THIRTEEN LECTURES
on
The Things Revealed
in
THE LAST BOOK OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT
COMMONLY KNOWN AS~
~”REVELATION “,
But more appropriately
distinguished as
THE APOCALYPSE
showing their bearing on
the events of
history, and on
THOSE MIGHTIER EVENTS
OF THE NEAR FUTURE
to which they have all
been leading.
By Robert Roberts
Author of Christendom Astray, Nazareth Revisited,
The Ways of Providence, The Visible Hand of God,
The Law of Moses, and other Works
The Christadeiphian
,
404 SHAFTMOOR LANE, HALL
GREEN, BIRMINGHAM 28
1964
BIBLE EXPOSITIONS
By Dr John Thomas
ELPIS ISRAEL
EUREKA an exposition of
the Apocap;yse
THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL
By ROBERT ROBERTS
THE LAW OF MOSES
By C.C.WALKER
THE PROPHECY OF’
JEREMIAH
Br JOHN
CARTAR
PROPHETS AFTER THE EXILE
PARABLES OF THE MESSIAH
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS
THE LETTERS TO THE HEBREWS
THE LETTER TO THE
EPHLSIANS
Br W. H. BARKER AND W. H. BOLTON ~
THE APOCALYPSE AND HISTORY
Obtainable Iron, the
Office of
‘THE CHRISTADELPHIAN,
404 SHAFTMOOR LANE,
HALL GREEN, BIRMINGHAM
28
PREFACE
FIRST published as long
ago as i88o, Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse is a work
still valued by Christadeiphians. Forming an introduction to the last, most
obscure and profound book of the Bible, it outlines the structure of the
Revelation, and applies to its symbols the principles of” continuous historical
“ interpretation. In this respect the writer acknowledged a profound debt to Eureka: an Exposition of the Apocalypse, by
John Thomas, M.1)., and expressed the hope that his own book might prove a
stepping stone “ to the larger work.
The easy, readable style
of the Thirteen Lectures is in part
due to its origin. The book was based on notes by shorthand writers of’
lectures given in Birmingham “ to make known, in a simple and colloquial manner
... the meaning of the symbols exhibited to John in the Isle of’ Patmos, in
their bearing on the events of history and those mightier events in the near
future to which they have all been leading.”
A book on prophetic
interpretation written between eighty and ninety years ago is bound to be in
some respects out of date. Not all past
expectations were fulfilled, and prodigious events have occurred unforeseen in
past expositions. Some historical details may be open to revision. Its value
remains for its broad outline and its presentation of a particular school of
interpretation. For it must be recognized that today there are other schools
and other views even among Christadelphians. Thirteen Lectures, however, remains as a work which is part of the
history of the Christadelphian community, and a classic--if a lesser classic-of
their literature. It is still an illuminating study.
The Author died in 1898.
This seventh edition is a photolithographic copy of the sixth edition
published in 1947.
CONTENTS
FIRST LECTURE_REVELATION
I.
THE general neglect of
the Apocalypse--a good reason why it is not understood- the recent exposition
by Dr. Thomas-origin of the Apocalypse-to whom sent-its symbolic style-the use
of sign and symbol in previous divine communications-the advantage of
symbolism-the futurist theory of the Apocalypse-its baselessness-John in the
Isle of Patmos-” in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day “-not Sunday or Saturday-the
first object seen-the Son of Man in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks
~ order to send the Apocalypse to the seven Asiatic ecclesias _the message to
each-the structural beauty of each-brief and hurried analysis-the angels of the
ecclesias . . . . . . . . Page 1
SECOND LECTURE-REV. II.
AND III.
THE messages to the
seven ecciesias-the suggestive position they occupy as the preface to the
Apocalypse-the obscure and not the great honoured by Christ’s communication in
the first century-the poor called and not the rich-the rule of action still the
same-effect of the vision upon John-los
fear and the comfort-the
messages considered in detail-to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira,
to Sardis, to Philadelphia, to Laodicea value of the messages-the view that
they were prophetic as well as perceptive -----the Laodicean state of
contemporary Christendom Page is
THIRD LECTURE-REV. IV.,
V., AND VI. TO VERSE 6.
A NEW division “ Things
which must be hereafter “-John “ in Spirit “-gorgeous scene-the throne in
heaven-the four living creatures and four and twenty elders-the kingdom in
symbol_ origin of the symbols in the heraldry of the Israelitish nation-the
details-the rainbow-the sea of glass-the crowned or stephaned elders-the beasts full of eyes-Israel enlightened and
glorified-an apparent difficulty-the Kingdom and the seals
contemporary--impossible explanations-the right explanation-the kingdom past
and future, and germinally contemporary with the times of the Gentiles-the seals-their
number-what the opening of them means- worthiness on the part of the Lamb ~
opener-the seven horns and seven eyes-the anthem of praise when the Lamb took
the Seven-sealed Scroll- the FIRST SEAL--the white horse and its arrowless
rider with the bow- the SECOND SEAL-the red horse and his dagger ~ armed
rider-the THIRD SEAL-the black horse with the balance holder fiscal
proclamation Page 26.
FOURTH LECTURE-REV. vi.
FROM VERSE 7;
VII., AND VIII. TO VERSE
6.
The confusion and
bloodshed of history-the beauty of the Apocalypse in constructing a distinct
program out of chaotic materials-a literal element in the symbolism-a help to
its elucidation the horse of the seals-its color under each-the FOURTH SEAL
-the pale horse-its rider Death -
fulfillment in the awful experiences of the Roman world, and particularly Italy
under Maximin and his successors-half the human species destroyed with the
sword, famine, and pestilence-The FIFTH SEAL-the persecutions under Diocletian
and Galerius, who attempted to extinguish Christianity- peculiarities of the
symbolism as appearing to favour popular views of the death state-the SIXTH
SEAL . . . . . . Page 43
FIFTH LECTURE.-REV.
VIII. FROM VERSE 7 TO END OF CHAPTER.
THE SEVENTH SEAL,
containing the seven trumpets--ribald mirth at Apocalyptic technicalities--the
jest of ignorance - the Apocalypse a
great deep-an enigma of exquisite construction--the breaking of the
seals-change of figure under the seventh seal-introduction of trumpets-the
significance of trumpet-blowing as a figure--the reason of introducing the
trumpets- a change in the situation-a higher national responsibility of
Rome-more direct judgments for her sins-the preparation for the sounding of the
trumpets-development of the power of the barbarians in preparation for the
trumpet judgments-sounding of the FIRST TRUMPET-the area of its operation -the
third of the earth-the ravages of the Goths-defeat of the Roman armies by
Alaric-subsequent devastation of the empire and the sack of Rome itself-’the
SECOND TRUMPET-a burning mountain in the sea-the Vandals under Gensenic-their
ravages on the ocean and the maritime coasts of the empire-the THIRD
TRUMPET-the star “ wormwood “-the locality of its fall and the embittering of
the waters-the verification in the career of Attila, the king of the
Huns-disruption of the Roman Empire- providential purpose served by this---the
FOURTH TRUMPET-eclipse of the Roman sun, moon, and stars in a third of slse
system-extinction of the Roman Empire in the west-the woe trumpets . . . Page 58
SIXTH LECTURE-REV. IX.
AIID X.
THE woe trumpets-the
vastness of the changes involved-the FIFTH TRUMPET, or first woe-the opening
of the abyss-the issue of the locust cloud-its relation to the appearance of
Mahomet-his prophetic pretensions and military measures-overrunning of European
countries by his Saracenic hordes-their special animosity towards the Catholic
idolaters-the scorpions they used in war-their mission to torment but not to
kill for five months twice told-the chronology of their mission-Dr. Thomas’s
historical paraphrase of the fifth trumpet-the SIXTH TRUMPET, or second
woe-the four
-angels-their Euphratean
boundary-the Turkish inroads in four great movements-the length of time
appointed-an hour, a day, a month, and a year, or 391 years-the secondary
application of that period-the enormous time occupied by the fifth and sixth as
compared with the preceding trumpets-the description of the horsemen-their
enormous number-the fire, smoke, and brimstone surrounding them-the
introduction of gunpowder by the Turks-the desolations of the East under
Turkish rule-the termination of these by the advent of the mighty rainbowed
angel of chapter 10:1-The SEVENTH TRUMPET, or third woe, not so protracted as
the other two-the seven thunders-why John was not allowed to record them-the
open book and the eating thereof-the interesting work to be done
by the saints at the
coming of Christ. . . . . Page 69
p
vi.
SEVENTH LECTURE .-REV.
XI.
WESTWARD history of the
times of the fifth and sixth trumpets-CHAPTER 11 transfers the reader to the
west-the measuring of the temple and the altar- the significance of the
measurement-the outer court that was not to be measured- meaning of the
temple-Christendom in its relation to the apostolic work-the treading of the
Holy City for forty-two months-the two witnesses and their prophesying-the two
class _antagonists of the Papacy in she course of European history-their dead
bodies-the exposure of the corpses for three-and-a-half days-the historic
fulfillment-events in France and throughout the Roman Catholic jurisdiction
generally-why France so prominent in the matter-the street of the city-extent
of the city where our Lord was crucified “-the joy among the nations at the
death of the witnesses-their resurrection and ascent to power in AD. 1790 the
French Revolution-the Reign of Terror _earthquake arid fall of the tenth of the
city-the third woe cometh quickly-its nature-the coming of Christ--resurrection
and overthrow of universal human society-the setting-up of the kingdom of God .
. . Page 84
EIGHTH LECTURE-REV. XII.
AND XIII.
CHAPTER 12, compelling
another backward journey in point of time-the explanation of this zig-zag
construction of the Apocalypse second view of the events of the sixth seal to
show their bearing on the friends of Christ- the woman clothed with the sun ;
her relation to the Bride, the Lamb’s wife--” the moon under her feet “---her
crown of twelve stars-her child-hearing-the dragon waiting to devour her son_
Constantine and the Paganism of the Roman Empire-the crowns on the heads of the
dragon and not on the horns-the ascension of the woman’s son to God-the
inapplicability of the prophecy to Christ-the flight of the woman into the
wilderness-the war in heaven the conflict between the forces of Christianity
and Paganism-the overthrow and expulsion of the Pagan Dragon-the rejoicings in
the Christian camp- -the woman in her hiding place-the serpent persecuting
her--the beast of the sea-the dragon the source of its authority-the slain
sixth head and its survival from the sword wound-the blasphemous mouth of the
beast-the forty-two months of its continuance--the two-horned beast of the
earth-the Holy Romano - Germanic Empire--the image of the beast made to
live-the mark of the beast and the number of his name-a solemn lesson Page 97
NINTH LECTURE.-REV. XIV.
DAYBREAK after night-the
Lamb on Mount Zion-the 144,000 who are with him-who they are-their
virginity-the meaning_ their song that no man could know-the women, with whom
the t44,000 are not defiled following the Lamb-the everlasting gospel preached
in the hour of judgment-the summons to the world-the result_ catastrophe to
Rome- warning proclamation to the nations-the threatened torment to the worshippers
of the image-the smoke of their torment-not the orthodox hell- a terrible epoch
in the history of Europe-the blessedness at that time of
the dead dying in the
Lord-the white cloud, and the sickle-armed Son of Man sitting thereon-a
hieroglyph of coming retribution-the angel coming out of the temple and the angel coming Out of the altar--
-stages in the work of judgment---the 1,600 furlongs of blood to the horse’s
bridles- -
a horrid picture-the
glorious sequel . . . . Page 113
TENTH LECTURE-REV. XV.
AND XVI.
BACK again fur a hundred
years-telescopic construction of the .-Apocalypse- the last slide the smallest
and intensest--the pouring out of the vials--the saints in glory apparently
before the vials begin-a difficulty explained- the song of Moses and of the
Lamb--the opening picture taken to pieces---the white linen and the golden
girdles of the vial-angels--why the vials were given to them by one of the
beasts- -the FIRST VIAL-the Papal populations afflicted-terrible events in
France-the judgment on the Papacy gradual, as on Israel, yet terminating in
catastrophe, as with Jerusalem-the end arrived-all Europe affected -the SECOND
VIAL-unprecedented maritime calamities-British exploits at sea-the THIRD
VIAL-the Napoleonic wars in Italy--the FOURTH VIAL-scorching action of the
Austrian sun desolating wars--the FIFTH VIAL-darkening of the Papal kingdom :
the Napoleonic suppression thereof for a season-the Pope a prisoner and Rome
incorporate with France-the SIXTH VIAL--the drying. of the Euphrates
-exhaustion of the Turkish empire-the three frogs-French diplomacy effective in
causing the three wars (dragon, beast, and false prophet), and in rousing the
world to military preparation for Armageddon-the SEVENTH VIAL-the overthrow of
human power--judgment on the world, and the setting-up of the kingdom of God . . . . Page 125
ELEVENTH LECTURE-REV.
XVII. AND XVI1I.
MUCH of Rome in the
Apocalypse-no marvel in view of history-the objection of some people that
Babylon is not Rome-the proof that Babylon of the Apocalypse is Rome-the
scarlet coloured beast and its lady rider-the symbol of Roman Europe in its
latter-day constitution--an enigma : “ the beast that was, and is not, and yet
is” ; the other enigma “he is the eighth and is of the seven “-the standing in
God’s eyes of all who admire the Roman system--the ten horns of the time of the
end-their war against the Lamb-the nature and objects of the struggle from a
divine point of view-the companions of Christ in the conflict-” the called,
chosen, and faithful “-the end of the conflict--the hating of the harlot by
the horns preliminary to the end-the anti-Papal policy of the powers-the
perdition awaiting Rome at the Lord’s coming-the summons to the Lord’s people
to come out of her-Rome’s complacency to the last-her destined submergence in
volcanic fires-the first, and stunning blow, in the conflict between Christ and
the nations after the destruction of Gog on the mountains of Israel-the
evidence that Rome topographical, and not Rome as a system, is meant in Rev.
18-the terrible category of her crimes-the song of triumph at her overthrow .
. . . . . . . Page 141
TWELFTH LECTURE-REV.
XIX. AND XX. TO VERSE 6.
THE Hallelujah
chorus--its real occasion and meaning-the marriage of the Lamb-the destruction
of Rome-the reasons for joy involved in these events -the avengement of the
slaughtered saints, of which they are the resurrected and rejoicing
spectators-the national celebrations in the Holy Land under the leadership of
Christ-the next stage-preparing to subjugate the whole world-summons to
surrender-its rejection-the “ war of the great day of God Almighty “-the
program of events in eleven items-coming sacrifice-destruction of she great men
of the earth-Nihilism eclipsed- overthrow of the confederated power of
Europe-capture of the leaders- the beast and the false prophet-the lake of
fire-the host of resurrection (rejected) fugitives in their territories-the
binding of the dragon-shutting him up in the abyss-the reign of the saints for
a thousand years-who they are that reign-not “ martyrs “ only-the millennium
not 360,000 years---the first resurrection-the rest of the dead-living and
reigning with Christ -orthodox imagination-the gloriousness of the kingdom . Page I
5b
THIRTEENTH LECTURE-REV.
XX., VERSE 7 TO END OF THE BOOK.
PROPHETIC character of
Apocalypse-its fulfillment in European history-the closing scenes-tlse kingdom
of the thousand years-the revolt of nations at the close-the cause that leads
to it symbolically expressed as the loosing of Satan-deceiving the nations-the
catastrophe that ends the revolt-the devil and the lake of fire-the
resurrection at the end of the millennium- death during the thousand years-the
post-millennial judgment-abolition of death--an immortal population for the
earth-new heavens and new earth -the giving up of the kingdom to God-history of
God’s work on earth--the consummation-the world peopled by one race, all
immortal-” all things new “-New Jerusalem--gorgeous picture-a contrast to the
hideous symbols of the present dispensation-not a literal City-a symbol of the
saints in their corporate Constitution-the twelve gates and twelve angels-the
wall of the city with twelve foundations-the cube form and furlong measurement
of the city-the measurement of the wall, and of the man, and of the angel-the
garnishing of the twelve foundations with all manner of precious stones-no
temple in the city, and no need of the sun-why called New Jerusalem-the city at
the beginning and end of the thousand years- Queen of the endless ages-the
river of life and trees on the bank-the
healing of the
nations-no more Curse . . . . Page 172
The general neglect of the Apocalypse-a good
reason why it is not understood-the recent exposition by Dr. Thomas-origin of
the Apocalypse- to whom sent-its symbolic style-the use of sign and symbol in
previous divine communications-the advantage of symbolism-the futurist theory
of the Apocalypse-its baselessness-John in the Isle of Patmos-” in Spirit on
the Lord’s Day “-not Sunday or Saturday-the first object seen-the Son of Man in
the midst of the seven golden candlesticks- the order to send the Apocalypse to
the seven Asian ecclesias-the message to each-the structural beauty; of
each-brief and hurried analysis-the angels of the ecclesias.
THERE is no more
conclusive evidence of the truly unchristian state of the professedly Christian
society around us, than the ignorance and aversion that prevail with regard to
the Apocalypse-the last book of the New Testament. The opening sentences of the
book show us how it is regarded by Christ-(and this is the true standard of
judgment in the case). Christ does not directly speak in these opening
sentences ; but he has said with regard to the apostles, of whom John, the
writer of this book, was one, “He that heareth you heareth me “. Consequently
we hear Christ speaking when we hear John describe this book as a revelation
sent from Christ (who first received it from God), in order that his servants
might know the things that would shortly come to pass. We hear Christ speak
when we read in verse 3 : “ Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the
words of this prophecy “. We hear him speak directly at the end of the book
thus : “ I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the
churches “. If this book of the Apocalypse is a message from Christ, sent for
the enlightenment of his servants, to be testified in the Churches, among whom
those are blessed who read and understand it, how are we to estimate a state of
society in which it is not only generally unknown and not understood where
known, but in which it is an increasing y popular sentiment that it is
“unknowable “, and that any profession of ability to understand it is
evidential of latent if not active insanity on the part of the professor ?
There are very good
reasons why the Apocalypse is not understood. Those reasons are known to all
who know the truth. In brief they may be said to lie in this, that people come
to the Apocalypse with ideas that cannot be harmonized with it. The Apocalypse
deals with scenes and events belonging to the earth and to the nations
Page 2
upon it-scenes and
events which in their general outlines, are the subject of the Old Testament
prophecy from the beginning, and which constitute the subject matter of the
gospel of the kingdom. No marvel, therefore, if people whose theology fixes
their attention upon heaven and hell, and an imagined disembodied state of
existence after death, cannot get into the groove of a correct understanding.
We must not stay to
discuss the problem how it comes to pass that professing Christendom should
have come to discard the first principles of primitive Christianity. This has
been discussed before. It is sufficient to note the fact as the explanation of
the otherwise inexplicable phenomenon, that the last book of the New Testament
should be deemed unintelligible, useless, and even dangerous by multitudes
professing subjection to the book as a whole. If we are in a different position
in the matter to those around us, we owe it to the kindness of God in having
brought us into contact with the labours of a man who has been instrumental in
our age in removing from the Scriptures the veil of misapprehension which hides
them from the general understanding. Having received the benefit of these
labours, it is our duty to do the best we can to extend it to others.
The object of the
present course of lectures is to exhibit in a simple way the meaning of this
(at first sight) apparently inscrutable book of Revelation. It is customary and
more appropriate to speak of it as the Apocalypse. To speak of it as “
Revelation” is to clash with the fact that there is much other revelation
besides, and that the Apocalypse is only a part of revelation. To speak of it
as the Apocalypse is to identify a particular part of revelation.
The first thing to be
noted is its own description of itself in the opening verse as “ The Revelation
Of Jesus Christ which
God gave unto him “. The conviction following from this description is that
before God gave it to Jesus, Jesus did not know it. This conclusion may not be
in harmony with the common idea of Jesus which attributes to him co-equal
knowledge with the Father ; but it is in harmony with Christ’s own declaration
while on earth. He said of a certain time “Of that day knoweth no man, no, not
the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father “ (Mark 13 :
32). Jesus knows as much as the Father pleases. -
The next point to he
noticed is, that Jesus sent it for the information of a certain class “ To
show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass ‘ . It was not
sent to all the world it was sent to to his friends. This accounts for the
difficult form in which it was communicated. It was intended for a class who in
their knowledge of the purpose of God, as revealed in the prophets, possessed
the key for the opening of this enigmatical and more elaborate exhibition of it
in detail. None others could understand or make use of it. This was one reason
why it has been so little understood by the world at large. If it has been sent
by Christ
Page 3
to the friends of
Christ, obviously everyone desiring to be numbered with the friends of Christ
will feel desirous of understanding it.
Next we have to consider the form adopted in the conveyance of this revelation. We are not left to speculate on this point. It is not an open question whether the things seen by John were literal or symbolic. The nature of the revelation is defined in the same verse that tells us whom it was sent to. “He sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John.” It was not sent in a plain form but in an enigmatical or sign form. To signify is to represent by sign or/ symbol. That that is what is meant by the use of the verb “signify ‘/ in this case, is shown conclusively by what John saw and heard. H€ saw certain things which he describes, and concerning these he is repeatedly informed that the mystery or meaning of what he saw was this and that. Thus, the very first object he saw was a luminous personage standing in the midst of seven golden candlesticks, and having in his hand seven stars. That this was an exhibition of something in symbol would .be suggested by the thing itself, but is put beyond a doubt by what was addressed to John thus (chap. i : 20) “The mystery of the seven stars . ..the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches (the churches enumerated in verse 11), and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches “. Explanations such as these are scattered through the book7 and furnish the clues by which the whole may he worked out and understood. To have given the signs without any explanation of their meaning, would have been to give that which would not be a revelation hut a concealment and a bewilderment.
The use of sign or
symbol is very characteristic of the divine mode of communication. The literal
is the basis, but there is much garniture of figure from the very beginning.
The Mosaic system was one elaborate system of symbol, as we learn from the New
Testament. The messages of the prophets are largely figurative in their dress,
though literal in their structure and in their bearing. The Apocalypse is not
the -first time pure symbol was employed
to represent events. The book of
Daniel is almost entirely of this character. The vision of the image and
the stone, the vision of the four beasts, the vision of the ram and the goat,
will occur to everyone acquainted with that book as pointed examples. Even in
the plainer prophets, there are examples of pure symbol. Jehovah alludes to the
fact in Hosea thus : “ I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have
multiplied visions, and used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets “
(chap. 52 : 10). If the similitudes were employed without any clue to their
significance, their use would not be enlightening, but the clues, in almost all
cases, are supplied- if not in the immediate context, in some corresponding
part of the word. Diligent search and comparison will find them.
In some cases it
requires no such search ; they lie on the surface. Thus Jeremiah, at the
commencement of his ministry, was caused to see an almond rod. He was asked
what he saw ; he
Page 4
said, “I see a rod of an
almond tree “. “Then said the Lord unto him, Thou hast well seen, for I will
hasten my word to perform it” (1:12). Here an almond rod is constituted the symbol of speed in the execution
of the Lords purpose so that every time
it was seen, it would carry that meaning
with it, in the same way that the scales in modern allegory represent justice.
The same prophet was shown a seething pot with its face towards the north, the
explanation of which was added in these words “ Out of the north an evil shall
break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land “-namely, a military invasion,
as the next verse shows. Consequently a seething pot would become a symbol of
the affliction arising from the war. Amos was shown a basket of garnered fruit
(chap. 8 : 1), and informed that it signified the ripeness of Israel’s
iniquity, because of which Jehovah would bear no longer with them.
At first sight it might
seem a matter of regret that symbol should be employed at all. It might seem so
much better that all matters should he set forth plainly. This thought will
give way before experience. Purely literal talk lacks the colour and zest of
communication spiced with figure and concealed meaning. This is apparent in
even ordinary conversation The man who signifies more than he actually says,
and who by a slight obscurity of style imposes upon the mind an effort to
penetrate his meaning, is a more interesting talker than the man who lets all
out in a plain way. The effect of symbols after understanding is attained, is
to make the matter set forth much more vivid and striking than it would be in a
merely literal presentation
The symbols of the Apocalypse are very graphic of the things symbolized ; hut it is necessary to realize that they are only symbols. Thus John, when he saw seven candlesticks saw something that had no actual existence. The actual things signified were seven communities of men and women in Asia Minor. He saw a drying river, he saw three frogs, he saw a seven headed dragon But there was no Literal river or frogs or dragon. These were the signs of something else. Unless this discrimination be carefully exercised, the effect of the contemplation of the objects exhibited in the Apocalypse will be to bewilder and daze, whereas when it is the meanings that are kept before the mind as the important thing to be looked after, the effect is enlightening and calming as intended.
You may think these are
needless observations. They will not appear so when you remember there are
people who say the Apocalypse is to be understood literally, that Babylon is
Babylon a dragon, a real dragon ; the prophets, two men, the locusts, locusts,
the fire, real fire, and so on. Such
people teach that the Apocalypse is a revelation of something that is to happen
after Christ has come. The baselessness of such an idea will he manifest at
once when it is recollected that the Apocalypse was sent to seven ecclesias
existing in Asia Minor in the time of John for the information of all who
should afterwards listen. All were pronounced Blessed “ who should keep the
things written in it (verse 3, and
Page 5
frequently throughout
the book). Now, of what value could the pointing out of this blessedness be to
the seven ecclesias in Asia and all the brethren of Christ who should live
after them till his second coming, if the things set forth in it were things to
be developed after Christ shall come? The force of this becomes very strong
when you consider the character of the class to be accepted when Christ comes
as described in the Apocalypse. They are described as “ those who have gotten
the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the
number of his name” (55 : 2). How could this be descriptive of the saints if
there were no beast and his image and his mark and his name to overcome before
Christ had come? I will not enlarge this argument, though it might be enlarged.
This indication of it is sufficient to show the groundlessness and mischievousness
of the futurist idea.
We will now proceed to
the consideration of the subject in chief-the Apocalypse itself. In the
lectures to follow, we will take the book seriatim,
chapter by chapter, seeking to exhibit, not only the meaning but the
evidence of the meaning, for it would be of no profit to assert that the
meaning was thus and so, unless the proof that it is so were produced at the
same time.
The book opens with the
picture of John in the island of Patmos, a small desolate isle on the west
coast of Asia Minor. To the solitude of this place he was banished on account
of the faith of Christ, by
- the Roman Emperor
Domitian ~ who it is said first tried unsuccessfully to destroy him by
immersing him in boiling oil. He tells us that before the vision began, he was
“ In spirit on the Lords Day” Some
people take this to mean that the vision came to him on Sunday. There are
various objections to this. First, Sunday is never called the Lord’s Day in the
Scriptures. Even under Moses, the sabbath was the “seventh day “-not the Lord’s
Day-the sabbath of the Lord, but never the Lord’s Day. Still less was such a
description employed under Christ who was the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone believing (Rom. 10 : 4), and who liberated believers from the law
of the sabbath, as well as the other parts of the law (Col. 2 :14-16 ; Rom. 54
: 5). The only use to which we ever find “the Lord’s Day” put, or “day of the
Lord” (for the latter is the more correct form of the phrase), is to express an
appointed day of the Lords manifestation in some form or other particularly the
day appointed for the judging of the world in righteousness by Christ. This
last is the day most commonly expressed by the phrase “ day of the Lord “ (Acts
‘7 : 31 ; 1 Cor. 5 : 5 ; 2 Cor. 1 :14 ; 1 Thess. 5 : 2 ; Phil. 1 : 6).
Then the intimation : “
I was in Spirit “, is conclusive against the common way of regarding this
passage. The meaning of this phrase is illustrated unmistakably a little
farther on. At the close of the first series of things shown to him, John heard
a voice addressing him thus : “ Come up hither, and I will shew thee things
which must be hereafter “ (4: 1), “ and “, says he, “immediately I was in
Spirit, and, behold, a throne”, etc. What this means
Page 6
exactly is shown in the
case of another prophet, Ezekiel, who being also addressed on the occasion of
being about to receive Visions, says (Ezek. 2 : 2) : “ And the Spirit entered
into me when he spake to me” ; and again,” So the Spirit lifted me up, and took
me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit ; but the hand of
the Lord was strong upon me” (3 : 14). To be “in Spirit is to be seized,
covered or held by the Spirit of God for the particular purpose in
hand-generally a purpose of vision and revelation. Now, for John to be “in
Spirit on the day of the Lord” was to be present on that day in vision by the
Spirit. The Spirit was John’s constant companion, as Jesus had promised (John
15 : 26 ; i6 : 13)-a Comforter, an Instructor, a Revealer of things to come.
was the comfort of this illumination more needed than in the solitude of
Patmos, when John was compelled to pine away for the
truth’s sake? What more
suited to the needs of the spiritual man than that he should receive this
comfort in the shape of a preternaturally-engendered contemplation of the day
of the Lord, when all tribulation should cease? And what more natural than that
such a moment should be chosen for the communication of a further and larger
revelation for the benefit of the whole household of God ?
John, then, in Patmos,
being, through the power of the Spirit, en
rapport on a particular occasion with the day of the Lord, hears behind him
a loud trumpet-toned voice, saying, “ I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the
last : and what thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches
‘which are in Asia ; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto
Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea “. Turning
to see whence the voice proceeded, he saw “ one like unto the Son of Man “,
whom he describes in detail. On this it has to be remarked the figure seen was
not Jesus himself The nature of the
figure- -the figure seen was not Jesus himself. itself shows this.. The nature
of the figure (with sword proceeding out
of his mount, ect) – itself shows this but it is more evident from the
statement of the first verse concerning the whole Apocalypse, that Jesus” sent
and signified it by his angel unto his servant John “. This statement is
repeated at the end of the book (22 : 6) that “ the Lord God of the holy
prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly
be done”. It was an angel and not Jesus that visited John in Patmos. John refers to this angel visitant thus (22 :
8) : “When I had heard and seen, I
fell down to worship before the feet of the angel Which shewed me these things.
Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not, for I am the fellow-servant of thee
and of thy brethren the prophets ‘The angel visiting John in Patmos, so
operated upon him by the power of the Spirit of God as to cause him to see and
hear things that had no real existence, but which to John seemed real, just as
things seen and heard in dreams seem real to the dreamer, with this great
difference, however, that dreams are the interfusion and confusion of ideas
already impressed upon the brain by natural means in waking hours-the vision
caused to appear to John was the exhibition, in signs and symbols, of things
that were really to
Page 7
come, the knowledge of
which had been received by the angel from Christ, to whom the Father had
communicated it in the first instance.
The Son of Man then,
seen by John when he turned to see the source of the voice, was not the actual
Jesus, but a symbolic representation of him in certain relations which become
apparent in the messages sent to the churches or ecclesias of Asia.
Here it is well to realize that though sent to seven congregations contemporary with John, the messages were really intended to be of world wide application so far as saints are concerned. It was not only for them : it was for all the friends of Christ. We learn this from the addition of this clause to every message : “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear “. We also learn from this that Jesus, in sending the messages, contemplated the possibility of some not having ears to hear. This apparently unimportant deduction may often be of great practical value. We are liable to be depressed and even diverted from right conclusions by the general apathy and want of interest shown towards the great matters involved in the Apocalypse. We are liable sometimes to feel as if this mass of public inertia were in some way or other in the right, and that the holding of definite and interested views on the subject is a sign of narrowness and a mistake. It will help us to resist this (at bottom) unreasonable feeling, to see that Jesus appeals to the discerning only. He always speaks disparagingly of the spiritual attainments of the mass of mankind. In his prayer, for example (John 17), he plainly says “The world hath not known Thee “, and again, “I pray not for the world “, and again, “That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke i6 : 15). In this very Apocalypse, the spectacle is prominently and strikingly exhibited of all nations being in the wrong. All nations are said to be figuratively drunk with the (symbolic) wine of abomination administered to them by the Roman ecclesiastical adulteress of Europe (Rev. i8 : 3 ; 17 : 18). All the world were to wonder after the beast (13 : 3). Consequently, enlightenment, instead of finding it a difficulty, will rather recognize it as one of the characteristic features of the present situation of things that Apocalyptic matters enlist no sympathy and rather excite the contempt than the attention or even the opposition of mankind.
Why was the Apocalypse
sent to only seven ecclesias? There were many more than seven in the world at
that time. There were the ecclesias at Jerusalem, at Rome, at Antioch, at
Corinth, at Colosse, at Philippi, and many other places. The seven golden
candlesticks take no note of these. Why not? Because seven” represents all. The
seven golden candlesticks in the midst of which the figure of the Son of Man
was seen, represent the entire comas a light-bearing community. They did this
in representing the
seven ecclesia in Asia which stood for all the ecclesias everywhere, as shown
by the intimation appended to each message, that what was said was intended for
everyone having ears.
Seven were chosen whose
states differed, and who therefore called
Page 8
for seven different
messages, applicable to all the states in which professedly Christian
communities could be found.
Here we have to notice
that the Apocalypse was not only sent to the friends of Christ, instead of
being published to the world, but that its prophetic delineations, as relating
to the course of events ~ in the world, are prefaced by a message peculiar and
private to themselves. The second and third chapters are wholly occupied with
the messages to the seven representative churches, with respect to their
condition and Christ’s views and intentions with regard to them. This shows the
position the friends and servants of Christ occupy in his estimation. It shows the
force of Paul’s statement on the same head : “All things are for your sakes “.
The drama that has been enacted in Europe during a long and dark series of
centuries, in harmony with the program sketched in the Apocalypse, has the body
of Christ as its ultirna ratio. At
the beginning of that program, and during its evolution, the body of Christ is
developed, and at its close, it is seen in glorious and triumphant occupation
of the earth and all its honours and glories.
The messages to the churches have the first place because the body -of
Christ is first in the regards of Christ, and because of the important!’ work
they are intended to effect in that body during the ascendancy of evil
appointed to prevail during his absence.
We will take a glance at
the messages before going into the political forecast involved in the seals,
trumpets, etc. Very great beauty reveals itself as we study the structure of
these messages. They appear at first sight to he haphazard and without plan
they are the reverse of these. They are complete, symmetrical, unique. The
description of the Son of Man seen by John (contained in the first chapter) is
the basis of the messages. Each message is prefaced by an allusion to some
separate feature Son of Man so described
: and in each message, the feature
selected is not only different, but has a direct bearing on the nature of the
message to be communicated.
The message to Ephesus
is said to be from him “Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks “. This allusion to his omnipresence among the churches was an
appropriate prelude to the declaration, “ I know thy works, and thy labour, and
thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil . It was also
appropriate to the promise that the victor should he permitted to eat of the
tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God.
The message to Smyrna is
said to he from him “ who was dead, and is alive “ : and who therefore
naturally promises “ a crown of life “ to the faithful, and that the victors
shall “ not be hurt of the second death “.
The message to Pergamos
is said to be from” him who bath the sharp sword with two edges “, in harmony
with which the threat is uttered, “Repent, or else I will come unto thee
quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth “.
Page 9
The message to Thyatira
is said to be from “the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire
(penetrating sight) and his feet like fine brass” (to tread down and destroy),
in harmony with which, the object of the things threatened in the message is
said to be that all the churches may know that Christ is “ he who searches the
reins and hearts “, and the promise made that power will be given over the
shivered nations.
