1I saw another great and marvelous sign in the sky: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them God’s wrath is finished.2I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.
3They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations.
4Who wouldn’t fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed.”
1 I saw another great and marvelous sign in the sky: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them God’s wrath is finished.
2 I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.
3 They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations.
4 Who wouldn’t fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed.”
TYNDALETyndale New Testament (1534)
1 And I sawe another signe in heven grett and mervellous.vii. angells havynge the seven laste plages for in the is fulfylled the wrath of god.
2 And I sawe as it were a glassye see mingled with fyre and the that had gotten victory of the beest and of his ymage and of his marke and of the nombre of his name stode on the glassye see havinge the harpes of god
3 and they songe the songe of Moses the servaunt of god and the songe of the lambe sayinge. Gret and marvellous are thy workes Lorde god almyghty iuste and true are thy wayes kynge of saynctes.
4 Who shall not feare o lorde and gloryfy thy name? For thou only arte holy and all gentylls shall come and worshippe before the for thy iudgmentes are made manyfeste.
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GNVGeneva Bible (1599)
1 And I sawe another signe in heauen, great and marueilous, seuen Angels, hauing the seuen last plagues: for by them is fulfilled the wrath of God.
2 And I sawe as it were a glassie sea, mingled with fire, and them that had gotten victorie of the beast, and of his image, and of his marke, and of the number of his name, stand at the glassie sea, hauing the harpes of God,
3 And they sung the song of Moses the seruant of God, and the song of the Lambe, saying, Great and marueilous are thy workes, Lord God almightie: iust and true are thy wayes, King of Saints.
4 Who shall not feare thee, O Lord, and glorifie thy Name! for thou onely art holy, and all nations shall come and worship before thee: for thy iudgements are made manifest.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Is only God holy?Revelation 15:4 declares that God alone is holy, framing holiness as an exclusive divine attribute.
Should we fear God?The Torah, prophets, and Wisdom literature relentlessly command fear of YHWH — Deuteronomy 6:13, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Proverbs 9:10, Matthew 10:28, and Hebrews…
Psalms 86:9(v4)All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name.
Jeremiah 10:7(v4)Who shouldn’t fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you. Because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal…
Malachi 1:11(v4)For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my…
Psalms 22:27(v4)All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.
Psalms 111:2(v3)Yahweh’s works are great, pondered by all those who delight in them.
Show all 100 cross-references
Revelation 11:15(v4)The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and…
Exodus 15:1-18(v3)Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, “I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has…
Revelation 14:7(v4)He said with a loud voice, “Fear the Lord, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven, the…
Isaiah 25:3(v4)Therefore a strong people will glorify you. A city of awesome nations will fear you.
Isaiah 45:23(v4)I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked, that to me every knee shall bow, every…
Isaiah 66:22-23(v4)“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall…
Zechariah 14:16(v4)It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King,…
Revelation 4:8(vv3–4)The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying,…
Psalms 139:14(v3)I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
1 Peter 1:16(v4)because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”
Revelation 4:6(v2)Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle of the throne, and around the throne were four…
Zechariah 2:11(v4)Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that…
Revelation 16:7(v4)I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.”
Isaiah 26:9(v4)With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are in the…
Isaiah 66:18-20(v4)“For I know their works and their thoughts. The time comes that I will gather all nations and languages, and they will come, and will see…
Revelation 5:9-13(v3)They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your…
Revelation 19:2(vv3–4)for his judgments are true and righteous. For he has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and…
Psalms 89:7(v4)a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him?
Psalms 145:17(v3)Yahweh is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works.
Psalms 117:1-2(v4)Praise Yahweh, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples! For his loving kindness is great toward us. Yahweh’s faithfulness endures…
Isaiah 33:22(v3)For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us.
Hosea 14:9(v3)Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the…
Hebrews 3:5(v3)Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken,
Psalms 100:5(v3)For Yahweh is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations.
Isaiah 6:3(v4)One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
Hosea 3:5(v4)Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and…
Zechariah 9:9(v3)Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation;…
Romans 15:9(v4)and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to you among the Gentiles and sing…
Psalms 111:9(v4)He has sent redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever. His name is holy and awesome!
Zechariah 8:20-23(v4)Yahweh of Armies says: “Many peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come; and the inhabitants of one shall go to another,…
John 1:17(v3)For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Genesis 17:1(v3)When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless.
Psalms 99:9(v4)Exalt Yahweh, our God. Worship at his holy hill, for Yahweh, our God, is holy!
Habakkuk 1:12(v4)Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have…
2 Thessalonians 1:10-12(v4)when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you…
Revelation 3:7(v4)“To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one…
Revelation 12:11(v2)They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death.
Leviticus 26:21(v1)“ ‘If you walk contrary to me, and won’t listen to me, then I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins.
1 Samuel 2:2(v4)There is no one as holy as Yahweh, for there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.
Psalms 22:3(v4)But you are holy, you who inhabit the praises of Israel.
Psalms 105:7(v4)He is Yahweh, our God. His judgments are in all the earth.
Isaiah 32:1-2(v3)Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice. A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a…
Revelation 5:8(v2)Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and…
Revelation 6:10(v4)They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the…
Revelation 14:3(v3)They sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one…
Revelation 16:5-7(v3)I heard the angel of the waters saying, “You are righteous, who are and who were, O Holy One, because you have judged these things. For…
Revelation 19:1-7(v2)After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation, power, and glory…
1 Peter 1:7(v2)that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in…
Revelation 21:18(v2)The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass.
Deuteronomy 31:30–32:43(v3)Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished. Give ear, you heavens, and I will…
Isaiah 60:5(v4)Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you. The…
Matthew 3:11(v2)I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will…
Luke 12:4-5(v4)“I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom…
Revelation 15:6-7(v1)The seven angels who had the seven plagues came out, clothed with pure, bright linen, and wearing golden sashes around their breasts. One…
Daniel 4:2-3(vv1, 3)It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked toward me. How great are his signs! How mighty are…
Psalms 22:23(v4)You who fear Yahweh, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him! Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!
Psalms 99:5(v4)Exalt Yahweh our God. Worship at his footstool. He is Holy!
Revelation 7:10-11(v3)They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” All the angels were standing…
Revelation 11:17(v3)saying: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power and reigned.
Revelation 17:14(v3)These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and those who are with him…
Revelation 21:9(v1)One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, “Come…
Psalms 78:12(v3)He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
Psalms 85:10-11(v3)Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs out of the earth. Righteousness has looked…
Psalms 97:8(v4)Zion heard and was glad. The daughters of Judah rejoiced because of your judgments, Yahweh.
Psalms 99:4(v3)The King’s strength also loves justice. You establish equity. You execute justice and righteousness in Jacob.
Psalms 105:5(v3)Remember his marvelous works that he has done: his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,
Psalms 118:22-23(v3)The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is Yahweh’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.
Psalms 145:6(v3)Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts. I will declare your greatness.
Isaiah 4:4-5(v2)when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from within it, by…
Isaiah 24:15(v4)Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, even the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea!
Isaiah 45:21(v3)Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I,…
Isaiah 57:15(v4)For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, says: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a…
Jeremiah 16:19(v4)Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth,…
Daniel 6:20(v3)When he came near to the den to Daniel, he cried with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living…
Revelation 13:14–14:5(v2)He deceives my own people who dwell on the earth because of the signs he was granted to do in front of the beast, saying to those who dwell…
Revelation 19:15(v1)Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He…
1 Chronicles 6:49(v3)But Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt offering, and on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to…
2 Chronicles 24:6(v3)The king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, “Why haven’t you required of the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses the servant…
Job 5:9(v3)who does great things that can’t be fathomed, marvelous things without number;
Isaiah 9:6-7(v3)For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor,…
Jeremiah 5:22(v4)Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual…
Daniel 6:27(v1)He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”
Daniel 12:6-7(v1)One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be to the end of these wonders?” I heard the…
Micah 7:20(v3)You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
Zephaniah 3:5(v3)Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know…
Matthew 13:41-42(v1)The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do…
Revelation 14:10(v1)he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and…
Revelation 14:19(v1)The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of…
Revelation 16:1–17:1(v1)I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!” The…
Revelation 19:16(v3)He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
Exodus 15:14-16(v4)The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed.…
Daniel 12:11-12(v1)“From the time that the continual burnt offering is taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there will be one thousand…
Matthew 13:49-50(v1)So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the…
Revelation 8:6(v1)The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Revelation 10:3(v1)He cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars. When he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices.
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (112 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (32 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv1–3This is that other place of the acts of…
This is that other place of the acts of Christ, as I noted before, 14:14. Now therefore is showed a singular work of the judgment of God belonging to the overthrow of Antichrist and his forces of which divine work the preparation is described in this Chapter and the execution in the next. The preparation is first set down generally and in type in this verse: and is after particularly set forth in the rest of the Chapter.
Of which Rev. 8:9, in pouring forth in the plagues of the world: for even these plagues do for the most part agree with those.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv1–41 And I saw another sign in heaven, great…
1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Ver. 1. And I saw another sign] Distinct from the former, and describing the utter overthrow of Antichrist in this and the following chapters.
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Great and marvellous] A just wonder it was indeed, the miracle that we in these last times are to look for, that the kingdom of Antichrist should be so easily and suddenly overturned by the preaching of the gospel, as once the walls of Jericho were by the blowing of rams’ horns.
Seven angels] i.e. Certain chieftains of the reformed Churches.
Having the seven last plagues] Being the several parts of the seventh trumpet, and said to be the last that shall in this life be inflicted; though far worse follow in hell, whereof all these are but typical. Here the leaves only (as it were) fall upon reprobates, but hereafter the whole trees. Here they pay but the interest only, but there the whole principal.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv1–4And I saw another sign in heaven, great and…
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous; that is, a representation which appeared to John great and wonderful.
Seven angels; ministers of God, used by him in the dispensations of his providence.
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Having the seven last plagues; having a commission to execute the seven last judgments of God, by which he designed to destroy antichrist.
For in them is filled up the wrath of God; for by them the wrath of God was to be executed upon him to the uttermost.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt1703 · Public DomainOn vv1–2This and the following chapter acquaints us with a…
This and the following chapter acquaints us with a fresh vision, which St. John had of the pouring forth of the vials, or the inflicting of the seven last plagues and judgments upon the world; upon the Heathen world, say some; upon the antichristian world, say most; I saw seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God; where, by seven angels, understand the ministers and executioners of the wrath of God; by the seven plagues, understand the last dreadful judgments that should be inflicted, which would make a final end of him, whoever he be, that they should be poured forth upon, one after another.
Where note, 1. How the patience, forbearance, and long-suffering goodness, of God, is wonderfully seen in his carriage towards sinners; though he punishes the wicked sometimes, to let them see that his justice is not asleep, yet he doth not stir up all his wrath, nor poureth it out all at once upon them, but gradually; desirous of and waiting for their repentance, even when he has begun in justice to punish them.
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Note, 2. Whereas it is said, in them (that is, in the present seven plagues) is filled up the wrath of God; we learn, what final impenitency, and incorrigibleness under former judgments, will produce at last; namely, judgment to the uttermost: ripeness in sin will at last make men ripe for ruin; and when they have filled up the measure of their sins, God will fill up the measure of his wrath; in them is filled up the wrath of God.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v1Here we have the preparation of matters for the…
Here we have the preparation of matters for the pouring out of the seven vials, which was committed to seven angels; and observe how these angels appeared to the apostle - in heaven; it was in a wonderful manner, and that upon account, 1. Of the work they had to do, which was to finish the destruction of antichrist. God was now about to pour out his seven last plagues upon that interest; and, as the measure of Babylon's sins was filled up, they should now find the full measure of his vindictive wrath. 2. The spectators and witnesses of this their commission: all that had gotten the victory over the beast, etc. These stood on a sea of glass, representing this world, as some think, a brittle thing, that shall be broken to pieces; or, as others, the gospel covenant, alluding to the brazen sea in the temple, in which the priests were to wash (the faithful servants of God stand upon the foundation of the righteousness of Christ); or, as others, the Red Sea, that stood as it were congealed while the Israelites went through; and, the pillar of fire reflecting light upon the waters, they would seem to have fire mingled with them; and this to show that the fire of God's wrath against Pharaoh and his horses should dissolve the congealed waters, and destroy them thereby, to which there seems to be an allusion by their singing the song of Moses, in which, (1.) They extol the greatness of God's works, and the justice and truth of his ways, both in delivering his people and destroying their enemies. They rejoiced in hope, and the near prospect they had of this, though it was not yet accomplished. (2.) They call upon all nations to render unto God the fear, glory, and worship, due to such a discovery of his truth and justice: Who shall not fear thee? Rev 15:4.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv1–4And I saw another sign in heaven, great and…
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous,.... This chapter is a preparation to the pouring out of the seven vials, as Rev 16:1 is to the sending of the seven epistles, and Rev 2:1 to the seven seals and seven trumpets: the vision is called a "sign", because what was seen was significative of future events; a sign of the coming of Christ, of his kingdom, and of the destruction of antichrist; and it is said to be a sign "in heaven", where John was called up, and where he had his visions; and it was "another", a different one from that in Rev 12:1 which represented the downfall of Paganism, but this the downfall of Popery; and it is a very "great" one, it is expressive of great things, as the fall of Babylon the great, or the judgment of the great whore, and the great glory of the church and kingdom of Christ; and it is "marvellous", for the two grand events it respects are very wonderful; as that antichrist, who was once in such power, should be destroyed, and that by such weak means, in the esteem of men, as the preaching of the Gospel, which is no less marvellous than the fall of Jericho by the sound of rams' horns; and that the church, which was in so low an estate in the wilderness, for the space of 1260 days or years, should become so glorious. The vision follows,
seven angels, having the seven last plagues; these are not the same angels that blew the seven trumpets, for they are not contemporary with them, but are more likely the same with those in the preceding chapter; though they seem rather to be different from them: if these were angels literally understood, their having plagues is no objection to their being good angels, since such are often the executioners of God's wrath; and that these good ones, appears from one of them talking with John, and showing him the judgment of antichrist, and another the bride, the Lamb's wife, and her glory, Rev 17:1 though they seem rather to be the ministers of the Gospel, since they are said to come out of the temple, Rev 15:6 and since the destruction of antichrist will be by the breath of Christ's mouth, or by the preaching of the Gospel; unless it should be thought that members of churches are designed, since these angels receive their vials from one of the four living creatures, Rev 15:7 or preachers of the word; and may denote some very principal men, as kings, who will now be come to Zion, and be members of Gospel churches, and will be the nursing fathers and protectors of them; and these will hate the whore, and burn her flesh with fire; but of these angels, see more on Rev 15:6. They are said to have "the seven last plagues"; that is, in their vials; for these seven plagues are the same with the seven vials of the wrath of God, to be poured out upon antichrist; and are no other than so many steps, ways, and means, by which God will bring on and finish his destruction: these are called the last plagues, because they will be in the last days: there have been plagues before, as at the destruction of the old world, and of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the plagues of Egypt, and the downfall of several monarchies and kingdoms, and of Paganism in the Roman empire; but these will fall upon antichrist, and will be the last upon him, for they will issue in his utter ruin; they will be the last plagues upon the earth, there will be no other after them, but the conflagration of the world, and the general destruction of the wicked in hell. These plagues are the same with the third woe, and are an explanation of it, and belong to the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which brings in the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms of Christ, and the time of God's wrath upon the nations, or Gentiles, the Papists, and of judging the dead, and destroying them that destroyed the earth, Rev 11:15 for these plagues do not follow upon the harvest and vintage, nor has this vision any respect to them, nor to be connected with the preceding chapter, but with Rev 11:1 and gives an enlarged view, both of the glory of Christ's kingdom, and of the ruin of antichrist, by these plagues, called the last:
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for in them is filled up the wrath of God; upon the beast, and his followers.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv1–3And I saw seven holy angels having the seven…
And I saw seven holy angels having the seven last plagues - Before they had the phials, which were as instruments whereby those plagues were to be conveyed. They are termed the last, because by them the wrath of God is fulfilled - Hitherto. God had born his enemies with much longsuffering; but now his wrath goes forth to the uttermost, pouring plagues on the earth from one end to the other, and round its whole circumference. But, even after these plagues, the holy wrath of God against his other enemies does not cease, chap. xx, 15.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv1–4The seven angels with the seven last plagues, 1.
CHAPTER XV.
The seven angels with the seven last plagues, 1.
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The sea of glass, and those who had a victory over the beast, 2.
The song of Moses and the Lamb, 3, 4.
The temple in heaven opened, 5.
Seven angels come out of the temple, who receive from one of
the four living creatures seven golden vials full of the wrath
of God, 6-8.
NOTES ON CHAP. XV.
Verse 1. Seven angels having the seven last plagues] Under the emblems of harvest and vintage God's judgments on the enemies of his Church have already been pointed out: but these are farther signified by the seven vials, which are called the seven last plagues of God. The seven last plagues appear to fall under the seventh and last trumpet. As the seventh seal contained the seven trumpets, so the seventh trumpet contains the seven vials. And as seven angels sounded the seven trumpets, so seven angels are appointed to pour out the seven vials, angels being always the ministers of Providence. This chapter contains the opening vision which is preparatory to the pouring out of the vials.
The Targum of Jonathan on Isa 51:17, Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury, uses the same words employed by the evangelist here: "Jerusalem, thou hast received from the face of the Lord the cup of his wrath; ית פילי כסא דלוטא yath pailey casa dilvata, "the PHIALS of the cup of malediction " find again on Isa 51:22: I will take out of thy hand the cup of malediction; ית פילי כסא דחמתי yath PAILEY casa dechemti, "the PHIALS of the cup of my indignation."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv1–2Rev 15:1. And I saw a sign in heaven,…
Rev 15:1. And I saw a sign in heaven, great and marvellous — Such as fixed my attention, and will demand that of the reader: seven angels (doubtless holy angels) having the seven last plagues — Hitherto God had borne with his enemies with much longsuffering, but now his wrath will go forth to the uttermost. But even after these plagues the holy wrath of God against his other enemies does not cease, Rev 20:15.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv1–4And I saw another sign in heaven - Another…
And I saw another sign in heaven - Another wonder or extraordinary symbol. The word “sign” here - σημεῖον sēmeion - is the same which in Rev 12:1, Rev 12:3; Rev 13:13, is rendered “wonder” and “wonders,” and in Rev 13:14; Rev 16:14; Rev 19:20, “miracles.” The word is not found elsewhere in the Book of Revelation, though it is of frequent occurrence in other parts of the New Testament. See it explained in the notes on Rev 12:1. Here it is used to denote something wonderful or marvelous. This is represented as appearing in heaven, for the judgments that were to fall upon the world were to come thence. Compare Rev 11:19; Rev 12:1; Rev 14:1, Rev 14:6,Rev 14:13-14, Rev 14:17.
Great and marvelous - Great and wonderful, or suited to excite admiration - θαυμαστὸν thaumaston. The subsequent statements fully justify this, and show that the vision was one of portentous character, and that was suited to hold the mind in astonishment.
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Seven angels - Compare the notes on Rev 1:4.
Having the seven last plagues - The article here, “the seven last plagues,” would seem to imply that the plagues referred to had been before specified, or that it would be at once understood what is referred to. These plagues, however, have not been mentioned before, and the reason why the article is used here seems to be this: the destruction of this great anti-Christian power had been distinctly mentioned, Rev. 14. That might be spoken of as a thing now well known, and the mention of it would demand the article; and as that was well known, and would demand the article, so any allusion to it, or description of it, might be spoken of in the same manner, as a thing that was definite and fixed, and hence, the mention of the plagues by which it was to be accomplished would be referred to in the same manner. The word “plagues” - πληγὰς plēgas, from, πληγή plēgē - means properly a wound caused by a stripe or blow, and is frequently rendered “stripe” and “stripes,” Luk 12:48; Act 16:23, Act 16:33; 2Co 6:5; 2Co 11:23. It does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament, except in the Book of Revelation. In this book it is rendered “wound” in Rev 13:3, Rev 13:12, Rev 13:14; and plagues in Rev 9:20; Rev 11:6; Rev 15:1, Rev 15:6,Rev 15:8; Rev 16:9, Rev 16:21; Rev 18:4, Rev 18:8; Rev 21:9; Rev 22:18. It does not occur elsewhere. The secondary meaning of the word, and the meaning in the passage before us, is “a stripe” or “blow inflicted by God”; calamity or punishment. The word “last” means those under which the order of things here referred to would terminate; the winding up of the affairs respecting the beast and his image - not necessarily the closing of the affairs of the world. Important events were to occur subsequent to the destruction of this anti-Christian power Rev. 19–22, but these were the plagues which would come finally upon the beast and his image, and which would terminate the existence of this formidable enemy.
For in them is filled up the wrath of God - That is, in regard to the beast and his image. All the expressions of the divine indignation toward that oppressive and persecuting power will be completed or exhausted by the pouring out of the contents of these vials. Compare notes on Rev 10:7, where the word rendered “filled up” - ἐτελέσθη etelesthē - is rendered “finished.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv1–3I saw....seven Angels, having the seven last plagues. Many…
I saw....seven Angels, having the seven last plagues. Many by these understand chastisements that will fall upon the wicked a little before the end of the world, and so take these plagues and vials that are poured out, in the next chapter, mostly in a literal sense. Others apply them to different calamities that happened to heathen Rome; but the applications are so different, that they serve to convince us how uncertain they are. In the mean time St. John seems to repeat the same things in a different manner, and some times by way of anticipation, as here the saints are introduced rejoicing, in view of that happiness in heaven which is prepared for them. (Witham) --- Here is a new vision, great and wonderful, seven Angels holding the figurative symbols of seven plagues. They are called the last, because in them is completed the wrath of God, being inflicted on mankind in the last period of the world, the period of Christianity. The first of these scourges takes place shortly after the commencement of the Christian era, and the seventh puts an end to the world. (Pastorini)
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 Darby1862 · Public DomainOn v1Revelation Chapter 15
Revelation Chapter 15
Chapter 15 is a new vision. It unrolls before the prophet another scene, the last plagues or judgments of God, and specially that of Babylon, before Christ comes. The main object of the vision was the seven angels, having the seven last plagues; but, as ever, the saints who have to do with this scene are seen in security before the judgments begin. They have been purified, but have come through the fire of tribulation too. They stand on a sea mingled with fire. They have belonged to the time when the beast and his image were in power, but they had got the victory over it. They seemed perhaps to have succumbed-- it was real victory.
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Their song is very peculiar. The song of Moses is triumph over the power of evil by God’s judgments. The song of the Lamb is the exaltation of the rejected Messiah, of the suffering One, like whom they had suffered; for it is the slain remnant amidst unfaithful and apostate Israel whom we find here. The song celebrates God and the Lamb, but by victorious sufferers who belong to heaven. What they celebrate are the works of Jehovah Elohim Shaddai (the God of the Old Testament), but who has manifested Himself in judgment, known by His works that are public for the people. He shewed His ways unto Moses, His works unto the children of Israel. His works are celebrated now. They are the works of Jehovah Elohim Shaddai, the Judge of all the earth. But His ways are celebrated too. There was intelligence of them, as far at least as righteous judgment went. These ways in judgment were just and true. Israel would understand deliverance, and how it came; but Moses knew God’s ways. But this is all. It is not merely celebration of qualities and attributes, as the angels do, nor the full knowledge of God’s work in salvation by the blood of the Lamb. It is not the heart going up in the sense of its own relationship, but a celebration of the glory of the Lord, who would now be worshiped by the nations for His judgments were manifested. It was intelligence when judgments were manifested, not when all was yet to be learned within the veil.
This celebration of what was just bursting forth being made, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened, not merely the temple with the ark of the covenant seen. That secured the result for faith, when evil was raging in power on earth; the ark of God’s covenant secured Israel. It was a testimony opened out, not a covenant which secured in the hour of evil, but a testimony which made good what the ark of the covenant secured; for the temple was opened, and the messengers of judgment came forth-God’s judgment for the restoration and blessing, of Israel, by the judgment of the Gentiles and all who corrupted the earth. Cleanness in God’s sight and divine righteousness, characterised and animated this judgment-clean linen pure and white, and golden girdles: I apprehend the former, in answer to corruption in what should have had this-Babylon. (compare Rev 19:8.) That is, it was a judgment which required it, and was according to it, and also to divine righteousness. It is not brass burning in the fire-simply execution of judgment in dealing with men, though that took place-but God making good His own nature and character against corruption, the essential character of the eternal God, which the assembly ought to have displayed; whereas Babylon was entirely the contrary, and the beast too. The seven angels judge all according to these characters of God, because it was really the avenging of what God was, as fully revealed to the assembly; but the white linen refers, I doubt not, specially to Babylon, though the men with the mark of the beast would come under the judgment. One of the four living creatures gives the vials; for it is the judicial power of God in creation, not yet the Lamb. God’s glory in judgment filled the temple; and no man could have to say to Him in worship, or approaching Him, while these plagues were executing. It was the full display of God in judgment.
The first four plagues have the same objects as the judgments of the first four trumpets-the whole circle of symbolic nature, but here directly as regards men- earth, sea, rivers, and sun; the ordered prophetic sphere of God’s dealings, the masses of peoples as such viewed as unorganized, the moral principles which give an impulse to their movements, and sovereign authority. But it is not a third here (that is, the Roman earth), but in general.
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 Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v14. Preparation, in Heaven, for the Judgment
4. Preparation, in Heaven, for the Judgment
Rev_15:1-8
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a. The Ideal Preparation
1And I saw another sign in [ins. the] heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the [om. the] seven last [om. last] plagues [ins, the last]; [,] for in them is filled up [finished] the wrath [anger]1 of God.2 2And I saw as it were a [ins. glassy] sea of glass [om. of glass] mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory [those conquering] over [from] the beast [wild-beast], and over [from] his image, and over his mark [om. and over his mark,]3 and [and] over [from] the number of his name, stand [standing] on [or by] the [ins. glassy] sea of glass [om. of glass], having the [om. the]4 harps of God. 3And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, [ins. O] Lord [,] God Almighty [,the All-Ruler]; just and true are 4thy ways, thou King of Saints [om. saints—ins. the nations].5 Who shall [or should]6 not fear thee [om. thee]7 O Lord, and glorify34 thy name? for thou only art holy (ὅσιος) 8 : for all [ins. the] nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest [were manifested].
b. The Real Preparation. Equipment of the Angels of Judgment, or the Seven Angels with the Vials of Anger
5And after that [these things] I looked [saw], and, behold, [om., behold9—ins. opened was] the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony [witness] in [ins. the] heaven was opened [om. was opened]: 6And the seven angels came out of [from] the temple, having [or that had]10 the seven plagues, clothed in [ins. linen11] pure and [and] white [glistening] linen [om. linen], and having their breasts girded [girt around the breasts] with golden girdles. 7And one of the four beasts [living-beings] gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath [anger] of God, who liveth for ever and ever [into the ages of the ages]. 8And the temple was filled with smoke12 from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man [one] was able to enter into the temple, till [until] the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled [should be finished].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
SYNOPTICAL VIEW
The fundamental idea of the whole section, Revelation 14-15, is the End-Judgment in its general form—the same Judgment which subsequently branches into the three special Judgments upon Babylon, the Beast, and Satan himself in conjunction with Gog and Magog. The fundamental idea of this first division [chs. 14, 15] of our section is the preparation of the End-Judgment, or the judgment of the Vials of Anger,13 in Heaven. Because this great judgment brings about the final decision, it is preceded by a very great and solemn preparation in Heaven, the description of which runs through two chapters, the judgments then being executed upon the earth itself, in swift succession, by the outpouring of the Vials of Anger (Revelation 16). Thus, this heavenly proleptical celebration of the End-judgment is analogous to the great proleptical celebration of the Seven Seals of world-history in chs. 4 and 5.
The anger of God is the manifestation of His love in the forth-going and predominancy of His righteousness unto judgment. God’s anger ordains death as a punishment for sin—as a reaction against the spiritual death of man, continuous disobedience or germinant apostasy (comp. the art. Zorn [anger, wrath] in Herzog’s Real-Encyklopädie). And inasmuch as anger impels apostasy, or hardening, which is but another form of apostasy, to a crisis, it conducts to eternal death through spiritual death—i. e., it manifests itself in judgment.
But as the very first manifestation of anger was but the climax of a rhythmical succession of chastisements under the reign of long-suffering (Rom_2:4-5), so also the true anger- [or wrath-] period, the great day of anger [or wrath], appears in a succession of constant augmentations.
Great, however, though the anger-judgments may be, so that they wear the aspect of endless and nameless darknesses—as, e. g., in the destruction of Jerusalem, in the fall of Constantinople,—before God they are weighed and measured, and their measure and operation are appointed them by God’s faithfulness. Thus, anger is contained in golden vials; it is so scrupulously prepared in Heaven, so pondered over, so permeated by the Divine Intelligence, that, as a heroic act of Divine reason, it embodies in itself precisely the opposite to what is described in the heathen pictures of the envy of the gods, and the might of destiny. Our remarks hold good especially in regard to the moderation and limitation of the anger-judgments for the righteous, who are oftentimes externally exposed to the same tempests as the godless—in regard to the cutting short of the troublous days, as the Lord expresses it (see Comm. on Mat_24:22); they are, however, also applicable to the operation of judgment in general.
As these Anger-Vials are, on the one hand, akin to the Trumpets, and unmistakably parallel with them (see Int., p, 86), they form, on the other hand, an antithesis to them, in that the Trumpets are predominantly exhibited in the light of judgments in order to awakening (see Rev_11:13), whilst the Vials of anger generally operate as judgments of hardening (see Rev_16:9; Rev_16:11).
The first great vision in the Heaven-picture of the end of the world is the throng of the elect centre of the Church Triumphant, representative of the Church Triumphant itself. The scene is on Mount Zion. That Mount Zion can neither be situate in Heaven, nor be geographically understood of the eminence on which the Temple stood in Jerusalem; is evident from the symbolical import of the expression. Accordingly, Mount Zion is the real State of God, in its consummation. The heavenly appearance, Rev_1:12, becomes, Rev_4:2, the sphere of the heavenly Throne. In Rev_7:9, the Church Triumphant is depicted in the process of its growth. Here we have the picture of its preliminary spiritual consummation. It is still, however, to be conceived of as in the sphere of the beyond, for only in Revelation 21. is the union between the Christian further and hither shores consummated in the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem, as the City of God, upon the earth. Then, and not till then, the complete pneumatico-corporeal transfiguration of the world, and the real resurrection, are declared. The spiritual consummation of the Church, however, is declared in this earlier passage—its blessed, secure position above the anger judgments now about to break upon the earth. The centre of the picture is formed by the Lamb. He is surrounded by 144,000 elect souls. To the query as to whether these are the same souls that appear as sealed ones in Revelation 7, we would answer: First, that the crisis of trial lies before those sealed ones, whilst these who surround the Lamb have passed it, and are, to the triumphant prophetic gaze, perfected ones, the centre, therefore, of the innumerable throng of Rev_7:9. Secondly, the symbolical import of the number 144,000 must be carefully regarded in this passage also. We need not, therefore, press the inquiry as to the identity of the two bands as individuals, but may regard as established their identity as a whole; inasmuch as the sealed elect of this world must also appear in the other world as perfected elect ones. The companions of the Lamb, therefore, are the complete number of the centre of the blessed, representing the entire Church Triumphant.14 They have the Name of Christ and the Name of the Father written on their foreheads, i. e., they are perfected confessors, and hence not such as think they must obscure the Name of the Father by the Name of the Lamb; nor are they such as act in a converse manner. That the Seer intended to represent this throng as composed exclusively of Jews is an utterly ridiculous assumption, from beginning to end. It is, however, particularly ridiculous when the designation of them as virgins is literally understood of celibacy, and the climax of absurdity is reached with the explanatory citation of the Old Testament provision, in accordance with which sexual intercourse rendered unclean for a time. For marriage itself was so far from being represented in the Old Testament as defiling, that, on the contrary, the greatest promises were attached to it. Even Mary, the Mother of our Lord, was obliged to pass through a legal purification, and the Apostle Peter was married. To attribute such a view as the above to the writer of the Apocalypse is to regard him as a dualistic ascetic. Even the Patriarchs and Prophets would, on this ground, be excluded from the number of the elect by this supposed Judaist or Judaizing non-Judaist—for the historical interpretation advances even to the latter conception of the Apocalyptist.
This great optical wonder is followed by a great auricular wonder. The new song of the consummation of the Church Triumphant bursts, in a grand harmony, from Heaven. It sounds like the roar of many waters, for it is the united praise offered to God by the redeemed peoples. It sounds like a great thunder, for it is the completed, world-refreshing revelation of God. It sounds like the harping of harpers, for all true art has entered into the service of the holy. And they sing a new song. These words seem to relate primarily to the harpers, for it is declared that they sing it before the Throne, before the four Life-shapes and before the Elders. The song, however, is not their property; it is given to them as the perfect blossom of revelation; hence it is also new—a marvel of song, which has never before been. We must not overlook the fact that the new song, like the State of God, passes through different stages of development before attaining to perfection; see chs. Rev_5:9; Rev_14:3; Rev_15:3; Rev_19:6 (comp. Exodus 15; Psa_96:1). Even the 144,000 elect must learn the song, and they alone can learn it, because it presupposes the entire depth and circuit of their experience and the whole state of their being “bought from the earth.”
They have not defiled themselves with women. It is manifest that this can be understood only symbolically, for virgins are spoken of. The symbol, however, does not consist of women themselves, but of defilement with women, by which defilement the women themselves are more particularly characterized (Pro_9:13). That illicit intercourse is here referred to, and not marriage, may be understood as a matter of course, in a Book which closes with the Bridal of the Lamb. The Biblical representation of idolatry and apostasy under the figure of harlotry is familiar to all readers of the Sacred Writings, and the idea referred to is the more obvious here, since immediately before the great apostasy has been depicted. The doing of these virgin souls was, however, founded upon their being.15 As virgins, they have also kept themselves pure from all fanaticism and party-spirit in their piety, for both these forms of the defilement of piety are also, in particular, very fatal forms of subtile idolatry. Their virginity is expressed in the fact that they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth—follow Him, therefore, in all His historical and heavenly movements and advances, and follow only Him. Absolute, pure obedience in absolute, pure trust, is the sign that they are bought from among men as first-fruits (see Comm. on Jam_1:18) unto God and the Lamb. As, however, the consummation of their electness was based upon redemptive grace, evidence of that electness was given, above all, in the characteristics of uprightness (Pro_2:7; Ecc_7:8) and veracity. Grotius rightly makes mention of the fact that all idolatry is infected with falsehood (Joh_3:21). The fact that they should not be represented as sinless and having no need of redemption, is manifest from the declaration concerning them, that they stand before the Lamb, that they are bought, and that no falsehood was found in their mouth—no species of untruthfulness—and that they stand as, in every respect, wholly perfected, blameless—as is expressly affirmed—before the Throne of God.
After this exhibition of the security of the whole blessed Kingdom of God, the announcement of the Judgment may be made. This Judgment has three sides:
First, it is, for the righteous, final redemption; hence, its proclamation as an everlasting gospel, the eschatological gospel of the final σωτηρία, through the judgment, to eternal blessedness and well-being ([Heil] Matthew 25.; Luk_21:28). This gospel is proclaimed to all who sit on the earth, all who are most firmly attached to earth (Rev_15:6), before the coming of the Judgment itself; and the proclamation is conjoined with an admonition to voluntary self-humiliation before God, Who is here pertinently designated as the Creator, the Cause and Lord of all things, and particularly also, as the Author of the fountains of waters, i. e., all original geniuses.
The Judgment is, secondly, for the world ripe unto perdition, an actual fall into perdition. Hence the proclamation: Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! Be it here observed that in this passage it is not Babylon in the narrower sense of the word, to which reference is had, as in Revelation 17. As in Genesis, Revelation 1, water is at first spoken of in the most general sense, then in a special sense, and finally in the most special sense, so here by Babylon the whole ungodly Anti-christianized world is intended. At the outpouring of the seventh Vial of anger, this ungodly and Antichristian world, represented by Babylon, is divided into three parts (Rev_16:19), when the general Judgment branches into the three special judgments: upon the Harlot, or Babylon in the narrower sense; upon the Beast; and upon Gog and Magog under the leadership of Satan. Concerning the more general Babylon which has, undoubtedly, for a considerable time had its culmination-point in the more special Babylon, it is declared: She gave all the nations [heathen, Gentiles] to drink of the wine of the anger [or rage]16 of her fornication. Antichristianity is a unitous evil mock-growth, which has twined its stifling tendrils throughout humanity, as, on the other hand, the tree of the Kingdom of God has pushed its holy roots throughout the same. The wine of the anger of fornication is only materially identical with the anger of God (see Rev_11:18); in a formal point of view it forms an antithesis thereto. The wine of the anger of fornication is, as sin, passionate, riotous intoxication in apostasy; as a judgment, it is also the wine of the wrath of God, the mind-deranging operation of the death-judgments of God.
Finally, the judgment consists, in the third place, of the sentence which interprets the facts. Thus the actual separation of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25) precedes the sentence passed upon them. The sentence of the Angel is conditioned as follows: If any one worshippeth the Wild-beast and his image, and receiveth his mark on his forehead or on his hand. The one implies the other: recognition of the power of the Beast, and appropriation of the false idea of the system, theocratic or practical testimony. The sentence is as follows: he incurs the internal judgment of having to drink of the wine of the anger [or wrath] of God—deadly derangement of the mind; this is a wine mingled, i. e., here poured out (presented, credenzt) unmixed [οἵνος κεκεράσμενος ἄκρατος],17 as the strongest and most intoxicating beverage, in the cup, the self-limiting decree, of His wrath [ὀργή]. The external local result is as follows: he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The outward and apparent form of the Judgment is fiery self-consumption in the ever affluent new elements of fiery irritation. For as, to the righteous, every affluent experience is transformed into the gentle oil of the Spirit, so, to the wicked, every experience becomes brimstone—fuel for his passion. The temporal result of the Judgment is as follows: the smoke of their torment ascendeth into ages of ages. Smoke rises from fire; not, however, from a clear fire, but from that which is hemmed in and dim. Here, doubtless, the fire of hate is particularly referred to—fanatical passionateness in apostasy. Hence it is further declared: they have not rest by day and by night; this they have not, not in a good sense (Rev_4:8), but in a bad sense, as demonic beings, and the true causality thereof lies in their very apostasy;—the context is: who worship the wild-beast and his image, and if any one receiveth the mark of his name. The fact that the condition of damnation can continue into the ages denotes, indubitably, the temporal immensity of that condition, but is also, at the same time, expressive of æonic figurations and alterations of it.
At the close of this sentence, we again encounter the saying of Rev_13:10, amplified by the declaration that the patience [endurance] of the saints is also evidenced in keeping the commandments of God; their faith, meanwhile, appearing as a faith in Jesus. Only through this patience or endurance can a man escape that sentence of æonic fiery death. Here also, as in Rev_13:10, this spirit of blessed calm forms a contrast to the fire-smoke of the restless (Isa_48:22). Here again the Seer significantly insists upon the fact that a vital veneration of God and faith in Jesus necessarily accompany each other.
The sentence unto damnation is now contrasted with the sentence unto blessedness. But why does not the Angel give utterance to the latter, and not a voice from Heaven? We might reply, because the experience of the celestial blessedness of proven Christians passes the experience of Angels. According to the context, this beatitude is pronounced by the Spirit, i. e., the Spirit of the Church Triumphant; He, therefore, gives utterance to a testimony of direct experience. The beatitude of the blessed dead is, however, specially signalized, and commended, as it were, as an inscription for gravestones, with the command: Write. Although this precious sentence (Isa_48:13) holds good for all times—blessed are the dead, etc.—it is of particular moment when regarded in its bearing upon the last times. Then are the dying, who die in the Lord as they have lived in Him, to be accounted particularly blessed, because they are taken away from the storm of the last days (see Isa_57:1).
We, therefore, interpret ἀπάρτι in the following sense: Such are henceforth peculiarly blessed, because they attain unto rest from their sore conflicts, whilst the blessing of their works, and also their perfected vocation to ideal activity, accompany them into the Church Triumphant.
Before passing to a consideration of the three Angels of the beginning execution of the End-Judgment, we must examine the relation of these three Angels to the preceding three Angels of the announcement of Judgment. It is natural to suppose that the first three Angels form an organic totality (ἄλλος Isa_48:15, ἄλλος Isa_48:17, ἄλλος Isa_48:18, akin to ἄλλος, ἕτερος, ἄλλος, 1Co_12:10), and not that an abstract series of other and still other Angels is cited. The second angelic triad, then, corresponds to the first, and the following scheme is formed:
A. The Announcement of the end. The Lamb standing on Mount Zion (Rev_14:1).
1. The ἄλλος ἄγγελος, the proclaimer of the everlasting Gospel, or the Gospel of eternity (Rev_14:6).
2. The ἄλλος δεύτερος ἄγγελος, as the proclaimer of the decided fall of Babylon the Great (Rev_14:8).
3. The ἄλλος ἄγγελος τρίτος, the proclaimer of the judgment upon the worshippers of the Beast (Rev_14:9).
4. The voice from Heaven: Proclamation of the blessedness of the dead who die in the Lord.
B. The Accomplishment op the End. Appearance of the form of the son of man on the White Cloud (Rev_14:14).
1. The ἄλλος ἄγγελος, issuing out of the Temple, proclaiming the hour of the Judgment (the beginning of the entire Judgment) as a judgment upon Babylon (Rev_14:15).
2. The ἄλλος ἄγγελος, issuing out of the Temple in Heaven, with the sharp sickle for the consummation of the harvest (Rev_14:17).
3. The ἄλλος ἄγγελος, Rev_14:18, issuing from the Altar, having power over the fire of sacrifice—who challenges the preceding Angel to the completion of the End-Judgment, as that Angel (Rev_14:15) had in his turn challenged the form of the Son of Man (Rev_14:14).
We, therefore, distinguish the group of the proclamation of Judgment (A) and that of the execution of Judgment (B). The former is under the dominion of the Lamb, Who stands fast forever on Mount Zion as the Head of the Church Triumphant; the latter group is under the dominion of the form of the Son of Man on the white cloud, with the crown upon His head, and in His hand the sharp harvest-sickle—under the Christ, therefore, as He comes for Judgment upon the world (Mat_26:64; comp. Daniel 7).
With the first Angel, who has proclaimed the eternal Gospel, i. e., the Gospel of a blessed eternity, the final σωτηρία (Rev_14:6), corresponds the first Angel of execution, in that he notifies the Son of Man of the hour or time of harvest, and summons Him to the harvest; whereupon, He Who sits upon the cloud, casts His sickle upon the earth and reaps the earth. This harvest (Rev_14:16) is, without doubt, the harvest of the wheat (Mat_3:12; Mat_13:39), with which the Parousia begins (Mat_24:31), corresponding to the Gospel of the final redemption, and to be distinguished from the harvest of judgment (Rev_14:19-20). Distinctive marks: The Angel of Rev_14:15 goes forth from the Temple, i. e., the ideal Temple of the ripened Church of God, for the ripeness of God’s Church for redemption is the sign of the ripeness of the world for judgment; this Angel is, the symbol of the decree of the Father (Act_1:7). Again, this first harvest is called simply the harvest of the earth; it begins with Christ, as the Judge of the world, casting His sickle from the cloud to the earth—that is, with the commencement of His Parousia itself. Here, therefore, the earth which is reaped, is to be understood in the more special sense of the term.
With the second Angel of proclamation, who cries out: Fallen is Babylon (Rev_14:8), corresponds the second Angel of execution (Rev_14:17). This latter Angel issues forth from the Temple of Heaven, for the judgment unto judgment is based entirely upon the objective sentence of Divine Righteousness, which decides when the internal corruptness [Verderben] of the world must find its judgment in external ruin [Verderben]. Even this Angel of judgment, however (who bears a similarity to the import of Michael, the judging Christ), receives the summons to the execution of judgment from another Angel, the third Angel of execution. This Angel issues from the Altar; he has authority over the fire. This is what qualifies him to call for the fire of judgment. For every little flame, every fire of sacrifice, has been a pre-exhibition of the great sacrificial burning at the end of the world. Thus with the third Angel of proclamation (Rev_14:9), who announced that law of the Kingdom in accordance with which the sentence of damnation (Rev_14:9-11) and the Judgment, as a judgment of fire, ensue, corresponds the Angel of the actual fiery Judgment, whose world-historic prefiguration is sacrifice.
We scarcely need mention that this double angelic triad forms a group of symbolical figures; in which the first triad belongs more to the economy of Christ, and the second more to the economy of the Father.
It may appear particularly remarkable that the harvest of judgment is represented as a gathering of the vine—the vine thus, apparently, having an entirely different import here from that assigned it Joh_15:1. It might here be suggested that all Antichristianity will be a corrupt and apostate Christianity. There is, however, another motive which lies at the door, viz., that of conforming the entire picture to the central idea of the wine-press, Isaiah 63. The wine-press of wrath or deadly judgment brings with it the retribution for the great blood-guiltiness of the world’s history—especially as manifested in the history of the martyrs;—this retribution is exhibited in the mighty river of blood in which, at the end of the world, the life of the old humanity pours forth. The treading of the wine-press is accomplished without the city;18 an antithesis by which only the City simple, the City, of God, can be intended. The depth of the river of blood is indicated by the declaration that it reaches to the reins [Zägel] of the horses—not to the bits [Zaüme, German Version], for in that case the horses would necessarily sink. It is with difficulty, therefore, that the horses of world-development (Rev_6:2; Rev_19:14) can labor through this stream; it is only through a great crisis that the new world issues from the old. The bloody stream itself overspreads 1000 stadia, the symbol of an æon, by the space of 600 stadia, by which an immense extent of further suffering is indicated.
In Revelation 15 is represented the preparation of this Judgment which is about to be executed through the medium of the Vials of Anger. It might be conjectured that the Earth-picture of the Anger-Vials would begin here, but individual traits are against such a supposition—especially the festival-keeping on the crystal sea. First, then, the Seer beholds another sign in Heaven, the seven Angels with the last seven plagues, or judgment-strokes, with which the anger of God shall be filled up. Again, however, the vision must strengthen the courage of the faithful; the description of the terrible angelic forms is therefore preceded by a picture of the celebration of the Judgment in the congregation of the blessed. The glassy sea is here, as in an earlier passage [Rev_4:6], the completed history of the peoples as a history of salvation, sub specie æterni, translumined by the Spirit of God; Divinely still and transparent, and Divinely moved. Here, however, it is mingled with the appearance of fire (see p. 34); for this new world-form has passed through the sacrificial fire as well as through the fire of the universal judgment; moreover, the reflection of the Vials of anger falls upon the crystal splendor of this sea. Hence, the blessed are here designated as victors over the Beast. Their victory is detailed. They have vanquished not only the temptation of the Beast, but also the temptation of his Image, the temptation of his mark, the Antichristian symbol; aye, they have overcome even the temptation to a covert [Verblümt] recognition of him by the assumption of the number of his name in a restless pursuit of vanity. And now they all have harps; harps of God, as Divinely inspired singers and players. The new song which they sing is now called the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Of the two songs, the song of the typical redemption (Exodus 15.) and the song of the real redemption, one unitous, grand anthem of redemption is born. Even the Law is, in the light of the consummation, glorified into a phase of the Gospel; and it is also, in spiritual forms, its very self glorified, elevated—and, by being elevated, in a sense abrogated [aufgehoben],—transmuted into celestial custom (Matthew 5). This song has reference to the imminent final Judgment from which they, through the redemption, have escaped, as Israel escaped from the pursuit of Pharaoh. Hence, mention is first made of the great wonders of God, particularly as manifest in His conduct of the Final Judgment. Hence, God is again magnified as the All-Ruler [Παντοκράτωρ],19 and His ways, in particular,—His government and providences [Führungen und Fügungen=leadings and joinings]—are extolled as righteous and true; as righteous in His world-historic retribution—as true in His final fulfillment of all prophecies and threats. Thus He approves Himself the essential King of the nations (not simply of the saints, after the scantily attested reading).20 Thus the worship of the true fear of God appertains to Him at the end of days as much as, and still more than, in the days of the Old Covenant, for this fear is fundamentally diverse from the fear which is cast out by perfect love. The supreme reason for this worship is expressed in the words: He only is holy—words declaratory of the Absolute Personality, not merely as a negation of all impersonal conduct, but also as the Founder and Awakener of the Personal Kingdom of Love, in Whose almighty traction of love all nations [Heiden, heathen, Gentiles] shall come and worship before Him after they have beheld the grand manifestation of His judgments. These words point to a great conversion, to take place amidst the development of the world’s judgment.
After this pre-celebration of the Judgment of Anger, the Seer, with new amazement (Rev_15:5), beholds the equipment of the seven Angels for the execution of the Judgment. The scene opens with the opening of the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Witness, i. e., the Ark of the Covenant—the Holy of Holies, therefore. There the holy Law reposes, which has testified the will of God to the nations; thence, therefore, perfect retribution proceeds, as a punitory providence which itself bears the mark of the Holy of Holies, and hence is to be regarded entirely as a providence in order to the protection of personal life.
This providence issues from the Holy of Holies, under the guidance of the seven Angels who are to execute the seven last plagues. These Angels themselves appear as highly consecrate spirits, clothed with pure, glistening (or pearl-beset?21) linen, for they accomplish the deliverances of supreme truth and righteousness solely, in executing the sentence of the anger of God; they are no mediums for the outflowings of dark and unfree passion, no ministers of blind and senseless fate-strokes. Hence they are also girded as for a festal celebration, about the breast—not as for labor, about the loins; they are girded with golden girdles, the signs of Divine strength, self-determination, and bound-abiding faithfulness.
The seven Vials of Anger are given to the Angels by one of the four Life-shapes. Here it is particularly manifest that these Life-shapes cannot be regarded as symbolical forms of creature life.22 They stand between God and these high Angels—who may not, indeed, be identified with the Archangels—and receive the Vials, which are full of the anger of God. One of them distributes the Vials; greater explicitness is not accorded to the vision—hence it would be mere guess-work were we to conjecture that the Lion was the recipient and distributer of the Vials.
Why do we here find the expression: Who liveth into the ages of the ages? The domination of God’s wrath in inflictions of death is conditioned by this life. The manifestation of absolute Life is a decree of death to obstinate sinners.
Furthermore, God withdraws Himself from human view as an angry God. Thenceforth the Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, so that none could go into the Temple until the seven plagues were fulfilled. This phenomenon cannot be resolved into the more general fact that the glory of God veils itself in the pillar of cloud or in a pillar of smoke (Exo_40:34; 1Ki_8:10; Mat_17:5), although it is connected with that fact. For the Temple was not previously filled with smoke, to the eye of the Seer; he has even had a mysteriously expressed sight of God. But as God, as the Holy One, in general conceals Himself from the gaze of sinful man, so this is especially the case in His judgments. “He made the darkness about Him His covering—His pavilion round about Him dark waters [Wassernacht], clouds upon clouds,” Psa_18:11. Thus He covers Himself when He comes with terrors upon His enemies. For the Prophet Isaiah also (Isaiah 6), the Temple in which he has seen the glory of Jehovah, afterwards becomes filled with smoke; a sign that this Temple should be burnt, but also an expression of the fact that God is, for the human eye, hidden most in His judgments, most difficult of comprehension therein. That affectionate and familiar boldness which seeks an immediate access into the Temple, to God, shrinks back amid the thunders of majesty; nevertheless, the Mercy-seat is set up in front of the Temple in the person of Jesus Christ for all in the whole world who seek for refuge (Romans 3).
[ABSTRACT OP VIEWS, ETC.]
By the American Editor
[Elliott:23 Rev_14:1-5, is parallel with chs. 12, 13, and presents a view of the true Church gathered around the true Christ (the Lamb—standing, not yet enthroned)—in antithesis with the merely nominal Church gathered around the enthroned Antichrist, as set forth in those chapters; Rev_14:2-3, mark a progression in their condition—they refer to the Reformation;—the harpers are the rejoicing members of the churches of the Reformation; the voice of many waters and of a great thunder implies the uniting of both nations and princes in their rejoicing; the new song, the song of the Reformation, as set forth by Luther: “Learn to know Christ, Christ crucified, Christ come down from Heaven to dwell with sinners! Learn to sing the New Song, Thou Jesus art my righteousness; I am Thy sin; Thou hast taken on Thyself what was mine; Thou hast given me what is Thine.”
Rev_14:6-8 are parallel with chs. 15, Rev_16:1-14 (Rev_11:15-19), and set forth the missionary advance of the true Church throughout the Era predicted in those passages (see on p. 296 ).
Rev_14:9-20 are connected with Rev_16:15 to the end of the Apocalypse (see on p. 297 ).
Barnes: Ch. 14. contains a succession of symbolical representations, designed to comfort those exposed to the troublous events of chs. 12, 13, by showing the ultimate result of those events: There is represented by the vision of (1) Rev_14:1-5, the character and final triumph of all the redeemed; (2) Rev_14:6-7, that the gospel will be preached among all nations, and that as indicating the near approach of the consummation; (3) Rev_14:8, the destruction of Antichristian, Papal Rome; (4) Rev_14:9-12, the certain and final destruction of all the upholders of that power; (5) Rev_14:13, the blessedness of all who die in the Lord; (6) Rev_14:14-20, the final overthrow of all the enemies of the Church; the harvest representing the righteous to be gathered into the Kingdom; the vintage, the wicked to be destroyed.—Ch. 15 commences the statement of the manner in which the pledges of the preceding chapter would be accomplished, which statement is pursued through the subsequent chapters, giving in detail what is here promised in a general manner—it “is merely introductory to what follows, … and designed to introduce the account of those judgments with suitable circumstances of solemnity.”
Stuart: “The combination of three such powerful enemies against Christianity (the Dragon, Satan [p. 240]; the First Beast, Pagan Rome; the Second, the Pagan Priesthood [p. 261]), was in itself of fearful import. … To animate the courage, however, of this noble little band, (of Christians), the writer arrests the progress of action in the great drama, in order to hold out the symbols of ultimate and certain victory: Symbol First is of the Lamb (Christ) on the earthly Zion, surrounded by His 144,000 sealed ones—not forces to be employed against enemies, but trophies of victory already achieved; Second, consists of a triplex series of proclamations of (a) the ultimate and certain spread of the gospel throughout the whole world, Rev_14:6-7, (b) the absolute and certain fall of mystical Babylon (heathen Rome), Rev_14:8, (c) the awful punishment that awaits the followers of the Beast; Third, is constituted of a triplex series of actions—(a) the reaping, Rev_14:14-16 (the harvest which is ripe, i. e., the enemies of the Church whose wickedness is consummated), (b) the gathering, Rev_14:17-19 (also the wicked), (c) the treading of the wine-press, Rev_14:20.24
Ch. 15. A Heaven-scene preceding the infliction of the seven last plagues: the martyrs around the Throne sing the song of anticipative triumph, and praise the justice of God as about to be displayed in the overthrow of the Beast, Rev_15:2-4; the smoke preventing the entrance of any one into the Temple, Rev_15:8, indicates that no one is permitted to intercede for those about to be punished, and consequently, that their punishment is certain and inevitable.
Wordsworth: Rev_14:1-5. This vision reveals that, although during the sway of the Beast many would fall from the faith, yet the true Catholic Apostolic Church of Christ (the 144,000—the number of completeness and union in the true doctrine and discipline of Christ, as preached by the twelve Apostles) would never fail, and would finally triumph over the power of the Beast, and would stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion (in antithesis to the rising of the Beast from the sea) in His Kingdom, which will never be destroyed (comp. Psa_125:1, etc.); the virginity of the 144,000 (Rev_14:3) indicates that they were not corrupted by the spiritual harlotries of Babylon (Rev_14:8; Rev_17:1-5); the song of triumph (Rev_14:2-3), is that of Angels chanting the victory of the Church.
Rev_14:6-7 predict the universal proclamation of the gospel (by literal Angels?), and that as a preparation for the End (compare Mat_24:4).
Rev_14:8 is anticipative of the fall of Babylon, i. e., Papal Rome.
Rev_14:9-11, a warning (by literal Angels?) against worshipping the Beast.
Rev_14:14-16, Vision of the Last Judgment, as (1) a Harvest, the ingathering of the good; (2) a Vintage, the crushing of the wicked.
Rev_15:1. “St. John, having been brought in the foregoing chapter to the eve of the Day of Judgment, now re-ascends, as usual, to an earlier point in the Prophecy; and enlarges on the judicial chastisements to be inflicted on the Empire of the Beast.”
Rev_15:2-4. “Anticipations, continued and expanded, of the future victory of the faithful over the power of the Beast.”
Rev_15:5-8. “Preparation for the pouring out of the Seven Vials on the Empire of the Beast.”
Alford: Ch. 14. This is not entirely another vision, but an introduction of a new element, one of comfort and joy, upon the scene of the last; it is anticipatory, having reference to two subjects to be treated of afterwards in detail—(1) the mystic Babylon, (2) the consummation of punishment and reward; it is general in its character, reaching forward close to the time of the end, and treating compendiously of the torment of the apostates and the blessedness of the righteous. It naturally divides itself into three sections: I. Rev_14:1-5. The 144,000 are identical with those of Rev_7:4, and represent the people of God; their introduction here serves to place before us the Church on the holy hill of Sion (“the site of the display of God’s chosen ones with Christ” [“the seat of God’s true Church and worship?”]), where God has placed His King, as an introduction to the description of her agency in preaching the gospel, and her faithfulness in persecutions. II. Rev_14:6-13. The four announcements of this section form the text and the compendium of the rest of the Book—these are of (1) the universal proclamation of the gospel as previous to the final judgments, Rev_14:6-7, (2) the fall of Babylon (Rome, Pagan and Papal—principally Papal; see on Revelation 17), as an encouragement for the patience of the saints, Rev_14:8; (3) the final defeat and torment of the Lord’s enemies, Rev_14:9-12; (4) the blessedness of all who die in the faith and obedience of Christ. III. Rev_14:14-16. The Harvest, i. e., the ingathering of the saints, answering to the proclamation of the gospel in Rev_14:6-7. IV. Rev_14:17-20. The Vintage of Wrath, fulfilling the denunciations of Rev_14:8; Rev_14:11.
Ch. 15. Prefatory to the Seven Vials: Rev_15:1, the description of the vision; Rev_15:2-4, the song of triumph of the saints victorious over the Beast; Rev_15:5-8, the coming forth of the seven Angels, and delivering to them of the seven Vials. (See also in Expl. in Detail in loc.)
Lord: Rev_14:1-4. The 144,000 are the same as those of Revelation 7; they are also the Witnesses of Revelation 11 raised from the dead; they have not belonged to the apostate Church, nor sanctioned the blasphemous usurpations of the Wild Beast, but are pure worshippers of God; they are the first-fruits unto God (distinguished from the complete harvest of Rev_14:15-16); the song of Rev_14:3 is their song.
Rev_14:6-7. The Angel represents a body and succession of men, who are to bear the everlasting gospel both to the nations of the ten kingdoms, and to all other tribes and languages of earth.
Rev_14:8. Great Babylon is the aggregate of the nationalized hierarchies of the ten kingdoms; she symbolizes the teachers and rulers of the churches, with whom the kings of the earth join in the institution, practice, and dissemination of a false religion; uniting with her in the usurpation of the rights of God as lawgiver, etc.; her fall is her severance from the civil governments, and dejection from her station and power as a combination of national establishments; the Angel is the representative of a body of men, his flight in mid-Heaven denotes their publicity and conspicuity, and his annunciation, that there is to be a public and exalting celebration of her overthrow.
Rev_14:9-13. The warning implies that notwithstanding great Babylon has fallen from her station as a national establishment, men are still worshipping the Wild-beast and its image, and receiving its mark—those Romish hierarchies are still to subsist after their fall, and acknowledge the Pope as their head; the symbol foreshows that after great Babylon has fallen from her station as a combination of nationalized hierarchies, numerous teachers shall arise who shall publicly and strenuously assert the exclusive right of God to enjoin the faith and institute the worship of the Church, etc.
Rev_14:14-16. The one like the Son of Man represents (not Christ but) a human being, raised from the dead in glory, like the human form of Christ in His exaltation—the period of this agency, therefore, is after the revivification of the Witnesses; those harvested by him are the saints, living and mortal.
Rev_14:17-20. The dejection of the vine into the wine-press signifies that those whom the vine symbolizes are to be crushed by the vengeance of the Almighty—the treading of the wine-press outside the city (the symbol of the nationalized hierarchies), denotes that the grapes are from their vineyards—the river of blood symbolizes the vastness and visibility of the destruction; the dejection of the vine into the press is a different work from the treading—the former is the work of the reapers, the latter of the Son of God.
Rev_15:1-4. A Heaven-scene wherein the entire mass of witnesses, who throughout the ages have held the testimony of Jesus, and refused submission to Antichristian powers, are represented as praising the wisdom and rectitude of the Almighty.
