Revelation 15

It is a fair inference from Scripture, not only that souls are in a state of conscious activity, but that, as Judas, so every other goes to his own place. “Death alters our condition and our surroundings, but most likely affects our essential personality not at all.” Says Von Oosterzee, “The to-day of the soul after death is the simple continuation of the course followed on earth, downward or upward, and in which it now inwardly ripens for the portion which will be manifested at the last day, and of which it already experiences a foretaste of the enjoyment or the terror.” Absent from the body is to be present with the Lord in some one of the many mansions, or to awake to the consciousness of an abused probation and a rejected opportunity. This intermediate state may also serve an end, as well as actually be a waiting for the consummation of all things. The soul released from all bodily hindrances and infirmities is open to the searching scrutiny of the light of truth as never before; and,

“pervaded with light by the heavenly glancing of God’s fire,” is becoming adjusted to that life, into which death is a birth, and which invites it to a yet sublimer destiny when rehabilitated by its glorified body, and admitted to its inheritance as an heir of God in the new earth wherein righteousness shall for ever dwell. No adjustment to the absolutely holy life of heavenly society is so essential as a moral one. No place is now found so favorable to it as that which brings us into communion with God. How rapid the progress when the veil is taken away and we see him as he is.

We are, then, to regard the intermediate state between death and the resurrection as one of transition from this state to that which is final, along the lines of choice and habit made our own here and now. “Upon the broad as upon the narrow way falls the impenetrable curtain of death; but the first step after borders immediately upon the last step before the curtain. Advancement and progress are made ever in the same path in which the man was already walking even before his death. A transition from the one to the opposite condition after death is accordingly spoken of as inconceivable by the mouth of truth itself.” Haydn.

15: 1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven 2 last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his im- age, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having 3 the 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, Lord God Almighty; just and true 4 are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judg- 5 ments are made manifest. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the taber- 6 nacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: and the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded 7 with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden 8 vials fall 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 no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. 16: 1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, 2 and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men 3 which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: 4 and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the 5 rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou 6 hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given 7 them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even 8 so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured 9 out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power 10 over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they 11 gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains 12 and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the 13 kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the

14 false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God 15 Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, 16 lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called 17 in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is 18 done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so 19 great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine 20 of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not 21 found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. 17: 1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore 2 that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten 4 horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and 5 filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF 6 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 wondered with great admiration. 7 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 ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast 9 that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven 10 heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of 12 the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the 13 beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are 16 peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and 17 shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be 18 fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. 18: 1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; 2 and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and 3 the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through 4 the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her 5 plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: 7 in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit 8 a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for 9 strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they 10 shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Aias, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. 11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their

12 merchandise any more. The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and 13 marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls 14 of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more 15 at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off 16 for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious 17 stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar 18 off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this 19 great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of 20 her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and 21 ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall 22 that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and 23 the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for 24 by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. 19:1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the 3 earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And 4 again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. 5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye 6 that fear him, both small and 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 thunderings, saying, Alleluia: 7 for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to 8 him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine 9 linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the 10 true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of 11 Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and 12 True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he 13 himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called the 14 Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, 15 clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he 16 treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper 18 of the great 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 on them, and the flesh of 19 all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the 20 horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into 21 a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

THE Bible is a self-evidenced miracle; and the miracle consists in this, that a book the composition of which occupied more than fifteen centuries of time, prepared by different hands and minds, with no possibility of collusion, and differing each from the other so much as Moses and John, Samuel and Peter, Solomon and Paul, Ezekiel and Luke, David and James, each preparing and shaping his appropriate work, and that work of each as distinct from every other as the book of Genesis and the Apocalypse, the Psalms and the acts of the Apostles, the book of Ruth and the argument in the Epistle to the Romans, the prophecies of Isaiah and the letters of the disciple whom Jesus loved; that, in all this vast variety of material, history, ritual, description, genealogy, law, proverb, prophecy, ode, apothegm, precept, fact, doctrine, apology, reasoning, there should be as complete a unity of subject, the whole compacted and framed together into one book, and that having but one theme, as if it had been composed in the lifetime of one man, and by his own many-sided and varied faculties. And that which alone gives unity to this far-stretching and varied material is Jesus Christ and his salvation. Deep answers to deep across intervening ages, and there is but one voice, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”; all times and all events converge in one truth, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” He who does not comprehend this structure of the Book of God in the unity of Jesus Christ his Son, will never reach himself the compactness and strength of a perfect Christian man, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. W. A.