The message to Sardis is
said to be from him “ that hath the seven Spirits of God “-(the unmeasured
control of the Spirit of God). The promise is the clothing with white raiment
(investiture with spirit-nature) and acknowledgment in the presence of the
Father and the angels.
The message to
Philadelphia is said to be from him” that hath the key of David ; he that
openeth, and no man shutteth : and shutteth, and no man openeth “, in
accordance with which there is a promise of the exercise of this kingly
prerogative in the incorporation of the victor as a permanent constituent of
the glorified house of David in the age to come, described under the figure of
a temple and new Jerusalem.
The message to Laodicea
is said to he from “the faithful and true witness “, and the message is a
testimony of the true state of the Laodiceans in contrast to their own
complacent views of their
attainments.
This brief and hurried
analysis will illustrate the meaning of the remark that the seven messages are
not haphazard and formless, but are carefully constructed upon a principle of symmetry
and appropriateness, which while giving play to various general aspects of
truth in a brief compass, at the same time admits of their applicability to the
actual facts existing in the midst of the- ecclesias to whom the messages
primarily applied. This is an element of beauty to admire. It is a mark of
divinity which will be appreciated the better the longer it is contemplated.
THE ANGELS OF THE ECCLESIAS
You will observe that each message is addressed to” the angel” of the ecclesia to which it is sent. The common way of understanding this is to suppose that by “the angel” was meant the presiding bishop of each particular ecclesia. But there can be no doubt that, as in most scriptural things, popular exegesis is wrong here. Dr. Thomas’s exposition is demonstrably the right thing-that the angel is the Apocalyptic figure for the eldershjp in each .ecclesia, appointed and endowed for their office by the spirit, ministered by the laying on of hands of the apostles This is proved by the recognition of the angel as a plurality in the messages themselves. Thus, the seven messages, though addressed to the angel of each particular ecclesia, are said to be “ what the Spirit saith to the ecclesias”
Page 10
(chap. 2 : 7, ii, 17,
and so on). If each message was addressed to each ecclesia, then the “ thou “
and the “ thy “ addressed to “the angel” were plural in their scope. This is
finally and conclusively established by the express mention of “some “ being
included in the ecclesial “ thou”. Thus, to Smyrna, it is said, “The devil
shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried and ye shall have
tribulation ten days ; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a
crown of life “ (chap. 2 : 10). Here “ thou and “you” are used interchangeably.
To Pergamos, it was said that “Antipas” was “slain among you” (13) ; and to
Thyatria, “I will give to every one of you according to your works” (23).
Illustrations might be
multiplied, but these are conclusive.” ~ If it be asked how the eldership
should be figured as an angel, we have
the answer in the fact that, as men miraculously endowed with the powers and
gifts of the Spirit of God for the perfecting of the body of Christ (Eph. 4: ~ 12), they were collectively an
angelism from Christ in the midst of each
ecclesia-a messenger-ship -men sent for a particular purpose, and officially
representing the body in each case.
It would be interesting
and profitable to look at the messages with regard to the practical lessons
they contain, and the meaning of the promises enigmatically conveyed. This
would be a long process to be done thoroughly. We must be content with a
summary. And this summary we must defer to the next lecture. If you desire to
see the matter thoroughly and vigorously done, I cannot do better than refer
you to Eureka, Dr. Thomas’s
exposition of the Apocalypse, in three volumes To this I for one am indebted
for my understanding of this most difficult part of the testimony of God.
Before reading that exposition nearly twenty years ago (so far as the first
volume is concerned), I understood
only snatches of it. Now I am thankful to be able to follow it in its entirety.
Do not be tempted to think that we lean upon a man’s judgment in the matter.
Dr. Thomas not only gives you his conclusions but the reasons which have led
him to those conclusions. We are thus able to make his conclusions our own by a
process which makes us independent of all men as to the ground on which we hold
them. The best proof of the soundness of the views advanced by Dr. Thomas lies
in this, that once a reader is directed by him to the Bible and becomes a Bible
student, he can dispense with Dr. Thomas’s books altogether so far as
steadfastness of conviction is concerned. The Bible nourishes that conviction
from day to day. It is not like Sweden-borgianism and some other systems in
which you have to keep reading the books to keep “posted” in the system. The
Bible keeps you “posted “ in the truth, if you never read another line of the
man who may have directed you to it in the first instance. My own experience is
an illustration of this. I read Elpis
Israel twenty-seven years ago ; I read it only once : I have never read it
since : but I have read the Bible daily all the time since, and
Page 11
have remained of one
judgment with Elpis Israel in
consequence. So with the Herald published
by the Dr., I read it only once. Eureka I
have read only once. The Bible to which these books direct their readers I have
read always, arid consequently realize a strength of conviction totally independent
of the man now in his grave by whom the conviction was generated in the first
instance. Nevertheless, it is a great advantage to read the books at least
once. If you have never read Eureka, I
advise you to do it, at least once. I know it is a large book. It is
inaccessible to most of you as regards price, and its bulk is beyond the
leisure allowed you from your various occupations. Still, friends will be found
willing to lend, and a judicious use of the time possessed will enable a
resolute reader to accomplish wonders. In some cases, even this may not be
practicable. Such cases I hope in some measure to benefit by an attempt at
simple exposition in the course of thirteen lectures now
commenced.
Page 12
REVELATION II., III.
The message to the seven ecclesias-the suggestive
position they occupy as the preface to the Apoca1ypse_the obscure ~ and not the
great honoured by Christ’s communication in the first century-the poor called
and not the rich-the rule of action still the same-Effect of the vision upon
John- his fear and the comfort __the message considered in detail-to Ephesus,
to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, to
Laodicea-value of the messages __the view that they were prophetic as well as
perceptive __the Laodicean state of contemporary Christendom.
LAST Thursday evening we
made a beginning in the consideration of the subject of the Apocalypse. We
deferred till to-night a glance at the messages Jesus sent by the hand of John
to the seven ecclesias of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis,
Philadelphia and Laodicea. Those messages are much more interesting than they
at first sight appear to be. The position they occupy is very suggestive. They
come first in an exhibition of things that were shortly to come
to pass among the
nations of the earth. Before Christ proceeds to unfold these things, he
addresses himself to his own brethren, through one of them exiled in Patmos.
Nothing could he more
significant of the
position the friends of Christ occupy in relation to! himself and the purpose
of which he is the centre. We do not realize it so distinctly perhaps in the
nineteenth century as we should have as contemporaries of John We are apt to think of John as a very exalted personage, occupying a high
place among the renowned of the earth. This view is doubtless right in a
certain way, but not in the way referred to. John was truly one of the great,
but not of this world. Like his master, he was in his day of no account,
despised and rejected of men. Whence came he to Patmos but as an outcast? He
was one of the small, not of the great ; one of the poor, not of the rich ; one
of the lambs not the lions. And it was to him and not to the great and
prosperous and esteemed of men in his day, that
Jesus condescends fronm the height ofd eternal glory to communicate
confidentially the Fathers purpose concerning the kingdoms and thhe great men
of the earth. This brings to us with much force the truth proclaimed by Paul
“All things are yours” ; “All things are for your sakes “ (2 Cor. 4 15). The
very activity of the nations everywhere-their commerce, their political
revolutions, their social transformations-are all so many elements in the
preparation of the earth for transfer to the government of Jesus and those
among mankind whom he honours with his approbation and selection as brethren in
the day of his arrival in glory. Those meanwhile are to be found among the poor
and the down-trodden as at the first. They are those who have faith in the
testimony of God, and who submit daily to His commandments, or as it is
apocalyptically expressed, “who keep the commandments of God, and have the
Page 13
testimony of Jesus
Christ “ (i 2 : 17). This class is
not to be found among the respectable and the learned, though there is nothing
intrinsically incompatible with submission to the truth in respectability and
learning. The respectable and the learned are surrounded with the views and
influences from the very cradle which bring men into bondage to the traditions
and practices of the world, and withhold them from the enlightening power of
the testimony of God. The poor are no better off so far as the positive
tendency of their surroundings is concerned ; but in their poverty, they are at
least free from some of the impediments that beset the path of the well-to-do,
and their minds are more flexible to the divine bent than where riches foster
pride and harden the heart. However we may reason upon the subject, it is the
fact that God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, to be the
heirs of the kingdom promised (Jas. 2 : 5)
; and to this class the Apocalypse was sent in the first century and is
addressed in the nineteenth.
When John, hearing the
first voice that broke upon the meditative solitude of Patmos, turned to see
the speaker, he was overpowered with the glory of the symbolic spectacle that
presented itself to his view. He fell at the feet of the sunblazing personage
standing in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The power and glory
stunned him. Had we been with him we should have been similarly affected and
shared in his fear. But presently words of comfort fell upon his ear : “He laid
his right hand upon me saying, Fear not ; I am the First and the Last : I am he
that liveth, and was dead ; and, behold, I am alive for evermore
How often this cheering
adjuration occurs in God’s communication with men “Fear not “. There is
something to fear in the awful greatness of the unmeasured power of God but the
comforting words in question remind us that this great power is allied with a
kindness as tender as that of a father for his children. God is love, as well
as a consuming fire. We must pick up the crumbs of comfort as we go. We shall
find this comfort grow upon us as we follow and consider the messages addressed
to the seven representative ecclesias. Let us take them in the order in which
they are rehearsed.
TO EPHESUS
Christ introduces
himself as “He who walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks.” The lesson of this is
powerful in view of the interpretation, that “The seven candlesticks are the
seven churches “. Christ walking in the midst of these candlesticks means that
all things among the brethren are as open to his sight and knowledge as they
are in each ecciesia to those who constitute that ecciesia. It means more than
this. It means that he has not only power to see, but power to control, and to
affect everyone as he sees fit. As he expresses it in the message to Thyatira :
“ All the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts
and I will give unto every one of you according to your works “. This power the
Lord Jesus possesses by reason of his
Page 14
possession of the
Spirit. “ In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2 9). “
He is the Lord of Spirit “ (2Cor 3 17). Consequently, what Paul says of the
‘word of God’ (which he is, made flesh) is
true of him “He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Neither is there any creature / that is not
manifest in his sight; but all things
are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4
I2-I3) This fact is attested by his description as “ he that walketh in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks “. He walked in the midst of the
brethren in the days of John, in the sense of knowing, and watching, and
affecting all their affairs. It scarcely needs to be remarked that if true in
the first century, it is true now, and that, consequently, the affairs of the
brethren are everywhere open to his view and subject to his manipulation.
I know thy works “ :
this fact follows from Christ’s relation to the seven candlesticks. It is a
comforting fact to everyone who is striving to walk acceptably before God, and
perhaps failing to secure the approbation of men. It may seem to us as if our
affairs were unknown and unheeded. Time goes on and nothing comes of it, and we
may become “weary and faint in our minds “. Perhaps there were some in Ephesus
who felt like this. They had been forty or fifty years in existence as an
ecclesia before receiving this indication of the Lord’s mind concerning them.
We have not had so long a career as that. Let us bear up against the effects of
apparent delay. The Lord is noticing, and so to speak, recording proceedings
from day to day. When he comes, he will let us know what he thinks, and give us
the results in a very substantial form. He will express his approval if our
course admit of it. He commended the Ephesian ecciesia for some things. He
approved of their “labour and patience” : “Thou hast borne, and hast patience,
and for My name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted”. He also spoke
approvingly of them on this head “ Thou canst not hear them that are evil and
thou hast tried them that say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them
liars “. This is the best answer to those who accuse us of uncharitableness on
account of our hostility to that which is opposed to the revealed will of
Christ, and because of our application of the test of truth to the modern
professors of apostleship or successorship to the apostles. If the Ephesian
attitude in these matters secured the approbation of Christ, a British attitude will do the same if righteously
sustained. And if we secure Christ’s approbation, it matters nothing if the
whole world condemn us.
Christ has somewhat against the brethren in
Ephesus. “They had left their first
love” We must understand this in the
light of scriptural definitions of love and not according to the modern
notion which limits love to
sentiment It means more than affection;
it means love in practical manifestation.
This is love” says John , “that we walk. “This is love “, says John,
“that we walk after (in accordance with his commandments ” (2 John 6) Jesus also says, “He that hath my
commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (John 14:21) . Hence a
Page 15
return to first love is
a return to first acts. This is the interpretation Jesus gives of it in the
message, “ “Repent and do the first works” (verse 5). Christ requires a continuance-a patient continuance, in
well doing Rom. 2 : 7 . He declared it expressly in this form, “He that
endureth to the end, the same shall be saved “ (Matt. 24 : 13). This is
reasonable for where would be the value of a man’s friendship which cools off
with time and tires in those practical manifestations which give it ‘value?
Jesus threatened the
removal of the candlestick in case of non-reformation (verse 5). As the
candlestick stood for the ecclesia this was equivalent to saying that he would break up the ecclesia If the
brethren were not earnestly attentive to his requirements. This is another
indication of Christ’s control of
providence ; forhow would he remove the candlestick? Not by open visitation but
by...the disintegrating action of adverse circumstances regulated by him., As he said to Sardis : “If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (chap. 3 : 3). The threat however involved a further point. That is, it meant more than merely interfering with the existence of the community. It referred particularly to the withdrawal of that symbolic oil for the combustion of which in light-giving the candlestick was a mere apparatus, and without which it was of no use. To withdraw the oil was practically to remove the candlestick. Oil symbolically used stands for the Spirit of God, as proved in many ways which we not to refer to. The Spirit of God was bestowed upon the ecciesias in the first century. It was this that constituted them the Spirit’s candlesticks. Hence the threat was a threat of the withdrawal of the Spirit. The threat was duly carried into effect. The reformation desired did not set in. The apostasy, which Paul declared to he in active progress before his death, got the upper hand everywhere, and the candlesticks were removed in all senses, since which day the light of inspiration has been extinct, except in so far as it survives in the writings of the Spirit-the oracles of God which are to us a treasure beyond price.
Jesus expresses his
satisfaction that the brethren in Ephesus “hated the deeds of the Nicolaitanes”
(2 : 6), which he adds he also hated. Who these were in the specific sense, is
a matter of some doubt. The name is a compound of two Greek words, nikè and laos, signifying victory and
the people ; and Dr. Thomas suggests
that it stands generally for those who obtained the victory over the people by
their corruption of the truth. The objection to this lies in the mention of
Nicolaitanes as a class extra in addition to the corrupters of the truth in
general They come after the reference in
this message
, to them which are evil” and those “who say
they are apostles “. Also in the message to Smyrna, they are mentioned in the
same special way after the enumeration of other corrupters. “So hast thou also
them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate “(chap. 2 :
15). This seems to point to a special
Page 16
feature. In the
enumeration of the early sects to be found in ecclesiastical history, mention
is made of one Nicolaus, who taught the community of wives among Christians,
and whose followers are said
to have been called
Nicolaitanes. If there was such a doctrine and such a sect among the ecclesias,
it would be easy to understand how it came to be singled out for such emphatic
reprobation in the
messages sent by Christ to them ; for nothing
could more powerfully tend to the demoralization and disruption of society or
the corruption and destruction of individuals than the promiscuous intercourse
of the sexes.
The promise to the
Ephesian ecciesia, like the other parts of the message, is couched in the
language of symbol : “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of
life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (2 : 7). The meaning of the symbol is plain to those who apprehend the
truth concerning Christ as the giver of eternal life. In this capacity, he
likened himself when on earth to manna and also to a vine, without which a man
must die (John 6: 27-35 ; 15 : 4-6). How true we find this to be! All men are
mortal. One by one we must fail and wither and die. Nature holds out no hope of
renewal of life for animal organizations. Hope lies in the direction of Christ
alone, who proclaimed himself to be the Resurrection and the Life, and who is,
therefore, appropriately likened in this promise to a tree, having the power of
imparting immortality to the eater ; after the figure of the tree in Eden, of
which had Adam partaken, he would have lived for ever (Gen 3:22)
TO SMYR.NA
Jesus introduces himself as “ the first and the last, who was dead and is alive “. In this, he presents his origin and history in a phrase. He is the Fii~st,-the Father, the Eternal in manifestation. You say, “ That is intelligible, but how can he be ‘ the Last ‘ ? Well, if we realize that when God’s purpose with the earth is finished ~ Jesus will be the occupant and possessor thereof for ever at the head of ransomed mankind, we can understand how, in relation to the history of the earth, he is the final-the Last. His having died and risen are incidents in the history that leads from the “ First “ state to the “ Last” state. It was natural he should place these in the foreground, because he was about to promise a Crown of life for faithfulness unto death. He tells the Smyrneans that, among other things, he knows their poverty, but immediately adds, in parenthesis, “ but thou art rich “. The destined possessors of the kingdom of God may well be said to be rich. All things are theirs, as Paul says (i Cor. 3 : 21). It is only a question of time, their coming into possession. Meanwhile, like Paul they have to “ suffer the loss of all things. He accuses some of blasphemy in saying they were Jews when they were not (verse 9) This is not a form of blasphemy of which the moderns are liable to be guilty. They have lost sight of the fact that “ salvation is of the Jews
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(John 4 : 22), and are under no temptation to call themselves Jews. They have forgotten, if ever they knew, that in the apostolic system, “He is a Jew that is one inwardly” (Rom. 2 : 29), even though originally “ a Gentile in the flesh “, a stranger from the covenants of promise, and an alien from the commonwealth of Israel (Eph. 2 : 12). Even the blasphemers of the first century were more enlightened than the pious of the nineteenth.
Jesus forewarns the
Smyrnean brethren that they would suffer, and that “the devil would cast some
of them into prison “. This shows who the devil was in Christ’s view of things.
The authorities that wielded powers of imprisonment and death were,
collectively, the devil. This was not the
orthodox devil , but the diabolism of human nature
incorporate in organized authority . The promise of faithfulness is expressed
negatively; he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death “. The
second death is that repetition of death which will occur at the appearance of
Christ in the case of those who rise from the dead to experience the shame and
punishment of a divine repudiation. This will he a far more terrible visitation
every way than the first occurrence of death. The second death is prefaced with
the agonizing knowledge of a divine rejection publicly proclaimed. There is no
hope in it, and it comes at last with violence and pain.
The promise of exemption
from it, coming from him who has power to inflict it, is a “ great and precious
promise ‘. It is a promise, like all other promises, to those who “ overcome “,
that is, to those who get the upper hand in the conflict created by the
reception of the truth. This is a conflict with clamorous propensities within,
and importunate interests without. That which overcomes, John says, is “ our
faith “ (i John 5 : 4) ; and Paul tells us that “faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God ~ (Rom. 10 : 17). So that the man who overcomes is
the man in whom the word of truth dwells richly by reason of its being caused
to indwell abundantly through the constant reading and study of the Scriptures.
A full conviction of the things written therein is faith, and faith gives power
to “deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and
godly in the present world “, and “he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the
second death “.
TO PERGAMOS
The possessor of the
two-edged sword naturally calls attention to that instrument as a preliminary
to threatened hostility., It stands as the symbol of Christ’s power to execute
the behests of his will. He addresses himself to brethren dwelling at Satan’s
headquarters (verse 13)-not the popular Satan, but the Satan of the Bible, the
adversary of the truth and the people of God, a Satan who always consists of
men -sometimes a man. ,Jesus commends the Pergamian brethren for their
constancy in the faith in the presence
of active persecution but finds fault
with the them for tolerating Balaamites in their midst. Peter defines the
character of those in
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saying they had “an
heart exercised with covetous practices, which have forsaken the right way,
following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of
unrighteousness (2 Peter 2 : 15). Hence the Balaamites were men of sinister
aim, who only made use of the truth for the purpose of gain, but conformed with
wrong and unscriptural ways for the sake of earning money which could not
otherwise be earned. The Nicolaitanes also flourished in their midst. He
threatens to fight against the ecclesia with the sword of his mouth, that is,
to command evil against them if these offenders were not reformed out of their
midst. To him overcoming, he promises the eating of the hidden manna, that is,
participation of the native glory of Him who is the manna (meanwhile hidden)
that came down from heaven to give life to the world ; also a white stone, with
new name engraved, which no man could know but the receiver. This is the
symbolical pledge of acceptance and friendship in the judgment. It is based
upon customs in the East both judicial and social. The judicial custom is to
hand in court a white stone to an accused person acquitted in token of his
acquittal, and the social custom is for a host to divide a white stone in two
halves, and engrave the guest’s name on both, retain one, and give the guest
the other as a passport to future favour and friendship. In the case of
Christ’s friends, the name is a new one, intimating that both nature and
designation will be changed in the glorious declaration of friendship that will
take place in the case of those who overcome. Jesus gave his leading apostles
new names (e.g., Peter; Cephas :
James and John; Boanerges: etc.). He will probably re-name his accepted
brethren in harmony with the new age to which he will introduce them.
TO THYATIRA
The Son of God, with
eyes piercing and destructive as a flame of fire, commends the brethren in
Thyatira for their works and charity and service and faith and patience, and
again for their works, more abounding at the end than at the beginning. Notwithstanding,
he condemns their5 toleration of Jezebel.
Who was Jezebel? Was she a literal woman? No, for a variety of reasons.
First, the symbolic character of the Apocalyptic communication in general
involving peculiarly the symbolic use of
women (chap. ~ the surroundings of the statement are inconsistent with the idea
of a literal woman. The Jezebel in the case is said to “ teach and seduce the
servants of Christ (2 : 20), and to have children and paramours who, in default
of repentance, are threatened with a bed of tribulation and death, by the
operation of which “ all the churches” are to discern the retributive power of
Christ. This could not be understood of a private person ; it refers to
something of a public character having a bearing on all. Space to repent is
said to have been afforded . her, which would he inconceivable as applied to
the. abandoned,
Page 19
prostitution portrayed
in the language understood literally ; for such a thing could have no pretense
to occupy a place in the church of Christ at all. Finally, the teaching
attributed to her identifies her with the Balaamites of Pergamos She is said to
“teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things
sacrificed unto’ idols ‘. This is exactly the teaching set down to the credit
of the holders of the Balaamite doctrine in Pergamos (verse 14). The tendency
of this teaching was to draw the brethren into connection and fellowship with
the popular Paganism by which they were surrounded, in opposition to the
doctrine of Christ that his brethren are not of this world” (John 15 : I8-19) ;
and that friendship with the world is an impossibility if the friendship of God
is to be retained. Such a communion of light with darkness is very commonly
spoken of as fornication. In Pergamos, the upholders of such a time-serving
doctrine are said to be” those who hold the doctrine of Balaam” : in Thyatira,
where they made special pretensions to divine authority, they are lumped under
the figure of” that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess “.
Addressing those who had not come under the power of their sophistications,
Jesus speaks of them as “many as have not this doctrine, and which have not
known the depths of Satan, as they
speak “. Here the phrase “ the depths “ is quoted from the mouth of the Satan-a
teaching plurality consisting of the Balaamites and the Jezebelites. It
shows that they had a very complacent estimate of their attainments. They spoke
of their views as “ the depths “, by which, of course, they would mean that
their ideas were advanced and profound as compared with the elementary propositions
of the gospel with which the simpler members of the congregation were content.
What would there he in their doctrines of which they would speak as “ the
depths” ? We may form some idea from the peculiarities of mysticism both
ancient and modern. ‘1 his system of thought scorns proximate and concrete
forms of truth, and dives, or makes profession of diving, into the “ essence
and inner self” of things. It professes to see in the external world but the
expression of a universal “ soul “, in which the spiritual analogue “ of all
things exists. It governs its views of externals by its theories of the assumed
internal. Hence, it can respect everything as the symbol of the so-called “
eternal good “. It can see something to tolerate and even admire in idolatry
and in every form of superstition. Christ it praises, but can also adore Juggernaut,
Confucius, and Mahomet. It gives a high place to Christianity “, but would
place Greek philosophy on a level with
it. It considers the love of Christ good in its
place, but a weakness if exalted over the appreciation of other forms of”
goodness “. To condemn Paganism is bigotry in the language of this school ; to
“know nothing but Christ” is narrowness ; to believe that salvation is the
exclusive association of the gospel, is shallow, superficial, childish. To hold
its views is to plumb “the depths” of wisdom and knowledge in its estimation. -
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‘The real state of the
case is defined by Paul when he says that professing themselves to be wise,
they become fools “. Their notions are the mere vagaries of speculation : their
pretentious language is the gibber of ignorance in its worst form : ignorance
that thinks itself informed : shallowness that thinks itself profound. The true
philosophy is in the Bible : the true depth in its simplicities. We want
nothing deeper than God inscrutable, granted, but sufficient as a fact, and an
explanation of other facts. In all systems, there must be an inexplicable fact
to start with, even in Darwin’s, which shallow thinkers think so free from
mystery. The unsearchable God “ is more satisfactory and philosophical as a
starting point than anything presented to us in Pagan metaphysics or modern
science. And what more do we want than proximate facts : concrete relations?
They are the practical conditions of life and well-being. The Bible gives us
them, deals in them, enlightens us in the use of them.
The Bible is the true
deep. But “ the Satan “ babble complacently about “ the depths “. Jesus
prefers those who are not thus sophisticated, but whose wisdom consists in the
recognition of facts natural and revealed and adaptation to them. He says to
those who have not known the depths of Satan as they speak” I will put upon you
none other burden but that which ye have already (the faith of the gospel),
hold fast till I come “. The faith of Christ is to every human being embracing
it the ladder to immeasurable heights of well-being. He that by its power
overcomes will yet wield iron-rod power over the nations first broken, like
crockery-ware, in virtue of the glorious covenant of the eternal Father, which
ensures to His Son the proprietorship of the earth for ever (Psalm 2 8). Such,
as a qualification for the iron rule, will receive “ the morning star “ (Rev. 2
: 28). As Christ is the morning star (Rev. 22 : i6), this can only mean that
the victor will be transformed in nature into conformity with the luminous and
indestructible body of power, beauty ‘and purity, now possessed by him who was
once “crucified through weakness” (2 Cor. 13 : 4), but in whom now dwells all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2 : 9)
TO SARDIS
He that bath the seven
Spirits of God “-the symbolic affirmation of omniscience-has little to say in
the way of commendation to the brethren in Sardis. ‘‘Thou hast a name that
thou livest and art dead.” Men knew the reputation
of the Sardian ecclesia : the possessor of “ the seven stars “-the seven
Spirit lights kindled in the seven ecclesias, knew their state. “ I have not found thy works perfect before God.” Jesus
watches and discerns the developments of probation. He requires not to bring men
to the judgment seat to know, though he will bring them there to reveal them.
There were a few exceptions iii Sardis Thou hast a few names even in Sardis
which have not defiled their garments;
Page 21
and the shall walk with
me in white : for they are worth from
which we learn that membership in a dead ecciesia will not interfere with
individual acceptance where worthiness exists. Even those who are lacking have
an opportunity which they are exhorted to use. “Be watchful and strengthen the
things that remain , which are ready to die . . Repent.” There is this encouragement
to repentance : “ He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white
raiment ; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will
confess his name before my Father and before his angels “. The white
investiture is readily recognizable in that clothing of the mortal body with
immortality from heaven, of which all accepted saints are to be the subjects at
the Lord’s coming. The “righteousness of the saints” is said to be the meaning
of the “ fine linen, clean and white “, with which the symbolic bride is
arrayed ; but this cannot be the meaning of the white raiment in this place,
because this is promised as the
recompense of’ the righteousness (or overcoming), and, therefore, cannot be
the righteousness itself. It is a fit symbol of the pure incorruptible that
will result from the transforming action of the Spirit of God upon the mortal
bodies of the saints who stand before Christ accepted. Of course it is not literal
; white raiment of this sort could be purchased at the milliner’s. There may,
however, be a blending of the symbolical and the literal. That is to say, the
immortalized saints may wear white clothing. The angels, to whom they are to be
equal, almost always appeared habited in white (Matt. 28 : 3 ; Acts 10 : 30,
etc.), and the garments of Jesus in transfiguration, became “white and
glistering-so as no fuller on earth can whiten them on earth “. The apparel of
the immortal state is an interesting matter of detail, hut not of practical
moment. The thing that is of practical moment is the fact that it is possible
for a man’s name to be blotted from the book of life, that is, expunged from
the divine recognition as an heir of eternal life, after having once sustained
that relation. Jesus promised to the Sardian ecciesia that ‘this should not
happen in the case of such as overcome, but that they should be confessed by
him before the Father and the angels. This is an honour the greatness of which
we cannot estimate because it is yet unseen, but which will be appreciated at
its true greatness when the hour arrives for the muster of the chosen, and the
inauguration in glory in the presence of multitudes of the angelic host and
the manifested glory of the Father.
TO PHILADELPHIA
The Holy and the True,
holding the Key of David, speaks comfortably to the ecciesia in Philadelphia.
Why Jesus should be described as the Holy and the True we know well; but why
should he be said to have “the key of David”? The truth has enabled us to
apprehend this as well. The house of David is the pivot upon which the purpose
of God in the earth turns. The covenant was made with him, out of which
salvation grows (2 Sam. 23 : 5). It
Page 22
concerns his house (2
Sam. 7 : 25-26). “ Upon the throne of David “ is the Messiah to sit (Isa. 9 :7). To possess the key of this house is
to have power to decide its destinies. Using this key, we are told he shuts and
no man opens, and opens and no man shuts. He has shut the house of David in the
earth, and no man can enter it. He will open it in due time, in restoring again
the kingdom to Israel, and not the leagued forces of every nation under heaven
will be able to shut it again any more. When Christ re-opens the house he will
open it for all of whom he approves in the day of his appearing ; for his
purpose is to invite them to the participation of his glorious throne (Rev. 3 :
21), which is the throne of David (Luke I : 32). The allusion to the key of
David is an allusion to this gracious purpose. It was his present door-opening
graciousness, however, that he wished to make known to the brethren in
Philadelphia, of his power to exercise which his possession of the key of David
was a guarantee: “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it
“. The reason of this was : “Thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my
name “, on account of which also he promises a special exemption from the
ten-year-days of tribulation that were to come upon all the world, saying,
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the
hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell
upon the earth” (3 : 10). Here are two striking illustrations of Christ’s
providential control of the affairs of his brethren-the keeping open of a door
against the power of man, and preservation in the midst of evil circumstances
bearing hardly upon the people in general. These things were not written only
for the generation that saw the first publication of the Apocalypse ; they were
written for the encouragement of brethren in whatever country or age Jesus
should have any during his absence. Consequently, we shall rob ourselves of
comfort if we refuse to appropriate the evident lesson -that if our ways please
him, though we see him not and the age of spirit gifts has not returned, he can
arid will keep open a door for us when man would fain close it, and can shield
in the midst of public evil, greatly affecting and distressing the people
around us. Another promise made to Philadelphia is also probably of general
applicability
I will make them (of the
synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie), to come
and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” Faithful men
in Christ may be misunderstood and unappreciated and calumniated by the carnal
professors of their day and generation, whom, for the time being, they are
commanded to judge not, and be patient and forbearing with ; but the day is
coming when He who saith “Vengeance is mine” will vindicate faithfulness and
worth in a very effectual manner. The cringing obeisance of enemies and
traducers will in that day attest the righteous judgment of God.
The promise to
Philadelphia is permanent pillarship in the temple of God. “Him that overcometh
I will make a pillar in the
Page 23
temple of my God, and he
shall go no more out : and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the
name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of
heaven from my God : and I will write upon him my new name.” The figure of an
edifice is very serviceable to illustrate the relations of a community. It is a
favourite figure in all styles of writing and language, and is peculiarly
characteristic of the Scriptures. The saints are said to be stones, and the
apostles foundations on which they are built (i Pet. 2 : 5 ; Eph. 2 : 20). In
the case before us, we have a temple to express the corporate existence and
functions of the saints in glory. To be a pillar in this temple is to be a
,‘principal part of the building, or to occupy an important position (in the
community. A pillar never removed from its place is illustrative of the stability appertaining to an immortal
constitution of, things To have the name of the city is to be made a constituent
of it-to be a part of it in the municipal sense. The city is Jerusalem: for
this is the city which God chose from the beginning to place His name there (i
Kings 14:21 ; 2 Chron. 12 : 13), the city of the Great King (Matt. 5 : 35),
which though now forsaken, is to be re-married and re-established (Isa. 62 : I,
4). But it is new Jerusalem, because
Jerusalem tinder a new constitution of things,- abundantly set forth in the
prophets (Isa. 52 : 1-10 ; 65 : 17-19 66 : 10-15). This new constitution of
Jerusalem is from heaven, for it comes with Christ from heaven. Therefore the
coming .Jerusalem, though a manifestation of power and glory on the site of the
old Jerusalem, is” new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God “.
To be made a constituent of this new Jerusalem is the highest pinnacle of glory
conceivable to our imagination. It is the glory promised by the Lord to the
brethren in Philadelphia ; and he appends to it the adjuration which extends
the offer of it even to us. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit
saith to the Churches.”
TO LAODICEA
Introducing himself as “
the faithful and true witness “, the Lord, in this message, bears testimony
against the Laodicean ecciesia, of which he say~, “ Thou art neither cold nor
hot : I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth “. Nothing could be more
valuable to us than this message as indicating the standard of the Lord’s
tastes, so to speak, with regard to the attitude of his disciples towards him.
He wishes them to be one thing or the other. He cannot suffer moderation in the
appreciation of spiritual things. Heartiness, thoroughness, enthusiasm may
express what he means by the state of being “hot “. There can be no mistaking
his meaning. He hates lukewarmness : he demands a warm affection towards
himself as the incorporation of the things of God. He said this even when on
earth : “If any man love father or mother, Son or daughter, more than me, he is
not
Page 24
worthy of me “. It is unwise to discourage the exuberance of the spiritual affections. It is easier to become Laodicean than to rise to the Spirit’s glow. What prudent people may regard as propriety may easily become lukewarmness, which the Lord detests. There is not much danger of the extreme of love for things of the Spirit. There is greater danger of coming short. Shortcoming in this respect is generally the result of what the Lord found fault with in the Laodiceans. He declares them self-satisfied “ Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing”. Thus they had a very good opinion of themselves. This self-complacency, bordering on self-conceit, is a very great enemy to spiritual enthusiasm. Spiritual enthusiasm is due to the admiration of that which is extraneous and divine. When people are well satisfied with themselves, their powers of admiration are personally absorbed, and cannot outflow to superior objects. And this self-satisfaction is generally a great obstruction to self-discernment. People think themselves well-conditioned when they are in fact petty, meager, small, insignificant and lean of soul. So it was with the Laodiceans to whom ,Jesus said, “ Thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable and poor, and blind, and naked
There is hope, however
for people even in this self-deceived condition, or Jesus would not have
counseled the Laodicreans to “buy of him gold tried in the fire (a robust
faith), white raiment (righteousness), and eye salve (spiritual discernment)”
men roused to a sense of deficiency on these points will resort to those
remedies in the reading of the word and prayer which will tend to supply the
deficiencies pointed out. There is always room for hope with time and
opportunity. Jesus speaks encouragingly in this sense even to the Laodiceans.