Rev_15:5-8. The introduction to the pouring out of the Vials, indicating that no intercession by the saints on earth for the salvation of Antichristian foes is to be offered during this period.
Glasgow: Revelation 14. The 144,000 are the same as those of chap. 7—they are the first-fruits (comp. Exo_13:15; Exo_34:20), representing all God’s ransomed people; the Angel of Rev_14:6 symbolizes the ministry of the gospel from the beginning (specially as missionaries to the heathen); the Angel of Rev_14:8 represents home missionaries, who are more controversial and Protestant than the preceding; the third Angel, Rev_14:9, symbolizes the Protestant ministry; the dead of Rev_14:13 are the martyred dead of all ages; the one sitting on the cloud, Rev_14:14, is Christ in His humanity throughout the gospel dispensation sitting on the cloud (the symbol taken from the cloudy pillar), which ever abides over the Church; the Angel of Rev_14:15, the whole body of Christ’s ministry—the time of their prayer to Christ coincides with the death of the Witnesses, the reaping-time of His compliance with that prayer is that of the resurrection of the witnesses (the Reformation); the Angel of Rev_14:17 is the Holy Ghost; that of Rev_14:18 represents persecuted saints; the vintage symbolizes the wasting wars that followed the Reformation.
Revelation 15. The resurrection of the witnesses symbolizes the Reformation, and also presents a general view of the glorious events and retributions that followed.—E. R.C.]
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL
Rev_14:1. And I saw, and behold.— Lively introduction of the new, great vision of the heavenly pre-celebration and preparation of the final Judgment. The consummation of the Church, as appearing in the 144,000 virgins, is symptomatic of the consummation of the earth, of its ripeness for judgment.
The Lamb (Rev_7:17)—here in the radiance of His glorious spoils of victory.
On the Mount Zion.—Is the mountain to be conceived of as in Heaven (in accordance with Grotius, Hengstenberg, Ebrard, et al.)? Or is it, in accordance with De Wette and Düsterd., to be taken in its “proper” acceptation, i. e., literally? Düsterdieck applies the epithet allegoristic to the interpretation of Mount Zion as the Church (after Bede, Calov., et al.), in his chronic misapprehension of what allegorism is. The vision is, evidently, a picture of the Church Triumphant, resident in that spiritual Heaven which pervades Heaven and earth. Mount Zion, however, particularly symbolizes the lofty citadel, the eternal fortress of the people of God.
And with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand.—There is as little foundation for the belief that these 144,000 are composed exclusively of Gentiles (Düsterdieck) as for the assumption that the 144,000 of Revelation 7 are Jews exclusively. For a discussion of the question as to the identity (Grot., Vitringa, and many others) or diversity (Bleek, Neander, et al.) of the two assemblies, we refer our readers to the Synoptical View [also Add. Note, p. 193.—E. R. C.] The 144,000 of the present chapter are, as a whole, the same kernel of the Church of God—a kernel, however, which has developed, from a host of combatants warring on this side of the boundary which divides this life from the life to come, to a host of victors who have crossed the line; as, similarly, the seal on the foreheads of the first has become the open inscription of appertinency to God and Christ.
Rev_14:2. A voice from the Heaven.—The heavenly character of the voice is the main thing; the sounds are sounds of perfection. The voices are in part voices of Christian nations (the voice of great waters), in part the voices of great Prophets (the voice of a great thunder), both the former and the latter being perfected in holy art (the voice of harpers). In a certain degree, therefore, the voice from Heaven certainly does represent the 144,000 themselves (Bengel, Hengstenberg, et al.); more strictly speaking, however, it is the true fountain of song within the Church of God, whose outflowings pass but gradually to the entire Church;—the choir of the celestial Church.—Great waters (Rev_1:15).—The voice of a great thunder (Rev_6:1).—Harps (or citherns).—With all its sublimity, the song, in its spiritual beauty, is as exquisitely delicate as the music of the cithern. [Alford comments: “The harpers and the song are in Heaven, the 144,000 on earth; and no one was able to learn the song, i. e., to appreciate its melody and meaning, so as to accompany it and bear part in the chorus.” On the other hand Lord remarks: “The Mount Sion on which the 144,000 stood was that of the heavenly tabernacle… The song, accordingly, which he heard from Heaven was their song; not the song of the other redeemed or of angels. This is apparent from the representation that it was sung before the Living-creatures and Elders, and that no one was able to learn it but the 144,000. To suppose it to have been sung by others, is to suppose that they had already learned it.”—E. R. C.]
Rev_14:3. A new song.—As the Old Testament is new in comparison with the primeval time; as the New Testament is new in comparison with the Old Testament; as the eternal gospel is new in comparison with the gospel of principal σωτηρία; so the new song is new in comparison with Moses’ song of redemption;—a more developed form is the conjunction of the two songs (Rev_15:3).—And no one could learn the song, etc.—The condition whereon the learning of it is dependent is not artistic talent, but the depth of ethical experience, such as is possessed by the 144,000. The highest æsthetics, the most profound artistic intelligence, in the simplest words.
Rev_14:4-5. On different attempts to construe the following, see Düsterd.
Attributes of the 144,000: 1. They are virgins (παρθένοι, virgin-like [Jungfräuliche]; the Greek term is applied to men as well as to women) in a religious sense; they have kept themselves pure from idolatry (Coccei., Grot., et al.), ideal iconoclasts, who, it may be, even as heathen, perceived the myths to be but symbols. The words [παρθένοι γάρ εἰσιν] have been infelicitously referred to monkish asceticism by Roman Catholic exegetes; to celibacy (Augustine, Bede, Rothe, Düsterdieck); to chastity (Hengstenberg; abstinence from all fornication, De Wette); to the Christians of the last days (Hofmann). And thus the symbolism of the entire Old Testament, bearing upon this point, has been unable to obtain a foothold in the minds of these commentators. And the flimsy deductions which Neander and others (also Düsterdieck especially, see his note, p. 466) have drawn from the misunderstanding, are a result of this ignoring of the Old Testament symbol, a recognition of which should the more assuredly have been induced by the fact that this virginity forms the extreme contrast to the extreme abomination of idolatry, viz.: the worship of the Beast.25
2. These (with emphasis) are they who follow the Lamb, etc.—Düsterdieck and others lay stress upon the present, follow, in order to confute the interpretation of the term as a preterite, expressive of the following of Christ to tribulation and death (Grot., Bengel, Hengstenberg). They are the constant attendants of the Lamb, it is declared. The latter thought, however, is inclusive of the former one, even as it is also the result of it. [“If He goes to Gethsemane, they follow Him thither; if He goes to Calvary, they take up their cross and follow Him thither. He is gone to Heaven, and they will be with Him there also.” Wordsworth.—E. R. C.]
3. These were bought.—Emphasis is laid upon the personal worth of these souls by the repetition of οὗτοι. They are redeemed [bought] in a special sense, agreeably to their destination of being an ἀπαρχή for God and the Lamb. [“Redeemed from among men—language derived from the Book of Exodus: ‘The first-born of my sons I redeem’ (Exo_13:15; Exo_34:20). This exhibits the 144,000 as representing all God’s ransomed people.”—E. R. C.]
Does ἀπαρχή constitute an antithesis to the entire world (in accordance with De Wette, et al., comp. Jam_1:18), or, which is more probable, to the general throng of believers (Ewald), or of the blessed (Bengel, Düsterd., et al.)? In accordance with the distinction made, Revelation 7, between the 144,000 and the innumerable multitude, a special selection is likewise intended here. In this view, the difference between the Augustine-Calvinistic and the Biblical doctrine of election is clearly apparent.
4. In their mouth was not found falsehood.—“The term ψεῦδος (comp. Rev_21:27) is to be apprehended in its general import, and not to be limited to the falsehood of idolatry (Grot.: non vocarunt deos, qui dii non sunt, Bengel), heresy, or a denial of Christ (Hengstenberg).” Düsterdieck. This deliverance is more than half recanted by the remark that a certain antithesis to the sphere of falsehood in which the seducing pseudo-prophet moves, is obvious, (after Ewald, Ebrard). Idolatry is the primary form of falsehood, see Romans 1.
Summation of attributes: For they are blameless.—Here, again, their æonic disposition is cited as the basis of their temporal conduct; as in Rev_14:4 : for they are virgins.
In discussing the design of this vision it must first of all be stated that, in accordance with the construction of the whole Book, the vision has not a backward reference to Revelation 13, but a forward reference to ch. xvi, as a life-picture of the final σωτηρία contrasted with the final Judgment. Church-historical interpretations of particular details—some of which are of a remarkable character—see in Düsterdieck, p. 468, and De Wette, p. 143. Christiani’s reference of the 144,000 to the Church of the last time agrees better with the context than many another interpretation. A reference to the Israelitish Church of the end [Luthardt] belongs to a Judaizing chiliasm.
Rev_14:6-7. Another Angel.—The reference of the expression “another Angel” to Angels who have previously appeared upon the scene (De Wette, Düsterdieck), is untenable. The difficulty of ἄλλος was, perhaps, the cause of its omission in Cod. B.; see above.—Flying;—Comp. Rev_8:13.—In mid-heaven.—A herald to the whole world.—An everlasting gospel.—Ebrard: “The older exegetes, together with Lücke, are probably right in understanding the import of the tidings to be salvation in Christ generally.” (Note by the same com.: “Of course this apprehension does not in the slightest degree justify the arbitrary allegoristic references of the three Angels to Wickliffe, Huss, and Luther, and the like. Calovius understood by the first two Angels Luther and Chemnitz, most coolly appropriating to himself the honor of being the third.”—In conjunction, that is, with the other opponents of syncretism; see De Wette on this passage; also Düsterd., p. 474.) Other interpretations of the three Angels, see collected in De Wette, p. 147 (Peter de Bruis, Wickliffe, Luther, etc.). Ebrard refers the Angel of the everlasting Gospel to the preaching of the Gospel amongst the heathen, which, according to Matthew 24, precedes the end. But though the old Gospel is, in respect of its purport, an eternal Gospel, it should, as the Gospel of principial salvation, be distinguished from the Gospel of the final redemption to eternal felicity; and the new proclamation, of which the present passage speaks, is not for the heathen alone, but for the whole earth. One-sided, but not incorrect, is the explanation of Corn. à-Lapide: A message promissory of the eternal good things in Heaven. According to Hengstenberg, the message of the Angel is a Gospel [even for the enemies of God], inasmuch as his exhortation to repentance is conjoined with the grant of a respite for repentance. But there is no intimation here of a respite for repentance in the strict sense of the words. The last-named commentator interprets the attribute eternal as having reference solely to the irrevocability or certainty of this Gospel. On the reference of this Angel to Luther, comp. Hengstenberg, II., p. 133.
To declare glad tidings unto them, etc.—The fact that this message is not addressed simply to the heathen who may still be left (Ebrard, p. 408), is clearly evident from the further explication of those for whom it is intended: to every nation, etc. Neither can it be said that the Angel’s exhortation to repentance is distinct from his message of joy:—the message in its totality is the everlasting Gospel, in the form of a parænesis [παραίνεσις].
The general character of the exhortation:—Fear God, etc., rests upon the law that the preaching of the end goes back to the preaching of the beginning; and that partly on account of the fact that most Christians have learned very little from Christianity, and that there is now no time to lose. The fear of God, according to the text, would be for many the beginning of salvation, as it is elsewhere declared to be the beginning of wisdom. Finally, in the eternal Gospel, the form shall have become transparent for the universal Gospel, and a real worship of God, Who, besides the Heaven, has made the earth and the sea and fountains of waters—all in a symbolical sense—would be the actual foundation of conversion, the beginning of all Christian development. This Gospel is, certainly, conditioned, but, as conditioned, it is also a real Gospel (see Luk_21:28). It cannot be denied that the passage is suggestive of man’s absolute dependence upon God, as opposed to a false dependence upon, and subserviency to, the Beast;—the particular truth, however, which it is designed to exhibit is, that the judicial power of God is based upon the fact that He is the Creator of all things.
Rev_14:8. And another, second Angel, etc.—It is not on account of the dramatic vividness of the scene that one Angel follows another (Düsterd.), but because of the rapid succession of particular items in the approaching judgment—a truth of which Grotius was sensible when he commented thus: Quot rei nunciandæ, totidem nuntii.
Fallen.—One of the sublimest words of consolation for advanced Christians. Comp. Isaiah 14. Before God, the thing is decided; the decision on earth approaches. The passage is, therefore, a proleptical description, in prophetic form, of an imminent event (see Rev_11:18).—Triumphant certainty is expressed in the repetition: fallen!
Babylon the great.—Babel was, even in Genesis, the primeval type of a God-opposed world-power; in the Prophets, Babel [or Babylon] became the greatest type of the anti-theocratic world-power; and here the typical expression is perfected in the type of the antichristian world-power. Godless self-exaltation (Dan_4:30), apparent crushing omnipotence over against the Church of God, and perfect impotence in face of the suddenly approaching storms of Divine judgment—are tie individual features of the type. Here, however, as has already been remarked, the reference is, not to Babylon in the narrower sense of the term, but to Babylon in the most general sense, culminating, of course, in Babylon in the more restricted sense.
Who gave all the nations to drink of the wine of the anger [or rage] of her fornication.—Wine is a symbol of enthusiasm; fornication is a symbol of idolatry; and θυμός in this connection is the wrathful [angry] zeal of fanaticism.26 As fanaticism, in its lust of rule and its intolerance, corresponds with internal irreligiousness and profligacy, so idolatry itself corresponds with actual unchastity. These characteristics are found combined in the religion of ancient Babylon, and are in process of constant development, corresponding to the increasingly God-opposed character of the world-powers. Various have been the false interpretations of the wine of anger, as e.g., poisoned wine and ardent wine—explanations rightly rejected by Düsterdieck. Yet the expression can not be regarded as significant purely of the wine of the anger of God; rather, together with the anger of the heathen [nations] or the Harlot, the reaction of the Divine anger develops into judgment (see Rev_11:18; Rev_17:4; comp. Rom_1:21 sqq.). Thus the fornication also is not simply “fornication committed with great Babylon” (Düsterdieck), but, above all, the fornication of the Harlot herself (see Jer_25:16; Jer_51:7). De Wette and others assert that this Babylon is pagan Rome solely (Tertull., Augustine, etc.); not papal Rome (Vitringa, Bengel, et al.), or Jerusalem (Abauzit, Herder, et al.), not even the wicked world or world-power (Andreas, Bede, et al.). Hengstenberg also confounds Babylon in the wider and Babylon in the narrower sense (Revelation 18). Similarly Ebrard. It should, indeed, be observed that the judgment upon the great universal world-Babylon commences with the judgment upon Babylon in the narrower sense of the term.
Rev_14:9-11. And another, third Angel.—He proclaims the code or norm of judgment in an eschatological form.—With a great voice.—This clause is wanting in the description of the second Angel. Hengstenberg thinks that this is because the proclamation of the second Angel is related to that of the first as the particular to the general, whilst the proclamation of the third Angel is of a general cast again. The distinction, however, lies also, and in a greater degree, in the purport of the announcements.
If any one worshippeth the Wild-beast, see Revelation 13.—He also shall drink, etc.—Düsterdieck: “Καὶ αὐτός (comp. Rev_14:17) represents the individual as incurring judgment equally with the Harlot herself (compare Ewald)” A nearer reference of the καὶ αὐτός would, perhaps, be to the fact that he has previously, in company with the Beast, himself drunk the wine of anger of Antichristian fanaticism, and presented the same to others (see Rev_9:17-18; Rev_13:10; Hengstenberg, 2, p. 151). Taken in the abstract, the reference to the Beast would also give a good sense. The meaning is that none shall be able to excuse himself on the plea that the Beast or the False Prophet seduced him; every one who has worshipped Antichrist shall be personally responsible for the fact—he himself, man for man. An important rule, as opposed to those who hold that individuals belonging to a great mass are personally excused from responsibility. The error is the greater when it includes the belief that the holiness-treasures of a heavily indebted hierarchical system27 are available for personal profiting.
Of the anger of God.—Anger for anger—the holy coming as a retribution upon the evil.
Which is mingled [=poured out—prepared] unmixed.—The expression, literally apprehended, contains a contradiction; it must, therefore, be taken as an oxymoron. Now if, with Wetstein and others, we take κερᾷν in the trite sense of to pour out, no distinct point is visible. The explanation of Züllig: “pure essence of mixtures” [spices, etc.], needs not to be refuted. Hengstenberg, on the other hand, seems to hit the point: “In the Divine wine of anger, mixture with water corresponds to the element of grace, of compassion. The entire absence of such an element is represented here.” Düsterdieck calls this comment artificial. [See Text. and Gram., Note 19.—E. R. C.]
In the cup of His wrath.—Here ὀργή appears—the stronger form of θυμός. [See Text. and Gram., note 29.—E. R. C.]
Tormented with fire and brimstone.—Rev_9:17; Rev_20:10. “The hell punishment here described may not be resolved, in accordance with Grotius, into pangs of conscience.” (Düsterd.). It goes on, however: In the presence of holy angels and of the Lamb. Can this be said of the torments of hell, in the strict sense of the term? The torments of hell resultant upon a being cast into the lake of fire are spoken of later. Do they not begin, however, in this life, especially at the end of time, where time and eternity come in contact with each other? The fire is the glow of passionate self-consumption; the brimstone is an envelopment in the fuel of irritability and irritation—a fuel constantly blazing up afresh with new ardor; the pangs of conscience are as yet in the background, or at least form but a part of the torment. On the Old Testament types of punishment by fire, see Hengstenberg, 2., p. 150. A leading passage bearing upon the subject is Isa_66:24. [“See Rev_20:10, and Isa_34:9-10, from which the imagery comes. De Wette is certainly wrong in interpreting ἐνώπιον, nach dem Urtheile—in the judgment of. It is literal, and the meaning as in Luk_16:23 sqq., that the torments are visible to the angels and the Lamb.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
And the smoke of their torment—Rev_19:3; Isa_34:10; Mat_25:41. Smoke is a phenomenon attendant upon imperfect combustion. If they burned with free devotion in sacrificial fire, they would blaze refulgently, without smoke; the more the flame is restrained by resistance, the thicker and blacker is the smoke which pours forth. Hence, also, βασανισμός is not pure [passive] suffering, but a racking or torturing process. Hengstenberg: “They have no rest day and night from being tormented”—with reference to Rev_20:10, and in opposition to Vitringa, who interpreted the passage as referring to the torment of conscience.
They have not rest by day and by night.—Absolute unrest or excitement—a frantic condition, therefore—forms the spiritual aspect of their βασανισμός.
Who worship, etc.—The present form of the verb must not be overlooked. The offence continues along with the βασανισμός. It is not: who worshipped. With the punishment, the crime which at the first merited that punishment, endures.
Rev_14:12. Here is the endurance [Lange: patience], etc.—Are these words a digression of the Seer, or are they the concluding utterance of the Angel? In accordance with the analogy of Rev_13:10 (comp. also Rev_14:18), they are a practical digression of the Seer. Thus Hengstenberg regards them: “The verse has reference to the point of view, the purpose to which the foregoing is subservient.” Does this mean that the warning against this hell-punishment is the source of the patience [endurance] of the saints? This is about the theory maintained by those who occupy a legal stand-point; it was the theory of the Middle Ages, and is still the theory of the most popular Protestant sermons which advocate a turning from sin to holiness principally on the ground of the pain thereby to be escaped. The patience [endurance] of the saints, however, has its source in the righteousness of God, in that sacred and Divine justice which is here depicted in characters of flame (see Rev_13:10). The explanation: Here is the place for patience, here it must give proof of itself (De Wette, Hengstenberg, Ebrard), virtually translates ὦδε by hither! which, undoubtedly, in and for itself gives a good sense; it is also mediately to be retained as a challenge, as is evidenced by the subsequent sentence. The construction οἱ τηροῦντες “is informal, like Rev_1:5; Rev_2:20” (Düsterdieck). In the sense of the Seer, however, a second ὦδε is, probably, presupposed. The expression: The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, is, doubtless, of wider scope than the distinction of Law and Gospel. The whole of revelation is grounded in the eternal righteousness of God, and culminates in the faith of Jesus, which is principially the steadfastness of Jesus Himself.
Rev_14:13. And I heard a voice.—We cannot fix this voice upon any distinct person [i. e., “saint or Elder” (Hengstenberg)]; nor are there two voices (the first voice and the speaking Spirit, Züllig). It is the voice of God’s Spirit Himself in the Church Trumphant, in His sympathy with the Church in the last time. The temptation to apostasy is more prevalent than ever: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Düsterdieck (in accordance with most commentators) rightly distinguishes between the theme, which closes with ἀπάρτι, and the subsequent rationale. On a preposterous reference of ἀπάρτι to the last sentence, see Düsterdieck. With Cocceius and Hammond, we firmly adhere to the view that the proposition does not simply contain a general consolatory truth, but that it has a special bearing upon the last troublous time. Those, however, who die in the Lord are not to be apprehended as martyrs of the old style (Züllig); for the expression is not: die for the Lord’s sake (Grotius, et. al.), but in Him, in positive fellowship with Him.—Henceforth is by Roman Catholic exegetes explained (Stern) as intimating that the intermediate state of purgatory is now [at the end of the world] done away with; by De Wette, Hengstenberg, Düsterdieck, it is interpreted as signifying that the glorious end is near—hence also the perfect beatification of believers. This explanation should be retained only upon the condition that special stress be laid upon μακάριοι, with reference to the temptations and trials of the last time; but precisely this has previously been disallowed by Düsterdieck. Our explanation of the manifoldly interpreted ἵνα is indicated in the translation of the text given in the beginning of this chapter. See the author’s Dogmatik, p. 1243.
[“The mention of the endurance of the saints brings with it the certainty of persecution unto death. The present proclamation declares the blessedness of all who die not only in persecution, but in any manner in the Lord, in the faith and obedience of Christ. And the special command to write this, conveys special comfort to those in all ages of the Church who should read it. But it is not so easy to assign a fit meaning to ἀπάρτι. That it belongs to the preceding sentence, not to the following one, is, I conceive, plain. … And, thus joined with the former sentence, it must express some reason why this blessedness is to be more completely realized from this time when it was proclaimed than it was before. Now this reason will quickly appear, if we consider the particular time, in connexion with the proclamation which is made. The harvest of the earth is about to be reaped; the vintage of the earth to be gathered. At this time it is, that the complete blessedness of the holy dead commences: when the garner is filled and the chaff cast out. And that not on account of their deliverance from any purgatorial fires, but because of the completion of this number of their brethren, and the full capacities of bliss brought in by the resurrection.” Alford.—“The language is evidently not to be construed as implying that they who had died in the faith before were not happy, but that in the times of trial and persecution that were to come, they were to be regarded as peculiarly blessed who should escape from these sorrows by a Christian death.” Barnes.—E. R. C.]
For [Lange: But] their works follow with them.—A rejection of the bare idea of reward is detrimental to the idea of retribution itself. The same spirituality of Theology which combats the idea of legal merit as pertaining to works, has also to maintain the truth that those works of believers which have been done in God have become for the performers of them not simply powers and virtues of the new life, but also riches of that life. The κόποι, as such, are left here—from them the blessed rest; but as ἔργα, as ideal operations, they pass with them, as their escort, into eternity. Not simply the memory of their deeds accompanies them, but also the love-blessing of this whole world in which they have helped to build the future. [May not the distinction be this: They rest from their labors (service rendered with fatigue and pain), but their works (service to be rendered without fatigue and pain) follow them? See Add. Comments on Rev_7:15, and foot-note (*) (2d column), p. 154.—E. R. C.]
Rev_14:14. And I saw, and behold (a new vision-wonder, the Judgment scene itself).—The Angels of the announcement of Judgment are succeeded by the Angels of the execution of Judgment; Christ being, as before, at the head. Düsterdieck’s superscription of the following section: “further figurative announcements of the now imminent judgment,” overlooks the antithesis between this section and the preceding one.—A white cloud.—Commencement of Christ’s Parousia. The fact that Christ alone can be intended is manifest not only from the attribute of the golden crown and the parallelism with Dan_7:13; Mat_26:64, but also from the harmonious contrast between Rev_14:14 and Revelation 1. In the latter passage, Christ stands, as the Lamb, on Mount Sion, keeping holy-day in the midst of the Triumphant Church; in the former, the King Militant appears on the white cloud to execute judgment upon the world. Even the parallelism which the three following Angels of execution sustain toward the three preceding Angels of announcement, serves as evidence that none other than Christ can be intended.28 Hence, Düsterdieck rightly rejects the interpretation of the figure as an Angel (Grotius, et al.), or as heroic princes, proclaimers of the principles of evangelic truth (Vitringa).—A sharp sickle.—The implement of harvest in the hand—a symbol of beginning judgment.
Rev_14:15. Another Angel.—No reference is had to Rev_14:14, nor to the preceding Angels (Düsterdieck); the reference is to the two following Angels; see above.—Send forth thy sickle.—Such a command is, certainly, not in harmony with the position of a real Angel; assuredly, however, the decree of the Father (see above) is most aptly set forth in a symbolical Angel.
Rev_14:16. Cast His sickle.—The commencement of the judgment, therefore, precedes the actual Parousia of Christ.29 The Harlot, or Babylon, is first judged through the Beast (Rev_17:16); then follows the appearance of Christ, for the destruction of the Beast himself (Rev_19:11). Babylon, or the fallen theocracy, is destroyed by mankind; the Antichristian bestialization and deification of man is destroyed by Christ; Satan, with his rabble rout, is destroyed by God the Father.—And the earth was reaped.—This is the true harvesting of the fruit, the net produce of the harvest-fields of earth for God (Mat_24:31).30
Rev_14:17. Another Angel.—This Angel represents the judgment of reprobation, or the dark side of the Judgment. According to Hengstenberg, this Angel is Christ Himself again. It is wrong to suppose either that Christ only is intended or that a mere ordinary Angel is meant. Why should not the Angel, as a symbolical unit, represent that plurality of Angels, who, according to Mat_13:41, are the executioners of judgment? The present passage is not identical with Rev_19:15, nor with Isaiah 63. Certainly, Christ is Himself the Judge in reference to the reprobate as well as to the blessed, but the Angel, as such, is the symbol of a manifestation of Christ which must be distinguished from Christ Himself. Hengstenberg sees in this Angel a terrible warning to those who might suffer themselves to be driven by fear into concessions; he does not say, however, what concessions he means—the expression is so indefinite that it might even mean concessions against the hierarchy.
Rev_14:18-19. And another Angel.—See chs. Rev_8:3; Rev_16:7. The altar here is not the altar of burnt-offering on earth, but the altar of incense in Heaven.—Out of the altar; this can be said only of a symbolical Angel. The mythical idea of a fire-angel (De Wette) must be rejected (see above).
Gather the clusters of the vine of the earth.—Hengstenberg: “Such an antithesis between the harvest and the vintage as is assumed by Bengel, is not indicated by any feature of the description.” Manifestly, however, the first harvest, as the fruit harvest [fruit—in the primitive sense of that which is profitable and good.—Tr.], is characterized by the fact that the harvest-field has become dry or white in appearance; the grapes, on the other hand, are full of grape-blood. See Ebrard, pp. 416–18. Compare Joe_3:18. The remarkable choice of the figure of the vine, the grape, and the blood of the grape might, primarily, be based upon the fact that the vintage comes later than the wheat-harvest—thus signifying that the judgment upon the wicked is not until after the ingathering of the righteous. To this, however, must be added the consideration that Christ calls Himself ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή, an expression suggestive of the contrast of a vine which is such in a merely symbolical, unreal sense. Such an one was the Old Testament Theocratic Church at first. The whole vineyard early became corrupted, however, according to Isaiah 5. The vine was laid waste, Psalms 80. It became a degenerate vine, Hos_10:1; Jer_2:21; Deu_32:32. It is to be given over to judgment, Eze_17:6-10. The fact that the Old Testament vineyard, with its vines, has become a fief [Lehnsbesitz, the old feudal term=estate in loan, trust-estate] of the New Testament Church of God, is declared by the parable Mat_21:33 sqq. Christ, the true [wesentlich=essential, genuine] Vine, is the author of true [see preceding parenthesis] eternal joy and inspiration; the symbolical vine of the New Testament Church, therefore, in so far as it differs from Christ, is a vine which attains its maturity in spurious enthusiasms, fanatical and untrue joys and festivals. The most terrible thing in its degeneracy, however, is the fact that its clusters acquire their juice [Blut] by blood-shed—that it has been the author, to a constantly increasing extent, of demonic joys of bloodthirstiness; hence pure blood flows from it when it is trodden in the wine-press, and the conception grape-blood or juice is exchanged, with fearful irony, for blood (see Isa_63:3). The base-lying thought is the following: as much blood as the vine has drunk in, shall be pressed out of it again in the great winepress of the anger of God.
Rev_14:20. Without the city.—Explained by most commentators of Jerusalem; by others of Rome. In the symbolical apprehension of the passage, only the City of God can be meant. But is this the Church, as Hengstenberg maintains, or the heavenly Jerusalem, as Bede, et al., affirm? The external Church, at all events, can not be intended, since the text treats of the end of the world, a time when the Church is fallen. The visible appearance of the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev_21:2), however, is preceded by the Judgment—in the first (Rev_18:24; Rev_19:2), second (Rev_19:17 sqq.), and even third instance (Rev_20:9). Nothing, therefore, save the vital Church of God of the last time can be understood—in its quality, incontrovertibly, of passing into the visible appearance of the heavenly Jerusalem and the imperishable City of God (Revelation 21); as, on the other hand, the treading of the grapes begins with the judgment upon Babylon (to which judgment it seems, also, to have special reference), but extends through the subsequent judgments into the æons. We are of opinion that this æonic duration is that which is denoted by the 1600 stadia (see above).—In view of all this, therefore, the application of without the City to the contrast of Heaven is not entirely incorrect, but too external. Curious interpretations of the reins, see in Düsterdieck’s note, p. 478. [Alford regards the City as that of Rev_11:2, viz.: Jerusalem; so also Barnes, etc.; Wordsworth, as the New Jerusalem; Lord, as that by which the apostate hierarchies are represented.—E. R. C.]
For a thousand and six hundred stadia.—By this we understand a punitory suffering extending beyond this present æon into future æons, a state of misery to which the eye can see no limit. Manifold interpretations of the number, see in De Wette. The complete number 1000 and the age of Noah at the time of the deluge (Andreas). The number 4×400, denoting the expanse of the earth and the four regions of Heaven (Victorinus, et al.). The length of Palestine (Bengel, et al.), with reference to Jerome. Extension of the Roman dominion (Mede). The British Islands (Brightman: the Reformation; Cranmer: the Angel, Rev_14:18!). Martyrdom of converted heathen (Alcasar). According to Ebrard, the number should be analyzed by 40. “The number 40 is the number of punishment; 40×40 is, therefore, the number of involved punishment.” An involved [mathematical sense] temporal measure of punishment of some 1600 years does not exactly coincide, however, with the æonic succession of judgment.
Rev_15:1. Another sign in the Heaven.—The Seer has already beheld the unitous phenomenon of the final Judgment; he now sees the historic preparation and development of the same in the succession and intensification of the Anger-Vials or judgments of hardening. The antithesis to the sign in Rev_14:14 is the pragmatical preparation of the Judgment. The sign, however, is a sign in the Heaven; it still belongs to the Heaven-picture. “The greatness and marvellousness of the sign does not lie solely in the fact that seven Angels—not Archangels (Züllig, Stern; comp. De Wette)—appear simultaneously, but also in their peculiar equipment: ἔχοντας πληγὰς ἑπτά” (Düsterdieck). Hengstenberg thinks that even before the reception of the Vials they might have been recognized as the Angels of the seven plagues by some sign—especially by eyes like flames of fire. Züllig, De Wette, Ebrard, Düsterdieck, rightly regard the vision of Rev_15:1 as the superscription of the immediately following section, as the Angels themselves do not issue from the Temple until Rev_15:5 (in opposition to the conception of Hengstenberg). We do not think, however, that the section under this superscription reaches to Rev_16:21 (Düsterd.), but hold that it ends at Rev_15:8, since with Rev_16:1 a new picture—the Earth-picture—begins.
The seven plagues—the last.—That is, the eschatological last anger-strokes, which bring in the final Judgment; these plagues are, manifestly, characterized as judgments of hardening. The last: This term is, on the one hand, not to be construed as having reference to individual life, or to be taken partially (Bengel); but on the other hand, neither should it be confounded with the final Judgment itself (Hengstenberg), as Düsterdieck justly remarks. ̓Ετελέσθη denotes not so much the coming to an end as the consummation, the full development of the anger of God. Even in this point the New Testament preserves its septenary, in contrast to the ten plagues under which Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardened themselves. As, however, those plagues were instrumental to the redemption of the people of Israel, so are these instrumental to the perfect redemption of the New Testament Church of God. For the unitous mass of the earth all plagues do indeed come to an end with the last of these plagues; it is not so in the case of the enemies of Christ.
Rev_15:2-4. And I saw as it were [Lange: an appearance as].—It might be queried: Is not this a second and therefore superfluous pre-celebration of the Judgment, since we have already had one pre-celebration of it in Rev_14:1-5? That, however, was the general pre-celebration of the entire Judgment, with reference to the Church Triumphant and its escape from said Judgment; here we have the more special pre-celebration of the plagues of anger, the second part of the Heaven-picture. The antithesis to the fearful stormy succession of those last strokes of anger is formed by the crystal sea—the world-history of the saints, calmed and clarified in God; the antithesis to the impenitent world on the earth is formed by the conquerors by [on] the crystal sea; the antithesis to the blasphemies of those visited by the plagues is formed by the heavenly celebration in song, and adoration of the righteous judgments of God.
As a glassy [Lange: crystal] sea mingled with fire, see Rev_4:6.—Düsterdieck justly remarks, against Ebrard, that the article [before sea] must be absent because it is only the image of a crystal sea that is spoken of. The greater stress must be laid upon this circumstance, since the idea of a crystal surface of sea mingled with fire does not come within the possibilities of thought, and hence Ewald, in consequence of his insisting upon the reality [materiality] of the image has arrived at the conception of an “ineffably seething and foaming mass, a fiery broth” (see Düsterdieck, p. 484). The image of a crystal-clear sea in Heaven may, however, readily appear as though illuminated and reddened by the fiery glare of the Anger-Vials on earth; and this very reflection is expressed in the song of praise which refers to the judgments of God; moreover, the clarified world-history has itself passed through the fire of earthly world-history (see p. 34 and Rev_4:6). [“The addition, μεμιγμένην πυρί, is probably made as bringing into the previous celestial imagery an element belonging to this portion of the prophecy, of which judgment is the prevailing complexion.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
And I saw those conquering.—To this passage, again, a great and confused mass of interpretations attaches. De Wette: The multitude and glory of the blessed (And., Areth.). Baptism (Primas., et al.). The Divine truth in which believers have their station (Vitringa). Multitude of the heathen (Alcas.). Gentile Christians (Grotius). De Wette: The atmosphere. The last named commentator rejects the reference to the brazen sea in the Temple, but assumes a reference to Israel’s passage through the Red Sea. The fire has also been variously interpreted: Trial-fire (Andreas; others: temptation, persecution, conflict). Martyrdom (Primas.). Love (Grot.), etc. See De Wette, p. 152. According to Düsterdieck, the crystal sea mingled with fire denotes the unity of the beatific grace and the judicatory righteousness of God. The conquerors are not simply martyrs (in accordance with Eichhorn, Ewald, et al.), neither are they (because of the present: νικῶντας) such as are still in the conflict; they are, in a proleptical representation (De Wette), the congregation of victors, especially those of the last time, over against the great plagues of the last time and those who blaspheme under them. ̔Εκ τοῦ θηρίου undoubtedly does not mean that they have destroyed the power of the Beast; from this fact, however, it does not follow that it must mean: away from the Beast [vom Thiere weg], as if they had kept themselves at a distance from him.
[On (or by) the glassy sea.—“Does ἐπί import actually upon, so that they stood on the surface of the sea, or merely on the shore of? On every account the latter seems the more probable, as better suiting the heavenly imagery of Revelation 4, and as according with the situation of the children of Israel when they sung the song to which allusion is presently made. The sense may be constructionally justified by Rev_3:20; Rev_8:3.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
Harps of God.—Tuned solely for the praise of God (Beng.).
Rev_15:3. And they sing, etc.—The song of Moses is the lyrical celebration of the typical redemption by Moses; the song of the Lamb the celebration of the real redemption by the Lamb; and the two songs in their unity as one song are the lyrical celebration of the Old and New Testament revelation faith, in view of the whole redemption which began with Moses, was decided with Christ, and is now thoroughly consummated through the fiery judgments of God. Not two songs, therefore, sung respectively by Old and New Testament believers (Andr.); not the song of Moses applied to Christ and the things of Christ (Grotius); not a song composed at once by Moses and by the Lamb (Ewald, Düsterd.); but the whole redemption as mediated by Moses and Christ, with a distinct reference to the song of Moses and the passage through the Red Sea, as a type of the passage through those rivers of fire by which the faithful of the last time shall be separated from the hardened sinners of that time.
Great and marvellous, etc.—The thought of Vitringa: Canticum Mosis habet spiritualem et mysticum sensum, secundum quem si accipiatur fit canticum agni, contains something of truth inasmuch as even in the song of Moses, together with the omnipotence of God, which destroyed the enemy and saved the people of Israel, the manifestation of His holiness is especially magnified, and it is also even intimated that the whole event must make a startling and a relatively awakening impression upon the heathen. Comp. Exo_15:14-16 with the conclusion of the song in the Apocalypse.
Rev_15:3-4. The song first glorifies, in an objective contemplation of the Judgment, the marvellous, all-swaying, kingly rule of God over the world, in particular over the nations—a governance now attaining its consummate appearance, especially in the righteousness and truth (absolute consistency and faithfulness) of His ways. Then, secondly, it declares the impression made by this rule upon the conquerors: it produces the most sacred awe of the holiness of God, and a joyful enthusiasm which prompts them to praise His name as it shines in the perfection of His revelation. Thirdly, the song expresses the prophetic expectation of the effect which these judgments of God shall produce upon the world of nations;—a genuine New Testament trait as expressive of the hope that many shall yet be converted even under the ministry of the Vials of Anger, Exo_9:16; Exo_14:7; Psa_126:2; Mic_7:16.—In Rev_15:4, as well as in Rev_16:5, ὅσιος is used “in reference to God, which is unusual.”
Rev_15:5. Opened was the Temple.—It is more precisely defined as the Temple of the Tabernacle of the witness. According to Grotius, Ebrard and others, the Holy of Holies is itself intended; according to Ewald and Düsterdieck, the Sanctuary proper is intended, as an adjunct to the Holy of Holies. Hengstenb.: “The Temple in its quality of being the place of the testimony.” The Temple as the Sanctuary, in contrast to the Holy of Holies, also needed not now first to be opened; see Syn. View.—Be it further observed that the seven Angels are symbolical figures of anger in the ramification and course of its domination. [“The ναός is the holy place of the Tabernacle, to which latter the appellation τοῦ μαρτυρίου is here peculiarly appropriate, seeing that the witness and covenant of God are about to receive their great fulfillment.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
Rev_15:6. Clothed in linen pure and glistening.—Their adornment is similar to that of Christ. Their import also is, doubtless, connected with that of the Archangel Michael. The reading λίθον gives occasion to many debates here (see Düsterdieck, p. 486). Clothed with Christ, the Jewel, or with the ornament of the virtues (Andreas)? This is destitute of all appropriate meaning, and about the same remark may be applied to the explanation that (with reference to Eze_28:13) a garment bestudded with precious stones might be understood. In conjunction with such a λίθος the adjective λαμπρός would be rather superfluous, and καθαρός, at all events, would be inappropriate.
Rev_15:7. And one of the four Living-beings [Lange: Life-shapes].—Here, likewise, the false interpretation reappears, according to which the four so-called Beasts are representatives of the creature, and hence one of them appears because the plagues concern the whole creation.—Into the ages.—The eternity of God surpasses the time of the seven Anger-vials. The Vials of Anger also denote death, unceasing and repeated—and over against them stands the eternally Living One.
Rev_15:8. With smoke.—Veiling of the Divine Majesty (Bengel). Also a sign of His un-approachableness in the manifestation of His holiness. See Isaiah 6.; Exo_40:34; 1Ki_8:10. Comp. Syn. View. Different interpretations, see in De Wette, p. 154; Düsterdieck, p. 484. There are some very curious interpretations amongst those cited, as for instance that of Cocceius: The human ordinances of popery debar men from faith. Or that of Calov.: Symbol of the blindness of unbelief.
[“No one was able to enter into the Temple (comp. 1Ki_8:10-11; Exo_40:34-35) until the seven plagues of the seven Angels should be finished.—The passages above referred to give the reason: because of the unapproachableness of God, when immediately present and working, by any created being. See Exo_19:21. When these judgments should be completed, then the wrathful presence and agency of God being withdrawn, He might again be approached.”—Alford. See also the conclusion of the abstract of Stuart, p. 282.—E. R. C.]
[ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE SECTION]
By the American Editor
[This section consists, as it seems to the writer, of three complete visions, and the beginning of a fourth—each relating to a period still future, and terminating with the consummation of the present æon (the æon immediately preceding the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom). Each of these visions is independent—each contemplating matters not referred to in any of the others, and each describing events mentioned by all the others, though in a different mode and under different relations.
Vision I., Rev_14:1-13, is introduced by the strong disjunctive formula, Καὶ ἴδον, καὶ ἰδού, and consists of several consecutive parts.—Part first (Rev_14:1-5) contemplates the body about to possess the Kingdom—the Lamb with the completed ἀπαρχή (see p. 193)—standing on the Mount Sion.31 It describes also the condition and character of the chosen companions of Christ.—Part second (Rev_14:6-7) relates to a universal proclamation of the Gospel preceding the outpouring of the Vials of anger. Whether the Angel, in this and the following parts, denotes a real Angel, or symbolizes a body of men specially commissioned for the purpose indicated, it is impossible now to determine.—Part third (Rev_14:8) foretells a proclamation of the fall of Babylon (see on Rev_18:2).—Part fourth contemplates a public proclamation of woe to be visited upon the worshippers of the Beast; (the execution of the judgments set forth in this and the preceding proclamation is presented in detail in chs. 16–19)—Part fifth is designed for the comfort of the saints. It refers (Rev_14:12) to the ground of their endurance, viz.: the sure destruction of the power of their persecutors; and then declares (Rev_14:13) their certain blessedness when the trials of this life are ended.
Vision II., Rev_14:14-20, is introduced by the same formula as the preceding. It contemplates Christ in the exercise of His office as Ruler over all things (comp. Eph_1:22)—(1) as gathering His ripened Church from the earth (Rev_14:15-16); and (2) as executing judgment upon His enemies. This execution of judgment, as in the preceding vision, is more fully set forth in chs. 16–19.
Vision III., Rev_15:1-4, is not indeed introduced with the same formula as the preceding; it commences, however, with one equally significant. It is purely a Heaven-scene. It contemplates, on the one hand, the chosen ministers of the judgments about to be executed; and, on the other, the entire glorified Church gathered before the Throne as worshippers, and as spectators of the course of Divine Providence on earth. (Is not this assemblage the same as that mentioned Rev_7:9? See Add. Note, p. 193.)
Vision IV. begins with Rev_15:5, and extends to the close of Revelation 17. This vision is introduced with one of the most significant disjunctive formulas employed in the Apocalypse: Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἴδον (see foot-note, p. 150, first column). It consists of three parts.—Part first, Rev_15:5-8, sets forth the preparation of the ministers of vengeance for their work, and the heavenly events attendant thereupon.—Part second, Revelation 16, describes the execution of their work.—Part third, Revelation 17, contains a supplemental statement concerning the Harlot and the Beast, upon whom judgment had been executed.—E. R. C.]
Footnotes:
[1]Rev_15:1. [There are three words which in the E. V. are translated wrath: viz.: θυμός, as here; ὀργή, as in Rev_15:10; παροργισμός, which occurs only in Eph_4:26. The instances of the occurrence of the first two are as follows: Θυμός: Luk_4:28; Act_19:28; Rom_2:8 (indignation); 2Co_12:20; Gal_5:20; Eph_4:31; Col_3:8; Heb_11:27; Rev_12:12; Rev_14:8; Rev_14:10; Rev_14:19; Rev_15:1; Rev_15:7; Rev_16:1; Rev_16:19 (fierceness); Rev_18:3; Rev_19:15 (fierceness); Οργή: Mat_3:7; Mar_3:5; Luk_3:7; Luk_21:23; Joh_3:36; Rom_1:18; Rom_2:5 (bis), Rom_2:8; Rom_3:5 (vengeance); Rom_4:15; Rom_5:9; Rom_9:22 (bis); Rom_12:19; Rom_13:4-5; Eph_2:3; Eph_4:31; Eph_5:6; Col_3:6; Col_3:8 (anger); 1Th_1:10; 1Th_2:16; 1Th_5:9; 1Ti_2:8; Heb_3:11; Heb_4:3; Jam_1:19-20; Rev_6:16-17; Rev_11:18; Rev_14:10 (indignation); Rev_16:19; Rev_19:15. From a comparison of these passages, especially those in the Apocalypse, it will become apparent that the latter is the intensive, of the former (see Lange in Expl, in Detail on Rev_15:10),—that the effects of θυμός are for the most part experienced in the present life; those of ὀργή in the life to come. In accordance with what he regards as the manifest design of the Spirit to distinguish between the objectives of these terms, the Am. Ed. throughout this translation renders the former by anger and the latter by wrath. It may be objected that this change of the translation of θυμός involves a change in the formula Vials of wrath that has become a household phrase. It may be answered that due regard for the distinctions made by the Holy Spirit requires a change here, or in the rendering of ὀργή; and the latter would require an alteration of the formulas—the wrath of the Lamb (Rev_6:16), the great day of His wrath (Rev_6:17), the fierceness of His wrath (Rev_16:19), the wrath of Almighty God, Rev_19:15.—It should be remarked that in the confused translation of these terms the E. V. closely follows Luther’s Version, as it generally does in other instances.—E. R. C.
[2]Rev_15:1. [The translation contemplated is as follows: “Seven angels having seven plagues—the last, for in them is finished the anger of God.”—E. R. C.]
[3]Rev_15:2. Omitted in the best Codd. [Omitted by א. A. B*. C. P. 6, 7, 14, Vulg., etc.; it is given (see Tisch.) only by 1, 35, 36, 79.—E. R. C.
[4]Rev_15:2. [Crit. Eds. omit the article with א. A. C. P.; it is given by B*. 2, 7, etc.—E. R. C.]
[5]Rev_15:3. Two variations: of the æons, of the saints. [Crit. Eds. give τῶν ἐθνῶν with אc. A. B*. P. 1,6,7, etc.; τῶν ἀγιῶν with?; א*. C. 18, 95, Vulg, Cl., Fuld., etc., read τῶν αἰώνων. Alford judiciously remarks: “The confusion has apparently arisen from the similarity of ΑΙΘΝΩΝ (ἐθνῶν) and ΑΙΩΝΩΝ; but which was the original, it is impossible, in the conflict of authorities, to decide.”—E. R. C.]
[6]Rev_15:4. [The construction here is irregular—the first verb being φοβηθῇ; the second, δοξάσει.—E. R. C.]
[7]Rev_15:4. Φοβηθῇ without σε. [So Crit. Eds. with A. B*. C. P. 1,12, etc., Am., Fuld.; 6, 7, Cl., etc., subjoin σε; א. places it before οὐ φοβ.—E. R. C.]
[8]Rev_15:4. [Crit. Eds. give ὅσιος with א. A. C. P. 1, etc.; B*. 6, 7, 8, read ἅγιος.—E. R. C.]
[9]Rev_15:5. [The ἰδού is supported only by Vulg., Cop., Prms., Er.; Crit. Eds. omit with א. A. B*. C. P. 1, Syr., Arm., Æth., etc.—E. R. C.]
[10]Rev_15:6. [Lange and Tisch. read οἱ ἔχοντες with A. C., etc.; א. B*. 1, etc., omit οἱ; Alf. brackets, Treg. marks with *.—E. R. C.]
[11]Rev_15:6. Codd. A. C., etc. [Am., Fuld.] give the difficult reading λίθον; א. B*. [P. Vulg. Cl.] support the Rec. [Lange, Alf., Tisch., give λίνον; Lach. and Treg. λίθον.—E. R. C.]
[12]Rev_15:8. Καπνοῦ without ἐκ τοῦ, according to א. A. C. [P.]. [So Crit. Eds. generally; Tisch. (1859) prefixed ἐκ τοῦ with B*.—E. R. C.]
[13][For the employment of this term rather than wrath see Text. and Gram. (Note 28) on Rev_15:1. In consequence of the confusion of θυμός and ὀργή in the accepted Version, the same confusion exists in the language of German, as in that of English-speaking, Theologians. As the German Zorn, like the English wrath, is used to translate both these words; and as it is capable of being rendered by both anger and wrath, the Am. Ed. takes the liberty of using the one or the other of these English words according as the reference is to θυμός or ὀργή.—E. R. C.]
[14][See Add. Note, p. 193,—E. R. C.]
[15]Schiller: Gemeine Naturen zahlen mit dem was sie thun, edle mit dem was sie sind.
[16][See Text. and Gram. under Rev_14:8, note 16.—E. R. C.]
[17][See Text. and Gram. under Rev_14:10, note 19.—E. R.C.]
[18]May there not be an allusion to the fact that the crucifixion of Christ, in which the sin and, par excellence, the blood-guiltiness of the world culminated, took place without the city—Tr.]
[19][See on p. 94.—E. R. C.]
[20][See Text. and Gramm. under Rev_15:3, note 33.—E. R. C.]
[21]On the reading λίθον, see Düsterd. [See also Text. and Gram.—E. R. C.]
[22][See Add. Note on pp. 161 sq.—E. R. C.]
[23][There is considerable complexity in the last part of Elliott’s great work. The whole of chs. 12–14 he regards as a connected revelation written on the outside of the Roll, and presenting a revelation parallel with that presented in the other portions of the Apocalypse (inside written) to the close of Revelation 19. (see Rev_5:1). Chs. 12–14:5, he regards as extending to what he styles the primary end of the period of 1260 days, about A. D., 1789–93 (see p. 260); Rev_14:6-20, as above.—E. R. C.]
[24]The above seems to be the division contemplated by Stuart.—E. R. C.]
[25] Alford: “There are two ways of understanding these words. Either they may be figurative, implying that the pure ones lived in all chastity, whether in single or in married life, and incurred no pollution (see 2Co_11:2); or they may be meant literally, that these purest ones had lived in that state of which St. Paul says, 1Co_7:1, καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γυναικὸς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι; and as between these two meanings, I conceive, that the somewhat emphatic position of μετὰ γυναικῶν goes some way to decide. It is not ἐμολύνθησαν, the fact of impurity in allowed intercourse, but μετὰ γυναικῶν that is put forward, the fact of commerce with women. I would therefore believe that in the description of these who are the first fruits from the earth, the feature of virginity is to be taken in its literal meaning. Nor need any difficulty be found in this. It is on all hands granted that he who is married in the Lord enters into holy relations or which the single have no experience, and goes through blessed and elevating degrees of self-sacrifice, and loving allowance, and preferring others before himself.… But neither on the other hand can it be denied that the state of holy virginity has also its peculiar blessings and exemptions. Of these, the Apostle himself speaks of that absence of distraction from the Lord’s work, which is apt to beset the married, busy as they are with the cares of a household and with pleasing one another. And another and primary blessing is, that in them that fountain of carnal desire has never been opened which is so apt to be a channel for unholy thoughts and an access for the tempter. The virgins may thus have missed the victory over the lusts of the flesh; but they have also in great part escaped the conflict. Theirs is not the triumph of the toil-worn and stained soldier, but the calm and the unspottedness of those who have kept from the strife.”—E. R. C.]
[26][See Text. and Gram. (note 16) in loc.—E. R. C.]
[27][Whether the indebtedness has a human or a Divine bearing—i. e., whether it signifies the issue, by the system in question, of more promissory notes than its capital will cover,—or whether it is indicative of a moral involvement toward God—the German leaves undecided (Heiligkeitsschdtze eines schwer verschuldeten hierarchischen Systems); Dr. Lange’s somewhat frequent use of the équivoque, however, favors the idea that both aspects of the matter were contemplated by him.—Tr.]
[28][For a different view, see abstract of Lord, p. 283.—E. R. C.]
[29][This conclusion does not follow. If the appearance of the Son of Man on the white cloud be the “commencement of Christ’s Parousia” (see comment on Rev_14:14), then, manifestly, the casting forth of the sickle does not precede that Parousia.—E. R. C.]
[30][For a contrary view, see abstract of Stuart, p. 282.—E. R. C.]
[31][It is an interesting question, Where is the Mount Sion here mentioned? Is it earthly or heavenly? In the judgment of the writer, it is heavenly. Christ as Head of the Millennial Kingdom does not come into visible manifestation (on earth) until after the pouring out of the Vials (see Rev_19:11-16). The earthly Jerusalem and the earthly Sion are types of places in that glorious world where Jesus and His disembodied saints now are (comp. Joh_14:2-3; Heb_12:22), awaiting the time for the establishment of the Basileia and the manifestation of the Sons of God on earth.—E. R. C.]
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 Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv2–4sea of glass--Answering to the molten sea or great…
sea of glass--Answering to the molten sea or great brazen laver before the mercy seat of the earthly temple, for the purification of the priests; typifying the baptism of water and the Spirit of all who are made kings and priests unto God.
mingled with fire--answering to the baptism on earth with fire, that is, fiery trial, as well as with the Holy Ghost, which Christ's people undergo to purify them, as gold is purified of its dross in the furnace.
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them that had gotten the victory over--Greek, "those (coming) off from (the conflict with) the beast-conquerors."
over the number of his name--A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit the words in English Version, "over his mark." The mark, in fact, is the number of his name which the faithful refused to receive, and so were victorious over it.
stand on the sea of glass--ALFORD and DE BURGH explain "on (the shore of) the sea": at the sea. So the preposition, Greek, "epi," with the accusative case, is used for at, Rev 3:20. It has a pregnant sense: "standing" implies rest, Greek "epi" with the accusative case implies motion "towards." Thus the meaning is, Having come TO the sea, and now standing AT it. In Mat 14:26, where Christ walks on the sea, the Greek oldest manuscripts have the genitive, not the accusative as here. Allusion is made to the Israelites standing on the shore at the Red Sea, after having passed victoriously through it, and after the Lord had destroyed the Egyptian foe (type of Antichrist) in it. Moses and the Israelites' song of triumph (Exo 15:1) has its antitype in the saints' "song of Moses and the Lamb" (Rev 15:3). Still English Version is consistent with good Greek, and the sense will then be: As the sea typifies the troubled state out of which the beast arose, and which is to be no more in the blessed world to come (Rev 21:1), so the victorious saints stand on it, having it under their feet (as the woman had the moon, see on Rev 12:1); but it is now no longer treacherous wherein the feet sink, but solid like glass, as it was under the feet of Christ, whose triumph and power the saints now share. Firmness of footing amidst apparent instability is thus represented. They can stand, not merely as victorious Israel at the Red Sea, and as John upon the sand of the shore, but upon the sea itself, now firm, and reflecting their glory as glass, their past conflict shedding the brighter luster on their present triumph. Their happiness is heightened by the retrospect of the dangers through which they have passed. Thus this corresponds to Rev 7:14-15.
harps of God--in the hands of these heavenly virgins, infinitely surpassing the timbrels of Miriam and the Israelitesses.
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv1–42. The chapter of War Preparation (at Jerusalem) for…
2. The chapter of War Preparation (at Jerusalem) for Babylon’s destruction, Rev_15:1-8.
The seven destroying angels in the temple; presented with the vials, Rev_15:1-7.
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1. And—As the menaces of the last chapter were in Jerusalem and the temple, so here we are still in the temple at the glass sea; the martyr spirits on its shore are chanting anticipated victory over the beast, 1-4; the tabernacle is opened, 5; the seven angels of the last plagues come from the temple, 6, 7; while the divine presence of Jehovah himself stays in the temple, 8, until the seven plagues do their fatal work on antichrist’s capital.
Another sign—Or symbol. Another, in addition to those in Rev_12:1; Rev_12:3.
In heaven—That is, in the heaven or region, of symbol. Note Rev_4:11. The seven angels, as being the main figures in the great overthrow, are mentioned before their time, (which comes at Rev_15:6,) and as emphatically the sign… great and marvellous. Or, we may say the sign… great and marvellous comprehends the entire exhibition of this chapter; nay, perhaps even including the process and catastrophe of next chapter. And thus this another sign forms a marvellous antithesis to the two of 12 and 13.
Last plagues—Last as being final for Babylon.
For— Assigning reason for their being a finality; they fill up the retribution due to Satan’s capital.
Plagues—The Greek word for plague signifies, literally, a blow, a smite; and the infliction is thus assumed to be made by a divine stroke. It is as if the outpouring of the vial was the external sign; but a stroke from Jehovah from his secret place in the temple (Rev_15:8) made the infliction.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–41. another sign] Besides those of Rev_12:1; Rev_12:3. Here…
1. another sign] Besides those of Rev_12:1; Rev_12:3. Here preparation is made (as in Rev_8:2) for another sevenfold series of visions. Some have attempted to see a sevenfold series in the three preceding chapters—its elements being the successively appearing figures of the Woman, the Dragon, the Man Child, Michael, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Lamb. But this seems rather far-fetched: at any rate, it is not likely to have been consciously present to St John’s mind.
the seven last plagues; for] Literally, seven plagues, the last, for: i.e. the fact that “in them is filled up [or rather “fulfilled, finished”] the wrath of God” is given as the reason why these plagues are the last.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–4(1) And I saw another sign in (the) heaven.—The…
XV.
(1) And I saw another sign in (the) heaven.—The sign is, as we noticed before (Rev_12:1), a token, not a mere empty wonder. This sign is called “great and marvellous;” it introduces a new set of scenes; the same characters will reappear, but we must start with fresh attention.
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The seer sees seven angels (not “the seven angels;” it is perfectly needless to ask what angels, or to try and identify them with the trumpet angels) having seven plagues, the last, because in them is completed the wrath of God. The statement that these are the last plagues seems to show that the set of visions now commencing carry us down to the end of the age; there are no other plagues after these: they are the last plagues; the vials, like the seals and the trumpets, run up to the final consummation. They are plagues; the word carries us back to Egypt: on Egypt fell the ten plagues which showed forth God’s righteous power, and exposed the hollow pretensions of the magicians and their gods; the wild beast-power and the false prophet-power of that day was crippled and exposed. In like manner upon the wild beast-power of later ages the plagues of God fall. They are plagues, because they are sent forth, not like the trumpets to warn men to repent, but upon those who have obstinately refused to return; they are not goads to the wavering, but they are strokes upon the wilful and hardened; they are directed against those who are deliberately hostile.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv1–4And I saw another sign in heaven. The last…
And I saw another sign in heaven. The last time we had this expression was in Revelation 12, where the history of the war between Satan and the Church was begun. Once more we have a new departure, the seer again, as it were, returning to the beginning? in order to trace the course of the punishments inflicted on men for their worship of the devil. Re 15 gives a short summary of this, which is expanded in Re 16; and it is introduced, as usual, by a vision of the saints in glory, in order to comfort and support the Christian in his warfare. (cf. Rev_6:1, 2 7:3 14:1-5, 13) The "sign" is what is described in the following account. "In heaven" probably merely means in a conspicuous position. (cf. Rev_12:1) Great and marvellous. On account of the terrible nature of the events depicted. Seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God; seven angels having seven plagues, the last ones, because in them is finished the wrath of God. The seer describes what he sees subsequently, as if all the actors were present at one moment. In reality, he sees the actions of the "seven angels" in succession. The number seven denotes the universal, all-extending nature of the plagues. (see on Rev_1:4 Rev_5:1, etc.) They are the last plagues, because they lead on to the description of the final fall of the power of the devil in its various forms, and to the account of the last judgment of God and the eternal bliss of the saints in glory.
Vers. 1-8. The victors" song.
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The visions of this book are drawing to a close. Those immediately before us are meant to indicate the last judgments which must fall on the world, ere out of the ruin and from it there shall emerge the new heavens and the new earth. But another break in the gloom is permitted to us here. The apostle casts his eyes, not downward, but upward. He beholds two groups of beings in the upper realm. The first is composed of seven angels who have seven plagues, which are the last. The second is composed of great multitudes of those who, while the struggle was going on below, soared out of it, and were victorious. The work of the first group will he noted in subsequent homilies. The song of the second is before us now. If we ask and answer four questions, we shall know as much about the song and the singers as it is possible to do in this state. The four queries are:
(1) Who are singing the song?
(2) At what time?
(3) What are the contents of it?
(4) Where is it being sung?
