I saw a mighty angel coming down out of the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had in his hand a little open book. He set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land. He cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars. When he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. When the seven thunders sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and don’t write them.”
The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky, and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets. The voice which I heard from heaven, again speaking with me, said, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.”
I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. He said to me, “Take it, and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”
I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. They told me, “You must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 Now Saint John passeth unto the other Prophetical history,…
Now Saint John passeth unto the other Prophetical history, which is of the Church of God, as I showed that this book should be distinguished, Rev. 4:1. This story reacheth hence unto the two and twentieth Chapter. And this whole Chapter is but a transition from the common history of the world unto that which is particular of the Church. There are in this transition or passage, two preparatives as it were, unto this Church story comprised in this whole Chapter. One is the authority of Christ revealing his mysteries, and calling his servants unto the seventh verse. The other is Saint John’s calling, proper unto this place, and prepared from before unto the end of this chapter. Authority is given unto this Revelation by these things: First, by the appearing from heaven in this habit and countenance, strong, ready, glorious, surveying all things by his providence and governing them by his omnipotence, the first verse. Secondly, that he brought not by chance, but out of a book, this open Revelation, set forth unto the eye, to signify the same unto the sea, and land, as the Lord over all, the second Verse. Thirdly, that he offered the same not whispering or muttering in a corner (as false prophets do) but crying out with a loud voice unto them which sleep, and with a lionish and terrible noise roused the secure: the very thunders themselves giving testimony thereunto, the third Verse. Lastly, for that he confirmed all by an oath, Verses 5, 6, 7.
Christ Jesus, see the seventh Chapter and the second verse.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–11 1 And I saw another mighty angel come down…
1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
Ver. 1. Come down from heaven] Not from the bottomless pit, as Antichrist, that opposite to Christ’s unction and function. Christ cometh down from heaven, 1. By the assumption of our nature. 2. By the preaching of his word. 3. By punishing his enemies. 4. By relieving and delivering his people; and in this last sense chiefly it is here to be understood.
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Clothed with a cloud] Not yet so clearly to be seen and enjoyed by his as when he shall come in the clouds.
A rainbow upon his head] The effect of the sun shining against a cloud, and is Nuncius foederis et serenitatis, the angel of God’s covenant, and of fair weather.
His feet as pillars of fire] His meanest members stand out the hottest persecutions. Or, he will burn up his enemies as chaff and stubble.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–11 And I saw another mighty angel; the most and…
And I saw another mighty angel; the most and best interpreters understand by this angel, Christ, formerly represented to us as a Lamb, here as an Angel; none but he could call the two witnesses, Rev 11:3, his witnesses; besides, the glorious appearance of this angel speaketh him no ordinary angel.
Come down from heaven; God being about to do or speak some great thing, is oft thus set out as coming down from heaven.
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Clothed with a cloud; Christ is described as coming with clouds, Rev 1:7.
The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness, 2Ch 6:1.
And a rainbow was upon his head; which was the sign of the covenant made with Noah, Gen 9:16, and fitted Christ’s head, as he that brought peace to the world, and to his church in special.
And his face was as it were the sun: see Mat 17:2.
And his feet as pillars of fire; signifying the steadiness and efficacy of his actions.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 8 This angel is concluded to represent our Lord Jesus…
This angel is concluded to represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the angel of the covenant: he is called a mighty angel, in opposition to the mighty enemies of his church, mentioned in the foregoing chapter: he is said to come down from heaven, to intimate his signal and seasonable appearing for the relief of his church; clothed with a cloud, representing the manner of his coming in the clouds at the final judgment; with a rainbow on his head, signifying that covenant of peace which he had made with his church, and his continual mindfulness of that covenant; his face was as the sun, to denote that light of comfort and deliverance which he would bring to his church in his own time; his feet as pillars, signifying the steadiness and stability of his purposes and actions, that where he sets his feet, none can remove him; and as pillars of fire, denoting his ability to tread down his enemies under him, and also to consume them: this is according to the description of his person, given, Rev 1:15-16. The emblems and figures by which he is represented here, are the same by which he was the same person.
Observe next, The account of what he did, He had a little book in his hand open, to distinguish it from the former book sealed; a book in which the purpose and decree of God was made known concerning what should happen to the church; a book sealed; and shut to us, but obvious and open to Christ. Christ, that lay in the bosom of the Father, reveals his Father’s secrets to us, so far as it is needful and necessary for us to know them. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the earth, to let us know his sovereignty and dominion over the whole world; as well over the turbulent and unquiet, as over the quiet and more peacable part of it; and also to signify his ability to tread down his enemies, wherever they are; a consideration that administers much comfort and consolation to his church; his dominion is over the earth and sea; none can dispossess him of his power, and none can escape his presence.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 8 Here we have an account of another vision the…
Here we have an account of another vision the apostle was favoured with, between the sounding of the sixth trumpet and that of the seventh. And we observe,
I. The person who was principally concerned in communicating this discovery to John - an angel from heaven, another mighty angel, who is so set forth as would induce one to think it could be no other than our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! 1. He was clothed with a cloud: he veils his glory, which is too great for mortality to behold; and he throws a veil upon his dispensations. Clouds and darkness are round about him. 2. A rainbow was upon his head; he is always mindful of his covenant, and, when his conduct is most mysterious, yet it is perfectly just and faithful. 3. His face was as the sun, all bright, and full of lustre and majesty, Rev 1:16. 4. His feet were as pillars of fire; all his ways, both of grace and providence, are pure and steady.
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II. His station and posture: He set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the earth, to show the absolute power and dominion he had over the world. And he held in his hand a little book opened, probably the same that was before sealed, but was now opened, and gradually fulfilled by him.
III. His awful voice: He cried aloud, as when a lion roareth (Rev 10:3), and his awful voice was echoed by seven thunders, seven solemn and terrible ways of discovering the mind of God.
IV. The prohibition given to the apostle, that he should not publish, but conceal what he had learned from the seven thunders, Rev 10:4. The apostle was for preserving and publishing every thing he saw and heard in these visions, but the time had not yet come.
V. The solemn oath taken by this mighty angel. 1. The manner of his swearing: He lifted up his hand to heaven, and swore by him that liveth for ever, by himself, as God often has done, or by God as God, to whom he, as Lord, Redeemer, and ruler of the world, now appeals. 2. The matter of the oath: that there shall be time no longer; either, (1.) That there shall be now no longer delay in fulfilling the predictions of this book than till the last angel should sound; then every thing should be put into speedy execution: the mystery of God shall be finished, Rev 10:7. Or, (2.) That when this mystery of God is finished time itself shall be no more, as being the measure of things that are in a mutable changing state; but all things shall be at length for ever fixed, and so time itself swallowed up in eternity.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–11 And I saw another mighty angel,.... Not any mere…
And I saw another mighty angel,.... Not any mere man, as Justin the emperor, as some have thought, who sent letters abroad in favour of the orthodox doctrine, against the Arians, which they suppose is meant by the little book open in his right hand; and still less the pope of Rome, whether in the sense of Papists or Protestants, which latter represent him as a tyrant, treading upon men both in the islands and in the continent, and holding forth the book of canons and decrees; rather, as Mr. Daubuz thinks, Luther, with the rest of the reformers, is intended, and especially since the prophecy of this chapter respects the Reformation, which began before the end of the sixth trumpet; and the epithets given to this angel may denote his strength and courage, his divine authority, the protection of him, and the clear doctrine of peace and reconciliation he brought: however, a created angel is not intended: not the angel that made proclamation for the opening of the book, and unsealing it, Rev 5:2; between which, and having the book in his right hand open, is a wide difference; nor any other, though the epithet "mighty" belongs to angels in common; and though this angel swears by the living God; and though it was an angel by whom Christ signified the things contained in this book to John; but the uncreated Angel, the Lord Jesus Christ, seems rather designed, as appears both by comparing this with Dan 12:7; and from the power lie gave to the two witnesses, Rev 11:3; which cannot agree with a created angel; and besides, who so proper to hold the book open as he who unloosed the seals, and opened it, and to whom the epithet "mighty" may be applied in the highest sense, as God; and who as man may be said to swear by the living God, and to whom the whole description well agrees? he is sometimes called an Angel simply, Gen 48:16; sometimes the Angel of the Lord, and who appears to be Jehovah himself, the second Person, Gen 16:7, compared with Gen 19:1; and sometimes the Angel of God's presence, Isa 63:9; and the Angel of the great council in the Septuagint on Isa 9:6; and the Angel, or messenger, of the covenant, Mal 3:1; and may be so called, because he is a messenger from God as man and Mediator, being sent by him to declare his will and redeem his people: and he is a "mighty" one; not only as God, being the mighty God, the Almighty, which appears by his creation of all things, and upholding them in their beings; but as Mediator, having all power in heaven and in earth, and being far above all principality, power, and might; and, as man, made strong by God for himself, and for his people: he appears now as "another" angel, distinct from the seven angels who had trumpets given them to sound, and six of which had already sounded; and particularly from the angel of the sixth trumpet, who had just sounded; though some copies, and the Complutensian edition, leave out the word "another"; and very opportunely does he appear for the comfort of his church, when the trumpets that had been blown had brought such desolations upon the empire, western and eastern, and when both the western and eastern antichrists had appeared, and before the seventh trumpet sounds, and brings in the last and greatest woe: and he is said to
come down from heaven; which does not design his incarnation, that was long before this time; nor his spiritual presence with his people, which is common to them in all ages; nor his second coming to judgment, which will be by a descent from heaven, and in the clouds of heaven, for that is yet future; but in a visionary way, his appearance to and for his church and people in the dark times of antichrist, when afflicted by the Turk on the one hand, and the pope on the other:
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clothed with a cloud (n); which is expressive not of the human nature of Christ, with which his divinity was veiled in his state of humiliation, so that few saw the glory of his divine Person and the greater part esteemed him a mere man; but rather of the obscurity of him, his person, offices, and grace, in those times of antichristian darkness, and even of the dim light and knowledge which his true and faithful followers had of him in those times; it was a dark and cloudy day with them, as well as the whole earth was covered with the gross darkness of Popery and Mahometanism; though it seems best of all to interpret this phrase of the majestic presence of Christ in his appearances to his people, who went before the people of Israel in a cloud by day in the wilderness, descended in one on Mount Sinai, dwelt in one both in the tabernacle and temple, was overshadowed by one on the Mount when transfigured, ascended in one to heaven, and will return in one, or more: moreover, the cloud may denote the power and protection of God attending the Reformation; see Psa 68:34;
and a rainbow was upon his head; which was a token of the covenant; see Rev 4:3; and the note there: this, with its blessings, is upon the head of Christ, the antitypical Joseph, and who is the head of his church and people; and Christ appearing in this form at this time when the world was overflowed with Popery and Mahometanism, shows that God was still mindful of his covenant, even in those worst of times, and would not suffer his church to be overwhelmed, and sunk in the general deluge of antichristianism, or the gates of hell to prevail against it; Christ, at such a tirade as this, very seasonably appeals with the rainbow of the covenant on his head, as a messenger of peace, and bringer of good tidings, to let his people know that ere long it would be halcyon days with them, and there would be times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, who was ever mindful of his covenant with them; and that the Gospel of peace and reconciliation would be preached unto them:
and his face was as it were the sun; or looked like the sun, as it did at the time of his transfiguration on the and as he is described in Rev 1:16, and may denote clearness and purity of Christ; both as God, who is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express of his person; and as man, who is holy, harmless, up defiled; and is also expressive of that fight of nature, grace, and glory, which he imparts unto the sons of men; as well as of that beauty, loveliness, and amiableness in his person, which renders him as the sun, delightful to behold; and of the majesty of his person, and the manifestations of himself, to the great comfort, pleasure, and refreshment of his saints:
and his feet as pillars of fire; which may refer to the state of the church of Christ at this time, which was in the fire of afflictions, when many of its members were called to the stake, and burnt there for the sake of the Gospel, and yet were like "pillars", firm and unshaken; the church was like the bush that Moses saw, which was on fire, but not consumed; Christ was with his people as they passed through it, that it could not kindle upon them so as to destroy them; and their faith, which was tried by it, was found to be much more precious than of gold that perisheth: or this may show what Christ then was, both to his people and to his enemies; to his people his feet were as "pillars" of brass and marble, to bear them up, and support them under all their trials and afflictions; his goings forth towards them in a way both of providence and grace, were in such a manner, as to strengthen and confirm them in the faith of him against all the powers of hell and earth; and they were like "fire", to consume his and their enemies; with his feet he trod upon them, and subdued them under him, who were as stubble, briers and thorns, easily consumed by him, when at the same time be was a wall of fire to his people, and the glory in the midst of them.
(n) , Philo de Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 608.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 From the first verse of this chapter to chap.…
From the first verse of this chapter to chap. xi. 13, preparation is made for the important trumpet of the seventh angel. It consists of two parts, which run parallel to each other: the former reaches from the first to the seventh verse of this chapter; the latter, from the eighth of this to the thirteenth verse of the eleventh chapter: whence, also, the sixth verse of this chapter is parallel to the eleventh verse. The period to which both these refer begins during the second woe, as appears, chap. xi. 14; but, being once begun, it extends in a continued course far into the trumpet of the seventh angel. Hence many things are represented here which are not fulfilled till long after. So the joyful "consummation of the mystery of God" is spoken of in the seventh verse of this chapter, which yet is not till after "the consummation of the wrath of God," chap. xv, 1. So the ascent of the beast "out of the bottomless pit" is mentioned, chap. xi, 7, which nevertheless is still to come, chap. xvii, 8; and so "the earthquake," by which a tenth part of the great city falls, and the rest are converted, chap. xi, 13, is really later than that by which the same city is "split into three parts," chap. xvi, 19. This is a most necessary observation, whereby we may escape many and great mistakes.
And I saw another mighty angel - Another from that "mighty angel," mentioned, chap. v, 2; yet he was a created angel; for he did not swear by himself, verse 6. Clothed with a cloud - In token of his high dignity. And a rainbow upon his head - A lovely token of the divine favour. And yet it is not too glorious for a creature: the woman, chap. xii, 1, is described more glorious still. And his face as the sun - Nor is this too much for a creature: for all the righteous "shall shine forth as the sun," Matt. xiii, 43. And his feet as pillars of fire - Bright as flame.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 The description of a mighty angel with a little…
CHAPTER X.
The description of a mighty angel with a little book in his
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hand, 1, 2.
The seven thunders, 3, 4.
The angel swears that there shalt be time no longer, 5-7.
John is commanded to take the little book and eat it; he does
so, and receives a commission to prophesy to many peoples,
8-11.
NOTES ON CHAP. X.
Verse 1. Another mighty angel] Either Christ or his representative; clothed with a cloud; a symbol of the Divine majesty.
A rainbow was upon his head] The token of God's merciful covenant with mankind.
His face was as it were the sun] So intensely glorious that it could not be looked on.
His feet as pillars of fire] To denote the rapidity and energy of his motions, and the stability of his counsels.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 8, 11 Rev 10:1-2. And — After my former vision, related…
Rev 10:1-2. And — After my former vision, related in the foregoing part of this prophecy, another scene was opened unto me introductory to a further revelation concerning the state of the church and the world. For I saw another mighty angel — Another, different from that mighty angel mentioned Rev 5:2; yet he was a created angel, for he did not swear by himself; come down from heaven — Or divinely commissioned, Rev 10:6; clothed with a cloud — In token of his high dignity; and a rainbow upon his head — A lovely token of the divine favour, and a symbol of God’s covenant and mercy toward penitent sinners; and his face was as it were the sun — Nor was this too much for a creature, for all the righteous shall shine forth as the sun, Mat 13:43. Or this might be an emblem of the light of the gospel about to be diffused. And his feet as pillars of fire — Bright and shining as flame. Intimating, perhaps, that the faithful, in the period about to be opened, should suffer persecution, and yet be preserved from the rage of their enemies. And he had in his hand — His left hand, for he swore with his right, Rev 10:6; βιβλαριδιον, a little book, different from the βιβλιον, or book, mentioned before: and it was open, that all men might freely read and consider it. It was indeed a codicil to the larger book, and properly cometh under the sixth trumpet, to describe the state of the western church after the description of the state of the eastern: and this is, with good reason, made a separate and distinct prophecy, on account of the importance of the matter, as well as for engaging the greater attention. And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left on the earth — To show the extent of his power and commission. This angel set his right foot on the sea toward the west, his left on the land toward the east, so that he looked southward. By the earth, says Sir I. Newton, the Jews understood the great continent of Asia and Africa, to which they had access by land; and by the isles of the sea they understood the places to which they sailed by sea, or the several parts of Europe: and hence, in this prophecy, the earth and sea he considers as put for the nations of the Greek and Latin empires. In this sense the angel’s putting his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the earth, will represent him as standing with one foot on Asia, and another on Europe, to signify that the prophecies which he was to reveal would relate to the empires of the east and west.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–11 And I saw - I had a vision of.…
And I saw - I had a vision of. The meaning is, that he saw this subsequently to the vision in the previous chapter. The attention is now arrested by a new vision - as if some new dispensation or economy was about to occur in the world.
Another mighty angel - He had before seen the seven angels who were to blow the seven trumpets Rev 8:2, he had seen six of them successively blow the trumpet, he now sees another angel, different from them, and apparently having no connection with them, coming from heaven to accomplish some important purpose before the seventh angel should give the final blast. The angel is here characterized as a “mighty” angel - ἰσχυρὸν ischuron - one of strength and power; implying that the work to be accomplished by his mission demanded the interposition of one of the higher orders of the heavenly inhabitants. The coming of an angel at all was indicative of some divine interposition in human affairs; the fact that he was one of exalted rank, or endowed with vast power, indicated the nature of the work to be done - that it was a work to the execution of which great obstacles existed, and where great power would be needed.