He exhorts them to repent , and informs them of his solicitous friendliness
towards them all “Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
with me “. To those who respond to his invitation and obey his voice, he makes
a glorious promise ‘ To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne
“. The gospel of the kingdom enables us to understand this promise. Though men
scorn the idea as the conception of fanaticism, it is a promise of association
with Jesus in the kingly honours, glories, and joys of the new and glorious
government which Christ is to establish in the land of promise for all the
earth at his coming to restore again the kingdom to Israel. This promise also,
though offered to the Laodiceans in the first place, is extended to every
believer by the postscript appended to every message : “He that bath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches
And with this, these
highly interesting messages to the Churches conclude. They are of immense value
to the friends of Christ in all ages. They were of value doubtless to the
individual communities to which, in the first instance, these messages were
sent,
Page 25
but they have been of
more consequence to the ages coming after, at least to that class in the ages
described in the messages as” having ears “. For this service they were
intended, and we cannot suppose they have failed of their purpose. There is an
idea entertained by some that besides being a faithful description of the
condition of the seven Asian ecclesias contemporary with John, these messages also
shadowed forth in prophetic outline the history of the churches of Christ in
general, from its Ephesian loving, laboring, zealous state developed by the
labours of the Apostles in the first century, to the Laodicean state reached at
last as the result of the triumph of the apostasy foretold-a state in which it
was cast out and rejected of Christ (spued out of the Spirit’s mouth) as a
nauseous and disowned thing. Whether the messages had this prophetic scope in
the intention of the Spirit of God cannot be determined from any information to
he derived from the messages themselves : but certain it is that the history of
the community established by the labours of the apostles, has followed pretty
much in the groove of these messages, and that for a long time (so far as the
reputed Church of Christ in the world is concerned-the various state-endowed
denominations of Christendom),the spued-out and rejected state has obtained in
the world. The professing Christian Church rejects the faith and disobeys the
commandments of Christ while professing submission to him. Lukewarmness is the
universal order of the day. An earnest and practical interest in the things of
God is regarded as something phenomenal and calling for pity. What can we do
but take Peter’s advice and “save ourselves from this untoward generation “ ?
Fortunately for our good cheer, it is revealed that Christ at his coming will
find some waking and ready. That we may he assisted in our endeavors to be of
this number is one of the objects contemplated in this course of Thirteen
Lectures on the Apocalypse. God grant His blessing on the effort and give us
edification and peace.
/
Page 26
REVELATION IV, V, VI, 1-6
A new division: “ Things
which must be hereafter”. John “ in
spirit “-. gorgeous scene-the throne
in heaven, the four living creatures and four-and-twenty elders-The Kingdom in
symbol origin of the symbols in the heraldry of the Israelitish nation-the
details-the rainbow-the sea of glass-the crowned or “ stephaned “ elders-the beasts
full of e)es-Israel enlightened and glorified-an apparent difficulty-the
kingdom and the seals contemporary _impossible explanations-the right
explanation-the kingdom past and future, and germinally contemporary with the
times of the Gentiles.-The seals-their number-what the opening of them means -
worthiness on the part of the Lamb opener-the Seven Horns and Seven Eyes-the
anthem of praise when the Lamb took the
Seven-sealed Scroll.-The FIRST SEAL-the white
horse and its arrowless rider with the bow.- The SECOND SEAL-the red horse and his dagger _armed rider.-The THIRD
SEAL-the black horse with the balance
holder-a fiscal proclamation.
WITH this chapter we
enter upon a new division of the things exhibited to John in the Isle of
Patmos. The first three chapters dea1~with.thc affairs of the friends of Christ
as organized in separate communities in various parts of the world. Christ in these gives his
judgment of the condition and deportment of these various communities, and
advice according to their needs, in such a way as to be beneficial to all his
friends afterwards, as we have seen. He now turns John’s attention to the
future. “I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” John thus addressed
finds himself in the spirit “, and a spectator of the scene which becomes
visible to him as the result of being in that state.
The picture is a very
gorgeous one. It is a picture of overpowering glory and loveliness, symbolic
though it be. Nothing more sublime and beautiful could be conceived than the
brilliant scene that burst upon his view. A human figure, of dazzling
brightness, sits on a shining throne, over-arched by a rainbow of glowing
colors. Before the throne, stretching away on all sides, an outspread ocean of
glassy splendor and crystalline translucency, on which are grouped before the
throne strange but glorious objects ; four curiously-formed living creatures
glistening all over with eyes, and twenty-four venerable men wearing crowns.
Surrounding them on all sides is a countless multitude of the angelic host,
forming an outer fringe of glory (chap 5 : ii). John watches and listens. He
sees movements and hears voices among the living symbols. The elders do homage
to the central figure, casting down their crowns : the Four Beasts are instinct
with life and give forth sounds of praise. The angelic environment take up the
anthem, and the vault of heaven rings with the joyous and melodious outpourings
of glorious myriads.
Page 27
What portion of “things
which must he hereafter” can be represented by this opening scene? The symbols
themselves would almost bring the answer. It is a kingly picture. There is no
mistaking the meaning of a throne anywhere. But it is not an ordinary throne.
It is a divine throne : for there are seven lamps burning before it to
symbolize the Spirit of God, as explained in verse 5, chapter 4. And the
occupant of the throne is proclaimed Creator for whose pleasure all things have
been created (verse ii). The most superficial consideration of the picture
would suggest that the kingdom of God is here symbolized. This view becomes
certain when we look at certain details.
Consider for example the
words that are sung by the symbolic four living creatures and the twenty-four
elders : “ Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people,
and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests : and we shall
reign on the earth “. We know who literally answer to this description. Christ
did not die to redeem twenty-four elders and four nondescript creatures he died
to redeem those that were under the law (Gal. 4 : 4), and also to gather
together the children of God that are scattered abroad (John II : 52)-the other
sheep he had which were not of Israel’s fold after the flesh (John 10 : 16),
viz., of the Gentiles, whom he afterwards visited by the hand of Peter and
Paul, to take out of them a people for his name (Acts 15 : 14 ; 26 : 17-18).
Consequently the twenty-four elders and four nondescript living creatures, who
in song affirm these things of themselves, are but the symbols of that element
of the kingdom of God which consists of the glorified brethren of Christ in totality.
But why should they he
symbolized by four beasts and four-and-twenty elders? There is a very good
reason which those only can appreciate who know “ the hope of Israel “ and all
who truly know the gospel know this. In their corporate completeness, the
community to he glorified constitute “the commonwealth of Israel “. So Paul
styles them (Eph. 2 : 12), saying that by nature the Gentiles are “ aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel “, but by the gospel become fellow-citizens therein
(5: 19). The hope of the gospel he styles “the hope of Israel” (Acts 28 : 20).
The man who, though a Gentile, is adopted into the commonwealth of Israel,
becomes a Jew, being a Jew inwardly ; so Paul says (Rom. 2 : 29). The Gentile
so adopted is likened to a wild branch grafted on the good olive stock of
Abraham (Rom. ii :24). The salvation to which he stands related is by Jesus
said to pertain to the Jews (John 4 22).
But in what way do these
facts furnish an explanation of the
employment of four beasts and four-and-twenty e1ders to symbolize the glorified community of the saints.? The answer will be apparent
when certain facts are called to mind concerning the house of Israel in the
divinely-accomplished and recorded history of the past.
When they came out of
Egypt, the congregation was divinely
Page 28
organized in four camps,
each camp having a standard on which was displayed a beast as the heraldic
symbol of the camp. You will find the particulars in the 2nd chapter of
Numbers.
1.-THE CAMP OF JUDAH (consisting of the tribes
of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun ), numbering 186,400 men(vers 9) and each man
was to pitch by his own standard with the ensign of his father’s house”
(verse2)
2.-THE CAMP OF REUBEN
(consisting of the tribes of Reuben ~ Simeon, and Gad), containing 151,450 men
(verse i6 )
3.-THE CAMP OF EPHRAIM
(consisting of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin), 108,100 men
(verse 24). -“ 2
4.-THE CAMP OF DAN
(consisting of the tribes of Dan, Asher
and Naphtali), numbered 156,700 men (verse 31).
The ensigns of the four
camps were the four animals incorporate in the syrnbolic cherubim-the lion, ox,
man, and eagle. These therefore became symbolic of the Twelve Tribes in four
camps.
The divine encampment, consisting of the tabernacle and the Levitical families, pitched in the midst of the four camps (Num. I : 53 ; 2 : 2). These Levitical families were in the days of David divided into twenty-four priestly orders surrounding the throne and conducting the service of the kingdom, which was a service of worship, in due alternate order ( 1 Chron 24) Four beasts and twenty-four elders were therefore the fitting and already ~ appointed symbols of the kingdom of God : for the kingdom of God, as we have learnt from the gospel, is the kingdom of Israel to be restored
The throne of Christ is
the throne of his father, David (Luke 1:32 ; Isa 9 : 7) : the throne of David
was the throne of the kingdom of Israel (2 Sam. 5 : 1-5). The rearing up of
Christ’s throne on the earth is therefore the “ raising up of the tabernacle of
David that is fallen” (Amos 9 : II); the raising unto David a righteous
descendant who as “ a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment
and justice in the earth” (Jer. 23 : ~). Now Jesus promises a participation in
the throne to all who secure his approval at the last (Luke 22 : 30 ; Rev. 3 :
2!). The scene before us represents in symbol these things accomplished. The
four beasts and four-and-twenty elders are eloquent on the subject. They are
the heraldry of the kingdom of God, that is, of the kingdom of Israel, past and
future. They as distinctly identify the kingdom of David, as the lion and the unicorn
and the quarterings of the British shield identify the kingdom of Queen
Victoria. The gospel of the kingdom-the hope of the restoration of the kingdom
again to Israel under Christ (Acts 1: 6 ; Luke 24 : 21)_this gives us the
interpretation of the splendid symbolism seen by John. You know how powerless
the popular theologies are to yield a clue.
See how the details of
the Symbolism harmonize with the doctrine of the kingdom which it exhibits. The
rainbow for example was the appointed token of a covenant of peace between God
and the earth’s inhabitants (Gen. 9 : 12) : here we have it a prominent
object-the canopy of the throne as it were. There is
Page 29
more in this than may
appear. It is a pledge of the stability of the glory to be revealed. The revelation
of that glory is due solely to the purpose of the Creator. So far as man is
concerned there is no reason why it should come, and when it comes, there is no
reason why it should stay. The only reason we have for believing it will endure
for ever is God’s own covenant : “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the
thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will
not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun
before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, as a faithful witness
in heaven” (Psa. 89 : 34). This covenant is the foundation of our hope, and as
we behold the gorgeous arch of coloured light over the throne seen by John, we
see a guarantee of the perpetual stability of the salvation that will come with
the establishment of that throne on the earth.
Then the rainbow brings
another idea. It is seen after storm and when peace has come to the elements.
There is storm connected
with this throne. for as John looked, he saw “ that out of the throne proceeded
lightnings and thunderings and voices “. These in all languages and among all
men stand for the symbols of war. When the throne is established, there is war.
The nations league themselves to overthrow it (Rev. 19 : 19). The “war of the
great day of God Almighty” ensues (Rev. i6 :14). There is no doubt as to the
issue : “ the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of
kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful “ (Rev.
17 : 14). The result is to overthrow the power of them everywhere (Psa. 2 : 9
; 110 : 5-6 Isa. 24 : 2! ; 52 :13-15 Ezek. 39 :17-22 ; Zeph. 3 : 8 ; Hag. 2 :
21:22 ; Zech. 12 : 1-3 ; 14 : 1-9). What
comes of this devouring outburst of judgment ?
“The inhabitants o the earth learn righteousness” (Isa. 26 : 9). They
come from the ends of the earth, and admit they have been entirely led astray
in former times (Jer. 16 : 19). They repair in humble desire to Jerusalem to he
instructed in ways of wisdom and righteousness (Micah 4 : 2), and follow no
more “ the imaginations of their evil hearts” (Jer. 3 : 17). Jesus speaks peace
to the nations (Zech. 9:10, ; Ps 46 :
9). They abandon war and walk in the light of the Lord (Isa. 2 : 4-5). After
the storm comes sunshine and the resultant rainbow, speaking of peace and
stability and of the blessedness with which all the families of the earth will
be blessed in Abraham and his seed.
The rainbow over-arching
the thundering throne seen by John, tells us of all those things.
Next ~ take the sea of
glass. We might be at a loss to conjecture the significance of this part of the
symbolism were we not informed further on (Rev. 17 : 15) that the oceanic
waters shown to him stood for” peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and
tongues “. Though this interpretation did not apply to the sea of glass, but to
the turbid sea which formed the base of the symbols representing the Roman
Page 30
polity, still it gives a
clue. It gives us the idea of population being represented by the sea, and from
this it is easy to extract the conclusion that a difference in the state of
the sea represents a difference in the state of the people. Thus if a troubled
,sea of water stand for a mortal
population with its constant uncertainties and vicissitudes, what can a fixed
and vitrified translucent sea stand for but for that state to be finally
reached by the agency of the kingdom of God, when the human race will be one
family of peace and light? “Mingled with fire” we may understand more easily
when we know that the state of the verb in the original describes a past
accomplished action submitted to, and not a present state. “Having been mingled
with fire” gives us the idea more accurately, intimating that the national
translucency and peace will have been attained as the result of the purifying
fire of judgment.
Another modification of
the original will make the language of the symbol more apparent. The elders are
said to have “had on their heads crowns of gold “. This ought to be stephans of gold. The stephan was a crown of a certain sort
; still it was not what we understand by a crown. It was the floral wreath
awarded to the victors in the Greek games-a “corruptible” wreath, as Paul terms
it. in contrast to the incorruptible stephan
that will be bestowed on the faithful. Its significance as contrasted with
crown lies in the fact that it is only awarded after a struggle. A crown is an
affair of hereditary succession : a stephan
can only be acquired by individual prowess. Hence, the fact that the elders
were stephaned with gold rather than
crowned, intimates that the wearers had been in a previous state of conflict in
which they had obtained the victory.
The four beasts were
“full of eyes “, and they rest not day nor night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty; which was, and is, and is to come “. Eyes, besides
representing individualities, are indicative of perception and enlightenment.
They may be regarded here as representing the enlightened state of the finally
established and glorified commonwealth of Israel, when all shall know the Lord
from the least to the greatest (jer. 31 : 34)~ in contrast with the blindness
of Israel according to the flesh. The continual ascriptions of the four beasts
speak to us of an Israel that recognizes its true position and God’s relation
to all, unlike Israel under Moses, who “with their mouths drew near to God, but
their hearts were far from him “.
Surveying the things as
a whole-the first scene witnessed by John in the exhibition of things which
were to be in John’s hereafter “-it is plain that as the seven candlesticks
represent the seven ecclesias, so this more complete and more glorious
symbolism, represented the commonwealth of Israel in its glorified and perfect
state-the state contemplated in the statement by Jeremiah : “Though I make a
full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make
a full end of thee “. People in general are aghast at the suggestion of any
connection
Page 31
between this symbolism
and the Jewish race. They look at the Jews as they know them in their midst,
and they say, “What! are these the heavenly commonwealth?” The mistake they
make is in not discriminating between various parts of truth. They overlook the
principle laid down by Paul, “They are not all Israel that are of Israel “, or
rather they misapply this principle. Because the bulk of the Israelitish stock
is no part of the finally glorified commonwealth of Israel, they tacitly come
to the conclusion that there is no Israel at all, but only so many immortal souls
to be saved. They look at Jews who are not really Jews, lacking the character
of Abraham, and deny that there are any Jews. The truth will rectify this
mistake. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets (Luke i : 28) will awake from the sleep of
death when the time arrives for the setting-up of the throne of David ; and
they will assuredly he joined by myriads of accepted
.Jews of their stamp,
and of as many adopted Gentiles as the Lord may approve at his coming. They
will be one Abrahamic polity, and that polity-a royal institution-is symbolized
by the glorious throne of four heraldic beasts and four-and-twenty elders.
But here there is an
apparent difficulty. The throne was the first thing seen by John. Many things
seen after have come to pass, but the kingdom is not yet established on the
earth : how can the throne have symbolized the kingdom in that case? The
question is answered in two ways by different classes of objectors. There is
first the futurist who, accepting the kingdom as an explanation of the throne,
says, the kingdom having not et come, it follows that all the other events--in
connection with the seals, trumpets, vials, etc., are all future, because they
come after the kingdom in the order of vision. Then there is the orthodox objector,
who grants the seals, trumpets, etc., are all past, but insists that the vision
of the throne and the elders must be past too, because coming before things
admittedly past : this objector contends that in fact, what John saw was a
vision of what was in heaven in the days of John, and therefore a proof of the
existence of multitudes of the redeemed at that time, and therefore of the
existence of men in the death state. The contention of these objectors is that
we must either have the seals future or the throne past-that we cannot have the
seals past and the throne future-that they are both past or both future.
Looking at the matter
from a merely scenic point of view, there would appear to be considerable
cogency in this representation. But we must not judge the matter
superficially. The right treatment of truth is carefully to give their logical
place to the leading facts, and follow the conclusion to which these facts so
placed lead us. Treating the matter in this way, we cannot allow unqualified
futurity to a vision which connected itself with events actually occurrent in
the days of John: as in explanation of the seven heads and the ten-horned beast
of the sea : “ five (kings or sovereignties) are fallen ; one is : and the
other is not yet come
Page 32
(Rev. I 7 : 10) ; and again, “The woman thou
sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (Rev. I 7 : 18). There are other reasons against
the futurist view which we glanced at in the first lecture. As to the orthodox
objector, we cannot allow him to claim unqualified actuality in the days of
John for a vision shown to him under the express intimation that he was to be
shown “things which must be hereafter” (Rev. 4 : 1). Nor can we allow that dead men are alive (Heb. 11 : 13 ; Eccl. 9
: 5 Isa. 38 : 18), nor that a kingdom to be manifested at the appearing of
Christ (2 Tim. 4 : I ; I Peter 5 : 4 ; Jas. 2 5) had actual existence in the
days of John. The only interpretation admissible is that which suits all the
facts of the case. What is that? How comes it that the kingdom should be shown
first, and as an institution apparently contemporary with all the events
exhibited in the succeeding parts of the Apocalypse?
The answer is to be
found in the fact that in an important sense, the kingdom of God has been
contemporary with human history from the beginning. Christ expresses that sense
in the words which he says will be addressed to the accepted in the day of his
appearing : “ Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world “. All God has done from the beginning has
been the preparation of the kingdom to be entered by the saints at his
appearing. Christ illustrates this in all the parables which represent the
kingdom as having a present relation to the affairs of men and a present
operation among them. He speaks of it as a mustard seed planted ; as leaven hid
as a net submerged in the waters ; as a marriage feast for which invitations
have been issued ; as a vineyard let out to husbandmen, and so on (Matt. 13
:13, 33, 47 ; 22 : 2 ; 21 : 33). If it be asked how he could speak of a kingdom
not yet established as a something existing all the while, it has to be
remarked that although never yet established in the form in which the saints
will be invited to inherit it, it has in point of fact existed since the day
that God organized Israel into a kingdom by the hand of Moses (Psa. t14 1-2 ;
Exod. 19 : 6). The kingdom of God is the kingdom of Israel (Acts 5 ; 2 Chron.
13 : 8 ; 9 : 8). Jesus told the twelve disciples that it was their Father’s
good pleasure to give them the kingdom (Luke I 2 : 32), and when they inherit
it, how do we find them enthroned ? “Sitting on thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19 : 28 ; Luke 22 : 30). The kingdom of God is the
kingdom of Christ, and (Eph. 5 : 5) the kingdom of Christ is the kingdom of
David (Luke i :32 ; Isaiah 9 :6 ; Jer. 23 :5). Consequently, we are enabled to
understand what Christ meant when he said to the rulers of the kingdom of David
1,800 years ago; “ The kingdom of God
shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof” (Matt 21:43).
Now because of these things, it is by
no means so unnatural as it would otherwise appear for the Apocalypse to
represent the kingdom as contemporary with the events that were to transpire
Page 33
among men during the
absence of Christ. Christ’s own existence supplied this element of coincidence.
The person of Christ as the son of David and the Son of God was the kingdom in
a nutshell, so to speak. He was the power and essence of the kingdom This kingdom is his power spread out. While
this power is Un-spread out, the kingdom may be considered as bound up in him,
as recognized by the people on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem when they
sang” Blessed be the kingdom of our father David that cometh in the name of the
Lord” (Mark II : 10). Though withdrawn from the earth, he has had to do with
all that has been going on in the earth. He did not abandon the earth to
itself. In fulfillment of his promise (John 15 : 26) he sent the Spirit upon
the apostles, and through them, conducted a great work in the midst of Israel.
He established an encampment among them in the order of things founded by the
apostles. This encampment became a potent fact in relation to the affairs of
men. It was brought to bear on all the habitable in the divine message and
invitation it heralded everywhere. It became what dealers in phrases call the raison d’etre of European politics in
their divine regulation. It was the representative of the kingdom of David in
relation to the Gentile powers. It was the representative of the kingdom as a
coming institution- as a foregone conclusion : not a contingency-not a
potentiality, but a certainty, and therefore to be spoken of as all divine
purposes are spoken of, ~ It was therefore exhibited first in order in the
vision of “ things which must he hereafter “-first as a fact in a certain form,
supplying the starting point of the vision of what would transpire during the
times of the Gentiles, and second, as the upshot of all the events that would
so transpire. It was the enigmatic illustration of the fact that the purpose of
God is the first and last in the affairs of men, and the explanation of the course
of those affairs, and the termination of that course in the proposed age of
glory. It proclaimed heraldically that that purpose hinges on the kingdom of
David. In relation to the times of the Gentiles, the kingdom of David was first
and last and God has regulated those times with reference to the exigencies of
that kingdom. The Gentiles exalt their horn over the land of Israel-not by
their own prowess, but by divine permission and arrangement because of Israel’s
sins.-(See Ways of Providence). When
they have accomplished the whole work of God upon Israel, the kingdom of David
will re-appear. Therefore, it is in harmony with the fitness of things that the
kingdom of David should be the beginning of the vision shown to John in Patmos,
and the end thereof in the establishment of the Holy City as the Ruler of all
the earth.
The symbols employed to
represent the kingdom combine both this past and future.. They recognize the political reality of the
throne of David in the past as the picot of the divine plan and at the same
time exhibit the divine purpose to establish that throne in the hands of Jesus
and the saints as the basis of universal empire in age to come . Both features
are combined, and thus place is found
Page 34
for the apparently
incompatible elements of co-existence and futurity, and escape provided from
the contradictory theories of the Apocalypse already referred to. The details
of the Vision throughout are also by this means harmonized.
As an illustration of
the difficulty created by other theories in connection with those details, we
may point to the fact that the time for raising and judging the dead, and
rewarding all the servants of God “ small and great “, arrives only under the
seventh seal in chapter 11: 18. How is this to be reconciled either with the
idea that the redeemed were in a state of reward in heaven in the days of John,
or with the idea that all the seals and all the vision comes after the
exaltation of the saints at the coming of Christ? So also with the slaying of
the witnesses of Jesus under the fifth seal
(chap. 6 : 9), and the overcoming of the saints by the beast of the sea (chap.
13 : 7) ; and a number of other
features that may come under our attention in succeeding lectures, all
inconsistent alike with the futurist and the orthodox theory. A recognition of
the Davidic character of the symbolic throne and its environment of four living
creatures and twenty-four elders, relieves the subject of all difficulty on
this head, and shows us a program of intelligible and harmonious events with
the kingdom of David as its basis and starting point, and the kingdom of David
as its landing place. We have now to consider
THE SEALS
This is another subject
arising out of the first scene that ,John saw. The first scene represented the
kingdom ins its past, present,, and future. The second scene refers to the
powers possessed by Jesus as the possessor of the key of David, and the
regulator of Gentile affairs, with a view to the kingdom. John says, “I saw on
the right hand of him that sat on the throne a hook written within and on the
backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a
loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? “
The occupant of the throne is Jehovah, for the throne of David is the throne of
Jehovah (I Chron, 29 : 23). David occupied it only as a vicegerent or deputy (i
Sam. 13 : 14). Jesus is Jehovah manifested, the Lord as well as the son of
David (Luke 27 : 44). The Father (greater than all) had reserved a knowledge of
the times and seasons, and their events filling the interval between Christ’s
departure and returning (Acts i : 7 ;
Mark 13 : 32). This is symbolized by a sealed book or scroll, which is the
scriptural symbol of inaccessible knowledge ~ as may be learnt from Isaiah 29
:10-11 The existence of seven seals may be taken to signify perfect secrecy,
besides furnishing a convenient basis for the structure of the vision. The
right hand was the symbol of power: the sealed scroll in the right hand was a perfect
symbol of the fact that the knowledge and control of the future was entirely in
the power of the Father up to the moment that both were imparted to Jesus. The
impartation
Page 35
of the knowledge and the
control to Jesus is dramatically exhibited in the scene described.
To get the idea
expressed by the opening of the seals, we must realize what is meant by the “
book” in the hand of him that sat upon the throne. It is not what we are
familiar with as a book, but a scroll-a number of sheets of parchment rolled
round a roller one after the other, and separately held in their place by a
seal to each sheet. When all are rolled round and sealed, it would be a
seven-sealed scroll. Let us suppose such a scroll sealed up and containing
valuable information which no one knew, we should have the ideal state of
things illustrated at the moment John heard the question as to who was worthy
to unloose the seals and open the scroll. To get at the information, one would
have to break the seals one by one. Now suppose the information contained in
the scroll was in the nature of a program, the knowledge of which would enable
the Opener to carry it out, we shall be enabled to comprehend the relation
between the opening of the seals and the development of the events following.
The opening of the seals may be taken as the attainment by the Opener of the
knowledge of the divine purpose, and the development of the events following as
his carrying that knowledge into effect in causing the events to transpire.
It is worthy of note in
passing that the opening of the seals required worthiness on the part of the
Opener-that is, on the part of the personage to whom should be confided the
knowledge of the
divine plan and power to
carry it out, for this is literally what is
meant. There ~ of course no literal scroll anywhere to be opened. There was no more a literal scroll than there
were seven literal
candlesticks. These were but symbols of certain realities. John heard the question, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? “ At first there was no response. “ No man …..was able
to open the book,
neither to look thereon.” This caused John great distress. He says,” I wept
much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon “. A man feels strongly before he weeps. John must have felt a
very strong desire to become acquainted with the contents of the scroll before
he could weep at the absence of a man worthy to open it. No wonder considering
that the scroll contained a delineation of the course of affairs on earth in
relation to the affairs of Christ in which John was so supremely interested.
All his brethren in all ages have a similar Interest, but in John’s case, there
was a special urgency in his desire, due to the fact that he was now old.
and had long been looking for the Lord’s appearing ; instead of which he saw
only the prevalence of apostasy, the downfall of Jerusalem, and the undisturbed
prosperity of Gentile power. He was permitted to be distressed for a moment that
his joy and gratitude at the provision made in the case might have their proper
edge. “ One of the elders saith unto me, Weep not : behold, the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to
loose the seven seals thereof.” Jesus, thus introduced as the lion of the tribe
of Judah, was
Page 36
presently exhibited as a
lamb, with marks of slaughter. “ I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne
and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had
been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of
God sent forth into all the earth.” Why did John see a Iamb instead of a lion?
Because the worthiness of Jesus to open the hook was proved and manifested in
the lamb-phase of his mission, even during his sojourn among men as the Lamb of
God in the days of his flesh, taking away the sin of the world. His obedience
unto death is the feature symbolized by “the lamb as it had been slain “.
Because of this obedience, Paul informs us (Phil. 2 9 :) “God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is
above every name “. We may not comprehend why it was necessary to put to the
proof the obedience of a personage so exalted as Jesus : it is sufficient that
we accept the testimony that it was so : that “ he was tempted in all points
like as we are, vet without sin “ (Heb. 4 : 15 2 : 18) that he learned
obedience by the things that he suffered, and overcame with strong crying and
tears, making supplication to Him that was able to save him from death, and was
heard in that he feared (Heb. 5 : 7 ;
John i6 : 33 ; Rev. 3 : 21). All these things are testified of Jesus, and
illustrated here as the basis of the great honour conferred upon him by the
Father as the Opener of the Scroll, or the regulator of God’s providential work
upon earth.
The lamb as it had been
slain had “ seven horns and seven eyes “. This connects Jesus with the power
and penetration of God “Horn”, as you
know. Constantly stands for the symbol of power
and the eyes for sight and
intelligence . Seven horns and
seven eyes therefore symbolize
omnipotence and omniscience they are
said to be “the seven spirits of God.” . If this were not a symbolic book we would be at a loss to understand this. We
might suppose there was a contradiction between this statement and Paul’s
declaration (confirmed by all the Scriptures) that there is but one Spirit
(Eph. 4 : 4), and that God is that Spirit, filling heaven and earth with His
immensity (John 4 : 24 ; Jer. 23 : 24) ; but being a symbolic book, there is no
difficulty. Truth is expressed enigmatically. Seven, we all know, is not only
characteristic of the Scriptures in general, but is peculiarly so of the
Apocalypse itself- seven candlesticks, seven stars, seven ecclesias, seven
lamps of fire, seven spirits of God, seven seals, seven trumpets, Seven vials,
seven thunders, etc. Seven covers the whole ground of anything dealt with. It
is the numerical symbol of completeness. The seven spirits of God is the
enigmatical definition of the One Spirit, and intimates possession and harmony
with that One Spirit in its whole power. It is the idea expressed by Jesus when
he says “I and my Father are ONE , to which also he gives shape when he says in
prayer “Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee “.
It may seem superfluous
at first sight that this unity of Jesus with the Father should be symbolized.
In the days of John it might not have seemed so superfluous to us. Society was
accustomed to
Page 37
the idea of sub-divided
and antagonistic divinity, so to speak. Paganism, then in the ascendant,
recognized a variety of gods, each god independent of the other, and having
control of a separate force. Thus there was a goddess of love (Venus), a god of
war (Mars), a god of thunder (Jupiter), a god of fire (Vulcan), a god of water
(Neptune), and so forth. The purport of this symbol was to show that there is
but one God, that all power has its centre with Him, that the apparent
diversity of power is only a diversity in the manifestation of one power, and
that power the Father of all, and that Jesus was himself a manifestation of
that power. Jesus is far mightier than all the gods of Paganism, supposing even
they were realities, for while they each possessed but a limited power, Jesus,
as the possessor of” the Seven Spirits “, had received “ all power in heaven
and in earth “ (Matt. 28 : 18). This truth is more strikingly exhibited in the
symbol before us than if plainly defined. A lamb with seven horns and seven
eyes may appear an uncouth symbol, but it is not more so than the symbols with
which men are familiar in the various secret orders. Uncouth or not, it is an
expressive intimation to us that in our ‘brother and high priest, Jesus of
Nazareth, the glorified Son of God, we have one who is in association with the
boundless power of the Creator of the universe.
Then the Lamb takes the
book out of the hand of him that sits upon the throne, which indicates the
moment he receives from the Father the knowledge and power to execute the program represented by
the seals. This symbolic act is
accompanied by the expression of
universal homage. The four beasts and twenty-four elders fall down and sing to
him that he is worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for
reasons which they recite. It is the dramatic illustration of the great love
and esteem entertained for the Lord Jesus by all standing related to the
matter. This is manifest by the little word of interpretation concerning the
twenty-four elders dropped in at verse 8 (chap. 5): “having every one of them
harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints “.
The saints are in the praying state-the probationary state as represented by
the twenty-four elders. The elders represent the saints not only in the final glory
that awaits them,- but also in their
contemporary adoration of Christ in their several-generations, while yet in the
flesh. They represent the camp of the saints-the house of David-in contemporary
relation with the kingdoms of men. Therefore they say prospectively, “We shall reign on the earth “,-showing that
at the time of this part of the vision, they are in the position of hope : “now
hope that is seen is not hope” (Romans 8 : 21). In addition to the four beasts
and twenty-four elders, John “heard the voice of many angels round about the
throne “,joining in the ascription of blessing and honour and glory and power
to him that sat on the throne and to the Lamb; and also every creature
everywhere took part in the mighty chorus of praise. Now as the universal
exaltation of Christ, and glory to God in the highest, represented in this
symbolic scene, has never yet occurred
Page 38
on earth, it follows
that we here have linked with the incident of giving to Christ the power to
open the seals because of his worthiness, a representation of the universal
exaltation that awaits him, when his whole seal-opening work is completed. It
is one of several instances in the course of the Apocalypse (and indeed in the
Scriptures generally) where the end of a matter, ages apart from its
initiation, is introduced along with its initiation as if it came immediately after. In the case before
us, it gives dramatic completeness to the scene exhibited. It would be a
misunderstanding however to read it as descriptive of an actual occurrence at
the preparation of the opening of the seals. On no theory of the matter could
such an understanding be admissible ; for whereas the scene represents the
praise as absolutely universal, the opening of the seals introduces us to
wickedness and blasphemy on earth, on such a scale that “ all nations “ are
exhibited in the aspect of spiritual debauchery, and repent not (Rev. 9 : 20-21
; 13 : 3-4 ; 17 : 1-2). The whole work of the seals will bring the earth into a
state of praise-the state depicted in the prophets as a filling of the earth
with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea and the renown of such a
wonderful transformation will he “ to him that sits upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb” ; hut at the actual opening 0f the seals, the state of
things was that described by John in his epistle, as applicable to his own day.
“ The world lieth in wickedness.
Let us now look at the
opening of the seals. We cannot in the short time that remains look very
thoroughly into the subject. Still, much may he done in a few minutes by
condensation.
The Lamb having taken
the scroll in his hand, breaks one of the seals : John is summoned by a loud
voice to “come and see “. This is worth a moment’s consideration. It \V~S one
of the four beasts that said “ come and see “. Now in view of the fact that the
four beasts represent the commonwealth of Israel we here have the community of
the faithful exhibited as having an interest in the signs of the times.. They
invite John to look as the events unfold themselves. The suggestion contained
in this incident is that the servants of God are always interested in the signs
of the times, and watch public events from a divine point of view. They have
always been of this watching class, because they have both understanding and a
strong desire for the accomplishment of the purpose of God in the earth.
John responds to the
invitation to “ come and see “. He looks and sees something occur, at which we
shall presently look. But there is a peculiarity to be considered before going
on. When a seal was broken, a parchment would he unloosed from its place. this
is what would literally happen in what John saw
: but what connection could there be between this act and the occurrence of
a scene which John could witness,-the movement of figures, the occurrence of
incidents, the sounding of voices, etc. ? We could readily understand how the
unloosing of a seal would put the Lamb
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in a position to know
what was written in that part of the scroll unloosed : but how could it set
events in motion that John could witness? This question we have already partly
considered. There is evidently a missing link between the two things. We
conjecturally supply that link if we suppose the scenes to be caused by Jesus
as the result of the knowledge and power acquired by the opening of the seals.
Jesus ~ so to speak reads in the opened
scroll and knows what to do 6rcause to be done in consequence, like the
conductor of a drama who requires the MS. before he can put a piece on the
stage. We disrelish the comparison exceedingly, but perhaps it illustrates what
is involved in the opening of the seals better than anything else. The opening
of the seals is, of course, a pure enigma. Literally, it means the
communication by the Father to Jesus of knowledge which enables him to reveal
events as destined to run in the channel of the Father’s purpose ; and not only
so, but to conduct those events to their predestined issue.