I WHO ARE SINGING THE SONG? They "that come victorious from (ek) the beast," etc. (ver. 2). Then it is evident that they are those who once were in the scene of conflict here below; who had to maintain a fight, hard and stern, against a godless world and a corrupt Church; in fact, against all the forces which, led on by "the dragon," are used by the first and the second beasts. We cannot mistake them, any more than we can the glorious company mentioned in the seventh and fourteenth chapters. They once were strugglers and wrestlers here. But their toils are over, and they have gained the victory. They it is who now are singing the song.
II WHEN? TO WHAT TIME DOES THE APOSTLE POINT US? It may be remarked by some, that inasmuch as the visions of the conflict indicate future troubles, so the brighter visions indicate future glories. True. But we must remember that we are already more than eighteen hundred years onward, and therefore that the struggles of this present time are "future" from the Patmos standpoint. Besides, the song is being sung simultaneously with the raging of the conflict. They sing in one realm who have sped out of (ek) the other. The dragon, the first beast, the second beast, war still. Some have already escaped out of the confusion, have gained the victory, and are singing (adousi) the song. A further indication of time is given in ver. 4, "All nations shall come and worship future prookunhsousin . So that it is evidently before the great work of the world"s conversion is completed. Thus we are brought by the time marks in the paragraph to the conclusion to which we have previously come, viz. that the Church of God exists in two realms. One part of it is in the struggle; another has risen beyond it. Their gladness and song have already begun.
III WHAT OF THE SONG ITSELF?
1. It has a remarkable name. "The song of Moses... and... the Lamb." By the former the deliverance out of Egypt was effected. By the latter a redemption infinitely greater, of which the earlier one was but a faint and feeble type; i.e. the song is a celebration of redeeming love, dud reviews the great redemptive work in all its phases, stages, and ages.
2. It has joyous accompaniments. "Having the harps of God." Under the Jewish worship, as far back as David"s time, the harp was used to aid in sacred song. In a higher realm, where the joy is complete, the "harp" will never be hung on the willows, and will never be out of tune.
3. Its contents are manifold.
(1) It celebrates Divine attributes. "Thou only art holy.
(2) It magnifies the rectitude of the Divine government. "Righteous and true are thy ways.
(3) In it the Divine greatness is extolled. "King of the ages; "The Almighty.
(4) It finds inspiration in the manifestation of the righteous acts of God. To saints above, from their loftier standpoint, the glory of the Divine dealings is far more clear than it can possibly be to us. We "dwell in clouds below.
(5) The certainty of the coming triumph gladdens their hearts. "All nations shall come," etc. (cf. Psa_86:9 Isa_2:2-4 Isa_66:23 Zec_8:22 Mal_1:11) Our Saviour"s words intimate to us that the progress of the kingdom of God on earth is witnessed by the saints from their blissful seat in Paradise. (cf. Joh_8:56, Greek)
IV WHERE IS THE SONG BEING SUNG? "I saw... them... standing by the glassy sea" Here, as indeed throughout the chapter, there is an allusion to the ransomed host of Israel when they stood by the shores of the Red Sea and sang, "Sing ye to the Lord," etc. That sight furnishes the material for the imagery here. And the underlying thought which that imagery conveys is this they stand now in the realm of victory, like as Israel of old when they saw their enemies dead upon the seashore. They are in "the land of triumph," "There are no foes to encounter there." Here is the fighting; there, is the rest. Here, the cross; there, the crown. Here, the sigh; there, the song. Here, the foreboding fear; there, all fear is forever done away.
In view of all this, let us note:
1. It is not for nought that we are asked to maintain the conflict with evil, in the Name and on behalf of our Lord. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." In the day of victory, his triumph will be ours. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I wilt give thee a crown of life.
2. However much perplexity and distress the mystery of the Divine ways may occasion us now, we may rest assured that when God"s judgments are made manifest, they will be the theme of adoring praise. There will be seen to be a unity about them which as yet we can scarcely discern; a steadfast advance through age after age which in the present brief span of our earthly life we cannot trace; and we cannot doubt that the ultimate issue will reveal a grandeur, a vastness, and a completeness in redemption"s plan, which only the Infinite Eye can now discern. Therefore observe:
3. Meanwhile it is an infinite comfort and stay to our souls amid this troubled scene, to have had sketched beforehand for us the tribulations through which we must enter the kingdom, and the glories of the kingdom in which we shall triumph when the tribulation is over.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY. Vers. 1-8. "The wrath of God.
Such is the subject of this and the following chapters.
I WHAT IS IT? "The wrath of God" is simply that will of God which forever has linked together sin and suffering; that will by which woe follows wickedness everywhere and always. It is calm, not passionate; inexorable, not capricious; ever just, as man"s wrath too often is not; and never selfish, is ours too often is.
II IS TERRIBLE TO EVIL DOERS. See the several symbols of it as they are given one by one in the account of the outpouring of the seven vials. And, separate from all symbol, see how everywhere and always and evermore, suffering, like a sleuth hound, tracks the steps of sin, and sooner or later fastens its fangs in the sinful man or sinful people. So sure is this, that that shrewd, wise, observant man who wrote the Book of Proverbs declared it as the testimony of all experience that they are "fools" who "make a mock at sin.
III WILL HAVE AN END. Not that the will of God, without which he could neither be the God of holiness nor the God of love; that ordains the everlasting union of sin with suffering not that that will can ever end or change, but that, the purpose of his will being accomplished by the extirpation of sin, there shall no longer be occasion for suffering. Hence we say the wrath of God will have an end. And accordingly these very plagues are called "the seven last plagues." It would be dreadful to think that the moral condition of men should ever be as it is, and has been during all the past. But it will not. The day will dawn when there will no longer be need for any more plagues, and when the last of them, they all having done their work, shall pass away forevermore (ver. 1).
IV IS CONSENTED TO BY ALL THE COMPANY OF HEAVEN. The saints, they celebrate its manifestation by their song. The living ones (ver. 7) consign to the charge of the seven angels the seven vials of the wrath of God. Angels, who come forth from the inmost shrine of the temple of God, and are vested as his priests, undertake this awful work; the holy, the blessed, the glorified, the redeemed, those saved by the mercy of God, all alike consent. It is a fearful, but a most solemn and salutary fact, to remember that there will not be found a solitary individual amongst the holy and the good who will intercede against or do aught but consent to God"s judgments against sin. Even he who is the Lamb of God, the Friend and Saviour of sinners, consents; yea, more than this, for it is his song that his saints sing in celebration of these judgments of God. Left utterly alone with his sin without one friend will he be who now refuses to give up his sin and submit to Christ.
V EVIDENCES THE HOLINESS OF GOD. (Vers. 3, 4) The conviction constrains the confession, "Thou only art holy; Righteous and true are thy ways so sing they who sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. What worth is any government, what worth especially would be the government of God, if it were as the sceptic cynic in Ecclesiastes says it is, that "there is one end to the righteous and to the wicked"? There would be no need of a hell by and by, for earth would be hell already. Blessed forever be his Name, who makes "the way of transgressors hard.
VI WILL BE FOLLOWED BY THE COMING "OF ALL NATIONS TO WORSHIP BEFORE" GOD. (Ver. 4) This most precious truth explains the song that the saints sing. How could they sing if sin and suffering were to go on forever; if evil were to be eternal, or if the woes of the world meant the destruction of the world? But knowing and seeing clearly, as they do, how all these judgments of God conduce to the glory of God; and that as the cloud of his majesty filled the temple (ver. 8), so shall that glory fill all the earth; therefore they can, not merely with calmness, but with joy, contemplate the pouring out of the vials, even of the wrath of God. But for the faith of this how could thoughtful men endure to live?
VII WARNS US TO FLEE FROM THE WICKEDNESS THAT AROUSES IT TO THE LOUD JESUS CHRIST. For he it is in whom we are sheltered from the wrath due to sin of the past, and from the power of sin present and future. S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN Vers. 1-4. The song of the redeemed.
A further vision is permitted sign with which the faithful but tried ones are to be cheered. The vision, as a whole, is "great and marvellous." It reaches to the end of the eighteenth chapter. "Seven angels" have "seven plagues last, for in them is finished the wrath of God." With these solemn words the announcement of the coming judgments the final ones is prefaced. As before, the hearts of the faithful are comforted and assured by a vision of their glorious lot, before the revelation of the judgments upon the earth is made. So are they encouraged to fidelity, and prepared for the terrible scenes which are about to be presented. It is needless to search for an explanation of every detail of the symbol. The vision is of the holy ones, who sing a psalm of praise to God for his manifested judgments. "Thy righteous acts have been made manifest." It has its hidden assertion. Thy judgments hitherto, thy judgments ever, those which have been, those which are, and those which shall be, are true and righteous altogether. This ascription is thrown into the form of a song, which is
I A SONG OF PRAISE. Praise to God for the greatness and marvellous character of his works, and for the righteousness and truthfulness of his ways.
II A SONG OF TRIUMPH. Like the several songs of the Revelation, it anticipates the final issue of the struggle between good and evil. "All the nations shall come and worship before thee.
III A SONG FROM A FAITHFUL AND REDEEMED HOST. "Them that come victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name." Only the redeemed who have been faithful in their struggle against evil can rejoice in the final overthrow of that evil.
IV A JUBILANT SONG. They who sing stand "by the glassy sea, having the harps of God." It is a song of salvation and deliverance: "the song of Moses the triumphant exultation of the redeemed host when they, having crossed the flood, saw their enemies engulfed. "The song of the Lamb," when the whole work of the Lamb has been effected, when the redemption from sin is complete, and the overthrow of whatever opposes the Name of the Lamb is utterly crushed and destroyed. Then truly shall it be said, "Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee." Thus is anticipated in song what is about to be portrayed. R.G.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-4. Divine severity and human heroism.
"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast," etc. This fragment of John"s vision, or dream, brings under our attention and serves to illustrate two subjects:
(1) Divine severity; and
(2) human heroism.
I DIVINE SEVERITY. "And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up finished the wrath of God" (ver. 1). Undoubtedly in the government of this world there is the stormy as well as the mild, the gloomy as well as the pleasant. The government under which we live on this earth often assumes aspects of terrible severity. Its manifold ministers or angels bear to us manifold "plagues afflictions, which our sin-stricken consciences refer to Divine indignation or wrath.
1. The principle of severity is seen in material nature. In the inorganic realms all things do not seem mild and pleasant. We have tornadoes sweeping destruction over sea and land, we have earthquakes that engulf cities, sounds are heard and sights are witnessed that overwhelm with terror and alarm.
2. This principle of severity is seen in the plantal realm. In gardens and orchards, as well as in the fields and woods, the open commons and the wild prairies, there is heard the moaning groan and felt the blasting breath of severity shivering the fruit, scattering the blossoms like hoar frost, freezing the very roots of life.
3. This principle of severity is seen in the sentient domain. From the behemoths that prowl in the forests, and the leviathans that sport in oceans, to the tiniest microbes in the microscopic world, there are aspects of severity, pains of birth and death, of hunger and thirst, and of predatorial ravages and tortures. There is an undertone of sadness heard throughout. "The whole creation groaneth," etc.
4. This principle of severity is seen in human history. Bodily diseases, secular indigence, social annoyances, heart bereavements, physical dissolution, in all these there is often the ghastly appearance of Divine severity. The "seven angels," with their "seven plagues," appear in all directions. I am far enough from averring that the ministry of pain is a malignant ministry, but, otherwise, it is benign Will the ministry of pain ever continue? Will the "seven angels" be ever on the wing, bearing the "plagues"? Cowper says"The groans of nature in this nether world, Which Heaven has heard for ages, have an end.
Will they have an end? Heaven grant they may!
II HUMAN HEROISM. "And I saw as it were a sea of glass a glassy sea mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over that come victorious from the beast, and over from his image, and over his mark, and over from the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass standing by the glassy sea, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses," etc. (vers. 2, 3). The heroes here suggested are:
1. Those who have conquered the wrong. They are those "who have gotten the victory over the beast." And what is the beast? Moral wrong in all its elements and forms. Sin is a hideous, ravenous, iniquitous "beast," served and worshipped by unredeemed men the world over. The foe against which the true hero fights is sin, and sin only. He who destroys life and tramples on human rights is no hero, but a mercenary murderer. From no character do I recoil with such horror as from him who sells his time, his body, his all, to slaughter his fellow men. Nor do I feel scarcely a greater abhorrence for such a character than for those who, professing to be the ministers of Christ, rhetorically extol such as heroes, and subscribe to monuments to perpetuate their infamous history. I wonder greatly that the reports of the horrors of that war lately going on in the Soudan, inaugurated and supported, alas! by what has been rightly denominated the shuffling, starving, slaughtering Parliament of the time, do not rouse all England to arms against the Governments and the Churches that can tolerate for an instant such stupendous crimes.
2. Those who ascribe their victory to God. Observe:
(1) Their posture. "They stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God" (ver. 2). It is suggested that their position is one of safety. The sea does not surge about them; it is beneath them, hard as ice. It is a position of splendour. The crystal sea on which they stand is made brilliant by fire. There is no posture of soul so sublime and safe as the true posture of worship. The Shechinah beams around them as their glory and defence.
(2) Their anthem. "They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb" (ver. 3).
(a) Their anthem breathes triumphant praise. They recognize in their triumphs the "great and marvellous works" of God, and the truth and rectitude of his ways. God is righteous. "Just righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of saints the ages" (ver. 3). Notice:
(b) The demands of his Law attest the truth of this testimony. The heavenly Teacher has reduced all the demands which the eternal Governor makes upon us to a twofold command.
(i.) "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." His demand is our supreme love. Is this demand just? This depends upon three things:
(a) Whether we have the power of loving any one supremely.
(b) Whether God has attributes adapted to awaken this love within us.
(c) Whether these attributes are revealed with sufficient clearness to our minds.
The affirmative to these things must be admitted by all. All men do love some object supremely. The Eternal has attributes in every variety of aspect and attraction. The heavenly Teacher has reduced the demands to another command.
(ii.) "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." Not "whatsoever men do unto you that might be sinful; but "whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you." Would you have them false, dishonest, unkind, tyrannic, towards you? Whatsoever ye would that they should be, be so to them. Can anything be more just?
(3) The intuitions of his moral creatures attest the truth of this testimony.
In all moral intelligences there is:
(i.) An intuitive sense of the right. All have an inbred sentiment of right and wrong. This sentiment implies a moral standard; and what is this standard but God?
(ii.) An intuitive love of right. All moral souls love the right in the abstract; they are bound to do it. "I delight in the Law of God after the inward man." All consciences go with God.
(iii.) An intuitive remorse. Misery springs up in the soul from a conscious departure from the right. Cain, Belshazzar, Judas, are examples.
(iv.) An intuitive appeal to God under the wrong as the Friend of the right. Oppressed humanity involuntarily looks to God as Judge of all the earth. Deep in the soul of the moral creation is the feeling that God"s ways are just and right. No argument can destroy this consciousness.
(4) The mediation of his Son attests the truth of this testimony. Christ came to establish judgment rectitude in the earth. "What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
(i.) His life was the development of Divine righteousness. He was incarnate judgment. "He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.
(ii.) His death was the highest homage to Divine rectitude. He could have escaped death. It was the inner sense of right that urged him on.
(iii.) His system is the promoter of Divine righteousness. His truth inculcates it. His Spirit promotes it. His Spirit comes to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, etc.
(5) The retributions of his government attest the truth of this testimony.
Look at the expulsion of Adam, the Deluge, the burning of Sodom, the extermination of the Canaanites, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews.
(6) Their anthem breathes philanthropic devotion. "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments righteous acts are made manifest" (ver. 4). The words may be regarded as expressing a desire that all men, all the nations, should worship God. Genuine piety is always philanthropic. He who loves the Father will love his children, and will desire all the brethren to worship the Father "in spirit and in truth." Genuine piety and genuine philanthropy are convertible expressions, modifications of the same sovereign principle love. D.T.
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v1Seven angels having the seven last plagues
Rev_15:1-4
Seven angels having the seven last plagues
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Divine severity and human heroism
I.
Divine severity. Undoubtedly in the government of this world there is the stormy as well as the mild, the gloomy as well as the pleasant. The government under which we live on this earth often assumes aspects of terrible severity.
II. Human heroism. The heroes here suggested are:
1. Those who have conquered the wrong. Sin is a hideous, ravenous, iniquitous beast, served and worshipped by unredeemed men the world over. The foe against which the true hero fights is sin, and sin only.
2. Those who ascribe their victory to God. Observe--
(1) Their posture is one of safety. The sea does not surge about them; it is beneath them. It is a position of splendour. The crystal sea on which they stand is made brilliant by fire. There is no posture of soul so sublime and safe as the true posture of worship. The Shekinah beams around them as their glory and defence. Observe--
(2) Their anthem.
(a) Triumphant praise.
(b) Philanthropic devotion. (David Thomas, D. D.)
The song of Moses … and the song of the Lamb.--
The song of Moses and the Lamb
I. The triumphant choir. He calls these triumphant choristers conquerors out of the beast, which implies that victory over him is an escape from a dominion in which the conquerors before their victory were held. They have fought their way, as it were, out of the land of bondage, and have won their liberty. By Christ we conquer. Through faith, which lays hold on His power and victory, we too may conquer.
II. The position of this victorious chorus. As Moses and the ransomed hosts stood on the shore of the Red Sea, so these conquerors are represented by anticipation as standing on the safe beach, and looking out upon this sea of glass mingled with fire, which, calm, crystal, clear, stable, and yet shot through and through with the red lines of retributive judgment, sleeps above the buried oppressors. Observe that besides its picturesque appropriateness and its historical allusion, this sea of glass has a distinct symbolical meaning. Thy judgments are a mighty deep. Oh! the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! That great ocean of the judgment of God is crystalline--clear though it be deep. If we cannot look to its lowest depths, that is not because there is any mud or foulness there, but partly because the light from above fails before it reaches the abysses, and partly because our eyes are uneducated to search its depths. If it be clear as far as the eye can see, let us trust that beyond the reach of the eye the clearness is the same. And it is a crystal ocean as being calm. They who stand there have gotten the victory, and bear the image of the Master. By reason of their conquest, and by reason of their sympathy with Him, they see that what to us, tossing upon its surface, appears such a troubled and tempestuous ocean, is calm and still; and their vision, not ours, is the true one. It is a sea of glass mingled with fire. Divine acts of retribution, as it were, flash through it, if I may so say, like those streaks of red that you see in Venice glass, or like some ocean smitten upon the one side of every wave by a fiery sunlight, while the other side of each is dark. So through that great depth of Gods dealings there flashes the light of retribution.
III. The occasion of the song, and the song itself. They sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. The song of Moses was a song of triumph over destructive judgment; the song of the Lamb, says my text, is set in the same key. The one broad, general lesson to be drawn from this is the essential unity, in spite of all superficial diversities, of the revelation of God in the Old Covenant by law and miracle and retributive acts, and the revelation of God in the blew Covenant by the Cross and Passion of Jesus Christ. And there is another principle here, and that is the perfect harmony of the retributive acts of Gods destructive dealings in this world, and the highest conception of His love and mercy which the gospel brings us. When the wicked perish, says one of the old proverbs, there is shouting. And so there ought to be. When some hoary oppression that has been deceiving mankind for centuries with its instruments and accomplices is swept off the face of the earth, the more men have entered into the meaning of Jesus Christs mission and work, and the more they feel the pitying indignation which they ought to feel at seeing men led away by evil, and made miserable by oppression, the more they will rejoice. And the last thought that I would suggest to you is, that according to the teaching of my text, we may take that old, old story of the ransomed slaves and the baffled oppressor, and the Divine intervention, and the overwhelming ocean, as a prophecy full of radiant hope for the world. That is how it is used here. Pharaoh is the beast, the Red Sea is this sea of glass mingled with fire, the ransomed Israelites are those that have conquered their way out of the dominion of the beast. And the song of Moses and of the Lamb is a song parallel to the cadences of the ancient triumphant chorus, and celebrating the annihilation of that power which drew the world away from God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The hymn of the victors
I. Who were they that sang? It is a question of moment for men still. Man is man the world through, and no temptation has touched us with its polluting finger which did not touch them. The image of the beast and the varied semblances of sins had presented themselves to their minds. The stamp of indulged desire, of unrestrained passion, of selfishness and mean thoughts, of untruth and cowardice, of unmanliness and impurity, was heated ready for their brows and backs as it is for ours. The number of the beast is sometimes a swelling magnitude, always a perfected and enticing product in the computation of earth. Public opinion, now elevated to a moral law as high in authority and terrible in sanction as that of Horeb, had to be counted with and opposed by them as by us. The morals of their age had to be avoided as a test or guide, and they, as we, had to rise higher than material interests, and explode, with the stout breath of earnestness and sincerity, the bubbles which, though hollow and worthless, were radiant under the worldly sun. They had come victorious from the beast and from his image, and from his mark and from the number of his name. The essence of their triumph lay in this--that they had educated themselves to look upon the permanent relation of things. The tendency that always tempts us is to see only the narrow relations that are close about us. They think only upon the daily occupation of hand and head, and their converse with their friends embraces no greater theme. But the true mind, beyond the glare of the present, sees the brightness of another life, and the reality of another world. He is continually applying the standard of eternal life to the fragmentary portions of existence on earth.
II. See, too, the subject and the value of their song. Like nearly every hymn in this Book, it tells of the works of God. It is not silent upon the judgments that are seen, nor upon the sorrows and failures of men; but it looks to the One Hand that is powerful, and it asserts that all the works which are done by God are just works and true. There is a sense in which we can clearly see this ourselves, for we can distinguish between the operation and the result. There is a solvent with God for the issues of human deeds. Man works while God overrules. Centuries of investigation have been heaped upon centuries; books beyond counting have been written; but notwithstanding, we are still like children gazing curiously at a great machine, and our conclusions and theories are like heaps of shifting sand upon a forsaken shore.
III. Behold the prospect they hold out.
1. It is a prospect of advancing holiness to themselves. Though enwrapt within eternal blessedness there are long distances, we will not say of purity, but of attainments, which they may yet tread. Is immortality, then, a range and region of perpetual progress? Are we not to lie down in it and sleep, and let the great worlds of a renewed universe wheel round unthought of and unobserved? The whole of the Book says, No. It speaks of endless activity, of mightier attempts and more glorious achievements than we dared to conceive on the earth, of ceaseless efforts towards a glad success.
2. As to the progress of earth. All nations, they say, shall come and worship before Thee. Out of the present actual world there is constantly springing, hour by hour, another world, which in its turn begets a fresh condition of things; for nothing sleeps, and events are never still. The prophecy in this light is inspired with force and fruit. There is a progress of the nations, and therefore of those who compose the nations, distinctly foretold. For worship is the condition of progress, development, and advancement. The nation, as the man, which has ceased to worship, has ceased to grow. Ideals then are lost or dissolved. The higher is unattained because there is no vision of the Highest. But where worship is real, unflagging, and unabused, where nations can see the Eternal One, that sits upon His throne, and hear the hymns that swell from lips of brothers who have fought the good fight of faith, and by the might of Christ have won, there is the guarantee of national principles that will not be cheaply sold, of national stability that challenges and defies assault, and of national progress that expands and strengthens because it has learnt that there is a rhythm and sweetness in the life which has shaped itself to the changeless law, and an articulate gladness and glory which issues from the cross of self-denial and sacrifice. (W. M. Johnston, M. A.)
The song of Gods heroes
I. The service of song is the highest employment of redeemed man. The redeemed whom John saw in vision had left behind them all the imperfections of life, and reached its consummation. The toil and the care were ended. The long battle had closed. Here is the first point to be marked, viz., that perfection of life was the spirit of their song. All the discipline of the earthly had been for this end, that every conflict of the heart should become the element of praise; that every sorrow should change into thanksgiving; that their souls, by all the education of life, should be tuned as harps for God. We may observe still further, that it is the noblest office of music to become the language of those emotions that border on the infinite and eternal. There is nothing in this world that can so completely lift a mans soul above the cares and doubts of time, right up to the throne of God, as the inspiring notes of a psalm of praise. Here, then, is the lesson which the words have for us to-day: just as Christian life approaches the heavenly spirit, that life becomes one song of praise. For the essential principle of Christian life is self-surrendering love to God, and that can bring thanksgiving out of sorrow. You may have known men, old and grey in the Christian conflict, over whom great sorrows have rolled, but they are yet young in soul, for life has renewed its youth in thanksgiving.
II. That song unites the spiritual heroes of all the ages. Men from the dispensation of Moses--men from that of Christ; this seems implied in the words, They sing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
1. The true heroes of all ages are engaged in one conflict. We are told in the 13th chapter that the beast had power given unto him to make war with the saints. There were men in the past whose battle was hard fought in the heart--they overcame. There are such men now. Life is full of heroisms. He who in the little things of daily life fights on unnoticed and unknown, is in spirit a great warrior. The man who does not know hard struggles does not know how the soul rises into song.
2. One means of victory--faith … Observe what a glorious idea this gives of heaven. Men from all ages united by one conflict; their song tuned to one spirit of praise. No age is barren--as in music, many voices, but one harmony …
III. Its theme is Gods connected dispensations. On earth we praise God for redemption; in heaven they praise God for the whole economy of revelation. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
The song of Moses and the Lamb
Without pretending to settle what events may be thus prophetically alluded to, we may safely consider our text as belonging to a glorious season, when Christ shall have mightily interfered on behalf of His people, and swept away those who have resisted His authority. The song is a song of exultation, sung by the righteous, and called forth by judgments which have overwhelmed the wicked. The song is one not only of thanksgiving to the Lord, but of exultation over the wicked, and of rejoicing in their destruction. We hardly know a more perplexing truth, nor one which more shows how vast a change will have passed over our feelings when we shall have put on immortality, than that of our acquiescing in the punishment of the wicked; yea, of our approving that punishment, and magnifying God for the vindication of His attributes. It is not merely that those whom wrath overtakes and consigns to perdition will be our fellow-men, beings of the same race, and therefore linked with us by most intimate associations. This were much; for this would seem enough to seal our lips, or cause lament to mingle with our song. But it must come to pass that, in variety of instances, there will be the division of families, so that whilst one member is with the Israelites, another will be with the Egyptians. And this division must be thoroughly known. We must believe that, with all the consciousness that some whom they tenderly loved have earned for themselves a heritage of shame and despair, the ransomed of the Lord will feel how the Divine attributes have been magnified in the punishment awarded to the impenitent, and join in praising their Maker for the manifestation of His justice. And this--however we may shrink from what appears so unnatural--this describes to us what is loftiest in Christian attainment, and what, therefore, may justly be looked for in our future state of being. I know that it would be Christian perfection to have God all in all; to make Him so completely the centre of the affections, or to be so lost in Deity as to have no will but His will, and no end but His glory. We proceed to observe that the song of the triumphant Church is described, not only as the song of Moses, but as that also of the Lamb. They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb. Now we may be said to feel more at home with the song of the Lamb than with that of Moses; for this is a song of which, even now, we can strike some notes, whereas we look on that of Moses with a kind of awe and dread, as though it were not suited to such minstrelsy as ours. It is the song of grateful confession that we owe everything to the Redeemer, and that His blood and righteousness have been the alone procuring causes of deliverance from ruin and a title to immortality. And there is vast beauty in the retention of the name of the Lamb in the melodies of heaven. Were not the wounds of the Redeemer the arms with which He mastered the enemies of God? and what are they now but trophies of the unmeasured achievement? To appear therefore as the Lamb, a lamb as it had been slain, in the midst of all the magnificence of the everlasting city, is to appear as the mighty Conqueror who led captivity captive. And if it be as the Lamb that Christ is most glorious, what but the song of the Lamb shall be most on the lips of those for whom He died? We doubt not there will be many and various hymns chanted in the celestial temple. Archangel to angel, cherubim to seraphim, and man to man, will roll sublime choruses, such as our speech cannot now embody, nor our thought embrace. But one hymn there will be which shall be peculiar to men. One anthem shall be heard in which none but those who were once ready to perish will be able to join, but which their voices will never be weary of uttering: Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Such is a portion of the lofty anthem. To take this anthem in Rs largest application, we may say that it celebrates the greatness and the justice of God as displayed in the occurrences of the judgment day. And it is well worth your attention, that these two characteristics shall be finally declared to have distinguished the whole business of the judgment. It will be a great and marvellous work, when the tares shall have been separated from the wheat, all unrighteousness detected and exposed, the wicked banished, and the faithful exalted. The spectacle has never yet been presented to the inhabitants of this earth, so fraught with the manifestations of Omnipotence as shall be that of the general judgment. What display of power can equal that which will be given by the resurrection of the dead? And if the gathering together of the buried generations, reconstructed and reanimated, be the mightiest imaginable display of Gods power over matter, what shall more declare His power over mind than that laying bare of all the secrets of mens hearts, on which the last sentences shall be founded, and by which they will be justified? Then you must add the portents and signs which are to herald the Judge: the storm and the calm alike proclaim that Omnipotence is there. But this is not the whole of the chorus. The Church affirms Gods ways to be just and true, as well as His works to be great and marvellous. And this is a most important assertion, when considered as called forth by the transactions of the judgment. There is something overwhelming in the thought that the untold millions of the human population will undergo an individual scrutiny; that they will come, man by man, to the bar of their God, and each be tried by his own privileges and powers. We can hardly put from us the feeling that, in so enormous an assize, there will be cases comparatively overlooked, for which due allowance is not made, or in which the sentence is not founded on a full estimate of the circumstances. But whatever our doubts and suspicions beforehand, Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints, is the confession, you observe, which will follow the judgment. It is a confession, we are bold to say, in which the lost will join with the redeemed. The feeling in every condemned man shall be that, had there been none but himself to be tried, his case could not have received a more patient attention, or a more equitable decision. And we rejoice in hearing the chorus which is chanted on the glassy and fiery sea. It tells us that God will be justified when He speaks, and clear when He judgeth. (H. Mellvill, B. D.)
The song of Moses and of the Lamb
What has one to do with the other? Here are the oldest of recorded events and words joined with the farthest and latest possible events and words. Here is the beginning of earths human history united with its Divine consummation. Here are the words of earth and heaven coupled together. The song of Moses, and the song of the Lord Christ--the song of Israelitish victory and of Christian victory, in one breath of thanksgiving. And as we look more carefully we see it is all very full of parallels. The singers in both cases stand by a sea--the Red Sea of Egypt, and heavens sea of fire,--and they are each singing in an attitude and strain of deliverance and freedom from enemies and of victory. And the sentiments of the two songs are the same. Gods great power and display of judgment, and the acknowledgment of all nations.
I. When I find an event like the old Israelitish victory, or a song like that of Moses, carried forward and appearing in the future heavenly history and combined with Christs victory and song, it lights up human life with a new meaning and radiance.
1. It has, in the first place, this value: it connects the end with the beginning. How early that old victory and song of Moses were--one of the very first human victories under Gods guidance! How far away seems that first victory from the heavenly end, when there shall be no more struggle or pain! How since Moses multitudes and generations and companies of men have all had their contests again and again! How, with every day, it comes to each one of us! How premature seems the old song of victory when a new enemy is to come immediately! How ceaseless seems the struggle to us! And so God puts into one phrase for us the earliest and last song of victory, the beginning and the end, the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, the victory of Moses over Pharaoh and one evil, and Christs victory over all evil and all enemies. No matter how early in the struggle you may be, the end is shown, and Christs victory is coupled with it, and you are to think of them together. Do not say, discouragingly, The contest will be renewed again in another way to-morrow; but say, The contest will end surely, and ritually victoriously in the Lambs triumph.
1. But there is a better, deeper thought of encouragement than this, which comes out of that connection--the song of Moses and of the Lamb.
2. It is that all righteous issues, and all struggles of men, are parts of Christs issue and struggle and victory; and so each mans song is sung with and in the new song of the Lamb. We need to think of this. Christs contest and death and victory were not all a history alongside of ours, to which we can look up from our own and take courage; but they contain ours and all the struggles and victories of the servants of God everywhere. See how close and dear that makes Christs life to you. Oh, as I am led through a lifes discipline, am told to do without this or that, am bid to contend with this or that selfishness, am pressed hard by this or that sorrow, am tempted to give up my trust in Gods care and to be sour or reckless, how it helps me to go and put all this experience into the gospel story, to translate it into the struggle of the Lamb of God, to think of it all as a part of His issue. My struggle and victory to-day is no mere disjointed, separated thing, done alone and without lasting effect, but it is a part of a great victory of the Lamb already won. This little song, which I sing through my tears, as I conquer a hard temptation and struggle through a sea of evil, is a part of Christs song. It does not lose itself in earths air and die, but it shall live in Christs song to the end of eternity, when tears are all wiped away.
3. And so that brings me to a third thing which the phrase teaches us about our life on earth--it is that God would have it happy. Earths song He continues into heaven, not its tears: Moses song of victory, not of his troubles. Are you singing any hymn of victory to-day? Are you joyful over a dead sin, or are you merely merry in slavery or sad in defeat?
II. What we learn of heaven and of its life from the text.
1. First, it gives us this thought of heaven: as a place in which each one of us has a marked individuality and history, even in Christs presence. Heaven would be an unbearable place unless we lived ourselves individually--enjoyed and felt ourselves. And this thought is given us in the fact that the song sung by Moses the servant of God is remembered and repeated there. Human names and experiences and victories are mentioned there in the very company of the name and experience and victory of the Lamb. A city of kings will heaven be; all natures marked and distinct; all with a history and a claim to distinct remark and notice.
2. Then there is this further thought--the communion of saints. They not only all join in the song of the Lamb, but in the song of Moses the servant of God. They use the words which commemorate not only Christs victory, but the victory of Moses too. Think of it: the voices that all go up to Christ, all also using Moses experience and Moses song words! It is that Christian truth: Your experience is mine, and mine is yours. Every mans victory I sing, and every man sings mine, as part of that same salvation of the Lamb which has rescued and sanctified you or me or the man who sings. Oh, get some of this heavenly power of communion of saints now! Do not let anything cut you off from a life that is showing Gods victory. Sing its song; put yourself into its experience and place, and you will sing your own song and fill your own place all the better and more fully.
3. Then, lastly, this text tells me of the thoughts which are the atmosphere of heaven. Often we wonder--What is the new song? What will be my state of mind--what my sentiments? This passage tells us. The song of the Lamb is the song of Moses, the servant of God. The words of the song of heaven. They are but the nobler, fuller use of Moses lyric words. Heavens song is a new setting to Gods harp of any song we have sung on gaining a spiritual victory over enemies by Gods power here and now and in this earthly life. Let a man triumphantly resist a temptation, conquer a passion, win a new grade of character by Gods power, and he has the very sentiments exalting and moving his heart and life which the new song will have in richest and completest harmony. (Fred. Brooks.)
The song of triumph
The life of the redeemed is here represented as a service of song. This will not seem surprising if we reflect on the function of song. There has never been a time in which music has played so large a part in the general life as it does to-day. What is music? It is not the mere pastime of an idle hour, or the mere sensuous gratification of an artistic mind.
1. It is a language, the highest, except poetry, that we are acquainted with, if indeed, in fundamental particulars they can be separated the one from the other. It is often the only language that can give expression to the highest thoughts of the mind or the deepest feelings of the heart. It is also to be noticed that all life, as it approaches perfection, becomes melodious. The life of heaven, then, is a service of song, not after any idle or sensuous fashion, but because the life of heaven is life perfected. Man in complete accord with his surroundings, man moving in absolute harmony with the will of God, man redeemed from all imperfections, and cleansed from all sin by the very constitution of his nature, is man melodious.
2. It is worth noticing, further, that there is no music like the music of triumph, and no songs like those which celebrate deliverance. And I take it as beautifully significant, that the burden of this song should be what it is, and that it should be called the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Moses, the much tried servant of God, the heroic leader of a stiffnecked people; and the Lamb, the eternal symbol of sacrificial suffering and sorrow. For it is a mistake to suppose that noble sorrow nobly borne silences the voice of song. Shelley says, Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts. It is partly true; it is mainly sentimental. But this is wholly true, that sorrow nobly borne is impotent to hang or keep the harp upon the willows. Song breaks from it as the phoenix from the flames. The most triumphant poem of this century is In Memoriam, and we know the sable circumstances of its birth. It is even so. Some birds sing best in the dark. And in the gracious providence of God beauty is not far away from ashes. The oil of joy exudes from mourning, and the garment of praise often covers a spirit of heaviness.
3. It is further suggested by this vision of the redeemed, that the conquerors of all ages take part in this song. The conflict varies from age to age. The beast that has power to make war against the saints assumes many forms. And the radiant hope here set before us, is that all who have overcome, will unite in the eternal song. For there is no power which can unite the hearts of men like music, as they know full well who march to battle with the beating of the drum or the notes of the pibroch. Now think of a society gathered from all ages and lands, filled with a life of which song is the only natural and adequate expression, and you have a picture of the better land as John saw it in his prophetic dream. It is likely that it occurred to him in this form, as he watched from his lonely rock some sunset glories blazing far and wide across the blue Mediterranean. Out there, on the very verge of the horizon, he catches sight of the faithful ones, no longer groaning beneath the oppressor, no longer struggling with the beast, and no longer divided among themselves: one perfect society, telling in unending song of the wondrous works of God, proclaiming the eternal vindication of His just and righteous ways, and reminding us that the confusions of time are only in appearance, and that the essential harmony will be made manifest by and by. Conclusion:
1. Let us expect conflict. No cross, no crown.
2. Let us look for victory from the right source. Looking unto Jesus, etc. (James Thew.)
The song of the glorified
I. The joyful employment of glorified spirits.
1. The song in which all the saints shall join in heaven is a song of triumph over dangerous and powerful enemies.
2. Saints in glory are here said to sing the song of the Lamb, or a song in which they are instructed by the Lamb of God, which has respect to the glorious deliverance which He hath wrought out for them.
II. The subject-matter of this song.
1. The great and wondrous nature of the works of God shall be made the subject of devout and joyful celebration in the world of glory.
(1) The vast works of creation will then be seen in an their magnitude and beauty. Many glorious effects of Gods creative power, of which we have now no knowledge, will then be disclosed. From an elevated point will glorified spirits survey the works of creation, and be pleasingly astonished at their almost boundless immensity, their beautiful order and gradation.
(2) Then also the great designs of Providence will be laid open in all their lustre and glory. As the intellectual sight will then be amazingly strengthened and improved; so the darkness which now veils many of Gods providential dispensations shall then be dispersed.
(3) Then also shall the godlike purposes of Divine grace to save many sinners from hell, and bring them to heaven, be displayed in all their loveliness; their origin and end will be fully disclosed, and furnish the saints in glory with rich occasion for admiration and joy. These great and marvellous works of God will be then perfectly known, and harmoniously celebrated.
(4) The infinite power of God, which is a just object of terror to the wicked, and which will inevitably plunge them into perdition, is the source of consolation and the subject of praise to all true believers. Holy pleasure mixed with solemn awe attends a contemplative view of this Divine attribute even in the present life. In heaven Jehovah shall be praised as the Lord God Almighty. This character will excite the profoundest reverence as well as the highest pleasure in the breasts of the heavenly worshippers, for as it will proclaim the infinite distance there is between them and their maker, so it will insure to them everlasting peace and safety. For what power can control the will, or alter the purposes of Him who in might is infinite? The justice and truth of Gods ways are celebrated in heaven as well as their great and marvellous nature. Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.
(1) In the upper world glorified spirits celebrate the justice of God--His justice towards friends and foes, the perfect righteousness of His dealings towards all ranks of creatures in heaven, on earth, and in hell. There in a particular manner do they acknowledge the justice and propriety of all those events which puzzled and disturbed their minds when here below. They have no accusation to offer, no complaint to bring against the King of saints; in the whole of His management they heartily acquiesce, and sing a lofty song of praise to His justice and rectitude.
(2) But the heavenly choir celebrate the truth as well as the justice of their Maker. Just and true are Thy ways. As a God of Truth the Almighty hath invariably revealed Himself in all ages, and this title very properly belongs to Him (Psa_100:5). As such He is justly extolled by His people now, but in a much nobler manner shall He be praised on this account hereafter. Then the truth of His predictions to the world at large; His inviolable regard to the promises made to the Church in every age and in every state; His fidelity to every individual that has made or shall make a part of it; His steady attachment to that covenant which through His Son He enters into with every true believer, and His immutable care to confer the blessings it contains, shall be the topics of joyful acclamation by glorified spirits.
(3) The people of God are repeatedly spoken of in the sacred oracles under the title of saints, Thou King of saints. Now these pure and happy souls have God for their King. The great God indeed is the Sovereign of all His creatures. He exercises universal dominion over the works of His hands, and His right thereto is founded on the nature of things, and the relation He bears to them. He is the Creator and of course the Sovereign and Lord of all. All creatures owe Him subjection and obedience, and over all He rules without control. But saints are under His peculiar government. He is their King in a sense which can be applied to none but such as fear and love Him, and have His image drawn upon their hearts. Application:
1. Let us be thankful for the pleasing descriptions of the heavenly world which are given us in the gospel of Christ.
2. Let the consideration of the state to which our deceased believing friends are advanced, and the manner in which they are employed, mitigate our sorrow on account of their removal hence.
3. Let the subject of the songs of Zion be improved for present comfort. Are the works of God no less just and true than they are great and marvellous? Do they as loudly proclaim his unspotted rectitude and inviolable faithfulness as the exceeding greatness of His power and majesty? Let every fearful thought then be instantly dismissed. Let every rebellious sigh be hushed in the Christians breast.
4. Let us all be ambitious to join hereafter in this delightful song, and for that end let us now seek an interest in the Divine favour through the Redeemer. (N. Jennings.)
Israel in Egypt
I. Regard the position of the children of Israel as emblematical of our own. And here we observe that, like the Church of God, the vast host of Israel had been delivered from bondage. With a high hand and an outstretched arm, our God has led us forth from the place of our captivity, and joyfully we pursue our way through the wilderness. But with the children of Israel it was not all joy; they were free, but their master was at their heels. Pharaoh was loth to lose so valuable a nation of servants. Affrighted Israel beheld her infuriated oppressor close at her rear, and trembled for the issue; even so it is with some of you; you think you must be driven back again like dumb cattle into Egypt, and once more become what you were. But once more: the children of Israel were in a position more wonderful than this. They came to the edge of the Red Sea; they feared their enemies behind; they could not fly on either hand, for they were flanked by mountains and stupendous rocks; one course only was open to them, and that course was through the sea. God commands them to go forward. The rod of Moses is outstretched, and the affrighted waters divide; a channel is left whilst the floods stand upright, and the waters are congealed in the heart of the sea. O living army of the living God! ye, like Israel, keep the floods of Providence still standing fast: but when the last of you shall be gone from this stage of action, Gods fiery wrath and tremendous anger shall dash down upon the ground whereon you now are standing, and your enemies shall be overwhelmed in the place through which you now walk safely.
II. The triumph of Moses was a picture of the ultimate triumph of the Lamb. Yes, the day is drawing nigh when Gods enemies shall no longer make it necessary for Gods providence to be apparently disturbed to save His people, when the great designs of God shall be accomplished, and therefore when the walls of water shall roll together, whilst in their inmost depths the everlasting burning fire shall still consume the wicked. Well, I now want to show you why it was that Moses triumphed, and why it is that by and by we shall triumph. One reason why Moses sung his song was because all Israel were safe. Oh! it is my strong belief that in heaven there shall not be a vacant throne. I rejoice that all who love the Lord below must at last attain to heaven. But, perhaps, the major part of the joy of Moses lay in the destruction of all the enemies of God. I see the trembling church, fearing to he overthrown: I mark her leaders bending their knees in solemn prayer, and crying, Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thy heritage. But mine eye looks through the future with telescopic glance, and I see the happy period of the latter days when Christ shall reign triumphant.
III. Some interesting particulars in the song which will doubtless have a place in the everlasting orchestra of the redeemed when they shall praise the Most High.
1. The first thing I would have you notice in it is, that from beginning to end it is a praise of God, and of nobody else but God. The last song in this world, the song of triumph, shall be full of God, and of no one else. Here you praise the instrument; to-day you look on this man and on that, and you say, Thank God for this minister, and for this man. To-day you say, Blessed be God for Luther, who shook the Vatican, and thank God for Whitfield, who stirred up a slumbering church but in that day you shall not sing of Luther, nor of Whitfield, nor of any of the mighty ones of Gods hosts; forgotten shall their names be for a season, even as the stars refuse to shine when the sun himself appeareth. The song shall be unto Jehovah and Jehovah only.
2. And next note that this song celebrated something of the fierceness of the enemy. I believe the last song of the redeemed, when they shall ultimately triumph, will celebrate in heavenly stanzas the wrath of man overcome by God. Sometimes after great battles, monuments are raised to the memory of the fight, and of what are they composed? They are composed of weapons of death and of instruments of war which have been taken from the enemy. Now, to use that illustration as I think it may be properly used, the day is coming when fury, and wrath, and hatred, and strife shall all be woven into a song: and the weapons of our enemies, when taken from them, shall serve to make monuments to the praise of God.
3. And then note how they sang the total overthrow of the enemy. I believe that at the last, a part of our triumph will be the fact that there is not one left. We shall look abroad throughout the earth, and see it all a level sea, and not one foeman pursuing us--not one--not one! Raise thyself never so high, O thou deceiver, thou canst not live, for not one shall escape. Lift thy head never so proudly, O despot, thou canst not live, for not one shall escape. O heir of heaven, not one sin shall cross the Jordan after thee; not one shall pass the Red Sea to overtake thee; but this shall be the summit of thy triumph--Not one, not one, not one of them is left.
4. Furthermore, in this song of Moses you will notice there is one peculiar beauty. Moses not only rejoiced for what had been done, but for the future consequences of it. He says--The people of Canaan, whom we are about to attack, will now be seized with sudden fear; by the greatness of thy arm they shall be as still as a stone. Oh! I think I hear them singing that too, sweetly and softly--as still as a stone. How would the words come full, like gentle thunder heard in the distance--as still as a stone. And when we shall get on the other side the flood, see the triumph over our enemies, and behold our Master reigning, this will form a part of our song--that they must henceforth be as still as a stone. There will be a hell, but it will not be a hell of roaring devils, as it now is. They shall be as still as a stone.
5. And last of all, the song concludes by noticing the eternity of Gods reign, and this will always make a part of the triumphant song. They sang--The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Then I can suppose the whole band broke out into their loudest strains of music. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Part of the melody of heaven will be--The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. That song has cheered us here--The Lord reigneth; blessed be my rock! And that song shall be our exultation there. The Lord reigneth for ever and ever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Great and marvellous are Thy works.--
The works of God, as King of saints, great and marvellous
I. The work of redemption, which God has wrought, and in which the saints are peculiarly interested, is a marvellous wore.
II. The various revelations by which God has brought the saints, in the several ages of the world, to the knowledge of this redemption, are also marvelous.
III. The dispensation of Gods providence toward the church, in correcting and punishing her for her declensions, and in delivering her out of dangers and afflictions, are great and marvellous.
IV. That work, by which God fits and prepares the saints for glory, is great and marvellous.
1. The conversion of a sinner is a great work, as it makes in him a mighty change.
2. This is a marvellous work, as it is a work of marvellous grace.
3. This is a marvellous work, as it is wrought in a marvellous manner.
4. This is a great work, as it is effected by Divine power.
V. The dispensations of Gods providence toward particular saints, in bringing them to glory, are great and wonderful. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)
Gods wonderful works
It is said of Napoleon that when Marshal Duroc, an avowed infidel, was telling a very improbable story, giving his opinion that it was quite true, the Emperor quietly remarked, There are some men capable of believing everything but the Bible. Infidels look at the Holy Bible superficially, and find fault with the form in which it appears, and reject it because of its mysterious contents, thereby maintaining that religion ends where mysteries begin. It is true that there are events too high, too wonderful and too deep, such things as pass our understanding, recorded in Gods most holy Word. For instance, the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, Three Persons yet one God, is most mysterious. This we cannot possibly understand, but then God does not ask us to, only to accept it with childlike faith. Again, the whole scheme of our Redemption from beginning to end is a profound mystery. Now look at some of Gods mysterious and marvellous works in creation.
1. And first in the field. Think of the various kinds of small seeds, such as wheat, barley, oats, and rye, which the sower takes in his hands, sows, and leaves in the earth to take care of themselves, but really to be looked after and to be taken care of by God.
2. Furthermore, God cares for our pleasures and happiness as well aa for our sustenance. This may be seen in the abounding and universal beauty of this magnificent world, where everything works so silently, so surely, and so harmoniously, thereby obeying the laws ordained by its Maker. Oh, let us pray earnestly against harbouring the spirit which, indeed, observes the works of God and of Christ, which simply arouses our curiosity, makes us marvel, and leave Him, and go our way, as the Scribes and Pharisees did when put to silence.
3. Again, not only once a year, as in the harvest, are the marvellous works of God visible. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handy work. What a glorious sight by day to behold the sun, which cometh forth out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant to run his course, and by night to see the clear moon and the twinkling stars! Can we look up there, and not think of God the Maker and Upholder of them all? Alas for us if we can and then simply marvel and go our way without a thought of Him. Whilst we accept mysteries in the natural world, shall we reject Bible mysteries? (J. T. Hughes.)
Just and true are Thy ways.--
The rectitude of God
I. The demands of His law attest the truth of this testimony. The Heavenly Teacher has reduced all the demands which the Eternal Governor makes upon us to a twofold command.
1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, etc. Is this demand just? This depends upon three things.
(1) Whether we have the power of loving any one supremely.
(2) Whether God has attributes adapted to awaken this love within us.
(3) Whether these attributes are revealed with sufficient clearness to our minds. The affirmative to these things must be admitted by all.
2. Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you. Not whatsoever men do unto you, that might be sinful; but whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you. Would you have them false, dishonest, unkind, tyrannic, towards you? Whatsoever ye would that they should be to you, be so to them. Can anything be more just?
II. The intuitions of His moral creatures attest the truth of this testimony. In all moral intelligences there is--
1. An intuitive sense of the right. All have an inbred sentiment of right and wrong. This sentiment implies a moral standard, and what is that standard but God?
2. There is an intuitive love of the right. All moral souls love the right in the abstract; they are bound to do it. I delight in the law of God after the inner man. All consciences go with God.
3. There is an intuitive remorse. Misery springs up in the soul from a conscious departure from the right. Cain, David, Belshazzar, Judas, are examples.
4. There is an intuitive appeal to God under the wrong as the Friend of the right. Oppressed humanity involuntarily looks to God as Judge of all the earth. Deep in the soul of the moral creation is the feeling that Gods ways are just and right. No argument can destroy this consciousness.
III. The mediation of His Son attests the truth of this testimony.
1. His life was the development of Divine righteousness. He was incarnate rectitude. He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.
2. His death was the highest homage to Divine rectitude. He could have escaped death. It was the inner sense of right that urged Him on.
3. His system is the promoter of Divine righteousness. His truth inculcates it; His Spirit promotes it. His Spirit comes to convince the world of sin, righteousness, etc.
IV. The retributions of His government attest the truth of this testimony. Look at the expulsion of Adam, the deluge, the burning of Sodom, the extermination of the Canaanites, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews. Look on to the retribution of the last day, and see what rectitude marks the whole (Mat_25:1-46.). (Homilist.)
Gods ways just and true
Take a straight stick and put it into the water, and it will seem crooked. Why? Because we look upon it through two mediums, air, and water: there lies the deceptio visus; thence it is that we cannot discern aright. Thus the proceedings of God in His justice, which in themselves are straight, without the least obliquity, seem unto us crooked; that wicked men should prosper, and good men be afflicted; that servants should ride on horseback and princes go on foot; these are things that make the best Christians stagger in their judgments. And why? but because they look upon Gods proceedings through a double medium, of flesh and spirit; that so all things seem to go cross though, indeed, they are right enough. And hence it is that Gods proceedings in His justice are not so well discerned--the eyes of man alone being not competent judges thereof.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible1887 · Public DomainOn v1Rev_15:1-8; Rev_16:1-21.
CHAPTER X I I
THE SEVEN BOWLS.
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Rev_15:1-8; Rev_16:1-21.
NOTHING can more clearly prove that the Revelation of St John is not written upon chronological principles than the scenes to which we are introduced in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of the book. We have already been taken to the end. We have seen in chap. 14 the Son of man upon the throne of judgment, the harvest of the righteous, and the vintage of the wicked. Yet we are now met by another series of visions setting before us judgments that must take place before the final issue. This is not chronology; it is apocalyptic vision, which again and again turns round the kaleidoscope of the future, and delights to behold under different aspects the same great principles of the Almighty s government, leading always to the same glorious results.
One other preliminary observation may be made. The third series of judgments does not really begin till we reach chap. 16. Chap. 15 is introductory, and we are thus reminded that the series of the Trumpets had a similar introduction in Rev_8:1-6. It is the manner of St. John, who thus in his Gospel introduces his account of our Lords conversation with Nicodemus in chap. iii. by the last three verses of chap. 2, which ought to be connected with the third chapter; and who also introduces his narrative regarding the woman of Samaria by the first three verses of chap. 4.
To introduce chap. 16 is the object of chap. 15.
"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God (Rev_15:1)."
The plagues about to be spoken of are "the last," and in them the final judgments of God upon evil are contained. What they are, and who are the special objects of them, will afterwards appear. Meanwhile, another vision is presented to our view: -
"And I saw as it were a glassy sea mingled with fire; and them that come victorious out of the beast, and out of his image, and out of the number of his name, standing upon the glassy sea, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God the Almighty; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all the nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest (Rev_15:2-4)."
It can hardly be doubted that the glassy sea spoken of in these words is the same as that already met with at Rev_4:6. Yet again, as in the case of the hundred and forty and four thousand of Rev_14:1, the definite article is wanting; and, in all probability, for the same reason. The aspect in which the object is viewed, though not the object itself, is different. The glassy sea is here mingled with fire, a point of which no mention was made in chap. 4. The difference may be explained if we remember that the "fire" spoken of can only be that of the judgments by which the Almighty vindicates His cause, or of the trials by which He purifies His people. As these, therefore, now stand upon the sea, delivered from every adversary, we are reminded of the troubles which by Divine grace they have been enabled to surmount. It was otherwise in chap. 4. No persons were there connected with the sea, and it stretched away, clear as crystal, before Him all whose dealings with His people are "right." The sea itself is in both cases the same, but in the latter it is beheld from the Divine point of view, in the former from the human.
The vision as a whole takes us back to the exodus of Israel from Egypt, and hence the mention of the song of Moses, the servant of God. The enemies of the Church have their type in Pharaoh and his host as they pursue Israel across the sands which had been laid bare for the passage of the chosen people; the waters, driven back for a time, return to their ancient bed; the hostile force, with its chariots and its chosen captains, "goes down into the depths like a stone;" and Israel raises its song of victory, "I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea."* (* Exo_15:1)
The song now sung, however, is not that of Moses only, the great centre of the Old Testament Dispensation; it is also the Song of the Lamb, the centre and the sum of the New Testament. Both Dispensations are in the Seers thoughts, and in the number of those who sing are included the saints of each, the members of the one Universal Church. No disciple of Jesus either before or after His first coming is omitted. Everyone is there from whose hands the bonds of the world have fallen off, and who has cast in his lot with the followers of the Lamb. Hence also the song is wider in its range than that by which the thought of it appears to have been suggested. It celebrates the great and marvelous works of the Almighty in general. It speaks of Him as the King of the nations, that is, as the King who subdues the nations under Him. It rejoices in the fact that His righteous acts have been made manifest. And it anticipates the time when all the nations shall come and worship before Him, shall bow themselves at His feet, and shall acknowledge that His judgments against sin are not only just in themselves, but are allowed to be so by the very persons on whom they fall.
A second vision follows: -
"And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened; and there carne out from the temple the seven angels that had the seven plagues, clothed with a precious stone pure and lustrous, and girt about their breasts with golden girdles. And one of the four living creatures gave unto the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power: and none was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished (Rev_15:5-8)."
The temple spoken of is, as upon every occasion when the word is used, the shrine or innermost sanctuary, the Holy of holies, the peculiar dwelling-place of the Most High; so, that the seven angels with the seven last plagues come from Gods immediate presence. But this sanctuary is now beheld in a different light from that in which it was seen in Rev_11:19. There it contained the ark of God s covenant, the symbol of His grace. Here the eye is directed to the testimony, to the two tables of the law which were kept in the ark, and were Gods witness both to the holiness of His character and the justice of His government. The giving of the law then was in the Seers mind, and that fact will explain the allusions to the Old Testament found in his words. The description of the seven angels, as clothed with a precious stone pure and lustrous (not with "fine linen" as in the Authorized Version) may be explained, when we attend to the second characteristic of their appearance, girt about their breasts with golden girdles. These words take us back to the vision of the Son of man in chap. 1, where the same expression occurs, and where we have already seen that it points to the priests of Israel, when engaged in the active service of the sanctuary. The angels now spoken of are thus priestly after the fashion of the Lord Himself, who is not merely the Priest but also the High Priest of His people. The high priest, however, wore a jeweled breastplate; and in correspondence with the nobler functions of the New Testament priesthood, these jewels are now extended to the whole clothing of the angels spoken of. A similar figure for the clothing of the glorified Church meets us in the prophecies of Isaiah: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness; as a bride groom decketh himself (the margin of the Revised Version calling attention to the fact that the meaning of the original is "decketh himself as a priest") with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels;"1 while the same figure, though applied to Tyre, is employed by Ezekiel: "Every precious stone was thy covering."2 The seven angels are thus about to engage in a priestly work. (1 Isa_61:10; 2 Eze_28:13)
This work is pointed out to them by one of the four living creatures, the representatives of redeemed creation. All creation owns the propriety of the judgments now about to be fulfilled.* (*Comp. Rev. 6)
These judgments are contained, not in seven "vials," as in the Authorized Version, but in seven golden bowls, vessels probably of a saucer shape, of no great depth, and their circumference largest at the rim. They are the "basins" of the Old Testament, used for carrying into the sanctuary the incense which had been lighted by fire from the brazen altar. They were thus much better adapted than "vials" for the execution of a final judgment. Their contents could be poured out at once and suddenly.
The bowls have been delivered to the angels, and nothing remains but to pour them out. The moment is one of terror, and it is fitting that even all outward things shall correspond. Smoke, therefore, filled the sanctuary, and none was able to enter into it. Thus, when Moses reared up the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled it, "Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting:"1 thus, when Solomon dedicated the temple and the cloud filled the house of the Lord, "The priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud."2 Thus, when Isaiah beheld the glory of the Lord in His temple, and heard the cry of the Seraphim, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts," "the foundations of the thresholds were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke;"3 and thus, above all, when the law was given, "Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly."4 (1 Exo_40:35; 2 1Ki_8:11; 3 Isa_6:4; 4 Exo_19:18; Heb_12:18)
All due preparation having been made, the Seven Bowls are now poured out in rapid and uninterrupted succession. As in the case of the Seals and of the Trumpets, they are divided into two groups of four and three; and those of the first group may be taken together: -
"And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go ye, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth. And the first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and which worshipped his image. And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and it became blood as of a dead man, and every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea. And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous art Thou which art and which wast, Thou holy one, because Thou didst thus judge: for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood hast Thou given them to drink: they are worthy. And I heard the altar saying, Yea, O Lord, God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments. And the fourth poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given unto it to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat: and they blasphemed the name of the God which hath the power over these plagues; and they repented not to give Him glory (Rev_16:1-9)."
Upon the particulars of these plagues it is unnecessary to dwell No attempt to determine the special meaning of the objects thus visited by the wrath of God - the land, the sea, the rivers and fountains of the waters, and the sun - has yet been, or is ever perhaps likely to be, successful; and the general effect alone appears to be important. The chief point claiming attention is the singular closeness of the parallelism between them and the Trumpet plagues, a parallelism which extends also to the fifth, sixth, and seventh members of the series. Close, however, as it is, there is also a marked climax in the later plagues, corresponding to the fact that they are "the last," and that in them "the wrath of God is finished."1 Thus the first Trumpet affects only the third part of the earth, and the trees, and all green grass: the first Bowl affects men.2 Under the second Trumpet the "third part" of the sea becomes blood, and the third part of the creatures which are in the sea die, and the third part of the ships are destroyed: under the second Bowl, the "third part" of the sea is exchanged for the whole; the blood assumes its most offensive form, blood as of a dead man; and not the third part only, but every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea."3 Under the third Trumpet the great star falls only upon the "third part" of the rivers and fountains, and they become wormwood: under the third Bowl all the waters are visited by the plague, and they become blood.4 Lastly, under the fourth Trumpet only the "third part" of sun and moon and stars is smitten: under the fourth Bowl the whole sun is affected, and it is given unto it to scorch men with fire.5 With this climactic character of the Bowls as compared with the Trumpets may also be connected a striking addition made to the details of the third Bowl, to which in the Trumpet series there is nothing to correspond. The angel of the waters, not an angel to whom the smiting of the waters had been entrusted, but the waters themselves speaking through their angel, and the altar, that is, the brazen altar of chap. 6:9, respond to the judgments executed. They recognize the true and righteous character of the Almighty, and they welcome this manifestation of Himself to men. (1 Rev_15:1 2Comp. Rev_8:7; Rev_16:2 3Comp. Rev_8:8-9; Rev_16:3 4Comp. Rev_8:10-11; Rev_16:4 5Comp. Rev_8:12; Rev_16:8)
Another feature of these Bowls will at once strike the reader, - their correspondence to some of the plagues of Egypt: for in the first we see a repetition, as it were, of that sixth plague by which Pharaoh and his people were visited, when Moses sprinkled ashes of the furnace towards heaven, and they became "a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and beast,"1 and in the second and third a repetition of the first plague, when Moses lifted up his rod and smote the waters, that were in the river, "and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood."2 The fourth Bowl reminds us of the terror of the appearance of the Son of man in Rev_1:16, when "His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." (1 Exo_9:10; 2 Exo_7:20)
One other characteristic of these plagues ought to be noticed. It comes to view no doubt only under the fourth, yet, as we shall immediately see, it is not to be confined to it The plagues had no softening or converting power. On the contrary, as at Rev_9:20-21, the impiety of the worshippers of the beast was only aggravated by their sufferings; and, instead of turning to Him who had power over the plagues, they blasphemed His name.
