To every part of it He says, " Lo,
I am with you alway, even unto the consummation of
the age." 1
The church at Ephesus is faithful as a whole. /
know, is the language of her Lord to her, thy works,
and thy toil and patience, and that thou canst not bear
evil men, and didst try them which call themselves apostles,
and they are not, and didst find them false; and thou hast
patience and didst bear for My name's sake, and hast
not grown weary. The tribute is a noble one. The
church is not only working, but toiling, in her Master's
service ; she is firm amidst trial, whether from within
or from without ; she views with abhorrence all
workers of iniquity; she tries, only in order to reject,
those pretended messengers of Christ who would have
preached another gospel than that the power of which
she knew. Amidst all the speciousness of their claims,
she had " found " them false. Then she turned again
to her steadfast endurance until it became a settled
principle in her life, and it could be said to her, with
1 Matt, xxviii. 20.

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 45
the strong force of the word in the writings of St.
John, that she " had " it. The spirit of all this, too,
had been found in the " name " of Jesus, the revela
tion of the love and grace of God given her in Him.
Finally, she had not grown weary. Seven marks of
faithfulness appear to be mentioned ; and, if so, the
fourth — her judgment of false teachers — occupies the
central position. Nor does it seem fanciful to say this
when we notice that of all the seven points the fourth
is the only one returned to, and that in a more specific
form, at a later point in the epistle : But this thou hast,
that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also
hate. In other words, doctrinal faithfulness was the
peculiar distinction of the Ephesian church. She knew
that the revelation of God in Christ must be kept pure,
or toil would lose its spring, patience its encourage
ment, shrinking from evil men its intensity, and perse
verance its support. Therefore she valued the doctrinal
truth which had been committed to her, and held fast
the " form of sound words " which she had received,
for the sake of the life to which it led.
Amidst all this the church at Ephesus was not wholly
what she ought to have been. / have this against thee,
had to be said to her, that thou didst leave thy first love ;
and she needed words of exhortation and warning:
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and
repent, and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and
will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou
repent. The church had declined from the bright and
joyous feelings of her first condition. Might her very
zeal for the purity of Christian doctrine have had any
thing to do with this ? It is not impossible. Eager
defence of truth against error, notwithstanding its
importance, is apt to shift the centre of the soul's inner

46 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
life. The strifes of theologians and the cry " First
purity, then peace," translated into " Purity without
peace," have been in every age the scandal and the weak
ness of the Church. Well might even David speak of
it as one of the most signal instances of God's goodness
to them that fear Him, " Thou shalt keep them secretly
.n a pavilion from the strife of tongues;"1 and never,
alas ! have tongues been sharper or more contentious
than in the maintenance of the faith. There is some
thing without which even zeal for truth may be but
a scorching and devouring flame ; and that is the " first
love," the love ever fresh and tender for Him who first
loved us, the love which teaches us to win and not to
alienate, to raise and not to crush, those who may only
be mistaken in their views, and are not determined
enemies of God.
Possessed of this spirit, we shall overcome; and the
first love will meet its first reward. To him that over
cometh, says the Lord, recalling the blessedness of
Eden, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the
Paradise of God.
2. The second epistle is that to Smyrna, a rich,
prosperous, and dissolute city, and largely inhabited
by Jews bitterly opposed to Christ and Christianity.
Here therefore persecution of those leading the pure
and holy life of the Gospel might be peculiarly expected,
as indeed it also peculiarly appeared. The church at
Smyrna thus becomes the type of a suffering church,
the representative of that condition of things foretold
in the words of Christ, and constantly fulfilled in
the history of His people, "A servant is not greater
than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they
\utli also ^terserute you."2
' Ps. xxxi. 20. 2 John xv 20.

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 47
It will be observed that at Smyrna the church is
still faithful, and that against her no word of reproach
is uttered. Hence the aspect under which the
Redeemer presents Himself to that church is purely
animating and consolatory, the same as that which,
in the introductory vision in chap, i., followed the
action of the Lord when He laid His right hand upon
the Apostle, who had fallen to the ground as dead,
and when He said to him, " Fear not."1 So now : .
These things saith .the first and the last, which became
dead, and lived again.^ Death and resurrection are
the two great divisions of the work of Christ ion "our"!
behalf, and the Gospel is summed up in them. Just
as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians when he would
remind them of the substance of his preaching in
their midst, " For I declared unto you first of all
that which also I received, how that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures ; and that He was
buried, and that He hath been raised on the third
day according to the Scriptures,"2 in like manner
here the same two facts include all the truth which
Smyrna held fast, and with which come the life that
conquers sin and the joy that triumphs over sorrow.
The state of the church is then described : / know
thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and
the blasphemy of them which say they are fews, and
they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Tribulation,
persecution, the blasphemy of men calling themselves
the only people of God and denying to Christians
any portion in His covenant, are alone alluded to,
though the church is at the same time cheered with
the remark that if she had no share in worldly wealth
• Chap. i. 17 * I Cor. xv. 3, 4.

48 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
and splendour, she was rich. " God had chosen them
that were poor as to the world to be rich in faith,
and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to them
that love Him."1
The church then was in the midst of suffering.
Was not that enough ; and shall she not be told that
her sufferings were drawing to an end, that the night
of weeping was gone by, and that the morning of
joy was about to dawn ? So we might think ; but
God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His
ways as our ways, and we are like children bathing on
the shore, Buried a wave beneath ;
The second wave succeeds before
We have had time to breathe.
How often does it happen in the Christian's ex
perience that one burden is laid upon another, and
that one wave succeeds another, till he seems left
desolate and alone upon the earth. Yet even then he
has no assurance that his sufferings are at a close.
The consolation afforded to him is, not that there shall
be a short campaign, but only that, whether long or
short, he shall be more than conqueror through Him
that loved him. Thus our Lord does not now say to
His church at Smyrna, Fear none of those things that
thou art suffering, but Fear not the things which thou
art about to suffer : behold, the devil is about to cast some
of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have
tribulation ten days. It is hardly necessary to say to
any intelligent reader of the Apocalypse that the " ten
days " here spoken of are neither ten literal days, nor
ten years, nor ten successive persecutions of indefinite
1 James ii. 5.

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 49
length. In conformity with the symbolical use of
numbers in this book, " ten days " expresses no more
than a time which, though troubled, shall be definite
and short, a time which may be otherwise denoted
by the language of St. Peter when he says of believers
that " now for a little while they have been put to grief
in manifold temptations." x Encompassed by affliction,
therefore, those who are thus tried have only to be
faithful unto death, or to the last extremity of martyr
dom. He who died and lived again will bestow upon
them the crown of life, the crown of the kingdom,
incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. He that over
cometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
3. The third epistle is that to Pergamum, a city at
the time devoted to the worship of iEsculapius, the god
of medicine, and in particular largely engaged with
those parts of medical science which are occupied
with inquiries into the springs of life. That the
wickedness of the city was both greater and more
widespread than was common even in the dark days
of heathenism is borne witness to by the fact that the
first words addressed to it by Him that hath the sharp
two-edged sword were these : / know where thou dwellest,
even where Satan's throne is: The word "throne"
(not, as in the Authorised Version, " seat ") is inten
tionally selected by the Seer; and its use affords an
illustration of one of his principles of style, the remem
brance of which is not unfrequently of value in inter
preting his book. Everywhere it is his wont to see
over against the good its mocking counterpart of evil,
over against the light a corresponding darkness. Thus
because God occupies a throne Satan does the same ;
1 I Pet. i. 6.

50 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
and inasmuch as in Pergamum sin was marked by a
refinement of greater than ordinary depth, Satan might
be said to have his " throne " there. This circum
stance, combined with the promise to the Church
contained in the seventeenth verse, To him that over
cometh, to him will L give of the hidden manna, and T
will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new
name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth
it, may help us to understand the main thought of this
epistle as distinguished from the others. We have
seen reason to believe that there was some secret
mystery of evil in the city ; and, contrasted with this,
we have now the promise of a secret mystery of life to
the faithful church. The Church then in the secret
of her Divine preservation is here before us. She
lives a life the springs of which no one sees, a life that
is hid with Christ in God.
It will be observed, accordingly, that, whatever may
be said against the condition of the city, nothing is
said against the church within it. There is no hint
that she has yielded to the influences of the world. She
has certainly evil-doers in her midst ; but these, though
in her, are not of her : and the Christianity of the great
majority of her members remains sound and sweet.
Let us listen to the words of commendation : And
thou holdest fast My name, and didst not deny My faith,
even in the days of Antipas My witness, My faithful one,
who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I
have a few things against thee, because thou hast there
some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak
to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to
eat things sacrificed to idols, and lo commit fornication.
So hast thou also some that hold the teaching of the
Nicolaitans in like manner. Repent therefore; or else I

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 51
come to thee quickly, and I will make war against them
with the sword of My mouth. Those who are described
in these words as " holding the teaching of Balaam "
and those who are here called " the Nicolaitans " are the
same, denoted in the first instance by a description
taken from the history of Balaam in the Old Testament,
and in the second by a word formed in Greek after the
fashion of Balaam's name in Hebrew. That the church
in her corporate capacity had not yielded to the sinful
ness referred to is manifest from this, that they who
had done so are described as " some," and that in the
threatening of the sixteenth verse it is not said, I will
war against " thee," but I will war against " them."
The sin therefore found in the bosom of the church
was not, as we shall find it to have been at Thyatira,
with her consent. She failed, not because she en
couraged it, but because she did not take more vigorous
steps for its extinction. She did not sufficiently realize
the fact that she was a part of the Body of Christ, and
that, if one member suffer, all the members suffer with
it. Believers in her community were too easily satisfied
with working out their own salvation, and thought too
little of presenting the whole church " as a pure virgin
to Christ."1 Therefore it was that, even amidst much
faithfulness, they needed to repent, to feel more deeply
than they did that " a little leaven leaveneth the whole
lump," 2 and that in the Church of the Lord Jesus we
are to a large extent responsible, not only for our own,
but for our neighbours', sins. By keeping up the
Christian tone of the whole Church the tone of each
member of the Church is heightened.
We thus reach the close of the first three epistles
• 3 Cor. xi. 2. * I Cor. v. 6.

52 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
"to the churches;" and we see that, while each is
accommodated to the particular circumstances of the
Christian community to which it is sent, the three
taken together present to us the three leading con
siderations upon which, when we think of Christ's
Church in this world, we naturally dwell. First,
she is in the main true to her Divine Master, even
when compelled to confess that she has left her first
love. Secondly, she is exposed for her further
cleansing to many trials. Lastly, she is sustained
by the unseen influences of Divine love and grace.
She eats of the hidden manna. She has within her
breastplate a white, glistering stone, upon which is
inscribed the new name which no man knoweth
saving he that receiveth it. She dwells, like the high-
priest of old at the moment of his greatest dignity
and honour, in the secret place of the Most High.
She abides under the shadow of the Almighty. As
a child she has entered into the garden of the Lord ;
and yet, in all the simplicity of her childhood, she
is both king and priest.
Such is the Church of Christ in Ephesus, Smyrna,
and Pergamum. Happy days of innocence and bliss !
We may well linger over them for a little. Too
soon will they pass away, and too soon will the
Church's conflict with the world and her yielding to it
begin. 4. With the fourth epistle we enter upon the second
group of epistles, where the Church is brought before
us less as she is in herself, than as she fails to
maintain her true position in the world, and as that
separation between a faithful remnant and the whole
body which meets us at every step of her history,
throughout both the Old Testament and the New,

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 53
begins to show itself. Now therefore there is a
change of tone.
The first of the four, the fourth in the series of
seven, is that to Thyatira ; and to the church there
the Lord presents Himself in all the penetrating power
of those eyes that as a flame of fire search the inmost
recesses of the heart, and in all the resistless might
of those feet that are as " pillars of fire : " 1 These
things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like a
flame of fire, and His feet are like unto burnished brass.
The commendation of the church follows, what is
good being noted before defects are spoken of: / know
thy works, and thy love and faith and ministry and
patience, and that thy last works are more than the first.
The commendation is great. There was not only
grace, but growth in grace, not only work, but work in
Christ's cause abounding more and more. Yet there
was also failure. To understand this it is necessary, as
already noticed, to adopt the translation of the Revised
Version, founded on the more correct reading of the
later critical editions of the Greek. Even in that
version, too, the translation, given in the margin, of
one important expression has to be substituted for
that of the text. Keeping this in view, the Saviour
thus addresses Thyatira : But I have this against thee,
that thou sufferest (that thou toleratest, that thou
lettest alone) thy wife Jezebel, which calleth herself a
prophetess; and she teacheth and seduceth My servants to
commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
And I gave her time that she should repent; and she
willeth not to repent of her fornication. Behold, I do
cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery
1 Chap. x. I.

54 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

with her into great tribulation, except they repent of her
works. And I will kill her children with death; and all
the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth
the reins and hearts : and I will give unto each one of
you according to your works. In these words " Jezebel "
is clearly a symbolical name. It is impossible to think
that the " angel " of the church was the chief pastor,
and that the woman named Jezebel, spoken of as she
is, was his wife. We have before us the notorious
Jezebel of Old Testament history. Her story is so
familiar to every one that it is unnecessary to dwell on
j t ; and we need only further call attention to the fact
that the sentence in which her name is mentioned
is complete in itself. The sin of the church at
Thyatira was that she " suffered " her. In other words,
the church tolerated in her midst the evil of which
Ahab's wife was so striking a representative. She
knew the world to be what it was ; but, instead of
rnakinf a determined effort to resist it, she yielded to
its influences. She repeated the sin of the Corinthian
Church : " It is actually reported that there is fornication
among you. . . . And ye are puffed up, and did not
rather mourn, that he that had done this deed might
be taken away from among you." 1 The world, in
short, was in the church, and was tolerated there.
Of the threatened punishment, the " bed " of tribulation
and sorrow instead of that of guilty pleasure, nothing
need be said. It is of more consequence to observe
the change in the manner of address which meets us
after that punishment has been described : But to
vou I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as
have not this teaching, which know not the deep things
1 I Cor. v. I, 2.

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 55
of Satan, as they say ; I cast upon you none other burden.
Howbeit that which ye have, hold fast till I come. For
the first time in these epistles we meet with those
who ace spoken of as "the rest," the remnant, who
are to be carefully distinguished from the great body
of the Church's professing members. The world has
penetrated into the Church ; the Church has become
conformed to the world : and the hour is rapidly
approaching when the true disciples of Jesus will
no longer find within her the shelter which she has
hitherto afforded them, and when they will have to
"come forth out of her" in her degenerate condition.1
It is a striking feature of these apocalyptic visions,
which has been too much missed by commentators.
We shall meet it again and again as we proceed. In
the meantime it is enough to say that the moment
of withdrawal has not yet come. The faithful " rest,"
who had rejected the false teaching and shunned
the sinful life, are to continue where they were ; and
the Lord will cast upon them none other burden. Well
for them that they had such a promise ! Their
burden of suffering was heavy enough already. Hard
to contend with under any circumstances, suffering
rises nearer to the height of the sufferings of Christ
when the Christian is " wounded," not by open foes,
but " in the house of his friends." " It was not an
enemy that reproached me ; then I could have borne
it : neither was it he that hated me that did magnify
himself against me; then I would have hid myself
from him : but it was thou, a man mine equal, my
companion, and my familiar friend. We took sweet
counsel together; we walked in the house of God
with the throng." 2 
1 Comp. chap, xviii. 4. 2 Ps. Iv. 12-14,

56 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
The trial was great ; so also is the consolation : And
he that overcometh, and he that keepeth My works unto
the end, to him will I give authority over the nations :
and as a shepherd he shall tend them with a sceptre of
iron, as the vessels of the potter are they broken to shivers;
as I also have received of My Father : and I will give him
the morning star. It was a heathen element that
clouded the sky of the church at Thyatira. That
element, nay the nations out of which it springs, shall
be crushed beneath the iron sceptre of the King who
shall "reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and
before His ancients gloriously." x The clouds shall
disappear ; and Jesus, " the bright, the morning star," 2
having given Himself to His people, He and they to
gether shall shine with its clear but peaceful light when
it appears in the heavens, the harbinger of day.
5. The fifth epistle is that to Sardis, and in the
superscription He who sends it describes Himself as
One that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars.
Both expressions have already met us, the former in
chap. i. 4, the latter in chap. ii. I. A different word
from that used in the address to Ephesus is indeed
used here to indicate the relation of the Lord to these
stars or angels of the churches. There the glorified
Lord " holdeth the seven stars in His right hand;"
here He " hath " them. Like every other change,
even of the slightest kind, in this book, the difference is
instructive. To " hold " them is to hold them fast for
their protection ; to " have " them is to have them for
a possession, to have them not only outwardly and in
name, but inwardly and in reality, as His own. Thus
Christ " hath " the Holy Spirit, who in all His varied
1 Isa. xxiv. 23. * Chap. xxii. 16.

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 57
or sevenfold influences is, as He proceedeth from the
Father and the Son, not only God's, but His. Thus
also Christ " hath " the seven stars or churches, here
spoken of in immediate connexion with the Spirit, and
therefore viewed chiefly in that spirituality of feeling
and of life which ought to be the great mark distin
guishing them from the world. It was the mark in
which Sardis failed. Let her take heed to Him with
whom she has to do.
/ know, are the words addressed to her, thy works,
that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead.
Be thou watchful, and stablish the things that remain,
which were ready to die : for I have found no works op
thine fulfilled before My God. Remember therefore how
thou hast received and didst hear ; and keep it, and repent.
If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief,
and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
The world had been tolerated in Thyatira, the first of
the last four churches ; in Sardis, the second, it is more
than tolerated. Sardis has substituted the outward
for the inward. She has been proud of her external
ordinances, and has thought more of them than of living
in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit. True piety has
declined ; and, as a natural consequence, sins of the
flesh, alluded to in the immediately following words
of the epistle, have asserted their supremacy. More
even than this, Sardis had a name that she lived while
she was dead. She was renowned among men. The
world looked, and beheld with admiration what was to
it the splendour of her worship ; it listened, and heard
with enthusiasm the music of her praise. And the
church was pleased that it should be so. Not in
humility, lowliness, and deeds of self-sacrificing love
did she seek her " name," but in what the world would

58 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

have been equally delighted with though the inspiring
soul of it all had been folly or sin. A stronghold had
been established by the world in Sardis.
Yet there also the Good Shepherd had His little
flock, and there again we meet them. But thou hast a
few names in Sardis which did not defile their garments.
These were to Sardis what " the rest " were to Thyatira.
They were the " gleanings left in Israel, as the shaking
of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the
uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches
of a fruitful tree."1 They were the "new wine found
in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a
blessing is in it."2 To them therefore great promises
are given : They shall walk with Me in white; for they
are worthy. He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in
white garments ; and I will in no wise blot his name out
of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My
Father, and before His angels. It is the glorified Lord
who, as the High-priest of His Church, " walketh " in
the midst of the golden candlesticks; and, as priests,
these shall walk with Him in a similar glory. Upon
earth they were despised, but beyond the earth they
shall be openly acknowledged and vindicated. They
shall be arrayed in those garments of glistering purity
which were with difficulty kept white in the world, but
which in the world to come Divine favour shall keep
free from every stain.
6. The sixth epistle is to Philadelphia; and the
remarkable circumstance connected with this church
is that, though spoken of as having but " a little
power," it is not seriously blamed. In this respect it
resembles the church at Smyrna in the first group of
1 Isa. xvii. 6. * Isa. lxv, 8.

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 59
these seven epistles. What has mainly to be noticed,
however, is that it is not simply, like that at Smyrna,
a suffering church. It has been engaged in an earnest
and hot struggle with the world, as the superscription,
the commendation, and the promises of the epistle
combine to testify.
The superscription is, These things saith He that is
holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He
that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and
none openeth. The figure is taken from the Old Testa
ment ; and both there and here the context shows us
that it is neither the key of knowledge, nor the key of
discipline, nor the key of the treasures of the kingdom
that is spoken of, but the key of power to open the
Lord's house as a sure refuge from all evil, and to
preserve safe for ever those who are admitted to it.
" I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,"
says the Almighty by His prophet, " and I will clothe
him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle,
and I will commit thy government into his hand : and
he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and to the house of Judah. And the key of the house
of David will I lay upon his shoulder; and he shall
open, and none shall shut ; and he shall shut, and none
shall open."1 Whoever be our adversaries, we know
that in the hollow of the Lord's hand we are safe.
The commendation of the epistle tells the same tale :
I know thy works (behold, I have set before thee a door
opened, which none can shut), that thou hast a little
power, and didst keep My word, 'and didst not deny My
name. The Church had "a little power," and she
had shown this in the struggle.

1 Isa. xxii. 21, 22.

60 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
So also with the promises : Behold, I give of the
synagogue of Satan, of them which say they are Jews, and
they are not, but do lie ; behold, I will make them to come
and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved
thee. Because thou didst keep the word of My patience,
I also will keep thee from the hour op trial, that hour
which is to come upon the whole inhabited earth, to try
them that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly : hold
fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown. He
that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple op
My God, and he shall no more come porth : and I will
write upon him the name op My God, and the name op
the city op My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh
down out op heaven prom My God, and Mine own new
name. How fierce the struggle of Philadelphia had
been with the world we learn from these words, in
which the enemies of the Church — "Jews" they call
themselves, the people of God, but " they are not "
— are brought before us like vanquished nations at
her feet, as she sits in the heavenly places, paying
homage to her against whom they had so long, but
vainly, struggled. It is impossible not to see the
difference between this church and that at Smyrna.
No doubt there had been " blasphemy of them which
say they are Jews" in the latter case, but worse trials
were only spoken of as about to come. Here the trials
have come, and the church has risen triumphantly
above them. Therefore will the Lord admit her to
His heavenly mansions, and will make her a pillar in
His Father's house, whence she shall come forth no
more. He Himself " went forth " from His Father that
He might be the Captain of our salvation and might
die on our behalf. He returned to His Father, and
never again "comes forth" as He came in the days

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 61
of His flesh. Having died once, He dieth no more ;
and they who have borne His cross shall wear, when
victors in His cause, His crown of victory.
7. The seventh epistle is to Laodicea, and here there
can be no doubt that we have the picture of a church
in which the power of the world carries almost all
before it. The- church is addressed by Him who de
scribes Himself as the Amen, the faith fui and true Witness,
the Beginning of the creation of God, upon which imme
diately follows a charge as to her condition in which
there is no redeeming point. Only later do we see
that there is hope. / know thy works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So because thou, art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold,
I will spew thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest,
I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of
nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one,
and miserable and poor and blind and naked : I counsel
thee to buy of Me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest
become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe
thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made
manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou
mayest see. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten :
be zealous therefore, and repent. To interpret the
boasting of the church given in these words as if
it referred to spiritual rather than material riches
is entirely to mistake the meaning. Worldly wealth
is in the writer's view. The members of the church
generally have aimed at riches, and have gotten them.
Possession of riches has also been followed by its usual
effects. The seen and the temporal have usurped in
their minds the place of the unseen and the eternal.
Perhaps they have even regarded' their worldly pros
perity as a token of the Divine favour, and are

62 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
soothing themselves with the reflection that they have
made the best of both worlds, when they have really
sacrificed everything to one world, and that the lower
of the two. The last picture of the Church is the
saddest of all.
Yet is Laodicea not altogether without hope. Behold,
says He whose every word is truth, T stand at the door
and knock: if any man hear My voice and open the door, I
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with
Me. Even in Laodicea there are some who, inasmuch
as they have fought the hardest battle, shall be
welcomed to the highest reward. He that overcometh,
I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne,
as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in
His throne. Beyond that neither hope nor imagination
can rise.
The epistles to the seven churches are over. They
present the Church to us as she appears on the field
of history. They set before us the leading character
istics of her condition partly as she was in " Asia "
at the moment when the Apostle wrote, partly as
she shall be throughout all time and on the widest,
as well as the narrowest, scale. These characteristics
may be shortly summed up as — in the first group of
three, love to the Redeemer, yet love liable, and even
beginning, to grow cold; persecution and trials of
many kinds ; preservation by the secret grace of God
and in the hidden life : in the second group of four,
yielding on the part of the majority to sins associated
with unchristian doctrine; formalism in religion; weak
ness in the midst of trial, even though not accom
panied by faithlessness ; and lukewarmness, springing
from a preference of the things of time to those of
eternity. To these characteristics, however, have to

ii, iii.] THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY. 63
be added, as more or less accompanying them, many
of the active graces of the Christian life : labour, and
patience, and faith, and charity, and works, whatever
makes the Christian Church a light in the world and
the object of her Lord's care and watchfulness. In
reading the seven epistles, we behold a lively picture
of the Church of Christ in her graces and in her
failings, in her strength and in her weakness, in her
joys and in her sorrows, in her falls under the influence
of temptation and in her returns to the path of duty.
The characteristics thus spoken of are not peculiar to
any particular age, but may mark her at one time less,
at another more, at one time individually, at another in
combination. Taken as a whole, they present her to
us in her Divine ideal marred by human blemishes ; we
are prepared to acknowledge the necessity, the wisdom,
and the mercy of the trials that await her; and we
learn to anticipate with gladness her final and glorious
deliverance. One brief concluding remark ought to be made.
The epistles now considered ought to be sufficient
in themselves to show that the Apocalypse is not a
series of visions intended only to illustrate one or two
ideas which had taken a strong hold of the Apostle's
mind, or one or two great principles of the Divine
government in general. St. John starts from the
realities around him as much as any writer of the New
Testament. It is true that he sees in them eternal
principles at work, and that he rises to the thought
of ideal good and of ideal evil ; but he is not on that
account less true to fact, less impressed by fact. On
the contrary, his very depth of insight into the meaning
of the facts makes him what he is. He who would write
a philosophy of history is not less, but more, dependent

64 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

upon the facts of history than he to whom a fact is
valuable simply in its individual and isolated form. It
is the present therefore that stirs the writer of this
book, but stirs him the more because he beholds in
it principles and issues connected with Him who was,
and is, and is to come, the covenant-keeping God, the
Judge of men, the unchangeable I am.
Hence also the mistake sometimes made of thinking
that the purpose of unfolding the principles of the
Divine government could not be a sufficient motive to
St. John to write. x Every cruelty to the saints of God
which he witnessed, every cry of oppression which he
heard, supplied a motive. We may not feel these
things now, but the iron of them entered into the
soul of the disciple whom Jesus loved. We need
more prophets like him to make it ring in the ears
of selfish wealth and of ease indifferent to the ills
festering around it, " For the spoiling of the poor, for
the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the
Lord." 2 1 Dods, Introduction to New Testament, p. 244.
* Ps. xii. 5.

CHAPTER III.
ANTICIPATIONS OF THE CHURCH S VICTORY.
Rev. iv, v.
WE have seen in considering the first chapter of
the Apocalypse that the book as a whole is to
be occupied with the Church's struggle in the world ;
and in the second and third chapters the Church
herself has been placed before us as she occupies her
position upon the field of history. But the struggle
has not yet begun, nor will it begin until we reach the
sixth chapter. Chaps, iv. and v. are therefore still to
be regarded as in a certain measure introductory.
They form a separate — the third— section of the book ;
and the first questions that meet us in connexion
with them are, What is their relation to the main pur
pose of the author ? What is their leading conception ?
and Why are they placed where they are ?
In answering these questions, we are aided by
the strictly parallel structure of the fourth Gospel.
The Prologue of that book, contained in chap".""™ i-T5,~
suggests the object which the writer has in view. The
next section — chap. i. 19-ii. II — places before us
the Redeemer whose glory he is to describe. The
struggle of the Son of God with the world does not
begin till we come to chap. v. Between chap. ii. 12
and chap. iv. 54 there is thus a considerable interval,
in which we have the cleansing of the Temple and
the victory of Jesus over the unbelief of the Jew
5

66 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and the king's
officer of Galilee, who was probably a Gentile. In this
intervening space the leading thought seems to be
that of victory, not indeed of victory in the struggle,
but of victory which prepares us for it, and fills the
mind with hope before it begins. In like manner the
two chapters upon which we are about to enter are
occupied with songs of victory. Catching their spirit,
we shall boldly accompany the Church into the struggle
which follows, and shall be animated by a joyful
confidence that, whatever her- outward fortunes, He
that is with her is more than they that be with her
enemies.1 While such is the general conception of the third
and fourth chapters viewed as one, we have further to
ask whether, subordinate to their united purpose, there
is not a difference between them. Such a difference
there appears to be ; and words of our Lord in the
fourth Gospel, spoken upon an occasion which had
deeply impressed itself upon the mind of the Evangelist,
may help us to determine what it is. In the fourteenth
chapter of that Gospel Jesus encourages His Apostles
as He sends them forth to fight His battle in the world.
" Let not," He says, " your heart be troubled : believe
in God, believe also in Me." The section of the
Apocalypse upon which we are about to enter embraces
a similar thought in both its parts. Chap. iv. conveys
to the Church the assurance that He who is the ulti
mate source of all existence is on her side; chap. v.
that she may depend upon Christ and His redeeming
work. The two chapters taken together are a cry to
the Church from her glorified Head, before she enters
1 Comp. 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8,

iv. 1-5.] ANTICIPATIONS OF CHURCH'S VICTORY. 67
into the tribulation that awaits her, " Let not your
heart be troubled : believe in God, believe also in Me."
After these things I saw and, behold, a door opened in heaven,
and the first voice which I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking
with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the
things which must come to pass hereafter. Straightway I was in
the Spirit : and, behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and One
sitting upon the throne; and He that sat was to look upon like a
jasper stone and * sardius ; and there was a rainbow round about
the throne, like an emerald to look upon. And round about the
throne were four-and-twenty thrones : and upon the thrones I saw
four-and-twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments, and on
their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceed lightnings
and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire
burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God
(iv. I-S).
The first voice here spoken of is the voice of chap.
i. 10 : "And I heard behind me a great voice, as of
a trumpet ; " and it is well to remember that that voice
introduced the vision of a Son of man who, while both
King and Priest, was King and Priest in judgment.
It is impossible to doubt that the sound of the same
voice is intended to indicate the same thing here, and
that the King whom we are about to behold is One
who has " prepared His throne for judgment." x
The Seer is introduced to a scene which we first
recognise as the glorious audience-chamber of a great
King. Everything as yet speaks of royalty, and of
royal majesty, power, and judgment. The jasper stone
as we learn from a later passage of this book, in which
it is said to be " clear as crystal," a was of a bright,
sparkling whiteness ; and it fitly represents the holiness
of Him of whom the seraphim in Isaiah cry one to
another, " Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts," 3 and
1 Ps. ix. 7. * Chap. xxi. II. * Isa. vi. 3.

68 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
who in this very chapter is celebrated by the unresting
cherubim with the words, " Holy, holy, holy, is the
Lord, God, the Almighty, which was and which is and
which is to come." The sardius, again, was of a fiery
red colour, and can denote nothing but the terror of the
Almighty's wrath. Out of the throne also — not merely
Out of the atmosphere surrounding it, but out of the
throne itself — proceed lightnings and voices and thunders,
always throughout the Apocalypse emblems of judg
ment ; while the use of the word burn in other parts
of the same book, and the fact that what the Seer
beheld was not so much lamps as torches, leads to the
belief that these torches as they burned before the
throne sent out a blazing and fierce rather than a calm
and soft light. It is true that the rainbow round about
the throne points to the Divine covenant of grace and
promise, and that its emerald greenness, absorbing, or
at least throwing into the shade, its other and varied
hues, tells with peculiar force of something on which the
eye loves, and does not fear, to rest. But the mercy
of God does not extinguish His righteousness and
judgment. Different as such qualities may seem to be,
they are combined in Him with whom the Church and
the world have to do. In the New Testament not
less than in the Old the Almighty reveals Himself in
the awakening terrors of His wrath as well as in the
winning gentleness of His love. St. Peter speaks of
our Lord as not only the chief corner-stone laid in
Zion, elect, precious, so that he that believeth on Him
shall not be put to shame, but as a stone of stumbling
and rock of offence;1 and when the writer of the
Epistle to the Hebrews gives us his loftiest description
1 I Pet. ii. 6, 8.

iv. 6 8.] ANTICIPATIONS OF CHURCH'S VICTORY. 69
of the privileges of the Christian Church, he closes it
with the words, " Wherefore, receiving a kingdom
that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we
may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence
and awe : for our God is a consuming fire."1 So also
here. Would we conceive of God aright, even after
we have been brought into the full enjoyment of all
the riches of His grace and love, we must think of Him
as represented by the jasper and the sardius as well as
by the emerald.
The four-and-twenty elders occupying thrones (not
seats) around the throne are to be regarded as re
presentatives of the glorified Church ; and the number,
twice twelve, seems to be obtained by combining the
number of the patriarchs of the Old Testament with
that of the Apostles of the New.
The description of the heavenly scene is now con
tinued : —
And before the throne, as it were a glassy sea like unto crystal •
and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, foul
living creatures full of eyes before and behind. And the first
creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and
tl)e third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth creature
was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, having each
one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and within ;
and they have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the
Lord, God, the Almighty, which was and which is and which is to
come (iv. 6-8).
Up to this point we have been beholding a royal
court ; in the words now quoted the priestly element
comes in. The glassy sea naturally leads the thoughts
to the great brazen laver known as the brazen sea
which stood in the court of Solomon's temple between
1 Heb. xii. 28, 29.

70 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
the altar and the sanctuary, and at which the priests
cleansed themselves before entering upon the discharge
of their duties within the precincts of God's holy house.
The resemblance is not indeed exact ; and were it not
for what follows, there might be little upon which to
rest this supposition. We know, however, from many
examples, that the Seer uses the figures of the Old
Testament with great freedom ; and as the Temple
source of the living creatures next introduced to us
cannot be mistaken, it becomes the more probable that
the brazen sea of the same building, whatever be the
actual meaning of the figure — a point that will meet us
afterwards — suggests the " glassy sea."
When we turn to the " living creatures," there can
be no doubt whatever that we are in the midst of
Temple imagery. These are the cherubim, two of
which, fashioned in gold, were placed above the mercy-
seat in the holy of holies, so that, inasmuch as that
mercy-seat was regarded as peculiarly the throne of
God, Israel was invited to think of its King as " sitting
between the cherubim."1 These figures, however,
were not confined to that particular spot, nor were they
fashioned only in that particular way, for the curtain
and the veil which formed the sides of the Most Holy
Place were wrought with cherubim of cunning work,2
so that one entering that sacred spot was surrounded
by them. In the midst of the cherubim spoken of in
these verses we are thus in the midst of Temple figures
and of priestly thoughts. It is impossible here to trace
the history of the cherubim throughout the Bible ; and
we must be content with referring to two points con
nected with them, of importance for the interpretation
1 Ps. xcix. I. » Exod. xxvi. I.

iv. 6-8.] ANTICIPATIONS OF CHURCH'S VICTORY. 71
of this book : the representative nature of the figures
and the aspect under which we are to see them.1
As to the first of these, the human element in the
cherubim is at once intelligible. It can be nothing
but man ; while the fact that they occupy so large a
position in the most sacred division of the Tabernacle
is sufficient to prove that man, so represented, is
thought of as redeemed and brought to the highest
stage of spiritual perfection. The other elements
referred to. certainly do not indicate either new qualities
added to humanity, or an intensification of those already
possessed by it, as if we might cherish the prospect
of a time when the physical qualities of man shall
equal in their strength those of the animals around
him, when he shall possess the might of the lion, the
power of the ox, and the swiftness of the eagle. They
represent rather the different departments of nature
as these are distributed into the animate and inanimate
creation. Taking the " living creatures " together in
all their parts, they are thus an emblem of man, asso
ciated on the one hand with the material creation, on
the other with the various tribes of animals by which
it is inhabited, but all redeemed, transfigured, perfected,
delivered from the bondage of corruption, and brought
into " the liberty of the glory of the children of God." 2
They have a still wider and more comprehensive mean
ing than the " twenty-four elders," the latter setting
before us only the Church, but the former all creation,
glorified. The second point above mentioned — the aspect worn
by the living creatures — demands also a few remarks,
1 Comp. Bible Educator, vol. iii., p. 290, where the writer has dis
cussed this subject at some length.
2 Rom. viii. 21.

72 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
for the view commonly entertained upon it seems to be
erroneous. Misled by the mention of the calf, which is
supposed to be the ox, and not the bull-calf, interpreters
have allowed the mode in which they understood this
particular to rule their interpretation of the others. It
has been regarded as the emblem of endurance and of
patient labour rather than of power and rage; while,
following the same line of thought, the eagle has been
treated as the king of birds soaring in the blue vault of
heaven rather than as hastening (like the vulture) to
his prey.1 The whole conception of the cherubim has
thus been modified and shaped in the minds of men
under a form altogether different from that in which it
is really presented to us in Scripture. The cherubim
of the Old Testament and the " living creatures " of
the New are supposed to represent " majesty and peer
less strength," " patient and productive industry," and
" soaring energy and nimbleness of action." In reality
they rather represent qualities that strike terror into the
hearts of men and suggest the idea of an irresistibly
destructive force. With this view all that is elsewhere
said of them corresponds. They are not simply
spoken of as partakers of the favour of God. They
are instruments in the execution of His wrath. When
our first parents were driven from the garden of Eden,
they were placed " at the east of the garden," along
with "a flaming sword which turned every way, to
keep the way of the tree of life."2 When we are
introduced to them in Ezekiel, it is said that " their
appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the
appearance of torches : it went up and down among
the living creatures ; and the fire was bright, and out
• Job ix. 26. » Gen. iii. 24.

iv.6-8.] ANTICIPATIONS OF CHURCH'S VICTORY. 73
of the fire went forth lightning. And the living crea
tures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of
lightning."1 Similar associations are connected with
them throughout the Apocalypse. The opening of
each of the first four seals, the four that deal with
judgments upon the earth, is immediately followed by
a voice, " as it were the noise of thunder," from one of
the four living creatures, saying, Come.2 One of them
gives to the seven angels "seven golden bowls full
of the wrath of God." 3 And after the destruction of
Babylon, when her smoke is ascending up for ever and
ever, and the voice of much people in heaven calls for
praise to Him who hath avenged the blood of His
servants at her hand, they "fall down and worship
God that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen ;
Hallelujah."4 There can be little doubt, then, as to
the meaning of these four living creatures. They are
sharers of the Almighty's holiness, and of that holiness
in its more awful form, as a holiness that cannot look
on sin but with abhorrence. They are the vicegerents
of His kingdom. They are assessors by His side.
Their aspect is not that of the sweetness associated
with the word " cherub," but that of sternness, indig
nant power, and judgment. Thus also it is that in
the Tabernacle they looked toward the mercy-seat.5
By what they saw there they were restrained from
executing wrath upon the guilty. That mercy-seat,
sprinkled with the blood of atonement, told them of
pardon and of a new life for the sinner. Their stern
ness was softened ; mercy rejoiced over judgment ; and
the storm-wind upon which God flew swiftly, when
1 Ezek. i. 13, 14. * Chap. xv. 7.
* Chap, vl I, 3, 5, 7. * Chap. xix. 4.
6 Exod. xxv. 20.

74 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
" He rode upon a cherub, and did fly," J sank into a
Cc.iin. The Seer has beheld the audience-chamber of the
Godhead in itself. He has seen also the Divine Being
who is there clothed with majesty, and those who wait
upon Him. He next passes to another thought : —
And when the living creatures shall give glory and honour and
thanks to Him that sitteth on the throne, to Him that liveth for ever
and ever, the four-and-twenty elders shall fall down before Him that
sitteth on the throne, and shall worship Him that liveth for ever and
ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy
art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour
and the power : for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy
will they were, and were created (iv. 9-11).
In his beautiful comments upon the Revelation
Isaac Williams says, " The four living creatures, or
the Church of the redeemed, give thanksgiving to
God for their redemption ; and then the twenty-four
elders fall down and attribute all glory to God alone,
inasmuch as prophets, Apostles, and all the ministering
priesthood, rejoicing in the salvation of the elect,
attribute it not to their own instrumentality, but to
God."2 In thus interpreting the passage, however,
that commentator can hardly be regarded as correct.
It is true that the living creatures are the representa
tives of redeemed creation, and the twenty-four elders
representatives of the glorified Church. But in the
song of praise here put into their mouths they have
not yet advanced to the thought of salvation. That is
reserved for the next chapter. Here they think of
creation, with all its wonders ; of the heavens which
declare God's glory, and the firmament which shows

1 Ps. xviii. 10.
* The Apocalypse, with Notes and Reflections, p. 69,

Iv. 9-11.] ANTICIPATIONS OF CHURCH'S VICTORY. 75
forth His handiwork ; of sun, and moon, and stars in
their manifold and resplendent glories ; of the moun
tains and the valleys ; of the rivers and the fountains of
waters ; of the rich exuberance of vegetable life, which
covers the earth with a gorgeous carpet of every hue ;
and of all those animals upon its surface which " run
races in their mirth : " and for them they praise. To
God all creatures owe their origin. In Him they live,
and move, and have their being. Because of His will
they were — let the reading be considered and remem
bered : " were," not " are " — because of His will they
were in His idea from eternity ; and when the
appointed moment came, they were created. Where
fore let them praise. We are reminded of the Psalms
of the Old Testament, though it is ours to put into
their words a still deeper and richer meaning than they
possessed when first uttered by the Psalmist : —
Praise ye the Lord.
Praise ye the Lord from the heavens :
Praise Him in the heights.
Praise ye Him, all His angels :
Praise ye Him, all His host.
Praise ye Him, sun and moon
Praise Him, all ye stars of light.
Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens,
And ye waters that be above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of the Lord :
For He commanded, and they were created
He hath also established them for ever and ever :
He hath made a decree which shall not pass away.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
Ye dragons, and all deeps :
Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour;
Stormy wind fulfilling His word :
Mountains, and all hills ;
Fruitful trees, and all cedars :
Beasts, and all cattle ;

76 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
Creeping things, and flying fowl :
Kings of the earth, and all peoples ;
Princes, and all judges of the earth:
Both young men, and maidens ;
Old men, and children :
Let them praise the name of the Lord :
For His name alone is exalted ;
His glory is above the earth and heaven.'
Such then in chap. iv. is the call addressed by the
Seer to the Church before she enters upon her struggle,
a call similar to that of Jesus to His disciples, " Believe
in God."
The fifth chapter continues the same general subject,
but with a reference to Christ the Redeemer rather than
God the Creator : —
And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a roll of
a book written within and on the back, close sealed with seven seals.
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, Who is
worthy to open the roll, and to loose the seals thereof? And no one
in the heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open
the roll, or to look thereon. And I wept much, because no one was
found worthy to open the roll, or to look thereon. And one of the
elders saith unto me, Weep not : behold, the Lion that is of the tribe
of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome to open the roll, and the
seven seals thereof (v. 1-5).
We can easily form to ourselves a correct idea of the
outward f®rm of the symbol resorted to in these words.
The same symbol is used by the prophet Ezekiel, and
in circumstances in some respects precisely analogous to
those of the Seer. Ezekiel had just beheld his first
vision of the cherubim. " And when I looked," he says,
" behold, an hand was put forth unto me ; and, lo, a roll
of a book was therein ; and He spread it before me ; and
it was written within and without." 2 In both cases
it is not a " book," but a roll, like the sacred rolls of
1 Ps. cxlviii. 1-3. z Ezek. ii. 9, 10.

v. I-5-] ANTICIPATIONS OF CHURCH'S VICTORY. 77
the synagogue, that is presented to the prophet's eye,
the difference being that in the Apocalypse we read
of the roll being close sealed with seven seals. This
addition is due to the higher, more sublime, and more
momentous nature of the mysteries contained in it.
That it is written within and on the back, so that there '
is no space for further writing, shows that it contains
_lhe whole counsel of God with regard to the subject^
of which it treats. It is the word of Him who is the
Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last ; and the
seven seals are so fastened to the roll that one of them
may be broken at a time, and no more of the contents
disclosed than belonged to that particular seal. What
also the contents of the roll are we learn from the con
tents of the seals as they are successively disclosed in
the following chapters. As yet the Seer does not know
them. He knows only that they are of the deepest
interest and importance ; and he looks anxiously around
to see if any one can be found who may break the
seals and unfold their mysteries. No such person can
be discovered either in heaven, or on the earth, or under
the earth. No one will even dare to look upon the roll ;
and the sorrow of the Seer was so deepened by this
circumstance that he wept much.
At that moment one of the elders, the representatives
of the glorified Church, advanced to cheer him with
the tidings that what he so much desired shall be
accomplished. One who had had a battle to fight and
a victory to win had overcome, not only to look upon the
roll, but to open it and to loose the seven seals thereof, so
as to make its contents known. This was the Lion that
is of the tribe ofjudah, the Root of David. The descrip
tion is taken partly from the law and partly from the
prophets, for is not this " He of whom Moses in the

78 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
law, and the prophets, did write " I1 ; the former in
the blessings pronounced by the dying patriarch Jacob
upon his son Judah : " Judah is a lion's whelp : from
the prey, my son, thou art gone up : he stooped down,
he couched as a lion, and as a lioness ; who shall rouse
him up ? " a ; the latter in such words as those of Isaiah,
"And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock
of Jesse, and a Branch out of his roots shall bear fruit ; "3
while, in the language alike of the prophet and of the
Seer, the words set forth the Messiah, not as the root out
of which David sprang, but as a shoot which, springing
from him, was to grow up into a strong and stately
tree. In Him the conquering might of David, the man
of war, and of Judah, " chosen to be the ruler," 4 comes
forth with all the freshness of a new youth. He is
" the mystery which hath been hid from all ages and
generations, but now hath been manifested to the
saints."8 In Him "the darkness is passing away, and
the true light already shineth." 6 " After two days
will He revive us : on the third day He will raise
us up, and we shall live before Him. And let us know,
let us follow on to know, the Lord : His going forth
is sure as the morning ; and He shall come unto us as
the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth." '
Thus then was it now. Like Daniel of old, the Seer
had wept in order that he might understand the vision ;
and the elder said to him, Weep not.
The eagerly desired explanation follows : —
And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living
creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as though
1 John i. 45. 4 1 Chron. xxviii. 4.
8 Gen. xlix. 9. • Col. i. 26.
* Isa. xi. I. • 1 John ii. 8.
' Hos. vi. 2, 3.

v. 6, 7.] ANTICIPATIONS OF CHURCH'S VICTORY. 79
it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which
are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He
came, and He hath taken it out of the right hand of Him that sat on
the throne (v. 6, 7).
A strange and unlooked-for spectacle is presented to
the Seer. He had been told of a lion ; and he beholds
a lamb, nay not only a lamb, the emblem of patience
and of innocence, but, as we learn from the use of the
word slaughtered (not " slain," as in both the Authorised
and Revised Versions), a lamb for sacrifice, and that
had been sacrificed. Nor can we doubt for a moment,
when we call to mind the Gospel of St. John and its
many points of analogy with the Apocalypse, what
particular lamb it was. It was the Paschal Lamb, the
Lamb beheld in our Lord by the Baptist when, pointing
to Jesus as He walked, he said to his disciples, " Be
hold the Lamb of God,"1 and again beheld by the
writer of the fourth Gospel on the Cross, when in the
fact .that the soldiers broke not the legs of Jesus, as
they broke those of the malefactors hanging on either
side of Him, he traced the fulfilment of the Scripture,
" A bone of Him shall not be broken." 2 This therefore
was the true Lamb " that taketh away the sin of the
world," the Lamb that gives us His flesh to eat, so that
in Him we may have eternal life.3
The Lamb has seven horns, the emblem of perfected
strength, and seven eyes, which are explained to be the
Spirit of God, sent forth in all His penetrating and
searching power, so that none even in the very ends

1 John i. 36.
• John xix. 36.
1 The point now spoken of has been doubted. A full discussion
of it by the present writer will be found in The Expositor for July and
August, 1877.

80 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of the earth can escape His knowledge. Further the
Lamb is standing as though it had been slaughtered, and
there never has been a moment's hesitation as to the
interpretation of the figure. The words " as though "
do not mean that the slaughtering had been only in
appearance. It had been real. The Saviour, pierced
with cruel wounds, " bowed His head " on Calvary,
" and gave up His spirit." 1 " The first and the last
and the Living One became dead," 2 and had been laid
in the tomb in the garden. But He had risen from
that tomb on the third morning ; and, " behold, He is
alive for evermore." 3 He had ascended to the right
hand of the Majesty on high ; and there He " stands,"
living and acting in all the plenitude of endless and
incorruptible life.
One thing more has to be noticed : that this Lamb
is the central figure of the scene before us, in the midst
of the throne and of the living creatures, and of the elders.
To Him all the works of God, both in creation and
redemption, turn. To Him the old covenant led ; and
the prophets who were raised up under it searched
" what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ
which was in them did point unto, when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that
should follow them."4 From Him the new covenant
flowed, and those who under it are called to the know
ledge of the truth recognise in Him their " all and in
all." 6 The Lamb slaughtered, raised from the grave,
ascended, being the impersonation of that Divine love
which is the essence of the Divine nature, is the visible
centre of the universe. He is "the image of the invisible

1 John xix. 30.
* Chap. i. 18

6 Col. iii. 11.

8 Chap. i. 18.
* 1 Pet. i. 11.

v. 8-io.] ANTICIPATIONS OF CHURCH'S VICTORY. 81
God, the First-born of all creation : for in Him were
all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth,
things visible and things invisible, whether thrones,
or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things
have been created through Him, and unto Him : and
He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
And He is the Head of the Body, the Church : who is
the Beginning, the First-born from the dead ; that in all
things He might have the pre-eminence. For it was
the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all
the fulness dwell ; and through Him to reconcile all
things unto Himself, having made peace through the
blood of His cross ; through Him, I say, whether things
upon the earth, or things in the heavens." J
Such is the Lamb ; and He now comes, and hath taken
the roll out of the right hand of Him that sat on the
throne. Let us note the words " hath taken." It is
not " took." St. John sees the Lamb not only take the
roll, but keep it. It is His, — His as the Son, in whom
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily ; His by
right of the victory He has won ; His as the First-born
of all creation and the Head of the Church. It is His
to keep, and to unfold, and to execute, " who is over all,
God blessed for ever. Amen." 2
Therefore is He worthy of all praise, and to Him all
praise is given : —
And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and
the four-and-twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each
one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers
of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou
to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain,
and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and
tongue, and people, and nation ; and madest them to be unto our God
a kingdom and priests : and they reign over the earth (v. 8-10).
1 Col. i. 15-20. * Rom. ix. 5.

82 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
It is not necessary to dwell upon the figures that are
here employed, the harp, as connected with the Temple
service, being the natural emblem of praise, and the
bowls full of incense the emblem of prayer. But it is of
importance to observe the universality of the praises
and the prayers referred to, for as the language used
here of these men of every tribe, and tongue, and people,
and nation, when they are said to have been made a
kingdom and priests unto our God, is the same as that
of chap. i. 6, we seem entitled to conclude that, even
from its very earliest verses, the Apocalypse has the
universal Church in view.
The song sung by this great multitude, including
even the representatives of natwre, now " delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory
of the children of God," 1 is wholly different from that
of chap. iv. It is a new song, for it is the song of the
" new creation ; " and its burden, it will be observed, is
not creation, but redemption by the blood of the Lamb,
a redemption through which all partaking of it are
raised to a higher glory and a fairer beauty than that
enjoyed and exhibited before sin had as yet entered
into the world, and when God saw that all that He
had made was good.
The song was sung, but no sooner was it sung
than it awoke a responsive strain from multitudes of
which we have not yet heard :—
And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the
throne and the living creatures and the elders : and the number was
ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands; saying
with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive
the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory,
and blessing (v. n, 12). 1 Rom. viii. 21.

v 13.] ANTICIPATIONS OF CHURCH'S VICTORY. 83
These are the angels, who are not within the throne,
but round about the throne and the four living creatures
and the twenty-four elders. Their place is not so near
the throne, so near the Lamb. " For not unto angels
did He subject the inhabited earth to come, whereof we
speak." x He subjected it to man, to Him first of all
who, having taken upon Him our human nature, and
in that nature conquered, was "crowned with glory
and honour," but then also to the members of His
Body, who shall in due time be exalted to a similar
dignity and shall reign over the earth. Yet angels
rejoice with man and with creation redeemed and
purified. They " desire to look into " 2 these things :
" There is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth." 3 He who was God
manifested in flesh " appeared " after His resurrection
" to angels ; " 4 and, although they have not been pur
chased with the blood of the slaughtered Lamb, their
hearts are filled with livelier ecstasy and their voices
swell out into louder praise while the " manifold wisdom
of God is made known" to them in their heavenly
places.6 Even this is not all. There is a third stage in the
ascending scale, a third circle formed for the widening
song : —
And everything which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard
I saying, Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb,
be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for
ever and ever (v. 13).
What a sublime conception have we here before us 1

1 Heb. ii. 5. * Luke xv. IO.
1 I Pet. i. 12. 4 I Tim. iii. 16.
• Eph. iii. 10.

84 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
The whole universe, from its remotest star to the things
around us and beneath our feet, is one, — one in feeling,
in emotion, in expression ; one in heart and voice.
Nothing is said of evil. Nor is it thought of. It is in
the hands of God, who will work out His sovereign
purposes in His own good time and way. We have
only to listen to the universal harmony, and to see that
it move us to corresponding praise.
It did so now : —
And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell
down and worshipped (v. 14).
The redeemed creation is once more singled out for
special mention. At chap. iv. 8, 10, they began the
song ; now we return to them that they may close it.
All creation, man included, cries, Amen. The glorified
Church has her heart too full to speak. She can only
fall down and worship.
The distinction between chap. iv. and chap. v. must
now be obvious, even while it is allowed that the same
general thought is at the bottom of both chapters. In
the one the Church when about to enter on her struggle
has the call addressed to her : " Believe in God." In
the other that call is followed up by the glorified
Redeemer : " Believe also in Me."
Having listened to the call, there is no enemy that
she need fear, and no trial from which she need shrink.
She is already more than conqueror through Him that
loved her. As we enter into the spirit of these chapters
we cry, —
" God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change,
And though the mountains be moved in the heart of the seas ;

v. I4-] ANTICIPATIONS OF CHURCH'S VICTORY. 85
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of
God,
The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her ; she shall, not be moved :
God shall help her, and that right early.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved:
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The Lord ol hosts is with us ;
The God of Jacob is our refuge." '
1 Ps. xlvi. 1-7.

CHAPTER IV.
THE SEALED ROLL OPENED.
Rev. vi.
WITH the sixth chapter of the Apocalypse the
main action of the book may be said properly
to begin. Three sections of the seven into which it
is divided have already passed under our notice. The
fourth section, extending from chap. vi. I to chap.
xviii. 24, is intended to bring before us the struggle of
the Church, the judgment of God upon her enemies,
and her final victory. No detail of historical events in
which these things are fulfilled need be looked for.
We are to be directed rather to the sources whence the
trials spring, and to the principles by which the victory
is gained. At this point in the unfolding of the visions
it is generally thought that there is a pause, an interval
of quietness however brief, and a hush of expectation
on the part both of the Seer himself and of all the
heavenly witnesses of the wondrous drama. But there
seems to be no foundation for such an impression
in the text ; and it is more in keeping alike with the
language of this particular passage and with the general
probabilities of the case to imagine that the " lightnings
and voices and thunders," spoken of in chap. iv. 5 as
proceeding out of the throne, continue to re-echo over
the scene, filling the hearts of the spectators with that
sense of awe which they are naturally fitted to awaken.

vi.i.] THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 87
We have to meet the Lord in judgment. We are to
behold the Lamb as " the Lion of the tribe of Judah ; "
and when He so appears, " the mountains flow down
at His presence."1
The Lamb then, who had, in the previous chapter,
taken the book out of the hand of Him that sat upon
the throne, is now to open it, part by part, seal by
seal : —
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I
heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of
thunder, Come (vi. 1).
Particular attention ought to be paid to the fact that
the true reading of the last clause of this verse is not,
as in the Authorised Version, " Come and see," but
simply, as in the Revised Version, Come. The call is
not addressed to the Seer, but to the Lord Himself;
and it is uttered by one of the four living creatures
spoken of in chap. iv. 6, who are " in the midst of the
throne and round about the throne," and who in ver. 8
of the same chapter are the first to raise the song from
which they never rest, saying, " Holy, holy, holy, is the
Lord, God, the Almighty, which was and which is and
which is to come." The word Come therefore embodies
the longing of redeemed creation that the Lord, for
the completion of whose work it waits, will take to
Him His great power and reign. Not so much for the
perfecting of its own happiness, or for deliverance from
the various troubles by which it is as yet beset, and
not so much for the manifestation of its Lord in His
abounding mercy to His own, does the creation delivered
from the bondage of corruption wait, as for the moment
when Christ shall appear in awful majesty, King of
1 Isa. lxiv. I.

88 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
kings and Lord of lords, when He shall banish for
ever from the earth the sin by which it is polluted, and
when He shall establish, from the rising of the sun to
the going down of the same, His glorious kingdom of
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
This prospect is inseparably associated with the
Second Coming of Him who is now concealed from our
view; and therefore the cry of the whole waiting
creation, whether animate or inanimate, to its Lord is
Come. The cry, too, and that not only in the case of
the first living creature, but (according to a rule of
interpretation of which in this book we shall often
have to make use) in the case of the three that follow,
is uttered with a voice of thunder; and thunder is always
an accompaniment and symbol of the Divine judg
ments. No sooner is the cry heard than it is answered : —
And I saw, and behold a white horse : and he that sat thereon
had a bow ; and there was given unto him a crown ¦ and he came
forth conquering, and to conquer (vi. 2).
Few figures of the Apocalypse have occasioned more
trouble to interpreters than that contained in these
words. On the one hand, the particulars seem unmis-
takeably to point to the Lord Himself; but, on the
other hand, if the first rider be the glorified Redeemer,
it is difficult to establish that harmonious parallelism
with the following riders which appears to be required
by the well-ordered arrangement of the visions of this
book. Yet it is clearly impossible to regard the first
rider as merely a symbol of war, for the second rider
would then convey the same lesson as the first ; nor is
there anything in the text to establish a distinction,
frequently resorted to, by which the first rider is
thought to denote foreign, and the second civil, war.

vi. 2.] THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 89

Every attempt also to separate the white horse of this
vision from that of the vision at chap. xix. 1 1 fails, and
must fail. Probably it is enough to say that not one of
the four riders is a person. Each is rather a cause,
a manifestation of certain truths connected with the
kingdom of Christ when that kingdom is seen to be,
in its own nature, the judgment of the world. Even
war, famine, and death and Hades, which follow, are
not literally these things. They are simply used, as
scourges of mankind, to give general expression to the
judgments of God. Thus also under the first rider the
cause rather than the person of Christ is introduced
to us, in the earliest stage of its victorious progress,
and with the promise of its future triumph. The
various points of the description hardly need to be
explained. The colour of the horse is white, for
throughout these visions that colour is always the
symbol of heavenly purity. The rider has a crown
given him, a crown of royalty. He has in his hand
a bow, the instrument of war by which he scatters
his enemies like stubble.1 Finally, he comes forth
conquering and to conquer, for his victorious march
knows no interruption, and at last leaves no foe unvan-
quished. In the first rider we have thus the cause 01
Christ in its essence, as that cause of light which,
having already drawn to it the sons of light, has
become darkness to the sons of darkness. By the
opening of the first Seal we learn that this cause is in
the world, that this kingdom is in the midst of us, and
that they who oppose it shall be overwhelmed with
defeat. The interpretation now given of the first rider as
1 Isa. xli. 2.