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Clothed with a cloud - Encompassed with a cloud, or enveloped in a cloud. This was a symbol of majesty and glory, and is often represented as accompanying the divine presence, Exo 16:9-10; Exo 24:16; Exo 34:5; Num 11:25; 1Ki 8:10; Psa 97:2. The Saviour also ascended in a cloud, Act 1:9; and he will again descend in clouds to judge the world, Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64; Mar 13:26; Rev 1:7. Nothing can be argued here as to the purpose for which the angel appeared, from his being encompassed with a cloud; nor can anything be argued from it in respect to the question who this angel was. The fair interpretation is, that this was one of the angels now represented as sent forth on an errand of mercy to man, and coming with appropriate majesty as the messenger of God.
And a rainbow was upon his head - In Rev 4:3 the throne in heaven is represented as encircled by a rainbow. See the notes on that verse. The rainbow is properly an emblem of peace. Here the symbol would mean that the angel came not for wrath, but for purposes of peace; that he looked with a benign aspect upon people, and that the effect of his coming would be like that of sunshine after a storm.
And his face was as it were the sun - Bright like the sun (See the notes at Rev 1:16); that is, he looked upon people with:
(a)An intelligent aspect - as the sun is the source of light; and,
(b)With benignity - not covered with clouds, or darkened by wrath. The brightness is probably the main idea, but the appearance of the angel would, as here represented, naturally suggest the ideas just referred to. As an emblem or symbol we should regard his appearing as what was to be followed by knowledge and by prosperity.
And his feet as pillars of fire - See the notes on Rev 1:15. In this symbol, then, we have the following things:
An angel - as the messenger of God, indicating that some new communication was to be brought to mankind, or that there would be some interposition in human affairs which might be well represented by the coming of an angel;
(b)The fact that he was “mighty” - indicating that the work to be done required power beyond human strength;
(c)The fact that he came in a cloud - on an embassage so grand and magnificent as to make this symbol of majesty proper;
(d)The fact that he was encircled by a rainbow - that the visitation was to be one of peace to mankind; and,
(e)The fact that his coming was like the sun - or would diffuse light and peace.
Now, in regard to the application of this, without adverting to any other theory, no one can fail to see that, on the supposition that it was designed to refer to the Reformation, this would be the most striking and appropriate symbol that could have been chosen. For:
(a) as we have seen already, this is the place which the vision naturally occupies in the series of historical representations.
(b) It was at a period of the world, and the world was in such a state, that an intervention of this kind would be properly represented by the coming of an angel from heaven. God had visited the nations with terrible judgments, but the effect had not been to produce reformation, for the same forms of wickedness continued to prevail which had existed before. See the notes at Rev 9:20-21. In this state of things any new interposition of God for reforming the world would be properly represented by the coming of an angel from heaven as a messenger of light and peace.
(c) The great and leading events of the Reformation were well represented by the power of this angel. It was not, indeed, physical power; but the work to be done in the Reformation was a great work, and was such as would be well symbolized by the intervention of a mighty angel from heaven. The task of reforming the church, and of correcting the abuses which had prevailed, was wholly beyond any ability which man possessed, and was well represented, therefore, by the descent of this messenger from the skies.
(d) The same thing may be said of the rainbow that was upon his head. Nothing would better symbolize the general aspect of the Reformation, as suited to produce peace, tranquility, and joy upon the earth. And,
(e) the same thing was indicated by the splendor - the light and glory - that attended the angel. The symbol would denote that the new order of things would be attended with light; with knowledge; with what would be benign in its influence on human affairs. And it need not be said, to anyone acquainted with the history of those times, that the Reformation was preceded and accompanied with a great increase of light; that at just about that period of the world the study of the Greek-language began to be common in Europe; that the sciences had made remarkable progress; that schools and colleges had begun to flourish; and that, to a degree which had not existed for ages before, the public mind had become awakened to the importance of truth and knowledge. For a full illustration of this, from the close of the eleventh century and onward, see Hallam’s Middle Ages, vol. ii. pp. 265-293, ch. ix. part 2. To go into any satisfactory detail on this point would be wholly beyond the proper limits of these notes, and the reader must be referred to the histories of those times, and especially to Hallam, who has recorded all that is necessary to be known on the subject. Suffice it to say, that on the supposition that it was the intention to symbolize those times, no more appropriate emblem could have been found than that of an angel whose face shone like the sun, and who was covered with light and splendor. These remarks will show, that if it be supposed it was intended to symbolize the Reformation, no more appropriate emblem could have been selected than that of such an angel coming down from heaven. If, after the events have occurred, we should desire to represent the same things by a striking and expressive symbol, we could find none that would better represent those times.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 I saw another mighty Angel. Some expound it of…
I saw another mighty Angel. Some expound it of Christ himself: others of an Angel, representing the power of God over the sea and land. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Revelation Chapter 10
Revelation Chapter 10
These were preliminary woes on the body of Jews and Christianized Gentiles, not the direct antagonism of the power of evil with God. This is now unfolded but first, in the little open book, put in its place in the general history. The book is open as part of well-known prophecy, and now brought to a direct issue on known ground; not the unrevealed and more unmanifest ways of God introducing the final issue. Christ comes down and affirms His right to all below; puts His right foot on the sea, the left on the earth, and utters the voice of His might, to which the voice of the Almighty in power answers. But its revelations were sealed up; but Christ swears by Him who lives for ever and ever that there should be no more delay. All things are drawing to a final issue. In the sounding of the seventh trumpet the mystery of God would be closed-His direct power come. The prophet is to recommence his prophecy to nations and tongues, and languages.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 The Seven Thunders, or Seven Sealed Divine Voices; the…
SECTION FOURTH
The Seven Thunders, or Seven Sealed Divine Voices; the mystery of mysteries, as mediatory of the end of the world
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Rev_10:1 to Rev_11:14
(Transition to Part Second)
A.—VEILED HEAVEN-PICTURE OF THE SEVEN THUNDERS
Rev_10:1-11
a. The Angel of the Time of the End
1And I saw another1 mighty [strong] angel come down [descending] from [out of] heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a [the2] rainbow was [om. was] upon his head, and his face was [om. was] as it were [om. it were] the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: 2and he had [having3] in his hand a little book [scroll] open [opened]: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his [the] left foot [om. foot] on [upon] the earth, 3and cried with a loud [great] voice, as when [om. when] a lion roareth: and when he had [om. had] cried, [ins. the] seven thunders uttered [spake] their voices.
b. The seven Thunders as mysterious Mediations of the Time of the End
4And when4 the seven thunders had [om. had] uttered [spake] their voices [om. their voices],5 I was about to write: and I heard a voice from [out of—ins. the] heaven saying unto me [om. unto me],6 Seal up [om. up] those [the] things which the seven thunders uttered [spake], and write them not. 5And the angel which [that] I saw stand [standing] upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his [ins. right7] hand to [ins. the] heaven, 6And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever [into the ages of the ages], who created [ins. the] heaven, and the things [ins. in it] that therein are [om. that therein are], and the earth, and the things [ins. in it] that therein are [om. that therein are], and the sea,8 and the things [ins. in it] which are therein [om. which are therein], that there should be [om. there should be] time 7[χρόνος] [ins. shall be] no longer [or not yet (οὐκέτι ἔσται)]: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin [should be about] to sound [trumpet], [ins. is also finished] the mystery of God should be finished [om. should fee finished], as he hath [om. hath] declared [ins. the glad tidings (εὐηγγέλισεν)] to his servants the prophets.
c. Second, new Calling of the Seer, in order to the symbolical Preparation and symbolical Annunciation of the Time of the End
8And the voice which I heard from [ins. the] heaven [ins. I heard] spake [speaking9] unto [with] me again, and said [saying9], Go and [om. and] take the little book [scroll] which is open [opened (τὸ ἠνεψγμένον)] in the hand of the angel which [that] standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 9And I went [ins. away] unto the angel, and [om. and] said unto [saying to or telling] him, [om.—ins. to] give10 me the little book [scroll]. And he said [saith] unto me, Take it, [om. it,] and eat it up; and it shall make [om. make—ins. embitter] thy belly bitter [om. bitter], but [ins.in thy mouth] it shall be in thy mouth [om. in thy mouth] sweet as honey. 10And I took the little book [scroll] out of the angel’s [om. angel’s ] hand [ins. of the angel], and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet [om. sweet] as honey [ins. sweet]: and as soon as [when] I had eaten it, my belly was bitter [embittered11]. 11And he said [they say]12 unto me, Thou must prophesy again before [or concerning13] many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
SYNOPTICAL VIEW
The picture of the prevailing impenitence of the generality of men, or of the ruling world as a whole, leads (as in Mat_24:37) to the announcement of the end of the world itself. The end of the world is brought on, however, not simply by the development of human corruption into a readiness for judgment, but, rather, by the development of the Kingdom of God over against man’s corruption, and, most of all, by the development of the conflict between the two.
It was to be expected that the Apocalypse would contain a revelation of the history of the Kingdom of God, its development, advances and reforms. And this revelation Was made to the Seer in the voices of the seven Thunders. But the Prophet was commanded to seal those voices; he was forbidden to write them. This trait is, unmistakably, a special sign of the Divine origin of our Book; no imitator, no apocryphal apocalyptist would have thought, of this holy silence, and still less would he have consented to observe it.
The fact that the Thunder-voices betoken a new revelation, an advance of the Kingdom of God, and, relatively, a reform, is proved by the thunders of Sinai; by the thunder which heralded God’s answer to Job (Job_37:2); the description of Israel’s redemption amid thunder and lightning in the prophecy of Zechariah (Rev_9:14); the voice of thunder over Christ as He prayed in the Temple (Joh_12:28)—the voice which said: I have glorified My name, and will glorify it. A reference to the charismatical element, in the name of the Sons of Thunder, is also appropriate here. [See foot-note ‡, p. 52.—E. R. C.]
Now why was the unfolding of this bright side of the Kingdom of God, the succession of seven holy reforms, not written? Schleiermacher regrets the omission of a revelation of this-sort. The Spirit of revelation wisely withheld it. The Seer might hear the seven Thunders; but the writing of them might have been prejudicial to the free development of New Testament times. The example of the gross misinterpretations of Old Testament prophecy lay at the door. Moreover, this was not to be a section of prophecies, in the more general sense of the term, but a closed [geschlossen] Apocalypse. Yet the Seer was permitted to communicate a few features, in exoteric form, which fill up this space.
The Heaven-picture of this cosmical and ecclesiastic history of the seven Thunders is opened by the appearance of a strong Angel, Who descends from Heaven clothed with a cloud—the rainbow above His head. These attributes strongly resemble the picture of Christ at His coming, as elsewhere portrayed (Rev_1:15; Dan_10:6); the last terms—His face as the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire—being particularly suggestive of the appearance of Christ in the first chapter. We may, therefore, say that the same relation which is sustained by the Angel of the Lord, in the Old Testament, to the first Parousia of Christ, is borne by this Angel to His second Parousia. It is the manifestation of the New Testament figure of Christ in the foretokens of His power. This Angel, in the might and victorious confidence of His appearance, reminds us of the Archangel Michael; as the author of the seven Thunders or reformations, He suggests the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. There is also a close connection between the seven Spirit-forms of the Holy Ghost (Isaiah 11.; Revelation 1.), and the seven revelation-forms of Christ in archangelic shapes (1Th_4:16). Christ’s reformatory breaches through the old form of the world are, in their personal features, conflicts and victories of the Archangel Michael (Rev_12:7); in respect of their ideal effects of Divine origin, they are Pentecostal seasons of the diffusion of the Holy Ghost.
But as this strong Angel is related to the approaching end of the world, so also is the little book in His hand thereunto related. Three books are associated in the Apocalypse. The first is the book of the course of the world, in its relation to the end of the world (Rev_5:1). The last is the book of life, as the book of God’s Church which is to be perfected at the end of the world (Rev_20:15; Rev_21:27). Between these two, comes the book of the world’s end, the revelation of the events of the approaching end of the world. The first book was closed with seven Seals; this book, on the other hand—a little book, because the last things shall come in the quick succession of a catastrophe and epoch—is unrolled, opened. Relatively it is reflected in the everlasting Gospel (Rev_14:6), the Gospel as the glad tidings of the final σωτηρία with which a blissful eternity begins—in contradistinction to the Gospel of Salvation in the midst of time. For the tidings of the last day are to believers a Gospel themselves; not, indeed, really another one (ἔτερον, Gal_1:6), but the final metamorphosis and glorification or spiritualization of the first Gospel, Luk_21:28.
The Angel sets his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the land. The right one on the sea, for it is from the sea, from surging, popular life, that the last and mightiest crises arise, Revelation 13. That Antichristianity which is from the earth will be a secondary affair.
The setting of His feet on the sea and on the land denotes, not simply and in general His power over the whole earth, but also, particularly, His power over the two opposite fundamental forms of its spiritual life—earth and sea; theocracy and world.
His cry is a great one; His voice as that of a lion. The lion, from of old, is significant of the warlike and victorious epochs or transruptions of the Kingdom of God in the history of the world, Gen_49:9. When Satan goes about as a roaring lion, he does but imitate the voice of the true Lion. He gives utterance to a lie as to his power and as to his courage. The lion-voice of the triumphant Christ then seems immediately to branch out into the seven Thunders of His reformatory witnesses. The fact that these Thunders are, in the most special degree, mediatory of the end of the world, is evident from all that follows; why their voices, their ideal revelations were not written, we have seen above. Here a very special sealing takes place, for reformers must walk by faith, not by sight. The result, however, is summed up by the Angel in His dread oath concerning the imminent end of the world. A more powerful expression of the assurance of the Divine Spirit, the confidence of prophetic faith, in regard to the approaching end, could, we venture to assert, scarcely be conceived of. The right hand of the Angel is lifted toward Heaven. The oath is an oath by Him Who liveth from eternity to eternity, and Who, as the Creator of all things, defines the measure and limit of all creaturely vital movements toward the end. Mar_13:32. There shall be no more time (χρόνος [Zeitfrist=respite]); from the term defined by the Angel, i. e., from the opening of the seventh Trumpet, the καιρός, the catastrophe of the end of the world shall begin. They are days, numbered days—the times of the voice of the seventh trumpet. In those days, the mystery of God, the specific mystery of the Father (Mark 13), shall be fully accomplished.
The fact that the time of the seven Thunders forms the transition to the final period of the world, i. e., also to the Second Part of the Apocalypse, is evident from the circumstance that the section of the seven Thunders can be inserted between the sixth and seventh Trumpets, whilst a complete and minute survey of the section leads to the expectation that the Antichristian time must follow directly upon the seventh Thunder. Another proof that a general turn in affairs now takes place, is involved in the fact that the same voice from Heaven that spoke to the Seer in Rev_10:4, as well as at the beginning (Revelation 1), now commands him to take the little book out of the hand of the Angel. The Angel gives him the book, directing him, at the same time, to eat it (comp. Eze_3:2), and telling him that it will cause him bitter pain in his belly, but will in his mouth be sweet as honey. The Seer forthwith experiences the truth of the Angel’s words.
Apocalyptic things have a wondrous charm. To the honey-like sweetness of the little book in the mouth, that enormous mass of literature testifies, which is engaged in the eating of it. But whoever has, with some degree of understanding, appropriated the little book, is greatly pained within him by its startling perspectives and images. A termination is then put to all idyllic conceptions of the future and the end of the world.
But by the eating of the book the Seer is doubly as much a Prophet as before. As he has prophesied concerning the course of the world, down to its end, so he must now prophesy of the end itself, in the course of the world, in accordance with the words: Thou must prophesy again, concerning many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. The universal peoples’ life is now to form the foreground of his prophecy. By way of preliminary, however, an Earth-picture is annexed to this commission, in which the general effect of the seven Thunders is reflected. That is, it forms, in its conjunction with the seven Thunders, the transition from the course of the world to the end of the same.
[ABSTRACT OF VIEWS, ETC.]
By the Am. Editor
[Elliott regards the entire section, Rev_9:20—Rev_11:15, as referring to “The Reformation, as occurring under the latter half of the Sixth Trumpet: including the antecedent history, and the death, resurrection, and ascension, of Christ’s two sackcloth clothed Witnesses;” the whole period extending from “A. D. 1453–1789.” He interprets Revelation 10 as indicating the beginning of the Reformation—the strong Angel is Christ, His adornment in antithesis to the antichristian claims of the Popedom; the opened little scroll, the opened Bible; the Seer himself the symbol of Luther and the reformed clergy; the sweetness in the mouth, the delight following the personal reception of the opened Gospel; the embittering, the woes following the promulgation before peoples, etc.; the prophesying again, the resumption of evangelical preaching, which had been almost entirely relinquished; the seven Thunders, the Papal bulls; the sealing, the non recognition, publication, and action upon those bulls as of authority. The Angel’s oath he interprets as follows: “There shall be time no longer extended, viz., to the mysterious dispensation of God which has so far permitted the reign of evil, including the power of Papal Rome’s mock thunders; the seventh Trumpet’s era being its fixed determined limit—“For in the days of the seventh angel, when he shall sound, the mystery of God shall be finished.”14
Barnes, as to the general interpretation of Revelation 10, agrees with Elliott, save that in reference to the Angel’s oath he adopts the view put forth by the latter in his earlier editions, viz.: “That the time (of the consummation) should not yet be; but in the days, etc.”