From the first group of Bowls we turn to the second, embracing the last three in the series of seven: -
"And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was darkened; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they repented not of their works (Rev_16:10-11)."
The transition from the realm of nature to the spiritual world, already marked at the introduction of the fifth Seal and of the fifth Trumpet, is here again observable; but, as in the case of the sixth Trumpet, the spiritual world alluded to is that of the prince of darkness. With darkness he is smitten. That there is a reference to the darkness which, at the word of Moses, fell upon the land of Egypt when visited by its plagues can hardly be doubted, for the darkness of that plague was not ordinary darkness; it was "a darkness that might be felt."* More than darkness, however, is alluded to. We are told of their pains and of their sores. But pains and sores are not an effect produced by darkness. They can, therefore, be only those of the first Bowl, a conclusion confirmed by the use of the word "plagues" instead of plague. The inference to be drawn from this is important, for we thus learn that the effects of any earlier Bowl are not exhausted before the contents of one following are discharged. Each Bowl rather adds fresh punishment to that of its predecessors, and all of them go on accumulating their terrors to the end. Nothing could more clearly show how impossible it is to interpret such plagues literally, and how mistaken is any effort to apply them to the particular events of history. (* Exo_10:21)
The sixth Bowl follows: -
"And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sun-rising. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of devils, working signs, which go forth unto the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.) And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon (Rev_16:12-16)."
Probably no part of the Apocalypse has received more varied interpretation than the first statement of this Bowl. Who are these kings that come from the sun-rising is the point to be determined; and the answer usually given is, that they are part of the anti-Christian host, part of those afterwards spoken of as the kings of the whole inhabited earth, before whom God dries up the Euphrates in order that they may pursue an uninterrupted march to the spot on which they are to be overwhelmed with a final and complete destruction. Something may certainly be said on behalf of such a view; yet it is exposed to serious objections.
1. We have already at Rev_9:14, at the sounding of the sixth Trumpet, been made acquainted with the river Euphrates; and, so far from being a hindrance to the progress of Christs enemies, it is rather the symbol of their overflowing and destructive might, 2. We have also met at Rev_7:2 with the expression "from the sun-rising," and it is there applied to the quarter from which the angel comes by whom the people of God are sealed. In a book so carefully written as the Apocalypse, it is not easy to think of anti-Christian foes coming from a quarter described in the same terms. 3. These kings "from the sun-rising" are not said to be a part of "the kings of the whole inhabited earth" immediately afterwards referred to. They are rather distinguished from them. 4. The preparing of the way "connects itself with the thought of Him whose way was prepared by the coming of the Baptist. 5. The type of drying up the waters of a river takes us back, alike in the historical and prophetic writings of the Old Testament, to the means by which the Almighty secures the deliverance of His people, not the destruction of His enemies. Thus the waters of the Red Sea were dried up, not for the overthrow of the Egyptians, but for the safety of Israel, and the bed of the river Jordan was dried up for a similar purpose. Thus, too, the prophet Isaiah speaks: "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with His scorching wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dryshod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall return, from Assyria; like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."l Again the same prophet celebrates the great deeds of the arm of the Lord in the following words: "Art thou not it which dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?"2 And, once more, to a similar effect the prophet Zechariah: "I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria. . . . And He shall pass through the sea of affliction, and shall smite the waves of the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up. . . . And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in His name, saith the Lord."3 It is unnecessary to say more. In these "kings from the sun-rising" we have an emblem of the remnant of the Israel of God as they return from all the places whither they have been led captive, and as God makes their way plain before them. (1 Isa_11:15-16; 2 Isa_51:10; 3 Zec_10:10-12)
Nor is this all. In the fate of these foes a striking incident of Old Testament history is repeated, in order that they may be led to the destruction which awaits them. When Micaiah warned Ahab of his approaching fate, and told him of the lying spirit by which his own prophets were urging him to the battle, he said, "I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left And the Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner; and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said, Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also; go forth and do so."* In that incident of Ahabs reign is found the type of the three lying spirits or demons which, like frogs, unclean, noisy, and loquacious, go forth from the three great enemies of the Church, the dragon, the first beast, and the second beast, now first called the false prophet, that they may entice the "kings of the whole inhabited earth" to their overthrow. And they succeed. All unknowing of what is before them, proud of their strength, and flushed with hope of victory, these kings listen to the demons and gather themselves together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. It is a supreme moment in the history of the Church and of the world; and. before he names the battlefield which shall, in its very name, be prophetic of the fate of the wicked, the Seer pauses to behold the assembled armies. Upon the one side is a little flock, but they are all "kings," and before them is He by whom, like David before the host of Israel and over against the Philistines, the battle shall be fought and the victory won. On the other side are the hosts of earth in all their multitudes, gathered together by the deceitful promise of success, The Seer hears the voice of the Captain of salvation, Behold I come as a thief, to break up and to destroy. He hears further the promise of blessing to all who are faithful to the Redeemers cause: and then, with mind at rest as to the result, he names the place where the final battle is to be fought, Har-Magedon. (* 1Ki_22:19-22)
Why Har-Magedon? There was, we have every reason to believe, no such place. The name is symbolical. It is a compound word derived from the Hebrew, and signifying the mountain of Megiddo. We are thus again taken back to Old Testament history, in which the great plain of Megiddo, the most extensive in Palestine, plays on more than one occasion a notable part. In particular, that plain was famous for two great slaughters, that of the Canaanitish host by Barak, celebrated in the song of Deborah,1 and that in which King Josiah fell.2 The former is probably alluded to, for the enemies of Israel were there completely routed. For a similar though still more terrible destruction the hosts of evil are assembled at Har-Magedon. The Seer thinks it enough to assemble them, and to name the place. He does not need to go further or to describe the victory. (1Judges 5; 2 2Ch_35:22)
The seventh Bowl now follows: -
"And the seventh poured out his bowl upon the air; and there came forth great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying; It is done; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders j and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, cometh down out of heaven upon men: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof is exceeding great (Rev_16:17-21)."
The seventh or last Bowl is poured out into the air, here thought of as the realm of that prince of this world who is also "the prince of the power of the air."* All else, land and sea and waters and sun and the throne of the beast, has now been smitten so that evil has only to suffer its final blow. It has been searched out everywhere; and therefore the end may come. That end comes, and is spoken of in figures more strongly colored than those of either the sixth Seal or the seventh Trumpet. First of all a great voice is heard out of the (sanctuary of the) temple, from the throne, saying, It is done, Gods plan is executed. His last manifestation of Himself in judgment has been made. This voice is then accompanied by a more terrible shaking of the heavens and the earth than we have as yet been called to witness, the earthquake in particular being such as was not since there were men upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. (* Eph_2:2)
Some of the effects of the earthquake are next spoken of. More especially, The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. As to the meaning of "the cities of the nations" there can be no doubt. They are the strongholds of the worlds sin, the places from which ungodliness and impiety have ruled. Under the shaking of the earthquake they fall in ruins. The first words as to "the great city" must be considered in connection with the words which follow regarding Babylon, and they are more difficult to interpret. By some it is contended that the "great city" is Jerusalem, by others that it is Babylon. The expression is one which the Apocalypse must itself explain, and in seeking the explanation .we must proceed upon the principle that in this book, as much as in any other of the New Testament, the rules of all good writing are followed, and that the meaning of the same words is not arbitrarily changed. When this rule, accordingly, is observed, we find that the epithet is, in Rev_11:8, distinctly applied to Jerusalem, the words "the great city, where also their Lord was crucified" leaving no doubt upon the point. But, in Rev_18:10; Rev_18:16; Rev_18:18-19; Rev_18:21, the same epithet is not less distinctly applied to Babylon. The only legitimate conclusion is, that there is a sense in which Jerusalem and Babylon are one. This corresponds exactly to what we otherwise learn of the light in which the metropolis of Israel appeared to St John. To him as an Apostle of the Lord, and during the time that he followed Jesus in the flesh, Jerusalem presented itself in a twofold aspect. It was the city of Gods solemnities, the centre of the old Divine theocracy, the "holy city," the "beloved city {Rev_11:2; Rev_20:9}." But it was also the city of "the Jews," the city which scorned and rejected and crucified its rightful King. When in later life he beheld, in the picture once exhibited around him and graven upon his memory, the type of the future history and fortunes of the Church, the two Jerusalems again rose before his view, the one the emblem of all that was most precious, the other of all that was most repulsive, in the eyes both of God and of spiritually enlightened men. The first of these Jerusalems is the true Church of Christ, the faithful remnant, the little flock that knew the Good Shepherds voice and followed Him. The second is the degenerate Church, the mass of those who misinterpreted the aim and spirit of their calling, and who by their worldliness and sin "crucified their Lord afresh, and put Him to an open shame." In the latter aspect Jerusalem becomes Babylon. As in Rev_11:8 it became "spiritually," that is mystically, "Sodom and Egypt," so it becomes also the mystical Babylon, partaker of that citys sins, and doomed to its fate. This thought we shall find fully expanded in the following chapter. The question may indeed be asked, how it comes to pass that, if this representation be correct, we should read, immediately after the words now under consideration, that Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. But the answer is substantially contained in what has been said. When Jerusalem is first thought of as "the great city," it is as the city of "the Jews," as line centre and essence of those principles by which spiritual is transformed into formal religion, and all sins are permitted to hide and multiply under the cloak of a merely outward piety. When it is next thought of as Babylon, the conception is extended so as to embrace, not a false Judaism only, but a similar falseness in the bosom of the universal Church. Just as "the great city where also our Lord was crucified" widened in Rev_11:8 to the thought of Sodom and Egypt, so here it widens to the thought of Babylon. May it not be added that we have thus in the mention of Jerusalem and Babylon a counterpart to the mention in Rev_15:3 of "the song of Moses and the Lamb"? These two expressions, as we have seen, comprehend a song of universal victory. Thus also the two expressions, "the great city" and "Babylon," having one and the same idea at their root, comprehend all who in the professing Church of the whole world are faithless to Christian truth.
Further effects of the last judgment follow. Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. Effects similar, though not so terrible, had been connected with the sixth Seal. Mountains and islands had then been simply "moved out of their places."1 Now they "flee away." Similar effects will again meet us, but in an enhanced degree.2 As yet, while mountains and islands flee away, the earth and the heavens remain. In the last description of the judgment of the wicked the heavens and the earth themselves flee away from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and no place is found for them. The climax in the different accounts of what is substantially the same event cannot be mistaken. (1 Rev_6:14; 2 Rev_20:11)
The same climax appears in the statement of the next effect, the great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, that is, fully more than fifty pounds. No such weight had been spoken of at the close of the seventh Trumpet in Rev_11:19.
Again, however, here is no repentance and no conversion. Those who suffer are the deliberate and determined followers of the beast. As under the fourth Bowl, therefore, so under the seventh they rather blaspheme God amidst their sufferings, because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof is exceeding great.
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. Johnson1891 · Public DomainOn vv1–41, 2. I saw another sign in heaven. Another…
1, 2. I saw another sign in heaven. Another scene displayed, different from those just past, and startling in its character. Seven angels having the seven last plagues. Called the last plagues because they are the final plagues which are sent upon the beast and its image; they bring the series to a close. They “fill up the wrath of God.” The great feature of this vision is the seven angels with the seven last plagues, but they are not seen at first when the vision opens; not until verse 7 is reached. The vision opens with the scene of verse 2.
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 Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v1THE pledges and tokens of Divine retribution being thus…
THE ANGELS OF THE SEVEN VIALS
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
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THE pledges and tokens of Divine retribution being thus given, the execution of it is speedily to begin. Seven angels are commissioned to go and inflict upon the beast and his coadjutors the seven last plagues, so called because the wrath of God is accomplished by them.
Rev_15:1.—No sooner is this command given than the glorious host of martyrs around the throne of God, whose blood had been shed by the beast, sing the song of anticipative triumph, and praise the justice of God, as about to be displayed in the overthrow of the beast. The temple in heaven is then opened, and the seven angels, charged with the execution of Divine justice, go forth from it in splendid apparel. One of the four living creatures which support the throne of God gives each of them a vial, or cruse (bowl), filled with material to execute the wrath of God. The temple is immediately filled with smoke, rising from the fire which burns fiercely round the Al mighty, as the emblem of His anger (Psa_18:8), and also of His power to destroy. By reason of this, no one is able to enter into the temple, and, of course, no one is permitted to intercede for those who are about to be punished. Punishment, therefore, is certain and inevitable (Moses Stuart).
Rev_15:2. Sea of glass.—(See Rev_4:6). Gotten the victory.—R.V. “come victorious from.” Omit “and over his mark.”
Rev_15:3. Moses … Lamb.—Types of material and spiritual redemption. Of saints.—Should read either “of the nations” or “of the ages.”
Rev_15:6. White.—Or bright.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rev_15:1-8
Final Judgments.—The vision which perhaps, under all circumstances, most nearly corresponds with the present is that of Isaiah (chap. 6). There the prophet beheld the vision of God. His train filled the temple, and the house was filled with smoke, and a message of judgment was given to the prophet. That message declared that the sin of the people had reached a climax; they had trifled with convictions, and henceforward the words of God’s servants would harden rather than awaken them—“make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes,” etc. (Isa_6:9-10), till the desolating judgments had fallen. The general drift of the present vision is similar: the days of warning are over; the plagues which now fall will fall on those who have trifled with convictions; the sanctuary, which was opened as a refuge, is now closed; none can enter till the plagues have descended. The time has come when the judgments of God fail to stir the conscience which has been deadened by sin; the day when the gracious influences towards repentance were felt has passed. The word that has been spoken is about to descend in judgment (Joh_7:48).
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Rev_15:3. The Song of Moses and the Lamb.—God’s world, God’s Word, and God’s people, are all full of song. In God’s world there is nothing, animate or inanimate, without the capacity of making sound. The very flints have music in them. “There’s music in the sighing of a reed; there’s music in the gushing of a rill.” In God’s Word we are told that at the creation “the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy.” Moses uttered the deliverance of his people in song, saying, “I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.” Deborah taught the people a song, whereby they might praise the Lord for the avenging of Israel. When the new creation dawned, in the birth of Jesus, angels broke through the veil, and were seen and heard by our fellow-men, singing together, “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill to men.” David’s life was a song. When Paul and Silas lay chained in the dungeon, they sang praises in the night. The visions of heaven assure us that the ransomed ones are full of song. Our text gives us the theme of their song: “Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.” Why so much singing? Why a world full of it, a Bible full of it, a heaven full of it? Because there is nothing but music that can find expression for the deepest, the most thrilling, emotions of our nature. So often our feeling is too deep for words, the force of passion strikes us, and keeps us, dumb. Sometimes feeling is too deep for looks—nay, even for tears; it seems to dry up the very fountain of tears. But the man who can find no words has often learned that the tongue of the dumb can sing.
“Music! Oh, how faint and weak
Language fades before thy spell!
Why should feeling ever speak,
When thou canst breathe its soul so well?”
I. Who are these heaven-singers?—Answering that question in the language of symbols this book of Revelation tells us: “I saw as it were a sea of glass, mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” “LO, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands.” These rejoicing ones were once sinners of this our earth. They are no company of unfallen angels, whose songs could have no thrilling tones, that tell of sad memories. The song the ransomed sing is a song that only sinners can sing, as the name upon their foreheads is a name that only redeemed sinners can wear. Every bird that flies through God’s sunshine—thrush, and robin, and linnet, and nightingale—has his own note, which none but he can sing. Every intelligent creature, every son of God, has his own book of psalms. And there is a style, a tone, an inimitable pathos about a sinner’s song that will make his voice for ever distinct among the eternal harmonies. And it is pleasant to think that these heavenly singers have been gathered out of all ages and out of all nations. However the forms of music may vary in different periods and different climes, it will be found at last that when the hearts of men sing they make but one chorus. Black and white, bond and free, Jew and Gentile, sing in harmony together the “song of Moses and the Lamb.” If we inquire, What are these sinners now? the answer comes, The redeemed of the Lord; the purchase of the Saviour’s blood. Monuments of the grace of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Ransomed for ever. Sinners who once were justified through faith in the Lord Jesus; who long were being sanctified in the power of the Holy Ghost; and who now are glorified, with something of the glory that Jesus had with the Father before the world was. The work now being carried on in us, in them is finished. While it is being wrought we can sometimes sing, but oftener we must weep; when it is finished we shall weep no more. All tears are wiped away. If we can inquire, Where do these singers stand? the answer cannot be given except by symbol; for of the realities of heaven no man knoweth, no man can know, until the mortal has given place to the immortal, and the eyes of the earthly have changed for the eyes of the heavenly. They stand “on a sea of glass, mingled with fire”; perhaps we should understand, “on the shores of a sea of glass, mingled with fire.” The image is suggested by the thought of the Israelites passing through the Red Sea. For them all its waves were stilled; a sea of glass lay on either side their God-made road. And when the evening shadows lengthened and the “cloudy pillar” changed to fire, it flushed all that glassy sea and made it appear as a “sea of glass, mingled with fire.” The symbol seems to suggest their possession of rest and their memory of conflict. The restless sea, always rising and falling, often desolating and ruinous, is the Bible emblem of the troubles, and anxieties, and sorrows, of the earth. Man is born to trouble. But yonder is the sea of glass. The waves are stilled now. The “weary are at rest.” The cloud-flecked sky can find only a broken image of its beauty in the waving sea; and God finds only partial and broken images of Himself in the restless, anxious lives we have to live. A whole firmament of glory shall shine out of a still sea of glass; and a whole image of God may beam forth from that life we shall live in the land of heavenly rest. But memory will mingle the glassy sea with fire. As the sea is the emblem of trouble, so fire is the emblem of conflict. The shores of the glassy sea are only won through a great fight of affliction by him who is girded with the whole armour of God. In many an earthly mansion the shields, and breast-plates, and helmets, and swords, are hung up in the great halls, to remind the peaceful sons of the old battles out of which their forefathers wrung their liberty and rest. Who knows? There may be, somewhere in God’s heaven, an armoury where every new soldier that has battled through may lay up his weapons and his armour. Certainly fire memories shall mingle with the eternal rest; memories of the fires of battles with sin, and memories of the refining fires of God’s chastisements. And home will be to us the sweeter for nights tented in the strangers’ ground, and bivouac amid the storm and the cold—months beleaguered by watchful foes, and battles fought hardly for holiness and God.
II. What are the singers’ songs?—Evidently their hymn is a blending of their old earth-song with a new heaven-song. Not, indeed, so altogether new and different. We, too, can sing, even here, the Song of Moses and the Lamb; but not just as they sing it. We can only put as much meaning into our singing as we have had experience to prepare us for. They have an experience which cannot be ours as yet—an experience of victory, and victory’s reward; so they can sing with meanings which we cannot reach. Their song is our song, with more soul in it. The subject of their song is not redemption alone, but God’s entire dealings with man in revelation. It is not the song of the Lamb only. It is the song of Moses, too. Redemption is, indeed, the one word that expresses all God’s dealing with the race. His one work has always been the work of recovery—recovery of men, of families, of nations, from outward and bodily evils, from mental mistakes, from moral bondages. Ever since Eden God has been delivering, rescuing, and saving man, and His whole work seems to reach its climax in the deliverance and redemption of human spirits from the yoke and thraldom of sin by Christ Jesus. We lose much by separating the work of God on our race into parts. It is really one sublime, one perfect whole. Some gifts of His, like acts of His, seem, indeed, to rise up into view, mountain-like, and demand unusual attention; but from Eden to the judgment day there has been one purpose, never forgotten, never remitted, never undervalued: it is the world’s full redemption from sin. We may not think of our God resting in eternal peace until every foe of man is slain, suffering and crime are ended, Satan is bound, and death, the last enemy, shall die. One day a saved earth will sing, “The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” For the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The models of this entire deliverance are “Moses” and “the Lamb.” Moses representing God’s triumph over evil in its outward manifestations, and the Lamb representing God’s triumph over evil in its inward manifestations. Moses’ triumph at the passing of the sea I need but recall to mind; it said for all the ages that “nothing is too hard for the Lord,” and no outward troubles need overwhelm us. The “Song of the Lamb” reminds us that God has triumphed, and is triumphing, over inward evil. It is the most mournful part of the work of sin that it has defiled human souls, and blurred the image of God on them. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is the Divine deliverer from inward sin, from soul-sin. No fetters of national slavery dropped from aching wrists when Jesus died, the sacrifice and ransom price. No Roman armies, panic-stricken, fled from Palestine when He died, the nation’s champion. No royal proclamation flung open prison doors when He took the sinner’s place. No waving flags, no enthusiastic shouts, proclaimed a nation’s resurrection when He died on Calvary. But then the “prince of this world was judged, and cast out.” Then “Satan fell like lightning from heaven.” Then captive souls were set free. Then the gospel of God’s saving love was proclaimed to the poor. Then the heaven of holiness for sinners came within their reach. Well may we anticipate the heavenly song, and join now the chorus of the white-robed host, saying, “Thou hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood, and hast made us kings and priests unto God.”
The Divine Righteousness.—Good men, in all ages, have been deeply impressed with the Divine righteousness. They have ever conceived of their salvation as exhibiting and establishing the Divine righteousness. It is not proper to speak of justice or righteousness as being satisfied. The Bible speaks of it as revealed, manifested. Righteousness can be satisfied with nothing short of the rightness of those in whom it is interested. Men mistake the Divine by treating justice as some abstract quality: it is one of the living forces of a Living Being; it is an expression of the Divine will. The revelation of God is this: “A just God and a Saviour.” A just God is proved by, illustrated by, His becoming a Saviour.
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. Godbey1900 · Public DomainOn v1WHEN John saw the book of prophecy in the…
1. THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES
WHEN John saw the book of prophecy in the hand of the Apocalyptic Angel, it was a parchment-roll, enveloped in seven wrappers, and secured with seven seals. When the Lion of the tribe of Judah loosed successively the seven seals, each one revealed its part of the prophecy in programme, the interest constantly increasing in geometrical ratio. The opening of the seventh seal reveals the contents of the book, which is so momentous that seven trumpet-bearing angels are now called out to proclaim the wonderful prophecies. These trumpets began to sound at the time of the Apocalypse, have been sounding ever since, and will continue till the Lord comes to reign. During the first trumpet, as described in Chapter 8, a terrible infection, political, social, and ecclesiastical, falls on the earth, and begins to undermine the fabric of human government. When the second angel sounds his trumpet, a great burning mountain is cast into the sea; i.e., the infection reaches the popular masses, stirring them into discontentment and revolution. When the third angel sounds his trumpet, the malady reaches the rivers and fountains of water; i.e., the subordinate departments of government, shaking them with political earthquakes, and disqualifying governors and proconsuls longer to enforce law and order. When the fourth angel sounds his trumpet, this growing infection reaches the heads of government, filling capitols and royal palaces with darkness, confusion, anarchy and bloody revolution, so that every throne topples, and sovereigns fall to rise no more. When the fifth angel sounds his trumpet, these social, political, and ecclesiastical troubles have assumed worldwide proportions. Consequently, the Holy Ghost pronounces the proclamation of the fifth trumpet a woe. During the first four trumpets, Satan succeeds in the undermining and disintegration of the political and social fabric, and the superinduction of the Dark Ages on the whole world. The seventh century has ushered in, kingdoms are falling, and thrones toppling in all lands. It is an auspicious epoch in the history of Satan. His millennium is now fully inaugurated. Hence he calls up Mahomet to rule the Eastern hemisphere and the pope the Western. The first woe proclaimed by the fifth trumpet continues one hundred and fifty years.
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Meanwhile Moslem conquest rolled its bloody tide over Asia, Africa, and Spain, everywhere exterminating Christianity by the sword. This appalling scourge received its first signal rebuff in the battle of Tours, France, where Charles Martel signally defeated the Saracens and saved all Europe from subjugation, slaughter, and the Moslem yoke. These prophecies run in a geometrical ratio, with a constantly increasing intensification. Hence the second woe, proclaimed by the sixth trumpet, covers a period of four hundred years (Rev 9:15), the second great period of Mohammedan conquests, which, taking new impetus after the Crusades, swept on, building up the great Mogul Empire, which for two hundred years claimed the conquest of the world. They received their final signal defeat at the siege of Vienna, 1683, when John Sobieski, the Polish hero, led seventy thousand Christian warriors into the conflict under the battle- cry: “Not unto us, O Lord, but unto Thee be the glory!” That signal defeat culminated in the treaty of 1698, in which the Saracens were forced to surrender vast kingdoms to Christendom.
Rev 11:15 introduces the seventh trumpeter, who proclaims the third and last woe that shall ever come on the earth. That woe is to knock down all the carnal powers, political and ecclesiastical, throughout the whole earth, and thus prepare the way for the King of kings to descend on His millennial throne and reign forever. This last trumpet is to sound on to the end of the Gentile Age, when the kingdom comes.
Here is another evolution, the greatest and the last of all; i.e., the seventh trumpet is evolved into the seven last plagues, which are committed to seven angels in the seven vials, or, as the Greek says, seven bowls, containing the final consummation of God’s wrath against this wicked world, focalized in those terrible catastrophes destined to come in righteous, retributive judgments against a wicked world and fallen Church. After these seven bowls of wrath shall have been poured out on the earth, and shall have expended their force in the castigation of all the wicked nations and apostate Churches, then the chastisements of the Almighty against this rebel world will forever have an end. The wicked rulers of the earth will have toppled from their thrones, Babylon fallen, and earth redeemed from Satan’s misrule. We read the positive statement from the Holy Ghost in the 1st verse of the 15th chapter: In these “the wrath of God is finished.” Oh, blessed consolation! we are so rapidly approaching the end of earth’s troubles, sorrows, and calamities, when Satan shall be cast out and our glorious King descend to reign.
We have now reached, in the seven last plagues, the final evolution in these panoramic prophecies, which will clear the field for our glorious coming King by removing all the incorrigible, irreconcilable, and unsanctifiable elements out of the world.
2. “I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who are triumphant over the beast and his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” Here John has another vision of the bride. The sea of glass is the imperturbable experience of the soul’s profound repose in Jesus when it enters the experience of entire sanctification. A thousand cyclones may sweep over a sea of glass and never produce a ripple on the surface. So it is with this wonderful soul-rest. It is proof against all distraction and perturbation. “Commingled with fire” means the glorious baptism of Pentecostal fire, which Jesus always gives the sanctified soul. It is the Christian’s invincible panoply for the Lord’s war against the devil. It is His indispensable palladium for the conquest of the world. A well-rested man will do about ten times as much work as a tired, worn-out man. Hence, perfect rest in Jesus and the fiery baptism flooding your soul will enable you to shout down every Jericho and chase a thousand devils. These are the people who have the victory over the beast, and his image, and the number of his name.
The beast here signifies the world-power, carnality, and especially the pope, the incarnation of carnal, worldly religion. The image of the beast includes idolatry in all its forms and phases, and especially the fashions of the world. You cannot be a devotee of any of these things and follow Jesus. The number of his name is 666 (Rev 13:18), which, as you see from the calculation, means Romanism. While Babylon is a harlot, she is also the mother of harlots. Her maternity has been wonderfully prolific. Her daughters are in all the popular Churches on the globe. The influence of Romanism is this day predominant in all the great Protestant Churches. Since the pope’s temporal dethronement by Victor Immanuel in 1870, he has radically reversed the engine and changed his tactics. Since his grip on the rulers has broken, he maneuvers, through myriads of subterranean channels, to reach the governments through the people. Hence he has his sworn Jesuits in hundreds of Protestant pulpits, expediting, with all their chicanery, the universally downward trend of all ecclesiasticisms into Romanism. She loudly boasts of her two hundred and fifty millions of members belting the globe. The Protestant Churches, captivated by the eclat, are all competing for members. If you would go to heaven, you must be thoroughly saved from the influence of members. You must be willing to take the lone way with Jesus, singing, with Bishop Marvin:
“I’d rather be the least of them Who are the Lord’s alone, Than wear a royal diadem, And sit upon a throne.”
The true pilgrim has no assurance that any other soul is treading the narrow path but himself and Jesus. Hence you are bound to utterly die out to the influence of numbers, and be willing to walk alone by faith with an unseen God.
3. We find these victors over the beast, his image, and the number of his name, all sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. The normal attitude of the Mosaic Dispensation was that of justification, while that of the Christian Dispensation is entire sanctification. Therefore, you see all the members of the bridehood sing about this wonderful double salvation. They all have the experience of regeneration and entire sanctification. So, if you are a candidate for the bridehood, you must have these two experiences, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
4. “Thou alone art holy.” Hence you see, intrinsically, none are holy but God. Wesley well says: “You cannot lay up a stock of holiness, as you can only be holy in connection with Christ. The moment you separate from Him, you have nothing but unholiness left.” Hence we can only have delegated holiness, and receive it from Christ constantly by faith. Your faith should become as natural as breathing, so you rest in Jesus like a tired child in its mother’s arms, unconscious of the slightest effort on its part. This holiness is original in Jesus and imparted to us. Faith is the hand with which we reach out and receive this holiness. There is no defalcation about getting it. If we only touch the hem of His garment, virtue will come out of Him and make us holy. In this respect we are like Him. We partake of His holiness. (Heb 12:10.)
“All nations shall come and worship before Thee.” This prophecy will be fulfilled during the kingdom. While Satan is loose, the worshipers of God will be individuals. The survivors of the tribulation will still perpetuate the nationalities in the millennial reign. As there will be no devil here to lead the nations into sin, of course they will worship the glorious King by solid nationalities.
5, 6. These seven angels entrusted with the responsible duty of administering the final retributions to the rebel nations and fallen Churches are all invested with priestly regalia, and all testify for God, illustrating the capacity of God’s ministers and their identity with the Gospel Age. To the people who have obstinately and finally rejected God’s mercy, they are now sent to administer His wrath.
7. “Forever and ever” describes the duration of God. The original is aioonas aioonoon, the same as in ch. 14, verse 10, which tells the duration of punishment. So remember, despite all the speculations of Universalism, the moment they prove the end of punishment, the very same argument proves that God will cease to exist. Hence the utter futility of all arguments to disprove the endless punishment of the wicked.
8. This verse tells us that the temple of testimony will be so darkened during the awful tribulations that all ingress will cease till these terrible plagues accomplish their work on the earth.
Since all the sanctified will be taken up in the rapture, there will he no people left on the earth to testify. It seems that testimony is already relegated to the sanctified. When you go to meeting nowadays and hear people testifying, you say at once, “Why, these are the ‘Holiness people.” In the absence of the holy people and amid the terrible retributions of the premillennial judgments, no wonder the testimony meetings will all be discontinued. Oh, how forlorn and dreary will this world be without a holy person in it To this, add earthquakes, cyclones, wars, famines, and pestilence. Let us all keep on the witness-stand for God, so that when He takes His saints out of the world, He will remember us.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible1900 · Public DomainOn v1The Sea of Glass Mingled with Fire.
Rev 15:2
The Sea of Glass Mingled with Fire.
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With all the mysteriousness of the book of Revelation, one thing we are sure of: that in it we have the summing up of the moral processes of all time. There may or may not be a special meaning discoverable in its pictures, but this there certainly is. The verse which is our text represents, in a highly figurative way, the result of all moral contest. We may call that our subject.
I. Those who had gotten the victory over the beast stood on a sea of glass mingled with fire. What is the meaning of this imagery? I confess that I do not pretend to know in full what is intended in the Revelation by this term "the beast." But, on the principle which I have just stated, I think it certainly means, in its largest sense, the whole power of evil in all its earthly manifestations, everything that tempts the soul of man to sin or tries his constancy with suffering. The sea of glass is evidently the type of repose, of rest, of peace; and fire, with its quick, eager, searching nature, testing all things, consuming what is evil, purifying what is good, never resting a moment, never sparing pain—fire all through the Bible is the type of active trial of every sort, of struggle. "The sea of glass," then, "mingled with fire," is repose mingled with struggle. It is peace, and rest, and achievement, with the power of trial and suffering yet alive and working within it. It is calmness still pervaded by the discipline through which it has been reached.
II. This is our doctrine, the permanent value of trial—that when a man conquers his adversaries and his difficulties it is not as if he had never encountered them. Their power, still kept, is in all his future life. They are not only events in his past history: they are elements in all his present character. His victory is coloured with the hard struggle that won it. Just as the whole fruitful earth, deep in its heart, is still mingled with the ever-burning fire that is working out its chemical fitness for its work, so the life that has been overturned and overturned by the strong hand of God, filled with the deep, revolutionary forces of suffering, purified by the strong fires of temptation, keeps its long discipline for ever, roots in that discipline the deepest growths of the most sunny and luxuriant spiritual life that it is ever able to attain.
III. There are several special applications of our doctrine to the Christian life which it is interesting to observe. (1) It touches all the variations of Christian feeling. The redeemed world—all the strong vitality which that name records will be the fire that will mingle with the glassy serenity of its obedient and rescued life. (2) Here we have the picture of the everlasting life. What will heaven be? I find manifold fitness in the answer that tells us that it shall be a sea of glass mingled with fire. Is it not a most graphic picture of the experience of rest, always pervaded with activity, of calm, transparent contemplation, always pervaded and kept alive by eager work and service, which is our highest and most Christian hope of heaven? Heaven will not be pure stagnation, not idleness, not any mere luxurious dreaming over the spiritual repose that has been safely and for ever won, but active, tireless, earnest work, fresh, live enthusiasm for the high labours which eternity will offer. These vivid inspirations will play through our deep repose, and make it more mighty in the service of God than any feverish, unsatisfied toil of earth has ever been. The sea of glass will be mingled with fire.
Phillips Brooks, Twenty Sermons, p. 110.
Rev 15:3
The Song of the Triumphant Church.
Our text suggests two topics of discourse; for it gives what may be called a definition of the song which the triumphant Church sings, and it then furnishes the words of which that song is composed. We have, therefore, in the first place, to examine the language by which the song is described: "the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb"; we have then, in the second place, to consider the language employed: "Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints."
I. Now it admits of no dispute that when the song of the triumphant Church is called "the song of Moses the servant of God" the reference is to the Church of the Israelites and their leaders when Pharaoh and his hosts had been buried in the waters. And it is very observable, and in some respects almost mysterious, that it should be this "song of Moses" to which glorified saints still strike their harps. The song was not only of thanksgiving to the Lord, but exultation over the wicked, rejoicing in their destruction. The song of the triumphant Church is described not only as "the song of Moses," but as that also of "the Lamb." "They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and of the Lamb." Now we may be said to feel more at home with "the song of the Lamb" than with that of Moses, for this is a song of which even now we can strike some notes; whereas we look on that of Moses with a kind of awe and dread, as though it were not suited to such minstrelsy as ours. "The song of the Lamb," which the Evangelist heard, may be considered as that "new song" which is given in other parts of the book of Revelation, the burden of which is the "worthiness" of the Redeemer. The "thousand times ten thousand of thousands" which are "round about the throne" were heard by St. John saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." There is something similar to this in the strain which mingles with that of lofty exultation as the Church beholds her overthrown enemies. And if, therefore, "the song of Moses" be one which shows such subjugation or refinement of human feeling as is almost unintelligible, at least "the song of the Lamb" is in thorough harmony with what is now felt and chanted by believers; it is the song of grateful confession that we owe everything to the Redeemer, and that His blood and righteousness have been the alone procuring cause of our deliverance from ruin and our title to immortality.
II. "Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints." Such is a portion of the lofty anthem. Taking this anthem in its largest application, we may say that it celebrates the greatness of the plan of God as displayed in the occurrences of the judgment-day. And it is well worthy our attention that these two characteristics should be finally declared to distinguish the whole business of the judgment. It will be "a great and marvellous work" when the "tares shall have been separated from the wheat," all unrighteousness detected and exposed, the wicked banished and the faithful exalted. And this is not the whole of the chorus. The Church affirms God’s "ways" to be "just and true," as well as His "works great and marvellous"; and this is a most important assertion when considered as called forth by the transactions of the judgment. The judgment will include in its searchings and sentences the heathen world as well as the Christian—men who have had none but the scantiest portion of revelation and those who have been blessed with its fulness. And even in a Christian community there is the widest difference between the means and opportunities afforded to different men; some being only just within sound of the Gospel, whilst others are continually placed within sound of its messages. All this seems to invest with great difficulty the business of the judgment. It shows that there must be various standards: one standard for the heathen and another for the Christian; one for this heathen or this Christian and another for that. And there is something overwhelming in the thought that the untold millions of the human population will undergo an individual scrutiny; that they will come man by man to the bar of their Judge, each to be tried by his own privileges and powers. We can hardly put from us the feeling that in so enormous an assize there will be cases comparatively overlooked, in which due allowance will not be made, or in which sentence will not be founded on a full estimate of the circumstances. But whatever our doubts and suspicions beforehand, "just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints," is the confession, which will follow the judgment. It is a confession, we are bound to say, in which the lost will join with the redeemed. The feeling of every condemned man shall be that, had there been none but himself to be tried, his case could not have received a more patient attention or a more equitable decision. The praise which is chanted on the glassy and fiery sea tells us that God will be justified when He speaketh, and clear when He judgeth.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1656.
References: Rev 15:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., No. 136; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 20; H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 186.
Rev 15:3-4
The Triumph of Goodness.
I. Moses is not to be regarded here exactly as a historic personage; certainly it is not the song which he composed that is meant, nor the song that was composed by the Lamb; but here is the theme: Moses and the Lamb. And what was Moses in this heavenly tableau, to the thoughts of those addressed but the beginning of a great Divine dispensation of mercy and of education? He, far back in the wilderness and in the beginnings and sources of history, organised truth, and beauty, and right, and set a-going those great services by which the soul was to be enriched and ennobled. In other words, he was the beginner. The song, beginning with Moses and ending with the Lamb, connected the very first dawn of Divine truth, in the earliest periods, with its first flow and all its mutations clear down to the time of Jesus Christ, who in Jerusalem was, and who now in the new Jerusalem is, typified as the Lamb. The figure to us is almost dead, but to the Jew, who had been accustomed to associate with the sacrificial lamb whatever was sweet, whatever was beautiful, whatever was pure and unworldly in perfection, the figure meant immensely more than it means to us.
II. The song was of triumph. It was the shout, the jubilatic outcry, of the universe, that stood around about the ends of things, looking back to the beginning and seeing the way of God down through the whole dispensation of time in the world, now fulfilled and brought to a triumphant close in the other life. All that there was in the different heroes, all that there was in the different dispensations, all the judgments, all the sufferings, all the reformations, all the growths, all the developments, all the victories, whatever had gone to make up the moral elements in human history, in the household, and in matters touching priestly offices and prophetic qualities in those who witnessed in the wilderness, in prisons, and in the mountains, the apostolic administrations, and all the after-periods, and doubtless all that which has come down from the Apostles’ day to ours; all these things constitute the theme of that great, heavenly, outbreaking song. And what is the result of it? It is simply the chanting of the old bard by which the deeds of his chief are narrated, as we narrate the achievements, enterprises, battles, and victories of an hero. "Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest." Here, then, is the Divine catastrophe—evil gone under; imperfections swelled out to perfectness; ungrowth and crudeness brought up to ripeness and to beauty; goodness triumphant through the universal realm. All nations shall come to Thee, not one being left out.
III. This was the vision, not of time, but of the upper sphere; and it was this: the absolute triumph of the Divine part in man. They who have gone before, and for generations yet those that shall follow us, must see the flesh stronger than the spirit in the great mass of mankind. Time, looked at from any high standpoint, is a most sad and dreary experience, unless we have some outlet, unless we have some compensation somewhere. The might and power of past ages has been physical, passionate, sensuous, devilish; and although here and there there have been sprinklings of goodness, although here and there there have been a thousand sweet voices heard, yet in the main the chant of time has been hoarse, harsh, cacophonous. In the main the movement of the human race has been the movement of vast bodies with vast sufferings, and vast wastefulness, and vast uselessness. But they who stand disengaged from the ignorance and darkness of time, they who are lifted up, and are at a point of vision where they can see the past, the present, and the future—I behold them, not bearing witness to us, but in their own unconsciousness breaking out into ecstacies of gladness because God is justified. He who brought into existence this globe, with all its miserable populations, in the last estate shall stand and be glorified in the thought and feeling of those who behold the end as well as the beginning. "Thou only art holy." "All nations shall come and worship before Thee." Why? "For Thy judgments are made manifest." There is charity; there is explanation; there is reconciliation; there is harmonisation; and in the end it shall appear, when we see from the beginning to the end of this tremendous, and as yet uninterrupted, riddle of life and time, with an unclouded eye and with a vision just, and true, and perfect—then it shall appear that God is lovely and beautiful.
H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 165.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant1903 · Public DomainOn v1Section 1. (Rev 15:1-8.)
Section 1. (Rev 15:1-8.)
The unity of righteousness in the King of Ages.
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"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful -seven angels having seven plagues, the last, for in them is completed the indignation of God."
The one bright word here is "completed." For the earth at large, it is indeed so. Judgment comes, as we shall see at the close of the Millennium, upon a special, though, alas, numerous class; but it is nevertheless not the earth that rebels, nor can the Hand that holds the sceptre be any more displaced. How the voice of the everlasting gospel sounds in that word "completed"! But in proportion as the judgment is final now, so must it be complete, conclusive. All limitations are now removed. The rod of iron thoroughly does its work. As in the Lord’s answer to His disciples’ question as to this very period, "Wheresoever the carcase" -the corruption that provokes God’s anger -"is, there will the eagles be gathered together."
But first, -and this is the style of prophecy, as we have seen, -before the judgment strikes, the gathering clouds are for a moment parted, that we may see, not the whole good achieved, but the care of God over His own, who in this scene might seem to have found only defeat and forsaking. One righteous Man alone ever was really forsaken. And we are permitted to see how, in fact, He has but hidden in His own pavilion, from the strife of men, those who amid the battle drop down and are lost. The sea of glass in the vision answers to the brazen sea in the temple of old -the laver; but here it is glass, not water. Purification is over, with the need of it. The fire mingled with it indicates what those here have passed through, which God has used for blessing to their souls. They are a special class, martyrs under the beast, no doubt, who have found victory in defeat, and are perfected and at rest before the throne of God.
They sing a mingled song, the song of Moses and of the Lamb -conquerors like those who were delivered out of Egypt, but by the might of Him who goes forth as a "man of war" for the deliverance of His people. The song of the Lamb looks to the victories recorded in this book, in which the "works" of the Lord God Almighty of the Old Testament are repeated by Him who, as King of the ages, manifests thus His ways as true and righteous throughout the dispensations.
Divine promises are being fulfilled. God is once more taking up the cause of His ancient people, while the sufferers in Christian times are no less being vindicated and their enemies judged. He has not slept when most He seemed to do so, and now acts in judgment that makes all men fear. Ripened iniquity, come to a head wherever we may look, claims the harvest-sickle. The open challenge of the enemy brooks no delay in answering it. It is the only hope for the earth itself, which will learn righteousness when His judgments are in it, while the New Testament here coalesces with the voice of prophecy in the Old, and the cycle of the ages is completed, and returns into itself, only with a Second Man, a new creation, and the paradise of God. Truly Christ is "King of the ages."
And now the temple of the tabernacle of testimony is opened in heaven, where the ark of the covenant has been already seen. Faithful to that covenant now, in which Israel and the earth are together ordained to blessing, the seven angels with the seven last plagues issue forth as the result of that faithfulness. Thus they are arrayed in pure white linen, and girded with golden girdles. It is the glory of God in behalf of which they serve, as the bowls are also golden and filled with His wrath. From the glory of God and from His power smoke fills the temple. None can therefore approach to intercede. There can be no more delay. Long-suffering patience is exhausted. "No one was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed."
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren1905 · Public DomainOn v2Rev 15:2-3
Revelation
THE SONG OF MOSES AND THE LAMB
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Rev 15:2-3
The form of this vision is moulded partly by the circumstances of the Seer, and partly by reminiscences of Old Testament history. As to the former, it can scarcely be an accident that the Book of the Revelation abounds with allusions to the sea. We are never far from the music of its waves, which broke around the rocky Patmos where it was written. And the ‘sea of glass mingled with fire’ is but a photograph of what John must have seen on many a still morning, when the sunrise came blushing over the calm surface; or on many an evening when the wind dropped at sundown, and the sunset glow dyed the watery plain with a fading splendor. - Nor is the allusion to Old Testament history less obvious. We cannot but recognize the reproduction, with modifications, of that scene when Moses and his ransomed people looked upon the ocean beneath which their oppressors lay, and lifted up their glad thanksgivings. So here, by anticipation, in the solemn pause before the judgment goes forth, there are represented the spirits that have been made wise by conquest, as gathered on the bank of that steadfast ocean, lifting up as of old a hymn of triumphant thankfulness over destructive judgments, and blending the song of Moses and of the Lamb, in testimony of the unity of spirit which runs through all the manifestations of God’s character from the beginning to the end. Ever His judgments are right; ever the purpose of His most terrible things is that men may know Him, and may love Him; and ever they who see deepest into the mysteries, and understand most truly the realities of the universe will have praise springing to their lips for all that God hath done.
I. Notice the Triumphant Choir.
‘I saw them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image, and over the number of his name.’ Now I am not going to plunge into Apocalyptic discussions. It is no part of my business now either to ask or answer the question as to whether this Beast of the Revelation is a person or a tendency. I do not care, for my present purpose, whether, supposing it to be a person, an embodiment of certain tendencies, it is a person in the past or in the future; whether it was a veiled designation of the Emperor Nero, or whether it is a prophecy of some yet unborn human embodiment of transcendent wickedness. The question that I would ask is rather this, - Whoever the beast is, what makes him a beast? And if we will think about that, we may get some good out of it. What is the bestial element in him, whoever he be? And the answer is not far to find - Godless selfishness, that is ‘the mark of the beast.’ Wherever a human nature is self-centered, God-forgetting, and, therefore, God opposing {for whoever forgets God defies Him}, that nature has gone down below humanit3% and has touched the lower level of the brutes. Men are so made as that they must either rise to the level of God or certainly go down to that of the animal. And wherever you see men living by their own fancies, for their own pleasure, in forgetfulness and neglect of the sweet and mystic bonds that should knit them to God, there you see the image of the beast and the number of his name.’
But besides that godless selfishness, we may point to simple animalism as literally the mark of the beast. He who lives not by conscience and by faith, but by fleshly inclination and sense, lowers himself to the level of the instinctive brute-life, and beneath it, because he refuses to obey faculties which they do not possess, and what is nature in them is degradation in us. Look at the unblushing sensuality which marks many ‘respectable people’ nowadays. Look at the foul fleshliness of much of popular art and poetry. Look at the way in which pure animal passion, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the love of good things to eat, and plenty to drink, is swaying and destroying men and women by the thousand among us. Look at the temptations that lie along every street in our great cities, for every young man, after dusk. Look at the thin veneer of culture over the ugliest lust. Scratch the gentleman, and you find the satyr. Is it much of an exaggeration, in view of the facts of English life to-day, to say that all the world wonders after and worships this beast?
Further, notice that to escape from the power of the beast it is needful to fight one’s way out. The language of my text is remarkably significant. This Apocalyptic writer does not mind about grammar or smoothness so long as he can express his ideas; and he uses a form of speech here that makes the hair of grammatical purists stand on end, because it vigorously expresses his thought. He calls these triumphant choristers ‘conquerors out of the beast,’ which implies that victory over him is an escape from a dominion in which the conquerors, before their victory, were held. They have fought their way, as it were, out of the land of bondage, and, like revolted slaves, have won their liberty, and marched forth triumphant. The allusion to Israel’s exodus is probable. ‘Egypt was glad when they departed.’ So the bondsmen of this new Pharaoh recover freedom by conflict, and the fruit of their victory is entire escape from the tyrant.
That victory is possible. The Apocalypse shows us that there are two opposing Powers - this said ‘beast’ on the one side, and ‘the Lamb’ on the other. In the Seer’s vision these two divide the world between them. That is to say, Jesus Christ has conquered the bestial tendencies of our nature, the selfish godlessness which is apt to cast its spells and weave its chains over us all. The Warrior-Lamb, singular and incongruous as the combination sounds, is the Victor. He conquers because He is the Lamb of sacrifice; He conquers because He is the Lamb of innocence; He conquers because He is the Lamb of meekness, the gentle and, therefore, the all-victorious. By Christ we conquer. Through faith, which lays hold on His power and victory, we too may conquer. ‘This is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith.’
Young men and women, may I make my appeal specially to you? Do not let yourselves be led away captives, like cattle to the shambles, by the fascinations and seductions of this poor, fleeting present. Keep your heel on the neck of the animal that is within you; take care of that selfish godlessness into which we all are tempted to fall. Listen to the trumpet-call that ought to stir your hearts, and summons you to freedom and to victory through the blood of the Lamb. And by humbly clasping Him as your Sacrifice, your Leader, and your Power, enroll yourselves amongst those who, in His own good time, shall come victorious out from the beast and from his image.
II. Still further, notice the position of this victorious chorus.
‘I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and they stand on the sea of glass.’ Of course the propriety of the image, as well as the force of the original language, suggests at once that by ‘on the sea of glass’ here, we must understand, on the firm bank by its side. As Moses and the ransomed hosts stood on the shore of the Red Sea, so these conquerors are represented as standing on the safe beach, and looking out upon this sea of glass mingled with fire, which, calm, crystal, clear, stable, and yet shot through and through with the red lines of retributive judgment, sleeps above the buried oppressors.
Observe that besides its picturesque appropriateness and its historical allusion, this sea of glass has a distinct symbolical meaning. "We find it appearing also in the great vision in the fourth chapter, where the Seer beholds the normal and ideal order of the universe, which is - the central throne, the ‘Lamb that was slain’ in the interspace between the Throne and the creatures as mediator; and round about, the four living beings, who represent the fullness of creation, and the four and-twenty elders, who represent the Church in the Old and the New Covenants as one whole. Then follows, ‘before the Throne was a sea of glass,’ which cannot be any part of the material creation, and seems to have but one explanation, and that is that it means the aggregate of the Divine dealings. ‘Thy judgments are a mighty deep.’ Oh! the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.’ Such a signification fits precisely our present passage, for the sea here represents that beneath which the tyrant lies buried for evermore.
That great ocean of the judgment of God is crystalline-clear though deep. Does it seem so to us? Ah I we stand before the mystery of God’s dealings, often bewildered, and not seldom reluctant to submit. The perplexity arising from their obscurity is often almost torture, and sometimes leads men into Atheism, or something like it. And yet here is the assurance that that sea is crystal clear, and that if we cannot look to its lowest depths, that is not because there is any mud or foulness there, but partly because the light from above fails before it reaches the abysses, and partly because our eyes are uneducated to search its depths. In itself it is transparent, and it rises and falls without mire or dirt,’ like the blue Mediterranean on the marble cliffs of the Italian coast. If it is clear as far as the eye can see, let us trust that beyond the reach of the eye the clearness is the same.
And it is a crystal ocean as being calm. They who stand there have gotten the victory and bear the image of the Master. By reason of their conquest and by reason of their sympathy with Him they see that what to us, tossing upon its surface, appears such a troubled and tempestuous ocean, as calm and still. As from some height, looked down upon, the ocean seems a watery plain, and all the agitation of the billows has subsided into a gentle ripple on the surface, so to them looking down upon the sea that brought them thither, it is quiet - and their vision, not ours, is the true one.
It is a ‘sea of glass mingled with fire.’ Divine acts of retribution as it were flash through it, if I may so say, like those streaks of red that are seen in Venice glass, or like some ocean smitten upon the one side of every wave by a fiery sunlight, while the other side of each is dark. So through that great depth of God’s dealings there flashes the fire of retribution. They who have conquered the animal, the godless self, see into the meaning and the mercifulness of God’s dealings with the world; and we here, in the measure in which we have become victors over the rude animalism and the more subtle selfishness that tend to rule us all, and in the measure in which we bear the image of Jesus Christ, and therefore have come into sympathy with Him, may come to discern with some clearer understanding, and to trust with more unfaltering faith, the righteousness and the mercy of all that God shall do.
III. Lastly, notice the occasion of the song, and the song itself.
‘They sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb.’ The Song of Moses was a song of triumph over destructive judgment; the Song of the Lamb, says the text, is set on the same key. The one broad, general lesson to be drawn from this, is one on which I have no time to touch, viz., the essential unity, in spite of all superficial diversities, of the revelation of God in the Old Covenant by law and miracle and retributive acts, and the revelation of God in the New Covenant by the Cross and Passion of Jesus Christ. Men pit the Old Testament against the New; the God of the Old Testament against the God of the New. They sometimes tell us that there is antagonism. Modern teachers are wanting us to deny that the Old is the foreshadowing of the New, and the New the fulfilment of the Old. My text asserts, in opposition to all such errors, the fruitful principle of the fundamental unity of the two; and bids us find in the one the blossom and in the other the fruit, and declares that the God who brought the waters of the ocean over the oppressors is the God that has mercy upon all, in Jesus Christ, His dying Son.
And there is another principle here, upon which I need not do more than touch, for I have already anticipated much that might have been said about it, and that is the perfect harmony of the retributive acts of God’s destructive dealings in this world, and the highest conception of His love and mercy which the gospel brings us. ‘When the wicked perish,’ says one of the old proverbs, ‘there is shouting.’ And so there ought to be. When some hoary oppression that has been deceiving mankind for centuries, with its instruments and accomplices, is swept off the face of the earth, the more men have entered into the meaning of Jesus Christ’s mission and work, and the more they feel the pitying indignation which they ought to feel at seeing men led away by evil, and made miserable by oppression, the more they will rejoice. God’s dealings are meant to manifest His character and that in order that all men may know and love Him. We may, therefore, be sure, and keep firm hold of the confidence, that whatever He doeth, however the methods may seem to vary, comes from one unalterable and fixed motive, and leads to one unalterable and certain end. The motive is His own love; the end the glory of His Name, in the love and knowledge of men whose life and blessedness depend on their knowing and loving Him.
So, dear friends, do not let us be too swift in saying that this, that, and the other thing are inconsistent with the highest conceptions of the Divine character. I believe, as heartily as any man can believe, that God has put His witness in our consciences and minds, and that all His dealings will comply with any test that man’s reason and man’s conscience and man’s heart can subject them to. Only we have not got all the materials; we look at half -finished work; our eyes are not quite so educated as that we can pronounce infallibly, on seeing a small segment of a circle, what are its diameter and its sweep.
I am always suspicious of that rough-and-ready way of settling questions about God’s revelation, when a man says: I cannot accept this or that because it contradicts my conception of the Divine nature.’ Unless you are quite sure that your conceptions are infallibly accurate, unless you deny the possibility of their being educated, you must admit that agreement with them is but a leaden rule. And it seems to me a good deal wiser, and more accordant with the modesty which becomes us, to be cautious in pronouncing what does or does not befit God to do, and, until we reach that loftier point of vision, where being higher up we can see deeper down, to say ‘the Judge of all the earth must do right. If He does this, then it is right.’ At any rate let us lay hold of the plain truth: ‘O Lord! Thou preservest man and beast,’ and then we may venture to say, ‘Thy judgments are a mighty deep,’ and beneath that deepest depth, as the roots of the hills beneath the ocean, is God’s righteousness, which is like the great mountains.
The last thought that I would suggest is that, according to the teaching of my text, we may take that old, old story of the ransomed slaves and the baffled oppressor and the Divine intervention and the overwhelming ocean, as prophecy full of radiant hope for the world. That is how it is used here. Pharaoh is the beast, the Red Sea is this ‘sea of glass mingled with fire,’ the ransomed Israelites are those who have conquered their way out of the dominion of the beast, and the song of Moses and of the Lamb is a song parallel to the cadences of the ancient triumphant chorus, and celebrating the annihilation of that power which drew the world away from God. So we may believe that as Israel stood on the sands, and saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore, humanity will one day, delivered from all its bestiality and its selfishness, lift up a song of thanksgiving to the conquering King who has drowned its enemies in the depths of His own righteous judgments.
And as for the world, so for individuals. If you take the Beast for your Pharaoh and your task-master, you will ‘sink’ with him ‘like lead in the mighty waters.’ If you take the Lamb for your sacrifice and your King, He will break the bonds from off your arms, and lift the yoke from your neck, and lead you all your lives long; and you will stand at last, when the eternal morning breaks, and see its dawn touch with golden light the calm ocean, beneath which your oppressors lie buried for ever, and will lift up glad thanksgivings to Him who has washed you from your sins in His own blood, and made you victors over ‘the beast, and his image, and the number of his name.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow1909 · Public DomainOn v1The Seven Angels of the Bowls
The Seven Angels of the Bowls
The crisis of the book is drawing near. The enemies of Christ and His Church—Satan, the empire, and the Provincial Government—have been shown in their power and cruelty. In Revelation 14 these were left standing in their might, while the blessed safety of the people of God was pictured. In this chapter is described the approach of the judgments which are about to fall on the empire and on the heathen world.
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1-4. Seven angels appear, they to whom are committed the 'plagues,' i.e. scourging punishments, 'which are the last' (RV), because in them the temporal judgments of God are fully carried out (RV 'finished'). But yet once more there is a pause, as if the safety of God's people in the midst of all this sin and judgment could not be insisted on sufficiently, and a vision is granted of the blessedness of those who by faithfulness even unto death have conquered the beast. They stand by the 'glassy sea' (RV), i.e. the firmament (see on Rev_4:6), having harps of God, i.e. harps such as are suited to the heavenly worship of God (Rev_15:2). They sing 'the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb,' i.e. a song called out by the deliverance wrought by Christ, as the song of Exodus 15 was called out by the deliverance from Egypt—a song in praise of God who from the time of Moses to the time of Christ has never forgotten His oppressed people (Rev_15:3.).
5-8. Again, as in Rev_11:19, is opened the sanctuary of the heavenly tabernacle, by which is symbolised that presence of God to which the worship of heaven is directed, and from which the actions of heaven proceed, and which was typified on earth by the earthly tabernacle. In Rev_11:19 it was God's mercy, represented by the ark of the covenant, which was manifested; now it is the declaration of His holy will, represented by the 'testimony,' i.e. the ten commandments, which is to be enforced (Rev_15:5). From the Divine Presence come forth the angels of the plagues, as priests, but arrayed with flashing gems (Rev_15:6). To them are given golden 'bowls' (RV), corresponding to the basons used by the priests for the blood in the sacrificial ritual (cp. Exo_27:3) full of God's wrath (Rev_15:7). The Presence of God, sanctioning the service, is manifested by the smoke of His glory: cp. Exo_40:35; 1Ki_8:10.; Isa_6:4; (Rev_15:8).
6. Clothed.. linen] RV 'arrayed with precious stone, pure and bright.'
7. Beasts] RV 'living creatures.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v1(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angels
(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. Gaebelein1922 · Public DomainOn v1The Seven Vials
CHAPTERS 15-16
The Seven Vials
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1. The victors’ song and worship (Rev 15:1-4)
2. The seven angels leave the temple (Rev 15:5-8)
3. The first vial (Rev 16:1-2)
4. The second vial (Rev 16:3)
5. The third vial (Rev 16:4-7)
6. The fourth vial (Rev 16:8-9)
7. The fifth vial (Rev 16:10-11)
8. The sixth vial (Rev 16:12)
9. Parenthesis: The seventh vial (Rev 16:13-21)
Rev 15:1-4.
And now the last seven angels appear; seven seal judgments first, followed by seven angels with trumpets and next the last seven angels. With these seven angels who have the seven last plagues for the world, the wrath of God is completed. Before these angels go forth we behold another worship scene. Who are they? Not the twenty-four elders, but they are the harpers which we saw harping and singing in Rev 14:2-3. They are the martyred company worshiping in glory. Here we are told of their victory and their song, the song of Moses and of the Lamb. The song of Moses (Exo 15:1-27) is the song of an earthly deliverance and the song of the Lamb concerns a spiritual deliverance. They are redeemed by power and by blood.
Rev 15:5-8.