Chs. 15-19. The last passage of the 14th chapter brought down the inspired disclosure to the very end of all things. After the vision of the harvest and the vintage there can be no later transaction upon the defiled and desecrated earth. The next revelation in order of time must be that of the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. But there are parts of the picture still to be completed before we are prepared for the descent of the holy city from heaven to earth, and the final establishment among men of the tabernacle of God. In particular, we have yet to learn in fuller detail the fate of the three enemies described in the last section. We have heard in the 14th chapter in general terms that their overthrow is destined and certain. But the particulars of the overthrow have not yet been disclosed. V.

15:1-4. Here, also, preceding the seven vials of wrath, is a scene of heavenly triumph. Victors stand over the crystal sea mingled with fire, as on a shore of safety, singing “the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” We are, of course, reminded of the song of Moses and his triumphant host on the shore of the Red Sea. In that ancient ode of victory they sang, “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” In this they sing, “Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! just and true are thy ways, thou King of nations. Who should not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou only art holy?”

5-8. This prepares for judgment on oppressors. Seven angels come out of the temple, and to them one of the “four living ones” delivers seven golden vials or goblets full of the anger of the ever-living God. The action of the living creature is significant, because the plagues or blows are about to fall on the various regions of creation—the earth, the sea, the fresh waters, and the sun.

16:1-21. As the vials are successively poured out by the angels, the seven last blows or plagues fall upon men, and recall several of the plagues inflicted on Egypt. The parallel between these and the judgments under the trumpets is very remarkable.

1. Fire and blood on the earth. 2. Fire and blood on the sea. 3. Wormwood on rivers and fountains of water. 4. Darkness of sun, moon, and stars. 5. A fallen star—the opening of the abyss—darkness—locusts. 6. Loosing of four angels in the Euphrates, and issuing of a great host to hurt and destroy. 7. Consummation, with announcement of divine judgment; voices, thunders, lightnings, and hail.

Grievous sore on the earth. Blood in the sea.

Blood in rivers and fountains of water.

Scorching heat from the sun.

Darkness on the throne of the beast, and in his kingdom.

Drying up of Euphrates—appearance of three unclean frog-like spirits—gathering of kings to war.

Consummation, with announcement of divine judgment; voices, thunders, lightnings, and hail.

Is it not plain that these do not describe consecutive periods of history? They have such a coincidence as plainly indicates that they set forth, by line upon line, and in the old Hebrew style of repetition with expansion, the same principles of divine judgment. D. F.

The course of these judgments is in some particulars the same as that of the trumpets. The earth, the sea, the rivers, the lights of heaven, these are the objects of the first four; but ever with reference to those who worship the beast and have his mark on them. At the fifth, as in each case before, there is a change from general to special; the throne and kingdom of the beast, the river Euphrates, these are now the objects; and the seventh passes off, as in each former case, to the consummation of all things. Meantime, as so often before, anticipating hints have been given of new details belonging to the other angelic announcements. At the sixth vial (vs. 12-16) we have the sounds of the gathering of an approaching battle of God’s enemies against him, and the very battle-field pointed out. After the seventh and its closing formula (vs. 17-21), Babylon comes into remembrance before

God, to give her the cup of his vengeance. Thus, then, we pass to the second of the angelic announcements—the fall of Babylon (ch. 17). A.