Stuart writes: “The impression made on my own mind by Revelation 10. is, that the design of it is to show in an impressive manner that the vision respecting this book with seven Seals (Revelation 5.) is just now at its close, that nothing more remains but the sounding of the seventh and last Trumpet, and that this shall speedily take place, οὐκέτι χρόνος ἔσται, Rev_10:6. With this seems also to be joined another object, viz., to introduce this final catastrophe with all the solemnity and demonstration of its importance, which the nature of the case seemed to require. The destruction of the Temple and City of God, and also the destruction of the Jewish nation, were events such as cannot often happen, and when they do, it is intended that they shall make a deep impression. The new commission which John receives (Rev_10:11) seems to be a circumstance which obviously contributes to show, that his former vision of the sealed book was now at its close or completed, and that he needed new directions for the further discharge of prophetic duty. The contents of the book are not sealed. He devours them, i. e., he reads them with avidity, in order that he may know what they contained; and then he is told, that he must prophesy again respecting many nations and people, and tongues and kings. Thus, when the last or seventh trumpet shall have sounded, his task will still proceed; while the scene is entirely changed in respect to those whose destiny is predicted.” Concerning the seven Thunders he remarks, “What was declared in the voice of thunder was ominous of the catastrophe near at hand. Entire silence (represented by the sealing) is neither commanded nor observed. … What the seven Thunders most probably declared fully to John, he is restrained from writing down, etc.”
Wordsworth regards the Angel as representing Christ, the items of description setting forth His excellencies; the seven Thunders, as signs of His power and indignation, representing the consummation of God’s judgments; the little scroll as containing a prophetic episode unrolled by Christ; the eating as indicating, that the Seer made it his own; the oath as implying “that there shall be no longer any delay or respite for repentance to the wicked, or postponement of reward to the righteous, save only in the days of the last Angel;” the act of swearing as indicating that on account of the overflow of iniquity, even in the Christian Church, the world would begin to doubt the truth of Christ’s universal sovereignty, and as designed to put an end to such doubts.
Alford regards Rev_10:1 to Rev_11:14, as “episodical and anticipatory.” This section, which relates to things still future, he represents as consisting of two episodic visions, that of the Little Book, and that of the Two Witnesses. In respect of the former, he regards the Angel as an angelic minister of Christ; the symbols with which he is accompanied (those which surrounded the Throne of God in Rev_4:2 sqq.) as betokening “judgment tempered with mercy, the character of his ministration, which, at the same time that it proclaims the near approach of the completion of God’s judgments, furnishes to the Seer the book (little scroll) of his subsequent prophecy, the following out of God’s purposes of mercy.” In his judgment the meaning of the Thunders, whilst they form a complete portion of the Apocalyptic machinery, is not revealed, and is by us undiscoverable. The χρόνος of the oath he regards as that of Rev_6:11; the intent of the oath being to declare that the delay there referred to is at an end.
Lord regards the Angel as representing the Ministers of the Reformation; the seven Thunders as denoting violent expressions of thought and passion by those addressed (“one of the first and most violent of these thunder utterances was a false pretence to inspiration, and expression of the persuasion that the period had arrived for the final overthrow of Antichrist and establishment of the Redeemer’s millennial Kingdom”); the solemn oath of the Angel, as a response to these thunder voices, designed to correct their error, denoting the answer by Luther and the reformers, from Scripture, to errorists, showing that the time of the millennial Kingdom was not yet to be; the Seer as symbolizing the reformed Church, to which the ministry extended the open Gospel symbolized by the little scroll; the prophesying as indicating the fulfilling by the members of the Church “the office of witnesses for God in the presence of Antichristian rulers and nations.”
Glasgow.—The period indicated by the vision of Revelation 10 is the beginning of the Gospel age; the Angel is Christ; the voice as a lion roaring is Christ’s commission to preach; the seven Thunders are the voices of the disciples proclaiming the truth; the direction to seal the Thunders indicates that the proclamations of the Church are not inspired and therefore not to be incorporated in the Canon; the oath implies a term and end of the seven Thunders; the opened scroll is the Bible (the revealed Word of God), the reception of which is sweet to the taste, and yet fills the Christian soul with sadness; the declaration “Thou must prophesy, etc.,” announces the communication of the New Testament prophetic gift, to the ministry symbolized by John, and the extension of the prophetic commission as to all people.—E. R. C.]
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL
Rev_10:1. This is as little the beginning of an inter-scene as Revelation 7. Some confusions resulting from the misapprehension of those who so regard it, see in Düsterdieck, p. 342. Likewise curious discussions concerning the stand-point of the Seer. If he was transported to Heaven in Rev_4:1, how could he see the Angel come down from Heaven? De Wette has rightly limited that more definite transportation to Heaven to the contemplation of the heavenly Throne-scene. Düsterdieck “retains,” with Ewald, “the heavenly stand-point.” According to this, John must finally have come down to earth with the heavenly Jerusalem. Hengstenberg has remarked, with justice, that there is no question of exclusive localities here.15 [Alford remarks—“The place of the Seer yet continues in Heaven,” calling attention to the fact that, in Rev_10:9, he is represented as going away (ἀπῆλθον), i. e., from his former place.—E. R. C.]
Another strong angel.—The other Angel is distinguished as the strong one from the foregoing Angels of the Trumpets. It does not follow from the ἰσχυρόν that he should be specially distinguished from the ἰσχυρός of Rev_5:2 (after Bengel and others). We have called this Angel the angelic image of Christ, preceding His speedy Parousia. This, undoubtedly, is not, in the strictest sense, Christ Himself, as Bede and many others maintain; but neither is the conception of a mere Angel that which is presented in the text (in accordance with Düsterdieck and others). Düsterdieck: “The very style of the oath (Rev_10:6) is inappropriate to Christ.” Bengel remarks, on the other hand: “The Apocalypse makes a distinction throughout between the Father and Christ.”
Clothed with a cloud.—“The cloud characterizes the Angel as a messenger of Divine judgment” (comp. Rev_1:7; Hengstenb., Ebrard [so also Alford]). It has, however, a much more general significance, as is evidenced by the cloud at the Transfiguration and the Ascension. It denotes, in general, the mysterious veiling of the Divine and heavenly glory from the human eye on earth.
[And the rainbow upon his head.—“The (ἡ) well known, ordinary, rainbow; indicating, agreeably with its first origin, God’s covenant of mercy.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
[And his face as the sun.—See chs. Rev_1:16; Rev_18:1. Indicative not merely of His manifested glory, but of His light-giving, life-giving power. The sun in the solar system is the noblest and most glorious symbol of Christ in His relations to the Universe.—E. R. C.]
His feet as pillars of fire.—This feature, also, is interpreted as indicative of judgment, as in Rev_1:15. An antithesis to the rainbow is, doubtless, presented. That, however, is not simply a token of covenant grace in general; it is also a sign or guaranty of a continuing existence of the world until the end. Here too, then, it is a sign that the end of the world has not yet arrived. The sun-like radiance of the face denotes, like the revelation of God itself, both grace and judgment. Düsterdieck very correctly observes that the end of the world embraces both judgment and redemption. Aretius applies the cloud to the incarnation of Christ—Christ’s flesh.
Rev_10:2. In his hand a little scroll.—Bengel: In his left hand, see Rev_10:5. Why a little book [scroll]? See above. Three different expositions are cited by Düsterdieck, p. 346. [Alford: “That (the seven sealed scroll) was the great sealed roll of God’s purposes; this but one portion of those purposes.” Glasgow: “This book applies to the whole contents of the Bible, which, though the greatest of books in character, truth, beauty, and importance, is comparatively a small Book in bulk, and thus adapted for use, translation, circulation, and universal perusal.”—E. R. C.]
Opened.—It is open, as the unrolled conclusion of the book opened by the Lamb.
Sea and earth neither denote simply that the tidings brought by the Angel are for the whole earth (De Wette), nor are they significant merely of power over the whole earth (Ewald); the expression likewise embraces the contrast of sea and earth in their symbolical import. Christianity recognizes the truth and the falsehood on both sides of the contrast—ecclesiastical authority and political national life—and rules, without party-spirit, over both parties.
Interpretations of the antithesis: Bengel: Europe and Asia. Hengstenberg: The sea of peoples and the cultivated world, etc.—All of which Düsterdieck denominates allegorizing.
Rev_10:3. With a great voice.—According to Bengel, the purport of the voice is given in Rev_10:6; according to Düsterdieck, its purport cannot be determined. We regard it as the unitous source of the seven Thunders; hence it is as little definitely intimated as the purport of these. The “threatening character” [Ewald, Düsterd.x] of the cry is interpolated in the description.
The seven thunders.—The symbolical idea of the thunder is presupposed by the Son of Thunder. The number of the Thunders is distinctly stated—seven—being the number of a full cycle (designated by us as the cycle of the Reformations). The article accompanies the expression of this definite totality. The Old Testament type of the Divine manifestation is most distinctly contained in the seven Thunders, Psalms 29.
Different interpretations of the seven Thunders and their purport: Seven roaring heavens; seven Spirits of God; identical with the seven Trumpets; the oracles of the Prophets; the blessed mystery of the new world (Hofmann); curses; the seven crusades; seven future acts of God; terrible judgments on the persecutors of the Church. [For other interpretations see Abstract of Views on pp. 218sq.—E. R. C.]
Rev_10:4. And when the seven thunders spake.—They have, therefore, a verbal purport, as distinct and diverse revelations. “In accordance with the command, Rev_1:11, John was about to write what the thunders had spoken.”
I was about to write,—i. e., he entertained this idea in the vision—an idea, however, which would have been the basis of the future act.
A voice from heaven.—From this also it is evident that the Seer is no longer thinking of himself as in Heaven. He was but momentarily in Heaven, by virtue of a special, higher transportation of his spirit. Düsterdieck strangely supposes that he was still in Heaven, but that the voice sounded from the interior [Tiefe, depth] of Heaven. [“From this it does not follow that the Seer is on earth, any more than in Rev_10:1.” Alford. Had the Seer been in Heaven, it is evident that he must thus have spoken to indicate that the voice came not from Earth, but with authority.—E. R. C.]
Seal.—According to Hengstenberg, this has reference merely to this place (in the Book!). For various and, in part, curious explanations of the commandment not to write the voices, see Düsterdieck, p. 350.
Rev_10:5. Lifted up his right hand.—Gen_14:22; Dan_12:7. Symbolism of the sacred, heavenly consciousness and certainty of the oath; see Deu_32:40 and other passages. [“Jesus, the faithful and true Witness, has here left, for the guidance of His people, a pattern according to which they should be adjured when called to give evidence in a court of justice—not by the idolatrous act of kissing a book, but by lifting the right hand in appeal to the living and true God, that what they speak is truth.” Glasgow.—E. R. C.]
Rev_10:6. By him that liveth.—God the Father, by virtue of His economy, alone has knowledge originally of the time and hour of the Parousia (Mat_24:36); this knowledge He has here communicated to the New Testament “Angel of the Lord.” Every χρόνος or period closes with a καιρός or epoch; and this is particularly true of the final age.
Interpretations: Simply the cessation of time; cessation of the time of grace; a chiliastic measure of time—a non-chronus (! Bengel: Close of the non-chronus—between 1,000 and 1,100 years—the year 1836); most commentators: the commencement of the fulfillment of the mystery of God; see Düsterdieck, pp. 351 sqq.—“The time of the seventh Trumpet.”
[The view of Alford, viz., that the χρόνος is that of Rev_6:11, seems to the Am. Ed. to be the true one. It was there declared to the souls under the altar that they should rest ἔτι χρόνο. The season referred to, manifestly, was that of world domination—to be followed by the avenging of the martyrs. In this passage the Angel declares, ̔́Οτι χρόνος οὐκέτι ἔσται.16 It seems hardly possible to avoid the conclusion that those χρόνοι are one and the same. And this interpretation is in accordance with truth elsewhere revealed. It would seem as though the judgments under the first six Trumpets, although the beginnings of coming woe, are rather judgments calling to repentance. The avenging, properly speaking, does not take place until the last Trumpet. This the writer supposes to be the period of the great tribulation—a tribulation from which the Saints are to be exempt, a period in the beginning of which their humiliation is to end (comp. Mat_24:21-22; Luk_21:36; Rev_3:10; see also Add. Com. under Rev_7:14). Then is finished the μυστήριον (see Add. Comm. on Rev_1:20) the glad tidings of which had been declared to the Prophets (Rev_10:7).17—E. R. C.]
Rev_10:7. In the days of the voice.—The fact that days are still spoken of, after the cessation of time has been proclaimed, can be explained by the distinction of χρόνος and καιρος, but not, with De Wette, by the remark that the stand-point of the vision is not strictly preserved.
The mystery of God.—The mystery of the last things, announced by the Prophets; in a wider sense the eschatological mystery of the world’s history. According to Düsterdieck and many ancients, only Old Testament Prophets are here intended; we cannot see, however, why the Prophets of the New Testament, and consequently Christ Himself, should be excluded. The grand fulfillment of this prophecy is immeasurably dwarfed by a reference of it to the emancipation of the Christians from the oppression of the Jews (Grotius, Eichhorn). [See under Rev_1:20; and also preceding Foot-note.—E. R. C.]
Rev_10:8. Go.—He is to go to the Angel. Of course this means in idea, in the vision. He is boldly to draw near the opening of the terrible new revelation. As the Angel is standing on earth, so the person commanded to approach him has his station there also. According to Düsterdieck [and Alford], the Seer was still in Heaven.
Rev_10:9-10. And I went, etc.—According to Düsterdieck, the eating of the little book is not allegorically intended. And yet by accepting the interpretation of Beza: insere tuis visceribus et describe in latitudine cordis tui, with reference to Eze_2:8; [Rev_3:1-3;] Jer_15:16, he does admit that the passage has an allegorical sense. [“To eat is, in various Eastern languages, expressive of receiving. (See Jer_15:16; Eze_3:1; Job_23:12; Psa_19:10). The reception of Divine truth is a mental and spiritual exercise, sustaining and developing the higher nature as food does the body.” Glasgow.—E. R. C.]
The Angel says, in accordance with his view of the operation of the little book:
It shall embitter thy belly, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.
The Seer, on the other hand—from the standpoint of the eater—says:
Rev_10:10. It was in my mouth as honey, sweet: and when I had eaten it, my belly was embittered.—Learned discussions on this antithesis, see in Düsterdieck, p. 355. Bengel has even harmonistically inferred a double sweetness—before and after the bitterness. Besides the false interpretation of Heinrich, the interpretations of Herder, Bede, Vitringa and Hengstenberg come under consideration; with the last of these commentators, Düsterdieck himself agrees. The distinction between the first reception and the subsequent digestion, or investigation, is represented. Düsterdieck pertinently refers to the similar experience of Ezekiel (Rev_3:3; comp. Rev_2:10); the explanation which he accepts is also the best. [“The Angel, dwelling on the most important thing, the working of the contents of the book, puts the bitterness first; the Evangelist in relating what happened, follows the order of time.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
Rev_10:11. And they say [Lange: he said] unto me.—On the plural, see the Textual Notes. The passage Rev_12:6 is no parallel.
Thou must.—It makes a false antithesis to refer the δεῖ exclusively either to his internal obligation, caused by his eating of the book, or to the objective command of the Angel, since the two are closely connected.
Prophesy again.—The prophecy of the end of the world, now following, is thus distinguished from the prophecy hitherto given, concerning the course of the world (Grotius, Hengstenberg, Düsterdieck, Ebrard).
Erroneous interpretations: Antithesis to the old Prophets (Bengel). Again, i. e., after returning from exile (Bede, et al.).
[Prophesy again before (or concerning) many peoples, etc.—For the views of the Am. Ed. as to the correct rendering of the preposition, see Text. and Gram. “Prophesying. In the Scriptural sense of the word, a prophet is one who speaks for another, as Aaron is called the prophet or spokesman of Moses. ‘Thou shalt speak unto him, and put words into his mouth, … and he shall be thy spokesman,’ Exo_4:15-16; or, as he is called, Rev_7:1, thy prophet. The prophets of God, therefore, were His spokesmen, into whose mouth the Lord put the words which they were to utter to the people. To prophesy, in Scripture, is accordingly, to speak under Divine inspiration; not merely to predict future events, but to deliver, as the organ of the Holy Ghost, the messages of God to men, whether in the form of doctrine, exhortation, consolation, or prediction.” Hodge, Com. on 1st Corinthians, Rev_11:4. This interpretation of the word is consistent with the idea that the prophesying here referred to was that of the ministry of the Reformation, symbolized by the Seer, before peoples, etc.; or with the cognate and perhaps truer idea that the Apostle was to prophesy again—his ministry being resumed and carried on by them. (See, however, the following Add. Note.)—E. R. C.]
Difficulties of construction, arising from an imperfect distinction between Heaven-pictures and Earth-pictures, see cited by Düsterdieck, p. 357. Also a quantity of abortive applications of the chapter, the fault of which applications, however, does not lie in “the allegorical interpretation” in the abstract—i. e., the correct assumption of the allegorical character of the text. Thus, the strong Angel is declared to be: The Emperor Justin; Justinian; the evangelical preachers; the Pope. The little book [scroll] is called: The Codex Justinianus; the New Testament.
On the relation of the two books (Revelation 5 and the present chapter), we refer to the Synoptical View. Diverging opinions concerning them are that they are: (a) identical; (b) altogether different; (c) that the second is a distinct part of the first book; (d) that it is a repetition of the first.
[ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE VISION OF THE ANGEL WITH THE LITTLE BOOK]
By the American Editor
[The Am. Ed. inclines to the opinion of Elliott, that the period contemplated by this vision is that of the Reformation. On this hypothesis all the symbols (with one exception subsequently noticed) are beautifully appropriate and significant—the Angel, clothed with symbols indicating excellencies falsely claimed by the antichristian Papacy, representing Christ; the Seer, the ministry of the Reformation proclaiming the truth, as the prophets of Christ, before peoples and nations, and tongues and kings; the open book, the Bible opened by Christ, sweet to the taste of those who receive it by reason of the instruction and assurance of salvation that it affords, and yet producing sorrow both in its study and in the faithful promulgation of its truths. The truth of this hypothesis seems to be confirmed (1) by the position of the vision following the second woe—if that represent the Turkish invasion, then this would aptly indicate the following Reformation; and (2) by the à priori probability that such a glorious event as the Reformation would not be unnoticed in the Apocalyptic visions, and unless this vision indicate it, it is unnoticed.
[The writer must acknowledge, however, that there is much in the vision that seems to demand a still future fulfillment—especially the oath of the Angel (see above) which apparently contemplates a speedy sounding of the seventh Trumpet; and also the declaration to the Apostle that he is to prophesy again. This declaration, which is not satisfied by the fact that he continued his Apocalyptic narration, seems hardly to be satisfied by the hypothesis that he resumed his prophecy (symbolically) in the preaching of the Reformers. May it not be that there is here an indication that the Seer is personally to be one of the two prophesying Witnesses of the succeeding vision (see Rev_11:3-10, especially 3, 9, 10)?—E. R. C.]
Footnotes:
[1]Rev_10:1. ̓́Αλλον is groundlessly omitted by some minuscules. [It is omitted by B*. and P. Critical Editors give it with א. A. C.—E.R.C.]
[2]Rev_10:1. The article is firmly established. [Critical Editors generally give it with א.1 A. B*. C.; Rec. et al. omit with 1.7. P.—E. R. C.]
[3]Rev_10:2. [Crit. Eds. generally give ἔχων with א. A. B*. C. P., etc.—E. R. C.]
[4]Rev_10:4. Cod. א. reads ὄσα [instead of ὄτε]. An exegetical substitution.
[5]Rev_10:4. An addition of the Rec. [Om. by crit. Eds. with א. A. B. C. P., etc.—E. R. C.]
[6]Rev_10:4. [Lach., Alf., Treg., Tisch., with א. A. B*. C P., etc., omit μοι; Lange retains.—E. R. C.]
[7]Rev_10:5. An omission of the Rec. [Given generally in acc. with א. B*. C. P.; omitted by A.—E. R. C.]
[8]Rev_10:6. Καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν [καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ] is omitted by א*. [and also by A.—E. R. C.]
[9]Rev_10:8. [Critical Editors give λαλοῦσαν and λέγουσαν with א. A. B*. C. P., etc.—E. R. C.]
[10]Rev_10:9. [Critical Editors generally give δοῦναι with א. A. B. C.; Rec, with P., gives δός.—E. R. C.]
[11]Rev_10:10. [Cod. א. gives ἐγεμίσθη.—E. R. C.]
[12]Rev_10:11. The reading, λέγουσιν, although strongly attested, might have originated in a consideration of the cooperation of the voice and the Angel. [Lach., Alf., Treg., Tisch., with א. A. B., give λέγουσιν; λέγει is supported by P. The former reading, against Lange, is adopted above.—E. R. C.]
[13]Rev 10:13. [For the force of ἐπί with the dative, see Winer, § 48, 100., and the grammars and lexicons generally. The Am. Ed. has inserted the alternative translation in deference to the distinguished authorities by whom it is supported. In his own judgment, the proper translation is before (possibly in a hostile sense), as in his opinion, it should be, Heb_10:28. In confirmation of this opinion in the case in Hebrews, it should be noted that the condemned to death under the Mosaic law, were executed before (in the presence of) the witnesses. (Comp. Deu_17:6-7; Deu_13:6-9; Act_7:58).—E. R. C.]
[14][The interpretation of the oath above is that given in the 5th edition. In this edition Elliott writes, “Another proposed interpretation, ‘that the time shall yet be,’ which in my earlier editions I adopted from other preceding interpreters, appears to me on reconsideration to be on grammatical grounds inadmissible; since I cannot find authority for ἔτι meaning yet, in that sense of our English word yet or as yet.”—E. R. C.
[15]“The presence of John in Heaven must be understood positively—not exclusively.” Hengstenberg.—Tr.
[16]According to Middleton On the Greek Article Rev_1:3; Rev_1:3 (referred to by Elliott, Vol. II., pp. 125 sq.) the absence of the definite article is supplied by the fact that the copula is the verb substantive (see Act_23:5; Joh_5:9; Joh_19:14 :; Mar_11:13; Joh_5:1).—E. R. C.
[17]It is well worthy of consideration whether there is not a connection between this section of the Apocalypse and 1Co_15:51-52. It is difficult to imagine that in two Books, both written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the manifest parallelism between the μυστήριον and the last σάλπιγξ and the glad tidings announced in the one, and the μυστήριον and the last σάλπιγξ and the glad tidings referred to in the other, should have been merely fortuitous. Nor is there aught in the events described under these last Trumpets to forbid our regarding them as one and the same. Certainly there is nothing inconceivable in the idea that the period of vengeance upon the persecutors of the saints, should be that in which the heirs of the first resurrection should be raised from the dead, and, together with living saints, be removed to some place of safety (see Excursus on the First Resurrection, Rev_20:5-6). It may also be remarked that this hypothesis does not involve the idea that the Apocalypse was written before the Epistles to the Corinthians. It should be remembered that the Trumpets were introduced into the Apocalyptic vision, in full accordance with the imagery of preceding Scripture, as indicating the going forth of Jehovah for the deliverance of His people, and for the execution of judgment upon their enemies. It should therefore excite no surprise that the Apostle Paul should, under the inspiration of the Spirit, have referred to a period as that of the last Trumpet, which in the more complete revelation to John should be so described.—E. R. C.
SPECIAL DOCTRINO-ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL NOTES (ADDENDUM)
Section Eighth
Veiled Heaven-Picture of the Seven Thunders. (Rev_10:1-11.)
General.—Here the mystery of prophecy is raised to a higher power within the mysterious Apocalypse itself. A contrast even is presented consisting in the fact that the Seven Thunders are to be specially sealed (Rev_10:4), whilst the Revelation in general is not to be sealed (Rev_22:10). We have already endeavored to explain the motive of this special sealing, and have at the same time set forth the hypothesis that the Seer has in a correspondent exoteric form furnished a sketch Of the sealed esoteric contents of the Seven Thunders (Rev_11:1-14). For Christianity can in no point be absolutely esoterical. It may also safely be assumed, that the elements of the Seven Thunders are to be found in the Apostolic Epistles and even in the Gospels. There is, e. g. (if we regard thunder as the symbol of a spiritual purification of the atmosphere and refreshment of life), an oppugnment of orthodoxistic legality in the Epistle of James; a reform of unfree chiliastic externality in the first Epistle of Peter and in both the Epistles to the Thessalonians; libertinism is opposed by the second Epistle of Peter and the Epistle of Jude; the Pauline Epistles reform, in rich gradation, the faith, the Church, Christology, etc.; and beyond them there is yet another Johannean reform of Christian gnosis. John not only knew that the Law, as the first reformation of Israel, was given amid thunder and lightning, that the fiery chariot of Elijah had formed a turning-point between the legal and the Messianico-prophetic period, but he had also himself been present when Christ’s prayer for the glorification of His Father’s name was answered with a word of assent that sounded like thunder. And it was in harmony with the development of revelation that thunder, which in the Old Testament, was a symbol of the Law, should become for the Son of Thunder, under the New Covenant, a symbol of the Gospel and its seven-fold holy evolutions. In respect of the beautiful, elevated and elevating aspect of thunder, even the Scandinavian mythology is in advance of the standpoint of popular terror, so largely occupied in Christendom with regard to this phenomenon (comp. also Sophocles, Œdipus at Colonos).
In referring, at this juncture, to our Exeg. Notes, it will be understood, as a matter of course, that it is the part of Homiletics to treat the present section of the Seven Thunders with especial caution, although, of course, the phenomena accompanying the voices of the Thunders are not sealed. As to the sealing itself, the expression is to be taken in its broader sense. In a literal sense, written matter is sealed; but here the command is: write not.
Special.—a. [Rev_10:2-3.] The Angel of the End-time. A presage and symbol of the Coming of Christ. 1. His appearance; 2. The little book in his hand relating to the end-time; 3. His dominion and power: his feet planted on the land and
the sea; 4. His cry as the roaring of a lion—the awakening call to the awaking seven Thunders. The word of Christ, the eternal source of all spiritual operations in the Church.—b. [Rev_10:3-7.] The Seven Thunders as mysterious mediations of the end-time. As sealed mysteries. The more complete their sealing as canonical and doctrinal certainties of prophecy, the more powerful their operation upon the religious presentiment, the feelings, the spirit of prayer. The Seven Thunders in nature (Psalms 29.), emblems of the Seven Thunders of the Kingdom of God.—The mysteries of Christianity, prefigured by the mysteries of the Theocratic Sanctuary; manifest in the facts and fundamental doctrines of Christianity (1Ti_3:16); mediated by the evangelic form of mystery (Mat_10:27), by mysteries sacramental, Church-historic (disciplina arcani), especially those pertaining to the mediæval period of Church-history, and by eschatogical mysteries.—The sealing of the Thunders, the mystery of mysteries.—The certainty of certainties, or the solemn oath of the Angel concerning the approaching end.—The oaths of God recorded in Holy Writ are Divine assurances which re-echo in the surest certainty of elect human hearts.—How is this to be understood—to wit, that the time of Christ’s coming is unknown, that it may, in a chronological sense, still be distant, and yet that it is emphatically near? 1. We are in the midst of a constant, uncheckable movement toward that goal; 2. The movement is continually increasing in rapidity, and the catastrophe of this periodic course will come, at all events, more suddenly than we think. The motives of this catastrophe are to be found in the depths of the religious and moral world (where the carcase, etc.). Every great event has, from time immemorial, taken men by surprise, like a sort of Last Day.—The time of the Seventh Trumpet, the time of the end.—The blessed secrets intrusted to the servants of God, contrasted with the unblessed secrets of the children of wickedness.—c. [Rev_10:9-11] New and second calling of the Seer.—Command to the Seer to eat the little book. The act itself, and its import. The hearty reception of the prophecy of the last time in its sweet charm and its convulsing and painful effect. (Anguish and terror, especially the terrors of war, not only attack the heart, but are frequently the occasion of cholera-like epidemics.)—The converse orders of the operations of the book, as presented by the Angel and by the Seer. Joy and sorrow, says human feeling; sorrow and joy, says the heavenly Spirit.—Thou must prophesy again, or the commission to publish the tidings of the last time in the midst of the course of the world, as an imminent Divine doom upon the whole world, peoples and kings.
Starke: The Lion roareth—who shall not fear, examine himself, and truly repent (Amo_3:8)? He that dwelleth in Heaven may keep silence for a while, but in His own time He shall speak so that both our ears shall tingle (Psa_2:5; Psa_50:21; 1Sa_3:11).—Some commentators think that they (the Seven Thunders) discovered the saddest fortunes of the true Church.—Here, also, Starke presents the antithetic view of “those who regard this as fulfilled” and “those who deem it to be still future.”—The Prophets and Apostles did not write down all things that they saw and heard, but only so much as was necessary for us and as the Holy Ghost commanded them to write.—Although the prophetic predictions remain for a time sealed, when the time of their fulfillment and dénoument arrives, all becomes intelligible and manifest (Dan_12:9).
Jung Stilling, Die Siegesgeschichte der christl. Religion in einer gemeinnützigen Erklärung der Offenb. Joh. (Sämmtliche Schriften, Vol. III. Stuttgart, 1835. On Rev_10:1): His countenance shineth like the sun, for He dwells in the light and enlightens all things that He looks upon; since His appearance until now it has been growing brighter and brighter. About His head the rainbow gleams; for He is a Messenger of the Covenant,—a Messenger Who is to proclaim the unveiling of the mystery of God, in which mystery God’s covenant with Noah and all His promises are to be fulfilled. He is clothed with a cloud—which is the chariot and travelling apparel of Him Who is to come in the clouds (Rev_1:7; Dan_7:13). And His feet are like pillars of fire; for where He stands, He stands firm; the gates of hell cannot move Him from the spot, and whoso thinks to drive Him away, burns his own fingers. All this is surety to us for the validity of His embassage, for the truth of the little book that He has in His hand, and which John now communicates to us.
Riemann, Die Offenb: St. Joh. (see p. 73): Every word of God, as heavenly food from the tree of life, is sweet when we first receive it in faith, but afterwards, though the sweetness does not cease, it becomes bitter also, as a judge of the thoughts and intents of the heart, when the old Adam must sink in death under the sharpness of this two-edged sword: again, this word is doubly sweet when it proclaims the final triumph of Christ over the kingdom of darkness, and yet at the same time it is bitter, for with this proclamation it conjoins lamentation and mourning and woe that sorely come upon the Messianic Church through the last desperate conflict of the prince of darkness with the Kingdom of God.
[From The Comprehensive Commentary: Rev_10:9-11. It becomes God’s servants to digest in their own souls the messages they bring to others in His name, and to be suitably affected therewith themselves; also, to deliver every message with which they are charged, whether pleasing or unpleasing to men. (M. Henry)]
Section Ninth
Exoteric Intimations from the Earth-picture of the Seven Thunders. (Rev_11:1-14)
General.—The remarks made by us in reference to the preceding section, apply with equal force to this. The exegetical foundation is not yet sufficiently sure, clear and firm to warrant the erection of a doctrinal and homiletical superstructure. We must distinguish, here as well as elsewhere, between our own firm conviction and the conventional status of exegesis in the Church, which it is not admissible to leave entirely out of consideration in an official undertaking.
We must, first of all, settle the relation which this section bears to the preceding one. It is not difficult to perceive that the Seven Thunders are recognizable in the procedures of the two Sons of Oil, since fire goes forth from their mouths and they can shut and open Heaven like Elijah.
Another unmistakable fact is that we have here to do with a sketch of those Church-historical circumstances which form a transition to the time of the end.
It is equally certain, furthermore, that in the provision concerning the Temple. Rev_11:1-2, we have a picture of the Christian Church, and not a prophecy relating to the Temple at Jerusalem, to be apprehended literally and, in such case, manifested to be erroneous. In regard to the Temple and the subsequent history of the Two Witnesses, as well as the judgment at the close of the section, we refer to the Exeg. Notes. A cautious treatment of the subject might base itself upon the following fundamental lines: The inner and outer (or invisible and visible) Church (Rev_11:1-2); the New Testament order of God’s Kingdom in the antithesis of Church and State (Rev_11:3-7); the grave prospect that the hemming in of Antichristianity will at some future day be done away with (Rev_11:7-10; 2 Thessalonians 2.); the certainty that the forms of Church and State, though suffering a temporal extinction, will celebrate their resurrection in the consummation of the Kingdom of God (Rev_11:11-12). Finally, the social earthquake connected with the preceding events, which shakes the New Testament City of God of externalized Christian order and, by a precursory judgment, calls many to repentance, whereby such as comply with the call withdraw themselves from the consummate apostasy of the time of the Beast, and are preserved from the final judgment at the Parousia of Christ.
Special.—[Rev_11:1-2.] The Temple arrangements of the Old Covenant, in their symbolic import for the Christian Church. (a) The priestly Sanctuary, which has become one with the Holy of Holies; (b) the Altar; (c) the Worshippers; (d) the outer court of the Gentiles.—Import of the outer court: a figurative testimony (1) against that view which reckons the outer court as forming part of the Sanctuary; (2) against the other idea which denominates the outer court the world, simply.
[Rev_11:3.] The two ground-forms of witness concerning Christ in the Christian age: The Churchly communion, and the Christian and humane social morals and manners which it inculcates.—[Rev_11:4.] The olive trees, by which the life of the sons of oil, Christians, is, not generated, but mediated.—Olive trees and candlesticks [lamp-stands] at once; i.e., on the one hand, gifted with a source of spiritual life (John 4.), and, on the other, elaborated into a form favorable for the mediation of the Spirit to men.—The whole Christian age, a time of the one Spirit of Christ in the change of different temporal forms. In the main, the olive trees are at the same time candlesticks [lamp-stands], and the candlesticks [lamp-stands] olive trees: i.e., spiritual life and formal organization, knowledge and practice, run together, in parallel development, through the ages. In individual cases, however, the candlestick [lamp-stand] that should stand beside the olive tree is occasionally missing, and still more frequently the candlestick [lamp-stand] lacks the accompaniment of the olive tree.—[Rev_11:5-6.] Competition of the mediæval Church and State in the training of Christian humanity. Their union. Their terrible severity. Their strainings of authority and their gradual loss of the sympathy of Christian popular life.—[Rev_11:7.] The Beast out of the abyss as the prelude of Antichristianity or the Beast out of the sea, or how demonic Antichristian dispositions precede the final Antichristian figurations in human characters.—Dying and dead forms of the old order of things (Rev_11:9).—The Antichristian feasts of the future (Rev_11:10).—[Rev_11:11-12.] The time of three days and a half, or the time of the apparent downfall of the Kingdom of God, always, at the same time, the time of a glorious exaltation of it.—Prospect of the final fulfillment of all Churchly and Stately foretokens in the unity of a heavenly Kingdom.—[Rev_11:13.] The Apocalyptic earthquakes in their grand significance: (1) In their spiritual import; (2) In their social import; (3) In their cosmical import.—Fall of the external historic City of God.—Twofold effect of the judgments and terrors of God: Many are killed, the rest are affrighted and give glory to God.
Starke: The true Church should not be judged by its magnitude and visibility, because (just as) the outer court many times surpasses the Temple in length and breadth.—The teachers of the Christian Church must, internally, resemble olive trees, and be filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit, whilst outwardly they must shine as lights, with an irreproachable life—Quesnel: When God has used His servants for the sanctification of others, He uses the wicked to purify those servants themselves by suffering and martyrdom.—The world is to be deplored, in that it celebrates its sins with rejoicings, as a public festival.