THE FIRST SEAL
being opened, John,
responding to the summons” Come and see “~ beholds a white horse with a stephaned rider holding a bow, going
forth on a conquering mission. Remembering that it was declared that the time
was “at hand “ for the beginning of the future things shown to John, what event
or phase of things is there in the time immediately after the communication of
the Apocalypse to answer to this symbol? We will best obtain an answer by
asking what we are to understand by the horse. It is common to employ animals
to represent political powers ; e.g., the
British lion. What power represented itself by the horse ? Strictly speaking,
there was but one State in the days of John, and that was the Roman State
(leaving the barbarous parts of the earth out of the account). If the horse is
a symbol of the Roman State, we ought to have no difficulty in discovering in
the Roman State in the days of John a condition of things answering to the
arrowless and victorious bowman astride the white horse. As a matter of fact,
the horse was one of the symbols of the Roman power. This is conclusively shown
by Mr. Elliott, who cites extant coins and other evidences to show the use of
the horse as the symbol of Roman power. The horse being white would indicate a
work of righteousness and peace, to which the body politic of Rome was being subjected
by the party represented by the rider with the stephan, having a bow but no arrow. What party could this be? The
apostolic enterprise at once suggests the answer. This enterprise was a
conquering enterprise of a certain sort, having the Roman Empire as the arena
of its operation. It was an enterprise achieved without bloodshed, so far as
the aggressions of the apostolic party were concerned. As Paul said, “The
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds ( 2Cor.10:4). Again he said, “We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against the
principalities and powers (that is, the ruling authorities see Titus 3 :1), against spiritual
Page 40
wickedness in high
places” (Eph. 6: ‘2). The how is a symbol of speech : the victory was to be won
by the use of the tongue, but without arrows as weapons of offense. This was
the nature of the war carried on by the Spirit of God through the body of
Christ in the days of John. It was a war of ideas,-of truth against error, or
righteousness against wickedness, therefore fitly represented by an archer
without arrows, and an archer wearing the stephan,
the token of victory ; for the apostolic testimony did in the end vanquish
Paganism in the Roman state. True it is, that the faith was soon corrupted and
overborne. Still, a great change was accomplished in the Roman Empire by the
apostolic enterprise. Paganism was driven from the throne, and the world was
brought into a nominal subjection to Christ and the apostles, which was a great
gain and a preparation for the more effective form of their work which is yet
to come.
If it be asked why the
work of the apostles should appear to be restricted in the symbol to Rome, the
answer is found in the fact that their mission was essentially a mission to the
Roman habitable which comprised the entire civilized world at that time. The
Roman empire, as shown in the map, supplies the geography of their work. Their
“ sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world
“ (Rom. 10 : 18). It was proclaimed to every creature under heaven, in the
apostolic sense of the words Col. I : 6, 23). The apostolic work continued
after the death of the apostles by means of the ecciesias founded by them,
conducted as they were by spiritually-endowed leaders. While it was in progress
throughout the world, peace and liberty prevailed to a great extent during the
first seal period (about eighty
years) represented by the reigns of
Nerva, Trajah, Hadrian, and of the
Antonines, called the
family of the Antonines in the same way as we talk of the family of the
Georges. Historians speak of this as the happiest period in the history of
mankind on account of the absence of war and the prevalence of general
prosperity-a period fitly represented by the white horse ridden by the
predestined victor of the arrowless bow.
When the Antonies ceased
to reign, a great change came over the Roman world, as indicated in the
symbolism of
THE SECOND SEAL
Here the horse is red
(signifying bloodshed), and the rider is not an arrowless bowman, but a man
with a machaira in his hand. This
ought to be translated a dagger : the implement most commonly used in
assassination, and most appropriate to represent a time when assassination
became the order of the day. Marcus Aurelius, the second of the Antonines, was
succeeded by his son, Commodus, a mere youth, who differed from his
predecessors in being a dissolute tyrant, who shamed public decency, and who
squandered the resources of the State in debauchery and profligacy. The senate
grew secretly impatient of his ways, but dared not for a time show their
feelings. At length, one of its members waylaid Commodus in
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a passage as he was
leaving the theatre, and presenting him threateningly with a machaira-the great sword or dagger of
the second seal-said, “The senate sends you this”, and attempted to kill him.
The attempt failed and the emperor escaped. Direful consequences followed.
Fired with feelings of revenge against the senate, whose hostility he had
suspected, he attempted to effect their destruction by wholesale assassination.
Terror reigned for a time, and the best blood of Rome flowed in torrents. At
length Commodus himself fell a victim to the flood of violence he had let
loose. Then there was more red-horse work. Commodus, falling before the
assassin’s stroke, left no successor. The senate appointed one in the person of
Pertinax, who after two months’ endeavor to reign wisely, was assassinated by
the discontented soldiery, whose allowance he abridged. The imperial purple,
after being sold to the highest bidder by the soldiery, then became a bone of
contention between the three leading generals of the army. A time of intestine
war and confusion ensued, and paved the way for the experiences of
THE THIRD SEAL
In this the horse was Black, and its rider a
man holding a pair of balances. When bread is eaten by weight, it is a sign of
scarcity and famine. The blackness of the horse shows distress, and the words
addressed to the balance-holder indicate its source. John heard a voice
proclaiming, “ A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for
a penny ; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine “. These are high prices
for wheat and barley, when worked out according to modern standards, and point
to scarcity. But how came the high prices and the scarcity? Not from bad
harvests but from heavy taxation on the part of the government, the official
balance-holder of the Roman horse. This heavy taxation was the result of the
reckless extravagance of the reigns of Caracalla and Elagabalus-dissolute
monsters-who for ten years, first one and then the other, lavished away the
treasures of the people and exhausted the resources of the empire in their
prodigal favours to the army among whom they lived, and on whose support they
depended. Taxation was brought to such a pitch that vast tracts of country went
out of cultivation-the-tiller of the soil feeling no encouragement to raise
crops merely to hand over to the revenue officers. The result of this was
public distress on a large scale. It became common1~ to expose their children
to destruction rather than burden themselves with the impossible task of
providing for them. An idea of the extent of the taxation, which crushed alike
every part of the empire, may be gathered from the fact that when a change in
the government was brought about by the exasperated people, taxes were
instantly reduced to one thirtieth part of
what they were during the reigns of Caracalla and Elagabalus.
Alexander Severus came
to the throne after the assassination of Elagabalus, and his reign illustrated
the admonition of the voice that John heard : “See thou hurt not (or act not
unjustly by) the oil
Page 42
and the wine “. As much
as to say, that although wheat should be at famine prices owing to the fiscal
extortions of the first part of the seal, there would be an amelioration of the
burden towards the second part. This is what happened. Severus practised rigid
economy in every branch of the administration : he relieved the provinces from
the oppressive taxes invented in the former reigns, and reduced the price of
provisions and the interest on money. He sought to promote learning and the
love of justice in contrast to the profligacy of his predecessors, and acted on
the conviction that the best way to secure the love and loyalty of his subjects
was to promote their well being. All his efforts, however, to change the color
of the horse were finally unavailing. The evils resulting from the previous
reigns were too deeply planted to be removed in a short time, and though for a
few years there was considerable relief, the army, becoming discontented with
the economy of Severus, proved a final obstacle to his reforms, and by their
hostility paved the way for the dreadful experiences of the fourth seal, which
we must defer till the next lecture.
Page 43
FOURTH LECTURE
REVELATION VI. 7-17; VII., AND VIII. x-6
The confusion and bloodshed of history-The beauty
of the Apocalypse in constructing a distinct program out of chaotic materials-A
literal element in the symbolism-a help to its elucidation-The horse of the
seals-its color under each---The fourth seal-the pale horse-its rider,
Death-fulfillment in the awful experiences of the Roman world, and particularly
Italy, under Maximin and his successors-Half the human species destroyed with
the sword, famine and pestilence-The fifth seal-ten persecutions under
Diocletian and Galerius, who attempted to extinguish Christianity-peculiarities
of the symbolism as appearing to favour popular views of the death state-The
sixth seal.
IN contemplating the
various scenes and transactions of European history that stand related to the
symbolism of the Apocalypse, we cannot help feeling as if that history was a
monotonous stream of confusion and bloodshed, undistinguishable one part from
another. It seems one mass of depressing detail, a constant repetition, age
after age, of intrigue and violence and bloodshed---one long, horrible dream of
evil without beginning, middle or end. To a great extent, this impression is a
correct one. The same passions and ambitions are seen in operation century
after century-the same violent means resorted to of attaining their
gratification-the same train of calamities resulting to large sections of
mankind from their indulgence. Names and times and places may differ : but in
essence, the historical incidents are but the same thing over and over again,
like the whirlings and fightings of kites and crows.
It is this fact that
enables us to appreciate one beauty of the Apocalypse that is not seen at first
sight, ~ this vast mass of chaotic material of a distinct program in which each
generation or so is
distinguished by symbols
and events peculiar to itself. It would
not have seemed possible that such a uniform scene of the social and political
turmoil should be mapped out into distinct sections, and represented by
separate and appropriate sets of symbols. The Apocalypse accomplished this feat
to perfection. The Spirit of God selects from the struggling mass-so to speak-one
or two leading features in each age, and portrays them in a bold and
distinctive symbolism, which becomes increasingly graphic with increasing
acquaintance, and excites at last the highest admiration. At first the
Apocalyptic symbolism is depressing, but as the mind learns to penetrate the
obscurity of the symbols, and to apprehend the literal things signified, a
totally different effect is produced. Satisfaction springs from intelligence,
and comfort from things discerned by enlightenment.
Most of the scenes have
something literal about them, though essentially symbolical in their
construction. At first sight this might seem a difficulty in the way of their
understanding. Practically,
Page 44
however, it is the
reverse. It is a kind of mixture that really helps to make the symbols
intelligible, after the example of Punch’s
cartoons, where the countenance of the head
of the Government -Beaconsfield for example (a literal element)---is
often to he found in combination with pure symbol,-the British lion, to wit.
The facial resemblance in that case is a clue to the significance of the other
part of the picture. So when we read of nations and tongues in juxtaposition
with a lion-mouthed seven-headed monster, or a bewitching woman, it is an
intimation that the thing signified by the monster is to be found in connection
with national affairs. We shall find frequent illustrations of this as we
proceed.
We have already looked
at the symbolism of the first three seals. In these are to be found
illustrations of the feature just mentioned. The machaira or dagger in the hand of the rider in the second seal,
for example, is a literal object used as a sign. That is, the dagger was to be
freely used in assassination, at this time, and here becomes a symbol of that
which it was literally employed to accomplish. So in the third seal : wheat,
wine and oil are literal ingredients of the hieroglyph. That is, the
hieroglyph, of which they form a verbal
part, signified the fiscal extravagances in which these articles would be
literally involved, with the result of distress to the people. Their literal
use in this way does not confuse the symbol, but rather helps its significance.
We have considered the
horse. This is a pure symbol as we have seen. That it signifies the Roman State
is proved independently of the employment of that animal in Roman heraldry : it
is proved by the fact that what is done by the rider of the horse affects the
population of the earth-the civilized habitable which was ruled by Rome and
Rome alone. For example : to the rider of the horse in the second seal, “power
was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another
“. The earth under Roman jurisdiction is here presented to view. No other power
than the Roman is admissible. The color of the horse we have considered the
first-white-a work of righteousness going on during circumstances of public
prosperity ; the second -- red - bloodshed and assassination the order of the
day ; the third –black-_distress and want throughout the empire, in consequence
of the rapacious exactions of a succession of profligate emperors.
THE FOURTH SEAL
We now look at the
fourth (chap. 6 : 7)-” And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the
voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale
horse : and his name that sat upon him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with
sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth “. The
colour of the horse agrees with the work assigned to the rider. It is a color
characteristic of approaching death. It is not pale in the sense of whiteness ;
that was the color of
Page 45
the-first horse, having
to do with righteousness and prosperity : in this, the paleness is a green
paleness. The word translated pale conveys the idea of green as the tint of the
paleness. And well does such a color agree with the events of the next phase of
the history of the Roman world. This phase covered a period of nearly seventy
years. During that time, there were thirty-nine emperors or men claiming to he
emperors, and not one of them died a natural death. With the exception of one
who died of pestilence, and two or three who fell in battle, they all died of
assassination. Death was an appropriate name for the Roman ridership during
this period-seeing that as sure as a man attained to it he was doomed to death,
sooner or later, and in most cases it was death in a very short time-but Hades followed with death. Hades, as we know, is the grave. Here we
have the grave personified, following Death, to receive the victims. This is an
intimation that multitudes would be affected by the events so fatal to the
lives of emperors. And it was so. The history of this period is a history of
constant bloodshed on a large scale. It began with the promotion to the
emperorship, of one Maximin-a Thracian peasant of immense stature and great
strength, who came into notice and obtained popularity in the army through
these qualities. Through this popularity he succeeded in procuring the
assassination of Alexander Severus (the” hurt-not-the-oil-and-the-wine “
emperor of the third seal), and was himself proclaimed emperor. He was a man
not only of mean origin, but of savage appearance and gross ignorance, and the
noble families of Rome were outraged in their feelings at the appointment of
such a man as emperor. Maximin was aware of this, and dreading the result of
their contempt, he sought their destruction. He singled out Magnus, an eminent
and accomplished senator, and put him to death, with about four thousand of the
more respectable classes who were suspected of sympathy with him. He filled the
empire with spies and informers. We read that “on the slightest accusation, the
first of the Roman nobles, governors of provinces and commanders of armies,
were chained on the public carriages and hurried away into his presence (on the
banks of the Rhine or Danube, according as he was in one camp or the other).
Confiscation, exile, or simple death, were esteemed uncommon instances of his
lenity. Some of the unfortunate sufferers he ordered to be sewed up in the
hides of slaughtered animals, others to be beaten to death with clubs, and
others again to be exposed to wild beasts “. Having devastated the ranks of
respectability, he turned his hand upon the common property of the public. He
appropriated the local taxes and revenues of towns to provide funds for his own
use and the use of the army. “The temples were stripped of their most valuable
offerings of gold and silver, and the statues of gods, heroes and emperors were
melted down and coined into money.” These measures excited public tumults, and
led to organized revolt against his authority throughout the empire. This led
to civil war and bloodshed everywhere. In Rome, the senate threw off their
Page 46
allegiance and appointed
another emperor. But a party in Rome (comprising the principal soldiery-the
Praetorian guard) were favorable to Maximin and between them and the rest of
the citizens there was fighting which lasted many days, and filled Rome with
desolation and death. The soldiers, besieged in their own camp by the citizens,
sallied forth and set fire to many parts of the city, and filled the streets
with the blood of the inhabitants. Maximin himself, after marching the army
into Italy on his way towards Rome, was killed by his troops, and the civil
strife ceased for a while.
It will be observed that
the seal speaks of “ the fourth of the earth “. This becomes intelligible in
view of the fact that the empire at this time was divided into four parts , called prefectures, over
each of which a prince, styled a prefect, exercised authority in subjection to
the emperors. The four parts were ;I, the East ~ (including Egypt, Syria, Asia
Minor, etc.) ; 2, Illyricum (answering to modern Turkey in Europe *’) ; ~,
Italy, and 4, Gaul (comprising France, Spain, Britain, etc.). THE fourth of
these, that is, the principal fourth, the leading fourth, was the prefecture of
Italy-the headquarters of the Roman Empire. The events of the fourth seal were
in a special manner to affect this section of the empire. The events already
recited show how signally this was the case. Rome and Italy were the scenes of
its leading events.
In addition to the
sword, the death-rider of the horse in this fourth seal was to “ kill with
hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth “. This shows that
famine and pestilence were to result from the acts of the government. And it
was so. It could not fail to be so in such a disturbed state of things. With a
constant change of emperors, and constant fighting among the people, together
with the effect of rapacious exactions of public officials, who were compelled
at the peril of their lives to find supplies for the government, industry and
agriculture fell into neglect, and supplies began to fail. History testifies
that there was a long and general famine of a very serious kind, and that
pestilence came as the result of scanty and unwholesome food. From A.D. 250 to
265, a plague raged without interruption in every province and city, and almost
in every family in the Roman Empire. For some time five thousand persons died
daily in Rome, and many towns were entirely depopulated. It has been computed
that at this time, within a few years, -war, pestilence, and famine consumed
nearly one-half of the human species. The imagery of the fourth seal seems
exactly adapted to express this fearful time of public calamity-a death-pale
horse, ridden by Death and followed by the Grave.
THE FIFTH SEAL
The fifth seal changes
the scene. “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the
souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which
they ~
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* that is when the
lectures were given in 1880
Page 47
cried with a loud voice,
saying, How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our
blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every
one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest for yet a little
season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be
killed as they were, should be fulfilled” (6 9). Plainly on the face of it,
this symbolism carries with it a picture of persecution, and this exactly
coincides with the phase of public affairs in the Roman empire. Diocletian,
who, in a great measure, terminated the public calamities of the fourth seal by
the vigor of his administration, proved a great persecutor of the Christians,
who were increasingly numerous as a party throughout the empire, though
increasingly degenerate from an apostolic point of view. His animosity towards
them originated in the idea that the calamities of the fourth seal period were
due to them. This idea was fanned by his associate in the government, Galerius,
who was a zealous devotee of the gods of Pagan Rome, and stirred up Diocletian
to attempt the destruction of the Christian name. After many importunities, Diocletian
assented, and an imperial edict was issued, enacting the punishment of death to
all who should hold secret assemblies for religious worship-(that is, who
should obey the commandments of Christ to meet for the breaking of bread). It
was also ordered that all who had possession of the Scriptures should give them
up to be burnt, and that anyone refusing to make a profession of Paganism
should be incapable of holding any office, and should he put beyond the
protection of the law. Twice, within fifteen days after the issue of the edict,
the imperial palace was found to be on fire, and as this was attributed to the
action of the Christians, it greatly increased the severity of the measures
adopted against them. A great number of the most respectable of society were
thrown into prison. Every mode of torture was put in practice against those
thus imprisoned, and many bloody executions took place. While multitudes of
professors saved themselves by renouncing Christianity, and giving up the
Scriptures to be destroyed, many remained faithful, and were put to death.
These terrible visitations upon believers extended throughout the Roman Empire,
and added thousands to the number of victims under the altar. The sufferings of
the saints, both in body and mind, were of great severity during this terrible
season, and are fitly expressed in the prayer put into the mouths of the dead
souls under the altar : “How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ?
You are aware that the
sects around us make large use of this prayer to prove that the dead are alive
and conscious. They forget that the scene of which it is a part is a hieroglyph
or symbolical representation. Even taken literally they might see, if they would
but reflect, it cannot favour their views. They imagine souls to be in heaven
but here they were under an altar. They imagine souls to be invisible and
immaterial, but here John saw them, and
Page 48
white robes were given
to every one of them. It is a piece of symbolism in perfect harmony with the
truth that man is mortal, and that slaughtered saints are dead. The harmony is
seen when we ask” What is the altar? “ It is a symbol of Christ, as we learn
from Paul’s teaching in Hebrews generally, and notably in chapter 13 io. What
is meant by the souls being under the altar? We discover this in Paul’s other
statement, that “ our life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. ~ 2). Christ has
the power to bring all his people to life again, and will exercise that power
(John 6 39-40 i7 2). A dead saint, especially one put to death for his faith,
is in a peculiar sense under the altar “, in Christ’s safe keeping for
resurrection and vindication at the appointed time.
But what about the dead
souls speaking, and making this prayer and receiving answer about those not yet
slain? It is the dramatic and enigmatical illustration of their position and
relation to the purpose of God. It is not the stultification of literal truth.
It is not an uncommon thing to impute words to things incapable of speech by
way of expressing their moral relations. Thus God said to Cain, “Thy brother’s
blood crieth unto me from the ground commenting upon which Paul remarks (Heb.
‘2 24) that the sprinkled blood of Jesus “speaketh better things than that of
Abel “. Thus also the corpses in the tombs are represented as rising to greet
the king of Babylon at his burial, and saying, Art thou also become weak as we?
art thou become like one of us? (Isa. 14 : io). Thus also trees are considered
as speaking one to another (Judges 9 : 8-15). The souls under the altar, their
speech, the answer to them and the clothing of them with white robes, is the
symbolical presentment of a time of persecution that prevailed during the reign
of Diocletian, and the promised investiture with immortality that awaits all
who suffer death for Christ’s sake. Literal truth must govern all our
interpretations of symbols and parables.
THE SIXTH SEAL
The sixth seal shows us
a different state of things altogether. It introduces us to something that we
may look upon as in the nature of a retribution for the evil deeds performed
under the fifth seal. “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo,
there was a great earthquake ; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair,
and the moon became as blood ; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty
wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every
mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth,
and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty
men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in
the rocks of the mountains ; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us,
and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb : for
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the great day of his
wrath is come ; and who shall he able to stand ? ‘ (6 : 12-17).
What is there in Roman
history, succeeding to the reign of Diocletian, at all corresponding to this
symbolic picture of a universe in tempestuous dissolution? Looking at the
political universe which was the subject of the symbol, we have not to go far
to see. Following close on the fearful persecutions of the fifth seal, we
behold the Pagan world in a state of violent and revolutionary turmoil ending
in the overthrow of Paganism, and of the entire system established on the basis
of the national idolatry, the old order of things in Rome (a thousand years
old) upset, and a new order of things established. The son of one of
Diocletian’s colleagues was the instrument of this momentous revolution. His
name is of world-wide renown. Constantine, the son of Constantius, who ruled
the west, was brought up with a bias in favour of the Christians, inherited
from his father. His father very much disapproved of the persecutions ordered
by Galerius and Diocletian, arid successfully used his authority in shielding
the Christians from the extreme measures dealt out to them in other parts of
the empire. His son Constantine early took their part, and perceiving them a
growing party in the State, proclaimed himself their protector. On the death of
his father he was proclaimed his successor by the army of the West, to the
dismay of the reigning emperors in Italy and the east, who were supporters of
the Paganism of the State, and who viewed with alarm the elevation of a man of
known capacity who had proclaimed sympathy with the Christians. The difference
of feeling between them soon led to war, and this was ended in the ruin of
Paganism. Constantine exhibited a celerity and skill in his movements which
baffled and overpowered his enemies. He marched to Italy and was over the Alps
before almost the news of his intentions had reached the Imperial Court in
Rome. Every battle was for him a victory, arid in a short time he found himself
in Rome the unchallenged ruler of the principal part of the empire. ~This was a
great change for the Christians, who were emancipated from all their
disabilities and received into imperial favour. After a short peace with his
colleagues of Illyricum and the East, the war was renewed. It was felt by all
that the issue was between Paganism and Christianity. The two elements had long
been fermenting one with the other throughout the State, and the hour had come
to decide which was to have the ascendancy. The question was effectually
decided by the extraordinary success uniformly attending the arms of
Constantine. The armies of the Pagan emperors were completely defeated ; and
Constantine, the befriender of the persecuted Christians, became sole master of
the empire. The constitution of the world was completely changed. The earth had
been the subject of a great quake, lasting for years and resulting in all the
effects portrayed in the symbolism; the sun of the political universe-the Pagan
emperorship (both high-priest and defender of Paganism) had become darkened or
eclipsed ; the moon, or
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ecclesiastical element
of the Roman polity-the Pagan clergy-the priests of the gods-shining by the
borrowed light of the throne, even as the moon by the light of the sun
disappeared in blood
the stars of the
political firmament, the numerous magnates of various kinds and degrees
exercising authority in the empire, by the goodwill of the emperor, fell out of
their places with the overthrow of their master, to give place to Christian
successors. The heaven or whole sphere of established imperial authority, was
rolled up and put aside as a thing of the past the various mountain and island
kingdoms and principalities subsisting under Rome, moved out of their places,
and all orders and ranks of Roman society, having participated in the
persecution of the Christians, recognized in the public calamities occurrent,
the retribution inflicted by “the God of the Christians “, and were panic
stricken to the extent of desiring concealment, even in death, from the terrors
that swept through the length and breadth of the Roman Empire. One of the Pagan
emperors of the time, dying in torments, protested in his agony that he had not
been guilty Of persecution of the Christians. It is to be gathered from the
writings of the age that all recognized the Constantinian revolution as a
retribution from the God of the Christians, which it doubtless was.
This change was one
which affected the entire civilized world. Rome wielded universal empire over
the civilized races of men, so that what affected Rome affected all the earth,
and a change so radical, effected so violently, could not better be represented
than by the symbolism of the sixth seal. It was a change that took considerable
time to accomplish. It was not the work of one year. It occupied several years.
When accomplished, it wrought a wonderful change in the position of the friends
of Christ. From being proscribed and hated and hunted down and destroyed, they
became the favorites of the authorities, upon whom were lavished the revenues
and the favours formerly bestowed on the Pagan priesthood. Such a change naturally
gave enlarged scope for their development and consolidation. This appears to
have been one of the providential purposes served by the overthrow of the Pagan
adversary, as we may gather from the symbolism immediately succeeding the sixth
seal, viz.
“And after these things
I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four
winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea,
nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal
of the living God and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it
was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither
the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their
foreheads “. -
Wind when used as a
symbol signifies trouble in the form of war. This may be seen by reference to
Jeremiah 4 . 11-13. “Angels holding the four winds” is an intimation that the
events leading to war are subject to divine control. This control is in the
Page 51
hands of Christ (Matt.
28 : ~8j, to whom the angels are subject (i Peter 3 : 22) ; and to the angels
the present world hath been put in subjection (Heb. 2~ e~ Psalms 103: 21 ;
Daniel 10: 20-21; Ii.:
I-2). “ The four winds “
stand for all winds, or war from whatever quarter ; consequently, in the
picture before us we have human turbulence all over the earth in divine
restraint, causing peace, that there might be a situation favorable for the
performance of the work of sealing the servants of God. What is this? We have
been caused to know this experimentally.
A seal is an implement
for making an official mark of identification or authentication on prepared
substance. Wherever the seal is impressed, it makes the same mark. If the
substance with which it is brought in contact is not suitable, the seal does
not make a mark, or makes a defective and therefore useless one. This is the
literal, of which it is easy to see the spiritual counterpart in the operations
of the gospel. Speaking of these, Paul says to the Ephesians concerning Christ,
“ in whom, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy spirit of
promise which is the earnest of our inheritance “ (Eph. 1 : 13). God gave the
holy spirit to believers in confirmation of the gospel (Heb. 2 : 4 ; Mark i6 :
20). In this way, He attached His seal or sanction to the work. But there is a
higher operation to the seal. The truth contained in the gospel given by the
Holy Spirit in the apostles is the seal of God, which, when brought into
contact with “honest and good hearts “, makes a mark or impression thereon
which is God’s seal on the man, by which
all the called or sealed arc distinguished from other men, and because of
which, God will claim them. The seal-mark is the state of mind caused by the
knowledge of the gospel. This is the explanation of the seal being applied to
the forehead in the symbol. The forehead
is the symbol of the understanding and to be sealed in the forehead is to have
truth impressed on the understanding by the preaching of the gospel. Such a
work on a large scale requires a time of peace, for when war is in the air,
men’s minds are too pre-occupied to give the requisite attention. This is the
reason of the peace that followed the Constantinian revolution-a peace divinely
provided and preserved-that the sealing work might be effectually done.
It was to be done by an
angel who, in the common version, is described as “ ascending from the east “.
This ought, however, to read, “having ascended
from the east “. The work was to be done in the west, among the Roman
populations, but the agency performing it was from the east, even from
Jerusalem, in which the work was begun (Luke 24 : 47). Consequently, an angel,
having ascended from the east “, was an appropriate symbol, the more so when we
realize that in the east where the work began, the apostasy had prevailed to
its near extinction.
The work was to result
in an Israelitish development. John heard the number of them which were sealed
: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the
tribes of
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the children of Israel
“. The tribes are enumerated, and Out of each tribe were twelve thousand. What
is the enigmatical significance of this? We have already seen it in the
consideration of Christ’s allusion to “ those who say they are Jews and are
not, but do lie “.
Salvation is of the
Jews” (John 4 : 22). The hope of the gospel is the hope of Israel (Acts 28 :
20). It is based on promises made to the fathers of the house of Israel (Rom.
15 8), unto which promise “, said Paul before Agrippa, “ our twelve tribes,
instantly serving God day and night, hope to come “.The extension of this hope
to the Gentiles was not an alteration of its character but-an alteration of
those to whom it was extended Every Gentile receiving and submitting to it
became engrafted into “the good olive tree of the stock of Abraham (Rom. 11 :
17). He ceased to be a Gentile and a stranger (Eph. 2 : 12), and became a
fellow citizen in the commonwealth of Israel, being built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets (Eph. jo : 19-20).
Consequently, the work
of the gospel, where it is really done, must always have an Israelitjsh result.
It turns Gentiles into Jews, making them partakers of the hope of Israel, and
no longer strangers from the covenants of promise’ (Eph. 2 : 12). This is a
very different thing from the popular work of “saving souls” so called. It is a work of saving souls truly but not of immortal ones, and not by
asking them to feel themselves great sinners and believe that Christ died for
them, but by asking them to become
enlightened in the covenants of promise confirmed by the Lord’s death, and summoning them to surrender to the
claims and commandments of the truth-claims appropriating a man’s entire
individuality in the present evil world, and commandments affecting the shape
of his every-day life and the state of his every-day affections. When the work
is successfully done, the development of “children of Abraham “ is the result.
Now how better could this be enigmatically expressed than by representing the
sealing as affecting the twelve tribes of Israel?
When the work was
performed, John saw as the result of it, “a great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before
the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their
hands “.
Here we require to pause
a moment. Does this mean that the result of the work to be done in the
Constantinian era was to be visible in the Constantinian era P Were the people
sealed in their foreheads to be seen in a saved state as the immediate results
of their sealing? Were the symbolic 144,000 to be manifested in their glorified
completeness in the generation that saw the overthrow of Paganism and the
removal of all impediments to the execution of the work of the gospel? The
placing of this scene immediately after the sealing, makes it seem as if it
were so : but it cannot be so for a variety of reasons. A consideration of the
context is sufficient of itself to enable us to see this. John, contemplating
them, was
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informed in answer to a
preliminary question “Who are these which are arrayed in white robes? and
whence came they?
“These are they who came
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb; Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve
him day and night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell
among them. They shall hunger no more; neither thirst any more; neither shall
the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters :
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
It is evident from this
that the sealed multitude, as John saw them, were the whole multitude of the
redeemed in that state which is only introduced by the Lord’s coming. The
144,000, whether we understand the number literally or figuratively, is
comprehensive of all the redeemed, as is evident from what we read of them in
Rev. 14 1-5. Consequently, as seen in Rev. 7, they were seen in the state which
they are finally to attain long after (even at the end), and not at the time of
the sealing. Their constituent members are several times seen in the succeeding
portions of the Apocalypse, in the very
tribulation from which in the seventh chapter they are said to have “come
out”. Thus in chapter 13 7, they are “made war against and overcome” ; and in
chapter 17 6, the Roman harlot is “ drunk with the blood of the saints “. Most
conclusively of all, we know that the dead in Christ are the DEAD ifl Christ,
and that not until “the Lord himself descend from heaven with a shout” shall “
those who are asleep “ “ rise first “, to ascend, with the living to the state
in which John saw them (i Thess. 4 : 13-17).
Why then was the scene
of the saints in glory introduced in connection with the process of the sealing
to be accomplished in the Constantinian era? Doubtless, to show the real result
contemplated in the sealing. The two, things the work of the gospel and the
end to which God, purposes it shall 1ead~-must-always be taken together. The
one cannot be understood without the other. No reasonable explanation can be
given of the process through which those who are called in Christ are put in
the present life apart from the life for which it is intended as a preparation.
Paul well observes, “ If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most
miserable ~ The spectacle of the sealed class in the victory over death to
which their sealing leads, is a natural companion picture to the representation
of the sealing work. The two things are divided in time, but connected in
reason. Therefore, John saw them in connection, yet as separated scenes. Though
John saw one after the other, ~ does not follow that the one comes immediately
after the other in fact. He says, “ After
this, I beheld, and lo ! a great multitude “, etc. How long after is not
indicated. Doubtless John would see the one scene next after the other ; but as
this was only to show that glory came after sealing and suffering, we must look
to other sources for information as to the interval separating the
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one from the other. When
Paul says, “If we suffer we shall also reign with him “ (~ Tim. 2 : 12) ; and
Jesus, “ Blessed are ye that hunger now ye shall be filled” and” Be thou
faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2 : Io)-in
these and many other such cases, it seems as if the two things were immediately
sequential. They are sequential in their relation, but not in the succession of
time, as we know. The reigning and the comforting are when Christ comes.
It remains to ask if the
Constantinian era was characterized by the sealing work shadowed forth in the
hieroglyph? The answer is in harmony with what would seem natural under the
circumstances. What more natural than that the testimony of Christ should
become more extensive and effectual under the protection and encouragement of
the authorities than when the authorities were arrayed against it for its
suppression? We have not much reliable information of what went on : but so
much as we know from writers of the Constantinian era, is in favour of the
conclusion hinted at. The people answering to the sealed were not to be found
in the eastern section of the Roman empire. Of that part of the world, Dr.
Thomas says in Eureka, vol. ii., p.
328) “ I have searched through Socrates,
Sozomen and Theodoret, the Greek ecclesiastical historians of the period of
the sealing, but have been unable to find any footsteps of angel-sealers
contending for the faith delivered on Pentecost
All in the east seem to have been occupied on one side or the other of
Homoousianism evincing thereby the
absence of any divine sealing operation in their foreheads. The countries whose
‘vernacular was the Greek tongue seemed to have been abandoned of the Deity to
the darkness of superstition, which was rapidly intensified by the
controversialists of Nice. I turn
therefore from these to those parts of the empire where the Latin was the
prevailing language of the people – the Roman west in which John saw the
sealing angel in operation”
It is in the African
portion of the Roman west where the people in question are to be found. When I
speak of Africa, you will of course understand that it is not the Africa of
David Livingstone’s travels that is meant, that is to say not that portion of
Africa that has become so prominent in connection with his name. It is not the
Africa of Zulus and missionaries and elephant hunts, but te Africa of Carthage
and Rome -the extreme northern part of Africa where it borders on the
Mediterranean Sea for hundreds of miles. If you look on the map, you will see
the Mediterranean Sea is nearly a lake, with Europe on the north and Africa on
the south. When you understand that the Roman Empire embraced all the
countries bordering that lake and therefore a belt of northern Africa, you will
understand what is meant when Africa is talked of in this connection. It was
not a country of wild men and savage life, such as we associate with the name
of Africa, but a country of civilization, embracing towns and villages and
farms.
Page 55
In the African portion,
then, of the Roman empire, appeared in the early part of the fourth century
(the time required by the symbol) a people apparently answering to the work of
the angel-sealer. We know little of them except from the testimony of their
enemies ; but this little is illustrative of their character. The Dr. says they
were an intensely anti- Catholic people. They denied the christianity of
Catholics and would have no fellowship with them. They rejected Catholic
baptism as null and void. They repudiated Catholic dogmas and contended for
“the simplicity which is in Christ “. They were uncompromisingly hostile to all
things not according to the testimony of Jesus Christ. They declared to the
Catholics that they were not Christians, and could not be saved as long as they
continued members of Constantine’s church. Ecclesiastical historians write of
them as schismatics and heretics, but what they say as to their principles
points to their identity with the community founded by the apostles. They were
a numerous people extending, almost as numerously as the Catholics, to many
towns and villages, and even provinces in northern Africa. They were known as
Donatists, and though much connected with them is unsatisfactory and obscure,
it is evident that this large community of people contained, in their bosom at
least, the faithful and apostolic element of the professing Christian body of
the age. They claimed their faith to be Apostolic as distinct from the
Catholic, and declared that the true church had ceased to exist in all parts of
the world where they were not. Their separation from the Catholic Church began
upon a question of discipline. They maintained, at a time when it was proposed
to elect a questionable character as a bishop, that the Church of Christ should
consist of just and holy men, or at least of those who appeared to be such, and
that men of manifested wickedness should be put away-a principle distinctly
apostolic in its character.
