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REV.5
Apr 10, 2024 13:18:10 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Apr 10, 2024 13:18:10 GMT -5
Chapter 5
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
Introduction (1:1-20)
John wrote to seven churches located in well-known cities in first century Asia Minor (Anatolia).209 Jesus expressly told him that this revelation was about “things that must soon take place.”210 This is emphasized again, at the close this book,211 when he says: “Behold, I am coming soon;”
“Surely, I am coming soon.” Jesus also told John he was not to “seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.”212 Surely
then, if words have meaning, the events described in this book were in the near future when this book was written. Its our conviction that this is an intentional indication that what John wrote is in harmony with the repeated declaration of Jesus who said “Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation” yes “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”213
The Book of Revelation, in other words, is not a revelation of many things that were in the distant future when John wrote this book, but rather
a revelation of things that were about to happen and therefore — from our standpoint — things which have long since happened. In three of the other
eye-witness accounts of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ — which we call ‘the synoptic gospels’ — we have rather full accounts of the
eschatological discourse of Jesus.214 We therefore know that the eschatological teaching of Jesus was remembered by his apostles as providing
information of great importance. Why, then, didn’t the apostle John include this in his gospel, as Matthew, Mark and Luke did? It is our conviction that the reason for this omission was not because he differed from them in his opinion about its importance, but because it was the will of
209 The seven churches were located in what we know today as Turkey.
210 Revelation 1:1
211 Revelation 22:12, 20
212 Matthew 23:36 and 24:34
213 Matthew 24:1-42, Mark 13:1-37 and Luke 21:5-36.
214 Matthew 24:1-42, Mark 13:1-37 and Luke 21:5-36.
God to have John restate that teaching of Jesus in a special way. And that special way of retelling it was by means of the dramatic visions John received and then wrote down in this book. In other words, the Book of Revelation is John’s restatement of the very same material that Jesus originally gave in his eschatological discourse to his disciples, as recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
As we have already demonstrated215 our Lord’s eschatological discourse can only be rightly understood by comparing Scripture with Scripture. The same is equally true (perhaps even more so) when it comes to these visions that were shown to John. We can only hope to understand
these visions, therefore, if we keep in mind such things as these:
(1) Daniel, Ezekiel and Zechariah are especially helpful.
(2) The number 7 is notably prominent: 7 spirits, 7 churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 seals, 7 eyes, 7 horns, 7 plagues. Numbers 3, 4, 10 and 12 are also used in a special way. Where these are used we should not insist on taking them as literally intended.
(3) Old Testament usage should constantly guide our interpretation.
Finally, concerning the value or use of things revealed in these visions it may seem disappointing, at first, to come to understand that we
do not have in these visions a preview of the entire chronological history of the church or the world from the time of John’s writing until our Lord’s second coming. But there is no more reason to be disappointed here, with the book of Revelation, than with our Lord’s own teaching.
He did not give any detailed account of what was going to happen after the destruction of the Temple either, nor did he give us a list of signs to
indicate the time of his [parousi ,a] second coming. To the contrary — as we have already indicated — he said there would not be any such
signs!216 So we should not think of Revelation as given to supply something lacking in our Lord’s discourse, because in fact nothing was lacking
To some this may seem to subtract from the usefulness of the book of Revelation. But that is to misunderstand the nature of Scripture. There was
a time (in the apostolic age) when God sent inspired messages to then existing churches, with infallible teaching concerning the literal needs of
those particular churches. This does not happen today because the Canon
215 See especially pages 21-54.
216 This was the point of his reference to the thief in the night, and the lightning that
suddenly shines in the night sky, and the worldwide flood that came without warning in
Noah’s time. (Cf. 1 Thess. 5:1-3)of Scripture is closed.217 But does this reduce the value of those inspired letters for us? No, of course it doesn’t. Although they made specific references to existing churches at a particular time, yet in the infinite wisdom of God, these letters were also intended for us because they contain doctrines and ethical principles that apply — and were meant to apply by way of
analogy — to our situation too. And the same holds true for the New Testament’s eschatological material.
As we pointed out at an earlier point in this study, the Reformers saw in the rise of the Papacy what seemed to them to be the very man of sin
and the antichrist spoken of by two of the apostles, Paul and John. This interpretation even made its way into the original text of the Westminster
Confession (25:6). It said: “There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head there of: but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the church, against Christ and all that is called God.”
We see this as an example of the common error of assuming a kind of double fulfillment. But there is no need to resort to such a doubtful principle as double fulfillment, as the revision of this article shows. Here is the way this section of the Confession now reads in the revised version adopted by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). “There is no other head of the church but the
Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the pope of Rome, in any sense, be head there of.” Period! The difference is that in this shortened formulation a proper
application is made of principles taught in the Bible passages having to do with the man of sin, and the antichrist, without claiming that the pope is the (or even a second) fulfillment of these figures. No, the one and only fulfillment took place in the apostolic age as Jesus ascended to the right hand of the father, leaving the unbelieving Jews who had rejected him in desolation. This shows how a one-time-only fulfillment of a prophesy, may — at the same time — have many proper applications.
The simple, but very important, point is that the Scriptures (including those dealing with “all these things” that Jesus promised for that generation) have many valid applications, just as all of the other New Testament writings do. But they only had one fulfillment. Because Jesus said: “This generation shall by no means pass away until all these things take 217 “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.” Westminster
Confession of Faith 1:6 place”218 While he also made it clear that “concerning that day and hour [the day of his parousi,a] no one knows”219— even Jesus himself did not know during his earthly ministry — and as Jesus said to his apostles after
he rose from the dead: “It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority” (Acts 1:7). It is therefore a
certainty that the book Revelation does not provide information by which anyone can calculate the times or seasons of post-ascension redemptive
history in any way, shape or form. No, but as John keeps reminding us,220the book of Revelation does restate in powerful visions what was to happen in that generation.
Questions:
1. What statements in Revelation 1-3 show that it is not intended as a disclosure of events taking place in our time in history?
What is the difference between the original and revised (OPC) and
(PCA) version of the Westminster Confession 25:6?
Was anything lost by this change?
Was anything gained by this change?
5. What is the great benefit of not knowing the times or seasons? As we consider this awesome book we begin with an Outline of it.
OUTLINE OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION
Introduction: title & author, blessing greetings, benediction: Rev. 1:1-8
I. Things which have been seen (past): 1:9-20
A. Background: 1:9-11
B. Vision of Christ among seven candle sticks: 1:12-16
C. Reaction and Interpretation: 1:17-20
II. Things which are (present): letters to seven churches Rev. 2-3
The Churches The Common Pattern
A. Ephesus 2:1-7 - the address to the angel of the church
B. Smyrna 2:8-11 - the character designation of Christ (from chap. 1)
218 Matthew 24:34
219 Matthew 24:36
220 Rev. 1:1 “The Revelation…God gave…(of) things that must take place with swiftness
[tacei]” - 21:7 & 21:20 “I am coming [ercomai] swiftly [tacu]
C. Pergamos 2:12-17 - the word of commendation (if applicable)
D. Thyatira 2:18-29 - the word of rebuke (if applicable)
E. Sardis 3:1-6 - the exhortation to obedience etc.
F. Philadelphia 3:7-13 - the warning “he that hath an ear…”
G. Laodicea 3:14-22 - the promise to those who overcome
III. Things about to happen (mellei) - (in the near future when John was writing - 4:1ff
A. First Prophecy (The Big Book) The Seven Seals - God’s plan of judgment revealed - 4:1 -
12:17 [This book is big because it encompasses the whole human race]
(Background to the judgment on the first enemy—apostate Jerusalem): 4:1-8:5
a. Setting and main characters: chap. 4-5
(1) the heavenly court: exaltation of God’s sovereignty in creation: 4
(2) the Lamb of God and the scroll: exaltation of sovereign in redemption: 5
b. Preview of the contents and preparation for judgment: chap. 6-7
(1) the first seals broken: 6:1-17 (4+2+1 pattern)
(2) the 144,000 sealed by God: 7:1-17
c. Prelude to the judgment: 8:1-5 (scene at heaven: tabernacle)
B. Second prophecy The Seven Trumpets - the summons to judgment 8:6-11:19
a. first 4 trumpets (natural calamities): 8:6-12
b. last 3 trumpets (human woes), including: (8:13-11:19)
(1) Interpretation: 10:1-7 (The Little Book) God’s plan of redemption closed
[this book is small because it concerns only part of mankind - the elect]
Note especially v. 7 and compare it with Ephesians 2:11-13, and 3:1-7
(2) Foreshadow of next section: 10:8-11 (at sixth trumpet)
(3) Elaboration on justice of God’s judgment: 11:1-13—the two witnesses
(4) Note of finality with seventh trumpet: 11:14-19
(5) Declaration of God’s victory and reign (kingdom) 11:15-17
C. Explanation (of Kingdom establishment) & Transition (with reference to Satan)
a. Old Israel brings forth the Messiah: 12:1-2
b. Satan seeks to destroy both Old Israel and the Messiah 12:3-5
c. Out of Old Israel the New Israel (the church) is preserved: 12:6-12.
d. Satan then turns to persecute Gentile church: 12:13-17
D. Background to the judgment on the second enemy (pagan Rome): 13:1-15:8
a. Setting and main characters: 131-14:5
(1) Satan on sea-shore and his followers (two Beasts): 13:1-18
(2) Christ on Mount Zion and his followers (144,000): 14:1-5
b. Preview of the contents: 14:6-20
(1) three angelic messages: 14:6-13
(2) two harvests of the earth: 14:14-20
E. Third prophecy: The Seven Bowls 15:1-18:24 the execution of God’s judgment.
1. Prelude to the judgment: 15:1-8 (scene at heavenly temple)
a. first four bowls (natural calamities): 16:1-9
b. last three bowls (human afflictions), including: (16:10-19:10)
A STUDY OF BIBLICAL ESCHATOLOGY
82
(1) Foreshadow of next section: 16:13-16 (at sixth bowl)
(2) Note of finality at seventh bowl: 16:17-21
(3) Interpretation: 17:1-18
(4) Elaboration on justice of God’s judgment: Babylon’s fornication and fall 18:1-24
(5) Declaration of God’s victory and reign (kingdom): 19:1-10
2. Resultant Vision of white horse rider, followed by church (kingdom extended)
19:11-21
a. Background: main characters 19:11-19
b. The victorious outcome of the battle: 19:20-21
3. Explanation (Kingdom establishment & Transition with reference to Satan (20:1-9a)
a. Christ’s advent 20:1 by which Satan is bound - 20:2,3
c. Saints rule with Christ for a millennium - 20:4-6
d. Satan loosed for a season with these things 20:3 and 7 (with, not after)
e. Christ returns (parousia) to sit on the great white throne for final judge-
ment - 20:9b-15
4. The consummation of creation and redemption in the eternal state: the New
Heavens and Earth, the New Jerusalem 21:1-22:5
IV. Conclusion: final certification, instructions, blessings and curses, benediction: 22:6-21
Part 1 - The Things That Are
(Revelation Chapters 2 - 3)
Immediately after the opening statements, the salutation and the doxology, the theme of Revelation is announced: “Behold he is coming[e ;rcetai] with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they who pierced him, and all the tribes of the land [Greek: pa/sai ai` fulai. th/j gh/j] shall wail over him” (1:7) [Author’s translation].
It is important to notice that these words are virtually the same as our Lord’s words in Matthew 24:30: “Then shall appear the sign of the Son
of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the land shall mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory.”221 The common English translation — “all kindreds of the earth” — appears to have misled not only many lay readers, but even learned commentators. No Hellenist during our Lord’s time on earth would have understood these words to mean all nations of the habitable globe. This phrase is traceable to the Septuagint 221 The author’s literal translation of Zechariah 12:12, where all the families of the land of Judah are represented as mourning.
The words “they who pierced him” are from Zechariah 12:10, and should here be understood not so much as referring to the soldiers who nailed Jesus to the cross, and pierced his side, as of the Jews, upon whom Peter charged the crime,222 and who had cried “His blood be upon us and
upon our children”223 To these Jews Jesus himself said: “Hereafter you
shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 224
Having announced his great theme, the writer proceeds to record his
vision of the A [Alpha] and W [Omega], the first and the last — an expression taken from Isaiah 12:4; 44:6; 48:12. The description of the Son
of man is mainly stated in the terms by which Daniel described the Ancient of days225 and the Son of man.
226 It also appropriates expressions from other prophets.227
The seven golden candlesticks remind us of Zechariah’s one golden candlestick with its seven-branched lamps.228 The meaning of the symbols
is given by the Lord himself, and the whole forms an impressive introduction to the seven epistles.
These seven epistles are full of allusions showing that there was much persecution of the faithful when John was on the Island of Patmos, and that
a crisis was at hand. The warnings, counsels, and encouragements given to these Churches correspond in substance to those that our Lord gave to his
disciples in Matthew 24. He warned them of false prophets. He told them they would have tribulation. He warned that some would be put to death,
and that the love of many would wax cold. But he also encouraged them by promising that all who endured to the end would be saved.229
222 Acts 2:23, 36; 5:30
223 Matthew 27:25
224 Matthew 26:64
225 Daniel 7:9
226 Daniel 10:5 & 6
227 Isaiah 11:4; 49:2; Ezekiel 1:26, 28; 43:2
228 Zechariah 4:2
229 In our remoteness from that time we can hardly feel the force of these epistles as those to whom they were first addressed.
The first three gospels230 contain a summary of the great eschatological discourse of Jesus. So the question inevitably arises: Why didn’t the apostle John also tell us what he heard Jesus say on that momentous occasion? We again express our conviction that it was not left out of his gospel account because John thought it unimportant! To the contrary, we believe that he, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, was inspired to write the entire book of Revelation in order to communicate the same message even more vividly for our benefit. God enabled him to ‘see’ it all over again in a series of visions. In the material that follows we will see, again and again, how the material presented to John in these visions parallels what we have already seen in the first three gospels.231
Part 2 - The Things That Soon Will Be(Revelation Chapters 4 - 20)
A third part of “things that must soon take place” (1:1) was “those that are to take place after this” (1:19), but even these would happen soon (22:10). For, as Jesus said: “I am coming [ercomai not parousia] soon.”