Löwe, Weissagung und Geschichte in ihrer Zusammenstimmung (see p. 73): [Rev_11:3 sqq.] This twofold number, doubtless, denotes a twofold, Divinely commissioned ministry, but not an external condition; thus there are always in existence Rome few powerful witnesses—testifying of repentance and faith—of ecclesiastical and secular office and vocation, in order to the support of Christ’s spiritual Kingdom in the world.
Wilhelm Friedrich Rinck, Apokalyptische Forschungen,. Zürich, 1853 (see p. 72): As the Lord sent out His disciples by twos, thus the many witnesses and servants of Christ are here introduced as two messengers (?). Their ministry lasts as long as Jerusalem (the outer court) is trodden down by the Gentiles; the whole time, consequently, from the destruction of Jerusalem to the end of the world.—Two olive trees and two lamp-stands. Oil and lamp-stands belong together.—The city. Neither Jerusalem nor Rome is intended, but an allegorical great city, which lays violent hands on the messengers of God, and even on His own Son, It is impossible that it can be any particular single city when they of the peoples, tribes, tongues and nations are to see the bodies of the slain witnesses. Constance is a part of that great city.*
*[It was at the Council of Constance (A.D. 1414–1418) that Huss and Jerome of Prague, the forerunners of the Reformation, were condemned and martyred.—E. R. C.]
[From M. Henry: Rev_11:1. Observe, 1. The temple was to be measured; the gospel-church in general; whether it be so built, so constituted, as the gospel rule directs. 2. The altar. That which was the place of the most solemn acts of worship may be put for religious worship in general; whether the Church has the true altars, both as to substance and situation: as to substance, whether they take Christ for their Altar, and lay down all their offerings there; and in situation, whether the Altar be in the holiest; that is, whether they worship God in the Spirit and in truth. 3. The worshippers. Whether they make God’s glory their end, and His word their rule, in all their acts of worship; and whether they come to God with suitable affections, and whether their conversation be as becomes the gospel.]
Section Tenth
Heaven-picture of the Manifestation of Antichristianity on Earth. [Rev_11:15 to Rev_12:12)
General.—The present section, and also the subsequent chapters, Rev_12:13 to Rev_13:18, are peculiarly adapted to illustrate and confirm the construction of the Apocalypse as presented by us. Our section is not readily intelligible without a definite reference to the subsequent Earth-picture, and the development of Antichristianity brought to view in that picture can be apprehended only as illuminated by our Heaven-picture:—as a judgment foreseen in the counsel of God; as an apparent domination of Antichristianity, completely overruled by the victorious power of Heaven, by the triumph of Christ and the victory of His heroic spirit over Satan in the spirit-sphere.
Here, as elsewhere, the heavenly celebration of victory (Rev_11:15-19) precedes the earthly judgment (Rev_13:1 sqq.). The Woman clothed with the sun, the Divine Congregation of the Kingdom, appears conformably to her heavenly phase, in full splendor (Rev_12:1-6); high above her fugitive phase, menaced with mortal peril, on earth (Rev 15:13–17). The true offspring of her heart (Rev_12:2-5) is a holy counterpart of the wicked False Prophet, who, in the guise of a lamb, comes forth from her terrestrial order, the earth. The great red Dragon who appears in Heaven, the region of spirit, with great seductive power; whose intention it is to destroy the male Son and conquer His spirit-host, but who here makes an utterly fruitless attempt against that Son, Who is caught up to God,—an utterly abortive attack upon Michael and his angels—and is, in consequence, cast down to earth,—subsequently appears on earth as a terrible persecutor of the Woman: he vomits forth his water-floods, i. e., masses of peoples, against her; he wars against her individual children; he incarnates himself, with his seven heads, in the seven-headed Antichrist; he helps the horrid Beast, after it has been wounded to death, to an apparent healing; he institutes, by the semblance of demonic omnipotence, devil worship and blasphemies on earth; he draws the False Prophet, with his delusive works, into his service, and attains, for the time being, to a dominion on earth which is, to all appearance, legally organized through the medium of social symbols.
According to the Heaven-picture, the Woman is sheltered in the wilderness, whither she herself has fled, by a place prepared for her by God (“A stronghold sure”), and there finds food and maintenance through her whole trial-time of a thousand two hundred and sixty days and days’ works. According to the Earth-picture, the two wings of the great Eagle must be given her for her flight; in the place of refuge to which she has fled, she is sustained through the same period that was before indicated, which, however, is here designated by the ominous number a time, (two) times and a half—whereby a great, sore and apparently endless time of temptation [trial] is expressed, a period which seems to continue even to hopelessness; she is, moreover, oppressed in a twofold manner by the Serpent. To save herself from being drowned and carried away by the water-floods, the sun-woman must accept the aid of the earth, by which acceptance her visible existence is itself made dependent upon the earth; and after the abortive attack upon the kernel of her totality, war is waged against her in the remainder of her seed, her individual children.
The high import of the seventh Trumpet, which continues from now to the seven Vials of Anger or to the judgment, is first expressed by a great celebration in Heaven. There is a sublime paradox in the fact that the beginning of Satan’s apparent rule on earth is celebrated in Heaven by great voices saying: The kingdom of the world is become our Lord’s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign from eternity to eternity. This epoch of heavenly victory is so completely decided with the appearance of Antichristianity that the heavenly Elders can make the festival already one of thanksgiving. There is a grandeur in the intuition or deduction by which they recognize in the very wrath of the nations the forth-breaking of the Divine anger (with its Vials of Anger); in the death-time of those who live in and for this world, a new life-time of the [blessed] dead in the world beyond—the beginning epoch of their restoration, which, in accordance with its nature, brings with it destruction for the destroyers of the earth.
Upon this festal antiphony between the heavenly voices and the thanksgiving of the Elders, follow the opening of the heavenly Temple, and the events connected therewith. The full revelation of Satan is anticipated by the perfect revelation of revelation, if we may thus speak. For those who will see with the Seer, the Temple is opened; the idea of the Kingdom of God becomes generally intelligible; the Ark of His Covenant becomes visible: i. e., the profoundly dark mystery of reconciliation and grace is converted into the clear light of knowledge for all those who see; and the effect of this glorious development of the life of the Church of God cannot fail of supervention; viz., lightnings of particulars of revelation, voices of proclamation, thunders of preaching, earthquakes of mental convulsions, and a great hail storm of fanatical sentiments originating in the commingling of sultry heat and icy cold.
Together with the glory of revelation, the glory of the Congregation of the Kingdom becomes manifest,—the Woman clothed with the sun, in the astral adornment of the terrestrial cosmos.
All the pangs [woes] of earth appear, in connection with the Woman’s pangs, as travail-pangs, birth-pangs of the Messiah.
Next appears the enemy, the great red Dragon. He is a union of serpent and swine, “Spottgeburt von Dreck und Feuer,” resplendent in the gloomy radiance of his fiery nature and blood-guiltiness; he has seven mock-holy heads instead of the one holy head, and there attaches to him the contradiction of the ten horns of his authority, expressive of the fact that that authority reposes entirely upon the decenary of the world, whilst the crowns upon his seven heads indicate a legal power falsely gained by the semblance of the sacred seven. Not, however, by the lustre of his crowns, but by the terrible lashings of his tail—apparent power—does he cast the third part, or a spiritual third, of the stars, the geniuses of the spirit-world of Heaven, down to earth, into the earthly service of the ecclesiastico-worldly order of things. The frustration of his plans, however, is expressed in a series of defeats: 1. Christ, in the light of eternity, is caught up as the Male into Heaven, to the Throne of God; 2. The Woman is made secure in her place of refuge, and provided for; 3. The Dragon, with his angels, is, by Michael and his angels, precipitated from Heaven to earth, from the sphere of pure spirit of the inner Church to the external Churchly and Stately ordinances; 4. Even in this world an invisible Church Triumphant has been establishing itself, and is as deep and high, as wide and broad, as the perfect joyousness of faith extends in its two fundamental features; faith-righteousness in the Reconciliation, and martyr-faithfulness unto death.
A transition to the Earth-picture is formed by the following thought: The highest weal of the heavenly-minded becomes a woe upon earth and sea, the Hierarchy and popular life.
Special.—Reciprocal action betwixt the development and consummation of the kingdom of darkness, on the one hand, and the Kingdom of God on the other.
[Rev_11:17-18.] Heavenly rejoicing over earth’s last time of need.—Judgment of the wrath of God in the wrath of the nations.—The end-time, a joyful celebration of the justification of all God’s witnesses.
[Rev_11:19.] Transfiguration of the whole revelation of salvation in knowledge and life: a sure hope of Christendom.—Great effects of this ever more manifest revelation, [ch. 12] Rev_12:10.
[Rev_12:1]. The Woman clothed with the sun, or the glory of the eternal Congregation of God’s Kingdom.
[Rev_12:2.] Birth-pangs of the Church of God: 1. The Martyrs of Israel; 2. Christ, the Great Martyr; 3. The Martyrs of the Christian Church.—Christ, even as the universal, eternal Christ, issues from the travail-pangs of the Church of God in Time.—All the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the eternal glory.
[Rev_12:3-4.] The doctrine of Satan, perfected in the Apocalypse. The great red Dragon (1) as a figurative representation of Satan; (2) of Satanic or demonic evil; (3) of evil in general. Unbelief has advanced from a denial of Satan to a denial of Satanic evil; from the denial of the latter to a denial of evil in general. The knowledge of faith must advance through a deeper-going doctrine of evil to an apprehension of Satanic evil, and through the latter to an insight into Divine revelation relative to the existence of Satan and his kingdom.—Evil in the figure of the Dragon: 1. Absolute hideousness, the Dragon, the monstrous shape, in its hypocritical pretension to beauty, in the pomp of fiery red, and with its seven crowns; 2. Absolute falsehood in the contradiction of horns and crowns, with its hypocritical pretension to holy intelligence in its seven heads; 3. Absolute badness in its conduct toward the “stars” or spirits of Heaven, toward God and Christ, toward the Woman and the destiny of humanity, with the hypocritical pretension to the founding of a free spirit-kingdom (of fallen stars).—Satanic evil, or conscious enmity to God and Christ.—Satan and his kingdom. The doctrine respecting these has, by reason of the mediæval classifications of it, which, in manifold ways, continued to obtain even in Protestant orthodoxy after the Reformation, called forth a reaction similar to that induced by the gross enhancement of the doctrine of election, by the fearful exaggeration of the power of excommunication, of Church discipline, clerical authority and letter-faith. This doctrine has hence become a difficult, and, more or less, an esoteric, subject for homiletics. It, nevertheless, must not be dropped, and still less should it be denied; its true treatment, however, is conditioned (1) by a prominent setting forth of that spirit-world which pervades the universe; (2) by the maintenance of the fact that the origin of sin consists not in animal sensuality, but in a spiritual abuse of liberty; that a fall of spirits is assumable neither as having taken place on our earth alone nor throughout the universe; and that from the earthly fall of spirits, we are, according to Scripture, to infer a previous fall of spirits, forming the centre and back-ground of the evil of this world.
The scattered manifestations of evil on earth, notwithstanding their plurality, constitute, in their opposition to the Kingdom of God, a unitous power as the Kingdom of Darkness. A unitous power against the Kingdom of God they are, but not a united power in themselves, as is evident from the monster with the seven heads.—Antitheocratic manifestations in the Old Testament as foreshadowings of Antichristian manifestations in the New Testament and in Church history.—Satan’s work in the invisible world becomes manifest here in Antichristian facts, and must be brought to view by means of these.—The enemy of man, according to Joh_8:44, as a seducer (to spiritual pride, Genesis 3; to fanatical fleshly lust, Numbers 25, etc.); as an accuser (Job).—Types of Antichrist: Balaam; Goliath; Ahithophel; Antiochus Epiphanes; Judas.—[Rev_12:5.] Satan’s plot for the destruction of Christ defeated by Christ’s resurrection and ascension.—[Rev_12:7.] The battle between light and darkness on earth is, in its decisive centre, a conflict of spirits in the spirit-realm (see Comm. on John, Joh_13:31).—[Rev_12:9.] The casting of Satan out of the pure sphere of the Christian spirit into the sphere of earthly ordinances, (a) in the life of Jesus (Matthew 4.; Luk_10:18; John, l. c.); (b) in the sphere of the Church through the medium of the Spirit of Christ.—Song of triumph over the accuser, Rev_12:10 (see Exeg. Notes).
Starke (Lösecken): “It is a noteworthy circumstance that there is here (Rev_11:15-16) no mention of the four Beasts, which elsewhere throughout the Book precede the Elders in praising and thanking God (Rev_5:14; Rev_7:11). The reason of this seems to be that at this time the true public ministry of preaching, represented by the four Beasts (?), will be suppressed to such a degree as to be neither visible nor appreciable any more.” (A little problem lies before us, but the solution offered is a failure. Possibly the four Life-forms [Living-beings] are omitted because they denote the fundamental forms of the Divine Governance in the economy of salvation, whilst here an exercise of Judicial power is celebrated.)
Rev_11:19. And there occurred lightnings and voices and thunders: the promulgation of the Law and the Gospel was set in motion again.—And an earthquake: great commotions arose.—And a great hail: with this, the judgments of God burst upon the Antichristian kingdom. [And the Temple, etc.] The things concerning which there has been so much strife shall be clearly shown and known—to wit, the Person, nature and attributes of Christ, the satisfaction made by Him, the whole nature of the covenant of grace and of Christ’s Kingdom on earth. After the offence has been taken away, God will yet give to all nations on earth free access to His Church and Throne of Grace.—(Rev_12:3. “Dragons are said to be the largest of all serpents and beasts, some of them attaining the length of forty or fifty cubits. Alexander the Great is said to have had one shown him that was five hundred feet long.”)
Rev_12:4. And his tail, wherein were his greatest power and cunning, drew, subdued by cruelty, torture, artifice, flattery, the third part of the stars, a great part of the teachers of mankind.
Rev_12:11. This is the wondrous victory of Christians—to conquer through tribulation and death, to gain in losing (Rom_8:37).—Quesnel: The nearer we come to the end, the more earnestly does the devil strive to ruin us, and the more ought we to watch, pray and work.
N. Von Brunn, Blicke eines alten Knechts, der auf seinen Herrn wartet, in die Offenbarung, etc. (see p. 73): To us mortals, because of the limitations of our vision, much appears as in process of coming to pass, which, by celestial spirits, with sight unhindered by a veil of flesh, is seen to be already accomplished, (The Church-historical system of interpretation is pursued in this work. The practical remarks are significant and edifying.)
Graeber (see above): “The positions of Hengstenberg are as untenable with regard to Rev_11:19 as in relation to Rev_8:1. Suppose, for instance, that the Revelation really definitively closed here, which, according to Hengstenberg, is assumable. What! is the entire development of God’s Kingdom on earth to close with a 'great hail!'—The wilderness (Revelation 12). Thus says Thomas à kempis: ‘If thou wouldest know and learn somewhat that will be useful and profitable to thee, learn what so few know or are able to do—to be willing to be unknown and to be accounted as nought.’ The wilderness, then, is self-renunciation; not simply barrenness, want, poverty, or the concealment of the Kingdom of God in the Middle Ages.) The Lord withdraws His people from the turmoil of the world: a Moses He buries, as it were, for forty years in the wilderness with Jethro; an Elijah He conceals by the brook Cherith, and entombs a Luther in the narrow cell of a cloister, etc.”
[From M. Henry: Rev_12:10. The accuser, etc. Though Satan hates God’s presence, yet he is willing to appear there, to accuse the people of God. Let us therefore take heed that we give him no cause of accusation against us; and that when we have sinned, we presently go in before the Lord, and accuse and condemn ourselves, and commit our cause to Christ as our Advocate.
Rev_12:11. The servants of God overcame Satan, 1. By the blood of the Lamb, as the meritorious cause. Christ by dying destroyed him that hath the power of death, that is, the Devil. 2. By the word of their testimony, as the great instrument of war; the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; by a resolute, powerful preaching of the everlasting gospel, which is mighty, through God, to pull down strongholds; by their courage and patience in sufferings; they loved not their lives unto the death, when the love of life stood in competition with their loyalty to Christ; they loved not their lives so well, but they could give them up to death, could lay them down in Christ’s cause.—From Barnes: Rev_11:15 : A time is to come when, in the proper sense of the term, God is to reign on the earth; when His kingdom is to be universal; when His laws shall be everywhere recognized as binding; when all idolatry shall come to an end; and when the understandings and the hearts of men everywhere shall bow to His authority.—From Vaughan: Rev_12:11. The three weapons by which the Christian victory is won: The atonement made for all sin in the death of Christ; the word or message of God, to which all true Christians bear in act and in endurance a firm and intelligible testimony; and that spirit of entire self-devotion and self-surrender which perseveres even unto death, and stops not short (if God so require) of the sacrifice of life itself for Christ.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–11 he had--Greek, "Having."
he had--Greek, "Having."
in his hand--in his left hand: as in Rev 10:5 (see on Rev 10:5), he lifts up his right hand to heaven.
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a little book--a roll little in comparison with the "book" (Rev 5:1) which contained the whole vast scheme of God's purposes, not to be fully read till the final consummation. This other, a less book, contained only a portion which John was now to make his own (Rev 10:9, Rev 10:11), and then to use in prophesying to others. The New Testament begins with the word "book" (Greek, "biblus"), of which "the little book" (Greek, "biblaridion") is the diminutive, "the little bible," the Bible in miniature.
upon the sea . . . earth--Though the beast with seven heads is about to arise out of the sea (Rev 13:1), and the beast with two horns like a lamb (Rev 13:11) out of the earth, yet it is but for a time, and that time shall no longer be (Rev 10:6-7) when once the seventh trumpet is about to sound; the angel with his right foot on the sea, and his left on the earth, claims both as God's, and as about soon to be cleared of the usurper and his followers.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 THE ANGELOPHANIC APOCALYPSE, Rev_10:1 to Rev_22:7.