A wonderful sight it is. There is again an ominous silence similar to the silence in connection with the opening of the seventh seal. The silence is not mentioned. But the text shows an impressive scene of silence. Quietly the procession of these ministers of judgment file out of the temple. They are clothed in pure, white linen; this is symbolical of the righteousness which demands the judgment wrath about to be poured out. And the golden girdles with which their breasts are girdled speak still more of divine righteousness. God in His righteousness must judge and now His wrath in completeness is about to be felt on the earth. The angels left the temple empty-handed, but the four living creatures give into their hands the bowls full of the wrath of God. And behind that smoke is the fire of judgment.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v1The Angels with the Seven Vials and the Opening…
The Angels with the Seven Vials and the Opening of the Temple.
The sea of glass and the song of praise:
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v. 1. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
v. 2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
v. 3. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.
v. 4. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest.
The general woes which were to strike the earth and especially the Church, directly or indirectly, were pictured in previous visions. But in the fifth vision, which opens here, the plagues, or the revelation of the wrath of God over the enemies of the Church, are depicted, the present chapter serving as an introduction for the series. The prophet writes: And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is completed the wrath of God. And I saw what resembled a glassy sea mixed with fire, and those that had come away conquerors from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name standing at the glassy sea, having harps of God. This was a portent as great as any of the preceding ones, and it was full of marvels. That the tables have now been turned, and that the kingdom of Anti-Christ and all the enemies of Christ shall now be visited with plagues, is a great and marvelous fact, but a fact that should fill the believers with comfort and courage. The seven last plagues the seven angels had, including the plague of the final Judgment; for the wrath of God was to find its completion, its final fulfillment, in these plagues. The crystal sea which was mentioned chap. 4:6 is here again included in the vision, mixed with fire, as a symbol of divine majesty. On its shores all the faithful believers, all the Christians that had refused to be blinded by any anti-Christian pomp and doctrine, were assembled, with harps in their hands, ready to sing a hymn of praise to the God of their salvation.
This song is now described: And they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful are Thy works, Lord God the Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, King of the nations. Who shall not fear Thee, Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee, because Thy righteous judgments are revealed. As Moses, the prophet and servant of God, sang a hymn of praise after the final deliverance from the host of Pharaoh, Exo 15:1-27, so the saints in heaven sing a song in honor of Him that delivered them out of all the dangers and tribulations of the last days. There is no mention of their own works nor even of their own sufferings; their only thought is the exaltation of God and of the Lamb. They extol Him for the greatness and marvelousness of His works in dealing with them in His mercy, for the justice and truth of His ways in dealing with all nations. For the final result of the Lord’s doing will be that all nations, all men, will be obliged to acknowledge His sovereignty and to give honor to Him as the holy Judge of the nations. The judgments of the Lord, as they were about to be revealed in this vision, would impress all men so that they would finally, in the midst of their obstinate hatred of Him, and in spite of themselves, have to admit that they were right and true. Separate from sinners, pure and holy, beyond all fault-finding, He reigns as the King Supreme.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1–3General Information:
General Information:
This verse is a summary of what will happen in Rev 15:6-16:21.
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great and marvelous
These words have similar meanings and are used for emphasis. AT: "something that greatly amazed me" (See: Doublet)
seven angels with seven plagues
"seven angels who had authority to send seven plagues on the earth"
which are the final plagues
"and after them, there will not be any more plagues"
for with them the wrath of God will be completed
This can be stated in active form. AT: "for these plagues will complete the wrath of God" (See: Active or Passive)
for with them the wrath of God will be completed
Possible meanings are 1) these plagues will show all of God's anger or 2) after these plagues, God will no longer be angry.
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1–415:1–16:21 The third and final cycle of seven judgments…
15:1–16:21 The third and final cycle of seven judgments (see study note on 6:1–16:21) is introduced with a vision of God’s victorious people singing a hymn of praise (15:2-4). Then a scene of the Temple is presented (15:5-8), from which angels emerge bearing the bowls of God’s judgment upon the earth (16:1-21).
15:1 This cycle of seven last plagues (15:1–16:21) brings God’s wrath against his enemies to completion (see 16:17; Amos 1–2; Rom 1:18–2:16). Revelation returns later to the subjects of God’s wrath (Rev 19:15-21).
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–3 This is that other place of the acts of…
This is that other place of the acts of Christ, as I noted before, 14:14. Now therefore is showed a singular work of the judgment of God belonging to the overthrow of Antichrist and his forces of which divine work the preparation is described in this Chapter and the execution in the next. The preparation is first set down generally and in type in this verse: and is after particularly set forth in the rest of the Chapter.
Of which Rev. 8:9, in pouring forth in the plagues of the world: for even these plagues do for the most part agree with those.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great…
1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Ver. 1. And I saw another sign] Distinct from the former, and describing the utter overthrow of Antichrist in this and the following chapters.
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Great and marvellous] A just wonder it was indeed, the miracle that we in these last times are to look for, that the kingdom of Antichrist should be so easily and suddenly overturned by the preaching of the gospel, as once the walls of Jericho were by the blowing of rams’ horns.
Seven angels] i.e. Certain chieftains of the reformed Churches.
Having the seven last plagues] Being the several parts of the seventh trumpet, and said to be the last that shall in this life be inflicted; though far worse follow in hell, whereof all these are but typical. Here the leaves only (as it were) fall upon reprobates, but hereafter the whole trees. Here they pay but the interest only, but there the whole principal.
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 vv1–4 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and…
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous; that is, a representation which appeared to John great and wonderful.
Seven angels; ministers of God, used by him in the dispensations of his providence.
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Having the seven last plagues; having a commission to execute the seven last judgments of God, by which he designed to destroy antichrist.
For in them is filled up the wrath of God; for by them the wrath of God was to be executed upon him to the uttermost.
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 vv1–2 This and the following chapter acquaints us with a…
This and the following chapter acquaints us with a fresh vision, which St. John had of the pouring forth of the vials, or the inflicting of the seven last plagues and judgments upon the world; upon the Heathen world, say some; upon the antichristian world, say most; I saw seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God; where, by seven angels, understand the ministers and executioners of the wrath of God; by the seven plagues, understand the last dreadful judgments that should be inflicted, which would make a final end of him, whoever he be, that they should be poured forth upon, one after another.
Where note, 1. How the patience, forbearance, and long-suffering goodness, of God, is wonderfully seen in his carriage towards sinners; though he punishes the wicked sometimes, to let them see that his justice is not asleep, yet he doth not stir up all his wrath, nor poureth it out all at once upon them, but gradually; desirous of and waiting for their repentance, even when he has begun in justice to punish them.
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Note, 2. Whereas it is said, in them (that is, in the present seven plagues) is filled up the wrath of God; we learn, what final impenitency, and incorrigibleness under former judgments, will produce at last; namely, judgment to the uttermost: ripeness in sin will at last make men ripe for ruin; and when they have filled up the measure of their sins, God will fill up the measure of his wrath; in them is filled up the wrath of God.
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 v1 Here we have the preparation of matters for the…
Here we have the preparation of matters for the pouring out of the seven vials, which was committed to seven angels; and observe how these angels appeared to the apostle - in heaven; it was in a wonderful manner, and that upon account, 1. Of the work they had to do, which was to finish the destruction of antichrist. God was now about to pour out his seven last plagues upon that interest; and, as the measure of Babylon's sins was filled up, they should now find the full measure of his vindictive wrath. 2. The spectators and witnesses of this their commission: all that had gotten the victory over the beast, etc. These stood on a sea of glass, representing this world, as some think, a brittle thing, that shall be broken to pieces; or, as others, the gospel covenant, alluding to the brazen sea in the temple, in which the priests were to wash (the faithful servants of God stand upon the foundation of the righteousness of Christ); or, as others, the Red Sea, that stood as it were congealed while the Israelites went through; and, the pillar of fire reflecting light upon the waters, they would seem to have fire mingled with them; and this to show that the fire of God's wrath against Pharaoh and his horses should dissolve the congealed waters, and destroy them thereby, to which there seems to be an allusion by their singing the song of Moses, in which, (1.) They extol the greatness of God's works, and the justice and truth of his ways, both in delivering his people and destroying their enemies. They rejoiced in hope, and the near prospect they had of this, though it was not yet accomplished. (2.) They call upon all nations to render unto God the fear, glory, and worship, due to such a discovery of his truth and justice: Who shall not fear thee? Rev 15:4.
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 vv1–4 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and…
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous,.... This chapter is a preparation to the pouring out of the seven vials, as Rev 16:1 is to the sending of the seven epistles, and Rev 2:1 to the seven seals and seven trumpets: the vision is called a "sign", because what was seen was significative of future events; a sign of the coming of Christ, of his kingdom, and of the destruction of antichrist; and it is said to be a sign "in heaven", where John was called up, and where he had his visions; and it was "another", a different one from that in Rev 12:1 which represented the downfall of Paganism, but this the downfall of Popery; and it is a very "great" one, it is expressive of great things, as the fall of Babylon the great, or the judgment of the great whore, and the great glory of the church and kingdom of Christ; and it is "marvellous", for the two grand events it respects are very wonderful; as that antichrist, who was once in such power, should be destroyed, and that by such weak means, in the esteem of men, as the preaching of the Gospel, which is no less marvellous than the fall of Jericho by the sound of rams' horns; and that the church, which was in so low an estate in the wilderness, for the space of 1260 days or years, should become so glorious. The vision follows,
seven angels, having the seven last plagues; these are not the same angels that blew the seven trumpets, for they are not contemporary with them, but are more likely the same with those in the preceding chapter; though they seem rather to be different from them: if these were angels literally understood, their having plagues is no objection to their being good angels, since such are often the executioners of God's wrath; and that these good ones, appears from one of them talking with John, and showing him the judgment of antichrist, and another the bride, the Lamb's wife, and her glory, Rev 17:1 though they seem rather to be the ministers of the Gospel, since they are said to come out of the temple, Rev 15:6 and since the destruction of antichrist will be by the breath of Christ's mouth, or by the preaching of the Gospel; unless it should be thought that members of churches are designed, since these angels receive their vials from one of the four living creatures, Rev 15:7 or preachers of the word; and may denote some very principal men, as kings, who will now be come to Zion, and be members of Gospel churches, and will be the nursing fathers and protectors of them; and these will hate the whore, and burn her flesh with fire; but of these angels, see more on Rev 15:6. They are said to have "the seven last plagues"; that is, in their vials; for these seven plagues are the same with the seven vials of the wrath of God, to be poured out upon antichrist; and are no other than so many steps, ways, and means, by which God will bring on and finish his destruction: these are called the last plagues, because they will be in the last days: there have been plagues before, as at the destruction of the old world, and of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the plagues of Egypt, and the downfall of several monarchies and kingdoms, and of Paganism in the Roman empire; but these will fall upon antichrist, and will be the last upon him, for they will issue in his utter ruin; they will be the last plagues upon the earth, there will be no other after them, but the conflagration of the world, and the general destruction of the wicked in hell. These plagues are the same with the third woe, and are an explanation of it, and belong to the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which brings in the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms of Christ, and the time of God's wrath upon the nations, or Gentiles, the Papists, and of judging the dead, and destroying them that destroyed the earth, Rev 11:15 for these plagues do not follow upon the harvest and vintage, nor has this vision any respect to them, nor to be connected with the preceding chapter, but with Rev 11:1 and gives an enlarged view, both of the glory of Christ's kingdom, and of the ruin of antichrist, by these plagues, called the last:
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for in them is filled up the wrath of God; upon the beast, and his followers.
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 vv1–3 And I saw seven holy angels having the seven…
And I saw seven holy angels having the seven last plagues - Before they had the phials, which were as instruments whereby those plagues were to be conveyed. They are termed the last, because by them the wrath of God is fulfilled - Hitherto. God had born his enemies with much longsuffering; but now his wrath goes forth to the uttermost, pouring plagues on the earth from one end to the other, and round its whole circumference. But, even after these plagues, the holy wrath of God against his other enemies does not cease, chap. xx, 15.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–4 The seven angels with the seven last plagues, 1.
CHAPTER XV.
The seven angels with the seven last plagues, 1.
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The sea of glass, and those who had a victory over the beast, 2.
The song of Moses and the Lamb, 3, 4.
The temple in heaven opened, 5.
Seven angels come out of the temple, who receive from one of
the four living creatures seven golden vials full of the wrath
of God, 6-8.
NOTES ON CHAP. XV.
Verse 1. Seven angels having the seven last plagues] Under the emblems of harvest and vintage God's judgments on the enemies of his Church have already been pointed out: but these are farther signified by the seven vials, which are called the seven last plagues of God. The seven last plagues appear to fall under the seventh and last trumpet. As the seventh seal contained the seven trumpets, so the seventh trumpet contains the seven vials. And as seven angels sounded the seven trumpets, so seven angels are appointed to pour out the seven vials, angels being always the ministers of Providence. This chapter contains the opening vision which is preparatory to the pouring out of the vials.
The Targum of Jonathan on Isa 51:17, Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury, uses the same words employed by the evangelist here: "Jerusalem, thou hast received from the face of the Lord the cup of his wrath; ית פילי כסא דלוטא yath pailey casa dilvata, "the PHIALS of the cup of malediction " find again on Isa 51:22: I will take out of thy hand the cup of malediction; ית פילי כסא דחמתי yath PAILEY casa dechemti, "the PHIALS of the cup of my indignation."
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 vv1–2 Rev 15:1. And I saw a sign in heaven,…
Rev 15:1. And I saw a sign in heaven, great and marvellous — Such as fixed my attention, and will demand that of the reader: seven angels (doubtless holy angels) having the seven last plagues — Hitherto God had borne with his enemies with much longsuffering, but now his wrath will go forth to the uttermost. But even after these plagues the holy wrath of God against his other enemies does not cease, Rev 20:15.
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 vv1–4 And I saw another sign in heaven - Another…
And I saw another sign in heaven - Another wonder or extraordinary symbol. The word “sign” here - σημεῖον sēmeion - is the same which in Rev 12:1, Rev 12:3; Rev 13:13, is rendered “wonder” and “wonders,” and in Rev 13:14; Rev 16:14; Rev 19:20, “miracles.” The word is not found elsewhere in the Book of Revelation, though it is of frequent occurrence in other parts of the New Testament. See it explained in the notes on Rev 12:1. Here it is used to denote something wonderful or marvelous. This is represented as appearing in heaven, for the judgments that were to fall upon the world were to come thence. Compare Rev 11:19; Rev 12:1; Rev 14:1, Rev 14:6,Rev 14:13-14, Rev 14:17.
Great and marvelous - Great and wonderful, or suited to excite admiration - θαυμαστὸν thaumaston. The subsequent statements fully justify this, and show that the vision was one of portentous character, and that was suited to hold the mind in astonishment.
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Seven angels - Compare the notes on Rev 1:4.
Having the seven last plagues - The article here, “the seven last plagues,” would seem to imply that the plagues referred to had been before specified, or that it would be at once understood what is referred to. These plagues, however, have not been mentioned before, and the reason why the article is used here seems to be this: the destruction of this great anti-Christian power had been distinctly mentioned, Rev. 14. That might be spoken of as a thing now well known, and the mention of it would demand the article; and as that was well known, and would demand the article, so any allusion to it, or description of it, might be spoken of in the same manner, as a thing that was definite and fixed, and hence, the mention of the plagues by which it was to be accomplished would be referred to in the same manner. The word “plagues” - πληγὰς plēgas, from, πληγή plēgē - means properly a wound caused by a stripe or blow, and is frequently rendered “stripe” and “stripes,” Luk 12:48; Act 16:23, Act 16:33; 2Co 6:5; 2Co 11:23. It does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament, except in the Book of Revelation. In this book it is rendered “wound” in Rev 13:3, Rev 13:12, Rev 13:14; and plagues in Rev 9:20; Rev 11:6; Rev 15:1, Rev 15:6,Rev 15:8; Rev 16:9, Rev 16:21; Rev 18:4, Rev 18:8; Rev 21:9; Rev 22:18. It does not occur elsewhere. The secondary meaning of the word, and the meaning in the passage before us, is “a stripe” or “blow inflicted by God”; calamity or punishment. The word “last” means those under which the order of things here referred to would terminate; the winding up of the affairs respecting the beast and his image - not necessarily the closing of the affairs of the world. Important events were to occur subsequent to the destruction of this anti-Christian power Rev. 19–22, but these were the plagues which would come finally upon the beast and his image, and which would terminate the existence of this formidable enemy.
For in them is filled up the wrath of God - That is, in regard to the beast and his image. All the expressions of the divine indignation toward that oppressive and persecuting power will be completed or exhausted by the pouring out of the contents of these vials. Compare notes on Rev 10:7, where the word rendered “filled up” - ἐτελέσθη etelesthē - is rendered “finished.”
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 I saw....seven Angels, having the seven last plagues. Many…
I saw....seven Angels, having the seven last plagues. Many by these understand chastisements that will fall upon the wicked a little before the end of the world, and so take these plagues and vials that are poured out, in the next chapter, mostly in a literal sense. Others apply them to different calamities that happened to heathen Rome; but the applications are so different, that they serve to convince us how uncertain they are. In the mean time St. John seems to repeat the same things in a different manner, and some times by way of anticipation, as here the saints are introduced rejoicing, in view of that happiness in heaven which is prepared for them. (Witham) --- Here is a new vision, great and wonderful, seven Angels holding the figurative symbols of seven plagues. They are called the last, because in them is completed the wrath of God, being inflicted on mankind in the last period of the world, the period of Christianity. The first of these scourges takes place shortly after the commencement of the Christian era, and the seventh puts an end to the world. (Pastorini)
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 15
Revelation Chapter 15
Chapter 15 is a new vision. It unrolls before the prophet another scene, the last plagues or judgments of God, and specially that of Babylon, before Christ comes. The main object of the vision was the seven angels, having the seven last plagues; but, as ever, the saints who have to do with this scene are seen in security before the judgments begin. They have been purified, but have come through the fire of tribulation too. They stand on a sea mingled with fire. They have belonged to the time when the beast and his image were in power, but they had got the victory over it. They seemed perhaps to have succumbed-- it was real victory.
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Their song is very peculiar. The song of Moses is triumph over the power of evil by God’s judgments. The song of the Lamb is the exaltation of the rejected Messiah, of the suffering One, like whom they had suffered; for it is the slain remnant amidst unfaithful and apostate Israel whom we find here. The song celebrates God and the Lamb, but by victorious sufferers who belong to heaven. What they celebrate are the works of Jehovah Elohim Shaddai (the God of the Old Testament), but who has manifested Himself in judgment, known by His works that are public for the people. He shewed His ways unto Moses, His works unto the children of Israel. His works are celebrated now. They are the works of Jehovah Elohim Shaddai, the Judge of all the earth. But His ways are celebrated too. There was intelligence of them, as far at least as righteous judgment went. These ways in judgment were just and true. Israel would understand deliverance, and how it came; but Moses knew God’s ways. But this is all. It is not merely celebration of qualities and attributes, as the angels do, nor the full knowledge of God’s work in salvation by the blood of the Lamb. It is not the heart going up in the sense of its own relationship, but a celebration of the glory of the Lord, who would now be worshiped by the nations for His judgments were manifested. It was intelligence when judgments were manifested, not when all was yet to be learned within the veil.
This celebration of what was just bursting forth being made, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened, not merely the temple with the ark of the covenant seen. That secured the result for faith, when evil was raging in power on earth; the ark of God’s covenant secured Israel. It was a testimony opened out, not a covenant which secured in the hour of evil, but a testimony which made good what the ark of the covenant secured; for the temple was opened, and the messengers of judgment came forth-God’s judgment for the restoration and blessing, of Israel, by the judgment of the Gentiles and all who corrupted the earth. Cleanness in God’s sight and divine righteousness, characterised and animated this judgment-clean linen pure and white, and golden girdles: I apprehend the former, in answer to corruption in what should have had this-Babylon. (compare Rev 19:8.) That is, it was a judgment which required it, and was according to it, and also to divine righteousness. It is not brass burning in the fire-simply execution of judgment in dealing with men, though that took place-but God making good His own nature and character against corruption, the essential character of the eternal God, which the assembly ought to have displayed; whereas Babylon was entirely the contrary, and the beast too. The seven angels judge all according to these characters of God, because it was really the avenging of what God was, as fully revealed to the assembly; but the white linen refers, I doubt not, specially to Babylon, though the men with the mark of the beast would come under the judgment. One of the four living creatures gives the vials; for it is the judicial power of God in creation, not yet the Lamb. God’s glory in judgment filled the temple; and no man could have to say to Him in worship, or approaching Him, while these plagues were executing. It was the full display of God in judgment.
The first four plagues have the same objects as the judgments of the first four trumpets-the whole circle of symbolic nature, but here directly as regards men- earth, sea, rivers, and sun; the ordered prophetic sphere of God’s dealings, the masses of peoples as such viewed as unorganized, the moral principles which give an impulse to their movements, and sovereign authority. But it is not a third here (that is, the Roman earth), but in general.
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 4. Preparation, in Heaven, for the Judgment
4. Preparation, in Heaven, for the Judgment
Rev_15:1-8
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a. The Ideal Preparation
1And I saw another sign in [ins. the] heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the [om. the] seven last [om. last] plagues [ins, the last]; [,] for in them is filled up [finished] the wrath [anger]1 of God.2 2And I saw as it were a [ins. glassy] sea of glass [om. of glass] mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory [those conquering] over [from] the beast [wild-beast], and over [from] his image, and over his mark [om. and over his mark,]3 and [and] over [from] the number of his name, stand [standing] on [or by] the [ins. glassy] sea of glass [om. of glass], having the [om. the]4 harps of God. 3And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, [ins. O] Lord [,] God Almighty [,the All-Ruler]; just and true are 4thy ways, thou King of Saints [om. saints—ins. the nations].5 Who shall [or should]6 not fear thee [om. thee]7 O Lord, and glorify34 thy name? for thou only art holy (ὅσιος) 8 : for all [ins. the] nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest [were manifested].
b. The Real Preparation. Equipment of the Angels of Judgment, or the Seven Angels with the Vials of Anger
5And after that [these things] I looked [saw], and, behold, [om., behold9—ins. opened was] the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony [witness] in [ins. the] heaven was opened [om. was opened]: 6And the seven angels came out of [from] the temple, having [or that had]10 the seven plagues, clothed in [ins. linen11] pure and [and] white [glistening] linen [om. linen], and having their breasts girded [girt around the breasts] with golden girdles. 7And one of the four beasts [living-beings] gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath [anger] of God, who liveth for ever and ever [into the ages of the ages]. 8And the temple was filled with smoke12 from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man [one] was able to enter into the temple, till [until] the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled [should be finished].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
SYNOPTICAL VIEW
The fundamental idea of the whole section, Revelation 14-15, is the End-Judgment in its general form—the same Judgment which subsequently branches into the three special Judgments upon Babylon, the Beast, and Satan himself in conjunction with Gog and Magog. The fundamental idea of this first division [chs. 14, 15] of our section is the preparation of the End-Judgment, or the judgment of the Vials of Anger,13 in Heaven. Because this great judgment brings about the final decision, it is preceded by a very great and solemn preparation in Heaven, the description of which runs through two chapters, the judgments then being executed upon the earth itself, in swift succession, by the outpouring of the Vials of Anger (Revelation 16). Thus, this heavenly proleptical celebration of the End-judgment is analogous to the great proleptical celebration of the Seven Seals of world-history in chs. 4 and 5.
The anger of God is the manifestation of His love in the forth-going and predominancy of His righteousness unto judgment. God’s anger ordains death as a punishment for sin—as a reaction against the spiritual death of man, continuous disobedience or germinant apostasy (comp. the art. Zorn [anger, wrath] in Herzog’s Real-Encyklopädie). And inasmuch as anger impels apostasy, or hardening, which is but another form of apostasy, to a crisis, it conducts to eternal death through spiritual death—i. e., it manifests itself in judgment.
But as the very first manifestation of anger was but the climax of a rhythmical succession of chastisements under the reign of long-suffering (Rom_2:4-5), so also the true anger- [or wrath-] period, the great day of anger [or wrath], appears in a succession of constant augmentations.
Great, however, though the anger-judgments may be, so that they wear the aspect of endless and nameless darknesses—as, e. g., in the destruction of Jerusalem, in the fall of Constantinople,—before God they are weighed and measured, and their measure and operation are appointed them by God’s faithfulness. Thus, anger is contained in golden vials; it is so scrupulously prepared in Heaven, so pondered over, so permeated by the Divine Intelligence, that, as a heroic act of Divine reason, it embodies in itself precisely the opposite to what is described in the heathen pictures of the envy of the gods, and the might of destiny. Our remarks hold good especially in regard to the moderation and limitation of the anger-judgments for the righteous, who are oftentimes externally exposed to the same tempests as the godless—in regard to the cutting short of the troublous days, as the Lord expresses it (see Comm. on Mat_24:22); they are, however, also applicable to the operation of judgment in general.
As these Anger-Vials are, on the one hand, akin to the Trumpets, and unmistakably parallel with them (see Int., p, 86), they form, on the other hand, an antithesis to them, in that the Trumpets are predominantly exhibited in the light of judgments in order to awakening (see Rev_11:13), whilst the Vials of anger generally operate as judgments of hardening (see Rev_16:9; Rev_16:11).
The first great vision in the Heaven-picture of the end of the world is the throng of the elect centre of the Church Triumphant, representative of the Church Triumphant itself. The scene is on Mount Zion. That Mount Zion can neither be situate in Heaven, nor be geographically understood of the eminence on which the Temple stood in Jerusalem; is evident from the symbolical import of the expression. Accordingly, Mount Zion is the real State of God, in its consummation. The heavenly appearance, Rev_1:12, becomes, Rev_4:2, the sphere of the heavenly Throne. In Rev_7:9, the Church Triumphant is depicted in the process of its growth. Here we have the picture of its preliminary spiritual consummation. It is still, however, to be conceived of as in the sphere of the beyond, for only in Revelation 21. is the union between the Christian further and hither shores consummated in the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem, as the City of God, upon the earth. Then, and not till then, the complete pneumatico-corporeal transfiguration of the world, and the real resurrection, are declared. The spiritual consummation of the Church, however, is declared in this earlier passage—its blessed, secure position above the anger judgments now about to break upon the earth. The centre of the picture is formed by the Lamb. He is surrounded by 144,000 elect souls. To the query as to whether these are the same souls that appear as sealed ones in Revelation 7, we would answer: First, that the crisis of trial lies before those sealed ones, whilst these who surround the Lamb have passed it, and are, to the triumphant prophetic gaze, perfected ones, the centre, therefore, of the innumerable throng of Rev_7:9. Secondly, the symbolical import of the number 144,000 must be carefully regarded in this passage also. We need not, therefore, press the inquiry as to the identity of the two bands as individuals, but may regard as established their identity as a whole; inasmuch as the sealed elect of this world must also appear in the other world as perfected elect ones. The companions of the Lamb, therefore, are the complete number of the centre of the blessed, representing the entire Church Triumphant.14 They have the Name of Christ and the Name of the Father written on their foreheads, i. e., they are perfected confessors, and hence not such as think they must obscure the Name of the Father by the Name of the Lamb; nor are they such as act in a converse manner. That the Seer intended to represent this throng as composed exclusively of Jews is an utterly ridiculous assumption, from beginning to end. It is, however, particularly ridiculous when the designation of them as virgins is literally understood of celibacy, and the climax of absurdity is reached with the explanatory citation of the Old Testament provision, in accordance with which sexual intercourse rendered unclean for a time. For marriage itself was so far from being represented in the Old Testament as defiling, that, on the contrary, the greatest promises were attached to it. Even Mary, the Mother of our Lord, was obliged to pass through a legal purification, and the Apostle Peter was married. To attribute such a view as the above to the writer of the Apocalypse is to regard him as a dualistic ascetic. Even the Patriarchs and Prophets would, on this ground, be excluded from the number of the elect by this supposed Judaist or Judaizing non-Judaist—for the historical interpretation advances even to the latter conception of the Apocalyptist.
This great optical wonder is followed by a great auricular wonder. The new song of the consummation of the Church Triumphant bursts, in a grand harmony, from Heaven. It sounds like the roar of many waters, for it is the united praise offered to God by the redeemed peoples. It sounds like a great thunder, for it is the completed, world-refreshing revelation of God. It sounds like the harping of harpers, for all true art has entered into the service of the holy. And they sing a new song. These words seem to relate primarily to the harpers, for it is declared that they sing it before the Throne, before the four Life-shapes and before the Elders. The song, however, is not their property; it is given to them as the perfect blossom of revelation; hence it is also new—a marvel of song, which has never before been. We must not overlook the fact that the new song, like the State of God, passes through different stages of development before attaining to perfection; see chs. Rev_5:9; Rev_14:3; Rev_15:3; Rev_19:6 (comp. Exodus 15; Psa_96:1). Even the 144,000 elect must learn the song, and they alone can learn it, because it presupposes the entire depth and circuit of their experience and the whole state of their being “bought from the earth.”
They have not defiled themselves with women. It is manifest that this can be understood only symbolically, for virgins are spoken of. The symbol, however, does not consist of women themselves, but of defilement with women, by which defilement the women themselves are more particularly characterized (Pro_9:13). That illicit intercourse is here referred to, and not marriage, may be understood as a matter of course, in a Book which closes with the Bridal of the Lamb. The Biblical representation of idolatry and apostasy under the figure of harlotry is familiar to all readers of the Sacred Writings, and the idea referred to is the more obvious here, since immediately before the great apostasy has been depicted. The doing of these virgin souls was, however, founded upon their being.15 As virgins, they have also kept themselves pure from all fanaticism and party-spirit in their piety, for both these forms of the defilement of piety are also, in particular, very fatal forms of subtile idolatry. Their virginity is expressed in the fact that they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth—follow Him, therefore, in all His historical and heavenly movements and advances, and follow only Him. Absolute, pure obedience in absolute, pure trust, is the sign that they are bought from among men as first-fruits (see Comm. on Jam_1:18) unto God and the Lamb. As, however, the consummation of their electness was based upon redemptive grace, evidence of that electness was given, above all, in the characteristics of uprightness (Pro_2:7; Ecc_7:8) and veracity. Grotius rightly makes mention of the fact that all idolatry is infected with falsehood (Joh_3:21). The fact that they should not be represented as sinless and having no need of redemption, is manifest from the declaration concerning them, that they stand before the Lamb, that they are bought, and that no falsehood was found in their mouth—no species of untruthfulness—and that they stand as, in every respect, wholly perfected, blameless—as is expressly affirmed—before the Throne of God.
After this exhibition of the security of the whole blessed Kingdom of God, the announcement of the Judgment may be made. This Judgment has three sides:
First, it is, for the righteous, final redemption; hence, its proclamation as an everlasting gospel, the eschatological gospel of the final σωτηρία, through the judgment, to eternal blessedness and well-being ([Heil] Matthew 25.; Luk_21:28). This gospel is proclaimed to all who sit on the earth, all who are most firmly attached to earth (Rev_15:6), before the coming of the Judgment itself; and the proclamation is conjoined with an admonition to voluntary self-humiliation before God, Who is here pertinently designated as the Creator, the Cause and Lord of all things, and particularly also, as the Author of the fountains of waters, i. e., all original geniuses.
The Judgment is, secondly, for the world ripe unto perdition, an actual fall into perdition. Hence the proclamation: Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! Be it here observed that in this passage it is not Babylon in the narrower sense of the word, to which reference is had, as in Revelation 17. As in Genesis, Revelation 1, water is at first spoken of in the most general sense, then in a special sense, and finally in the most special sense, so here by Babylon the whole ungodly Anti-christianized world is intended. At the outpouring of the seventh Vial of anger, this ungodly and Antichristian world, represented by Babylon, is divided into three parts (Rev_16:19), when the general Judgment branches into the three special judgments: upon the Harlot, or Babylon in the narrower sense; upon the Beast; and upon Gog and Magog under the leadership of Satan. Concerning the more general Babylon which has, undoubtedly, for a considerable time had its culmination-point in the more special Babylon, it is declared: She gave all the nations [heathen, Gentiles] to drink of the wine of the anger [or rage]16 of her fornication. Antichristianity is a unitous evil mock-growth, which has twined its stifling tendrils throughout humanity, as, on the other hand, the tree of the Kingdom of God has pushed its holy roots throughout the same. The wine of the anger of fornication is only materially identical with the anger of God (see Rev_11:18); in a formal point of view it forms an antithesis thereto. The wine of the anger of fornication is, as sin, passionate, riotous intoxication in apostasy; as a judgment, it is also the wine of the wrath of God, the mind-deranging operation of the death-judgments of God.
Finally, the judgment consists, in the third place, of the sentence which interprets the facts. Thus the actual separation of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25) precedes the sentence passed upon them. The sentence of the Angel is conditioned as follows: If any one worshippeth the Wild-beast and his image, and receiveth his mark on his forehead or on his hand. The one implies the other: recognition of the power of the Beast, and appropriation of the false idea of the system, theocratic or practical testimony. The sentence is as follows: he incurs the internal judgment of having to drink of the wine of the anger [or wrath] of God—deadly derangement of the mind; this is a wine mingled, i. e., here poured out (presented, credenzt) unmixed [οἵνος κεκεράσμενος ἄκρατος],17 as the strongest and most intoxicating beverage, in the cup, the self-limiting decree, of His wrath [ὀργή]. The external local result is as follows: he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The outward and apparent form of the Judgment is fiery self-consumption in the ever affluent new elements of fiery irritation. For as, to the righteous, every affluent experience is transformed into the gentle oil of the Spirit, so, to the wicked, every experience becomes brimstone—fuel for his passion. The temporal result of the Judgment is as follows: the smoke of their torment ascendeth into ages of ages. Smoke rises from fire; not, however, from a clear fire, but from that which is hemmed in and dim. Here, doubtless, the fire of hate is particularly referred to—fanatical passionateness in apostasy. Hence it is further declared: they have not rest by day and by night; this they have not, not in a good sense (Rev_4:8), but in a bad sense, as demonic beings, and the true causality thereof lies in their very apostasy;—the context is: who worship the wild-beast and his image, and if any one receiveth the mark of his name. The fact that the condition of damnation can continue into the ages denotes, indubitably, the temporal immensity of that condition, but is also, at the same time, expressive of æonic figurations and alterations of it.
At the close of this sentence, we again encounter the saying of Rev_13:10, amplified by the declaration that the patience [endurance] of the saints is also evidenced in keeping the commandments of God; their faith, meanwhile, appearing as a faith in Jesus. Only through this patience or endurance can a man escape that sentence of æonic fiery death. Here also, as in Rev_13:10, this spirit of blessed calm forms a contrast to the fire-smoke of the restless (Isa_48:22). Here again the Seer significantly insists upon the fact that a vital veneration of God and faith in Jesus necessarily accompany each other.
The sentence unto damnation is now contrasted with the sentence unto blessedness. But why does not the Angel give utterance to the latter, and not a voice from Heaven? We might reply, because the experience of the celestial blessedness of proven Christians passes the experience of Angels. According to the context, this beatitude is pronounced by the Spirit, i. e., the Spirit of the Church Triumphant; He, therefore, gives utterance to a testimony of direct experience. The beatitude of the blessed dead is, however, specially signalized, and commended, as it were, as an inscription for gravestones, with the command: Write. Although this precious sentence (Isa_48:13) holds good for all times—blessed are the dead, etc.—it is of particular moment when regarded in its bearing upon the last times. Then are the dying, who die in the Lord as they have lived in Him, to be accounted particularly blessed, because they are taken away from the storm of the last days (see Isa_57:1).
We, therefore, interpret ἀπάρτι in the following sense: Such are henceforth peculiarly blessed, because they attain unto rest from their sore conflicts, whilst the blessing of their works, and also their perfected vocation to ideal activity, accompany them into the Church Triumphant.
Before passing to a consideration of the three Angels of the beginning execution of the End-Judgment, we must examine the relation of these three Angels to the preceding three Angels of the announcement of Judgment. It is natural to suppose that the first three Angels form an organic totality (ἄλλος Isa_48:15, ἄλλος Isa_48:17, ἄλλος Isa_48:18, akin to ἄλλος, ἕτερος, ἄλλος, 1Co_12:10), and not that an abstract series of other and still other Angels is cited. The second angelic triad, then, corresponds to the first, and the following scheme is formed:
A. The Announcement of the end. The Lamb standing on Mount Zion (Rev_14:1).
1. The ἄλλος ἄγγελος, the proclaimer of the everlasting Gospel, or the Gospel of eternity (Rev_14:6).
2. The ἄλλος δεύτερος ἄγγελος, as the proclaimer of the decided fall of Babylon the Great (Rev_14:8).
3. The ἄλλος ἄγγελος τρίτος, the proclaimer of the judgment upon the worshippers of the Beast (Rev_14:9).
4. The voice from Heaven: Proclamation of the blessedness of the dead who die in the Lord.
B. The Accomplishment op the End. Appearance of the form of the son of man on the White Cloud (Rev_14:14).
1. The ἄλλος ἄγγελος, issuing out of the Temple, proclaiming the hour of the Judgment (the beginning of the entire Judgment) as a judgment upon Babylon (Rev_14:15).
2. The ἄλλος ἄγγελος, issuing out of the Temple in Heaven, with the sharp sickle for the consummation of the harvest (Rev_14:17).
3. The ἄλλος ἄγγελος, Rev_14:18, issuing from the Altar, having power over the fire of sacrifice—who challenges the preceding Angel to the completion of the End-Judgment, as that Angel (Rev_14:15) had in his turn challenged the form of the Son of Man (Rev_14:14).
We, therefore, distinguish the group of the proclamation of Judgment (A) and that of the execution of Judgment (B). The former is under the dominion of the Lamb, Who stands fast forever on Mount Zion as the Head of the Church Triumphant; the latter group is under the dominion of the form of the Son of Man on the white cloud, with the crown upon His head, and in His hand the sharp harvest-sickle—under the Christ, therefore, as He comes for Judgment upon the world (Mat_26:64; comp. Daniel 7).
With the first Angel, who has proclaimed the eternal Gospel, i. e., the Gospel of a blessed eternity, the final σωτηρία (Rev_14:6), corresponds the first Angel of execution, in that he notifies the Son of Man of the hour or time of harvest, and summons Him to the harvest; whereupon, He Who sits upon the cloud, casts His sickle upon the earth and reaps the earth. This harvest (Rev_14:16) is, without doubt, the harvest of the wheat (Mat_3:12; Mat_13:39), with which the Parousia begins (Mat_24:31), corresponding to the Gospel of the final redemption, and to be distinguished from the harvest of judgment (Rev_14:19-20). Distinctive marks: The Angel of Rev_14:15 goes forth from the Temple, i. e., the ideal Temple of the ripened Church of God, for the ripeness of God’s Church for redemption is the sign of the ripeness of the world for judgment; this Angel is, the symbol of the decree of the Father (Act_1:7). Again, this first harvest is called simply the harvest of the earth; it begins with Christ, as the Judge of the world, casting His sickle from the cloud to the earth—that is, with the commencement of His Parousia itself. Here, therefore, the earth which is reaped, is to be understood in the more special sense of the term.
With the second Angel of proclamation, who cries out: Fallen is Babylon (Rev_14:8), corresponds the second Angel of execution (Rev_14:17). This latter Angel issues forth from the Temple of Heaven, for the judgment unto judgment is based entirely upon the objective sentence of Divine Righteousness, which decides when the internal corruptness [Verderben] of the world must find its judgment in external ruin [Verderben]. Even this Angel of judgment, however (who bears a similarity to the import of Michael, the judging Christ), receives the summons to the execution of judgment from another Angel, the third Angel of execution. This Angel issues from the Altar; he has authority over the fire. This is what qualifies him to call for the fire of judgment. For every little flame, every fire of sacrifice, has been a pre-exhibition of the great sacrificial burning at the end of the world. Thus with the third Angel of proclamation (Rev_14:9), who announced that law of the Kingdom in accordance with which the sentence of damnation (Rev_14:9-11) and the Judgment, as a judgment of fire, ensue, corresponds the Angel of the actual fiery Judgment, whose world-historic prefiguration is sacrifice.
We scarcely need mention that this double angelic triad forms a group of symbolical figures; in which the first triad belongs more to the economy of Christ, and the second more to the economy of the Father.
It may appear particularly remarkable that the harvest of judgment is represented as a gathering of the vine—the vine thus, apparently, having an entirely different import here from that assigned it Joh_15:1. It might here be suggested that all Antichristianity will be a corrupt and apostate Christianity. There is, however, another motive which lies at the door, viz., that of conforming the entire picture to the central idea of the wine-press, Isaiah 63. The wine-press of wrath or deadly judgment brings with it the retribution for the great blood-guiltiness of the world’s history—especially as manifested in the history of the martyrs;—this retribution is exhibited in the mighty river of blood in which, at the end of the world, the life of the old humanity pours forth. The treading of the wine-press is accomplished without the city;18 an antithesis by which only the City simple, the City, of God, can be intended. The depth of the river of blood is indicated by the declaration that it reaches to the reins [Zägel] of the horses—not to the bits [Zaüme, German Version], for in that case the horses would necessarily sink. It is with difficulty, therefore, that the horses of world-development (Rev_6:2; Rev_19:14) can labor through this stream; it is only through a great crisis that the new world issues from the old. The bloody stream itself overspreads 1000 stadia, the symbol of an æon, by the space of 600 stadia, by which an immense extent of further suffering is indicated.
In Revelation 15 is represented the preparation of this Judgment which is about to be executed through the medium of the Vials of Anger. It might be conjectured that the Earth-picture of the Anger-Vials would begin here, but individual traits are against such a supposition—especially the festival-keeping on the crystal sea. First, then, the Seer beholds another sign in Heaven, the seven Angels with the last seven plagues, or judgment-strokes, with which the anger of God shall be filled up. Again, however, the vision must strengthen the courage of the faithful; the description of the terrible angelic forms is therefore preceded by a picture of the celebration of the Judgment in the congregation of the blessed. The glassy sea is here, as in an earlier passage [Rev_4:6], the completed history of the peoples as a history of salvation, sub specie æterni, translumined by the Spirit of God; Divinely still and transparent, and Divinely moved. Here, however, it is mingled with the appearance of fire (see p. 34); for this new world-form has passed through the sacrificial fire as well as through the fire of the universal judgment; moreover, the reflection of the Vials of anger falls upon the crystal splendor of this sea. Hence, the blessed are here designated as victors over the Beast. Their victory is detailed. They have vanquished not only the temptation of the Beast, but also the temptation of his Image, the temptation of his mark, the Antichristian symbol; aye, they have overcome even the temptation to a covert [Verblümt] recognition of him by the assumption of the number of his name in a restless pursuit of vanity. And now they all have harps; harps of God, as Divinely inspired singers and players. The new song which they sing is now called the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Of the two songs, the song of the typical redemption (Exodus 15.) and the song of the real redemption, one unitous, grand anthem of redemption is born. Even the Law is, in the light of the consummation, glorified into a phase of the Gospel; and it is also, in spiritual forms, its very self glorified, elevated—and, by being elevated, in a sense abrogated [aufgehoben],—transmuted into celestial custom (Matthew 5). This song has reference to the imminent final Judgment from which they, through the redemption, have escaped, as Israel escaped from the pursuit of Pharaoh. Hence, mention is first made of the great wonders of God, particularly as manifest in His conduct of the Final Judgment. Hence, God is again magnified as the All-Ruler [Παντοκράτωρ],19 and His ways, in particular,—His government and providences [Führungen und Fügungen=leadings and joinings]—are extolled as righteous and true; as righteous in His world-historic retribution—as true in His final fulfillment of all prophecies and threats. Thus He approves Himself the essential King of the nations (not simply of the saints, after the scantily attested reading).20 Thus the worship of the true fear of God appertains to Him at the end of days as much as, and still more than, in the days of the Old Covenant, for this fear is fundamentally diverse from the fear which is cast out by perfect love. The supreme reason for this worship is expressed in the words: He only is holy—words declaratory of the Absolute Personality, not merely as a negation of all impersonal conduct, but also as the Founder and Awakener of the Personal Kingdom of Love, in Whose almighty traction of love all nations [Heiden, heathen, Gentiles] shall come and worship before Him after they have beheld the grand manifestation of His judgments. These words point to a great conversion, to take place amidst the development of the world’s judgment.
After this pre-celebration of the Judgment of Anger, the Seer, with new amazement (Rev_15:5), beholds the equipment of the seven Angels for the execution of the Judgment. The scene opens with the opening of the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Witness, i. e., the Ark of the Covenant—the Holy of Holies, therefore. There the holy Law reposes, which has testified the will of God to the nations; thence, therefore, perfect retribution proceeds, as a punitory providence which itself bears the mark of the Holy of Holies, and hence is to be regarded entirely as a providence in order to the protection of personal life.
This providence issues from the Holy of Holies, under the guidance of the seven Angels who are to execute the seven last plagues. These Angels themselves appear as highly consecrate spirits, clothed with pure, glistening (or pearl-beset?21) linen, for they accomplish the deliverances of supreme truth and righteousness solely, in executing the sentence of the anger of God; they are no mediums for the outflowings of dark and unfree passion, no ministers of blind and senseless fate-strokes. Hence they are also girded as for a festal celebration, about the breast—not as for labor, about the loins; they are girded with golden girdles, the signs of Divine strength, self-determination, and bound-abiding faithfulness.
The seven Vials of Anger are given to the Angels by one of the four Life-shapes. Here it is particularly manifest that these Life-shapes cannot be regarded as symbolical forms of creature life.22 They stand between God and these high Angels—who may not, indeed, be identified with the Archangels—and receive the Vials, which are full of the anger of God. One of them distributes the Vials; greater explicitness is not accorded to the vision—hence it would be mere guess-work were we to conjecture that the Lion was the recipient and distributer of the Vials.
Why do we here find the expression: Who liveth into the ages of the ages? The domination of God’s wrath in inflictions of death is conditioned by this life. The manifestation of absolute Life is a decree of death to obstinate sinners.
Furthermore, God withdraws Himself from human view as an angry God. Thenceforth the Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, so that none could go into the Temple until the seven plagues were fulfilled. This phenomenon cannot be resolved into the more general fact that the glory of God veils itself in the pillar of cloud or in a pillar of smoke (Exo_40:34; 1Ki_8:10; Mat_17:5), although it is connected with that fact. For the Temple was not previously filled with smoke, to the eye of the Seer; he has even had a mysteriously expressed sight of God. But as God, as the Holy One, in general conceals Himself from the gaze of sinful man, so this is especially the case in His judgments. “He made the darkness about Him His covering—His pavilion round about Him dark waters [Wassernacht], clouds upon clouds,” Psa_18:11. Thus He covers Himself when He comes with terrors upon His enemies. For the Prophet Isaiah also (Isaiah 6), the Temple in which he has seen the glory of Jehovah, afterwards becomes filled with smoke; a sign that this Temple should be burnt, but also an expression of the fact that God is, for the human eye, hidden most in His judgments, most difficult of comprehension therein. That affectionate and familiar boldness which seeks an immediate access into the Temple, to God, shrinks back amid the thunders of majesty; nevertheless, the Mercy-seat is set up in front of the Temple in the person of Jesus Christ for all in the whole world who seek for refuge (Romans 3).
[ABSTRACT OP VIEWS, ETC.]
By the American Editor
[Elliott:23 Rev_14:1-5, is parallel with chs. 12, 13, and presents a view of the true Church gathered around the true Christ (the Lamb—standing, not yet enthroned)—in antithesis with the merely nominal Church gathered around the enthroned Antichrist, as set forth in those chapters; Rev_14:2-3, mark a progression in their condition—they refer to the Reformation;—the harpers are the rejoicing members of the churches of the Reformation; the voice of many waters and of a great thunder implies the uniting of both nations and princes in their rejoicing; the new song, the song of the Reformation, as set forth by Luther: “Learn to know Christ, Christ crucified, Christ come down from Heaven to dwell with sinners! Learn to sing the New Song, Thou Jesus art my righteousness; I am Thy sin; Thou hast taken on Thyself what was mine; Thou hast given me what is Thine.”
Rev_14:6-8 are parallel with chs. 15, Rev_16:1-14 (Rev_11:15-19), and set forth the missionary advance of the true Church throughout the Era predicted in those passages (see on p. 296 ).
Rev_14:9-20 are connected with Rev_16:15 to the end of the Apocalypse (see on p. 297 ).
Barnes: Ch. 14. contains a succession of symbolical representations, designed to comfort those exposed to the troublous events of chs. 12, 13, by showing the ultimate result of those events: There is represented by the vision of (1) Rev_14:1-5, the character and final triumph of all the redeemed; (2) Rev_14:6-7, that the gospel will be preached among all nations, and that as indicating the near approach of the consummation; (3) Rev_14:8, the destruction of Antichristian, Papal Rome; (4) Rev_14:9-12, the certain and final destruction of all the upholders of that power; (5) Rev_14:13, the blessedness of all who die in the Lord; (6) Rev_14:14-20, the final overthrow of all the enemies of the Church; the harvest representing the righteous to be gathered into the Kingdom; the vintage, the wicked to be destroyed.—Ch. 15 commences the statement of the manner in which the pledges of the preceding chapter would be accomplished, which statement is pursued through the subsequent chapters, giving in detail what is here promised in a general manner—it “is merely introductory to what follows, … and designed to introduce the account of those judgments with suitable circumstances of solemnity.”
Stuart: “The combination of three such powerful enemies against Christianity (the Dragon, Satan [p. 240]; the First Beast, Pagan Rome; the Second, the Pagan Priesthood [p. 261]), was in itself of fearful import. … To animate the courage, however, of this noble little band, (of Christians), the writer arrests the progress of action in the great drama, in order to hold out the symbols of ultimate and certain victory: Symbol First is of the Lamb (Christ) on the earthly Zion, surrounded by His 144,000 sealed ones—not forces to be employed against enemies, but trophies of victory already achieved; Second, consists of a triplex series of proclamations of (a) the ultimate and certain spread of the gospel throughout the whole world, Rev_14:6-7, (b) the absolute and certain fall of mystical Babylon (heathen Rome), Rev_14:8, (c) the awful punishment that awaits the followers of the Beast; Third, is constituted of a triplex series of actions—(a) the reaping, Rev_14:14-16 (the harvest which is ripe, i. e., the enemies of the Church whose wickedness is consummated), (b) the gathering, Rev_14:17-19 (also the wicked), (c) the treading of the wine-press, Rev_14:20.24
Ch. 15. A Heaven-scene preceding the infliction of the seven last plagues: the martyrs around the Throne sing the song of anticipative triumph, and praise the justice of God as about to be displayed in the overthrow of the Beast, Rev_15:2-4; the smoke preventing the entrance of any one into the Temple, Rev_15:8, indicates that no one is permitted to intercede for those about to be punished, and consequently, that their punishment is certain and inevitable.
Wordsworth: Rev_14:1-5. This vision reveals that, although during the sway of the Beast many would fall from the faith, yet the true Catholic Apostolic Church of Christ (the 144,000—the number of completeness and union in the true doctrine and discipline of Christ, as preached by the twelve Apostles) would never fail, and would finally triumph over the power of the Beast, and would stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion (in antithesis to the rising of the Beast from the sea) in His Kingdom, which will never be destroyed (comp. Psa_125:1, etc.); the virginity of the 144,000 (Rev_14:3) indicates that they were not corrupted by the spiritual harlotries of Babylon (Rev_14:8; Rev_17:1-5); the song of triumph (Rev_14:2-3), is that of Angels chanting the victory of the Church.
Rev_14:6-7 predict the universal proclamation of the gospel (by literal Angels?), and that as a preparation for the End (compare Mat_24:4).
Rev_14:8 is anticipative of the fall of Babylon, i. e., Papal Rome.
Rev_14:9-11, a warning (by literal Angels?) against worshipping the Beast.
Rev_14:14-16, Vision of the Last Judgment, as (1) a Harvest, the ingathering of the good; (2) a Vintage, the crushing of the wicked.
Rev_15:1. “St. John, having been brought in the foregoing chapter to the eve of the Day of Judgment, now re-ascends, as usual, to an earlier point in the Prophecy; and enlarges on the judicial chastisements to be inflicted on the Empire of the Beast.”
Rev_15:2-4. “Anticipations, continued and expanded, of the future victory of the faithful over the power of the Beast.”
Rev_15:5-8. “Preparation for the pouring out of the Seven Vials on the Empire of the Beast.”
Alford: Ch. 14. This is not entirely another vision, but an introduction of a new element, one of comfort and joy, upon the scene of the last; it is anticipatory, having reference to two subjects to be treated of afterwards in detail—(1) the mystic Babylon, (2) the consummation of punishment and reward; it is general in its character, reaching forward close to the time of the end, and treating compendiously of the torment of the apostates and the blessedness of the righteous. It naturally divides itself into three sections: I. Rev_14:1-5. The 144,000 are identical with those of Rev_7:4, and represent the people of God; their introduction here serves to place before us the Church on the holy hill of Sion (“the site of the display of God’s chosen ones with Christ” [“the seat of God’s true Church and worship?”]), where God has placed His King, as an introduction to the description of her agency in preaching the gospel, and her faithfulness in persecutions. II. Rev_14:6-13. The four announcements of this section form the text and the compendium of the rest of the Book—these are of (1) the universal proclamation of the gospel as previous to the final judgments, Rev_14:6-7, (2) the fall of Babylon (Rome, Pagan and Papal—principally Papal; see on Revelation 17), as an encouragement for the patience of the saints, Rev_14:8; (3) the final defeat and torment of the Lord’s enemies, Rev_14:9-12; (4) the blessedness of all who die in the faith and obedience of Christ. III. Rev_14:14-16. The Harvest, i. e., the ingathering of the saints, answering to the proclamation of the gospel in Rev_14:6-7. IV. Rev_14:17-20. The Vintage of Wrath, fulfilling the denunciations of Rev_14:8; Rev_14:11.
Ch. 15. Prefatory to the Seven Vials: Rev_15:1, the description of the vision; Rev_15:2-4, the song of triumph of the saints victorious over the Beast; Rev_15:5-8, the coming forth of the seven Angels, and delivering to them of the seven Vials. (See also in Expl. in Detail in loc.)
Lord: Rev_14:1-4. The 144,000 are the same as those of Revelation 7; they are also the Witnesses of Revelation 11 raised from the dead; they have not belonged to the apostate Church, nor sanctioned the blasphemous usurpations of the Wild Beast, but are pure worshippers of God; they are the first-fruits unto God (distinguished from the complete harvest of Rev_14:15-16); the song of Rev_14:3 is their song.
Rev_14:6-7. The Angel represents a body and succession of men, who are to bear the everlasting gospel both to the nations of the ten kingdoms, and to all other tribes and languages of earth.
Rev_14:8. Great Babylon is the aggregate of the nationalized hierarchies of the ten kingdoms; she symbolizes the teachers and rulers of the churches, with whom the kings of the earth join in the institution, practice, and dissemination of a false religion; uniting with her in the usurpation of the rights of God as lawgiver, etc.; her fall is her severance from the civil governments, and dejection from her station and power as a combination of national establishments; the Angel is the representative of a body of men, his flight in mid-Heaven denotes their publicity and conspicuity, and his annunciation, that there is to be a public and exalting celebration of her overthrow.
Rev_14:9-13. The warning implies that notwithstanding great Babylon has fallen from her station as a national establishment, men are still worshipping the Wild-beast and its image, and receiving its mark—those Romish hierarchies are still to subsist after their fall, and acknowledge the Pope as their head; the symbol foreshows that after great Babylon has fallen from her station as a combination of nationalized hierarchies, numerous teachers shall arise who shall publicly and strenuously assert the exclusive right of God to enjoin the faith and institute the worship of the Church, etc.
Rev_14:14-16. The one like the Son of Man represents (not Christ but) a human being, raised from the dead in glory, like the human form of Christ in His exaltation—the period of this agency, therefore, is after the revivification of the Witnesses; those harvested by him are the saints, living and mortal.
Rev_14:17-20. The dejection of the vine into the wine-press signifies that those whom the vine symbolizes are to be crushed by the vengeance of the Almighty—the treading of the wine-press outside the city (the symbol of the nationalized hierarchies), denotes that the grapes are from their vineyards—the river of blood symbolizes the vastness and visibility of the destruction; the dejection of the vine into the press is a different work from the treading—the former is the work of the reapers, the latter of the Son of God.
Rev_15:1-4. A Heaven-scene wherein the entire mass of witnesses, who throughout the ages have held the testimony of Jesus, and refused submission to Antichristian powers, are represented as praising the wisdom and rectitude of the Almighty.
Rev_15:5-8. The introduction to the pouring out of the Vials, indicating that no intercession by the saints on earth for the salvation of Antichristian foes is to be offered during this period.
Glasgow: Revelation 14. The 144,000 are the same as those of chap. 7—they are the first-fruits (comp. Exo_13:15; Exo_34:20), representing all God’s ransomed people; the Angel of Rev_14:6 symbolizes the ministry of the gospel from the beginning (specially as missionaries to the heathen); the Angel of Rev_14:8 represents home missionaries, who are more controversial and Protestant than the preceding; the third Angel, Rev_14:9, symbolizes the Protestant ministry; the dead of Rev_14:13 are the martyred dead of all ages; the one sitting on the cloud, Rev_14:14, is Christ in His humanity throughout the gospel dispensation sitting on the cloud (the symbol taken from the cloudy pillar), which ever abides over the Church; the Angel of Rev_14:15, the whole body of Christ’s ministry—the time of their prayer to Christ coincides with the death of the Witnesses, the reaping-time of His compliance with that prayer is that of the resurrection of the witnesses (the Reformation); the Angel of Rev_14:17 is the Holy Ghost; that of Rev_14:18 represents persecuted saints; the vintage symbolizes the wasting wars that followed the Reformation.
Revelation 15. The resurrection of the witnesses symbolizes the Reformation, and also presents a general view of the glorious events and retributions that followed.—E. R.C.]
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL
Rev_14:1. And I saw, and behold.— Lively introduction of the new, great vision of the heavenly pre-celebration and preparation of the final Judgment. The consummation of the Church, as appearing in the 144,000 virgins, is symptomatic of the consummation of the earth, of its ripeness for judgment.
The Lamb (Rev_7:17)—here in the radiance of His glorious spoils of victory.
On the Mount Zion.—Is the mountain to be conceived of as in Heaven (in accordance with Grotius, Hengstenberg, Ebrard, et al.)? Or is it, in accordance with De Wette and Düsterd., to be taken in its “proper” acceptation, i. e., literally? Düsterdieck applies the epithet allegoristic to the interpretation of Mount Zion as the Church (after Bede, Calov., et al.), in his chronic misapprehension of what allegorism is. The vision is, evidently, a picture of the Church Triumphant, resident in that spiritual Heaven which pervades Heaven and earth. Mount Zion, however, particularly symbolizes the lofty citadel, the eternal fortress of the people of God.
And with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand.—There is as little foundation for the belief that these 144,000 are composed exclusively of Gentiles (Düsterdieck) as for the assumption that the 144,000 of Revelation 7 are Jews exclusively. For a discussion of the question as to the identity (Grot., Vitringa, and many others) or diversity (Bleek, Neander, et al.) of the two assemblies, we refer our readers to the Synoptical View [also Add. Note, p. 193.—E. R. C.] The 144,000 of the present chapter are, as a whole, the same kernel of the Church of God—a kernel, however, which has developed, from a host of combatants warring on this side of the boundary which divides this life from the life to come, to a host of victors who have crossed the line; as, similarly, the seal on the foreheads of the first has become the open inscription of appertinency to God and Christ.
Rev_14:2. A voice from the Heaven.—The heavenly character of the voice is the main thing; the sounds are sounds of perfection. The voices are in part voices of Christian nations (the voice of great waters), in part the voices of great Prophets (the voice of a great thunder), both the former and the latter being perfected in holy art (the voice of harpers). In a certain degree, therefore, the voice from Heaven certainly does represent the 144,000 themselves (Bengel, Hengstenberg, et al.); more strictly speaking, however, it is the true fountain of song within the Church of God, whose outflowings pass but gradually to the entire Church;—the choir of the celestial Church.—Great waters (Rev_1:15).—The voice of a great thunder (Rev_6:1).—Harps (or citherns).—With all its sublimity, the song, in its spiritual beauty, is as exquisitely delicate as the music of the cithern. [Alford comments: “The harpers and the song are in Heaven, the 144,000 on earth; and no one was able to learn the song, i. e., to appreciate its melody and meaning, so as to accompany it and bear part in the chorus.” On the other hand Lord remarks: “The Mount Sion on which the 144,000 stood was that of the heavenly tabernacle… The song, accordingly, which he heard from Heaven was their song; not the song of the other redeemed or of angels. This is apparent from the representation that it was sung before the Living-creatures and Elders, and that no one was able to learn it but the 144,000. To suppose it to have been sung by others, is to suppose that they had already learned it.”—E. R. C.]