To understand the visions that John describes in the following chapters of Revelation, it is important to grasp the three indicators so clearly
shown in the outline above. These indicators show that the structure of this Book of Revelation is remarkably similar to the structure of the Old Testament book of Daniel. The outline of Daniel’s visions, on p. 15 of this study, shows how those prophecies were parallel with each other, not
chronologically successive. The visions covered the same historical period over and over again, with each review giving new insights. And it is much the same — though perhaps even more obviously so — in the book of Revelation. We say “even more so” because of the obvious distinction between the seven seals that are lifted, the seven trumpets that are sounded and the seven bowls that are poured out. (Please consult the outline above
to see these in sequence) (1) Seals, in biblical times, were used to conceal. Things under seals were secret. The removal of the seals revealed what had been secret before. So the first series of visions John received was a series of seals that were removed.
230 Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21
231 In the material that follows we will use the equal sign = to indicate that something in
John’s vision has the meaning which follows.
The meaning is virtually self evident: here God is disclosing his previously secret plan.
(2) Trumpets were used in Biblical times to announce and to summon. So the second series of visions were meant to indicate that God not only had a
plan, but that the time had now come to announce it—and to call for his plan to be executed/
(3) Bowls of wrath were meant to signify the actual execution — in earth time and space — of the plan that had been revealed and announced. What
God planned from all eternity, and had announced and summoned by the trumpets of the prophets and apostles of the Lord, was actually carried out.
From this it is perfectly clear that we are not to think of the Book of Revelation as a long story — with three chronologically sequential segments — but of one short story about an unparalleled event. And that one unparalleled event in the history of the world was “the great tribulation” which surpassed anything that had ever happened before that time, or that would ever happen after that time, in its cosmic significance. This is clearly stated in Matthew 24:21. “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.” It came in 70 A.D. Just as the first vision (the great image symbolizing the four world kingdoms of ancient history) provides the key to understanding the subsequent visions that Daniel saw, so the clear message spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24 is the key to understanding these three series in the book of Revelation. The 7 seals are a vivid picture of the things God planned, and which were predicted by Jesus. So are the 7 trumpets, and so are the 7 bowls of wrath. We may wonder why God, in this way, tells us basically the same thing three times in a row. The answer is, for the same reason that the visions given to Daniel did that same thing long ago. Sometimes, in order to get our full attention, God knows that he needs to repeat what he has said for emphasis. It is just another way of telling us how very important this momentous event was that took place in the apostolic period. At this point in this study it is important to warn against ‘failing to see the forest because of seeing so many trees.’ It is not wise to focus primarily upon this or that particular item in the material that follows.
We will express our understanding of each item, verse by verse. But it is important not to allow any particular to loom so large in our thoughts
that we forget the whole structure shown in the outline. And we need to constantly keep in mind the fact that each of these series of seven things
— seals, trumpets and bowls — are really about the same historical event. And that unparalleled and unrepeatable event was ‘the great tribulation’ which came upon the Jewish nation in that generation (ending in 70 A.D.).
THE SEVEN SEALS
Revelation Chapter 4
The prophecy concerning the seven seals opens with the glorious vision of the throne of God,232 making use of symbols taken from the corresponding visions of Isaiah 6:1-4, and Ezekiel 1:4-28. The seer is snatched up to heaven and sees a vision pointing to God’s plan of judgment which will be for the benefit of His Church.
v. 1 - the command to go up = to be in the Spirit
• the fact that he is invited into the heavenly realm = it is not easy to attain understanding of heavenly things - one must be detached as it
were from earthly cares & fleshly desires, and be given up to heavenly things
• “the things which must be done after these things” = not what always
is, but the future as it follows what’s described in Chapters 2 & 3
v. 2 - almost like 1:10 this is intended to show that another vision begins here
• we have here a representation of — not the usual heavenly state — but an assembly of counsel and judgment, in which a momentous decision is made regarding the ungodly
• we’re led to this view by Chapter 5 which shows that everything turns on the opening of the book with 7 seals, which has respect to
the punishment of the apostate Jewish nation.
232 Revelation 5:1-14
v. 3 - Here is displayed God’s infinite glory, his grace toward the Church, his punitive righteousness toward the ungodly, all fitted to inspire with courage the fainting souls of believers
• the jasper = holiness (cf. Chapter 21:11 and 22:5)
• the sardis = anger (red/fire, cf. Ezekiel 1:4,27, and Revelation 8:2)
• the rainbow around the throne = the judgment would be an act of grace for the Church (Genesis 9:8-16)
• 24 elders are seated within the circle of the rainbow showing that the Church is the object of God’s grace and protection
• the rainbow is not just the symbol of grace, but of grace returning after wrath
v. 4 - the 24 elders are a complete circle representing the whole Church(as is plain from 5:8-10 - and cf. 5:6,11; 7:11; 11:16; Mt. 19:28 and Rev.
3:21).
• the totality of the saints of the O.T. and N.T. are here represented by their chiefs and their leaders
• there is only one true Israel and it is henceforth perpetuated in the Christian Church
• the thrones here are thrones of judgment, and the idea is that these elect people join in the judgment with God
• white = the outshining of glory (Cf. Matthew 17:2, Luke 9:29) here it means the righteous will shine forth in the splendor of their virtues
v. 5 - the lightning, voices and thunders are re-intimations of the judgment about to begin
• never are thunders praises but rather are a standing figure of God’s anger/judgment
• these things are both frightful and yet agreeable — frightful with respect to the enemies of God — agreeable with respect to his elect
v. 6 - the sea denotes vastness, and thus against the flood of human wickedness stands the infinite ocean of divine wrath.
• the meaning of the vision is:
(1) the purity of glass = “just and true are your ways, O King of the nations”
(2) and the clear and brilliant glitter of the crystal = “great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty”
• this great sea of pure glass like crystal represents God’s infinity, absolute glory, and perfect justice (the Church cannot look into this sea
often enough — what is needed is to stop fixing our eyes on the flood of evil in the world, and to fix our eyes on this).
• the four living creatures are composite representations = they symbolize the whole of creation as subsumed under man’s headship (this
shows that we are not to deem them to be angels).
v. 7 – there’s an old Jewish Saying that there are four that take the first place in this world (1) man among all creatures; (2) the eagle among
birds; (3) the ox among cattle; and (4) the lion among wild beasts - but it is only man who has the dominion
• Ezekiel 1:5 says “and this is their appearance: they have the form of a man” so all three are man-like except for the face, and one is entirely man-like. In Revelation 4:8 and 19:4 these “fall down” with the elders to worship the Lamb (incongruous if some were quadrupeds)
v. 8 -the Cherubim, here, have not four wings, as in Ezekiel, but six like the seraphim of Isaiah 6.(Cf. Genesis 3:24; Exodus 25:18f; I Kings 6:24;
Ezekiel 10:20,21). The change in number indicates that this is only symbolic of progress in revelation.
• “the chief virtues are thereby indicated - reverence, humility, and obedience”
• the words “have no rest day and night” = Psalm 19:3
v. 9 - “And when the beasts shall give…etc” = repeated activity
• they throw down their crowns = it was, in a way, heavy and burdensome for them to wear their crowns in the presence of God, so lively
was their feeling of their own littleness and unworthiness.
• this is peculiar to all, who reign with Christ; conscious of their own unworthiness, they venerate with deepest reverence the majesty of
God and Christ and wish to arrogate no glory and honor to themselves.
• this celebration of God’s praise from the works of creation is intended to awaken the Church’s confidence in the the final victory of the
righteous over the wicked.
• the doctrine of creation is cited here as a pledge for the completion of the Kingdom of God. Since he did the earlier he can also do the later.
• anyone holding fast the doctrine of creation will be secure from doubting the completion of God’s Kingdom program.
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REV.5
Apr 10, 2024 13:19:43 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Apr 10, 2024 13:19:43 GMT -5
Rev.5-19....
Revelation Chapter 5
Then appeared in the right hand of him who sat on the throne “a scroll” sealed with seven seals.233 The Lion of the tribe of Judah — the Root of David — is the only one who can open this book. He is revealed as “a Lamb standing as though it had been slain, having seven horns and
seven eyes.” His position is “in the midst of the throne.”234 (v. 6) [Note:
In chapter 22:1, it is called “the throne of God and of the Lamb.” The throne belongs to the Lamb as well as to God].
• The eyes and horns are symbols of wisdom and power.
• The slain lamb symbolizes the mystery of redemption.
• The position in the throne suggests heavenly authority 233 Revelation 5:1 234 Revelation 5:6
• All extol the Christ as the great Revealer of divine mysteries.
v. 1 - The book records the sentence of God against the enemies of the church.
• it represents the decrees235 of God which are secret until they unfold in history (Cf. Deuteronomy 29:29 - cf. Daniel 12:8,9; Isaiah. 29:11)
• it is not a literal book
• the contents are made known as each seal is removed.
v. 2,3 - To know these decrees is only possible for one who is in such unity with God as to share in his divine nature (Cf. Matthew 11:27).
v. 4 - it seemed as if matters were coming to a dismal end for the Kingdom of God: the present despaired of and the future dark!
• John’s weeping = weakness of faith. It can only be understood [“I wept much”] by those who have seen great calamities in the church and have felt pain with her in her sufferings. “Without tears the Revelation was not written, neither can it, without tears, be understood. ”Bengel
v. 5 - by the overcoming here can only be meant the overcoming of the difficulties which stood in the way of opening the book.
• Opening the book = victory over sin and Satan through the Lord’s death and the shedding of blood. The opening of the book is therefore a reward for having finished the work of redemption.
• in Christ the race of David lives anew and the tribe of Judah achieves its destiny or goal.235 “What are the decrees of God? The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q/A 6).v. 6 - What the elder had announced to John is now in fact and reality exhibited to him!
• the Lamb was between God and the circle of elders because he is mediator between them.
• the Lamb isn’t dead now, but John could see that it once was slain.
• horns = symbols of victorious power, and 7 = perfection of strength
• the 7 spirits/eyes = indicates that the Holy Spirit of God the Father is also the Holy Spirit of God the Son
• the Holy Spirit is here seen as multifaceted in his operations
v. 7 - The secrets of the future can never be concealed from one who has the seven-fold Spirit of God.
v. 8,9 -Note that the four living creatures and the 24 elders fall down together before the Lamb having golden vials with the prayers of the saints
• the elders represent the whole church of the Old and New Covenant
• the four living creatures represent the redeemed creation as it finds its headship in man
• the subject of the new song is the new reality brought in by the opening of the book
• the kindreds, tongues and peoples remind us of Genesis 10:5, 20, 31, 32 and mark the territory of the conquest of Christ as co-extensive
with the whole human race v. 10,11 - Angels surround the throne, the beasts and the elders, so they are not so near to God as man is! They are servants, but we are sons. v. 12 - Angels take a deep interest in our redemption (1 Peter 1:12)
• the eulogy here contains 7 items and is similar to the 10-fold eulogy of 1 Chronicles 29:11,12. This shows us that Jesus is rightly given
the praise and honor that belongs to God alone.v. 13 - Here all of creation, in distinction from the angels, joins in praising God and the Lord Jesus (Cf. Psalm 148).
• lifeless things praise God by their very existence.
• the wicked too must render praise to God and His Christ by being subject to his punishment!
v. 14 - The personified (symbolized) living creatures of the earth, under man’s headship, say ‘Amen’ to all this.
• they affirm it to be good.
• and then the part of the creation which constitutes the church worships God (= symbolized by worship of the 24 elders) Revelation Chapters 6
v. 1 - “And I saw when the Lamb” = I was looking as the Lamb did this
• the first four seals apparently have a close resemblance and connection
• note too, that each is introduced by the cry ‘come’ from one of the living beings
• why? because they are representatives of the land on which the judgments disclosed will be inflicted
• these judgments are terrible for the unbelieving, but comforting to the Church
• the first four seals correspond to the symbols of Zecheriah 6:2-3, and denote determinations of conquest, bloodshed, famine, and aggravated slaughter or mortality v. 2 - note: there’s something special about the first announcement
• some Greek manuscripts have kai ide [and behold] (here only) and then “come and see” but all manuscripts say “and I saw, and behold!” = a
sign of something noteworthy.
• To understand the white horse rider as a symbol of Christ per se, as many do, and the other riders as symbols of war, famine, etc., involves the interpretation in confusion of imagery. If the first rider denotes a person, the others should too; but, in any case, according to analogy of corresponding prophecies, this is a fourfold symbol of impending judgment.
• It may be, however, that the first rider represents the Church going forth to conquer as empowered by Christ (Cf. Acts 1:1 and Matthew
28:18-20, Romans 8:37 and 16:20, etc.)
• This corresponds with our Lord’s prediction of empire-wide gospel preaching (Matthew 24:14), wars and rumors of wars, falling by the edge of the sword, famines, pestilences, terrors, days of vengeance, and unheard of horrors.
It is confirmed by:
1) the similarity with 19:11,12 (here the beginning, there the end of the battle.
2) the similarity with Zecheriah 1:7-17 where the chief horseman is identified as the Lord.
3) the crown [stefanoj] is the crown of royal dignity (cf. Psalm 45 and Revelation 19:16)
4) the other horses only have significance as ‘another’ after what He does
• “conquering and to conquer” = for victory and nothing but victory. The object of victory is the world as hostile to Christ
• the book is primarily for the church’s consolation. The church’s courage is revived when it keeps the vision of this heavenly King before its eyes, as he is even now going forth to battle and to victory v. 3, 4 - here is the threat of blood, conflict and discord
• one of the chief means whereby Christ subdues an antichristian world, breaking its might, confidence, and arrogance
• to see war and terror overspread the world is to see the hand of Christ and the dawn of victory.v. 5,6 - black = the color of mourning / the balances = scarcity
• it is not a complete famine: some things are spared [as in the 7th plague] wheat, rye were spared — flax, barley were not (cf. Exodus 9:31,32)]
• bad crops and scarcity = one of the scourges in the hand of Christ by which he chastises unbelief and enmity against himself and the
church (it continues through this era and it issues in his complete victory) v. 7,8 - the pale horse is an image of death
• it intensifies the disclosures of the second and third horses.