PART THIRD.
THE ANGELOPHANIC APOCALYPSE, Rev_10:1 to Rev_22:7.
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1. THE ANGELOPHANY.—Descent of the World-Angel, Rev_10:1-2.
1. And—Of the three “woe trumpets,” the first two are given in the last chapter, and the third (being the seventh of the seven trumpets) now remains to be given. But as this is the great historic trumpet, it must be preceded by a grand prelude—a presentation of a World-Angel on the scenes, announcing the wonderful contents of the trumpet, (chap. 10,) and a miniature set of symbols, shadowing in summary its events, Rev_11:1-13. Then (Rev_11:14-19) the trumpet sounds, and premonitions are given by heavenly voices of the glorious results to take place under that sounding. The seventh trumpet begins with the first overthrow of antichrist by Christ, Rev_12:1, and continues through a series of such overthrows until the final judgment at Rev_20:11. The entire contents of the seventh trumpet are, comprehensively, the world-wide contest between Christ and antichrist, in which the latter is successively overthrown. The symbols under which the opposing sides in the war are presented may be seen in the following
CONTRASTS OF THE WAR.
CHRISTIC.ANTICHRISTIC.1. The man child, Christ, Rev_12:5.The dragon, Satan, Rev_12:3. 2. The Lamb, Rev_5:6The beast, Rev_13:1.3. The twenty-four elders, Rev_4:4.The two-horned Lamb. 4. Jerusalem, the Church, the capital of Christ, Rev_20:4.Babylon, Rome, the antichurch, the antichristic capital, Rev_18:2.5. Bride, the Lamb’s wife, Rev_21:9.Antichrist’s harlot, Rev_15:16. Souls of saints enthroned, Rev_20:4.Souls of saints beneath altar, Rev_6:4.7. New Jerusalem, Rev_21:1.Lake of fire, Rev_20:15.These antithetic objects, carefully noted, serve to fix, reciprocally, each other’s meaning, and verify the truth of the exegesis. The hostile presentation of antichrist and his group are Rev_12:13. The three overthrows of antichrist are Rev_14:1 to Rev_20:3.
Another mighty angel—In addition to the strong or mighty (for the Greek word is the same in both passages) angel who heralded the second commission, Rev_5:2. Though this angel suggests Gabriel, as that does Michael, yet it might be rather considered as a purely symbolical personality, representing the divine providence over the world—”God in history”— overruling wrong and finally bringing out the triumph of right.
But there seem to be grave reasons for supposing this angel to be, not a symbol, but a personal representative, of the third Person in the adorable Trinity. In favour of this view we submit the following points:—
1. The three apocalypses are then dispensed by the three Personalities of the Trinity. We have thereby a Christophany and a virtual Pneumatophany, dominated by a central Theophany. 2. The description of the person of the angel exalts him to the representatively divine. The splendour of his appearance is described in terms far superior to those employed of any beings but the other two divine Personalities. He resembles the first in his sunlike face and his feet of burning brass. His tread upon earth and sea indicates his world-wide domain. His voice of seven thunders is counterpart to the “seven lamps” of Rev_4:5, “which are the seven spirits.” 3. His office is that of the revealing Spirit. It is divine world-wide, world-enduring prediction. He is the commissioner of our New Testament seer, giving him the volume of the future to be amalgamated into his personal being, constituting him the prophet. He pronounces the sentence (Rev_10:11) declaring John’s universal commission. Come down—Literally, descending out from heaven. The heaven is the upper sky over-arching the plane of mystical vision, as the earth and sea are below it. See note on Rev_4:11. His face was as the sun; his head is wreathed with a rainbow; his chest is clad with a cloud; and from beneath its skirts his legs and feet are seen to descend as pillars of fire. Thus the grandest phenomena of nature combine to represent his majesty.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 1. We are not told yet, as we might…
1. We are not told yet, as we might expect, that “the second woe is past,” nor does the seventh trumpet and the third woe immediately follow: but just as in ch. 7 the two descriptions of the sealed Israelites and the palm-bearing multitude came after the sixth seal, so here the vision of the mighty angel, and the prophecy (passing insensibly into a vision) of the Two Witnesses, follow the sixth trumpet.
another mighty angel] “Another,” probably, than the four mentioned in Rev_9:15 : cf. Rev_7:1-2. Some suppose a reference back to Rev_5:2, where we have heard of a “mighty angel” (the epithet is the same) before.
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clothed with a cloud] And therefore with something of the state with which Christ will come to judgement: cf. Rev_1:7, &c.
a rainbow] Lit. the rainbow: it is conceived as being the same bow of God that is seen every time that it appears.
his feet] i.e. his legs are as thick as the pillars of a temple, and their substance of fiery brightness.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11 (1, 2) And I saw . . .—Translate, And…
FIRST SCENE OF THE INTERPOSED VISION.
(1, 2) And I saw . . .—Translate, And I saw another mighty angel descending out of the heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the (not “a”) rainbow upon his head, and his face as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, and having in his hand a little book (or, roll) open. Many have thought that this angel can be none other than Christ Himself. It must be acknowledged that the description is such that we might well hesitate to apply it to any but our Lord; but, nevertheless, the words, “another mighty angel,” afford serious difficulty. Our Lord might indeed appear as an angel, but it is scarcely conceivable that He would be called “another mighty angel:” an expression which seems to associate this angel with those others who have taken part in these visions. Remembering this, we must separate from our thoughts the idea of personal angelic beings. Such are employed by God, but in the mechanism of these visions the angels are not necessarily such, any more than the stars are literal stars: they are typical, representative angels, as we speak of the Angel of Peace, the Angel of War; so we have the Angels of Time, of Death, of Life, as in the Apocalypse. The angel here, even if he does not represent Christ Himself, descends with the evidences of Christ’s power. He comes to remind the secret ones of God that Christ is with them always, and that He will not hide His commandments from those who are living as strangers and pilgrims upon earth (Psa_119:19; 1Pe_2:11); for he bears a little book open in his hand. The value of this vision is best seen by calling to mind the vision of the Fifth Trumpet. There, for the first time, the plagues seemed to gather supernatural power: the key of the abyss was given to the star that fell, and the locust host were led by the angel of the abyss. As an answer to this comes this angel, bearing the witnesses of Christ’s power. When the troubles come that darken and confuse, the messenger from heaven will come to give light, teaching, and strength to the faithful—so does this angel first give assurance of the power of Christ. He comes clothed with a cloud, the token always of the Divine Presence (Exo_13:21; Eze_1:4; Mat_17:5; Act_1:9). The, not “a” rainbow, but the rainbow (i.e., the rainbow of Rev_4:3), the token of covenant and of love, glowed round his head; his face, like Moses’, had caught the unutterable light, the sun-like light of Christ’s presence (Rev_1:16); and his feet were like pillars of fire to tread the earth, strong in the power of purification and judgment. Some call this the Angel of Time, because of his utterance in Rev_10:6; but is it not rather the typical representative of the Angel of the New Testament, coming with the tokens of covenant truth, and power and love? He had in his hand a little book open. Our memories are carried back to the other book, or roll, displayed in Rev_5:1-5, and two contrasts strike us: that roll, or book, was sealed, and none were found worthy to open it; this book is open—that book was larger; this one being described as a small book. Do these contrasts help us to the meaning? One thing they seem to tell us: the book contains none of those secret things which were the contents of the former book. The closed, sealed book pointed to the hidden springs of future history; this points to what is open to all. That book was comparatively large, and tilled with writing, as the visions of oncoming history were great; this book is small, and contains what all may master. These considerations forbid the idea that the book is a repetition in brief of what was in the sealed book, “or that it was the revelation of some remaining prophecies,” or of some “portion or section of prophecy.” The vision is a representation that he who comes armed with the witnesses of Christ’s presence comes also with that ever open proclamation of God’s love and righteousness. The little open book is that gospel which is the sword of the Spirit, the weapon of the Church, that Word of God open to all, hidden only from those whom the god of this world hath blinded. The fallen powers may bear the key and let loose darkening clouds of confused thought and unworthy teaching; the outer courts of the Church may be overcast: but unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness, and God’s Word has risen with new light and power upon the bewilderments and glooms of the age. “Three books are associated in the Apocalypse. The first is the book of the course of this world (Rev_5:1); . . . the last is the Book of Life (Rev_20:15; Rev_21:27): between these two comes” another book, which is the link between the other two, the ever open book of God’s promises and the witness of God’s righteousness and power. Elliott regarded this little roll as the Bible opened anew to mankind at the period of the Reformation. The period affords many magnificent illustrations of the vision, but it does not exhaust its truth, since in every age the reverent study of the Word of God has given freshness and strength to forgotten truths, and has saved men from the bondage of traditional notions. From among such students have arisen God’s witnesses.
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And he set . . .—The attitude of the angel, with one fiery foot planted on the sea and the other on the land, is that of a conqueror taking possession of the whole world. There is a power, then, by which the Church and children of God may possess the earth. It is not the power of pride or worldliness. The true weapons are not carnal: the sword of the Spirit is the word of God, and the meek-spirited (meek to be taught and meek in life) shall possess the earth.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–11 And I saw. We have here the commencement of…
And I saw. We have here the commencement of what many writers call an episode, or rather two episodes, which intervene between the sixth and seventh trumpets, just as Revelation 7 occurs between the sixth and seventh seals. But as in the latter place we saw only a greater elaboration in the introduction to the seventh seal, and not a detached relation, so here Revelation 10 and Rev_11:1-14 form a gradual transition from the sixth to the seventh trumpet, and supplement what is set forth under those trumpets. The passage is so far a digression, as it is occupied chiefly in setting forth the fate of the Church rather than that of the ungodly; but it only does so to demonstrate the wickedness of the world, and the inevitable nature of the last great punishment. Revelation 9. ends (almost in a tone of surprise) with the words, "Neither repented they," etc.; therefore the angel now declares that, as all the warnings vouchsafed have brought men as a whole no nearer to God, the last final punishment must now fall. But, as if the measure of God"s mercy were not yet fully filled up, it is shown how he has given to the world two witnesses, by which men might be induced to repent. But this, too, only serves to add to the condemnation of the world, which wrests this gift to its own destruction. We thus have the connection. God has sent punishments as warnings. But he not only has done this, he has also given direct instruction by the witness of his Word; man has despised both; therefore the end must come. Although the main object of the trumpet visions is to set forth the woes inflicted upon the wicked, yet the seer, as it were, hesitates to indicate the last dread punishment until he has alluded to the opportunities which God has afforded mankind of escaping that end. Another mighty angel come down from heaven; coming down out of heaven (Revised Version). So in the vision of the seals, at this point the advent of another angel ushers in the following incidents. (Rev_7:2) He is probably another angel as distinguished from the sixth angel. (Rev_9:13) There is not sufficient reason for supposing that Christ is meant. Wherever our Lord is referred to in the Revelation, it is always in a mode which cannot possibly be mistaken. (cf. Rev_1:13 Rev_5:6, etc.) St. John"s position is now upon the earth. In the vision he is either in heaven or on the earth, as required, he thus sees the angel apparently coming down from heaven. Clothed with a cloud. The symbol of majesty. (cf. Exo_16:10 Luk_21:27 Rev_1:7, etc.) And a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. Omit "was." The description shows the celestial dignity of the messenger. Perhaps there is a reference in the rainbow to the merciful character of this angel"s mission, and the faithfulness and patience of God. The two last clauses express the same idea, viz. the bright and glorious appearance of the angel. God"s glory is reflected in his messenger, as formerly it was in Moses. (Exo_34:29, Exo_34:30)
Vers. 1-7. The mystery of God finished!
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According to some historical interpreters, the close of the ninth chapter sets forth in symbol the inrush of the Turkish power and the downfall of Constantinople. Apparently necessitated by such a view, the angel of the first verse of the tenth chapter is the reality of which the dominant papal power was the mimicry a messenger of heaven with new light piercing the gloom. His setting one flint on the sea and another on the earth indicates his taking possession of Continental Christendom and insular England. The seven thunders are the anathemas of papal Rome. They may not be uttered, because they are the roarings of man and not the sayings of God. We cannot accept this interpretation, nor anything like it. On the understanding that this book forecasts in symbolic outline the fortunes of the Church of God on her way to the final consummation, it would be somewhat strange if the lines of history and those of prophecy did not present some mutual correspondence. But it by no means follows that any one apparent correspondence is the fulfilment of the prophecy, although it may be partially so. Besides, our text tells us that the great proclamation of the angel who set his feet on sea and land was that in the days of the seventh angel the mystery of God should be finished. Now, nothing is more certain than that, at the time of the Reformation and by its agents, there was no such proclamation made as this. Besides, even now the mystery of God is not finished, nor anything like it; consequently, it is not possible for us to assign the proclamation of this angel to anything that happened three hundred years ago. Repeated studies of the entire Apocalypse do but confirm the conviction of twenty years" standing, that we must give up date fixing entirely; that, while the book forecasts the future, it so does it as to confirm the word that "it is not for us to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power;" that we may expect, at divers times and places, and in divers manners, oft recurring fulfilments of the Apocalyptic word; and that the book contains, for our guidance and help, an indication of Divine principles and methods rather than incident in detail. We shall have a fresh illustration of this if we now study this paragraph, letting the seventh verse be the centre around which our thoughts may turn.
I HERE IS A STRIKING NAME GIVEN TO THE SCHEME OF PROVIDENCE. "The mystery of God." A "mystery" is
(1) that which is altogether and necessarily a secret in the mind of God;
(2) that which, though revealed as a fact, is beyond our understanding as to mode;
(3) that which, even when revealed, we know only in part;
(4) that which, disclosed in symbol, will be interpreted by the explanation of the word or the event;
(5) that which, though complete in the Divine mind, is only unrolled, piece by piece, before us;
(6) that which, from its nature, can only be disclosed to those who are in a fit state of mind to receive it, and which, to others, must remain shrouded in concealment. In one or other of these senses Scripture speaks of the mystery of the seven stars, (Rev_1:20) of the kingdom of heaven, (Mar_4:11) of the resurrection, (1Co_15:51) of the gospel, (1Co_2:7) of the proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles, (Eph_3:3) of the union of Christ and his people, (Eph_5:32) of the final completion of the Church, (Eph_1:9) of the Person of Christ, (1Ti_3:16) of the Christian faith, (1Ti_3:9) of the intricacies of sin, (2Th_2:7 Rev_17:5) of the purposes of God. (Rev_10:7) This last is the one referred to in the text. It is something of which there is a complete and perfect plan in the mind of God, but of which we see only a part before our eyes. The future depends on the will of God. And who can discern that? "What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." And our finite minds could not take in the entire plans of an infinite mind. A large part must needs be concealed; not merely because the book does not disclose all, but because we could not apprehend all.
II THE PHRASE WHICH AT FIRST SUGGESTS PAINFUL PERPLEXITY HAS A DESCRIPTIVE TERM ATTACHED TO IT, WHICH AT ONCE RELIEVES AND INSPIRES. Before us is "mystery." But it is God"s mystery! To him it stands, forth distinctly and clearly, without a fringe of haze. From him the entire providential plan emanates. With his full knowledge of consequences, sin was permitted to intrude. The entire control of all is ever in his hands. The diadems of royalty never fall from his brow, nor does the sceptre of dominion ever tremble in his hand. "The government is on his shoulder." And though the book speaks of it relatively to us, as his mystery, yet to him it is no mystery at all.
III THE MAIN FEATURE OF THIS MYSTERY IS THAT IT IS ONE OF GOOD TIDINGS; i.e. it is the gospel mystery (wv euhggelise). As we remarked before (homily on Revelation 5), when the seven-sealed book is opened by the Lamb, it is clear that the unfoldings of providence become the unveilings of grace. Over and above the scheme of moral government, there is set this plan of redeeming love; and the wheels of time are rolling on and speeding forward to work out the great salvation, of which one sentence will sum up the outcome, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound!
IV THE MYSTERY WILL UNFOLD ITSELF ON THE LINES LAID DOWN BY THE PROPHETS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. "According to the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets." It has been thus hitherto. History has thus far developed according to the sayings of Moses and the prophets. Moses, in his words to the children of Israel, foretold what would happen to the Jewish people in after ages if they were unfaithful to their God. The twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy is being fulfilled to this day. So also, in the several prophets, there is sketched a ground plan of "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow;" e.g. in the well known fifty-third of Isaiah there is not one single word which we are at a loss to verify, as we put side by side what Old Testament seers foretold and what New Testament evangelists and apostles declare. Further on, we read our Lord"s predictions concerning the fall of Jerusalem. They have been fulfilled. History is thus the repeated fulfilment of prophecy. What has been will be again. And with no misgiving we declare that what is yet to be witnessed on earth will correspond with the prophetic words of the apostles and prophets of our Lord and Saviour. We are looking for, "the blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ.
V THE TIME OF THE END IS FORESEEN. When the seventh angel is about to sound then the mystery of God would be finished; i.e. as far as the plan of providence is indicated in the book of prophecy, it will be consummated. The "end" will be this: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." But let us not forget the sense in which this word "finished" is, must be, intended. It cannot mean that from that point God will reduce all to a blank, or become inactive, or cause the glory of redemption to be no more. Ah no! We cannot doubt that the advance will be still from glory to glory. But the mystery will be finished, as far as God hath seen fit to tell us in his Word. "Finished, according to the good tidings," etc. These give at once the intent and the limitation of the mystery which is thus to be "finished." Revelation is bounded both ways, back and front. We know nothing prior to that beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. We know nothing later than "the end, when" Christ "shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all.