Rev_14:3. A new song.—As the Old Testament is new in comparison with the primeval time; as the New Testament is new in comparison with the Old Testament; as the eternal gospel is new in comparison with the gospel of principal σωτηρία; so the new song is new in comparison with Moses’ song of redemption;—a more developed form is the conjunction of the two songs (Rev_15:3).—And no one could learn the song, etc.—The condition whereon the learning of it is dependent is not artistic talent, but the depth of ethical experience, such as is possessed by the 144,000. The highest æsthetics, the most profound artistic intelligence, in the simplest words.
Rev_14:4-5. On different attempts to construe the following, see Düsterd.
Attributes of the 144,000: 1. They are virgins (παρθένοι, virgin-like [Jungfräuliche]; the Greek term is applied to men as well as to women) in a religious sense; they have kept themselves pure from idolatry (Coccei., Grot., et al.), ideal iconoclasts, who, it may be, even as heathen, perceived the myths to be but symbols. The words [παρθένοι γάρ εἰσιν] have been infelicitously referred to monkish asceticism by Roman Catholic exegetes; to celibacy (Augustine, Bede, Rothe, Düsterdieck); to chastity (Hengstenberg; abstinence from all fornication, De Wette); to the Christians of the last days (Hofmann). And thus the symbolism of the entire Old Testament, bearing upon this point, has been unable to obtain a foothold in the minds of these commentators. And the flimsy deductions which Neander and others (also Düsterdieck especially, see his note, p. 466) have drawn from the misunderstanding, are a result of this ignoring of the Old Testament symbol, a recognition of which should the more assuredly have been induced by the fact that this virginity forms the extreme contrast to the extreme abomination of idolatry, viz.: the worship of the Beast.25
2. These (with emphasis) are they who follow the Lamb, etc.—Düsterdieck and others lay stress upon the present, follow, in order to confute the interpretation of the term as a preterite, expressive of the following of Christ to tribulation and death (Grot., Bengel, Hengstenberg). They are the constant attendants of the Lamb, it is declared. The latter thought, however, is inclusive of the former one, even as it is also the result of it. [“If He goes to Gethsemane, they follow Him thither; if He goes to Calvary, they take up their cross and follow Him thither. He is gone to Heaven, and they will be with Him there also.” Wordsworth.—E. R. C.]
3. These were bought.—Emphasis is laid upon the personal worth of these souls by the repetition of οὗτοι. They are redeemed [bought] in a special sense, agreeably to their destination of being an ἀπαρχή for God and the Lamb. [“Redeemed from among men—language derived from the Book of Exodus: ‘The first-born of my sons I redeem’ (Exo_13:15; Exo_34:20). This exhibits the 144,000 as representing all God’s ransomed people.”—E. R. C.]
Does ἀπαρχή constitute an antithesis to the entire world (in accordance with De Wette, et al., comp. Jam_1:18), or, which is more probable, to the general throng of believers (Ewald), or of the blessed (Bengel, Düsterd., et al.)? In accordance with the distinction made, Revelation 7, between the 144,000 and the innumerable multitude, a special selection is likewise intended here. In this view, the difference between the Augustine-Calvinistic and the Biblical doctrine of election is clearly apparent.
4. In their mouth was not found falsehood.—“The term ψεῦδος (comp. Rev_21:27) is to be apprehended in its general import, and not to be limited to the falsehood of idolatry (Grot.: non vocarunt deos, qui dii non sunt, Bengel), heresy, or a denial of Christ (Hengstenberg).” Düsterdieck. This deliverance is more than half recanted by the remark that a certain antithesis to the sphere of falsehood in which the seducing pseudo-prophet moves, is obvious, (after Ewald, Ebrard). Idolatry is the primary form of falsehood, see Romans 1.
Summation of attributes: For they are blameless.—Here, again, their æonic disposition is cited as the basis of their temporal conduct; as in Rev_14:4 : for they are virgins.
In discussing the design of this vision it must first of all be stated that, in accordance with the construction of the whole Book, the vision has not a backward reference to Revelation 13, but a forward reference to ch. xvi, as a life-picture of the final σωτηρία contrasted with the final Judgment. Church-historical interpretations of particular details—some of which are of a remarkable character—see in Düsterdieck, p. 468, and De Wette, p. 143. Christiani’s reference of the 144,000 to the Church of the last time agrees better with the context than many another interpretation. A reference to the Israelitish Church of the end [Luthardt] belongs to a Judaizing chiliasm.
Rev_14:6-7. Another Angel.—The reference of the expression “another Angel” to Angels who have previously appeared upon the scene (De Wette, Düsterdieck), is untenable. The difficulty of ἄλλος was, perhaps, the cause of its omission in Cod. B.; see above.—Flying;—Comp. Rev_8:13.—In mid-heaven.—A herald to the whole world.—An everlasting gospel.—Ebrard: “The older exegetes, together with Lücke, are probably right in understanding the import of the tidings to be salvation in Christ generally.” (Note by the same com.: “Of course this apprehension does not in the slightest degree justify the arbitrary allegoristic references of the three Angels to Wickliffe, Huss, and Luther, and the like. Calovius understood by the first two Angels Luther and Chemnitz, most coolly appropriating to himself the honor of being the third.”—In conjunction, that is, with the other opponents of syncretism; see De Wette on this passage; also Düsterd., p. 474.) Other interpretations of the three Angels, see collected in De Wette, p. 147 (Peter de Bruis, Wickliffe, Luther, etc.). Ebrard refers the Angel of the everlasting Gospel to the preaching of the Gospel amongst the heathen, which, according to Matthew 24, precedes the end. But though the old Gospel is, in respect of its purport, an eternal Gospel, it should, as the Gospel of principial salvation, be distinguished from the Gospel of the final redemption to eternal felicity; and the new proclamation, of which the present passage speaks, is not for the heathen alone, but for the whole earth. One-sided, but not incorrect, is the explanation of Corn. à-Lapide: A message promissory of the eternal good things in Heaven. According to Hengstenberg, the message of the Angel is a Gospel [even for the enemies of God], inasmuch as his exhortation to repentance is conjoined with the grant of a respite for repentance. But there is no intimation here of a respite for repentance in the strict sense of the words. The last-named commentator interprets the attribute eternal as having reference solely to the irrevocability or certainty of this Gospel. On the reference of this Angel to Luther, comp. Hengstenberg, II., p. 133.
To declare glad tidings unto them, etc.—The fact that this message is not addressed simply to the heathen who may still be left (Ebrard, p. 408), is clearly evident from the further explication of those for whom it is intended: to every nation, etc. Neither can it be said that the Angel’s exhortation to repentance is distinct from his message of joy:—the message in its totality is the everlasting Gospel, in the form of a parænesis [παραίνεσις].
The general character of the exhortation:—Fear God, etc., rests upon the law that the preaching of the end goes back to the preaching of the beginning; and that partly on account of the fact that most Christians have learned very little from Christianity, and that there is now no time to lose. The fear of God, according to the text, would be for many the beginning of salvation, as it is elsewhere declared to be the beginning of wisdom. Finally, in the eternal Gospel, the form shall have become transparent for the universal Gospel, and a real worship of God, Who, besides the Heaven, has made the earth and the sea and fountains of waters—all in a symbolical sense—would be the actual foundation of conversion, the beginning of all Christian development. This Gospel is, certainly, conditioned, but, as conditioned, it is also a real Gospel (see Luk_21:28). It cannot be denied that the passage is suggestive of man’s absolute dependence upon God, as opposed to a false dependence upon, and subserviency to, the Beast;—the particular truth, however, which it is designed to exhibit is, that the judicial power of God is based upon the fact that He is the Creator of all things.
Rev_14:8. And another, second Angel, etc.—It is not on account of the dramatic vividness of the scene that one Angel follows another (Düsterd.), but because of the rapid succession of particular items in the approaching judgment—a truth of which Grotius was sensible when he commented thus: Quot rei nunciandæ, totidem nuntii.
Fallen.—One of the sublimest words of consolation for advanced Christians. Comp. Isaiah 14. Before God, the thing is decided; the decision on earth approaches. The passage is, therefore, a proleptical description, in prophetic form, of an imminent event (see Rev_11:18).—Triumphant certainty is expressed in the repetition: fallen!
Babylon the great.—Babel was, even in Genesis, the primeval type of a God-opposed world-power; in the Prophets, Babel [or Babylon] became the greatest type of the anti-theocratic world-power; and here the typical expression is perfected in the type of the antichristian world-power. Godless self-exaltation (Dan_4:30), apparent crushing omnipotence over against the Church of God, and perfect impotence in face of the suddenly approaching storms of Divine judgment—are tie individual features of the type. Here, however, as has already been remarked, the reference is, not to Babylon in the narrower sense of the term, but to Babylon in the most general sense, culminating, of course, in Babylon in the more restricted sense.
Who gave all the nations to drink of the wine of the anger [or rage] of her fornication.—Wine is a symbol of enthusiasm; fornication is a symbol of idolatry; and θυμός in this connection is the wrathful [angry] zeal of fanaticism.26 As fanaticism, in its lust of rule and its intolerance, corresponds with internal irreligiousness and profligacy, so idolatry itself corresponds with actual unchastity. These characteristics are found combined in the religion of ancient Babylon, and are in process of constant development, corresponding to the increasingly God-opposed character of the world-powers. Various have been the false interpretations of the wine of anger, as e.g., poisoned wine and ardent wine—explanations rightly rejected by Düsterdieck. Yet the expression can not be regarded as significant purely of the wine of the anger of God; rather, together with the anger of the heathen [nations] or the Harlot, the reaction of the Divine anger develops into judgment (see Rev_11:18; Rev_17:4; comp. Rom_1:21 sqq.). Thus the fornication also is not simply “fornication committed with great Babylon” (Düsterdieck), but, above all, the fornication of the Harlot herself (see Jer_25:16; Jer_51:7). De Wette and others assert that this Babylon is pagan Rome solely (Tertull., Augustine, etc.); not papal Rome (Vitringa, Bengel, et al.), or Jerusalem (Abauzit, Herder, et al.), not even the wicked world or world-power (Andreas, Bede, et al.). Hengstenberg also confounds Babylon in the wider and Babylon in the narrower sense (Revelation 18). Similarly Ebrard. It should, indeed, be observed that the judgment upon the great universal world-Babylon commences with the judgment upon Babylon in the narrower sense of the term.
Rev_14:9-11. And another, third Angel.—He proclaims the code or norm of judgment in an eschatological form.—With a great voice.—This clause is wanting in the description of the second Angel. Hengstenberg thinks that this is because the proclamation of the second Angel is related to that of the first as the particular to the general, whilst the proclamation of the third Angel is of a general cast again. The distinction, however, lies also, and in a greater degree, in the purport of the announcements.
If any one worshippeth the Wild-beast, see Revelation 13.—He also shall drink, etc.—Düsterdieck: “Καὶ αὐτός (comp. Rev_14:17) represents the individual as incurring judgment equally with the Harlot herself (compare Ewald)” A nearer reference of the καὶ αὐτός would, perhaps, be to the fact that he has previously, in company with the Beast, himself drunk the wine of anger of Antichristian fanaticism, and presented the same to others (see Rev_9:17-18; Rev_13:10; Hengstenberg, 2, p. 151). Taken in the abstract, the reference to the Beast would also give a good sense. The meaning is that none shall be able to excuse himself on the plea that the Beast or the False Prophet seduced him; every one who has worshipped Antichrist shall be personally responsible for the fact—he himself, man for man. An important rule, as opposed to those who hold that individuals belonging to a great mass are personally excused from responsibility. The error is the greater when it includes the belief that the holiness-treasures of a heavily indebted hierarchical system27 are available for personal profiting.
Of the anger of God.—Anger for anger—the holy coming as a retribution upon the evil.
Which is mingled [=poured out—prepared] unmixed.—The expression, literally apprehended, contains a contradiction; it must, therefore, be taken as an oxymoron. Now if, with Wetstein and others, we take κερᾷν in the trite sense of to pour out, no distinct point is visible. The explanation of Züllig: “pure essence of mixtures” [spices, etc.], needs not to be refuted. Hengstenberg, on the other hand, seems to hit the point: “In the Divine wine of anger, mixture with water corresponds to the element of grace, of compassion. The entire absence of such an element is represented here.” Düsterdieck calls this comment artificial. [See Text. and Gram., Note 19.—E. R. C.]
In the cup of His wrath.—Here ὀργή appears—the stronger form of θυμός. [See Text. and Gram., note 29.—E. R. C.]
Tormented with fire and brimstone.—Rev_9:17; Rev_20:10. “The hell punishment here described may not be resolved, in accordance with Grotius, into pangs of conscience.” (Düsterd.). It goes on, however: In the presence of holy angels and of the Lamb. Can this be said of the torments of hell, in the strict sense of the term? The torments of hell resultant upon a being cast into the lake of fire are spoken of later. Do they not begin, however, in this life, especially at the end of time, where time and eternity come in contact with each other? The fire is the glow of passionate self-consumption; the brimstone is an envelopment in the fuel of irritability and irritation—a fuel constantly blazing up afresh with new ardor; the pangs of conscience are as yet in the background, or at least form but a part of the torment. On the Old Testament types of punishment by fire, see Hengstenberg, 2., p. 150. A leading passage bearing upon the subject is Isa_66:24. [“See Rev_20:10, and Isa_34:9-10, from which the imagery comes. De Wette is certainly wrong in interpreting ἐνώπιον, nach dem Urtheile—in the judgment of. It is literal, and the meaning as in Luk_16:23 sqq., that the torments are visible to the angels and the Lamb.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
And the smoke of their torment—Rev_19:3; Isa_34:10; Mat_25:41. Smoke is a phenomenon attendant upon imperfect combustion. If they burned with free devotion in sacrificial fire, they would blaze refulgently, without smoke; the more the flame is restrained by resistance, the thicker and blacker is the smoke which pours forth. Hence, also, βασανισμός is not pure [passive] suffering, but a racking or torturing process. Hengstenberg: “They have no rest day and night from being tormented”—with reference to Rev_20:10, and in opposition to Vitringa, who interpreted the passage as referring to the torment of conscience.
They have not rest by day and by night.—Absolute unrest or excitement—a frantic condition, therefore—forms the spiritual aspect of their βασανισμός.
Who worship, etc.—The present form of the verb must not be overlooked. The offence continues along with the βασανισμός. It is not: who worshipped. With the punishment, the crime which at the first merited that punishment, endures.
Rev_14:12. Here is the endurance [Lange: patience], etc.—Are these words a digression of the Seer, or are they the concluding utterance of the Angel? In accordance with the analogy of Rev_13:10 (comp. also Rev_14:18), they are a practical digression of the Seer. Thus Hengstenberg regards them: “The verse has reference to the point of view, the purpose to which the foregoing is subservient.” Does this mean that the warning against this hell-punishment is the source of the patience [endurance] of the saints? This is about the theory maintained by those who occupy a legal stand-point; it was the theory of the Middle Ages, and is still the theory of the most popular Protestant sermons which advocate a turning from sin to holiness principally on the ground of the pain thereby to be escaped. The patience [endurance] of the saints, however, has its source in the righteousness of God, in that sacred and Divine justice which is here depicted in characters of flame (see Rev_13:10). The explanation: Here is the place for patience, here it must give proof of itself (De Wette, Hengstenberg, Ebrard), virtually translates ὦδε by hither! which, undoubtedly, in and for itself gives a good sense; it is also mediately to be retained as a challenge, as is evidenced by the subsequent sentence. The construction οἱ τηροῦντες “is informal, like Rev_1:5; Rev_2:20” (Düsterdieck). In the sense of the Seer, however, a second ὦδε is, probably, presupposed. The expression: The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, is, doubtless, of wider scope than the distinction of Law and Gospel. The whole of revelation is grounded in the eternal righteousness of God, and culminates in the faith of Jesus, which is principially the steadfastness of Jesus Himself.
Rev_14:13. And I heard a voice.—We cannot fix this voice upon any distinct person [i. e., “saint or Elder” (Hengstenberg)]; nor are there two voices (the first voice and the speaking Spirit, Züllig). It is the voice of God’s Spirit Himself in the Church Trumphant, in His sympathy with the Church in the last time. The temptation to apostasy is more prevalent than ever: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Düsterdieck (in accordance with most commentators) rightly distinguishes between the theme, which closes with ἀπάρτι, and the subsequent rationale. On a preposterous reference of ἀπάρτι to the last sentence, see Düsterdieck. With Cocceius and Hammond, we firmly adhere to the view that the proposition does not simply contain a general consolatory truth, but that it has a special bearing upon the last troublous time. Those, however, who die in the Lord are not to be apprehended as martyrs of the old style (Züllig); for the expression is not: die for the Lord’s sake (Grotius, et. al.), but in Him, in positive fellowship with Him.—Henceforth is by Roman Catholic exegetes explained (Stern) as intimating that the intermediate state of purgatory is now [at the end of the world] done away with; by De Wette, Hengstenberg, Düsterdieck, it is interpreted as signifying that the glorious end is near—hence also the perfect beatification of believers. This explanation should be retained only upon the condition that special stress be laid upon μακάριοι, with reference to the temptations and trials of the last time; but precisely this has previously been disallowed by Düsterdieck. Our explanation of the manifoldly interpreted ἵνα is indicated in the translation of the text given in the beginning of this chapter. See the author’s Dogmatik, p. 1243.
[“The mention of the endurance of the saints brings with it the certainty of persecution unto death. The present proclamation declares the blessedness of all who die not only in persecution, but in any manner in the Lord, in the faith and obedience of Christ. And the special command to write this, conveys special comfort to those in all ages of the Church who should read it. But it is not so easy to assign a fit meaning to ἀπάρτι. That it belongs to the preceding sentence, not to the following one, is, I conceive, plain. … And, thus joined with the former sentence, it must express some reason why this blessedness is to be more completely realized from this time when it was proclaimed than it was before. Now this reason will quickly appear, if we consider the particular time, in connexion with the proclamation which is made. The harvest of the earth is about to be reaped; the vintage of the earth to be gathered. At this time it is, that the complete blessedness of the holy dead commences: when the garner is filled and the chaff cast out. And that not on account of their deliverance from any purgatorial fires, but because of the completion of this number of their brethren, and the full capacities of bliss brought in by the resurrection.” Alford.—“The language is evidently not to be construed as implying that they who had died in the faith before were not happy, but that in the times of trial and persecution that were to come, they were to be regarded as peculiarly blessed who should escape from these sorrows by a Christian death.” Barnes.—E. R. C.]
For [Lange: But] their works follow with them.—A rejection of the bare idea of reward is detrimental to the idea of retribution itself. The same spirituality of Theology which combats the idea of legal merit as pertaining to works, has also to maintain the truth that those works of believers which have been done in God have become for the performers of them not simply powers and virtues of the new life, but also riches of that life. The κόποι, as such, are left here—from them the blessed rest; but as ἔργα, as ideal operations, they pass with them, as their escort, into eternity. Not simply the memory of their deeds accompanies them, but also the love-blessing of this whole world in which they have helped to build the future. [May not the distinction be this: They rest from their labors (service rendered with fatigue and pain), but their works (service to be rendered without fatigue and pain) follow them? See Add. Comments on Rev_7:15, and foot-note (*) (2d column), p. 154.—E. R. C.]
Rev_14:14. And I saw, and behold (a new vision-wonder, the Judgment scene itself).—The Angels of the announcement of Judgment are succeeded by the Angels of the execution of Judgment; Christ being, as before, at the head. Düsterdieck’s superscription of the following section: “further figurative announcements of the now imminent judgment,” overlooks the antithesis between this section and the preceding one.—A white cloud.—Commencement of Christ’s Parousia. The fact that Christ alone can be intended is manifest not only from the attribute of the golden crown and the parallelism with Dan_7:13; Mat_26:64, but also from the harmonious contrast between Rev_14:14 and Revelation 1. In the latter passage, Christ stands, as the Lamb, on Mount Sion, keeping holy-day in the midst of the Triumphant Church; in the former, the King Militant appears on the white cloud to execute judgment upon the world. Even the parallelism which the three following Angels of execution sustain toward the three preceding Angels of announcement, serves as evidence that none other than Christ can be intended.28 Hence, Düsterdieck rightly rejects the interpretation of the figure as an Angel (Grotius, et al.), or as heroic princes, proclaimers of the principles of evangelic truth (Vitringa).—A sharp sickle.—The implement of harvest in the hand—a symbol of beginning judgment.
Rev_14:15. Another Angel.—No reference is had to Rev_14:14, nor to the preceding Angels (Düsterdieck); the reference is to the two following Angels; see above.—Send forth thy sickle.—Such a command is, certainly, not in harmony with the position of a real Angel; assuredly, however, the decree of the Father (see above) is most aptly set forth in a symbolical Angel.
Rev_14:16. Cast His sickle.—The commencement of the judgment, therefore, precedes the actual Parousia of Christ.29 The Harlot, or Babylon, is first judged through the Beast (Rev_17:16); then follows the appearance of Christ, for the destruction of the Beast himself (Rev_19:11). Babylon, or the fallen theocracy, is destroyed by mankind; the Antichristian bestialization and deification of man is destroyed by Christ; Satan, with his rabble rout, is destroyed by God the Father.—And the earth was reaped.—This is the true harvesting of the fruit, the net produce of the harvest-fields of earth for God (Mat_24:31).30
Rev_14:17. Another Angel.—This Angel represents the judgment of reprobation, or the dark side of the Judgment. According to Hengstenberg, this Angel is Christ Himself again. It is wrong to suppose either that Christ only is intended or that a mere ordinary Angel is meant. Why should not the Angel, as a symbolical unit, represent that plurality of Angels, who, according to Mat_13:41, are the executioners of judgment? The present passage is not identical with Rev_19:15, nor with Isaiah 63. Certainly, Christ is Himself the Judge in reference to the reprobate as well as to the blessed, but the Angel, as such, is the symbol of a manifestation of Christ which must be distinguished from Christ Himself. Hengstenberg sees in this Angel a terrible warning to those who might suffer themselves to be driven by fear into concessions; he does not say, however, what concessions he means—the expression is so indefinite that it might even mean concessions against the hierarchy.
Rev_14:18-19. And another Angel.—See chs. Rev_8:3; Rev_16:7. The altar here is not the altar of burnt-offering on earth, but the altar of incense in Heaven.—Out of the altar; this can be said only of a symbolical Angel. The mythical idea of a fire-angel (De Wette) must be rejected (see above).
Gather the clusters of the vine of the earth.—Hengstenberg: “Such an antithesis between the harvest and the vintage as is assumed by Bengel, is not indicated by any feature of the description.” Manifestly, however, the first harvest, as the fruit harvest [fruit—in the primitive sense of that which is profitable and good.—Tr.], is characterized by the fact that the harvest-field has become dry or white in appearance; the grapes, on the other hand, are full of grape-blood. See Ebrard, pp. 416–18. Compare Joe_3:18. The remarkable choice of the figure of the vine, the grape, and the blood of the grape might, primarily, be based upon the fact that the vintage comes later than the wheat-harvest—thus signifying that the judgment upon the wicked is not until after the ingathering of the righteous. To this, however, must be added the consideration that Christ calls Himself ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή, an expression suggestive of the contrast of a vine which is such in a merely symbolical, unreal sense. Such an one was the Old Testament Theocratic Church at first. The whole vineyard early became corrupted, however, according to Isaiah 5. The vine was laid waste, Psalms 80. It became a degenerate vine, Hos_10:1; Jer_2:21; Deu_32:32. It is to be given over to judgment, Eze_17:6-10. The fact that the Old Testament vineyard, with its vines, has become a fief [Lehnsbesitz, the old feudal term=estate in loan, trust-estate] of the New Testament Church of God, is declared by the parable Mat_21:33 sqq. Christ, the true [wesentlich=essential, genuine] Vine, is the author of true [see preceding parenthesis] eternal joy and inspiration; the symbolical vine of the New Testament Church, therefore, in so far as it differs from Christ, is a vine which attains its maturity in spurious enthusiasms, fanatical and untrue joys and festivals. The most terrible thing in its degeneracy, however, is the fact that its clusters acquire their juice [Blut] by blood-shed—that it has been the author, to a constantly increasing extent, of demonic joys of bloodthirstiness; hence pure blood flows from it when it is trodden in the wine-press, and the conception grape-blood or juice is exchanged, with fearful irony, for blood (see Isa_63:3). The base-lying thought is the following: as much blood as the vine has drunk in, shall be pressed out of it again in the great winepress of the anger of God.
Rev_14:20. Without the city.—Explained by most commentators of Jerusalem; by others of Rome. In the symbolical apprehension of the passage, only the City of God can be meant. But is this the Church, as Hengstenberg maintains, or the heavenly Jerusalem, as Bede, et al., affirm? The external Church, at all events, can not be intended, since the text treats of the end of the world, a time when the Church is fallen. The visible appearance of the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev_21:2), however, is preceded by the Judgment—in the first (Rev_18:24; Rev_19:2), second (Rev_19:17 sqq.), and even third instance (Rev_20:9). Nothing, therefore, save the vital Church of God of the last time can be understood—in its quality, incontrovertibly, of passing into the visible appearance of the heavenly Jerusalem and the imperishable City of God (Revelation 21); as, on the other hand, the treading of the grapes begins with the judgment upon Babylon (to which judgment it seems, also, to have special reference), but extends through the subsequent judgments into the æons. We are of opinion that this æonic duration is that which is denoted by the 1600 stadia (see above).—In view of all this, therefore, the application of without the City to the contrast of Heaven is not entirely incorrect, but too external. Curious interpretations of the reins, see in Düsterdieck’s note, p. 478. [Alford regards the City as that of Rev_11:2, viz.: Jerusalem; so also Barnes, etc.; Wordsworth, as the New Jerusalem; Lord, as that by which the apostate hierarchies are represented.—E. R. C.]
For a thousand and six hundred stadia.—By this we understand a punitory suffering extending beyond this present æon into future æons, a state of misery to which the eye can see no limit. Manifold interpretations of the number, see in De Wette. The complete number 1000 and the age of Noah at the time of the deluge (Andreas). The number 4×400, denoting the expanse of the earth and the four regions of Heaven (Victorinus, et al.). The length of Palestine (Bengel, et al.), with reference to Jerome. Extension of the Roman dominion (Mede). The British Islands (Brightman: the Reformation; Cranmer: the Angel, Rev_14:18!). Martyrdom of converted heathen (Alcasar). According to Ebrard, the number should be analyzed by 40. “The number 40 is the number of punishment; 40×40 is, therefore, the number of involved punishment.” An involved [mathematical sense] temporal measure of punishment of some 1600 years does not exactly coincide, however, with the æonic succession of judgment.
Rev_15:1. Another sign in the Heaven.—The Seer has already beheld the unitous phenomenon of the final Judgment; he now sees the historic preparation and development of the same in the succession and intensification of the Anger-Vials or judgments of hardening. The antithesis to the sign in Rev_14:14 is the pragmatical preparation of the Judgment. The sign, however, is a sign in the Heaven; it still belongs to the Heaven-picture. “The greatness and marvellousness of the sign does not lie solely in the fact that seven Angels—not Archangels (Züllig, Stern; comp. De Wette)—appear simultaneously, but also in their peculiar equipment: ἔχοντας πληγὰς ἑπτά” (Düsterdieck). Hengstenberg thinks that even before the reception of the Vials they might have been recognized as the Angels of the seven plagues by some sign—especially by eyes like flames of fire. Züllig, De Wette, Ebrard, Düsterdieck, rightly regard the vision of Rev_15:1 as the superscription of the immediately following section, as the Angels themselves do not issue from the Temple until Rev_15:5 (in opposition to the conception of Hengstenberg). We do not think, however, that the section under this superscription reaches to Rev_16:21 (Düsterd.), but hold that it ends at Rev_15:8, since with Rev_16:1 a new picture—the Earth-picture—begins.
The seven plagues—the last.—That is, the eschatological last anger-strokes, which bring in the final Judgment; these plagues are, manifestly, characterized as judgments of hardening. The last: This term is, on the one hand, not to be construed as having reference to individual life, or to be taken partially (Bengel); but on the other hand, neither should it be confounded with the final Judgment itself (Hengstenberg), as Düsterdieck justly remarks. ̓Ετελέσθη denotes not so much the coming to an end as the consummation, the full development of the anger of God. Even in this point the New Testament preserves its septenary, in contrast to the ten plagues under which Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardened themselves. As, however, those plagues were instrumental to the redemption of the people of Israel, so are these instrumental to the perfect redemption of the New Testament Church of God. For the unitous mass of the earth all plagues do indeed come to an end with the last of these plagues; it is not so in the case of the enemies of Christ.
Rev_15:2-4. And I saw as it were [Lange: an appearance as].—It might be queried: Is not this a second and therefore superfluous pre-celebration of the Judgment, since we have already had one pre-celebration of it in Rev_14:1-5? That, however, was the general pre-celebration of the entire Judgment, with reference to the Church Triumphant and its escape from said Judgment; here we have the more special pre-celebration of the plagues of anger, the second part of the Heaven-picture. The antithesis to the fearful stormy succession of those last strokes of anger is formed by the crystal sea—the world-history of the saints, calmed and clarified in God; the antithesis to the impenitent world on the earth is formed by the conquerors by [on] the crystal sea; the antithesis to the blasphemies of those visited by the plagues is formed by the heavenly celebration in song, and adoration of the righteous judgments of God.
As a glassy [Lange: crystal] sea mingled with fire, see Rev_4:6.—Düsterdieck justly remarks, against Ebrard, that the article [before sea] must be absent because it is only the image of a crystal sea that is spoken of. The greater stress must be laid upon this circumstance, since the idea of a crystal surface of sea mingled with fire does not come within the possibilities of thought, and hence Ewald, in consequence of his insisting upon the reality [materiality] of the image has arrived at the conception of an “ineffably seething and foaming mass, a fiery broth” (see Düsterdieck, p. 484). The image of a crystal-clear sea in Heaven may, however, readily appear as though illuminated and reddened by the fiery glare of the Anger-Vials on earth; and this very reflection is expressed in the song of praise which refers to the judgments of God; moreover, the clarified world-history has itself passed through the fire of earthly world-history (see p. 34 and Rev_4:6). [“The addition, μεμιγμένην πυρί, is probably made as bringing into the previous celestial imagery an element belonging to this portion of the prophecy, of which judgment is the prevailing complexion.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
And I saw those conquering.—To this passage, again, a great and confused mass of interpretations attaches. De Wette: The multitude and glory of the blessed (And., Areth.). Baptism (Primas., et al.). The Divine truth in which believers have their station (Vitringa). Multitude of the heathen (Alcas.). Gentile Christians (Grotius). De Wette: The atmosphere. The last named commentator rejects the reference to the brazen sea in the Temple, but assumes a reference to Israel’s passage through the Red Sea. The fire has also been variously interpreted: Trial-fire (Andreas; others: temptation, persecution, conflict). Martyrdom (Primas.). Love (Grot.), etc. See De Wette, p. 152. According to Düsterdieck, the crystal sea mingled with fire denotes the unity of the beatific grace and the judicatory righteousness of God. The conquerors are not simply martyrs (in accordance with Eichhorn, Ewald, et al.), neither are they (because of the present: νικῶντας) such as are still in the conflict; they are, in a proleptical representation (De Wette), the congregation of victors, especially those of the last time, over against the great plagues of the last time and those who blaspheme under them. ̔Εκ τοῦ θηρίου undoubtedly does not mean that they have destroyed the power of the Beast; from this fact, however, it does not follow that it must mean: away from the Beast [vom Thiere weg], as if they had kept themselves at a distance from him.
[On (or by) the glassy sea.—“Does ἐπί import actually upon, so that they stood on the surface of the sea, or merely on the shore of? On every account the latter seems the more probable, as better suiting the heavenly imagery of Revelation 4, and as according with the situation of the children of Israel when they sung the song to which allusion is presently made. The sense may be constructionally justified by Rev_3:20; Rev_8:3.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
Harps of God.—Tuned solely for the praise of God (Beng.).
Rev_15:3. And they sing, etc.—The song of Moses is the lyrical celebration of the typical redemption by Moses; the song of the Lamb the celebration of the real redemption by the Lamb; and the two songs in their unity as one song are the lyrical celebration of the Old and New Testament revelation faith, in view of the whole redemption which began with Moses, was decided with Christ, and is now thoroughly consummated through the fiery judgments of God. Not two songs, therefore, sung respectively by Old and New Testament believers (Andr.); not the song of Moses applied to Christ and the things of Christ (Grotius); not a song composed at once by Moses and by the Lamb (Ewald, Düsterd.); but the whole redemption as mediated by Moses and Christ, with a distinct reference to the song of Moses and the passage through the Red Sea, as a type of the passage through those rivers of fire by which the faithful of the last time shall be separated from the hardened sinners of that time.
Great and marvellous, etc.—The thought of Vitringa: Canticum Mosis habet spiritualem et mysticum sensum, secundum quem si accipiatur fit canticum agni, contains something of truth inasmuch as even in the song of Moses, together with the omnipotence of God, which destroyed the enemy and saved the people of Israel, the manifestation of His holiness is especially magnified, and it is also even intimated that the whole event must make a startling and a relatively awakening impression upon the heathen. Comp. Exo_15:14-16 with the conclusion of the song in the Apocalypse.
Rev_15:3-4. The song first glorifies, in an objective contemplation of the Judgment, the marvellous, all-swaying, kingly rule of God over the world, in particular over the nations—a governance now attaining its consummate appearance, especially in the righteousness and truth (absolute consistency and faithfulness) of His ways. Then, secondly, it declares the impression made by this rule upon the conquerors: it produces the most sacred awe of the holiness of God, and a joyful enthusiasm which prompts them to praise His name as it shines in the perfection of His revelation. Thirdly, the song expresses the prophetic expectation of the effect which these judgments of God shall produce upon the world of nations;—a genuine New Testament trait as expressive of the hope that many shall yet be converted even under the ministry of the Vials of Anger, Exo_9:16; Exo_14:7; Psa_126:2; Mic_7:16.—In Rev_15:4, as well as in Rev_16:5, ὅσιος is used “in reference to God, which is unusual.”
Rev_15:5. Opened was the Temple.—It is more precisely defined as the Temple of the Tabernacle of the witness. According to Grotius, Ebrard and others, the Holy of Holies is itself intended; according to Ewald and Düsterdieck, the Sanctuary proper is intended, as an adjunct to the Holy of Holies. Hengstenb.: “The Temple in its quality of being the place of the testimony.” The Temple as the Sanctuary, in contrast to the Holy of Holies, also needed not now first to be opened; see Syn. View.—Be it further observed that the seven Angels are symbolical figures of anger in the ramification and course of its domination. [“The ναός is the holy place of the Tabernacle, to which latter the appellation τοῦ μαρτυρίου is here peculiarly appropriate, seeing that the witness and covenant of God are about to receive their great fulfillment.” Alford.—E. R. C.]
Rev_15:6. Clothed in linen pure and glistening.—Their adornment is similar to that of Christ. Their import also is, doubtless, connected with that of the Archangel Michael. The reading λίθον gives occasion to many debates here (see Düsterdieck, p. 486). Clothed with Christ, the Jewel, or with the ornament of the virtues (Andreas)? This is destitute of all appropriate meaning, and about the same remark may be applied to the explanation that (with reference to Eze_28:13) a garment bestudded with precious stones might be understood. In conjunction with such a λίθος the adjective λαμπρός would be rather superfluous, and καθαρός, at all events, would be inappropriate.
Rev_15:7. And one of the four Living-beings [Lange: Life-shapes].—Here, likewise, the false interpretation reappears, according to which the four so-called Beasts are representatives of the creature, and hence one of them appears because the plagues concern the whole creation.—Into the ages.—The eternity of God surpasses the time of the seven Anger-vials. The Vials of Anger also denote death, unceasing and repeated—and over against them stands the eternally Living One.
Rev_15:8. With smoke.—Veiling of the Divine Majesty (Bengel). Also a sign of His un-approachableness in the manifestation of His holiness. See Isaiah 6.; Exo_40:34; 1Ki_8:10. Comp. Syn. View. Different interpretations, see in De Wette, p. 154; Düsterdieck, p. 484. There are some very curious interpretations amongst those cited, as for instance that of Cocceius: The human ordinances of popery debar men from faith. Or that of Calov.: Symbol of the blindness of unbelief.
[“No one was able to enter into the Temple (comp. 1Ki_8:10-11; Exo_40:34-35) until the seven plagues of the seven Angels should be finished.—The passages above referred to give the reason: because of the unapproachableness of God, when immediately present and working, by any created being. See Exo_19:21. When these judgments should be completed, then the wrathful presence and agency of God being withdrawn, He might again be approached.”—Alford. See also the conclusion of the abstract of Stuart, p. 282.—E. R. C.]
[ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE SECTION]
By the American Editor
[This section consists, as it seems to the writer, of three complete visions, and the beginning of a fourth—each relating to a period still future, and terminating with the consummation of the present æon (the æon immediately preceding the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom). Each of these visions is independent—each contemplating matters not referred to in any of the others, and each describing events mentioned by all the others, though in a different mode and under different relations.
Vision I., Rev_14:1-13, is introduced by the strong disjunctive formula, Καὶ ἴδον, καὶ ἰδού, and consists of several consecutive parts.—Part first (Rev_14:1-5) contemplates the body about to possess the Kingdom—the Lamb with the completed ἀπαρχή (see p. 193)—standing on the Mount Sion.31 It describes also the condition and character of the chosen companions of Christ.—Part second (Rev_14:6-7) relates to a universal proclamation of the Gospel preceding the outpouring of the Vials of anger. Whether the Angel, in this and the following parts, denotes a real Angel, or symbolizes a body of men specially commissioned for the purpose indicated, it is impossible now to determine.—Part third (Rev_14:8) foretells a proclamation of the fall of Babylon (see on Rev_18:2).—Part fourth contemplates a public proclamation of woe to be visited upon the worshippers of the Beast; (the execution of the judgments set forth in this and the preceding proclamation is presented in detail in chs. 16–19)—Part fifth is designed for the comfort of the saints. It refers (Rev_14:12) to the ground of their endurance, viz.: the sure destruction of the power of their persecutors; and then declares (Rev_14:13) their certain blessedness when the trials of this life are ended.
Vision II., Rev_14:14-20, is introduced by the same formula as the preceding. It contemplates Christ in the exercise of His office as Ruler over all things (comp. Eph_1:22)—(1) as gathering His ripened Church from the earth (Rev_14:15-16); and (2) as executing judgment upon His enemies. This execution of judgment, as in the preceding vision, is more fully set forth in chs. 16–19.
Vision III., Rev_15:1-4, is not indeed introduced with the same formula as the preceding; it commences, however, with one equally significant. It is purely a Heaven-scene. It contemplates, on the one hand, the chosen ministers of the judgments about to be executed; and, on the other, the entire glorified Church gathered before the Throne as worshippers, and as spectators of the course of Divine Providence on earth. (Is not this assemblage the same as that mentioned Rev_7:9? See Add. Note, p. 193.)
Vision IV. begins with Rev_15:5, and extends to the close of Revelation 17. This vision is introduced with one of the most significant disjunctive formulas employed in the Apocalypse: Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἴδον (see foot-note, p. 150, first column). It consists of three parts.—Part first, Rev_15:5-8, sets forth the preparation of the ministers of vengeance for their work, and the heavenly events attendant thereupon.—Part second, Revelation 16, describes the execution of their work.—Part third, Revelation 17, contains a supplemental statement concerning the Harlot and the Beast, upon whom judgment had been executed.—E. R. C.]
Footnotes:
[1]Rev_15:1. [There are three words which in the E. V. are translated wrath: viz.: θυμός, as here; ὀργή, as in Rev_15:10; παροργισμός, which occurs only in Eph_4:26. The instances of the occurrence of the first two are as follows: Θυμός: Luk_4:28; Act_19:28; Rom_2:8 (indignation); 2Co_12:20; Gal_5:20; Eph_4:31; Col_3:8; Heb_11:27; Rev_12:12; Rev_14:8; Rev_14:10; Rev_14:19; Rev_15:1; Rev_15:7; Rev_16:1; Rev_16:19 (fierceness); Rev_18:3; Rev_19:15 (fierceness); Οργή: Mat_3:7; Mar_3:5; Luk_3:7; Luk_21:23; Joh_3:36; Rom_1:18; Rom_2:5 (bis), Rom_2:8; Rom_3:5 (vengeance); Rom_4:15; Rom_5:9; Rom_9:22 (bis); Rom_12:19; Rom_13:4-5; Eph_2:3; Eph_4:31; Eph_5:6; Col_3:6; Col_3:8 (anger); 1Th_1:10; 1Th_2:16; 1Th_5:9; 1Ti_2:8; Heb_3:11; Heb_4:3; Jam_1:19-20; Rev_6:16-17; Rev_11:18; Rev_14:10 (indignation); Rev_16:19; Rev_19:15. From a comparison of these passages, especially those in the Apocalypse, it will become apparent that the latter is the intensive, of the former (see Lange in Expl, in Detail on Rev_15:10),—that the effects of θυμός are for the most part experienced in the present life; those of ὀργή in the life to come. In accordance with what he regards as the manifest design of the Spirit to distinguish between the objectives of these terms, the Am. Ed. throughout this translation renders the former by anger and the latter by wrath. It may be objected that this change of the translation of θυμός involves a change in the formula Vials of wrath that has become a household phrase. It may be answered that due regard for the distinctions made by the Holy Spirit requires a change here, or in the rendering of ὀργή; and the latter would require an alteration of the formulas—the wrath of the Lamb (Rev_6:16), the great day of His wrath (Rev_6:17), the fierceness of His wrath (Rev_16:19), the wrath of Almighty God, Rev_19:15.—It should be remarked that in the confused translation of these terms the E. V. closely follows Luther’s Version, as it generally does in other instances.—E. R. C.
[2]Rev_15:1. [The translation contemplated is as follows: “Seven angels having seven plagues—the last, for in them is finished the anger of God.”—E. R. C.]
[3]Rev_15:2. Omitted in the best Codd. [Omitted by א. A. B*. C. P. 6, 7, 14, Vulg., etc.; it is given (see Tisch.) only by 1, 35, 36, 79.—E. R. C.
[4]Rev_15:2. [Crit. Eds. omit the article with א. A. C. P.; it is given by B*. 2, 7, etc.—E. R. C.]
[5]Rev_15:3. Two variations: of the æons, of the saints. [Crit. Eds. give τῶν ἐθνῶν with אc. A. B*. P. 1,6,7, etc.; τῶν ἀγιῶν with?; א*. C. 18, 95, Vulg, Cl., Fuld., etc., read τῶν αἰώνων. Alford judiciously remarks: “The confusion has apparently arisen from the similarity of ΑΙΘΝΩΝ (ἐθνῶν) and ΑΙΩΝΩΝ; but which was the original, it is impossible, in the conflict of authorities, to decide.”—E. R. C.]
[6]Rev_15:4. [The construction here is irregular—the first verb being φοβηθῇ; the second, δοξάσει.—E. R. C.]
[7]Rev_15:4. Φοβηθῇ without σε. [So Crit. Eds. with A. B*. C. P. 1,12, etc., Am., Fuld.; 6, 7, Cl., etc., subjoin σε; א. places it before οὐ φοβ.—E. R. C.]
[8]Rev_15:4. [Crit. Eds. give ὅσιος with א. A. C. P. 1, etc.; B*. 6, 7, 8, read ἅγιος.—E. R. C.]
[9]Rev_15:5. [The ἰδού is supported only by Vulg., Cop., Prms., Er.; Crit. Eds. omit with א. A. B*. C. P. 1, Syr., Arm., Æth., etc.—E. R. C.]
[10]Rev_15:6. [Lange and Tisch. read οἱ ἔχοντες with A. C., etc.; א. B*. 1, etc., omit οἱ; Alf. brackets, Treg. marks with *.—E. R. C.]
[11]Rev_15:6. Codd. A. C., etc. [Am., Fuld.] give the difficult reading λίθον; א. B*. [P. Vulg. Cl.] support the Rec. [Lange, Alf., Tisch., give λίνον; Lach. and Treg. λίθον.—E. R. C.]
[12]Rev_15:8. Καπνοῦ without ἐκ τοῦ, according to א. A. C. [P.]. [So Crit. Eds. generally; Tisch. (1859) prefixed ἐκ τοῦ with B*.—E. R. C.]
[13][For the employment of this term rather than wrath see Text. and Gram. (Note 28) on Rev_15:1. In consequence of the confusion of θυμός and ὀργή in the accepted Version, the same confusion exists in the language of German, as in that of English-speaking, Theologians. As the German Zorn, like the English wrath, is used to translate both these words; and as it is capable of being rendered by both anger and wrath, the Am. Ed. takes the liberty of using the one or the other of these English words according as the reference is to θυμός or ὀργή.—E. R. C.]
[14][See Add. Note, p. 193,—E. R. C.]
[15]Schiller: Gemeine Naturen zahlen mit dem was sie thun, edle mit dem was sie sind.
[16][See Text. and Gram. under Rev_14:8, note 16.—E. R. C.]
[17][See Text. and Gram. under Rev_14:10, note 19.—E. R.C.]
[18]May there not be an allusion to the fact that the crucifixion of Christ, in which the sin and, par excellence, the blood-guiltiness of the world culminated, took place without the city—Tr.]
[19][See on p. 94.—E. R. C.]
[20][See Text. and Gramm. under Rev_15:3, note 33.—E. R. C.]
[21]On the reading λίθον, see Düsterd. [See also Text. and Gram.—E. R. C.]
[22][See Add. Note on pp. 161 sq.—E. R. C.]
[23][There is considerable complexity in the last part of Elliott’s great work. The whole of chs. 12–14 he regards as a connected revelation written on the outside of the Roll, and presenting a revelation parallel with that presented in the other portions of the Apocalypse (inside written) to the close of Revelation 19. (see Rev_5:1). Chs. 12–14:5, he regards as extending to what he styles the primary end of the period of 1260 days, about A. D., 1789–93 (see p. 260); Rev_14:6-20, as above.—E. R. C.]
[24]The above seems to be the division contemplated by Stuart.—E. R. C.]
[25] Alford: “There are two ways of understanding these words. Either they may be figurative, implying that the pure ones lived in all chastity, whether in single or in married life, and incurred no pollution (see 2Co_11:2); or they may be meant literally, that these purest ones had lived in that state of which St. Paul says, 1Co_7:1, καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γυναικὸς μὴ ἅπτεσθαι; and as between these two meanings, I conceive, that the somewhat emphatic position of μετὰ γυναικῶν goes some way to decide. It is not ἐμολύνθησαν, the fact of impurity in allowed intercourse, but μετὰ γυναικῶν that is put forward, the fact of commerce with women. I would therefore believe that in the description of these who are the first fruits from the earth, the feature of virginity is to be taken in its literal meaning. Nor need any difficulty be found in this. It is on all hands granted that he who is married in the Lord enters into holy relations or which the single have no experience, and goes through blessed and elevating degrees of self-sacrifice, and loving allowance, and preferring others before himself.… But neither on the other hand can it be denied that the state of holy virginity has also its peculiar blessings and exemptions. Of these, the Apostle himself speaks of that absence of distraction from the Lord’s work, which is apt to beset the married, busy as they are with the cares of a household and with pleasing one another. And another and primary blessing is, that in them that fountain of carnal desire has never been opened which is so apt to be a channel for unholy thoughts and an access for the tempter. The virgins may thus have missed the victory over the lusts of the flesh; but they have also in great part escaped the conflict. Theirs is not the triumph of the toil-worn and stained soldier, but the calm and the unspottedness of those who have kept from the strife.”—E. R. C.]
[26][See Text. and Gram. (note 16) in loc.—E. R. C.]
[27][Whether the indebtedness has a human or a Divine bearing—i. e., whether it signifies the issue, by the system in question, of more promissory notes than its capital will cover,—or whether it is indicative of a moral involvement toward God—the German leaves undecided (Heiligkeitsschdtze eines schwer verschuldeten hierarchischen Systems); Dr. Lange’s somewhat frequent use of the équivoque, however, favors the idea that both aspects of the matter were contemplated by him.—Tr.]
[28][For a different view, see abstract of Lord, p. 283.—E. R. C.]
[29][This conclusion does not follow. If the appearance of the Son of Man on the white cloud be the “commencement of Christ’s Parousia” (see comment on Rev_14:14), then, manifestly, the casting forth of the sickle does not precede that Parousia.—E. R. C.]
[30][For a contrary view, see abstract of Stuart, p. 282.—E. R. C.]
[31][It is an interesting question, Where is the Mount Sion here mentioned? Is it earthly or heavenly? In the judgment of the writer, it is heavenly. Christ as Head of the Millennial Kingdom does not come into visible manifestation (on earth) until after the pouring out of the Vials (see Rev_19:11-16). The earthly Jerusalem and the earthly Sion are types of places in that glorious world where Jesus and His disembodied saints now are (comp. Joh_14:2-3; Heb_12:22), awaiting the time for the establishment of the Basileia and the manifestation of the Sons of God on earth.—E. R. C.]
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 vv2–4 sea of glass--Answering to the molten sea or great…
sea of glass--Answering to the molten sea or great brazen laver before the mercy seat of the earthly temple, for the purification of the priests; typifying the baptism of water and the Spirit of all who are made kings and priests unto God.
mingled with fire--answering to the baptism on earth with fire, that is, fiery trial, as well as with the Holy Ghost, which Christ's people undergo to purify them, as gold is purified of its dross in the furnace.
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them that had gotten the victory over--Greek, "those (coming) off from (the conflict with) the beast-conquerors."
over the number of his name--A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit the words in English Version, "over his mark." The mark, in fact, is the number of his name which the faithful refused to receive, and so were victorious over it.
stand on the sea of glass--ALFORD and DE BURGH explain "on (the shore of) the sea": at the sea. So the preposition, Greek, "epi," with the accusative case, is used for at, Rev 3:20. It has a pregnant sense: "standing" implies rest, Greek "epi" with the accusative case implies motion "towards." Thus the meaning is, Having come TO the sea, and now standing AT it. In Mat 14:26, where Christ walks on the sea, the Greek oldest manuscripts have the genitive, not the accusative as here. Allusion is made to the Israelites standing on the shore at the Red Sea, after having passed victoriously through it, and after the Lord had destroyed the Egyptian foe (type of Antichrist) in it. Moses and the Israelites' song of triumph (Exo 15:1) has its antitype in the saints' "song of Moses and the Lamb" (Rev 15:3). Still English Version is consistent with good Greek, and the sense will then be: As the sea typifies the troubled state out of which the beast arose, and which is to be no more in the blessed world to come (Rev 21:1), so the victorious saints stand on it, having it under their feet (as the woman had the moon, see on Rev 12:1); but it is now no longer treacherous wherein the feet sink, but solid like glass, as it was under the feet of Christ, whose triumph and power the saints now share. Firmness of footing amidst apparent instability is thus represented. They can stand, not merely as victorious Israel at the Red Sea, and as John upon the sand of the shore, but upon the sea itself, now firm, and reflecting their glory as glass, their past conflict shedding the brighter luster on their present triumph. Their happiness is heightened by the retrospect of the dangers through which they have passed. Thus this corresponds to Rev 7:14-15.
harps of God--in the hands of these heavenly virgins, infinitely surpassing the timbrels of Miriam and the Israelitesses.
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 vv1–4 2. The chapter of War Preparation (at Jerusalem) for…
2. The chapter of War Preparation (at Jerusalem) for Babylon’s destruction, Rev_15:1-8.
The seven destroying angels in the temple; presented with the vials, Rev_15:1-7.
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1. And—As the menaces of the last chapter were in Jerusalem and the temple, so here we are still in the temple at the glass sea; the martyr spirits on its shore are chanting anticipated victory over the beast, 1-4; the tabernacle is opened, 5; the seven angels of the last plagues come from the temple, 6, 7; while the divine presence of Jehovah himself stays in the temple, 8, until the seven plagues do their fatal work on antichrist’s capital.
Another sign—Or symbol. Another, in addition to those in Rev_12:1; Rev_12:3.
In heaven—That is, in the heaven or region, of symbol. Note Rev_4:11. The seven angels, as being the main figures in the great overthrow, are mentioned before their time, (which comes at Rev_15:6,) and as emphatically the sign… great and marvellous. Or, we may say the sign… great and marvellous comprehends the entire exhibition of this chapter; nay, perhaps even including the process and catastrophe of next chapter. And thus this another sign forms a marvellous antithesis to the two of 12 and 13.
Last plagues—Last as being final for Babylon.
For— Assigning reason for their being a finality; they fill up the retribution due to Satan’s capital.
Plagues—The Greek word for plague signifies, literally, a blow, a smite; and the infliction is thus assumed to be made by a divine stroke. It is as if the outpouring of the vial was the external sign; but a stroke from Jehovah from his secret place in the temple (Rev_15:8) made the infliction.
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 vv1–4 1. another sign] Besides those of Rev_12:1; Rev_12:3. Here…
1. another sign] Besides those of Rev_12:1; Rev_12:3. Here preparation is made (as in Rev_8:2) for another sevenfold series of visions. Some have attempted to see a sevenfold series in the three preceding chapters—its elements being the successively appearing figures of the Woman, the Dragon, the Man Child, Michael, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Lamb. But this seems rather far-fetched: at any rate, it is not likely to have been consciously present to St John’s mind.
the seven last plagues; for] Literally, seven plagues, the last, for: i.e. the fact that “in them is filled up [or rather “fulfilled, finished”] the wrath of God” is given as the reason why these plagues are the last.
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 vv1–4 (1) And I saw another sign in (the) heaven.—The…
XV.
(1) And I saw another sign in (the) heaven.—The sign is, as we noticed before (Rev_12:1), a token, not a mere empty wonder. This sign is called “great and marvellous;” it introduces a new set of scenes; the same characters will reappear, but we must start with fresh attention.
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The seer sees seven angels (not “the seven angels;” it is perfectly needless to ask what angels, or to try and identify them with the trumpet angels) having seven plagues, the last, because in them is completed the wrath of God. The statement that these are the last plagues seems to show that the set of visions now commencing carry us down to the end of the age; there are no other plagues after these: they are the last plagues; the vials, like the seals and the trumpets, run up to the final consummation. They are plagues; the word carries us back to Egypt: on Egypt fell the ten plagues which showed forth God’s righteous power, and exposed the hollow pretensions of the magicians and their gods; the wild beast-power and the false prophet-power of that day was crippled and exposed. In like manner upon the wild beast-power of later ages the plagues of God fall. They are plagues, because they are sent forth, not like the trumpets to warn men to repent, but upon those who have obstinately refused to return; they are not goads to the wavering, but they are strokes upon the wilful and hardened; they are directed against those who are deliberately hostile.
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 vv1–4 And I saw another sign in heaven. The last…
And I saw another sign in heaven. The last time we had this expression was in Revelation 12, where the history of the war between Satan and the Church was begun. Once more we have a new departure, the seer again, as it were, returning to the beginning? in order to trace the course of the punishments inflicted on men for their worship of the devil. Re 15 gives a short summary of this, which is expanded in Re 16; and it is introduced, as usual, by a vision of the saints in glory, in order to comfort and support the Christian in his warfare. (cf. Rev_6:1, 2 7:3 14:1-5, 13) The "sign" is what is described in the following account. "In heaven" probably merely means in a conspicuous position. (cf. Rev_12:1) Great and marvellous. On account of the terrible nature of the events depicted. Seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God; seven angels having seven plagues, the last ones, because in them is finished the wrath of God. The seer describes what he sees subsequently, as if all the actors were present at one moment. In reality, he sees the actions of the "seven angels" in succession. The number seven denotes the universal, all-extending nature of the plagues. (see on Rev_1:4 Rev_5:1, etc.) They are the last plagues, because they lead on to the description of the final fall of the power of the devil in its various forms, and to the account of the last judgment of God and the eternal bliss of the saints in glory.
Vers. 1-8. The victors" song.
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The visions of this book are drawing to a close. Those immediately before us are meant to indicate the last judgments which must fall on the world, ere out of the ruin and from it there shall emerge the new heavens and the new earth. But another break in the gloom is permitted to us here. The apostle casts his eyes, not downward, but upward. He beholds two groups of beings in the upper realm. The first is composed of seven angels who have seven plagues, which are the last. The second is composed of great multitudes of those who, while the struggle was going on below, soared out of it, and were victorious. The work of the first group will he noted in subsequent homilies. The song of the second is before us now. If we ask and answer four questions, we shall know as much about the song and the singers as it is possible to do in this state. The four queries are:
(1) Who are singing the song?
(2) At what time?
(3) What are the contents of it?
(4) Where is it being sung?
I WHO ARE SINGING THE SONG? They "that come victorious from (ek) the beast," etc. (ver. 2). Then it is evident that they are those who once were in the scene of conflict here below; who had to maintain a fight, hard and stern, against a godless world and a corrupt Church; in fact, against all the forces which, led on by "the dragon," are used by the first and the second beasts. We cannot mistake them, any more than we can the glorious company mentioned in the seventh and fourteenth chapters. They once were strugglers and wrestlers here. But their toils are over, and they have gained the victory. They it is who now are singing the song.
II WHEN? TO WHAT TIME DOES THE APOSTLE POINT US? It may be remarked by some, that inasmuch as the visions of the conflict indicate future troubles, so the brighter visions indicate future glories. True. But we must remember that we are already more than eighteen hundred years onward, and therefore that the struggles of this present time are "future" from the Patmos standpoint. Besides, the song is being sung simultaneously with the raging of the conflict. They sing in one realm who have sped out of (ek) the other. The dragon, the first beast, the second beast, war still. Some have already escaped out of the confusion, have gained the victory, and are singing (adousi) the song. A further indication of time is given in ver. 4, "All nations shall come and worship future prookunhsousin . So that it is evidently before the great work of the world"s conversion is completed. Thus we are brought by the time marks in the paragraph to the conclusion to which we have previously come, viz. that the Church of God exists in two realms. One part of it is in the struggle; another has risen beyond it. Their gladness and song have already begun.
III WHAT OF THE SONG ITSELF?
1. It has a remarkable name. "The song of Moses... and... the Lamb." By the former the deliverance out of Egypt was effected. By the latter a redemption infinitely greater, of which the earlier one was but a faint and feeble type; i.e. the song is a celebration of redeeming love, dud reviews the great redemptive work in all its phases, stages, and ages.
2. It has joyous accompaniments. "Having the harps of God." Under the Jewish worship, as far back as David"s time, the harp was used to aid in sacred song. In a higher realm, where the joy is complete, the "harp" will never be hung on the willows, and will never be out of tune.
3. Its contents are manifold.
(1) It celebrates Divine attributes. "Thou only art holy.
(2) It magnifies the rectitude of the Divine government. "Righteous and true are thy ways.
(3) In it the Divine greatness is extolled. "King of the ages; "The Almighty.
(4) It finds inspiration in the manifestation of the righteous acts of God. To saints above, from their loftier standpoint, the glory of the Divine dealings is far more clear than it can possibly be to us. We "dwell in clouds below.
(5) The certainty of the coming triumph gladdens their hearts. "All nations shall come," etc. (cf. Psa_86:9 Isa_2:2-4 Isa_66:23 Zec_8:22 Mal_1:11) Our Saviour"s words intimate to us that the progress of the kingdom of God on earth is witnessed by the saints from their blissful seat in Paradise. (cf. Joh_8:56, Greek)
IV WHERE IS THE SONG BEING SUNG? "I saw... them... standing by the glassy sea" Here, as indeed throughout the chapter, there is an allusion to the ransomed host of Israel when they stood by the shores of the Red Sea and sang, "Sing ye to the Lord," etc. That sight furnishes the material for the imagery here. And the underlying thought which that imagery conveys is this they stand now in the realm of victory, like as Israel of old when they saw their enemies dead upon the seashore. They are in "the land of triumph," "There are no foes to encounter there." Here is the fighting; there, is the rest. Here, the cross; there, the crown. Here, the sigh; there, the song. Here, the foreboding fear; there, all fear is forever done away.
In view of all this, let us note:
1. It is not for nought that we are asked to maintain the conflict with evil, in the Name and on behalf of our Lord. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." In the day of victory, his triumph will be ours. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I wilt give thee a crown of life.
2. However much perplexity and distress the mystery of the Divine ways may occasion us now, we may rest assured that when God"s judgments are made manifest, they will be the theme of adoring praise. There will be seen to be a unity about them which as yet we can scarcely discern; a steadfast advance through age after age which in the present brief span of our earthly life we cannot trace; and we cannot doubt that the ultimate issue will reveal a grandeur, a vastness, and a completeness in redemption"s plan, which only the Infinite Eye can now discern. Therefore observe:
3. Meanwhile it is an infinite comfort and stay to our souls amid this troubled scene, to have had sketched beforehand for us the tribulations through which we must enter the kingdom, and the glories of the kingdom in which we shall triumph when the tribulation is over.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY. Vers. 1-8. "The wrath of God.
Such is the subject of this and the following chapters.