• yet it only affects 1/4 of the human race = it is not universal destruction it is not the end of the human race — it is a measured chastisement (as in a great war, for instance)
• all these limited judgments are directed to one end — chastening and breaking the pride of enemies of the church, restraining their persecution, and converting those who are to be converted
• all that follows is really an aspect of his victory (a deepening disclosure of the means)
• there is no reason to take these chronologically. 9 - The fifth seal is a martyr-scene
• the blood of souls crying out from under the altar — slain for the Word of God (6:9-10). This = Jesus’ announcement that his followers would be put to death (Matthew 24:9; Luke 21:16).
• The white robes and the comfort given to the martyrs answer to Jesus’ pledge that in their patience they should secure their souls = “whoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel’s shall save it” (Mark 8:35).
• here the impending provisional judgments are more frightful catastrophes which bring that final judgment into view
• so much so that they must suggest the ominous certainty of a coming final judgment
• Hengstenberg says these souls are not to be thought of as the literal disembodied souls in the intermediate state (as true as that concept
is) but as ‘the animal souls’ or blood of the martyrs, crying out as it were, in the sense of Genesis 9:5!
• when John received this vision many had already been killed and the
thought of a need for vengeance was strong — ‘How long, O Lord’ would be the sentiment
• the white garment = symbolic of heavenly glory which suffices until the time when the Kingdom of glory is consummated on earth
• but first they must wait ‘til their full number is filled up (cf. Matthew. 23:35,36) — if the completion was precipitately hurried, the
precious opportunity would be denied those who come after us of saying, with Paul, ‘I have finished my course. . .’
• But these souls will only wait for “a little time” (verse 11), even as Jesus said all the martyr-blood shed from the time of Abel would be
visited in vengeance upon that generation, even on Jerusalem the murderess of the prophets (Matthew 33:34-38).
• And then, to show how quickly the retribution comes — like the “immediately after the tribulation” of Matthew 24:29 — the 6th seal is opened to show the terrors of the end (vv. 12-17). v. 12-17 - the sixth seal
(1) first the calamity is described (in vv. 12-14). This description is completed in the number 7, divided by 4 and 3.
(a) the earthquake,
(b) sun becoming black, moon as blood, and the stars falling,
(c) the heavens disappearing,
(d) the mountains and the islands moving out of their place.
It is important, here to notice the striking parallel between what is stated here in the vision granted to John, and the almost identical things that Jesus’ said in his prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives:
THE SIXTH SEAL THE OLIVET PROPHECY
1. “And behold, there was a great “And there shall be earthquakes in earthquake” various places” (Mt. 24:7).
2. “And the sun became black as “Immediately after…tribulation of sackcloth of hair…” those the sun will be darkened” (v. 29)
3. “And the moon became as blood” “And the moon will not give its light”
4. “And the stars of heaven fell unto “And the stars shall fall from heaven” the earth…”
5. “And the heavens departed as a “And the powers of the heaven scroll when it is rolled together’ will be shaken’ (Mt. 24:29)
6. “And the kings, etc., hid them- “Then they shall begin to say to the selves…and said to the mount- mountains, ‘Fall on us: and to the hills, and rocks, Fall on us, and cover us’” (Lk. 23:30).hide us…etc.’
• Can there be any doubt that John’s vision is about the same event that our Lord predicted?
(2) Then, in verses 15-17, the impression this makes on the inhabitants of the land is described.
• that things in verses 12-14 are figurative proved from verses 15-17 (in which we are still in the existing state of things)
• of the things that characterize the final hour — the resurrection — the tribunal of Christ (Matthew 25) — not a word is said
• that this to be understood figuratively of the “great tribulation” of 70 A.D. is clear from what follows = men are still alive after the catastrophe — Christ’s second coming (parousia) is still future. Now to the details. 12 - earthquakes are events in the realm of ‘nature,’ and are intended here as symbols of the destroying omnipotence of God, and precursors of approaching ruin (Cf. Psalm 46:56; Haggai 2:6,22)
• the shaking of earth and heaven denotes great changes in the state of nations brought about by God’s omnipotent power
• this is not a literal darkening of the sun, moon, and stars but rather a momentous change in the status of rulers of the world’s nations, who
see the coming of God’s wrath upon them in this way - [Cf. Isaiah5:30, Jeremiah 4:23, 15:9, Ezekiel 32:7,8 Amos 8:9,10.]
• since such symbolic language is frequent in the O.T. it would be against the analogy of Scripture to take it in another way here
v. 13 - stars are such a natural image of the greatness and splendor of worldly rulers and the employment of them in this sense is found in
almost all nations, and pervades Scripture (Cf. Numbers 24:7, Isaiah34: 4,5, 24:21, 14:12, Daniel 8:10
• those who have been leaders in conflict with the Kingdom of God,and in persecuting the Church, will be the first to experience his avenging hand.
• abuse of power will lead to the absolute loss of power and “the eyes of our hearts” (Ephesians 1:18) should enable us to ‘see’ that these
‘stars’ are falling by the sovereign hand of Jesus v. 14 - thus the heaven of v. 14 is the heaven of princes
• the rolling up = the annihilation of the whole civil and ecclesiastical system of the nation under consideration
• as vv. 12-14 describe what was done toward them, so vv. 15-17 describe how they were thereby affected
• Julian’s exclamation ‘O Galilean, Thou hast conquered’ was an application of this principle - so was the famous remark of Napoleon on the island to which he was banished to die.
Revelation Chapter 7
The painful concern, which would surely arise even in the faithful on account of the judgments, is here met by a double consolation
(1) God holds — over them — his protecting hand while war and terrors spread over the Roman empire (vv. 1-8).
(2) then there is opened up a view of celestial glory which beckons after short tribulation.
v. l - the winds have not yet moved = the judgments have not yet begun to take effect.
• winds are symbolic of divine judgments effected (Cf. Ezekiel 1:4, Jeremiah 22:22, 49:36; Daniel 11:4)
• divine judgments were to break on all sides but were to be held in restraint by the four angels until the saints were protected.
• the sea = the sea of men or nations (The writer was reminded of this on V-Day in Chicago at the end of World War II. The ‘sea’ of faces
moved on that occasion like the waves of the sea).
• the trees = kings, strong ones (cf. 8:7, 9:4 and Isaiah 10:18,19, Daniel 4, Ezekiel 31:3 etc).
• hurting of the trees brings injury to those under its branches.v. 2 - Hengstenberg thinks the angel here = Jesus as in the O.T. and Rev. 10:1, and 18:1. This interpretation is favored by
(1) the authority he exercises over the other angels;
(2) the fact that he comes from the place of the rising of the sun (Cf. Luke. 1:78, Malachi 3:20); and
(3) by the fact that he possesses the seal of God.
• Before the impending judgment falls the elect are sealed, and there appear two companies,
(1) the elect of the twelve tribes of Israel (the Jews who become part of the Christian Church), and
(2) the innumerable company of believers who are called out of all the nations and tongues (the Gentile part of the Church). All — Jew and the
Gentile alike — wash their robes to make them white in the Lamb’s (Ch. 7).
• This = Jesus’ words: “He shall send forth his angels with a great trumpet-sound, and they shall gather his elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31).
• the act of sealing also shows this to be Christ (2 Timothy 2:19; Exodus 12:23 and Ezekiel 9:3-6)+ things are sealed either to (a) make them inaccessible, or (b) to confirm them — here the sense of confirmation is more suitable.
+ this marks the elect of God as those to be protected from ominous threatening's (9:4; 14:1; 22:4; also 13:16,17; 14:9; 16:2; 19:20 & 20:4).
v. 4 - 144,000 = not a statistical but a symbolic number
• The great multitude no man can number can best be seen this way: 12 is the signature of the church - the 12 tribes and the 12 apostles
multiplied by 1,000 - the number of fullness).
+ The tribe of Dan is not named = we are not to understand this as
true of the whole Jewish nation
+ It also reminds us that the tribes of Israel were the nucleus and
root of the New Testament Church
+ but why is Dan the one that is missing? Probably because the Danites
introduced false worship (Judges 8). Those Jews who are of Israel but
not “true Israel” are excluded (cf. Romans 2:28,29).
+ the Book of Revelation can only be understood by those who pay
attention to the Old Testament Scriptures.v. 5-8 - Note too, that Ephraim is omitted, while Joseph is listed. Why?
Because the Ephramite Micah (Judges 18) first instituted the false worship which was later passed on to the Danites.
• again note that Judah (who was 4th) is here first. Why? Because Jesus was from the tribe of Judah.
• note that the tribe of Levi is demoted. Why? Because all believers are now prophets, priests and kings!
• there remains, in other words, a basis in the original tribal set up: but
there has also been a series of modifications.
• the principle is that in Christ differences of birth and external privilege are abolished. (Cf. Galarians 3:29)
vv. 9-17 - heavenly glory is now presented as an added consolation
v. 9 - the vast multitude is not of the NT only. (Cf. Genesis 13:16, 15:5, Numbers 13:10
• this symbolism is from the feast of Tabernacles. Cf. Leviticus 23:40 and Deuteronomy 16:14,15.
• as people rejoiced as Jesus rode through the streets of earthly Jerusalem, so now elect do in heavenly Zion (cf. Zechariah 14:16)
v. 10 - they are constrained to praise God greatly for his love and goodness and Christ for his atonement for them
v. 11,12 - if the angels sang at Christ’s birth, how much more now!
• If there’s rejoicing at the conversion of one sinner how much more at the great (final) Feast of Tabernacles
v. 13 - there was probably an unexpressed desire in John to know. So the elder meets his desire this way — at times we need a question, before we
can understand our own deepest need!
v. 14 – this phrase – “the great tribulation” - we understand to be what Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:21. He said nothing comparable had ever
happened before, and nothing comparable to it would ever happen again. That is why he called it “the great tribulation.”
• the oppression of the church by the world powers = the starting point and central concern of this book. We see the church (as it was in the
Jewish nation, which had been its custodian for centuries) here as shattered and broken as respects its Old Testament form.
• but here everything still wears much of a general character: the final catastrophe is only very partly or somewhat described by the profound silence of the lately so noisy world.
• all bears the impress of a prelude to a general plan, which is afterward to be followed by further development.
The opening of the sixth seal brought John to the very verge of the promised desolation, and we might naturally suppose that the seventh
would usher in the ultimate description of the end. But it issues in the vision of the seven trumpets, which traverses the same event again, with
an awesome portrayal of the signs, wonders, and terrors as indicated by the symbols of the sixth seal [this is similar to going over the same prophetic ground in the visions of Daniel].
Revelation Chapter 8
We understand the trumpets to be symbolic announcements of the fearful sights and signs from heaven of which Jesus spoke.
• “the abomination of desolation, Jerusalem compassed with armies”
= the “signs in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the land distress of nations in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; men fainting for fear and for expectation of the things coming on the world” (Luke 21:25,26).
These visions are a general poetical representation of the great revolutions connected with the events of cosmic significance effected through the first coming of our Lord to the world. These images, taken particularly from the narrative of the Egyptian plagues, are used symbolically, and we are not to press the details by our own speculations.
• Thus, the first four trumpet woes fall, respectively, on the land, the sea, the rivers and fountains of water, and the lights of heaven. The
imagery is appropriated from the account of the plagues of Egypt, and from other parts of the O.T. Note: these plagues do not ruin everything but, like Ezekiel’s symbols (5:2), each destroys a third.
• Here we have another series of catastrophes, which bear the signature of the half and incomplete
• it is only when we come to 7th trumpet that we find ourselves at the same point that we were when the 7th seal was opened
• so the catastrophes here can only be identical to the others
• this group, like the former, retains a rather general character
• trumpets in the Bible are used
(1) to summon God’s people to assemble;
(2) to announce the destruction on God’s enemies (Jericho)
and
(3) to proclaim the Jubilee year (Leviticus 25:13).
•the sound is exciting/joyful for believers, but frightful for the ungodly. v. 2 - to stand before God = “behold the face of the Father in heaven” as revealed in the exalted Jesus (Matthew 18:10 & John 1:18)
• some angels are higher than others (Cf. Col. 1:16, 2:10 etc.)v. 3 - in the first persecution of the Christian Church believers prayed with great earnestness.
• the altar is only symbolic = the altar of incense (Leviticus 16:12)
• the prayer = Joel 2:17 or Psalm 9:19
• the fact that it stands before the Lord = the veil is now removed v. 4,5 - the connection between these prayers and the fiery indignation
about to overtake the adversaries is indicated by thundering's etc. = preintimations of approaching revolutions on earth.
v. 6 - the angels do not inflict the punishment they only announce it (except that in the 6th there is a direct angelic agency, but even here the announcing angel is not involved directly).
v. 7 - concentrated in a great and fiery hail-storm John sees the desolations of war, which bursts forth
• the prototype was the 7th plague of Egypt
• to say “mingled with blood” = that they are emblems of war in its desolating and consuming power
• as it has respect to the whole land, this shows that all parts of the land of Israel were to be affected
• the object of judgment is the whole land but, at the same time, it is only a third part that is destroyed = this is not the final judgment
• the trees = symbols of the high and mighty v. 8 - the expression “like a great mountain” = not a literal mountain. In O.T. mountains were symbolic of kingdoms
• in Zechariah 4:7 the great mountain before Zerubbabel was the Persian Kingdom. It set itself against the temple. In Revelation 17:9 there are 7!
• the meaning therefore is that the worldly powers will be punished by
war and conquest
• it is not the Roman Empire in a narrow sense which is seen in 17:15 where it is said to be “peoples and multitudes and nations and
tongues,” but also those who are allied with it.