90 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
one who rides forth to judgment on a sinful world is
confirmed by what is said of the three that follow him.
In them too we have judgment, and judgment only,
while the three judgments spoken of — war, famine, and
death — are precisely those with which the prophets in
the Old Testament and the Saviour Himself in the
New have familiarised our thoughts.1 They are not
to be literally understood. Like all else in the visions
of St. John, they are used symbolically; and each of
them expresses in a general form the calamities and
woes, the misfortunes and sorrows, brought by sinful
men upon themselves through rejection of their right
ful King.
The second Seal is now broken, and the second rider
follows : —
And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living
creature saying, Come. And another horse came forth, a red horse :
and to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the earth,
and that they should slaughter one another : and there was given unto
him a great sword (vi. 3, 4).
The second horse is red, the colour of blood, for it
is the horse of war : and slaughter follows it as its rider
passes over the earth; that is, not over the earth in
general, but over the ungodly. Two things in this
vision are particularly worthy of notice. In the first
place, the war spoken of is not between the righteous
and the wicked, but among the wicked alone. The
wicked slaughter one another. All persons engaged in
these internecine conflicts have cast aside the offers of
the Prince of peace ; and, at enmity with Him who is
the only true foundation of human brotherhood, they
are also at enmity among themselves. Of the righteous
1 Ezek. vi. II ; Matt xxiv. 6-8.

vi.5,6.] THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 91
nothing is yet said. We are left to infer that they are
safe in their dwellings, in peaceable habitations, and
in quiet resting-places.1 By-and-by we shall learn that
they are not only safe, but surrounded with joy and
plenty. In the second place, the original word trans
lated "slay" both in the Authorised and. Revised
Versions deserves attention. It is a sacrificial term,
the same as that found in chap. v. 6, where we read
of the " slaughtered Lamb ; " and here therefore, as
there, it ought to be rendered, not "slay," but
" slaughter." The instant we so translate, the whole
picture rises before our view in a light entirely different
from that in which we commonly regard it. What
judgment, nay what irony of judgment, is there in the
ways of God when He visits sinners with the terrors
of His wrath ! The very fate which men shrink from
accepting in the form of a blessing overtakes them in
the form of a curse. They think to save their life, and
they lose it. They seek to avoid that sacrifice of them
selves which, made in Christ, lies at the root of the
true accomplishment of human destiny ; and they are
constrained to substitute for it a sacrifice of an altogether
different kind : they sacrifice, they slaughter, one
another. The third Seal is now broken, and the third rider
follows : —
And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living
creature saying, Come. And I saw, and behold a black horse ; and
he that sat thereon had a balance in his hand. And I heard as it
were a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying,
A measure of wheat for a penny (or a silver penny), and three
measures of barley for a penny ; and the oil and the wine hurt thou
not (vi. 5, 6). 1 Isa. xxxii. 18.

92 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
The third living creature cries as the two before it
had done ; and a third horse comes forth, the colour of
which is black, the colour of gloom and mourning and
lamentation. Nor can there be any doubt that this
condition of things is produced by. scarcity, for the
figure of the balance and of measuring bread by weight
is on different occasions employed in the Old Testa
ment to express the idea of famine. Thus among
the threatenings denounced upon Israel should it prove
faithless to God's covenant we read, "And when I
have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall
bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver
you your bread again by weight : and ye shall eat, and
not be satisfied." x And so also when Ezekiel would
describe the miseries of the coming siege of Jerusalem
he exclaims, " Moreover He said unto me, Son of man,
behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem :
and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care ; and
they shall drink water by measure, and with astonish
ment : that they may want bread and water, and be
i honied one with another, and consume away for their
iniquity." 2 To give out corn by weight instead of
measure was thus an emblem of scarcity. The particu
lars of the scarcity here described are obscured to the
English reader by the unfortunate translation, both in
this passage and elsewhere, and in the Revised as well
as the Authorised Version, of the Greek denarius by
the English penny. That coin was of the value of fully
eightpence of our money, and was the recognised pay
ment of a labourer's full day's work.3 In ordinary
circumstances it was sufficient to purchase eight of the
small " measures " now referred to, so that when it
1 Lev. xxvi. 26. 2 Ezek. iv. 16, 17. 3 Comp. Matt.xx. 2.

vi.5,6.] THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 93
could buy one " measure " only, the quantity needed
by a single man for his own daily food, it is implied
that wheat had risen eight times in price, and that all
that could be purchased by means of a whole day's toil
would suffice for no more than one individual's sus
tenance, leaving nothing for his other wants and the
wants of his family. No doubt three measures of barley
could be purchased for the same sum, but barley was
a coarser grain, and to be dependent upon it was in
itself a proof that there was famine in the land. Again,
as in the previous judgment, the words of the figure
are not to be literally understood. What we have
before us is not famine in its strict sense, but the
judgment of God under the form of famine ; and this
second judgment is climactic to the first. Men say to
themselves that they will live at peace with one
another, and sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and
eat the fruit thereof. But in doing this they are
mastered by the power of selfishness ; the too eager
pursuit of earthly interests defeats its end ; and, under
the influence of deeper and more mysterious laws than
the mere political economist can discover, fields that
might have been covered with golden harvests lie
desolate and bare.
Nothing has yet been said of the last clause of this
judgment : The oil and the wine hurt thou not. The
words are generally regarded as a limitation of the
severity of the famine previously described, and as a
promise that even in judging God will not execute
all His wrath. The interpretation can hardly be
accepted. Not only does it weaken the force of the
threatening, but the meaning thus given to the figure
is entirely out of place. Oil and wine were for the
mansions of the rich, not for the habitations of the

94 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
poor, for the feast and not for the supply of the common
wants of life. Nor would a sufferer from famine have
found in them a substitute for bread. The meaning
of the words therefore must be looked for in a wholly
different direction. "Thou preparest a table before
me," says the Psalmist, "in the presence of mine
enemies : Thou anointest my head with oil ; my cup
runneth over." x This is the table 'the supply of which
is now alluded to. It is prepared for the righteous
in the midst of the struggles of the world, and in the
presence of their enemies. Oil is there in abundance
to anoint the heads of the happy guests, and their cups
are so filled with plenty that they run over. In the
words under consideration, accordingly, we have no
limitation of the effects of famine. The " wine " and
the "oil" alluded to express not so much what is
simply required for life as the plenty and the joy of
life ; and, thus interpreted, they are a figure of the care
with which God watches over His own people and
supplies all their wants. While His judgments are
abroad in the earth they are protected in the hollow
of His hand. He has taken them into His banqueting
house, and His banner over them is love. The world
may be hungry, but they are fed. As the children of
Israel had light in their dwellings while the land of
Egypt lay in darkness, so while the world famishes the
followers of Jesus have all and more than all that they
require. They have " life, and that abundantly." 2
Thus we learn the condition of the children of God
during the trials spoken of in these visions. Under
the second Seal we could only infer from the general
analogy of this book that they were safe. Now we
1 Ps. xxiii. 5. 2 John x. 10.

vi.7,8.] THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 95
know that they are not only safe, but that they are
enriched with every blessing. They have oil that
makes the face of man to shine, and bread that
strengthened his heart.1
The fourth Seal is now broken, and the fourth rider
follows : —
And when He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the
fourth living creature saying, Come. And I saw, and behold a pale
horse : and he that sat upon him, his name was Death ; and Hades
followed with him. And there was given unto them authority over
the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and
with death, and by the wild beasts of the earth (vi. 7, 8).

The colour of the fourth horse is pale; it has the
livid colour of a corpse, corresponding to its rider,
whose name, Death, is in this case given. Hades
followed with him, not after him, thus showing that a
gloomy and dark region beyond the grave is his
inseparable attendant, and that it too is an instrument
of God's wrath. In chap. i. 18 these two dire com
panions had also been associated with one another;
and it is important to notice the combination, as the
fact will afterwards throw light upon one of the most
difficult visions of the book. " Death " is not neutral
death, that separation between soul and body which
awaits every individual of the human family until the
Saviour comes. It is death in the deeper meaning
which it so often bears in Scripture, and especially in
the writings of St. John, — death as judgment. In like
manner Hades is not the neutral grave where the rich
and the poor meet together, where the wicked cease
from troubling, and where the weary are at rest. It is
the region occupied by those who have not found life
1 Ps. civ. 15.

96 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
in Christ ; and, not less than death, it is judgment.
" Death " and " Hades " then are the culminating
judgments of God upon the earth, that is, upon the
wicked ; and they execute their mission in a fourfold
manner : by the sword, and famine, and death, and the
wild beasts of the earth. The world, the symbolical
number of which is four, instead of blessing such as
submit themselves to its sway, turns round upon them
with all the powers at its command and kills them.
The wicked " are sunk down in the pit that they made :
in the net which they hid is their own foot taken."1
It is not easy to say why authority is given death
and Hades over no more than the fourth part of the
earth, when we might rather have expected that their
dominion would be extended over the whole. The
question may be asked whether it is possible so to
understand the Seer as to connect a "fourth part" of
the earth, not with all the instruments together, but
with each separate instrument of judgment afterwards
named — one fourth to be killed with the sword, a
second with famine, a third with death, and a fourth
by wild beasts. Should such an idea be regarded
as untenable, the probability is that a fourth part is
mentioned in order to make room for the climactic rise
to a " third part " afterwards met under the trumpet
judgments. The end of the first four Seals has now been reached,
and at this point there is an obvious break in the
hitherto harmonious progress of the visions. No fifth
rider appears when the fifth Seal is broken, and we
pass from the material into the spiritual, from the
visible into the invisible, world. That the transition is
1 Ps. ix. 15.

vi.9-11.] THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 97
not accidental, but deliberately made, appears from this,
that the very same principle of division marks the series
of the trumpets at chap. ix. I, and of the bowls at chap.
xvi. 10. We have thus the number seven divided into
its two parts four and three, while in chaps, ii. and iii.
we had it divided into three and four. The difference
is easily accounted for, three being the number of God,
or the Divine, and therefore taking precedence when we
are concerned with the existence of the Church, four
being the number of the world, and therefore coming
first when judgment on the world is described. It is
of more consequence, however, to note the fact than to
explain it, for it helps in no small degree to illustrate
that artificial structure of the Apocalypse which is so
completely at variance with the supposition that it
describes in its successive paragraphs the successive
historical events of the Christian age.
Passing then into a different region of thought, the
fifth Seal is now broken : —
And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar
the souls of them that had been slaughtered for the, word of God,
and for the testimony which they held : and they cried with a great
voice, saying, How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost Thou not
judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ? And
there was given them to each one a white robe ; and it was said
unto them, that they should rest yet for a little time, until their
fellow-servants also and their brethren, which should be killed even
as they were, should be fulfilled (vi. 9-1 1).
The vision contained in these words is unquestion
ably a crucial one for the interpretation of the Apoca
lypse, and it will be necessary to dwell upon it for a
little. The minor details may be easily disposed of.
By the consent of all commentators of note, the altar
referred to is the brazen altar of sacrifice, which stood
in the outer court both of the Tabernacle and the
7

98 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
Temple ; the souls, or lives, seen under it are probably
seen under the form of blood, for the blood was the
life : and the law of Moses commanded that when
animals were sacrificed the blood should be poured
out " at the bottom of the altar of burnt-offering, which
is before the tabernacle of the congregation;"1 while
the little time mentioned in ver. 1 1 can mean nothing
else than the interval between the moment when the
souls were spoken to and that when the killing of their
brethren should be brought to a close.
The main question to be answered is, Whom do
these " souls " represent ? Are they Christian martyrs,
suffering perhaps at the hands of the Jews before the
fall of Jerusalem, perhaps at the hands of the world
to the end of time ? Or are they the martyrs of
the Old Testament dispensation, Jewish martyrs, who
had lived and died in faith ? Both suppositions have
been entertained, though the former has been, and still
is, that almost universally adopted. Yet there can be
little doubt that the latter is correct, and that several
important particulars of the passage demand its ac
ceptance. I. Let us observe how these martyrs are designated.
They had been slain for the word of God, and for the
testimony which they held. But that is not the full
expression of Christian testimony. As we read in
many other passages of the book before us, Christians
have " the testimony of Jesus." % The addition needed
to bring out the Christian character of the testimony
referred to is wanting here. No doubt the saints of
old looked forward to the coming of the Christ ; but the
testimony " of Jesus " is the testimony pertaining to
1 Lev. iv. 7.
* Comp. chaps, i. 2 9; xi. 7; xii. II, 17; xix. 10.

vi. 9-1 i.J THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 99
Him as a Saviour come, in all the glory of His person
and in all the completeness of His work. It is a
testimony embracing a full knowledge of the Messiah ;
and the inference is natural and legitimate that it is
not ascribed to the souls under the altar, because they
neither had nor could have possessed it.
2. The cry of these " souls " is worthy of notice,
How long, O Master, the holy and the true, where the
word " Master," applied also in Acts iv. 24 and Jude 41
to God as distinguished from Christ, corresponds
better to the spirit of the Old than of the New Testa
ment dispensation.
3. The time at which the martyrs had been killed
belongs not to the present or the future, but to the past.
Like all the other Seals, the fifth is opened at the very
beginning of the Christian era; and no sooner is it
opened than the souls are seen. It is true that the Seer
might be supposed to transport himself forward into
the future, and, at some point of Christian history
more or less distant, to console Christian martyrs who
had already fallen with the assurance that they had
only to wait a little time, until such as were to be
their later companions in martyrdom should have shared
their fate. But such a supposition is inconsistent with
the fact that St. John in the Apocalypse always thinks
of the Christian age as one hardly capable of being
divided ; while, as we shall immediately see more
clearly, it would make it impossible to explain the
consolation afforded by the bestowal of the white robe.
4. The altar under which the blood is seen may help
to confirm this conclusion, for that blood is not preserved
in the inner sanctuary, in that " heaven " which is the

1 Margin of Revised Version.

too THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
ideal home of all the disciples of Jesus : it lies beneath
the altar of the outer court.
5. The main argument, however, in favour of the
view now contended for, is to be found in the act by
which these souls were comforted : And there was given
them to each one a white robe. The white robe, then,
they had not obtained before ; and yet that robe belongs
during his life on earth to every follower of Christ.
Nothing is more frequently spoken of in these visions
than the " white robe " of the redeemed, and it is
obviously theirs from the first moment when they are
united to their Lord. It is the robe of the priesthood,
and at their very entrance upon true spiritual life they
are priests in Him. It is the robe with which the
faithful remnant in Sardis had been arrayed before they
are introduced to us, for they had not " defiled " it ; and
the emphasis in the promise there given, "They shall
walk with Me in white," appears to lie upon its first
rather than its second clause.1 Again, the promise to
every one in that church that " overcometh " is that he
" shall be arrayed in white garments ; " 2 and it is beyond
dispute that the promises of the seven epistles belong
to the victory of faith gained in this world, not less
than to the perfected reward of victory in the world to
come. In like manner the Laodicean church is ex
horted to buy of her Lord " white garments " that she
may be clothed, as well as " gold " that she may be
enriched, and " eyesalve " that she may see 3 ; and, as
the two latter purchases refer to her present state, so
also must the former. When, too. the Lord is united
in marriage to His Church, it is said that " it was given
unto her that she should array herself in " fine linen,
1 Chap. iii. 4. 2 Chap. iii. 5. a Chap. iii. 18.

vi.g-ii.J THE SEALED ROLL OPENED.

bright and pure ; " and that fine linen is immediately
explained to be "the righteous acts of the saints."1
Putting all these passages together, we are distinctly
taught that in the language of the Apocalypse the " white
robe " denotes that perfect righteousness of Christ, both
external and internal, which is bestowed upon the be
liever from the moment when he is by faith made one
with Jesus. It is that more perfect justification of which
St. Paul spoke at Antioch in Pisidia when he said to
the Jews, " By Him every one that believeth is justified
from all things, from which ye could not be justified by
the law of Moses."2 It had been longed for by the
saints of the Old Testament, but had never been fully
bestowed upon them until Jesus came. David had prayed
for it : " Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean :
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow;"3 Isaiah
had anticipated it when he looked forward to the accept
able year of the Lord : " 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 bride
groom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorneth herself with her jewels ; " 4 and Ezekiel had
celebrated it as the chief blessing of Gospel times :
" Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye
shall be clean : from all your filthiness, and from all your
idols, will I cleanse you. . . . And ye shall be My people,
and I will be your God. I will also save you from
all your uncleannesses." 6 But while thus prayed for,
anticipated, and greeted from afar, the fulness of blessing
belonging to the New Testament had not been actually
1 Chap. xix. 8. " Ps. Ii. 7.
" Acts xiii. 39. 4 Isa. lxi. 10.
6 Ezek. xxxvi. 25-29.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

received under the Old. " He that is but little in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than John."1 As we
are taught in the Epistle to the Hebrews, even Abel,
Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all
those heroes of faith who had subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped
the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong,
waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens — ¦
even " these all, having had witness borne to them
through their faith, received not the promise : God having
provided some better thing concerning us, that apart
from us they should not be made perfect." 2 At death
they were not made perfect. They passed rather into
a holy rest where they waited until, like Abraham, who
had " rejoiced that he should see Christ's day," they
" saw it and were glad." 3 Then the " white robe " was
given them. They were raised to the level of that
Church which, now that Jesus had come, rejoiced in
Him with "a joy unspeakable and glorified."4
These considerations appear sufficient to decide the
point. The souls under the altar of the fifth Seal are
the saints, not of Christianity, but of Judaism. It is
true that all of them had not been literally " slaughtered."
But it is a peculiarity of this book, of which further
proof will be afforded as we proceed, that it regards
all true followers of Christ as martyrs. Christ was
Himself a Martyr ; His disciples " follow " Him : they
are martyrs. Christ's Church is a martyr Church.
She dies in her Master's service, and for the world's
good. One point more ought to be noticed before we leave
1 Matt. xi. n. 3 John viii. 56.
» Heb. xi. 39, 40. < 1 Pet. i. 8 (R.V, margin).

vi. 12-17.] THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 103
this Seal. The language of these souls under the altar
is apt to offend when they apparently cry for vengeance
upon their murderers : How long dost Thou not avenge ?
Yet it is enough to say that so to interpret their cry
is to do injustice to the whole spirit of this book.
Strictly speaking, in fact, they do not themselves cry.
It is their blood that cries; it is the wrong done to
them that demands reparation. In so far as they may
be supposed to cry, they have in view, not their enemies
as persons, but the evil that is in them, and that
manifests itself through them. At first it may seem
difficult to draw the distinction ; but if we pause over
the matter for a little, the difficulty will disappear.
Never do we pity the sinner more, or feel for him with
a keener sympathy, than when we are most indignant
at sin and most earnest in prayer and effort for its
destruction. The more anxious we are for the latter,
the more must we compassionate the man who is
enveloped in sin's fatal toils. When we long therefore
for the hour at which sin shall be overtaken by the
just judgment of God, we long only for the establish
ment of that righteous and holy kingdom which is
inseparably bound up with the glory of God and the
happiness of the world.
For this kingdom then the saints of the Old Testa
ment, together with all their "brethren" under the
New Testament, who like them are faithful unto death,
now wait ; and the opening of the sixth Seal tells us
that it is at hand: —

And I saw when He opened the sixth seal, and there was a great
earthquake ; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the
whole moon became as blood ; and the stars of the heaven fell unto
the earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs, when she is shaken
of a great wind. And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it

104 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

is rolled up ; and every mountain and island were moved out of
their places. And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the
chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman
and free man, hid themselves in the caves and in 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 : for the great day of their wrath is come ;
and who is able to stand ? (vi. 12-17).
The description is marked by almost unparalleled
magnificence and sublimity, and any attempt to dwell
upon details could only injure the general effect. The
real question to be answered is, To what does it apply ?
Is it a picture of the destruction of Jerusalem or of the
final Judgment ? Or may it even represent every great
calamity by which a sinful world is overtaken ? In
each of these senses, and in each of them with a cer
tain degree of truth, has the passage been understood.
Each is a part of the great thought which it embraces.
The error of interpreters has consisted in confining the
whole, or even the primary, sense to any one of them.
The true reference of the passage appears to be to the
Christian dispensation, especially on its side of judg
ment. That dispensation had often been spoken of
by the prophets in a precisely similar way; and the
whole description of these verses, alive with the rich
glow of the Eastern imagination, is taken partly from
their language, and partly from the language of our
Lord in the more prophetic and impassioned moments
of His life.
Thus it was that Joel had announced the purpose of
God: "And I will show wonders in the heavens and
the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The
sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into
blood, before the great and the terrible day of the
Lord come," and again, "The sun and the moon shall

vi. 12-17.] THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 105
be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shin
ing ; " x while, apart altogether from the immediately
preceding and following words, which prove the interpre
tation above given to be correct, this announcement of
Joel was declared by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost
to apply to the introduction of that kingdom of Christ
which, in the gift of tongues, was at that moment ex
hibited in power.2 In like manner we read in the
prophet Haggai, " For 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 ; and I
will shake all nations."3 While, again, without our
needing to dwell on the connexion in which the words
occur, we find the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews
applying the prophecy to the circumstances of those to
whom he wrote at a time when they had heard the voice
that speaketh from heaven, and had received the king
dom that cannot be moved.4 The prophet Malachi also,
whose words have been interpreted for us by our Lord
Himself, describes the day of Him whom the Baptist
was to precede and to introduce as the day that " burneth
as a furnace," as "the great and terrible day of the Lord."6
This aspect, too, of any great era in the history of a land
or of a people had always been presented by the voice
of prophecy in language from which the words before us
are obviously taken. Thus it was that when Isaiah
described the coming of a time at which the mountain of
the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the
mountains and shall be exalted above the hills, and all
nations shall flow into it, he mentions, among its other
characteristics, "And they shall go into the holes of the
1 Joel ii. 30, 31 ; iii. 15. * Haggai ii. 6, 7.
* Acts ii. 16-21. * Heb. xii. 25-29.
5 Mai. iv. I, 5; Mark ix. 11-13.

106 THE BOOK OF REVELATION .
rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the
Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth
to shake terribly the earth."1 When the same prophet
details the burden of Babylon which he saw, he exclaims,
" Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with
wrath and fierce anger to make the land a desolation,
and to 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;"2
and again, when he widens his view from Babylon to a
guilty world, " For the Lord hath indignation against
all the nations, and fury against all their hosts. . . . And
all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens
shall be rolled together as a scroll : and all their host
shall fade away, as the leaf falleth from off the vine, and
as a fading fig from the fig tree." 3 Many other passages
of a similar kind might be quoted from the Old Testa
ment ; but, without quoting further from that source,, it
may be enough to call to mind that when our Lord
delivered His discourse upon the last things He adopted
a precisely similar strain : "Immediately after the tribu
lation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall
from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken."4 Highly coloured, therefore, as the language used
under the sixth Seal may appear to us, to the Jew,
animated by the spirit of the Old Testament, it was
simply that in which he had been accustomed to ex
press his expectation of any new dispensation of the
Almighty, of any striking crisis in the history of the
1 Isa. ii. 19. s Isa. xxxiv. 2, 4.
* Isa. xiii. 9, 10. 4 Matt. xxiv. 29.

zi. 12-17.] THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 107
world. Whenever he thought of the Judge of all
the earth as manifesting Himself in a greater than
ordinary degree, and as manifesting Himself in that
truth and righteousness which was the glorious dis
tinction of His character, he took advantage of such
figures as we have now before us. To the fall of
Jerusalem therefore, to every great crisis in human
history, and to the close of all, they may be fittingly
applied. In the eloquent language of Dr. Vaughan,
" These words are wonderful in all senses, not least in
this sense : that they are manifold in their accomplish
ment. Wherever there is a little flock in a waste
wilderness ; wherever there is a Church in a world ;
wherever there is a power of unbelief, ungodliness, and
violence, throwing itself upon Christ's faith and Christ's
people and seeking to overbear, and to demolish, and
to destroy ; whether that power be the power of Jewish
bigotry and fanaticism, as in the days of the first
disciples; or of pagan Rome, with its idolatries and
its cruelties, as in the days of St. John and of the
Revelation ; or of papal Rome, with its lying wonders
and its antichristian assumptions, in ages later still;
or of open and rampant atheism, as in the days of the
first French Revolution ; or of a subtler and more in
sidious infidelity, like that which is threatening now to
deceive, if it were possible, the very elect ; wherever
and whatever this power may be — and it has had a
thousand forms, and may be destined yet to assume a
thousand more — then, in each successive century, the
words of Christ to His first disciples adapt themselves
afresh to the circumstances of His struggling servants ;
warn them of danger, exhort them to patience, arouse
them to hope, assure them of victory ; tell of a near
end for the individual and for the generation ; tell also

108 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of a far end, not for ever to be postponed, for time
itself and for the world ; predict a destruction which
shall befall each enemy of the truth, and predict a
destruction which shall befall the enemy himself whom
each in turn has represented and served ; explain the
meaning of tribulation, show whence it comes, and
point to its swallowing up in glory ; reveal the moving
hand above, and disclose, from behind the cloud which
conceals it, the clear definite purpose and the un
changing loving will. Thus understood, each separate
downfall of evil becomes a prophecy of the next and
of the last ; and the partial fulfilment of our Lord's
words in the destruction of Jerusalem, or of St. John's
words in the downfall of idolatry and the dismember
ment of Rome, becomes itself in turn a new warrant
for the Church's expectation of the Second Advent and
of the day of judgment."1
While, however, the truth of these words may be
allowed, it is still necessary to urge that the primary
application of the language of the sixth Seal is to no
one of such events in particular, but to something
which includes them all. In other words, it applies to
the Christian dispensation, viewed in its beginning, its
progress, and its end, viewed in all those issues which
it produces in the world, but especially on the side of
judgment. Nor ought such dark and terrible figures to startle
us, as if they could not be suitably applied to a dis
pensation of mercy, of grace that we cannot fathom, of
love that passeth knowledge. The Christian dispen
sation is not effeminacy. If it tells of abounding com
passion for the sinner, it tells also of fire, and hail, and
1 Lectures on the Revelation, p. 170.

vi. 12-17.] THE SEALED ROLL OPENED. 109
vapour of smoke for the sin. If it speaks at one time
in a gentle voice, it speaks at another in a voice of
thunder ; and, when the latter is rightly listened to, the
air is cleared as by the whirlwind.
Although, therefore, the language of the prophets
and of this passage may at first sight appear to be
marked by far too great a measure both of strength
and of severity to make it applicable to the Gospel
age, it is in reality neither too strong nor too severe.
It is at variance only with the verdict of that superficial
glance which is satisfied with looking at phenomena in
their outward and temporary aspect, and which declines
to penetrate into the heart of things. So long as man
is content with such a spirit, he is naturally enough
unstirred by any powerful emotion ; and he can only
say that words of prophetic fire are words of exaggera
tion and of false enthusiasm. But no sooner does he
catch that spirit of the Bible which brings him into
contact with eternal verities than his tone changes.
He can no longer rest upon the surface. He can no
longer dismiss the thought of mighty issues at stake
around him with the reflection that " all the world's a
stage, and all the men and women on it only players."
When from the shore he looks out upon the mass of
waters stretching before him, he thinks not merely of
the light waves rippling at his feet and losing them
selves in the sand, but of the unfathomed depths of the
ocean from which they come, and of those mysterious
movements of it which they indicate. He sees sights,
he hears sounds, which the common eye does not see,
and the common ear does not hear. The slightest
motion of the soil speaks to him of earthquakes ; the
handful of snow loosened from the mountain-side, of
avalanches; the simplest utterance of awe, of a cry

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

that the mountains and the hills are falling. The great
does not become to him little ; but the little becomes
great. There is thus no exaggeration in the strength
or even in the severity of prophetic figures. The
prophet has passed from the world of shadows, flitting
past him and disappearing, into the world of realities,
Divine, unchangeable, and everlasting.

CHAPTER V.
CONSOLATORY VISIONS.
Rev. vii.
SIX of the seven Seals have been opened by the
" Lamb," who is likewise the " Lion of the tribe
of Judah." They have dealt, in brief but pregnant
sentences, with the whole history of the Church and
of the world throughout the Christian age. No details
of history have indeed been spoken of, no particular
wars, or famines, or pestilences, or slaughters, or pre
servations of the saints. Everything has been described
in the most general terms. We have been invited to
think only of the principles of the Divine government,
but of these as the most sublime and, according to our
own state of mind, the most alarming or the most
consolatory principles that can engage the attention of
men. God, has been the burden of the six Seals, is
King over all the earth. Why do the heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing ? Why do they
exalt themselves against the sovereign Ruler of the
universe, who said to the Son of His love, when He
made Him Head over all things for His Church, "Thou
art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee;" "Rule
Thou in the midst of Thine enemies "?x Listening to
the voice of these Seals, we know that the world, with
1 Ps. ii. 7 ; ex. 7.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

all its might, 'Tall prevail neither against the Head
nor against the members of the Body. Even when
apparently successful it shall fight a losing battle. Even
when apparently defeated Christ and they who are
one with Him shall march to victory.
We are not to imagine that the Seals of chap. vi.
follow one another in chronological succession, or that
each of them belongs to a definite date. The Seer
does not look forward to age succeeding age or century
century. To him the whole period between the first
and the second coming of Christ is but " a little time,"
and whatever is to happen in it "must shortly come
to pass." In truth he can hardly be said to deal with
the lapse of time at all. He deals with the essential
characteristics of the Divine government in time,
whether it be long or short. Shall the revolving years
be in our sense short, these characteristics will never
theless come forth with a clearness that shall leave man
without excuse. Shall they be in our sense long, the
unfolding of God's eternal plan will only be again and
again made manifest. He with whom we have to do
is without beginning of days or end of years, the / am,
unchangeable both in the attributes of .His own nature,
and in the execution of His purposes for the world's
redemption. Let us cast our eyes along the centuries
that have passed away since Jesus died and rose again.
They are full of one great lesson. At every point at
which we pause we see the Son of God going forth
conquering and to conquer. We see the world strug
gling against His righteousness, refusing to submit to
it, and dooming itself in consequence to every form of
woe. We see the children of God following a crucified
Redeemer, but preserved, sustained, animated, their
cross, like His, their crown. Finally, as we realize more

vii. 1-8.] CONSOLATORY VISIONS. 113

and more deeply what is going on around us, we feel
that we are in the midst of a great earthquake, that the
sun and the moon have become black, and that the
stars of heaven are falling to the earth ; yet by the eye
of faith we pierce the darkness, and where are all our
adversaries ? Where are the kings and the potentates,
• the rich and the powerful of the earth, of an ungodly
and persecuting world ? They have hid themselves in
the caves and in the rocks of the mountains ; and we
hear them 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 : for the great
day of their wrath is come ; and who is able to stand ? "
With the beginning of chap. vii. we might expect
the seventh Seal to be opened ; but it is the manner of
the apocalyptic writer, before any final or particularly
critical manifestation of the wrath of God, to present us
with visions of consolation, so that we may enter into
the thickest darkness, even into the valley of the
shadow of death, without alarm. We have already
met with this in chaps, iv. and v. We shall meet with
it again. Meanwhile it is here illustrated : —
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the
earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that no wind should blow
on the earth, or on the sea, or upon any tree. And I saw another
angel ascend from the sun-rising, having the seal of the living God :
and he cried with a great voice to the four angels, to whom it was
given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth,
neither the sea, nor the trees, till we shall have sealed the servants of
our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which
were sealed, a hundred and forty and four thousand, sealed out of
every tribe of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were
sealed twelve thousand ; of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand ; of
the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand ; of the tribe of Asher, twelve thou
sand ; of the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand ; of the tribe of
Manasseh, twelve thousand; of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand ;

114 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand ; of the tribe of Issachar, twelve
thousand ; of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand ; of the tribe of
Joseph, twelve thousand ; of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve
thousand (vii. 1-8).
Although various important questions, which we
shall have to notice, arise in connexion with this vision,
there never has been, as there scarcely can be, any
doubt as to its general meaning. In its main features
it is taken from the language of Ezekiel, when that
prophet foretold the approaching destruction of Jeru
salem : " He cried also with a loud voice in mine ears,
saying, Cause them that have charge over the city
to draw near, even every man with his destroying
weapon in his hand. And, behold, six men came from
the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the
north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand;
and one man among them was clothed with fine linen,
with a writer's inkhorn by his side. . . . And the
Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the
city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark
upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry
for all the abominations that be done in the midst
thereof. . . . And, behold, the man clothed with linen,
which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter,
saying, I have done as Thou hast commanded me."1
Preservation of the faithful in the midst of judgment
on the wicked is the theme of the Old Testament
vision, and in like manner it is the theme of this vision
of St. John. The winds are the symbols of judgment ;
and, being in number four and held by four angels
standing at the four corners of the earth, they indicate
that the judgment when inflicted will be universal.
There is no place to which the ungodly can escape,
1 Ezek, ix.

»«5

vii. 1-8.] THE SEALED.
none where they shall not be overtaken by the wrath of
God. " He that fleeth of them," says the Almighty by
His prophet, " shall not flee away, and he that escapeth
ol them shall not be delivered. Though they dig
into hell, 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 ;
and though they be hid from My sight in the bottom
of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he
shall bite them." l
In the midst of all this the safety of the righteous
is secured, and that in a way, as compared with the
way of the Old Testament, proportionate to the supe
rior greatness of their privileges. They are marked
as God's, not by a man out of the city, but by an angel
ascending from the sun-rising, the quarter whence
proceeds that light of day which gilds the loftiest
mountain-tops and penetrates into the darkest recesses
of the valleys. This angel, with his great voice, is
probably the Lord Himself appearing by His angel.
The mark impressed upon the righteous is more than
a mere mark : it is a seal — a seal similar to that with
which Christ was " sealed ; " 2 the seal which in the
Song of Songs the bride desires as the token of the
Bridegroom's love to her alone : " Set me as a seal
upon Thine heart, as a seal upon Thine arm ; " 3 the
seal which expresses the thought, " The Lord knoweth
them that are His."4 Finally, this seal is impressed
on the forehead, on that part of the body on which
the high-priest of Israel wore the golden plate, with
its inscription, " Holiness to the Lord." Such a seal,
1 Amos ix. 1-3. * Cant. viii. 3.
1 John vi. 27. * 2 Tim. ii. 19.

n6 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

manifest to the eyes of all, was a witness to all that
they who bore it were acknowledged by the Redeemer
before all, even before His Father and the holy angels.1
When we turn to the numbers sealed, every reader
who reflects for a moment will allow that they must
be symbolically, and not literally, understood. Twelve
thousand out of each of twelve tribes, in all a hundred
and forty and four thousand, bears upon its face the
stamp of symbolism. It is more difficult to answer
the question, Who are they ? Are they Jewish
Christians, or are they the whole multitude of God's
faithful people belonging to the Church universal, but
indicated by a figure taken from Judaism ?
The question now asked is of greater than ordinary
importance, for upon the answer given to it largely
depends the solution of the problem whether the author
of the fourth Gospel and the author of the Apocalypse
are the same. If the first vision of the chapter relating
to those sealed out of the tribes of Israel speak only
of Jewish Christians, and the second vision, beginning
at ver. 9, of " the great multitude which no man
could number," speak of Gentile Christians, it will
follow that the writer exhibits a particularistic tendency
altogether at variance with the universalism of the
author of the fourth Gospel. Gentile Christians will be,
as they have been called, an " appendix " to the Jewish-
Christian Church; and the followers of Jesus will
fail to constitute one flock all the members of which
are equal in the sight of God, occupy the same position,
and enjoy the same privileges. The first impression
produced by the vision of the sealed is undoubtedly
that it refers to Jewish Christians, and to them alone.

1 Comp. Luke xii. 8.

vii. 1-8.] THE SEALED. 1 17
Many considerations, however, lead to the wider
conclusion that, under a Jewish figure, they include
all the followers of Christ, or the universal Church.
Some of these at least ought to be noticed.
I. We have not yet found, and we shall not find in
any later part of the Apocalypse, a distinction drawn
between Jewish and Gentile Christians. To the eye of
the Seer, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is one.
There is in it neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian,
Scythian, bond, nor free. He recognises in it in its col
lective capacity the Body of Christ, all the members
of which occupy the same relation to their Lord, and
stand equally in grace. He knows indeed of a distinc
tion between the Jewish Church, which waited for the
coming of the Lord, and the Christian Church, which
rejoiced in Him as come ; but he knows also that when
Jesus did come the privileges of the latter were be
stowed upon those in the former who had looked
onward to Christ's day, and that they were arrayed
in the same "white robe." Under all the six Seals,
accordingly, embracing the whole period of the Gospel
dispensation, there is not a single word to suggest the
thought that the Christian Church is divided into two
parts. The struggle, the preservation, and the victory
belong equally to all. A similar remark may be made
on the epistles to the seven churches, which unques
tionably contain a representation of that Church the
fortunes of which are to be afterwards described. In
these epistles Christ walks equally in the midst of every
part of it ; and promises are made, not in one form to
one member and in another to another, but always in
precisely the same terms to " him that overcometh."
It would be out of keeping with this were we now,
when a similar topic of preservation is on hand, to be

n8 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
introduced to a Jewish-Christian as distinguished from
a Gentile-Christian Church.
2. It is the custom of the Seer to heighten and
spiritualize all Jewish names. The Temple, the Taber
nacle, the Altar, Mount Zion, and Jerusalem are to him
the embodiments of ideas deeper than those literally
conveyed by them. Analogy therefore might suggest
that this also would be the case with the word " Israel."
Nay, it would even be the more natural so to use that
word, because it is so often used in the same spiritual
sense in other parts of the New Testament : " But they
are not all Israel which are of Israel ; " " And as many
as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and
mercy, and upon the Israel of God."1 Nor need we
be startled by that employment of the word tribes, which
may seem to give more precision to the idea that Jewish
Christians are designated by the term, for St. John, in
his peculiar way of looking at men, beheld "tribes" not
only among the Jews, but among all nations : "And all
the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him."2 In
chap. xxi. 12, too, the "twelve tribes" plainly include
all believers.
3. The enumeration of the tribes of Isiael given in
these verses is different from any other enumeration of
the kind contained in Scripture. Thus the tribe of
Dan is omitted ; and, contrary to the practice of at
least the later books of the Old Testament, that of Levi
is inserted ; while Joseph also is substituted for Ephraim :
and the order in which the twelve are given has else
where no parallel. Points such as these may appear
trifling, but they are not without importance. No
student of the Apocalypse will imagine that they are
1 Rom. ix. 6 ; Gal. vi. 16. « Chap. i. 7.

vii. 1-8.] THE SEALED. ng
accidental or undesigned. He may not be able to
satisfy either himself or others as to the grounds
upon which St. John proceeded, but that there were
grounds sufficient to the Apostle himself for what he
did he will not for a moment doubt. One thing may,
however, be said. If the changes can be explained at
all, it must be by considerations springing out of the
heart of the Christian community, and not out of any
suggested by the relations of the tribes of Judaism to
one another. Levi may thus be inserted, instead of
standing apart as formerly, because in Christ Jesus
there was no priestly tribe : all Christians were priests ;
Dan may be omitted because that tribe had chosen the
serpent as its emblem, and St. John not only felt with
peculiar power the direct antagonism to Christ of " the
old serpent the devil,"1 but had been accustomed to
see in the traitor Judas, who had been expelled from
the apostolic band, and for whom another apostle had
been substituted, the very impersonation or incarnation
of Satan2; Ephraim also may have been replaced by
Joseph because of its enmity to Judah, the tribe out of
which Jesus sprang; while Judah, the fourth son of
Jacob, may head the list because it was the tribe in
which Christ was born.
4. Some of the expressions of the passage are in
consistent with the limitation of the sealed to any
special class of Christians. Why, for example, should
the holding back of the winds be universal ? Would
it not have been enough to restrain the winds that
blew on Jewish Christians, and not the winds of the
whole earth? And again, why do we meet with
language of so general a character as that of ver. 3 :
1 Comp. chap. xii. 9. 2 John xiii. 2.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

"till we shall have sealed the servants of our God"?
This designation " servants " seems to include the
whole number, and not some only, of God's children.
5. If God's servants from among the Gentiles are
not now sealed, the Apocalypse mentions no other occa
sion when they were so. It is true that, according to
the ordinary interpretation of the next vision, they are
admitted to the happiness of heaven ; but we may well
ask whether, if the sealing be the emblem of preservation
amidst worldly troubles, they ought not also, at one time
or another, to have been sealed on earth.
6. The sealed are marked upon their foreheads, and
in chap. xxii. 4 all believers are marked in a similar way.
7. We shall meet again this number of a hundred
and forty-four thousand in chap. xiv. ; and, while it can
hardly be doubted that the same persons are on both
occasions included in it, it will be seen that there at
least the whole number of the redeemed is meant.
8. It is worthy of notice that the contrasts of the
Apocalypse lead directly to a similar conclusion.
St. John always sees light and darkness standing
over against each other, and exhibiting themselves in
a correspondence which, extending even to minute
details, aids the task of the interpreter. Now in many
passages of this book we find Satan not only marking
his followers, but, precisely as here, marking them upon
the " forehead ; " x and it is impossible to resist the con
clusion that the one marking is the antithesis of the
other. But this mark is imprinted by Satan upon all
his followers, and the inference is legitimate that the
seal of the living God is in like manner imprinted
upon all the followers of Jesus.
1 Chaps, xiii. 16, 17; xiv. 9; xvi. 2; xix. 20; xx. 4.

vii. 1-8.] THE SEALED.

9. One more reason may be assigned for this con
clusion. If ver. 4, with its "hundred and forty and four
thousand out of every tribe of the children of Israel,"
is to be understood of Jewish Christians alone, the
contrast between it and ver. 9, with its "great
multitude, which no man can number, out of every
nation, and of all tribes, and peoples, and tongues,"
makes it necessary to understand the latter of Gentile
Christians alone. It will not do to say that the com
prehensive enumeration of this verse may include
Jewish as well as Gentile Christians. Placed over
against the very definite statement of ver. 4, it can
only, according to the style of the Apocalypse, be
referred to persons who have come out of the heathen
world in the fourfold conception of its parts. Now,
whatever may be the precise interpretation of the
second vision of the chapter, it is undeniable that it
unfolds a higher stage of privilege and glory than the
first. It will thus follow on the supposition now com
bated that at the very instant when the Apostle is said
to be placing Gentile Christians in a position of in
feriority to Jewish Christians, and when he is treating
the one as simply an " appendix " to the other, he
speaks of them as the inheritors of a far greater
" weight of glory." St. John could not be thus in
consistent with himself.
The conclusion from all that has been said, is plain.
The vision of the sealing does not apply to Jewish
Christians only, but to the universal Church. When
the judgments of God are abroad in the world, all the
disciples of Christ are sealed for preservation against
them. Notwithstanding what has been said, the reader may
still find it difficult to conceive that two pictures of the

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

same multitude should be presented to us drawn on
such entirely different lines. What is the meaning of
it ? he may exclaim. What is the Seer's motive in
doing so ? The explanation is not difficult. An atten
tive examination of the structural principles marking
the writings of St. John will show that they are dis
tinguished by a tendency to set forth the same object
in two different lights, the latter of which is climactic to
the former, as well as, for the most part at least, taken
from a different sphere. The writer is not satisfied
with a single utterance of what he desires to impress
upon his readers. After he has uttered it for the first
time, he brings it again before him, works upon it,
enlarges it, deepens it, sets it forth with stronger and
more vivid colouring. The fundamental idea is the
same on both occasions ; but on the second it is the
centre of a circle of wider circumference, and it is
uttered in a more impressive manner. Want of space
will not permit the illustration of this by an appeal
either to the nature of Hebrew thought in general, or
to the other writings of the New Testament which owe
their authorship to St. John. It must be enough to
say that the fourth Gospel bears deep and important
traces of this characteristic, and that difficult passages
in it not otherwise explicable seem to be solved by its
application.1 The main point to be kept in view is
that the principle in question may be traced on many
different occasions both in the fourth Gospel and in the
Apocalypse. One of these has indeed already come
under our notice in the case of the " golden candle
sticks" and of the "stars" in Chapter I. of this book.
The two figures relate to the same object, but the
1 The writer has treated this subject at considerable length in Thi
Expositor (2nd series, vol. iv.).

vii. 1-8.] THE SEALED.

second is climactic to the first, and it is taken from
a larger field. The same principle meets us here.
The second vision of chap. vii. is climactic to the
first, and the field from which it is drawn is larger.
The analogy, however, not of the golden candlesticks
and of the stars only, but of many other passages of
a similar kind, warrants the inference that both the
visions relate to the same thing, although the aspect in
which it is looked at is in each case different. Any
difficulty therefore at first presented by the double
picture disappears ; while the peculiarity of structure
exhibited not only helps to lead us to a Johannine
authorship, but tends powerfully to establish the cor
rectness of the interpretation now adopted.
We are thus entitled to conclude that the hundred
and forty-four thousand of this first consolatory vision
represent not Jewish Christians only, but the whole
Church of God, and that the number used is intended to
represent completeness : not one member of the true
Church is lost.1 Twelve, a sacred number, the number
of the patriarchs, of the tribes of Israel, and of the
Apostles of Jesus, is first multiplied by itself, and then
by a thousand, the sign of the heavenly in contrast
with the earthly. A hundred and forty and four
thousand is the result.
It need only further be observed — -and the observation
will help to confirm what has been said — that St. John
did not himself count the number of the sealed. He
heard the number of them (ver. 4). Already they were
"a multitude which no man could number" (ver. 9).
But He who telleth the innumerable stars that sparkle
in the midnight sky, and who "bringeth out their host
1 Comp. John xvii 12.

124 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
by number," 1 could number them. He it was who
communicated the number to the Seer.
The second vision of the chapter follows : —
After these things I saw, and, behold, a great multitude, which no
man could number, out of every nation, and of all tribes, and peoples,
and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, arrayed
in white robes, and palms in their hands ; and they cry with a great
voice, saying, Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne,
and unto the Lamb. And all the angels were standing round about
the throne, and about the elders and the four living creatures ; and
they fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying.
Amen : Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and
honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever.
Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, These
which 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 which came out of the great tribula
tion, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and they
serve Him day and night in His temple : and He that sitteth on the
throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no
more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun strike upon
hem, nor any heat : for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall be their Shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of
waters of life : and God shall wipe away every tear from thek eyes
(vii. 9-17).
Upon the magnificence and beauty of this description
it is not only unnecessary, it would be a mistake, to
dwell. Words of man would only mar the sublimity and
pathos of the spectacle. Neither is it desirable to look
at each expression of the passage in itself. These ex
pressions are better considered as a whole. One point
indeed ought to be carefully kept in view : that the
palms spoken of in ver. 9 as in the hands of the happy
multitude are not the palms of victory in any earthly
contest, but the palms of the Feast of Tabernacles, and
1 Isa. xl. 26.

vii. 9-17.] THE PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE. 125
that upon the thought of that feast the scene is
moulded. The Feast of Tabernacles, it will be remembered,
was at once the last, the highest, and the most joyful
of the festivals of the Jewish year. It fell in the month
of October, when the harvest not only of grain, but of
wine and oil, had been gathered in, and when, therefore,
all the labours of the year were past. It was preceded,
too, by the great Day of Atonement, the ceremonial of
which gathered together all the sacrificial acts of the
previous months, beheld the sins of the people, from
their highest to their lowest, carried away into the
wilderness, and brought with it the blessing of God
from that innermost recess of the sanctuary which was
lightened by the special glory of His presence, and
into which the high-priest even was permitted to enter
upon that day alone. The feelings awakened in Israel
at the time were of the most triumphant kind. They
returned in thought to the independent life which their
fathers, delivered from the bondage of Egypt, led in
the wilderness ; and, the better to realize this, they
left their ordinary dwellings and took up their abode
for the days of the feast in booths, which they erected
in the streets or on the flat roofs of their houses.
These booths were made of branches of their most
prized, most fruit-bearing, and most umbrageous trees;
and beneath them they raised their psalms of thanks
giving to Him who had delivered them as a bird out of
the snare of the fowler. Even this was not all, for we
know that in the later period of their history the Jews
connected the Feast of Tabernacles with the brightest
anticipations of the future as well as with the most
joyful memories of the past. They beheld in it the
promise of the Spirit, the great gift of the approaching

126 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

Messianic age ; and, that they might give full expression
to this, they sent on the eighth, or great, day of the
feast, a priest to the pool of Siloam with a golden urn,
that he might fill it from the pool, and, bringing it up
to the Temple, might pour it on the altar. This is
the part of the ceremonial alluded to in John vii. 37-
39, and during it the joy of the people reached its
highest point. They surrounded the priest in crowds
as he brought up the water from the pool, waved their
lulabs — small branches of palm trees, the " palms " of ver.
g — and made the courts of the Temple re-echo with their
song, " With joy shall ye draw water out of wells of
salvation."1 At night the great illumination of the
Temple followed, that to which our Lord most probably
alludes when, immediately after the Feast of Tabernacles
spoken of in chap. viii. of the fourth Gospel, He ex
claims, " I am the Light of the world : he that followeth
Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the
light of life."2
Such was the scene the main particulars of which are
here made use of by the apocalyptic Seer to set before
us the triumphant and glorious condition of the Church
when, after all her members have been sealed, they are
admitted to the full enjoyment of the blessings of God's
covenant, and when, washed in the blood of the Lamb
and clothed with His righteousness, they keep their
Feast of Tabernacles.
A most important and interesting question connected
with this vision has still to be answered. It may be
first asked in the words of Isaac Williams. "It is
whether all this description is of the Church in heaven
or on earth." The same writer has answered his
1 Isa. xii. 3. 2 John viii. 12.

vii. 9- 1 7.] THE PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE. 127
question by saying, " The fact is that, like the expres
sion ' the kingdom of heaven,' and many others of the
same kind, it applies to both, and it is doubtless intended
to do so — in fulness hereafter, but even here in part." l
The answer thus given is no doubt correct when the
question is asked in the particular form to which it is
a reply. Yet we have still to ask whether, granting it
to be so, the primary reference of the vision is to the
Church of Christ during her present pilgrimage or
after that pilgrimage has been completed, and she has
entered on her eternal rest. To the question so put,
the reply usually given is that the Seer has the latter
aspect of the Church in view. The redeemed are sealed
on earth; they bear their "palms," and rejoice with
the joy afterwards spoken of, in heaven. Much in the
passage may seem to justify this conclusion. But a
recent writer on the subject has adduced such power
ful considerations in favour of the former view, that it
will be proper to examine them.2
Appeal is first made to Matt. xxiv. 13, a passage
throwing no light upon the point. It is otherwise with
many prophecies of the Old Testament next referred
to, which describe the coming dispensation of the
Gospel: "They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither
shall the heat nor sun smite them : for He that hath
mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of
water shall He guide them ; " " He will swallow up
death in victory ; and the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces ; " " And it shall come to pass,
that every one that is left of all the nations which
came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to
year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to
1 The Apocalypse, p. 126.
» Professor Gibson, in The Monthly Interpreter, voL ii., p. 9.

128 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
keep the Feast of Tabernacles."1 To passages such
as these have to be added the promises of our Lord
as to fountains of living waters even now opened to
the believer, that he may drink and never thirst again :
"Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that
drinketh of this water shall thirst again : but whoso
ever drinketh of the water that I shall give him diall
never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him
shall become in him a springing fountain of water,
unto eternal life ; " " Now on the last day, the great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any
man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He
that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." 2 St.
John, too, it is urged, teaches us to look for a Tabernacle
Feast on earth 3 ; while at the same • time throughout
all his writings eternal life is set before us as a present
possession. Nor is this the case only in the writings
of St. John. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we meet
the same line of thought : " Ye are come " (not Ye shall
come) " unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts
of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the
first-born, who are enrolled in heaven." 4 Influenced
by these considerations, the writer to whom we have
referred is led, " though not without some hesitation,"
to conclude that the vision of the palm-bearing multitude
is to be understood of the Church on earth, and not of
the Church in heaven.
The conclusion may be accepted without the " hesita
tion." The colours on the canvas may indeed at first
appear too bright for any condition of things on this
1 Isa. xlix. 10 ; xxv. 8; Zech. xiv. 16. * John i. 14.
* John iv. 13, 14; vii. 37 38. • Heb. xii. 22, 23.

vii. 9- 1 7-] THE PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE. 129

side the grave. But they are not more bright than
those employed in the description of the new Jerusalem
in chap. xxi. ; and, when we come to the exposition
of that chapter, we shall find positive proof in the
language of the Seer that he looks upon that city as
one already come down from heaven and established
among men. Not a few of its most glowing traits are
even precisely the same as those that we meet in the
corresponding vision of this chapter : " And I heard
a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall tabernacle
with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God
Himself shall be with them, and be their God ; and
He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes ; and
death shall be no more ; neither shall there be mourning,
nor crying, nor pain, any more : the first things are
passed away."1 If words like these may be justly applied,
as we have yet to see that they may and must be, to
one aspect of the Church on earth, there is certainly
nothing to hinder their application to the same Church
now. The truth is that in both cases the description
is ideal, and that not less so than the description of the
terrors of the worldly at the opening of the sixth Seal.
Nor indeed shall we understand any part of the Apoca
lypse unless we recognise the fact that everything
with which it is concerned is raised to an ideal standard.
Reward and punishment, righteousness and sin, the
martyrdoms of the Church and the fate of her oppressors,
are all set before us in an ideal light. The Seer moves
in the midst of conceptions which are fundamental,
ultimate, and eternal. The " broken lights " which par
tially illuminate our progress in this world are to him
1 Chap, xxi 3, 4.

130 THE BOOK OF RE VELA TION.
absorbed in " the true Light." The clouds and dark
ness which obscure our path gather themselves
together to his eyes in "the darkness" with which
the light has to contend. Descriptions, accordingly,
applicable in their fulness to the Church only after
the glory of her Lord is manifested, apply also to her
now, when she is thought of as living the life that is
hid with Christ in God, the life of her exalted and
glorified Redeemer. For this conception the colours
of the picture before us are not too bright.1
The relation in which the two visions of this chapter
stand to one another may now be obvious. Although
the persons referred to are in both the same, they do
not in both occupy the same position. In the first
they are only sealed, and through that sealing they are
safe. Their Lord has taken them under His protec
tion ; and," whatever troubles or perils may beset them,
no one shall pluck them out of His hand. In the
second they are more than safe. They have peace,
and joy, and triumph, their every want supplied, their
every sorrow healed. Death itself is swallowed up in
victory, and every tear is wiped from every eye.
Thus also may we determine the period to which
both the sealing of believers and their subsequent
enjoyment of heavenly blessing belong. In neither
vision are we introduced to any special era of Christian
history. St. John has in view neither the Christians
of his own day alone, nor those of any later time.
As we found that each of the first six Seals embraced
the whole Gospel age, so also is it with these con
solatory visions. We are to dwell upon the thought
rather than the time of preservation and of bliss. The
1 Comp. on the general thought Brown, The Second Advent, chap, vi

vii. 9-I7-] THE PALM-BEARING MULTITUDE. 131
Church of Christ never ceases to follow in the footsteps
of her Lord. Like Him, when faithful to her high
commission, she never ceases to bear the cross. The
unredeemed world must always be her enemy ; and in
it she must always have tribulation. But not less con
tinuous is her joy. We judge wrongly when we think
that the Man of sorrows was never joyful. He spoke
of " My peace," " My joy."1 In one of His moments
of deepest feeling we are told that He " rejoiced in
spirit." 2 Outwardly the world troubled Him ; and
huge billows, raised by its tempestuous winds, swept
across the surface of His soul. Beneath, the unfathomed
depths were calm. In communion with His Father in
heaven, in the thought of the great work which He was
carrying to its completion, and in the prospect of the
glory that awaited Him, He could rejoice in the midst
of sorrow. So also with the members of His Body.
They bear about with them a secret joy which, like
their new name, no man knoweth saving he that
receiveth it. As the friend of the bridegroom who
standeth and heareth him rejoices greatly because of
the bridegroom's voice, so their joy is fulfilled.3 Nor
does it ever cease to be theirs while their Lord is with
them ; and unless they grieve Him " lo, He is always
with them, even unto the consummation of the age."4
The two visions, therefore, of the sealing and of the
palm-bearing multitude embrace the whole Christian
dispensation within their scope, and express ideas
which belong to the condition of the believer in all
places and at all times.

1 John xiv. 27 ; xvii. 13. * John iii. 29.
* Luke x. 21. * Matt, xxviii. 20.

CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS.
Rev. viii., ix.
THE two consolatory visions of chap. vii. have
closed, and the Seer returns to that opening of
the seven Seals which had been interrupted in order
that these two visions might be interposed.
Six Seals had been opened in chap. vi. ; the opening
of the seventh follows : —
And when He opened the seventh seal, there followed silence
in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven
angels which stand before God ; and there were given unto them
seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood over the altar,
having a golden censer ; and there was given unto him much incense,
that he should give it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the
golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the
incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of
the angel's hand. And the angel taketh the censer; and he filled
it with the fire of the altar, and cast it upon the earth : and there
followed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared them
selves to sound (viii. 1-6).
Before looking at the particulars of this Seal, we have
to determine the relation in which it stands to the Seals
of chap. vi. as well as to the visions following it.
Is it as isolated, as independent, as those that have
come before it ; and are its contents exhausted by
the first six verses of the chapter ? or does it occupy

viii. 1-6.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. 133
such a position of its own that we are to regard the
following visions as developed out of it ? And if the
latter be the case, how far does the development extend ?
In answering these questions, it can hardly be denied
that if we are to look upon the seventh Seal as standing
independent and alone, its contents have not the sig
nificance which we seem entitled to expect. It is the
last Seal of its own series ; and when we turn to the
last member of the Trumpet series at chap. xi. 15, or
of the Bowl series at chap. xvi. 17, we find them marked,
not by less, but by much greater, force than had
belonged in either case to the six preceding members.
The seventh Trumpet and the seventh Bowl sum up
and concentrate the contents of their predecessors.
In the one the judgments of God represented by the
Trumpets, in the other those represented by the Bowls,
culminate in their sharpest expression and their most
tremendous potency. There is nothing of that kind
in the seventh Seal if it terminates with the preparation
of the Trumpet angels to sound ; and the analogy of the
Apocalypse therefore, an analogy supplying in a book
so symmetrically constructed an argument of greater
than ordinary weight, is against that supposition.
Again, the larger portion of the first six verses of
this chapter does not suggest the contents of the Seal.
Rather would it seem as if these contents were confined
to the "silence" spoken of in ver. 1, and as if what
follows from ver. 2 to ver. 6 were to be regarded as
no part of the Seal itself, but simply as introductory
to the Trumpet visions. Everything said bears upon
it the marks of preparation for what is to come, and
we are not permitted to rest in what is passing as if it
were a final and conclusive scene in the great spectacle
presented to the Seer.

134 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
For these reasons the view often entertained that
the visions to which we proceed are developed out of
the seventh Seal may be regarded as correct.
If so, how far does the development extend ? The
answer invariably given to this question is, To the end
of the Trumpets. But the answer is not satisfactory.
The general symmetry of the Apocalypse militates
against it. There is then no correspondence between
the last Trumpet and the last Seal, nothing to suggest
the thought of a development of the Bowls out of the
seventh Trumpet in a manner corresponding to the
development of the Trumpets out of the seventh Seal.
In these circumstances the only probable conclusion is
that both the Bowls and the Trumpets are developed
out of the seventh Seal, and that that development does
not close until we reach the end of chap. xvi.
If what has now been said be correct, it will throw
important light upon the relation of the Seals to the two
series of the Trumpets and the Bowls taken together ;
while, at the same time, it will lend us valuable aid
in the interpretation of all the three series.
Returning to the words before us, it is said that, at
the opening of the seventh Seal, there followed silence
in heaven about the space of half an hour. This silence
may perhaps include a cessation even of the songs
which rise before the throne of God from that redeemed
creation the voice of whose praise rests not either day
or night.1 Yet it is not necessary to think so. The
probability rather is that it arises from a cessation only
of the "lightnings and voices and thunders" which
at chap. iv. 5 proceed out of the throne, and which
are resumed at ver. 5 of the present chapter, when the
1 Chap. iv. 8.

viii. 1-6.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. 135

fire of the altar is cast from the angel's censer upon
the eaifn. A brief suspension of judgment is thereby
indicated, a pause by and during which the Almighty
would call attention to the manifestations of His wrath
about to follow. The exact duration of this silence,
" about the space of half an hour," has never been
satisfactorily explained ; and the general analogy of St.
John's language condemns the idea of a literal inter
pretation. We shall perhaps be more in accordance
with the spirit in which the Revelation is written if we
consider — (1) that in that book the half of anything
suggests, not so much an actual half, as a broken and
interrupted whole, — five a broken ten, six a broken
twelve, three and a half a broken seven ; (2) that in
the Gospel of St. John we find on 'more than one
occasion mention made of an " hour " by which at one
time the actions, at another the sufferings, of Jesus are
determined : "Woman, what have I to do with thee?
Mine hour is not yet come ; " " Father, save Me from
this hour : but for this cause came I unto this hour."1
The " hour " of Jesus is thus to St. John the moment
at which action, having been first resolved on by the
Father, is taken by the Son; and a "half-hour" may
simply denote that the course of events has been in
terrupted, and that the instant for renewed judgment
has been delayed. Such an interpretation will also
be in close correspondence with the verses following,
as well as with what we have seen to be the probable
meaning of the " silence " of ver. 1. Preparation for
action, rather than action, marks as yet the opening of
the seventh Seal.
That preparation is next described.
1 John ii. 4 ; xii. 27.