I WHAT IS IT? "The wrath of God" is simply that will of God which forever has linked together sin and suffering; that will by which woe follows wickedness everywhere and always. It is calm, not passionate; inexorable, not capricious; ever just, as man"s wrath too often is not; and never selfish, is ours too often is.
II IS TERRIBLE TO EVIL DOERS. See the several symbols of it as they are given one by one in the account of the outpouring of the seven vials. And, separate from all symbol, see how everywhere and always and evermore, suffering, like a sleuth hound, tracks the steps of sin, and sooner or later fastens its fangs in the sinful man or sinful people. So sure is this, that that shrewd, wise, observant man who wrote the Book of Proverbs declared it as the testimony of all experience that they are "fools" who "make a mock at sin.
III WILL HAVE AN END. Not that the will of God, without which he could neither be the God of holiness nor the God of love; that ordains the everlasting union of sin with suffering not that that will can ever end or change, but that, the purpose of his will being accomplished by the extirpation of sin, there shall no longer be occasion for suffering. Hence we say the wrath of God will have an end. And accordingly these very plagues are called "the seven last plagues." It would be dreadful to think that the moral condition of men should ever be as it is, and has been during all the past. But it will not. The day will dawn when there will no longer be need for any more plagues, and when the last of them, they all having done their work, shall pass away forevermore (ver. 1).
IV IS CONSENTED TO BY ALL THE COMPANY OF HEAVEN. The saints, they celebrate its manifestation by their song. The living ones (ver. 7) consign to the charge of the seven angels the seven vials of the wrath of God. Angels, who come forth from the inmost shrine of the temple of God, and are vested as his priests, undertake this awful work; the holy, the blessed, the glorified, the redeemed, those saved by the mercy of God, all alike consent. It is a fearful, but a most solemn and salutary fact, to remember that there will not be found a solitary individual amongst the holy and the good who will intercede against or do aught but consent to God"s judgments against sin. Even he who is the Lamb of God, the Friend and Saviour of sinners, consents; yea, more than this, for it is his song that his saints sing in celebration of these judgments of God. Left utterly alone with his sin without one friend will he be who now refuses to give up his sin and submit to Christ.
V EVIDENCES THE HOLINESS OF GOD. (Vers. 3, 4) The conviction constrains the confession, "Thou only art holy; Righteous and true are thy ways so sing they who sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. What worth is any government, what worth especially would be the government of God, if it were as the sceptic cynic in Ecclesiastes says it is, that "there is one end to the righteous and to the wicked"? There would be no need of a hell by and by, for earth would be hell already. Blessed forever be his Name, who makes "the way of transgressors hard.
VI WILL BE FOLLOWED BY THE COMING "OF ALL NATIONS TO WORSHIP BEFORE" GOD. (Ver. 4) This most precious truth explains the song that the saints sing. How could they sing if sin and suffering were to go on forever; if evil were to be eternal, or if the woes of the world meant the destruction of the world? But knowing and seeing clearly, as they do, how all these judgments of God conduce to the glory of God; and that as the cloud of his majesty filled the temple (ver. 8), so shall that glory fill all the earth; therefore they can, not merely with calmness, but with joy, contemplate the pouring out of the vials, even of the wrath of God. But for the faith of this how could thoughtful men endure to live?
VII WARNS US TO FLEE FROM THE WICKEDNESS THAT AROUSES IT TO THE LOUD JESUS CHRIST. For he it is in whom we are sheltered from the wrath due to sin of the past, and from the power of sin present and future. S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN Vers. 1-4. The song of the redeemed.
A further vision is permitted sign with which the faithful but tried ones are to be cheered. The vision, as a whole, is "great and marvellous." It reaches to the end of the eighteenth chapter. "Seven angels" have "seven plagues last, for in them is finished the wrath of God." With these solemn words the announcement of the coming judgments the final ones is prefaced. As before, the hearts of the faithful are comforted and assured by a vision of their glorious lot, before the revelation of the judgments upon the earth is made. So are they encouraged to fidelity, and prepared for the terrible scenes which are about to be presented. It is needless to search for an explanation of every detail of the symbol. The vision is of the holy ones, who sing a psalm of praise to God for his manifested judgments. "Thy righteous acts have been made manifest." It has its hidden assertion. Thy judgments hitherto, thy judgments ever, those which have been, those which are, and those which shall be, are true and righteous altogether. This ascription is thrown into the form of a song, which is
I A SONG OF PRAISE. Praise to God for the greatness and marvellous character of his works, and for the righteousness and truthfulness of his ways.
II A SONG OF TRIUMPH. Like the several songs of the Revelation, it anticipates the final issue of the struggle between good and evil. "All the nations shall come and worship before thee.
III A SONG FROM A FAITHFUL AND REDEEMED HOST. "Them that come victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name." Only the redeemed who have been faithful in their struggle against evil can rejoice in the final overthrow of that evil.
IV A JUBILANT SONG. They who sing stand "by the glassy sea, having the harps of God." It is a song of salvation and deliverance: "the song of Moses the triumphant exultation of the redeemed host when they, having crossed the flood, saw their enemies engulfed. "The song of the Lamb," when the whole work of the Lamb has been effected, when the redemption from sin is complete, and the overthrow of whatever opposes the Name of the Lamb is utterly crushed and destroyed. Then truly shall it be said, "Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee." Thus is anticipated in song what is about to be portrayed. R.G.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-4. Divine severity and human heroism.
"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast," etc. This fragment of John"s vision, or dream, brings under our attention and serves to illustrate two subjects:
(1) Divine severity; and
(2) human heroism.
I DIVINE SEVERITY. "And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up finished the wrath of God" (ver. 1). Undoubtedly in the government of this world there is the stormy as well as the mild, the gloomy as well as the pleasant. The government under which we live on this earth often assumes aspects of terrible severity. Its manifold ministers or angels bear to us manifold "plagues afflictions, which our sin-stricken consciences refer to Divine indignation or wrath.
1. The principle of severity is seen in material nature. In the inorganic realms all things do not seem mild and pleasant. We have tornadoes sweeping destruction over sea and land, we have earthquakes that engulf cities, sounds are heard and sights are witnessed that overwhelm with terror and alarm.
2. This principle of severity is seen in the plantal realm. In gardens and orchards, as well as in the fields and woods, the open commons and the wild prairies, there is heard the moaning groan and felt the blasting breath of severity shivering the fruit, scattering the blossoms like hoar frost, freezing the very roots of life.
3. This principle of severity is seen in the sentient domain. From the behemoths that prowl in the forests, and the leviathans that sport in oceans, to the tiniest microbes in the microscopic world, there are aspects of severity, pains of birth and death, of hunger and thirst, and of predatorial ravages and tortures. There is an undertone of sadness heard throughout. "The whole creation groaneth," etc.
4. This principle of severity is seen in human history. Bodily diseases, secular indigence, social annoyances, heart bereavements, physical dissolution, in all these there is often the ghastly appearance of Divine severity. The "seven angels," with their "seven plagues," appear in all directions. I am far enough from averring that the ministry of pain is a malignant ministry, but, otherwise, it is benign Will the ministry of pain ever continue? Will the "seven angels" be ever on the wing, bearing the "plagues"? Cowper says"The groans of nature in this nether world, Which Heaven has heard for ages, have an end.
Will they have an end? Heaven grant they may!
II HUMAN HEROISM. "And I saw as it were a sea of glass a glassy sea mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over that come victorious from the beast, and over from his image, and over his mark, and over from the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass standing by the glassy sea, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses," etc. (vers. 2, 3). The heroes here suggested are:
1. Those who have conquered the wrong. They are those "who have gotten the victory over the beast." And what is the beast? Moral wrong in all its elements and forms. Sin is a hideous, ravenous, iniquitous "beast," served and worshipped by unredeemed men the world over. The foe against which the true hero fights is sin, and sin only. He who destroys life and tramples on human rights is no hero, but a mercenary murderer. From no character do I recoil with such horror as from him who sells his time, his body, his all, to slaughter his fellow men. Nor do I feel scarcely a greater abhorrence for such a character than for those who, professing to be the ministers of Christ, rhetorically extol such as heroes, and subscribe to monuments to perpetuate their infamous history. I wonder greatly that the reports of the horrors of that war lately going on in the Soudan, inaugurated and supported, alas! by what has been rightly denominated the shuffling, starving, slaughtering Parliament of the time, do not rouse all England to arms against the Governments and the Churches that can tolerate for an instant such stupendous crimes.
2. Those who ascribe their victory to God. Observe:
(1) Their posture. "They stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God" (ver. 2). It is suggested that their position is one of safety. The sea does not surge about them; it is beneath them, hard as ice. It is a position of splendour. The crystal sea on which they stand is made brilliant by fire. There is no posture of soul so sublime and safe as the true posture of worship. The Shechinah beams around them as their glory and defence.
(2) Their anthem. "They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb" (ver. 3).
(a) Their anthem breathes triumphant praise. They recognize in their triumphs the "great and marvellous works" of God, and the truth and rectitude of his ways. God is righteous. "Just righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of saints the ages" (ver. 3). Notice:
(b) The demands of his Law attest the truth of this testimony. The heavenly Teacher has reduced all the demands which the eternal Governor makes upon us to a twofold command.
(i.) "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." His demand is our supreme love. Is this demand just? This depends upon three things:
(a) Whether we have the power of loving any one supremely.
(b) Whether God has attributes adapted to awaken this love within us.
(c) Whether these attributes are revealed with sufficient clearness to our minds.
The affirmative to these things must be admitted by all. All men do love some object supremely. The Eternal has attributes in every variety of aspect and attraction. The heavenly Teacher has reduced the demands to another command.
(ii.) "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." Not "whatsoever men do unto you that might be sinful; but "whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you." Would you have them false, dishonest, unkind, tyrannic, towards you? Whatsoever ye would that they should be, be so to them. Can anything be more just?
(3) The intuitions of his moral creatures attest the truth of this testimony.
In all moral intelligences there is:
(i.) An intuitive sense of the right. All have an inbred sentiment of right and wrong. This sentiment implies a moral standard; and what is this standard but God?
(ii.) An intuitive love of right. All moral souls love the right in the abstract; they are bound to do it. "I delight in the Law of God after the inward man." All consciences go with God.
(iii.) An intuitive remorse. Misery springs up in the soul from a conscious departure from the right. Cain, Belshazzar, Judas, are examples.
(iv.) An intuitive appeal to God under the wrong as the Friend of the right. Oppressed humanity involuntarily looks to God as Judge of all the earth. Deep in the soul of the moral creation is the feeling that God"s ways are just and right. No argument can destroy this consciousness.
(4) The mediation of his Son attests the truth of this testimony. Christ came to establish judgment rectitude in the earth. "What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
(i.) His life was the development of Divine righteousness. He was incarnate judgment. "He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.
(ii.) His death was the highest homage to Divine rectitude. He could have escaped death. It was the inner sense of right that urged him on.
(iii.) His system is the promoter of Divine righteousness. His truth inculcates it. His Spirit promotes it. His Spirit comes to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, etc.
(5) The retributions of his government attest the truth of this testimony.
Look at the expulsion of Adam, the Deluge, the burning of Sodom, the extermination of the Canaanites, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews.
(6) Their anthem breathes philanthropic devotion. "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments righteous acts are made manifest" (ver. 4). The words may be regarded as expressing a desire that all men, all the nations, should worship God. Genuine piety is always philanthropic. He who loves the Father will love his children, and will desire all the brethren to worship the Father "in spirit and in truth." Genuine piety and genuine philanthropy are convertible expressions, modifications of the same sovereign principle love. D.T.
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 v1 Seven angels having the seven last plagues
Rev_15:1-4
Seven angels having the seven last plagues
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Divine severity and human heroism
I.
Divine severity. Undoubtedly in the government of this world there is the stormy as well as the mild, the gloomy as well as the pleasant. The government under which we live on this earth often assumes aspects of terrible severity.
II. Human heroism. The heroes here suggested are:
1. Those who have conquered the wrong. Sin is a hideous, ravenous, iniquitous beast, served and worshipped by unredeemed men the world over. The foe against which the true hero fights is sin, and sin only.
2. Those who ascribe their victory to God. Observe--
(1) Their posture is one of safety. The sea does not surge about them; it is beneath them. It is a position of splendour. The crystal sea on which they stand is made brilliant by fire. There is no posture of soul so sublime and safe as the true posture of worship. The Shekinah beams around them as their glory and defence. Observe--
(2) Their anthem.
(a) Triumphant praise.
(b) Philanthropic devotion. (David Thomas, D. D.)
The song of Moses … and the song of the Lamb.--
The song of Moses and the Lamb
I. The triumphant choir. He calls these triumphant choristers conquerors out of the beast, which implies that victory over him is an escape from a dominion in which the conquerors before their victory were held. They have fought their way, as it were, out of the land of bondage, and have won their liberty. By Christ we conquer. Through faith, which lays hold on His power and victory, we too may conquer.
II. The position of this victorious chorus. As Moses and the ransomed hosts stood on the shore of the Red Sea, so these conquerors are represented by anticipation as standing on the safe beach, and looking out upon this sea of glass mingled with fire, which, calm, crystal, clear, stable, and yet shot through and through with the red lines of retributive judgment, sleeps above the buried oppressors. Observe that besides its picturesque appropriateness and its historical allusion, this sea of glass has a distinct symbolical meaning. Thy judgments are a mighty deep. Oh! the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! That great ocean of the judgment of God is crystalline--clear though it be deep. If we cannot look to its lowest depths, that is not because there is any mud or foulness there, but partly because the light from above fails before it reaches the abysses, and partly because our eyes are uneducated to search its depths. If it be clear as far as the eye can see, let us trust that beyond the reach of the eye the clearness is the same. And it is a crystal ocean as being calm. They who stand there have gotten the victory, and bear the image of the Master. By reason of their conquest, and by reason of their sympathy with Him, they see that what to us, tossing upon its surface, appears such a troubled and tempestuous ocean, is calm and still; and their vision, not ours, is the true one. It is a sea of glass mingled with fire. Divine acts of retribution, as it were, flash through it, if I may so say, like those streaks of red that you see in Venice glass, or like some ocean smitten upon the one side of every wave by a fiery sunlight, while the other side of each is dark. So through that great depth of Gods dealings there flashes the light of retribution.
III. The occasion of the song, and the song itself. They sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. The song of Moses was a song of triumph over destructive judgment; the song of the Lamb, says my text, is set in the same key. The one broad, general lesson to be drawn from this is the essential unity, in spite of all superficial diversities, of the revelation of God in the Old Covenant by law and miracle and retributive acts, and the revelation of God in the blew Covenant by the Cross and Passion of Jesus Christ. And there is another principle here, and that is the perfect harmony of the retributive acts of Gods destructive dealings in this world, and the highest conception of His love and mercy which the gospel brings us. When the wicked perish, says one of the old proverbs, there is shouting. And so there ought to be. When some hoary oppression that has been deceiving mankind for centuries with its instruments and accomplices is swept off the face of the earth, the more men have entered into the meaning of Jesus Christs mission and work, and the more they feel the pitying indignation which they ought to feel at seeing men led away by evil, and made miserable by oppression, the more they will rejoice. And the last thought that I would suggest to you is, that according to the teaching of my text, we may take that old, old story of the ransomed slaves and the baffled oppressor, and the Divine intervention, and the overwhelming ocean, as a prophecy full of radiant hope for the world. That is how it is used here. Pharaoh is the beast, the Red Sea is this sea of glass mingled with fire, the ransomed Israelites are those that have conquered their way out of the dominion of the beast. And the song of Moses and of the Lamb is a song parallel to the cadences of the ancient triumphant chorus, and celebrating the annihilation of that power which drew the world away from God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The hymn of the victors
I. Who were they that sang? It is a question of moment for men still. Man is man the world through, and no temptation has touched us with its polluting finger which did not touch them. The image of the beast and the varied semblances of sins had presented themselves to their minds. The stamp of indulged desire, of unrestrained passion, of selfishness and mean thoughts, of untruth and cowardice, of unmanliness and impurity, was heated ready for their brows and backs as it is for ours. The number of the beast is sometimes a swelling magnitude, always a perfected and enticing product in the computation of earth. Public opinion, now elevated to a moral law as high in authority and terrible in sanction as that of Horeb, had to be counted with and opposed by them as by us. The morals of their age had to be avoided as a test or guide, and they, as we, had to rise higher than material interests, and explode, with the stout breath of earnestness and sincerity, the bubbles which, though hollow and worthless, were radiant under the worldly sun. They had come victorious from the beast and from his image, and from his mark and from the number of his name. The essence of their triumph lay in this--that they had educated themselves to look upon the permanent relation of things. The tendency that always tempts us is to see only the narrow relations that are close about us. They think only upon the daily occupation of hand and head, and their converse with their friends embraces no greater theme. But the true mind, beyond the glare of the present, sees the brightness of another life, and the reality of another world. He is continually applying the standard of eternal life to the fragmentary portions of existence on earth.
II. See, too, the subject and the value of their song. Like nearly every hymn in this Book, it tells of the works of God. It is not silent upon the judgments that are seen, nor upon the sorrows and failures of men; but it looks to the One Hand that is powerful, and it asserts that all the works which are done by God are just works and true. There is a sense in which we can clearly see this ourselves, for we can distinguish between the operation and the result. There is a solvent with God for the issues of human deeds. Man works while God overrules. Centuries of investigation have been heaped upon centuries; books beyond counting have been written; but notwithstanding, we are still like children gazing curiously at a great machine, and our conclusions and theories are like heaps of shifting sand upon a forsaken shore.
III. Behold the prospect they hold out.
1. It is a prospect of advancing holiness to themselves. Though enwrapt within eternal blessedness there are long distances, we will not say of purity, but of attainments, which they may yet tread. Is immortality, then, a range and region of perpetual progress? Are we not to lie down in it and sleep, and let the great worlds of a renewed universe wheel round unthought of and unobserved? The whole of the Book says, No. It speaks of endless activity, of mightier attempts and more glorious achievements than we dared to conceive on the earth, of ceaseless efforts towards a glad success.
2. As to the progress of earth. All nations, they say, shall come and worship before Thee. Out of the present actual world there is constantly springing, hour by hour, another world, which in its turn begets a fresh condition of things; for nothing sleeps, and events are never still. The prophecy in this light is inspired with force and fruit. There is a progress of the nations, and therefore of those who compose the nations, distinctly foretold. For worship is the condition of progress, development, and advancement. The nation, as the man, which has ceased to worship, has ceased to grow. Ideals then are lost or dissolved. The higher is unattained because there is no vision of the Highest. But where worship is real, unflagging, and unabused, where nations can see the Eternal One, that sits upon His throne, and hear the hymns that swell from lips of brothers who have fought the good fight of faith, and by the might of Christ have won, there is the guarantee of national principles that will not be cheaply sold, of national stability that challenges and defies assault, and of national progress that expands and strengthens because it has learnt that there is a rhythm and sweetness in the life which has shaped itself to the changeless law, and an articulate gladness and glory which issues from the cross of self-denial and sacrifice. (W. M. Johnston, M. A.)
The song of Gods heroes
I. The service of song is the highest employment of redeemed man. The redeemed whom John saw in vision had left behind them all the imperfections of life, and reached its consummation. The toil and the care were ended. The long battle had closed. Here is the first point to be marked, viz., that perfection of life was the spirit of their song. All the discipline of the earthly had been for this end, that every conflict of the heart should become the element of praise; that every sorrow should change into thanksgiving; that their souls, by all the education of life, should be tuned as harps for God. We may observe still further, that it is the noblest office of music to become the language of those emotions that border on the infinite and eternal. There is nothing in this world that can so completely lift a mans soul above the cares and doubts of time, right up to the throne of God, as the inspiring notes of a psalm of praise. Here, then, is the lesson which the words have for us to-day: just as Christian life approaches the heavenly spirit, that life becomes one song of praise. For the essential principle of Christian life is self-surrendering love to God, and that can bring thanksgiving out of sorrow. You may have known men, old and grey in the Christian conflict, over whom great sorrows have rolled, but they are yet young in soul, for life has renewed its youth in thanksgiving.
II. That song unites the spiritual heroes of all the ages. Men from the dispensation of Moses--men from that of Christ; this seems implied in the words, They sing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
1. The true heroes of all ages are engaged in one conflict. We are told in the 13th chapter that the beast had power given unto him to make war with the saints. There were men in the past whose battle was hard fought in the heart--they overcame. There are such men now. Life is full of heroisms. He who in the little things of daily life fights on unnoticed and unknown, is in spirit a great warrior. The man who does not know hard struggles does not know how the soul rises into song.
2. One means of victory--faith … Observe what a glorious idea this gives of heaven. Men from all ages united by one conflict; their song tuned to one spirit of praise. No age is barren--as in music, many voices, but one harmony …
III. Its theme is Gods connected dispensations. On earth we praise God for redemption; in heaven they praise God for the whole economy of revelation. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
The song of Moses and the Lamb
Without pretending to settle what events may be thus prophetically alluded to, we may safely consider our text as belonging to a glorious season, when Christ shall have mightily interfered on behalf of His people, and swept away those who have resisted His authority. The song is a song of exultation, sung by the righteous, and called forth by judgments which have overwhelmed the wicked. The song is one not only of thanksgiving to the Lord, but of exultation over the wicked, and of rejoicing in their destruction. We hardly know a more perplexing truth, nor one which more shows how vast a change will have passed over our feelings when we shall have put on immortality, than that of our acquiescing in the punishment of the wicked; yea, of our approving that punishment, and magnifying God for the vindication of His attributes. It is not merely that those whom wrath overtakes and consigns to perdition will be our fellow-men, beings of the same race, and therefore linked with us by most intimate associations. This were much; for this would seem enough to seal our lips, or cause lament to mingle with our song. But it must come to pass that, in variety of instances, there will be the division of families, so that whilst one member is with the Israelites, another will be with the Egyptians. And this division must be thoroughly known. We must believe that, with all the consciousness that some whom they tenderly loved have earned for themselves a heritage of shame and despair, the ransomed of the Lord will feel how the Divine attributes have been magnified in the punishment awarded to the impenitent, and join in praising their Maker for the manifestation of His justice. And this--however we may shrink from what appears so unnatural--this describes to us what is loftiest in Christian attainment, and what, therefore, may justly be looked for in our future state of being. I know that it would be Christian perfection to have God all in all; to make Him so completely the centre of the affections, or to be so lost in Deity as to have no will but His will, and no end but His glory. We proceed to observe that the song of the triumphant Church is described, not only as the song of Moses, but as that also of the Lamb. They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb. Now we may be said to feel more at home with the song of the Lamb than with that of Moses; for this is a song of which, even now, we can strike some notes, whereas we look on that of Moses with a kind of awe and dread, as though it were not suited to such minstrelsy as ours. It is the song of grateful confession that we owe everything to the Redeemer, and that His blood and righteousness have been the alone procuring causes of deliverance from ruin and a title to immortality. And there is vast beauty in the retention of the name of the Lamb in the melodies of heaven. Were not the wounds of the Redeemer the arms with which He mastered the enemies of God? and what are they now but trophies of the unmeasured achievement? To appear therefore as the Lamb, a lamb as it had been slain, in the midst of all the magnificence of the everlasting city, is to appear as the mighty Conqueror who led captivity captive. And if it be as the Lamb that Christ is most glorious, what but the song of the Lamb shall be most on the lips of those for whom He died? We doubt not there will be many and various hymns chanted in the celestial temple. Archangel to angel, cherubim to seraphim, and man to man, will roll sublime choruses, such as our speech cannot now embody, nor our thought embrace. But one hymn there will be which shall be peculiar to men. One anthem shall be heard in which none but those who were once ready to perish will be able to join, but which their voices will never be weary of uttering: Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Such is a portion of the lofty anthem. To take this anthem in Rs largest application, we may say that it celebrates the greatness and the justice of God as displayed in the occurrences of the judgment day. And it is well worth your attention, that these two characteristics shall be finally declared to have distinguished the whole business of the judgment. It will be a great and marvellous work, when the tares shall have been separated from the wheat, all unrighteousness detected and exposed, the wicked banished, and the faithful exalted. The spectacle has never yet been presented to the inhabitants of this earth, so fraught with the manifestations of Omnipotence as shall be that of the general judgment. What display of power can equal that which will be given by the resurrection of the dead? And if the gathering together of the buried generations, reconstructed and reanimated, be the mightiest imaginable display of Gods power over matter, what shall more declare His power over mind than that laying bare of all the secrets of mens hearts, on which the last sentences shall be founded, and by which they will be justified? Then you must add the portents and signs which are to herald the Judge: the storm and the calm alike proclaim that Omnipotence is there. But this is not the whole of the chorus. The Church affirms Gods ways to be just and true, as well as His works to be great and marvellous. And this is a most important assertion, when considered as called forth by the transactions of the judgment. There is something overwhelming in the thought that the untold millions of the human population will undergo an individual scrutiny; that they will come, man by man, to the bar of their God, and each be tried by his own privileges and powers. We can hardly put from us the feeling that, in so enormous an assize, there will be cases comparatively overlooked, for which due allowance is not made, or in which the sentence is not founded on a full estimate of the circumstances. But whatever our doubts and suspicions beforehand, Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints, is the confession, you observe, which will follow the judgment. It is a confession, we are bold to say, in which the lost will join with the redeemed. The feeling in every condemned man shall be that, had there been none but himself to be tried, his case could not have received a more patient attention, or a more equitable decision. And we rejoice in hearing the chorus which is chanted on the glassy and fiery sea. It tells us that God will be justified when He speaks, and clear when He judgeth. (H. Mellvill, B. D.)
The song of Moses and of the Lamb
What has one to do with the other? Here are the oldest of recorded events and words joined with the farthest and latest possible events and words. Here is the beginning of earths human history united with its Divine consummation. Here are the words of earth and heaven coupled together. The song of Moses, and the song of the Lord Christ--the song of Israelitish victory and of Christian victory, in one breath of thanksgiving. And as we look more carefully we see it is all very full of parallels. The singers in both cases stand by a sea--the Red Sea of Egypt, and heavens sea of fire,--and they are each singing in an attitude and strain of deliverance and freedom from enemies and of victory. And the sentiments of the two songs are the same. Gods great power and display of judgment, and the acknowledgment of all nations.
I. When I find an event like the old Israelitish victory, or a song like that of Moses, carried forward and appearing in the future heavenly history and combined with Christs victory and song, it lights up human life with a new meaning and radiance.
1. It has, in the first place, this value: it connects the end with the beginning. How early that old victory and song of Moses were--one of the very first human victories under Gods guidance! How far away seems that first victory from the heavenly end, when there shall be no more struggle or pain! How since Moses multitudes and generations and companies of men have all had their contests again and again! How, with every day, it comes to each one of us! How premature seems the old song of victory when a new enemy is to come immediately! How ceaseless seems the struggle to us! And so God puts into one phrase for us the earliest and last song of victory, the beginning and the end, the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, the victory of Moses over Pharaoh and one evil, and Christs victory over all evil and all enemies. No matter how early in the struggle you may be, the end is shown, and Christs victory is coupled with it, and you are to think of them together. Do not say, discouragingly, The contest will be renewed again in another way to-morrow; but say, The contest will end surely, and ritually victoriously in the Lambs triumph.
1. But there is a better, deeper thought of encouragement than this, which comes out of that connection--the song of Moses and of the Lamb.
2. It is that all righteous issues, and all struggles of men, are parts of Christs issue and struggle and victory; and so each mans song is sung with and in the new song of the Lamb. We need to think of this. Christs contest and death and victory were not all a history alongside of ours, to which we can look up from our own and take courage; but they contain ours and all the struggles and victories of the servants of God everywhere. See how close and dear that makes Christs life to you. Oh, as I am led through a lifes discipline, am told to do without this or that, am bid to contend with this or that selfishness, am pressed hard by this or that sorrow, am tempted to give up my trust in Gods care and to be sour or reckless, how it helps me to go and put all this experience into the gospel story, to translate it into the struggle of the Lamb of God, to think of it all as a part of His issue. My struggle and victory to-day is no mere disjointed, separated thing, done alone and without lasting effect, but it is a part of a great victory of the Lamb already won. This little song, which I sing through my tears, as I conquer a hard temptation and struggle through a sea of evil, is a part of Christs song. It does not lose itself in earths air and die, but it shall live in Christs song to the end of eternity, when tears are all wiped away.
3. And so that brings me to a third thing which the phrase teaches us about our life on earth--it is that God would have it happy. Earths song He continues into heaven, not its tears: Moses song of victory, not of his troubles. Are you singing any hymn of victory to-day? Are you joyful over a dead sin, or are you merely merry in slavery or sad in defeat?
II. What we learn of heaven and of its life from the text.
1. First, it gives us this thought of heaven: as a place in which each one of us has a marked individuality and history, even in Christs presence. Heaven would be an unbearable place unless we lived ourselves individually--enjoyed and felt ourselves. And this thought is given us in the fact that the song sung by Moses the servant of God is remembered and repeated there. Human names and experiences and victories are mentioned there in the very company of the name and experience and victory of the Lamb. A city of kings will heaven be; all natures marked and distinct; all with a history and a claim to distinct remark and notice.
2. Then there is this further thought--the communion of saints. They not only all join in the song of the Lamb, but in the song of Moses the servant of God. They use the words which commemorate not only Christs victory, but the victory of Moses too. Think of it: the voices that all go up to Christ, all also using Moses experience and Moses song words! It is that Christian truth: Your experience is mine, and mine is yours. Every mans victory I sing, and every man sings mine, as part of that same salvation of the Lamb which has rescued and sanctified you or me or the man who sings. Oh, get some of this heavenly power of communion of saints now! Do not let anything cut you off from a life that is showing Gods victory. Sing its song; put yourself into its experience and place, and you will sing your own song and fill your own place all the better and more fully.
3. Then, lastly, this text tells me of the thoughts which are the atmosphere of heaven. Often we wonder--What is the new song? What will be my state of mind--what my sentiments? This passage tells us. The song of the Lamb is the song of Moses, the servant of God. The words of the song of heaven. They are but the nobler, fuller use of Moses lyric words. Heavens song is a new setting to Gods harp of any song we have sung on gaining a spiritual victory over enemies by Gods power here and now and in this earthly life. Let a man triumphantly resist a temptation, conquer a passion, win a new grade of character by Gods power, and he has the very sentiments exalting and moving his heart and life which the new song will have in richest and completest harmony. (Fred. Brooks.)
The song of triumph
The life of the redeemed is here represented as a service of song. This will not seem surprising if we reflect on the function of song. There has never been a time in which music has played so large a part in the general life as it does to-day. What is music? It is not the mere pastime of an idle hour, or the mere sensuous gratification of an artistic mind.
1. It is a language, the highest, except poetry, that we are acquainted with, if indeed, in fundamental particulars they can be separated the one from the other. It is often the only language that can give expression to the highest thoughts of the mind or the deepest feelings of the heart. It is also to be noticed that all life, as it approaches perfection, becomes melodious. The life of heaven, then, is a service of song, not after any idle or sensuous fashion, but because the life of heaven is life perfected. Man in complete accord with his surroundings, man moving in absolute harmony with the will of God, man redeemed from all imperfections, and cleansed from all sin by the very constitution of his nature, is man melodious.
2. It is worth noticing, further, that there is no music like the music of triumph, and no songs like those which celebrate deliverance. And I take it as beautifully significant, that the burden of this song should be what it is, and that it should be called the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Moses, the much tried servant of God, the heroic leader of a stiffnecked people; and the Lamb, the eternal symbol of sacrificial suffering and sorrow. For it is a mistake to suppose that noble sorrow nobly borne silences the voice of song. Shelley says, Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts. It is partly true; it is mainly sentimental. But this is wholly true, that sorrow nobly borne is impotent to hang or keep the harp upon the willows. Song breaks from it as the phoenix from the flames. The most triumphant poem of this century is In Memoriam, and we know the sable circumstances of its birth. It is even so. Some birds sing best in the dark. And in the gracious providence of God beauty is not far away from ashes. The oil of joy exudes from mourning, and the garment of praise often covers a spirit of heaviness.
3. It is further suggested by this vision of the redeemed, that the conquerors of all ages take part in this song. The conflict varies from age to age. The beast that has power to make war against the saints assumes many forms. And the radiant hope here set before us, is that all who have overcome, will unite in the eternal song. For there is no power which can unite the hearts of men like music, as they know full well who march to battle with the beating of the drum or the notes of the pibroch. Now think of a society gathered from all ages and lands, filled with a life of which song is the only natural and adequate expression, and you have a picture of the better land as John saw it in his prophetic dream. It is likely that it occurred to him in this form, as he watched from his lonely rock some sunset glories blazing far and wide across the blue Mediterranean. Out there, on the very verge of the horizon, he catches sight of the faithful ones, no longer groaning beneath the oppressor, no longer struggling with the beast, and no longer divided among themselves: one perfect society, telling in unending song of the wondrous works of God, proclaiming the eternal vindication of His just and righteous ways, and reminding us that the confusions of time are only in appearance, and that the essential harmony will be made manifest by and by. Conclusion:
1. Let us expect conflict. No cross, no crown.
2. Let us look for victory from the right source. Looking unto Jesus, etc. (James Thew.)
The song of the glorified
I. The joyful employment of glorified spirits.
1. The song in which all the saints shall join in heaven is a song of triumph over dangerous and powerful enemies.
2. Saints in glory are here said to sing the song of the Lamb, or a song in which they are instructed by the Lamb of God, which has respect to the glorious deliverance which He hath wrought out for them.
II. The subject-matter of this song.
1. The great and wondrous nature of the works of God shall be made the subject of devout and joyful celebration in the world of glory.
(1) The vast works of creation will then be seen in an their magnitude and beauty. Many glorious effects of Gods creative power, of which we have now no knowledge, will then be disclosed. From an elevated point will glorified spirits survey the works of creation, and be pleasingly astonished at their almost boundless immensity, their beautiful order and gradation.
(2) Then also the great designs of Providence will be laid open in all their lustre and glory. As the intellectual sight will then be amazingly strengthened and improved; so the darkness which now veils many of Gods providential dispensations shall then be dispersed.
(3) Then also shall the godlike purposes of Divine grace to save many sinners from hell, and bring them to heaven, be displayed in all their loveliness; their origin and end will be fully disclosed, and furnish the saints in glory with rich occasion for admiration and joy. These great and marvellous works of God will be then perfectly known, and harmoniously celebrated.
(4) The infinite power of God, which is a just object of terror to the wicked, and which will inevitably plunge them into perdition, is the source of consolation and the subject of praise to all true believers. Holy pleasure mixed with solemn awe attends a contemplative view of this Divine attribute even in the present life. In heaven Jehovah shall be praised as the Lord God Almighty. This character will excite the profoundest reverence as well as the highest pleasure in the breasts of the heavenly worshippers, for as it will proclaim the infinite distance there is between them and their maker, so it will insure to them everlasting peace and safety. For what power can control the will, or alter the purposes of Him who in might is infinite? The justice and truth of Gods ways are celebrated in heaven as well as their great and marvellous nature. Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.
(1) In the upper world glorified spirits celebrate the justice of God--His justice towards friends and foes, the perfect righteousness of His dealings towards all ranks of creatures in heaven, on earth, and in hell. There in a particular manner do they acknowledge the justice and propriety of all those events which puzzled and disturbed their minds when here below. They have no accusation to offer, no complaint to bring against the King of saints; in the whole of His management they heartily acquiesce, and sing a lofty song of praise to His justice and rectitude.
(2) But the heavenly choir celebrate the truth as well as the justice of their Maker. Just and true are Thy ways. As a God of Truth the Almighty hath invariably revealed Himself in all ages, and this title very properly belongs to Him (Psa_100:5). As such He is justly extolled by His people now, but in a much nobler manner shall He be praised on this account hereafter. Then the truth of His predictions to the world at large; His inviolable regard to the promises made to the Church in every age and in every state; His fidelity to every individual that has made or shall make a part of it; His steady attachment to that covenant which through His Son He enters into with every true believer, and His immutable care to confer the blessings it contains, shall be the topics of joyful acclamation by glorified spirits.
(3) The people of God are repeatedly spoken of in the sacred oracles under the title of saints, Thou King of saints. Now these pure and happy souls have God for their King. The great God indeed is the Sovereign of all His creatures. He exercises universal dominion over the works of His hands, and His right thereto is founded on the nature of things, and the relation He bears to them. He is the Creator and of course the Sovereign and Lord of all. All creatures owe Him subjection and obedience, and over all He rules without control. But saints are under His peculiar government. He is their King in a sense which can be applied to none but such as fear and love Him, and have His image drawn upon their hearts. Application:
1. Let us be thankful for the pleasing descriptions of the heavenly world which are given us in the gospel of Christ.
2. Let the consideration of the state to which our deceased believing friends are advanced, and the manner in which they are employed, mitigate our sorrow on account of their removal hence.
3. Let the subject of the songs of Zion be improved for present comfort. Are the works of God no less just and true than they are great and marvellous? Do they as loudly proclaim his unspotted rectitude and inviolable faithfulness as the exceeding greatness of His power and majesty? Let every fearful thought then be instantly dismissed. Let every rebellious sigh be hushed in the Christians breast.
4. Let us all be ambitious to join hereafter in this delightful song, and for that end let us now seek an interest in the Divine favour through the Redeemer. (N. Jennings.)
Israel in Egypt
I. Regard the position of the children of Israel as emblematical of our own. And here we observe that, like the Church of God, the vast host of Israel had been delivered from bondage. With a high hand and an outstretched arm, our God has led us forth from the place of our captivity, and joyfully we pursue our way through the wilderness. But with the children of Israel it was not all joy; they were free, but their master was at their heels. Pharaoh was loth to lose so valuable a nation of servants. Affrighted Israel beheld her infuriated oppressor close at her rear, and trembled for the issue; even so it is with some of you; you think you must be driven back again like dumb cattle into Egypt, and once more become what you were. But once more: the children of Israel were in a position more wonderful than this. They came to the edge of the Red Sea; they feared their enemies behind; they could not fly on either hand, for they were flanked by mountains and stupendous rocks; one course only was open to them, and that course was through the sea. God commands them to go forward. The rod of Moses is outstretched, and the affrighted waters divide; a channel is left whilst the floods stand upright, and the waters are congealed in the heart of the sea. O living army of the living God! ye, like Israel, keep the floods of Providence still standing fast: but when the last of you shall be gone from this stage of action, Gods fiery wrath and tremendous anger shall dash down upon the ground whereon you now are standing, and your enemies shall be overwhelmed in the place through which you now walk safely.
II. The triumph of Moses was a picture of the ultimate triumph of the Lamb. Yes, the day is drawing nigh when Gods enemies shall no longer make it necessary for Gods providence to be apparently disturbed to save His people, when the great designs of God shall be accomplished, and therefore when the walls of water shall roll together, whilst in their inmost depths the everlasting burning fire shall still consume the wicked. Well, I now want to show you why it was that Moses triumphed, and why it is that by and by we shall triumph. One reason why Moses sung his song was because all Israel were safe. Oh! it is my strong belief that in heaven there shall not be a vacant throne. I rejoice that all who love the Lord below must at last attain to heaven. But, perhaps, the major part of the joy of Moses lay in the destruction of all the enemies of God. I see the trembling church, fearing to he overthrown: I mark her leaders bending their knees in solemn prayer, and crying, Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thy heritage. But mine eye looks through the future with telescopic glance, and I see the happy period of the latter days when Christ shall reign triumphant.
III. Some interesting particulars in the song which will doubtless have a place in the everlasting orchestra of the redeemed when they shall praise the Most High.
1. The first thing I would have you notice in it is, that from beginning to end it is a praise of God, and of nobody else but God. The last song in this world, the song of triumph, shall be full of God, and of no one else. Here you praise the instrument; to-day you look on this man and on that, and you say, Thank God for this minister, and for this man. To-day you say, Blessed be God for Luther, who shook the Vatican, and thank God for Whitfield, who stirred up a slumbering church but in that day you shall not sing of Luther, nor of Whitfield, nor of any of the mighty ones of Gods hosts; forgotten shall their names be for a season, even as the stars refuse to shine when the sun himself appeareth. The song shall be unto Jehovah and Jehovah only.
2. And next note that this song celebrated something of the fierceness of the enemy. I believe the last song of the redeemed, when they shall ultimately triumph, will celebrate in heavenly stanzas the wrath of man overcome by God. Sometimes after great battles, monuments are raised to the memory of the fight, and of what are they composed? They are composed of weapons of death and of instruments of war which have been taken from the enemy. Now, to use that illustration as I think it may be properly used, the day is coming when fury, and wrath, and hatred, and strife shall all be woven into a song: and the weapons of our enemies, when taken from them, shall serve to make monuments to the praise of God.
3. And then note how they sang the total overthrow of the enemy. I believe that at the last, a part of our triumph will be the fact that there is not one left. We shall look abroad throughout the earth, and see it all a level sea, and not one foeman pursuing us--not one--not one! Raise thyself never so high, O thou deceiver, thou canst not live, for not one shall escape. Lift thy head never so proudly, O despot, thou canst not live, for not one shall escape. O heir of heaven, not one sin shall cross the Jordan after thee; not one shall pass the Red Sea to overtake thee; but this shall be the summit of thy triumph--Not one, not one, not one of them is left.
4. Furthermore, in this song of Moses you will notice there is one peculiar beauty. Moses not only rejoiced for what had been done, but for the future consequences of it. He says--The people of Canaan, whom we are about to attack, will now be seized with sudden fear; by the greatness of thy arm they shall be as still as a stone. Oh! I think I hear them singing that too, sweetly and softly--as still as a stone. How would the words come full, like gentle thunder heard in the distance--as still as a stone. And when we shall get on the other side the flood, see the triumph over our enemies, and behold our Master reigning, this will form a part of our song--that they must henceforth be as still as a stone. There will be a hell, but it will not be a hell of roaring devils, as it now is. They shall be as still as a stone.
5. And last of all, the song concludes by noticing the eternity of Gods reign, and this will always make a part of the triumphant song. They sang--The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Then I can suppose the whole band broke out into their loudest strains of music. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Part of the melody of heaven will be--The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. That song has cheered us here--The Lord reigneth; blessed be my rock! And that song shall be our exultation there. The Lord reigneth for ever and ever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Great and marvellous are Thy works.--
The works of God, as King of saints, great and marvellous
I. The work of redemption, which God has wrought, and in which the saints are peculiarly interested, is a marvellous wore.
II. The various revelations by which God has brought the saints, in the several ages of the world, to the knowledge of this redemption, are also marvelous.
III. The dispensation of Gods providence toward the church, in correcting and punishing her for her declensions, and in delivering her out of dangers and afflictions, are great and marvellous.
IV. That work, by which God fits and prepares the saints for glory, is great and marvellous.
1. The conversion of a sinner is a great work, as it makes in him a mighty change.
2. This is a marvellous work, as it is a work of marvellous grace.
3. This is a marvellous work, as it is wrought in a marvellous manner.
4. This is a great work, as it is effected by Divine power.
V. The dispensations of Gods providence toward particular saints, in bringing them to glory, are great and wonderful. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)
Gods wonderful works
It is said of Napoleon that when Marshal Duroc, an avowed infidel, was telling a very improbable story, giving his opinion that it was quite true, the Emperor quietly remarked, There are some men capable of believing everything but the Bible. Infidels look at the Holy Bible superficially, and find fault with the form in which it appears, and reject it because of its mysterious contents, thereby maintaining that religion ends where mysteries begin. It is true that there are events too high, too wonderful and too deep, such things as pass our understanding, recorded in Gods most holy Word. For instance, the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, Three Persons yet one God, is most mysterious. This we cannot possibly understand, but then God does not ask us to, only to accept it with childlike faith. Again, the whole scheme of our Redemption from beginning to end is a profound mystery. Now look at some of Gods mysterious and marvellous works in creation.
1. And first in the field. Think of the various kinds of small seeds, such as wheat, barley, oats, and rye, which the sower takes in his hands, sows, and leaves in the earth to take care of themselves, but really to be looked after and to be taken care of by God.
2. Furthermore, God cares for our pleasures and happiness as well aa for our sustenance. This may be seen in the abounding and universal beauty of this magnificent world, where everything works so silently, so surely, and so harmoniously, thereby obeying the laws ordained by its Maker. Oh, let us pray earnestly against harbouring the spirit which, indeed, observes the works of God and of Christ, which simply arouses our curiosity, makes us marvel, and leave Him, and go our way, as the Scribes and Pharisees did when put to silence.
3. Again, not only once a year, as in the harvest, are the marvellous works of God visible. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handy work. What a glorious sight by day to behold the sun, which cometh forth out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant to run his course, and by night to see the clear moon and the twinkling stars! Can we look up there, and not think of God the Maker and Upholder of them all? Alas for us if we can and then simply marvel and go our way without a thought of Him. Whilst we accept mysteries in the natural world, shall we reject Bible mysteries? (J. T. Hughes.)
Just and true are Thy ways.--
The rectitude of God
I. The demands of His law attest the truth of this testimony. The Heavenly Teacher has reduced all the demands which the Eternal Governor makes upon us to a twofold command.
1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, etc. Is this demand just? This depends upon three things.
(1) Whether we have the power of loving any one supremely.
(2) Whether God has attributes adapted to awaken this love within us.
(3) Whether these attributes are revealed with sufficient clearness to our minds. The affirmative to these things must be admitted by all.
2. Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you. Not whatsoever men do unto you, that might be sinful; but whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you. Would you have them false, dishonest, unkind, tyrannic, towards you? Whatsoever ye would that they should be to you, be so to them. Can anything be more just?
II. The intuitions of His moral creatures attest the truth of this testimony. In all moral intelligences there is--
1. An intuitive sense of the right. All have an inbred sentiment of right and wrong. This sentiment implies a moral standard, and what is that standard but God?
2. There is an intuitive love of the right. All moral souls love the right in the abstract; they are bound to do it. I delight in the law of God after the inner man. All consciences go with God.
3. There is an intuitive remorse. Misery springs up in the soul from a conscious departure from the right. Cain, David, Belshazzar, Judas, are examples.
4. There is an intuitive appeal to God under the wrong as the Friend of the right. Oppressed humanity involuntarily looks to God as Judge of all the earth. Deep in the soul of the moral creation is the feeling that Gods ways are just and right. No argument can destroy this consciousness.
III. The mediation of His Son attests the truth of this testimony.
1. His life was the development of Divine righteousness. He was incarnate rectitude. He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.
2. His death was the highest homage to Divine rectitude. He could have escaped death. It was the inner sense of right that urged Him on.
3. His system is the promoter of Divine righteousness. His truth inculcates it; His Spirit promotes it. His Spirit comes to convince the world of sin, righteousness, etc.
IV. The retributions of His government attest the truth of this testimony. Look at the expulsion of Adam, the deluge, the burning of Sodom, the extermination of the Canaanites, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews. Look on to the retribution of the last day, and see what rectitude marks the whole (Mat_25:1-46.). (Homilist.)
Gods ways just and true
Take a straight stick and put it into the water, and it will seem crooked. Why? Because we look upon it through two mediums, air, and water: there lies the deceptio visus; thence it is that we cannot discern aright. Thus the proceedings of God in His justice, which in themselves are straight, without the least obliquity, seem unto us crooked; that wicked men should prosper, and good men be afflicted; that servants should ride on horseback and princes go on foot; these are things that make the best Christians stagger in their judgments. And why? but because they look upon Gods proceedings through a double medium, of flesh and spirit; that so all things seem to go cross though, indeed, they are right enough. And hence it is that Gods proceedings in His justice are not so well discerned--the eyes of man alone being not competent judges thereof.
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 Rev_15:1-8; Rev_16:1-21.
CHAPTER X I I
THE SEVEN BOWLS.
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Rev_15:1-8; Rev_16:1-21.
NOTHING can more clearly prove that the Revelation of St John is not written upon chronological principles than the scenes to which we are introduced in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of the book. We have already been taken to the end. We have seen in chap. 14 the Son of man upon the throne of judgment, the harvest of the righteous, and the vintage of the wicked. Yet we are now met by another series of visions setting before us judgments that must take place before the final issue. This is not chronology; it is apocalyptic vision, which again and again turns round the kaleidoscope of the future, and delights to behold under different aspects the same great principles of the Almighty s government, leading always to the same glorious results.
One other preliminary observation may be made. The third series of judgments does not really begin till we reach chap. 16. Chap. 15 is introductory, and we are thus reminded that the series of the Trumpets had a similar introduction in Rev_8:1-6. It is the manner of St. John, who thus in his Gospel introduces his account of our Lords conversation with Nicodemus in chap. iii. by the last three verses of chap. 2, which ought to be connected with the third chapter; and who also introduces his narrative regarding the woman of Samaria by the first three verses of chap. 4.
To introduce chap. 16 is the object of chap. 15.
"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God (Rev_15:1)."
The plagues about to be spoken of are "the last," and in them the final judgments of God upon evil are contained. What they are, and who are the special objects of them, will afterwards appear. Meanwhile, another vision is presented to our view: -
"And I saw as it were a glassy sea mingled with fire; and them that come victorious out of the beast, and out of his image, and out of the number of his name, standing upon the glassy sea, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God the Almighty; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all the nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest (Rev_15:2-4)."
It can hardly be doubted that the glassy sea spoken of in these words is the same as that already met with at Rev_4:6. Yet again, as in the case of the hundred and forty and four thousand of Rev_14:1, the definite article is wanting; and, in all probability, for the same reason. The aspect in which the object is viewed, though not the object itself, is different. The glassy sea is here mingled with fire, a point of which no mention was made in chap. 4. The difference may be explained if we remember that the "fire" spoken of can only be that of the judgments by which the Almighty vindicates His cause, or of the trials by which He purifies His people. As these, therefore, now stand upon the sea, delivered from every adversary, we are reminded of the troubles which by Divine grace they have been enabled to surmount. It was otherwise in chap. 4. No persons were there connected with the sea, and it stretched away, clear as crystal, before Him all whose dealings with His people are "right." The sea itself is in both cases the same, but in the latter it is beheld from the Divine point of view, in the former from the human.
The vision as a whole takes us back to the exodus of Israel from Egypt, and hence the mention of the song of Moses, the servant of God. The enemies of the Church have their type in Pharaoh and his host as they pursue Israel across the sands which had been laid bare for the passage of the chosen people; the waters, driven back for a time, return to their ancient bed; the hostile force, with its chariots and its chosen captains, "goes down into the depths like a stone;" and Israel raises its song of victory, "I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea."* (* Exo_15:1)
The song now sung, however, is not that of Moses only, the great centre of the Old Testament Dispensation; it is also the Song of the Lamb, the centre and the sum of the New Testament. Both Dispensations are in the Seers thoughts, and in the number of those who sing are included the saints of each, the members of the one Universal Church. No disciple of Jesus either before or after His first coming is omitted. Everyone is there from whose hands the bonds of the world have fallen off, and who has cast in his lot with the followers of the Lamb. Hence also the song is wider in its range than that by which the thought of it appears to have been suggested. It celebrates the great and marvelous works of the Almighty in general. It speaks of Him as the King of the nations, that is, as the King who subdues the nations under Him. It rejoices in the fact that His righteous acts have been made manifest. And it anticipates the time when all the nations shall come and worship before Him, shall bow themselves at His feet, and shall acknowledge that His judgments against sin are not only just in themselves, but are allowed to be so by the very persons on whom they fall.
A second vision follows: -
"And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened; and there carne out from the temple the seven angels that had the seven plagues, clothed with a precious stone pure and lustrous, and girt about their breasts with golden girdles. And one of the four living creatures gave unto the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power: and none was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished (Rev_15:5-8)."
The temple spoken of is, as upon every occasion when the word is used, the shrine or innermost sanctuary, the Holy of holies, the peculiar dwelling-place of the Most High; so, that the seven angels with the seven last plagues come from Gods immediate presence. But this sanctuary is now beheld in a different light from that in which it was seen in Rev_11:19. There it contained the ark of God s covenant, the symbol of His grace. Here the eye is directed to the testimony, to the two tables of the law which were kept in the ark, and were Gods witness both to the holiness of His character and the justice of His government. The giving of the law then was in the Seers mind, and that fact will explain the allusions to the Old Testament found in his words. The description of the seven angels, as clothed with a precious stone pure and lustrous (not with "fine linen" as in the Authorized Version) may be explained, when we attend to the second characteristic of their appearance, girt about their breasts with golden girdles. These words take us back to the vision of the Son of man in chap. 1, where the same expression occurs, and where we have already seen that it points to the priests of Israel, when engaged in the active service of the sanctuary. The angels now spoken of are thus priestly after the fashion of the Lord Himself, who is not merely the Priest but also the High Priest of His people. The high priest, however, wore a jeweled breastplate; and in correspondence with the nobler functions of the New Testament priesthood, these jewels are now extended to the whole clothing of the angels spoken of. A similar figure for the clothing of the glorified Church meets us in the prophecies of Isaiah: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness; as a bride groom decketh himself (the margin of the Revised Version calling attention to the fact that the meaning of the original is "decketh himself as a priest") with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels;"1 while the same figure, though applied to Tyre, is employed by Ezekiel: "Every precious stone was thy covering."2 The seven angels are thus about to engage in a priestly work. (1 Isa_61:10; 2 Eze_28:13)
This work is pointed out to them by one of the four living creatures, the representatives of redeemed creation. All creation owns the propriety of the judgments now about to be fulfilled.* (*Comp. Rev. 6)
These judgments are contained, not in seven "vials," as in the Authorized Version, but in seven golden bowls, vessels probably of a saucer shape, of no great depth, and their circumference largest at the rim. They are the "basins" of the Old Testament, used for carrying into the sanctuary the incense which had been lighted by fire from the brazen altar. They were thus much better adapted than "vials" for the execution of a final judgment. Their contents could be poured out at once and suddenly.
The bowls have been delivered to the angels, and nothing remains but to pour them out. The moment is one of terror, and it is fitting that even all outward things shall correspond. Smoke, therefore, filled the sanctuary, and none was able to enter into it. Thus, when Moses reared up the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled it, "Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting:"1 thus, when Solomon dedicated the temple and the cloud filled the house of the Lord, "The priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud."2 Thus, when Isaiah beheld the glory of the Lord in His temple, and heard the cry of the Seraphim, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts," "the foundations of the thresholds were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke;"3 and thus, above all, when the law was given, "Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly."4 (1 Exo_40:35; 2 1Ki_8:11; 3 Isa_6:4; 4 Exo_19:18; Heb_12:18)
All due preparation having been made, the Seven Bowls are now poured out in rapid and uninterrupted succession. As in the case of the Seals and of the Trumpets, they are divided into two groups of four and three; and those of the first group may be taken together: -
"And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go ye, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth. And the first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and which worshipped his image. And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and it became blood as of a dead man, and every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea. And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous art Thou which art and which wast, Thou holy one, because Thou didst thus judge: for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood hast Thou given them to drink: they are worthy. And I heard the altar saying, Yea, O Lord, God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments. And the fourth poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given unto it to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat: and they blasphemed the name of the God which hath the power over these plagues; and they repented not to give Him glory (Rev_16:1-9)."
Upon the particulars of these plagues it is unnecessary to dwell No attempt to determine the special meaning of the objects thus visited by the wrath of God - the land, the sea, the rivers and fountains of the waters, and the sun - has yet been, or is ever perhaps likely to be, successful; and the general effect alone appears to be important. The chief point claiming attention is the singular closeness of the parallelism between them and the Trumpet plagues, a parallelism which extends also to the fifth, sixth, and seventh members of the series. Close, however, as it is, there is also a marked climax in the later plagues, corresponding to the fact that they are "the last," and that in them "the wrath of God is finished."1 Thus the first Trumpet affects only the third part of the earth, and the trees, and all green grass: the first Bowl affects men.2 Under the second Trumpet the "third part" of the sea becomes blood, and the third part of the creatures which are in the sea die, and the third part of the ships are destroyed: under the second Bowl, the "third part" of the sea is exchanged for the whole; the blood assumes its most offensive form, blood as of a dead man; and not the third part only, but every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea."3 Under the third Trumpet the great star falls only upon the "third part" of the rivers and fountains, and they become wormwood: under the third Bowl all the waters are visited by the plague, and they become blood.4 Lastly, under the fourth Trumpet only the "third part" of sun and moon and stars is smitten: under the fourth Bowl the whole sun is affected, and it is given unto it to scorch men with fire.5 With this climactic character of the Bowls as compared with the Trumpets may also be connected a striking addition made to the details of the third Bowl, to which in the Trumpet series there is nothing to correspond. The angel of the waters, not an angel to whom the smiting of the waters had been entrusted, but the waters themselves speaking through their angel, and the altar, that is, the brazen altar of chap. 6:9, respond to the judgments executed. They recognize the true and righteous character of the Almighty, and they welcome this manifestation of Himself to men. (1 Rev_15:1 2Comp. Rev_8:7; Rev_16:2 3Comp. Rev_8:8-9; Rev_16:3 4Comp. Rev_8:10-11; Rev_16:4 5Comp. Rev_8:12; Rev_16:8)
Another feature of these Bowls will at once strike the reader, - their correspondence to some of the plagues of Egypt: for in the first we see a repetition, as it were, of that sixth plague by which Pharaoh and his people were visited, when Moses sprinkled ashes of the furnace towards heaven, and they became "a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and beast,"1 and in the second and third a repetition of the first plague, when Moses lifted up his rod and smote the waters, that were in the river, "and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood."2 The fourth Bowl reminds us of the terror of the appearance of the Son of man in Rev_1:16, when "His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." (1 Exo_9:10; 2 Exo_7:20)
One other characteristic of these plagues ought to be noticed. It comes to view no doubt only under the fourth, yet, as we shall immediately see, it is not to be confined to it The plagues had no softening or converting power. On the contrary, as at Rev_9:20-21, the impiety of the worshippers of the beast was only aggravated by their sufferings; and, instead of turning to Him who had power over the plagues, they blasphemed His name.
From the first group of Bowls we turn to the second, embracing the last three in the series of seven: -
"And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was darkened; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they repented not of their works (Rev_16:10-11)."
The transition from the realm of nature to the spiritual world, already marked at the introduction of the fifth Seal and of the fifth Trumpet, is here again observable; but, as in the case of the sixth Trumpet, the spiritual world alluded to is that of the prince of darkness. With darkness he is smitten. That there is a reference to the darkness which, at the word of Moses, fell upon the land of Egypt when visited by its plagues can hardly be doubted, for the darkness of that plague was not ordinary darkness; it was "a darkness that might be felt."* More than darkness, however, is alluded to. We are told of their pains and of their sores. But pains and sores are not an effect produced by darkness. They can, therefore, be only those of the first Bowl, a conclusion confirmed by the use of the word "plagues" instead of plague. The inference to be drawn from this is important, for we thus learn that the effects of any earlier Bowl are not exhausted before the contents of one following are discharged. Each Bowl rather adds fresh punishment to that of its predecessors, and all of them go on accumulating their terrors to the end. Nothing could more clearly show how impossible it is to interpret such plagues literally, and how mistaken is any effort to apply them to the particular events of history. (* Exo_10:21)
The sixth Bowl follows: -
"And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sun-rising. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of devils, working signs, which go forth unto the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.) And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon (Rev_16:12-16)."
Probably no part of the Apocalypse has received more varied interpretation than the first statement of this Bowl. Who are these kings that come from the sun-rising is the point to be determined; and the answer usually given is, that they are part of the anti-Christian host, part of those afterwards spoken of as the kings of the whole inhabited earth, before whom God dries up the Euphrates in order that they may pursue an uninterrupted march to the spot on which they are to be overwhelmed with a final and complete destruction. Something may certainly be said on behalf of such a view; yet it is exposed to serious objections.