• and the sea = mankind v. 10,11 - the star falls from heaven (i.e. heaven causes it to fall)
• denotes the sudden unexpected nature of the occurrence
• the sea = masses of people - the rivers and waters are an image of affluence, prosperity, success
• the star contrasts with the wood cast into the bitter waters by Moses (for his people God makes the bitter waters sweet; for the unbelieving world, he makes the sweet water bitter)
• the fire = wrath and plunder v. 12 - the shining lights of heaven = the true God’s favor shining on men just as the darkening symbolizes his anger and the withdrawal of his blessings.
• God’s smiting is the cause, the darkening's that take place are the effect. v. 13 - The last three trumpets are announced as signals of still more severe woes (8:13).
• the typical English translation of v. 13 gives the impression that these woes are pronounced upon the entire world. But, as Milton Terry said:
“The common English Version (‘of the earth’) appears to have misled not only many common readers, but even learned commentators. No Hellenist of our Lord’s day would have understood e.,pi th/j gh/j as equivalent to all nations of the inhabited globe. The phrase is traceable
to Zechariah 12:12, where all the families of the land [LXX th/j gh/j] of Judah are represented as mourning.” And as J. Stuart Russell says:
“The rendering of gh/j by earth instead of land, and of a.iw,n by world instead of age, have been most fruitful sources of mistake and confusion in the interpretation of the New Testament.”
Revelation Chapter 9
Tormenting locusts from the abyss are introduced by the 5th trumpet
• They assume the form of a mighty army after the manner of Joel’s description (Joel 2:1-11), and are permitted to torment those who have not the seal of God upon them.
• They = unclean spirits of demons, which were permitted to come forth in those days of vengeance and possess and torment those who had
given themselves over to wickedness. v. 1 - the star = a ruler, or one who has (or, had) a high position
• The star fallen from heaven — to whom was given the key of the pit of the abyss — can scarcely denote any other than the Satan whom Jesus saw falling like lightning from heaven (Luke 10:18), and the two descriptive titles Abaddon (destruction) and Apollyon (destroyer) were
appropriate designations for Satan, the prince or chief of the demons. It should be noted also that in Revelation 17:2 fallen Babylon (old Jerusalem) is described as “become a habitation of demons and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful thing.”
• The fact that this star falls from heaven indicates that there is a supernatural background to events taking place on earth. It also indicates that even deeds of the fallen angels are under God’s sovereign control.
• God places these in a fitting position where they have the opportunity of spreading through a wide circle the hellish spirit!
• Was it not some fact like this before the mind of Jesus when he spoke of that unclean spirit that took seven others, more wicked than
himself, and returned to occupy the house from which he had been cast out? He said:“So shall it be with this wicked generation” (Matthew 12:43-45).
v. 2 - the smoke = the hellish spirit of evil that covers the earth
• darkening of sun, moon and stars = spiritually dark and distressing times come on the land in consequence of the apostasy of those in positions of authority and leadership (Mt. 23)v. 3 - out of the general climate of darkness (having rejected the light of divine revelation) from hell comes a multitude of errors
• often invading hosts are compared to locusts in the Scripture (Judges 6:5 Jeremiah 46:23, 51:27).
• symbolically this shows warlike devastations.
• destructive of trees and plants = the effect on persons in high positions and those under them
v. 4 - the fact that it hurts only some while others are protected shows that it is not literal (i.e. believers are all exempted spiritually. They
would not be literally)v. 5 - the effect of this ‘woe’ will be very great!
• The purpose of these demons is to promote sin and its pleasures, and evil passions and their results, so that reprobate men follow them to
the full, only to be tortured in the end by these same demons on the rack of pessimism and despair!
• This doesn’t mean that suicide is literally impossible: but that there will be a general, cultural, death-wish and yet life will continue.
• Describing the impiety of the Jewish leaders that Jesus condemned, Josephus remarks: “No age ever bred a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was from the beginning of the world…I suppose that had the Romans made any longer delay in coming against these villains the city would either have been swallowed up by the ground opening upon them, or been overwhelmed by water, or else been destroyed by such thunder as the country of Sodom perished by; for it had brought forth a generation of men much more atheistically than were those that suffered such punishments; for by their madness it was that all the people came to be destroyed…” [Whiston’s Josephus; Wars, Book. 5, Chapters 10:6, and 13:6.]” v. 7-11 gives a description of the symbolic locusts
• The key we find in Abaddon and Apollyon, meaning destruction or destroyer (synonymous words).
• This = a picture of opposition to Christ. It is a power. It is a force. It is lawlessness (men with hair as women [1 Cor. 11:14,15]). The barbarian Parthians wore long hair. It was a symbol in ancient times of people whose lust was uncontrolled.
• Again we see this person as purely symbolic — like the Russian Bear of old newspaper cartoons — a figure of the world system as it stands against Christ (under various leaders) — “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers” (Ephesians 6:12).
• this smoke = the influence of Satanic darkness in the multiplied errors, delusions, evil compulsions etc., as these came upon the Jews in
the last days when the Jewish nation expired. (2 Thessalonians 2:11)v. 12 - the 6th trumpet now sounds and we have the second woe
• Four angels bound at the Euphrates river are loosed to execute God’s vengeance
• They spread over the land with a vast number of horsemen.
• One third of the people (anqrwpoi = humans) are destroyed, but there
is still no repentance. So they must expect the final woe. v. 13 - the voice comes from the altar — it is the place where the prayers
of the saints are offered
• They desire the loosing of the 4 angels; its in response to their prayers that it happens
• They were bound by God’s decree (i.e. unable to move until he allowed) — these warlike hosts can do nothing, but what they are foreordained to do by God v. 14 - here, again, we quote Rev. J. Stuart Russell
• “It is in these crucial instances, which defy the dexterity of the most cunning hand to pick the lock, that we prove the power of our master
key. Let us fix first upon that which seems most literal in the vision, ‘the great river Euphrates.’ That, at least, can scarcely be symbolical. There are said to be four angels bound, not in the river, but at, or on, the river [epi tw potamw]. The loosing of these four angels sets free a vast horde of armed horsemen, with the strange and unnatural characteristics described in the vision. What is the real and actual that we may gather out of this highly wrought imagery? How is it that these horsemen come from the region of the Euphrates?
How is it that four angels are bound on that river? Now it will be remembered that the locust invasion came from the abyss of hell; this invading army comes from the Euphrates. This fact serves to unriddle the mystery. The invading army that followed Titus to the siege and capture of Jerusalem was actually drawn in great measure from the region of the Euphrates. That river formed the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire, and we know as a matter of fact that it was kept by four legions, which were regularly stationed there. These four legions we conceive to be symbolized by the four angels bound at, or on, the river. The ‘loosing of the angels’ is equivalent to the mobilizing of the legions, and we cannot but think the symbol as poetical, as it is historically truthful. But, it will be said, Roman legions did not consist of cavalry. True; but we know that along with the legionaries from the Euphrates there came to the Jewish war auxiliary forces drawn from the very same region. Antiochus of Commagene, who, as Tacitus tells us, was the richest of all the kings who submitted to the authority of Rome, sent a contingent to
the war. His dominions were on the Euphrates. Sohemus, also, another powerful king, whose territories were in the same region, sent a force to co-operate with the Roman army under Titus. Now the troops of these Oriental kings were, like their Parthian neighbors,
mostly cavalry; and it is altogether consistent with the nature of allegorical or symbolical representation that in such a book as the Apocalypse these fierce foreign hordes of barbarian horsemen should assume the appearance presented in the vision.” (Parousia
p. xxx) v. 15 - the preparation = the time that God has foreordained
• the word translated ‘mankind (a.,nqrwpoi) in Greek from which we get our term anthropology. It does not mean men/man in the masculine
sense, but people of both genders. Here it does not refer to the whole of mankind, but to the people of Judea.
v. 16 - the number is enormous (200,000,000) which symbolizes a vast number with seemingly invincible power.
v. 17 - everything is symbolic of ferocity and destruction
• When the results of godless, humanistic rule and the degeneration of life by Satanic delusion bring no repentance, then the Lord sends a
terrible judgment through the instrumentality of other nations.
• In other words, this world-power is seen as a thing of which Satan is the moving Spirit — yet God controls and uses it for his purpose
• It is a judgment of God upon the unrepentant land of Israel, and neither the calamities, nor the judgment expressed by them, produce the
requisite repentance
• and so we go on to the second part of the book which reveals the destiny of the Church. Notice at this point the reference to the “Little
Book” (cf. Luke 12:32) whereas, up to this point, it was the “Big Book.”
Revelation Chapter 10
At this point — when we might expect the seventh trumpet to sound — there is a pause, and behold, “another mighty angel” comes down from the heaven, “clothed with a cloud, and rainbow was on his head; his face like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire” (10:1).
• The attributes of this angel, and their correspondence with the description of the Son of man in chap. 1:13-16, point him out as no other than the Lord himself.
• He is “the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” which Jesus himself foretold as destined to come
to pass in that generation (Matthew 24:30-34). His glorious appearance at this point seems like a prelude to the sound of the last trumpet, but there is delay. It is not to defer the catastrophe, but to furnish an opportunity for the voice of the seventh angel to say the mystery
of God is about to be finished (vv. 6 and 7). 236In 10:1-11:13 we have a kind of interlude prior to this.
• First, by symbolic action — then by an express word — a strong angel announces that when the trumpet of the 7th angel sounds, full and
perfect realization of all of the promises made to the Church will be accomplished (vv. 2-7)
•Then he gives to the prophet a little book having painful contents.It is designed to enable him,and the church,to endure with a courageous spirit.
• He swallows the little book, and is thereby endowed with the ability to utter the prophecy which follows
• The Church (up to that time contained in the nation of Israel) had become subjected to the power of the world, not only externally, but 236 It is in accord with apocalyptic usage that the Son of man should appear in this book under various forms. First the glorious Christophany, then as a Lamb with 7 horns and 7 eyes (v, 6), then as the mighty, rainbow-encircled Angel of this passage (10:1), then as Michael (12:7), and as the Son of man on a cloud (14:14), then as the rider on the white horse (19:11), and finally as the Judge on a great white throne (20:11). Thus the Apocalypse fittingly reveals him in manifold aspects of his character and glory. So, also, the arch-enemy, or antichrist, appears under various forms of manifestation, as Abaddon, or Apollyon, the angel of the abyss (9:11), the great red dragon (12:3), the beast out of the land (13:11), the scarlet-colored beast on which the harlot is sitting (17:3).partly also internally. The elect, however, remained steadfast. And the Church is purged by God’s judgment v.1 - this strong angel must be Christ: for these attributes are not given to creatures (“I will not give my glory to another” Isaiah 42:8)
• planting feet on the sea (= the rest of mankind) and the land (= Israel) indicates his approaching possession and merging of both under his dominion in a world-wide church
• the fire images the consuming character of God
• the pillars = the omnipotence. 2-7 what is stated here is designed to counter the doubt and disquiet which the partly distressing contents of the little book elicit
• That the big book was sealed = no one but Christ can explain God’s plan for the world and the Church’s victory over it
• So the little book is now opened = the subject treated in it is something that is self-evident (Luke 12:32) v. 3 - that the loud voice had a hostile sound is made clear by its comparison with the roar of a lion (Joel 3:16 “The Lord will roar out of Zion”)
• The first beast rising out of the sea = the ungodly world power (which was then concentrated in the Roman Empire)
• the second beast rising out of the land = the ungodly regional power (which was preeminently the apostate Judaism)
v. 4 - intelligible speech is attributed to the thunders — otherwise it would have been impossible to write what they spoke
• The meaning is seen in Dan. 8:26 and 12:4 and 9 — there it was permanently, here only temporarily, kept secret
• The reason here is that the basis for understanding is still wanting.
• Hence the injunction not to seal = the fulfillment would soon illuminate the meaning (cf. “this generation will not pass until…all these
things” are fulfilled – Matthew 24:34). vv. 5-7 - the oath forms a commentary on the meaning of the planting of the foot on earth and sea -
• He who made heaven and earth will not be satisfied with less than complete victory and dominion over the land (Israel) and the sea (the
Gentile world)• the object of the oath is that no more delay will be allowed.
• The mystery is the realization of the dominion of Christ (all of this was revealed to John for consolation. Only then was content of the
little book, with its pain-causing contents, revealed to the Apostle).v. 8 - from Ezekiel 2:8f we see the analogy.
• From this we expect
(1) the little book to be mournful in nature,
(2) to have to do also with the destiny of the world, (3) but primarily with the destiny of the church because of what God does in judging the world.v. 9 - [Cf. Jeremiah 15:16] Even the most bitter divine truths have (for a spiritually minded man) a joyful and refreshing side.
• Sweetness is attributed to the mouth because this is the organ of God’s spokesman, the prophet.
• But in spite of this privileged task and great honor the prophet (John), as a member of the Church, suffers with it!
• What is said here of John applies to all, especially teachers of the Church = we too must eat and swallow not only Bible texts we like,
but all that it teaches — even if it causes us pain. v. 11 - The one who has eaten must prophesy just as the one who has not eaten cannot prophesy!
• the command to prophesy corresponds to the activity which is described in 11:1-13.
• It falls into two divisions: (1) vv. 1-2 gives the promise that the faith
of the elect will not fail, and (2) vv. 3-13 certifies uninterrupted continuance of the office of witnessing
Revelation Chapter 11
The measurement of the temple, altar, and worshipers (11:1), and treading under foot the holy city for 42 months (= three and a half years = time,
times, and a half a time) = that the whole will be given over to desolation.
• This, too, corresponds to our Lord’s words (Luke 21:24): “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles
be fulfilled.” From the analogy of the language of Daniel, the “times of the Gentiles” (kairoi; cf. Luke 21:24, in agreement with the Septuagint version of Daniel 7:25; 11:7) are the “time, times, and half \time” during which the destructive siege was to continue. During this same time sequence the two witnesses prophesy within the doomed city. (Daniel 12:1, 5-7).
• but who (or what) are we to understand these two witnesses to be?
One commentator says: “The allusion to Zecheriah 4 may suggest that these were two notable persons who alone remained in the city
after other Christians fled. These thus became the sole representatives there of the Christian Church.”
The author of The Parousia gives several plausible reasons for supposing they were James and Peter who abode in Jerusalem to the end
(70 A.D.) [See The Parousia, pp. 430-444].