1-11. The special object of the judgments now to commence is the second of the three enemies of Christ and his Church, the wild beast from the sea, which unites in itself the attributes of the worldly power in every form and phase. These judgments have been executed in a greater or less degree throughout all time. But the terms of this prophecy, no less than the position which it occupies in the Book of Revelation, prepare us to expect a more intense and concentrated manifestation of God’s judgment upon an opposing and blaspheming world as the last end of all things shall draw on. The judgments of which we here read are described as the seven last plagues, in which is filled up the wrath of God.

12. At the sounding of the sixth trumpet there is a similar introduction of the river Euphrates. Loose the four angels bound at the river Euphrates. The Euphrates, speaking roughly, was the boundary between Israel and Israel’s invaders. It was the eastern barrier (with the desert between) of the holy land and of the chosen people. The river Euphrates, the ancient barrier between Israel and the enemies of Israel—the typical barrier between the Church, which is the Israel of God, and the enemies of the Church—is to be dried up, to prepare the way of the kings from the east. The typical home of the Church in the language of all prophecy is Palestine and Jerusalem; and therefore the typical home of the foes of the Church is in the region to which Palestine and Jerusalem ever looked as the quarter of danger, as the source of attack. The enemies of Christ are gathering for one last and decisive onslaught upon his servants and upon his throne: God foresees this; God permits this; yea, God would have it so: and therefore one of his latest vials of judgment is poured upon the Euphrates, that the hostile powers may march undisturbed against Jerusalem, and meet their great discomfiture in a struggle the deadliest and the last of all.

13. There is an agency of God, and there is an agency too of man. God dries the Euphrates; the enemy emits the spirits, the unclean and lying spirits, which are to draw the nations across it. Thus it is in all time: man can ill distinguish between the agency of permission and the agency of causation; between that power which stands aside and makes room, and that power which solicits, which inspires, and which directs. That which God hinders not he in some sort does. Often does his word speak of him as acting where a cautious and timid theology might rather speak of him as allowing. This we know, and thus far, at all events, we are safe in affirming constantly, that all good is of God, and that all evil is of God’s enemy. It is of good that the conflict of truth and falsehood, of light and darkness, should at last receive its decision: it is of evil than any one soul is induced to cast in its lot in that struggle with the hosts of antichrist. God dries the Euphrates; but the unclean spirits fill the invading ranks.

God prepares the way. But the influence by which the hosts of evil are mustered is not of God. I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Each of the three great enemies of Christ’s truth and of Christ’s Church contributes a special influence ence toward this result, this gathering of the powers of evil to combat and to ruin. There comes out of the mouth of the dragon that spirit of unbelief, of doubting, mistrusting, at last denying, God’s express word, whether of revelation, of command, or of promise, by which in Eden itself the serpent tempted, and by listening to which woman first and then man fell. The evil spirit from the mouth of the beast which is the world bids us think the things that are seen more real and more valuable than the things which are not seen; bids us deem nothing so desirable, nothing so necessary to us, as the good opinion of a man that shall die; bids us live for esteem, or live for praise, or live for power, or live for pleasure, or live for wealth, and not live for God, and not live for eternity. And what shall we say of the unclean spirit of the third enemy, of the false prophet, the creature and abettor of the second? Surely the wisdom of this world, no less than the power of this world, has in this generation a real and an oppressive influence.