VI THIS FORECAST RECEIVES VAST ADDITIONAL WEIGHT FROM THE GLORY OF THE BEING BY WHOM THIS DISCLOSURE IS MADE. He is "a mighty angel." He appears in the name of Heaven; and is invested with the insignia of majesty, pomp, and might. There is a sevenfold symbolism here. He is "arrayed with a cloud at once the sign of the Divine presence, and a symbol of the mystery which surrounds the throne. There is "a rainbow upon his head the token of the covenant of peace. His face is "as the sun pure and bright with the burning blazing light of holiness. His feet are "as pillars of fire;" by his tread he puts down sin; with fire, he burns it up. He has in his hand "a little book open." This is strikingly different from the sealed book which only the Lamb could open. The open book contains the message which the apostle is to declare. He set his right foot upon the sea, etc., standing sublimely in possession of both in the name of Heaven. He cried with a great voice, as a lion roareth. His voice is full of strength. He lifts up his right hand to heaven, and swears by him that liveth forever and ever that there shall be no more delay. Long as the time may seem to be during which the world rolls round wearily with its burden of sin, when a certain point of time is reached, "a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." The consummation will be delayed not a moment too long, and the honour, majesty, and might of Heaven are pledges of the fulfilment of the word.
VII WHEN THE MYSTERY OF GOD IS FINISHED, WHERE SHALL WE BE? Finished it will be. "The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." As surely as at the end of one cycle of events the Saviour cried, "It is finished!" so surely when another cycle has run its round will there come another, "It is done!" The Author of our faith is also its Finisher. The Redeemer"s cross finished the mystery of the old covenant; his crown shall finish the mystery of the new covenant. Anti when the end cometh we shall be where? We shall stand in "our lot" at the end of the days. But what will our lot be? With the righteous or with the wicked? For then the distinction will be manifest. No one will then be in doubt as to his own posit on before God. Surely it is of infinite moment to us that, when the mystery of God is finished, we should be on the right side. There is, indeed, a smaller "mystery of God" which is working out. "Every man"s life is a plan of God" (Bushnell). "I girded thee though thou hast not known me." God is working it out according to his gospel. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," etc. And amid the "wreck of matter and the crash of worlds" we shall want a Friend in whom we can repose amid all the convulsions that shake this globe. There is One and One only, of whom it is eternally true, "Thou art the same." That One is Jesus. He says to us, "Him that cometh I will in no wise cast out." Here, then, let us cling. He will not let us go, nor let us be harmed, though this earth be burned up. In him is everlasting rest. "Then let the earth"s old pillars shake, And all the wheels of nature break; Our steady souls should fear no more Than solid rocks when billows roar!
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN Vers. 1-7. The word of assurance and consolation.
The Book of the Revelation is written for the comfort of the Church in presence of her oppressing foes. It is designed to sustain the faithful people in well doing, when the severities of cruel dealing make their lot hard and almost unendurable. Their patience is often severely tried; sometimes it has yielded under heavy pressure. Here is afforded another word of promise which is calculated to sustain the faint of heart. A vision is granted of" a strong angel" who brings assured promise of a certain and even speedy termination of the time of suffering and of struggle. "The mystery of God, according to the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets," shall be "finished." This is the encouragement to hope; and to the Church in the early times, under the pressure of her first destructive persecutions, this would be a word of the utmost comfort. It is the re-echo of "Behold, I come quickly." This word of consolation is of great preciousness and help to the suffering Church; for
I IT IS GIVEN BY THE LORD HIMSELF. The strong angel "coming down out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud," can be none other than the Lord himself. The surrounding symbols are his, and his alone. "The rainbow was upon his head;" "his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire." It is the reflection of the Divine glory in Christ. When he cries the seven thunders utter their voices, and his great voice was "as a lion roareth." From the word of such a one the Church may always gather the utmost comfort.
II IT GIVES THE PROSPECT AND PLEDGE OF RELEASE. The suffering Church writhes in its anguish; but a definite limit is put to the days of sorrow. "In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound." This is not indefinite and uncertain: "There shall be time no longer there shall be no more delay. Relief is certain and speedy. This is assured by oath, even by the voice of the angel who "sware by him that liveth forever 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." This oath is for truest confirmation.
III The word of consolation and promise IS GIVEN IN THE MOST SOLEMN AND ASSURING MANNER. This seen in the whole vision the person, attitude, message, oath, and surrounding testimonies.
IV IT IS THE TRUEST, THE UTMOST ENCOURAGEMENT TO HOPE. Upon this vision the Church should ever reflect in the time of suffering and fear. It is possible patiently to endure and hold out when a definite and assured prospect and pledge of relief is given. The words, "declared to his servants the prophets," shall have their fulfilment; "the mystery" shall be "finished. R. G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 8 I saw another mighty angel … clothed with a…
Rev_10:1-7
I saw another mighty angel … clothed with a cloud.
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The word of assurance and consolation
The Book of Revelation is written for the comfort of the Church in presence of her oppressing foes. This word of consolation is of great preciousness and help to the suffering Church; for--
I. It is given by the Lord Himself. The strong angel coming down out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud, can be none other than the Lord Himself. The surrounding symbols are His, and His alone. The rainbow was upon His head; His face was as the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire. It is the reflection of the Divine glory in Christ. When He cries the seven thunders utter their voices, and His great voice was as a lion roareth. From the word of such a one the Church may always gather the utmost comfort.
II. It gives the prospect and pledge of release. The suffering Church writhes in its anguish; but a definite limit is put to the days of sorrow. In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound. This is not indefinite and uncertain: There shall be time no longer--there shall be no more delay. Relief is certain and speedy. This is assured by oath, even by the voice of the Angel who 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. This oath is for truest confirmation.
III. The word of consolation and promise is given in the most solemn and assuring manner. This is seen in the whole vision--the person, attitude, message, oath, and surrounding testimonies.
IV. It is the truest, the utmost encouragement to hope. Upon this vision the Church should ever reflect in the time of suffering and fear. It is possible patiently to endure and hold out when a definite and assured prospect and pledge of relief is given. The words, declared to His servants the prophets, shall have their fulfilment; the mystery shall be finished. (R. Green.)
Aspects of Christ
1. The gospel and Church of Christ has mighty enemies, such as princes and the great men of the earth. Yet here is her comfort, that she has a mighty Angel, even that great Angel of the Covenant, Christ Jesus, the Almighty God, for her, to deliver her and confound her enemies, in the height of their pride.
2. By this mighty Angels coming down from heaven we see whence and whereby shall be the ruin of antichrist, to wit, not from the earth or the arm of flesh, but from heaven and the heavenly power of the Word of God.
3. He comes clothed with a cloud, to show the manner of His manifestation to His Church in His Word and sacraments, and that her knowledge of Him on earth is but obscure and only in part.
4. By the rainbow on His head we see that He comes to His Church with peace, and the assurance of the covenant thereof; and so shall He come in like manner to every humbled soul.
5. His face is said to be as the sun, whereby we see that as antichrist comes with darkness and the smoke of error, so on the contrary Christ comes ever with the light and brightness of truth.
6. His feet as pillars of fire, to tread down and consume His enemies, serve as a just and dreadful terror to His foes, but as a sweet and singular comfort to His elect ones, who are here trod upon and cruelly used. (William Guild, D. D.)
And he had in his hands a little book open.--
The little book; or, characteristics of revelation
He had in his hand a little book open.
I. The ambassador who beings it. Much may be learnt concerning any message that is sent by an earthly monarch from the character and rank and insignia which belong to the messenger. He who brings Gods message to mankind is one of no mean order, and the tokens of his authority are of the most impressive kind.
1. He comes from heaven. The Bible is not a merely human production.
2. It is mighty in its power. It was a strong angel that St. John saw, suggesting to him and to us the strength of that message which he was commissioned to bring. What trophies of its power has not the Bible won?
3. Its truths fill the soul with awe. The angel was clothed with a cloud--symbol this of the majesty and mystery that surround and invest the foundation-teachings of the Word of God.
4. But they are crowned with blessed promise and grace. The rainbow was upon his head. Though there be so much that we cannot penetrate or comprehend, nevertheless the predominant characteristic is that of grace.
5. They irradiate and illumine all our earthly life. His face was it were the sun. Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is to behold the sun (Ecc_11:7).
6. And they shall never be driven forth or removed. His feet as pillars of fire, and verse 2. He planted his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth. His invincible power is signified by the pillars of fire; and his having set his feet upon the earth and sea tells of the immovable steadfastness of the heavenly Conqueror against all the resistance of His enemies. All Church history proves this. In many ages and places it has been death to keep a copy of the sacred writings. Wherever they were found, they were ruthlessly destroyed, and often they also with whom they were found. But every copy of the Bible that we possess to-day proves how partial and ineffective all such endeavours were. Glory be to God that they were so!
II. The description given of is. A little book open.
1. A book. The Bible is not the revelation itself, but the record of it. But without the record the revelation would not have availed us. Great scorn has been poured on the idea of a book revelation,, and an immense deal of poor wit has been expended upon the idea that God should have used such mean materials as books are made of as the vehicle of His revelation of Himself. But the Bible is not the revelation, only its record; and it is reason for eternal gratitude that His revelation has been so given that it can be thus recorded. In what other way could the knowledge of God have been so well preserved or spread abroad?
2. Its seeming insignificance. It is a little book. In these days of gold and guns, when wealth and armies are thought to be the great means of accomplishing everything, the spiritual force that lies hidden in a little book counts but for little. But what hath not God wrought by it? And we may be grateful that it is little, and not a ponderous library which it would need a lifetime even to know part of, but one small volume which can be read and re-read and carried everywhere as we will. No doubt the littleness of the book here spoken of is intended to be in contrast with that vast volume told of in chap. 5., which was written within and without, so complete, so full, was it.
3. It is to be an open book. St. John saw it open in the hand of the angel. There have been and there are those who would have the Word of God closed, if not entirely, yet to large extent. God hath caused the vision to be written and made plain, so that the unlearned may learn, and the most simple comprehend.
III. The voices for and against it. We read that the angel cried with a loud voice, and that the seven thunders uttered their voices. Now--
1. The angelic voice suggests--
(1) The startling effect of the Word of God upon mankind. The angels voice was as when a lion roareth. So did the Word of God affect men. See when at the Reformation it was first freely given to Europe. How it roused mens minds, awoke them from their lethargy, nation after nation heard the sound and broke away from the superstition and sins in which they had so long lived t And it is so still.
(2) The assured persuasion it gives concerning the mystery of this present life. The solemn oath of the angel (verses 5-7) did but represent what the Word of God accomplishes. As He gave, so it gives, solemn assurance that what now is--so much of it so mournful, so full of mystery--is not ever to be, but shall have an end. Life is a mystery now, even in these comparatively calm days of ours; but what must it have appeared to the persecuted, outraged Church of St. Johns day?
2. The thunder voice (verse 4). The question comes--Whence this voice of the seven thunders? It has, we think, been too hastily assumed that St. John is referring to the sevenfold voice of the thunder mentioned in Psa_29:1-11. And, doubtless, in this book thunders are referred to as coming forth from the throne of God (cf. Rev_4:5). But the true interpretation is given, we think, in the strikingly parallel passages in Dan_8:26; Dan_12:4-9, where that which the prophet is commanded to seal up is not what God shall do, but what His peoples enemies shall do against Him and them. And so here, we believe, the thunders tell of the wrathful response, the angry mutterings of Gods enemies against His truth. And, thus regarded, they tell of the opposition the Word arouses in the world of the wicked. It has ever been so. Hence the Divine forces on the side of the Church and against her foes are what this book mainly reveals. It tells us, The Lord is on our side; we will not fear what man can do unto us.
IV. The directions concerning it. As it was with the little book so it must be with the Word of God.
1. It must be received as from God (verse 8).
2. It must be taken into the soul. This is the meaning of the strange command, Take it, and eat it up.
3. When so taken, it will produce both sorrow and joy. The first taste will be pleasant. In thy mouth sweet as honey. And it is so. Is it not a joy that we have a revelation from God at all; that we are assured God is our Father which art in heaven; that our salvation is without money and without price, for that Christ died for us? Yes; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb are these precious truths. But the after-taste will cause distress and pain. Witness the Saviours tears over lost souls, and the like tears shed still by those who know the fellowship of His sufferings. That men should resist and reject such a Saviour; that we should so long have done so, and do not yet wholly receive Him--yes, this after-taste hath pain.
4. When eaten, it qualifies for witness-bearing for God (verse 11). This is the real qualification, this deep experimental knowledge of the power of Gods Word. All else is a naught compared with this. Only such God ordains to be His prophets. Thus doth this little book, though it meant not the Bible, tell of the Bible. (S. Conway, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1
CHAPTER V I I.
FIRST CONSOLATORY VISION.
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Rev_10:1-11.
AT the point now reached by us the regular progress 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 Rev. 10, the second in Rev_11:1-13. At Rev_11:14 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 lifted up his right hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth forever 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 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 angels 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 (Rev_10:1-11)."
Many questions of deep interest, and upon which the most divergent opinions have been entertained, meet us in connection 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 endeavoring 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.
1. Like almost all else in the Revelation of St. John, the vision is founded upon a passage of the Old Testament. "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."* (* Eze_2:9; Eze_3:4)
2. In one expression of Rev_10:6 it is doubtful whether the translation of the Authorized and Revised Versions, 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 employed 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 (1Comp. Rev_6:11; Rev_20:3; 2 Rom_9:28).
3. The last verse of the chapter deserves our attention 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,* we read only once again of prophesying: when it is said in Rev_11:3 of the two witnesses that they shall prophesy. A comparison 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. (*Comp. Rev_1:3; Rev_22:7; Rev_22:10; Rev_22:18-19)
From these subordinate points we hasten to questions more immediately concerning us in our effort to understand 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 only once before - in Rev_5:2, in connection 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. 5 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 judgment.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 Rev_4:3, 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 Rev_1:16, 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 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 Rev_1:15, "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 connection 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. Here, therefore, we have the action of Him who is the Head, and King, and Lord of His Church. (1 Rev_1:7; Rev_14:14-16. In Rev_11:12 "the cloud" is the well-known cloud in which Christ ascended, and in which He comes to judgment; 2 Mat_24:30; Mar_13:26; Luk_21:27; 1Th_4:17).
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 representing the ideas of judgment and mercy as incompatible 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. 5, although the word here used for the roll, a diminutive from the other, may suggest the idea that there is an intimate connection between the two books, and that the second, like the first, is full of judgment Other circumstances mentioned 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. 5. 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 particulars 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. 5, it may also include in it the preservation of the saints.
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 consolatory visions - that in chap. 11 - brings out the victory and triumph of a faithful remnant of believers within a degenerate, though professing, Church. How probable does it become that the first consolatory vision - that in chap. 10 - 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 die 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 judgment upon these foes, and of a glorious issue for the true members of Christs Body out of toil and suffering.
With this view of the contents of the little book-roll everything that is said of it appears to be in harmony.
1. We thus at once understand why it is named by a diminutive form of the word used for the book-roll in chap. 5. 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 experience 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 Christs 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 Evangelists 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 fullness we all received, and grace for grace."l 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 Joh_1:14, Joh_1:16; 2 Joh_2:22)
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 fullness 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."* 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, accordingly, 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 purification 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 was thus an appeal to Christian experience, and St. John might well be told to "eat it up." (* Joh_16:13-14)
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 compelled 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 disappoints 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 meet us in the following chapters ought neither to perplex 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 un-sympathizing 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. 5, 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.* (*Comp. Joh_10:1-15)
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 8 1–3. I saw another mighty angel come down from…
1–3. I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven. This mighty angel was seen in vision and is to be regarded as a symbol. The description is very much like that of the Son of Man in chapter 1. While the whole may signify some momentous movement the similarity of the description implies that Christ comes in that movement. Let the facts stated be observed closely. 1. He is a mighty angel. 2. He comes down from heaven, enveloped in a cloud. 3. The rainbow about his head is the symbol of hope and peace. 4. The shining of his face and feet indicate that he shall spread light and intelligence. 5. His standing on sea and land shows that his mission was to the whole world. 6. The angel holds in his hand an open book. The roll is not only unsealed, but it is unrolled so that it can be read. This open book occupies a very conspicuous place in his work. The book in the angel's hand must be an emblem of some fact. 7. The seventh fact is that when he, standing on land and sea, with the open book in his hand, cried in a loud voice, a command, or proclamation, or a call for attention, the seven thunders uttered their voices. The whole evidently signifies some mighty movement on the earth inaugurated by Christ.