136 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
St. John saw seven trumpets given to the seven angels
which stand before God. In whatever other respects
these seven angels are to be distinguished from the
hosts of angels which surround the throne, the com
mission now given shows that they are angels of a
more exalted order and a more irresistible power.
They are in fact the expression of the Divine Judge
of men, or rather of the mode in which He chooses
by judgment to express Himself. We are not even
required to think of them as numerically seven, for
seven in its sacred meaning is the number of unity,
though of unity in the variety as well as the combina
tion of its agencies. The " seven Spirits of God "
are His one Spirit ; the " seven churches," His one
Church; the "seven horns" and "seven eyes" of the
Lamb, His one powerful might and His one penetrating
glance. In like manner the seven Seals, the seven
Trumpets, and the seven Bowls embody the thought of
many judgments which are yet in reality one. Thus
also the angels here are seven, not because literally so,
but because that number brings out the varied forms
as well as the essential oneness of the action of Him
to whom the Father has given " authority to execute
judgment, because He is a Son of man."1
As yet the seven trumpets have only been given to
the seven angels. More has to pass before they put
them to their lips and sound. Another angel is seen
who came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer
in his hand. At the opening of the fifth Seal we read
of an "altar" which it was impossible not to identify
with the great brazen altar, the altar of burnt-offering,
in the outer court of the sanctuary. Such identification
1 John v. 27.

viii. 1-6.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS.

'37

is not so obvious here ; and perhaps a majority of com
mentators agree in thinking that the altar now spoken
of is rather the golden or incense altar which had its
place within the Tabernacle, immediately in front of
the second veil. To this altar the priest on ordinary
occasions, and more particularly the high-priest on the
great Day of Atonement, brought a censer with burning
frankincense, that the smoke of the incense, as it rose
into the air, might be a symbol to the congregation of
Israel that its prayers, offered according to the Divine
will, ascended as a sweet savour to God. It is possible
that this may be the altar meant ; yet the probabilities
of the case rather lead to the supposition that allusion
is made to the altar of sacrifice in the Tabernacle
court; for (i) when the Seer speaks here and again
in ver. 5 of " the altar," and in ver. 3 of " the golden
altar," he seems to distinguish between the two. ('2)
The words fire of the altar are in favour of the same
conclusion. According to the ritual of the Law, it was
from the brazen altar that fire was taken in order to
kindle the incense,1 while at the same time fire con
tinually burned upon that altar, 'but not upon the altar
within the Tabernacle. (3) The thought represented
by the symbolism seems to be that the sufferings of the
saints gave efficacy to their prayers, and drew down
the answer of Him who says, " Call upon Me in the day
of trouble, and I will answer thee, and thou shalt
glorify Me."2 (4) The words of ver. 3, the prayers of
all the saints, and the similar expression in ver. 4,
remind us of the prayers of the fifth Seal, now swelled
by the prayers of those New Testament saints who
have been added to " the blessed fellowship " of the
1 Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Incense. 2 Ps. 1. 15.

138 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
Old Testament martyrs. These prayers, it will be
remembered, rose from beneath the altar of burnt-
offering ; and it is natural to think that the same altar
is again alluded to in order to bring out the idea of
a similar martyrdom. What we see, therefore, is an
angel taking the prayers and adding to them much
incense, so that we may behold them as they ascend up
before God and receive His answer.
Further, it ought to be observed that the prayers
referred to are for judgment upon sin. There is
nothing to justify the supposition that they are partly
for judgment upon, partly for mercy to, a sinful world.
They are simply another form of the cry, " How long,
O Master, the holy and true, dost Thou not judge and
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"1
They are a cry that God will vindicate the cause of
righteousness. 2
The cry is heard, for the angel takes of the fire
of the altar on which the saints had been sacrificed
as an offering to God, and casts it into the earth, that
it may consume the sin by which it had been kindled.
The lex talionis again starts to view ; not merely punish
ment, but retribution, the heaviest of all retribution,
because it is accompanied by a convicted conscience,
retribution in kind.
Everything is now ready for judgment, and the seven
angels which had the seven trumpets prepare themselves to
sound: —
And the first sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled
with blood, and they were cast into the earth : and the third part of
the earth was burnt up, and the third part of the trees was burnt up,
and all green grass was burnt up (viii. 7).
* Chap. vi. 10. 2 Comp. p. 103.

viii. 7.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. 139

To think, in interpreting these words, of a literal
burning up of a third part of the " earth," of the
" trees," and of the " green grass," would lead us astray.
Comparing the first Trumpet with those that follow,
we have simply a general description of judgment as
it affects the land in contradistinction to the sea, the
rivers and fountains of water, and the heavenly bodies
by which the earth is lighted. The punishment is
drawn down by a guilty world upon itself when it
rises in opposition to Him who at first prepared the
land for the abode of men, planted it with trees
pleasant to the eye, cast over it its mantle of green,
and pronounced it to be very good. Of every tree of
the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, might our first parents eat ; while grass
covered the earth for their cattle, and herb for their
service. All nature was to minister to the wants of
man, and in cultivating the garden and the field he
was to find light and happy labour. But sin came in.
Thorns and thistles sprang up on every side. Labour
became a burden, and the fruitful field was changed
into a wilderness which could only be subdued by
constant, patient, and often-disappointed toil. This is
the thought — a thought often dwelt upon by the
prophets of the Old Testament — that is present to the
Seer's mind.
One of the plagues of Egypt, however, may also be
in his eye. When the Almighty would deliver His
people from that land of their captivity, "He sent
thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the
ground ; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of
Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the
hail, very grievous. . . . And the hail smote throughout
all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both

140 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
man and beast ; and the hail smote every herb of the
field, and broke every tree of the field." x That plague
the Seer has in his mind ; but he is not content to
use its traits alone, terrible as they were. The sin of
a guilty world in refusing to listen to Him who speaks
from heaven is greater than was the sin of those who
refused Him that spake on earth, and their punishment
must be in proportion to their sin. Hence the plague
of Egypt is magnified. We read, not of hail and fire
only, but of hail and fire mingled with (or rather in)
blood, so that the blood is the outward and visible
covering of the hail and of the fire. In addition to
this, we have the herbs and trees of the field, not
merely smitten and broken, but utterly consumed by
fire. What is meant by the " third part " of the earth
and its products being attacked it is difficult to say.
The probability is that, as a whole consists of three
parts, partial destruction only is intended, yet not
destruction of a third part of the earth, leaving two-thirds
untouched ; but a third part of the earth and of its
produce is everywhere consumed.
The second Trumpet is now blown : —
And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain
burning with fire was cast into the sea : and the third part of the sea
became blood ; and there died the third part of the creatures which
were in the sea, even they that had life ; and the third part of the
ships was destroyed (viii. 8, 9).
As the first Trumpet affected the land, so the second
affects the sea ; and the remarks already made upon the
one destruction are for the most part applicable to
the other. The figure of removing a mountain from
its place and casting it into the sea was used by our
1 Exod. ix. 23-25.

viii. 8, 9.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. 141

Lord to express what beyond all else it was impossible to
accomplish by mere human power : " Verily I say unto
you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only
do what is done to the fig tree, but even if ye shall say
unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the
sea, it shall be done." x In so speaking, our Lord had
followed the language of the prophets, who were accus
tomed to illustrate by the thought of the removal of
mountains the greatest acts of Divine power : " What
art thou, O great mountain ? before Zerubbabel thou
shalt become a plain ; " " Therefore will we not fear,
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the
seas." 2
Even the figure of a " burnt mountain " is not
strange to the Old Testament, for the prophet Jeremiah
thus denounces woe on Babylon : " Behold, I am
against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord,
which destroyest all the earth : and I will stretch out
Mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks,
and make thee a burnt mountain." 3
The plagues of Egypt, too, are again taken advantage
of by the Seer, for in the first of these Moses " lifted up
the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river;
. . . and all the waters that were in the river were
turned to blood. And the fish that was 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."4 Here, however,
the plague is extended, embracing as it does not only
the river of Egypt, but the sea, with all the ships that
sail upon it, and all its fish. Again also, as before, the
" third part " is not to be thought of as confined to one
1 Matt. xxi. 21. * Jer. Ii. 25.
* Zech. iv. 7 ; Ps. xlvi. 2. 4 Exod. vii. 20, 21.

142 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
region of the ocean, while the remaining two-thirds are
left untouched. It is to be sought everywhere over the
whole compass of the deep.
The third Trumpet is now blown : —
And the third angel sounded, and there fell from heaven a great
star, burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers,
and upon the fountains of the waters ; and the name of the star is
called Wormwood : and the third part of the waters became worm
wood ; and many men died of the waters, because they were made
bitter (viii. 10, n).
The third Trumpet is to be understood upon the
same principles and in the same general sense as the
two preceding Trumpets. The figures are again such
as meet us in the Old Testament, though they are used
by the Seer in his own free and independent way.
Thus the prophet Isaiah, addressing Babylon in his
magnificent description of her fall, exclaims, " How art
thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morn
ing ! "' and thus also the prophet Jeremiah denounces
judgment upon rebellious Israel: "Therefore thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel ; Behold, I will feed
them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them
water of gall to drink." 2 The bitter waters of Marah also
lived in the recollections of Israel as the first, and not
the least terrible, punishment of the murmuring of their
fathers against Him who had brought them out into
what seemed but a barren wilderness, instead of leaving
them to quench their thirst by the sweet waters of the
Nile.3 Thus the waters which the world offers to its
votaries are made bitter, so bitter that they become
wormwood itself, the very essence of bitterness. Again
the "third part" of them is thus visited, but this time
1 Isa. xiv. 12. 2 Jer. ix. 15. « Exod. xv. 23.

viii. 12.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. 143
with a feature not previously mentioned : the destruction
of human life, — many men died of the waters. Under
the first Trumpet only inanimate nature was affected ;
under the second we rose to creatures that had life;
under the third we rise to " many men." The climax
ought to be noticed, as illustrating the style of the
Apostle's thought and aiding us in the interpretation
of his words. A similar climax may perhaps also be
intended by the agents successively employed under
these Trumpets : hail and fire, a great mountain
burning, and a falling star.
The fourth Trumpet is now blown : —
And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was
smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the
stars ; that the third part of them should be darkened, and the day
should not shine for the third part of it, and the night in like
manner (viii. 12).
This Trumpet offers no contradiction to what was pre
viously said, — that the first four members of the three
series of Seals, of Trumpets, and of Bowls deal with
the material rather than the spiritual side of man, with
man as a denizen of this world rather than of the next.1
The heavenly bodies are here viewed solely in their
relation to earth and its inhabitants. As to the
judgment, it rests, like those of the first and second
Trumpets, upon the thought of the Egyptian plague of
darkness: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out
thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness
over the land of Egypt, even darkness that may be felt.
And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven;
and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt
three days : they saw not one another, neither rose any
1 Comp. p. 97,

144 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
from his place for three days : but all the children of
Israel had lights in their dwellings."1 The trait of the
Egyptian plague alluded to in this last sentence is not
mentioned here ; and we have probably, therefore, no
right to say that it was in the Seer's thoughts. Yet it is
in a high degree probable that it was ; and at all events
his obvious reference to that plague may help to illustrate
an important particular to be afterwards noticed, — that
all the Trumpet judgments fall directly upon the world,
and not the Church. As under the first three Trumpets,
the third part of the light of sun, and moon, and stars
is alone darkened.
The first four Trumpets have now been blown, and
we reach the line of demarcation by which each series
of judgments is divided into its groups of four and
three. That line is drawn in the present instance with
peculiar solemnity and force : —
And I saw, and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven, saying
with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, for them that dwell on the earth
by reason of the other voices of the three angels who are yet to
sound (viii. 13).
Attention ought to be paid to the fact that the cry
uttered in mid-heaven, and thus penetrating to the most
distant corners of the earth, proceeds from an eagle,
and not, as in the Authorised Version, from an "angel;"
and the eagle is certainly referred to for the purpose
of adding fresh terror to the scene. If we would
enter into the Seer's mind, we must think of it as the
symbol of rapine and plunder. To him the prominent
characteristic of that bird is not its majesty, but its
swiftness, its strength, and its hasting to the prey.2
1 Exod. x. 21-23. * Comp. Job ix. 26.

ix. i-ii.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. 145
Thus ominously announced, the fifth Trumpet is now
blown : —
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star out of heaven
fallen unto the earth : and there was given to him the key of the well
of the abyss. And he opened the well of the abyss ; and there went
up a smoke out of the well, as the smoke of a great furnace ; and the
sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the well.
And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth : and power
was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was
said unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither
any green thing, neither any tree ; but only such men as have not the
seal of God on their foreheads. And it was given them that they
should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months :
and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh
a man. And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in no wise
find it ; and they shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them.
And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for
war, and upon their heads as it were crowns like unto gold, and
their faces were as faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of
women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had
breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron ; and the sound of their
wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses rushing to war.
And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings : and in their tails
is their power to hurt men five months. They have over them as
king the angel of the abyss : his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in
the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon (ix. 1-11).
Such is the strange but dire picture of the judgment
of the fifth Trumpet ; and we have, as usual, in the
first place, to look at the particulars contained in it.
As in several previous instances, these are founded
upon the plagues of Egypt and the language of the
prophets. In both these sources how terrible does a
locust plague appear ! In Egypt — " And the Lord said
unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of
Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon
the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land,
even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched
forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord
10

146 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
brought an east wind upon the land all that day,
and all that night; and when it was morning, the
east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went
up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the
coasts of Egypt : very grievous were they ; before them
there were no such locusts as they, neither after them
shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole
earth, so that the land was darkened ; and they did
eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the
trees which the hail had left : and there remained not
any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the
field, through all the land of Egypt." x Darker even
than this is the language of the prophet Joel. When
he sees locusts sweeping across a land, he exclaims,
" The land was' as the garden of Eden before them,
and behind them a desolate wilderness ; " 2 and from
their irresistible and destructive ravages he draws not
a few traits of the dread events by which the coming
of the day of the Lord shall be accompanied : " The
appearance of them is as the appearance of horses ;
and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise
of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap,
like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the
stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. . . .
They shall run like mighty men ; they shall climb
the wall like men of war ; and they shall march every
one on his ways, and they shall not break their
ranks. . . . They shall run to and fro in the city ;
they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up
upon the houses ; they shall enter in at the windows
like a thief. The earth shall quake before them ; the
heavens shall tremble : the sun and the moon shall
be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining."3
1 Exod. x. 12-15. 2 Joel ii. 3. 3 Joel ii. 4-10.

ix. i-ii.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. [47
It is no doubt true that in the description before us
the qualities of its locusts are preternaturally magnified,
but that is only what we might expect, and it is in
keeping with the mode in which other figures taken
from the Old Testament are treated in this book.
There is a probability, too, that each trait of the
description had a distinct meaning to St. John, and that
it represents some particular phase of the calamities
he intended to depict. But it is hardly possible now
to discover such meanings ; and that the Seer had in
view general evil as much at least as evil in certain
special forms is shown by the artificiality of structure
marking the passage as a whole. For the description
of the locusts is divided into three parts, the first
general, the second special, the third the locust-king.
The special characteristics of the insects, again, are
seven in number : (1) upon their heads as it were crowns
like unto gold; (2) and their faces were as faces of men ;
(3) and they had hair as the hair of women; (4) and
their teeth were as the teeth of lions; (5) and they had
breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; (6) and the
sound of their wings was as the sound of many chariots ;
(7) and they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings.
Whether the period of five months, during which these
locusts are said to commit their ravages, is fixed on
because the destruction caused by the natural insect
lasts for that length of time, or for some other reason
unknown to us, it is difficult to determine. There is
a want of proof that a locust-plague generally continues
for the number of months thus specified, and it is
otherwise more in accordance with the style of the
Apocalypse to regard that particular period of time
as simply denoting that the judgment has definite
limits.

148 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
One additional particular connected with the fifth
Trumpet ought to be adverted to. It will be noticed
that the well op the abyss whence the plague proceeds
is opened by a star pallen (not "falling") out op heaven,
to which the key op the well was given. We have here
one of those contrasts of St. John a due attention to
which is of such importance to the interpreter. This
" fallen star " is the contrast and counterpart of Him
who is " the bright, the morning star," and who " has
the keys of death and of Hades." x
At this point the sixth angel ought to sound ; but
we are now in the midst of the three last woes, and
each is of so terrible an import that it deserves to
be specially marked. Hence the words of the next
verse : —
The first Woe is past; behold, there come yet two Woes here
after (ix. 12).
This warning given, the sixth Trumpet is now
blown : —
And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the horns
of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel
which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound at the
great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which had
been prepared for the hour, and day, and month, and year, that they
should kill the third part of men. And the number of the armies of
the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand ; I heard
the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and
them that sat on them, having breastplates as of fire, and of hyacinth,
and of brimstone. By these three plagues was the third part of men
killed, by the fire, and the smoke, and the brimstone, which proceeded
out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouth,
and in their tails : for their tails are like unto serpents, and with
them they do hurt. And the rest of mankind which were not killed
with these plagues repented not of the works of their hands, that
1 Chaps, xxii. 16; i. 18,

ix. 13-21.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. 149
they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver,
and of brass, and of stone, and of wood : which can neither see, nor
hear nor walk : and they repented not of their murders, nor of their
sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts (ix. 13-21).
There is much in this Trumpet that is remarkable
even while we confine ourselves to the more outward
particulars contained in it. Thus we are brought back
by it to the thought of those prayers of the saints to
which all the Trumpets are a reply, but which have not
been mentioned since the blowing of the Trumpets
began.1 Once more we read of the golden altar which
was bepore God, in His immediate presence. On that
altar the prayers of all the saints had been laid, that
they might rise to heaven with the much incense added
by the angel, and might be answered in God's own
time and way. The voice heard from the pour horns of
this altar — that is, from the four projecting points at
its four corners, representing the altar in its greatest
potency — shows us, what we might have been in danger
of forgetting, that the judgment before us continues to
be an answer of the Almighty to His people's prayers.
Again it may be noticed that in the judgment here
spoken of we deal once more with a third part of the
class upon which it falls. Nothing of the kind had
been said under the fifth Trumpet. The inference to
be drawn from these particulars is important. We
learn that, however distinct the successive members of
any of the three series of the Seals, the Trumpets, or
the Bowls may seem to be, they are yet closely con
nected with one another. Though seven in number,
there is a sense in which they are also one ; and any
characteristic thought which appears in a single member
1 Vers. 3-5.

50 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
>f the series ought to be carried through all its
nembers.1 The judgment itself is founded, as in the others
already considered, upon thoughts and incidents con
nected with Old Testament history.
The first of these is the river Euphrates. That great
river was the boundary of Palestine upon the north
east. " In the same day the Lord made a covenant
with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given
this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river,
the river Euphrates ; "2 and in the days of Solomon this
part of the covenant appears to have been fulfilled, for
we are told that " Solomon reigned over all kingdoms
from the river " (that is, the Euphrates) " unto the land
of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt."3 The
Euphrates, however, was not only the boundary
between Israel and the Assyrians. It was also Israel's
line of defence against its powerful and ambitious
neighbour, who had to cross its broad stream before
he could seize any part of the Promised Land. By a
natural transition of thought, the Euphrates next became
a symbol of the Assyrians themselves, for its waters,
when they rose in flood, overflowed Israel's territory
and swept all before them. Then the prophets saw
in the rush of the swollen river a figure of the scourge
of God upon those who would not acknowledge Him :
"The Lord spake also unto me again, saying, Foras
much as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that
go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son ;
now therefore behold, the Lord bringeth up upon
them the waters of the river, strong and many, even
the king of Assyria, and all his glory : and he shall

1 Comp. p. 268. 2 Gen. xv. 18. • 1 Kings iv. 21.

ix. 13-21.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. 151
come up over all his channels, and go over all his
banks : and he shall pass through Judah ; he shall
overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck ;
and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the
breadth of Thy land, O Immanuel."1 When accordingly
the Euphrates is here spoken of, it is clear that with the
river as such we have nothing to do. It is simply a
symbol of judgment ; and the pour angels which had been
bound at it, but were now loosed, are a token — four being
the number of the world — that the judgment referred
to, though it affects but a third part of men, reaches
men over the whole surface of the globe. When the
hour, and the day, and the month, and the year — that is,
when the moment fixed in the counsels of the Almighty
— come, the chains by which destruction has been kept
back shall be broken, and the world shall be over
whelmed by the raging stream.
The second Old Testament thought to be noted in
this vision is that of horses. To the Israelite the
horse presented an object of terror rather than admira
tion, and an army of horsemen awakened in him the
deepest feelings of alarm. Thus it is that the prophet
Habakkuk, describing the coming judgments of God,
is commissioned to exclaim, " Behold ye among the
heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously : for I
will work a work in your days, which ye will not
believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the
Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall
march through the breadth of the land, to possess the
dwelling-places that are not theirs. They are terrible
and dreadful : their judgment and their dignity shall
proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter
¦ Isa. viii. 5-8.

152 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening
wolves : and their horsemen shall spread themselves,
and their horsemen shall come from far ; they shall fly
as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all
for violence : their faces shall sup up as the east wind,
and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And
they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be
a scorn unto them : they shall deride every stronghold ;
for they shall heap dust, and take it."1 Like the locusts
of the previous vision, the " horses " now spoken of
are indeed clothed with preternatural attributes; but
the explanation is the same. Ordinary horses could
not convey images of sufficient terror.
The last two verses of chap, ix., which follow the
sixth Trumpet, deserve our particular attention. They
describe the effect produced upon the men who did not
perish by the previous plagues, and they help to throw
light upon a question most intimately connected with
a just interpretation of the Apocalypse. The question
is, Does the Seer, in any of his visions, anticipate the
conversion of the ungodly ? or does he deal, from the
beginning to the end of his descriptions, with righteous
ness and sin in themselves rather than with righteous
persons who may decline from the truth or sinful
persons who may own and welcome it ? The question
will meet us again in the following chapters of th.s
book, and will demand a fuller discussion than it can
receive at present. In the meantime it is enough to
say that, in the two verses now under consideration,
no hint as to the conversion of any ungodly persons
by the Trumpet plagues is given. On the contrary,
-that is, the two-thirds of the inhabitants
1 Hab. i. 5-10.

ix. 13-21.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. 153
of the earth or of the ungodly world — who were not
killed by these plagues repented neither of their
irreligious principles nor of their immoral lives. They
went on as they had done in the grossness of their
idolatries and in the licentiousness of their conduct.
They were neither awakened nor softened by the fate
of others. They had deliberately chosen their own
course ; and, although they knew that they were rush
ing against the thick bosses of the Almighty's buckler,
they had resolved to persevere in it to the end.
Two brief remarks on these six Trumpet visions,
looked at as a whole, appear still to be required.
I. No attempt has been made to interpret either the
individual objects of the judgments or the instruments
by which judgment is inflicted. To the one class
belong the "earth," the "trees," the "green grass," the
"sea," the "ships," the "rivers and fountains of the
waters," the " sun," the " moon," and the " stars ; " to
the other belong the details given in the description
first of the "locusts" of the fifth Trumpet and then
of the " horses " of the sixth. Each of these particulars
may have a definite meaning, and interpreters may yet
be successful in discovering it. The object kept in
view throughout this commentary makes any effort to
ascertain that meaning, when it is doubtful if it even
exists, comparatively unimportant. We are endeavour
ing to catch the broader interpretation and spirit of the
book ; and it may be a question whether our impres
sions would in that respect be deepened though we
saw reason to believe that all the objects above men
tioned had individual force. One line of demarcation
certainly seems to exist, traced by the Seer himself,
between the first four and the two following judgments,
the former referring to physical disasters flowing from

[54 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
moral evil, the latter to the more dreadful intensifica
tion of intellectual darkness and moral corruption visited
upon men when they deliberately choose evil rather than
good. Further than this it is for our present purpose
unnecessary to go.
2. The judgments of these Trumpets are judgments
on the world rather than the Church. Occasion has
been already taken to observe that the structure of this
part of the Apocalypse leads to the belief that both the
Trumpets and the Bowls are developed out of the Seals.
Yet there is a difference between the two, and various
indications in the Trumpet visions appear to confine
them to judgments on the world.
There is the manner in which they are introduced,
as an answer to the prayers of "all the saints."1 It is
true, as we shall yet see, that the degenerate Church is
the chief persecutor of the people of God. But against
her the saints cannot pray. To them she is still the
Church. They remember the principle laid down by
their Lord when He spoke of His kingdom in the
parable of the tares : " Let both grow together until the
harvest." 2 God alone can separate the false from the
true within her pale. There is a sense in which the
Church can never be overthrown, and there is not less
a sense in which the world shall be subdued. Only for
the subjugation of the world, therefore, can "all the
saints" pray ; and the Trumpets are an answer to their
prayers. Again, the three Woe-Trumpets are directed against
" them that dwell on the earth." 3 But, as has been
already said, it is a principle of interpretation applicable
to all the three series of the Seals, the Trumpets, and
1 Chap. viii. 3. z Matt. xiii. 30. 3 Chap. viii. 13.

ix. 13-21.] THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS. 155
the Bowls, that traits filling up the picture in one
member belong also to the other members of the group,
and that the judgments, while under one aspect seven,
are under another one. The three Woes therefore fall
upon the same field of judgment as that visited by the
plagues preceding them. In other words, all the six
plagues of this series of visions are inflicted upon " them
that dwell on the earth ; " and that is simply another form
of expression for the ungodly world.
Again, under the fifth Trumpet the children of God
are separated from the ungodly, so that the particulars
of that judgment do not touch them. The locusts are
instructed that they should not hurt the grass op the
earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree ; but only
such men as have not the seal op God in their poreheads.1
Again, the seventh Trumpet, in which the series
culminates, and which embodies its character as a whole,
will be found to deal with judgment on the world alone :
"The nations were roused to wrath, and Thy wrath
came, and the time of the dead to be judged," . . . and
" the time to destroy them that destroy the earth." 2
Finally, the description given at the end of the sixth
Trumpet of those who were hardened rather than
softened by the preceding judgments leads directly
to the same conclusion : And the rest op mankind
which were not killed by these plagues repented not op the
works op their hands, that they should not worship devils,
and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of
stone, and of wood.3
These considerations leave no doubt that the judg
ments of the Trumpets are judgments on the world. The
Church, it is true, may also suffer from them, but not
1 Chap. ix. 4. 2 Chap. xi. 18. * Chap. ix. 2a

156 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
in judgment. They may be part of her trial as she
mixes with the world during her earthly pilgrimage.
Trial, however, is not judgment. To the children of God
it is the discipline of a Father's hand. In the midst of
it the Church is safe, and it helps to ripen her for the
fulness of the glory of her heavenly inheritance.

CHAPTER VII.
FIRST CONSOLATORY VISION.
Rev. x.
AT the point now reached by us the regular pro
gress of the Trumpet judgments is interrupted, in
precisely the same manner as between the sixth and
seventh Seals, by two consolatory visions. The first
is contained in chap, x., the second in chap. xi. 1-13.
At chap. xi. 14 the series of the Trumpets is resumed,
reaching from that point to the end of the chapter.
And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, arrayed
with a cloud : and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was
as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire : and he had in his hand
a little book-roll open : and he set his right foot upon the sea, and
his left upon the earth : and he cried with a great voice, as a lion
roareth : and when he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices.
And when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to
write : and I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the things
which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the
angel which I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lilted
up his right hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever
and ever, who created the heaven, and the things that are therein,
and the earth, and the things that are therein, and the sea, and the
things that are therein, that there shall be time no longer : but in
the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound,
then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings
which He declared to His servants the prophets. And the voice
which I heard from heaven, I heard it again speaking with me, and
saying, Go, take the book-roll which is open in the hand of the angel
that standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the

158 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
angel, saying unto him that he should give me the little book-roll.
And he saith unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy
belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey. And I took
the little book-roll out of the angel's hand, and ate it up ; and it was
in my mouth sweet as honey : and when I had eaten it, my belly was
made bitter. And they say unto me, Thou must prophesy again over
many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings (x. I-Il).
Many questions of deep interest, and upon which
the most divergent opinions have been entertained,
meet us in connexion with this passage. To attempt
to discuss these various opinions would only confuse
the reader. It will be enough to allude to them when
it seems necessary to do so. In the meantime, before
endeavouring to discover the meaning of the vision, three
observations may be made ; one of a general kind, the
other two bearing upon the interpretation of particular
clauses. I . Like almost all else in the Revelation of St. John,
the vision is founded upon a passage of the Old Testa
ment. " And when I looked," says the prophet Ezekiel,
" behold, an hand was sent unto me ; and, lo, a roll of
a book was therein. . . . Moreover He said unto me,
Son of man, eat what thou findest ; eat this roll, and
go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my
mouth, and He caused me to eat that roll. And He
said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and
fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then
did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for
sweetness. And He said unto me, Son of man, go,
get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with My
words unto them."1
2. In one expression of ver. 6 it is doubtful whether
the translation of the Authorised and Revised Versions,
1 Ezek. ii. 9 ; iii. 4.

x. i-u.] THE LITTLE BOOK. 159
or the marginal translation of the latter, ought to be
adopted, whether we ought to read, " There shall be
time " or " There shall be delay " no longer. But the
former is not only the natural meaning of the original ;
it would almost seem, from the use of the same word
in other passages of the Apocalypse,1 that it is em
ployed by St. John to designate the whole Christian
age. That age is now at its very close. The last hour
is about to strike. The drama of the world's history
is about to be wound up. "For the Lord will execute
His word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it
short." 2
3. The last verse of the chapter deserves our atten
tion for a moment : And they say unto me, Thou must
prophesy again over many peoples, and nations, and tongues,
and kings. Although prophecy itself is spoken of in
several passages of this book,3 we read only once again
of prophesying : when it is said in chap. xi. 3 of the
two witnesses that they shall prophesy. A com
parison of these passages will show that both words
are to be understood in the sense of proclaiming the
righteous acts and judgments of the Almighty. The
prophet of the Apocalypse is not the messenger of
mercy only, but of the just government of God.
From these subordinate points we hasten to questions
more immediately concerning us in our effort to under
stand the chapter. Several such questions have to be
asked. 1. Who is the angel introduced to us in the first
verse of the vision ? He is described as another strong
angel; and, as the epithet "strong" has been so used
1 Comp. chaps, vi. 11; xx. 3.
2 Rom. ix. 28.
* Comp. chaps, i. 3 ; xxii. 7, 10, 18, 19.

i6o THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
only once before — in chap. v. 2, in connexion with the
opening of the book-roll sealed with seven seals — we
are entitled to conclude that this angel is said to be
" another " in comparison with the angel there spoken
of rather than with the many angels that surround the
throne of God. But the " strong angel " in chap. v. is
distinguished both from God Himself, and from the
Lamb. In some sense, therefore, a similar distinction
must be drawn here. On the other hand, the particulars
mentioned of this angel lead directly to the conclusion
not only that he has Divine attributes, but that he
represents no other than that Son of man beheld by
St. John in the first vision of his book. He is arrayed
with a cloud; and in every passage of the Apocalypse
where mention is made of such investiture, or in which
a cloud or clouds are associated with a person, it is
with the Saviour of the world as He comes to judg
ment.1 Similar language marks also the other books
of the New Testament.2 The rainbow was upon his
head; and the definite article employed takes us back,
not to the rainbow spoken of in the book of Genesis,
or to the rainbow which from time to time appears, a
well-known object, in the sky, but to that of chap. iv.
3, where we have been told, in the description of the
Divine throne, that " there was a rainbow round about
the throne, like an emerald to look upon." The words
his face was as the sun do not of themselves prove that
the reference is to chap. i. 1 6, where it is said of the
One like unto a son of man that " His countenance
was as the sun shineth in his strength ; " but the
1 Chaps, i. 7; xiv. 14-16. In chap. xi. 12 "the cloud" is the well-
known cloud in which Christ ascended, and in which He comes to
judgment. 2 Matt. xxiv. 30; Mark xiii. 26; Luke xxi. 27; 1 Thess. iv. 17.

x. i-ii.] THE LITTLE BOOK. 161
propriety of this reference is made almost indubitable
by the mention of his feet as pillars of fire, for this last
circumstance can only be an allusion to the trait spoken
of in chap. i. 15, "And His feet like unto fine brass, as
if it had been refined in a furnace." The combination
of these particulars shows how close is the connexion
between the " strong angel " of this vision and the
Divine Redeemer; and the explanation of both the
difference and the correspondence between the two
is to be found in the remark previously made that in
the Apocalypse the "angel" of any person or thing
expresses that person or thing in action.1 Here,
therefore, we have the action of Him who is the Head,
and King, and Lord of His Church.
2. In what character does the Lord appear ? As to
the answer to this question there can be no dubiety.
He appears in judgment. The rainbow upon His
head is indeed the symbol of mercy, but it is sufficiently
accounted for by the fact that He is Saviour as
well as Judge. So far is the Apocalypse from repre
senting the ideas of judgment and mercy as incom
patible with each other that throughout the whole
book the most terrible characteristic of the former is
its proceeding from One distinguished by the latter.
If even in itself the Divine wrath is to be dreaded by
the sinner, the dread which it ought to inspire reaches
its highest point when we think of it as "the wrath of
the Lamb." The other features of the description
speak directly of judgment : the " cloud," the " sun,"
the " pillars of fire."
3. What notion are we to form of the contents of
the little book-roll? They are certainly not the same
as those of the book-roll of chap, v., although the word
1 Comp. p. 25. II

i6z THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

here used for the roll, a diminutive from the other, may
suggest the idea that there is an intimate connexion
between the two books, and that the second, like the
first, is full of judgment. Other circumstances men
tioned lead to the same conclusion. Thus the great
voice, as a lion roareth, cannot fail to remind us of the
voice of "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah" in
chap. v. The thought of the seven thunders which uttered
their voices deepens the impression, for in that number
we have the general conception of thunder in all the
varied terrors that belong to it; and, whatever the
particulars uttered by the thunders were — a point into
which it is vain to inquire, as the writing of them was
forbidden — their general tone must have been that of
judgment. But these thunders are a response to the
strong angel as he was about to take action with the
little book, — "when he cried, the seven thunders uttered
their voices," — and the response must have been
related to the action. It is clear, therefore, that the
contents of the little book cannot have been tidings of
mercy to a sinful world; and that that book cannot
have been intended to tell the Seer that, notwithstanding
the opposition of the powers of darkness, the Church
of Christ was to make her way among the nations,
growing up from the small seed into the stately tree,
and at last covering the earth with the shadow of her
branches. Even on the supposition that a conception
of this kind could be traced in other parts of the
Apocalypse, it would be out of keeping with the par
ticulars accompanying it here. We may without
hesitation conclude that the little book-roll has thus
the general character of judgment, although, like the
larger roll of chap, v., it may also include in it the
preservation of the saints.

x. i-ii.] THE LITTLE BOOK. 163
We are thus in a position to inquire what the special
contents of the little book-roll were. Before doing so
one consideration may be kept in view.
Calling to mind the symmetrical structure of the
Apocalypse, it seems natural to expect that the relation
to one another of the two consolatory visions falling
between the Trumpets and the Bowls will correspond
to that of the two between the Seals and the Trumpets.
The two companies, however, spoken of in these two
latter visions, are the same, the hundred and forty and
four thousand " out of every tribe of the children of
Israel" being identical with the great multitude "out of
every nation ; " while the contents of the second vision
are substantially the same as those of the first, though
repeated on a fuller and more perfect scale. Now we
shall shortly see that the second of our present con
solatory visions — that in chap. xi. — brings out the victory
and triumph of a faithful remnant of believers within
a degenerate, though professing, Church. How pro
bable does it become that the first consolatory vision—
that in chap. x. — will relate to the same remnant, though
on a lower plane alike of battle and of conquest !
Thus looked at, we have good ground for the sup
position that the little book-roll contained indications
of judgment about to descend on a Church which had
fallen from her high position and practically disowned
her Divine Master; while at the same time it assured
the faithful remnant within her that they would be
preserved, and in due season glorified. The little book
thus spoke of the hardest of all the struggles through
which believers have to pass : that with foes of their
own household ; but, so speaking, it told also of judg
ment upon these foes, and of a glorious issue for the
true members of Christ's Body out of toil and suffering.

164 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
With this view of the contents of the little book-roll
everything that is said of it appears to be in harmony.
I. We thus at once understand why it is named by
a diminutive form of the word used for the book-roll
in chap. v. The latter contained the whole counsel of
God for the execution of His plans both in the world
and in the Church. The former has reference to the
Church alone. A smaller roll therefore would naturally
be sufficient for its tidings.
2. The action which the Seer is commanded to take
with the roll receives adequate explanation. He was
to take it out of the hand of the strong angel and to
eat it up. The meaning is obvious, and is admitted by
all interpreters. The Seer is in his own actual expe
rience to assimilate the contents of the roll in order
that he may know their value. The injunction is in
beautiful accord with what we otherwise know of the
character and feelings of St. John. The power of
Christian experience to throw light upon Christian
truth and upon the fortunes of Christ's people is one
of the most remarkable characteristics of the fourth
Gospel. It penetrates and pervades the whole. We
listen to the expression of the Evangelist's own feelings
as he is about to present to the world the image of his
beloved Master, and he cries, " We beheld His glory,
glory as of the only-begotten from the Father ; " " Of
His fulness we all received, and grace for grace."1 We
notice his comment upon words of Jesus dark to his
fellow-Apostles and himself at the time when they were
spoken, and he says, " When therefore He was raised
from the dead, His disciples remembered that He spake
this ; and they believed the word which Jesus had said."2

1 John i. 14, 16. 2 John ii. 22.

x. i-ii.] THE LITTLE BOOK. 165
Finally, we hear him as he remembers the promise of
the Spirit of truth, who was to instruct the disciples,
not by new revelations of the Divine will, but by
unfolding more largely the fulness that was to be
found in Christ : " Howbeit when He, the Spirit of
truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the truth :
for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things
soever He shall hear, these shall He speak : and He
shall declare unto you the things that are to come.
He shall glorify Me : for He shall take of Mine, and
shall declare it unto you."1 Everywhere and always
Christian experience is the key that unlocks what
would otherwise be closed, and sheds light upon what
would otherwise be dark. To such experience, accord
ingly, the contents of the little roll, if they were such
as we have understood them to be, must have appealed
with peculiar power. In beholding judgment executed
on the world, the believer might need only to stand
by and wonder, as Moses and Israel stood upon the
shore of the Red Sea when the sea, returning to its
bed, overwhelmed their enemies. They were safe.
They had neither part nor lot with those who were
sinking as lead in the mighty waters. It would be
otherwise when judgment came upon the Church. Of
that Church believers were a part. How could they
explain the change that had come over her, the purifi
cation that she needed, the separation that must take
place within what had hitherto been to all appearance
the one Zion which God loved ? In the former case
all was outward ; in the latter all is inward, personal,
experimental, leading to inquiry and earnest searchings
of heart and prayer. A book containing these things
1 John xvi. 13, 14.

166 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
was thus an appeal to Christian experience, and
St. John might well be told to "eat it up."
3. The effect produced upon the Seer by eating the
little roll is also in accord with what has been said.
It shall make thy belly bitter, it was said to him, but in
thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey; and the effect
followed. It was in my mouth, he says, sweet as honey :
and when I had eaten it, my belly was made bitter. Such
an effect could hardly follow the mere proclamation of
judgment on the world. When we look at that judgment
in the light in which it ought to be regarded, and in
which we have hitherto regarded it — as the vindication
of righteousness and of a Divine and righteous order —
the thought of it can impart nothing but joy. But to
think that the Church of the living God, the bride of
Christ, shall be visited with judgment, and to be com
pelled to acknowledge that the judgment is deserved;
to think that those to whom so much has been given
should have given so little in return ; to think of the
selfishness which has prevailed where love ought to
have reigned, of worldliness where there ought to have
been heavenliness of mind, and of discord where there
ought to have been unity — these are the things that
make the Christian's reflections " bitter ; " they, and they
most of all, are his perplexity, his burden, his sorrow,
and his cross. The world may disappoint him, but
from it he expected little. When the Church disap
points him, the " foundations are overturned," and the
honey of life is changed into gall and wormwood.
Combining the particulars which have now been
noticed, we seem entitled to conclude that the little
book-roll of this chapter is a roll of judgment, but of
judgment relating less to the world than to the Church.
It tells us that that sad experience of hers which is to

x. i-ii.] THE LITTLE BOOK. 167
meet us in the following chapters ought neither to per
plex nor overwhelm us. The experience may be strange,
very different from what we might have expected and
hoped for; but the thread by which the Church is
guided has not passed out of the hands of Him who
leads His people by ways that they know not into the
hands of an unsympathizing and hostile power. As
His counsels in reference to the world, and to the
Church in her general relation to it, contained in the
great book-roll of chap, v., shall stand, so the internal
relations of the two parts of His Church to each other,
together with the issues depending upon them, are
equally under His control. If judgment falls upon the
Church, it is not because God has forgotten to be
gracious, or has in anger shut up His tender mercies,
but because the Church has sinned, because she is in
need of chastisement, and because she must be taught
that only in direct dependence upon the voice of the
Good Shepherd, and not in the closest " fold " that can
be built for her, is she safe. Let her " know " Him,
and she shall be known of Him even as He is known
of the Father.1 1 Comp. John x. I-I5-

CHAPTER VIII.
SECOND CONSOLATORY VISION AND THE SEVENTH
TRUMPET.
Rev. xi.
FROM the first consolatory vision we proceed to
the second : —
And there was given unto me a reed like unto a rod : and one said,
Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that
worship therein. And the court which is without the temple cast
without, and measure it not ; for it hath been given unto the nations :
and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months
(xi. I, 2).
Various points connected with these verses demand
examination before any attempt can be made to gather
the meaning of the vision as a whole.
I. What is meant by the measuring of the Temple?
As in so many other instances, the figure is taken from
the Old Testament. In the prophet Zechariah we
read, " I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and
behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then
said I, Whither goest thou ? And he said unto me,
To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth
thereof, and what is the length thereof."1 To the same
effect, but still more particularly, the prophet Ezekiel
speaks : " In the visions of God brought He me into
1 Zech. ii. I, 2.

xi. 1, 2.] MEASURING OF THE TEMPLE. 169
the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high moun
tain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.
And He brought me thither, and, behold, there was a
man, whose appearance was like the appearance of
brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring
reed ; and he stood in the gate. . . . And behold a
wall on the outside of the house round about, and in
the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long
by the cubit and an handbreadth, so he measured,"1
whereupon follows a minute and lengthened description
of the measuring of all the parts of that Temple which
was to be the glory of God's people in the latter days.
From these passages we not only learn whence the
idea of the "measuring" was taken, but what the
meaning of it was. The account given by Ezekiel
distinctly shows that thus to measure expresses the
thought of preservation, not of destruction. That the
same thought is intended by Zechariah is clear from
the words immediately following the instruction given
him to measure : " For I, saith the Lord, will be unto
her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in
the midst of her ; " 2 while, if further proof upon this
point were needed, it is found in the fact that the
measuring of this passage does not stand alone in the
Apocalypse. The new Jerusalem is also measured :
"And he that spake with me had for a measure a
golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof,
and the wall thereof. And he measured the wall
thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according
to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel."3 When
God therefore measures, He measures, not in indigna
tion, but that the object measured may be in a deeper
than ordinary sense the habitation of His glory.
1 Ezek. xl. 2-5. 2 Zech. ii. 5. 8 Chap. xxi. 15, 17.

170 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
2. What is meant by the temple, the altar, and the
casting without of the court which is without the temple ?
In other words, are we to interpret these objects and
the action taken with the latter literally or figuratively ?
Are we to think of the things themselves, or of certain
spiritual ideas which they are used to represent ?
The first view is not only that of many eminent com
mentators ; it even forms one of the chief grounds
upon which they urge that the Herodian temple upon
Mount Moriah was still in existence when the Apoca-
lyptist wrote. He could not, it is alleged, have been
instructed to " measure " the Temple if that building
had been already thrown down, and not one stone left
upon another. Yet, when we attend to the words, it
would seem as if this view must be set aside in favour
of a figurative interpretation. For —
(i) The word "temple" misleads. The term em
ployed in the original does not mean the Temple-
buildings as a whole, but only their innermost shrine
or sanctuary, that part known as the " Holy of holies,"
which was separated from every other part of the sacred
structure by the second veil. No doubt, so far as the
simple act of measuring was concerned, a part might
have been as easily measured as the whole. But
closer attention to what was in the Seer's mind will
show that when he thus speaks of the naos or shrine
he is not thinking of the Temple at Jerusalem at all,
but of the Tabernacle in the wilderness upon which the
Temple was moulded. The nineteenth verse of the
chapter makes this clear. In that verse we find him say
ing, "And there was opened the temple" (the naos) "of
God that is in heaven, and there was seen in His temple "
(His naos) "the ark of His covenant." We know,
however, that the ark of the covenant never had a place

xi. 1, 2.] MEASURING OF THE TEMPLE. 171
in the Temple which existed in the days of Christ. It
had disappeared at the destruction of the first Temple,
long before that date. The Temple spoken of in the
nineteenth verse is indeed said to be " in heaven ; " and
it may be thought that the ark, though not on earth,
might have been seen there. But no reader of the
Revelation of St. John can doubt that to him the
sanctuary of God on earth was an exact representation
of the heavenly sanctuary, that what God had given in
material form to men was a faithful copy of the ideas
of His spiritual and eternal kingdom. He could not
therefore have placed in the original what, if he had
before his mind the Temple at Jerusalem, he knew
had no existence within its precincts ; and the con
clusion is irresistible that when he speaks of a naos
that was to be measured he had turned his thoughts,
not to the stone building upon Mount Moriah, but to
its ancient prototype. On this ground alone then,
even could no other be adduced, we seem entitled to
maintain that a literal interpretation of the word
" temple " is here impossible.
(2) Even should it be allowed that the sanctuary and
the altar might be measured, the injunction is altogether
inapplicable to the next following clause : them that
worship therein. And it is peculiarly so if we adopt
the natural construction, by which the word " therein "
is connected with the word "altar." We cannot
literally speak of persons worshipping " in " an altar.
Nay, even though we connect " therein " with " the
temple," the idea of measuring persons with a rod is
at variance with the realities of life and the ordinary
use of human language. A figurative element is thus
introduced into the very heart of the clause the mean
ing of which is in dispute.

172 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
(3) A similar observation may be made with regard
to the words cast without in ver. 2. The injunction has
reference to the outer court of the Temple, and the
thought of "casting out" such an extensive space is
clearly inadmissible. So much have translators felt
this that both in the Authorised and Revised Versions
they have replaced the words " cast without " by the
words " leave without." The outer court of the Temple
could not be "cast out;" therefore it must be "left
out." The interpretation thus given, however, fails to
do justice to the original, for, though the word em
ployed does not always include actual violence, it
certainly implies action of a more positive kind than
mere letting alone or passing by. More than this.
We are under a special obligation in the present
instance not to strip the word used by the Apostle of
its proper force, for we shall immediately see that,
rightly interpreted, it is one of the most interesting
expressions of his book, and of the greatest value in
helping us to determine the precise nature of his
thought. In the meanwhile it is enough to say that
the employment of the term in the connexion in
which it here occurs is at variance with a simply
literal interpretation.
(4) It cannot be denied that almost every other
expression in the subsequent verses of the vision is
figurative or metaphorical. If we are to interpret this
part literally, it will be impossible to apply the same
rule to other parts ; and we shall have such a mixture
of the literal and metaphorical as will completely baffle
our efforts to comprehend the meaning of the Seer.
(5) We have the statement from the writer's own lips
that, at least in speaking of Jerusalem, he is not to be
literally understood. In ver. 8 he refers to " the great

xi. 1,2.] MEASURING OF THE TEMPLE. 173
city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt."
The hint thus given as to one point of his description
may be accepted as applicable to it all.
We conclude, therefore, that the " measuring," the
" temple " or naos, the " altar," the " court which is
without," and the " casting without " of the latter are
to be regarded as figurative.
3. Our third point of inquiry is, What is the meaning
of the figure ? There need be no hesitation as to the
things first spoken of : " the temple, the altar, and
them that worship therein." These, the most sacred
parts of the Temple-buildings, can only denote the most
sacred portion of the true Israel of God. They are
those disciples of Christ who constitute His shrine,
His golden altar of incense whence their prayers rise
up continually before Him, His worshippers in spirit
and in truth. These, as we have already often had
occasion to see, shall be preserved safe amidst the
troubles of the Church and of the world. In one
passage we have been told that they are numbered x ;
now we are further informed that they are measured.
It is more difficult to explain who are meant by "the
court which is without the temple." But three things
are clear. First, they are a part of the Temple-buildings,
although not of its inner shrine. Secondly, they belong
to Jerusalem ; and Jerusalem, notwithstanding its de
generate condition, was still the city of God, standing
to Him in a relation different from that of the " nations,"
even when it had sunk beneath them and had done more
to merit His displeasure. Thirdly, they cannot be the
Gentiles, for from them they are manifestly distinguished
when it is said that the outer court " hath been given
1 John vii. 4.

174 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
unto the nations: and the holy city shall they tread
under foot forty and two months."1 One conclusion
alone remains. The "court that is without" must
symbolize the faithless portion of the Christian Church,
such as tread the courts of the house of God, but to
whom He speaks as He spoke to Jerusalem of old :
" Bring no more vain oblations ; incense is an abomina
tion unto Me ; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling
of assemblies, I cannot away with ; it is iniquity, even
the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your
appointed feasts My soul hateth : they are a trouble
unto Me; I am weary to bear them."2
The correctness of the sense thus assigned to this
part of the vision is powerfully confirmed by what
appears to be the true foundation of the singular ex
pression already so far spoken of, " cast without."
Something must lie at the bottom of the figure; and
nothing seems so probable as this : that if is the " cast
ing out " which took place in the case of the man blind
from his birth, and the opening of whose eyes by
Jesus is related in the fourth Gospel. Of that man we
are told that when the Jews could no longer answer
him " they cast him out." s The word is the same
as that now employed, and the thought is most probably
the same also. Excommunication from the synagogue
is in the Seer's mind, not a temporal punishment, not
a mere worldly doom, but a spiritual sentence depriving
of spiritual privileges misunderstood and abused. Such
a casting out, however, can apply only to those who
had been once within the courts of the Lord's house
or to the faithless members of the Christian Church.
They, like the Jews of old, would " cast out " the
1 Ver. 2. 2 Isa. i. 13, 14. 8 John ix. 34.

xi. 1,2.] MEASURING OF THE TEMPLE. 175
humble disciples whom Jesus " found " ; x and He cast
them out.
If the explanation now given of the opening verses
of this chapter be correct, we have reached a very
remarkable stage in these apocalyptic visions. For
the first time, except in the letters to the churches,2
we have a clear line of distinction drawn between
the professing and the true portions of the Church of
Christ, or, as it may be otherwise expressed, between
the " called " and the " chosen." 3 How far the same
distinction will meet us in later visions of this book
we have yet to see. For the present it may be enough
to say that the drawing of such a distinction corre
sponds exactly with what we might have been prepared
to expect. Nothing can be more certain than that in
the things actually around him St. John beheld the.
mould and type of the things that were to come. Now
Jerusalem, the Church of God in Israel, contained two
classes within its walls : those who were accomplishing
their high destiny and those by whom that destiny
was misunderstood, despised, and cast away. Has it
not always been the same in the Christian Church ?
If the world entered into the one, has it not entered
as disastrously into the other ? That field which
is "the kingdom of heaven" upon earth has never
wanted tares as well as wheat. They grow together,
and no man may separate them. When the appro
priate moment comes, God Himself will give the
word; angels will carry off the tares, and the great
Husbandman will gather the wheat into His garner.
4. One question still remains : What is the mean
ing of the forty and two months during which the holy
1 John ix. 35. 2 Chaps, ii. 24 ; iii. I, 4. 3 Comp. Matt. xxii. 14.

176 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
city is to be trodden under foot of the nations ? The
same expression meets us in chap. xiii. 5, where it is
said that " there was given to the beast authority to
continue forty and two months." But forty and two
months is also three and a half years, the Jewish year
having consisted of twelve months, except when an
intercalary month was inserted among the twelve in
order to preserve harmony between the seasons and
the rotation of time. The same period is therefore
again alluded to in chap. xii. 14, when it is said of
the woman who fled into the wilderness that she is
there nourished for " a time, and times, and half a
time." Once more, we read in chap. xi. 3 and in chap.
xii. 6 of a period denoted by " a thousand two hundred
and threescore days ; " and a comparison of this last
passage with ver. 14 of the same chapter distinctly
shows that it is equivalent to the three and a half
times or years. Three and a half multiplied by three
hundred and sixty, the number of days in the Jewish
year, gives us exactly the twelve hundred and sixty
days. These three periods, therefore, are the same.
Why the different designations should be adopted
is another question, to which, so far as we are aware,
no satisfactory reply has yet been given, although it
may be that, for some occult reason, the Seer beholds
in " months " a suitable expression for the dominion
of evil, in " days " one appropriate to the sufferings
of the good.
The ground of this method of looking at the Church's
history is found in the book of Daniel, where we read
. of the fourth beast, or the fourth kingdom, " And he
shall speak great words against the Most High, and
shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think
to change times and laws : and they shall be given

xi.3-13-] THE TWO WITNESSES. 177

into his hand until a time and times and the dividing
of time."1 The same book helps us also to answer
the question as to the particular period of the Church's
history denoted by the days, or months, or years referred
to, for in another passage the prophet says, "And
He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week :
and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacri
fice and the oblation to cease." 2 The three and a half
years therefore, or the half of seven years, denote
the whole period extending from the cessation of the
sacrifice and oblation. In other words, they denote
the Christian era from its beginning to its close, and
that more especially on the side of its disturbed and
broken character, of the power exercised in it by
what is evil, of the troubles and sufferings of the good.
During it the disciples of the Saviour do not reach
the completeness of their rest ; their victory is not
won. Ideally it is so ; it always has been so since
Jesus overcame : but it is not yet won in the actual
realities of the case; and, though in one sense every
heavenly privilege is theirs, their difficulties are so
great, and their opponents so numerous and powerful,
that the true expression for their state is a broken
seven years, or three years and a half. During this
time, accordingly, the holy city is represented as trodden
under foot by the nations. They who are at ease in
Zion may not feel it ; but to the true disciples of Jesus
their Master's prophecy is fulfilled, " In the world ye
shall have tribulation." 8
The vision now proceeds :—
And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy
a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

1 Dan. vii. 25. * Dan. ix. 27. • John xvi. 33.
12

178 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before
the Lord of the earth. And if any man desireth to hurt them, fire pro-
ceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies : and if any
man shall desire to hurt them, in this manner must he be killed.
These have the power to shut the heaven, that it rain not during the
days of their prophecy : and they have power over the waters to turn
them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as
they shall desire. And when they shall have finished their testimony,
the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them,
and overcome them, and kill them. And their dead body lies in the
street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,
where also their Lord was crucified. And from among the peoples and
tribes and tongues and nations do men look .upon their dead body
three days and an half, and suffer not their dead bodies to be laid in
a tomb. And they that dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and
make merry : and they shall send gifts one to another; because these
two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth. And after
the three days and an half the breath of life from God entered into
them, and they stood upon their feet ; and great fear fell upon them
which beheld them. And they heard a great voice from heaven
saying unto them, Come up hither. And they went up into heaven
in the cloud ; and their enemies beheld them. And in that hour
there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell ; and
there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand persons : and the
rest were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven (xi. 3-13).
The figures of this part of the vision, like those
of the first part, are drawn from the Old Testament.
That the language is not to be literally understood
hardly admits of dispute, for, whatever might have
been thought of the " two witnesses " had we read only
of them, the description given of their persons, or of
their person (for in ver. 8, where mention is made of
their dead body — not " bodies " — they are treated as one),
of their work, of their death, and of their resurrection
and ascension, is so obviously figurative as to render
it necessary to view the whole passage in that light.
The main elements of the figure are supplied by the
prophet Zechariah. "And the angel that talked with
me," says the prophet, " came again, and waked me, as

*i.3-i3-] THE TWO WIINESSES. 179

a man that is wakened out of sleep, and said unto me,
What seest thou ? And I said, I have looked, and
behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the
top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes
to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of
the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with
me, saying, What are these, my lord ? . . . Then he
answered and spake unto me, saying, 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.
Who art thou, O great mountain ? before Zerubbabel
thou shalt become a plain : and he shall bring forth the
headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace
unto it. . . . Then answered I, and said unto him,
What are these two olive trees upon the right side of
the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And
I answered again, and said unto him, What be these
two olive branches which through the two golden pipes
empty the golden oil out of themselves ? And he
answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what
these be ? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he,
These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the
Lord of the whole earth."1 In these words indeed we
read only of one golden candlestick, while now we
read of two. But we have already found that the Seer
of the Apocalypse, in using the figures to which he had
been accustomed, does not bind himself to all their
details ; and the only inference to be drawn from this
difference, as well as from the circumstance already
noted in ver. 8, is that the number " two " is to be
1 Zech. iv.