15. Behold, I come as a thief. The thief comes at night; comes without notice; comes while men sleep; comes suddenly and by surprise upon a house barred against his approach. I beseech you to remember that the second coming of Christ, that coming which will set the seal of permanence upon what is, and make your then state before God your state for ever, will have this special peculiarity, it will be a surprise. And everything in you which says peace and safety; every feeling of your heart which breathes tranquility in the present; every calculation based upon to-morrow being as this day; every confident look at the bright cheerfulness of your fireside, or at the healthy and happy countenance of wife or child; still more every prayerless morning and every thankless night, when you rise as to a life all your own, or close your eyes in sleep as upon a world which will as certainly be yours to-morrow—is a sign, not of the distance, but of the nearness of Christ’s advent. The peculiarity of Christ’s coming is that everything which seems to defer really brings it near; everything which seems to make it improbable is an argument of its certainty and of its approach. Behold, I come as a thief. What shall we say then, but that the inspired word is reasonable which adds, Blessed is he that watcheth? Against an event so sure in its fact but so doubtful in its time, what can we do but watch always? To be wakful, in the Christian sense of that word, is not to be sleeping in indifference, not to be sleeping in self-indulgence, not to be sleeping in godlessness, not to be sleeping in sin. It is to be men of prayer, men of self-command, men of activity; I say it again, men of prayer. It is to have the communication ever open between the soul and its God. It is to have the aspect ever upward and ever onward. It is to have Christ ever real to us, the Holy Spirit ever present. It is to observe with a serious steadfastness the signs of the times; to compare the features of our generation with the marks given in Scripture of the latter days, of the times of the end. It is to rejoice with a sincere and a thankful joy in every victory won for Christ in the world or in a soul. It is to use this world as not abusing it; to use it as a trust, not as a possession. It is to have the affection set on things above, not on things on the earth; to have our conversation, our citizenship, already in heaven; to have our very life, the life that is most dear and most real and most precious to us, hidden even now with Christ in

God. So when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. V.

16. In Judges 5: 19 we read: “The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo.” There the Israelites gained a signal victory over the Canaanish kings. Here, it is said, “he gathered them together into a place called Armageddon.” Now, if it was meant that the people of God should be victorious over the combined forces of their enemies, could it be better represented than by saying that the battle of Megiddo should be fought again? On this assumption the battle of Armageddon is simply a conflict between the Lord’s servants and his allied foes, in which the former should gain a signal victory. That it will be a struggle involving bloodshed, and the other circumstances of human warfare, appears to be entirely an assumption. The conflict may be moral. The weapons of warfare may be spiritual. This view is more in harmony with the general character of the Revelation than that which would make one human battle with carnal weapons the symbolic representation of another human battle of the same kind. J. Hall.

17-21. Since the hailstones come by weight and the wrath comes by measure—for so a talent and a cup import—it follows that the Almighty God, even in the midst of the heat of all this anger, will keep to the rules of justice and judgment while he is dealing with this enemy; he has not passions to carry him beyond rules of judgment, nor weakness to cause him to fall short of doing justice; therefore he has his judgments for her by weight, and his indignation by measure. But yet this weight and measure are disposed according to the measure and nature of her iniquity, and come to sweep her as with the bosom of destruction, until she is swept off from the face of all the earth. Bun.

Ch. 7. It is there told, almost without figure, what is the seat, and what the name, and what the place in history, and what the singular, the unprecedented end, of that power which in John’s time was the rider upon the wild beast. Her seat was the city of the seven hills. Her name, that of the great empire then reigning over the kings of the earth. Her place in history, the sixth and last but one of those mighty empires which have successively towered above the thrones of the earth. She comes after Egypt, after Assyria, after Babylon, after Persia, after Greece. Strange to tell, she does not come before any one similar embodiment of the giant strength of that beast which is the world. She is to be followed by a seventh head; but that seventh head is a mere cluster of ten horns. The head exists but for the purpose of carrying those ten horns. The power which is to replace imperial Rome is a divided, not a concentrated, force. Marvelous prediction! audacious, were it not divine! but not more marvelous in its peculiarity, not more bold in its positiveness, than true in its fulfillment, in the history of the past and in the circumstances of the present! V.

14. In the Gospel of John we read the life of Christ on earth; a man conversing with men, humble, poor, weak, and suffering, we behold a sacrifice ready to be offered, and a man appointed to sorrows and death; but in the Revelation of John, we have the gospel of Christ now raised from the dead. He speaks and acts as having conquered the grave, and triumphed over death and hell, as entered into the place of his glory; angels, principalities, and powers being made subject unto him, and exercising the supreme universal power he has received from the Father over all things in heaven and earth, as our Saviour, for the protection of his Church, and for the sure happiness of his faithful servants in the end. Bossuet.