• My own view is that we should not take this to refer to two literal people. My reasons are:
(1) This is against the consistent non-literal symbolism that characterizes this book.
(2) Even more important is the fact that v. 8 speaks of “their dead body [to ptw /ma] in the street of the great city which, spiritually, is
called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.” If John intended to identify two literal men he would hardly refer to
the two of them as having only one body. But, if he intended us to understand a collective body of Jewish and Gentile believers, he
could indeed personify them in this way. This we believe to be the correct understanding. It is an historic fact that in Jerusalem — during “the great tribulation” — both were subject to persecution and even martyrdom (Cf. Acts 7-8).
• With this revelation, which stands as an episode between the sixth and seventh trumpets, we are more fully prepared to feel the tremendous significance of the last trumpet. In the lingering hour of the sixth trumpet — an awesome pause before the final blast — there is
suddenly “a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city fell.”
[Russell says: We could cite from Josephus an almost literal fulfillment of these words. (Wars, Book 4, Chapter 4:6 and. 5:1.)]
v. 1- the Church appears under the symbol of the temple.
• The temple = the true, believing, spiritual body of believers.
• The outer court = those who are superficially affected.
• The significance of measuring is determined by its opposite, the throwing out - where the measuring line ends the abandoning begins.
• With the overflowing of the Church by the world brings it comes to pass that from many who ‘have not, shall have taken away from them
even that which they (seem to) have.’
• Read, for example, what Eusebius says at the beginning of his eighth Book on the Diocletian Persecution! “A serious degeneracy in the
Christian Church preceded it - many were shaken by it - many more made shipwreck - yet true believers remained steadfast, and the
Church was built up…”
• this is the first (main) point: the Church will not be utterly destroyed! v. 3-13 - the second major point is that even in times of most profound
darkness etc., the witnessing office and possession of the gifts of the spirit will still be perpetuated in her.
• For all who feel themselves to be weak, there is much consolation in this “I will give to my two witnesses”
• But at the same time it points to the heavy responsibility
• The two witnesses (the two olive trees) = ideal personification representing the entire church’s work of witnessing (concretely realized in
a multitude of faithful Christians).
• Why two? - because of the law of Moses (cf. Exodus 7:15-25 as when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus (Matthew 17:3 etc.) They are designated as olive-trees and lamps because light and the source of light are concentrated in them. It’s by their faithful witness that the Temple of God (the true Church) is preserved. vv. 5,6 - what Moses and Elijah had done separately, is here said to be done by these two witnesses unitedly
• As Christ is both Lamb and Lion - so the faithful witness of the true Church has two aspects (like a two-edged sword).
• Whatever therefore strikes against him (and his two witnesses) in a hostile manner, will be destroyed by him, as by a consuming fire
v. 7 - they will only be vulnerable when they have finished their testimony, when God has no further need for their service, and when their death
can produce more fruit than their life. And, even then upon their overthrow and death, glorification follows!
• They die only to be glorified. (If this was rightly considered it would banish fear — and foolish concessions!)
• The beast here denotes the ungodly state of the reprobate — hence the pain, mockery, death etc., as the godly share Christ’s reproach v. 8 - “the great city” = Jerusalem. But the honorable name is not used here because it is reserved for something better.
• We do not have here a statement about the city of Jerusalem considered as a political entity, but rather as the degenerate church in contrast
with the purified new Jerusalem. As the Lord was literally crucified in the city of Jerusalem, he is spiritually crucified again in the corrupt
church (cf. Hebrews 6:4-8).
• The degenerate church (the Jewish nation at that time) kills the witnesses, as formerly it had part in killing our Lord (cf. Acts 7:54-60)
• The three and a half days are an imitation of the history of Jesus, whom his faithful servants must follow — as this also indicates the
transitoriness of the world’s victory
• God’s true Church has no weapon of offense but the Word.
• The power of the true Church is such as to torment the ungodly — this will always be in evidence if we are faithful!
v. 11,12) - The form in which the triumph of the two witnesses is described, after apparent defeat, is (again) taken from our Lord’s history.
• Ascent to heaven followed crucifixion — in a sense this is recapitulated in the lives of believers.
• We see this concretely in the recurring victory of truth through men who were reviled in their day (Athanasius, Calvin, Machen) but are
honored now, even in the world, while those who were honored then are now despised. v. 13 - It is the great privilege of the church that while she may be chastened she is not given over to death.
• However frightful these time may be, the result is that her true members always give glory to God.
• Yet there are heavy judgments (not only on the world, but on the visible church also) — and this brings the spirit of repentance
• One olive tree = true Israel from which the false seed is excluded and into which believers of all nations are grafted (Romans 11:17 etc.).
• The position of the two witnesses becomes incomprehensible unless vv. 1-2 are referred to the Christian Church, because they are equally hated by the world-power and by the city “which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (= apostate Judaism and the Jerusalem establishment).v. 14,15 - If the prayers of the saints result in the appearance of the angels with the 7 trumpets, it can be no other than these saints who here triumph and give thanks, when the work of these 7 angels is complete
• “The Kingdoms of this world”, which had long been in enemy hands, are at last recovered — possessed by the Lord and his anointed
vv.16-18 - The Saints thank the Lord that he has come!
• This is not by his providential government (which has always existed) but by a new revelation of his glory through the church.
• Note the emphasis on the small = encouraging the weak and the unworthy. v. 19 - the temple is only opened after the veil is removed.
• “lightnings, noises, thundering's, an earthquake, and great hail” = symbols of judgment on the ungodly counterpart of the heavenly
temple which was the earthly temple below.
• This imagery is like the trumpet that signaled the fall of Jericho. So “quickly” (11:14) this 7th trumpet sounds, and voices in the heaven
say “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever” (v. 15). = The
old age has passed, the new has begun, and the heavenly hosts shout a paean of triumph.
• The blood of the souls that cried from under the altar (6:10) is avenged, and prophets and saints receive their reward (11:18).
• The old temple disappears and the new (and final one) appears in heaven, revealing the long-lost ark of the covenant (v. 19), which is
henceforth accessible to all, Jew and Gentile alike — indeed, all who are washed in the blood of the Lamb.
The last part of Revelation (Chapters 12-22) is not to be taken as describing events chronologically later in time than those described in
chapters 4-11. It simply traverses the same ground again. The two parts have a relation to each other somewhat like the dream of the great image,
followed by the visions of the various beasts in the Book of Daniel, or the two dreams of Pharaoh which were interpreted as being one message by
Joseph (Genesis 41:17-32). They cover the same historical period, but view it under different aspects.
• The first part previewed the terrible vengeance of the Lamb upon his enemies, as if contemplating everything from the idea of the king
“who sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city” in the parable of Jesus (Matthew 22:7).
• The last part presents a vivid outline of the struggle as the Church passes her first crisis, and rises through persecution and danger to
triumph and glory. In other words, we see the same great catastrophe
that appeared in the first part, but under different symbols and with a different perspective.
Revelation Chapter 12
v. 1 - By the woman we understand the Church!
• The man-child (v. 5) represents her children — the faithful believers of the Gospel who constitute the spiritual body of Christ called the
church. The imagery is taken from Isaiah 66:7,8. These are the children of “the Jerusalem which is above,” and which Paul calls “our mother” (Galatians 4:26).
• The statement that this child was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and be caught up to the throne of God, has led many to suppose
that this is a literal reference to our Lord Jesus Christ himself, by himself. But the language of the promise to the church of Thyatira
(Revelation 2:26,27), and the vision of the martyrs who live and reign with Christ for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4-6), show that
Christ’s faithful martyrs whose blood was the seed of the Church, are associated with him in the authority and administration of his Messianic rule. v. 3 - The dragon is the old serpent, the devil. His standing ready to devour the child as soon as born is an image taken from Pharaoh’s attitude toward the infant Israelites (Exodus 1:16).
• Michael (meaning “who is like God?”) and his angels (or messengers) are symbolic names of Christ and his apostles.
• The war in heaven was fought in the same element as that in which the woman appeared, and the casting out of demons by Christ and his
apostles was the reality to which these symbols point (Cf. Luke10:18; John 12:31).
• The soul-conflicts of Christians are similar. [Paul fully recognized the spiritual and demoniacal character of the Christian’s struggle
when he wrote: “Our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Such conflict = war in heaven].
v. 13ff - The flight of the woman into the wilderness = the scattering of the Church by reason of persecution (Cf. Acts 8:1)
• The flight of the church in Judea Jesus authorized when his disciple’s were to see the signs of the end (Mt. 24:16; Lk 21:21).
Revelation Chapter 13
v. 1 - Being cast down from heavenly places, the dragon stood on the sea shore, where he reveals his power by means of a wild beast, seen as coming up out of the sea. v. 2 - This beast combines features of a leopard, a bear, and a lion — from the first three beasts of Daniel’s vision (Daniel 8:4,6). The dragon imparts to this beast all the malignity, the blasphemy, and persecuting violence that characterized Daniel’s fourth beast at the appearance of the little horn (cf. Daniel 7:7,8). Here we note the particulars of the description:
1. The beast comes from the sea.
2. He has 7 heads, and 10 horns and 10 crowns on his horns.
3. He bears names of blasphemy upon his heads.
4. He unites characteristics of beasts seen by Daniel (Chapter 7).
5. It is invested by the dragon with his delegated power.
6. One of its heads is mortally wounded; but is healed.
7. It receives the homage of the whole world.
8. Divine honors are paid to it.
9. It blasphemes God, and wars against the saints.
10. The duration of his power is limited to 42 months.
11. Its number is ‘the number of a man,’ declared to be 666.237
12. He was, and is not, and shall again come (cf. Chapter 17:8).
13. He ascends out of the abyss, and goes to perdition (Chapter 17:8).
14. He is a king: one of seven, and yet the eighth (Chapter 17:11).
• This beast we understand to be the Roman Empire, as represented by Nero, under whom the Jewish war began, and by whom the woman’s seed, the saints (Cf. 12:17 and 13:7), were most bitterly persecuted. His rising out of the sea = a foreign power as viewed from a Jewish (land of Palestine) point of view. The 7 heads and 10 crowns = fulness of power and universal real.
Names of blasphemy = he/it claims divine prerogatives One of the heads being wounded = representing the violent end of Nero
• He was the very incarnation of wickedness and corresponds in every essential with “the man of lawlessness…the son of destruction,” of whom Paul wrote to the 2 Thessalonians 2:3. He was said to be more like a wild beast than a human. He murdered his own brother, and 237 In Chapter 17 other particulars complete the beast’s description (but they do not make discovery of his identity easier. Diligent effort is required). mother, and even his wife. He also set the city of Rome on fire and then blamed the Christians for it. He made himself a slave of the most brutal passions, and arrogated to himself the claim of deity.
1. It is self-evident that the writer intended his readers to be able to identify the person he alludes to. He meant not to puzzle, but to enlighten, his readers.
2. It is equally evident that the explanation does not lie on the surface. It requires wisdom to understand; only one “who has understanding” is competent to discern the meaning.
3. It is plain that what he intends to convey to his readers is the name of the person identified with the beast. His name expresses a certain
number (or, the letters forming his name, when added together, amount to a certain numerical value).
4. The name or number is that of a man (so literally a man and not a beast, or evil spirit, or abstraction.)
5. The number which expresses the name is in Greek characters c x j or in numerical value 600 + 60 + 6.
We have already, on other grounds, arrived at the conclusion that the
beast = the Roman Empire, then ruled by Nero. It is his name, therefore,
that ought to fulfill — not indeed obviously, nor without some research —
yet satisfactorily and conclusively, all the conditions of the symbolism.
That emperor’s name could be written in three different ways: in Latin,
Nero Caesar; in Greek Nervwn Kaisar; and in Hebrew, rsoq nwrn and it is
in the Hebrew that the mystery is solved. (Hebrew reads from right to left!)
n = 50 q = 100
r = 200 s = 60
w = 6 r = 200
n = 50
v. 11 - Along with the first beast another beast was seen coming up out of the land having two horns like a lamb. It was only a satellite — alter
ego and representative — of the first beast, and it exercises its authority.
• If our conclusion as to the identity of the first beast is correct, it ought not to be difficult to discover who or what was intended by the
second beast. In many ways there is a strong resemblance between them: they are of the same nature — though one is supreme and the other subordinate; but there are also points of difference.
• We here list the various particular characteristics:
1. The second beast rises up from the land (Greek: th /n gh /n).
2. It only has 2 horns and they have a lamb-like appearance.
3. It speaks, however, like a dragon.
4. It is clothed with authority delegated from the first beast.
5. It compels men to pay homage or worship the (first) beast.
6. It pretends to exercise miraculous powers.
7. It rules with tyrannical force and cruelty.
8. It denies civil rights to any refusing to submit to that beast.
In interpreting this second beast the following facts are clear:
1 - Its rising out of the land (while the first beast rises out of the sea) indicates that it is a domestic authority ruling Judea [John’s readers
would understand this from his use of the term [τῆς γῆς] ‘the land’in their Greek O.T.translation], while the other is a foreign power
2 - Its having two horns like a lamb, while the first beast has ten, means its sphere is smaller, and its power limited, in comparison
with that of the Roman Empire.
3 - Its having ‘two horns like a lamb’ denotes the appearance of being other than a wild beast
4 - That it (the second beast) speaks as a dragon or serpent, denotes its true character as crafty and deceitful
5 - Its being clothed with the authority of the first beast indicates that its really in willing submission to Rome rather than to the true God.
6 - So the conclusion is that this represents the sad fact that the government of the province of Judea up to the time of “the great tribulation” was that of a puppet of Caesar.238 It is a well known fact that Christians at this time were required to either worship the image of the emperor or face death, and procurators were the emperor’s agents to enforce this measure. Its strange that learned critics will, with an air of contempt, reject an explanation of the “image of the beast” so natural and simple as that given above, and find satisfaction thinking that this image denotes the images of saints set up in papal churches (Faber); or the pope considered as the idol of the Roman Church (Newton, Daubuz); or the temporal power of the pope, and the patrimony granted by Pepin in A. D. 754 (Glasgow); or the papal kingdom or hierarchy which the priesthood established (Lord); or the empire of Charlemagne, regarded as the image of the old heathen Roman Empire (Bede); or the pope’s decretals (Osiander); or the Inquisition (Vitringa); or the papal General Councils of Western Europe (Elliott).