180 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
regarded less in itself than as a strengthening of the
idea of the number one. This circumstance further
shows that the two witnesses cannot be divided between
the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, as if the
one witness were the former and the other the latter.
Both taken together express the idea of witnessing,
and to the full elucidation of that idea belong also
the olive tree and the candlestick. The witnessing is
fed by perpetual streams of that heavenly oil, of that
unction of the Spirit, which is represented by the
olive tree ; and it sheds light around like the candlestick.
The two witnesses, therefore, are not two individuals
to be raised up during the course of the Church's
history, that they may bear testimony to the facts and
principles of the Christian faith. The Seer indeed may
have remembered that it had been God's plan in the
past to commission His servants, not singly, but in
pairs. He may have called to mind Moses and Aaron,
Joshua and Caleb, Elijah and Elisha, Zerubbabel and
Joshua, or he may have thought of the fact that our
Lord sent forth His disciples two by two. The proba
bility, however, is that, as he speaks of "witnessing,"
he thought mainly of that precept of the law which
required the testimony of two witnesses to confirm a
statement. Yet he does not confine himself to the
thought of two individual witnesses, however eminent,
who shall in faithful work fill up their own short span
of human life and die. The witness he has in view
is that to be borne by all Christ's people, everywhere,
and throughout the whole Christian age. From the
first to the last moment of the Church's history in this
world there shall be those raised up who shall never
fail to prophesy, or, in other words, to testify to the
truth of God as it is in Jesus. The task will be hard,

xi-3-«3-] 722 TWO WITNESSES. 181
but they will not shrink from it. They shall be clothed
in sackcloth, but they shall count their robes of shame
to be robes of honour. They shall occupy the position
of Him who, in the days of His humiliation, was the
" faithful and true Witness." Nourished by the Spirit
that was in Him, they shall, like Him, be the light of
the world,1 so that God shall never be left without
some at least to witness for Him.
Having spoken of the persons of the two witnesses,
St. John next proceeds to describe the power with
which, amidst their seeming weakness, their testimony
is borne ; and once more he finds in the most striking
histories of the Old Testament the materials with
which his glowing imagination builds.
In the first place, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and
devoureth their enemies, so that these enemies are killed
by the manifest judgment of God, and even, in His
righteous retribution, by the very instrument of destruc
tion they would have themselves employed. Elijah and
the three companions of Daniel are before us, when at
the word of Elijah fire descended out of heaven, and
consumed the two captains and their fifties, 2 and when
the companions of Daniel were not only left unharmed
amidst the flames, but when the fire leaped out upon
and slew the men by whom they had been cast into
the furnace.3 This fire proceeding out of the mouth of
the two witnesses is like the sharp two-edged sword
proceeding out of the mouth of the Son of man in
the first vision of the book.4 In the second place, the
witnesses have the power to shut the heaven, that it rain
not during the days of their prophecy. 'Elijah is again

1 John viii. 12. Comp. Matt v. 14. " Dan. iii. 22.
» 2 Kings i. 10, 12. 4 Chap. i. 16.

182 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
before us when he exclaimed in the presence of Ahab,
"As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I
stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but
according to my word," and when "it rained not on
the earth for three years and six months."1 Finally,
when we are told that the witnesses have power over
the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth
with every plague, as often as they shall desire, we are
reminded of Moses and of the plagues inflicted through
him upon the oppressors of Israel in Egypt.
The three figures teach the same lesson. No deliver
ance has been effected by the Almighty for His people
in the past which He is not ready to repeat. The God
of Moses, and Elijah, and Daniel is the unchangeable
Jehovah. He has made with His Church an everlasting
covenant ; and the most striking manifestations of His
power in bygone times " happened by way of example,
and were written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the ages are come."2
Hence, accordingly, the Church finishes her testimony?
So was it with our Lord in His high-priestly prayer
and on the Cross : " I glorified Thee on the earth,
having accomplished the work which Thou hast given
Me to do ; " " It is finished."4 But this " finishing " of
their testimony on the part of the two witnesses points
to more than the end of the three and a half years
viewed simply as a period of time. Not the thought
of time alone, but of the completion of testimony, is
present to the Seer's mind. At every moment in the
history of Christ's true disciples that completion is
reached by some or others of their number. Through

* I Kings xvii. I ; James v. 17. 2 I Cor. x. II.
3 Ver. 7. ' John xvii. 4 ; xix. 30.

xi-3-13-] THE TWO WITNESSES. 183
all the three and a half years their testimony is borne
with power, and is finished with triumph, so that the
world is always without excuse.
Having spoken of the power of the witnesses,
St. John next turns to the thought of their evil fate.
The beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war
with them, and overcome them, and kill them. This
"beast" has not yet been described; but it is a cha
racteristic of the Apostle, both in the fourth Gospel
and in the Apocalypse, to anticipate at times what is
to come, and to introduce persons to our notice whom
we shall only learn to know fully at a later point in
his narrative. That is the case here. This beast will
again meet us in chap. xiii. and chap, xvii., where we
shall see that it is the concentrated power of a world
material and visible in its opposition to a world spiritual
and invisible. It may be well to remark, too, that the
representation given of the beast presents us with one
of the most striking contrasts of St. John, and one that
must be carefully remembered if we would understand
his visions. Why speak of its " coming up out of the
abj ss " ? Because the beast is the contrast of the
risen Saviour. Only after His resurrection did our
Lord enter upon His dominion as King, Head, and
Guardian of His people. In like manner only after a
resurrection mockingly attributed to it does this beast
attain its full range of influence. Then, in the height
of its rage and at the summit of its power, it sets itself
in opposition to Christ's witnesses. It cannot indeed
prevent them from accomplishing their work ; they
shall finish their testimony in spite of it : but, when
that is done, it shall gain an apparent triumph. As
the Son of God was nailed to the Cross, and in that
hour of His weakness seemed to be conquered by the

184 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
world, so shall it be with them. They shall be over
come and killed.
Nor is that all, for their dead body (not dead bodies1)
is treated with the utmost contumely. It lies in the
broad open street of the great city, which the words
where also their Lord was crucified show plainly to be
Jerusalem. But Jerusalem ! In what aspect is she
here beheld? Not as "the holy city," "the beloved
city," the Zion which God had desired for His habita
tion, and of which He had said, " This is My rest
for ever : here will I dwell ; for I have desired it," 2 but
degenerate Jerusalem, Jerusalem become as Sodom
for its wickedness, and as Egypt for its oppression of
the Israel of God. The language is strong, so strong
that many interpreters have deemed it impossible to
apply it to Jerusalem in any sense, and have imagined
that they had no alternative but to think of Rome.
Yet it is not stronger than the language used many a
time by the prophets of old : " Hear the word of the
Lord, ye rulers of Sodom ; give ear unto the law of
our God, ye people of Gomorrah. How is the faith
ful city become an harlot ! . . . righteousness lodged in
it; but now murderers."8
If, however, this city be Jerusalem, what does it
represent ? Surely, for reasons already stated, neither
the true disciples of Jesus, nor the heathen nations of
the world. We have the degenerate Church before us,
the Church that has conformed to the world. That
Church beholds the faithful witnesses for Christ the
Crucified lie in the open way. Their wounds make no
impression upon her heart, and draw no tear from her
eyes. She even invites the world to the spectacle ;
1 See margin of R.V. * Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14. ' Isa. i. 10, 21.

"¦S-'S-I THE TWO WITNESSES. 185
and the world, always eager to hear the voice of a
degenerate Church, responds to the invitation. It
"looks," and obviously without commiseration, upon
the prostrate, mangled form that has fallen in the
strife. This it does for three days and a half, the
half of seven, a broken period of trouble; and it will
not suffer the dead body to be laid in a tomb. Nay,
the world is not content even with its victory. After
victory it must have its triumph ; and that triumph is
presented to us in one of the most wonderful pictures
of the Apocalypse, when they that dwell on the earth —
that is, the men of the world— -from among the peoples
and tribes and tongues and nations, having listened to
the degenerate Church's call, make high holiday at
the thought of what they have done. They rejoice over
the dead bodies, and make merry : and they send gifts one
to another; because these two prophets tormented them
that dwell on the earth. We are reminded of Herod
and Pilate, who, when the Jewish governor sent Jesus
to his heathen brother, " became friends that very
day."1 But we are reminded of more. In the book
of Nehemiah we find mention of that great feast of
Tabernacles which was observed by the people when
they heard again, after long silence, the book of the
law, and when " there was very great gladness." In
immediate connexion with this feast, Nehemiah said
to the people, "Go your way, eat the fat, and drink
the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom
nothing is prepared : for this day is holy unto the
Lord : neither be ye sorry ; for the joy of the Lord
is your strength"2; while it constituted a part also
of the joyful ceremonial of the feast of the dedication
1 Luke xxiii. 12. a Neh. viii. 10,

186 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of the Temple that the Jews made the days of the
feast "days of feasting and joy, and of sending por
tions one to another, and gifts to the poor."1 Taking
these passages into account, and remembering the
general style and manner of St. John, we can have no
hesitation in recognising in the festival of these verses
the world's Feast of Tabernacles, the contrast and the
counterpart of the Church's feast already spoken of
in the second consolatory vision of chap. vii.
If so, what a picture does it present ! — the degenerate
Church inviting the world to celebrate a feast over the
dead bodies of the witnesses for Christ, and the world
accepting the invitation ; the former accommodating
herself to the ways of the latter, and the latter wel
coming the accommodation; the one proclaiming no
unpleasant doctrines and demanding no painful sacri
fices, the other hailing with satisfaction the prospect
of an easy yoke and of a cheap purchase of eternity
as well as time. The picture may seem too terrible to
be true. But let us first remember that, like all the
pictures of the Apocalypse, it is ideal, showing us the
operation of principles in their last, not their first, effect ;
and then let us ask whether we have never read of,
or ourselves seen, such a state of things actually
realized. Has the Church never become the world,
on the plea that she would gain the world ? Has she
never uttered smooth things or prophesied deceits in
order that she might attract those who will not endure
the thought of hardness in religious service, and would
rather embrace what in their inward hearts they know
to be a lie than bitter truth ? Such a spectacle has
been often witnessed, and is yet witnessed every day,
1 Esther ix. 22.

xl.3-i3. THE TWO WITNESSES. 187
when those who ought to be witnesses for a living
and present Lord gloze over the peculiar doctrines of
the Christian faith, draw as close as possible the bonds
of their fellowship with unchristian men, and treat with
scorn the thought of a heavenly life to be led even
amidst the things of time. One can understand the
world's own ways, and, even when lamenting that its
motives are not higher, can love its citizens and respect
their virtues. But a far lower step in declension is
reached when the Church's silver becomes dross, when
her wine is mixed with water, and when her voice no
longer convicts, no longer " torments them that dwell
on the earth."
In the midst of all their tribulation, however, the
faithful portion of the Church have a glorious reward.
They have suffered with Christ, but they shall also
reign with Him. After all their trials in life, after
their death, and after the limited time during which
even when dead they have been dishonoured, they live
again. The breath of life from God entered into them.
Following Him who is the first-fruits of them that
sleep, they stood upon their feet.1 They heard a great voice
from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. They
went up into heaven in the cloud ; and there they sit down
with the conquering Redeemer in His throne, even
as He overcame and sat down with His Father in His
throne.2 All this, too, takes place in the very presence
of their enemies, upon whom great fear fell. Even
nature sympathizes with them. Having waited for
the revealing of the sons of God, and in hope that she
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the liberty of the glory of the children of God,3
1 Comp. chap, v, 6. 2 Chap. iii. 21. * Rom. viii. 19, 21.

[88 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
she hails their final triumph. There was a great earth
quake, the tenth part of the city (that is, of Jerusalem)
fell; and there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand
persons. It is unnecessary to say that the words are
figurative and symbolical, denoting in all probability
simply judgment, but judgment restrained.
The last words of the vision alone demand more
particular attention : The rest were affrighted, and gave
glory to the God of heaven. The thought is the same
as that which met us when we were told at the close
of the sixth Trumpet that " the rest of mankind which
were not killed with these plagues repented not."1
There is no repentance, no conversion. There is
terror ; there is alarm ; there is a tribute of awe to
the God of heaven who has so signally vindicated His
own cause; but there is nothing more. Nor are we
told what may or may not follow in some future scene.
For the Seer the final triumph of good and the final
overthrow of evil are enough. He can be patient,
and, so far as persons are concerned, can leave the
issue in the hands of God.
The two consolatory visions interposed between the
sixth and seventh Trumpets are now over, and we
:annot fail to see how great an advance they are upon
,:he two visions of a similar kind interposed between
ihe sixth and seventh Seals. The whole action has
made progress. At the earlier stage the Church
may be said to have been hidden in the hollow of
the Almighty's hand. In the thought of the "great
tribulation " awaiting her she has been sealed, while
the peace and joy of her new condition have been set
before us, as she neither hungers nor thirsts, but is
1 Chap. ix. 20.

xi. 15-19.] THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. 189
guided by her Divine Shepherd to green pastures and
to fountains of the waters of life. At this later stage
she is in the midst of her conflict and her sufferings.
She is in the heat of her warfare, in the extremity
of her persecuted state. From the height on which
we stand we do not look over a quiet and peaceful
plain, with flocks of sheep resting in its meadows ; we
look over a field where armed men have met in the
shock of battle. There is the stir, the excitement, the
tumult of deadly strife for higher than earthly freedom,
for dearer than earthly homes. There may be tem
porary repulse and momentary yielding even on the
side of the good, but they still press on. The Captain
of their salvation is at their head ; and foot by foot
fresh ground is won, until at last the victory is sounded,
and we are ready for the seventh Trumpet.
Before it sounds there is a warning similar to that
which preceded the sounding of the fifth and sixth x : —
The second Woe is past; behold, the third Woe cometh quickly
(xi. 14).
These words are to be connected with the ;lose of
chap, ix., all that is contained in chaps, x. and xi. 1-13
being, as we have seen, episodical.
The seventh Trumpet is now sounded : —
And the seventh angel sounded ; and there followed great voices in
heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom
of our Lord, and of His Christ ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.
And the four-and-twenty elders, which sit before God on their thrones,
fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give Thee
thanks, O Lord, God, the Almighty, which art and which wast;
because Thou hast taken Thy great power, and didst reign. And the
nations were roused to wrath, and Thy wrath came, and the time of
the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy
1 Chaps, viii. 13 ; ix. 12.

19° THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
servants the prophets, both the saints and them that fear Thy name,
the small and the great, and to destroy them that destroy the
earth. And there was opened the temple of God that is in heaven,
and there was seen in His temple the ark of His covenant : and there
followed lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and
great hail (xi. 15-19).
1. By the kingdom of the world here spoken of is
meant, that dominion over the world as a whole has
become the possession of our Lord and of His Christ ;
and it is to be His for ever and ever. There is
no contradiction between this statement of St. John
and that of St. Paul when, speaking of the Son, the
latter Apostle says, " And when all things have been
subjected unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself
be subjected to Him that did subject all things unto
Him, that God may be all in all."1 The "kingdom"
thus spoken of by St. Paul is that exercised by our
Lord in subduing His enemies, and it must necessarily
come to an end when there are no more enemies to
subdue. The kingdom here referred to is Christ's
dominion as Head and King of His Church, and of
that dominion there is no end. Of more consequence
perhaps is it to observe that when it is said in the
woids before us, The kingdom of the world is become the
kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, there is nothing
to lead to the supposition that this " kingdom " becomes
Christ's by the conversion of the world. The meaning
simply is that evil has been finally and for ever put
down, that good is finally and for ever triumphant.
No inference can be drawn as to the fate of wicked
persons further than this : that they shall not be found
in "the new heavens and the new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness."2 Were additional proof needed
1 I Cor. xv. 28. 2 2 Pet. iii. 13.

xi. 15-19.] THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. 191
upon this point, it would be supplied by the fact that
in almost the next following words we read of the
nations being roused to wrath. These are the wicked
upon whom judgment falls ; and, instead of being
converted, they are roused to the last and highest
outburst of the wickedness which springs from despair.
2. The song of the four-and-twenty elders. We
have already had occasion to notice that song of the
representatives of redeemed creation in which the four
living creatures celebrated " the Lord, God, the
Almighty, which was and which is and which is to
come."1 The song now before us, sung by the repre
sentatives of the glorified Church, is cast in precisely
the same mould of three ascriptions of praise to the
Lord. But in the third member there is an important
difference, the words "and which is to come" being
omitted. The explanation is that the Lord is come.
The present dispensation is at its close.
3. The events of the close are next described. It is
the time of the dead to be judged, and the time to give
reward to God's faithful servants, to whatever part
of mankind they have belonged, and whatever the
position they have filled in life. The whole family of
man is divided into two great classes , and for the one
there is judgment, for the other reward.
4. Before passing on it may be well to call attention
to one or two particulars in these verses which, though
not specially connected with that general meaning of
the passage which it is the main object of this com
mentary to elicit, may help to throw light upon the
style of the Apostle and the structure of his work.
(1) Thus it is important to observe his use of the
1 Chap. iv. 8.

192 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
word prophets. The persons spoken of are obviously
in contrast with " the nations " and " the dead to be
judged," and they must include all who are faithful
unto death. Already we have seen that every true
follower of Christ is in St. John's eyes a martyr, and
that when he thinks of the martyrs of the Church
he has a far wider circle in view than that of those
who meet death by the sword or at the stake.1 To
his ideal conceptions of things the martyr spirit makes
the martyr, and the martyr spirit must rule in every
disciple of the Crucified. In like manner the prophetic
spirit makes the prophet, and of that spirit no true
follower of Him in whom prophecy culminated can
be devoid. In this very chapter we have read of
" prophesying " as the work of the two witnesses who
are a symbol of the whole Christian Church, and
who prophesy through the thousand two hundred
and threescore days of her pilgrimage. We are not
therefore to suppose that those here called "prophets"
are either prophets in the stricter sense of the word,
or commissioned ministers of Christ. All Christ's
people are His "servants the prophets," and the
idealism of St. John distinctly appears in the designa
tion given them.
(2) The next following clause, which we have trans
lated in a manner slightly different from that of both
the Authorised and the Revised Versions, is not less
important : both the saints and them that fear Thy
name, instead of " and to the saints, and to them- that
fear Thy name." It is the manner of St. John to
dwell in the first instance upon one characteristic of
the object of which he speaks, and then to add other
1 Comp. p. 102.

xi. 15-19.] THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. 193
characteristics belonging to it, equally important, it may
be, in themselves, but not occupying so prominent
a place in the line of thought which he happens to be
pursuing at the moment. An illustration of this is
afforded in John xiv. 6, where the words of Jesus are
given in the form, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and
the Life." The context shows that the emphasis rests
wholly on Jesus as " the Way," and that the addition
of the words " the Truth, and the Life," is only made
to enhance and complete the thought. Here in like
manner the contents of what is involved in the term
" the prophets " are completed by a further statement of
what the prophets are. They are " the saints and they
that fear God's name." The twofold structure of this
statement, however, again illustrates the manner of St.
John. " The saints " is, properly speaking, a Jewish
epithet, while every reader of the Acts of the Apostles
is familiar with the fact that " they that fear God " was
a term applied to Gentile proselytes to Judaism. We
have thus an instance of St. John's method of regarding
the topic with which he deals from a double point
of view, the first Jewish, the second Gentile. He is
not thinking of two divisions of the Church. The
Church is one ; all her members constitute one Body
in Christ. But looked at from the Jewish standpoint,
Uiey are "the saints;" from the Gentile, they are those
that " fear Thy name."
(3) The verses under consideration afford a marked
illustration of St. John's love of presenting judgment
under the form of the lex talionis. The nations were
" roused to wrath, " and upon them God's " wrath
came." They had " destroyed the earth," and God
would " destroy " them. In studying the Apocalypse,
all peculiarities of style or structure ought to be present
13

194 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
to the mind. They are not unfrequently valuable
guides to interpretation.
The seventh Trumpet has sounded, and the end has
come. A glorious moment has been reached in the
development of the Almighty's plan ; and the mind
of the Seer is exalted and ravished by the prospect.
Yet he beholds no passing away of the present earth
and heavens, no translation of the reign of good to
an unseen spiritual and hitherto unvisited region of
the universe. It would be out of keeping with the
usual phraseology of his book to understand by
heaven, in which he sees the ark of God's covenant,
a locality, a place " beyond the clouds and beyond the
tomb." His employment of the contrasted words
"earth" and "heaven" throughout his whole series
of visions rather leads to the supposition that by the
latter we are to understand that region, wherever it
may be, in which spiritual principles alone bear sway.
It may be here ; it may be elsewhere ; it seems hardly
possible to say : but the more the reader enters into
the spirit of this book, the more difficult will he find
it to resist the impression that St. John thinks of
this present world as not only the scene of the great
struggle between good and evil, but also, when it has
been cleansed and purified, as the seat of everlasting
righteousness. These in the present instance are
striking words : " to destroy them that destroy the
earth." Why not destroy the earth itself if it is only
to be burned up ? Why speak of it in such terms as
lead almost directly to the supposition that it shall be
preserved though its destroyers perish ? While, on the
other hand, if God at first pronounced it to be " very
good ; " if it may be a home of truth, and purity, and
holiness ; and if it shall be the scene of Christ's future

xi. 15-19.] THE SEVENTH IRUMPET. 195
and glorious reign, — then may we justly say, Woe
to them that destroy the habitation, the palace, now
preparing for the Prince of peace.
However this may be, it was a fitting close to the
judgments of the seven Trumpets that the " temple "
of God — that is, the innermost shrine or sanctuary of
His temple — should be opened. There was no need
now that God should be "a God that hideth Himself."1
When earth had in it none but the pure in heart, why
should they not see Him ? 2 He would dwell in them
and walk in them.3 The Tabernacle of the Lord
would be again with men.*
When too the shrine was opened, what more
appropriate spectacle could be seen than "the ark
of His covenant," the symbol of His faithfulness, the
pledge of that love of His which remains unchanged
when the mountains depart and the hills are removed ?
The covenant- keeping God ! No promise of the
past had failed, and the past was the earnest of the
future. Nor need we wonder at the lightnings, and voices,
and thunders, and the earthquake, and the great hail that
followed. For God had " promised, saying, Yet once
more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also
the heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth
the removing of those things that are shaken, as of
things that are made, that those things which are not
shaken may remain." 5
1 Isa. xiv. 15. * 2 Cor. vi. 16.
¦ Matt v. 8. * Chap. xxi. 3,
* Heb. xii. 26, 27.

CHAPTER IX.
THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY OF THE CHURCB.
Rev. xii.
THE twelfth chapter of the Revelation of St. John
has been felt by every commentator to be one
more than usually difficult to interpret, and that
whether we look at it in relation to its special purpose,
or to its position in the structure of the book. If we
can satisfy ourselves as to the first of these two points,
we shall be better able to form correct notions as to
the second.
Turning then for a moment to chap, xiii., we find it
occupied with a description of two of the great enemies
with which the Church has to contend. These are
spoken of as " a beast " (ver. i) and " another beast "
(ver. 1 1), the latter being obviously the same as that
described in chap. xix. 20 as "the false prophet that
wrought the signs" in the sight of the former. At
the same time, it is evident that these two beasts are
regarded as enemies of the Church in a sense peculiar
to themselves, for the victorious Conqueror of chap. xix.
makes war with them, and " they twain are cast into
the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone." x This
fate next overtakes, in chap. xx. 10, "the dragon, the
old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan," so that no
1 Chap. xix. 20.

xii. 1-6.] THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY. 197
doubt can rest upon the fact that to St. John's view
the great enemies of the Church are three in number.
When, accordingly, we find two of them described in
chap, xiii., and chap. xii. occupied with the description
of another, we are warranted in concluding that the
main purpose of the chapter is to set before us a
picture of this last.
Thus also we are led to understand the place of the
chapter in the structure of the book. We have already
seen that the seven Trumpets are occupied with judg
ments on the world. The seven Bowls, forming the
next and highest series of judgments, are to be occupied
with judgments on the degenerate members of the
Church. It is a fitting thing, therefore, that we
should be able to form a clear idea of the enemies by
which these faithless disciples are subdued, and in
resisting whom the steadfastness of the faithful remnant
shall be proved. To describe them sooner was un
necessary. They are the friends, not the enemies, of
the world. They are the enemies only of the Church.
Hence the sudden transition made at the beginning of
chap. xii. There is no chronological relation between
it and the chapters which precede. The thoughts em
bodied in it refer only to what follows. The chapter is
obviously divided into three parts, and the bearing of
these parts upon one another will appear as we
proceed. And a great sign was seen in heaven; a woman arrayed with the
sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars : and she was with child ; and she crieth out, travailing
in birth, and in pain to be delivered. And there was seen another
sign in heaven ; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads
and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems. And his tail
draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them into
the earth : and the dragon stood before the woman that was about to

198 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
be delivered, that when she was delivered he might devour her
child. And she was delivered of a son, a man-child, who as a shep
herd shall tend all the nations with a sceptre of iron : and her child
was caught up unto God, and unto His throne. And the woman
fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that
there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore
days 'xii. 1-6).
In the first chapter of the book of Genesis we read,
" And God made two great lights ; the greater light to
rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night :
He made the stars also." x Sun, and moon, and stars
exhaust the Biblical notion of the heavenly bodies
which give light upon the earth. They therefore,
taken together, clothe this woman ; and there is no
need to search for any recondite meaning in the place
which they severally occupy in her investiture. She
is simply arrayed in light from head to foot. In other
words, she is the perfect emblem of light in its bright
ness and purity. The use of the number twelve indeed
suggests the thought of a bond of connexion between
this light and the Christian Church. The tribes of
Israel, the type of God's spiritual Israel, were in
number twelve; our Lord chose to Himself twelve
Apostles ; the new Jerusalem has " twelve gates, and
at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon,
which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children
of Israel." 2
But though the light is thus early connected with
the thought of the Christian Church, and though the
subsequent portion of the chapter confirms the con
nexion, the woman is not yet to be regarded as, in
the strictest sense, representative of that community
or Body historically viewed. By-and-by she will be so.

1 Gen. i. 16. * Chap. xxi. 12.

xii. 1-6.] THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY. i<9
In the meantime a comparison of ver. 6 with ver. 14,
wh;re her fleeing into the wilderness and her nourish
ment in it for precisely the same period of time as
in ver. 6 are again mentioned, together with what
we have already seen to be a peculiarity of St. John's
mode of thought, forbids the supposition. The Apostle
would not thus repeat himself. We are entitled there
fore to infer that at the opening of the chapter he
deals less with actual history than with the " pattern "
of that history which had existed from all eternity
in the mount. Hence also it would seem that the
birth of the child, though undoubtedly referring to the
birth of Jesus, is not the actual birth. It, too, is rather
the eternal " pattern " of that event. Similar remarks
apply to the dragon, who is not yet the historical
Satan, and will only be so in the second paragraph,
at ver. 9. The whole picture, in short, of these verses
is one of the ideal which precedes the actual, and of
which the actual is the counterpart and realization.
The resemblance, accordingly, borne by the first
paragraph of this chapter (vers. 1-6) to the first
paragraph of the fourth Gospel (vers. 1-5), is of the most
striking kind. In neither is there any account of the
actual birth of our Lord. In both (and we shall im
mediately see this still more fully brought out in the
apocalyptic vision) we are introduced to Him at once,
not as growing up to be the Light of the world, but
as already grown up and as perfect light. In both
we have the same light and the same darkness, and
in both the same contrariety and struggle between the
two. Nor does the comparison end here. We have
also the same singular method of expressing the deliver
ance of the light from the enmity of the darkness.
In John i. 5, correctly translated, we read ' The light

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

shineth in the darkness, and the darkness overcame
it not," the thought being rather negative than positive,
rather that of preservation than of victory. In the
Apocalypse we read, And her child was caught up unto
God, and unto His throne, the idea being again that
of preservation rather than of victory.
Such is the general conception of the first para
graph of this chapter. The individual expressions
need not detain us long. The woman's raiment of
light has been already spoken of. Passing therefore
from that, it need occasion no surprise that He who
is Himself the Giver of light should be represented
as the Son of light. God " is light, and in Him is no
darkness at all." x Jesus, as the Son of God, is thus
also the Son of light. No doubt the conception is
continued even after we behold the woman in her
actual, not her ideal, state. Jesus is still her Son.2
Yet there is a true sense in which we may describe
our Lord not only as the Foundation, but also as the
Son, of the Church. He is " the First-born among
many brethren,"3 the elder Brother in a common Father's
house. He is begotten by the power of the Holy
Spirit 4 ; and they that believe in His name are " born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God."6 So close indeed in the
teaching of St. John is the identification of Christ and
His people, that whatever is said of Him may be said
of them, and what is said of them may be said of Him.
Human thought and language fail to do justice to
a relation so profound and mysterious. But it is
everywhere the teaching of the beloved disciple — in
1 I John i. 5. * Rom. viii. 29.
' Comp. ver. 17. 4 Matt. i. 20.
5 John i. 13.

xii. 1-6.] THE FIRST GREA T ENEMY. 201
his Gospel, in his Epistles, in his Revelation — although
the Church may not fully understand it until she has
lived herself more into it than she has done. Her
" life " will then bring her " light." x
The dragon of the passage is great and red: "great"
because of the power which he possesses ; " red,"
the colour of blood, because of the ferocity with which
he destroys men : " He was a murderer from the
beginning;" "Cain was of the evil one, and slew his
brother ; " " And I saw the woman " (that is, the woman
who rode upon the scarlet-coloured beast) " drunk with
the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus."2 The dragon has further seven heads, — seven,
the number of completeness, so that he possesses every
thing to enable him to execute his plans ; and ten horns,
the emblem at once of his strength and of his rule over
all the kingdoms of the world. Upon the heads, too, are
seven diadems, a word different from that which had
been employed for the woman's "crown" in the first
verse of the chapter. Hers is a crown of victory ; the
diadems of the dragon are only marks of royalty, and
may be worn, as they will be worn, in defeat. The
dragon's tail, again, like the tails of the locusts of the
fifth Trumpet and of the horses of the sixth, is the
instrument with which he destroys3; and the third part
of the stars of heaven corresponds to " the third part "
mentioned in each of the first four Trumpets. The
figure of casting the stars into the earth is taken from the
prophecy of Daniel, in which it is said of the " little
horn '' that " it waxed great, even to the host of heaven ;

' Comp. John i. 4.
•John viii. 44 ; I John iii. 12; Rev. xvii. 6.
• Chap. ix. 10, 19.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to
the ground, and stamped upon them." x
The dragon next takes up his position before the
woman which was about to be delivered, that when
she was delivered he might devour her child ; and the
first historical circumstances to which the idea coire-
sponds, and in which it is realized, may be found
in the effort of Pharaoh to destroy the infant Moses.
Pharaoh is indeed often compared in the Old Testament
to a dragon : " Thou didst divide the sea by Thy
strength : Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the
waters ; " "Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God ;
Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the
great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which
hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made
it for myself."2 The power, and craft, and cruelty of
the Egyptian king could hardly have been absent from
the Seer's mind when he employed the figure of the
text. But he was certainly not thinking of Pharaoh
alone. He remembered also the plot of Herod to
destroy the Child Jesus.3 Pharaoh and Herod — men
quailed before them ; yet both were no more than
instruments in the hands of God. Both worked out
His "determinate counsel and foreknowledge."4
The child is born, and is described in language
worthy of our notice. He is a son, a man-child; and
the at first sight tautological information appears to
hint at more than the mere sex of the child. He
is already more than a child : he is a man. There
is a similar emphasis in the words of our Lord when
He said to His disciples in His last consolatory dis
course, " A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow,
1 Dan. viii. 10. 3 Matt. ii. 16.
8 Ps. lxxiv. 13 ; Ezek. xxix. 3. A Acts ii. 23.

xii. 1-6.] THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY. 203
because her hour is come : but when she is delivered
of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for
the joy that a man is born into the world." x From the
first the child is less a child than a man, strong, muscular,
and vigorous, who as a shepherd shall tend all the nations
with a sceptre of iron. Strange that we should be
invited to dwell on this ideal aspect of the Son's woi k
rather than any other ! No doubt the words are quoted
from the second Psalm. This, however, only removes the
difficulty a step further back. Why either there or here
should the shepherd work of the Messiah be connected
with an iron sceptre rather than a peaceful crook ?
The explanation is not difficult. Both the Psalm and
the Apocalypse are occupied mainly with the victory of
Christ over His adversaries. His friends have already
been secured in the possession of a complete salva
tion. It remains only that His foes shall be finally put
down. Hence the " sceptre of iron." Strange also, it
may be thought, that in this ideal picture we should
find no " pattern " of the life of our Lord on earth, of
His labours, or sufferings, or death ; and that we should
only be invited to behold Him in His incarnation and
ascension into heaven ! But again the explanation
is not difficult. Over against Satan stands, not a
humbled merely, but a risen and glorified, Redeemer.
The process by which He conquered it is unnecessary to
dwell upon. Enough that we know the fact.
The woman's child being thus safe, the woman herself
fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared
of God, and where she shall be nourished by heavenly
sustenance. Thus Israel wandered forty years, fed
with the manna that fell from heaven and the water
that flowed from the smitten rock.2 Thus Elijah fled
1 John xvi. 21. 2 I Cor. x. 3, 4.

204 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
to the brook Cherith, and afterwards to the wilderness,
where his wants were supplied in the one case by the
ravens, in the other by an angel.1 And thus was our
Lord upheld for forty days by the words that proceeded
out of the mouth of God.2 This wilderness life of the
Church, too, continues during the whole Christian
era, during the whole period of witnessing.3 Always
in the wilderness so long as her Lord is personally
absent, she eats heavenly food and drinks living
water. Such is the first scene of this chapter ; and, glancing
once more over it, it would seem as if its chief purpose
were to present to us the two great opposing forces of
light and darkness, of the Son and the dragon, con
sidered in themselves.
The second scene follows : —
And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels going
forth to war with the dragon ; and the dragon warred and his angels :
and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in
heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he
that is called the devil, and Satan, the deceiver of the whole inhabited
earth : he was cast down into the earth, and his angels were cast
down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now
is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of His Christ : for the accuser of our brethren is
cast down, which accuseth them before our God day and night And
they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of
the word of their testimony ; and they loved not their life even unto
death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that tabernacle in them.
Woe for the earth and for the sea ! because the devil is gone down
unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short
season (xii. 7"'2)-
If our conception of the first six verses of the
chapter be correct, it will be evident that the idea often
entertained, that the verses following them form a break
1 I Kings xvii. 6 ; xix. 5. 2 Matt. iv. 4. * Chap. xi. 3.

xii. 7-12.] THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY. 205
in the narrative which is only resumed at ver. 13, is
wrong. There is no break. The progress of the
thought is continuous. The combatants have been set
before us, and we have now the contest in which
they are engaged. This consideration also helps us
to understand the personality of Michael and the
particular conflict in the Seer's view.
For, as to the first of these two points, it is even
in itself probable that the Leader of the hosts of light
will be no other than the Captain of our salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The dragon leads the
hosts of darkness. The Son has been described as
the opponent against whom the enmity of the dragon
is especially directed. When the war begins, we have
every reason to expect that as the one leader takes
the command, so also will the other. There is much
to confirm this conclusion. The name Michael leads
to it, for that word signifies, " Who is like God ? " and
such a name is at least more appropriate to a Divine
thar to a created. being. In the New Testament, too,
we read of " Michael the archangel " 1 — there seems to
be only one, for we never read of archangels2— and
an archangel is again spoken of in circumstances that
can hardly be associated with the thought of any one
but God : " The Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God."3 Above all, the prophecies
of Daniel, in which the name Michael first occurs, may
be said to decide the point. A person named Michael
there appears on different occasions as the defender
of the Church against her enemies,4 and once at
least in a connexion leading directly to the thought

1 Jude 9. 8 I Thess. iv. 16.
* Brown, The Book of Revelation, p. 69. 4 Dan. x. 13, 21.

206 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of our Lord Himself: "And at that time shall Michael
stand up, the great prince which standeth for the
children of Thy people : and there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation
even to that same time : and at that time Thy people
shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written
in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust
of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and
some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they
that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the
firmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness
as the stars for ever and ever." x These considerations
justify the conclusion that the Michael now spoken of
is the representative of Christ; and we have already
seen, in examining the vision of the " strong angel " in
chap, x., that such a mode of speaking is in perfect
harmony with the general method of St. John.
Light is thus thrown also upon the second point
above mentioned : the particular conflict referred to in
these verses. The statement that there was war in
heaven, and that when the dragon was defeated he was
cast down into the earth, might lead us to think of an
earlier conflict between good and evil than any in
which man has part : of that mentioned by St. Peter
and St. Jude, when the former consoles the righteous
by the thought that " God spared not angels when they
sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed
them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judg
ment," 2 and when the latter warns sinners to remember
that "angels which kept not their own principality,
but left their proper habitation, He hath kept in ever
lasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the
great day." 3 The circumstances, however, of the war,
1 Dan. xii. 1-3. " 2 Pet. ii. 4. ' Jude 6.

xii. 7-12.] THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY. 207
lead rather to the thought of a conflict in which the
Son, incarnate and glorified, takes His part. For
this " Son " is the opponent of the dragon introduced
to us in the first paragraph of the chapter. " Heaven "
is not so much a premundane or supramundane locality
as the spiritual sphere within which believers dwell
even during their earthly pilgrimage, when that
pilgrimage is viewed upon its higher side. And the
means by which the victory is gained — for the victors
overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony — distinctly indicate that the struggle referred
to took place after the work of redemption had been
completed, not before it was begun.
Several other passages of the New Testament are
in harmony with this supposition. Thus it was that
when the seventy returned to our Lord with joy after
their mission, saying, "Lord, even the demons are
subject unto us in Thy name," He, beholding in this
the pledge of His completed victory, exclaimed, "I
beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven." x Thus
it was that when charged with casting out demons by
Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, our Lord pointed
out to His accusers that His actions proved Him to be
the Conqueror, and that the kingdom of God was come
unto them : " When the strong man fully armed
guardeth his own court, his goods are in peace : but
when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and
overcome him, he taketh from him his whole armour
wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils." 8 To the
same effect are all those passages where our Lord or
His Apostles speak, not of a partial, but of a complete,
victory over Satan, so that for His people the great
1 Luke x. 17, 18. • Luke xi. 21, 22.

208 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
enemy of man is already judged, and overthrown, and
bruised beneath their feet : " Now is a judgment of this
world : now shall the prince of this world be cast out ; "
" And when He " (the Advocate) " is come, He will con
vince the world of judgment, because the prince of this
world hath been judged ; " " Since then the children are
sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like
manner partook of the same ; that through death He might
bring to nought him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil ; and might deliver all them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage ; "
"Whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the
world : and this is the victory that overcometh the
world, even our faith;" "We know that whosoever is
begotten of God sinneth not ; but He that was begotten
of God keepeth him, and the evil one toucheth him
not."1 In passages such as these we have the same thought
as that before us in this vision. Satan has been cast
out of heaven ; that is, in his warfare against the children
of God he has been completely overthrown. Over their
higher life, their life in a risen and glorified Redeemer,
he has no power. They are for ever escaped from
his bondage, and are free. But he has been cast down
into the earth, and his angels with him; that is, over the
men of the world he still exerts his power, and they are
led captive by him at his will. Hence, accordingly,
the words of the great voice heard in heaven which
occupy all the latter part of the vision, words which
distinctly bring out the difference between the two
aspects of Satan now adverted to, — (i) his impotence
as regards the disciples of Jesus who are faithful unto
1 John xii. 31 ; xvi. 1 1 ; Heb. ii. 14, 15 ; 1 John v. 4, 18.

xii. 7-12.J THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY. 209
death : Rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them;
(2) his mastery over the ungodly : Woe for the earth
and for the sea ! for the devil is gone down unto you in
great wrath, knowing , that he hath but a short season.
Although, therefore, the fall of the angels from their
first estate may be remotely hinted at, the vision refers
to the spiritual contest begun after the resurrection of
Jesus ; and we ask our readers only to pay particular
regard to the double relation of Satan to mankind which
is referred to in it : his subjection to the righteous
and the subjection of the wicked to him. One
phrase only may seem inconsistent with this view. In
ver. 9 Satan is described as the deceiver of the whole
inhabited earth, for that, and not "the whole world,"
is the true rendering of the original.1 " The whole in
habited earth" cannot be the same as "the earth."
The latter is simply the wicked ; the former includes
all men. But the words describe a characteristic of
Satan in himself, and not what he actually effects. He
is the deceiver of the whole inhabited earth. He lays
his snares for all. He tempted Jesus Himself in
the wilderness, and many a time thereafter during
His labours and His sufferings. The vision gives no
ground for the supposition that God's children are not
attacked by him. It assures us only that when the
attack is made it is at the same instant foiled. There
is a battle, but Christians advance to it as conquerors ;
before it begins victory is theirs.2
One other expression of these verses may be noted :
the short season spoken of in ver. 12. This period
of time is not to be looked at as if it were a brief
special season at the close of the Christian age, when

» Comp. R.V. (margin). ' Comp. 1 John v. 4.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

the wrath of Satan is aroused to a greater than
ordinary degree because the last hour is about to
strike. The great wrath with which he goes forth
is that stirred in him by his defeat through the death,
resurrection, and ascension of our Lord. It was
roused in him when he was " cast into the earth,"
and from that moment of defeat therefore the " short
season " begins.
The third paragraph of the chapter follows : —
And when the dragon saw that he was cast down into the earth,
he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And
there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that
she might fly into the wilderness, unto her place, where she is
nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the
serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman
water as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the
stream. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her
mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his
mouth. And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman, and went
away to make war with the rest of her seed, which keep the command
ments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus ; and he stood upon
the sand of the sea (xii. 13-xiii. la).
We have already seen that the woman introduced
to us in the first paragraph of this chapter is the
embodiment and the bearer of light. She is there
indeed set before us in her ideal aspect, in what she
is in herself, rather than in her historical position.
Now we meet her in actual history, or, in other words,
she is the historical Church of God in the New Testa
ment phase of her development. As such she has a
mission to the world. She is " the sent " of Christ,
as Christ was " the sent " of the Father.1 In witnessing
for Christ, she has to reveal to the children of men
what Divine love is. But she has to do this in the
1 John xx. 21,

xii. 13-xiii. la.] THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY. 211

midst of trouble. This world is not her rest ; and she
must bear the Saviour's cross if she would afterwards
wear His crown.
Persecuted, however, she is not forsaken. She had
given her the two wings of the great eagle, that she might
fly into the wilderness, unto her place — the place prepared
of God for her protection. There can be little doubt
as to the allusion. The " great eagle " is that of which
God Himself spoke to Moses in the mount : " Ye
have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how
I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto
Myself;"1 and that alluded to by Moses in the last
song taught by him to the people : " 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, and
there was no strange god with him." 2 The same eagle
was probably in view of David when he sang, " How
excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God ! therefore the
children of men put their trust under the shadow of
Thy wings ; " 3 while it was also that on the wings
of which the members of the Church draw continually
nearer God : " They mount up with wings as eagles." 4
To the woman then there was given a "refuge from
the storm," a " covert from the heat," of trial, that she
might abide in it, nourished with her heavenly food,
for a time, and times, and half a time. Of this period
we have already spoken. It is the same as that of
the three and a half years, the "forty-two months,"
the "thousand two hundred and threescore days."
It is thus the whole period of the Church's militant:
1 Exod. xix. 3, 4. 8 Ps. xxxvi. 7.
* Deut. xxxii. 11, 12. * Isa. xl. 31.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

history upon earth. During all of it she is persecuted
by Satan ; during all of it she is preserved and nourished
by the care of God. At first sight indeed it may seem
as if this shelter in the wilderness were incompatible
with the task of witnessing assigned to her. But
it is one of the paradoxes of the position of the children
of God in this present world that while they are
above it they are yet in it ; that while they are seated
"in the heavenly places" they are exposed to the
storms of earth ; that while their life is hid with Christ
in God they witness and war before the eyes of men.
The persecution and the nourishment, the suffering and
the glory, run parallel with each other. One other
remark may be made. There is obviously an emphasis
upon the word "two" prefixed to "wings." Though
founded upon the fact that the wings of the bird are
two in number, a deeper meaning would seem to be
intended ; and that meaning is suggested by the fact
that the witnesses of chap. xi. were also two. The
protection extended corresponds exactly to the need
for it. The "grace" of God is in all circumstances
"sufficient" for His people.1 No temptation can assail
them which He will not enable them to endure, or out
of which He will not provide for them a way of escape.2
Therefore may they always take up the language of the
Apostle and say, " Most gladly will I rather glory
in my weaknesses, that the strength of Christ may
spread a tabernacle over me. Wherefore I take
pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in
persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake : for when
I am weak, then am I strong." 3
The woman fled into the wilderness, but she was
1 2 Cor. xii. 9. 2 I Cor. x. 13. " 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10.

xii. 13-xiii. ib.] THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY. 213
not permitted to flee thither without a final effort of
Satan to overwhelm her ; and in the manner in which
this effort is made we again recognise the language
of the Old Testament. There the assaults of the
ungodly upon Israel are frequently compared to those
floods of waters which, owing to the sudden risings of
the streams, are in the East so common and so disas
trous. Isaiah describes the enemy as coming in " like
a flood."1 Of the floods of the Euphrates and the
destruction which they symbolized we have already
spoken2; and in hours of deliverance from trouble
the Church has found the song of triumph most suit
able to her condition in the words of the Psalmist,
" If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when men rose up against us : then they had swallowed
us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us :
then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had
gone over our soul : then the proud waters had gone
over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not
given us as a prey to their teeth."3 The main refer
ence is, however, in all probability to the passage of
Israel across the Red Sea, for then, says David, calling
to mind that great deliverance in the history of his
people, and finding in it the type of deliverances so
often experienced by himself, " the sorrows of death
compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made
me afraid. ... In my distress I called upon the Lord,
and cried unto my God. . . . He sent from above, He
took me, He drew me out of many waters." 4
The most remarkable point to be noticed here is,
however, not the deliverance itself, but the method by
which it is accomplished. To understand this, as well
1 Isa. lix. 19. * Ps. cxxiv. 2-6.
* Comp. p. 150. * Ps. xviii. 4-16.

214 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
as the wrath of Satan immediately afterwards described,
it is necessary to bear in mind that twofold element in
the Church the existence of which is the key to so
many of the most intricate problems of the Apocalypse.
The Church embraces both true and false members
within her pale. She is the " vine " of our Lord's last
discourse to His disciples, some of the branches of
which bear much fruit, while others are only fit to be
cast into the fire and burned.1 The thought of these
latter members is in the mind of St. John when he tells
us, in a manner so totally unexpected, that the earth
helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and
swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his
mouth. He is thinking of the nominal members of the
Church, of the merely nominal Christianity which she
has so often exhibited to the world. That Christianity
the world loves. When the Church's tone and life are
lowered by her yielding to the influence of the things
of time, then the world, " the earth," is ready to hasten
to her side. It offers her its friendship, courts alliance
with her, praises her for the good order which she
introduces, by arguments drawn from eternity, into the
things of time, and swallows up the river which the
dragon casts out of his mouth against her. When
Christ's disciples are of the world, the world loves its
own.2 They are helping " the earth " to do its work.
Why should the earth not recognise and welcome the
assistance given it by foolish foes as well as friends ?
Therefore it helps the woman.
But side by side with this aspect of the Church
which met the approbation of " the earth," the dragon
saw that she had another aspect of determined hostility
1 John xv. 5, 6. 2 John xv. 19.

xii. 13-xiii. i«.] THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY. 215
to his claims ; and he waxed wroth with her. She had
within her not only degenerate but true members, not
only worldly professors, but those who were one with her
Divine and glorified Lord. These were the rest of her
seed, which keep the commandments of God and the testi
mony of Jesus. They were the " few names in Sardis
which did not defile their garments," x " the remnant
according to the election of grace,"2 "the seed which
the Lord hath blessed."3 Such disciples of Jesus the
dragon could not tolerate, and he went away to make
war with them. Thus is the painful distinction still
kept up which marks all the later part of the Apocalypse.
The spectacle was one over which St. John had mourned
as he beheld it in the Church of his own day : " They
went out from us, but they were not of us ; for if they
had been of us, they would have continued with us :
but they went out, that they might be made manifest
that not all are of us. Little children, it is the last
hour."4 It was a spectacle which he knew would be
repeated so long as the Church of Christ was in contact
with the world ; and he notes it now.
One other point ought to be noticed in connexion
with these verses. The helping of the woman by the
earth seems to be the Scripture parallel to the difficult
words of St. Paul when he says in writing to the
Thessalonians, "And now ye know that which re-
straineth to the end that he may be revealed in his
own season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth
already work : only there is one that restraineth now,
until he be taken out of the way." 6 This " restraining "
power, generally, and in all probability correctly, under-
1 Chap. iii. 4. * Isa. lxi. 9.
» Rom. xi. 5. 4 I John ii. 18, 19.
s 2 Thess. ii. 6, 7.

216 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
stood of the Roman State, is " the earth " of St. John
helping the woman because it is helped by her.
We have been introduced to the first great enemy of
the Church of Christ. It remains only that he shall take
up his position on the field. The next clause therefore
which meets us, and which ought to be read, not as the
first clause of chap, xiii., but as the last of chap, xii.,
and in which the third person ought to be substituted
for the first, describes him as doing so : And he stood
upon the sand of the sea, upon the shore between the
earth and the sea, where he could so command them
both as to justify the " Woe " already uttered over both
in the twelfth verse of the chapter. There we leave
him for a time, only remarking that we are not to
think of ocean lying before us in a calm, but of the rest
less and troubled sea, raised into huge waves by the
storm-winds contending upon it for the mastery and
dashing its waves upon the beach.

CHAPTER X.
THE SECOND AND THIRD GREAT ENEMIES OF THE
CHURCH.
Rev. xiii.
WE have seen that the main purpose of chap. xii.
was to introduce to our notice the dragon, or
Satan, the first great enemy of the Church. The object
of chap. xiii. is to make us acquainted with her second
and third great enemies, and thus to enable us to form
a distinct conception of the powerful foes with which
the followers of Christ have to contend. The two
enemies referred to are respectively styled " a beast "
(ver. i) and "another beast" (ver. n), or, as they are
generally termed, the first beast and the second beast.
To the word " beast " must be assigned in both cases its
fullest and most pregnant sense. The two " beasts "
are not only beasts, but wild beasts, strong, fierce,
rapacious, and cruel, even the apparent softness and
tenderness of the second being associated with those
dragon words which can proceed only from a dragon
heart.1 The first is thus described : —
And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and
seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads
names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a
1 Ver. II.

218 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
leopard, and his feet were as the feet 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 though
it had been slaughtered unto death ; and the stroke of his death was
healed : and the whole earth marvelled after the beast. And they
worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority unto the beast :
and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast,
and who is able to war with him ? And there was given to him a
mouth speaking great things and blasphemies ; and there was given
to him authority to continue forty and two months. And he opened
his mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name, and
His tabernacle, even them that tabernacle in the heaven. And it
was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome
them : and there was given to him authority over every tribe, and
people, and tongue, and nation. And all that dwell on the earth
shall 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 slaughtered. If any one hath an ear, let him hear. If any one
leadeth into captivity, into captivity he goeth : if any one shall kill
with the sword, with the sword must he be killed. Here is the
patience and the faith of the saints (xiii. i4-io).
The description carries us back to the prophecies
of Daniel, and the language of the prophet helps us to
understand that of the Seer. It is thus that the
former speaks : " Daniel spake and said, I saw in
my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of
the heaven brake forth upon the great sea. And four
great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from
another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's
wings : I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked,
and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand
upon two feet as a man, and a man's heart was given
to it. And behold another beast, a second, like to
a bear, and it was raised up on one side, and three
ribs were in his mouth between his teeth : and they
said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After
this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which
had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the

xiii. 1A-10.] SECOND AND THIRD ENEMIES. 219
beast had also four heads ; and dominion was given
to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and
behold a fourth beast, terrible and powerful, and
strong exceedingly ; and it had great iron teeth : it
devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue
with his feet : and it was diverse from all the beasts
that were before it ; and it had ten horns. I con
sidered the horns, and, behold, there came up among
them another horn, a little one, before which three
of the first horns were plucked up by the roots : and,
behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man,
and a mouth speaking great things." x These particulars
embody the prophet's picture of the world-power in
four successive phases of its manifestation, until it
culminates in the " little horn ; " and it is not possible
to doubt that the Seer, while modifying them with
characteristic freedom, finds in them the foundation
of his figure.
In both cases there is the same origin, — the sea swept
by strong winds from every point of the compass, until
the opposing forces rush upon one another, mingle in
wild confusion, send up their spray into the air, and
then, dark with the reflection of the clouds above and
turbid with sand, exhaust themselves with one long,
sullen roar upon the beach. In both cases the
same animals are referred to, though in the vision
of Daniel they are separated, in that of St. John
combined : the leopard, with his sudden, cruel spring ;
the bear, with his slow, relentless brutishness ; and the
lion, with his all-conquering power. Finally, in the
case of both mention is made also of " ten horns,"
which are distinct from the lineal succession of the
1 Dan. vii. 2-8,

THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

heads. So far, therefore, we can have little hesitation
in affirming the conclusion arrived at by most commen
tators that in this beast coming up out of the sea we have
an emblem of that power of the world which, under
the guidance of " the prince of the world," opposes
and persecutes the Church of Christ. Several particu
lars, regarding it, however, still demand our notice.
I. The horns are not to be thought of as distributed
among the heads, but rather as a group by themselves,
constituting along with the seventh head a manifesta
tion of the beast distinct from that expressed by each
of the separate heads. In a certain sense the seventh
head, with its ten horns, is thus one of the seven, for
in them the beast expresses himself. In another
sense it is like the " fourth beast " of the prophet
Daniel : " diverse from all the beasts that were before
it " and even, more terrible than they.
2. The seven heads seem most fittingly to represent
seven powers of the world by which the children of
God had been persecuted in the past or were to be
persecuted in the future. The supposition has indeed
been often made that they represent seven forms of
Roman government or seven emperors who suc
cessively occupied the imperial throne. But neither
of these sevens can be definitely fixed by the advocates
of the general thought ; while the whole strain of the
passage suggests that the beast which, in the form now
dealt with, unquestionably represents a world-power
conterminous with the whole earth, grows up into this
form only in his seventh head and ten horns manifesta
tion. The other heads are rather preparatory to the
last than to be ranked equally along with it. Making a
natural beginning, therefore, with the oldest persecuting
power mentioned in that Bible history of which the

xiii. 16-10.] SECOND AND THIRD ENEMIES. 221
Apocalyptist makes such extensive use, and following
the line down to the Seer's time, the seven heads appear
to represent the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-
Persian, Greek, and Roman powers, together with
that power, wider even than the Roman, which St.
John saw was about to rage in the hurried days of
"the last time" against the simplicity, purity, holiness,
and unworldhness of Christ's little flock. Each of
these powers is a " head." The last is the concentrated
essence, the most universal, the most penetrating,
influence of them all. Taken together, they supply,
as no other interpretation does, what is absolutely
essential to a correct understanding of the figure, —
the idea of completeness.
3. By such a rendering also we gain a natural
interpretation of the head beheld as though it had been
slaughtered unto death ; and the stroke of his death was
healed. Other renderings fail to afford this, for no
successive forms of government at Rome and no
successive emperors furnish a member of their series
of which it may be said that it is first slain and then
brought back to a life of greater energy and more
quickened action. Yet without the thought of death and
resurrection it is impossible to fulfil the conditions of the
probbm. The head spoken of in ver. 3 had not been
merely wounded or smitten : it had been " slaughtered unto
death ; " and it was not merely his " deadly wound,"1
or even " his death-stroke : " 2 it was the " stroke of his
death " that had been healed. There had been actual
death and resurrection from death, the contrast and
travesty of that death and resurrection which had
befallen the Lamb slaughtered and raised again.3 Such
1 Chap. xiii. 3, A.V. 2 Chap. xiii. 3, R.V. » Chap. v. 6.

222 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
a death and resurrection can only be fittingly applied
to that system of worldly influence, or, in other words,
to that "prince of the world," whose power over His
people Jesus was not simply to modify, but to ex
tinguish. The Redeemer of the world came, not to
wound or weaken only, but to " bring to nought," him
that had the power of death — that is, the devil — and
to give perfect and eternal freedom to all who would
allow the chains in which Satan had bound them to be
broken.1 But the death, if we may so speak, of Satan
in relation to them was accompanied by his resurrec
tion in relation to the world, over which the great
enemy of souls was thenceforward to exercise a more
irresistible sway than ever. The time is that already
spoken of in the previous chapter, when the devil went
down into the earth, "having great wrath, knowing
that he hath but a short season." 2 Nor is there any
difficulty in determining to which of the seven heads
of the beast the death and resurrection spoken of apply,
for a comparison of chap. xvii. 8-1 1 with the present
passage shows that it is to the sixth, or Roman, head
that St. John intends his language to refer.
4. Particular attention must be paid to the fact that
it is upon the beast in his resurrection state that we are
to dwell, for the whole earth marvels after the beast
not previously, but subsequently, to the point of time at
which the stroke of his death is healed.3 In that con
dition, too, he is not thought of as raging only in the
Roman empire. His influence is universal. Wherever
men are he is : And there was given to him authority
over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation* The
fourfold division indicates absolute universality; and
1 Heb. ii. 14. * Vers. 3, 4.
* Chap. xii. 12. * Ver. 7.

xiii. ifi-io.] SECOND AND THIRD ENEMIES. 223
the whole earth — that is, all ungodly ones — worships the
beast, even every one whose name has not been
written in the Lamb's book of life.1 Thus raging with
an extent of power never possessed by any form of
Roman government or any emperor of Rome, he rages
also throughout all time, from the first to the second
coming of the Lord, for he has authority given to him lo
continue forty and two months2 the period so denoted ,
embracing the whole Christian era from its beginning
to its close.3
S. Three points more may be noticed before drawing
the general conclusion to which all this leads. In the
first place, the beast is the vicegerent of another power
which acts through him and by means of him. The
dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great
authority. The dragon himself does not directly act.
He has his representative, or vicar, or substitute, in the
beast. In the second place, the worship paid by " the
whole earth" to the beast, when it cries, Who is like
unto the beast ? and who is able to make war with him ?
is an obvious imitation of the ascriptions of praise to
God contained in not a few passages of the Old Testa
ment : " Who is like unto the Lord our God, that hath
His seat on high?"; "To whom then will ye liken
Me, that I should be equal to him ? saith the Holy
One ; " " Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all
the remnant of the house of Israel. ... To whom
will ye liken Me, and make Me equal, and compare Me,
that we may be like ? " 4 In the third place, the beast
opens his mouth, not only to blaspheme against God,
but against His tabernacle, even them that tabernacle in

1 Ver. 8. » Comp p. 175.
1 Ver. 5. * Ps. cxiii. 5 ; Isa. xl. 25, xlvi. 3, 5.

224 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
the heaven} expressions in which the use of the word
' tabernacle " leads directly to the thought of opposi
tion to Him who became flesh and tabernacled among
us, and who now spreads His tabernacle over His
saints.2 The whole description of the beast is thus, in multi
plied particulars, a travesty of the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, the Head and King, the Guardian and Pro
tector, of His people. Like the latter, the former is
the representative, the "sent," of an unseen power,
by whom all authority is " given " him ; he has his
death and his resurrection from the dead ; he has his
throngs of marvelling and enthusiastic worshippers ;
his authority over those who own his sway is limited
by no national boundaries, but is conterminous with the
whole world ; he gathers up and unites in himself all
the scattered elements of darkness and enmity to the
truth which had previously existed among men, and
from which the Church of God had suffered.
What then can this first beast be ? Not Rome,
either pagan or papal ; not any single form of earthly
government, however strong; not any Roman emperor,
however vicious or cruel ; but the general influence of
the world, in so far as it is opposed to God, substituting
the human for the Divine, the seen for the unseen, the
temporal for the eternal. He is the impersonation of
that world of which St. Paul writes, " We received,
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is
of God,"3 of which St. James speaks when he says,
" Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world
maketh himself an enemy of God," 4 and in regard to
which St. John exhorts, " Love not the world, neither
¦ Ver. 6. * I Cor. ii. 12. Comp. Gal. vi. 14.
* John i. 14; Rev. vii. 15. ' James iv. 4.

xiii. 16-10.] SECOND AND THIRD ENEMIES. 225

the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust
of the eyes, and the vain-glory of life, is not of the
Father, but is of the world." x This beast, in short, is
the world viewed in that aspect in which our Lord
Himself could say of it that the devil was its prince,
which He told His disciples He had overcome, and in
regard to which He prayed in His high-priestly prayer,
" I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the
world, but that Thou shouldest keep them out of the
evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not
of the world."2
The influence of the beast here spoken of is therefore
confined to no party, or sect, or age. It may be found
in the Church and in the State, in every society, in every
family, or even in every heart, for wherever man is
ruled by the seen instead of the unseen or by the
material instead of the spiritual, there " the world " is.
"Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but
against the principalities, against the powers, against the
world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual
hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." 3
Against this foe the true life of the saints will be
preserved. Nothing can harm the life that is hid with
Christ in God. But the saints may nevertheless be
troubled, and persecuted, and killed, as were the wit
nesses of chap, xi., by the beast that had given unto
him to make war with them, and to overcome them.
Such is the thought that leads to the last words of the
paragraph with which we are now dealing : If any one
1 I John ii. 15, 16.
* John xiv. 30; xvi. 33; xvii. 15, 16.
• Eph. vi. 12.