17. We live under the most peculiar of all the phases of the world’s power, and we are taught in prophecy that it is the last of all. Since John wrote, one phase has passed and another has come in; he wrote under the sixth; we are living under the seventh; and there is no eighth. With what earnestness ought we to read and to ponder the brief saying of the text, until the words of God shall be fulfilled! God has fulfilled some of them, yea, many, since the time that John fell on sleep. He has caused the curtain to fall upon one act of the drama, and he has raised it by his providence upon another, upon the last of all. Who can tell us how long it shall yet continue, ere the incidents be quite exhausted and the catastrophe be fully come? At all events we know this; that for each one of us the end of all things is at hand: if the Saviour’s advent come not soon to us, we shall surely go to it. Meanwhile let us at least know that there is an end; and let us be waiting for it, and watching!

Ch. 18. This chapter is a graphic picture of the fall of Rome. It is drawn from an earlier likeness, and painted in colors not new but old. Earlier prophecies, denouncing judgment upon preceding empires, furnish the main features of this. Those things which Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Nahum, saw and recorded concerning Tyre and Nineveh and Babylon of old, are here gathered together, and written of a later tyrant; of an oppressor not of Israel, but of the Church of Christ and of the gospel. In the very fact of that application, of that transfer, of that repetition, we see a sign of the wisdom and of the grace of God. What could be so encouraging, so reassuring, to a prostrate, exiled, persecuted people, as to be reminded, from their own Scriptures, of oppressions and sufferings endured of old time by God’s servants, and of the retribution by which those ancient wrongs had been recompensed and redressed? What could be a surer warrant for the hope that a Babylon of the present, powerful as she appeared, and deeply rooted, and securely fenced and guarded, might yet in the mysterious working of God’s providence be brought to desolation and to nothingness, than the declaration that one sits in the seat of an earlier Babylon, whose houses are now full of doleful creatures, wild beasts crying in her desolate houses, and dragons in her pleasant palaces? To call Rome Babylon was of itself a pledge of its demolition. The policy of that great empire, and the philosophy of that great empire; its principle, and its want of principle; its belief in human power, and its indifference to divine power; its skepticism as to all truth, and its toleration of all religions which would themselves tolerate; all had conspired together to make the empire of Rome the foe of Christianity. Sometimes by the caprices of her rulers, and sometimes in spite of their injunctions, Rome had proved herself in fact not a neutral but a persecuting power. In her, when she came to be judged, whether by history or by prophecy, was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth. And at last judgment fell; a judgment of disruption and of dissolution; a judgment full of justice, and a judgment full of admonition. To the severity of that judgment the city itself bears an infallible testimony. So early as the beginning of the fifteenth century this was the language of a reflecting observer: “The hill of the Capitol, on which we sit, was formerly the head of the Roman empire, the citadel of the earth, the terror of kings; illustrated by the footsteps of so many triumphs, enriched with the spoils and tributes of so many nations. This spectacle of the world, how is it fallen! how changed! how defaced! the path of victory is obliterated by vines, and the benches of the senators are concealed by a dunghill. Cast your eyes on the Palatine hill, and seek among the shapeless and enormous fragments the marble theatre, the obelisks, the colossal statues, the porticoes of Nero’s palace: survey the other hills of the city, the vacant space is interrupted only by ruins and gardens. The forum of the Roman people, where they assembled to enact their laws and elect their magistrates, is now enclosed for the cultivation of pot-herbs, or thrown open for the reception of swine and buffaloes. The public and private edifices, that were founded for eternity, lie prostrate, naked, and broken, like the limbs of a mighty giant; and the ruin is the more visible, from the stupendous relics that have survived the injuries of time and fortune” (Gibbon, ch. 71).