The Fulfillment. —Beginning in the early part of the sixteenth century, within a short time of the date already reached, was a movement which corresponds fully to the symbols. Indeed the Reformation might be said to have begun earlier with Wicklif and Huss, but was fully inaugurated in the sixteenth century. It was a movement (1) in which Christ came in spirit; (2) a movement full of peace and hope; (3) a movement to diffuse light; (4) a movement for the whole world; (5) a movement due to the influence of the open book. The Reformation was the work of a book. Whatever the Romish clergy may pretend now, there is no doubt that before the Reformation they had taken the Bible from the people. The whole influence of the Catholic Church was opposed to its circulation, and in many instances persons have been burned for no other crime than having the Bible in their houses. The book was left sealed up in dead languages, and it was impossible for it to be read in the native tongue of any European people. This radiant angel, however, has in his hand a book open, significant of the fact that God's providence the Reformation should present the New Testament, open, to the world.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 “AND yet, notwithstanding all these calamities—last appeals from the…
THE OPEN BOOK
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
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“AND yet, notwithstanding all these calamities—last appeals from the Divine holiness to the conscience of man—men do not come to themselves. They continue to live in their idolatrous and corrupt practices. The seventh trumpet is preceded by an episode which has specially in view the destiny of Israel in the crisis which is coming on. In order clearly to indicate that we are here dealing with a scene by itself, and, as it were, isolated in the midst of the great apocalyptic drama, the author makes it the subject of a special little book, inserted within the great one. John is to eat it. This represents the most complete spiritual assimilation. This nourishment is to strengthen him for taking up again the great prophecy relating to ‘peoples and nations, and tongues and kings’ (Rev_10:11). The contents of ‘the little book,’ which are at once joyful and bitter are comprehended in Rev_11:1-13 (Godet). The ‘little book’ certainly indicates a supplementary prophecy, introducing a fuller account of the rise, progress, decline, and restoration, of Christianity, preparatory to the revelations of the seventh trumpet. This account is presented in a twofold form.
1. In the discourse of the angel (Rev_11:1-13).
2. In the visions seen by St. John, Rev_12:1-14” (W. and W.).
Rev_10:1. Another mighty angel.—This angel comes as the representative, and in the power of, Christ, to remind God’s secret ones that Christ is with them “all the days,” and will surely instruct them as to their conduct amid these calamities. Clothed with a cloud.—The token always of the Divine presence. Rainbow.—Rev_4:3. Token of covenant. Sun, etc. See figures of chap. 1.
Rev_10:2. Little book.—Contrasted with the book of Rev_5:1. The attitude of the angel symbolises his taking possession of the whole world. The contents of the little book are partly given in the following chapter.
Rev_10:4. Write them not.—The idea is that some things are only for those who have ears to hear. St. John may hear and understand, but it is useless to expect others to understand. Compare our Lord’s words, “I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”
Rev_10:6. Time no longer.—Not “finite time,” as opposed to “eternity.” The idea of time here is delay. There shall be no time lost before judgment shall fall. The suffering saints had cried, “How long?” They were bidden to wait awhile. Now they are told that they will have to wait no longer.
Rev_10:7. Mystery of God.—“The whole of His plan and of His counsel concerning this earth in its present state of discipline and of imperfection—all that God means to do upon it and towards it, even till that which we read of as the “time of the end” (Dan_12:4-9).
Rev_10:9. Eat it up.—“Thoroughly consider and digest it,” “make its contents your own” (see Eze_2:8; Eze_3:3). Belly bitter, etc.—The first effect of being admitted to share in the Divine counsels is delightful, but when those counsels are known and realised, they may cause grave distress and anxiety; the Christ-like sorrow for those against whom God’s wrath is revealed, who “knew not the time of their visitation.” The devouring of the book is a figure for the thorough and eager perusal of it. What the seer learns by the reading is matter both for joy, and grief: for joy, because of the good tidings respecting the faithful disciples of Christ; of grief, because of the evils which were to come upon many who would persevere in their wickedness.
Note on the “Little Open Book.”—It is that gospel which is the sword of the Spirit, the weapon of the Church, that Word of God, open to all, hidden only from those whom the god of this world has blinded. The fallen powers may bear the key, and let loose darkening clouds of confused thought and unworthy teaching; the outer courts of the Church may be overcast; but unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness, and God’s Word has risen with new light and power upon the bewilderments and glooms of the age.—Bishop Boyd Carpenter.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v1 IN chapter a notable scene comes on the prophetic…
IN chapter a notable scene comes on the prophetic drama. It is the Crusades, which began in the tenth century, and lasted two hundred years. After Jerusalem and all Palestine fell into the hands of the Mohammedans, A.D. 637, and all the Christians who would not turn Moslem and exchange the Bible for the Koran were either killed or driven out of Asia, consequently, the wilds of Europe became the asylum of the Lord’s people. Of course, the saints turned pilgrims by thousands and thronged the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem. How they loved to linger on Calvary and about the holy sepulcher! When I was there in 1895, I saw multitudes of pilgrims, representing many different nationalities. I myself was a pilgrim. So many Armenian pilgrims come to Jerusalem that they have a convent on Mt. Zion, which accommodates eight thousand. While these pilgrims were so intensely grieved to see the patrimony of our Savior, the manger of His nativity, the holy sepulcher, Mt. Calvary, all Jerusalem, and the Holy Land in possession of the infidels, the cruel Moslems treated them very roughly, and often killed them without the slightest provocation. Therefore, a deep conviction settled down on Christian Europe that it was their duty to go and drive the Mahometans out of the Holy Land. The pope of Rome approved and blessed the enterprise, commissioning Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless, two red-hot holiness cranks, to traverse all Europe, everywhere preaching the Crusades. The Continent was shaken with the momentum of an earthquake. It seemed that all Christendom would rise up and volunteer in these holy wars, responsive to the cause of these fire-baptized heralds, and march away into Asia to drive the infidels out of the Holy Land. Thus all Christendom united to drive the Turks out of the Holy Laud. They fought two hundred years, and lost two millions of lives, only in the end to succumb to hopeless defeat, and retreat crestfallen out of Asia without the vaguest hope of ever recovering the patrimony of our Savior. However, by terrible dint of arms and tremendous slaughter, they did capture Jerusalem and hold it seventy years. When I was there I saw much of their works. Quite a number of monuments and edifices, built by the Crusaders eight hundred years ago, are still to be seen at Jerusalem. Godfrey of Bouillon, a most amiable Christian character was the heroic leader of the Crusaders when they took Jerusalem. I saw and handled his sword while in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Yet the Moslems never ceased to fight. They continued to come from the ends of the earth and fight the Christians with desperation, till they drove them out of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Though all Christendom, united in a two-hundred-years’ war, signally failed to conquer the Turk, God in due time will kill him. Dan 8:25: He shall be broken without hand.” Eight hundred years have rolled away, and the prophecies haste in their fulfillment. The Turk is doomed!
In this chapter, the Angel of Revelation holds up a little open book. John, who represents the Church. is thrilled with enthusiasm to take it and respond to its contents. The Angel of Apocalypse gives him the most solemn warning. Standing with one foot on land and the other on sea, he, with uplifted hand, swears by Him that liveth forever and ever (not as your English reads, “Time shall be no more,” but as Dr. Clarke gives it), “The time is not yet.” Of this rendering we have an indubitable confirmation in the 7th verse, where the Holy Ghost says:” The mystery of God was finished in the seventh trumpet;” The Crusades took place in the sixth trumpet, whereas, the Holy Land is to be restored, the Jews converted, and the Lord come to reign in the seventh trumpet. “As He preached to His servants the prophets.” A universal conviction settled down on the Christian world that the Lord would come at the close of the tenth century, believing that He would come to Jerusalem, and there establish His millennial throne. Therefore, they wanted to be at Jerusalem to greet with shouts their descending Lord, and enjoy His glorified presence. Consequently, they determined to go and drive out the infidel Moslems and purify the city of Islam idolatry before the Lord should come. Here the notable dialogue between the angel representing the Divine administration, standing with one foot on the sea and the other on land, holding in his right hand the open book of prophecy, and John, the representative of the Lord’s people, supervenes. The angel adds to his proclamation all the solemnities of an oath, certifying that the time is not yet arrived for Jerusalem to be delivered, the Moslem power driven out of the Holy Land, and the King of Glory to descend on His throne; that these wonderful prophecies will not be fulfilled till the seventh trumpet sounds. The prophet, in his incorrigible enthusiasm, literally burns with celestial ardor to take the book out of the hand of the angel, read, and obey the prophecy, the angel having solemnly sworn that the time for these wonderful fulfillments has not yet come; but positively asseverates that the impatient Church must wait till the seventh trumpet sounds before she can possess the Holy Land, drive out the Mohammedans, and hail her descending King. We must remember this was in the midnight of the Dark Ages, when not one man in a thousand could read or write, and even the Lord’s holy people, as a matter of necessity, were profoundly ignorant and superstitious. They had this prophecy, but understood it not; otherwise, they would never have undertaken the Crusades. But when the angel sees they will go into the Crusades, he says: “Take the book and eat it up; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth sweet as honey.” John certifies that he did take the book and eat it up.. While eating it, it was sweet as honey in his mouth; but afterwards it awfully embittered and nauseated his stomach. John here is simply testifying for the Church. The Crusades were not only premature, but out of the Divine order. When the infidel Turk has finished his career, and adequately castigated the fallen Church, God will kill him (Dan 8:25). All Christendom united and fought two hundred years to drive the Turk out of the Holy Land, and signally failed, having depopulated Europe and left a million of her best citizens to bleach their bones on Asiatic soil.
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Thus out of the Holy Land the Christians are driven by the Turks, after an exterminating war of two hundred years. The final defeat of the Crusaders fell with paralyzing and deadening shock on all Christendom. When the sad news of Jerusalem’s recapture by the Saracens reached Rome, Pope Urban fell dead. God was not ready for Turkdom to fall. Hence it stood against the combined powers of Christendom. Eight hundred years of castigatory judgments and forlorn hope have passed away. Glory to God, the day is breaking, and the Sun of righteousness will soon rise upon the world with healing in His wings! Never did the world know such revival tornadoes as swept all Christendom while Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless, commissioned by the pope to preach the Crusades to all nations, moved like cyclones of fire throughout all Europe. Then the book was sweet in the mouth. After two hundred years of war, pestilence, and famine, impoverishing Europe, and slaying two millions of inhabitants, the last hope of recovering the Holy Land sank into the eclipse of rayless night. Then the book was hitter in the stomach.
11. This verse farther confirms the oath of the angel, certifying that the end of the age is not yet, as that was in the sixth trumpet; but it is reserved for the seventh trumpet to proclaim the end of the Gentile Age, the reoccupancy of the Holy Land by the Lord’s people, the castigatory judgments of the Almighty against a wicked world and a fallen Church, and the return of the glorified Savior, to sit on His millennial throne. In this verse we see that the Apocalyptic prophet is yet to deliver his message “to many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
This whole tenth chapter is parenthetical between the two great periods of Mussulman conquest. The glorious victory achieved by Christendom in the battle of Tours, France, under the heroic leadership of Charles Martel, was like life from the dead. A hundred and fifty years had rolled away, during which victory had constantly perched upon the Crescent, while the Cross had everywhere trailed in the dust. The Moslem was sanguine upon the conquest of all Europe, which would have exterminated Christendom from the earth. So alarming were the conquests of Asia, Africa, and Spain, that all Europe trembled in fearful anticipation of what seemed to be inevitable doom. The victory of Tours was really a sunburst on all Christendom, and for the first time rolled back the bloody tide of the Saracen wars, and inspired all Christian nations with the hope, not only of self-defense, but laid the foundation of that co-operation and enterprise which eventually led to the Crusades. The final and signal defeat of the Crusaders by the Moslems, and their hopeless expulsion out of Asia, inspired the Mohammedan nations to resume their devastating and predatory wars for the extermination of Christianity and the conquest of the world.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Little Book
The Little Book
Between the sixth and seventh trumpets, as between the sixth and seventh seals, is an episode consisting of two visions. The first vision is related in this c.
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Another mighty angel (cp. Rev_5:2), depicted as clothed with God's power and mercy, which he is commissioned to minister, comes from heaven (Rev_10:1), holding a little book open in his hand. The book is different from that of Revelation 5, and contains a special revelation for St. John to make: cp. Rev_10:11 (Rev_10:2). Seven thunders utter their voices, apparently signifying that there will be a cycle of judgments not included in the seals, trumpets, and bowls (Rev_10:3), but these St. John is forbidden by the herald angel (cp. Rev_1:10) to record: cp. Dan_12:4; (Rev_10:4). The angel of Rev_10:1 (Rev_10:5) now declares (cp. Dan_12:7) that the 'little time' of Rev_6:11 shall be brought to an end (Rev_10:6) in the days of the seventh trumpet, when God's eternal purpose of salvation, the revelation of which had gladdened the prophets of both dispensations (cp. Dan_9:6, Dan_9:10; Zec_1:6; Rom_1:1), shall be fulfilled (Rev_10:7). At the command of the herald-angel, St. John takes the book (Rev_10:8), and eats it. It is sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his belly (op. Psa_119:103; Eze_2:8.; Eze_3:1.), signifying that it is sweet to him to receive God's revelation, but that its wrath and judgment fill him with sorrow (Rev_10:9.). The two angels bid him announce the contents of this new revelation, which are, probably, to be found in Revelation 12 f. (Rev_10:11).
3. Seven] RV 'the seven.'
7. Shall begin] RV 'is about.' Mystery] cp. Rom_16:25. As he hath declared] RV 'according to the good tidings which he declared.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 angel Rev 8:3; Heb 1:4, (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angel Rev 8:3; Heb 1:4, (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Rev 10:1-11.
CHAPTER 10
Rev 10:1-11.
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The proclamation of the mighty angel is the first recorded event in this parenthesis. Who is this angel? It is Christ Himself. We saw our Lord in angel’s form before the opening of the seventh seal and then He appeared in priestly dignity. Here before the sounding of the seventh trumpet He appears again in the same form, but He is called a mighty angel and we behold Him in royal dignity. The cloud, the rainbow, the face like the sun, His right foot upon the sea, the left on the earth, the voice like a lion and the seven thunders, all declare this to be correct. The hour is rapidly approaching when the kingdoms of this earth are to become His kingdom. This is seen under the seventh trumpet. And, therefore, He is seen now in this attitude of royal dignity. The words which He speaks (Rev 10:6-7) bear out this interpretation. “There shall be no longer delay.” Man’s day is about to close. The mystery of God is now to be finished, “as He hath declared to His servants, the prophets”; or in better rendering “the mystery of God also shall be completed according to the good tidings which He declared by His own servants, the prophets.” How great has been that mystery! Evil had apparently triumphed; the heavens for so long had been silent. Satan had been permitted to be the god of this age, deceiving the nations. And Israel, too, is included in this mystery. And now the time has come when the mystery of God will be completed, when the glorious messages, the good tidings of the prophets concerning Israel’s blessing and the kingdom, will be fulfilled.
But what is the little book which the angel holds in His right hand? It is not a sealed book, but open. It stands for the prophecies in the Old Testament relating especially to Israel during the time of the great tribulation, which is yet to come upon the earth, culminating in the personal and glorious appearing of the Lord to begin His millennial reign.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 8 The Seer Eats a Book.
The Seer Eats a Book.
The angel with the book:
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v. 1. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire;
v. 2. and he had in his hand a little book open; and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth,
v. 3. and cried with a loud voice as when a lion roareth; and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
Just as there had been, after the opening of the sixth seal, a passage full of comfort for the true believers, so we have, in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth chapters, incidents that prepare for the last great woe. There are many details in these scenes which cannot be interpreted with certainty by anyone but a prophet; however, the general trend of the narrative. is clear. In the first scene we find: And I saw another strong angel descending out of heaven, clad in a cloud, and a rainbow on his head and his face like the sun and his feet like columns of fire. One angel had been spoken of in chap. 5:2. Here was another angel, strong and mighty, with all the characteristics which pointed to a creature that either belonged to the angels of the Lord, or resembled them to such an extent as to deceive men. He comes in cloud, just as the Lord descended upon the Tabernacle and upon the Temple in the Old Testament. He has a rainbow, the emblem of peace, on his head. The radiance of his face resembles that of the sun. His feet resemble pillars of fire, just as those of Christ, the great Victor over all enemies.
Of this majestic creature the seer writes: And having in his hand a small book opened; and he placed his right foot upon the sea, but the left upon the earth, and called with a great shout like a lion roaring; and when he had called, the seven thunders spoke their thunders. in chap. 5:1 he had referred to a larger, closed book; here it is only a booklet which he sees in the hand of the angel. The colossal figure of the majestic creature bestrode land and sea, since he was possessed of great power and wanted to have his message heeded in all the wide world. For this reason also he shouted with a lion’s roaring to have his voice penetrate to the end of the world, and like a mighty echo the seven thunders rolled forth their voices in an articulate bellow like the sevenfold voices of the Lord in thunder, Psa 29:1-11.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 8, 10 General Information:
General Information:
John begins to describe a vision of a mighty angel holding a scroll. In John's vision he is viewing what is happening from earth. This takes place between the blowing of the sixth and seventh trumpets.
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He was robed in a cloud
John speaks of the angel as if he were wearing a cloud as his clothing. This expression may be understood as metaphor. However, because very unusual things were often seen in visions, it might be understood as a literally true statement in its context. (See: Metaphor)
His face was like the sun
John compares the brightness of his face with the brightness of the sun. AT: "His face was bright like the sun" (See: Simile)
his feet were like pillars of fire
The word "feet" refers to the legs. AT: "his legs were like pillars of fire" (See: Metonymy)
He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land
"He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land"
translationWords
angel
heaven
column
scroll
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11 10:1–11:14 This interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets…
10:1–11:14 This interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets is divided into two parts: (1) the seven thunders and the small scroll (10:1-11), and (2) the two witnesses (11:1-13). The interlude ends with the announcement that the second terror is finished (11:14).
10:1 another mighty angel (see 5:2; 7:2; cp. 1:12-16): This angel appears similar to the huge bronze Colossus that stood as a symbol of human power in the harbor of Rhodes for several decades before it was toppled by an earthquake in the late 200s BC. The statue still lay broken at the time that John wrote Revelation. It was about 100 feet tall and represented the sun god, Helios. The angel was surrounded by a cloud, suggesting that he dwarfed the Rhodes statue and, by implication, all idols. The rainbow over his head is a reminder that the enthroned God is encircled by a rainbow (4:3), a biblical symbol of God’s covenant with humanity (Gen 9:8-17).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.