It would be interesting
to go into further particulars about them ; but for the purpose of these
lectures it is sufficient to take notice of the fact of the existence of such a
people at the time of the world’s history requiring it, under the symbolism of
the chapter we are considering.
We must pass on to the
conclusion of the present lecture, We shall reach this in the consideration of
the first five verses of chapter 8. These record the opening of
THE SEVENTH SEAL
The things exhibited as
the result of the opening of this seal are more numerous and complex than the
events of any of the other seals. It would have been clumsy and confusing to
have exhibited them simply as the elements of the seventh seal. They are
therefore divided and sub-divided under several heads, so to speak, but all
these separate heads forming part of the seventh seal. There is also a striking
appropriateness in the introduction of a new set of symbols : they were to mark
a new system and relations between
Page 56
God and the people of
the Roman Empire. Up to this time, Europe had been the avowed adversary of
Christ under the leadership of Paganism. But now, those peoples, organized
under the leadership of Constantine, were professedly subject to him. The name
of Christ and the law of obedience to him were adopted as the basis of the
State religion. This was a great change. It was natural therefore that the
change should be recognized the seals merely exhibited the experience of Pagan
Rome during her conflict with Christianity, with a profession of Christianity,
there was a more direct political responsibility to Christ, so to speak. It was
therefore seemly that the prophetic seals should now be succeeded by other
symbols intimating a more direct
causation of the evils that were to be
inflicted on the European body politic.
This we find in the seven trumpets.
The seventh seal having been opened, “ there
was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour “. Peace in the ruling’
realm is here foreshadowed as the result of Constantine’s triumph over
Paganism. The half-hour is, of course, not a half-hour by the clock. It is a larger half-hour than even the
day for a year principle of interpretation. The actual interval of peace was
close on fifteen years. What sort of a day of twelve hours (for this was the
duration of a day with the ancients) would be required to make nearly fifteen
years “ about half-an-hour”? Call fifteen years half-an-hour , and thirty years
would be an hour, and this multiplied by twelve gives us 360 years for a day.
Three hundred and sixty days was the length of the ordinary ancient year, and
as a day was prophetically used to one such ordinary year , we have here one
such year treated as a day by the clock,
but each day of it taken to represent a year
It is duplicated so to speak, A
day of the clock is taken for a year,
and then this year as consisting of 360
days is again taken to stand for 360 years. This is a condensing of time in harmony with
the fitness of Johns situation as a listener and beholder of the symbolic
things seen in Patmos. For John to have witnessed a fifteen years or even a fifteen days silence would have been unnatural; but by drawing in the time twice, fifteen
years were condensed into half-an-hour.
At the end of the fifteen years, judgments were casting their corning shadows over the scene. The church triumphant under Constantine became as great a persecutor of the true and faithful disciples of Christ as ever the Pagan emperors had been ; and God was about to bring a series of scourges on the persecuting church in retribution. They were scourges to come directly at the divine call. Therefore, seven angels are seen to receive seven trumpets, with which they were successively to summon these judgments on the scene. Before they begin to sound, another angel comes to the altar with a golden censer, with which he offers incense with “the prayers of all saints “. The golden altar is Christ the angel with the censer is the representative of the saints in the attitude of prayer. There was special need for prayer at this time. The true saints were being oppressed and afflicted greatly by the dominant church, which
Page 57
could not tolerate their
dissent from its dicta, and their protest against its unchristian ways. Prayer
to God was the only weapon of defense left them against their enemies. The
answer to their prayers is here symbolized. Having offered the incense “ with
the prayers of all saints “, the angel “ took the censer, and filled it with
fire of the altar, and cast it unto the earth and there were voices, and
thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake “. The history of the thirty
years succeeding to the death of Constantine (A.D. 337) is the best
illustration of the import of this symbolism. Faction and strife and bloodshed
among his sons, and civil war consequent on the revolt of a military officer
(Magnentius) aiming at, and for a time wearing, the imperial purple, ended in
the elevation of Julian, a votary of Paganism, to the throne of the
empire. This political earthquake was a
terrible calamity to the Catholic church, at whose instigation the persecutions
were conducted, for which these were retributive public disasters. The
elevation of Julian led to an attempt to restore Paganism to the position it
held before the victories of Constantine. This attempt, though not finally
successful, was sufficiently formidable to subject the bishops and adherents of
the Catholic Church to great tribulation. The particulars may be read with much
interest in Eureka. The voices and
the lightning and the thunder and the earthquake having expended themselves in
the accomplishment of their mission, the seven angels prepared themselves to
sound. Their soundings and the results ensuing, we must reserve for the next
lecture.
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The seventh Seal, containing the seven
trumpets-ribald mirth at Apocalyptic technicalities-the jest of ignorance-the
Apocalypse a great deep-an enigma of exquisite construction-The breaking of the
seals-change of figure under the seventh seal-introduction of trumpets-the
significance of trumpet-blowing as a figure-the reason of introducing the
trumpets-a change in the situation-a higher national responsibility of
Rome-more direct judgments for her sins-The preparation for the sounding of the
trumpets-Development of the power of the barbarians in preparation for the
trumpet judgments Sounding of the FIRST TRUMPET-the area of its
operation-the third of the earth-the ravages oj the Goths---defeat of the Roman
armies by Alan c-subsequent devastation of the empire and the sack of Rome
itself- The SECOND TRUMPET-a burning
mountain in the sea-the Vandals under Genseric-their ravages on the ocean, and
the maritime coasts of time empire-The THIRD TRUMPET-the star “ wormwood “-the locality of its fall and the embittering of the
waters-the verification in the career of Altila, the king of the Huns
-Disruption of the Roman Empire-Providential purpose served by this-the
FOURTH-eclipse of the Roman Sun, moon, and stars, in a third of the
extinction of the Roman Empire in the
west-the woe trumpets.
IN the last lecture, we
completed our Survey of the events symbolized by the imagery of the seals, and
in the consideration of the seventh seal we were introduced to the seven
trumpets--that is to say, we found the events of the seventh seal to consist of
the sounding of seven trumpets by seven angels and the events ensuing upon
those soundings. The seventh seal consists of the multitudinous details
connected with the sounding of the seven trumpets. To-night it will be our duty
to look at the things represented by the trumpets.
The common run of people
laugh when we talk of the seals and trumpets and vials, and the uncommon run of
people too-the respectable and the learned take part in the jest. Their mirth
is entirely misplaced. Granted that these terms are SO much jargon to the
generality their uncouthness is due not to the subject itself but to the
general non-acquaintance of the people with them. They are the technicalities
of the most advanced chapter in the Bible. The technicalities of any subject
,are barbarous to those who are not acquainted with them ; but to make them the
ground of scorn is an aggravation of ignorance. It reminds us of the words of
Solomon “ Wisdom is too high for a fool “. The Apocalypse is a great deep.
There is a wisdom and beauty in it that impart an ecstasy of admiration when
the mind opens to them. It not only imparts knowledge of the future, but it
does so in a system of symbolism that is symmetrical in structure, complete in
plan,
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distinct and vigorous in
detail, and perfect in the appropriateness of its figures.
This is not obvious all
at once. It is not obvious at all to those who are ignorant of the first
principles of divine truth as revealed in the writings of Moses and the
prophets, interpreted in harmony with the apostles, and even to those who know
the truth, it is dark for a while ; only after patient study of the Book of God
for a long time, the excellence of the Apocalypse is appreciated. For a time,
the matter of the Apocalypse seems wild, austere, high, hard, perhaps
inscrutable--something unpractical, something not useful. Such impressions are
due to spiritual infancy. Men ought to condemn themselves for such feelings.
They ought to be very modest. They ought to assume, even if not able to
perceive, that the Apocalypse must be wise and useful because an emanation of
the divine mind. We must not set ourselves up as the standard of judgment. We
are all fools to start with, if not to finish with. The first step in true
progress is to know that we are ignorant. There is hope when we realize this. “
But seest thou a man wise in his own conceit?” Solomon says, “There is more
hope of a fool than of him.” When we start with a right idea of ourselves, we
shall be as little children “ as Jesus prescribes. We shall not measure
everything by our impressions and conceptions. We shall not set ourselves up as
the standard. We shall recognize that there must be things as much higher than
our conceptions as heaven is higher than our puny stature of five or six feet.
Recognizing this, we shall be prepared to ask what they are, if we can know
them, and receive them in humility, however hard of apprehension, instead of
scornfully rejecting them because higher than ourselves. This is a long step
in the direction of wisdom-to know that we are small and know nothing. Any
other attitude is the attitude of fools, and it is written that God “ taketh no
pleasure in fools “. God is wise, as manifest in our own mechanism and in all
nature around. Because the Apocalypse is His, it bears the impression of His
wisdom, which, however hard to receive at first, becomes a cause of joy and
thanksgiving.
We have looked at the
significance of the seals. We found a scroll introduced, sealed with seven
seals, as illustrating the concealment in the mind of God of certain knowledge
of future events, affecting Christ and his people. We found that Jesus was
alone esteemed worthy to unloose those seals, or obtain access to that
knowledge, the impartation of which by the Father to him qualified him to carry
out the program written in the symbolic scroll. We have seen him break seal
after seal, or exhibit one after the other the events destined to occur in the
various periods covered by the seals. We have come to the seventh, and find the
figure changed. It is no longer a mere disclosing of what course affairs would
take in the Roman Empire as affecting Christ and his brethren ; it is a blowing
of trumpets to summon events, so to speak, to bring judgments on the scene.
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We all know what a
trumpet blast is. and for what it is used. It is mostly an instrument of
military use-to direct the movements of large bodies of men who could not
otherwise be made aware of the will of the commander. Such an instrument, when
used as a figure, must mean the urgent causing of unpeaceful events. The
Apocalypse is not the first place in the Bible where the figure is used in this
sense. Thus we read in Jeremiah 4:5 “Blow ye the trumpet in the land ; cry,
gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced
cities “. Again (Hos. 8: 1), “Set the
trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord,
because they have transgressed my covenant “. Again (Joel 2 : 1`), “Blow ye the
trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain “.
Doubtless these
allusions to the blowing of the trumpet originated in the use of trumpets in
the convoking of the assembly of Israel in the wilderness, as they came out of
the land of Egypt, in the monthly blowing of trumpets at the new moons, as
enjoined. Still they exemplify a figurative use which finds its boldest illustration
in the seven trumpets blown by the seven angels of the seventh seal.
But what was there
calling for a different style of symbolism from the seals ? The contemplation
of the events of the sixth seal will supply the answer to this question. There
was an entire change in the situation. Up to that time, Paganism was on the
throne of the world, and the Roman Empire an empire of idolatry in consequence.
Now concerning nations in that position, it is written that God had suffered
them to walk in their own ways (Acts 14 : i6) on the principle that to whom
little is given, little is given, little is required , and that the ground of
condemnation is divine relation and responsibility (Amos 3:2 ) Nations like men though in honour, if they
have no understanding are as the beasts that perish (Psa. 49 :20). This was the relation of the
Roman polity to the divine law under the Pagan Caesars. Rome was the political
incorporation of the ignorance that is natural to man in relation to all divine
things. But there was a change when Constantine came to the throne, and when
the State was organically allied with the profession of the name of Christ. The
friends of Christ for a time found themselves under the shadow of the throne,
the Scriptures were accepted as the law of the State a new order of things
arose with the name of God written upon it, so far as professed subjection was
concerned.
It was therefore natural
that with such a change in the constitution of things in the world, there
should he a change in the symbolism expressive of its divine relations. It was
appropriate, too, that the new symbolism should be representative of a higher
degree of responsibility than attached to Pagan Rome. The trumpets certainly
were so. They intimated a direct bringing or causing of judgments on the Roman
body politic in its new relation, on account of its wrong doings against
Christ, instead of merely an unfolding, by seal-breaking, of things that were
to come.
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The use of the trumpets
is related to judgment. Of this, we have already looked at some illustrations
from the prophets. It finds a rudimentary type in the destruction of Jericho.
In fact the scheme of the Apocalypse would seem to find a foreshadowing in the
mode adopted to bring that destruction about. The Israelites were to march
round it seven days, the priests blowing trumpets of rams’ horns as they
marched. On the seventh day they were to march round the city seven times,
after which the city should fall into their hands. A certain analogy will be
perceived between this and the seven seals, the last of which contains the
seven trumpets, the last of which again contains the seven vials, and the last
of these the seven thunders, as the result of all of which, Babylon falls, and
the world comes into the hands of Christ and his brethren. The Bible abounds
with beautiful analogies, and this seems to be one of them.
We are introduced to the
sounding of the trumpets in verse 7, chapter 8. Verse 6 informs us that the
angels who received the seven trumpets on the opening of the seventh seal,
“prepared themselves to sound “. A careless reading would pass this over but by
the hand of Dr. Thomas, God has taught us to read the Apocalypse with
carefulness instead of carelessness. There is nothing superfluous in the
wording-nothing put in to fill up. There is a meaning to everything. The
preparation to sound has a meaning. There was in point of fact a period of
providential preparation for the judgment events of the trumpets. Each of the
trumpets brought invaders upon some part of the Roman Empire- so exactly
appropriate was the use of the trumpet to this part of Roman history-the
trumpet summoning armies to move. There was a preparation for these
invasions-an opening of the way to the invaders. These invaders in the first
instance were mostly the barbarians who occupied the northern parts of Europe.
The way had to be paved for their incursions, and for their ultimate triumph
over the military discipline of Rome.
This occurred during the
reign of Jovian, successor to Julian, who came first after Constantine. The
Roman Empire was confined to the south of the river Danube. The territory to
the north of that river was as little known to the Romans then as Central
Africa is to us. The most that was known was that it was occupied by fierce and
warlike tribes, whose barbarism and want of discipline, however, rendered them
somewhat powerless. From these causes, they were for centuries easily kept at
bay. But a change came when the time arrived to prepare for the judicial
trumpets. This change occurred in its most marked form during the reign of
Jovian, Just before the commencement of the trumpets-a reign that we most
consider as the preparation period of verse 6. It originated in a struggle that
took place between two of the barbarian races-the Goths and the Huns. In this
struggle, the Huns obtained the advantage, and the Goths being hard pressed,
asked permission of the Roman generals to cross to the southern side of the
Danube,
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To escape from the
molestations of their successful enemies,
The Roman generals consented and the Gothic nation came over, and
settled in Illyricum- a district corresponding to modern Bosina and
Herzegovina, of which the world has recently heard so much.
This was the beginning of the trumpet visitations, or
rather the preparation for them. The Romans no longer had the Danube as a
barrier between them and the barbarians. The barbarians were in their midst so
to speak. The Goths grew numerous and formidable. To avert the danger of their
presence, the Romans decided to take them into their pay as military
auxiliaries. They gave them arms and money, and taught them the art of war, and
used them as an addition to the Roman army. The measure, which was intended to
make them harmless and allies, had the opposite effect. It converted them into
a formidable foe. The Goths gradually woke to a sense of their power, and as
the hour was approaching for the blast of the first trumpet, the Goths were
getting into position for the work they had to do, in obedience to its summons.
THE FIRST TRUMPET
“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. Just realize the scene. After a getting-ready pause, a clarion blast breaks upon the stillness of the air : when the notes die away, there is a descent of hail, and you observe the forked lightning gleam and hiss here and there in its midst, and on the ground you see streamlets of blood, and scorched vegetation. This is a striking piece of symbolism. Let us glance at the events symbolized.
You will observe that
the hail and fire were said to be cast upon the earth “. That this was the
Roman Jurisdiction we have already seen under the seals. There is nothing
strange in limiting the earth to the Roman Empire. It was the seat of
civilization, outside of which, all was social waste and desert. It was the
arena upon which the Spirit of God was developing its work by the gospel.
Therefore, it was natural to speak of it as the earth or habitable in contrast
with the regions and countries outside of it, from which came the elements of
the judgments brought on Rome by the trumpets.
You will observe,
however, that only “ a third part of the earth “ was affected by the trumpet.
This ought to read “ the third “,
which gives the key to what is puzzling at first. In the period to which it
refers, the three sons of Constantine divided the Roman world among them--the
eastern, the western, and the central. Thus the Roman Empire was in three
parts. The central third was THE third-the Roman third peculiarly, because
comprising the seat of government. Upon this, then, our attention is fixed as
the part of the empire to be affected by the hail and the fire. What came as a
matter of fact? In answer to this, we look at the barbarians admitted to the
south of the Danube. There were the Goths,
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escaping from the Huns.
But the Huns and the Goths became friendly, and the Huns wanted to emigrate
southwards as well. They applied for the permission of the Romans. The Romans
refused, but the Huns came without their consent, and added a new swarm of very
dangerous neighbors to those already too near them. The Goths, nurtured by the
Romans, and perceiving the growing weakness of their masters, became exacting
in their demands. They wanted more pay and privileges than the Emperor could
consent to, and his refusal was the letting loose of the judgment-events of the
first trumpet. War broke out between the Romans and the Goths. A series of
battles were fought, in which the Romans were worsted, and the Emperor himself
finally slain. The result was the establishment of Gothic independence under a
chief, who became their king -Alaric-a barbarian of fierce nature and
considerable military talents. By and by, this Alaric felt his strength, and
resolved, without the delays and circumlocutions of diplomacy, to lay the
greatness of Rome in the dust. He assembled a large army of disciplined
barbarians, and marched for the northern entrance of Italy. Prior to passing
into Italy itself, he went westward and ravaged the beautiful provinces owing
allegiance to Rome in that direction. The hail and the fire did their work
effectually. The banks of the Rhine, which were crowned with elegant houses and
well cultivated farms were laid waste. Suddenly, without warning to the
unsuspecting inhabitants the scene of peace and plenty was changed into a
desert, and wide prosperous districts in and instantly became smoking
solitudes. Seventeen provinces of Gaul were subjected to this
devastation. In two years, the horde of
barbarians, new accessions, swept over
and desolated the whole of the country lying between the Alps, the ocean, and
the Pvrenees. They drove the inhabitants before them in frightened crowds
everywhere-that is, such as could escape their ruthless swords, carrying with
them as much as they could rescue from the wreck of their houses and churches.
In A.D. 408, Alaric
turned his march towards Rome itself. He passed the Alps and the Po, and
proceeding along the eastern seacoast of Italy, made an easy prey of many
cities, which he gave over to the pillage of his soldiers. Arrived before Rome,
he commenced siege operations against a city which had been the unquestionable
mistress of the world for ages, and had never been dishonored by the presence
of a foreign enemy. The experience of Jerusalem at the hands of Rome four
centuries previous was now returned upon Rome’s own head. Famine prevailed in
the city hunger dissolved the restraints of law and order. They murdered one
another and devoured the bodies of their victims. Even mothers ate their
slaughtered infants. Many thousands of the inhabitants expired in the streets
and in their own houses for want of food, and the stench arising from their
unburied bodies revived the scenes of Jerusalem. At length, Alaric accepted an
enormous sum of money to retire ; but it was only for a short time. The
negotiations for
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peace fell through, and
Alaric returned, and another siege followed with increasing horrors, and a
third, in the next year. In the third siege the Goths obtained admission, and
the city was given up to pillage. In six days, the Goths marched southward and
carried fire and sword into the southern provinces of Italy. While so engaged,
Alaric died, and the “fire and hail, mingled with blood” had expended
themselves, to the destruction of the green grass and trees -the respectable
population-of the central third of the Roman earth.
THE SECOND TRUMPET
After this, there was an
interval of peace. In twenty years, the
time came for the second trumpet to sound
This was to affect the sea. A
great mountain burning with fire was case into the sea and the third part of
the sea became blood ; and the third part of the creatures that were in the
sea, and had life, died ; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.” We
have already had to notice the mixing of the literal and symbolic as a
characteristic of the scenes of the Apocalypse. The sea used symbolically
stands for the populations of the earth (Rev. 17 15) but here, the sea is used
geographically as indicative of the section of the Roman Empire next to be
affected, viz., the maritime parts all along the coasts of the Mediterranean.
Further on, the Euphrates is used symbolically of the power occupying
Euphratean territory, and yet its employment is a literal indication of the
territory where the power is to be found. In this theme is mixture without
confusion. The public are accustomed to it in the political cartoons of the
day. Mr. Gladstone digging a grave for religious texts within sight of the
Houses of Parliament in the background, is a picture misunderstood by none,
though blending the literal and symbolic in a very marked manner.
The symbolic mountain of
the second trumpet was to be cast into the literal sea. The “ sea “ of the
Roman Empire is the Mediterranean Sea. What mountain was cast upon this sea
with the destructive effects exhibited in the symbolism? The next page in the
history of Roman troubles supplies the answer. It brings before us the Vandal
nation which, under the first trumpet, had settled in Spain. This was the
mountain as the sequel will show. It is no uncommon thing in the prophetic
Scriptures to employ a mountain in this political sense. Babylon is styled “a destroying
mountain” (Jer 51: 25) . the kingdom of
God a great mountain filling the whole earth (Dan 2:35-44 ) The Vandal mountain
was thrown upon the Roman sea in this way.
In Spain, where the Vandals were established, jealousy broke out between
two of the leading generals of the Roman army. This led to war between the two
sections of the army owning their respective leadership. In the conflict that
ensued, one of them enlisted the aid of the Vandals, who, becoming thus aware
of the weakness of Rome, formed the purpose of subverting the Roman power in
Africa. In execution of
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this purpose, the
Vandals crossed the Straits of Gibraltar. The breadth across is only fifteen
miles. Across this narrow neck of sea, Genseric, the Vandal leader, led his
people, and proceeded with wonderful rapidity and vigor to overthrow Roman
power all along the Mediterranean margin of Northern Africa. His career was a
most successful one and mostly maritime. He formed a large navy, with which he
scoured the coasts and islands of the entire Mediterranean, almost without
opposition. His devastations were widespread and grievous. He carried horses
and horse-soldiers in his ships, and wherever his ships came to anchor, these
were landed, and carried fire and sword in all directions. Tidings of these
grievous visitations reaching Rome, Rome attempted to stop them by fitting out
a rival fleet, and sending it to Carthage to attack Genseric’s fleet, which lay
there on a certain occasion. Genseric heard of the approach of the Roman fleet,
comprising hundreds of ships. He got ready fire ships, which were let loose
among the Roman ships on their arrival. The Roman fleet caught fire and was
destroyed amid scenes of terrible confusion, aggravated by the attacks of the
Vandals. The Romans got together a second fleet, but Genseric anticipated their
movements by sailing to Rome, and subjecting it to calamities of a like nature
with those inflicted by Alaric. All these evils affected the Roman third of the
empire. They involved the sweeping of all Roman ships from the sea and the
destruction of all Roman opposition to the Vandals, within the maritime area of
the Vandal triumph. Such events could not better be symbolized than by the
precipitation of a burning mountain into the sea, to the destruction of the
ships and souls. They occupied a period of twenty years, and bring us to the
middle of the fifth century, and the sounding of
THE THIRD TRUMPET
Then the third angel
sounded, “ there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and
it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters. And
the name of the star is called Wormwood : and the third part of the waters
became wormwood ; and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter
“. Ordinarily, a star falling from heaven means the fall of an eminent
personage from power : but that cannot be the only meaning in this case,
because of the effects following the fall. It fell upon a region described as “
the third part of the rivers and fountains of waters “, with the result of
inflicting great and fatal bitterness on the populations of the country so
described. This does not usually follow as the result of a fall from power.
Therefore, it is the military motions of a political personage, who inflicts
great suffering before disappearing from view, that are exhibited to us-not
only a star but a great star, a blazing meteoric body-not fixed in the regular
heavens, but having a wandering and short-lived place in the heavens-a powerful
military leader of brilliant but brief career. These features exactly answer to
the case of the next
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chapter in Roman history
: when the woes of the second trumpet had subsided, Attila, the king of the
Huns, established in the Illyrian third of the Roman Empire, with the
recognition of both the eastern and western sections of the empire, became a
terrible scourge to the Roman or western third. His devastations were
principally inflicted on the Alpine regions of Northern Italy, to which the
description “ the rivers and fountains of waters “ is peculiarly applicable. As
a characteristic description, it could not apply to any other region of the
Roman Empire. The earth is cut up in that region as it is nowhere else with
multitudinous rivers and streams, forming a complicated network covering the
land. These are fed by the inexhaustible supplies descending from the eternal
snows and glaciers of the Alpine mountain range. On these “the rivers and
fountains of waters “in the Roman Empire, Attic’s hand descended heavily. It is
needless to recount particulars. Repeat the history of Alaric, and you have
substantially the story of Attila. He made war on the Roman Empire on a
formidable scale and with terrible effect. Success everywhere attended the
march of his barbarian hordes, and desolation marked their track. Several
provinces were depopulated by his armies. The only exception was on the eastern
frontiers of France, where the Roman troops and their Gothic allies inflicted a
check in the obstinate and bloody battle of Chalons. It was merely a check,
however. It diverted the course of Attila’s victories, but did not put a stop
to them. It was necessary perhaps to give them the right direction. It sent him
into Italy, where his work particularly lay. Here his power was irresistible.
Wherever he went, according to an historian, ‘ all was flight, depopulation,
slaughter, slavery and despair
Figuratively, he made
the waters of public and private life bitter everywhere, with fatal effect to
the drinkers. Wormwood was an appropriate name for the agent of such effects.
But there seems a geographical reason for this name in addition. Wormwood (Apsinthos) is the name of a river in
the Illyrian region ruled by Attila. This river would therefore be as
characteristic of Illyria and the Illyrian ruler as the Nile is of Egypt or the
Thames of England. It is a happy combination which in the same name gives us
the local origin of “ the great star “ and the effect which his movements would
produce on the western Roman third. When his work was done, his power and
family disappeared. He was a great star while on the scene, but only a
wandering star-not a fixed luminary in the political heavens-a meteor, which
rushed and blazed with destructive brightness, and then disappeared in the
midst of the destruction he caused.
Though the destructive “
great star “ of the third trumpet thus twinkled out, the effects of its course
were not of this meteoric character. The Roman Empire was going to pieces under
these repeated blows. The successive inroads of the Goths and Vandals, Huns,
etc., were disintegrating the empire of the Roman iron, and introducing the
clay of the image feet. And they were laying the
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basis of the modern
system of nations. In this respect, they fulfilled an important purpose in the
plan of Providence. It was not the purpose of God that there should be another
universal empire. The triumph of a succession of barbarian leaders, besides
inflicting merited retribution on the destroyers of His word and His people,
prevented the continuance of power at one centre. It broke up the vast fabric
of human power erected by Augustus, and scattered the energies of the human
race over a wide area, with the result of forming numerous centers of industry
and refinement in the various capitals resulting from the subdivision of power.
Thus was more effectively promoted that work of subduing and replenishing the
earth as a necessary preparation for the kingdom of Christ. If we contrast the
world of that age with the world of this, we see what has been done. The
countries of Europe were at that time largely covered with forest and
uninhabitable now, they are ripe and ready for transfer to that government
which is to break in pieces all human governments. It is another among many
illustrations of the diversity of purposes served by one and the same divine
instrumentality.
The 12th verse of
chapter 8 introduces us to what every reader of the Apocalypse has felt to be
the obscure symbolism of
THE FOURTH TRUMPET
“And the fourth angel
sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the
moon, and the third art of the stars ; so as the third part of them was
darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night
likewise.” The meaning of this apparently impenetrable enigma is to be found in
a contemplation of the events succeeding to those of the third trumpet. Those
events involved the eclipse of the Roman sun, moon, and stars, in a third part
of them : that is to say, a third part of the Roman Empire-the western third-was
extinguished, and its place occupied by the
kingdom of the Goths.
The events of the first,
second, and third trumpets, as already remarked, had reduced the power of Rome
to the last extremity- the semblance of empire, but with none of the vigor that
had for centuries controlled the world. There was still an emperor in Rome, but
the barbarians whom the first three trumpets had called into the empire were
the virtual masters of the State, and soon became its nominal and actual
masters. The Emperor at this period was in fact a nominee of the barbarians. He
was the son of one of Attila’s ministers-Orestes, the foreign secretary, and
placed on the throne by that official. The name of this shadow of an
emperor-this last of the emperors-was Romulus Augustulus. He was a weak man,
and a mere tool in the hands of the barbarians, who finally disposed of him in
this way. The barbarians demanded that the third part of the revenue of the
country should be divided amongst them. To this, Romulus Augustulus and Orestes
his father, would not consent, whereupon the barbarians revolted under the
leadership of one of
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themselves, named
Odoacer, in the war ensuing upon which, Romulus was overthrown. Romulus was
then compelled by Odoacer to send his resignation to the Roman Emperor of the
Eastern third (Zeno, reigning at Constantinople) ; and at the same time, to
make request that “ the throne of
universal empire should be transferred from Rome to Constantinople”, and
that Odoacer should be appointed the representative of the Eastern Emperor in
the west. This resignation and petition were accepted, and for fourteen years
Odoacer, king of the Goths, reigned in Rome as the representative of the
Eastern Roman Emperor.
But even this lingering
light of Roman imperialism in the west was to he extinguished as the symbols
required. Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, made his appearance from the
north, and in a succession of battles, overthrew the power of Odoacer, on whose
assassination, AD. 493, Theodoric set up the kingdom of the Goths in total
independence of the Eastern Emperor. The Roman Empire then ceased to exist in
the western third. The result was a state of things exactly answering to the
symbols. The Roman sun, moon, and stars were shining in so far as the Roman
Empire continued to exist in other parts ; but they were under eclipse in the
western third, which, historically considered, was the principal third, and
therefore these bodies, considered as political symbols of the system, shone
not for a third part of the Roman day and night. Plainly speaking, the fourth
trumpet foreshadowed the extinction of the Roman Empire in the west, in a
manner intelligible enough when it is recognized that a political system is
considered as the figurative counterpart of the natural universe of sun, moon,
and stars. The Roman system in the third part was brought under total eclipse
by the events following on those of the third trumpet, which is the key to the
otherwise dark symbols of the fourth.
The first four trumpets
having accomplished their work in the west, attention was drawn to the
remaining three, in words of foreboding which were amply justified by the
terrible events that harassed and afflicted Europe for many centuries after the
darkening of the third part of the Roman day and night. John “beheld, and heard
an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe,
woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the
trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound “. The meaning of this it
will be our duty to consider in the next lecture
.
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REVELATION IX., X.
The woe trumpets-the vastness of the changes
involved-the fifth trumpet, or first woe-the opening of the abyss-the issue of
the locust-cloud--its relation to the appearance of Mahomet-his prophetic
pretensions and military measures-over-running of European countries by his
Saracenic hordes-their special animosity towards the Catholic idolaters-the
scorpions they used in war-their mission to torment but not to kill for five
months twice told-the chronology of their mission-Dr. Thomas’s historical
paraphrase of the fifth trumpet-The sixth trumpet, or second woe-the four
angels-their Euphratean boundary-The Turkish inroads in four great movements-the
length of time appointed- an hour, a day, a month, and a year, or 391 years-the
secondary application of that period-the enormous time occupied by the fifth
and sixth as compared with the preceding trumpets-the description of the
horsemen-their enormous number-The fire, smoke, and brimstone surrounding
them-the introduction of gunpowder by the Turks-the desolations of the East
under Turkish rule-the termination of these by the advent of the mighty
rainbowed angel of chapt10:1 - The
seventh trumpet, or third woe, not so protracted as the other two- the seven
thunders-why John was not allowed to record them- the open book and the eating
thereof--the interesting work to be done by the saints at the coming of Christ.
IT will be recollected
that the consideration of the eighth chapter of Revelation on Thursday evening
last, brought under our review those terrible visitations upon the western
Roman habitable, which are associated with the names of Goths and Huns, Vandals
and Visigoths and Ostrogoths, and so on. At the close of that series of
judgments (represented by the first four trumpets, and culminating in the
extinction of the Roman Empire in the west), we enter upon another phase of
events-a more terrible phase – one affecting the eastern section of the empire
more particularly, though in truth bearing vitally on all parts of the
civilized world. It is a phase so well marked in history as to constitute an
epoch, and the starting point of a new order of things in many countries. It
was to Europe in a measure what the arrival of Israel under Joshua was to the
Canaanites. The Roman world was about to be visited by a scourge far
transcending the inroads of the northern barbarians, who at least professed the
same religion and assimilated with the populations of the countries they
overthrew. Because of the appalling nature of this visitation, attention was
called in a special manner to the trumpets heralding its approach : “ Woe, woe,
woe to the inhahiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the
trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound.”
John hears the first of
these three trumpets. Let us imagine ourselves by his side. We hear the loud
clarion blast. Then there
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is a pause. We wait to
see the effect. First a Star shoots from its place in the sky, and falls upon
the earth. Having landed there, it appears as a man, and receives a key with
which the star-man proceeds to a certain part of the earth styled the
bottomless pit, or, more properly speaking, the abyss. This he opens, and thereupon
there issues from the abyss so opened, columns of dense smoke, out of which
come locust clouds of horse-like form, having bearded riders wearing yellow
crowns, and marshalled in military array - cavalry ready for the charge. John’s
description is as follows
“And the fifth angel
sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth : and to him was
given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit ; and
there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace ; and the
sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came
out of the smoke locusts upon the earth and unto them was given power, as the
scorpions of the earth have power. And it w as commanded them that they should
not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree ;
but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to
them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be
tormented five months : and their torment was as the torment a scorpion, when
he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find
it ; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of
the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle ; and on their heads
were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And
they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron and the sound of
their wings was as the sound of chariots
of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and
there were stings in their tails and their power was to hurt men five months.
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose
name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name
Apollyon.”
Let us consider this
striking symbolism seriaton. First
the star that fell from heaven. This is self-evidently a personage or power for
the star is given a key. You could not give a key to a literal star. A
key being representative of opening power, the star to whom the power was given
must be the man or organization that would have power to perform the opening.
You recollect the seven stars are declared to represent seven angelisms (or men
sent) in the midst of seven churches, or organizations of men. These were
stationary stars in the hand of Christ, because the spiritually - endowed men sent and sustained by him,
peacefully ruled in the midst of the ecclesias. But here is a star descending
to the earth, symbolizing a very different function. Such a star under the
third trumpet symbolized the destructive descent of Attila from the country
where he ruled upon the Roman earth, as will be recollected. What is meant by
the key-using star of the fourth trumpet? We discover
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the answer in the
contemplation of what he did. He opened a pit- not a bottomless pit, for there
could not be such a thing as a pit without a bottom-but an abyss-a deep place
of the earth, whence there emerged upon the countries of the Roman habitable
swarms of yellow-crowned or turbaned cavalry. This at once fixes our attention
upon the Arabian Peninsula, where at this very time Mahomet appeared, and
whence the Saracenic hordes poured forth under his inspiration to offer the
affrighted nations of Europe the Koran or the sword.