226 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
leadeth into captivity, into captivity he goeth; if any one
shall kill with the nword, with the sword must he be
killed. In the great law of God, the lex talionis, con
solation is given to the persecuted. Their enemies
would lead them into captivity, but a worse captivity
awaits themselves. They would kill with the sword,
but with a sharper sword than that of human power
they shall themselves be killed. Is there not enough
in that to inspire the saints with patience and faith ?
Well may they endure with unfainting hearts when
they remember who is upon their side, for " it is a
righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to
them that afflict them," and to them that are afflicted
" rest " x— rest with Apostles, prophets, martyrs, the
whole Church of God, rest never again to be disturbed
either by sin or sorrow. Here is the patience and the
faith of the saints.
The second enemy of the Church, or the first beast,
has been described. St. John now proceeds to the
third enemy, or the second beast : —
And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth ; and he had
two horns like unto a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. And he exer-
ciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight ; and he maketh
the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, the
stroke of whose death was healed. And he doeth great signs, that
he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the
earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on
the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in
the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth,
that they should make an image to the beast, who hath the stroke of
the sword, and lived. And it was given unto him to give breath to it,
even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should
both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image
of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, the small and the
great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that
1 2 Thess. i. 6, 7.

xiii. 11-17.] SECOND AND THIRD ENEMIES. 227
there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their
forehead : and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he
that hath the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his
name (xiii. II-17).
The first beast came up out of "the sea" (ver. 1) ;
the second beast comes up out of the earth : and the
contrast, so strongly marked, between these two sources,
makes it necessary to draw a clear and definite line of
distinction between the origin of the one beast and
that of the other. The " sea," however, both in the
Old Testament and in the New, is the symbol of the
mass of the Gentile nations, of the heathen world in its
condition of alienation from God and true religious life.
In contrast with this, the " earth," as here used, must
be the symbol of the Jews, among whom, to whatever
extent they had abused their privileges, the Almighty
had revealed Himself in a special manner, showing
"His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judg
ments unto Israel."1 The Jews were an agricultural,
not a commercial, people ; and upon that great high
way along which the commerce of the nations poured
they looked with suspicion and dislike. Hence the sea,
in its restlessness and barrenness, became to them the
emblem of an irreligious world ; the land, in its quiet
and fruitfulness, the emblem of religion with all its
blessings. In this sense the contrast here must be
understood ; and the statement as to the different origin
of the first and second beasts is of itself sufficient to
determine that, while the former belongs to a secular,
the latter belongs to a religious, sphere. Many other
particulars mentioned in connexion with the second
beast confirm this conclusion. 1 Ps. cxlvii. 19.

228 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
I. The two horns like unto a lamb are unquestionably
a travesty of the " seven horns " of the Lamb, so often
spoken of in these visions ; and the description carries
us to the thought of Antichrist, of one who sets
himself up as the true Christ, of one who, professing
to imitate the Redeemer, is yet His opposite.
2. The words And he spoke as a dragon remind us
of the description given by our Lord of those false
teachers who " come in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
are ravening wolves,"1 as well as of the language of
St. Paul when he warns the Ephesian elders that
after his departing " grievous wolves shall enter in
among them, not sparing the flock." 2
3. The function to which this beast devotes himself
is religious, not secular. He maketh the earth and
them that dwell therein to worship the first beast; and,
having persuaded them to make an image to that
beast, it was given unto him to give breath to it, even
to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast
should both speak, and cause that as many as should not
worship the image of the beast should be killed?
4. The great signs and wonders done by this beast,
such as making fire to come down out of heaven upon
the earth in the sight of men, are a reminiscence of the
prophet Elijah at Carmel ; while the signs by which
he successfully deceives the world take us again to
the words of Jesus : " There shall arise false Christs,
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and
wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the
elect." * St. Paul's words also, when he speaks of
the man of sin, make similar mention of his " signs : "

* Matt. vii. 15. * Vers. 12, 15.
* Acts xx. 29. * Matt xxiv. 24.

xiii. 11-17.] SECOND AND THIRD ENEMIES. 229
" Whose coming is according to the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and
with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that are
perishing; because they received not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved."1
5. Finally, the fact that this beast bears the name
of "the false prophet,"2 the very term used by St.
John when speaking of the false teachers who had
arisen in his day,3 may surely be accepted as con
clusive that we have here a symbol of the antichrists
of the first Epistle of that Apostle. Of the antichrists,
let it be observed, not of Antichrist as a single indi
vidual manifestation. For there is a characteristic of
this beast which leads to the impression that more
than one agent is included under the terms of the
symbol. The beast has two horns. Why two ? We
may be sure that the circumstance is not without a
meaning, and that it is not determined only by the
fact that the animal referred to has in its natural
condition the rudiments of no more than two. In
other visions of the Apocalypse we read of a lamb
with " seven horns," and of a head of the beast with
" ten horns," the numbers in both cases being sym
bolical. The " two horns " now spoken of must
ajso be symbolical ; and thus viewed, the expression
leads us to the thought of the two witnesses, of
the two prophets of truth, spoken of in chap. xi. But
these two witnesses represent all faithful witnesses
for Christ ; and, in like manner, the two horns
represent the many perverters of the Christian faith
beheld by the Seer springing up around him, who,
1 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10.
* Comp. chaps, xvi. 13; xix. 20; xx. 10.
* I John iv. I.

230 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
professing to be Apostles of the Lamb, endeavoured
to overthrow His Gospel.
These considerations lead to a natural and simple
interpretation of what is meant by the second beast.
The plausible interpretation suggested by many of the
ablest commentators on this book, that by the second
beast is meant " worldly wisdom, comprehending every
thing in learning, science and art which human nature
of itself, in its civilized state, can attain to, the worldly
power in its more refined and spiritual elements, its
prophetical or priestly class,"1 must be unhesitatingly
dismissed. It fails to apprehend the very essence of
the symbol. It speaks of a secular and mundane in
fluence, when the whole point of St. John's words lies
in this, — that the influence of which he speaks is reli
gious. Not in anything springing out of the world
in its ordinary sense, but in something springing out
of the Church and the Church's faith, is the meaning
of the Apostle to be sought.
Was there anything then in St. John's own day that
might have suggested the figure thus employed ? Had
he ever witnessed any spectacle that might have
burned such thoughts into his soul ? Let us turn to
his Gospel and learn from it to look upon the world as
it was when it met his eyes. What had he seen, and
seen with an indignation that penetrates to the core his
narrative of his Master's life ? He had seen the Divine
institution of Judaism, designed by the God of Israel
to prepare the way for the Light and the Life of men,
perverted by its appointed guardians, and made an
instrument for blinding instead of enlightening the
soul. He had seen the Eternal Son, in all the glory of
1 Fairbairn, On Prophecy, p. 328.

xiii. 11-17.] SECOND AND THIRD ENEMIES. 231
His "grace" and "truth," coming to the things that
were His own, and yet the men that were His own
rejecting Him, under the influence of their selfish
religious guides. He had seen the Temple, which
ought to have been filled with the prayers of a spiritual
worship, profaned by worldly traffic and the love of
gain. Nay more, he remembered one scene so terrible
that it could never be forgotten by him, when in the
judgment-hall of Pilate even that unscrupulous repre
sentative of Roman power had again and again en
deavoured to set Jesus free, and when the Jews had
only succeeded in accomplishing their plan by the
argument, " If thou release this man, thou art not
Caesar's friend." x They Caesar's friends ! They attach
value to honours bestowed by Caesar ! O vile hypo
crisy ! O dark extremity of hate ! Judaism at the
feet of Caesar ! So powerfully had the thought of these
things taken possession of the mind of the beloved
disciple, so deeply was he moved by the narrowness
and bigotry and fanaticism which had usurped the
place of generosity and tenderness and love, that, in
order to find utterance for his feelings, he had been
compelled to put a new meaning into an old word, and
to concentrate into the term "the Jews" everything
most opposed to Christ and Christianity.
Nor was it only in Judaism that St. John had seen
the spirit of religion so overmastered by the spirit of
the world that it became the world's slave. He had
witnessed the same thing in Heathenism. It is by no
means improbable that when he speaks of the image of
the beast he may also think of those images of Caesar
the worshipping of which was everywhere made the
1 John xix. 12.

232 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
test of devotion to the Roman State and of abjuration
of the Christian faith. There again the forms and
sanctions of religion had been used to strengthen the
dominion of secular power and worldly force. Both
Judaism and Heathenism, in short, supplied the
thoughts which, translated into the language of sym
bolism, are expressed in the conception of the second
beast and its relation to the first.
Yet we are not to imagine that, though St. John
started from these things, his vision was confined to
them. He thinks not of Jew or heathen only at a
particular era, but of man ; not of human nature only
as it appears amidst the special circumstances of his
own day, but as it appears everywhere and throughout
all time. He is not satisfied with dwelling upon exist
ing phenomena alone. He penetrates to the principles
from which they spring. And wherever he sees a spirit
professing to uphold religion, but objecting to all the
unpalatable truths with which it is connected in the
Christian faith, wherever he sees the gate to future
glory made wide instead of narrow and the way broad
instead of straitened, there he beholds the dire combina
tion of the first and second beasts presented in this
chapter. The light has become darkness, and how
great is the darkness I1 The salt has lost its savour,
and is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill.2
In speaking of the subserviency of the second to the
first beast, the Seer had spoken of a mark given to all
the followers of the latter on their right hand, or upon
their forehead, and without which no one was to be
admitted to the privileges of their association or of
buying or selling in their city. He had further
1 Matt. vi. 23. ' Luke xiv. 34, 35.

xiii. 18.] SECOND AND THIRD ENEMIES. 233
described this mark as being either the name of the
beast or the number of his name. To explain more fully
the nature of this " mark " appears to be the aim of
the last verse of the chapter : —
Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the
number of the beast : for it is the number of a man ; and his number
is six hundred and sixty and six (xiii. 18).
To discuss with anything like fulness the difficult
questions connected with these words would require
a volume rather than the few sentences at the close
of a chapter that can be here devoted to it. Referring,
therefore, his readers to what he has elsewhere written
on this subject,1 the writer can only make one or two
brief remarks, in order to point out the path in which
the solution of the problems suggested by the words
must be sought.
It is indeed remarkable that the Seer should speak
at all of " the number " of the name of the beast ; that
is, of the number which would be gained by adding
together the numbers represented by the several letters
of the name. Why not be content with the name
itself? Throughout this book the followers of Christ
are never spoken of as stamped with a number, but
either with the name of the Father or the Son, or with
a new name which no one "knoweth" saving he that
receiveth it.2 Now the principle of Antithesis or
Contrast, which so largely rules the structure of the
Apocalypse, might lead us to expect a similar procedure
in the case of the followers of the beast. Why then
is it not resorted to ?

1 The Revelation of St. John: Baird Lectures published by Macmillan
and Co., second edition, p. 142, etc., 319, etc.
2 Comp. chaps, iii. 12; xiv. 1 ; ii. 17.

234 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
I. St. John may not himself have known the name.
He may have been acquainted only with the character
of the beast, and with the fact, too often overlooked
by inquirers, that to that character its name, when
made known, must correspond. It is not any name, any
designation, by which the beast may be individualized,
that will fulfil the conditions of his thought. No reader
of St. John's writings can have failed to notice that
to him the word " name " is far more than a mere
appellative. It expresses the inner nature of the person
to whom it is applied. The " name " of the Father
expresses the character of the Father, that of the Son
the character of the Son. The Seer, therefore, might
be satisfied in the present instance with his conviction
that the name of the beast, whatever it be, must be
a name which will express the inner nature of the
beast ; and he may have asked no more. Not only so.
When we enter into the style of the Apostle's thought,
we may even inquire whether it was possible for a
Christian to know the name of the beast in the sense
which the word " name" demands. No man could know
the new name written upon the white stone given to
him that overcometh " but he that receiveth it." x In
other words, no one but a Christian indeed could have
that Christian experience which would enable him to
understand the " new name." In like manner now,
St. John may have felt that it was not possible for the
followers of Christ to know the name of Antichrist.
Antichristian experience alone could teach the name
of Antichrist, service of the beast the name of the
beast ; and such experience no Christian could have.
But this need not hinder him from giving the number.
1 Chap. ii. 17. Comp. John i. 31 ; iv. 32.

xiii. 18.] SECOND AND THIRD ENEMIES. 235
The "number" spoke only of general character and
fate ; and knowledge of it did not imply, like knowledge
of the " name," communion of spirit with him to whom
the name belonged.
2. From this it follows that not the " name," but the
"number" of the name, is of importance in the Apostle's
view. The name no doubt must have a meaning which,
taken even by itself, would be portentous ; but, accord
ing to the artificial system of thought here followed,
the " number " is the real portent, the real bearer of
the Divine message of wrath and doom.
3. This is precisely the lesson borne by the number
666. The number six itself awakened a feeling of
dread in the breast of the Jew who felt the significance
of numbers. It fell below the sacred number seven
just as much as eight went beyond it. This last
number denoted more than the simple possession of
the Divine. As in the case of circumcision on the
eighth day, of the "great day" of the feast on the
eighth day, or of the resurrection of our Lord on the
first day of the week, following the previous seven days,
it expressed a new beginning in active power. By
a similar process the number six was held to signify
inability to reach the sacred point and hopeless falling
short of it. To the Jew there was thus a doom upon
the number six even when it stood alone. Triple it ;
let there be a multiple of it by ten and then a second
time by ten until you obtain three mysterious sixes
following one another, 666; and we have represented
a potency of evil than which there can be none greater,
a direfulness of fate than which there can be none
worse. The number then is important, not the name.
Putting ourselves into the position of the time, we listen
to the words, His number is six hundred sixty and six;

236 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
and we have enough to make us tremble. Nay, there
is in them a depth of sin and a weight of punishment
which no one can "know" but he who has committed
the sin and shared the punishment.
From all that has been said it would seem that there
is no possibility of finding the name of the beast in the
name of any single individual who has yet appeared
upon the stage of history. It may well be that in Nero,
or Domitian, or any other persecutor of the Church,
the Seer beheld a type of the beast; but the whole
strain of the chapter forbids the supposition that the
meaning of the name is exhausted in any single indi
vidual. No merely human ruler, no ruler over merely
a portion of the world however large, no ruler who had
not died and risen from the grave, and who after his
resurrection had not been hailed with enthusiasm by
" every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation," can
be the beast referred to. Whether St. John expected
such a ruler in the future ; whether this beast, like the
" little horn " of Daniel, which had " eyes like the eyes
of a man, and a mouth speaking great things,"1 was not
only bestial, but human ; or whether in its individuality
it was no more than a personification of antichristian
sin and cruelty, is another and a more difficult question.
Yet his tendency to represent abstract ideas by con
crete images would lead to the latter rather than the
former supposition. One thing is clear : that the bestial
principle was already working, although it might not
have reached its full development. The " many anti
christs "2 might be the precursors of a still more terrible
Antichrist, but they worked in the same spirit and
towards the same end. Nor are they to be less the
¦ Dan. vii. 8. 2 Comp. 1 John ii. 18.

xiii. 1 8.] SECOND AND THIRD ENEMIES. 237
object of alienation and abhorrence to the Christian now
than when they may be concentrated in " the lawless
one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of
His mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of
His coming. 1 3 Thess. il 8.

CHAPTER XI.
THE LAMB ON THE MOUNT ZION AND THE HAR
VEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD.
Rev. xiv.
THE twelfth and thirteenth chapters of this book
were designed to set before us a picture of the
three great enemies of the Church of Christ. We have
been told of the dragon, the principle and root of all
the evil, whether inward or outward, from which that
Church suffers. He is the first enemy. We have
been further told of the first beast, of that power or
prince of the world to whom the dragon has committed
his authority. He is the second enemy. Lastly, we
have been told of that false spirit of religion which
unites itself to the world, and which, even more
opposed than the world itself to the unworldly spirit of
Christianity, makes the relation of God's children to the
world worse than it might otherwise have been. The
picture thus presented is in the highest degree fitted to
depress and to discourage. The thought more espe
cially of faithlessness in the Church fills the heart with
sorrow. The saddest feature in the sufferings of Jesus
was that He was "wounded in the house of His
friends ; " and there is a greater than ordinary depth
of pathos in the words with which the beloved disciple
draws to a close his record of his Master's struggle

xiv.] LAMB ON THE MOUNT ZION. 239
with the Jews : " These things spake Jesus ; and He
departed, and was hidden from them. But though He
had done so many signs before them, yet they believed
not on Him : that the word of Isaiah the prophet might
be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed
our report ? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord
been revealed ? " x
Even then, however, it was not wholly darkness and
defeat, for the Evangelist immediately adds, " Never
theless even of the rulers many believed on Him ; " and
he closes the struggle with the words of calm self-
confidence on the part of Jesus, " The things therefore
which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto Me,
so I speak." 2 Thus also is it here, and we pass from
the dark spectacle on which our eyes have rested to a
scene of heavenly light, and beauty, and repose. The
reader may indeed at first imagine that the symmetry
of structure which has been pointed out as a character
istic of the Apocalypse is not preserved by the arrange
ment of its parts in the present instance. We are
about to meet in the following chapter the third and
last series of plagues ; and we might perhaps expect
that the consolatory visions contained in this chapter
ought to have found a place between the sixth and
seventh Bowls, just as the consolatory visions of chap. vii.
and of chaps, x. and xi. found their place between the
sixth and seventh Seals and the sixth and seventh
Trumpets. Instead of this the seventh Bowl, at chap.
xv. 17, immediately follows the sixth, at ver. 12 of the
same chapter ; and the visions of encouragement con
tained in the chapter before us precede all the Bowls.
The explanation may be that the Bowls are the last and
1 John xii. 36-38. 2 Vers. 42, 50.

240 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

highest series of judgments, and that when they begin
there can be no more pause. One plague must rush
upon another till the end is reached. The final judg
ments brook neither interruption nor delay.
In this spirit we turn to the first vision of chap. xiv. : —
And I saw, and, behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and
with Him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having His name
and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I
heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the
voice of a great thunder : and the voice which I heard was as the
voice of harpers harping with their harps : and-they sang as it were
a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and
the elders : and no man could learn the song save the hundred and
forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of
the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for
they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whitherso
ever He goeth. These were purchased from among men, a first-fruits
unto God and unto the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no lie ;
they are without blemish (xiv. 1-5).
The scene of the vision is " the mount Zion," that
Zion so often spoken of both in the Old and in the New
Testament as God's peculiar seat, and in the eyes of
Israel famous for the beauty of its morning dews.1 It
is the Zion in which God " dwells," 2 the mount Zion
which He "loved,"3 and "out of which salvation
comes." 4 It is that " holy hill of Zion " upon which
God set the Son as King when He said to Him, "Thou
art My Son ; this day have I begotten Thee." 6 It is
that Zion, too, to which " the ransomed of the Lord
shall return, and come with singing ; and everlasting
joy shall be upon their heads."6 Finally, it is that
home of which the sacred writer, writing to the
Hebrews, says, "Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and
1 Ps. cxxxiii. 3. * Ps. lxxviii. 68. * Ps. ii. 6, 7.
2 Ps. ix. II. * Fs. xiv. 7. • Isa. xxxv. 10

I-5-] LAMB ON THE MOUNT ZION. 241

unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general
assembly and Church of the first-born, who are enrolled
in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the
Mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaketh better than that of Abel."1
Upon this mount Zion the Lamb — that is, the crucified
and risen Lamb of chap. v. — stands, firm, self-possessed,
and calm.
There is more, however, than outward beauty or
sacred memories to mark the scene to which we are in
troduced. Mount Zion may be "beautiful in elevation,
the joy of the whole earth, on the sides of the north, the
city of the great King." 2 But there is music for the ear
as well as beauty for the eye. The mount resounds with
song, rich and full of meaning to those who can under
stand it. A voice is heard from heaven which seems
to be distinguished from the voice of the hundred and
forty and four thousand to be immediately spoken of.
We are not told from whom it comes ; but it is there,
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great
thunder, and as the voice of harpers harping with their
harps. Majesty and sweetness mark it. It is the
music that is ever in God's presence, not the music of
angels only, or glorified saints, or a redeemed creation.
More probably it is that of all of them together. And
the song which they sing is new, like that of chap. v. 9,
which is sung by " the four living creatures and the
four-and-twenty elders, who have each one a harp, and
golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the
saints." That song the Church on earth understands,

1 Heb. xii. 22-24. ' Ps- xlviiL 2. 16

242 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
and she alone can understand. It spoke of truths
which the redeemed alone could appreciate, and of joys
which they alone could value. There is a communion
of saints, of all saints on earth and of all who fill the
courts of the Lord's house on high. Even now the
Church can listen with ravished ear to songs which
she shall hereafter join in singing.
Standing beside the Lamb upon Mount Zion, there
are a hundred and forty and four thousand, having the
Lamb's name and the name of His Father written on their
foreheads, in token of their priestly state. We cannot
avoid asking, Are these the same hundred and forty
and four thousand of whom we have read in chap. vii. as
sealed upon their foreheads, or are they different ? The
natural inference is that they are the same. To use
such a peculiar number of two different portions of the
Church of God would lead to a confusion inconsistent
with the usually plain and direct, even though mystical,
statements of this book. Besides which they have the
mark or seal of God in both cases on the same part of
their bodies, — the forehead. It is true that the definite
article is not prefixed to the number ; but neither is that
article prefixed to the "glassy sea" of chap. xv. I, and
yet no one doubts that this is the same "glassy sea"
as that of chap. iv. Besides which the absence of the
article may be accounted for by the fact that the
reference ia not directly to the hundred and forty and
four thousand of chap. vii. 4, but to the innumerable
multitude of chap. vii. 9.1 We have already seen,
however, that these two companies are the same,
although the persons composing them are viewed in
different lights ; and the hundred and forty and four
1 Comp. Lee in Speaker's Commentary in loc. The distinction
between the two references is there wrongly given.

xiv. 1-5.] LAMB ON THE MOUNT ZION. 243

thousand here correspond, not to the first, but to the
second, company. They are in full possession of their
Christian privileges and joys. They are not "in
heaven," in the ordinary meaning of that term. They
are on earth. But the two companies formerly men
tioned meet in them. They are both sealed, and in
the presence of the Lamb.
The character of the hundred and forty and four
thousand next claims our thoughts.
1. They were not defiled with women, for they are
virgins. The words cannot be literally understood,
but must be taken in the sense of similar words of
the Apostle Paul, when, writing to the Corinthians,
he says, " For I am jealous over you with a godly
jealousy : for I espoused you to one Husband, that I
might present you as a pure virgin to Christ." x Such
" a pure virgin " were the hundred and forty and
four thousand now standing upon the mount Zion.
They had renounced all that unfaithfulness to God and
to Divine truth which is so often spoken of in the
Old Testament as spiritual fornication or adultery.
They had renounced all sin. In the language of St.
John in his first Epistle, they had " the true God, and
eternal life." They had "guarded themselves from
idols."2 2. They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.
They shrink from no part of the Redeemer's life
whether on earth or in heaven. They follow Him in
His humiliation, labours, sufferings, death, resurrection,
and ascension. They obey the command "Follow
thou Me " 3 in prosperity or adversity, in joy or sorrow,
in persecution or triumph. Wherever their Lord is

1 2 Cor. xi. 2. 2 I John v. 20, 21. * John xxi. 22.

244 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
they also are, one with Him, members of His Body
and partakers of His Spirit.
3. They are purchased from among men, a first-fruits
unto God and unto the Lamb. And in their mouth was
found no lie ; they are without blemish. Upon the fact
that they are " purchased " it is unnecessary to dwell.
We have already met with the expression in chap.
v. 9, in one of the triumphant songs of the redeemed.
Nor does it seem needful to speak of the moral qualifi
cations here enumerated, further than to observe that
in other parts of this book the " lie " is expressly said
to exclude from the new Jerusalem, and to be a mark
of those upon whom the door is shut,1 while the
epithet " without blemish " is elsewhere, on more than
one occasion, applied to our Lord.2
The appellation "a first-fruits" demands more notice.
The figure is drawn from the well-known offering of
" first-fruits " under the Jewish law, in which the first
portion of any harvest was dedicated to God, in token
that the whole belonged to Him, and was recognised
as His. Hence it always implies that something of
the same kind will follow it, and in this sense it is often
used in the New Testament : " If the first-fruit is holy,
so is the lump ; " " Epaenetus, who is the first-fruits of
Asia unto Christ ; " " Now hath Christ been raised
from the dead, the first-fruits of them that are asleep ; "
" Ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-
fruits of Achaia."3 In like manner the mention of the
hundred and fcrty and four thousand as " first-fruits "
suggests the thought of something to follow. What
that is it is more difficult to say. It can hardly be
1 Chaps, xxi. 27 ; xxii. 15.
* Heb. ix. 14 ; I Pet. i. 19.
Rom. xi. 16 xvi. 5 ; I Cor. xv. 20; xvi. 15.

xiv. 6-20.] HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD. 245
other Christians belonging to a later age of the Church's
history upon earth, for the end is come. It can hardly
be Christians who have done or suffered more than
other members of the Christian family, for in St. John's
eyes all Christians are united to Christ, alike in
work and martyrdom. Only one supposition remains.
The hundred and forty and four thousand, as the whole
Church of God, are spoken of in the sense in which the
same expression is used by the Apostle James : " Of
His own will He brought us forth by the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His
creatures." x Not as the first portion of the Church on
earth, to be followed by another portion, but as the
first portion of a kingdom of God wider and larger than
the Church, are the words to be understood. The
whole Church is God's first-fruits ; and when she is laid
upon His altar, we have the promise that a time is
coming when creation shall follow in her train, when
" it shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the liberty of the glory of the children of God," 2
when "the mountains and the hills shall break forth
before the Redeemer into singing, and all the trees of
the field shall clap their hands." 3
Why shall nature thus rejoice before the Lord ? Let
the Psalmist answer : " For He cometh, for He cometh
t4 judge the earth : He shall judge the world with
righteousness, and the people with His truth." 4 This
thought may introduce us to the next portion of the
chapter : —
And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having an eternal
gospel to proclaim over them that sit on the earth, and over every
nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people ; and he saith with a great
1 James i. 18. * Isa. Iv. 12.
* Rom. viii. 21. * Ps. xcvi. 13.

246 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
voice, Fear God, and give Him glory ; for the hour of His judgment is
come : and worship Him that made the heaven, and the earth, and
sea, and fountains of waters.
And another, a second angel, followed, saying, Fallen, fallen, is
Babylon the great, which hath made all the nations to drink of the
wine of the wrath of her fornication.
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great
voice, If any man worshippeth the beast and his image, and receiveth
a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the
wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled unmixed in the cup of
His anger ; 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 goeth up unto ages of ages : and they
have no rest day and night, they that worship the beast and his
image, and whoso receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the
patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and
the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write,
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea,
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their toils ; for their works
follow with them.
And I saw, and behold a white cloud, and on the cloud I saw
One sitting like unto a Son of man, having on His head a golden
crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great
voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Send forth Thy sickle, and reap :
for the hour to reap is come ; for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.
And He that sat on the cloud cast His sickle upon the earth ; and the
earth was reaped.
And another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven,
he also having a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the altar, he that hath power
over fire; and he called with a great voice to him that had the sharp
sickle, saying, Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of
the vine of the earth ; for her bunches of grapes are ripe. And the
angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the
earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great winepress, of the wrath
of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and there
came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the
horses, as far as a th - usand and six hundred furlongs (xiv. 6-20).
The first point to be noticed in connexion with these
verses is their structure, for the structure is of im
portance to the interpretation. The passage as a

xiv.6-20.] HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD. 247
whole, it will be easily observed, consists of seven
parts, the first three and the last three being introduced
by an " angel," while the central or chief part is
occupied with One who, from the description, can be
no other than our Lord Himself. In this part it is
also obvious that the Lord comes to wind up the history
of the world, and to gather in that harvest of Hit;
people which is already fully or even overripe. There
can be no doubt, therefore, that we are here at
the very close of the present dispensation ; and, as
five out of the six parts which are grouped around
the central figure are occupied with judgment on the
wicked, the presumption is that the only remaining
part, the first of the six, will be occupied with the
same topic.
In this first part indeed we read of an eternal gospel
proclaimed over them that sit on the earth, and over every
nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people ; and the first
impression made upon us is that we have here a
universal and final proclamation of the glad tidings
of great joy, in order that the world may yet, at the
last moment, repent, believe, and be saved. But such
an interpretation, however plausible and generally
accepted, must be set aside. The light thrown upon
the words by their position in the series of seven parts
already spoken of is a powerful argument against it.
Everything in the passage itself leads to the same con
clusion. We do not read, as we ought, were this the
meaning, to have read, of " the," but of " an," eternal
gospel. This gospel is proclaimed, not "unto," but
" over," those to whom it is addressed. Its hearers do
not "dwell," as in both the Authorised and Revised
Versions, but, as in the margin of the latter, " sit," on
the earth, in the sinful world, in the carelessness of

248 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
pride and self-confident security. Thus the great
harlot " sitteth upon many waters ; " and thus Babylon
says in her heart, " I sit a queen, and am no widow,
and shall in no wise see mourning."1 There is no
humiliation, no spirit of repentance, no preparation for
the Gospel, here ; while the mention of the " earth " and
the fourfold division of its inhabitants lead us to think
of men continuing in their sins, over whom a doom
is to be pronounced.2 Still further, the words put into
the mouth of him who speaks " with a great voice,"
and which appear to contain the substance of the
gospel thus proclaimed, have in them no sound of
mercy, no story of love, no mention of the name of
Jesus. They speak of fearing God and giving glory to
Him, as even the lost may do,3 of the hour, not even
the "day," of His judgment ; and they describe the
rule of the great Creator by bringing together the four
things — the heaven, and the earth, and sea, and fountains
of waters — upon which judgment has already fallen
in the series of the Trumpets, and is yet to fall in
that of the Bowls.4 Lastly, the description given of
the angel reminds us so much of the description given
of the "eagle" in chap. viii. 13 as to make it at least
probable that his mission is a similar one of woe.
In the light of all these circumstances, we seem
compelled to come to the conclusion that the "gospel"
referred to is a proclamation of judgment, that it is
that side of the Saviour's mission in which He appears
as the winnowing fan by which His enemies are
scattered as the chaff, while His disciples are gathered
as the wheat. There is no intimation here, then, of
a conversion of the world. The world stands self-
1 Chaps, xvii. I ; xviii. J. ' Comp. James ii. 19.
* Comp. chaps, xi. 9 ; xiii. 7. * Chaps, viii., xv.

xiv. 6-20.] HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD. 249
convicted before the bar of judgment, to hear its doom.
The cry of the second angel corresponds to that of
the first. It proclaims the fall of Babylon and its cause.
The deeply interesting questions relating to this city
will meet us at a later point. In the meantime it is
enough to observe that Babylon is described as fallen.
The Judge is not only standing at the door : He has
begun His work.
The words of the third angel continue the strain
thus begun, and constitute the most terrible picture
of the fate of the ungodly to be found in Scripture.
The eye shrinks from the spectacle. The heart fails
with fear when the words are read. That wine of the
wrath of God which is mingled unmixed in the cup of
His anger, that wine into which, contrary to the usage
of the time, no water, no mitigating element, has been
allowed to enter ; that torment with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of
the Lamb ; that smoke of their torment going up unto
ages of ages ; that no-rest day and night, of so different
a kind from the no-rest of which we have read in
chap. iv. 8 — all present a picture from which we can
hardly do aught else than turn away with trembling.
Can this be the Gospel of Jesus, the Lamb of God ?
Can this be a revelation given to the disciple whom
Jesus loved, and who had entered so deeply into
his Master's spirit of tenderness and compassion for
the sinner ?
1. Let us consider that the words are addressed,
not directly to sinners, but to the Church of Christ,
which is safe from the threatened doom; not to the
former that they may be led to repentance, but to the
latter that through the thought of what she has escaped
she may be filled with eternal gratitude and joy.

250 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
2. Let us notice the degree to which sin is here
supposed to have developed ; that it is not the sin
of Mary in the house of Simon, of the penitent thief,
of the Philippian gaoler, or of the publicans and harlots
who gathered around our Lord in the days of His
flesh to listen tc Him, but sin bold, determined,
loved, and clung to as the sinner's self-chosen good,
the sin of sinners who will die for sin as martyrs
die for Christ and holiness. 3. Let us observe that,
whatever the angel may mean, he certainly does
not speak of never-ending existence in never-ending
torment, for the words of the original unhappily
translated both in the Authorised and Revised Versions
" for ever and ever " ought properly to be rendered
" unto ages of ages ; " x and, distinguished as they are
on this occasion alone in the Apocalypse from the
first of these expressions by the absence of the Greek
articles, they ought not to be translated in the same
way. 4. Let us recall the strong figures of speech
in which the inhabitants of the East were wont to
give utterance to their feelings, figures illustrated in
the present instance by the mention of that "fire
and brimstone " which no man will interpret literally,
as well as by the language of St. Jude when he
describes Sodom and Gomorrah as "an example of
eternal fire."2 5. Let us remember that hatred of
sin is the correlative of love of goodness, and that
the kingdom of God cannot be fully established in
the world until sin has been completely banished from
it. 6. Above all, let us mark carefully the distinction,
so often forced upon us in the writings of St. John,
between sinners in the ordinary sense and the system
1 They are so rendered in the margin of the Revised Version.
* Jude 7 (margin of R.V.).

xiv. 6-20.] HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD. 251
of sin to which other sinners cling in deadliest enmity
to God and righteousness ; and, as we do all this,
the words of the third angel will produce on us another
than their first impression. So far as the human
being is before us we shall be moved only to com
passion and eagerness to save. But his sin, the sin
which has mastered the Divinely implanted elements
of his nature, which has fouled what God made pure
and embittered what God made sweet, the sin which
has subjected one created in the nobility of the image
of God to the miserable thraldom of the devil, the
sin the thought of which we can separate, like the
Apostle Paul, from the " I " of man's true nature x — of
that sin we can only say, Let the wrath of God be
poured out upon it unmingled with mercy; let it
be destroyed with a destruction the memory of which
shall last "unto ages of ages" and even take its place
amidst the verities sustaining the throne of the Eternal
and securing the obedience and the happiness of His
creatures.2 If a minister of Christ thinks that he may
gather from this passage, or others similar to it,
a commission to go to sinners rather than to sin with
" tidings of damnation," he mistakes alike the Master
whom he serves and the commission with which he
has been entrusted.
At this point, after the thought of that spirit of
allegiance to the beast which draws down such terrors
upon itself, and before we reach the central figure of
the whole movement, we have some words of comfort
interposed. The meaning of the first part of them is
similar to that of chap. xiii. 10, and need not be further
spoken of. The meaning of their second part, con-
1 Rom. vii. 2 Comp. p. 108.

252 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
veying to us the contents of the " voice from heaven,"
demands a moment's notice. Blessed, exclaims the
heavenly voice (at the same time prefixing the com
mand Write), are the dead which die in the Lora from
henceforth. It is difficult to determine the precise point
of time referred to in the word " henceforth." If it
be the moment of the end, the moment of the Second
Coming of the Lord, then the promise must express the
glory of the resurrection. But, to say nothing of the
fact .that "resting from labours" is too weak to bring
out the glory of the resurrection state, there is at that
instant no more time to die in the Lord. The living
shall be " changed." It seems better, therefore, to
understand the words as a voice of consolation running
throughout the whole Christian age. In the view of
" heaven " the lapse of time is hardly thought of. All
is Now. The meaning of " dying in the Lord," again,
must not be regarded as equivalent to the Scriptural
expression " falling asleep in Jesus." Not the thought
of " falling asleep " in a quiet Christian home, but of
" dying " as Jesus died, is in the Seer's mind ; and not
the thought of rest from work, but of rest from toils, an
entirely different and far stronger word, is in the answer
of the Spirit. Thus are believers blessed. Their life
is a life of toil, of hardship, of trial, of persecution, of
death ; but when they die, they " rest." And their
" works " — that is, their Christian character and life —
are not lost. They follow with them, and meet them
again in the heavenly mansions as the record of all that
they have done and suffered in their Master's cause.
The first three angels have accomplished their task.
We now reach the fourth and chief member in this
series of seven, and meet with the Lord as He comes
to take His people to Himself, that where He is, there

xiv. 6-20.] HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD. 253
they may also be. That it is the Lord who is here
before us we cannot for a moment doubt. The desig
nation like unto a Son op man, the same as that of
chap. i. 13, itself establishes the fact, which is again
confirmed by the mention of the white cloud and of
the golden crown. In His hand He holds a sharp
sickle, with which to reap. Thus also in different
passages of the New Testament our Lord speaks 01
the harvest of His people, although in them He acts
by His angels and Apostles.1 In one passage of the
Gospel of St. John He acts by Himself.2 The glorified
Redeemer is thus ready to complete His work.
Another angel now appears, the first of the second
series of three, and styled "another," not by com
parison with Him who sat on the white cloud, and
who is exalted far above all angels, but by comparison
with the angels previously spoken of at the sixth,
eighth, and ninth verses of the chapter. This angel is
said to come out prom the temple — that is, out of the naos,
out of the innermost shrine of the temple — and the
notice is important, for it shows that he comes from
the immediate presence of God, and is a messenger
from Him. Therefore it is that he can say to the Son,
Send porth Thy sickle, and reap. " The Son can do
nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father
doing." 8 Until the Father gives the sign His " hour is
not yet come ; " and more especially of the hour now
arrived Jesus had Himself said, "But of that day or
that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in
heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."4 The day,
the hour, the moment, has now arrived ; and, as usual
in this book, the message of the Father is communicated
1 Matt. ix. 37, 38 ; xiii. 29, 30. • John v. 19.
* John xiv. 3. * Mark xiii. 32.

254 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
by an angel. The intimation that the hour is come is
grounded upon the fact that the harvest about to be
gathered in is pully ripe. The Revised Version trans
lates " overripe ; " but the translation, though literal, is
unhappy, and so far false as it unquestionably suggests
a false idea. God's time for working is always right,
not wrong ; and it is perfectly legitimate to understand
the word of the original as meaning simply dry, hard,
the soft juices of its ripening state absorbed, and the
time of its firmness come.1 Thus summoned by the
message of the Father to the work, the Son enters upon
it without delay. " As He hears, He judges." 2 He
that sat on the cloud cast His sickle upon the earth; and
the earth was reaped.
The second angel of the second group of three next
appears, having, like Him that sat upon the cloud, " a
sharp sickle;" and he too waits for the summons to
use it.
This summons is given by the third angel of the
second group, of whom it is said that he came out prom
the altar, he that hath power over fire. The altar of this
verse must be that already spoken of in chap. viii. 3,
where we were told that "another angel came and
stood over the altar, having a golden censer," an altar
which we have been led to identify with the brazen
altar of chap. v. 9, beneath which were found the souls
of the Old Testament saints ; and the " fire " over
which this angel has power must be the "fire" of
chap. viii. 5, the fire taken from that altar to kindle the
incense of the prayers of the saints. The angel is thus
a messenger of judgment, about to command a final
and full answer to be given to the prayer that the
1 Comp. the " dried up " of the margin of the Revised Version,
* John v. 30.

xiv.6-20.] HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD. 255
Almighty will finish His work and vindicate His cause.
lo this character, accordingly, his message corresponds,
for he called with a great voice to him (that is, to the
second angel) that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth
thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the
earth; for her bunches of grapes are ripe. A vintage,
not a harvest of grain, is here before us; and it is
impossible to doubt that it is the purpose of the Seer to
draw a broad line of distinction between the two. The
latter is the harvest of the good ; the former is the
vintage of the evil : and the propriety of the figure
thus used for the evil is easily perceived when we
remember that grapes were gathered to be trodden in
the winefat, and that the juice when trodden out had
the colour of blood. The figure was indeed one
already familiar to the prophets : " Let the nations
bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of
Jehoshaphat" (that is, The Lord judges): "for there will
1 sit lo judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the
sickle, for the vintage is ripe : come, tread ye ; for the
winepress is full, the fats overflow ; for their wicked
ness is great;"1 "Wherefore art Thou red in Thine
apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in
the winefat ? I have trodden the winepress alone ; and
of the people there was no man with Me : yea, I trod
them in Mine anger, and trampled them in My fury ;
and their life-blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and
I have stained all My raiment. For the day of ven
geance is in Mine heart, and My year of redemption is
come." 2 The figure is here employed in a similar
manner, for the angel gathered the vine (not "the
vintage," the whole vine being plucked up by the roots)
1 Joel iii. 12, 13. 2 Isa. Wiii. 2-4.

256 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great wine
press, of the wrath of God. And the winepress was
trodden without the city, and there came out blood from
the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far
as a thousand and six hundred furlongs. In these
words we have undoubtedly the judgment of the
wicked, and the last portion of them alone need detain
us for a moment.
I. What is meant by the statement that the sea
of blood thus created by the slaughter spoken of
reached " even unto the bridles of the horses " ? The
horses are those of chap. xix. 11-16; where we have
again a description of the final victory of Christ over
all His enemies, and where it is again said of Him
that "He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of
the wrath of Almighty God." x The same winepress
which meets us here meets us there. The battle and
the victory are the same; and the horses here are
therefore those upon which He that is called Faithful
and True, together with His armies that are in heaven,
rides forth to conquest. The mention of " the bridles "
of the horses is more uncertain and more difficult to
explain, but one passage of the Old Testament helps
us. In speaking of the glories of the latter day, the
prophet Zechariah says, "In that day shall there be
upon the bells of the horses (the bells strung along the
bridles) Holy unto the Lord." 2 The sea of blood
reached to, but could not be allowed to touch, these
sacred words.
2. What is meant by the space of " a thousand and
six hundred furlongs," over which the sea extended ?
To resolve it simply into a large space is at variance
Ver. 15 * Zech. xiv. 20.

xiv.6-20.] HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD. 257
with the spirit of the Apocalypse ; and to imagine that it
marks the extent of the Holy Land from Dan to Beer-
sheba is both to introduce an incorrect calculation and
to forget who constitute the hosts of wickedness that
had been engaged in the battle. These were not the
inhabitants of Palestine only, but of " the earth," three
times mentioned in the description. They were " all
the nations" spoken of by the second angel of the
first group, all that worship the beast and his image
and receive a mark on their forehead or their hand,
referred to by the third angel of the same group. They
are thus the wicked gathered from every corner of
the earth. With this idea the figures 1,600 agree —
four, the number of the world, multiplied by itself
to express intensity, and then by a hundred, the
number so often associated with evil in this book.
Whether "furlongs," literally "stadia," are chosen
as the measure of space because, as suggested by
Cornelius a Lapide, the arena or circus in which the
martyrs suffered was called " The Stadium,"1 it may be
vain to conjecture. Enough that the sixteen hundred
furlongs represent the whole surface of the earth upon
which the wicked " sit " at ease, the universal efficacy
of the sickle by which they are gathered to their doom.
One other point ought to be more particularly noticed
before we close the consideration of this chapter. The
harvest of the good is gathered in by the Lord Him
self, that of the wicked by His angel. The same lesson
appears to be read in the parables of the tares and
of the drawnet. In the former (although allusions in
each parable may seem to imply that angels take part
in both acts) it is said that " at the end of the
1 Comp. 1 Cor. ix. 24. 17

258 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
world the Son of man shall send forth His angels,
and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things
that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity." x In
the latter we read, " So shall it be in the end of the
world : the angels shall come forth, and sever the
wicked from among the righteous, and shall cast them
into the furnace of fire." 2 In like manner here. The
Son of man Himself gathers His own to their eternal
rest. It is an angel, though commissioned by Him,
who gathers the wicked to their fate. " And is there
not a beauty and tenderness in this contrast ? It is as
though that Son of man and Son of God who is the
Judge of quick and dead, the Judge alike of the
righteous and of the wicked, loved one half of His
office, and loved not the other. It is as though He
cherished as His own prerogative the harvest of the
earth, and were glad to delegate to other hands the
vintage. It is as though the ministry of mercy were
His chosen office, and the ministry of wrath His stern
necessity. One like unto the Son of man puts forth
the sickle of the ingathering ; one of created, though
it be of angelic, nature is employed to send forth the
sickle of destruction." 3
1 Matt. xiii. 41. * Matt. xiii. 49, 50. * Vaughan, u. s., p. 378.

CHAPTER XII.
THE SEVEN BOWLS.
Rev. xv., xvi.
NOTHING can more clearly prove that the Revela
tion of St. John is not written upon chronological
principles than the scenes to which we are introduced
in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of the book.
We have already been taken to the end. We have
seen in chap. xiv. the Son of man upon the throne of
judgment, the harvest of the righteous, and the vintage
of the wicked. Yet we are now met by another series
of visions setting before us judgments that must take
place before the final issue. This is not chronology ;
it is apocalyptic vision, which again and again turns
round the kaleidoscope of the future, and delights to
behold under different aspects the same great principles
of the Almighty's government, leading always to the
same glorious results.
One other preliminary observation may be made.
The third series of judgments does not really begin till
we reach chap. xvi. Chap. xv. is introductory, and we
are thus reminded that the series of the Trumpets
had a similar introduction in chap. viii. 1-6. It is the
manner of St. John, who thus in his Gospel introduces
his account of our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus
in chap. iii. by the last three verses of chap, ii., which

26o THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
ought to be connected with the third chapter ; and who
also introduces his narrative regarding the woman of
Samaria by the first three verses of chap. iv.
To introduce chap. xvi. is the object of chap. xv.
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven
angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished
the wrath of God (xv. i).
The plagues about to be spoken of are " the last,"
and in them the final judgments of God upon evil are
contained. What they are, and who are the special
objects of them, will afterwards appear. Meanwhile,
another vision is presented to our view : —
And I saw as it were a glassy sea mingled with fire; and them
that come victorious out of the beast, and out of his image, and out of
the number of his name, standing upon the glassy sea, having harps
of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and
the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works,
O Lord God the Almighty ; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou
King of the nations. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy
name ? for Thou only art holy : for all the nations shall come and
worship before Thee; for Thy righteous acts have been made
manifest (xv. 2-4).
It can hardly be doubted that the glassy sea spoken
of in these words is the same as that already met with
at chap. iv. 6. Yet again, as in the case of the hundred
and forty and four thousand of chap. xiv. I, the definite
article is wanting ; and, in all probability, for the same
reason. The aspect in which the object is viewed,
though not the object itself, is different. The glassy
sea is here mingled with fire, a point of which no
mention was made in chap. iv. The difference may
be explained if we remember that the "fire" spoken
of can only be' that of the judgments by which the
Almighty vindicates His cause, or of the trials by
which He purifies His people. As these, therefore,

xv. 2-4-] THE SEVEN BOWLS. 261
now stand upon the sea, delivered from every adver
sary, we are reminded of the troubles which by Divine
grace they have been enabled to surmount. It was
otherwise in chap. iv. No persons were there con
nected with the sea, and it stretched away, clear as
crystal, before Him all whose dealings with His people
are " right." The sea itself is in both cases the same,
but in the latter it is beheld from the Divine point of
view, in the former from the human.
The vision as a whole takes us back to the exodus of
Israel from Egypt, and hence the mention of the song of
Moses, the servant of God. The enemies of the Church
have their type in Pharaoh and his host as they pursue
Israel across the sands which had been laid bare for
the passage of the chosen people ; the waters, driven
back for a time, return to their ancient bed ; the
hostile force, with its chariots and its chosen captains,
" goes down into the depths like a stone ; " and Israel
raises its song of victory, " I will sing unto the Lord,
for He hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his
rider hath He thrown into the sea." x
The song now sung, however, is not that of Moses
only, the great centre of the Old Testament Dispen
sation ; it is also the Song of the Lamb, the centre and
the sum of the New Testament. Both Dispensations
are in the Seer's thoughts, and in the number of those
who sing are included the saints of each, the members
of the one Universal Church. No disciple of Jesus
either before or after His first coming is omitted.
Every one is there from whose hands the bonds of
the world have fallen off, and who has cast in his lot
with the followers of the Lamb. Hence also the song
1 Exod. xv. I.

262 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
is wider in its range than that by which the thought
of it appears to have been suggested. It celebrates
the great and marvellous works of the Almighty in
general. It speaks of Him as the King of the nations,
that is, as the King who subdues the nations under
Him. It rejoices in the fact that His righteous acts
have been made manifest. And it anticipates the time
when all the nations shall come and worship before Him,
shall bow themselves at His feet, and shall acknowledge
that His judgments against sin are not only just in
themselves, but are allowed to be so by the very
persons on whom they fall.
A second vision follows : —
And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of
the testimony in heaven was opened ; and there came out from the
temple the seven angels that had the seven pl&gues, clothed with a
precious stone pure and lustrous, and girt about their breasts with
golden girdles. And one of the four living creatures gave unto the
seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who liveth
for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the
glory of God, and from His power : and none was able to enter into
the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be
finished (xv. $-&).
The temple spoken of is, as upon every occasion
when the word is used, the shrine or innermost sanc
tuary, the Holy of holies, the peculiar dwelling-place
of the Most High ; so that the seven angels with the
seven last plagues come from God's immediate presence.
But this sanctuary is now beheld in a different light
from that in which it was seen in chap. xi. 19. There
it contained the ark of God's covenant, the symbol of
His grace. Here the eye is directed to the testimony,
to the two tables of the law which were kept in the
ark, and were God's witness both to the holiness of
His character and the justice of His government. The

xv. 5-8.] THE SEVEN BOWLS. 263
giving of the law then was in the Seer's mind, and that
fact will explain the allusions to the Old Testament
found in his words. The description of the seven
angels, as clothed with a precious stone pure and lustrous
(not with " fine linen " as in the Authorised Version)
may be explained, when we attend to the second cha
racteristic of their appearance, girt about their breasts
with golden girdles. These words take us back to the
vision of the Son of man in chap, i., where the same
expression occurs, and where we have already seen
that it points to the priests of Israel, when engaged in
the active service of the sanctuary. The angels now
spoken of are thus priestly after the fashion of the
Lord Himself, who is not merely the Priest but also
the High Priest of His people. The high priest, how
ever, wore a jewelled breastplate; and in correspon
dence with the nobler functions of the New Testament
priesthood, these jewels are now extended to the whole
clothing of the angels spoken of. A similar figure for
the clothing of the glorified Church meets us in the
prophecies of Isaiah : " 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 bride
groom decketh himself (the margin of the Revised
Version calling attention to the fact that the meaning
of the original is " decketh himself as a priest ") with
a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her
jewels ; " x while the same figure, though applied to Tyre,
is employed by Ezekiel: "Every precious stone was
thy covering."2 The seven angels are thus about to
engage in a priestly work.
1 Isa. lxi. 10, 2 Ezek. xxviii. 13.

264 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
This work is pointed out to them by one of the four
living creatures, the representatives of redeemed creation.
All creation owns the propriety of the judgments now
about to be fulfilled.1
These judgments are contained, not in seven " vials,"
as in the Authorised Version, but in seven golden bowls,
vessels probably of a saucer shape, of no great depth,
and their circumference largest at the rim. They, are
the " basins " of the Old Testament, used for carrying
into the sanctuary the incense which had been lighted
by fire from the brazen altar. They were thus much
better adapted than " vials " for the execution of a final
judgment. Their contents could be poured out at once
and suddenly.
The bowls have been delivered to the angels, and
nothing remains but to pour them out. The moment
is one of terror, and it is fitting that even all outward
things shall correspond. Smoke, therefore, filled the
sanctuary, and none was able to enter into it. Thus,
when Moses reared up the tabernacle, and the glory of
the Lord filled it, " Moses was not able to enter into the
tent of meeting : " 2 thus, when Solomon dedicated the
temple and the cloud filled the house of the Lord,
" The priests could not stand to minister by reason of
the cloud."3 Thus, when Isaiah beheld the glory of the
Lord in His temple, and heard the cry of the Seraphim,
" Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts," " the founda
tions of the thresholds were moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled with smoke ; " 4 and
thus, above all, when the law was given, " Mount
Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the Lord de
scended upon it in fire : and the smoke thereof ascended
1 Comp. chap. vi. 8 I Kings viii. 1 1.
2 Exod. xl. 35. ' Isa. vi. 4.

xvi. 1-9.] THE SEVEN BOWLS. 265
as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked
greatly." l
All due preparation having been made, the Seven
Bowls are now poured out in rapid and uninterrupted
succession. As in the case of the Seals .and of the
Trumpets, they are divided into two groups of four
and three ; and those of the first group may be taken
together : —
And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven
angels, Go ye, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into
the earth. And the first went, and poured out his bowl into the
earth ; and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men
which had the mark of the beast, and which worshipped his image.
And the second poured out his bowl into the sea ; and it became
blood as of a dead man, and every living soul died, even the things
that were in the sea. And the third poured out his bowl into the
rivers and the fountains of the waters ; and it became blood. And I
heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous art Thou which art
and which wast, Thou holy one, because Thou didst thus judge : for
they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood hast Thou
given them to drink : they are worthy. And I heard the altar saying,
Yea, O Lord, God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments.
And the fourth poured out his bowl upon the sun ; and it was given
unto it to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat : and they blasphemed the name of the God which hath the power
over these plagues ; and they repented not to give Him glory (xvi. 1-9)-
Upon the particulars of these plagues it is unneces
sary to dwell. No attempt to determine the special
meaning of the objects thus visited by the wrath of
God — the land, the sea, the rivers and fountains of
the waters, and the sun — has yet been, or is ever
perhaps likely to be, successful ; and the general effect
alone appears to be important. The chief point claiming
attention is the singular closeness of the parallelism
between them and the Trumpet plagues, a parallelism
which extends also to the fifth, sixth, and seventh
1 Exod. xix. 18; Heb. xii. 18.

266 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
members of the series. Close, however, as it is, there
is also a marked climax in the later plagues, corre
sponding to the fact that they are " the last," and that
in them " the wrath of God is finished." x Thus the
first Trumpet affects only the third part of the earth,
and the trees, and all green grass : the first Bowl affects
men? Under the second Trumpet the " third part "
of the sea becomes blood, and the third part of the
creatures which are in the sea die, and the third part of
the ships are destroyed : under the second Bowl, the
" third part " of the sea is exchanged for the whole ; the
blood assumes its most offensive form, blood as of a
dead man; and not the third part only, but every living
soul died, even the 'things that were in the sea." 3 Under
the third Trumpet the great star falls only upon the
"third part" of the rivers and fountains, and they
become wormwood : under the third Bowl all the waters
are visited by the plague, and they become blood.4
Lastly, under the fourth Trumpet only the " third part "
of sun and moon and stars is smitten : under the
fourth Bowl the whole sun is affected, and it is given
unto it to scorch men with fire? With this climactic
character of the Bowls as compared with the Trumpets
may also be connected a striking addition made to
the details of the third Bowl, to which in the Trumpet
series there is nothing to correspond. The angel of the
waters, not an angel to whom the smiting of the waters
had been entrusted, but the waters themselves speaking
through their angel, and the . altar, that is, the brazen
1 Chap. xv. I.
* Comp. chap. viii. 7 and xvi. 2.
* Comp. chap. viii. 8, 9, and xvi. 3.
* Comp. chap. viii. 10, 1 1 and xvi. 4.
• Comp. chap. viii. 12 and xvi. 8.

xvi. to, II.] THE SEVEN BOWLS. 267
altar of chap. vi. 9, respond to the judgments executed.
They recognise the true and righteous character of
the Almighty, and they welcome this manifestation
of Himself to men.
Another feature of these Bowls will at once strike
the reader, — their correspondence to some of the plagues
of Egypt : for in the first we see a repetition, as it
were, of that sixth plague by which Pharaoh and his
people were visited, when Moses sprinkled ashes of
the furnace towards heaven, and they became " a boil
breaking forth with blains upon man and beast,"1 and
in the second and third a repetition of the first plague,
when Moses lifted up his rod and smote the waters
that were in the river, " and all the waters that were
in the river were turned to blood."2 The fourth Bowl
reminds us of the terror of the appearance of the Son
of man in chap. i. 16, when " His countenance was as
the sun shineth in his strength."
One other characteristic of these plagues ought to
be noticed. It comes to view no doubt only under the
fourth, yet, as we shall immediately see, it is not to be
confined to it. The plagues had no softening or con
verting power. On the contrary, as at chap. ix. 20, 21,
the impiety of the worshippers of the beast was only
aggravated by their sufferings ; and, instead of turning
to Him who had power over the plagues, they blas
phemed His name.
From the first group of Bowls we turn to the second,
embracing the last three in the series of seven : —
And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast ;
and his kingdom was darkened ; and they gnawed their tongues for
pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains
and their sores; and they repented not of their works (xvi. 10, II).
1 Exod. ix. 10. 2 Exod. vii. 20.

268 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
The transition from the realm of nature to the
spiritual world, already marked at the introduction of
the fifth Seal and of the fifth Trumpet, is here again
observable ; but, as in the case of the sixth Trumpet,
the spiritual world alluded to is that of the prince of
darkness. With darkness he is smitten. That there
is a reference to the darkness which, at the word of
Moses, fell upon the land of Egypt when visited by
its plagues can hardly be doubted, for the darkness
of that plague was not ordinary darkness ; it was " a
darkness that might be felt."1 More than darkness,
however, is alluded to. We are told of their pains and
of their sores. But pains and sores are not an effect
produced by darkness. They can, therefore, be only
those of the first Bowl, a conclusion confirmed by the
use of the word "plagues" instead of plague. The
inference to be drawn from this is important, for we
thus learn that the effects of any earlier Bowl are not
exhausted before the contents of one following are
discharged. Each Bowl rather adds fresh punishment
to that of its predecessors, and all of them go on
accumulating their terrors to the end. Nothing could
more clearly show how impossible it is to interpret
such plagues literally, and how mistaken is any effort
to apply them to the particular events of history.
The sixth Bowl follows : —
And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river
Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might
be made ready for the kings that come from the sun-rising. And I
saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of
the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean
spirits, as it were frogs : for they are spirits of devils, working signs,
which go forth unto the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather
them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.
1 Exod. x. 21.

xvi. 12-16.] THE SEVEN BOWLS. 269
(Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth
his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.) And
they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew
Har-Magedon (xvi. 12-16).
Probably no part of the Apocalypse has received
more varied interpretation than the first statement of
this Bowl. Who are these kings that come from the
sun-rising is the point to be determined ; and the
answer usually given is, that they are part of the anti-
christian host, part of those afterwards spoken of as
the kings of the whole inhabited earth, before whom God
dries up the Euphrates in order that they may pursue
an uninterrupted march to the spot on which they are
to be overwhelmed with a final and complete destruc
tion. Something may certainly be said on behalf 01
such a view ; yet it is exposed to serious objections.
I. We have already at chap. ix. 14, at the sounding
of the sixth Trumpet, been made acquainted with the
river Euphrates ; and, so far from being a hindrance
to the progress of Christ's enemies, it is rather the
symbol of their overflowing and destructive might.
2. We have also met at chap. vii. 2 with the expres
sion " from the sun-rising," and it is there applied to
the quarter from which the angel comes by whom the
people of God are sealed. In a book so carefully
written as the Apocalypse, it is not easy to think of
anti-christian foes coming from a quarter described in
the same terms. 3. These kings " from the sun-rising "
are not said to be a part of " the kings of the whole
inhabited earth " immediately afterwards referred to.
They are rather distinguished from them. 4. The
"preparing of the way" connects itself with the thought
of Him whose way was prepared by the coming of the
Baptist. 5. The type of drying up the waters of a

270 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
river takes us back, alike in the historical and prophetic
writings of the Old Testament, to the means by which
the Almighty secures the deliverance of His people, not
the destruction of His enemies. Thus the waters of
the Red Sea were dried up, not for the overthrow of
the Egyptians, but for the safety of Israel, and the bed
of the river Jordan was dried up for a similar purpose.
Thus, too, the prophet Isaiah speaks : " And the Lord
shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea,
and with His scorching wind shall He shake His hand
over the river, and shall smite it into seven streams,
and cause men to march over dryshod. And there
shall be an highway for the remnant of His people,
which shall return, from Assyria ; like as there was for
Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of
Egypt." x Again the same prophet celebrates the great
deeds of the arm of the Lord in the following words :
" Art thou not it which dried up the sea, the waters
of the great deep ; that made the depths of the sea
a way for the redeemed to pass over ? " 2 And, once
more, to a similar effect the prophet Zechariah : " I
will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt,
and gather them out of Assyria. . . . And He shall
pass through the sea of affliction, and shall smite the
waves of the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall
dry up. . . . And I will strengthen them in the Lord ;
and they shall walk up and down in His name, saith
the Lord." 3 It is unnecessary to say more. In these
" kings from the sun-rising " we have an emblem of the
remnant of the Israel of God as they return from all
the places whither they have been led captive, and as
God makes their way plain before them1.
1 Isa. xi. 15, 16. 2 Isa. Ii. 10. 3 Zech. x. 10-12.

xvi. 12-16.] THE SEVEN BOWLS. 271
Nor is this all. In the fate of these foes a striking
incident of Old Testament history is repeated, in order
that they may be led to the destruction which awaits
them. When Micaiah warned Ahab of his approaching
fate, and told him of the lying spirit by which his own
prophets were urging him to the battle, he said, "I
saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host
of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on
His left. And the Lord said, Who shall entice 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 entice him. And the
Lord said unto him, Wherewith ? And he said, I will
go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his
prophets. And He said, Thou shalt entice him, and
shalt prevail also; go forth and do so."1 In that inci
dent of Ahab's reign is found the type of the three lying
spirits or demons which, like frogs, unclean, noisy, and
loquacious, go forth from the three great enemies of
the Church, the dragon, the first beast, and the second
beast, now first called the false prophet, that they may
entice the " kings of the whole inhabited earth " to
their overthrow. And they succeed. All unknowing
of what is before them, proud of their strength, and
flushed with hope of victory, these kings listen to the
demons and gather themselves together unto the war of
the great day of God, the Almighty. It is a supreme
moment in the history of the Church and of the world ;
and, before he names the battlefield which shall, in its
very name, be prophetic of the fate of the wicked, the
Seer pauses to behold the assembled armies. Upon
1 I Kings xxii. 19-22.