• The second beast is appropriately called “the false prophet” (Revelation 16:13; 20:20). It should be remembered that the Jewish hierarchy was in willing submission to Caesar (cf. John 19:12,15; Luke23:2).
Revelation Chapter 14
This vision of Mount Zion is a glorious contrast to the preceding revelations. It reveals the heavenly side of this period of persecution and trial, and sets it forth in seven exhibitions:
1) First vision is of the Lamb on Mount Zion (heavenly Zion),
2) With him were many thousands of his redeemed out of old Israel who believed in him, and recognized his glory (vv. 1-5). They are part of
the woman’s seed that was caught up to God’s throne (12:5), but are now seen from another point of view.
238 Judea was ruled by procurators, and two procurators specially noted for their tyranny and oppression were Albinus and Gessius Florus. (See Josephus, Ant., Book 20, Chapter 9:1 and Chapter 11:1. Wars, Book 2, Chapters 14 and 15.)
3) Next follows the vision of a flying angel bearing eternal good tidings to every nation (vv. 6-7), a symbolic representation of the gospel beginning to be carried to the nations.
This is accomplished in spite of the dragon and his agents. While the dragon — wielding the forces of the empire — seeks to annihilate the
Church, the true children of the heavenly Jerusalem are caught up to be with Christ in glory; and in spite of the persecution the Gospel is still preached in all the world,239 accompanied with warning and promise. Thus the saints are triumphant “on account of the blood of the
Lamb, and on account of the word of their testimony” (Chapter 12:11).
4) Then an angel — in anticipation — announces the fall of Babylon the great (v. 8), followed by another angel,
5) He warns men not to worship the beast or his image (vv. 9-12).
6) And a voice from heaven then pronounces them blessed who die in the Lord from that time forth (v. 13); as if from that eventful epoch
the dead in Christ should enter at once into a rest which the dead of the previous life could not know.
7) The sixth scene depicts the Son of man as wearing a golden crown, holding a sharp sickle in his hand (vv. 14-10).
8) With this soon appeared another angel having a sharp sickle, and the land was reaped, and the winepress, trodden outside the city, spread
rivers of blood that seemed to deluge all the land. (This is but another picture of the same catastrophe, seen from another point of view).
Revelation Chapters 15 & 16The vision of the seven bowls (fia ,laj, or vials) full of the wrath of God which are called the seven last plagues (Rev. 15,16) is another symbolic
review of what was previously indicated by seven the seven seals (Chapters 4-7), and the seven trumpet-woes (of Chapters 8-11), with which they
minutely correspond. Note the parallels: 239 As the apostle Paul put it in 2 Timothy 2:9 “I am suffering, bound with chains as a
criminal. But the word of God is not bound!”
The Trumpets The Vials
1. Plagues poured on the land Plagues poured on the land
2. Affects the sea, which becomes Affects the sea, which becomes as blood as blood
3. Affects the rivers & fountains Affects the rivers & fountains
4. Affects sun, moon & stars Affects the sun
5. The abyss (seat of beast) opened The abyss (seat of beast) opened Men tormented Men tormented
6. Angels at Euphrates loosed to Angels at Euphrates loosed to muster hordes of cavalry muster for battle of great day
7. Catastrophe, judgment on King- Catastrophe, proclamation of the Kingdom proclaimed. Awful natural phenomena - voices, thundering, & voices, thundering, and an earthquake
We understand these to be parallel visions of one and the same judgment of God (similar to the parallel visions in the book of Daniel). They are
like the two dreams of Pharaoh (Genesis 41:1-36), showing that these things are firmly decreed by God, and that he will certainly and shortly
bring them to pass (Genesis 40:32). Revelation Chapters 17 - 18
Many interpreters have held it to be virtually self-evident that the Babylon of the Book of Revelation is the city of Rome: ‘Empress of the
World’ in John’s day, and since that time the seat and center of the most corrupt form of Christianity that the world has seen (the Roman Catholic
Church). This is thought to be placed beyond question by the apparent identification of the harlot, in the vision, as the “city of the seven hills”
and “that great city which reigns over the kings of the land” (the Greek here is th/n gh/n which should be translated “the land” instead of the common and misleading translation: “the earth”). The way this designation is used in the Septuagint version of the O.T. shows this to be the case.
It may seem presumptuous as well as hazardous to challenge the long-standing and popular view which sees Rome as the Babylon of Revelation. Nevertheless, there are such weighty reasons to challenge this that we cannot ignore them — here they are:
1) There is an a priori presumption of the strongest kind against Papal Rome being the Babylon of the Apocalypse. John was clearly dealing with a then existing threat. To wander into all ages and places to interpret these visions is forbidden by the express limitations laid down in the book itself.
2) On the other hand it is to be expected that prominence would be given in this Revelation to the city of Jerusalem. And if Revelation is a
restatement of our Lord’s Mount of Olives prophecy we would expect to find the same essential things in it. So it would be as unreasonable to try to find Papal Rome in the Book of Revelation as to look for it explicitly in our Lord’s prophecy.
3) It deserves particular attention also that in Revelation there are two cities — and only two — brought prominently, and by name, into
view by symbolic representation. And each is the very antithesis of the other. The one is the embodiment of all that is good and holy, the
other is the embodiment of all that is evil and accursed.
We believe these two contrasted cities are New Jerusalem and Babylon the Great (symbolizing Old Jerusalem).
• There’s no room for doubt as to what is signified by the New Jerusalem: it is the city of God, the heavenly habitation, the inheritance of
the saints in light.
• But what, then, is to be understood as the proper antithesis to the New
Jerusalem?
• Surely, it can be no other than the Old Jerusalem. In fact, this antithesis
between the Old Jerusalem and the New is drawn out for us so distinctly by Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians (4:21-31). This, we believe, is
the key to a correct interpretation of this symbol in the book of Revelation!
• The apostle contrasts the then existing city of Jerusalem, which was destroyed in 70 A.D., with the Jerusalem that replaced it: the Jerusalem in bondage with the Jerusalem which is free: the Jerusalem which is beneath with the Jerusalem which is above (Galatians 4:25,26).
New Jerusalem Old Jerusalem Heavenly Earthly Has foundations Non-continuing Builder is God Builder is man
Yet to come Now is Comes from above Is from beneath Free In bondage Holy Wicked Bride Harlot
4) If it is objected that other symbolic names were already given to old Jerusalem (‘Sodom and Egypt’ in 11:8), that is not a valid argument
against this identification. All of these names — Sodom, Egypt, Babylon — are alike suggestive of evil and of ungodliness, and therefore
proper designations of “the wicked city” whose doom was to be like theirs. (Note that there are many different symbols and titles used to
denote even Christ himself in this book).
5) It deserves notice that there is a title in the book of Revelation which is applied to one particular city par excellence. Its the title “that great city” [In Greek: h/ po,lei h/ mega,lh]. If, then, “the great city” of 11:8 designates old Jerusalem, it follows that “the great city” of 14:8, styled also Babylon, and “the great city” in 16:19, must also signify Jerusalem. By parity of reasoning, then, “the great city” [h/ po,lei h/
mega,lh] in 18:18, and elsewhere, must also mean Jerusalem.
6) In the catastrophe unveiled in the fourth vision (that of the seven mystic figures) the judgement of Israel is symbolized by the treading of the
winepress. It also says “the winepress was trodden outside the city” 14:20. It follows that “the city” outside of which the grapes are trodden is Jerusalem. The only city mentioned in this chapter is Babylon the great (v. 8). It must therefore represent Jerusalem. It is inconceivable that the vine of Judea should be trodden outside the city of Rome.
7) In 16:19 it says “the great city” was divided into three parts by the unprecedented earthquake mentioned in v. 18. What great city? Probably this is an allusion to a figure employed by the prophet Ezekiel in describing the siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel. 5:1-5.) The prophet is
commanded to take the hairs of his head and beard, and, dividing them into three parts, to burn one part with fire, to cut another part with a
knife, and to scatter the third part to the four winds, drawing out a sword after them; while only a few hairs were to be preserved, and
bound in the skirt of his garment. Then follows the emphatic declaration in 5:1: “Thus says the Lord God, This is Jerusalem.” It is fitting
that to a prophecy so full of symbols as Ezekiel we should look for light about the symbols in Revelation. And how vividly this three part
division depicts the fate of Jerusalem in the siege of Titus it is needless to say. It is hardly possible to imagine a more truthful description of
the historical facts than that which is summed up in v. 12 of that same chapter: “One third of you shall die by the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I
will draw out a sword after them.” But whether this be an allusion to that vision or not, it makes no sense at all if we try to apply it to any
other city. In what reasonable sense could it be said that Rome would be divided into three parts. Is it Rome that comes to special remembrance before God? Is it to Rome that the cup of wine of the fierceness of the wrath of God is given? This last figure ought to have suggested
to commentators the true interpretation — a symbol appropriate to Jerusalem. “Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk
at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; you have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and have drained it out” (Isaiah 51:17).
8) But a still weightier argument against Rome being taken as the Babylon of Revelation (and at the same time proving the identity between
Jerusalem and Babylon) is that which is derived from the name and character of the woman in the vision.
• The vision of Babylon (in chapters 17-18) concerns the “great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was
crucified” (11:8). This woman or city is also styled a harlot — “that great harlot…mother of harlots and abominations of the land.” This is familiar figure is well known from the Old Testament but is not at all appropriate or applicable to Rome. Rome was a heathen city, and was consequently incapable of that greater and damning sin which was only possible, and, alas, actual for Jerusalem. Rome was not capable of
violating such a betrothal covenant with God because she was never the covenanted wife of Jehovah. This was the crowning guilt of Jerusalem alone among all the nations. As Isaiah put it: “How is the faithful city [Jehovah’s wife] become an harlot!” (1:21)
• The vision of “Babylon the Great” is, in other words, an apocalyptic picture of the apostate Church of the old covenant.
• It is that murderess of prophets against whom Jesus uttered the terrible
words of Matthew 23:34-36. From the beginning of the Roman Empire Jerusalem sought and maintained a heathenish complicity with the
Caesars, and the empire became, politically, her maintainer and support.
• There was constant strife among ambitious rulers to obtain the so called “kingdom of Judea.” Jerusalem was the chief city of that province, and therefore properly said to “reign over the kings (not of the earth, and not over emperors and monarchs of the world, but) of the
land” (8:18). It is the same land (gh), the tribes of which would mourn over the coming [ercomai not parousia] of the Son of man (chapter1:7).
• “The kings of the land” who (in Psalm 2:2), set themselves against Jehovah and his Christ, are declared by Peter to be such civil rulers as Herod and Pontius Pilate (Acts 4:27). These, he declares, “were gathered together with Gentiles and peoples of Israel.” Josephus says: “The city of Jerusalem is situated in the very middle (of the land), on which account some have called that city the navel of the country. Nor indeed is Judea destitute of such delights as come by the sea, since its maritime places extend as far as Ptolemais. It was parted into eleven portions, of which the royal city Jerusalem was supreme, and presided over all the neighboring country as the head does over the body.” - [Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 3, 3:5].
v. 12 - The language of the angelic interpreter, even when ostensibly explaining the mystery, is manifestly enigmatical. Just as when, in
chap. 13:18, he that has understanding is called upon to “count the number of the beast,” so here the clue to the mystery of the seven
heads and ten horns is itself another riddle. “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits” (17:9). This probably refers — enigmatically — to manifold political alliances, considered as so many seats of power or consolidated kingdoms, and called seven because of covenanted arrangements.
But like other instances of use of the number seven it can hardly refer to literal mountains! “The mountains,” says Glasgow, “are, like other
terms, to be understood symbolically. If the woman is not literal, why should the mountains be so thought? And to call the woman a literal
city, built on seven [literal] hills, is equally gratuitous, whether a Protestant says it of Rome or a Romanist of Constantinople.”
The fact that reference to seven mountains is followed by reference to 7
kings further indicates that these mountains represent political power structures, not literal geographical features. And the fact that the reference to 7 mountains and 7 kings is followed by a reference to 10 horns, which are also kings, surely indicates the shifting turmoil and changing political situation in the world at that time.
v. 12-18 - The Ten Horns of the Beast — These ‘ten kings’ have the following characteristics:
1. They are satellites/tributaries of the beast = subject to Rome.
2. They are confederate with the beast against Jerusalem.
3. They are hostile to Christianity.
4. They also become hostile to the harlot and active in her destruction.
5. When John was writing these kings were not yet in power.
6. Their power was to be contemporaneous with that of the beast.
• We conclude that this symbol signifies the princes and chiefs who
were allies of Rome and received commands from the Roman army
during the Jewish war.
• We know from Tacitus and Josephus that several neighboring nations
followed Vespasian and Titus to the war.
• Tacitus speaks of ‘the bitter animosity’ with which the Arab auxiliaries of Titus were filled against the Jews.
• Notice another feature in the vision. The woman is represented as sitting upon ‘many waters,’ and in verse 15 these waters are said to signify peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues.
• We see this as a reference to the widespread dispersion of the Jews in the Roman Empire in the 1st Century. Jerusalem (representing the
Jewish nation) might truly be said, in that sense, to sit upon many waters (See Acts 2:5).