That this region should
be termed the abyss is not inappropriate in view of the topographical
configuration of the Holy Land, which is its door of egress in the direction of
Europe. You will perceive by a glance at the map that the Holy Land, at the
eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, lies between Europe and the Arabian
Peninsula. Now there is a peculiarity about that part of the surface of the earth
which is not to be met with anywhere else. You may have seen it noticed in the
recent lecture by Canon Tristram, an extract from which appeared in The Christadeiphian a month or two ago.
The country gradually slopes on the east and north towards the basin of the
Dead Sea, with the result of forming a huge depression, which may well be
described as an abyss. The Jordan descends along the centre course of its bed
from its source in the Lebanon, until it empties itself in the waters of the
Dead Sea and the hill country after leaving Jerusalem to the eastward goes down
quite precipitously in the same direction. The depth of the geographical hollow
thus formed may be estimated from the fact that the water of the Dead Sea is
1,300 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. The mountains enclose it on
the eastern side, and complete a depression which presents the idea of an
immense valley without an exit ; for the mountains at the lower end of the Dead
Sea close it on the south. In this valley-the valley of the Jordan-the climate
is of a tropical heat in certain parts. In fact all the climates are to be
found in it-from the temperate atmosphere of the upper regions to the
oppressive heat of the lower valleys. The vegetation gradually changes as the
land rises from one point to the other corresponding with the climatic
conditions. The products of the whole earth and every order of landscape beauty
are to be found gathered into this remarkable depression or abyss.
This abyss was the door
through which the Mahometan myriads passed from Arabia to Europe. Consequently,
it was appropriate to take it as representing the whole region to which they
belonged, of which it formed a part. We have simply to ask if the history of
the case corresponds with the symbolical opening of the abyss which John
witnessed, and the issue of locust clouds which ensued. The answer of history
is very clear and distinct.
The preparation of the
abyss for the opening was going on during the closing events of the fourth
trumpet. A preparation was needed, for prior to this, the Arabian peninsula was
divided
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up into a large number
of petty principalities whose separateness and independence were incompatible
with the unity necessary to form the Arabians into a moving cloud of locusts.
It was needful to fuse them into one power. This was done by the wars that
ensued among them upon the publication of Mahomet’s pretensions. These pretensions were at first
very obscure and feebly put forth. A dreaming visionary-(unlike the prophets of
God in every particular)-whose writings in the so-called Koran are the
manifest effusions of a weak, egotistic and fanatical mind, biased with a
desire to imitate the Scriptures whose characters he frequently refers to and
endorses-at last gave himself out as a prophet having a divine mission. His
pretense was correct in a certain sense. Though by no means sent from God as
the prophets of Israel were, he had a work to do and a place in the program. He
was to organize a terrible scourge for the
Papal idolaters of Europe. This was the work providentially assigned to him. He
was a servant of God as Nebuchadnezzar was-a servant without knowing or being
known of God. His special work probably required his special idiosyncrasy. As a
result of his craze, he secreted himself for a time in a cave and pretended to
receive divine revelations. These revelations are published in his books. They
are terrible trash, as anybody taking the trouble to read the Koran will find.
He labored for three years, and by the end of that time had made fourteen
converts, family relatives. At last, he succeeded in attracting around him
quite a number of adherents. The attempt of their townsman (at Mecca) to put
them down, at first resulting in the flight of Mahomet to Medina, led to
strife, in which Mahomet and his friends made free and successful use of the
sword. Success enlarged their ideas, and led to demands of allegiance on the
surrounding tribes. The resisted demands led to further war, and war working
favorably on his side, Mahomet attained a position of power and importance,
until finally the whole of the Arabian nation were subdued to his pretensions
and lent themselves to his ideas.
During these events, we
contemplate the abyss in a state of preparation for the emission of the
locusts.
Without it, no amount of
opening of the abyss would have sufficed for the providential work to be
performed. It wanted the fire and the smoke and these were generated by the
internal dissension’s of the Arabians, which elevated Mahomet from the position
of a private member of a tribe to a leader of a nation, and prepared the whole
Arabian people for that wonderful onslaught on the Roman Empire, which is
renowned in history as the wars of the Saracens.
The pit, being ready for
opening, the occasion for the use of the key duly arose. The Roman emperor
Heraclius, on his way from Persia homewards, having heard of the Arabian
turmoils and the upshot of them in the elevation of Mahomet, sent to salute
Mahomet, as one sovereign does another, Mahomet, who considered the Catholics
idolaters, sent back a message, demanding
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Heraclius to give up the
worship of idols and become a worshipper of the true God. Mahomet’s messengers,
by whom this message was sent, were assassinated-whether by Heraclius’s orders
or against his will is not known. The effect on Mahomet was the same as if it
had been a deliberate act. He resolved on the invasion of the Roman Empire.
With this object, he set his army in motion towards Palestine, at that time
subject to Rome, and forming the political abyss (symbolized by the
geographical) out of which the locusts were to issue.
Why were the armies of
Mahomet symbolized by locusts? This seems to be answered by two facts first,
Arabia is the native country of locusts ; armies issuing from which, are fitly
represented in symbol as clouds of locusts : secondly, the Hebrew word for
locust is the same as that for Arab, as regards its radical elements, locust
being arbeh, and arab, arbi. It is a third fact that in some
parts of Arabian literature, the locust is introduced as the heraldic symbol of
the Saracens. It is a fourth fact-(not very strong to be sure, but pointing in
the same direction)-that Mahometans say that in the course of his revelations,
locusts dropped into the hands of Mahomet, bearing an inscription on their
wings, describing them as the army of the Great God.
Palestine, in its
eastern borders, fell before the sword of Mahomet, and he died while
contemplating further military measures. His death, however, instead of
stopping, accelerated the opening of the abyss. His relative, Abu Beker, took
the command as his successor, and entered with great ardor on the work that had
been begun by Mahomet. His army was principally composed of cavalry : cavalry
was not merely an arm of his force, as in the case of the Romans, but cavalry
was the army. The result was to give his movements a celerity that baffled
Roman calculations. An immense body of horse flew from point to point, and
carried all before them like a cloud of locusts.
Their devastations,
however, were not general and indiscriminate, but confined to certain objects.
You will observe in verse 4, “It was commanded them that they should not hurt
the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only
those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads “. It is
interesting to note the feature in the Mahometan enterprise corresponding to
this command. The command was a providential command, of course that is, a
commission providentially assigned and not a command oral and express
according to the ordinary meaning of the term. We learn this sense of the word
“command” when God employs it, from even the unsymbolical part of the
Scriptures, such as where God said to Elijah when instructing him to move to
Zarephath “ I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee “-a widow
woman who knew nothing about the matter when Elijah arrived (see Ways of’ Providence).
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The command of God to
the Mahometan locusts, to confine their depredations within a certain channel,
though not direct and express, was well marked in the form it took in the
natural course. An address issued to the Saracen troops after Mahomet’s death,
by Abu Beker, Mahomet’s successor, intimating his purpose to prosecute the war
against the Romans, whom he styled the infidel, contained the following passage
“Let not your victory be stained with the blood of women or children. Destroy no palm trees nor burn any fields of
corn ; cut down no fruit trees, nor do any mischief to cattle. . . . You will
find another sort of people that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have
shaven crowns be sure you cleave their skulls and give them no quarter till
they either turn Mahomedans or pay tribute.” This was the historic illustration
of the command recorded centuries before in the pages of the Apocalypse, of
which, of course, Abu Beker was ignorant. The enmity of the Mahometan squadrons
was officially directed against the supporters of Roman Catholicism.
“Their torment was as
the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man.” So we read in verse 5. In
verse 3, there is an earlier allusion to the same point. “ Unto them was given
power as the scorpions of the earth have power.” Scorpions strike with their
stings with tormenting and sometimes with fatal effects but the scorpion power
in this case was not to be unto death (verse 5). “To them it was given that
they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months.” What
was the scorpion power possessed by the Saracens? We find an answer in the fact that they
employed in their military operations formidable missiles which they styled
scorpions. These missiles were of a chemical mixture, which was the forerunner
of gunpowder. An Arab writer thus speaks of them in 1249 : “The scorpions
surrounded and ignited by nitrated powder, glide along like serpents with a
humming noise, and when exploded, they blaze brightly and burn. Now, to behold
the matter expelled was as a cloud extended through the air, which gave forth a
dreadful crash like thunder, vomiting fire on every side and breaking down,
burning, and reducing all things to ashes.” Armed with this power, known as
Saracen fire and afterwards as Greek fire, because finally adopted by the
Greeks, the Saracens had power to injure with scorpion ~ power; but their
mission did not extend beyond the infliction of torment. They were not to kill
the eastern Roman empire in the way the western had been killed by the Goths.
They were only to injure. The men of the eastern or Greek third of the Roman
empire were to retain political life in the midst of their torment, but against
the will of the majority ; the bulk of the people were desirous for the sake of
peace to submit to political death and accept the Saracen yoke. But death fled
from them : because it was not in the divine purpose that the locusts should
kill in the symbolic sense of the term, but only injure five months twice over
(see verses 5 and 10). Why not ten months instead of twice five? Because
locusts only appear
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five months in the year
; and it would not have been in harmony with the natural history of the symbol
to express it in any other way. But they could not be literal months as applied
to the events of the symbol. Ten months are not one year, and the afflicting
career of the Saracens in European countries extended over 300 years The explanation is found in the fact with
which all present are more or less acquainted, that literal days in symbolic
use stand for years.
To the Saracens, then,
was assigned the mission of harassing and afflicting the countries of the
Catholic apostasy for the long period of three centuries, but not to prevail to
the extinction of its political independence. Let anyone read the history of
the Saracens from the appearance of aggressive Mahometanism in AD. 632, and he
will recognize the features of this hieroglyph in their historical
exemplification.
They had a king over
them.” This is not the star of verse 1, which opened the pit, but is rather to
be taken as the official or head under which the Saracenic locusts were
organized after their issue from the pit. The historic parallel is found in the
Caliphs of the Mahometan system. The Caliph was styled the “ Commander of the
Faithful “. In the Papal system, you have the Pope in the Mahometan, the
Caliph. The Caliph was a destroyer this was his providential junction his name
is expressed in Greek and Hebrew (see verse ii) denoting that his destroying
operations were principally to bear on the Hebrew and Greek areas of the Roman
Empire, which historically was the case.
The following paraphrase
by Dr. Thomas of the first twelve verses of the chapter, presents the
interpretation in a striking and obvious form
And the fifth angel
sounded, and I saw one who had acquired power and became a king, precipitate
the forces of his kingdom upon the territory of tin’ Eastern Roman empire And
to this king was yielded the power of Arabia.
2 And he removed the
harriers by which Arabia was shut up from the world without. and a fiery host issued forth, and, by reason of the
smoking fierceness of their wrath, subverted the imperial Byzantine authority,
and changed the political aerial Constitution of the Catholic countries they
overran.
The wrathful hosts that
invaded the eastern Roman empire were Arabians like locusts for multitude ; and
they had power fatal as the power of scorpions.
And it was commanded
them by one, styled the Commander of the Faithful, that they should not hurt
the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only those men
who have not the truth of the Deity in their understandings.
And to the Arabians it was given that they
should not extinguish the sovereignty of these men, but that they should be
tormented in war during one hundred and fifty years, with a scorpion-like
torment.
. “ And in those days
shall these ignorant professors of Christianity seek political extinction, and
shall not find it ; and shall earnestly desire to be a conquered people, and
political death by conquest shall flee from them.
“And the resemblances of
these Arabians when embattled, exhibit theem as cavalry prepared for war and on
their heads they wore yellow turbans and their faces were bearded, and they had
long flowing hair like the tresses of women;: their spirit was ferocious as
lions.
And they had on polished steel cuirasses and
the sound of the right and left wings of their armies was of multitudes of
cavalry rushing into battle.
10. And they trailed in
their rear, or tails of their hosts, scorpion artillery for destruction ; and
their power to hurt the rest of men westward was also one hundred and fifty
years.
11 ‘ ”And they had over
them a king styled a Caliph, the messenger of destruction among the subjects of
the eastern Roman empire, or the abyss’. In the land of the Hebrew, he earned
the name Abaddon, or Destroyer and in the land of the Greek, that of Apollyon,
which signifies the same.
12. “ One woe, that of
the fifth trumpet, is passed away after three hundred years ; and, behold,
there come two woes more before the consummation- the sixth and seventh
trumpets, after, these things.”
“One woe is past” it was
a long one, and of a nature fully to justify the awful imagery in which it was
symbolically foreshadowed. “ Two more woes come hereafter.” With the first of
these two we will now concern ourselves for a short time, viz.
THE SECOXD WOE
And the sixth angel
sounded, and I heard a voice from the font horns of the golden altar which is
before God, saying . . . Loose the four angels which are bound in the great
river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed which were prepared for an
hour, and a day, and a month, and a year. for to slay the third part of men.
And the number of the army of the horsemen was too hundred thousand, thousand :
and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and
them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire. and of jacinth, and
brimstone : and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions ; and out of
their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third
part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and b~’ the brimstone, which
issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth. and in their
tails for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them
they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues
yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship
devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone. and of wood :
which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk neither repented they of their
murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts
“ (Rev. 9 : 13-21).
Here we have a
representation of something that came after the Saracenic affliction, but of as
terrible a nature. The Saracens overran and subdued the eastern and southern
provinces of the Roman Empire in 150 years, which are five months of years,
viz., 5 X 30=150. In another period of 150 years, their power had declined to
the collapsing point. It took them I50 years to rise and I50 years to fall,
which was according to the two periods
of five months mentioned in the prophecy of the fifth trumpet. But what further
great Oriental military eruption upon Europe is here represented in the sixth
trumpet? The answer will naturally spring to everyone’s lips having the least
acquaintance with history. It is suggested by the geography of the sixth
trumpet just read. The river Euphrates is mentioned. This is the geographical
basis of the symbolism, and takes our attention at once to the east. Four angels
bound within or on the eastern side of the Euphrates are summoned ; not
literally four angels of course, but military powers. That is shown by the fact
that when they were loosed” in compliance with a command ordering them to be
loosed, John saw, not four angels, but myriads of horsemen. Our attention
(fixed upon the east, when the Saracenic torment had died away) beholds the
Turkish hordes in muster, and sees them in four great waves pour into the
provinces of the eastern third of the Roman Empire, spread over a period of
nearly four hundred years. It is needless to go into the particulars of these
four military tornadoes
Page 77
that carried desolation
and death into the heart of the eastern Roman empire. They are associated with
names famous in history -Togrul Beg, Alp Arslan, Timour, or Tamerlane, Bajazet,
and so on, the leaders of the Ottomans or Turcomans. The particulars may be
found in Eureka, at great length and
clearness. It is sufficient for our purpose to see the general form of the
fulfillment. The four angel powers did not come into operation simultaneously
but one after the other. Their mission was to “slay the third part of men “.
The Saracens were not allowed to kill the eastern empire with political death,
but only to subject it to scorpion-torment. But the Turks were to “slay” ; they
were to prevail over and extinguish the eastern third of the Roman habitable as
the western had been by the Goths. To this end, they were employed to deliver
four successive assaults, so to speak, the last accomplishing the work for
which the way had been paved by the work of the first three. All four were
necessary ; the work to be done was therefore the mission of all ; and for the
performance of the work, they were prepared “ for an hour, and a day and a
month, and a year “. This is symbolic time, which, reduced to literal time,
gives the following result :-
An hour …………….1
month
A day………………..1 year
A month …………….30 years
A year……………….360 years
391
years 1 month
How do we apply this period to the work performed by
the Turks against the Greek Empire-that is, the eastern third of the Roman
Empire? This will be seen readily. As a matter of fact, the Turkish assault on
the eastern remnant of the Roman Empire extended over nearly four hundred years.
Constantinople, with the capture of which the Roman Empire in the east was
extinguished, fell into the hands of the Turks, A.D. 1453. This was the accomplishment
of the mission of the four angels ; and if we reckon backwards 391 years, the
time “for which” they were prepared, we find ourselves at the beginning of the
Turkish power when Togrul Beg, their first military leader, being married to
the daughter of the Caliph of Bagdad, the head of the Saracenic or Mahometan
religion, became the head of the Mahometan faith, from whom the Turkish Sultans
have to this day inherited the title of Commander of the Faithful. This is a
sufficiently satisfactory illustration of the chronology of the otherwise
obscure phrase, “an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year “. It seems
probable, however, that there is a secondary application of the period,
according to the analogy of some other scriptural cases ; that is, that it not
only signified the time that would be occupied from the commencement of the
preparation of the four angels to the completion of their work, but also the
time during which the work accomplished would last from the date of its
accomplishment. It took 391 years from the time the Turkish power was fully
organized to the extinction of the eastern Roman third by its means ; and it
has taken a similar
Page 78
period to fulfill the
course of the Turkish power from the time of its establishment to the time
appointed for its drying up. If we add 391 years (the hour, day, month and
year) to the date of the capture of Constantinople (1453), we are brought to
the year 1844, when the Turkish Empire had fully entered on that downward
course that at the present moment (1880) threatens its total extinction. This
would give twice 391 years for the full work of the four angels- of the sixth
trumpet-nearly 8oo years. This is a long period compared with the time of the
preceding trumpets, except the fifth, which occupied twice five months of
years, or 300 years. The disparity may strike us at first sight as strange. We
must remember, however, that a difference is marked between the first four and
the last three trumpets, by the fact that when the first four had been blown,
art angel bewailed the fate of mankind in prospect of the remaining three. The
protracted duration as well as the severe nature of the woes of the remaining
trumpets would seem to be intimated by this preface. However this may be, the
fifth and sixth trumpets bring their chronology with them. They contain
specifications of duration for their events. There is no mention of time in any
of the other trumpets, while in these two, we have periods defined which
harmonize with the historical facts of the case.
The number of the
cavalry will strike everyone as enormous- verse i6, “two hundred thousand, thousand’
-two hundred millions Here there must be some exaggeration, surely, some one
may say. Perhaps such an one may think another thought on the subject if he
understands that what is meant is, not the number employed at the commencement
of the Turkish power, but the number spread over the entire course of the
Turkish career. The number of horsemen used by the Turks (whose soldiers were
nearly all horsemen), during four hundred years would not be likely to run far
short of the immense figures of the sixth trumpet and if we add to them the
horsemen used by them during their ascendancy in a second period of four
hundred years, the number ceases to have the impossible aspect it possesses at
first sight.
The description of the
horsemen may also appear at first sight a difficulty ; breastplates of fire,
jacinth and brimstone, heads of horses as the heads of lions, with fire, smoke
and brimstone issuing from their mouths, by which three things the fire, the
smoke, and the brimstone-the mission of the horsemen was accomplished, viz.,
the third part of men was killed ; having also tails with heads in which their
power lay, and with which they inflicted injury. All this is very hideous and
appalling if taken as a description of literal things. Doubtless the demonology
of popular theology borrows some of its conceptions from this description. The
pictures of hobgoblins and evil creatures with which the youthful fancies of
the present generation were scared into “ piety “, have doubtless part of their
roots in the dreadful imagery of the sixth trumpet and other parts of the
Apocalypse. It is only an unenlightened treatment of the Apocalypse, however,
that can yield such results.
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When the great fact is
kept sight of-that the Apocalypse is a condensed and symbolic exhibition of
literal things, we escape the difficulties into which a literal reading
inevitably leads, and are kept on the look-out for the meaning of the symbol
instead of being overpowered and bewildered by gazing on the symbol itself as a
literal thing. There is only so much of the literal throughout as serves to
give character and clue to the symbolism. Here we have horsemen and the
Euphrates as literal elements in the imagery that at once identify the symbol
with the Turkish apparition that scared and afflicted Europe over seven
centuries ago. The details of the picture exhibit other literal elements
hieroglyphically. The whole Turkish career during centuries is condensed into
one immense army of cavalry, which John sees and hears enumerated. The means by
which this army prevailed to the extinction of eastern Rome, are
illustrated-gunpowder. The Turks prevailed over the Romans by the use of
gunpowder at a time when it had been recently invented. The Turks were the
first to use cannon. It was by this they killed “ the third “. Had their foes
been similarly armed, their success, humanly speaking, would have been
doubtful. Now the principal thing that would strike anyone witnessing an army
of cavalry, using field guns, would be the three things mentioned by John,
“fire, smoke, and brimstone “, and a description of the new weapons dragged
after the horses at a time when they had no name, would be a tail with a head
to it, in which lay the power to hurt. These same tails would, however, when
the artillery came into action, become the mouths of the formidable horsemen of
the vision ; for of course, when the artillery vomited fire and smoke and
brimstone, the horsemen would be in the rear of their pieces, which accounts
for “ their power “ being said to be both “ in their mouth and in their tails
“. The roaring of the guns would also account for their mouths being said to be
like lions’ mouths, and their breastplates or protection behind which they
would fight, being of fire and brimstone. Even apart from these special
explanations, which are doubtless the proper ones, the destructive power of the
horsemen in relation to “ the third “ would be a sufficient justification of
their highly wrought description, after the analogy of Scripture example (see
Hab. t 8 ; Joel 2 4-8 ; Isaiah 5 : 2 1-30, etc.).
“ The rest of the men “,
we are told, “ that were not killed by these plagues, repented not of the works
of their hands “-a statement illustrated by the fact that notwithstanding the
terrible affliction and the overthrow of eastern Rome by the Turks, as the
instruments of God’s vengeance, the populations of Western Europe continued
addicted to the doctrines and practices of Mother Church, which God has stamped
with His execration. The eastern section of Christendom was given over to the
desolating Turk, because of its long-standing and patiently-borne but
increasing abominations, after the example of the seven nations of Canaan
which, for a similar reason, were given over to the sword of Joshua.
Page 80
The eastern section of
Christendom comprises all the countries that were anciently the scenes of
divine visitation in a special manner-the Holy Land, where God wrought openly
and the prophets delivered their messages ; and Asia Minor where the apostles
labored and the Spirit shone in the midst of the ecciesias in the miraculous
endowments it conferred on leading brethren. Thus it comes to pass in our day
(I880) that all the lands of hallowed memory are blighted and desolate under
Turkish rule. The horsemen of the sixth trumpet summoned by the trumpet blast
of divine providence, swept over “ the third “, to its extermination and the
consequent desolation of the lands over which they threw the blighting shadow
of their subsequently established government.
The seventh trumpet,
however, will end this state of things. Though itself a trumpet of woe for
mankind, its woes are of a healing order ; for John heard an angel proclaim
concerning the seventh trumpet, “ In the days of the voice of the seventh
angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as
he hath declared to his servants the prophets “. What this mystery” (or
formerly hidden secret) is, those are aware who are acquainted with those
writings of the prophets wherein it is declared “. It is the recovery of His
land from desolation (Isaiah 61 : 4), the establishment therein of a divine
government for all the world (Jer. 3 17), and the consequent blessedness of all
the nations of the earth walking in the light thereof (Micah 4 :1-4). This glorious
mystery (for which there has been a preparation in all past ages) will be
finished, accomplished, or established “ in the days of the voice of the
seventh angel “. Its accomplishment will be preceded by woes transcending all
former human experiences consequent on the fact that in the course of it
“Jehovah (in the person of Christ) comes forth out of his place to punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity “ (Isa. 26 : 21). This causes the
seventh trumpet to be classed with the woe trumpets ; but in its ultimate
effects, it is only good. Its general character is proclaimed in the “great
voices in heaven” which John heard when the seventh angel sounded (Rev. ii :
15) : “And the seventh angel sounded ; and there were great voices in heaven,
saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of
his Christ “. The seventh trumpet changes the face of the world. It puts an end
to human rule, and establishes the kingdom of God in all the earth. This is a
glorious change, but not to be effected without the putting forth of much
destructive power, “dashing the nations in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psa.
2 : 8-g Dan. 2 : 44-45) and causing a time of trouble such as never has been
(Dan. 12 :
It might he supposed
that the fifth and sixth trumpets (the Saracenic and Ottoman) having occupied
such a long time, and the seventh being with them one of the three woe
trumpets, it must be a long time yet before the saints attain that salvation
which is to be brought to them under the seventh trumpet in the establishment
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of the kingdom of God.
Any dreary conclusion of that sort is excluded by the I0 th chapter of the Apocalypse, which comes within
the lecture of this evening. The ninth chapter covers the entire period
occupied by the rise and fall of the Saracens and Turks. The tenth chapter
takes up the thread where Turkish history closes, and exhibits a symbol which
shows that at that juncture the promised divine interposition, which overthrows
the kingdoms of men, takes place.
John sees (chap. 10 : I)
a cloud-clothed angel descend from heaven, with face of sun-like brightness and
head encircled with rainbow-like beauty and glory. His feet, like pillars of
fire, he places one on the sea and one on the land, and utters a shout like a
lion’s roar. His shout is followed by seven thunder peals, in which intelligent
voices are audible, declaring certain matters which John wished to write, but
was forbidden. The angel lifts his hand to heaven and “swears by him that
liveth for ever and ever . .that there
should be time (delay) no longer : but in the days of the voice of the
seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be
finished “. This declaration and the symbol taken together, show that the third
woe (or seventh trumpet) is not to be protracted like the first and second (or
fifth and sixth trumpet), a conclusion further confirmed by the remark in Rev.
11 : 14, “The second woe is past ; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly “.
It may be asked, how does the symbol support this conclusion ? The answer is,
it does so by its manifest identity with Christ and the saints in their
corporate relation to the world in the day of their glory. The angel, of
course, is a symbol, standing for a class
sent, for it is clothed in a cloud-the symbol of a multitude. It is a class
exercising conquering power on sea and land, for the angel places his right
foot on the sea and his left on the land. . It is destructive power, for his
feet are fiery. It is for beneficent purposes, however : for a rainbow
encircling his head speaks of sunshine after rain. It is an effective class
that can command the world’s attention, for he cries with a voice that
resembles a lion’s roar. It is a voice controlling executive authority ; for
seven thunders (the symbol of war) are let loose by its utterance. It is not a
fallible human community ; for the thunders so loosed divulge revelation. It is
not an earthly or mortal class, for the face of the angel shines with the
luster of the sun. It does not originate among men, but is of divine origin,
for the angel comes down from heaven.
Now, when we ask what
class, according to the plainer Scriptures, appears upon the scene at the close
of the Turkish desolation, with authority to proclaim the dispensation at an
end and the time arrived for the accomplishment of God’s prophetically
enunciated purpose in the earth, and to set warlike agencies in motion for the
enforcement of their decree, there is but one answer Jesus comes to be
glorified in his saints and admired in all them that believe (2 Thess. 1:10).
What is his promise to them at that time? “To him will I give power over the
nations : and he shall
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rule them with a rod of
iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall they he broken to shivers even as I
received of my Father” (Rev. 2 : 26). He and they, head and body, then form one
powerful community of whom it was testified in Daniel concerning this time
“Judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the
saints possessed the Kingdom “ (Dan. 7 : 22). Consequently, the mighty angel
seen by John to descend from heaven at the close of the Turkish plague, cannot
be understood in any other light than as the symbol of The One Body in its manifestation in power
and great glory at the advent of Christ.
This view enables us to
understand why John was forbidden to record what the symbolic thunders
proclaimed. What is recorded is recorded for the guidance of the servants of
Christ during his absence. But at the time of the seven thunders he will not be
absent. He will be amongst them and they will be gathered around him, and will
themselves be the executioners of the seven-thunder or nation-breaking program.
The knowledge of what they will do then, in its details, would be of no special
value to them now when they are on probation for a place in the mighty-angel
community ; while the publication of those details in advance might interfere
in some way with the execution of the divine work then as regards the nations
of the earth.
As to the little book or
scroll, open, in the angel’s hand, there cannot be any difficulty in view of
the fact that a closed or sealed book or scroll is always in scriptural usage
the figure for that which is either not revealed or not understood (Isa. 29 : 11-12
; Dan. I 2 : 4). An open book in the hand of the multitudinous angel manifestly
tells us that in that day there will be no more concealing or nonperception of
the divine counsel, but such an exhibition of the glory of the Lord that all
flesh, even the unwilling (Isa. 26 : 10-11) shall see it together (Isa. 40 : 5
; 66 : 23), with the result that the veil shall be taken from the eyes of all
nations (Isa. 25 : 7), and they shall confess, coming from the ends of the
earth, they have been the victims of darkness and imposture (Jer. 16 :19).
The incident of the
eating of the book by John (verses 8-u) is confirmatory of this interpretation
: John was commanded to go up to the angel holding the open book in his hand,
and take it. Having done so, he was commanded to eat it, which he did-a
symbolic transaction : for men do not eat literal books. Men are said to eat
words in the sense of receiving and embracing the instruction they afford (Jer.
15 : 16 ; Psa. 119 103). To eat a book is intellectually to appropriate its
contents by reading. The eating of the open book in question by John shows that
the angel was the symbol of the class to which John belonged : for whereas the
book was first in the angel’s hand, it was transferred from the angel to John,
and thus an identity was established between them. What followed the eating is
further instructive in the matter. John relished the act of eating, but the
effects produced after the eating
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were disagreeable. This
harmonizes with the fact that every saint even now in measure experiences,
viz., that while the reception of Jehovah’s truth is itself a source of pure
sweetness and peace, it makes us the subject of great bitterness afterwards in
the feelings with which we view the state of the world and the wickedness of
men around us on every hand. John having eaten the book, was told, “Thou must
prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings” (verse
II). This shows that the book stood for divine knowledge : the eating for the
act of acquiring that knowledge : and the purpose of its impartation that it
might be communicated to others. We may take this as affording a hint to
ourselves even now, for John is our brother if we are brethren of Christ. But
there can be no doubt that the ultimate significance of the book-eating is of a
future application, both as regards John and those for whom he stood. John was
an old man when he was told he would have again to prophesy before nations and
kings. He was close on a hundred years of age : and there is no evidence that
he ever appeared in public after receiving the Apocalypse. His death occurred
shortly afterwards. Consequently, the prophesying in question must refer to
what he will have to do after his resurrection at the coming of Christ. This
would follow from the conclusion that the angel out of whose hands he received
the book was a symbol of the saints in their post-resurrectional relation to
the nations. An open book in that angel’s
hands must stand for the things to be further revealed at the coming of Christ,
the time having then arrived for the realization of Paul’s words : “Now we look
through a glass darkly, but then face to face . . . then shall we know even as
we are known” (1 Cor. 13 : 12). How interesting is the reflection that comes out
of this interpretation of the case- viz., that John, and therefore his
brethren, and therefore we, if we are acknowledged of the Lord as such in the
day of his coming- will be mediums of communication between the Lord and the
nations in the great epoch of the end during the process by which the
government of all the earth is transferred from its present holders to the King
of kings and Lord of lords, who shall reign for ever. This means much
interesting work and many sweet revenges in the day of Christ. The brethren of
Christ are now despised with a fervid abhorrence. They are hated of the world
because they are not of the world. They are looked upon as utter and irreclaimable
rubbish, or as Paul expresses it, “ the offscouring of all things “, and this
is by no means agreeable to them. But how completely will the situation be
changed when those brethren appear throughout the earth as the authorized
messengers of Jesus returned Doubtless, at first they will be opposed and
slighted as Moses and Aaron were by Pharaoh, but how easily they will bear it
with the knowledge that they are immortal, and that they have Christ behind
them in an open and visible manner, and that the time has come for the
overthrow of the power of the enemy and the triumph of Christ in all the earth.
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SEVENTH LECTURE
REVELATION XI.
Westward bearing of the events of the fifth and
sixth trumpets -CHAPTER XI transfers the reader to the west-the
measuring of the temple and the altar-the significance of the measurement-the
outer court that was not to be measured-meaning of the temple –Christendom in its relation to the apostolic work-the
treading of the holy city for forty-two months-the two witnesses and their
prophesying-the two class-antagonists of the Papacy in the course of European
history-their dead bodies-the exposure of their corpses for three and a half
days- the historic fulfillment-events in France and throughout the Roman
Catholic jurisdiction generally-why France is .so prominent in the matter-the street of the City-extent of the City “
where our Lord was crucified “-the joy
among the nations at the death of the witnesses- their resurrection and ascent
to power in A.D. I790-the French
Revolution-the Reign of Terror--earthquake and fall of the tenth of the
City-the third woe cometh quickly-its nature-the coming of Christ--resurrection
and overthrow of universal human society-the setting-up of the kingdom of God.
You will recollect that
on Thursday last, our attention was occupied with the events of the fifth and
sixth trumpets -events affecting the eastern territories of the Roman Empire,
and reaching from the uprise of Mahometanism down to the manifestation of the
kingdom of God in successorship to the Turkish Empire. Those events principally
concern a succession of extraordinary military eruptions from the east : first
from the Arabian peninsula (the Saracens), and secondly, 300 years afterwards,
from the desert steppes of Turkestan, whence the Moguls victoriously issued in
hordes of horsemen subjugating nearly the whole of the civilized world. These
events, establishing finally on the ruins of the eastern third of the Roman
Empire, the empire of the Turks in Europe, kept our eyes on the east all the
time, glancing on the west occasionally, only so far as these eastern events
affected it.
To-night, in chapter 11,
we shall find ourselves transferred from the east to the west. The fifth and
sixth trumpets trace eastern events down to the days of the voice of the
seventh angel, or the appointed epoch of the establishment of the kingdom of
God .In chapter 11, we are not only transferred to the west, but we are taken
backwards in point of time This is
shown by the fact that while chapter 9 brings us down to the end of the second
woe and chapter 10 announces that there shall be delay no longer in the
finishing of the mystery of God Chapter
11 describes the events which are concurrent with the second woe and form part
of it in point of time, as evidenced by
the remark on their accomplishment ; “ the second woe is past; and behold, the
third woe cometh quickly” (11: 14). That chapter 11deals with events in the
west is proved
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by the nature of the
events when we come to consider them. Specific proof is found in the allusion
to “the beast’ and “the tenth part of the City “, both of which are identical
with the Roman system and that only, as we shall see. In the sixth vial, there
is the same division between east and west. There is the drying of the
Euphrates in the east, and the emanation of the frog-spirit from the west. In
the sixth trumpet, we have the Ottoman hordes in the east and ecclesiastical
events in the west. In the sixth seal, there is no such sub-division for the
simple reason that the sixth seal had to do with the empire of Paganism, which
ruled alike the east and the west in a common sway. These features are worthy
of notice, as illustrating the historical accuracy of the Apocalypse.
As affecting the west,
then, while the political locusts of Arabia and the fiery horsemen of Turkestan
were for a thousand years between them over-running the east, John was given “a
reed like unto a rod “, and he is asked (verse 1) to “ rise, and measure the
temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein “. Let us first
deal with the measurement. To measure off an area or space is to set it apart
for a purpose. The area measured off for the purpose in this case, was the area
containing the temple of God and the altar and the worshippers of God. An
adjoining area John was told not to measure. “The court which is without the
temple, leave out, and measure it not.” For what purpose was the temple of God
measured off? We are not informed in so many words, but we are plainly informed
for all that. The measurement, we are told, was effected by “a reed like to a
rod “. In this description of the measuring reed, the object of the measurement
is unveiled. A rod or rhabdos was the
symbol of chastisement because the means of its infliction in youth. “ Shall I
come to you with a rod?” asks Paul of the Corinthians in a tone of reproof (I
Cor. 4 :21) ; and “He that spareth the rod hateth his son says Solomon (Prov.