272 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
the one side is a little flock, but they are all " kings,"
and before them is He by whom, like David before
the host of Israel and over against the Philistines, the
battle shall be fought and the victory won. On the
other side are the hosts of earth in all their multitudes,
gathered together by the deceitful promise of success.
The Seer hears the voice of the Captain of salvation,
Behold I come as a thief, to break up and to destroy.
He hears further the promise of blessing to all who
are faithful to the Redeemer's cause : and then, with
mind at rest as to the result, he names the place where
the final battle is to be fought, Har-Magedon.
Why Har-Magedon ? There was, we have every
reason to believe, no such place. The name is sym
bolical. It is a compound word derived from the
Hebrew, and signifying the mountain of Megiddo. We
are thus again taken back to Old Testament history,
in which the great plain of Megiddo, the most extensive
in Palestine, plays on more than one occasion a notable
part. In particular, that plain was famous for two
great slaughters, that of the Canaanitish host by Barak,
celebrated in the song of Deborah,1 and that in which
King Josiah fell.2 The former is probably alluded to,
for the enemies of Israel were there completely routed.
For a similar though still more terrible destruction the
hosts of evil are assembled at Har-Magedon. The
Seer thinks it enough to assemble them, and to name
the place. He does not need to 'go further or to
describe the victory.
The seventh Bowl now follows : —
And the seventh poured out his bowl upon the air; and there came
forth a great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying, It is
1 Judges v. 2 2 Chron. xxxv. 22.

xvi. 17-21.] THE SEVEN BOWLS. 273
done ; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders ; and
there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men
upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. And the great
city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell ;
and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give
unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And
every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And
great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, cometh down out
of heaven upon men : and men blasphemed God because of the plague
of the hail ; for the plague thereof is exceeding great (xvi. 17-21).
The seventh or last Bowl is poured out into the air,
here thought of as the realm of that prince of this
world who is also " the prince of the power of the air." x
All else, land and sea and waters and sun and the
throne of the beast, has now been smitten so that evil
has only to suffer its final blow. It has been searched
out everywhere ; and therefore the end may come.
That end comes, and is spoken of in figures more
strongly coloured than those of either the sixth Seal or
the seventh Trumpet. First of all a great voice is heard
out of the (sanctuary of the) temple, from the throne,
saying, It is done, God's plan is executed. His last
manifestation of Himself in judgment has been made.
This voice is then accompanied by a more terrible
shaking of the heavens and the earth than we have as
yet been called to witness, the earthquake in particular
being such as was not since there were men upon the
earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty.
Some of the effects of the earthquake are next
spoken of. More especially, The great city was divided
into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. As to
the meaning of " the cities of the nations " there can be
no doubt. They are the strongholds of the world's sin,
the places from which ungodliness and impiety have
1 Ephes. ii. 2. 18

274 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
ruled. Under the shaking of the earthquake they fall
in ruins. The first words as to " the great city " must
be considered in connexion with the words which
follow regarding Babylon, and they are more difficult
to interpret. By some it is contended that the " great
city " is Jerusalem, by others that it is Babylon. The
expression is one which the Apocalypse must itself
explain, and in seeking the explanation we must pro
ceed upon the principle that in this book, as much as
in any other of the New Testament, the rules of all
good writing are followed, and that the meaning of
the same words is not arbitrarily changed. When this
rule, accordingly, is observed, we find that the epithet is,
in chap. xi. 8, distinctly applied to Jerusalem, the words
" the great city, where also their Lord was crucified "
leaving no doubt upon the point. But, in chap, xviii.
10, 16, 18, 19, 21, the same epithet is not less distinctly
applied to Babylon. The only legitimate conclusion is,
that there is a sense in which Jerusalem and Babylon
are one. This corresponds exactly to what we other
wise learn of the light in which the metropolis of Israel
appeared to St. John. To him as an Apostle of the
Lord, and during the time that he followed Jesus in the
flesh, Jerusalem presented itself in a twofold aspect.
It was the city of God's solemnities, the centre of the
old Divine theocracy, the " holy city," the " beloved
city." x But it was also the city of " the Jews," the
city which scorned and rejected and crucified its right
ful King. When in later life he beheld, in the picture
once exhibited around him and graven upon his
memory, the type of the future history and fortunes of
the Church, the two Jerusalems again rose before his
1 Chap. xi. 2, xx. 9.

xvi. 17-21.] THE SEVEN BOWLS. 275
view, the one the emblem of all that was most precious,
the other of all that was most repulsive, in the eyes
both of God and of spiritually enlightened men. The
first of these Jerusalems is the true Church of Christ,
the faithful remnant, the little flock that knew the
Good Shepherd's voice and followed Him. The second
is the degenerate Church, the mass of those who mis
interpreted the aim and spirit of their calling, and who
by their worldliness and sin "crucified their Lord
afresh, and put Him to an open shame." In the latter
aspect Jerusalem becomes Babylon. As in chap. xi. 8
it became " spiritually," that is mystically, " Sodom and
Egypt," so it becomes also the mystical Babylon, par
taker of that city's sins, and doomed to its fate. This
thought we shall find fully expanded in the following
chapter. The question may indeed be asked, how it
comes to pass that, if this representation be correct, we
should read, immediately after the words now under
consideration, that Babylon the great was remembered in
the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of
the fierceness of His wrath. But the answer is substan
tially contained in what has been said. When Jeru
salem is first thought of as " the great city," it is as the
city of " the Jews," as the centre and essence of those
principles by which spiritual is transformed into formal
religion, and all sins are permitted to hide and multiply
under the cloak of a merely outward piety. When it is
next thought of as Babylon, the conception is extended
so as to embrace, not a false Judaism only, but a
similar falseness in the bosom of the universal Church.
Just as " the great city where also our Lord was cruci
fied " widened in chap. xi. 8 to the thought of Sodom
and Egypt, so .here it widens to the thought of Babylon.
May it not be added that we have thus in the mention

276 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of Jerusalem and Babylon a counterpart to the mention
in chap. xv. 3 of " the song of Moses and the Lamb " ?
These two expressions, as we have seen, comprehend a
song of universal victory. Thus also the two expres
sions, " the great city " and " Babylon," having one
and the same idea at their root, comprehend all who
in the professing Church of the whole world are
faithless to Christian truth.
Further effects of the last judgment follow. Every
island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Effects similar, though not so terrible, had been con
nected with the sixth Seal. Mountains and islands
had then been simply " moved out of their places." x
Now they "flee away." Similar effects will again meet
us, but in an enhanced degree.2 As yet, while moun
tains and islands flee away, the earth and the heavens
remain. In the last description of the judgment of the
wicked the heavens and the earth themselves flee away
from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and
no place is found for them. The climax in the different
accounts of what is substantially the same event cannot
be mistaken.
The same climax appears in the statement of the next
effect, the great hail, every stone abotJ the weight of a
talent, that is, fully more than fifty pounds. No such
weight had been spoken of at the close of the seventh
Trumpet in chap. xi. 19.
Again, however, there is no repentance and no con
version. Those who suffer are the deliberate and
determined followers of the beast. As under the fourth
Bowl, therefore, so under the seventh they rather
blaspheme God amidst their sufferings, because of the
plague of the hail, for the plague thereof is exceeding great.
Chap. vi. 14. s Chap. xx. 11.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE BEAST AND BABYLOJf.
Rev. xvii.
AT the close of chap. xvi. we reached the end of the
three great series of judgments which constitute
the chief contents of the Revelation of St. John, — the
series of the Seals, the Trumpets, and the Bowls. It
cannot surprise us, however, that at this point other
visions of judgment are to follow. Already we had
reached the end at chap. vi. 17, and again at chap.
xi. 18 ; yet on both occasions the same general subject
was immediately afterwards renewed, and the same
truths were again presented to us, though in a different
aspect and with heightened colouring. We are pre
pared therefore to meet something of the same kind
now. Yet it is not the whole history of that " little
season" with which the Apocalypse deals that is
brought under our notice in fresh and striking vision.
One great topic, the greatest that has hitherto been
spoken of, is selected for fuller treatment, — the fall of
Babylon. Twice before we have heard of Babylon
and of her doom, — at chap. xiv. 8, when the second
angel of the first group gathered around the Lord as
He came to judgment exclaimed, " Fallen, fallen, is
Babylon the great, which hath made all the nations to
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication ; " and

278 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
again at chap. xvi. 19, when under the seventh Bowl
we were told that " Babylon the great was remembered
in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the
wine of the fierceness of His wrath." So much
importance, however, is attached by the Seer to the
fortunes of this city that two chapters of his book —
the seventeenth and the eighteenth — are devoted to the
more detailed descriptions of her and of her fate.
These two chapters form one of the most striking, if
at the same time one of the most difficult, portions of
his book. We have first to listen to the language of
St. John; and, long as the passage is, it will be necessary
to take the whole of chap. xvii. at once : —
And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls,
and spake with me, saying, Come hither ; I will show thee the judg
ment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters : with whom
the kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that dwell in
the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication.
And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness : and I saw
a woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was
arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious
stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abomina
tions, even the unclean things of her 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 with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of
the martyrs of Jesus : and when I saw her, I marvelled with a great
marvelling. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou
marvel ? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the
beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten
horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and is about to
come up out of the abyss : and he goeth into perdition. And they
that dwell on the earth shall marvel, they whose name hath not been
written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when
they behold the beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall be
present. Here is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are
seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And they are seven
kings : the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come ; and

THE BEAST AND BABYLON. 279

when he cometh, he must continue a little while. And the beast
that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven ;
and he goeth into perdition. And the ten horns that thou sawest are
ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet ; but they receive
authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one
mind, and they give their power and authority unto the beast. These
shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them : for
He is Lord of lords, and King of kings : and they also shall overcome
that are with Him called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto
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 utterly with fire. For God did put in their hearts to
do His mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom
unto the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. And
the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, which reigneth over
the kings of the earth (xvii.).
The main questions connected with the interpretation
of this chapter are, What are we to understand by the
beast spoken of, and what by Babylon? The Seer
is summoned by one of the angels that had the seven
Bowls to behold a spectacle which fills him with a
great marvelling. Thus summoned, he obeys ; and he
is immediately carried away into a wilderness, where
he sees a woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast,
full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and
ten horns.
1. What is this beast, and what in particular is his
relation to the beast of chap. xiii. ?
At first sight the points of difference appear to be
neither few nor unimportant. The order of the heads
and of the horns is different, the horns taking prece
dence of the heads in the earlier, the heads of the horns
in the later, of the two.1 The first is said to have had
upon " his heads " names of blasphemy ; the second is
1 Comp. chaps, xiii. I and xvii. 3, 7.

280 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
" full of" such names. x There are diadems on the horns
of the former, but not of the latter.2 Of the first we
are told that he comes up " out of the sea," of the second
that he is about to come up "out of the abyss."3 In
addition to these particulars, it will be observed that
several traits of the first beast are not mentioned in con
nexion with the second. These last points of difference
may be easily set aside. They create no inconsistency
between the descriptions given ; and we have already
had occasion for the remark, that it is the manner of
the Seer to enlarge in one part of his book his account
of an object also referred to in another part. His
readers are expected to combine the different particulars
in order to form a complete conception of the object.
The more positive points of difference, again, may
be simply and naturally explained. In chap. xiii. I
the horns take precedence of the heads because the
beast is beheld rising up out of the sea, the horns in
this case appearing before the heads. In the second
case, when the beast is seen in the wilderness, the
order of nature is preserved. The distribution of the
names of blasphemy is in all probability to be accounted
for in a similar manner. At the moment when the
Seer beholds them in chap. xiii. his attention has been
arrested by the heads of the beast, and he has not yet
seen the whole body. When he beholds them in chap.
xvii., the entire beast is before him, and is " full of"
such names. The presence of diadems upon the ten
horns in the first, and their absence in the second,
beast depends upon the consideration that it is a
common method of St. John to dwell upon an object
1 Comp. chaps, xiii. I and xvii. 3.
2 Comp. chaps, xiii. 1 and xvii. 3, 12.
* Comp. chaps, xiii. 1 and xvii. 8.

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON. 281
presented to him ideally before he treats it historically.1
We know that the ten horns are ten kings or king
doms2; and the diadem is the appropriate symbol of
royalty. When therefore we think of the beast in his
ideal or ultimate manifestation in the ten kings of
whom we are shortly to read, we think of the horns
as crowned with diadems; and it is thus accordingly
that we see the beast in chap. xiii. On the other
hand, at the point immediately before us " the ten kings
have received no kingdom as yet ; " 3 and the diadems
are wanting. The application of this principle further
explains the difference between what are apparently
two origins for these beasts, — "the sea" and "the
abyss." The former is mentioned in chap, xiii.,
because there we have the beast before us in himself,
and in the source from which he springs. The latter
is mentioned in chap, xvii., because the beast has now
reached a definite period of his history to which the
coming up out of " the abyss " belongs. The " sea "
is his real source ; the " abyss " has been only his
temporary abode. The monster springs out of the
sea, lives, dies, goes into the abyss, rises from the
dead, is roused to his last paroxysm of rage, is
defeated, and passes into perdition. 4 This last is his
history in chap, xvii., and that history is in perfect
harmony with what is stated of him in chap, xiii., — that
by nature he comes up out of the sea.
While the points of difference between the beasts of
chap. xiii. and chap. xvii. may thus without difficulty
be reconciled, the points of agreement are such as to
lead directly to the identification of the two. Some of
these have already come under our notice in speaking
1 Comp. pp. 75, 199. * Chap. xvii. 12.
2 Chap. xvii. 12. * Chap. xvii. 11.

282 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of the differences. Others are still more striking.
Thus the beast of chap. xiii. is described as the vice
gerent of the dragon1 ; and the object of the dragon is
to make war upon the remnant of the woman's seed. a
When therefore we find the beast of chap. xvii.
engaged in the same work,3 we must either resort to
the most unlikely of all conclusions — that the dragon
has two vicegerents — or we must admit that the two
beasts are one. Again, the characteristic of a rising
from the dead is so unexpected and mysterious that
it is extremely difficult to assign it to two different
agencies ; yet we formerly saw that this characteristic
belongs to the beast of chap, xiii., and we shall
immediately see that it belongs also to that of chap.
xvii. Nay more, it is to be noticed that both in
chap. xiii. and in chap. xvii. the marvelling of the
world after the beast is connected with his resurrection
state.4 This was undoubtedly the case in chap. xiii. ;
and in the present chapter the cause of the world's
astonishment is not less expressly said to be its be
holding in the beast how that he was, and is not, and
shall be present.1 Let us add to what has been said
that the figures of the Apocalypse are the product of
so rich and fertile an imagination that, had a difference
between the two beasts been intended, it would, we
may believe, have been more distinctly marked ; and
the conclusion is inevitable that the beast before us
is that also of the thirteenth chapter.
Turning then to the beast as here represented, we
have to note one or two particulars regarding him,
either new or stated with greater fulness and precision
1 Chap. xiii. 2. a Chap. xvii. 14.
¦ Chap. xii. 17. ' Comp. p. 222,
• Ver. 8.

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON. 283

than before; while, at the same time, we have the
explanation of the angel to help us in interpreting the
vision. (1) The beast was, and is not, and is about to come
up out of the abyss : and he goeth into perdition. The
words are a travesty of what we read of the Son of
man in chap. i. : "I am the first and the last, and the
living One ; and I became dead : and, behold, I am
alive for evermore." x An antichrist is before us, who
has been slaughtered unto death, and the stroke of
whose death shall be healed.2 Still further we seem
entitled to infer that when this beast appears he shall
have the marks of his death upon him. They that dwell
on the earth shall marvel when they behold the beast,
how that he was, and is not, and shall be present. The
inference is fair that there must be something visible
upon him by which these different states may be
distinguished. In other words, the beast exhibits marks
which show that he had both died and passed through
death. He is the counterpart of " the Lamb standing
as though it had been slaughtered." 3
(2) The seven heads are seven mountains, on which
the woman sitteth. And they are seven kings : the five
are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come; and when
he cometh, he must continue a little while. Notwith
standing all that has been said to the contrary by
numerous and able expositors, these words cannot be
applied directly to any seven emperors of Rome. It
may be granted that the Seer had the thought of Rome
sitting upon its seven hills in his eye as one of the
manifestations of the beast, but the whole tenor of
his language is too wide and comprehensive to permit
1 Chap. i. 18. 2 Comp. chap. xiii. 3. * Chap. v. 6.

284 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
the thought that the beast itself is Rome. Besides
this, the heads are spoken of as being also "moun
tains ; " and we cannot say of any five of the seven
hills of Rome that they "are fallen," or of any one
of them that it is " not yet come." Nor could even
any five successive kings of Rome be described as
" fallen," for that word denotes passing away, not
simply by death, but by violent and conspicuous over
throw ; x and no series of five emperors in other
respects suitable to the circumstances can be mentioned
some of whom at least did not die peaceably in their
beds. Finally, the word " kings " in the language of
prophecy denotes, not personal kings, but kingdoms.2
These seven "mountains" or seven "kings," therefore,
are the manifestations of the beast in successive eras
of oppression suffered by the people of God. Egypt,
Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, and Greece are the first
five ; and they are " fallen " — fallen in the open ruin
which they brought upon themselves by wickedness.
Rome is the sixth, and "it is" in the Apostle's days.
The seventh will come when Rome, beheld by the
Seer as on the brink of destruction, has perished,
and when its mighty empire has been rent in pieces.
These pieces will then be the ten horns which occupy
the place of the seventh head. They will be even
more wicked and more oppressive to the true followers
of Christ than the great single empires which preceded
them. In them the antichristian might of the beast
will culminate. They are "ten" in number. They
cover the whole " earth." That universality of dominion
which was always the beast's ideal will then become
'Comp. chaps, vi. 13; viii. 10; ix. 1; xi. 13; xiv. 8; xvi. 19;
xviii. 2.
2 Comp. Dan. vii. 17, 23 ; Rev. xviii, 3.

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON. 285
his actual possession. They receive authority as kings
with the beast for one hour; and together with him
they shall rage against the Lamb. Hence —
(3) And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also
an eighth, and is of the seven. The reader will notice
that the expression of the eighth verse of the chapter
" and is about to come up out of the abyss," as also
another expression of the same verse, "and shall be
present," are here dropped. We have met with a
similar omission in the case of the Lord Himself at
chap. xi. 17, and the explanation now is the same as
then. The beast can no more be thought of as " about
to come up out of the abyss," because he is viewed as
come, or as about "to be present," because he is
present. In other words, the beast has attained the
highest point of his history and action. He has reached
a position analogous to that of our Lord after His
resurrection and exaltation, when all authority was
given Him both in heaven and on earth, and when He
began the dispensation of the Spirit, founding His
Church, strengthening her for the execution of her
mission, and perfecting her for her glorious future.
In like manner at the time here spoken of the beast
is at the summit of his evil influence. In one sense
he is the same beast as he was in Egypt, in Assyria,
in Babylonia, in Persia, in Greece, and in Rome. In
another sense he is not the same, for the wickedness
of all these earlier stages has been concentrated into
one. He has "great wrath, knowing that he has but
a short season." x At the last moment he rages with
the keen and determined energy of despair. Thus he
may be spoken of as " an eighth ; " and thus he is also
1 Chap. xii. 12.

286 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
"of the seven," not one of the seven, but the highest,
and fiercest, and most cruel embodiment of them all.
Thus also he is identified with the " Little Horn " of
Daniel, which has " eyes like the eyes of a man, and
a mouth speaking great things."1 That Little Horn
takes the place of three out of the ten horns which are
plucked up by the roots ; that is, of the eighth, ninth,
and tenth horns. It is thus itself an eighth ; and we have
already had occasion to notice that in the science of
numbers the number eight marks the beginning of a
new life, with quickened and heightened powers. Thus
also fresh light is thrown upon the statement which
so closely follows the description of the beast, — that
he goeth into perdition. As in the case of Belshazzar,
of Nebuchadnezzar, and of the traitor Judas, the instant
when he reaches the summit of his guilty ambition is
also the instant of his fall.
Before proceeding to consider the meaning of the
" Babylon " spoken of in this chapter, it may be well to
recall for a moment the principle lying at the bottom
of the exposition now given of the " beast." That
principle is that St. John sees in the world-power, or
power of the world, the contrast, or travesty, or mock
ing counterpart of the true Christ, of the world's rightful
King. The latter lived, died, was buried, rose from
the grave, and returned to His Father to work with
quickened energy and to enjoy everlasting glory ; the
former lived, was brought to nought by Christ, was
plunged into the abyss, came up out of the abyss,
reached his highest point of influence, and went into
perdition. Such is the form in which the Seer's
visions take possession of his mind ; and it will be
1 Dan. vii. 7, 8.

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON. 287
seen that the mould of thought is precisely the same
as that of chap. xx. The fact that it is so may be
regarded as a proof that the interpretation yet to be
offered of that chapter is correct.
It may be further noticed that the beast's being
brought to nought and being sent into the abyss takes
place under the sixth, or Roman, head. We know that
this was actually the case, because it was under the
Roman government that our Lord gained His victory.
The history of the beast, however, does not close with
this defeat. He must rise again; and he does this
as the seventh head, which is associated with the ten
horns. In them and " with " them he assumes a
greater power than ever, gaining all the additional force
which is connected with a resurrection life. The
objection may indeed be made that such an exposition
is not in correspondence either with the view taken in
this commentary that the beast is active from the very
beginning of the Christian era, or with those facts of
history which show that, instead of falling, Rome con
tinued to exist for a lengthened period after the com
pletion of the Redeemer's victory.
But, as to the first of these difficulties, it is not
necessary to think that the beast rages in his highest
and ultimate form from the very instant when Jesus
rose from the dead and ascended to His Father. That
was rather the moment of the beast's destruction, the
moment when, under the sixth head, he " is and is not ; "
and a certain extent of time must be interposed before
he rises in his new, or seventh, head. The Seer, too,
deals largely in climax ; and, although in doing so he is
always occupied with the climactic idea rather than with
the time needed for its manifestation, the element of
time, if our attention is called to it, must be allowed its

288 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
place. Now in the development of the beast there is
climax. In chap. xi. 7 it is said that " the beast that
cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with " the two
faithful witnesses " when they shall have finished their
testimony," and this finishing of their testimony implies
time. Again, in chap. xii. 17 the increased wrath of
the dragon against the remnant of the woman's seed
appears to be subsequent to the persecution of the
woman in the same chapter.1 No doubt the thought of
the increased wrath of the dragon is the main point,
but it may be quite truly said that some time at least
is needed for the increase. The view, therefore, that the
beast rages from the beginning of the Christian era,
from the moment when he rises after his fall, or, in
other words, is loosed after having been shut up into
the abyss, is not inconsistent with the view that his
rage goes on augmenting until it attains its culminating
point. The answer to the second difficulty is to be found
in the consideration that to the Seer the whole Christian
era appears no more than " a little season," in which
events must follow closely on one another, so closely
that the time required for their evolution passes almost
entirely, if not indeed entirely, out of his field of vision.
He has no thought that Rome will last for centuries.
"The times or the seasons the Father hath set within
His own authority."2 The guilt of Rome is so dark
and frightful that the Seer can fix his mind upon
nothing but that overthrow which shall be the just
punishment of her crimes. She is not to be doomed ;
she is doomed. She is not to perish ; she is perishing.
Divine vengeance has already overtaken her. Her
1 Chap. xii. 13. 2 Acts i. 7.

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON. 289
last hour is come ; and the ten kings who are to follow
her are already upon their thrones. Thus these kings
come into immediate juxtaposition with the beast in
that last stage of his history which had begun, but had
not reached its greatest intensity, before Rome is sup
posed to fall.
2. The second figure of this chapter now meets us ;
and we have to ask, Who is the woman that sits on
the beast ? or, What is meant by Babylon ?
No more important question can be asked in con
nexion with the interpretation of the Apocalypse. The
thought of Babylon is evidently one by which the
writer is moved to a greater than ordinary degree.
Twice already have we had premonitions of her doom,
and that in language which shows how deeply it was
felt.1 In the passage before us he is awed by the
contemplation of her splendour and her guilt. And
in chap, xviii. he describes the lamentation of the
world over her fate in language of almost unparalleled
sublimity and pathos. What is Babylon ? We must
make up our minds upon the point, or the effort to
interpret one of the most important parts of the Reve
lation of St. John can result in nothing but defeat.
Very various opinions have been entertained as to
the meaning of Babylon, of which the most famous
are that the word is a name for papal Rome, pagan
Rome, or a great world-city of the future which shall
stand to the whole earth in a relation similar to that
occupied by Rome towards the world of its day. These
opinions cannot be discussed here; and no more can
be attempted than to show, with as much brevity as
possible, that by Babylon is to be understood the de-
1 Chaps, xiv. 8; xvi. 19. 19

A

: -V:

290 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
\\ generate Church, or that principle of degenerate religion
X I which allies itself with the world, and more than all else
1 brings dishonour upon the name and the cause of Christ.
(1) Babylon is the representative of religious, not
civil, degeneracy and wickedness. She is a harlot, and
her name is associated with the most reckless and
unrestrained fornication. But fornication and adultery
are throughout the Old Testament the emblem of
religious degeneracy, and not of civil misrule. In
numerous passages familiar to every reader of Scripture
both terms are employed to describe the departure of
Israel from the worship of Jehovah and a holy life
to the worship of idols and the degrading sensuality
by which such worship was everywhere accompanied.
Nor ought we to imagine that adultery, not fornication,
is the most suitable expression for religious degeneracy.
In some important respects the latter is the more
suitable of the two. It brings out more strongly the
ideas of playing the harlot with " many lovers"1 and of
sinning for "hire."2 In this sense then it seems
proper to understand the charge of fornication brought
in so many passages of the Apocalypse against Babylon.
Not in their civil, but in their religious, aspect have the
kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and
they that dwell on the earth been made drunk with
the wine of her fornication. Her sin has been that of
leading men astray from the worship of the true God,
and of substituting for the purity and unworldhness of
Christian living the irreligious and worldly spirit of the
" earth." To this it may be added that, had Babylon
not been the symbol of religious declension, she could
hardly have borne upon her forehead the term mystery.
Jer. iii. I, * Micah i. J.

:pi

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON.
St. John could not have used a word connected only
with religious associations to express anything but a
religious state awakening the awe, and wonder, and
perplexity of a religious mind. Babylon, therefore,
represents persons who are not only sinful, but who
have fallen into sin by treachery to a high and holy
standard formerly acknowledged by them.
(2) We have already had occasion to allude to a fact
which must immediately receive further notice, — that
to the eye of St. John there is an aspect of Jerusalem
different from that in which she is regarded as the holy
and beloved city of God. Jerusalem in that aspect
and Babylon are one. Each is "the great city," and
the same epithet could not be applied to both were
they not to be identified. Not only so. The words
here used of Babylon lead us directly to what our
Lord once said of Jerusalem. " Therefore," said Jesus,
" behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and
scribes : some of them shall ye kill and crucify ; and
some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and
persecute from city to city : that upon you may come
all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the
blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah
son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanc
tuary and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these
things shall come upon this generation." 1 Precisely
similar to this is the language of the Seer, And I saw
the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
It may indeed be thought impossible that under any
circumstances whatever St. John could have applied
an epithet like that of Babylon, steeped in so many
1 Matt, xxiii. 34-36.

292 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
associations of lust, and bloodshed, and oppression, to
the metropolis of Israel, the city of God. But in this
very book he has illustrated the reverse. He has
already spoken of Jerusalem as represented by names
felt by a pious Jew to be the most terrible of the Old
Testament, — "Sodom and Egypt,"1 The prophets before
him had employed language no less severe. " Hear
\ the word of the Lord," said Isaiah, addressing the
\ inhabitants of the holy city,' " ye rulers of Sodom ;
(give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of
Gomorrah," 2 and again, " How is the faithful city
become an harlot, she that was full of judgment !
righteousness lodged in her; but now murderers;"3
whilst the degenerate metropolis of Israel is not
unfrequently painted by Jeremiah and Ezekiel and
other prophets in colours than which none more dark
or repulsive can be conceived.
In forming a conclusion upon this point, it is neces
sary to bear in mind that to the eye of the faithful in
Israel, and certainly of St. John, there were two Jeru
salems, the one true, the other false, to its heavenly
King; and that in exact proportion to the feelings of
admiration, love, and devotion with which they turned
to the one were those of pain, indignation, and aliena
tion with which they turned from the other. The latter
Jerusalem, the city of " the Jews," is that of which the
Apocalyptist thinks when he speaks of it as Babylon ;
and, looking upon the city in this aspect as he did, the
whole language of the Old Testament fully justifies him
in applying to it the opprobrious name.
(3) The contrast between the new Jerusalem and
Babylon leads to the same conclusion. We have already
1 Chap. xi. 8. 2 Isa. i. 10. * Isa. i. 21

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON.

293

more than once had occasion to allude to the principle
of antithesis, or contrast, as affording an important rule
of interpretation in many passages of this book. No
where is it more distinctly marked or more applicable
than in the case before us. The contrast has been
drawn out by a recent writer in the following words : —
"These prophecies present two broadly contrasted
women, identified with two broadly contrasted cities,
one reality being in each case doubly represented : as a
woman and as a city. The harlot and Babylon are one ;
the bride and the heavenly Jerusalem are one.
"The two women are contrasted in every particular
that is mentioned about them : the one is pure as purity
itself, 'made ready' and fit for heaven's unsullied
holiness, the other foul as corruption could make her,
fit only for the fires of destruction.
" The one belongs to the Lamb, who loves her as the
bridegroom loves the bride ; the other is associated with a
wild beast, and with the kings of the earth, who ulti
mately hate and destroy her.
" The one is clothed with fine linen, and in another
place is said to be clothed with the sun and crowned with
a coronet of stars : that is, robed in Divine righteous
ness and resplendent with heavenly glory ; the other is
attired in scarlet and gold, in jewels and pearls, gorgeous
indeed, but with earthly splendour only. The one is
represented as a chaste virgin, espoused to Christ ; the
other is mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
" The one is persecuted, pressed hard by the dragon,
driven into the wilderness, and well-nigh overwhelmed ;
the other is drunken with martyr blood, and seated on a
beast which has received its power from the persecuting
dragon. " The one sojourns in solitude in the wilderness ; the

294 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
other reigns' 'in the wilderness' over peoples, and
nations, and kindreds, and tongues.
"The one goes in with the Lamb to the marriage
supper, amid the glad hallelujahs ; the other is stripped,
insulted, torn, and destroyed by her guilty paramours.
" We lose sight of the bride amid the effulgence of
heavenly glory and joy, and of the harlot amid the gloom
and darkness of the smoke that ' rose up for ever and
ever.'"1 A contrast presented in so many striking particulars
leaves only one conclusion possible. The two cities
are the counterparts of one another. But we know
that by the first is represented the bride, the Lamb's
wife, or the true Church of Christ as, separated from
the world, she remains faithful to her Lord, is. purified
from sin, and is made meet for that eternal home into
which there enters nothing that defiles. What can the
other be but the representative of a false and degenerate
Church, of a Church that has yielded to the tempta
tions of the world, and has turned back in heart from
the trials of the wilderness to the flesh-pots of Egypt ?
Every feature of the description answers, although
with the heightened colour of ideal portraiture, to what
such a professing but degenerate Church becomes, —
the pride, the show, the love of luxury, the subordin
ation of the future to the present. Even her very cruelty
to the poor saints of God is drawn from actual reality,
and has been depicted upon many a page of history.
With the meek and lowly followers of Jesus, whose
life is a constant protest that the things of time are
nothing in comparison with those of eternity, none have
less sympathy than those who have a name to live
¦ Guinness, The Approaching End of the Age, p. 143.

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON. 295
while they are dead. The world may admire, even
while it cannot understand, these little ones, these
lambs of the flock ; but to those who seek the life that
now is by the help of the life that is to come they
are a perpetual reproach, and they are felt to be so.
Therefore they are persecuted in such manner and to
such degree as the times will tolerate.
One other remark has to be made upon the identifi
cation of Jerusalem and Babylon by the Seer. It has
been said that he has one special aspect of the metro
polis of Israel in his eye. Yet we are not to suppose
that he confines himself to that metropolis. As on so
many other occasions, he starts From what is limited
and local only to pass in thought to what is unlimited
and universal. His Jerusalem, his Babylon, is not the
literal city. She is " the great harlot that sitteth upon
many waters ; " and " the waters which thou sawest,"
says the angel to the Seer, "are peoples, and multi
tudes, and nations, and tongues."1 The fourfold division
guides us, as usual, to the thought of dominion over
the whole earth. Babylon is not the Jerusalem only
of " the Jews." She is the great Church of God
throughout the world when that Church becomes
faithless to her true Lord and King.
Babylon then is not pagan Rome. No doubt seven
mountains are spoken of on which the woman sitteth.
But this was not peculiar to Rome. Both Babylon
and Jerusalem are also said to have been situated upon
seven hills ; and even if we had before us, as we cer
tainly may have, a distinct reference to Rome, it would
be only because Rome was one of the manifestations
of the beast, and because the city afforded a suitable
point of departure for a wider survey. The very
1 Chap. xvii. 13,

296 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
closing words of the chapter, upon which so much
stress is laid by those who find the harlot in pagan
Rome, negative, instead of justifying, the supposition :
And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, which
reigneth over the kings of the earth. Rome never pos
sessed such universal dominion as is here referred to.
She may illustrate, but she cannot exhaust, that subtler,
more penetrating, and more widespread spirit which is
in the Seer's view.
Again, Babylon cannot be papal Rome. As in the last
case, theie may indeed be a most intimate connexion
between her and one of the manifestations of Babylon.
But it is impossible' to speak of the papal Church as
the guide, the counsellor, and the inspirer of anti-
christian efforts to dethrone the Redeemer, and to
substitute the world or the devil in His stead. The
papal Church has toiled, and suffered, and died for
Christ. Babylon never did so.
Nor, finally, can we think of Babylon as a great
city of the future which shall stand to the kings and
kingdoms of the earth in a relation similar to that in
which ancient Rome stood to the kings and kingdoms
of her day. Wholly apart from the impossibility of our
forming any clear conception of such a city, the want
of the religious or spiritual element is fatal to the theory.
One explanation alone seems to meet the conditions
of the case. Babylon is the world in the Church. In
whatever section of the Church, or in whatever age of
her history, an unspiritual and earthly element pre
vails, there is Babylon.
We have spoken of the two great figures of this
chapter separately. We have still to speak of their
relation to one another, and of the manner in which it
is brought suddenly and for ever to a close.

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON. 297
This relation appears in the words, / saw a woman
sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, and in later words
of the chapter : the beast that carrieth her. The woman
then is not subordinate to the beast, but is rather his
controller and guide. And this relation is precisely
what we should expect. The beast is before us in his
final stage, in that immediately preceding his own
destruction. He is no longer in the form of Egypt, or
Assyria, or Babylonia, or Persia, or Greece, or Rome.
These six forms of his manifestation have passed away.
The restrainer has been withdrawn,1 and the beast has
stepped forth in the plenitude of his power. He has
been revealed as the " ten horns " which occupy the
place of the seventh head ; and these ten horns are ten
kings who, having now received their kingdoms and
with their kingdoms their diadems, are the actual
manifestation in history of the beast as he had been
seen in his ideal form in chap. xiii. The beast is
therefore the spirit of the world, partly in its secu
larising influence, partly in its brute force, in that
tyranny and oppression which it exercises against the
children of God. The woman, again, is the spirit of
false religion and religious zeal, which had shown itself
under all previous forms of worldly domination, and
which was destined to show itself more than ever under
the last. To the eye of St. John this spirit was not
confined to Christian times. The woman, considered
in herself, is not simply the false Christian Church.
She is so at the moment when we behold her on the
field of history. But St. John did not believe that
saving truth, the truth which unites us to Christ, the
truth which is " of God," was to be found in Christianity

1 Comp. 2 Thess. ii. 7.

298 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
alone. It had existed in Judaism. It had existed even
in Heathenism, for in his Gospel he remembers and
quotes the words of our Lord in which Jesus says,
"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold:
them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice ;
and they shall become one flock, one Shepherd." x As
then Divine truth, the light which never ceases to con
tend with the darkness, had been present in the world
under every one of its successive kingdoms, so also
perversions of that truth had never failed to be present
by its side. All along the line of past history, in
Heathenism as well as in Judaism, the ideal bride of
Christ had been putting on her ornaments to meet the
Bridegroom ; and not less all along the same line had
the harlot been arraying herself in purple and scarlet
and decking herself with gold and precious stones and
jewels, that she might tempt men to resist the influence
of their rightful King. The harlot had been always
thus superior to the beast. The beast had only the
powers of this world at his command ; the harlot
wielded the powers of another and a higher world.
The one dealt only with the seen and temporal, the
other with the unseen and eternal, the one with material
forces, the other with those spiritual forces which reach
the profoundest depths of the human heart and give
rise to the greatest movements of human history. The
woman is therefore superior to the beast. She inspires
and animates him. The beast only lends her the
material strength needed for the execution of her plans.
In the war, accordingly, which is carried on by the ten
kings who have one mind, and who give their power and
authority unto the beast, in the war which the beast and
1 John x. 16.

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON.

299

they, with their combined power, wage for one hour
against the Lamb, it would be a great mistake to
suppose that the woman, although she is not mentioned,
takes no part and exerts no influence. She is really
there, the prime mover in all its horrors. The "one
mind " comes from her. The beast can do nothing of
himself. The ten kings who are the form in which he
appears are not less weak and helpless. They have the
outward power, but they cannot regulate it. They want
the skill, the subtlety, the wisdom, which are found only
in the spiritual domain. But the great harlot, who at
this point of history is the perversion of Christian truth,
is with them ; and they depend on her. Such is the first
part of the relation between the beast and the harlot.
A second, most unexpected and most startling, follows.
We have seen that in the war between the ten kings
and the Lamb the woman is present. That war ends
in disaster to her and to those whom she inspires. The
Lamb shall overcome them : for He is Lord of lords, and
King of kings. The name is the same as that which
we shall afterwards meet in chap. xix. 16, though the
order of the clauses is different. This Lamb, therefore,
is here the Conqueror described in chap. xix. 11-16;
and many particulars of these latter verses take us back
to the Son of man as He appeared in chap, i., or, in
other words, to the risen and glorified Redeemer. The
thought of the risen Christ is thus in the mind of
St. John when he speaks of the Lamb who shall over
come. The leaders of the Jewish Church had believed
that they had for ever rid themselves of the Prophet
who " tormenteth them that dwell on the earth." x They
had sealed the stone, and set a watch, and returned to
1 Comp. chap. xi. 10.

300 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
their homes for joy and merriment. But on the third
morning there was a great earthquake, and the stone
was rolled away from the door of the sepulchre ; and
the Crucified came forth, the Conqueror of death and
Hades. Then the Lamb overcame. Then He began
His victorious progress as King of kings and Lord of
lords. Then the power and the wisdom of the world
were alike put to shame. Was not this enough ? No,
for now follow the words which come upon us in a way
so wholly unexpected : And the ten horns which thou
sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and
shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh,
and shall burn her utterly with fire.
What is the meaning of these words ? Surely not
that Rome was to be attacked and overthrown by the
barbaric hordes that burst upon her from the North :
for, in the first place, the Roman manifestation of the
world-power had passed away before the ten kings
came to their kingdom ; and, in the second place, when
Rome fell, she fell as the beast, not as the harlot.
Surely also not that a great world-city, concentrating in
itself all the resources of the world-power, is to be
hated and burned by its subjects, for we have already
seen that this whole notion of a great world-city of the
end is groundless ; and the resources of the world-
power are always in this book concentrated in the
beast, and not in the harlot who directs their use.
There seems only one method of explaining the words,
but it is one in perfect consonance with the method and
purpose of the Apocalypse as a whole. As on many
other occasions, the fortunes of the Church of Christ
are modelled upon the fortunes of her Master. With
that Master the Church was one. He had always
identified His people with Himself, in life and death,

xvii.] THE BEAST AND BABYLON. 301
in time and in eternity. Could the beloved disciple
do otherwise ? He looked round upon the suffering
Church of his day. He was a " companion with it in
the tribulation, and kingdom, and patience which are
in Jesus." x He felt all its wounds and shared all its
sorrows, just as he felt and shared the wounds and
sorrows of that Lord who lived in him, and in whom
he lived. Here, therefore, was the mould in which the
fortunes of the Church appeared to him. He went
back to well-remembered scenes in the life of Christ ;
and he beheld these repeating themselves, in principle
at least, in the members of His Body.
Now there was one scene of the past — how well
does he remember it, for he was present at the time 1 —
when the Roman power and a degenerate Judaism,
the beast and the harlot of the day, combined
to make war upon the Lamb. For a moment they
seemed to succeed, yet only for a moment. They
nailed the Lamb to the cross ; but the Lamb overcame
them, and rose in triumph from the grave. But the
Seer did not pause there. He looked a few more
years onward, and what did he next behold ? That
wicked partnership was dissolved. These companions
in crime had turned round upon one another. The
harlot had counselled the beast, and the beast had
given the harlot power, to execute the darkest deed
which had stained the pages of human history. But the
alliance did not last. The alienation of the two from
each other, restrained for a little by co-operation in
common crime, burst forth afresh, and deepened with
each passing year, until it ended in the march of the
Roman armies into Palestine, their investment of the
1 Chap. i. 9.

302 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
Jewish capital, and that sack and burning of the city
which still remain the most awful spectacle of blood
shed and of ruin that the world has seen. Even this
is not all. St. John looks still further into the future,
and the tragedy is repeated in the darker deeds of the
last "hour." There will again be a "beast" in the
brute power of the ten kings of the world, and a harlot
in a degenerate Jerusalem, animating and controlling
it. The two will again direct their united energies
against the true Church of Christ, the "called, and
chosen, and faithful." They may succeed ; it will be only
for a moment. Again the Lamb will overcome them ;
and in the hour of defeat the sinful league between
them will be broken, and the world-power will hate
the harlot, and make her desolate and naked, and eat
her flesh, and burn her utterly with fire.
This is the prospect set before us in these words,
and this the consolation of the Church under the trials
that await her at the end of the age. "When the
wicked spring as the grass, and all the workers of
iniquity do flourish ; it is that they shall be destroyed
for ever : but Thou, O Lord, art on high for ever
more. For, lo, Thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, Thine
enemies shall perish ; all the workers of iniquity shall
be scattered." *
Babylon is fallen, not indeed in a strictly chrono
logical narrative, for she will again be spoken of as
if she still existed upon earth. But for the time her
overthrow has been consummated, her destruction is
complete, and all that is good can only rejoice at the
spectacle of her fate. Hence the opening verses of
the next chapter. 1 Ps. xcii. 7-9.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE FALL OF BABYLON.
Rev. xviii.
BABYLON has fallen. We have now the Divine
proclamation of her fate, and the lamentation
of the world over the doom to which she has been
consigned : —
After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven,
having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon
the great, and is become a habitation of devils, and a hold of every
unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird. For by
the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen,
and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the
merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness
(xviii. 1-3).
At chap. xvii. 1 we read of one of the angels that
had the seven Bowls. The angel now introduced is
another, or a second. We shall find as we proceed that
we have entered upon a new series of seven parts,
similar to that in chap, xiv., where six angels and their
actions, three on either side, are grouped around One
higher than angels, and forming the central figure of
the movement. 1 The series is a long one, extending
from chap. xvii. I to chap. xxii. 5, the central figure
1 Kliefoth seems to have been the first to point this out.

304 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
meeting us at chap. xix. 1 1 ; and again, as before, the
fact ought to be carefully noticed, for it has a bearing
on the interpretation of some of the most difficult sections
of this book. Meanwhile we have to do with the second
angel, whose action extends to ver. 20 of the present
chapter. The description given of this angel is proportioned
to the importance of his message. He has great
authority; the earth is lightened with his glory ; the
voice with which he cries is mighty. It could hardly
be otherwise than that, with such joyful tidings as he
bears to men, the " glory of the Lord should shine
round about him, and a light from heaven above the
brightness of the sun." x The tidings themselves follow,
taken from the Old Testament accounts of the desolation
that was to come upon Babylon : " And Babylon,
the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans'
pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it
be dwelt in from generation to generation : neither
shall the Arabian pitch tent there ; neither shall shep
herds make their flocks to lie down there. But wild
beasts of the desert shall lie there ; and their houses
shall be full of doleful creatures ; and ostriches shall
dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And
wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the
pleasant palaces."2 In words such as these, though
combined throughout both the present and following
descriptions with expressions taken from the ruin of
other famous and guilty cities of the Old Testament,
we have the source whence the powerful and pathetic
words of thie chapter are drawn. The most terrible
1 Luke ii. 9; Acts xxvi. 13. 2 Isa. xiii. 19-22.

xviii. 4-8.] THE FALL OF BABYLON. 305
disasters of bygone times are but types of that wreck
of all the grandeur of earth which we are now invited
to behold, while Babylon's sinfulness is referred to that
her fate may appear to be no more than her appropriate
punishment. At this point we are met by one of those sudden
transitions, common in the Apocalypse, which so com
pletely negative the idea of chronological arrangement.
A cry is heard which seems to imply that Babylon
has not yet fallen : —
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, My
people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that
ye receive not. of her plagues. For her sins have reached even unto
heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Render unto her
even as she rendered, and double unto her the double according to
her works : in the cup which she hath mingled mingle unto her
double. How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed wanton,
so much give her of torment and mourning : for she saith in her
heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see
mourning. Therefore in one day shall, her plagues come, death, and
mourning, and famine ; and she shall be utterly burned with fire : for
strong is the Lord God which judged her (xviii. 4-8).
The first words of this voice from heaven deserve
p aculiar attention : Come forth, My people, out of her;
that is, out of Babylon, the degenerate Church. We
are at once reminded of the striking teaching of our
Lord in chap. x. of the fourth Gospel, where He
compares Himself to the " door " of the fold, not the
door by which the sheep enter into, but by which they
come out of, the fold. x We are also reminded of the
blind man of chap. ix. of the same Gospel, whom our
Lord " found " only after he had been " cast out " of
the synagogue. 2 In the midst of the blinded theocracy
of Israel in the days of Jesus there was a faithful,
1 John x. 7. * John ix. 35.

306 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
though small, remnant. It had been betrayed by the
religious guides of the people, who had become " thieves
and robbers," whom the true sheep did not know,
and to whom they ought not to listen. Jesus came to
call it out of the theocracy to Himself. Such was
the spectacle which St. John had witnessed when his
Master was in the world, and that experience is now
repeated. The Church as a whole degenerates. Called
to prepare men for the Second Coming of the Lord,
and to teach them to live, not for the present, but the
future, she becomes herself the victim of the present.
She forgets that, in the absence of the Bridegroom,
her days are days of fasting. She fails to realize the
fact that until her Lord comes again her state is one
of widowhood. And, instead of mourning, she sits as
a queen, at ease and satisfied, proud of her pomp and
jewellery. What is all this but a recurrence of the
old events of history ? The Apostle sees the future
mirrored in the past; and he can only follow in his
Master's footsteps, and call His Christian remnant out
of Babylon.
The words are in the highest degree important for
the interpretation and understanding of the Apocalypse.
We have already found in more than one passage
distinct traces of this double Church, of the true Church
within the false, of the few living ones within the Body
which had a name to live, but was dead. Here the
distinction meets us in all its sharpness, and fresh
light is cast upon passages that may have formerly
seemed dark. " Many are called," " many " constituting
the outward Church; but "few are chosen," "few"
constituting the real Church, the Church which consists
of the poor, and meek, and lowly. The two parts may
keep together for a time, but the union cannot last;

xviii. 9-2C] THE FALL OF BABYLON. 307
and the day comes when, as Christ called His sheep
out of the Jewish, so He will again call His sheep out
of the Christian " fold," that they may hear His voice,
and follow Him.
Having summoned the true disciples of Jesus out
of Babylon, the voice from heaven again proclaims in
a double form, as sins and as iniquities, the guilt of
the doomed city, and invites the ministers of judgment,
according to the lex talionis, to render unto her double.
The command may also be founded upon the law of
the theocracy by which thieves and violent aggressors
of the poor were required to make a double repayment
to those whom they had injured,1 or it may rest upon
the remembrance of such threatenings as those by the
prophet Jeremiah, " I will recompense their iniquity
and their sin double." *
Judgment is next supposed to have been executed
upon Babylon; and the Seer proceeds to describe in
language of unexampled eloquence the lamentation of
the world over the city's fall: —
And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived
wantonly with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look
upon the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her
torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the strong citv !
for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of tne
earth weep and mourn over her ; for no man buyeth their merchandise
any more : merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and
pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all
thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of
most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinna
mon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and
wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep, and
merchandise of horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
And the fruits which thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all
things that were dainty and sumptuous are perished from thee, and
1 Exod. xxii. 4, 7, 9. 2 Jer. xvi. 18.

308 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
men shall find them no more at all. The merchants of these things,
who were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her
torment, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city,
she that was arrayed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked
with gold, and precious stone, and pearl 1 for in one hour so great
riches is made desolate. And every shipmaster, and every one that
saileth anywhither, and mariners, and as many as gain their living
by sea, stood afar off, and cried out as they looked upon the smoke
of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city ? And they
cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying,
Woe, woe, the great city, wherein were made rich all that had their
ships in the sea by reason of her costliness ! for in one hour is she
made desolate. Rejoice with her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and
ye apostles, and ye prophets ; for God hath judged your judgment on
her (xviii. 9-20).
Three classes of persons are introduced to us : Kings,
Merchants, and Sailors. All are of the earth; and each
class, in its own strain, swells the voice of lamentation.
The words are largely taken from the Old Testament,
and more particularly from the description of the over
throw of Tyre in Ezekiel (chaps, xxvi., xxvii.). There
is even a peculiar propriety in this latter reference, for
Tyre was known by the prophets as another Babylon.
In describing the " Burden of Tyre," Isaiah uses in one
part of his description the words, "The city of confusion "
(the meaning of the word Babylon) " is broken down." x
It is unnecessary to enter into any examination
clause by clause of the passage before us. We shall
better catch its spirit and be made sensible of its effect
by attending to a few general observations upon the
description as a whole.
I. Not without interest may we mark that the classes
selected to mourn over the burning of the city are three
in number. We have thus another illustration of the
1 Isa. xxiv. 10.

xviii. 9-20.] THE FALL OF BABYLON. 309
manner in which that number penetrates the structure
of all the writings of St. John.
2. Emphasis is laid upon the fact that the city is
burned. Her destruction by fire has indeed been more
than once alluded to. Of the beast and the ten horns
it had been said that " they shall burn her utterly with
fire ; " x and, again, it had been proclaimed by the voice
from heaven that "she shall be utterly burned with
fire." 2 We shall not venture to say with any measure
of positiveness that the type of this "burning" is
taken from the burning of Jerusalem by the Romans.
It may have been taken from the burning of other cities
by victorious enemies. But this much at least is
obvious : that, in conjunction with the fact that Babylon
is a harlot, destruction by fire leads us directly to the
thought of the spiritual, and not simply the civil, or
political, or commercial, character of the city. According
to the law of Moses, burning appears to have been the
punishment of fornication only in the case of a priest's
daughter: "And the daughter of any priest, if she
profane herself by playing the harlot, she shall be burnt
with fire."3
3. Whether there is any other allusion to spiritual
traffic in the lamentations before us it is not easy to say.
Of one at least which may be quoted in this connexion
the interpretation is uncertain. When the merchants
of the earth weep and mourn over the loss of that
merchandise which they now miss, they extend it, not
only to articles of commerce bought and sold in an
ordinary market, but to souls of men. It may be that, as
often suggested, slavery alone is thought of. Yet it is
highly improbable that such is the case. Rather may
1 Chap. xvii. 16. 2 Chap, xviii. 8 * Lev. xxi. 9.

310 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
it be supposed to refer to that spiritual life which is
destroyed by too much occupation with, and too
engrossing interest in, the world. " The characteristic
of this fornication is the selling themselves for gold, as
the Greek word signifies. Therefore with such won
derful force and emphasis of accumulation is every
species of this merchandise mentioned, running up all
into one head : the souls of men. Like that in the
prophet : ' Their land is full of silver and gold, neither
is there any end of their treasures ; their land also is
full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots ;
their land also is full of idols.' And it must be
observed that all these things which are so minutely
particularized as expressive of the meshes of that net
by which men's souls are taken have also their place
in the new Jerusalem, where every jewel is specified
by name, and the gold of its streets, and the fine linen,
and the incense, and the wine, and the oil, its white
horses also. In both alike must they stand for spiritual
merchandise of good and evil, the false riches and the
true." x
The conclusion to be drawn is that Babylon is a
spiritual city. That, as such, she is Jerusalem is further
confirmed by the fact that, at the close of the chapter,
it is said, And in her was found the blood of prophets,
and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the
earth. Similar words met us in chap. xvii. 6; and
here, as there, they unmistakeably remind us of the
words already quoted in which our Lord describes the
great city of the Jews.2
4. From all that has been said, it must be obvious
that nothing is here spoken of Babylon inapplicable
1 Isaac Williams, The Apocalypse, with Notes, etc., p. 36a
* Matt, xxiii. 35. Comp. p. 291.

xvia. 21-24.] THE FALL OF BABYLON. 311
to Jerusalem when we think of this latter city in the
light in which the Seer specially regards it. Jerusalem
was indeed neither a commercial nor a maritime city,
but Rome also was no city on the sea. A large part,
therefore, of the details of St. John's description is not
less destitute of force when applied, if applied literally,
to the latter than to the former. On the other hand,
these details are more applicable to Jerusalem than to
Rome, if we remember that Jerusalem supplies, in a
way impossible to Rome, the groundwork for a de
lineation of those religious forces which are far more
wide-spreading in their reach, and far more crushing
in their power, than the legions of the imperial metro
polis. Babylon then is fallen, and that with a sudden and
swift destruction, a destruction indeed so sudden and
so swift that each of the three companies that lament
takes particular notice of the fact that in one hour did
her judgment come.1
More, however, so important is the subject, has to
be said ; and we are introduced to the action of the
third angel of the first group : —
And a strong angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone,
and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon,
the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all.
And the voice of harpers, and minstrels, and flute-players, and
trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee ; and no craftsman,
of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more at all in thee; and the
voice of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee ; and the
voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at
all in thee : for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived. And
in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that
have been slain upon the earth (xviii. 21-24).
Yet once again, it would seem, must we think of
1 Vers. 10, 17, 19.

312 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
Babylon as to be destroyed rather than as destroyed
already. So great is her guiltiness that the Seer again
and again approaches it, and dwells, though from
different points of view, upon the thought of her dis
astrous fate. In the present case it is less the method
than the effect of her destruction that is before his
eye, and nothing can be more touching than the light
in which he presents it. At one moment we behold
the city in her brightness, her gaiety, her rich and
varied life. We hear the voice of her harpers, and
minstrels, and flute-players, and trumpeters, all that
can delight the ear accompanying all that can please
the eye. Her craftsmen of every craft are busy at
their work ; and each shop in the great city resounds
with the noise of the hammer, or the shuttle, or the
other instruments of prosperous industry. The cheering
sound of the millstone tells that there is food in her
humbler dwellings. Her merchants, too, are the
princes of the earth ; innumerable lamps glitter in
their halls and gardens ; and the voice of the bride
groom and the bride is the pledge of her well-being
and joy. The next moment the proud city is cast
like a millstone into the sea ; and all is silence, desola
tion, and ruin. The resources of language appear as
if they had been exhausted to supply the description
of so great a fall.
We have now reached the close of the longest and
most important section of the Apocalypse, beginning,
as has been already pointed out, with chap. vi. It is
the fourth in that series of seven of which the book is
composed ; and the main purpose of St. John in writing
finds expression in it. As the writer of the fourth
Gospel describes in the fourth section of that book,

xviii. 21-24.] THE FALL OF BABYLON. 313
extending from chap. v. to chap, xii., the conflict be
tween the Son of God and " the Jews," so he describes
in the corresponding section of the Apocalypse the
conflict between the glorified Son of man as He lives
and reigns in His Church and the evil of the world.
Throughout the conflict we are not once permitted to
forget that, although Christ and the true members of
His Body may be the objects of attack, and may even
have to retire for security from the field, God is on
their side, and will never suffer His faithfulness to fail
or forget His promises. In a threefold series of judg
ments the guilty world and the guilty Church are
visited with the terrors of His wrath. These three
series of judgments, too, go on in an ascending line.
The climactic character of their contents has already
been pointed out, and nothing more need be said of
it. But it may be worth while to notice that the
element of climax appears not less in the nature of the
instruments employed. Comparing the Trumpets with
the Seals, the simple fact that they are Trumpets indi
cates a higher, more exciting, more terrible unfolding of
wrath. The Trumpet is peculiarly the warlike instru
ment, summoning the hosts to battle : " Thou hast
heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm
of war ; " " That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble
and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day
of darkness "and gloominess, a day of clouds and thici?
darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the
fenced cities."1 That the Bowls, again, are still more
potent than the Trumpets, appears from the language
in which they are described, from their mode of intro
duction, and from the vessels made use of for the
1 Jer. iv. 19; Zeph. i. 15, 16.

314 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
plagues. They are " the last " plagues ; in them is
"finished" the wrath of God; they are called for by
a " great voice out of the sanctuary ; " and they proceed,
not from a secular instrument, however warlike, but
from a sacred vessel, not from one which must be
sounded for a length of time before it produces its
effect, but from one which, inverted in a moment, pours
out with a sudden gush its terrors upon men. Similar
though they thus are, the three series of judgments
lose what might otherwise be their sameness ; and the
mind is invited to rest upon that most instructive
lesson of the providence of God, that in proportion
to privilege misused is the severity with which sin
is punished. Throughout all these judgments the
righteous are kept safe.
It will thus be observed that there is no strict chrono
logical succession in the visions of this book. There
is succession of a certain kind, succession in intensity
of punishment. But we cannot assign one series of
judgments to one period in the history of the Church
or limit another to another. All the three series may
continually fulfil themselves wherever persons are
found of the character and disposition to which they
severally apply.
But while these three series constitute the chief
substance of the fourth,- or leading, section of the seven
into which the Apocalypse is divided, they do not
exhaust the subject. The last series, in particular —
that of the Bowls — has proceeded upon a supposition
the most startling and pathetic by which the history
of the Church is marked, — that "they are not all
Israel which are of Israel," that tares have mingled
with the wheat, and that the spirit of Babylon has found
its way into the heart of the city of God. A pheno-

xviii. 21-24.] THE FALL OF BABYLON. 315
menon so unexpected and so melancholy stands in
need of particular examination, and that examination
is given in the description of the character and fate
of Babylon. The remarks already made upon this
point need not be repeated. It may be enough to
remind the reader that in no part of his whole book is
the Seer more deeply moved, and that in none does he
rise to strains of more powerful and touching eloquence.
Yet what is chiefly required of us is to open our minds
to the full impression of the fact that Babylon does
fall, deep in ruin as in guilt, and that with her fall
the conflict ends.