1. We have already at Rev_9:14, at the sounding of the sixth Trumpet, been made acquainted with the river Euphrates; and, so far from being a hindrance to the progress of Christs enemies, it is rather the symbol of their overflowing and destructive might, 2. We have also met at Rev_7:2 with the expression "from the sun-rising," and it is there applied to the quarter from which the angel comes by whom the people of God are sealed. In a book so carefully written as the Apocalypse, it is not easy to think of anti-Christian foes coming from a quarter described in the same terms. 3. These kings "from the sun-rising" are not said to be a part of "the kings of the whole inhabited earth" immediately afterwards referred to. They are rather distinguished from them. 4. The preparing of the way "connects itself with the thought of Him whose way was prepared by the coming of the Baptist. 5. The type of drying up the waters of a river takes us back, alike in the historical and prophetic writings of the Old Testament, to the means by which the Almighty secures the deliverance of His people, not the destruction of His enemies. Thus the waters of the Red Sea were dried up, not for the overthrow of the Egyptians, but for the safety of Israel, and the bed of the river Jordan was dried up for a similar purpose. Thus, too, the prophet Isaiah speaks: "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with His scorching wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dryshod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall return, from Assyria; like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."l Again the same prophet celebrates the great deeds of the arm of the Lord in the following words: "Art thou not it which dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?"2 And, once more, to a similar effect the prophet Zechariah: "I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria. . . . And He shall pass through the sea of affliction, and shall smite the waves of the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up. . . . And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in His name, saith the Lord."3 It is unnecessary to say more. In these "kings from the sun-rising" we have an emblem of the remnant of the Israel of God as they return from all the places whither they have been led captive, and as God makes their way plain before them. (1 Isa_11:15-16; 2 Isa_51:10; 3 Zec_10:10-12)
Nor is this all. In the fate of these foes a striking incident of Old Testament history is repeated, in order that they may be led to the destruction which awaits them. When Micaiah warned Ahab of his approaching fate, and told him of the lying spirit by which his own prophets were urging him to the battle, he said, "I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left And the Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner; and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said, Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also; go forth and do so."* In that incident of Ahabs reign is found the type of the three lying spirits or demons which, like frogs, unclean, noisy, and loquacious, go forth from the three great enemies of the Church, the dragon, the first beast, and the second beast, now first called the false prophet, that they may entice the "kings of the whole inhabited earth" to their overthrow. And they succeed. All unknowing of what is before them, proud of their strength, and flushed with hope of victory, these kings listen to the demons and gather themselves together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. It is a supreme moment in the history of the Church and of the world; and. before he names the battlefield which shall, in its very name, be prophetic of the fate of the wicked, the Seer pauses to behold the assembled armies. Upon the one side is a little flock, but they are all "kings," and before them is He by whom, like David before the host of Israel and over against the Philistines, the battle shall be fought and the victory won. On the other side are the hosts of earth in all their multitudes, gathered together by the deceitful promise of success, The Seer hears the voice of the Captain of salvation, Behold I come as a thief, to break up and to destroy. He hears further the promise of blessing to all who are faithful to the Redeemers cause: and then, with mind at rest as to the result, he names the place where the final battle is to be fought, Har-Magedon. (* 1Ki_22:19-22)
Why Har-Magedon? There was, we have every reason to believe, no such place. The name is symbolical. It is a compound word derived from the Hebrew, and signifying the mountain of Megiddo. We are thus again taken back to Old Testament history, in which the great plain of Megiddo, the most extensive in Palestine, plays on more than one occasion a notable part. In particular, that plain was famous for two great slaughters, that of the Canaanitish host by Barak, celebrated in the song of Deborah,1 and that in which King Josiah fell.2 The former is probably alluded to, for the enemies of Israel were there completely routed. For a similar though still more terrible destruction the hosts of evil are assembled at Har-Magedon. The Seer thinks it enough to assemble them, and to name the place. He does not need to go further or to describe the victory. (1Judges 5; 2 2Ch_35:22)
The seventh Bowl now follows: -
"And the seventh poured out his bowl upon the air; and there came forth great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying; It is done; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders j and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, cometh down out of heaven upon men: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof is exceeding great (Rev_16:17-21)."
The seventh or last Bowl is poured out into the air, here thought of as the realm of that prince of this world who is also "the prince of the power of the air."* All else, land and sea and waters and sun and the throne of the beast, has now been smitten so that evil has only to suffer its final blow. It has been searched out everywhere; and therefore the end may come. That end comes, and is spoken of in figures more strongly colored than those of either the sixth Seal or the seventh Trumpet. First of all a great voice is heard out of the (sanctuary of the) temple, from the throne, saying, It is done, Gods plan is executed. His last manifestation of Himself in judgment has been made. This voice is then accompanied by a more terrible shaking of the heavens and the earth than we have as yet been called to witness, the earthquake in particular being such as was not since there were men upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. (* Eph_2:2)
Some of the effects of the earthquake are next spoken of. More especially, The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. As to the meaning of "the cities of the nations" there can be no doubt. They are the strongholds of the worlds sin, the places from which ungodliness and impiety have ruled. Under the shaking of the earthquake they fall in ruins. The first words as to "the great city" must be considered in connection with the words which follow regarding Babylon, and they are more difficult to interpret. By some it is contended that the "great city" is Jerusalem, by others that it is Babylon. The expression is one which the Apocalypse must itself explain, and in seeking the explanation .we must proceed upon the principle that in this book, as much as in any other of the New Testament, the rules of all good writing are followed, and that the meaning of the same words is not arbitrarily changed. When this rule, accordingly, is observed, we find that the epithet is, in Rev_11:8, distinctly applied to Jerusalem, the words "the great city, where also their Lord was crucified" leaving no doubt upon the point. But, in Rev_18:10; Rev_18:16; Rev_18:18-19; Rev_18:21, the same epithet is not less distinctly applied to Babylon. The only legitimate conclusion is, that there is a sense in which Jerusalem and Babylon are one. This corresponds exactly to what we otherwise learn of the light in which the metropolis of Israel appeared to St John. To him as an Apostle of the Lord, and during the time that he followed Jesus in the flesh, Jerusalem presented itself in a twofold aspect. It was the city of Gods solemnities, the centre of the old Divine theocracy, the "holy city," the "beloved city {Rev_11:2; Rev_20:9}." But it was also the city of "the Jews," the city which scorned and rejected and crucified its rightful King. When in later life he beheld, in the picture once exhibited around him and graven upon his memory, the type of the future history and fortunes of the Church, the two Jerusalems again rose before his view, the one the emblem of all that was most precious, the other of all that was most repulsive, in the eyes both of God and of spiritually enlightened men. The first of these Jerusalems is the true Church of Christ, the faithful remnant, the little flock that knew the Good Shepherds voice and followed Him. The second is the degenerate Church, the mass of those who misinterpreted the aim and spirit of their calling, and who by their worldliness and sin "crucified their Lord afresh, and put Him to an open shame." In the latter aspect Jerusalem becomes Babylon. As in Rev_11:8 it became "spiritually," that is mystically, "Sodom and Egypt," so it becomes also the mystical Babylon, partaker of that citys sins, and doomed to its fate. This thought we shall find fully expanded in the following chapter. The question may indeed be asked, how it comes to pass that, if this representation be correct, we should read, immediately after the words now under consideration, that Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. But the answer is substantially contained in what has been said. When Jerusalem is first thought of as "the great city," it is as the city of "the Jews," as line centre and essence of those principles by which spiritual is transformed into formal religion, and all sins are permitted to hide and multiply under the cloak of a merely outward piety. When it is next thought of as Babylon, the conception is extended so as to embrace, not a false Judaism only, but a similar falseness in the bosom of the universal Church. Just as "the great city where also our Lord was crucified" widened in Rev_11:8 to the thought of Sodom and Egypt, so here it widens to the thought of Babylon. May it not be added that we have thus in the mention of Jerusalem and Babylon a counterpart to the mention in Rev_15:3 of "the song of Moses and the Lamb"? These two expressions, as we have seen, comprehend a song of universal victory. Thus also the two expressions, "the great city" and "Babylon," having one and the same idea at their root, comprehend all who in the professing Church of the whole world are faithless to Christian truth.
Further effects of the last judgment follow. Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. Effects similar, though not so terrible, had been connected with the sixth Seal. Mountains and islands had then been simply "moved out of their places."1 Now they "flee away." Similar effects will again meet us, but in an enhanced degree.2 As yet, while mountains and islands flee away, the earth and the heavens remain. In the last description of the judgment of the wicked the heavens and the earth themselves flee away from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and no place is found for them. The climax in the different accounts of what is substantially the same event cannot be mistaken. (1 Rev_6:14; 2 Rev_20:11)
The same climax appears in the statement of the next effect, the great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, that is, fully more than fifty pounds. No such weight had been spoken of at the close of the seventh Trumpet in Rev_11:19.
Again, however, here is no repentance and no conversion. Those who suffer are the deliberate and determined followers of the beast. As under the fourth Bowl, therefore, so under the seventh they rather blaspheme God amidst their sufferings, because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof is exceeding great.
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 1, 2. I saw another sign in heaven. Another…
1, 2. I saw another sign in heaven. Another scene displayed, different from those just past, and startling in its character. Seven angels having the seven last plagues. Called the last plagues because they are the final plagues which are sent upon the beast and its image; they bring the series to a close. They “fill up the wrath of God.” The great feature of this vision is the seven angels with the seven last plagues, but they are not seen at first when the vision opens; not until verse 7 is reached. The vision opens with the scene of verse 2.
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 THE pledges and tokens of Divine retribution being thus…
THE ANGELS OF THE SEVEN VIALS
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
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THE pledges and tokens of Divine retribution being thus given, the execution of it is speedily to begin. Seven angels are commissioned to go and inflict upon the beast and his coadjutors the seven last plagues, so called because the wrath of God is accomplished by them.
Rev_15:1.—No sooner is this command given than the glorious host of martyrs around the throne of God, whose blood had been shed by the beast, sing the song of anticipative triumph, and praise the justice of God, as about to be displayed in the overthrow of the beast. The temple in heaven is then opened, and the seven angels, charged with the execution of Divine justice, go forth from it in splendid apparel. One of the four living creatures which support the throne of God gives each of them a vial, or cruse (bowl), filled with material to execute the wrath of God. The temple is immediately filled with smoke, rising from the fire which burns fiercely round the Al mighty, as the emblem of His anger (Psa_18:8), and also of His power to destroy. By reason of this, no one is able to enter into the temple, and, of course, no one is permitted to intercede for those who are about to be punished. Punishment, therefore, is certain and inevitable (Moses Stuart).
Rev_15:2. Sea of glass.—(See Rev_4:6). Gotten the victory.—R.V. “come victorious from.” Omit “and over his mark.”
Rev_15:3. Moses … Lamb.—Types of material and spiritual redemption. Of saints.—Should read either “of the nations” or “of the ages.”
Rev_15:6. White.—Or bright.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rev_15:1-8
Final Judgments.—The vision which perhaps, under all circumstances, most nearly corresponds with the present is that of Isaiah (chap. 6). There the prophet beheld the vision of God. His train filled the temple, and the house was filled with smoke, and a message of judgment was given to the prophet. That message declared that the sin of the people had reached a climax; they had trifled with convictions, and henceforward the words of God’s servants would harden rather than awaken them—“make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes,” etc. (Isa_6:9-10), till the desolating judgments had fallen. The general drift of the present vision is similar: the days of warning are over; the plagues which now fall will fall on those who have trifled with convictions; the sanctuary, which was opened as a refuge, is now closed; none can enter till the plagues have descended. The time has come when the judgments of God fail to stir the conscience which has been deadened by sin; the day when the gracious influences towards repentance were felt has passed. The word that has been spoken is about to descend in judgment (Joh_7:48).
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Rev_15:3. The Song of Moses and the Lamb.—God’s world, God’s Word, and God’s people, are all full of song. In God’s world there is nothing, animate or inanimate, without the capacity of making sound. The very flints have music in them. “There’s music in the sighing of a reed; there’s music in the gushing of a rill.” In God’s Word we are told that at the creation “the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy.” Moses uttered the deliverance of his people in song, saying, “I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.” Deborah taught the people a song, whereby they might praise the Lord for the avenging of Israel. When the new creation dawned, in the birth of Jesus, angels broke through the veil, and were seen and heard by our fellow-men, singing together, “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill to men.” David’s life was a song. When Paul and Silas lay chained in the dungeon, they sang praises in the night. The visions of heaven assure us that the ransomed ones are full of song. Our text gives us the theme of their song: “Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.” Why so much singing? Why a world full of it, a Bible full of it, a heaven full of it? Because there is nothing but music that can find expression for the deepest, the most thrilling, emotions of our nature. So often our feeling is too deep for words, the force of passion strikes us, and keeps us, dumb. Sometimes feeling is too deep for looks—nay, even for tears; it seems to dry up the very fountain of tears. But the man who can find no words has often learned that the tongue of the dumb can sing.
“Music! Oh, how faint and weak
Language fades before thy spell!
Why should feeling ever speak,
When thou canst breathe its soul so well?”
I. Who are these heaven-singers?—Answering that question in the language of symbols this book of Revelation tells us: “I saw as it were a sea of glass, mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” “LO, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands.” These rejoicing ones were once sinners of this our earth. They are no company of unfallen angels, whose songs could have no thrilling tones, that tell of sad memories. The song the ransomed sing is a song that only sinners can sing, as the name upon their foreheads is a name that only redeemed sinners can wear. Every bird that flies through God’s sunshine—thrush, and robin, and linnet, and nightingale—has his own note, which none but he can sing. Every intelligent creature, every son of God, has his own book of psalms. And there is a style, a tone, an inimitable pathos about a sinner’s song that will make his voice for ever distinct among the eternal harmonies. And it is pleasant to think that these heavenly singers have been gathered out of all ages and out of all nations. However the forms of music may vary in different periods and different climes, it will be found at last that when the hearts of men sing they make but one chorus. Black and white, bond and free, Jew and Gentile, sing in harmony together the “song of Moses and the Lamb.” If we inquire, What are these sinners now? the answer comes, The redeemed of the Lord; the purchase of the Saviour’s blood. Monuments of the grace of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Ransomed for ever. Sinners who once were justified through faith in the Lord Jesus; who long were being sanctified in the power of the Holy Ghost; and who now are glorified, with something of the glory that Jesus had with the Father before the world was. The work now being carried on in us, in them is finished. While it is being wrought we can sometimes sing, but oftener we must weep; when it is finished we shall weep no more. All tears are wiped away. If we can inquire, Where do these singers stand? the answer cannot be given except by symbol; for of the realities of heaven no man knoweth, no man can know, until the mortal has given place to the immortal, and the eyes of the earthly have changed for the eyes of the heavenly. They stand “on a sea of glass, mingled with fire”; perhaps we should understand, “on the shores of a sea of glass, mingled with fire.” The image is suggested by the thought of the Israelites passing through the Red Sea. For them all its waves were stilled; a sea of glass lay on either side their God-made road. And when the evening shadows lengthened and the “cloudy pillar” changed to fire, it flushed all that glassy sea and made it appear as a “sea of glass, mingled with fire.” The symbol seems to suggest their possession of rest and their memory of conflict. The restless sea, always rising and falling, often desolating and ruinous, is the Bible emblem of the troubles, and anxieties, and sorrows, of the earth. Man is born to trouble. But yonder is the sea of glass. The waves are stilled now. The “weary are at rest.” The cloud-flecked sky can find only a broken image of its beauty in the waving sea; and God finds only partial and broken images of Himself in the restless, anxious lives we have to live. A whole firmament of glory shall shine out of a still sea of glass; and a whole image of God may beam forth from that life we shall live in the land of heavenly rest. But memory will mingle the glassy sea with fire. As the sea is the emblem of trouble, so fire is the emblem of conflict. The shores of the glassy sea are only won through a great fight of affliction by him who is girded with the whole armour of God. In many an earthly mansion the shields, and breast-plates, and helmets, and swords, are hung up in the great halls, to remind the peaceful sons of the old battles out of which their forefathers wrung their liberty and rest. Who knows? There may be, somewhere in God’s heaven, an armoury where every new soldier that has battled through may lay up his weapons and his armour. Certainly fire memories shall mingle with the eternal rest; memories of the fires of battles with sin, and memories of the refining fires of God’s chastisements. And home will be to us the sweeter for nights tented in the strangers’ ground, and bivouac amid the storm and the cold—months beleaguered by watchful foes, and battles fought hardly for holiness and God.
II. What are the singers’ songs?—Evidently their hymn is a blending of their old earth-song with a new heaven-song. Not, indeed, so altogether new and different. We, too, can sing, even here, the Song of Moses and the Lamb; but not just as they sing it. We can only put as much meaning into our singing as we have had experience to prepare us for. They have an experience which cannot be ours as yet—an experience of victory, and victory’s reward; so they can sing with meanings which we cannot reach. Their song is our song, with more soul in it. The subject of their song is not redemption alone, but God’s entire dealings with man in revelation. It is not the song of the Lamb only. It is the song of Moses, too. Redemption is, indeed, the one word that expresses all God’s dealing with the race. His one work has always been the work of recovery—recovery of men, of families, of nations, from outward and bodily evils, from mental mistakes, from moral bondages. Ever since Eden God has been delivering, rescuing, and saving man, and His whole work seems to reach its climax in the deliverance and redemption of human spirits from the yoke and thraldom of sin by Christ Jesus. We lose much by separating the work of God on our race into parts. It is really one sublime, one perfect whole. Some gifts of His, like acts of His, seem, indeed, to rise up into view, mountain-like, and demand unusual attention; but from Eden to the judgment day there has been one purpose, never forgotten, never remitted, never undervalued: it is the world’s full redemption from sin. We may not think of our God resting in eternal peace until every foe of man is slain, suffering and crime are ended, Satan is bound, and death, the last enemy, shall die. One day a saved earth will sing, “The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” For the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The models of this entire deliverance are “Moses” and “the Lamb.” Moses representing God’s triumph over evil in its outward manifestations, and the Lamb representing God’s triumph over evil in its inward manifestations. Moses’ triumph at the passing of the sea I need but recall to mind; it said for all the ages that “nothing is too hard for the Lord,” and no outward troubles need overwhelm us. The “Song of the Lamb” reminds us that God has triumphed, and is triumphing, over inward evil. It is the most mournful part of the work of sin that it has defiled human souls, and blurred the image of God on them. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is the Divine deliverer from inward sin, from soul-sin. No fetters of national slavery dropped from aching wrists when Jesus died, the sacrifice and ransom price. No Roman armies, panic-stricken, fled from Palestine when He died, the nation’s champion. No royal proclamation flung open prison doors when He took the sinner’s place. No waving flags, no enthusiastic shouts, proclaimed a nation’s resurrection when He died on Calvary. But then the “prince of this world was judged, and cast out.” Then “Satan fell like lightning from heaven.” Then captive souls were set free. Then the gospel of God’s saving love was proclaimed to the poor. Then the heaven of holiness for sinners came within their reach. Well may we anticipate the heavenly song, and join now the chorus of the white-robed host, saying, “Thou hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood, and hast made us kings and priests unto God.”
The Divine Righteousness.—Good men, in all ages, have been deeply impressed with the Divine righteousness. They have ever conceived of their salvation as exhibiting and establishing the Divine righteousness. It is not proper to speak of justice or righteousness as being satisfied. The Bible speaks of it as revealed, manifested. Righteousness can be satisfied with nothing short of the rightness of those in whom it is interested. Men mistake the Divine by treating justice as some abstract quality: it is one of the living forces of a Living Being; it is an expression of the Divine will. The revelation of God is this: “A just God and a Saviour.” A just God is proved by, illustrated by, His becoming a Saviour.
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 WHEN John saw the book of prophecy in the…
1. THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES
WHEN John saw the book of prophecy in the hand of the Apocalyptic Angel, it was a parchment-roll, enveloped in seven wrappers, and secured with seven seals. When the Lion of the tribe of Judah loosed successively the seven seals, each one revealed its part of the prophecy in programme, the interest constantly increasing in geometrical ratio. The opening of the seventh seal reveals the contents of the book, which is so momentous that seven trumpet-bearing angels are now called out to proclaim the wonderful prophecies. These trumpets began to sound at the time of the Apocalypse, have been sounding ever since, and will continue till the Lord comes to reign. During the first trumpet, as described in Chapter 8, a terrible infection, political, social, and ecclesiastical, falls on the earth, and begins to undermine the fabric of human government. When the second angel sounds his trumpet, a great burning mountain is cast into the sea; i.e., the infection reaches the popular masses, stirring them into discontentment and revolution. When the third angel sounds his trumpet, the malady reaches the rivers and fountains of water; i.e., the subordinate departments of government, shaking them with political earthquakes, and disqualifying governors and proconsuls longer to enforce law and order. When the fourth angel sounds his trumpet, this growing infection reaches the heads of government, filling capitols and royal palaces with darkness, confusion, anarchy and bloody revolution, so that every throne topples, and sovereigns fall to rise no more. When the fifth angel sounds his trumpet, these social, political, and ecclesiastical troubles have assumed worldwide proportions. Consequently, the Holy Ghost pronounces the proclamation of the fifth trumpet a woe. During the first four trumpets, Satan succeeds in the undermining and disintegration of the political and social fabric, and the superinduction of the Dark Ages on the whole world. The seventh century has ushered in, kingdoms are falling, and thrones toppling in all lands. It is an auspicious epoch in the history of Satan. His millennium is now fully inaugurated. Hence he calls up Mahomet to rule the Eastern hemisphere and the pope the Western. The first woe proclaimed by the fifth trumpet continues one hundred and fifty years.
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Meanwhile Moslem conquest rolled its bloody tide over Asia, Africa, and Spain, everywhere exterminating Christianity by the sword. This appalling scourge received its first signal rebuff in the battle of Tours, France, where Charles Martel signally defeated the Saracens and saved all Europe from subjugation, slaughter, and the Moslem yoke. These prophecies run in a geometrical ratio, with a constantly increasing intensification. Hence the second woe, proclaimed by the sixth trumpet, covers a period of four hundred years (Rev 9:15), the second great period of Mohammedan conquests, which, taking new impetus after the Crusades, swept on, building up the great Mogul Empire, which for two hundred years claimed the conquest of the world. They received their final signal defeat at the siege of Vienna, 1683, when John Sobieski, the Polish hero, led seventy thousand Christian warriors into the conflict under the battle- cry: “Not unto us, O Lord, but unto Thee be the glory!” That signal defeat culminated in the treaty of 1698, in which the Saracens were forced to surrender vast kingdoms to Christendom.
Rev 11:15 introduces the seventh trumpeter, who proclaims the third and last woe that shall ever come on the earth. That woe is to knock down all the carnal powers, political and ecclesiastical, throughout the whole earth, and thus prepare the way for the King of kings to descend on His millennial throne and reign forever. This last trumpet is to sound on to the end of the Gentile Age, when the kingdom comes.
Here is another evolution, the greatest and the last of all; i.e., the seventh trumpet is evolved into the seven last plagues, which are committed to seven angels in the seven vials, or, as the Greek says, seven bowls, containing the final consummation of God’s wrath against this wicked world, focalized in those terrible catastrophes destined to come in righteous, retributive judgments against a wicked world and fallen Church. After these seven bowls of wrath shall have been poured out on the earth, and shall have expended their force in the castigation of all the wicked nations and apostate Churches, then the chastisements of the Almighty against this rebel world will forever have an end. The wicked rulers of the earth will have toppled from their thrones, Babylon fallen, and earth redeemed from Satan’s misrule. We read the positive statement from the Holy Ghost in the 1st verse of the 15th chapter: In these “the wrath of God is finished.” Oh, blessed consolation! we are so rapidly approaching the end of earth’s troubles, sorrows, and calamities, when Satan shall be cast out and our glorious King descend to reign.
We have now reached, in the seven last plagues, the final evolution in these panoramic prophecies, which will clear the field for our glorious coming King by removing all the incorrigible, irreconcilable, and unsanctifiable elements out of the world.
2. “I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who are triumphant over the beast and his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” Here John has another vision of the bride. The sea of glass is the imperturbable experience of the soul’s profound repose in Jesus when it enters the experience of entire sanctification. A thousand cyclones may sweep over a sea of glass and never produce a ripple on the surface. So it is with this wonderful soul-rest. It is proof against all distraction and perturbation. “Commingled with fire” means the glorious baptism of Pentecostal fire, which Jesus always gives the sanctified soul. It is the Christian’s invincible panoply for the Lord’s war against the devil. It is His indispensable palladium for the conquest of the world. A well-rested man will do about ten times as much work as a tired, worn-out man. Hence, perfect rest in Jesus and the fiery baptism flooding your soul will enable you to shout down every Jericho and chase a thousand devils. These are the people who have the victory over the beast, and his image, and the number of his name.
The beast here signifies the world-power, carnality, and especially the pope, the incarnation of carnal, worldly religion. The image of the beast includes idolatry in all its forms and phases, and especially the fashions of the world. You cannot be a devotee of any of these things and follow Jesus. The number of his name is 666 (Rev 13:18), which, as you see from the calculation, means Romanism. While Babylon is a harlot, she is also the mother of harlots. Her maternity has been wonderfully prolific. Her daughters are in all the popular Churches on the globe. The influence of Romanism is this day predominant in all the great Protestant Churches. Since the pope’s temporal dethronement by Victor Immanuel in 1870, he has radically reversed the engine and changed his tactics. Since his grip on the rulers has broken, he maneuvers, through myriads of subterranean channels, to reach the governments through the people. Hence he has his sworn Jesuits in hundreds of Protestant pulpits, expediting, with all their chicanery, the universally downward trend of all ecclesiasticisms into Romanism. She loudly boasts of her two hundred and fifty millions of members belting the globe. The Protestant Churches, captivated by the eclat, are all competing for members. If you would go to heaven, you must be thoroughly saved from the influence of members. You must be willing to take the lone way with Jesus, singing, with Bishop Marvin:
“I’d rather be the least of them Who are the Lord’s alone, Than wear a royal diadem, And sit upon a throne.”
The true pilgrim has no assurance that any other soul is treading the narrow path but himself and Jesus. Hence you are bound to utterly die out to the influence of numbers, and be willing to walk alone by faith with an unseen God.
3. We find these victors over the beast, his image, and the number of his name, all sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. The normal attitude of the Mosaic Dispensation was that of justification, while that of the Christian Dispensation is entire sanctification. Therefore, you see all the members of the bridehood sing about this wonderful double salvation. They all have the experience of regeneration and entire sanctification. So, if you are a candidate for the bridehood, you must have these two experiences, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
4. “Thou alone art holy.” Hence you see, intrinsically, none are holy but God. Wesley well says: “You cannot lay up a stock of holiness, as you can only be holy in connection with Christ. The moment you separate from Him, you have nothing but unholiness left.” Hence we can only have delegated holiness, and receive it from Christ constantly by faith. Your faith should become as natural as breathing, so you rest in Jesus like a tired child in its mother’s arms, unconscious of the slightest effort on its part. This holiness is original in Jesus and imparted to us. Faith is the hand with which we reach out and receive this holiness. There is no defalcation about getting it. If we only touch the hem of His garment, virtue will come out of Him and make us holy. In this respect we are like Him. We partake of His holiness. (Heb 12:10.)
“All nations shall come and worship before Thee.” This prophecy will be fulfilled during the kingdom. While Satan is loose, the worshipers of God will be individuals. The survivors of the tribulation will still perpetuate the nationalities in the millennial reign. As there will be no devil here to lead the nations into sin, of course they will worship the glorious King by solid nationalities.
5, 6. These seven angels entrusted with the responsible duty of administering the final retributions to the rebel nations and fallen Churches are all invested with priestly regalia, and all testify for God, illustrating the capacity of God’s ministers and their identity with the Gospel Age. To the people who have obstinately and finally rejected God’s mercy, they are now sent to administer His wrath.
7. “Forever and ever” describes the duration of God. The original is aioonas aioonoon, the same as in ch. 14, verse 10, which tells the duration of punishment. So remember, despite all the speculations of Universalism, the moment they prove the end of punishment, the very same argument proves that God will cease to exist. Hence the utter futility of all arguments to disprove the endless punishment of the wicked.
8. This verse tells us that the temple of testimony will be so darkened during the awful tribulations that all ingress will cease till these terrible plagues accomplish their work on the earth.
Since all the sanctified will be taken up in the rapture, there will he no people left on the earth to testify. It seems that testimony is already relegated to the sanctified. When you go to meeting nowadays and hear people testifying, you say at once, “Why, these are the ‘Holiness people.” In the absence of the holy people and amid the terrible retributions of the premillennial judgments, no wonder the testimony meetings will all be discontinued. Oh, how forlorn and dreary will this world be without a holy person in it To this, add earthquakes, cyclones, wars, famines, and pestilence. Let us all keep on the witness-stand for God, so that when He takes His saints out of the world, He will remember us.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 The Sea of Glass Mingled with Fire.
Rev 15:2
The Sea of Glass Mingled with Fire.
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With all the mysteriousness of the book of Revelation, one thing we are sure of: that in it we have the summing up of the moral processes of all time. There may or may not be a special meaning discoverable in its pictures, but this there certainly is. The verse which is our text represents, in a highly figurative way, the result of all moral contest. We may call that our subject.
I. Those who had gotten the victory over the beast stood on a sea of glass mingled with fire. What is the meaning of this imagery? I confess that I do not pretend to know in full what is intended in the Revelation by this term "the beast." But, on the principle which I have just stated, I think it certainly means, in its largest sense, the whole power of evil in all its earthly manifestations, everything that tempts the soul of man to sin or tries his constancy with suffering. The sea of glass is evidently the type of repose, of rest, of peace; and fire, with its quick, eager, searching nature, testing all things, consuming what is evil, purifying what is good, never resting a moment, never sparing pain—fire all through the Bible is the type of active trial of every sort, of struggle. "The sea of glass," then, "mingled with fire," is repose mingled with struggle. It is peace, and rest, and achievement, with the power of trial and suffering yet alive and working within it. It is calmness still pervaded by the discipline through which it has been reached.
II. This is our doctrine, the permanent value of trial—that when a man conquers his adversaries and his difficulties it is not as if he had never encountered them. Their power, still kept, is in all his future life. They are not only events in his past history: they are elements in all his present character. His victory is coloured with the hard struggle that won it. Just as the whole fruitful earth, deep in its heart, is still mingled with the ever-burning fire that is working out its chemical fitness for its work, so the life that has been overturned and overturned by the strong hand of God, filled with the deep, revolutionary forces of suffering, purified by the strong fires of temptation, keeps its long discipline for ever, roots in that discipline the deepest growths of the most sunny and luxuriant spiritual life that it is ever able to attain.
III. There are several special applications of our doctrine to the Christian life which it is interesting to observe. (1) It touches all the variations of Christian feeling. The redeemed world—all the strong vitality which that name records will be the fire that will mingle with the glassy serenity of its obedient and rescued life. (2) Here we have the picture of the everlasting life. What will heaven be? I find manifold fitness in the answer that tells us that it shall be a sea of glass mingled with fire. Is it not a most graphic picture of the experience of rest, always pervaded with activity, of calm, transparent contemplation, always pervaded and kept alive by eager work and service, which is our highest and most Christian hope of heaven? Heaven will not be pure stagnation, not idleness, not any mere luxurious dreaming over the spiritual repose that has been safely and for ever won, but active, tireless, earnest work, fresh, live enthusiasm for the high labours which eternity will offer. These vivid inspirations will play through our deep repose, and make it more mighty in the service of God than any feverish, unsatisfied toil of earth has ever been. The sea of glass will be mingled with fire.
Phillips Brooks, Twenty Sermons, p. 110.
Rev 15:3
The Song of the Triumphant Church.
Our text suggests two topics of discourse; for it gives what may be called a definition of the song which the triumphant Church sings, and it then furnishes the words of which that song is composed. We have, therefore, in the first place, to examine the language by which the song is described: "the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb"; we have then, in the second place, to consider the language employed: "Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints."
I. Now it admits of no dispute that when the song of the triumphant Church is called "the song of Moses the servant of God" the reference is to the Church of the Israelites and their leaders when Pharaoh and his hosts had been buried in the waters. And it is very observable, and in some respects almost mysterious, that it should be this "song of Moses" to which glorified saints still strike their harps. The song was not only of thanksgiving to the Lord, but exultation over the wicked, rejoicing in their destruction. The song of the triumphant Church is described not only as "the song of Moses," but as that also of "the Lamb." "They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and of the Lamb." Now we may be said to feel more at home with "the song of the Lamb" than with that of Moses, for this is a song of which even now we can strike some notes; whereas we look on that of Moses with a kind of awe and dread, as though it were not suited to such minstrelsy as ours. "The song of the Lamb," which the Evangelist heard, may be considered as that "new song" which is given in other parts of the book of Revelation, the burden of which is the "worthiness" of the Redeemer. The "thousand times ten thousand of thousands" which are "round about the throne" were heard by St. John saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." There is something similar to this in the strain which mingles with that of lofty exultation as the Church beholds her overthrown enemies. And if, therefore, "the song of Moses" be one which shows such subjugation or refinement of human feeling as is almost unintelligible, at least "the song of the Lamb" is in thorough harmony with what is now felt and chanted by believers; it is the song of grateful confession that we owe everything to the Redeemer, and that His blood and righteousness have been the alone procuring cause of our deliverance from ruin and our title to immortality.
II. "Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints." Such is a portion of the lofty anthem. Taking this anthem in its largest application, we may say that it celebrates the greatness of the plan of God as displayed in the occurrences of the judgment-day. And it is well worthy our attention that these two characteristics should be finally declared to distinguish the whole business of the judgment. It will be "a great and marvellous work" when the "tares shall have been separated from the wheat," all unrighteousness detected and exposed, the wicked banished and the faithful exalted. And this is not the whole of the chorus. The Church affirms God’s "ways" to be "just and true," as well as His "works great and marvellous"; and this is a most important assertion when considered as called forth by the transactions of the judgment. The judgment will include in its searchings and sentences the heathen world as well as the Christian—men who have had none but the scantiest portion of revelation and those who have been blessed with its fulness. And even in a Christian community there is the widest difference between the means and opportunities afforded to different men; some being only just within sound of the Gospel, whilst others are continually placed within sound of its messages. All this seems to invest with great difficulty the business of the judgment. It shows that there must be various standards: one standard for the heathen and another for the Christian; one for this heathen or this Christian and another for that. And there is something overwhelming in the thought that the untold millions of the human population will undergo an individual scrutiny; that they will come man by man to the bar of their Judge, each to be tried by his own privileges and powers. We can hardly put from us the feeling that in so enormous an assize there will be cases comparatively overlooked, in which due allowance will not be made, or in which sentence will not be founded on a full estimate of the circumstances. But whatever our doubts and suspicions beforehand, "just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints," is the confession, which will follow the judgment. It is a confession, we are bound to say, in which the lost will join with the redeemed. The feeling of every condemned man shall be that, had there been none but himself to be tried, his case could not have received a more patient attention or a more equitable decision. The praise which is chanted on the glassy and fiery sea tells us that God will be justified when He speaketh, and clear when He judgeth.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1656.
References: Rev 15:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., No. 136; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 20; H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 186.
Rev 15:3-4
The Triumph of Goodness.
I. Moses is not to be regarded here exactly as a historic personage; certainly it is not the song which he composed that is meant, nor the song that was composed by the Lamb; but here is the theme: Moses and the Lamb. And what was Moses in this heavenly tableau, to the thoughts of those addressed but the beginning of a great Divine dispensation of mercy and of education? He, far back in the wilderness and in the beginnings and sources of history, organised truth, and beauty, and right, and set a-going those great services by which the soul was to be enriched and ennobled. In other words, he was the beginner. The song, beginning with Moses and ending with the Lamb, connected the very first dawn of Divine truth, in the earliest periods, with its first flow and all its mutations clear down to the time of Jesus Christ, who in Jerusalem was, and who now in the new Jerusalem is, typified as the Lamb. The figure to us is almost dead, but to the Jew, who had been accustomed to associate with the sacrificial lamb whatever was sweet, whatever was beautiful, whatever was pure and unworldly in perfection, the figure meant immensely more than it means to us.
II. The song was of triumph. It was the shout, the jubilatic outcry, of the universe, that stood around about the ends of things, looking back to the beginning and seeing the way of God down through the whole dispensation of time in the world, now fulfilled and brought to a triumphant close in the other life. All that there was in the different heroes, all that there was in the different dispensations, all the judgments, all the sufferings, all the reformations, all the growths, all the developments, all the victories, whatever had gone to make up the moral elements in human history, in the household, and in matters touching priestly offices and prophetic qualities in those who witnessed in the wilderness, in prisons, and in the mountains, the apostolic administrations, and all the after-periods, and doubtless all that which has come down from the Apostles’ day to ours; all these things constitute the theme of that great, heavenly, outbreaking song. And what is the result of it? It is simply the chanting of the old bard by which the deeds of his chief are narrated, as we narrate the achievements, enterprises, battles, and victories of an hero. "Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest." Here, then, is the Divine catastrophe—evil gone under; imperfections swelled out to perfectness; ungrowth and crudeness brought up to ripeness and to beauty; goodness triumphant through the universal realm. All nations shall come to Thee, not one being left out.
III. This was the vision, not of time, but of the upper sphere; and it was this: the absolute triumph of the Divine part in man. They who have gone before, and for generations yet those that shall follow us, must see the flesh stronger than the spirit in the great mass of mankind. Time, looked at from any high standpoint, is a most sad and dreary experience, unless we have some outlet, unless we have some compensation somewhere. The might and power of past ages has been physical, passionate, sensuous, devilish; and although here and there there have been sprinklings of goodness, although here and there there have been a thousand sweet voices heard, yet in the main the chant of time has been hoarse, harsh, cacophonous. In the main the movement of the human race has been the movement of vast bodies with vast sufferings, and vast wastefulness, and vast uselessness. But they who stand disengaged from the ignorance and darkness of time, they who are lifted up, and are at a point of vision where they can see the past, the present, and the future—I behold them, not bearing witness to us, but in their own unconsciousness breaking out into ecstacies of gladness because God is justified. He who brought into existence this globe, with all its miserable populations, in the last estate shall stand and be glorified in the thought and feeling of those who behold the end as well as the beginning. "Thou only art holy." "All nations shall come and worship before Thee." Why? "For Thy judgments are made manifest." There is charity; there is explanation; there is reconciliation; there is harmonisation; and in the end it shall appear, when we see from the beginning to the end of this tremendous, and as yet uninterrupted, riddle of life and time, with an unclouded eye and with a vision just, and true, and perfect—then it shall appear that God is lovely and beautiful.
H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 165.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Section 1. (Rev 15:1-8.)
Section 1. (Rev 15:1-8.)
The unity of righteousness in the King of Ages.
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"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful -seven angels having seven plagues, the last, for in them is completed the indignation of God."
The one bright word here is "completed." For the earth at large, it is indeed so. Judgment comes, as we shall see at the close of the Millennium, upon a special, though, alas, numerous class; but it is nevertheless not the earth that rebels, nor can the Hand that holds the sceptre be any more displaced. How the voice of the everlasting gospel sounds in that word "completed"! But in proportion as the judgment is final now, so must it be complete, conclusive. All limitations are now removed. The rod of iron thoroughly does its work. As in the Lord’s answer to His disciples’ question as to this very period, "Wheresoever the carcase" -the corruption that provokes God’s anger -"is, there will the eagles be gathered together."
But first, -and this is the style of prophecy, as we have seen, -before the judgment strikes, the gathering clouds are for a moment parted, that we may see, not the whole good achieved, but the care of God over His own, who in this scene might seem to have found only defeat and forsaking. One righteous Man alone ever was really forsaken. And we are permitted to see how, in fact, He has but hidden in His own pavilion, from the strife of men, those who amid the battle drop down and are lost. The sea of glass in the vision answers to the brazen sea in the temple of old -the laver; but here it is glass, not water. Purification is over, with the need of it. The fire mingled with it indicates what those here have passed through, which God has used for blessing to their souls. They are a special class, martyrs under the beast, no doubt, who have found victory in defeat, and are perfected and at rest before the throne of God.
They sing a mingled song, the song of Moses and of the Lamb -conquerors like those who were delivered out of Egypt, but by the might of Him who goes forth as a "man of war" for the deliverance of His people. The song of the Lamb looks to the victories recorded in this book, in which the "works" of the Lord God Almighty of the Old Testament are repeated by Him who, as King of the ages, manifests thus His ways as true and righteous throughout the dispensations.
Divine promises are being fulfilled. God is once more taking up the cause of His ancient people, while the sufferers in Christian times are no less being vindicated and their enemies judged. He has not slept when most He seemed to do so, and now acts in judgment that makes all men fear. Ripened iniquity, come to a head wherever we may look, claims the harvest-sickle. The open challenge of the enemy brooks no delay in answering it. It is the only hope for the earth itself, which will learn righteousness when His judgments are in it, while the New Testament here coalesces with the voice of prophecy in the Old, and the cycle of the ages is completed, and returns into itself, only with a Second Man, a new creation, and the paradise of God. Truly Christ is "King of the ages."
And now the temple of the tabernacle of testimony is opened in heaven, where the ark of the covenant has been already seen. Faithful to that covenant now, in which Israel and the earth are together ordained to blessing, the seven angels with the seven last plagues issue forth as the result of that faithfulness. Thus they are arrayed in pure white linen, and girded with golden girdles. It is the glory of God in behalf of which they serve, as the bowls are also golden and filled with His wrath. From the glory of God and from His power smoke fills the temple. None can therefore approach to intercede. There can be no more delay. Long-suffering patience is exhausted. "No one was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed."
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v2 Rev 15:2-3
Revelation
THE SONG OF MOSES AND THE LAMB
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Rev 15:2-3
The form of this vision is moulded partly by the circumstances of the Seer, and partly by reminiscences of Old Testament history. As to the former, it can scarcely be an accident that the Book of the Revelation abounds with allusions to the sea. We are never far from the music of its waves, which broke around the rocky Patmos where it was written. And the ‘sea of glass mingled with fire’ is but a photograph of what John must have seen on many a still morning, when the sunrise came blushing over the calm surface; or on many an evening when the wind dropped at sundown, and the sunset glow dyed the watery plain with a fading splendor. - Nor is the allusion to Old Testament history less obvious. We cannot but recognize the reproduction, with modifications, of that scene when Moses and his ransomed people looked upon the ocean beneath which their oppressors lay, and lifted up their glad thanksgivings. So here, by anticipation, in the solemn pause before the judgment goes forth, there are represented the spirits that have been made wise by conquest, as gathered on the bank of that steadfast ocean, lifting up as of old a hymn of triumphant thankfulness over destructive judgments, and blending the song of Moses and of the Lamb, in testimony of the unity of spirit which runs through all the manifestations of God’s character from the beginning to the end. Ever His judgments are right; ever the purpose of His most terrible things is that men may know Him, and may love Him; and ever they who see deepest into the mysteries, and understand most truly the realities of the universe will have praise springing to their lips for all that God hath done.
I. Notice the Triumphant Choir.
‘I saw them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image, and over the number of his name.’ Now I am not going to plunge into Apocalyptic discussions. It is no part of my business now either to ask or answer the question as to whether this Beast of the Revelation is a person or a tendency. I do not care, for my present purpose, whether, supposing it to be a person, an embodiment of certain tendencies, it is a person in the past or in the future; whether it was a veiled designation of the Emperor Nero, or whether it is a prophecy of some yet unborn human embodiment of transcendent wickedness. The question that I would ask is rather this, - Whoever the beast is, what makes him a beast? And if we will think about that, we may get some good out of it. What is the bestial element in him, whoever he be? And the answer is not far to find - Godless selfishness, that is ‘the mark of the beast.’ Wherever a human nature is self-centered, God-forgetting, and, therefore, God opposing {for whoever forgets God defies Him}, that nature has gone down below humanit3% and has touched the lower level of the brutes. Men are so made as that they must either rise to the level of God or certainly go down to that of the animal. And wherever you see men living by their own fancies, for their own pleasure, in forgetfulness and neglect of the sweet and mystic bonds that should knit them to God, there you see the image of the beast and the number of his name.’
But besides that godless selfishness, we may point to simple animalism as literally the mark of the beast. He who lives not by conscience and by faith, but by fleshly inclination and sense, lowers himself to the level of the instinctive brute-life, and beneath it, because he refuses to obey faculties which they do not possess, and what is nature in them is degradation in us. Look at the unblushing sensuality which marks many ‘respectable people’ nowadays. Look at the foul fleshliness of much of popular art and poetry. Look at the way in which pure animal passion, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the love of good things to eat, and plenty to drink, is swaying and destroying men and women by the thousand among us. Look at the temptations that lie along every street in our great cities, for every young man, after dusk. Look at the thin veneer of culture over the ugliest lust. Scratch the gentleman, and you find the satyr. Is it much of an exaggeration, in view of the facts of English life to-day, to say that all the world wonders after and worships this beast?
Further, notice that to escape from the power of the beast it is needful to fight one’s way out. The language of my text is remarkably significant. This Apocalyptic writer does not mind about grammar or smoothness so long as he can express his ideas; and he uses a form of speech here that makes the hair of grammatical purists stand on end, because it vigorously expresses his thought. He calls these triumphant choristers ‘conquerors out of the beast,’ which implies that victory over him is an escape from a dominion in which the conquerors, before their victory, were held. They have fought their way, as it were, out of the land of bondage, and, like revolted slaves, have won their liberty, and marched forth triumphant. The allusion to Israel’s exodus is probable. ‘Egypt was glad when they departed.’ So the bondsmen of this new Pharaoh recover freedom by conflict, and the fruit of their victory is entire escape from the tyrant.
That victory is possible. The Apocalypse shows us that there are two opposing Powers - this said ‘beast’ on the one side, and ‘the Lamb’ on the other. In the Seer’s vision these two divide the world between them. That is to say, Jesus Christ has conquered the bestial tendencies of our nature, the selfish godlessness which is apt to cast its spells and weave its chains over us all. The Warrior-Lamb, singular and incongruous as the combination sounds, is the Victor. He conquers because He is the Lamb of sacrifice; He conquers because He is the Lamb of innocence; He conquers because He is the Lamb of meekness, the gentle and, therefore, the all-victorious. By Christ we conquer. Through faith, which lays hold on His power and victory, we too may conquer. ‘This is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith.’
Young men and women, may I make my appeal specially to you? Do not let yourselves be led away captives, like cattle to the shambles, by the fascinations and seductions of this poor, fleeting present. Keep your heel on the neck of the animal that is within you; take care of that selfish godlessness into which we all are tempted to fall. Listen to the trumpet-call that ought to stir your hearts, and summons you to freedom and to victory through the blood of the Lamb. And by humbly clasping Him as your Sacrifice, your Leader, and your Power, enroll yourselves amongst those who, in His own good time, shall come victorious out from the beast and from his image.
II. Still further, notice the position of this victorious chorus.
‘I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and they stand on the sea of glass.’ Of course the propriety of the image, as well as the force of the original language, suggests at once that by ‘on the sea of glass’ here, we must understand, on the firm bank by its side. As Moses and the ransomed hosts stood on the shore of the Red Sea, so these conquerors are represented as standing on the safe beach, and looking out upon this sea of glass mingled with fire, which, calm, crystal, clear, stable, and yet shot through and through with the red lines of retributive judgment, sleeps above the buried oppressors.
Observe that besides its picturesque appropriateness and its historical allusion, this sea of glass has a distinct symbolical meaning. "We find it appearing also in the great vision in the fourth chapter, where the Seer beholds the normal and ideal order of the universe, which is - the central throne, the ‘Lamb that was slain’ in the interspace between the Throne and the creatures as mediator; and round about, the four living beings, who represent the fullness of creation, and the four and-twenty elders, who represent the Church in the Old and the New Covenants as one whole. Then follows, ‘before the Throne was a sea of glass,’ which cannot be any part of the material creation, and seems to have but one explanation, and that is that it means the aggregate of the Divine dealings. ‘Thy judgments are a mighty deep.’ Oh! the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.’ Such a signification fits precisely our present passage, for the sea here represents that beneath which the tyrant lies buried for evermore.
That great ocean of the judgment of God is crystalline-clear though deep. Does it seem so to us? Ah I we stand before the mystery of God’s dealings, often bewildered, and not seldom reluctant to submit. The perplexity arising from their obscurity is often almost torture, and sometimes leads men into Atheism, or something like it. And yet here is the assurance that that sea is crystal clear, and that if we cannot look to its lowest depths, that is not because there is any mud or foulness there, but partly because the light from above fails before it reaches the abysses, and partly because our eyes are uneducated to search its depths. In itself it is transparent, and it rises and falls without mire or dirt,’ like the blue Mediterranean on the marble cliffs of the Italian coast. If it is clear as far as the eye can see, let us trust that beyond the reach of the eye the clearness is the same.
And it is a crystal ocean as being calm. They who stand there have gotten the victory and bear the image of the Master. By reason of their conquest and by reason of their sympathy with Him they see that what to us, tossing upon its surface, appears such a troubled and tempestuous ocean, as calm and still. As from some height, looked down upon, the ocean seems a watery plain, and all the agitation of the billows has subsided into a gentle ripple on the surface, so to them looking down upon the sea that brought them thither, it is quiet - and their vision, not ours, is the true one.
It is a ‘sea of glass mingled with fire.’ Divine acts of retribution as it were flash through it, if I may so say, like those streaks of red that are seen in Venice glass, or like some ocean smitten upon the one side of every wave by a fiery sunlight, while the other side of each is dark. So through that great depth of God’s dealings there flashes the fire of retribution. They who have conquered the animal, the godless self, see into the meaning and the mercifulness of God’s dealings with the world; and we here, in the measure in which we have become victors over the rude animalism and the more subtle selfishness that tend to rule us all, and in the measure in which we bear the image of Jesus Christ, and therefore have come into sympathy with Him, may come to discern with some clearer understanding, and to trust with more unfaltering faith, the righteousness and the mercy of all that God shall do.
III. Lastly, notice the occasion of the song, and the song itself.
‘They sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb.’ The Song of Moses was a song of triumph over destructive judgment; the Song of the Lamb, says the text, is set on the same key. The one broad, general lesson to be drawn from this, is one on which I have no time to touch, viz., the essential unity, in spite of all superficial diversities, of the revelation of God in the Old Covenant by law and miracle and retributive acts, and the revelation of God in the New Covenant by the Cross and Passion of Jesus Christ. Men pit the Old Testament against the New; the God of the Old Testament against the God of the New. They sometimes tell us that there is antagonism. Modern teachers are wanting us to deny that the Old is the foreshadowing of the New, and the New the fulfilment of the Old. My text asserts, in opposition to all such errors, the fruitful principle of the fundamental unity of the two; and bids us find in the one the blossom and in the other the fruit, and declares that the God who brought the waters of the ocean over the oppressors is the God that has mercy upon all, in Jesus Christ, His dying Son.
And there is another principle here, upon which I need not do more than touch, for I have already anticipated much that might have been said about it, and that is the perfect harmony of the retributive acts of God’s destructive dealings in this world, and the highest conception of His love and mercy which the gospel brings us. ‘When the wicked perish,’ says one of the old proverbs, ‘there is shouting.’ And so there ought to be. When some hoary oppression that has been deceiving mankind for centuries, with its instruments and accomplices, is swept off the face of the earth, the more men have entered into the meaning of Jesus Christ’s mission and work, and the more they feel the pitying indignation which they ought to feel at seeing men led away by evil, and made miserable by oppression, the more they will rejoice. God’s dealings are meant to manifest His character and that in order that all men may know and love Him. We may, therefore, be sure, and keep firm hold of the confidence, that whatever He doeth, however the methods may seem to vary, comes from one unalterable and fixed motive, and leads to one unalterable and certain end. The motive is His own love; the end the glory of His Name, in the love and knowledge of men whose life and blessedness depend on their knowing and loving Him.
So, dear friends, do not let us be too swift in saying that this, that, and the other thing are inconsistent with the highest conceptions of the Divine character. I believe, as heartily as any man can believe, that God has put His witness in our consciences and minds, and that all His dealings will comply with any test that man’s reason and man’s conscience and man’s heart can subject them to. Only we have not got all the materials; we look at half -finished work; our eyes are not quite so educated as that we can pronounce infallibly, on seeing a small segment of a circle, what are its diameter and its sweep.
I am always suspicious of that rough-and-ready way of settling questions about God’s revelation, when a man says: I cannot accept this or that because it contradicts my conception of the Divine nature.’ Unless you are quite sure that your conceptions are infallibly accurate, unless you deny the possibility of their being educated, you must admit that agreement with them is but a leaden rule. And it seems to me a good deal wiser, and more accordant with the modesty which becomes us, to be cautious in pronouncing what does or does not befit God to do, and, until we reach that loftier point of vision, where being higher up we can see deeper down, to say ‘the Judge of all the earth must do right. If He does this, then it is right.’ At any rate let us lay hold of the plain truth: ‘O Lord! Thou preservest man and beast,’ and then we may venture to say, ‘Thy judgments are a mighty deep,’ and beneath that deepest depth, as the roots of the hills beneath the ocean, is God’s righteousness, which is like the great mountains.
The last thought that I would suggest is that, according to the teaching of my text, we may take that old, old story of the ransomed slaves and the baffled oppressor and the Divine intervention and the overwhelming ocean, as prophecy full of radiant hope for the world. That is how it is used here. Pharaoh is the beast, the Red Sea is this ‘sea of glass mingled with fire,’ the ransomed Israelites are those who have conquered their way out of the dominion of the beast, and the song of Moses and of the Lamb is a song parallel to the cadences of the ancient triumphant chorus, and celebrating the annihilation of that power which drew the world away from God. So we may believe that as Israel stood on the sands, and saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore, humanity will one day, delivered from all its bestiality and its selfishness, lift up a song of thanksgiving to the conquering King who has drowned its enemies in the depths of His own righteous judgments.
And as for the world, so for individuals. If you take the Beast for your Pharaoh and your task-master, you will ‘sink’ with him ‘like lead in the mighty waters.’ If you take the Lamb for your sacrifice and your King, He will break the bonds from off your arms, and lift the yoke from your neck, and lead you all your lives long; and you will stand at last, when the eternal morning breaks, and see its dawn touch with golden light the calm ocean, beneath which your oppressors lie buried for ever, and will lift up glad thanksgivings to Him who has washed you from your sins in His own blood, and made you victors over ‘the beast, and his image, and the number of his name.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Seven Angels of the Bowls
The Seven Angels of the Bowls
The crisis of the book is drawing near. The enemies of Christ and His Church—Satan, the empire, and the Provincial Government—have been shown in their power and cruelty. In Revelation 14 these were left standing in their might, while the blessed safety of the people of God was pictured. In this chapter is described the approach of the judgments which are about to fall on the empire and on the heathen world.
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1-4. Seven angels appear, they to whom are committed the 'plagues,' i.e. scourging punishments, 'which are the last' (RV), because in them the temporal judgments of God are fully carried out (RV 'finished'). But yet once more there is a pause, as if the safety of God's people in the midst of all this sin and judgment could not be insisted on sufficiently, and a vision is granted of the blessedness of those who by faithfulness even unto death have conquered the beast. They stand by the 'glassy sea' (RV), i.e. the firmament (see on Rev_4:6), having harps of God, i.e. harps such as are suited to the heavenly worship of God (Rev_15:2). They sing 'the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb,' i.e. a song called out by the deliverance wrought by Christ, as the song of Exodus 15 was called out by the deliverance from Egypt—a song in praise of God who from the time of Moses to the time of Christ has never forgotten His oppressed people (Rev_15:3.).
3. Cp. Psa_98:1; Psa_111:2; Psa_139:14; Psa_145:17; Jer_10:7.
Saints] RV 'the ages': cp. 1Ti_1:17; (RM).
4. Cp. Psa_86:9; Isa_66:23. Judgments] RV 'righteous acts': cp. Psa_51:4; Rom_5:18.
5-8. Again, as in Rev_11:19, is opened the sanctuary of the heavenly tabernacle, by which is symbolised that presence of God to which the worship of heaven is directed, and from which the actions of heaven proceed, and which was typified on earth by the earthly tabernacle. In Rev_11:19 it was God's mercy, represented by the ark of the covenant, which was manifested; now it is the declaration of His holy will, represented by the 'testimony,' i.e. the ten commandments, which is to be enforced (Rev_15:5). From the Divine Presence come forth the angels of the plagues, as priests, but arrayed with flashing gems (Rev_15:6). To them are given golden 'bowls' (RV), corresponding to the basons used by the priests for the blood in the sacrificial ritual (cp. Exo_27:3) full of God's wrath (Rev_15:7). The Presence of God, sanctioning the service, is manifested by the smoke of His glory: cp. Exo_40:35; 1Ki_8:10.; Isa_6:4; (Rev_15:8).
6. Clothed.. linen] RV 'arrayed with precious stone, pure and bright.'
7. Beasts] RV 'living creatures.'
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 v1 (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angels
(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 The Seven Vials
CHAPTERS 15-16
The Seven Vials
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1. The victors’ song and worship (Rev 15:1-4)
2. The seven angels leave the temple (Rev 15:5-8)
3. The first vial (Rev 16:1-2)
4. The second vial (Rev 16:3)
5. The third vial (Rev 16:4-7)
6. The fourth vial (Rev 16:8-9)
7. The fifth vial (Rev 16:10-11)
8. The sixth vial (Rev 16:12)
9. Parenthesis: The seventh vial (Rev 16:13-21)
Rev 15:1-4.
And now the last seven angels appear; seven seal judgments first, followed by seven angels with trumpets and next the last seven angels. With these seven angels who have the seven last plagues for the world, the wrath of God is completed. Before these angels go forth we behold another worship scene. Who are they? Not the twenty-four elders, but they are the harpers which we saw harping and singing in Rev 14:2-3. They are the martyred company worshiping in glory. Here we are told of their victory and their song, the song of Moses and of the Lamb. The song of Moses (Exo 15:1-27) is the song of an earthly deliverance and the song of the Lamb concerns a spiritual deliverance. They are redeemed by power and by blood.
Rev 15:5-8.
A wonderful sight it is. There is again an ominous silence similar to the silence in connection with the opening of the seventh seal. The silence is not mentioned. But the text shows an impressive scene of silence. Quietly the procession of these ministers of judgment file out of the temple. They are clothed in pure, white linen; this is symbolical of the righteousness which demands the judgment wrath about to be poured out. And the golden girdles with which their breasts are girdled speak still more of divine righteousness. God in His righteousness must judge and now His wrath in completeness is about to be felt on the earth. The angels left the temple empty-handed, but the four living creatures give into their hands the bowls full of the wrath of God. And behind that smoke is the fire of judgment.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Angels with the Seven Vials and the Opening…
The Angels with the Seven Vials and the Opening of the Temple.
The sea of glass and the song of praise:
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v. 1. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
v. 2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
v. 3. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.
v. 4. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest.
The general woes which were to strike the earth and especially the Church, directly or indirectly, were pictured in previous visions. But in the fifth vision, which opens here, the plagues, or the revelation of the wrath of God over the enemies of the Church, are depicted, the present chapter serving as an introduction for the series. The prophet writes: And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is completed the wrath of God. And I saw what resembled a glassy sea mixed with fire, and those that had come away conquerors from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name standing at the glassy sea, having harps of God. This was a portent as great as any of the preceding ones, and it was full of marvels. That the tables have now been turned, and that the kingdom of Anti-Christ and all the enemies of Christ shall now be visited with plagues, is a great and marvelous fact, but a fact that should fill the believers with comfort and courage. The seven last plagues the seven angels had, including the plague of the final Judgment; for the wrath of God was to find its completion, its final fulfillment, in these plagues. The crystal sea which was mentioned chap. 4:6 is here again included in the vision, mixed with fire, as a symbol of divine majesty. On its shores all the faithful believers, all the Christians that had refused to be blinded by any anti-Christian pomp and doctrine, were assembled, with harps in their hands, ready to sing a hymn of praise to the God of their salvation.
This song is now described: And they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful are Thy works, Lord God the Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, King of the nations. Who shall not fear Thee, Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee, because Thy righteous judgments are revealed. As Moses, the prophet and servant of God, sang a hymn of praise after the final deliverance from the host of Pharaoh, Exo 15:1-27, so the saints in heaven sing a song in honor of Him that delivered them out of all the dangers and tribulations of the last days. There is no mention of their own works nor even of their own sufferings; their only thought is the exaltation of God and of the Lamb. They extol Him for the greatness and marvelousness of His works in dealing with them in His mercy, for the justice and truth of His ways in dealing with all nations. For the final result of the Lord’s doing will be that all nations, all men, will be obliged to acknowledge His sovereignty and to give honor to Him as the holy Judge of the nations. The judgments of the Lord, as they were about to be revealed in this vision, would impress all men so that they would finally, in the midst of their obstinate hatred of Him, and in spite of themselves, have to admit that they were right and true. Separate from sinners, pure and holy, beyond all fault-finding, He reigns as the King Supreme.
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 General Information:
General Information:
This verse is a summary of what will happen in Rev 15:6-16:21.
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great and marvelous
These words have similar meanings and are used for emphasis. AT: "something that greatly amazed me" (See: Doublet)
seven angels with seven plagues
"seven angels who had authority to send seven plagues on the earth"
which are the final plagues
"and after them, there will not be any more plagues"
for with them the wrath of God will be completed
This can be stated in active form. AT: "for these plagues will complete the wrath of God" (See: Active or Passive)
for with them the wrath of God will be completed
Possible meanings are 1) these plagues will show all of God's anger or 2) after these plagues, God will no longer be angry.
translationWords
sign
heaven
amazed
angel
plague
wrath
God
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 vv1–4 15:1–16:21 The third and final cycle of seven judgments…
15:1–16:21 The third and final cycle of seven judgments (see study note on 6:1–16:21) is introduced with a vision of God’s victorious people singing a hymn of praise (15:2-4). Then a scene of the Temple is presented (15:5-8), from which angels emerge bearing the bowls of God’s judgment upon the earth (16:1-21).
15:1 This cycle of seven last plagues (15:1–16:21) brings God’s wrath against his enemies to completion (see 16:17; Amos 1–2; Rom 1:18–2:16). Revelation returns later to the subjects of God’s wrath (Rev 19:15-21).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.