13 : 24). The temple of God and the altar and the worshippers then were
measured off for affliction. The sequel of the chapter bears this out, for we
find the Holy City trodden under foot (verse 2), and the saints made successful
war against (verse 7). The “court without the temple” was left out of the
measurement. The things represented by the outer court were not to be given
over to affliction as were the things represented by the temple and the altar.
What are these things? This is deserving of our most attentive consideration.
It is a question on which we shall find it easy to get a deal of light.
Of course, you require
not to be told that the temple and its courts are here used in a symbolic
sense, just as the seven candlesticks that stood in the holy place of that
temple were used in a symbolic sense at the outstart of the vision. What sense
is that, for which we can find any application in the system of things existing
in Western Europe? Just one or two New Testament illustrations of the point.
First, you have Paul telling Timothy that his object in writing him was “that
he might know how he ought to behave
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himself in the house of
God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth”
(1Tim. 3 : 15). Now, the house of God and the temple of God were
interchangeable terms in the description of the edifice erected for Jehovah’s
service in Jerusalem. Paul in effect therefore says that the Church or ecclesia
is the temple of God. He plainly says this in writing to the Corinthians (2
Cor. 6 : 16) : “Ye are the temple of the living God ; as God hath said, I will
dwell in them “. Peter makes a similar statement “As living Stones, ye are built
up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood “ (1 Peter 2 : 5).
The use of the temple of
God in the Apocalypse to represent the body corporate of the believers in
Christ is therefore in harmony with apostolic usage before the Apocalypse was
given. So with the altar. Speaking of Christ, Paul says (Heb. 13 : 10) “We have an altar whereof they
have no right to eat that serve the tabernacle “. All in the altar, therefore,
are all who are in Christ ; and when John was commanded to measure off the
altar with a rhabdos or rod of
affliction, it was an intimation that during the time concerned all in Christ
should be subject to adversity. These symbols are all drawn from the Mosaic
economy. You need not to be informed that that economy was a divine economy and
in all its mechanical details, a shadow or parable of certain living glorious
realities to come.
You will say, what has
all this to do with the system of things in Western Europe? A glance at the
system will bring the answer. What is that system ? Its most general name is “
CHRISTENDOM ‘. What is the meaning of this? The dominion of Christ. How came
such a character to be claimed for it ? Because of the work done by the
apostles in the first century, who laid the foundation of the ecclesiastical
system of Europe by their miraculously-attested testimony for Christ. Paul
writes to “ all in Rome called to be saints “-that is, called to be the temple
of God in the Roman habitable. All those who become saints under the apostolic
labors in every part of the Roman habitable were constituents of the temple and
the altar. Though the apostles died, their work continued, and the generation
of believers that went to the grave with them were succeeded by other believers
who maintained the integral structure of the temple of God, founded in Europe.
True, the work was marred and corrupted by the apostasy of the mass still, a
real work-a real temple, existed, consisting of the remnant of true believers
preserved by God as His witnesses in
the midst of the prevailing corruption.
We have already seen
that this temple-community as a whole (without discriminating between its false
and true elements) prevailed against the Pagan adversary or Satan enthroned at
Rome, and displaced him from his seat, and set a scion of its own in his place by
the power of the sword-Constantine, the so-called “first Christian emperor “.
With such a change in its favour, it would have been natural to suppose that
the temple of God was
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secure of peace and
prosperity. The reverse is shown by this measuring of it off with a rhabdos or rod of affliction. The real
temple--the true Church, was to be a down-trodden institution- the true
believers an afflicted class-notwithstanding an outward form of things
apparently in favour of” Christianity “.
The exception to this
measuring off for affliction was “the court which is without “, or “outer court
“. This court was a part of the temple enclosure, but here it was to be exempt
from the lot assigned to the temple itself. It was to be “ given to the
Gentiles “. There is a world of light in this as bearing on the ecclesiastical
constitution of things in Europe. Here is a part of the symbolic temple-” the
court which is without “-given to the Gentiles. Now, considering that the
temple is the symbol of the Church of Christ, we are here face to face with a
prophecy that an outer court of it was to be occupied by the Gentiles-those not recognized as Israel ;-and that while the
true ecclesia should be subject to affliction and down-treading, that part of
the Church occupied by “the Gentiles “should be in prosperity and renown-not
measured off for affliction with the rhabdos.
We look at Europe in the past (and in the present, too), and we see a”
Church by law established” in various countries, enjoying the support and patronage
of the State, and acquiring thereby a respectability so great that to be the
meanest ecclesiastic is to have a passport to the highest society. In the light
of this prophecy, we can rightly estimate these State communions as they appear
before God. They are all parts of the outer court of the spiritual temple-the
court not measured- not recognized-given over to the Gentiles. This very
prosperity is their condemnation. The friends of Christ are measured off for
dishonor and affliction. The rhabdos is
their sign for the present.
It is in this chapter
plainly foreshown that the occupants of the outer court-the nominal Christian
element of European society- should obtain the upper hand, and tread down the
true and faithful saints who are also symbolically the Holy City : “The Holy
City shall they tread under foot forty and two months “. Forty and two months
are 1,260 days, and stand for the 1,260 years during which it was the appointed
lot of the true temple-community to be cast out, prevailed against, and down-trodden
by the outer-court party- the Gentiles to whom the court without was given
without rhabdos measurement. How
signally this has been fulfilled the history of Europe testifies. The Gentiles,
or outer court party, under ecclesiastical titles (Popes, cardinals, etc.),
have enjoyed the emoluments and honours of the State, and have with one accord
for ages persecuted and destroyed the true saints on the charge of heresy.
These ecclesiastical Gentiles of the outer court have been allowed to have the
upper hand everywhere, and to subject to severe rhabdos-discipline the poor and
little flock in whom the Father, by the truth, dwells as in His temple. It is
only for a time the down-treading is limited by the forty-two months which we
have
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the happiness of knowing
are now in the past. The era of deliverance is at the door.
But while the 1,260
years were dragging their slow length along, it was necessary that the power of
the adversary should be antagonized so as to prevent the total extinction of
liberty and light. This was done providentially by the agencies symbolized thus
in verse ~ : “ I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy
a thousand, two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth” There has been a good deal of controversy as
to who these two witnesses are. They are further described as “ the two olive
trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of’ the earth “. The
three symbols taken together-witnesses, olive trees, candlesticks--enable us to
identify them. Candlestick we know is used in the first part of the Apocalypse
to represent a community-a church or ecclesia. Therefore the two witnesses must
be found in two communities existing in the presence or dominion of the God of
the earth, that is, the ecclesiastical ruler of the darkness of the present aion, blasphemously styled “His Holiness the Pope “. Olive trees
are by Paul employed to represent the two elements standing related to the
commonwealth of Israel- the wild olive and the good olive tree-Gentile and Jew
(see Rom. 11). Consequently, we are justified in seeking in the two
Witness two communities
, one having the wild attributes and the other the good, though both standing
related in some way to the commonwealth
of Israel. Finally the term witness leads us to find in them two
classes bearing testimony against the corruptions of the earth, presided over
by the God of the earth. This bearing of testimony is a presentation of the
truth, and consequently “prophesying” in New Testament phrase.
Now when we look back
upon the history of the Papal tyranny, we find that the Papal authority, though
supreme, was constantly antagonized by two classes corresponding to those
features. They are not distinctly discernible as two classes, but they manifestly
co-exist in the one class. As one class, we read of them as heretics. As two classes, the heretics
consisted of 1, Themselves, and 2, Their
supporters, men who, while repudiating the pretensions of the Papacy, were not
subject to the law of Christ, but ready at all times to draw the sword in
defense of civil and religious liberty. Speaking of these, Dr. Thomas says,”
Without any treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, and without any direct
mutual understanding, the ages and generations of the past found them (the two
co-operative organizations against the Catholic Apostasy of the court) standing
side by side in witnessing and prophesying with tormenting effect, against the
blasphemies and abominations of them who dwell upon the earth. Each witness had
its own specialty. Christ’s brethren testified the gospel, and laid before the
court the way of salvation... and the other, with fire and sword, which was
their testimony practically administered, tormented the minions of the
oppressor. . This was their combined mission. The one was the military arm
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of the other, and both
in combination were the two arms of-the Spirit holding the olive branch in one
hand and the flaming sword in the other “. For the historic particulars
illustrative of these statements, I would refer you to Eureka, Dr. Thomas’s wonderful exposition by which we have all seen
enabled to understand these things.
That this is the right
view-that the two witnesses represent some movement discernible in the
history of the European system, and not
two persons as some maintain, will appear upon a consideration of one or two
points in the chapter we are dwelling upon. “They of the peoples, and kindreds,
and tongues, and nations “, for example, are said to “ see “ their dead bodies
at a certain stage. It is an international affair therefore. The witnesses were
to be found among the nations ; for how otherwise could “ nations “ see them?
Then it is said (verse 7), that “ when they shall have finished their
testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war
against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them
This shows they were a
community, for only against a community could war be made. It also shows it was
a community to be found in the Roman dominions : for it is “ the BEAST” that
makes war upon them. We are able to identify this beast with Rome by reason of
the particulars afterwards supplied-viz., “ seven heads and ten horns “ (Rev.
13 : I), explained to mean seven successive sovereignties on the hills of Rome
and ten royalties contemporaneous with the Roman dominion (Rev. 17 : 12) ; a
woman on the back of the beast, the great city reigning over the kings (v. 18)-
viz., Rome in her ecclesiastical relations with all the earth. Consequently in
the numerous heretical communities that have in all ages, prior to their
extermination by the Beast, antagonized and tormented the –Papal –god of the
earth, and-were-finally prevailed against by a determined and energetic
coalition of the Pope’s friends, in Europe;-we find- the two witnesses ~ The
one fought the persecutor both in politics and on the field of arms : the other
limited their warfare to that contention for the faith which supplied the
inspiration of the other. “An arrangement of this sort “, says -the Dr., “was
absolutely necessary for the preservation and protection of the One Body,
witnessing for the truth against the worshipping of the demonials and idols in
the midst of the nations and before the God of the earth, the weapons of whose
warfare were civil disabilities and the infernal tortures of anti-heretical
crusades and inquisitions. The One Body, of which Christ is the head, is
commanded by him not to avenge itself: not to take any other sword than the
sword of the Spirit which is the word of the Diety ; not to resist evil ; if
smitten upon one cheek to turn the other, and many other precepts of which his
own individual conduct when in the hands of his enemies was an unmistakable
illustration. In view of these commands, how was such a polity to devour its
enemies with fire, to turn waters into blood, and to smite the earth with
plagues? Manifestly, such a work of death and destruction was incompatible with
obedience to such -precepts of non-
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resistance. War and
desolation are no part of Christian duty. ‘The servant of the Lord must not
strive, but be gentle unto all’. This principle faithfully and duly observed by
all the Lord’s servants in his absence, will prevent them from avenging their
own wrongs or lending themselves as instruments in the quarrels of others.”
In the history of Papal
abomination, we find, then, this double class, bearing testimony against it and
opposing it and inflicting upon it disquietude and torment in various ways,
reaching often to those connected with war. This providential antagonism- this
infliction upon the adversary of retributive evil, even during the days of his
ascendancy, is the thing symbolized by the statement:
“ If any man will hurt
them (the witnesses), fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their
enemies ; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
These have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy,
and have power over waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with
all plagues, as often as they will “.
They were to prophesy in
sackcloth-( Verse 3). This shows they were to be on the losing side, as indeed
that which happened at the end of their prophecy shows. Though for a period
successfully antagonizing the god of the earth to the extent designed by
Providence and foreshadowed in this symbolism, they were to be on the downward
side of things ; they were to be of the class to whom it is not given to” laugh
now “, to be “ full now “, but to be prevailed against and to mourn and weep.
This was illustrated in their final overthrow (verse 7) : “When they shall have finished their testimony, the beast. . .
shall make war upon them and overcome them “. This directs attention to the
length of their testimony. How long was it to last ? Verse 3 supplies the
answer “ A thousand, two hundred and threescore days “. The Papal Horn of
Daniel’s fourth beast was to prevail against the saints 1,260 days but is this
the same period? It cannot be, for whereas the power of the Fourth Beast to
prevail against the saints ceases at
the end of Daniel’s 1,260, the beast overcomes
them at the end of this period. How are the two periods to be placed, then?
That of the Papal power we know began in in 6o6-8, and has expired in our
generation, as evidenced by the disappearance of the Temporal Power of the
Pope ; but that other period defines the
length of the witnessing of the two prophets-twelve hundred and sixty
years. When did this begin and end? Let us see how the thing works in history.
There is a very ready way of reaching the result.
From the overthrow of
Paganism in Rome, by the victories of Constantine, “ the first Christian
emperor “, by which the Christian community was lifted from the severest depths
of persecution to the highest and serenest regions of imperial favour, to the
organized attempt of Church and State to exterminate the heretics in France,
was exactly a period of 1,260 years. Thus Constantine ascended the throne A.D.
312 : add to this 1,260 and you have I572-the date of what is known as the
massacre of the Huguenots. The
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question is, do these
facts and figures correspond with the requirements of the prophecy? The answer
is justifiably in the affirmative. The sackcloth witnessing of the two prophets
undoubtedly commenced with the accession of Constantine to the imperial
throne. This will seem strange when that event was favorable to the Christians
: but the strangeness will cease if we remember that the witnessing was to he
directed against authorities professing to he Christians but not truly so, as
shown by their representation as Gentile occupants of the outer court, as we
have already seen. Now, such a witnessing could not take place while Rome was
Pagan, Paganism made no pretense to belong to the temple of God. It did not stand
in the outer court or any other part of the mystical temple : it has no
connection with it at all, hut opposed and tried to destroy it with the
terrible engines of persecution. It required a nominal Christianity to be on
the throne before the testimony of the witnesses in the presence of the
Gentiles of the outer court could commence. When Christianity did mount the
throne, though it did in a certain shape become the favored religion of the
State, yet true Christianity became an outcast. There was a class that did not
enjoy the imperial favour, hut became as decidedly proscribed and bitterly
persecuted as ever the Christians were at the hands of Paganism. Eusehius, who
lived at the time, speaking of what happened after Constantine’s accession,
says : “ Again the worshippers of God began to flee again the open fields, the
deserts, forests and mountains received the servants of Christ “. On this
subject, Dr. Thomas says “Constantine
delighted to style himself ‘ The Deliverer of the Church’. He was truly the deliverer
of the Catholic Church but he was also the first to inflict persecution and
death itself upon those who ‘kept the commandments of the Deity and retained
the testimony of Jesus Christ . . . The dissenters from the Catholic Church
were afflicted and oppressed
Constantine easily credited the insinuation that the HERETICS, as they
were called, who presumed to dispute his opinions or to oppose his commands
were guilty of the most absurd and criminal obstinacy.
Confounded with these
so-called heretics as has been the case in all ages since, were those who held
the testimony, and therefore the witnesses of Jesus. Not a moment was lost in
excluding their pastors and teachers from any share in the rewards and
immunities Constantine had so liberally bestowed
From this time forth,
the dissenters maintained a steady testimony and protest against the
Established Church. From this time, therefore, it seems reasonable to date the
days of their prophecy. As a matter of fact, there are just 1,260 years from
Constantine’s accession to the massacre of the Huguenots. This massacre was the
massacre of a representative class. The Huguenots of France were representative
of the witnesses in all the earth “ in which the Pope was god. They were more
numerous and powerful there than in any other part of the Papal
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dominions, and therefore
to attack them there, was to aim a blow at them everywhere. The blow aimed at
them was terrible. It was not merely the outbreak of a formidable persecution :
it was a deliberate attempt to exterminate them-an attempt which was persevered
in at intervals for over a hundred years, and which ended in 1685, on the
revocation of the edict of Nantes, in the persecution and death of the party
for a season.
It strikes one at first
as odd that this Apocalyptic tragedy should be identified so prominently with
France. But the impression disappears on a full view of all facts. There are
two reasons for this prominence of France in the matter. France as the first
nation to submit to the Roman See, has always borne the title “ the eldest son
of the Church “ (and what the eldest son does is done for all the family). But
the second reason is more emphatic and decisive. The prophecy says,” The dead
bodies of the witnesses shall lie in the street of the Great City, which
spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified “.
Now, first identify “ the Great City “, and it will be easy to find “ the
(principal) street “. It is not necessary for me to prove to you that the great
city of the Apocalypse is Rome. But you say, there is a difficulty here. The
passage says Jesus was crucified in the Great City of which it is speaking, and
Jesus was not crucified in Rome. The answer is to be found in the fact that in
the constitution of the Roman Empire, the City Rome was finally made
co-extensive with the Roman Empire that is, Rome was, so to speak, legally
stretched out in all directions so as to cover every part of the Roman Empire.
The whole empire was the city. This was by the decree of Caracalla many
centuries before the death of the witnesses. Now the Great City in this sense
reached from Persia in the east to the Atlantic on the west, and in this great
city “ our Lord was crucified “, for Judah was part of the Roman dominions, and
Jesus was crucified within the Roman jurisdiction, by Roman officials,
according to Roman forms. As it was a question of the death of the witnesses,
there was something appropriate in referring to the fact that the Lord himself
was slain within the same jurisdiction -a jurisdiction only comparable to Sodom
and Egypt in its spiritual relations. He was not crucified in the same part of
the city, however. The dead bodies of the witnesses were to lie in THE street-
the principal street, thoroughfare, or section of the Great City. As the city
is here used for the entire breadth of the Roman dominion, THE Street must be
the leading political sub-division of that dominion, and therefore France, “
the eldest son “. We see the same sense in the phrase “ THE tenth part of the
city “ farther on (verse 13), when the overthrow of the French State is the
subject of prediction. It is interesting to be informed that this view was
entertained by a leading writer in the witness
Community well on in the seventeenth century. Peter Jurieu, a Huguenot
pastor, it seems, published a book “The accomplishment of the Scripture
prophecies “, in which he points out that the Great City is Rome
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in conjunction with its
empire, and that the tenth part of that city was France. You will find an
extract from his works in the second volume of Eureka on page 649.
When tidings of the
final suppression of the witnesses by fire and sword reached Rome, the Pope was
very glad, and held a procession of cardinals in celebration of the event, and
appointed a. Jubilee, and other public rejoicings. He also ordered a medal to
be struck in commemoration of it, of which specimens are extant at the present
day, exhibiting an angel with a drawn sword and the forms of a slain crowd
lying before him. In this you will recognize the historic parallel to what is
stated in verse 10 : “ They that dwell
upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts
one to another “. The medals, etc., also illustrate the meaning of the
statement (verse 9) that they would not suffer the dead bodies of the witnesses
to be put in graves. To put a thing in the grave symbolically is to bury it out
of sight-forget it. Instead of being thus buried away, the slain witnesses were
kept in public view in the way referred to. It was particularly in France that
their dead bodies thus lay exposed in the symbolical sense, for there it was a
day to be observed as every year came round-a day in which it was considered
“the Church” in 1685 had finally triumphed over its enemies who had plagued it
for ages.
How long this exposure lasted is stated in the prophecy, verse 9: They of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half”, at the close of which they were to have a resurrection. We should suppose that this meant three years and a half. Those who read public events at the time in the light of the Apocalypse were of this expectation but history has shown it meant a longer period than this. The interval from the death of the witnesses (in 1685) to their resurrection (1790 was just 105 years. The difficulty is how this period can be compressed into a symbolical number of three and a half days. The solution was suggested at the beginning of the present century by a writer called Bicheno, viz., that the three and a half days were three and a half lunar days, that is, days of the moon instead of the earth. The moon turns upon its axis just once in thirty days, consequently one day of the moon is just thirty-times longer than one day upon the earth, and would represent thirty days. Three and a half days of the moon would therefore be 105 earth-days. which, on the day-for-a-year principle, would stand for the 105 years which elapsed between the death and resurrection of the witnesses. In truth, therefore, there is no departure in the case from the ordinary scale of symbolic time-day for a year ; only the days are compressed into a smaller symbol still. Why should this he? Obviously to suit the symbolic circumstances with which the time was connected in the case. The circumstance was the exposure of dead bodies. It would have been contrary to nature to speak of dead bodies being exposed 105 days ; it involved no violation of decorum to speak of them as being exposed three and a half days,
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and these being lunar
days, were an accurate measure of the historic time, though this was not
perceived till events themselves made it manifest.
“And after three days
and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon
their feet ; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a
great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up
to heaven in a cloud ; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour there
was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the
earthquake were slain of the names of men seven thousand : and the remnant were
affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.” This was to come to pass at
the end of the three and a half lunar days of 105 terrestrial days or years.
Add 105 years to AD. 1685 (the date of the revocation of the edict of Names and
the final massacre of the Huguenots), and you have 1790. What happened then in
harmony with the picture placed before us in the verses I have read ? The most
awful revolution that ever occurred in the annals of mankind. You should read
the history of the French Revolution. You will find events unfolded themselves
in the order of the symbols. The spirit 0f political life
re-animated the people who had been ignored and powerless for more than a
century. A great voice from heaven,-that is, a summons from the throne of the
tenth of the great city-a summons from Louis XVI.. invited the common people,
who had not been publicly recognized since the massacre of the Huguenots, to “
come up hither “, or come together for the exercise of legislative power in the
arrangement of the disordered affairs of the realm. They responded in a cloud,
and in such a form therefore as to inspire great fear in the mind of the king,
nobles and clergy, who beheld them stand upon their feet. They had not been
long assembled when they took possession of supreme power, disestablished the
church, confiscated the estates of the clergy and nobles, imprisoned and
decapitated the king, abolished all titles (the seven thousand names of men,
spoken of in the original), proclaimed faith in God a superstition France no
longer a kingdom hut a Republic. They also executed thousands by the
guillotine, who were in the least suspected of sympathy with the old order of
things. Everyone has heard of the Reign of Terror : it is the description
applied to these events. The whole population lived in daily fear of their
lives. Over a million perished by violence in connection with the events of
this terrible earthquake in which also the tenth of the city fell, that is,
France as a royalty was overthrown and altogether separated from the city” of
which she was the leading tenth. The noise of her fall made the earth tremble,
and sent a thrill throughout civilized life, the vibrations of which are active
at the present hour. The leaders of the Revolution, to accomplish their reform,
resorted to the terrible expedient of cutting off the heads of all who did not
agree with them. The guillotine worked day and night, and heads rolled by the
thousand. The slaughter at last came to be so indiscriminate that
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the guillotine could not
work fast enough and its operations were aided by filling leaky ships with
people, and sending them out to sea to sink. Such a time of terror was never
known in the history of the world.
We read “the remnant
were affrighted, and gave glory to God “. So it came out. In the reaction that
set in when people were tired of these dreadful occurrences, a public decree
was sanctioned, recognizing the existence of God and a future life, and
convoking a national assembly in the Deity’s honour. The assembly in honour of
“ the God of heaven” was held in the presence of thousands-Robespierre
officiating as priest. It all came out in the order of the prophecy.
The effects of that
revolution are visible to-day. It has proved the resurrection of liberty in
Europe, both political and religious, and the undermining of the position of
the Papal tyranny which has gone rapidly downwards ever since, until the Papacy
now is only a shadow of its former self. The very development of the truth
itself is traceable to the forces set in motion by it but I won’t go into that.
If you desire to comprehend these things in their details, I would advise you
to read Eureka, in which there is a
great mine of instruction.
The second woe is past,
and the third woe cometh quickly.” This is the apocalyptic comment on the
French Revolution. What is the third woe that comes quickly on the back of the
French Revolution-that is, “ quickly “ in the apocalyptic sense-quickly as
compared with the time taken by the first and second woes? The third woe is the
seventh trumpet--for the three last trumpets of the seven are the three woes,
as you will recollect (Rev. 8 : 13). Well, John hears the seventh trumpet, and
what are its effects? And the seventh angel sounded ; and there were great
voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms
of our Lord, and of his Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and ever “ (verse
15). Hence, not long in the world’s history after the French Revolution, a
still greater Revolution is due-viz., the transfer of all kingdoms on earth to
Christ at his coming-a transfer not to be effected without “ a time of trouble
such as never was “. When this mighty revolution is announced under the seventh
trumpet, John beholds the elders prostrate themselves before God, and give
utterance in thanksgiving to a view of the situation which has received our
attentive consideration “Thou hast taken to thee Thy great power, and hast
reigned “. It is a time of divine actual taking of power in a way not occurrent
previous to the seventh trumpet : a time when Christ returns to reign really on
the earth. They go on to say, “The nations were angry, and thy wrath is come,
and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest
give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that
fear thy name, small and great ; and shouldest destroy them that destroy the
earth “.
Here we have a number of
items characteristic of “ the end shortly after the French Revolution. They are
divinely specified
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items. Believers in the
word will seriously note them. There is anger among the nations, succeeded by a
manifestation of God’s wrath against the long-borne-with wickedness of men, the
resurrection-” time of the dead “, that is, time for the dead to awake, as
Daniel says of this very time : “at that time, many of them that sleep in the
dust of the earth shall awake” (Dan. 12 2)- the rewarding of the prophets and
the servants of God in general, and the destruction of all who tyrannize over
and destroy the earth. We might conclude without further information that these
events must involve the appearing of Christ, seeing the Scriptures always
associate these events with his coming (2 Tim. 4 I ; 1 Thess. 4 13-17 ; Matt.
16 :27). A symbol is introduced expressly to show it : “And the temple of God
was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament
: and there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and
great hail “. The “temple of God” measured off for down-treading in the
beginning of the chapter is here at the end of it, exhibited as established” in
heaven “-in exaltation-in the sphere of power. The saints glorified appear in
their corporate capacity as a manifested power in the earth. The time has come
for them to take the sword of judgment, as foreshown in the Scriptures (Dan. 7
22; Psa. 149 :5-9 ; Rev. 2 26-27). But in their midst is One from whom they
receive their entire character and position. In the temple was seen the ark of his testament.” In the midst of
the saints is one who is the antitypical ark of the covenant, the –blood
sprinkled mercy seat. They surround Him in great love and praise and glory,
saving, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. . . for thou wast
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and
tongue, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests To say that this ark was seen at such a
time is to intimate the Lord’s second appearing in power and great glory,
shortly after the second woe. “ The lightnings and thunderings and voices and
earthquake and great hail” following the opening of the temple in heaven, find
their counterpart in the calamitous judgments by which the great revolution of
the third woe is effected by Jesus and the saints-a time of war, convulsions
and trouble such as has not yet been witnessed upon earth.
We are enabled by this
eleventh chapter of the Apocalypse to see in a certain way where we are now.
The French Revolution of 1790 is a
distinct landmark. As we think of it in the light of this chapter, and ponder
the announcement that the third woe cometh quickly, we are made to feel that we
cannot be far off the great consummation upon which our hearts are set. The
same conclusion is warranted by many other signs, as we know. We are verging
towards that crisis which to the world will bring a season of unparalleled
trouble, but to the friends of Christ, the age of blessedness, life, and
everlasting joy.
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EIGHTH LECTURE
REVELATION XII., XIII
CHAPTER XII., compelling another backward journey in point
of time-the explanation of this zigzag construction of the Apocalypse-a second
view of the events of the sixth seal to show their bearing on the friends of
Christ-the woman clothed with the sun ; her relation to the Bride, the Lamb’s
wife-” the moon under her feet “-her crown of twelve stars- her
child-bearing-the dragon waiting to devour her son-Constantine and the Paganism
of the Roman Empire-the crowns on the heads of the dragon and not on the
horns-the ascension of the woman’s son to God-the inapplicability of the
prophecy to Christ-the flight of the woman into the wilderness--the war in
heaven-the conflict between the forces of Christianity and Paganism-the
overthrow and expulsion of the Pagan Dragon-the rejoicings in the Christian
camp-the woman in her hiding place-the serpent persecuting her-The beast of the
sea-the dragon the source of its authority-the slain sixth head and its
survival from the sword-wound--the blasphemous mouth of the beast-the forty-two
months of its continuance-the two-horned beast of the earth- the Holy
Romano-Germanic Empire-the image of the beast made to live-the mark of the
beast and the number of his name--a solemn lesson.
WE have a somewhat
difficult task to-night in the attempt to present a condensed and intelligible
view of the matters involved in chapters 12 and 13. Our task, however, is
somewhat simplified by the circumstance that some of the matters have already
been under our consideration in connection with other symbols. The
consideration of these matters again takes us backward in the course of time-a
long way back from the point we reached at the end of the eleventh chapter. You
will recollect that at the end of that chapter, we arrived at the time for the
dead to be raised, and for the kingdoms of the world to be transferred to
Christ as God’s vicegerent upon earth. In chapter 12 we find ourselves again
face to face with the age of Roman imperialism and circumstances of
persecution, as, for instance, in verse 17, “ The dragon was wroth with the
woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which kept the
commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ “. It must be
evident that this is long before the transfer of the kingdoms of the world to
Christ, for when that point is reached, all persecution have ceased, power
being taken from the adversary and vested in Jesus and his brethren. Hence, the
conclusion is self-evident that as in the case of chapter 11 so in the case of
this chapter 12 we are taken away back from the point reached at the end of the
previous chapter. and brought to the consideration of other scenes having to do
with the prior history of human government upon earth.
It may strike us as
strange that there should be this zig-zag sort of order in the exhibition of
the scenes of the Apocalypse. This
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feeling will disappear
if we realize that there are various departments in the divine program that
have filled up the interval since Christ’s departure from the earth-various
areas of the Roman habitable in which the plan has been worked out-various
channels in which providential superintendence has been actively giving shape
to events with a view to the great consummation appointed, at one time east, at
another west, at another both together. By these various roads, we are several
times brought to the same general end to which they all reach. It is as if a
guide conducted you by the air if that
were possible,* tk another outward place from which to conduct you again by a
different route to the same spot and repeated the performance for a third
route, and so on
The opening of chapter
12 takes us back to the place in history marked by the sixth seal , when a
mighty revolution upset and abolished the Pagan government of the world, the
avowed ~ enemy of Christ, and established in its place a system based upon
professed allegiance to Christ. This revolution, effected under the leadership
of Constantine, “ the first Christian Emperor “, was a great revolution It was
in fact the inauguration of Christendom-the commencement of the nominal dominion
of Christ on the earth, to be succeeded by his real dominion. That nominal
dominion was far from being a system of real submission to Christ ; still it
was a great improvement upon the empire of polytheism in a variety of ways.
There was hereafter at least a recognition (though in a corrupt form of the God
of Israel and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the adoption of precepts having a
humanizing effect on society. In connection with this change, there were
details which could not be represented by the sixth seal. The sixth seal merely
exhibited the occurrence of the revolution under the symbol of a catastrophe in
nature. It could not show how it affected the friends of Christ among
themselves. This is what is done in chapter 12.
John sees a certain
woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet. This woman, like all
the women of the Apocalypse, was a symbolic woman. There is no difficulty in
seeing whom she symbolizes. The woman represents that section of mankind which
had come under submission to God through Christ, as shown by the statement in
the verse already read, that the dragon “made war upon the woman’s seed” who are explained to he ‘~ those who keep the
commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ “. This use of a woman to
represent the community of those who belong to Christ is common to the writings
of the apostles, as you know. Paul writes to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 11:: 2), “
I have espoused you to one husband, that i may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ “. Again (Eph. 5 : 23), “The husband is the head of the wife, even as
Christ is the head of the Church “. The Church is apocalyptically described as
“ the bride, the Lamb’s wife
………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
* but now
“possible” but now (1947) an all too familiar fact =Publisher.
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(Rev. 21 :9), and his
union with her at his coming is spoken of as “the marriage supper of the Lamb
“.
In this I2 th chapter of
the ‘-.‘ Revelation “, however, it is. Christ’s church or ecciesia in Christ’s
absence and in the land of his enemies, that is the subject of representation.
Consequently there are features about the symbol that will not appertain to the
Lamb’s Bride in the day of her glory. In the day of her humiliation and trial
many who are in her and of her do not belong to her, as the letters of the
apostles show, and also the parables of Christ, and as the fact of a judgment
for separation at his coming implies. It is while she is in this mixed state
that the events of this chapter occur.
John sees her clothed
with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve
stars. The sun is always a symbol of power and prosperity. These in the Roman
Empire were identified with the imperial throne. Hence, for Christ’s community
among men to be lifted from a position of proscription and persecution, into a
position of political ascendancy and sunshine by the elevation of Constantine
the church’s friend, to the throne qf Pagan Caesarism, the church’s enemy, was
for that community, considered as awoman, to become a woman clothed with the
sun. The moon as a symbol stands in the same relation to the symbolic sun as
the literal moon does to the literal sun : is co-ordinate with the sun but not
equal to. It shines with it in the same
heaven but
Borrows light from it.
What, power in the Roman State sustained this relation to the Roman sun of
imperial power? The priesthood of the national religion undoubtedly-the
religion of the gods of Rome. The Pagan hierarchy stood in the same relation to
imperialism as the modern established clergy do to the State. They were a power
in the State secondary to the secular power and sustained by it. The
ecclesiastical order is symbolically the moon in any system. In view of this,
we can understand the significance of the Christ-woman having the moon under
her feet, when we realize that the pagan priesthood were by Constantine placed
under the Christian party, then elevated by him to place and power.
The diadem of twelve
stars is the symbol of the Pagan Caesars. There had been twelve Caesars on
the imperial throne, from Augustus, the first Roman emperor, Domitian,
the emperor who reigned when John received the Apocalypse. As a matter
presented to John, therefore, the diadem destined to be placed on the Church’s
brow, as the result of her conflict with Paganism, was a twelve-starred diadem.
There were other Caesars after John passed away, but the number at the date of
the vision continued to represent the imperial prize of the conflict that was
in progress.
We have next to consider
the meaning of the woman so situated being in the state described in the second
verse of the chapter we are considering : “ She being with child cried,
travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. . . and behold a great red
dragon, having seven heads and ten horns. . . and the dragon stood before the
woman which was ready to be delivered,
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for to devour her child
as soon as it was born “. We learn the meaning of this in the contemplation of
the events characterizing the history of the epoch. Constantine did not at once
ascend the throne of universal dominion. He was the woman’s child- political
offspring of the Church-for a considerable time before he grasped the reins of
universal power. His career began in the West. He was the son of Constantius,
one of the four Pagan emperors who ruled -the empire conjointly at the close of
the third century. Constantius whose
dominion lay in Gaul (France) and Britain, considerably sympathized with the
Christians, and impeded the execution of the dreadful laws promulgated against
them by Galerius, chief emperor, who vowed he would obliterate the “Christian”
name from the earth. But Constantius’s son, Constantine, sympathized with the
Christians more than his father did ; and this being known at Rome, caused him
to be regarded with great jealousy and aversion by the other emperors. When his
father died (at York) in Britain, the army proclaimed Constantine his successor
in the imperial purple. It was not the place of the army at this time in the
history of the empire, to appoint a successor. The power lay with Galerius, the
chief emperor, who, when he heard of the action of the army, was filled with
rage. He, however, accepted the nomination, with the determination to set it
aside by the sword as soon as it was convenient. He did riot acknowledge
Constantine in the full rank of emperor, hut gave him the fourth rank among
Roman princes, making, however, secret arrangements at the same time for the
invasion of the dominions of Constantine (the western section of the Roman
empire), with a view to his deposition and destruction.