Finally, we note the striking parallels between 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13 and
The Man of Sin of 2 Thess. 2 The Wild Beast of Rev. 13,17
“The man of sin…” v. 3 “on his heads names of blasphemy” 13:1
“Full of names of blasphemy” 17:3
“The son of perdition…” v. 3 “He shall go to perdition…” 17:11
“The lawless one…” v. 8 “Power was given to him to do what he will” 13:5
“Who opposes & exalts him- “There was given him a mouth speaking self above all that is called great things…and he opened his mouth
God, or worshipped” v. 4 in blasphemy against God” 13:5,6“So that he as God sits in the “And they worshipped the beast, saying,
temple of God, showing him- who is like the beast?…and all the land self that he is God” v. 4 shall worship him” 13:4,8
“Whom the Lord shall con- “These shall make war with the Lamb, consume with the spirit of his & the Lamb shall overcome them” 17:14
mouth, and destroy with the (and compare 19:20)brightness of his coming” v. 8“Whose coming is after the “And the dragon gave him his power”
working of Satan‚ v. 9 13:12
“With all power and signs “And he does great wonders so that he and lying wonders” v. 9 makes fire come down from heaven in the sight of men” 13:13
“And with all deceivable- “deceives them that dwell in the land of unrighteousness in means of those miracles…he had power them that perish” v. 10 to do in the sight of the beast” 13:14“for this cause God will send “If any man worship the beast and his them a strong delusion image…the same shall drink of the wineto believe the lie” v. 11 of the wrath of God” 14:9,10
We see it as self-evident that the momentous calamity predicted by our Lord — which included “the great tribulation” that was to be greater
than anything before it, and greater than anything that was to occur after it, in history240
— was the focus of John’s vivid retelling of his Lord’s eschatological discourse? It is our conviction that the parallels are too
numerous and striking to warrant any other conclusion. It is also a fact that the pathway to a right understanding of the symbolism that God used
in these visions can only be obtained by comparing scripture with scripture — and in this instance especially the O.T. usage of these very images and symbols.
Revelation Chapters 18 & 19
The fall of Babylon (“that great city”) is portrayed in glowing colors in 18:1-19:10, and the language and imagery are appropriated almost
wholly from the Old Testament prophetic pictures of the fall of ancient Babylon and Tyre.
• How strange that learned exegetes who find fulfillment of this prophecy in comparatively unimportant events of the modern world
— and of the Papacy — are forgetful of such events as those described by the Jewish historian Josephus.
• Describing the destruction of the temple Josephus says: “While the holy house was on fire everything was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; nor was there a commiseration of any age, or any reverence of gravity; but children and old men, and profane persons and priests, were all slain in the same manner; so that this war went round [to] all sorts of men, and brought them to destruction, and as well those that made supplication for their lives as those that defended themselves by fighting. The flame was also carried a long way, and made an echo together with the groans of those that were slain; and because this hill was high, and the works at the temple were very great, one would have thought the whole city had been on fire. Nor can one imagine anything either greater or more terrible than this noise; for there was at once a shout of the Roman legions, who were marching all together, and a sad clamor of the seditious, who were now surrounded with fire and sword. The people also that were left above were beaten back upon the enemy, and under a great consternation, and made sad moans at the calamity they were under; the multitude also that was in the city joined 240 Matthew 24:21 - “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not
been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”in this outcry with those that were upon the hill; and, besides, many of those that were worn away by the famine and their mouths almost closed, when they saw the fire of the holy house they exerted their utmost strength, and brake out into groans and outcries again: Perea did also return the echo, as well as the mountains round about [the
city], and augmented the force of the entire noise. Yet was the misery itself more terrible than this disorder; for one would have thought that
the hill itself, on which the temple stood, was seething hot, as full of fire on every part of it, that the blood was larger in quantity than the
fire, and those that were slain more in number than those that slew them; for the ground did nowhere appear visible for the dead bodies that lay on it; but the soldiers went over heaps of these bodies as theyran upon such as fled from them.” (Wars of the Jews, Book 6, Chapter
5:1.)
The vision is fourfold:
(1) An angel proclaims the awful ruin in 18:1-3. He repeats words already used in 14:8, words used of old by Isaiah 21:9 and Jeremiah 2:8 in fore telling the ruin of the Chaldean capital.
(2) Then another heavenly voice is heard, much like the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:16, and the prophetic word which long before called
people to “flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul” (Jeremiah 51:6; cf. 1:8; Isaiah 48:20; Zechariah 2:6,7).
(3) This call is followed by a woeful dirge over the sudden ruin of the great city in 18:4-20. This oracle of doom should be closely compared with that of Isaiah and Jeremiah over ancient Babylon (Isaiah13:19-22; Jeremiah 50,51), and Ezekiel over the fall of Tyre (Ezekiel26-28).
(4) The violence of this great catastrophe is next illustrated by the symbolism of a mighty angel hurling a millstone into the sea, and the
consequent cessation of all her former activity and noise (Cf. 18:21-24).
(5) After these things there is heard a cry of victory in heavens — a notable contrast to the voice of the harpers and minstrels of the fallen
Babylon, as all the servants of God are admonished to prepare for the
marriage supper of the Lamb.
(6) After the fall of “the Great Babylon” (Old Jerusalem and National Israel) there follows a sevenfold vision of the coming [ercomenon] and
kingdom of the Christ in 19:11-21:8. Just as Jesus said “immediately after the tribulation of those days” in Matthew 24:29 the sign of the
Son of man in heaven was to appear, so — immediately after the horrors of the woe-smitten city — the seer of Patmos sees the heavens
opened, and the King of kings and Lord of lords coming forth to conquer the nations.
This great apocalyptic picture is about:
(1) The present activity [e.,rcomenon] of Christ in history 19:11-16.
(2) The destruction of the beast and the false prophet with all their impious
forces in verses 17-21. This overthrow is portrayed in noticeable harmony with what is said about the lawless one in 2 Thessalonians 2:8,
“whom the Lord Jesus shall consume [a.nalw,sei] with the breath of his mouth, and destroy [katargh,sai] with the manifestation [e.pifanei,a] of
his coming [parousi,aj]!” The first item here refers to the progressive conquest of the nations by means of faithful gospel preaching; the second item, of course, refers to the final judgment.
(3) The destruction of the beasts to whom the dragon gave his power and authority (Chapter 13:2,11,12) is appropriately accompanied by the
binding and imprisonment of the old dragon himself (20:1-3). The symbols employed to set forth all these triumphs are surely not to be
understood literally of a warfare carried on with carnal weapons (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:4; Ephesins 6:11-17), but they do vividly express momentous facts associated with the crisis of that age, when Judaism fell, and Christianity opened on the world.
(4) From that time on no well-authenticated instance of demon possession can he shown. “We conclude,” says the author of The Parousia, “that at
the end of the [O.T.] age a marked and decisive check was given to the power of Satan; which check is symbolically represented here by the
chaining and imprisoning of the dragon in the abyss. It does not follow that all error and evil were banished from the earth. It is enough to
show that this was…‘the decisive crisis between ancient and modern times,’ and that the introduction of Christianity ‘changed and regenerated, not only government and science, but the whole system of human life.’” (Parousia, p. 618.)
(5) With the shutting up of Satan the millennium begins: a long indefinite period, as the symbolical number most naturally suggests, but a period
of ample fullness for the universal diffusion and triumph of the Gospel (vv. 4-6). “The first resurrection” we take to be the same as that spoken of by Jesus in John 5:25. For it is written, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection, on such the second death has no
authority,” for of such Jesus said, “neither can they die any more”(Luke 20:96).
(6) This conflict of the final era of history is rapidly passed over by the seer, and its details are not made known (vv. 7-10). This is no doubt
because God has not given any revelation as to times and the seasons leading up to the parousia.
(7) The last judgment is what is next portrayed in verses 11-15. It is one and the same with what is depicted in Matthew 25:31-46 and which
will take place when the Son of man delivers over the kingdom to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24). The appointed time and sequence of these events are unknown (Matthew. 24:36; Acts 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:1 etc.)
(8) The last picture in this series is that of the new heavens and new land, and the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem (21:1-8). It corresponds
with Matthew 25:34, where the king says to those on his right hand: “Come, you blessed of my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world.”
Here the glory of the righteous is put in striking contrast with the curse and doom of the wicked, when it is finally said that “These shall go
away into eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46). So here — after the glory of the redeemed is outlined — it is added, as the issue of God’s
final judgment: “But as for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and
all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone(Cf. ‘the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,’ which is
the second death” (Matthew 25:41).
• It should be noted that this last sevenfold apocalyptic vision in 19:11-
21:8 covers the entire field of biblical eschatology. The whole is rapidly sketched, for details would have transcended the purpose of “the
prophecy of this book” which was to make known things which were shortly to come to pass (Revelation 1:1-3). But like the last section of
our Lord’s discourse in Matthew 25:31-46 which introduces the unknown time “when the Son of man should come in his glory;” so this
sevenfold vision begins with the parousia (19:11), and sketches in brief outline the mighty triumphs and eternal issues of the Messiah’s
reign.
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REV.5
Apr 10, 2024 13:22:15 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Apr 10, 2024 13:22:15 GMT -5
Revelation Chapter 20
We understand the millennium (Revelation 20:1-10) to be in progress
now. It began with the end of the Jewish theocracy in 70 A.D. and is the
period of Christ’s Messianic reign as prophesied by Daniel, and described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:24-26. The kingdom of heaven —
like the mustard seed or the leaven — is now in a process of gradual
development that could require many thousands of years.
• It is here that some might think that we have been wrong in saying
there will be no signs to indicate the time of the parousia. Because it is
right here (in verse 30 that we read that “after that he must be released
for a little while” and in verse 7 that “when the thousand years have
expired” Satan will be loosed so that he will (again) “deceive the nations” (v. 8). But is this commonly accepted translation really true to
the original text? Or is the ‘received text’ (called the Textus Receptus
or TR) used by the Reformers really the correct text241 in this instance? We believe it is. And when we follow the reading of this text
we again find complete harmony with the teaching of Jesus and his
apostles. Because this text says: “And in the midst of (Greek: meta)
these things it is necessary to release him a little time” (v. 3) “And in
the midst of (Greek: meta) the thousand years Satan will be released
241 It is a well known principle of textual criticism that a reading which at first sight seems
more difficult may well be the correct reading. Its easy to see how the TR of this passage
could have been ‘corrected’ by textual scribes who thought it made little sense as it stood.
The TR of v. 3b reads: meta. tau/ta dei/ auvto.n luqh/nai mikRom.n cro,non and v. 7 reads: kai.
meta. ta ci,lia e/,th luqh,setai o, Satana/j e/k th/s fulakh/j au,tou/. Thayer’s Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament defines meta as: “a preposition, akin to me,soj (as German mit
to mitten) and hence prop. in the midst of, amid, denoting association, union, accompaniment.” But even if the more commonly accepted text is preferred we see no reason to view a final loosening of the restraints on Satan to be taken as a second fulfillment of the “great
tribulation” predicted by Jesus (Mt. 24:20). It is clear from 1 Th. 5:1-3 that it would more
likely be a time of seeming tranquility. So, with either reading, it is quite unnecessary to see
in this a contradiction to our Lord’s clear and repeated statement that there are no predicted
‘signs’ by which people can know — even approximately — the time of his second coming from his prison” (v. 7).
In other words, according to the TR, Satan will not be loosed just once to do his evil work — shortly before the
second coming of Christ — but will be loosed from time to time, and place to place, to some extent, to do evil. Exactly what we would expect from the teaching of Paul, who said “in the last days perilous seasons will come” (2 Timothy 3:1). But also, just as Jesus promised, none of these seasons will equal, let alone surpass, “the great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21). No, the very gates of hell will not be able to withstand the advancing church of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:18).
(parousia).
A STUDY OF BIBLICAL ESCHATOLOGY
137
• This understanding remains true to the non-literal principle we have followed in the interpretation of this book.
We are not to look for a specific historical period of 1,000 years, nor of Satan’s work as done in a last gasp. No, its “with”
— “along with” — or “in the midst of”
— the non-literal millenium that God has ordained seasons of heightened Satanic activity. “In the last days perilous times will come.”
The last days began when Jesus ascended into heaven. And they will end when he returns to the world. Satan will keep on trying to destroy
the church until the very last day, when — quite suddenly — his terrible end will come with Christ’s parousia.
Revelation Chapters 21 & 22
There remains for our notice but one more vision, the vision of the New Jerusalem. As in Revelation 16:19, under the seventh and last
plague, the fall of the “Babylon” (old Jerusalem) was briefly outlined, and then, in chap. 17-19:10, another and more detailed ‘portrait’ of that same “mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the land” was added, going over many of the same events again, so here — having given
under the last series of visions a short but vivid picture of the heavenly Jerusalem in 21:1-8 — the apostle, following his artistic style and habit of repetition, tells how one of those same seven angels (of 17:1-4. and 21:9-11) took him to a lofty mountain, and gave him a fuller vision of the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.
• This wife of the Lamb is the woman of 7:1, but she is here revealed at a later stage of her history, after the dragon has been shut up in the
abyss. After the land has been cleared of the dragon, the beast and false prophet, “the seed of the woman” — the seed here meaning the
whole body of believers — who fled into the wilderness, and then were caught up to the throne of God, are viewed as “coming down out
of heaven from God,”242 and all things are made new.
• The language and symbols used are appropriated mainly from Isaiah 55:17-56:24, and the closing chapters of Ezekiel. The great thought
is: old (Jerusalem) Babylon, the bloody harlot, has been removed,
and a New Jerusalem, the glorious Bride, appears.
As the closing chapters of Ezekiel have been variously understood so this vision of the New Jerusalem has been explained in different ways.
(1) According to many premillenialists it indicates a future restoration of
the Jews to Palestine, and rebuilding of a literal temple on a magnificent scale, in the earthly Jerusalem.
(2) According to others, the new heaven, new land, and new Jerusalem are a symbolic recapitulation of the visions of chapter 20, for the purpose
of fuller detail, and are to be understood as synchronizing with the period of the thousand years.
(3) But most interpreters regard the prophecy as descriptive of the final heavenly state of the glorified saints of God.
(4) Rejecting the first of the above named views (which represents the sensuous Ebionite conception of the Kingdom of Heaven, we may
blend the two other interpretations (in an already/not-yet concept of the Kingdom of God).
• The words of Haggai 2:6,7, are acknowledged by some interpreters to be a Messianic prophecy: “Yet once — it is a little while — and I will shake the heavens, and the land, and the sea, and the desert; and
I will shake all the nations, and they shall come to the delight of all the nations, and I will fill this house with glory.”
• This prophecy is quoted and explained in Hebrews 12:26-28, as the removal of the earth and heaven as it was before, to be replaced by an “immovable kingdom.” Is there any reason for believing this immovable kingdom to be other than that of which the Lord spoke in
Matthew 16:28 — “There are some standing here who shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom”?
— The “glory of that latter house” of which Haggai 2:7,9 spoke, was
attained when Christ entered and taught within its courts; but the destruction of the second temple, and the shaking of “the heaven and the
land” which it represented, prepared the way for the better temple of“his body, the fulness of him who fills all things in all” (Ephesians
1:23). Of this body Christ is the head, the husband, and Savior (Ephesians 5:23), having loved her and having given himself for her, “that
he might sanctify her, having purified her by the laver of water in the word, that he himself might present to himself in glorious beauty the
Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing” (Ephesians 5:26,27). This glorious Church is manifestly the same as the Bride, the
wife of the Lamb, and it is also called the holy city, New Jerusalem. It was necessary that the Old Testament form of the Church should be
shaken and pass away, for its glory had departed; but out of it emerges “the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven…and to the
spirits of the righteous made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23).
• If we allow the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews to guide us to a right understanding of the New Jerusalem, we will observe that the
communion and fellowship of true believers are viewed as heaven already begun on earth. It is probable that Hebrews was written after
the Book of Revelation, because direct allusions to it seem apparent in the following passage: “You are come (the sense of the Greek word
proselhlu,qate is that you have already come) unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (12:22). The
Christian believer — his life being ‘hidden with Christ in God,’ — has already entered a fellowship and communion in the new Jerusalem
which will never end. He is already enrolled, by name, in heaven. He already dwells in God and God in him. All subsequent glorification
in time and in eternity is simply a continuous and growing experience of blessings belonging already to members of Christ’s Church
and Kingdom.
• In this vision of the New Jerusalem we have the final New Testament revelation of the spiritual and heavenly blessedness and glory
of which the Mosaic tabernacle was prophetic and material symbol.
The “dwelling of the testimony” Exodus 38:21 and its various vessels and services were “copies of the things in the heavens” (Hebrews 9:23). Now Christ has entered into the holy places “through the greater and more perfect tabernacle” (Hebrews 9:11), thereby
making it possible for all true believers to enter “with boldness into the entrance way of the holiest” (Hebrews 10:19).
• This entrance into the holy place, and fellowship, is realized only as “we draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, with our
hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22), and this spiritual access
is now available to those who believe in Jesus. The Alpha and the Omega, accordingly, says: “Blessed are those who wash their
robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and that they may enter into the city by the gates” (Revelation 22:14).
• This city is represented as having the form of a perfect cube (Revelation 21:16), and may therefore be regarded as the heavenly “Holy of
Holies,” which we may now approach.
• This all accords with the voice from the throne, which said. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them,
and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3). Herein we discern the true antitype
of the ancient tabernacle and temple, and it is for this reason that this holy city needs no separate temple, and no light of a sun and moon,
because the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its light and the city itself is the temple (Revelation 21:22,23).
• Note also that there is no mention of Cherubim in this Holy of Holies! Why? Because these former symbols of redeemed humanity, in
unity with the rest of the creation, are now supplanted by the innumerable company of Adam’s race, from whom the curse (kata ,qema
Revelation 22:3) has been removed, and who take their places around the throne of God and the Lamb, act as his servants there, behold his
face, and have his name upon their foreheads (Revelation 22:3,4).
• The New Jerusalem, then, is a prophetic portrait of the New Testament Church and Kingdom of God in its heavenly character. Its
symbolism exhibits the heavenly nature of the communion and fellowship of God and his people, which is entered here by faith, but
which opens into unspeakable fulness of glory through all eternity.
• There is room for differences of opinion in the interpretation of the particular symbols in all of the apocalyptic Scriptures. But attention
to their general harmony — and a careful study of the scope and outline of each prophecy in its historical context — will go far to save
us from the hopeless confusion and contradiction into which many have fallen by neglecting this method.
Conclusion
We are now assured of the unity and harmony of the various New
Testament prophetic passages.
1. There is no contradiction between the teaching of Jesus, the Epistles of Paul, and the book of Revelation written by John, concerning
(1) “all these things” that were to take place in that generation, and
(2) the second coming [parousi ,a] of our Lord which to follow. They all agree in teaching (i) that the end of the ages
243 of preparation was near at hand when the apostles wrote their appointed portions of the
New Testament, (ii) that Christ was to come (e.rcomai) progressively on the clouds of heaven, and that this progressive conquest of the
world of lost sinners would commence before that generation had passed away, and (iii) and that there would be no signs to indicate the
time of his second coming [parousi,a].
2. It is self-evident that the coming [e ,.rcomai] of Christ on the clouds
of heaven was premillennial, for it marked the formal assumption of the dominion, power and judgment which he now exercises — and
will continue to exercise — until he’s put all of his enemies under his feet (1 Corinthians 15:25).
3. The final visible return [parousi,a] of Jesus will mark the end of the process of his present coming [e.rco,menon] on the clouds of heaven,
when he will give over the kingdom to the Father, and God will be all in all.244 Between these two events — his ascension to heaven and his
return from heaven — the Messianic age intervenes. Its beginning was
The Apostle Paul uses this very expression in First Corinthians 10:11: “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”
1 Corinthians 15:24-25
like the tiny mustard-seed,245 or like the stone cut out without hands,
which grows, and will increase until it becomes like a great mountain
(the church) filling the entire world.246 It is possible that much of the
Church’s history and triumph is still future, and that more centuries
may yet elapse before it reaches its fullness of development. After all,
God promised Abraham that in his seed247 all nations of the earth
would be blessed!
4. When our Lord shall have put down all of his other enemies he will
finally abolish death for his people.248 At that hour “all who are in the
tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; those who did good
unto a resurrection of life, and those who wrought evil unto a resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28). The resurrection of those who do not
belong to Christ is in order that they might experience the second — and
final — death. But for those who believe in, and belong to, him “over
such the second death has no power” (Revelation 20:6).
5. Concerning the second coming [parousi,a] of Christ — when the redemption that he purchased for his elect has been applied to all of
them, and he delivers the kingdom to the Father — no warning signs
will be given to indicate when it is about to take place.249 Jesus clearly
stated that even he did not know when it would take place in his estate
of humiliation.250 He also clearly said that it was not even given to his
inspired apostles to know.251 It follows, therefore, that we are in serious trouble if we try in any way to calculate “the times or the seasons” [Acts 1:7] which will usher in the final consummation.
6. We conclude, then, with wise words from the final chapter (33:5) of
the Westminster Confession of Faith.
“As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin; and for the greater
245 Matthew 13:31
246 Daniel 2:35b, 44
247 Genesis 22:18
248 “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to
be destroyed is death.” 1 Corinthians 15:25,26.
249 As it was in the days before the flood when there was only the preaching of Noah to
warn of the flood that was coming, so it will be until the very day of Christ’s glorious
second coming (cf. Mt. 24:37ff and 1 Thess. 5:1-10).
250 Mark 13:32
251 Acts 1:7
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consolation of the godly in their adversity: so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will
come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come Lord Jesus, come
quickly, Amen.”
Questions for Further Study and Discussion:
1. How does the outline of this book indicate that it is like Daniel (using
parallelism)?
2. What is the basic idea in using the symbolism of seals?
3. What is the basic idea in using the symbolism of trumpets?
4. What is the basic idea in using the symbolism of bowls?
5. What does the parallel material on p. 90 indicate?
6. What reasons are there for thinking this book is a retelling of Mt. 24?
7. What do the parallels shown on p. 127 show us?
8. What is the difference between the two Greek words ercomai and parousia?
9. What does the Greek text (as received by the Reformers) say about the
meaning of Satan’s being released? (Footnote on p. 133)
10. Does this study agree with what our Reformation Fathers said in their
Belgic Confession XXXVII paragraph 1, and Westminster Confession
XXXIII sections 1 and 3?
11. List some of the benefits that come from understanding Revelation as
a repetition of our Lord’s eschatalogical discourse in Mt. 24?
a. It protects us from…
b. It assures us of…
c. It motivates us to…
12. What has helped you the most in this study?
a. This text (or these texts):
b. This principle:
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Chapter 6
Confirmation in Other Scriptures
If our understanding of Matthew 24, 2 Thessalonians 2, the material
in the Epistles of John, and hus book of Revelation is correct, then it
ought to be confirmed by other evidence in Scripture. It is to the evidence that this is the case that we now direct our attention. And we find it
several places.
1. The parables of Jesus.
Luke’s gospel (Lk. 12:42-26) has the parable about the slave who,
because he saw no signs that his master is about to return, began to
beat the other male and female servants, but was suddenly surprised
by his return. We see this as showing that Jesus did not want his disciples to think that they would be able to tell from signs when he
would return.
In Matthew 24:43-45 describes that master of a household who, had
he known when a thief might come would have been prepared when
he did come. Jesus then went on to apply this truth, saying “therefore
you must also be ready.” In other words it is a great mistake to think
that you will be just fine if you look for a sign to get ready.
In Matthew 25:1-13 we read about the ten virgins — five wise and
five foolish. The wise virgins represents those who do not look for
signs to tell them when Jesus will return because there will not be any.
The foolish virgins represents those who wait until they think they see
such signs only to learn that it is already too late.
2. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians (5:1-3) where he says this:
“Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no
need to have anything written to you.” And then immediately gives
the reason that statement: “For you yourselves are fully aware that
the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people
are saying ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will
come upon them…and they will not escape.” So the second coming of
Christ will not come right after a second, and even more severe, edition of “the great tribulation” (Mt. 24:21). No, it will come when un-
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believing complacent men are convinced that there’s no reason to expect it. Was this not exactly what happened at the time of the worldwide flood of Noah’s generation?
3. The second Epistle of Peter. If we want to know the one thing that is
certain about ‘the last days’ then we need to listen to Peter. And the
one certain thing we ought to know is “that scoffers will come in the
last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will
say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming [parousia]? For ever since
the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the
beginning of creation” (2 Pet. 3:3-4). There is a lot to be learned, and
much could be said, about this one momentous statement by Peter.
But our interest here is to simply point out that what Peter described is
what we see in our own generation. People seem to fear God less and
less because they see no signs that seem to them to point to Christ’s
second coming. But then Peter says — in that very context of scoffing
unbelief — “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the
heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be
burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done in
it will be exposed” (3:10). So what should be our outlook or posture?
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved” we are called to “holiness and godliness” — just another way of saying there will be no
signs so we need right now to be ready!
4. The same thing is reiterated again by Jude the brother of James.
He says “you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles
of our Lord Jesus Christ because they said…‘In the last time there
will be scoffers’” (Jude 17-18) going on to exhort us to get ready now,
and to persevere in always being ready.
Big books have been written to convince us that this or that author, at
last, has deciphered the book of Revelation. Much of it reminds us of
what they have also written about the first chapters of the Bible. But it
is our conviction that the creation account is simply the truth: that is
exactly what happened, and that is how long it took for it to happen
(six days)!. And it is much the same with the doctrine of eschatology
— it is really basically simple. What has God said, again and again,
that is constantly disregarded? It is that it is not given to us to know
“the times or the seasons.” There is no revelation given to us by God
to enable us to foretell in any chronological detail what will happen in
the future. No one knows how long the history of the human race will
take, or when Jesus will return in power and glory. The very thing that
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we can know for sure is that there will be no signs of his second coming. He is going to return like a thief in the night; it will be like the
world-wide flood that came in the time of Noah. And it is interesting
to note that the great Reformation Creeds clearly declare this very
conclusion.
5. We must learn to distinguish between the things that differ. What
happened in 70 A.D. is very different from what will happen at the time
of the second coming of Jesus. As we saw in the beginning of this study
this was the very thing that Jesus had to correct in the thinking of his
disciples. They thought that many of “these things” had to be things
that would only happen at the time of his parousia. They couldn’t seem
to think of them as different kinds of events, which would take place at
different times and with different precursors. But that was what was
needed: a change in their way of thinking. They needed to pay closer attention to what Jesus was saying. He said — concerning “these things”
that he described (Mt. 24:4-33) — not only that they would all happen
in that generation, but also that they would be able get out of the
doomed city of Jerusalem in time by seeing “these things” happening as
signs intended to alert and warn them. But then Jesus said “But of that
day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the son,
but only the Father” (Mk. 13:32). And since that is the case it follows
as night follows day that there will be no such series of things by which
people can know it is about to happen. This was possible with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. It is not possible with the second
coming [parousi,a] of Jesus.
We all live, as Christian believers, under the weight of two certainties.
We are either going to physically die at a moment unknown to us in
advance, or we are going to live until the moment of the second coming
of Jesus. And it really doesn’t matter which it is because in either case
the one thing that matters is to be ready to meet our creator.
6. What our Reformation Fathers said about eschatology concurs
with the view set forth in this study.
Belgic Confession Article XXXVII (first paragraph)
“Finally, we believe, according to the Word of God, when the time
appointed by the Lord (which is unknown to all creatures) is come
and the number of the elect complete, that our Lord Jesus Christ will
come from heaven, corporally and visibly, as He ascended, with great
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glory and majesty to declare Himself Judge of the living and the dead,
burning this old world with fire and flame to cleanse it.”
Westminster Confession Chapter 33:3
“God hath appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world, in
righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is
given by the Father…[and]
“As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be
a day of judgment…so will He have that day unknown to men, that
they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly, Amen.”
Questions for Further Study and Discussion:
1. Look up the text of Luke 12:42-6 and underline the words that you
see as showing Jesus view of ‘signs’ of his coming.
Do the same with the text of Matthew 24:43-45
Do the same with Matthew 25:1-13
4. What do you find in the text of 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 that helps you
in this study of eschatology
5. Can you relate what Peter says (in 2 Peter 3:3-4) to what most people
today
6. Considering items 3 and 4 (above) together, what are some of the
things that people scoff at today!
7. What should our attitude be concerning books that claim to have a
chronological scheme worked out for the future?
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