CHAPTER XV.
THE PAUSE OF VICTORY AND JUDGMENT OF THE
BEAST AND THE FALSE PROPHET.
Rev, xix.
THOSE who have followed with attention the course
of this commentary can hardly fail to have ob
served its leading conception of the book with which
it deals. That conception is that the Revelation of
St. John presents to us in visions the history of the
Church moulded upon the history of her Lord whilst
He tabernacled among men. It is the invariable lesson
of the New Testament that Christ and His people are
one. He is the Vine ; they are the branches. He is
in them ; they are in Him. With equal uniformity the
sacred writers teach us that just as Christ suffered
during the course of His earthly ministry, so also His
people suffer. They have to endure the struggle before
they enjoy the victory, and to bear the cross before they
win the crown. But the peculiarity of the Apocalypse
is, that it carries out this thought much more fully than
the other New Testament books. St. John does not
merely see the Church suffer. He sees her suffer in
a way precisely as her Lord did. He lives in the
thought of those words spoken by Jesus to Salome at
a striking moment of his life with regard to his brother
and himself, " The cup that I drink ye shall drink ;

xix.] THE PAUSE OF VICTORY. 317
and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall
ye be baptized." x That very cup is put into his hands
and into the hands of his brethren, who are " partakers
with him in the tribulation, and kingdom, and patience
which are in Jesus ; " 2 with that very baptism they are
all baptized.
Now we know from the fourth Gospel what the light
was in which St. John looked back, at a distance of
more than half a century, upon the life of Jesus.
Nothing therefore was more natural than that, dealing
only with the great principles at work in God's govern
ment of the world and guidance of His Church, and
seeing these principles embodied in visions, the visions
should present to him a course of things precisely
similar to that which had been followed in the case of
the Forerunner of the Church and the Captain of her
salvation. Turning then to the fourth Gospel, it has long been
acknowledged by every inquirer of importance that
the struggle of Jesus with the world, which the Evan
gelist chiefly intends to relate, ends with the close of
chap. xii. It is equally undeniable that with the begin
ning of chap, xviii. the struggle breaks out afresh.
Between these two points he chaps, xiii. to xvii., five
chapters altogether different from those that either
precede or follow them, marked by a different tone, and
centring around that institution of the Last Supper in
which, Judas having now "gone out," the love of Jesus
to His disciples is poured forth with a tenderness pre
viously unexampled. In these chapters we have first
a narrative in which the love of Jesus is related as
it appears in the foot-washing and in the institution
1 Mark x. 39. 2 Rev. i. 9.

318 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of the Supper, and then, immediately afterwards, a
pause. This pause — chaps, xiii. 31-xvii. — together with
the narrative preceding it, occurs at the close of a
struggle substantially finished — " I glorified Thee on
the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou
hast given Me to do " x — and only yet again to burst
forth in one final and unsuccessful effort against the
Prince of life.
It would seem as if we had a similar structure at the
point of the Apocalypse now reached by us. There is
a transition narrative which, so far as the thought in
it is concerned, may be regarded either as closing the
fourth or as beginning the fifth section of the book.
It is probably better to understand it as the latter,
because the mould of the Gospel is thus better pre
served ; and, where so much else speaks distinctly of
that mould, there is no impropriety in giving the benefit
of a doubt to what is otherwise sufficiently established.
Although therefore the fifth section of the Apocalypse,
the Pause, begins properly with ver. 1 1 of the present
chapter, the first ten verses may be taken along with
these as a preparatory narrative standing to what
follows as John xiii. 1-30 stands to chap. xiii. 31-
chap, xvii. The probability, too, that this is the light
in which we are tc look at the passage before us, is
rendered greater when we notice, first, that there is in
the midst of the preliminary narrative, and for the first
time mention made of a "supper,'' the marriage supper
of the Lamb,2 and, secondly, that at a later point in the
book there is a final outburst of evil against the Church,
which, notwithstanding the powerful forces ranged
against her, is unsuccessful.3
1 John xvii. 4, 2 Ver. 9. ' Chap. xx. 7.

xix. i-io.] THE PAUSE OF VICTORY. 319
What we have now to do with is thus not a continua
tion of the struggle. It is a pause in which the fall
of Babylon is celebrated, and the great enemies of the
Church are consigned to their merited fate : —
After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multi
tude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah ; Salvation, and glory, and power,
belong to our God : for true and righteous are His judgments : for
He hath judged the great harlot, which did corrupt the earth with
her fornication, and He hath avenged the blood of His servants at her
hand. And a second time they say, Hallelujah. And her smoke
goeth up for ever and ever. And the four-and-twenty elders and the
four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sitteth on
the throne, saying, Amen ; Hallelujah. And a voice came forth from
the throne, saying, Give praise to our God, all ye His servants, ye
that fear Him, the small and the great. And I heard as it were the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah : for the Lord our
God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad,
and let us give the glory unto Him : for the marriage of the Lamb is
come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And it was given unto
her that she should clothe herself in fine linen, bright and pure : for
the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And he saith unto
me, Write, Blessed are they which are bidden unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are true words of
God. And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith
unto me, See thou do it not : I am a fellow-servant with thee and
with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus : worship God :
for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (xix. I-IO).
Babylon has fallen ; and the world, represented by
three classes of its inhabitants — kings, merchants, and
sailors — has poured out its lamentations over her fall.
Very different are the feelings of the good, and these
feelings appear in the narrative before us. A great
multitude is heard in heaven, not necessarily in the
region beyond the grave, but in that of the righteous, of
the unworldly, of the spiritual, whether in time or in
eternity. This " multitude " is probably to be identified
with that of chap. vii. 9. The definite article, which

320 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
would render the identification complete, is indeed
wanting ; but we have already found instances of the
same method of speech with regard to the one hundred
and forty and four thousand of chap. xiv. I, and
with regard to the glassy sea of chap. xv. 2. The
whole ransomed Church of God is therefore included
in the expression. They sing first ; and the burden
of their song is Hallelujah, or Praise to God, because
He has inflicted upon the harlot the due punishment
of her sins and crimes. Nor do they sing only once ;
they sing the same ascription of praise a second time.
The meaning is not simply that they do this twice, the
"second time'' having more than its numerical force,
and being designed to bring out the intensity of their
feelings and their song.1 Then the four-and-twenty
elders, the representatives of the glorified Church, and
the four living creatures, the representatives of redeemed
creation, answer, Amen, and take up the same song :
Hallelujah. All creation, animate and inanimate, swells
the voice of joy and praise.
Meanwhile the smoke of the harlot's torment goeth up
for ever and ever. Again, as once before,2 we have
here no right to fasten our thoughts upon immortal
spirits of men deceived and led astray. Such may be
included. If they have identified themselves with the
harlot, we need not hesitate to say that they are included.
But what is mainly brought under our notice is the
overthrow, complete and final, of sin itself. Babylon
has been utterly overthrown, and her punishment shall
never be forgotten. Her fate shall remain a monument
of the righteous judgment of God, and shall illustrate
unto the ages of the ages the character of Him who,
1 Comp. p. 122. * Comp. p. 250.

xix. 1-10.] THE PAUSE OF VICTORY. 321
for creation's sake, will "by no means clear the
guilty." x
A voice from heaven is then heard calling upon all
the servants of God to praise Him ; and this is followed
by another voice, as it were the voice of a great multitude,
and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of
mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah : for the Lord our
God, the Almighty, reigneth. He always indeed really
reigned, but now He has taken to Himself His great
power, and everything acknowledges its King.
Thus a new moment is reached in the history of
God's saints. The Lamb is come to claim His bride,
and His wife hath made herself ready. She has been
long betrothed, and has been waiting for the Bride
groom. Through storm and calm, through sorrow
and joy, through darkness and light, she has waited
for Him, crying ever and again, " Come quickly." At
last He comes, and the marriage and the marriage
supper are to take place. For the first time in the
Apocalypse we read of this marriage, and for the first
time, although the general idea of supping with the
Lord had been once alluded to,2 of this marriage supper.
The figure indeed is far from being new. The writers
both of the Old and of the New Testament use it with
remarkable frequency.3 But no sacred writer appears
to have felt more the power and beauty of the similitude
than St. John. In the first miracle which he records,
and in which he sees the whole glory of the New
Testament dispensation mirrored forth, He who
changed the water into wine is the Bridegroom of His
1 Exod. xxxiv. 7.
2 Comp. chap. iii. 20.
• Comp. Ps. xiv. 9-15; Isa. liv. 5; Hos. ii. 19; Matt. xxii. 2; Eph.
V. 32, etc

322 THE BOCK OF REVELATION.
Church1 ; and, when the Baptist passes out of view
in the presence of Him for whom he had prepared
the way, he records the swan-like song in which the
great prophet terminated his mission in order that
another and a higher than himself might have sole
possession of the field : " Ye yourselves bear me
witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am
sent before Him. He that hath the bride is the bride
groom : but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth
and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bride
groom's voice : this my joy therefore is fulfilled."2
Such is the moment that has now arrived, and the
bride is ready for it. Her raiment is worthy of our
notice. It is fine linen, bright and pure ; and then it is
immediately added, for the fine linen is the righteous acts
of the saints. These acts are not the imputed righteous
ness of Christ, although only in Christ are the acts per
formed. They express the moral and religious condition
of those who constitute the bride. No outward right
eousness alone, with which we might be clothed as
with a garment, is a sufficient preparation for future
blessedness. An inward change is not less necessary,
a personal and spiritual meetness for the inheritance of
the saints in light. Christ must not only be on us as
a robe, but in us as a life, if we are to have the hope
of glory.3 Let us not be afraid of words like these.
Rightly viewed, they in no way interfere with our
completeness in the I .ved alone, or with the fact
that not by works of righteousness that we have done,
but by grace, are we saved through faith, and that not of
ourselves ; it is the gift of God.4 All our salvation is

* John ii. i-ii. * Col. i. 27.
* John iii. 28, 29. * Eph. ii. 8.

323

xix. i-io.] THE PAUSE OF VICTORY.
of Christ, but the change upon us must be internal
as well as external. The elect are foreordained to be
conformed to the image of God's Son1; and the Chris
tian condition is expressed in the words which say,
not only "Ye were justified," but also "ye were washed,
ye were sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and in the Spirit of our God." 2
Thus " made ready," the bride now enters with the
Bridegroom into the marriage feast ; and, as the whole of
her future rises before the view of the heavenly visitant
who converses with the Seer, he says to him, Write,
Blessed are they which are bidden to the marriage supper
of the Lamb.
Once before St. John had heard a similar, perhaps
the same, voice from heaven, saying, " Blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord from henceforth." s Then
we believed ; now we see. The clouds are dispelled ;
the veil is rent asunder ; we enter into the palace of
the great King. There is music, and festivity, and joy.
There is neither sin nor sorrow, no privilege abused,
no cloud upon any countenance, no burden upon any
heart, no shadow from the future to darken the rapture
of the present. Here is life, and life abundantly ; the
peace that passeth understanding ; the joy unspeakable
and glorified; the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled,
and unfading.
In particular, when we think of this marriage supper
of the Lamb, we cannot but return to that supper in
the upper chamber of Jerusalem which occupies so
strikingly similar a position in the life of Jesus. There
Jesus said, " Take, eat : this is My body, which is for
you ; " " This cup is the new covenant in My blood :
¦ Rom. viii. 29. * I Cor. vi. 11. • Chap. xiv. 13,

324 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
drink ye all of it."1 That was a feast, in which He
gave Himself to be for ever the nourishment of His
Church. And in like manner in the marriage supper
of the Lamb the Lord who be-ame dead and is alive
for evermore is not only the Bridegroom, but the sub
stance of the feast. In Him and by Him His people
lived on earth ; in Him and by Him they live for
ever. All this St. John saw. All this, too, he heard con
firmed by the statement that, wonderful and glorious
as was the spectacle, it was yet true words of God.
He was overwhelmed, and would have worshipped his
angelic visitant. But he was interrupted by the decla
ration on the angel's part, See thou do il not: I am a
fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren thai hold
the testimony of fesus: worship God. These fellow-
servants are first the prophets, but then also all true
members of Christ's Body. The last not less than the
first hold the testimony of Jesus 2 ; and because they do
so, they too are prophets, for prophecy, whether in Old
or in New Testament times, testifies to Him. In Him
all revelation centres. He is the expression of the
God whom no man hath seen. He is thus the Alpha
and the Omega, " over all, God blessed for ever." 3
By so contemplating Him we are prepared for the
next following vision : —
And I saw the heavens opened, and behold a white horse, and
He that sat thereon, called Faithful and True ; and in righteousness
He doth judge and make war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and
upon His head are many diadems ; and He hath a name written,
which no man knoweth, but He Himself. And He is arrayed in a
1 Matt. xxvi. 26, 27 ; I Cor. xi. 24, 25.
* Comp. chaps, i. 3, 9, vi. 9, xi. 7, xii. 17, xx. 4.
* Rom. ix. 5.

xix. n-16.] THE PAUSE OF VICTORY. 325
garment sprinkled with blood : and His name is called The Word of
God. And the armies which are in heaven followed Him upon white
horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. And out of HiSTnouth
proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations
and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And He
hath on His garment and on His thigh a name written, King of
kings, and Lord of lords (xix. n-16).
Of the position of this passage in the structure of
the Apocalypse we have already spoken ; and, looked
at in that its true light, it may be called the Pause
of Victory. There is no renewal of the struggle. A
Warrior is indeed presented to us ; but He is a Warrior
who has already conquered, and who comes forth not
so much to subdue His enemies as to inflict upon them
their final punishment.
Heaven is open, and our attention is first of all
directed to a rider upon a white horse. The description
given of this rider leaves no doubt as to who He is.
The " whiteness " of the horse is the emblem of a
purity that can be connected with the kingdom of God
alone. The description of the Rider — Faithful, who
will not suffer one word that He has promised to fail ;
True, not true as opposed to false, but real as opposed
to shadowy — corresponds only to something essentially
Divine , while the particulars of His appearance after
wards mentioned take us back to the glorified Son of
man of chap, i., and to other passages of this and other
books of the Bible which speak of the same glorious
Person. There are the eyes like a flame of fire of
chap. i. 14 and chap. ii. 18. There are upon His head
many diadems, a fact not previously mentioned, but
corresponding to the many royalties which belong to
Him whom all things obey. There is the name which
none but He Himself knoweth, for "no one knoweth

326 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
the Son save the Father." x There is the garment
sprinkled with blood, of which we read in the prophet
Isaiah,2 the blood, not that of the Conqueror shed
for us, but the blood of His enemies staining His
raiment as He returns victorious from the field.
There is the name The Word of God, with which
St. John alone has made us familiar in the opening
of his Gospel. There are the armies which are in
heaven, following Him upon white horses, and clothed in
fine linen, white and pure, to which our attention is
directed, not for their sake, but for His, for He has
made them partakers of His victory. There is the
sharp sword proceeding out op His mouth of chap. i. 16
and chap. ii. 12. There is the smiting of the nations,
of which we have already heard in chap. ii. 27 and
chap. xii. 5. There is the treading of the winepress
of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God, spoken
of in chap. xiv. 19, 20. Finally, there is on His
garment and on His thigh the name King of kings,
and Lord of lords. All these traits leave no doubt
who this Captain of salvation is ; and all are noted that
we may better understand both the glory of His person,
and the nature of His accomplished work.
One thing therefore alone remains : that the great
adversaries of His people shall be consigned to their
doom ; and to this the Seer proceeds : —
And I saw an angel standing in the sun ; and he cried with a loud
voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, Come and be
gathered together unto the great supper of God ; that ye may eat the
flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of
all men, both free and bond, and small and great. And I saw
the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered
1 Matt. xi. 27. 2 Isa. lxiii. 3.

xix. 17-21.] BEAST AND FALSE PROPHET fUDGED. 327

together to make war against Him that sat upon the horse, and
against His army. And the beast was taken, and he that was
with him, the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight,
wheiewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast,
and them that worshipped his image. They twain were cast alive into
the lake of fire that burnetii with brimstone. And the rest were killed
with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, even the sword
which came forth out of His mouth : and all the birds were filled
with their flesh (xix. 17-21).
The angel beheld at the beginning of this scene is
the first of the three forming the second group of that
series of seven parts of which the triumphing Con
queror was the centre. He stood in the sun, which is
to be thought of as in the zenith of its daily path, in
order that he may be seen and heard by all. It is to
the birds that fly in mid-heaven that he calls ; that is,
to those strong and fierce birds of prey, such as the
eagle and the vulture, which fly in the highest regions
of the atmosphere. His cry is that they shall come to
the great supper of God, that they may feast upon the
flesh of all the enemies of the Lamb. The idea of
such a feast is found in the prophecies of Ezekiel ; and
there can be no doubt, from the many accompanying
circumstances of similarity between the description of
it there and here, that St. John has the language of
the prophet in his eye : " And, thou son of man, thus
saith the Lord God ; Speak unto the birds of every
sort, and to every beast of the field, Assemble your
selves, and come ; gather yourselves on every side to
My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great
sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat
flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the
mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth,
of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them
fatlings of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full,

328 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

and drink blood till ye be drunken, of My sacrifice
which I have sacrificed for you. And ye shall be filled
at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men,
and with all men of war, saith the Lord God."1 Yet,
while the picture of the prophet is unquestionably
before the Seer's mind, it is impossible to doubt that
we have in this supper a travesty of that marriage
supper of the Lamb which had been spoken of in the
previous part of the chapter.2 In contrast with the
joyful banquet at which the children of God shall be
nourished by Him whose flesh is meat indeed and
whose blood is drink indeed, the wicked, to whatever
rank or station they belong, shall themselves be a meal
for all foul and ravenous birds. The whole passage
reminds us of the spectacle at Calvary, as it is set
before us in the fourth Gospel, and may be accepted as
one of the innumerable proofs of the similarity between
two books — that Gospel and the Apocalypse — at first
sight so different from each other. On the Cross
Jesus is the true Paschal Lamb, not so much in the
moment of its death as at a subsequent stage, when it
was prepared for, and eaten at, the paschal meal. In
the conduct of the Jews on that occasion St. John
appears to behold an inverted and contorted Passover.
The enemies of Jesus had not entered into the judg
ment-hall of Pilate, "lest they should be defiled; but
that they might eat the passover."3 They had not eaten
it then Amidst the tumult and stormy passions of
that dreadful morning, when had they an opportunity
of eating it ? St. John does not tell us that they found
one. Rather is the whole narrative so constructed, so
full of close, rapid, passionate action, that it is impossible
 — »^
' Ezek. xxxix. 17-20. 2 Ver. 9. • John xviii. 28,

xix. I7-2I.] BEAST AND FALSE PROPHET JUDGED. 329
to fix upon any point at which we can insert their eating
until it was too 'ate to make it legal. May it not be
that they found no opportunity for eating it ? They
lost their passover. Lost it ? Nay ; the Evangelist
seems to say, they found a passover. Go with me
to the Cross ; mark there their cruel mockeries of the
Lamb of God ; and you shall see the righteous dealings
of the Almighty as He makes these mockeries take
the shape of a passover of judgment, a passover of
added sin and deepened shame.1
The punishment of the wicked, and especially of
the three great enemies of the Church, now proceeds ;
and it ought still to be carefully observed that we have
to do with punishment, not war or overthrow in war.
It was so at ver. 17, where, after the triumphing Con
queror had ridden forth, followed by His armies, there
is no mention of any battle. There is only the angel's
cry to the birds to gather themselves together unto
the great supper of God. The battle had been already
fought, and the victory already won. We are now told
indeed of the gathering together of the beast and the
kings of the earth and their armies, to make war against
Him that sat upon the horse, and against His army. But,
whatever may have been their design, it is not executed.
No actual fighting is spoken of. The enemies referred
to are at once taken, apparently without fighting, and
are consigned to the fate which they have brought upon
themselves. Two of the three great enemies of the Lord and of
His Church meet this fate, — the beast and the false
prophet. The first of these is the beast so frequently
1 The writer has endeavoured to unfold this view of Jesus on the
Cross in two papers in The Expositor, first series, vol. vi., pp.
17, 129.

330 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
mentioned in previous chapters. More particularly it
is the beast of chap, xvii., the representative of the
antichristian world in its last and highest form. The
second is not less certainly the second beast of chap.
xiii., of whom it is said that " he deceiveth them that dwell
on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given
him to do in the sight of the beast ; saying to them that
dwell upon the earth, that they should make an image
to the beast." x The " signs," the " deception," and the
" worship " of the beast now spoken of can be no other
than those thus referred to.
One point may be noticed further. According to
what seems to be the best reading of the original Greek,
we are told here, not that " the beast was taken, and
with him the false prophet," but " the beast was taken,
and he that was with him, the false prophet." In
other words, the language of St. John is designed to
bring out the closeness of connexion between these
two beasts, the fact that the one is always dependent
on the other. They are never separated. The first
cannot act without the second. Hence in all probability
the reason why, in treating of the doom by which these
enemies of the Church are overtaken, a separate para
graph is not assigned to each. They are taken to
gether. A more important question has been raised in con
nexion with the words before us ; and it has been urged
that they conclusively prove that both the beast and
the false prophet are persons, not personifications.2
We have already seen that in regard to the " beast "
that conclusion is hasty.3 It appears to be not less
so in regard to the " false prophet." The simple fact

1 Chap. xiii. 14. * Burger in toe, 3 Comp. p. 297.

xix. 17-21.] BEAST AND FALSE PROPHET JUDGED. 331
that he deceiveth them — that is, all that had received the
mark of the beast — is inconsistent with such an idea,
unless we ascribe to him a ubiquity that is Divine;
or unless we suppose, what Scripture gives us no
warrant for believing, that there is in the realm. of evil
a personal trinity — the dragon, the beast, and the false
prophet — corresponding to the Trinity of Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. It is much more natural to think that
St. John's statements upon this point spring from that
general method of conception which distinguishes him,
and by which everything existing in the realm of good
is thought of as having its counterpart in the realm of evil.
The question thus raised is wholly independent of any
consideration of the fate by which the two beasts are
overtaken. When principles are viewed as persons, they
must be spoken of as persons ; and it will surely not
be urged that death and Hades are persons because it
is said of them, in chap. xx. 14, that they " were cast
into the lake of fire."
The beast and the false prophet then are cast to
gether into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone;
and this lake of fire is further explained in chap. xx.
14 to be " the second death." It is impossible to
avoid the questions, How are we to conceive of this
"lake of fire"? and, What is its effect? Yet, so far
as at present concerns us, the answer to these ques
tions must be taken from St. John alone. In the first
instance at least we have nothing to do with the general
teaching of Scripture on what is called the doctrine
of "eternal punishment." Our only inquiry must be,
What impression is the language employed by the Seer
in these visions intended to convey ? Upon this point
it would seem as if there can be little doubt. To
St. John it is no matter of consequence to tell us what

332 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
shall be the condition of the enemies of the Church
throughout the ages of the future, or whether they
shall be preserved everlastingly alive in torment and
misery and woe. His one aim is to deal with the
condition of the kingdom of God while it contends with
its foes in this present scene. His one object is to
tell us that these foes shall be destroyed for ever, and
that the world shall be wholly purged from them. No
further information is required to comfort us. We
may leave them in the hands of God.
Looking at the matter in this light, we do not need
to ask whether by "the lake of fire" we are to under
stand a lake in which the wicked are consumed or one
in which they are upheld in undying flames. Either
interpretation is consistent with the Apostle's course
of thought, and with the impression which he wishes
to produce.
No doubt it may be said that the principle of contrast,
of which we have so often availed ourselves in inter
preting this book, implies that, as the righteous shall
be upheld amidst the joys of everlasting life, so the
wicked shall be upheld amidst the torments of ever
lasting death. But it is precisely here that the pecu
liarity of St. John's mode of thought conies in. To
him " life "is in the very nature of the case everlasting.
Were it not so, it would not be life. Only therefore
in so far as the conception of everlasting torment lies
in the idea of " death " can it be truly said that the
principle of contrast, so deeply rooted in St. John's
mode of thought, demands the application of everlasting
torment to the wicked. But the idea of torment ever
lastingly continued does not lie in the idea of " death."
Death is privation ; when inflicted by fire, capacity for
torment is speedily destroyed ; and death itself is cast

xix. 17-21.] BEAST AND FALSE PROPHET JUDGED. 333
into the lake of fire. The natural conclusion is that
the idea of torment belongs to the mode by which the
death spoken of is inflicted — fire — and that the words
with which we are dealing may mean no more than
this, — that the eternity of effect following the overthrow
of the beast and the false prophet is the leading con
ception associated with the "fire that burneth with
brimstone" to which these great enemies of God's
people are consigned.
If what has been said be correct, the whole question
of the everlasting suffering of the wicked is left open so
far as these passages in the Apocalypse are concerned ;
and St. John's main lesson is that when the beast and
the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire they
shall no longer have power to war against the righteous
or to disturb their peace.
When these two enemies of the Church had thus
been destroyed, the rest were killed with the sword of
Him that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came
forth out of His mouth. The persons thus called " the
rest" are those who stand to the beast and the false
prophet in the same relation as that in which "the rest
of the woman's seed," spoken of in chap. xii. 17, stand
to the man-child " caught up unto God and unto His
throne." The man-child exalted and glorified is the
same as " He that sat upon the horse," and in that
condition a sword proceedeth out of His mouth.1 The
Guardian and Protector of His own, who has kept their
true life safe amidst all outward troubles, brings also
these troubles to an end. Their enemies are " killed."
They are not yet cast into the lake of fire, because their
hour of judgment has not come. By-and-by it will
1 Chaps, i. 16; xix. 15.

334 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
come.1 Meanwhile not only can they harm the right
eous no more, but they afford a supper to the ravenous
birds already spoken of; and the birds are more than
satisfied : they are gorged with the unholy banquet.
All the birds were filled with their flesh.
1 Chap. xx. 15.

CHAPTER XVI.
JUDGMENT OF SATAN AND OF THE WICKED.
Rev. xx.
IN now approaching chap, xx., with its yet un
solved difficulties of interpretation, it is of essential
importance to observe, in the first place, the relation
of the chapter to what immediately precedes. The
Seer is not entering upon an entirely new subject.
He distinctly continues, on the contrary, the prose
cution of a theme he had before begun. In the
previous portion of his book three great enemies of
the saints of God had been introduced to us, — the
dragon or the devil, the beast, and the false prophet.
These were the main opponents of the Lamb, in one
way or another stirring up all the efforts that had
been made against Him by the kings of the earth,
their armies, and their followers. For a time they
had appeared to succeed. They had persecuted the
saints, had compelled them to flee, had overcome
them, and killed them. This, however, could not
continue; and it was to be shown that the final
triumph remains with those who have suffered for the
sake of righteousness. In chap. xix. we have the
beginning, but not the close, of this triumph. Of the
three great enemies only two — the beast and the false
prophet — perish in that chapter. The destruction of

336 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
the third is reserved for chap, xx., and is effected at
the tenth verse of the chapter. The verses following
then describe the judgment of those who had listened
to these enemies, but who, though defeated, or even
killed,1 or devoured by fire out of heaven when in
their service,2 had not yet been consigned to their
doom. Thereafter nothing remains, in order to com
plete the triumph of Christ and His saints, but that
death and Hades shall also be removed from the scene
and cast into the lake of fire.
These considerations are of themselves sufficient
to show that the overthrow of Satan, and not the reign
of a thousand years, is the main theme of the first
ten verses of the chapter. So far is the latter from
being the culminating point of the whole book, that
it is not even introduced at the beginning of any new
and important section. It starts no new series of
visions. It comes in in the midst of a section devoted
to an entirely different matter : —
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of
the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the
dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him
for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and
sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until
the thousand years should be finished : after this he must be loosed
for a little time. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and
judgment was given unto them : and I saw the souls of them that had
been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God,
and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received
not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand ; and they
lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the
dead lived not until the thousand 3'ears should be finished. This is
the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the
first resurrection : over these the second death hath no authority, but
they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him
1 Chap. xix. 21. * Chap. xx. 9.

xx. l-io.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 337
a thousand years. And when the thousand years are finished, Satan
shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive the
nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to
gather them together to the war : the number of whom is as the sand
of the sea. And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and com
passed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city : and fire
came down out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that
deceived them was cast into the lake of fare and brimstone, where are
also the beast and the false prophet ; and they shall be tormented
day and night for ever and ever (xx. 1-10).
It is impossible within the limits of a commentary
such as the present to discuss the different interpreta
tions that have been given to a passage so difficult and
so much controverted as the above. Nothing more
can be attempted than to state briefly what seems to
be the true meaning of the sacred writer, together
with the grounds upon which the interpretation to be
suggested rests.
The fundamental principle of that interpretation, to
be kept clearly and resolutely in view, is this : that the
thousand years mentioned in the passage express no
period of time. They are not a figure for the whole -¦
Christian era, now extending to nearly nineteen hundred
years. Nor do they denote a certain space of time,
longer or shorter, it may be, than the definite number
of years spoken of, at the close of the present dispen
sation, and to be in the view of some preceded, in the
view of others followed, by the second Advent of our
Lord. They embody an idea ; and that idea, whether
applied to the subjugation of Satan or to the triumph
of the saints, is the idea of completeness or perfection. >
Satan is bound for a thousand years; that is, he is
completely bound. The saints reign for a thousand
years ; that is, they are introduced into a state of'
perfect and glorious victory. Before endeavouring to
22

338 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

bring out this thought more fully, several preliminary
considerations may be noticed.
I. Years may be understood in this sense. In
Ezek. xxxix. 9 it is said that the inhabitants of the
cities of Israel shall prevail against the enemies
described, and " shall go forth, and shall make fires
of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and
the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand-
staves, and the spears, and they shall make fires of
them seven years." No one can suppose that the
"seven years" here spoken of are to be literally under
stood, or even that the length of time which would be
needed to burn the weapons is the thought upon which
the prophet dwells. His meaning, in correspondence
with the use of the number seven, can only be that
these weapons shall be destroyed with a great and
complete destruction. Again, in the same chapter, at
ver. 12, after the defeat of "Gog and all his multitude,"
it is said, "And seven months shall the house of Israel
be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land."
A literal interpretation is here not less impossible than
in the case of the burning of the weapons ; nor can
the meaning be exhausted by the thought that a long
time would be necessary for the burying. The number
" seven " must have its due force assigned to it, and
the prophet can only mean that the land should be
thoroughly cleansed from heathen impurity. The use
of the term " years " in the vision before us seems to
be exactly similar; and the probability that it is so
rises almost to certainty when we observe that, as
proved by the vision of Gog and Magog in the sub
sequent part of the chapter, the prophecy of Ezekiel
is before the Seer's eye, and that it constitutes the
foundation upon which his whole delineation rests.

.i-io.] JUDGMENT .OF SATAN. 339

The only difficulty connected with this view is that
in the third verse of the chapter Satan is said to have
been shut into the abyss until the thousand years should
be finished, and that in the seventh verse we read, And
when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed.
But the difficulty is more specious than real. Let us
familiarise ourselves with the thought that the thousand
years may simply express completeness, thorough
ness, either of defeat or victory ; let us remember
that the Seer had represented the defeat of Satan by
the figure of being bound for a thousand years ; finally,
let us notice, as we have yet to see more fully, that
Satan, although deprived of power over the righteous,
is still to be the deceiver and ruler of the wicked : and
it immediately follows that this latter thought could
find no more appropriate form than in the statement
that the deception took place, not " until," or "after,"
the thousand years should be finished. This is simply
the carrying out of the symbolism already employed.
To revert for a moment to the symbolism of Ezekiel,
let us suppose that, after the prophet had described the
burning of the weapons for "seven years," he had
wished to mention also some other step by which the
burning was to be followed. What more suitable words
could he have used than that it took place either "after
this," or " after the seven years were finished " ? In
point of fact, this is exactly what the prophet does. He
has occasion to refer to further efforts made to secure
the purity of the land ; and the words employed by him
are, " After the end of seven months shall they search."1
The one expression is no more than the natural con
sequence of the other. 1 Ezek. xxxix. 14,

340 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

2. What is the meaning of the last words of the
third verse of the chapter, — He (i.e., Satan) must be
loosed for a little time? What is this "little time"?
The words take us directly to that conception of the
Christian age which is so intimately interwoven with
the structure of the Apocalypse, and even of the whole
New Testament, — that it is all " a little time." This
is particularly apparent in the application of the very
same words to the souls under the altar in chap. vi. 1 1 :
" And it was said unto them, that they should rest yet
for a little time, until their fellow-servants also and
their brethren, which should be killed even as they
were, should be fulfilled." The " little time " there is
undeniably that extending from the moment of the
vision to the close of the present dispensation. But,
if it be so there, we are entitled to suppose that the
very same expression, when used in the passage before
us, will be used in the same sense ; and that, when it
is said Satan shall be loosed "for a little time," the
meaning is that he shall be loosed for the whole
Christian age. Again, in chap. xii. 12 we read, "The
devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, know
ing that he hath but a short time." The " short time "
here referred to begins with the casting down of the
devil out of heaven into the earth spoken of in the
ninth verse of the same chapter. It must therefore
include the whole period of his action in this world ;
and the manner in which that period is designated
corresponds closely with the description of the time
during which he is said, in chap, xx., to be loosed.
Again, in chap. x. 6 the angel swears that there shall
be "time" no longer, using the same word for time
that we meet with in the verse now under considera
tion ; so that it would appear as if to the author of

xx. i-io.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 341
the Apocalypse the word "time" were a kind of
technical term by which he was accustomed to denote
the period of the Church's probation in this world.
Lastly, this conclusion is powerfully confirmed by the
many passages of the Apocalypse in which it is clear
that the Christian dispensation, from its beginning to its
end, is looked upon as a " very little while," as hastening
to its final issue, and as about to be closed by One who
cometh quickly.1 The " little time," therefore, of the
present chapter during which Satan is loosed, and
which, when more fully dwelt upon, is the time of the
war spoken of in vers. 7-9, is the historical period of
the Christian dispensation, during which Satan is per
mitted to deceive the nations and to lead them against
the camp of the saints and the beloved city. It is, in
short, the time between the first and second coming
of our Lord. The period so often sought in the
thousand years of ver. 2 is really to be found in the
" little time " of ver. 3.
3. Attention ought to be particularly directed to the
condition of the saints during the thousand years
spoken of. It is described in general terms as a first
resurrection. Certain words of our Lord in the Gospel
of St. John throw important light upon the meaning
of this expression : " Verily, verily, I say unto you,
The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God : and they that have
heard shall live," 2 and, again, a little later in the same
discourse, " Marvel not at this : for the hour cometh,
in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice,
and shall come forth." 3 Let us compare these two
1 Chaps, i. 3, ii. 16, iii. 20, xxii. 20, etc. ; I Cor. vii. 29 ; Heb. x. 37,
* John v. 25.
* John v. 28.

342 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
verses with one another, and the presence of the clause
" and now is " in the first, taken along with its
omission in the second, leaves no doubt as to the
principle on which they are, to be interpreted. The
first refers to a spiritual, the second to a bodily,
resurrection. Here then in the words of our Lord
Himself we have the source whence the idea of the
" first resurrection " of the Apocalypse is derived. It
is not an actual resurrection from the grave, although
that resurrection is potentially involved in it. It is a
spiritual resurrection in an hour " that now is ; " and
the fact that this is St. John's meaning is brought
out still more clearly by the intimation that what he
saw was souls, whose resurrection bodies had not yet
been given them.1
The condition of the saints thought of in this vision
is described, however, not only generally, but in various
particulars, all of which, it will be seen, correspond with
the apocalyptic idea of it even in a present world.
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them. But we
have been already told that " they reign over the
earth." 2 Judgment was given unto them, words which
seem best understood in the sense, so peculiar to St.
John, that for believers there is in the ordinary sense
of the term no judgment. As they have passed through
death, so also they have passed through judgment.3
They lived with Christ. But Christ Himself had said in
the Gospel, " Because I live, and ye shall live." 4 They
reigned with Christ. But that is only another method
of saying that they sat on thrones, with the added
1 Comp. chap. vi. 9.
* Chap. v. 10.
* Comp. the teaching of our Lord in John xi. 25, 26, and v. 24.
* John xiv. 19 (margin of R.V.).

xx.i-io.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 343
conception, so often associated with the word in the
Apocalypse, that their enemies were bruised beneath
their feet. Over these the second death hath no authority.
But we have before been told of " him that over
cometh" that "he shall not be hurt of the second
death."1 Finally, they shall be priests of God and of
Christ. But it is needless to dwell upon the fact that
from the opening of this book such has always been
spoken of as the position of believers.
Nothing, in short, is said of the saints of God in
this picture of millennial bliss that does not find a
parallel in what the Seer has elsewhere written of
their present life. On not a few different occasions
their ideal condition in this world is set forth in as
glowing terms as is their thousand years' glory and joy.
One expression may indeed startle us. What the
Seer beheld is said to have been the souls of them that
had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the
word of God. Is the word " beheaded " to be literally
understood ? Then a very small number of martyrs
can be thought of. The great majority of those who
have died for the faith of Jesus have been martyred
in other and more dreadful ways. The word is the
counterpart of " slaughtered " in the vision of the souls
under the altar.2 These were the saints of the Old
Testament, whose death is described by a term cha
racteristic to the Jewish mind of the mode in which
offerings were presented to God. When the Seer
passes to the thought of the great Gentile Church, he
uses a term more appropriate to the Gentile method of
terminating human life. " Beheaded " therefore ex
presses the same thing as " slaughtered." Both words
1 Chap. ii. II. " Chap. vi. 9,

344 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
refer to martyrdom ; and both include all faithful ones
in the dispensations to which they respectively belong,
for in the eyes of St. John all the disciples of a martyred
Lord are martyrs.1
4. The meaning of the doom inflicted upon Satan
demands our notice. And the angel laid hold on the
dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan,
and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into
the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him. It is
hardly possible to read these words, at the same time
remembering St. John's love of contrast or even travesty,
and not to see in them a mocking counterpart of the
death and burial of Jesus, when the stone was rolled
to the door of the sepulchre and sealed. If so, it is
not enough to say that by the infliction of this doom
the power of Satan was restrained, and his influence
lessened. Much more must be implied ; and the
language can only mean that, in one sense or another,
Satan was rendered powerless and harmless, as unable
to act his part as though he had been laid in the
grave. 5. The use of numbers in the Apocalypse ought to be
remembered. These numbers are invariably symbolical;
and, if the number a thousand is to be here interpreted
literally, it seems in that respect to stand alone. Nor
is it a reply to this to say that, though not in the strict
sense literal, it may signify a period of indefinite length.
Such an interpretation would be not less opposed than
the former to the genius and spirit of this book. The
numbers of the Apocalypse have always a definite
meaning. They express ideas, but the ideas are dis
tinct. They may belong to a region of thought different
1 Comp. p. 102.

xx. i-io.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 345
from that with which arithmetical numbers are con
cerned, but within that region we cannot change their
value without at the same time changing the thought.
We are not to imagine that numbers, in the allegorical
or spiritual use made of them by the Jews, might be
tossed about at their pleasure or shuffled like a pack of
cards. They were a language ; and the bond between
them and the ideas that they involved was quite as close
as it is between the words of ordinary speech and the
speaker's thoughts. A thousand years cannot mean
two, or ten, or twenty, or three hundred and sixty-five
thousand years according as we please. If they are
a measure of time, the measure must be fixed ; and we
ought to be able to explain the principle leading us to
attach to the number one thousand a value different
from that which it naturally possesses.
6. The teaching of Scripture elsewhere upon this
subject has to be considered. Upon this point it is
unnecessary to say much, for the difference between
that teaching and any view commonly taken of the
thousand years' reign is acknowledged. It ought to be
observed, however, that this difference is not merely
negative, as if the rest of the New Testament simply
failed to fill in certain details of events more largely
described in the Apocalypse, but upon the whole sub
stantially the same. The difference is also positive,
and in some respects irreconcilable with what we are
taught by the other sacred writers. The New Testa
ment, unless this passage be an exception, always
brings the Parousia and the general judgment into
the closest possible connexion. It nowhere interposes
a lengthened period between the resurrection of be
lievers and that of unbelievers. It knows only of one,
and that a general, resurrection ; and the passages,

346 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
such as I Cor. xv. 23, 24, and 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17,
usually quoted to support another conclusion, fail
when correctly interpreted to do so. When our Lord
comes again, He at once perfects the happiness of His
saints and makes all His enemies His footstool.1 One
text alone may be quoted upon this point. While the
" first resurrection " is assigned to a date a thousand
or even thousands of years before the end, it is several
times repeated in the discourse of Jesus in the sixth
chapter of St. John that the resurrection of believers
takes place at the " last day." 2
7. One other consideration may be kept in view.
It would appear that about the time of the Advent of
our Lord there was a widely extended opinion among
the Jews, traces of which are also to be found among
the Gentiles, that a golden age of a thousand years'
duration might be anticipated in the future as a happy
close to all the sins and miseries of the world.3 He™1
it is sometimes urged, is the source of the apocalyp
figure of this chapter, which thus becomes only c
of the wild chiliastic expectations of the time. B
even if it be allowed that St. John drew the particu
figure employed by him from a general belief of his a:
it by no means follows that he accepted the literal inti
pretation of that belief as the reality and substance 01
prophetic hope. In many a passage of his book he has
undeniably spiritualised hopes of Israel founded on the
language of the Old Testament in its outward form. He
might easily do the same with what he recognised as a
1 Matt. xxv. 31-46; Rom. ii. 5, 7; 1 Thess. iv. 17; 2 Thess. i.
7 10.
2 John vi. 39, 40, 44.
3 See authorities in Lee {Speaker's Commentary) on Rev. xx. 2, and
his excursus on that chapter.

xx. i-io.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 347

belief not less widely spread and not less deeply seated
in both the Jewish and Gentile portions of the Church.
To use the language of the late Archdeacon Lee, " a
world-wide belief such as this naturally supplied St.
John with symbols and with language wherein to clothe
his revelation of the fortunes of the Church, just as
he has employed for the same purpose the details of
the theocracy, or the imagery of war, or the pheno
mena and the- convulsions of nature." x In all such
cases the determination of the point at issue really
rests upon our view of the general tone of the writing
in which the difficulty occurs, and on our perception
of what will give the unity and harmony to his words
for which every intelligent writer is entitled to expect
credit at his reader's hands. This conclusion is in
the present instance strengthened by the fact that
St. John did not confine himself to the traditional
belief he is said to have adopted. So far from doing
so, he occupies himself chiefly with a picture of that
overthrow of Satan which seems to have been no part
of the belief, and the mould of which is taken from
entirely different sources.
Putting together the different considerations now
adduced, we can have but little difficulty in under
standing either the binding of Satan or the reign of
the saints for a thousand years. The vision describes
no period of blessedness to be enjoyed by the Church
at the close of the present dispensation. Alike nega
tively and positively we have simply an ideal picture
of results effected by the Redeemer for His people,
when for them He lived, and suffered, and died, and
rose again. Thus He bound Satan for them ; He cast
1 Speaker's Commentary, u.s.

348 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
him into the abyss ; He shut him in ; He sealed the
abyss over him, — so that against them he can effect
nothing. He is a bruised and conquered foe. He
may war against them, afflict them, persecute them,
kill them, but their true life is beyond his reach.
Already they live a resurrection and ascended life,
for it is a life hid with Christ in God, a life in that
" heaven " from which the devil has been finally and
for ever expelled. They rest upon, -they live in,
a risen and glorified Redeemer ; and, whatever be the
age, or country, or circumstances in which their lot
is cast, they sit with their Lord in the heavenly places
and share His victory. He has been always trium
phant, and in His triumph His people even now have
part. The glory which the Father gave the Son the
Son has given them.1 They cannot sin, because they
are begotten of God.2 He that was begotten of God
keepeth them, and the evil one toucheth them not.3
This is the reign of a thousand years, and it is the
portion of every believer who in any age of the Church
shares the life of his risen and exalted Lord.
Thus also we may comprehend what is meant by
the loosing of Satan. There is no point in the future
at which he is to be loosed. He has been already
loosed. Hardly was he completely conquered for
the saints before he was loosed for the world. He
was loosed as a great adversary who, however he
may persecute the children of God, cannot touch their
inner life, and who can only " deceive the nations,"
— the nations that have despised and rejected Christ.
He has never been really absent from the earth.
He has gone about continually, "knowing that he
1 John xvii. 22. z I John iii. 9. * 1 John v. 18.

xx. i-io.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 349
hath but a short time."1 But he is unable to hurt
those who are kept in the hollow of the Lord's hand.
No doubt he tries it. That is the meaning of the
description extending from the seventh to the ninth
verse of this chapter, — the meaning of the war which
Satan carries on against the camp of the saints and
the beloved city when the thousand years are finished.
In other words, no sooner was Satan, as regards the
saints, completely bound than, as regards the world,
he was loosed ; and from that hour, through all the
past history of Christianity, he has been stirring up
the world against the Church. He has been summon
ing the nations that are in the four corners of the
earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the
war. They war, but they do not conquer, until at last
fire comes down out of heaven and devours them.
The devil that deceived them is cast into the lake of fire
and brimstone, where are also the beast and the palse
prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night por
ever and ever.
The whole picture of the thousand years is in its
main features — in the binding of Satan, in the security
and blessedness of the righteous, and in the loosing
of Satan for the war — a striking parallel to the scenes
in chap. xii. of this book. There Michael and his angels
contended with the devil and his angels ; and the latter
"prevailed not,"2 but were cast out of heaven into
the earth, so that the inhabitants of heaven are for
ever safe from them. There the man-child who is to
rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and from the
thought of whom it is impossible to separate the
¦ Chap. xii. 12.
2 Comp. the remarkable parallel in John i. 5 : " and the darkness
overcame it not."

3S0 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
thought of those who are one with Him, is caught
up unto God and unto His throne. Finally, there also
the dragon, though unable really to hurt the saints,
" the rest of the woman's seed," makes war upon
them, but without result. Of this scene the picture
which we have been considering is at once a repetition
and a fuller development ; and, when we call to mind
the peculiarities marking the structure of the Apoca
lypse, we seem in this fact alone to have no slight
evidence of the correctness of the interpretation now
proposed.1 1 It is not to be denied that difficulties attend the interpretation
of the thousand years suggested in the text. The writer would
advert in a note to the two which appear to him to be the most
formidable. I. In ver. 3 we read that Satan was cast into the abyss, etc., " that
he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years
should be finished." Let it be granted that " the nations " here
referred to can hardly be understood in any other sense than that
common in the Apocalypse : the heathen, the ungodly, nations or the
wicked in general. We then seem to read that there must be a time
during which Satan does not "deceive the nations,'' while the ex
planation given above has been that he was no sooner subjugated
for the righteous than he was let loose to deceive the unrighteous.
In his Lectures on the Revelation of St. John (p. 224, note) the author
was disposed to plead that the words in question may not have beer
intended to indicate that action on Satan's part was for a time to
cease, but rather to bring out and express that aspect of Satan by
which he is specially distinguished in the Apocalypse. In deference
to the criticism of the Rev. H. W. Reynolds {Remarks on Dr.
Milligan's Interpretation of the Apocalypse, pp. 9, 27), he would yield
this point. Notwithstanding the irregular constructions of the
Apocalypse, it is at least precarious ; and it is better to leave a difficulty
unsolved, especially in a case where difficulties surround every inter
pretation yet offered, than to propose solutions of the sufficiency of
which even the proposer is doubtful. It may be asked, however,
without resorting to the conjecture formerly thrown out, whether the
words "that he should deceive," even when taken in what is said to
be their only true sense, are irreconcilable with the view of the thou-

xx i-io.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 351
The three great enemies of the Church have not
only been overcome, but judged, and for ever removed

sand years advocated in this commentary. That view is that the
subjugation of Satan for a thousand years means his complete subju
gation. When, therefore, it is said that he has been so shut up as
" to deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be
finished," the meaning may simply be that in the act of being subjected
he was deprived alike of authority and opportunity to deceive the
nations. It lay within the power of the Conqueror to grant or not
to grant him fresh liberty to do so. The "strong man "was then
bound, and " his goods were spoiled." He was completely subjected
to Christ. When, therefore, we are told of the thousand years during
which he was to deceive the nations no more, this language is only
the continuation of the figure used in the second verse of the chapter ;
and what the Seer intends to express is, that during the process of
his subjection, and until he should be again loosed by Him who had
subjected him, he could do nothing. Satan, in short, must be per
mitted to come up out of the abyss either in his own person or by his
agents before he can disturb the earth (comp. chap. ix. 2) ; and it is
the purpose of God that he shall not have power to disturb it until,
having been really " brought to nought "by Christ (comp. Heb. ii. 14),
he shall go forth to his evil work among the nations as one who,
whatever may be the increase of his wrath (comp. chap. xii. 12), has
yet been overcome by another far mightier than himself.
2. The second difficulty demanding notice is presented by the
words of ver. 5, "The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand
years should be finished." Who are these called " the rest of the
dead," and in what sense did they "live"? The term "the rest,"
applied to persons, occurs in the following passages of the Apocalypse
in addition to that before us : chaps, ii. 24, ix. 20, xi. 13, xii. 17, xix.
21. In every one of these cases it refers to the remaining portion of a
class mentioned, but not exhausted ; and it cannot be extended to any
class beyond them. Here, however, no class has been spoken of
except the righteous, or rather the " souls " of the righteous, described
by various particulars both of their character and their state. "The
rest " of the dead must therefore elong to that class, and to it alone.
They cannot be the general body of mankind, both good and bad,
with the exception of those previously mentioned. Again, what is
meant when it is said that the rest of the dead "lived"? The
same word had occurred in the immediately preceding verse, and it
must now be understood in the same sense. " If," says Dean Alford,

352 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

from all possibility of troubling the righteous more.
But the great mass of the wicked have not yet been

who has been quoted with great confidence against the present
writer (Reynolds, u.s., p. 23), "in such a passage the first resurrec
tion 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, which I suppose none will be hardy enough to maintain "
(on Rev. xx. 4-6). Now that is exactly what is here maintained.
The "lived" of ver. 4 is spiritual; the "lived" of ver. 5 is also
spiritual. The " rest of the dead " then are the Old Testament saints
of chap. vi. 9, who, by the completion of the Lord's redeeming work,
were brought up to the level of the New Testament Church (comp
p. 101). The meaning of chap. xx. 5 may thus be said to be that, the
New Testament Church having had first bestowed upon it a complete
redemption, the same white robes were afterwards given to the Old
Testament Church, the succession being again one of thought rather
than time. In this way all the members of Christ's body are marked
out as having been " dead " before they lived, thus identifying them
with their Lord in chap. i. 18 ; the position of the words at the close
of ver. 5, " this is the first resurrection, " is rendered more natural by
their thus following what is wholly a description of the condition of
the blessed, instead of having a sentence interposed of an entirely
different character ; and, finally, to say nothing of the contextual con
siderations already referred to, the full Johannine force of the word
" lived " i. preserved.
These answers to the two chief difficulties associated with the
interpretation here suggested of the thousand years may not be
satisfactory to all ; but it is submitted that they go far at least to
meet them, and that in themselves they are neither unfair nor strained.
Against one thing only must the author of this commentary enter
his most decided protest, — the allegation that the interpretation here
offered is gained by dispensing with textual criticism (?) and by
sacrificing grammar to an idea. If there be one ground more than
another upon which it rests, it is upon the strictest principles of
historical interpretation. It ought only to be remembered that the
idiosyncrasies of an author are as much a part of such interpretation
as the literal meaning of his words ; and that to that interpretation,
if honestly and thoroughly cciiducted, the most deeply ingrained
prejudices will in due time be compelled to submit.

x.ii-15.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 353
overtaken by a similar fate. The time has now come
to show us in vision what awaits them also : —
And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat upon it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away ; and there was found
no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small,
standing before the throne ; and books were opened : and another
book was opened, which is the book of life : and the dead were
judged out of the things which were written in the books, according
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and
death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them : and they
were judged every man according to their works. And death and
Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even
the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the book of
life, he was cast into the lake of fire (xx. 11-15).
Upon various particulars mentioned in this passage
it is unnecessary to say much. The throne beheld
by the Seer is great, at once in contrast with the
" thrones " of the millennial reign, and as befitting the
majesty of Him who sits upon it. It is also white, as
emblematic of His purity and holiness. The Judge
is God, the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father ;
and thus the judgment is searching and complete, and
is answered by the consciences of those upon whom
it is executed. They see that the Judge's eye pene
trates into the most secret recesses of their hearts,
and that He is One who has been in the same position,
has fought the same battle, and has endured the same
trials as themselves. Thus His sentence finds an echo
in their hearts, and they are speechless.1 Thus also
judgment becomes really judgment, and not merely
the infliction of punishment by resistless power.
The effect of the Judge's taking His seat upon His
throne was that prom His pace the earth and the
heaven fled away, and there was pound no place por

1 Comp. Matt. xxii. 12. 23

354 THE BOOK OF REVELATION .
them. Yet we are not to understand that after
their flight there was neither an earth nor a heaven
to be found. It is only the old earth and the old
heaven that are spoken of; and almost immediately
afterwards the Seer exclaims, " I saw a new heaven
and a new earth : for the first heaven and the first
earth are passed away."1 The change is part of
that "restoration of all things" of which St. Peter
spoke to the multitude gathered together in Solomon's
porch,2 of which he then added, " Whereof God spake
by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been
since the world began," and upon which he dwelt
more fully in his second Epistle when he said, " But
the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the
earth and the works that are therein shall be burned
up. But, according to His promise, we look for new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous
ness." s In the Epistle to the Romans, too, " creation "
longs, not for destruction, but for something akin to
that "liberty of the glory of the children of God"
which they shall obtain along with their " adoption,
to wit, the redemption of their body?' 4 In all these
passages it is not the translation of God's saints to
an immaterial sphere that lies at the bottom of the
thought. It is rather the idea of change, of the trans
figuration, of the glorification, of this present scene
into a state corresponding with that of its redeemed
inhabitants, when they shall "not be unclothed, but
clothed upon,"6 and shall dwell in "spiritual bodies?'*
1 Ctiap. xxi. I. « Rom. viii. 21-23.
* Acts iii. 21. • 2 Cor. v. 4.
• 2 Pet. iii. 10, 13. • Comp. I Cor. xv. 44,

xx. 11-15.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 355
To St. John "heaven" is not an abode of bliss in
a scene of which we can form no clear conception,
but the spiritual atmosphere in which, alike on this
side the grave and on the other, the saints live and
move. The "dwellers upon earth " are not those who
simply tread its firm soil and breathe its atmosphere,
but those who are worldly in their spirit and whose
views are bounded by the things of time. The
kingdom which Christ establishes is the "kingdom
of this world" in its cleansed and purified condition
rather than one to which we travel by long and
unknown paths. As the Seer looks forward to the
future there is nothing to show that he thinks of any
- other residence for man than that which the Son con
secrated by His tomb in Joseph's garden and by the
glory of the resurrection morning ; and even the new
Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to be established
upon earth.
Many may doubtless think that such a hope is too
earthly, too material, to be suited to the spiritual nature
of the Christian dispensation. They fear that it has
a tendency to withdraw us from Him who is "spirit,"
and who must be worshipped, if He is to be wor
shipped acceptably, "in spirit and truth."1 But any
such apprehension is at variance with the fundamental
fact of our Christian faith, the incarnation of our Lord,
and is little less than the revival of the old Manichean
heresy that matter is essentially evil. Two errors have
existed, and may exist, in the Church upon this point.
We may strip the Gospel of its spiritual element, and
may reduce it to a system of outward and material
forms, or we may strip it of its material element, and
1 John iv. 24,

356 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

may resolve it into a vague and shadowy mysticism.
Both are the errors of extremes, and it would be
difficult to say which has wrought most havoc in the
Church. If the one was disastrous in the days of the
supremacy of Romanism, the other is hardly less disas
trous now. To the false and spurious spiritualism
which it engenders we owe not a few of the most
serious misconceptions of the present time with regard
to the person of Christ, the Church, the Sacraments,
and the purpose of redemption as a whole.1
To return to the main question in connexion with
the passage before us. Does it present us with the
picture of a general judgment or of a judgment of the
wicked alone ? There is much in the passage that*
leads distinctly to the latter conclusion.
I. The whole vision is obviously an enlargement of
what we have already met under the seventh Trumpet,
when it was said that " the time of the dead to be
judged came." a In both visions the persons spoken of
as " the dead " must be the same ; and they are clearly
distinguished in the earlier vision from those called
"Thy servants the prophets," the season of whose
" reward " was come. With this corresponds the fact
that in the writings of St. John the words " to judge "
and "judgment" are always used, not in a neutral
sense, but in one tending to condemnation. Without
some qualifying term the Apostle could hardly have
applied them to the acquittal of the righteous.
2. The sources whence the "dead" are gathered
confirm this conclusion. These are three in number :
1 In connexion with the point here spoken of, reference may be
made to an interesting and instructive paper by Canon Dale Stewart,
Rector of Coulsdon, in The Chmchman for December, 1887,
1 Chap. xi. 18.

xx. 11-15.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 357
the sea, death, and Hades. Looking first at the two
last of these, it is plain that " death " cannot in this
connexion be the neutral grave, for it is " cast into
the lake of fire," where the devil, the beast, and the
false prophet are. Similar remarks apply to " Hades,"
which in chap. vi. 8 is the coadjutor of death, and
which in the New Testament always appears as a
region of gloom, and punishment, and opposition to
the truth: "And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be ex
alted unto heaven ? thou shalt go down unto Hades ; "
" And I also say unto thee that thou art Peter, and
upon this rock I will build My Church; and the
gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."1 If
such be the sense in which we are to understand
death and Hades, light is thrown upon the manner in
which we are to interpret the first of the three sources,
— " the sea." This cannot be the ocean, because the
number of those to be given up from its depths at the
last day is comparatively small ; because, as the literal
sea, it is in no way suitably associated with death and
Hades; and because, when we read in chap. xxi. 1,
"And the sea is no more," it is impossible to think
that the word is used in any other than a figurative
sense. No reason can be imagined why, when the
earth is renewed, there should be no more that sea
which is one grand instrument of its present greatness
and glory. Besides all this, we have hitherto found
that in the Apocalypse the " sea " is the emblem of the
unruly and troubled nations of the earth, and the source
from which the first beast of chap. xiii. had his origin.
In the same sense therefore we must understand it
here. Like "death" and "Hades," "the sea" spoken

1 Matt. xi. 23, xvi. 18,

358 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
of can give up none but ungodly dead to the judgment
of the great day.
3. The "books" mentioned in the passage are
clearly books containing the record of evil deeds alone.
When it is said that " books " were opened, and that
"another book was opened, which is the book of life,"
the "books" are distinguished from the "book." It
harmonizes with this that the hook of life is not opened
in order to secure deliverance for those whose names
are inscribed in it, but only to justify the sentence
passed on any who are cast into the lake of fire.
4. The general teaching of St. John ought not to
be lost sight of in considering this question. That
teaching is that the eternal condition of the righteous
is fully secured to them even in this life, and that in
their glorified Head they have already passed through
all those preparatory stages on their way to everlasting
blessedness at the thought of which they might other
wise have trembled. In Him they have lived, and
overcome, and died. In Him they have been raised
from the dead, and been seated in the heavenly places.
All along they have followed the Lamb whithersoever
He goeth, and everything that befell Him has in
principle befallen them. We cannot say, in the
Johannine sense of the word, that Christ has been
"judged;" and therefore "judgment" cannot be pre
dicated of the members of His Body. To these last
"judgment," we have already seen, "was given" at the
time when they entered on their millennial reign ;
and, with the result of this judgment (for that is the
true meaning of the original) in their hands, it is
impossible to think of them as judged again.
The judgment of these verses is therefore a judgment
of the wicked ; and, when it is closed, all Christ's

xx. 11-15.] JUDGMENT OF SATAN. 359
enemies have not only been vanquished, but have been
banished from the scene where He is to reign " before
His ancients gloriously." x The first part of the final
triumph has been accomplished. 1 Isa. xxiv. 23.

CHAPTER XVII.
THE NEW JERUSALEM.
Rev. xxi. i-xxii. 5.
THE first part of the final triumph of the Lamb
has been accomplished, but the second has still
to be unfolded. We are introduced to it by one of
those preparatory or transition passages which have
already frequently met us in the Apocalypse, and which
connect themselves both with what precedes and with
what follows : — ¦
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven and
the first earth are passed away ; and the sea is no more. And I saw
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I he^rd a
great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of G' d is
with men, and He shall dwell with them, and thejr shall be His peoples,
and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God : and He shall
wipe away every tear from their eyes ; and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more : the
first things are passed away. And He that sitteth on the throne said,
Behold, I make all things new. And He saith, Write : for these words
are faithful and true. And He said unto me, They are come to pass.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will
give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit these things ; and I will be his God,
and he shall be My son. But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and
abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and
idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth
with fire and brimstone : which is the second death (xxi. 1-8).

xxi. i-8.] THE NEW JERUSALEM. 361
These words, like many others that have already
met us, throw light upon the principles on which the
Apocalypse is composed. They show in the clearest
possible manner that down to the very end of the
book chronological considerations must be put out of
view. Chronology cannot be thought of when we find,
on the one hand, allusions to the new Jerusalem
which are only amplified and extended in the next
vision of the chapter, or when we find, on the other
hand, a description of the exclusion from the new
Jerusalem of certain classes that have already been
consigned to " the second death." By the first-men
tioned allusions the passage connects itself with what
is yet to come, by the second with what has gone
before. For the same reason it is unnecessary to
dwell upon the passage at any length. It contains
either nothing new, or nothing that will not again meet
us in greater fulness of detail. One or two brief
remarks alone seem called for.
The Seer beholds a new heaven and a new earth.
Two words in the New Testament are translated
" new," but there is a difference between them. The
one contemplates the object spoken of under the aspect
of something that has been recently brought into
existence, the other under a fresh aspect given to what
had previously existed, but been outworn.1 The latter
word is employed here, as it is also employed in the
phrases a "new garment," that is, a garment not
threadbare, like an old one ; " new wine-skins," that
is, skins not shrivelled and dried ; a " new tomb," that is,
not one recently hewn out of the rock, but one which
had never been used as the last resting-place of. the
1 Trench, Synonyms, second series, p. 39.

362 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
dead. The fact, therefore, that the heavens and the
earth here spoken of are " new/' does not imply that
they are now first brought into being. They may be
the old heavens and the old earth ; but they have a
new aspect, a new character, adapted to a new end.
Of the sense in which the word " sea " is to be under
stood we have already spoken.1 Another expression
in the passage deserves notice. In saying that the time
is come when the tabernacle op the Lord is with men, and
He shall dwell with them, it is added, and they shall be His
peoples. We are familiar with the Scripture use of the
word " people " to denote the true Israel of God, and
not less with the use of the word " peoples " to denote
the nations of the earth alienated from Him. But here
the word " peoples " is used instead of " people " for
God's children ; and the usage can only spring from
this : that the Seer has entirely abandoned the idea
that Israel according to the flesh can have the word
" people " applied to it, and that all believers, to what
ever race they belong, occupy the same ground in
Christ, and are possessed of the same privileges. The
" peoples " are the counterpart of the " many diadems ''
of chap. xix. 12.
And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls,
who were laden with the seven last plpgues ; and he spake with me,
saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the
Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and
high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, having the glory of God : her light was like unto a
stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal,
having a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and at the gates
twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of
the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east were
1 Comp. pp. 227, 357.

xxi. 9-xxii. 5.] THE NEW JERUSALEM. 363
three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three
gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had
twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles
of the Lamb. And he that spake with me had for a measure a golden
reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
And the city lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as
the breadth : and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thou
sand furlongs : the length and the breadth and the height thereof are
equal. And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and
four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
And the building of the wall thereof was jasper : and the city was
pure gold, like unto pure glass. The foundations of the wall of the
city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first
foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony;
the fourth, emerald ; the fifth, sardonyx ; the sixth, sardius ; the
seventh, chrysolite ; the eighth, beryl ; the ninth, topaz ; the tenth,
chrysoprase ; the eleventh, jacinth ; the twelfth, amethyst. And the
twelve gates were twelve pearls ; each one of the several gates was
of one pearl : and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were
transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein : for the Lord God,
the Almighty, is the temple thereof, and the Lamb. And the city
hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it : for the
glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. And
the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof : and the kings of the
earth do bring their glory into it. And the gates thereof shall in no
wise be shut by day : for there shall be no night there. And they
shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it. And there
shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an
abomination and a lie : but only they which are written in the Lamb's
book of life. And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the
midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that
was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit
every month : and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the
nations. And there shall be no curse any more : and the throne of
God and of the Lamb shall be therein ; and His servants shall do Him
service : and they shall see His face ; and His name shall be on their
foreheads. And there shall be night no more ; and they need no
light of lamp, neither light of sun ; for the Lord God shall give them
light : and they shall reign for ever and ever (xxi. 9-xxii. 5).
The vision contained in these verses is shown the
Seer by the angel forming the third of the second group

364 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
associated with Him who had been described at chap.
xix. 11 as the Rider upon the white horse, and who
at that time rode forth to His final triumph. The first
of this group of three had appeared at chap. xix. 17,
and the second at chap. xx. 1. We have now the
third; and it is not unimportant to observe this, for it
helps to throw light upon the artificial structure of these
chapters, while, at the same time, it connects the vision
with Christ's victory upon earth rather than with any
scene of splendour and glory in a region beyond the
place of man's present abode. Thus it contributes
something at least to the belief that there where the
believer wars he also wears the crown of triumph.
The substance of the vision is a description of the
holy city, the new Jerusalem, the true Church of God
wholly separated from the false Church, as she comes
down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband. Her marriage with the Lamb
has taken place, — a marriage in which there shall be
no unfaithfulness on the one side and no reproacher.
on the other, but in which, as the bridegroom rejoices
over the bride, the Lord shall for ever rejoice in His
people, and His people in Him. Then follows, to
enhance the picture, a detailed account of the true
Church under the figure of the city which had been
already spoken of in the first vision of the chapter.
The treasures of the Seer's imagination and language
are exhausted in order that the thought of her beauty
and her splendour may be suitably impressed upon our
minds. Her light — that is, the light which she spreads
abroad, for the word used in the original indicates that
she is herself the luminary — is like that of the sun,
only that it is of crystalline clearness and purity, as
it were a jasper stone, the light of Him who sat upon

xxi. 9-xxii. 5.] 7 HE NEW JERUSALEM. 365
the throne.1 She is " the light of the world." * The
city is also surrounded by a wall great and high. She
is " a strong city." " Salvation has. God appointed her
for walls and bulwarks." 3 Her walls have twelve gates,
and at the gates twelve angels, those to whom God gives
charge over His people, to keep them in all their ways 4 ;
while, as was the case with the new Jerusalem beheld
by the prophet Ezekiel, names were written on the gates,
which are the names op the twelve tribes op the children op
Israel? These gates are also harmoniously distributed,
three on each side of the square which the city forms.
The poundations op the city, a term under which we are
not to think of foundations buried in the earth, but
rather of courses of stones going round the city and
rising one above another, are also twelve ; and on them
are twelve names op the twelve apostles op the Lamb.
The Seer, however, is not satisfied with this general
picture of the greatness of the new Jerusalem. Like
that in Ezekiel, the city must be measured.6 When
this is done, her proportions are found, in spite of the
absence of all verisimilitude, to be those of a perfect
cube. As in the Holy of holies of the Tabernacle,
the thought of which lies at the bottom of the descrip
tion, the length and the breadth and the height thereop are
equal. Twelve thousand purlongs, or fifteen hundred
miles, the city stretches along and across the plain, and
rises into the sky, — twelve, the number of the people
of God, multiplied by thousands, the heavenly number.
The wall is also measured — it is difficult to say
whether in height or in thickness, but most probably

1 Chap. iv. 3. * Ps. xci. 1 1.
* Matt. v. 14. * Comp. Ezek. xlviii. 31.
• Ps. xxxi. 21 ; Isa. xxvi. I. * Comp. Ezek. xl. 2, 3.

366 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
the latter — a hundred and forty and four cubits, or
twelve multiplied by twelve.
The measuring is completed, and next follows an
account of the material of which the city was composed.
This was gold, the most precious metal, in its purest
state, like unto pure glass. Precious stones formed, rather
than ornamented, its twelve foundations. Its gates
were of pearl : each one of the several gates was of one
pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were
transparent glass. In all these respects it is evident
that the city is thought of as ideally perfect, and not
according to the realities or possibilities of things.
Nor is this all. The glory of the city is still further
illustrated by figures bearing more immediately upon
its spiritual rather than its material aspect. The out
ward helps needed by men in leading the life of God
in their present state of imperfection are dispensed
with. There is no temple therein : for the Lord, God,
the Almighty, is the temple thereof, and the Lamb. The
city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine
upon it : for the glory of God lightens it by day, and the
lamp thereof by night is the Lamb. There is in it no
sin, and every positive element of happiness is pro
vided in abundance for the blest inhabitants. A river
of water of life, bright as crystal, flows there ; and on
this side of the river and on that side is the tree of life,
not bearing fruit only once a year, but every month,
not yielding one only, but twelve manner of fruits, so
that all tastes may be gratified, having nothing about
it useless or liable to decay. The very leaves of the
tree were for the healing of the nations, and it is evidently
implied that they are always green. Finally, there
shall be no curse any more. The throne of God and of
the Lamb is therein. His servants do Him service

xxi. 9-xxii. 5.] THE NEW JERUSALEM. 367
They see His face. His name is in their foreheads.
They are priests unto God in the service of the heavenly
sanctuary. They reign for ever and ever.
One important question still remains : What aspect
of the Church does the holy city Jerusalem, thus come
down out of heaven from God, represent ? Is it the
Church as she shall be after the Judgment, when her
three great enemies, together with all who have listened
to them, have been for ever cast out? Or have we
before us an ideal representation of the true Church of
Christ as she exists now, and before a final separation
has been made between the righteous and the wicked ?
Unquestionably the first aspect of the passage leads
to the former view; and, if there be anything like a
chronological statement of events in the Apocalypse,
no other may be possible. But we have already seen
that the thought of chronology must be banished from
this book. The Apocalypse contains simply a series
of visions intended to exhibit, with all the force of that
inspiration under which the Seer wrote, certain great
truths connected with the revelation in humanity of
the Eternal Son. It is intended, too, to exhibit these
in their ideal, and not merely in their historical, form.
They are indeed to appear in history; but, inasmuch
as they do not appear there in their ultimate and
completed form, we are taken beyond the limited field
of historical manifestation. We see them in their
real and essential nature, and as they are, in them
selves, whether we think of evil on the one hand, or of
good on the other. In this treatment of them, however,
chronology disappears. Such being the case, we are
prepared to ask whether the vision of the new Jeru
salem belongs to the end, or whether it expresses what,
under the Christian dispensation, is always ideally true.

368 THE BOOK OF REVELATION
I. It must be borne in mind that the new Jerusalem,
though described as a city, is really a figure, not of a
place, but of a people. It is not the final home of the
redeemed. It is the redeemed themselves. It is " the
bride, the wife of the Lamb."1 Whatever is said of
it is said of the true followers of Jesus ; and the great
question, therefore, that has to be considered is,
whether St. John's description is applicable to them in
their present Christian condition, or whether it is suit
able to them only when they have entered upon their
state of glorification beyond the grave.
2. The vision is really an echo of Old Testament
prophecy. We have already seen this in many par
ticulars, and the correspondence might easily have
been traced in many more. " It is all," says Isaac
Williams, as he begins his comment upon the particu
lar points of the description — " It is all from Ezekiel :
' The hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me
in the visions of God, and set me upon a very high
mountain, by which was as the frame of a city ; ' 2
' And the glory of the Lord came into the house by
the gate toward the east ; ' 3 The Lord entered by the
eastern gate ; therefore shall it be shut, and opened
for none but for the Prince.4 Such was the coming of
Christ's glory from the east into His Church, as so often
alluded to before."5 Other prophets, no doubt, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto us, who
testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the
glories that should follow, are to be added to Ezekiel ;
but, whoever they were, it is undeniable that their
highest and most glowing representations of that future

1 Chap. xxi. 9. * Ezek. xliii. 2.
8 Ezek. xl. I, 2. * Ezek. xliv. 1-3.
5 The Apocalypse, p. 438.

xxi. g-xxii. 5-J THE NEW JERUSALEM. 369
for which they longed, and the advent of which they were
commissioned to proclaim, are reproduced in St. John's
description of the new Jerusalem. Of what was it,
then, that they spoke ? Surely it was of the times of
the Messiah upon earth, of that kingdom of God which
He was to establish with the beginning, and not with
the end, of the Christian dispensation. That they may
have looked forward to the world beyond the grave
is possible ; but any distinction between the first and
second coming of our Lord had not yet risen upon their
minds. In the simple coming of the Hope of Israel
into the world they beheld the accomplishment of
every aspiration and longing of the heart of man.
And they were right. The distinction which experi
ence taught the New Testament writers to draw was
not so much between a first and a second coming of
the King as between a kingdom then hidden, but
afterwards to be manifested in all its glory.
3. This ideal view of the Messianic age is also
constantly brought before us in the New Testament.
The character, the privileges, and the blessings of
those who are partakers of the spirit of that time are
always presented to us as irradiated with a heavenly
and perfect glory. St. Paul addresses the various
churches to which he wrote as, notwithstanding all
their imperfections, "beloved of God," "sanctified in
Christ Jesus," " saints and faithful brethren in Christ." x
Christ is "in them," and they are "in Christ."2
" Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself up for it ;
that He might present the Church to Himself a
glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any

1 Rom. i. 7; I Cor. i. 2; Col. i. 2.
* Col. i. 27 ; 1 Cor. i. 30; Phil. iii. 9.
24

370 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish,"1 — the description evidently applying to the
present world, where also the Church is seated, not in
earthly, but in " the heavenly, places " with her Lord.2
Our " citizenship " is declared to be " in heaven ; " 3
and we are even now " come unto Mount Zion, and
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
to innumerable hosts of angels, and to the general
assembly and Church of the first-born, who are enrolled
in heaven." 4 Our Lord Himself and St. John, follow
ing in His steps, are even more specific as to the
present kingdom and the present glory. " In that
day," says Jesus to His disciples, "ye shall know
that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you," 6
and again, " And the glory which Thou hast given Me
I have given unto them ; that they may be one, even
as We are one ; " 8 while it is unnecessary to quote the
passages meeting us everywhere in the writings of the
beloved disciple in which he speaks of eternal life, and
that, too, in the full greatness both of its privileges and
of its results, as a possession enjoyed by the believer in
this present world. The whole witness of the New
Testament, in short, is to an ideal, to a perfect, kingdom
of God even now established among men, in which sin
is conquered, temptation overcome, strength substituted
for weakness, death so deprived of its sting that it is
no more death, and the Christian, though for a little
put to grief in manifold temptations, made " to rejoice
greatly with joy unspeakable and glorified." T From
all this the representation of the new Jerusalem in
1 Eph. v. 25-27, 4 Heb. xii. 22, 23.
* Eph. i. 3. * John xiv. 20.
* Phil. iii. 20. • John xvii. 22.
' I Pet. i. 8.

xxi. g-xxii. 5.] THE NEW JERUSALEM. 371
the Apocalypse differs in no essential respect. It
enters more into particulars. It illustrates the general
thought by a greater variety of detail. But it contains
nothing which is not found in principle in the other
sacred writers, and which is not connected by them
with the heavenly aspect of the Christian's pilgrimage
to his eternal home.
4. There are distinct indications in the apocalyptic
vision which leave no interpretation possible except
one, — that the new Jerusalem has come, that it has
been in the midst of us for more than eighteen hundred
years, that it is now in the midst of us, and that it
shall continue to be so wherever its King has those
who love and serve Him, walk in His light, and share
His peace and joy.
(1) Let us look at chap. xx. 9, where we read of
" the camp of the saints and the beloved city." That
city is none other than the new Jerusalem, about to
be described in the following chapter. It is Jerusalem
after the elements of the harlot character have been
wholly expelled, and the call of chap, xviii. 4 has
been heard and obeyed, " Come forth, My people, out
of her." She is inhabited now by none but " saints,"
who, though they have still to war with the world,
are themselves the "called, and chosen, and faithful."
But this " beloved city " is spoken of as in the world,
and as the object of attack by Satan and his hosts
before the Judgment.1
(2) Let us look at chap. xxi. 24 and xxii. 2 : " And
the nations shall walk by the light thereof; and the
kings of the earth do bring their glory into it;"
' And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of
• Comp. Foxley, Hulsean Lectures, Lect. i.

37* THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
the nations." Who are these " nations " and these
"kings of the earth" ? The constant use of the same
expressions in other parts of this book, where there
can be no doubt as to their meaning, compels us to
understand them of nations and kings beyond the pale
of the covenant. But if so, the difficulty of realizing
the situation at a point of time beyond the Judgment
appears to be insuperable, and may be well illus
trated by the effort of Hengstenberg to overcome it.
"Nations," says that commentator, "in the usage of
the Revelation, are not nations generally, but always
heathen nations in their natural or christianized state ;
compare at chap. xx. 3. That we are to think here
only of converted heathen is as clear as day. No room
for conversion can be found on the further side of
chap. xx. 15, for every one who had not been found
written in the book of life has already been cast into
the lake of fire." x But the words " or christianized "
in this comment have no countenance from any other
passage in the Apocalypse, and in Hengstenberg's note
at chap. xx. 3 we are referred to nothing but the
texts before us. On every other occasion, too, where
the word " nations " meets us, it means unconverted,
not converted, nations ; and here it can mean nothing
else. Were the nations spoken of converted, they
would be a part of that new Jerusalem which is not
the residence of God's people, but His people them
selves. They would be the light, and not such as
walk "by the light" of others. They would be the
healed, and not those who stand in need of " healing."
These " nations " must be the unconverted, these
" kings of the earth " such as have not yet acknow-
1 Commentary in Clark's Foreign Theological Library, in toe.

xxi. 9-xxii. 5.] THE NEW JERUSALEM. 373
ledged Jesus to be their King; and nothing of this
can be found beyond chap. xx. 15.
(3) Let us look at chap. xxi. 27, where we read,
" And there shall in no wise enter into it anything
unclean, or he that doeth an abomination and a lie."
These words distinctly intimate that the time for final
separation had not yet come. Persons of the wicked
character described must be supposed to be alive upon
the earth after the new Jerusalem has appeared.
5. Another consideration on the point under discus
sion may be noticed, which will have weight with those
who admit the existence of that principle of structure
in St. John's writings upon which it rests. Alike in
the Gospel and in the Apocalypse the Apostle is
marked by a tendency to return at the close of a section
to what he had said at the beginning, and to shut up,
as it were, between the two statements all he had to
say. So here. In chap. i. 3 he introduces his Apo
calypse with the words, " For the time is at hand."
In chap. xxii. 10, immediately after closing it, he
returns to the thought, " Seal not up the words of the
prophecy of this book : for the time is at hand ; "
that is, the whole intervening revelation is enclosed
between these two statements. All of it precedes the
" time " spoken of. The new Jerusalem comes before
the end.
In the new Jerusalem, therefore, we have essentially
a picture, not of the future, but of the present ; of the
ideal condition of Christ's true people, of His "little
flock " on earth, in every age. The picture may not
yet be realized in fulness ; but every blessing lined in
upon its canvas is in principle the believer's now, and
will be more and more his in actual experience as he
opens his eyes to see and his heart to receive. We

374 I HE BOOK OF REVELATION.
have been wrong in transferring the picture of the
new Jerusalem to the future alone. It belongs also
to the past and to the present. It is the heritage of
the children of God at the very time when they are
struggling with the world ; and the thought of it ought
to stimulate them to exertion and to console them
under suffering.

CHAPTER XVIIL
THE EPILOGUE.
Rev, xxii. 6-21.
THE visions of the Seer have closed, and closed
with a picture of the final and complete triumph
of the Church over all her enemies. No more glorious
representation of what her Lord has done for her
could be set before us than that contained in the
description of the new Jerusalem. Nothing further
can be said when we know that in the garden of
Paradise Restored into which she is introduced, in
the Holy of holies of the Divine Tabernacle planted
in the world, she shall eat of the fruit of the tree of
life, drink of the water of life, and reign for ever and
ever. Surely as these visions passed before the eye
of St. John in the lonely isle of Patmos he would be
gladdened with the light of heaven, and would need
no more to strengthen him in the kingdom and patience
of Jesus Christ. Was it not too much ? The Epilogue
of the book assures us that it was not ; and that,
although the natural eye of man had not seen, nor
his ear heard, nor his heart conceived the things that
had been spoken of, they had been revealed by the
Spirit of God Himself, not one word of whose promises
would fail.

376 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true : and the
Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show
unto His servants the things which must shortly come to pass. And,
behold, I come quickly : blessed is he that keepeth the words of the
prophecy of this book.
And I John am he that heard and saw these things. And when I
heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel
which showed me these things. And he saith unto me, See thou do
it not : I am a fellow-servant with thee, and with thy brethren the
prophets, and with them which keep the words of this book : worship
God (xxii. 6-9).
Attention has been already called in this commentary
both to that characteristic of St. John's style as a
writer which leads him, at a longer or a shorter
interval, to the point from which he started, and to
the fact that light is thus frequently thrown on the
interpretation of what he says.1 Every illustration
of such a point is therefore not only interesting, but
important ; and in the words before us it is illustrated
with more than ordinary clearness.
The person introduced with the words He said unto
me is not indeed named, but there can be little doubt
that he is the angel spoken of in the Prologue as sent
to " signify " the revelation that was to follow.2
Again, when the Seer is overwhelmed with what he
has seen, and may be said to have almost feared that
it was too wonderful for belief, the angel assures him
that it was all faithful and true. A similar declaration
had been made at chap. xix. 9 by the voice which
there " came forth from the throne,"3 and likewise at
chap. xxi. 5 by Him " that sitteth on the throne." The
angel therefore who now speaks, like the angel of the
Prologue, has the authority of this Divine Being for
what he says. It is true that in the following words,
• Comp. p. 373. 2 Chap. i. 1. ¦ Chap. xix. 5.

xxii. 6-9.] THE EPILOGUE.

377

which seem to come from the same speaker, the angel
must thus be understood to refer to himself in the
third person, and not, as we might have expected, in
the first, — The Lord sent His angel, not The Lord
sent me. But, to say nothing of the fact that such a
method of address is met with in the prophetic style
of the Old Testament, it appears to be characteristic
of St. John in other passages of his writings. More
particularly we mark it in the narrative in the fourth
Gospel of the death of Jesus on the Cross : " And he
that hath seen hath borne witness, and his witness is
true : and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye may
believe."1 Again, we read here that the Lord sent His angel to
show unto His servants the things which must shortly
come 'to pass; and the statement is the same as that
of chap. i. I .
The next words, And, behold, I come quickly, are
probably words of our Lord Himself; but the blessing
upon him that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this
book again leads the Seer back to the Prologue, where
a similar blessing is pronounced.2
Again, the remembrance of the Prologue is in the
Apostle's mind when, naming himself, he proceeds, 1
John am he that heard and saw these things. In pre
cisely the same manner, after the introductory verses
of the Prologue, he had named himself as the writer
of the book : " John to the seven Churches ; " " I John,
your brother." 3 Then he was about to write ; now
that he has written, he is the same John whom the
1 John xix. 35. Wider questions than can be here discussed would
be opened up by an inquiry how far the same method of explanation
may be applied to John xvii. 3.
8 Chap. i. 3. * Chap. i. 4, 9.

378 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
Church knew and honoured, and whose consciousness
of everything that had passed was undimmed and
perfect. This going back upon the Prologue is also
sufficient to prove, if proof be thought necessary, that
the words " these things " are designed to include, not
merely the vision of the new Jerusalem, but all the
visions of the book.
That the Seer should have fallen down to worship
before the feet of the angel which showed him these things
has often caused surprise. He had already done so
on a previous occasion,1 and had been reproved in
words almost exactly similar to those in which he is
now addressed : See thou do it not : I am a fellow-servant
with thee, and with thy brethren the prophets, and with them
which keep the words op this book : worship God. How
could he so soon forget the warning ? We need not
wonder. The thought of the one vision preceding his
former mistake might easily be swallowed up by the
thought of the whole revelation of which it was a part ;
and, as the splendour of all that he had witnessed
passed once more before his view, he might imagine
that the angel by whom it was communicated must be
worthy of his worship. His mistake was corrected as
before. The prophecy is now in the Seer's hands, ideally,
though not actually, written. He may easily speak of
it, therefore, as written, and may relate the instructions
which he received regarding it. He does this, and
again it will be seen how closely he follows the lines
of his Prologue : —
And he saith unto me, Seal not up the words of the prophecy of
this book : for the time is at hand. He that is unrighteous, let him
1 Chap. xix. 10.

xxii. 10-15.] THE EPILOGUE. 379
do unrighteousness still : and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy
still : and he that is righteous, let him do righteousness still : and he
that is holy, let him be made holy still. Behold, I come quickly ; and
My reward is with Me, to render to each man according as his work
is. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the
beginning and the end. Blessed are they that wash their robes, that
they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in
by the gates into the city. Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers,
and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every
one that.loveth and maketh a lie (xxii. IO-15).
To the prophet Daniel it had been said, " But thou,
O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even
to the time of the end." x The hour had not yet come
for the full manifestation of that momentous future
upon which he had been commissioned to dwell. The
situation of St. John was wholly different, and the hour
for winding up the history of this dispensation was
about to strike. It was not a time then for sealing up,
but for breaking seals, a time for prophecy, for the
loudest, clearest, and most urgent proclamation of the
truth. " Behold, I come quickly," had been a moment
before the voice of the great Judge. Let the bride for
whom He is to come be ready ; and, that she may the
more promptly be so, let her hear with earnest and
immediate attention the words op the prophecy op this
book. It is by no means easy to say whether the following
words, He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteous
ness still: and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy
still: and he that is righteous, ht him do righteousness
still: and he that is holy, let him be made holy still, are to
be considered as coming from the Apostle or from the
angel who has been speaking to him. This difficulty
is the same as that experienced in the fourth Gospel
1 Dan. xii. 4 ; comp. viii. 26,

380 THE BOOK OF REVELATION. '
at such passages as chap. iii. 16 and 31, where it
is nearly impossible to tell the point at which in
the one case the words of Jesus, at which in the
other the words of the Baptist, end. It would appear
as if St. John so sank himself in the person with
whom he was occupied at the time that he often
gave utterance to thoughts without being able to dis
tinguish between the other's and his own. In the
present instance it matters little to whom we directly
refer the words, whether to St. John, or to the angel,
or to Him who speaks by the angel. In any case they
contain a striking and solemn view of the relation
between the righteous Judge and His creatures, when
that relation is looked at in its ultimate, in its final,
form. One thing is clear : that the first two clauses
cannot be regarded as a summons to the wicked telling
them before the Judgment to go on in their wickedness
even while the period of their probation lasts. Nor
can the second two clauses be regarded as an assurance
to the good that there is a point in the actual ex
perience of life at which their perseverance in goodness
is secured. The words can only be understood in the
light of that idealism which is so characteristic alike
of the Apocalypse and of the fourth Gospel. In both
books the world of mankind is presented to us in
exactly the same light. Men are divided into two
great classes : those who are prepared to receive the
truth and those who are obstinately opposed to it;
and these classes are spoken of as if they had been
formed, not merely after, but before, the work of Christ
had tried and proved them. Not indeed that the
salvation to be found in Jesus was not designed to be
universal, that there was even one member of the
human family doomed by eternal and irresistible decree

xxii. 10-15.] THE EPILOGUE. 381
to everlasting death, nor, again, that men are con
sidered as so essentially identified with the two classes
to which they respectively belong that they incur no
moral responsibility in accepting or rejecting the
Redeemer of the world. In that respect St. John
occupied the same ground as his fellow-Apostles. Not
less than they would he have declared that God willed
all men to be saved ; and not less than they would
he have told them that, if they were not saved, it
was because they " loved the darkness rather than
the light."1 Yet, notwithstanding this practical mode
in which he would have dealt with men, such is his
idealism, such his mode of looking at things in their
ultimate, eternal, unchanging aspect, that he constantly
presents the two classes as if they were divided from
each other by a permanent wall of separation, and as
if the work of Christ consisted not so much in bringing
the one class over to the other as in making manifest
the existing tendencies of each. The light of the one
brightens, the darkness of the other deepens, as we
proceed ; but the light does not become darkness, and
the darkness does not become light.2
Hence, accordingly, the conversion of Israel or of
the heathen finds no place in the Apocalypse. The
texts supposed to offer such a prospect will not bear
the interpretation put upon them. It does not indeed
follow that, according to the teaching of this book,
neither Israel nor the heathen will be converted. St.
John only sees the end in the beginning, and deals, not
with the everyday practical, but with the ideal and
everlasting, issues of God's kingdom. Hence, in inter-

1 Comp. John iii. 19.
8 See a fuller treatment of this important point by the author in
his Lectures on the Revelation of St. John, p. 286, etc

382 7 HE BOOK OF REVELATION.
preting the words before us, we must be careful to put
into them the exact shade of meaning which the whole
spirit and tone of the Apostle's writings prove to have
been in his mind when they were written. The clauses
" He that is unrighteous " and " He that is filthy " are
to be understood as " He that has loved and chosen
unrighteousness and filthiness : " the clauses " Let him
do unrighteousness still " and " Let him be made filthy
still " as " Let him sink deeper into the unrighteousness
and filthiness which he has loved and chosen." A prin
ciple freely selected by himself is supposed to be in the
breast of each, and that principle does not remain fixed
and stationary. No principle does. It unfolds or deve
lops itself according to its own nature, rising to greater
heights of good if it be good, sinking to greater depths
of evil if it be evil. Hence also we are not to imagine
that the words under consideration are applicable only
to the end, or are the record only of a final judgment.
They are applicable to the Church and to the world
throughout the whole course of their respective his
tories, and it is at this moment as true as it will ever
be that, in so far as the heart and will of a man arc
really turned to evil or to good, the allegiance he has
chosen has the tendency of continued progress towards
the triumph of the one or of the other.
In connexion with thoughts like these, we see the
peculiar propriety of that declaration as to Himself
and His purposes next made by the Redeemer : Behold,
I come quickly. He comes to wind up the history of
the present dispensation. And My reward is with Me,
to render to each man according as his work is. He
comes to bestow "reward"1 upon His own; and there
1 Comp. chap xi. 18.

xxii. 10-15.] THE EPILOGUE. 383

is no mention of judgment, because for those who are
to be rewarded judgment is past and gone. / am the
Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the begin
ning and the end, the words again taking us back to
the language of the Prologue,1 upon which follows a
blessing for such as wash their robes, for those other
wise described in the Prologue as " loosed from their
sins in His blood,"2 and in chap. vii. 14 as having
" washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb." These have the right to come to the tree
op life, and they enter in by the gates into the city. A
different order might have been expected, for the tree
of life grows within the city, and it is the happy in
habitants of the city who eat its fruits. But this is the
blessed paradox of faith. It is difficult to say which
privilege enjoyed by the believer comes first, and which
comes second. Rather may all that he enjoys be
looked on as given at once, for the great gift to him
is Christ Himself, and in Him everything is included.
He is the gate of the city, and as such the way to the
tree of life ; He is the tree of life, and they who par
take of Him have a right to enter into the city and
dwell there. Why ask, Which comes first ? At one
moment we may think that it is one blessing, at another
that it is another. The true description of our state is
that we are " in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us
wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption : that, according as it is written, He
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 3
To enhance our estimate of the happiness of those
who are within the city, there comes next a descrip
tion of those who are without. They are first denoted
1 Chap. i. 8. * Chap. i. 5. • I Cor. i. 30.

384 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
by the general term the dogs, that animal, as we learn
from many passages of Scripture, being to the Jew
the emblem of all that was wild, unregulated, unclean,
and offensive.1 Then the general term is subdivided
into various classes; and all of them are without, not
put out. They were put out when judgment fell upon
them. Now they are without; and the door once
open to them " is shut." 2
The last words follow : —
I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things for
the Churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright,
the morning star.
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth,
let him say. Come. And he that is athirst, let him come. He that
will, let him take the water of life freely. I testify unto every man
that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall
add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which 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 from the tree of
life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. He
which testifieth these things saith, Yea : I come quickly. Amen.
Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen (xxii. 16-21).
Once more in these words it will be seen that we
return to the Prologue, in the opening words of which
we read, " The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave Him, to show unto His servants ; . . . and He
sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant
John."3 The glorified Lord now takes up the same
words Himself; and, connecting by the name "Jesus"
all that He was on earth with all that belongs to His
condition in heaven, He declares of the whole revela
tion contained in the visions of this book that the
1 Comp. Ps. xxii. 16, 20; Matt. vii. 6; Phil. iii. 2.
* Comp. Matt. xxv. 10.
» Chap. i. I.

xxii. 16-21.] THE EPILOGUE. 385
angel through whom it was communicated had been
sent by Him. He Himself had given it — He, even
Jesus, — Jesus the Saviour of His people from their
sins, the Captain of their salvation, the Joshua who
leads them out of the " wilderness " of this world,
across the valley of the shadow of death, into that
Promised Land which Canaan, with its milk and
honey, its vines and olive trees, its rest after long
wanderings, and its peace after hard warfare, only
faintly pictured to their view. Well is He able to
do this, for in Him earth meets heaven, and " the
angels of God ascend and descend upon the Son of
man." x
First, He is the root and the offspring of David, not
the root out of which David springs, as if He would
say that He is David's Lord as well as David's Son,2
but the "shoot that comes out of the stock of Jesse
and the branch out of his roots that bears fruit."3 He
is the " Son, who was born of the seed of David
according to the flesh,"4 the substance of ancient
prophecy, the long-promised and looked-for King.
Secondly, He is the bright, the morning star, the star
which shines in its greatest brilliancy when the dark
ness is about to disappear, and that day is about to
break of which " the Sun of righteousness, with
healing in His wings," shall be the everlasting light,6
Himself " our Star, our Sun." Thus He is connected
on the one side with earth, on the other with heaven,
" Immanuel, God with us,"8 touched with a feeling
of our infirmities, mighty to save. "What then
shall we say to these things ? If God is for us, who
1 John i. 51. * Isa. xi. I. * Mai. iv. 2.
* Matt. xxii. 45. ' Rom. i. 3. « Matt. i. 23.
25

386 THE BOOK OF RE VELA! ION.
is against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not
also with Him freely give us all things ? Who shall
say anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is God
that justifieth. Who is he that shall condemn ? It
is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised
from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation, or
anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword ? Even as it is written,
For Thy sake we are killed all the day long ;
We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord."1
The Saviour had declared, " Behold, I come quickly,"
had spoken of the "reward" which He would bring
with Him, and had used various images to set forth
the happiness and joy which should be the everlasting
portion of those for whom He came. These declara
tions could not fail to awaken in the breast of the
Church a longing for His coming, and this longing
now finds expression.
The Spirit and the bride say, Come. We are not to
think of two separate voices : the voice of the Spirit
and the voice of the bride. It is a characteristic of
St. John's style that where there is combined action,
1 Rom. viii. 31-39.

xxii. 16-21.] THE EPILOGUE. 387
action, having both an inward and invisible and an
outward and visible side, he often separates the two
agencies by which it is produced. Many illustrations
of this may be found in his mention of the actions of
the Father and the Son, but it will be enough to refer
to one more strictly parallel to that met with here. In
chap. xv. of the fourth Gospel we find Jesus saying to
His disciples, " But when the Advocate is come, whom
I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit
of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall
bear witness of Me ; and ye also bear witness, because
ye have been with Me from the beginning." x In these
words we have not two works of witnessing, the first
that of the Advocate, the second that of the disciples. >
We have only one, — outwardly that of the disciples,
inwardly that of the Advocate. In like manner now.j
The Spirit and the bride do not utter separate calls.
The Spirit calls in the bride ; the bride calls in the
Spirit. The cry "Come" is therefore that of the
spiritually enlightened Church as she answers the
voice of her Lord and King. Her voice is the echo
of His. He says, " I come ; " she answers, " Come."
St. John then adds the next clause himself: And
let him that heareth say, Come; that is, let him that
heareth with the hearing of faith ; let him who has
made his own the glorious prospects opened up in the
visions of this book as to the Lord's Second Coming
add his individual cry to the cry of the universal
Church. To this the Saviour replies, And he that
is athirst, let him come. He that will, let him take
the water of life freely. The words appear to be
addressed, not to the world, but to the Church. He
1 John xv. 26, 27.

388 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
that is " athirst " has already drunk of the living water,
but he thirsts for deeper draughts from that river the
streams whereof make glad the city of God. To
partake more and more largely of these is the believer's
longing; and fulness of blessing is within his reach.
Let him never say, " It is enough." Let him drink
and drink again ; let him drink " freely," until the water
that Christ shall give him becomes in him " a fountain
of springing water unto eternal life." x The statements
and replies contained in these words are those of the
glorified Lord, of the Church speaking in the Spirit,
and of the individual believer, as they hold converse
with one another in that moment of highest rapture
when evil has been extinguished, when the struggle is
over, when the victory has been gained, and when the
Lord of the Church is at the door. He in them and
they in Him, what can they do but speak to and answer
one another in strains expressive of mutual longing
and affection and joy ?
Once more the Seer — for it seems to be he that
speaks— turns to the book which he has written.
In the Prologue he had said, " Blessed is he that
readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy,
and keep the things which are written therein."2 In the
same spirit he now denounces a woe upon him who
adds to it : God shall add unto him the plagues which are
written in the book; nor less upon him who takes from
it : for God shall take away his part from the tree of life,
and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.
The book has come from Him who is the faithful and
true Witness of God, and it has been written in
obedience to His command and under the guidance
» John iv. 14. 2 Chap. i. 3.

xxii. 16-21.] THE EPILOGUE. 389
of His Spirit. St. John himself is nothing ; Christ is
all : and St. John knows that the words of his great
Master are fulfilled, " He that receiveth you receiveth
Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent
Me." x Therefore may he speak with all authority, for
it is not he that speaks, but the Holy Spirit.2
Yet once again, before the parting salutation, Christ
and the Church interchange their thoughts. The
former speaks first : He which testifieth these things
saith, Yea, I come quickly. It is the sum and substance
of His message to His suffering people, for they can
desire or need no more. The " I " is the Lord Himself
as He is in glory, not in the feebleness of the flesh, not
amidst the sins and sorrows of the world, not with the
cup of trembling and astonishment in His hand, but
in the unlimited fulness of His Divine power, clothed
with the light of His heavenly abode, and anointed
with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Especially
is the Church told that this . revelation is all she needs,
because throughout the book she is supposed to be in the
midst of trials. To the troubled heart the Apocalypse
is given ; and by such a heart is it best understood.
Jesus has spoken ; and the Church replies, Amen.
Come, Lord Jesus. Amen to all that the Lord has
promised ; Amen to the thought of sin and sorrow
banished, of wounded hearts healed, of tears of affliction
wiped away, of the sting taken from death and victory
from the grave, of darkness dissipated for ever, of the
light of the eternal day. Surely it cannot come too
soon. " Why is His chariot so long in coming ? Why
tarry the wheels of His chariots ? " 3 " Yea, I come
quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."
Matt. x. 40. 2 Comp. Mark xiii. II. 8 Judges v. 28.

390 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
The salutation of the writer to his readers alone
remains. It ought to be read differently from its form
in the authorised English version, not " The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all," but The grace
of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. For the saints the
book had been written ; to them it had been spoken :
they alone can keep it. Let no man who is not in
Christ imagine that the Revelation of St. John is
addressed to him. Let no man imagine that, if he has
not found Christ already, he will find Him here. The
book will rather perplex and puzzle, more probably
offend, him. Only in that union with Christ which brings
with it the hatred of sin and the -love of holiness,
which teaches us that we are " orphans " x in a present
world, which makes us wait for the manifestation of the
kingdom of God as they that wait for the morning,
can we enter into the spirit of the Apocalypse, listen to
its threatenings without thinking them too severe, or
so embrace its promises that they shall heighten rather
than lower the tone of our spiritual life. Here, if
anywhere, faith and love are the key to knowledge,
not knowledge the key to faith and love. It is in the
very spirit of the book, therefore, not in a spirit hard,
or narrow, or unsympathetic, that it closes with the
words, " The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the
saints."

We have reached the end of this singular, but at the
same time most instructive, book of the New Testa
ment. That the principles upon which it has been in
terpreted should be generally accepted were too much
to hope for. Their acceptance, where they are received,
1 John xiv. 18, R.V. (margin).

xxii. 16-21.] THE EPILOGUE. 391
must depend mainly upon the consideration that while,
as scientific principles, they are thoroughly capable of
defence, they give unity to the book and a meaning
worthy of that Divine Spirit by whose influence upon
the soul of the Apostle it was produced. On no other
principles of interpretation does it seem possible to
effect this ; and the writer of these pages at least is
compelled to think that, if they are rejected, there is
only one conclusion possible, — that the Apocalypse,
however interesting as a literary memorial of the early
Christian age, must be regarded as a merely human
production, and not entitled to a place in the canon of
Scripture. Such a place, however, must in the present
state of the argument be vindicated for it ; and as an
inspired book it has accordingly been treated here.
What the reader, therefore, has to consider is whether,
though some difficulties may not be completely over
come, he can accept in the main the principles upon
which, in endeavouring to explain the book,"the writer
has proceeded. These principles the reader, whoever
he be, undoubtedly applies to innumerable passages of
Scripture. In so applying them to the prophets of the
Old Testament, he follows the example of our Lord and
His Apostles ; and much of the New Testament itself
equally demands their application. There is nothing new
in them. All commentators in part apply them. They
have only been followed out now with more consistency
and uniformity than usual. Archdeacon Farrar has
said that one of the two questions in New Testament
criticism which have acquired new aspects' during the
last few years is, What is the key to the interpretation
of the Apocalypse?1 The question is certainly one
1 Expositor, July, 1888, p. 58.

392 THE BOOK OF REVELATION.
urgently demanding the Church's answer, and one
which will without doubt be answered in due time,
either in the present or some other form. May the
Spirit of God guide the Church and her students, and
that speedily, into all the truth.

¦ STANDARD RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
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JITHIS SERIES of volumes is specially intended for the Clergy, Stu-
*¦ DENTS AND SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS OF ALL DENOMINATIONS,
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these sermon outlines have been drawn are leading men of almost every
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Eight volumes in crown 8vo are now ready (each volume complete in
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300 OUTLINES OF SERMONS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT.
By 78 Eminent English and American Clergymen, including
Archbishop Tait.
Bishop Alexander.
Bishop Browne.
Bishop Lightfoot.
Bishop Magee.
Bishop Ryle.
Dean Church.
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Canon Farrar.
Canon Knox-Little.

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Canon Westcott.
Rev. Prin. Cairns.
Rev. Dr. M. Punshon
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Rev. Phillips Brooks.
Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs.
Rev. Dr.W.G.T.SHEDD.
Rev. Dr. T. L. Cuyler.
Rev. Dr. J. T. Duryea.

Rev. Dr. H. Crosby.
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Rev. Dr. Jno. Peddle,
Rev. Dr. C T. Deems.
Rev. C H. Spurgeon
Rev. Dean Stanley.
Rev. Dr. A. Raleigh
And many othen

OUTLINES OF SERMONS ON THE OLD TESTAMENT.

G. S. Barrett, B.A.
Dean E. Bickersteth.
Bishop E. H. Browne.
J. Bald. Brown, B.A.
T.P. Boultbee, LL.D.
J. P. Chown.
Dean R.W. Church.
E. R. Couder, D.D.
T. L. Cuyler, D.D.
A. B. Davidson, D.D.
Robert Rainy, D.D.
Alex'r Raleigh, D.D.
C P. Reichel, D.D.
Chas. Stanford, D.D.
Dean A. P. Stanley.
W. M. Stratham.B.A.

authors of sermons.
J.Oswald Dykes.D.D.
E. Herber Evans.
Canon F.W. Farrar.
Donald Fraser, D.D.
J. G. Greenhough.BA.
W. F. Hook, D.D.
Bishop W. Basil Jones.
John Kerr, D.D.
Canon Edward King.
Bp. J. B. Lightfoot.
Wm. M.Taylor, D.D.
S. A. Tipple, B.A.
H. J. VanDyke, D.D.
Dean C J. Vaughan.
James Vaughan, B.A.

Canon Liddon.
J.A.Macfayden.D.D,Alex. Maci.aren, D.D
Bishop W. C. Magek.
Theodore Monod.
Arthur Mursell.
Joseph Parker, D.D.
Dean E. H. Plumptre.
John Pulsford. [D.D.
W. Morley Punshon,
M. R.Vincent, D.D.
W. J. Woods, B.A.
C. Wads worth, D.D
G. H. Wilkinson.
Bp. C. Wordswomw

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THE CLERICAL LIBRARY- Continued;.

OUTLINES OF SERMONS TO CHILDREN.
With numerous Anecdotes. Crown 8vo. Cloth, $1.50. (Being the
3d vol. of the Clerical Library.)
" T/iese sermons are by men of acknowledged eminence in possessing the happy
faculty of preaching interestingly to the young. As an evidence qf this, as well as
of the character of the teaching, it is only necessary to mention such frames as
those of William Arnot, the Bonars, Principal Cairns, John Edmond, D.D.,
Drs. Oswald Dykes and}. Marshall Lang, besides many others"— Canada Pres
byterian. "This book contains a very high grade of thinking, with enough illustrations and
anecdotes to stock the average preacher for many years of children's sermons." — Apis-
eofal Register.
' ' They are full of suggestions which will be found exceedingly helpful ; the habit of
nsing apt and simple illustrations, and of repeating good anecdotes, begets a faculty
and power which are of value. This volume is a treasure which a hundred pastors will
find exceedingly convenient to draw upon." — N. Y. Evangelist.
PULPIT PRAYERS BY EMINENT PREACHERS.
Crown 8vo. Cloth, $1. 50. (Being the 4th vol. of the Clerical Library.)
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the offering of such prayers, especially when, as here, spiritual intensity and de-
voutness are tts marked as freshness and strength. Suck prayers have their char
acteristic aaoantages."
London Literary World; "Used aright, this volume is likely to be of great ser
vice to ministers. It will show ihem how to put variety, freshness and literary beauty,
as well as spirituality of tone, into their extemporaneous prayers."
Anecdotes Illustrative of New Testament Texts.
With 600 Anecdotes. Crown 8vo, 400 pages. Cloth, $1.50. (Being
the 5th vol. of the Clerical Library.)
London Christian Leader says : " This is one of the most valuable books of
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rate quality. They have been selected by one who has breadth and vigor of mind
as well as keen spiritual insight, and some of the most effective illustrations qf
Scripture texts have a rich vein of humor qf exquisite quality."
The London Church Bells: "The anecdotes are given in the order of the texts
which they illustrate. There is an ample index. The book is one which those who
have to prepare sermons and addresses will do well to have at their elbow."
N. Y. Christian at Work: " A.i an apt illustration often proves the nail
which fasiens the truth in the mind, this volume will prove an admirable
and valuable atd, not only to ci ercymen, but to sunday-school teachers
and Christian workers generally."
N. Y. Observer ; "A book replete with incident and suggestion applicable to every
occasion."

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THE CLERICAL LIBRARY-(Continued).

EXPOSITORY SERMONS AND OUTLINES ON
THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Crown 8vo, cloth. $1.50. Being the 6th vol. of the Clerical Library,

W. Alexander, D.D.,
Bishop of Derry.
A. Barry, D.D., Primate
of Australia.
Dean Bradley, of West
minster.
Stopford A. Brooke.

Containing Sermons by
Prof. A. B. Davidson,
D.D., LL.D.
Ven. Archdeacon Farrar.
Canon W.J. Knox-Little.
Canon H.P. Liddon, D.D.
Alexander Maclaren,
D.D.

George Matheson, D.D.
Joseph Parker, D.D.
Dean J. J. S. Perowne.
C. Stanford, D.D.
Lord Bishop of Chester.
Deam Vaughan.

" Rich in practical application, these Sermons "will be an education and an inspi
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PLATFORM AND PULPIT AIDS.
Consisting of Striking Speeches, Home Work, Foreign Missions,
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jects, with Illustrative Anecdotes from Addresses. Crown
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Prebendary Ainslie.
W. Arthur.
Bishop of Bedford.
Dean of Canterbury.
Piishop of Carlisle.
Bishop Boyd Carpenter.
Dean of Chester.
Dean Close.
R. W. Dale, D.D.

By
J. C Edghill, D.D.
Dean of Bangor.
Bishop Ellicott, D.D.
Archdeacon Farrar.
Canon Fleming.
Newman Hall.
Dr. Livingstone.
Bishop of London.
J, A. Macfadyen, D.D.

R Moffat, D.D.
Sir W. Muir, K.CS.I.
J. Parker, D.D.
W. M. Punshon, D.D.
Principal Rainy, D.D.
C. H. Spurgeon.
A. Moody Stuart, D.D.
Archbishop Tait.
Canon Tristram.
And others.

"Just the book to give to some overworked pastor who has many speeches to make,
with little time for study, and less money to spare for new books. We have here a
collection of some of the best speeches of many of the great platform speakers of our
time"— Christian.  __
ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATIVE OF OLD TESTA
MENT TEXTS.
With over 500 Illustrations and Index of Texts. Crown 8vo, cloth.
$1.50. Being the 8th vol. of the Clerical Library.
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DR. BROADUS'S WORK ON PREACHING.

ON THE PREPARATION AND DELIVERY OF SERMONS.

Crown 8vo. 514 pages.

By John A. Broadus, D.D., LL.D.
Cloth, $1. 75. 16th Edition.
JO®* No other work on the same subject ', published in this country, has said so
largely in so short a time, while the religious and secular press, in all parts of the
country, has almost universally commended it in strong and earnest notices.
Its immediate republication in London, with an Introduction by Rev. Joseph
Angus, D.D., was followed by the indorsement of Bishop Ellicott, Rev. C. H. Spurgeon,
and the religious periodicals, demonstrating that it met with equalfavor abroad.
. The work not only ?neets the wants qf students and young ministers, but is very
suggestive and stimulating to those of maturer age. It is warmly commended to
Sunday-school teachers, lay preachers and, public speakers in general. It takes
unusual Pains to give suggestions for the preparation and conduct of what is called
extemporaneous discourse, while doing full justice to all the methods.

notices of the work.

" Prepared by a very able teacher. He
has had a practical knowledge of his sub
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blended scholarship, and good sense," —
Dr. Angus, in Preface to London edition.
" The preacher who desires to have an
intelligent appreciation of the demands of
his work, and of the way in which he may
attain excellency in it, cannot do better
than study this thoughtful and suggestive
treatise." — English Independent.
"A book on preaching, by a master of
the art. Everywhere in his book there is
that intensity of earnestness which is at
once the charm and characteristic of his
oreaching." — Religious Herald.
"A judicious and exhaustive treatise —
destined, we think, to occupy a very promi
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books on Homiletics." — Methodist Home
Journal. "Abounds in excellent hints, rules, and
suggestions. It is very lucid in style —
must do good on a large scale. "—Southern
Presbyterian. "It bears the marks of close study, of
careful deliberation, is always suggestive,
breathes a good pure spirit, and has a style
that is always clear and attractive." —
Lutheran and Missionary.

"A rich mine of the best thoughts on the
grandest subject." — Raleigh Episcopal
Methodist. "Elaborate in plan and execution, syste
matically arranged — we commend the vol
ume as one of the best of its kind." — The
Advance. "The most complete and comprehensive
work of the kind published in this country."'*
— Christian Intelligencer.
"A good book ; full of instruction, rich,
varied, and exh3Liistive."~PrincetonReview.
"I know of no one book from which a
clergyman can learn so much of the art of
preaching." — W. Sparrow, D.D., Prof, in
Prot. Epis. Theol. Seminary of Va.
"Even for the general reader it has un
usual attractions. It is exceedingly read
able and charmingly written."- The World.
" Sabbath -school superintendents and
teachers will be guided, helped, and
strengthened by it."— 5. School Times.
"It abounds in suggestions which may
be turned to profitable account, not only by
preachers, but by lawyers, and all others
who are called upon to address public au
diences." — American Lit. Gazette.
" We haveread the book with absorbing
interest. Rich, deep thoughts and emi
nently practical suggestions abound
through these pages."— Associate Reformed
Presbyterian.

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REV. DR. HENRY B. SMITH'S WORKS.
SYSTEMof CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
By Henry B. Smith, D.D.,XL.D. Edited by Wm. S. Karr, D.D.
Octavo vol. 650 pages. Cloth. (3d Edition.) $3.50.
"The importance of this publication can hardly be
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influence on Christian thought second to that of no
one In this country. And to-day his opinions and ut
terances on points of Christian doctrine are quoted as
of the highest authority/'
" We hazard little in saying that Prof. Smith's * System of Christian Theology ' will
take its place at once in the very foremost rank of the great American treatises on
dogmatics. It is in a peculiar sense representative in its combination of keen analytical,
philosophic power and vivid perception of the imperative wants of the human heart.
. . . The book, as a whole, is a monument of profound Christian thought. No one
could have composed it who was not impressed, as Prof. Smith was, with the supreme
dignity and value of the science to vhichthe best years of his life were devoted, and at
the same time with the infinite possibilities of that sphere of divine knowledge into
which this science aims to penetrate.'1 — N. Y. Evangelist.
The Herald and Presbyter says : "There is no part of this work that is not a valu
able addition to the theological literature of the subject which it treats. The whole
volume isa product of theological ability of the very first order, and of wide and thor
ough scholarship. ... Its style is clear and sparkling. In those portions of the
work in which the theme is elaborated, it rises to heights of real eloquence. . . .
We have been given an elaborate theological treatise, which must take a place abreast
of the ablest treatises in divinity to be found in our language."
INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY— LECTURES ON
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S. Karr, D.D. 2 vols, in one. Price reduced to $1.50.
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with this large and abstruse subject, and with its enormous literature. His severe and
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learning, and his nervous and transparent style, lend to this, as to all his other produc
tions, a profound interest and a peculiar charm. It will be an invaluable manual, not
mly to the prof essional student, but to every thoughtful reader who seeks to justify the
ways of God to man."—N. Y. Tribune.
HENRY BOYNTON SMITH— His Life and Work. Edited by his
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cloth. $2.50.
This Memoir of the lamented Prof. Smith gives a faithful picture of
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with universities, with men, books, and life. The brightest intellects discerned his great
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he always made the mark of a first-rate workman, doing everything well. The loving
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such evidence of his greatness and worth, that the present generation and posterity will
know something of what the Church lost when this light went out before eventide.
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13

PREACHING AND PASTORAL WORK.

r Vol., Crown Svo, Cloth, 540 Pages. Price %i.S0.
Homiletical and Pastoral Lectures.
Delivered in St. Paul's Cathedral before the Church Homiletical Society
With a Preface by the Rt. Rev. C J. ELLICOTT, D.D.,
Editor of New Testament Commentary for English Readers.
Contents.
The Preparation of a Sermon.
By the LORD BISHOP 01 ROCHESTER.
The End or Object of a Sermon.
By the Right Rev. BISHOP RYAN, D.B
Homely Hints on Preaching.
By the Very Rev. DEAN HOWSON, D.D.
On the Emotions in Preaching.
By the LORD ARCHBISHOP of YORK.
What Constitutes a Plain Sermon.
By the LORD BISHOP of CARLISLE.
The Preparation of Sermons for Village Congregations.
By the Rev. CANON HEURTLEY, D.D.
The Preacher's Gifts.
By the Rev. E. GARBETT, M.A.
Study in its Bearing on Preaching.
By the Rev. CANNON BARRY, D.D., D.CL.
The Study of Holy Scripture with a view to the Preparation of
Sermons. By the Very Rev. DEAN PEROWNE, D.D.
Texts: their Interpretation, Misinterpretation and Misapplica
tion. By the Ven. ARCHDEACON PEROWNE, B.D.
Prophecy in its Relation to Preaching.
By the Very. Rev. DEAN FREMANTLE, D.D.
Parish Work in its Relation to the Cure of Souls.
By the Rev. CANON BERNARD, M.A.
Pastoral Visitation. By the Rev. PREBENDARY CADMAN, M.A.
Pastoral Dealings -with Individuals.
By the Rev. CANON HOW, M.A.
Cottage Lectures. By the BISHOP of OSSORY.
How to Reach Working Men.
By the Rev. PREBENDARY MACDONALD, M.A.
Parochial Temperance Work as Part of the Cure of Souls.
By the Rev. CANON ELLISON, M.A.
The Temptations of the Ministry.
By the LORD BISHOP of RANGOON.
The Responsibilities of the Ministry.
By the Rev. F. PIGOU, D.D.
The Results of the Ministry.
By the Rev. CANON HOARE, M.A.

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STANDARD RELIGIOUS WORKS.

By Rev. E. P. Humphrey, D. D., LL.D., ofLouisville, Ky., and sometime
Professor of Biblical and Church History in Danville Theological Sem
inary. Large octavo, 5 jO pages, cloth, $2.50.
"This treatise bears witness to the author's thorough acquaintance with
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by such a hand is worthy to stand on every study-table by the Bible and
concordance." — Cincinnati Herald and Presbyter.
THE SYSTEM OF THEOLOGY
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by Rev. Drs. A. A. and J. Aspinwall Hodge. i2mo, $1.00.
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ology." — Methodist Record.
" There is enough theology in this compact little book to satisfy the most
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THE DAWN OF THE MODERN MISSION.
By Rev. Wm. Fleming Stevenson, D. D., author of "Praying and Waiting.'' i2mo
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STANDARD RELIGIOUS WORKS.
New and Enlarged [4th] Edition, in Cheaper Form,
OF
CHARLES L. BRACE'S GESTA CHRISTI.
A HISTORY OF HUMANE PROGRESS UNDER CHRIS
TIANITY. With New Preface and Supplemen
tary Chapter 540 pp., cloth.
Price reduced from $2*50 to Si.jo.
" It is especially adapted to assist the clergyman and religious teacher in his strug
gles with honest, thoughtful infidelity."
" [It Presents a storehouse of facts bearing on the influences of Christianity upo»
such important topics as the paternal power, the position of woman under custom and
law, personal purity, and marriage, slavery, cruel and licentious sports, and all matters
of humanity and compassion, etc. The thoughtful reader will here gather in
formation WHICH COULD ONLY BE OBTAINED FROM* LIBRARIES OR MANY VOLUMES."
Rev. Dr. R. S. STORRS says: "IT IS A BOOK THAT
DESERVES THE VERY WIDEST CIRCULATION FOR ITS CAREFUL
NESS AND CANDOR, ITS AMPLE LEARNING, its just, discrimina
ting analysis of historical movements as initiated or governed by
moral forces, and for the fine spirit which pervades it."
"The skill and industry with which Mr. Brace has gleaned and sorted the vast ac
cumulation of material here gathered together, the better to show forth the power and
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in a certain sense wonderful. He has a complete mastery of his subject, and many
chapters in the book are of exceeding value and interest." — London Morning Post.
A NEW and REVISED EDITION, with NEW MAPS and ILLUSTRATIONS,
STAEEY'S SINAf AND PALESTINE.
In Connection with their History. By Dean A. P. STANLEY.
With 7 Elaborate and Beautifully Colored
Maps, and other Illustrations.
Large Crown 8vo Vol., Cloth, 640 pp. Price reduced from $4 to $3.30.
The late Dean Stanley published a new and revised edition of his
*• Sinai and Palestine." In it he made considerable additions and cor
rections, giving the work the final impress of his scholarship, taste and
ability. This edition has been carefully conformed to the last English
edition— including the new maps and illustrations, and is herewith L
mended anew AS THE MOST READABLE AS WELL AS THF
lishTlaCnguaJI. W°RK °N THE SUBJECT ^ THE ENG
Jto Dr. H M Field Editor of » It. Y. Evangelist," says of Stanley's - Sinai
and Palestine : We had occasion for its constant use in crossing the desert and in
journeying through the Holy Land, and can bear witness at once to its accuracy and to
the charm of its descriptions. Of all the helps we had it wa, by far the most cat.
twatiHg." r
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