But is it then with walls and buildings that the righteous anger of God wages its warfare? Is it any impeachment of the truth of his prediction, if another city rises in its turn upon the ruins of Babylon, or another power diverse from the former plants its throne upon the ruins of imperial Rome? Not so. It may be noticeable, as a permanent index of judgment, if wild beasts of the desert still lie where Babylon the glory of kingdoms once spread wide her habitations; if dragons still cry in those pleasant palaces where kings once reigned, vassals of a yet mightier throne. But not less really, if less visibly, are God’s denunciations against a second Babylon verified, if after the fall of imperial Rome papal Rome rose and flourished for her season, built herself churches with the stones of temples, and reigned in turn over subject consciences as her predecessor had reigned over prostrate nationalities. There have been times, it has been well said, when the papacy looked very like the beast of the Revelation: at such times, in the same degree, God’s judgments upon Babylon were applicable and appropriate to the papacy. And that which was not explained nor meant to be explained to John, time has revealed to us; namely, that the fall of the Babylon that then was was not destined to be the immediate precursor of the end of all things. Even John was instructed to write, There are seven kings: five are fallen; and one is; and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space (17:10). That short space has been expanded by the event into a period of several centuries. Other Babylons, on a smaller scale, and with features less precisely marked, have come and gone since John’s prophecy against Rome was fulfilled. The beast still is, and still develops himself from time to time in new forms. Wherever he develops himself, there arises another Babylon; and of the ruin of that other Babylon the ruin of the first Babylon and of the second is an infallible and ever-growing proof. V.

19:1-10. The time now draws near for the final termination of the conflict. The irrevocable doom has been pronounced. But before the final condemnation, the episode (so usual in this book) of praise, thanksgiving, and anticipated completion of victory, comes in with a delay of the main action. The episode (as usual) has three parts: 1. All the inhabitants of the heavenly world are represented as uniting in a song of triumph and of thanksgiving on account of the righteous judgments of God which are about to be inflicted (vs. 1-4). 2. A voice from the throne in heaven speaks, and requires of all his servants everywhere renewed praise, which accordingly is shouted (vs. 5-8). 3. The glorious prospect for suffering martyrs is disclosed. They will be guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb. The Church is indeed the Lamb’s bride, and the exultation of the Messiah is vividly sketched in the declaration of the angel interpreter, at whose feet John, in a state of astonishment, falls. Jesus, the angel declares, is the object of worship by him; and therefore he (the angel) can not claim the worship of his fellow-servants, who, like him, are merely instruments in making known the prophecies respecting the triumph of redeeming grace (vs. 9, 10). M.S.

10. Jesus. The lines of both Testaments meet in him as in one common center. In the testimonies of the Bible concerning the glory, grace, and work of Christ, the Old Testament confirms the New, and the New Testament illustrates the Old. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”; that is, the essence, the substance, the aim and end of all prophecy. Without the preëminence of Christ they become like other writings; but admit this, and then there is but one gospel under all dispensations—but one Saviour for all sinners. And whoever are the speakers or writers, whether patriarchs, or prophets, or kings, or angels, or poets, or apostles, or disciples, each vies with the other to give Christ the preëminence. The glories of heaven and the wonders of the earth, the honors of offices or the happiness of relations, the attractions of beauty or the authority of dignity, are chosen as metaphors to set forth the preëminent excellence of Christ. Sherman.

11-16. The wisest of living Britons has said, “Infinite pity, yet infinite rigor of law. It is so that the world is made.” It is so the world must be made, because it is made by Jesus Christ our Lord, and its laws are the likeness of his character; pitiful, because Christ is pitiful; and rigorous, because he is rigorous. So pitiful is Christ that he did not hesitate to be slain for men, that mankind through him might be saved. But so rigorous is Christ that he does not hesitate to slay men, if needful, that mankind thereby may be saved. War and bloodshed, pestilence and famine, earthquake and tempest—all of them, as sure as there is a God, are the servants of God, doing his awful but necessary

work for the final benefit of the whole human race. C. K.—It is “the faithful and true who in righteousness doth judge and make war.” He is represented as Head of the Church, sitting on “a white horse”; while, as Head over all things to the Church, he is described as “having on his head many crowns, as clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, as smiting the nations with a sharp sword, ruling them with a rod of iron, treading the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and having on his vesture and on his thigh the name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” W. S.