Here we have the
situation of the first four verses of the 12th chapter. The emancipated woman
was pregnant with a political son, whom another power in the east was waiting
to devour. This power is symbolized by “a great red dragon, with seven heads
and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads “. The identification of this
power with Pagan Rome is not only easy, but inevitable. We have an explanation
of the heads. and horns, which leaves no escape. The heads are declared to
represent (17 : 9, 10) first, the seven
hills on which the woman, at a later stage of Roman history, sat
enthroned-(Rome is built on seven hills, and this literal feature is incorporated
in the symbol by way of identification) ; and, secondly, seven sovereignties or
forms of supreme power that had succeeded one another on the seven hills, of
which the one existing in Johns day was, in the verses referred to, declared to
be the sixth. The Ten horns stood for the division of the empire into ten contemporaneous
independent sovereignties at a later time (17 : 12). The symbol was a prophecy,
as well as an emblem. That is to say, it not only stood for the power of
imperial Rome, in the way the lion stands for British power, but it exhibited
details that were to be evolved in the course of its history.
It is for this reason
that we find Pagan Rome in hostility to the Christ- woman’s political son
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Represented by a ten
horned monster, at a time when the ten horns had not as yet historically made their appearance. It there were no other evidence that the ten
horned dragon of the chapter we are considering
stands for Pagan Rome at the juncture, .it is found in the last six
words of verse 3, which might easily escape the reader’s notice as having
anything in them : “seven crowns upon his
heads “, In the next chapter (13 : 1), the same symbol has ten crowns ~ on the horns, and not on the heads. There
is a very obvious reason for this difference. The crown is a symbol of
sovereign authority. At the time of Constantine, the ten horns had not
historically appeared. Therefore they are crownless; but the heads had
appeared, and were in authority ; for the emperorship was the sixth head, or
form, of Roman sovereignty. The epoch current in Constantine’s days was
the epoch of the heads, and not of the horns, which had received no - kingdom
as yet ; therefore the crowns are on the heads, which is, of itself, a
convincing proof that the seven-headed dragon of Rev 12 stands for Pagan
imperial Rome in its attitude of hostility to the Christian -woman, or Church,
who had in her midst a son to whom she was about to give birth in the
full-blown possession of imperial power.
The birth of this
imperial son was brought about by the very attitude adopted by the Pagan
dragon. When Constantine (the sun with which the woman had just become
clothed), ascertained the hostile intentions of the Roman emperor, he resolved
upon taking the first step himself in the war which was about to be forced upon
him. He threw his army across the Alps before Maxentius (who had taken the
place of Galerius, deceased) was aware he had begun to move ; and encountering
the opposing army-three times as numerous as his own-he overthrew it with great
slaughter, and marched towards Rome. Another army, and another, were collected
to oppose him ; but both dispersed before the celerity of his movements and the
vigor of his blows ; and the Roman senate, after his third victory at Saxa
Rubra, threw open the gates of Rome, and proclaimed him Emperor of the Romans.
Thus the woman’s son was born after a season of acute parturition agonies.
But he was not yet what
he was destined to become-sole monarch of the Roman world. This destiny is
expressed by the symbolism of verse 5. “She brought forth a man child, who was
to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God
and to his throne “. Some apply this to the ascension of Christ. A moment’s
reflection will suffice to show this a mistake. What John saw was a
representation of things which a voice told him (Rev. 4 : 1) “ must come to
pass hereafter “. He was told this A.D. 96. How, then, could this scene
represent an event that had taken place sixty years before? Besides, such an
interpretation would ignore the primary characteristic of the Apocalypse as an
exhibition of things in sign or hieroglyph. No ; the woman in the case is the
Christian community, and her son the imperial champion,
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begotten in her midst as
the result of the operation of her principles on Roman society. This son in
being born and caught up to God and to his throne, was (1) to become developed
as an acknowledged emperor and (2) to be elevated in the operations of
Providence into the position of sole monarch of the world “God ruleth in the kingdoms of men “ (Dan
4:32) Hence, for Constantine to be
placed over them all by the force of circumstances was symbolically to be “caught up to God and to His throne “. This
came about in due time.
Meanwhile, we have to
consider the event of verse 6 “The woman
fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they
should feed her there a thousand, two hundred and threescore days “. This seems
a strange sequel to the events of the early part of the chapter. It is, however,
in harmony with the course of affairs as they developed themselves after
Constantine’s elevation in Rome. While the woman, or Christian community of
which Constantine declared himself protector, continued in the sun-invested
position in the heaven to which events had elevated her, the woman in another
sense fled the position and became the object of persecution of the new and
nominally Christian government. To see this clearly, it is necessary to realize
that the community developed by the labours of the apostles contained two
elements- the real and the unreal, the actual and the nominal those who were
earnestly subject to the law of Christ and those who were professors without
heart-who accepted Christ as a tradition but were uninfluenced by it in a practical
way. The latter were in the majority. It was by their means that the political
revolution in favour of Christianity was brought about. They were not
fastidious about the commandments of Christ which forbid the use of the sword
or identification with the politics of the present evil world. Therefore they
felt themselves at liberty to plot and intrigue and fill the army and offices
of State, and set up a military champion in Constantine. The other class,
described (verse 17) as “ those who keep the commandments of God and have the
testimony of Jesus Christ “, were the minority, an element-a remnant in the
midst of others. Broadly viewed, they were both one community and therefore in
relation to the Pagan dragon, one woman. In another relation of things, they
were two-the one the te shell, the othr the kernel-the one the shadow the other
the substance. To the one class Jesus
tells us he will say in the day of account , “I never knew you “ (Matt7:23 ) To the other
he will unite himself in glorious marriage as a bridegroom to a bride.
In the ultimate aspect of things, the latter class only are the woman-the
Bride, the Lamb’s wife ; and although in relation to the aspects of human
history, the nominal are part of the woman as well as the true, yet in even the
current recognitions of Christ, the true only are the woman. The false are
finally symbolized in the Apocalypse as a shameless prostitute.
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It is in view of these
distinctions that we are enabled to understand how it came to pass that after
the woman had been invested with the sun of imperial favour, the woman should
“fly into the wilderness “. As a matter of fact, ecclesiastically considered,
the woman remained in the region of sunshine tbe Christian party continued in
the position to which Constantine’s success elevated her. But shortly after its
elevation, there was a schism which resulted in the separation of the community
into two parts-one of which” fled “from the presence of imperial favour, and
became the object of the persecution of the other. was zealous for the
commandments of God, and the other were worldly time-servers The schism, though long existing as a
spiritual fact, only became openly visible on the appointment to a bishopric of
a man who during the dreadful persecution of Diocletian and Galerius, had given
up the Scriptures to save his life. The faithful could not brook such a
violation of Christian decorum and refused to recognize the man that had been
appointed. The dispute raged with great bitterness. It came several times
before Constantine, who decided in favour of the reprobate, who was the
favourite of the Court party. The particulars you may learn in Eureka, where they are very fully set
for . The decision resulted in the
flight of the woman both in the spiritual and the geographical sense. She fled
from the presence of the Court, saying through one of their leading
writers, “What has. the Emperor to do
with the Church? what have Christians to do with kings? and what have bishops
to do at Court? “ And she flew from the Roman soil and took refuge in the
African provinces of the Roman empire--the territory forming the southern
margin of the Mediterranean, and the northern fringe of the African continent.
Here she was fed and nourished, and afterwards spreading herself into the
southern parts of Europe, she sustained in the capacity of the two witnesses,
that 1,260 days’ (years) testimony in the presence of her persecutors which we
had to consider in the last lecture.
Here a question will
occur to many : “Are we to consider, then, that the churches in Roman Africa in
the fourth and fifth centuries, and the various dissenting bodies in
Switzerland, France, and other parts, were the true brethren of Christ? If so,
why is it that what we, the Christadelphians, consider the truth is not to be
found in their writings?” Some make use of this argument to reject the truth.
This is a great mistake. The question of the truth is not to be settled by
reference to human documents or human constructions of history. We must inquire
concerning this at the holy oracles alone “To the law and to the testimony ; if
any speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them
“. Yes, yes, says the objector, very good : but how are we to deal with the
question asked? The answer is that though these communions were not in the mass
the body of Christ, they contained it while the church ascendant-the Catholic
sun-invested woman, contained it not at all. There is evidence that the
heretics as a class contained the brethren of Christ in their symbolization as
the witnesses, but
Page104
the same symbolization
representing them as two, brings with
it the evidence that, like Israel after the flesh, they were not all Israel
that were of Israel. Fragmentary writings exhibiting affinities with the truth
present the same evidence : they are quoted by Dr. Thomas in Eureka. But even if there were no such
evidence, we should be unwise in allowing the uncertainties of history to
weaken our perceptions of the truth. In all our conceptions of truth and duty,
we must be governed wholly by the Scripture. We know we are safe here, whereas
in dealing with matters of which there is no authentic record, we are on
slippery ground. You cannot rely on the portraiture of ecclesiastical history.
In after ages, Canon Bowiby, of Birmingham, would be accepted as a competent
Witness touching the Christadelphians yet how little, as recent experience has
shown us, could we recognize ourselves in his descriptions.
Going back to the days
of her flight, before Constantine had yet become supreme ruler of the Roman
world, we read (verse 7), “And there was war in heaven : Michael and his angels
fought against the dragon ; . and the dragon fought and his angels. and
prevailed not ; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great
dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were
cast out with him. And I heard a voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation,
and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and
night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death “. In these verses we
have a symbolical representation of the struggle that. elevated Constantine
from the position of ruler of a third of the Roman Empire (in conjunction with
his Pagan colleagues, who ruled the remaining thirds), to the position of sole
emperorship. It was a struggle in which the testimony for Christ-(sown in
previous centuries of tears and blood)- obtained final victory over Paganism,
and banished it from the system of the civilized world. It was a struggle
conducted “in heaven “, that is, it was war among the rulers. Maximin, the
emperor of the eastern or Asiatic third of the empire, made war on ,Licinius,
the ruler of the middle, or Illyrian third, with a fatal result to Maximin,
whose dominions, on his overthrow by Licinius, were add to those of the latter
. Licinius emboldened by his success and
hating the pro-Christian policy of
Constantine ( ruler of the western, or Roman third) resolved to put forth his
power against Constantine, and to re-establish Paganism throughout the empire.
This brought on war between Licinius and Constantine, which, after several
great battles (each a victory for Constantine), ended in the complete overthrow
of Licinius, and the expulsion of Paganism from the government of the Roman
world. Constantine became sole emperor and Christianity the only recognized
religion of the State, from Persia to the Atlantic. This was the triumph of
(the
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symbolic) “Michael and
his angels” over the “dragon and his angels “.Michael, meaning, who like God, was the symbolic name of
Constantine; as the instrument by which God cast the idols from the throne of the world, and
substituted thereon, in a preliminary way, the name of His Son. As opposed to
this enterprise, Pagan imperialism was the political incorporation of the
original diabolism of human nature, and, therefore, “that old serpent the
Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world “. The wrath of this Devil,
on his ejection from heaven, i.e., Italy
(the heaven –proper of the Roman
system), and the woe announced for the inhabitants of the earth an sea on his
descent among them, refer to the stages in the process by which, during twelve
years, Pagan superstition was driven by degrees from all place and power in the
Roman habitable. In the latter stages, when Licinius, after his overthrow of
Maximin, conceived hostile intentions against Constantine, the devil was filled
“with great wrath “, knowing his time was short ; and he “persecuted the woman
that had brought forth the man child “, that is, he promulgated oppressive laws
against the Christian community in his dominions. The literature of the times
bears evidence that there was a general presentiment that Paganism was doomed,
which stirred up its supporters, under the leadership of Licinius, to supreme
efforts, which brought war and devastation on the inhabiters of the eastern and
maritime districts of the empire. In twelve years from the commencement of the
conflict, the political Michael was entirely victorious, and the “ old serpent,
the Devil, and Satan “, as incorporated in the venerable Paganism of Greece and
Rome, was utterly cast down.
When these events were consummated, there were great rejoicings among the Christian party surrounding Constantine, and throughout the whole empire, who from that time imagined that the kingdom of Christ had really come by the hand of Constantine. This was the loud voice of verse 10-a voice “ in heaven “-in the ruling sphere, saying, “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God “. It was only, however, in a preliminary, typical, and shadowy sense that this had come to pass. It is only when the seventh trumpet sounds that “the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of Christ “, as we have seen. The “ loud voice “ represents the exultations that actually took place, as ecclesiastical history testifies, but does not necessarily guarantee these exultations as representing the accurate truth in all particulars.
Inverse 14. we have the
flight of the faithful woman again introduced. We have considered the meaning
of this in connection with verse 6. Verse 14 adds to the information of vers 6
by telling us where the woman was to be nourished. “Two wings of a great eagle
“, or as it is in the original, “ of the great
eagle “, were given to her that she might fly into the wilderness state.
Understanding the Roman power to be meant by” the great eagle” (and this was
one of Rome’s leading symbols), the wings would indicate the
Page 106
outlying provinces of
the Roman jurisdiction. The city of Rome itself was the head of the eagle ;
Italy its body; and the countries east and west, subject to its authority, its
wings. History shows us that it was in these wings where the witnessing
community were nourished. Dr. Thomas, in Eureka,
illustrates this in a very ample and satisfactory manner. I would recommend
you to make the acquaintance of that wonderful work. Perhaps you may feel more
encouraged to do so after the slight understanding of matters which these
lectures may afford.
In verses 15-16 we have
“ the serpent “, also styled the dragon “, exhibited as the persecutor of the
woman for a lengthened period. After the overthrow of the Pagan dragon, the
actual persecutor in the case was the government of Constantine, under the instigation
of the bishops of the Catholic Church of the Court party. This creates a seeming difficulty in view of
the fact that the Pagan dragon was finally disposed of by the victories of
Constantine. It is staggering at first sight to find dragon stand for
Paganism, and then for the Christian government of Constantine, who overthrew
Paganism. The explanation is to be found in the fact, that though in the
conflict in which Constantine as the Christian ruler of a part of the empire,
contended against Paganism as the champion of the Christian name, only Paganism
could be considered as the serpent and adversary ; yet, afterwards, when
Constantine occupied the dragon capital-Byzantium, afterwards called
Constantinople--and had absorbed the dragon territory into his dominions, and
became, in his turn, an adversary and persecutor of” the remnant of the woman’s
seed” his government became transformed into the political serpent and dragon,
as distinctly as his Pagan predecessors. Therefore, the vision, which has more
to do with the nature of things than their nominal distinctions, retains the
serpent-dragon as the symbol of the Church’s persecutors, when those
persecutors were nominally the Church’s protectors. The vision is thus in harmony with events as
they unfolded themselves in fact, though out of it with historical nomenclature
from a human point of view. In this it gives one of many marks of its divinity.
It is after the analogy of the symbol of the woman, which in one relation of
things is the community of the faithful ; and, in another, the apostate Church
in adulterous association with the kings of the earth.
In the water mentioned
in verse 15, which the dragon cast out of his mouth , to overwhelm the woman,
we may recognize the military expeditions dispatched by the Catholic government
against the schismatics in the Roman “wings”.
In the earth helping the woman and opening her mouth to absorb the flood
and to save the woman, we see prefigured the aid that was rendered to the
faithful Christian community by the lawless lovers of liberty in Africa-emphatically
the earth-who resorted to violent
measures in their defense. The particulars, which are very interesting, will be
found
Page 107
very fully set forth in
the third volume of Eureka. We cannot
do more on the present occasion than indicate the interpretation.
“The dragon was wroth
with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed.” In the
carrying out of this war during the ages that followed, the ecclesiastical
enemy of “ the remnant of the woman’s seed “ underwent various political transformations,
which are the subject of representation in chapter 13. This chapter is full of
interesting details. We cannot go into them with the minuteness which they
deserve. We must be content to indicate the general outlines in a rough and
ready way. They have to do with the new constitution of things in Europe
springing out of the Constantinian revolution. Such as desire to attain a more
thorough acquaintance with the matter will do well to avail themselves of the
opportunity so wonderfully brought within their reach in Dr. Thomas’ Eureka. His exposition of this chapter
alone occupies .~ over 200 pages of the third volume.
John, standing upon the
sand of the sea (chapter 13 I), sees a beast rise up out of the sea having
seven heads and ten horns, and upon his
horns ten crowns. The seven heads and ten horns show the, Roman nature of
the power represented, and the crowns being on the horns and not on the heads
shows the time or era. It is the new organization of the Roman world in the
west long after the era of Constantine, when the days of a single imperial rule
had passed away, and the ten kings had made their appearance, and acquired
their sovereignty in Europe. “ Upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” The
Papacy is the name of blasphemy, and the heads, the seven hills upon which it
is established. The beast –therefore has to do with. Papa1- times. These had
not arrived in the days of Constantine. The Popeship was in the germ even then
in the office and pretensions of the Bishop of Rome : still it was not a
developed institution. It did not become the name of blasphemy enthroned on the
seven hills of Rome till nearly 300 years afterwards.
“The dragon gave him his
power, and his seat, and great authority.” The dragon, as we have seen, first
represented the political Paganism of Rome in its opposition to the Christian
name in the west. This political Paganism was headed up in Licinius, whose seat
of government was Byzantium (afterwards called Constantinople). Licinius in the
east (Byzantium) Constantine in the west (Rome), presented at this time the
historical counterpart of the dragon and his angels on the one side, and
Michael and his angels on the other. When Constantine had overthrown Licinius,
he transferred his capital from Rome to Byzantium, which he built anew and
named Constantinople. Here he and his successors became what Licinius’s
government had been before them-the dragon. They did so by reason of occupying
the same capital, ruling the same territory and assuming the same hostility
towards the true witnesses of Christ. It was from Constantinople that the
persecution of the Church emanated in Constantinian and
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succeeding times.
Constantinople continued to be the throne of the dragon though professedly
Christian in character. A recognition of this is necessary to enable us to
understand the statement that “the dragon gave (to the beast of the sea) his
power, and his seat, and great authority “. It was from the emperor reigning in
Constantinople in the east that the Papacy in the west received its
constitution and recognition, or its “power and seat and great authority “. The
history of the uprise of the Papacy will show you this. The dragon had the
power to bestow, and bestowed it on the bishop of Rome after wavering for some
time between the bishop of Rome and the bishop of Constantinople. It was not an
instantaneous or a single act of appointment. The competition between Rome and
Constantinople for the headship of Christendom extended over more than a
century. It was terminated in favour of Rome by the emperor Justinian in A.D.
535, whose decision was finally confirmed and established by his successor the
emperor Phocas, A.D. 6o6-8.
“I saw one of his heads
as it were wounded unto death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world
wondered after the beast.” The sixth head of the Roman beast-that is, the sixth
of its seven historic forms of government-the imperial-received an apparently
fatal wound from the sword of the Goths, as we saw in the consideration of the
fourth trumpet. The Roman Empire was totally extinguished in the west-the
kingdom of the Goths taking its place “ for a short time “, that is for seventy
years. At the end of that time, the forces of the dragon-the armies of the
emperor at Constantinople, restored the imperial authority in Italy by
defeating and expelling the Gothic forces and putting an end to the Gothic
interregnum. Afterwards, on the ground thus cleared, Roman imperialism was
restored in the crowning of Charlemagne in Rome as Roman emperor of the west.
Thus the sixth head of the Roman beast was healed, to the admiration and
astonishment of the world, who rejoiced in the evidently perennial vigor of the
ancient imperialism of Rome, re-invigorated from Constantinople. This state of
mind is indicated in the statement that all the world wondered after the beast.
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast “.
“And there was given
unto him (the beast) a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies ; and power
was given to him to continue (A.V. margin-to make war) forty and two months.”
To the Roman beast, in its Papal constitution, was given (by the dragonic
imperial decree from Constantinople) authority to dictate to the world in
spiritual things. The Roman Pontiff, in his official utterances, was this
mouth, whose great speakings were blasphemies. Power also to wield the sword,
in the enforcement of the ecclesiastical ascendancy, was accorded by the same
settlement of things, by the Constantinople (dragonic) ordinance. The duration
of that power was not defined in the dragonic decree ; but it was fixed in the
counsels of Providence. The Papacy was to possess the power
Page 109
for forty-two months
(1,260 days or years). We are living at the end of the period, and can see that
the word of God has been fulfilled. Exactly 1,260 years from its first
institution by the Emperor Justinian, in AD. 535, viz., at the close of the
last century, during the French Revolution, it received a terrible blow, nearly
fatal, at the hands of the first Napoleon. But the first institution of Papal
power was only preliminary, and therefore 1,260 years from that time could not
be the full termination. Its confirmation and establishment by Phocas, in
6o6-8, supplied another starting-point for the forty and two months. Reckoned
from this date, we are conveyed to the events of AD. 1867, when the French, on
their return, rescued the Pope from Garibaldi, took possession of the so-called
“ Holy City “, and virtually terminated the Pope’s power to make war against
his enemies. Three years later even the shadow of THE TEMPORAL POWER
disappeared in the conflict between France and Germany ; and, at the present
moment, * the Pope is known among his friends as “ the prisoner of the Vatican
“. His power is gone. The government of the King of Italy has possession of the
City. The Pope is reduced to the position of a mere bishop again. He is obliged
to tolerate dissenting chapels before his very eyes, and is powerless to stop
the free circulation of the Bible, which has never before been allowed in Rome
during the forty and two months. This is a great sign that we are near the end
of the present order.
In verse 11, John
beholds another beast come up-not out of the sea, but out of the earth.
Students of the Apocalypse have found Some difficulty with this beast ; but Dr.
Thomas has cleared it away. That it is another form of the Papal beast is
proved by the statement in verse 12, that “ he causeth them that dwell therein
to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed “. You may ask, why
should there be another form of the Papal beast? Because, in the progress of
events, the Papal ascendancy took an entirely new phase. The Constantinopolitan
dragon of the east, who in the first place gave him his authority, finally
became of no account ; and from the interior regions of Europe-(and therefore
from” the earth “, Apocalyptically speaking, as contrasted with the
Mediterranean seaboard) there now sprang up a new conquering power, which obtained
the controlling ascendancy in Europe, and incorporated the Papacy in itself in
a new order of things. This was the Germanic Empire, springing out of the order
of things established by the victories of Charlemagne, king of the French, the
emperor of the Romans. Let anyone read the history of this Germanic Empire,
which slowly and peacefully shifted from France to Germany, and finally to
Austria, as the leading German power. They will find that it had two horns, or
was constituted of two contemporary dynasties-viz., the Emperor and the Pope.
These were the two leading features of the empire, to which the rest of
* that is in 1880
Page 110
Europe were subject. The
Pope held his position subject to the confirmation of the emperor, and the
emperor did not hold a valid position till he received his crown at the hands
of the Pope. It was a dual empire-a two-horned beast. They were lamb-like horns
(verse 11) ; that is, by profession, they belonged to Christ between them they
were Christendom ; but the beast spake like a dragon for all that. in
nature and principles it was thoroughly dragonic, though ostensibly holding a
lamb-like character. Let anyone study the deeds of the Pope and emperor, and
they will see the truthfulness of this symbolism. No more merciless tyranny
ever afflicted earth than that which, under the name of the Holy Roman Empire,
caused the tears and blood of thousands to flow in dire persecution and
oppression, under a pretense of authority’ from Christ.
The two-horned beast “
caused the earth and them who dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose
deadly wound was healed “. The first beast being Rome in the first stage of her
Papal constitution, was now incorporate in the two-horned beast it was merged
or fused with it. This is proved by the fact that the latter” exercised all the
power of the first beast “ and proved also by the history and facts of the
case, The first beast was revived in the constitution of the second, in so far
as imperial rank was restored to Rome, and the Roman Empire re-instated in the
west, in the new empire created by the proclamation of Charlemagne as Roman
Emperor by the Pope. This was the healing of the wounded sixth head, and by the
public proclamation of the new empire, the earth and the dwellers therein were
commanded to worship “ the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed “. The
great wonders which the new beast was able to perform consisted of the
prodigies of war, for which Charlemagne is famous in history. He was able to
enforce his will upon all Europe by the powers for destruction which he
possessed, symbolized by “ making fire come down from heaven on the earth, in
the sight of men “. By these political miracles he deceived “them that dwell on
the earth “ into the conviction that divine authority was on his side, and
proposed and carried his proposal into effect, that an image should be made of
the killed beast that had recovered. This, of course, is not a literal image.
It is part of the symbolism. It means a political likeness, or counterpart of
the imperial system in Rome that had been killed by the Gothic sword the
restoration, in fact, of the old imperiality of Rome in a new form. This was
accomplished on the investiture of the Pope with all the prerogatives of an
emperor. In this position he was the exact likeness of the old Roman emperors
of the sixth head-chief magistrate in the domain of civil law, and, at the same
time, chief pontiff of the national religion. He was, to all intents and
purposes, an image of the defunct imperialism of the west, but a speaking image
; for the new beast which came on the scene with the victories and empire of
Charlemagne, had “power to give life unto the image of the beast” (verse 15).
Victorious Charlemagne
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(accepted and crowned by
the Pope) had the power to give political vitality to the Papal image of the
beast. This power he exercised, and ordered the worship of the Pope-King on
pain of death (verse 15), causing all to receive a mark in their right hand, or
in their forehead, that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark or
the name of the beast, or the number of his name (verse 17). This was the
symbolic way of setting forth that, under the new system, the authority of the
Papal image would be made essential to the holding of any office, or the
exercise of any traffic, in the emoluments or advantages of Church or State ;
and as this authority was conferred by signing .the cross on the forehead or
right hand of the recipient of official favour, the cross became the subject of
this symbolism as “ the mark of the beast “. The name of the beast, or the
number of his name, were equivalent symbols of the same thing. Those who know
the name of the beast, or the number of his name, are in the secret as to what
is meant by the symbol. “ It is the number of a man “, so says the last verse.
That is, when you have found the system represented by the name of the beast,
you will find the system is centered in a man, though the man and the system
are two things. The perception of this enigma is made a feat of wisdom in
verse 18.
Here is wisdom. Let him
that hath understanding count the number of the beast ; for it is the number of
a man ; and his number is six hundred, threescore and six.” There has been a
great deal of guessing and speculating on this subject. It is a standing joke
with the scorning and scoffing class, but it is a matter of wisdom for all
that. The difficulty which most people have had in finding it out is due to the
fact that their theology prevents them from identifying the beast. They regard
the Roman Communion as a part of the true Church of Christ, and are therefore
driven to look into indefinite futurity for this phenomenon of human history
which is already hoary with age. Those who know the truth are burdened with no
such difficulty. They see in the leading figure of Christendom-a sovereign who
pretends to hold office in all the centuries as Christ’s representative and to
be endowed with supernatural authority and prerogatives-an exact fulfillment of
all that was shown to John, and also to Paul, as to the anti-Christ, the Man of
Sin, that was coming. The only question is how the Apocalyptic identification
of 666 can be discovered in him. Does any official title appertaining to him,
when the letters of that title are summed up in their numerical value, yield
the number in question as “ the number of his name”? It matters not if twenty
other names can be made to yield the same number : it must be a name in
connection with a one-man system which has wielded a compulsory authority in
all the earth in centuries past. The Papal system is such a system, and there
is no other system or man of whom this can be affirmed. It is, therefore, a
simple question of whether a system, answering in all material points to the
prophecy, presents also this feature of identification, that its name,
numerically estimated, is equal to 666.
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The answer is before us
in the Greek name Lateinos, which, in
plain English, may be said to mean
Latindom or Latin power, kingdom or Church headed up in the Pope The letters of this name added together
according to their arithmetical value, give the number thus :-
A ... ... .. ...
30
a ... ... ... ~ ... I
r ... ... ... ... ... 300
e ... ... ... ... ... 5
i….. …10
V ... ,.. ... .…50
o ... ... ... ... .…70
c … … … … ….200
________
666
It would be a grave
defect in this evening’s lecture, if I were to neglect to point out the
unmistakable stamp of divine reprobation placed upon the Papal system-root and
branch-by the language of verse 8 : “All that dwell upon the earth shall
worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain
“. As if to give it greater emphasis, verse 7 adds these words “ If any man
have an ear, let him hear “. The multitude admire various features of the Roman
system which commend themselves to human appreciation-its antiquity, its
numbers, its learning, its wealth, its political status, its history, etc. They
think it the most odious form of uncharity to doubt the salvability of those
who belong to its communion. Be it ours to accept the odium consequent on
receiving the word of God. This word says-and it strikingly calls our attention
to the fact-that those only worship the beast whose names are not written in
the Lamb’s book of life. Consequently, it is impossible for anyone realizing
this to have the least sympathy with the system or its ramifications. The
finger of God’s condemnations is indelibly placed on it by this chapter, if
there were no other and if it must be considered uncharitable to be on God’s
side, wise men will suffer the rebuke, awaiting in patience and submission the
day spoken of in subsequent chapters, when God will destroy Christendom, in
preparation for the establishment of His own glorious kingdom in all the earth.
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NINTH LECTURE
REVELATION XIV
Daybreak after night-the Lamb on Mount Zion-the 144,000 who
are with Him-who they are-their virginity-the meaning-their song that no man
could know-the women, with whom the 144,000 are not &filed-following the Lamb-the everlasting gospel preached
in the hour of judgment-the summons to the world-the result-catastrophe to
Rome-warning proclamation to the nations-the threatened torment to the
worshippers of the image-the smoke of their torment-not tht orthodox hell-a
terrible epoch in the history of Europe-the blessedness at that time of the
dead dying in the Lord-the white cloud, and the sickle-armed Son of Man sitting
thereon-a hieroglyph of coming retribution-the angel coming out of the temple,
and the angel coming out of the altar-stages in the work of judgment--the 1,600
furlongs of blood to the horse bridles-a
horrid picture-the glorious sequel.
THERE is a very great
contrast between the scenes exhibited in this 14 th chapter of Revelation, and
those we had to look at in the 13th. It is the contrast expressed in the
statement “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning “. The
chapters in question exhibit this fact in symbol, so far as concerns the class
of whom Jesus said, “Blessed are ye that weep now “. We have the long, dark,
distressful history of Europe under the militant Papacy in chapter 13, and the
inauguration of the joyous morning in chapter 14. For this reason chapter 14 is
more interesting. It brings light, and life, and cheer, after the gloom
resulting from the ascendancy of the Man of Sin. The history of the Man-of-sin
power is in reality an unbroken history, from the apostolic age to the Lord’s
coming in power and great glory. The chapters in question show it. Paul shows
it in saying of his own day, “The
mystery of iniquity doth already work
; only that which hindereth must be taken out of the way. ‘Then shall that
Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth,
and destroy with the brightness of his coming “. From the “ already-working”
point in Paul’s day, to “ the brightness of the Lord’s coming “, is an unbroken
line. It shows us the Papal system lasting till the Lord’s coming. Revelation
13 shows us the shape and attitude of the power during the longest part of the
unbroken line. Chapter 14 shows us the glorious event at the end of the line.
I looked, and, lo, a
Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred and forty and four
thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.” We know who the
Lamb is “The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world “-Jesus, the
Son of God. Why did John see him stand at his coming “on mount Zion” ? The
gospel of the kingdom gives us the answer, which cannot be obtained from the
teaching of the day : Zion was the seat of David’s government in the land of
promise. To Jesus belongs the throne of David (Luke 1: 32). On that throne he
will
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sit in the age to come
(Isaiah 9, 6). Occupying this, he must needs reign on Mount Zion (Micah 4 ;
Isa. 24 23), in harmony with what is written in the I2nd Psalm, verse 13-14 : “
The Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my
rest for ever : here will I dwell “. It may be said, this is treating Zion
literally when, by the character of the apocalypse it ought to be construed
symbolically. The answer has already been before us in connection with the
symbol of the Euphrates. Literal objects are introduced as the basis of the
symbolical representation of events having to do with those literal
objects. As the Euphrates, a literal
part of the Turkish Empire, is used to represent symbolically that empire, so
Zion, a literal element in the kingdom of David, is introduced symbolically to
represent that kingdom.
With the Lamb is a great
company. They are stated to be “an hundred and forty and four thousand “~ This,
of course, is their symbolic, not their literal number, for they are literally
defined as a “great multitude, which no man could number” (Rev. 7: 9). Twelve is the numerical root of
the divine economy upon earth-12 sons of .Jacob-12 tribes of Israel-I2 apostles
of the Lamb. Twelve multiplied by 12, constituting what is mathematically
termed a “ square “ of the number, yields 144, and thousands are added to show
that multitudes are embraced. An Israelitish multitude is the idea conveyed by
the number 144,000.
Some have distressed
themselves with the idea that 144,000 is the exact number of the company of the
chosen. They think of that as a small number, and the opportunity of salvation
slight in consequence. They think if that number is made up, there is no use
trying. There is no need for this distress. Even if 144,000 were the exact
number (and no man knows the exact number : doubtless, it is fixed), so long as
the door is unshut, no one walking in will be turned back : the open door, and
his walking in, would be proof of inclusion among the number ; for Jesus has
said, “All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me : and him that cometh
unto mc I will in no wise cast out” (John 6 37).
The 144,000 had “ the
Father’s name written on their foreheads “-“ his Father’s” name-the Lamb’s Father’s name-the name of God. This
shows that the 144,000 consist of enlightened persons. The forehead is the
symbol of the understanding, and the name of the Father, the knowledge of God.
The ignorant of the things of God have no place among the 144,000, whose chief
characteristic is the knowledge of God. This is in harmony with what Jesus said
“ This is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 57 : 3). As it is written, “ The foolish
shall not stand in thy sight (Psa. 5 : 5) ; they are “ alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them” (Eph. 4 18). Some despair at
these facts, as though they involved exclusion from the kingdom of God. The
right use to make of them is to make them a reason for the diligent obedience
of the precept which says “ If thou criest after
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knowledge, and liftest
up thy voice for understanding ~ if thou seekest her as silver, and search for
~ her as for hid treasures; then thou
shall understand the fear of the Lord,
and find the knowledge of God “. “Be diligent to make your calling and election
sure.” The common habit is to treat these things with indifference. Let the
anxious avoid the common habit, and obey the commandments, and they will
experience the truth of those words of wisdom “All the words of my mouth are. .
. plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
Receive my instruction, and not silver ; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
For wisdom is better than rubies ; and all the things that may he desired are
not to be compared to it “.
How did John see the 144,000 occupied ~ “They sung as it were a new song.” This is the scriptural way of expressing a new deliverance. When David had just been delivered from distress, he said that God “ had put a new song in his mouth “. The new song of the 144,000 points to the fact that they have just attained that mighty deliverance which awaits all the sons of God at the Lord’s coming-deliverance from the feebleness of mortal nature, and from all the cares and evils that afflict present life, and from the constitution of the evil world. It is a song of great and joyous exultation. Their voice, John says, was “ as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder