Chapter 22 (3)

With the opening of the second part of the episode there is a sudden expansion of the horizon; every barrier of race and nation has disappeared, and a triumphant multitude of the saved from all peoples, a company which no man could number, far surpassing that of Israel, is seen standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, the symbol of purity,(410) and having palms in their hands, the token of joy as well as victory (cf. _I Macc._ 13.51), and perhaps, also, as a sign of triumphant homage to the Lamb. The use of palms in the Feast of Tabernacles may have been foremost in thought here, but we need not confine the significance of the figure to the Jewish symbolism of joy. It probably includes all the ideas connected with palms that were familiar to the thought of the time, without regard to their origin; for it is not justifiable to assume that the Apocalypse contains no ideas borrowed from heathen antiquity, but moves exclusively within the circle of sacred, that is, Jewish imagery and symbols.(411) This represents an opinion which in the light of later studies in Apocalyptic cannot be maintained, though manifestly everything has been assimilated by the Jewish conception, from whatever source it may have been derived. The phase of the vision presented in the ninth verse, affords a view of the redeemed church in its fulness, the multitude of the saved from both covenants now joined in one body in which no distinction of race or nation exists, a view much wider in its scope than the former one of the sealing.(412)

Many commentators, it must be recognized, view this passage differently (v. 4‐9), and maintain the full identity of the hundred and forty‐four thousand and the great multitude by a somewhat strained exegesis, making the hundred and forty‐four thousand the symbol of the Christian church.(413) In the interpretation of such symbols, however, we must always allow a latitude of view, for different interpretations appeal with varying force to different minds; and it should be remembered in holding the view accepted in this work, that while the symbol is taken from the case of Israel, and is therefore correctly interpreted as applying primarily to the people of Israel, yet it is not Jews as distinguished from Gentiles that are meant, but the saints of the Old Testament as distinguished from those of the New, the few in contrast with the many; and that in a wider sense the figure symbolizes salvation as a whole, represented here by a part in which it is shown to be effective, the main idea being salvation made certain and efficient by the divine act of sealing, while in the great multitude the symbol is that of salvation become world‐wide in its results. The question of the identity of the two groups is therefore subordinate, and cannot be regarded as of any special importance.

It may be well at this point, in view of the great and radiant multitude of the redeemed, the innumerable company out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, who stand before the throne and join in the cry of “Salvation unto our God ... and unto the Lamb” (v. 10), for us to emphasize the wide‐spread and triumphant effect of the gospel in the world of men which is here foreshown. It has been too often asserted by modern critics that the outlook of the Revelation is narrow and Jewish, and its view limited and discouraging. As against this it is well to remember the lesson of these verses, as well as that of many other similar passages throughout the book (cf. chs. 5:9; 21:24; 22:7, _et al._). We should also clearly see that the Revelation from its nature and purpose deals chiefly with the plan of God for the ages, and with the causes and events which lead on to the end of the world, and that therefore its essential message is not addressed to evangelistic effort or to missionary enterprise, but to faith in God when days are dark and storms fill the sky, and to preparation for meeting him in a fairer world when earthly days are done. Yet the book just as clearly shows that the divine plan both includes and prepares for the essentially world‐wide and universal mission of Christianity; and the message of the gospel to every creature is repeated and emphasized throughout in such a way as to make plain that the great work and chief purpose of the Kingdom of God in the earth is to redeem and to save the lost. And surely this important truth should never be left out of view in our perusal of the book.

2 The Cry of the Church Triumphant, Ch. 7:10‐12

The whole body of the redeemed, the saved out of both covenants, the united company which no man could number, that includes both Jews and Gentiles, is heard unitedly to cry with a loud voice, “Salvation unto our God ... and unto the Lamb”, i. e. salvation is attributed unto God and the Lamb(414) (the Salvation Chorus), while all the heavenly court join them in a seven‐fold symphony of praise. This is the last in a series of growing doxologies. In ch. 1:6 the praise ascribed is twofold, in ch. 4:11 it is threefold, in ch. 5:13 it is fourfold, and now in ch. 7:12 it is sevenfold—“Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, _be_ unto our God forever and ever”. It should also be noted that in the Salvation Chorus, for the first of three times in the book, salvation is ascribed by a voice from heaven to God, or to God and to Christ, viz. in chs. 7:10; 12:10; and 19:1.

3 The Redeemed Before the Throne, Ch. 7:13‐17

John’s attention is at this point specially directed to the triumphant company that is before the throne of God by one of the elders (v. 13f.)(415) in order to emphasize that they of that company have come victorious out of the great tribulation of the earthly life, and _therefore_ they are ever before the throne serving God day and night in his temple, i. e. in the ναὸς, the shrine of the temple in heaven, and sharing in the exceeding blessedness of the divine presence as their great reward. “And he that sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them ... and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.”(416) It is not likely that by the great tribulation in v. 14 is meant a special period of trial such as is implied in ch. 3:10, and by the words of our Lord in Mat. 24:21, but rather the world‐tribulation that belongs to the earthly life of the Christian throughout all time, “the tribulation of Jesus” (ch. 1:9) in which John felt that he had a share. Some, however, think that it is the same period of trial referred to before as preceding the end of the world.(417) Thus with a prophetic view of the redeemed before the throne the episode closes, and the seventh seal is opened (ch. 8:1).

III The Vision of the Seven Trumpets (A Vision of Threatening). Ch. 8:2‐9:21, and 11:14‐19

The vision of the seven trumpets sets forth in pictorial form a divine proclamation of the judgments of God upon the sinful world, especially those to be experienced throughout the prospective history of mankind until the final consummation of all things. It consists of another group of seven that are parallel in a certain sense to the vision of the seals, covering like them the path of the ages, but that form a separate series complete in themselves and that are issued for a different purpose, the seals specially manifesting God’s care of his people in the midst of trial, while the trumpets reveal the divine punishment visited upon the sinful. These two lines of judgment are conceived of as occurring mainly in the same period, but looked at from another point of view: or, perhaps, it might better be said, that we have here another group of seven which follow the whole course of history and develop a new line of divinely ordered occurrences that neither follow nor precede, but are quite independent of any time‐relation to the preceding series of the seals. The number of the trumpets, like that of the seals, is intended to indicate the completeness of the series, for seven is the number of completeness. They are general indications of God’s judgments, and though particular events may be partial fulfilments, the complete fulfilment is in all time.(418)

A The Preparation for the Trumpets, Ch. 8:2‐6

In a short intervening section preparatory to the trumpets, we are shown that the prayers of the saints lead to the manifestation of divine wrath against sin. These verses, it may be said, form a transition from the vision of the seals to that of the trumpets, and are in fact included by some under the seventh seal, though not properly belonging to it. The former vision reaches a fitting close in the period of eternal rest which is looked upon under the seventh seal, and we wait in the quiet that it brings, expecting the end to be announced at once. But instead of that a further vision is revealed to the seer, and we again traverse the course of history by a different path to its ending. In another series of seven under the trumpets the punishment of the ungodly is reviewed, and divine wrath is seen to fall upon the heads of the sinful. This succeeding series of trumpet visions is introduced by verses two to six in the eighth chapter.

1 An Angel Offers Incense upon the Golden Altar, Ch. 8:3‐5

The incense is added unto the prayers of all the saints which are thus typically purified, and they are straightway presented before the throne of God in heaven. Incense was the symbol of prayer under the Old Testament, but it becomes here, by a further development of the symbol, the vehicle for bearing the prayers to the throne, and the action apparently follows the form of the Jewish ritual worship. An angel standing over the brazen altar of sacrifice, takes fire from it in a golden censer or fire‐pan, and much incense is then given him to add unto the prayers of all the saints, evidently for their purification and that he may offer them at the golden altar of incense which is before the throne of God. Completing this action, the angel returns again to the brazen altar to take fire from it that he may cast it as the symbol of judgment upon the earth (cf. Ezek. 10:2f). Others, however, think that only one altar, that of incense, is referred to in the action.(419) In either case the worship of the Old Testament is the basis of the figure, though the scene is laid in heaven. “And there followed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake”, the tokens of God’s presence and of the approaching divine judgment.

2 The Seven Angels Prepare to Sound, Ch. 8:2, 6

To the seven angels are given seven trumpets with charge of the series of impending woes; and the angels put the trumpets to their lips ready to sound, mention of which is made in order to emphasize the importance to be attached to their action as angels who stand before God. Their position implies special service, and their number doubtless indicates the perfection of their ministry.(420) The trumpet, which was the common instrument for public announcement, and often connected with the idea of judgment,(421) may be here intended to recall its use at the fall of Jericho (Josh. 6:4f). The seven angels may also be taken to represent the whole body of angel ministrants who serve before God, just as the seven churches symbolize the whole church.

B The Trumpets Sounded, Ch. 8:7‐9:21; and 11:14‐19

The sounding of the trumpets represents the proclamation of signal and destructive judgments upon the ungodly world. The form of these judgments in the vision was adapted to current conceptions of great calamities, and may be regarded as symbolizing all the terrible woes in store for all the wicked in all the ages—wide world‐pictures of the divine purpose of punishment. The latter half of the first century was marked by many terrible visitations, such as earthquakes, famines, and plagues, and it should not be thought strange to find these events reflected in such a book as the Apocalypse at a time when they were fresh in the public mind. That they had some such source is evident, for the graphic descriptions of appalling disaster by earthquake in Martinique (1901), and in Messina (1908), have served to illumine many passages in the Revelation, as have also other similar occurrences previously known. These judgments in the visions constitute not only the divine means of punishment, but become the divine test of character, revealing the essential nature of evil men; for the effect of the judgments, unlike that of the seals, falls mainly upon the evil.

1 The Sounding of the First Trumpet, Ch. 8:7

The sounding of the first trumpet is followed by hail and fire mingled in blood cast upon the earth: the symbol of disaster visited upon the land, and men punished by such means as in the days of Pharaoh,—for fire is a symbol of the divine presence and wrath, and the blood indicates the destructive effects about to be wrought upon both the animate and inanimate creation for the chastisement of man. The resemblance of the first four judgments of the trumpets and also of the vials to the plagues of Egypt, is too manifest to escape the attention of any careful reader of Scripture, and affords a ready proof of their representative character. These well‐known historic incidents of judgment, belonging to the birth‐ period of the Hebrew nation, which are so deeply inwrought in the Old Testament story, and whose significance was so well understood, become the ready types of other judgments that are sent with a similar purpose and that belong to the divine order, but the intimate nature of which it was not the divine purpose to disclose. They are widely suggestive of God’s power over things the most permanent and stable. The destruction of but a third part of the objects affected as the result of the trumpet series, represents a limited judgment, not an actual third but a fractional portion destroyed, a great but not the greater part. The earth, the sea, the rivers, and the heavenly bodies, on which the first four judgments fall, are parts of a fourfold division of the universe which is common in this book, and are intended to designate the entire created world, both here and in the vision of the vials.(422) In this comprehensive designation the earth, or the land, was thought of as the nourishing mother and the dwelling‐place of man; the sea as the agent and arena of commerce; the rivers as the seat of cities, the centres of population, the arteries of trade, and the source of water supply; and the heavenly bodies as the source of light, and as the rulers of destiny—together representing in common thought the great things of life to the world of men. Disaster to these, the sources of wealth and well‐being, has always been among Oriental nations the type of all that is most terrible.

2 The Sounding of the Second Trumpet, Ch. 8:8‐9

The sounding of the second trumpet is followed by, as it were, a great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea, thereby working widespread ruin: the symbol of disaster visited upon the sea, one part of creation which is used as God’s agent for punishing mankind. To move a mountain was a token of divine power, and it was blazing with fire as a sign of the divine presence and wrath—another Sinai in effect flung into the sea. This striking figure of a mountain of fire was perhaps suggested to John’s mind by a volcano, with which he must have become familiar while resident in Asia; but attention is directed more particularly in these visions, especially the first four, to the effect produced rather than to the means used, whether hail and fire, or a mountain, or a star, or the smiting of the planets.(423) The effect produced is one of great terror, though the way in which it applies to men is left to be inferred, and is not attempted to be described. Such an incident was well adapted to the thought of the first century, and could not but strike terror in the mind of the beholder because of the complete helplessness of men in the presence of such a disaster. It presents a wide field for thought, the limits of which are not defined. It is in fact one way of saying that God will make all nature to strive against man because of sin.

3 The Sounding of the Third Trumpet, Ch. 8:10‐11

The sounding of the third trumpet is followed by the falling of a great star from heaven, called Wormwood, upon the waters, burning as a torch and making them bitter: the symbol of disaster visited upon the rivers and fountains of waters, still another part of creation, as an act of divine judgment upon sinful men who dwell by the waters. As under the former trumpets only a third part was affected: “And many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” The falling of a star was regarded as a sign of some great disaster about to happen, and is here apparently intended to be typical of judgment sent from heaven, while the name Wormwood signifies the bitterness of the trouble which it entails upon men. But beyond this all is indefinite, a quality characteristic of Apocalyptic which often heightens rather than lessens the general effect. The bitter waters expressed the moral bitterness that men must taste because of their sin: the wide result is thus covered by an unspoken appeal to thought through a significant symbol.

4 The Sounding of the Fourth Trumpet, Ch. 8:12

The sounding of the fourth trumpet is followed by the smiting of the sun, moon, and stars: the symbol of disaster visited upon the heavenly bodies, not only destroying their light but inflicting a punishment peculiarly terrifying to the Oriental mind because of the occult influence which these bodies were supposed to exert upon the future destinies of men. We need not necessarily regard John as personally sharing in this opinion, but only as using the language and appealing to the thought of his time, as in the preceding reference to the falling star. He seems to look upon these strange occurrences mainly as signs of the divine purpose, as “wonders in the heavens and in the earth” (Joel 2:30) through which God wrought in manifesting his will. The evils resulting from this visitation in the vision, as in the former judgments, are suggested rather than named; but they lie before the mind in a haunting way to be filled in by a vivid imagination with scenes of terror and wrath.

(1) The Eagle and Its Message, Ch. 8:13

At this point an eagle (not an angel, as in the Authorized Version), the symbol of carnage, appears flying high in mid‐heaven, crying, “Woe! Woe! Woe!” and indicating by its rapid flight and thrice repeated call of terror the swiftness of the three coming woes of the remaining trumpets.(424) Also three, the number of the spiritual in contrast with the material, serves to indicate the sphere to which these judgments belong. These three, the fifth, sixth, and seventh, are often called the “woe‐trumpets”, and their effects are visited directly upon men, not indirectly through natural objects as under the preceding four of the series.

5 The Sounding of the Fifth Trumpet, Ch. 9:1‐12

The sounding of the fifth trumpet is followed by a vision of a star from heaven, fallen unto earth, the symbolic representation of Satan cast out of heaven for his sin, and by smoke as of a great furnace enveloping a swarm of locusts that ascend from the pit of the abyss, the present dwelling‐place of Satan and the familiar haunt of demons: the symbol of disaster to men through Satan and his multitudinous host, “the spiritual hosts of wickedness” (Eph. 6:12), the demons from the pit. These are permitted to torment men, producing bitter anguish for five months, the usual life of the locust, and the symbol of an incomplete or limited period of time, which may here refer to the time of man’s existence upon the earth. Five, the half of ten the complete number, is a symbol of incompleteness or indefiniteness. The invading army of locusts is a well‐ known figure of widespread disaster, as in the prophecy of Joel (ch. 2:1‐11). In accordance with general apocalyptic usage the pit of the abyss is regarded as the present abode of the Devil and his angels, and is conceived of as a vast subterranean depth connecting with the surface of the earth by a great shaft or well which can be opened or closed from above, and the entrance to which may be locked or unlocked by a key.(425) That which at first seems to be a cloud of smoke proves to be teeming with forms of life, an evident token of the hidden nature of the source of evil. The power of the locusts is directed immediately against the wicked, such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads, while their sting seems to be the type of the poison of sin which they infuse into the veins of men, and the torment which they inflict to refer to the visitation of sins that bring terrible punishment upon the offenders so that men prefer death rather than life. The description of the locusts as “like unto horses prepared for war etc.”, is a realistic touch intended to heighten the sense of terror, but not to identify them with any objects in human experience. Also the statement that “their faces were as men’s faces”, implies only that they were like men in appearance, though some think this points to human agents. The star is here used in a quite different sense from that under the third trumpet,—for to insist that all objects must have a single symbolism, and that the star must mean the same in every case, i. e. a person, there as well as here, is to neglect one of the clearest lessons of Apocalyptic. Here it is a personification or symbol of Satan (Isa. 14:12), the angel of the abyss, who is named Apollyon,(426) i. e. one who causes perdition to mankind, or in Hebrew, Abaddon, i. e. the destroyer, a sufficient identification for the reader of the Old Testament. The awful woe that the world of evil men suffers at the hands of Satan and his legions is the ideal content of this trumpet; and we notice that the severity of the judgments seems to increase as they progress toward the end. The first woe is now declared to be past (v. 12), but two others are foretold as yet to come.

6 The Sounding of the Sixth Trumpet, Ch. 9:13‐21, and 11:14

The sounding of the sixth trumpet is followed by the loosing of four angels from the bed of the Euphrates (which is done at the bidding of a voice from the four horns(427) of the golden altar of incense that is before God, and underneath which are the souls of them that had been slain for the Word of God—evidently a divine command) who had been prepared for an appointed time, even “for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men” from the earth, and by the coming of a vast invading army of horsemen, the double square of a myriad, or two hundred millions in all, the largest number used in the Apocalypse, the type of an innumerable multitude, which apparently act under direction of the four angels, and destroy a third part of men from the earth:(428) the symbol of disaster to men through the world‐forces of heathenism, which are under direction of the world‐rulers of the darkness (Eph. 6:12). The unbinding of the angels is the symbol of evil let loose among men, for the angels are evil as is indicated by their being bound, by their number, and by the place of their imprisonment, i. e. the binding is the symbol of divine restraint until the appointed time; their number is four, the earth number, indicating that they belong to this world which is usually thought of as evil; and the Euphrates, the place where they are bound, is the old seat of the world‐power, and the representative of heathenism with its multitudinous host. The evils inflicted by the heathen nations upon mankind, especially the evils of war with their concomitant results, are here indicated by this forceful figure; yet these, though deep and terrible, entirely fail to turn the rest of men, who escape death, from idol worship and its attendant impurities—a marvelous forecast of the path of history, for the heathen powers have time and again become the agents of woe to mankind, yet the people have not awakened to the true source of their sorrow in idolatry. The description of the horses and of their riders in the vision is purely an ideal one, intended to make them the objects of greatest terror, a true Oriental touch, appealing to the vivid Eastern imagination as such figures do with us to the minds of children. The woes of men at the hands of heathen nations is the evident content of this trumpet, as is clearly indicated in the twentieth verse of the chapter. At this point the second woe is declared to be past, and the third to be about to come quickly (ch. 11:14); but between them intervenes a vision of divine help, and of the value of the church’s witness (ch. 10:1‐11:13).

This view of the fifth and sixth trumpets seems to meet more fully the statements of the text than other views, and to conform best to the general character of the whole series; for notwithstanding the recognized obscurity of the trumpet visions, we can surely discern divine judgments for wrongdoing in the first four, under forms of physical evil visited upon the natural creation, and in the remaining three, manifestations of moral evil visited upon men for their sin. That the pit or abyss points to demoniacal forces, and the Euphrates to human agencies, is sufficiently evident without discussion.(429) The application of the incidents of the fifth and sixth trumpets to Mohammedans and Turks by some of the historical school, who have even interpreted the tails of the horses as a prophetic reference to these well‐known symbols of authority used by Turkish Pashas, is a curious example of capricious fancy. The fact that the events predicted under the sixth trumpet find a wide exemplification in the incursions of Turk and Mohammedan, Goth and Vandal, is only a clearer proof of their ideal character. And it is surely better to leave these highly wrought imaginative symbols of the trumpets, with their deep suggestiveness of appalling forms of coming evil, in the vague indefiniteness in which we find them, rather than to mar their beauty by weak and narrow interpretations.

[The Episode IIIb, which in this work is given after the seventh trumpet, occurs at the present point in the vision covering chs. 10:1 to 11:13. The connection is resumed in ch. 11:14, for the second woe found in that verse belongs in order of thought at the close of the sixth trumpet, the intervening part being parenthetical—see the Scripture text as paragraphed in this volume].

7 The Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet, Ch. 11:15‐19

The sounding of the seventh trumpet is followed by great voices in heaven, declaring that the kingdom of the world is now become _the kingdom_ of our Lord and of his Christ;(430) by the elders praising God that the time of judgment and reward has come (the Victory Chorus); by the ark of the covenant, the token of God’s abiding presence, being revealed in the opened temple in heaven—a traditional sign in the later Judaism of the coming of the Messiah;(431) and by lightnings, voices, thunders, and an earthquake with great hail, the necessary accompaniments in Jewish thought of the great and final day of wrath: the multiple symbol of the final judgment, and of the glorious triumph of God’s kingdom. The contents of the seventh trumpet are not fully developed, perhaps because they are too great for description, but in it we reach the climax and issue of the whole process of judgment that is exhibited in the series, the full and final establishment of the kingdom. The result is viewed in its entirety, and the millennial period of victory is not brought separately into view. The unveiling of the ark of covenant mercy and the ushering in of the kingdom close the vision, and constitute an informal transition to the vision of conflict through which the triumph has been effected.

If we now rapidly recall the whole course of the seven trumpets, we can see how with progressive movement they increase in severity as they go forward; the judgments they prefigure fall first upon the land, and then consecutively upon the sea, upon the fountains of water, and upon the heavenly bodies, as signs of God’s judgment upon the physical universe, and thus upon men who in their earthly lives form part of the natural world; then with the fifth trumpet the judgments take a wider trend, and point to and include the setting free of numberless demonic forces of evil from the pit of the abyss to prey upon men, and under the sixth trumpet the loosing of the multitudinous world‐forces of heathenism from the banks of the Euphrates to bring world‐wide judgments upon the race, thus preparing the way for the blowing of the seventh trumpet which ushers in the day of cumulative wrath upon sin, and the final triumph of God’s kingdom. This onward progress of the plan of the ages is only broken by a passing view of the possibility of recovery for men in the episode of the angel and the book, and of the two witnesses, which follows. The whole sweep of the judgments of the trumpets, in the view of Apocalyptic perspective, is toward the end of the present world and the triumph of righteousness in the final judgment. There the redeemed are left with God in his glorious kingdom; the after life is not attempted to be described; its blessings are evidently too great for our present comprehension. But the triumph would not be so definite, without the vision of conflict which follows, for it presents the path to victory through prevailing trial and opposition as ever leading on to complete and final triumph in the end, that is to be realized in the glorious presence of the Lamb who is revealed as standing upon Mount Zion in the midst of the redeemed.

IIIb The Episode of the Angel with the Book; and of the Two Witnesses (A Vision of Divine Help). Ch. 10:1‐11:13

This twofold vision forms a digression between the sixth and seventh trumpets, similar to the episode between the sixth and seventh seals, setting forth the opportunities which God has afforded men of escaping his wrath, showing the divine method of help through the institutions of religion, and affirming the permanent value of the church’s witness,—a paragraph that notwithstanding its acknowledged difficulty, is manifestly interposed for the comfort of the church as well as to prepare the way for the last woe of the remaining trumpet.(432) The restraint of wrath indicated by the destruction of only the third part under the trumpets, is now further developed by showing the divine offer of escape; and also man’s common neglect of that offer, which leads at length to final doom under the seventh trumpet. The episode, it will be seen, differs in theme from the one under the seals, the former setting forth the divine side of redemption, and the surety of its accomplishment through the act of sealing, the latter showing the human side of redemption as it is made known to men through the institutions of religion, and the failure of its universal operation through unbelief, leaving the world without excuse to bear the weight of judgment—the one throwing light upon God’s relation to the church, and the other upon his relation to the world, in accordance with the general theme of the seals and the trumpets. Though many are unable to agree that John had such a comprehensive view in mind, or that it is to be looked for in a writing of this class, yet when we consider the various marks of elaborate structure in the book, exhibited in the relation of its different parts, and the deep prophetic insight and poetic intuition manifested by the author in his idealization of the course of the church, we need not be surprised to find a broad and perspicuous view of redemption such as this, especially since the plan of salvation had already been so fully elaborated in an earlier period by the great Apostle to the Gentiles.

A The Angel with the Little Open Book, Ch. 10:1‐11

The first part of the episode exhibits the revelation of God’s will and purpose as a source of help. The little book in the vision is evidently the Apocalypse, though in a broader sense it doubtless represents as well the general purpose and beneficent effects of all God’s revelations to men; and the book is found open to indicate that its contents are made known to the world. Some regard the little book to be the remaining part of the Apocalypse, beginning with the succeeding chapter;(433) by others its contents are considered to begin with chapter twelve, the first break in continuity after the episode; but it seems more likely that the whole book is intended. In any case it is clear that the prophetic form in which the writer’s ministry is to be realized (viz. “thou must prophesy again over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings”, v. 11) serves to link the center of the book (ch. 10:11) with both the beginning (ch. 1:3) and the end (ch. 22:19),(434) and thereby furnishes an incidental proof of its unity of design.

1 The Angel Foretells the End, Ch. 10:1‐7

A mighty angel, the representative of Christ and bearing his insignia,(435) having a book in his hand, and standing both upon sea and land as a sign of his world‐wide mission, declares the coming end under the seventh trumpet, when the mystery of God’s method and purpose in human life and redemption shall be fully revealed and finally manifested in the establishment of his universal kingdom. The manner of the angel is scenic and impressive, and the message is one of undoubted power.

(1) The Thunder Voices, Ch. 10:3b and 4

Seven thunders utter their voices(436) in token of the approaching judgment, but John is directed by a voice from heaven to seal them up and is forbidden to record them, probably indicating that the terrors of God’s voice in judgment are for the present hidden from men; though some regard the voices as introduced only to emphasize the element of mystery with which the Apocalyptic form always delighted to clothe its thought. The voice, declared to be from heaven in verse four, is apparently not intended to indicate by whom the words were spoken, but only the source from which they came; some, however, attribute them to Christ.

2 The Book Delivered to John, Ch. 10:8‐11

The book is Christ’s revelation to John in the Apocalypse, a little open book or scroll (v. 2), evidently set in contrast with the great sealed book of God’s purposes in chapter five; and it is taken by the Apostle, in obedience to a voice out of heaven, from the hand of the angel, who commands him to eat it, thereby indicating that John should digest the prophecy therein contained (Ezek. 3:1‐3).(437) Though it was sweet to his taste at first as a message from Christ, it became bitter afterward when its deeper meaning was understood, for it told of long continued trial and conflict instead of speedy triumph and victory. The prophecy is declared to be “over [i. e. concerning] many peoples and nations and tongues and kings”, a fourfold prediction, showing its world‐wide application and indicating its ideal content.

It was the common thought of the early church that the period of the Christian dispensation would be very brief; and it may have been in order to dispel in some measure this illusion, and at the same time to inculcate patience and hope by showing the ideal shortness of the Christian age in God’s eternal plan, that we are to find one of the many purposes of the Apocalypse. For it should be noted that by the end of the first century the view‐point on this subject shows a material change. The attitude of John’s Gospel toward the second coming of Christ is manifestly different from that of the Synoptists;(438) the significant predictions of Christ concerning his own return are omitted, notably the discourse on the last things (Mt. 24; Mk. 13; Lk. 21); and the only references to his coming again are indirect (Jn. 14:3, 18, 28; 16:22; and 22:22‐3), though from these it is evident that it is subsumed throughout, a view that is confirmed by the Epistles (I Jn. 2:28; and 3:2). This is far from showing, as some hold, that the coming predicted was only figurative, and was fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem, an event already past when John’s Gospel was written; but seems rather to indicate that the earlier stage of thought, shared in by all the apostles, which expected the Lord’s return within the first generation, had given way to a new and wider outlook which emphasized the continuous coming that is present and spiritual more than the personal coming that is future and outward, though without losing faith in the surety of that coming. And even if the later date of the Apocalypse be not conceded, yet coming from the same source as the Fourth Gospel, we might not unnaturally expect to find in it some anticipation of this view involving delay, for the coming thought of in the visions is undoubtedly personal and future.

B The Two Witnesses, Ch. 11:1‐13

The second part of the episode sets forth the indestructibility and permanent value of the two special divine institutions for human help, viz. revealed religion and the church; and shows the triumph of enduring witness for the truth.

1 The Measurement of the Temple, Ch. 11:1‐2

The ναὸς, or inner sanctuary of the temple of God, is at this point introduced in the vision, a term which applied to the apartments of the temple building proper, including the holy of holies, the holy place, and in this case by implication the inner court, as distinguished from the ἱερὸν which applied to the whole temple and included all the buildings with the outer courts. The ναὸς in classical Greek is the sanctuary or cell of a temple where the image of the god was placed. In Hebrew usage, as applied to the temple at Jerusalem, it signifies the sacred edifice so called, including the holy and most holy place.(439) Thus it is the true temple with the altar and them that worship therein, i. e. the entire contents of the inner court, the combined symbol of revealed religion and of those who accept its truths, especially the revelation and worshippers according to the Old Testament, which is here introduced in the vision. This is directed to be measured, i. e. it is to be subjected to careful scrutiny, and its proportions are to be observed, the sign as in Zechariah (ch. 2:1f.) of preservation and renewal, and not of destruction. The measurement apparently applies to the heavenly temple, though it may be interpreted either of the temple at Jerusalem or its counterpart in heaven, for to the Jewish mind the earthly temple was the type and shadow of the heavenly (Heb. 9:5).(440) In either case the meaning is the same, viz. only that which corresponds to the outer court of the earthly,(441) the unessential portion, is given up by the fall of Jerusalem to be trodden underfoot of the nations (Lk. 21:24) during forty‐two months (v. 2), the indefinite period of the world’s conflict with the church (see App’x. E). The true temple with its worshippers, the heart and center of the religious life of Israel, is indestructible and reappears in heaven with the ark of the covenant restored (v. 19). This is a symbolic expression of the important truth that the revealed religion of Israel is to endure, the best in Judaism is imperishable, all that is fundamental and essential is preserved though the outer form be destroyed;(442) and it was designed to be a vision of comfort for the Jewish Christians, who naturally regarded the ruin of the temple as a profound calamity. The vision has been regarded by many interpreters as indicating that the temple and the city of Jerusalem were still standing when this was written, thus confirming the earlier date of the Revelation (circ. A. D. 69); but the weight of evidence to be attached to an Apocalyptic vision as testimony in such a case is very small, and is quite insufficient when compared with other evidences of the historical situation found in the book.(443) It is evident, also, that there is a reference in the symbolism here used, i. e. in the preservation not only of the altar, but “of them that worship therein”, to the preservation of the Jews as a people, and their future restoration when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled (Lu. 21:24), though not necessarily to Palestine,(444) and surely not to a rebuilded temple, which in any case would be mere incidents, but to the richer blessings of renewed fellowship with God, of which the temple and its service were to the Jewish mind the truest type (cf. Rom. 11:1f.). The late Apocalyptic‐Traditional view, it may be mentioned, attributes verses one and two to a former Jewish apocalypse that has been lost, which is here quoted as an introduction to the prophecy of the two witnesses that follows. It may well be doubted, however, whether this theory of the origin of the passage adds anything effective to its interpretation.

2 The Two Witnesses and their Martyrdom, Ch. 11:3‐13

The two witnesses who prophesy, i. e. bear witness for God, and whom God ever preserves throughout all vicissitudes, and delivers even out of seeming destruction, are the churches of the Old and New Dispensations which have been divinely called to witness for the truth.(445) The two olive trees represent the Old and New Testament revelations which supply oil, the symbol of grace, to the two candlesticks, i. e. to the two churches,(446) the Jewish and Christian, that have been and are God’s special witnesses throughout the ages (cf. Zech. 4:2f.). The identity of the candlesticks and witnesses is shown both by the connection, and by the explicit statement of verse four: “These [two witnesses] are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the Lord of the earth,” i. e. the witnesses are, in a sense, both the Old and New Testament revelations and the churches of the Old and New Dispensations, which alike witness for the truth of God, though the connection shows that the churches are specially intended.(447) Two is the number of confirmation in witness‐bearing (Jn. 8:17); hence the two witnesses may also be considered to symbolize the sufficiency of the testimony of the Old and New Testament churches, as also a sufficient number in the church in every age who witness for God and truth. These have power that is not of man but divinely given, as is indicated in symbolic language (v. 5‐6), yet when their testimony is finished, the Beast out of the abyss, the world‐power of chapter thirteen, introduced here by anticipation, accomplishes their apparent overthrow. Out of this deadly conflict with the world, and the apparent defeat and eventually the death of the witnesses, with the exposure of their dead bodies and contemptuous refusal of burial, a personal indignity and sign of hatred and contempt, the fitting type of the world’s treatment of the church in all ages and times, which in the vision occurs in Babylon, “the great city”, the type of the godless world,—out of all this seeming defeat comes ultimate victory. After three and a half days the breath of life from God enters into them, and they live again, and go up to heaven in a cloud. This points to the experience of grave peril by the church preceding her triumph, including temporary and seeming extinction at the hands of her enemies, and forming the occasion for an expression of their supreme contempt, an experience such as has occurred at different periods in her history, and which may, indeed, occur again in the future—the church persecuted, scattered, peeled, seemingly destroyed, but revived and restored by the power of God. Three and a half days of defeat,—a broken number, indicating a short but indefinite period in contrast with the three and a half years, or forty‐ two months, or a thousand two hundred and three score days, (v. 3), the length of the entire world‐conflict,—a time of rejoicing by them that dwell upon the earth, is followed, as in the case of our Lord, by resurrection, ascension, and triumph, a parallel that is apparently suggested by the similarity and was doubtless intended. This is true not only of individual saints who have borne witness and suffered death only to rise again in the witness of others and in their own personal resurrection, but is especially true of the church in a collective sense, both under the Old Testament and the New, which always rises triumphant after every great disaster in her history, and shall rise again in all her members at the resurrection of the last day after her witness is complete.(448) God avenges his own, as is indicated in the vision by the fall of the tenth part of the city, which is the share of the tithe under the Mosaic law, and by the death of seven thousand men, a great and complete number, seven multiplied by a thousand, who bear the punishment of their sin. As the result of the martyrdom and avengement the rest of men, give glory to God, a manifest attestation of the value of the church’s witness. The world’s persecution, though bitter and continued, fails to accomplish its end; the church of Christ survives, and rises again in power, and its witness becomes effective. Historical interpreters, however, generally regard the two witnesses as persons, futurists identifying them as Moses (or Enoch) and Elijah, whom they regard as yet to come, and preterists finding in them two leading characters during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, a view that restricts the vision to very narrow limits. Others, catching the larger view, interpret as “The Christian church and the Christian state”, and still others as “The law and the prophets”, or “The prophets and the priesthood”,—i. e. the whole spiritual authority of the old dispensation which, “though perverted and destroyed by the Jews (some of the best representatives of each being put to death), yet rose to new life and enthronement in Christianity”. In any case the obvious teaching is the triumph of faithful testimony for God, a principle of inestimable value for the church when in the throes of persecution. And now, having looked on the vision of the angel and the book, and of the two witnesses, the way is open for the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

It may be noted in closing our study of this episode that many commentators interpret “the great city”, in verse eight of this chapter, as referring to Jerusalem, because of the designation “where also their Lord was crucified”—Jerusalem being regarded as a world‐city. The decisive reason against this, however, is the uniform usage of the book,(449) for the interpretation is not otherwise materially affected. Jerusalem is everywhere else in the Revelation the type of that which is holy, and is nowhere else called “the great city”, while this name is applied seven times elsewhere to Babylon (or Rome), the type of the ungodly world, in which and by which our Lord may be truly said to have been crucified; and there seems to be no adequate reason for regarding this passage as containing an exceptional use of the phrase. Whether, however, we interpret of Jerusalem or of Babylon the general sense remains the same. In the one case the apparent defeat and contempt for the church of God, or its witness and witnesses, occurs in Babylon, the type of the godless world, while in the other it happens in Jerusalem, in that case the type of unbelieving Judaism. Either symbolism, it will be seen, is suitable to the context.

IV The Vision of Conflict (A Vision of Warfare). Ch. 12:1‐14:20

A discursive view of moral and spiritual conflict as the key to man’s redemptive history, the prime thought which underlies the whole book, and which is portrayed in this central fourfold vision as a pervasive church‐ historic world‐conflict of the evil against the just, now forms the essential climax of the Revelation, disclosing a divine panorama of the world in process of redemption with the great opposing forces which contend against Christ and his kingdom; a discriminating outlook upon the significant world‐movements of all time from the spiritual point of view, for it is everywhere assumed that the forces which mould history are spiritual, and that the master key to life is found in the supernatural. And, whatever the form in which these movements became apparent to John in his time, we may rest assured that the divinely inspired prophetic insight led him to perceive, at least in some measure, that in their essence they were timeless and repeated themselves in every age. This central vision is in part the most difficult portion of the Revelation, containing seven mystic figures, viz. the Sun‐Clothed Woman, the Great Red Dragon, the All‐ Ruling Man‐Child, the First Beast (the Beast from the Sea), the Second Beast (the Beast from the Land), the Lamb on Mount Zion, and the Son of Man on the Cloud, each one of whom is invested with a special symbolism. The difficulties of interpretation belonging to this part of the Revelation, it will be seen, are scarcely lessened in any degree by referring different parts of the section to various Jewish apocalypses which are supposed to have contained the gist of the thought in this portion, according to the Apocalyptic‐Traditional view;(450) for, apart from the fact that no such apocalypses are now extant, these sections, even if they were originally derived from such a source, have an application here that is distinctively new and specifically Christian. The vision itself is properly divisible into four parts or sections, as indicated in the arrangement that follows.

A The Woman and the Dragon, Ch. 12:1‐6, and 13‐17

This is a vision of Satan persecuting the church and the Messiah, and of the effective divine deliverance, which although permitting a continuance of the conflict yet provides help for overcoming and anticipates final victory. The scene opens in heaven, but is afterward transferred to the earth—see verse six.

1 The Sun‐Clothed Woman, Ch. 12:1‐2, 5‐6, and 13f.

A great sign is seen in heaven, a Woman glorious and crowned, arrayed with the sun, the bearer of light, and having the moon under her feet, i. e. triumphing over time and change, who evidently represents the church of God on earth which was first Jewish and then Christian—“the ideal community of God’s people”. The moon was the Jewish divider of time, and the phases of it being marked by recurrent changes, it naturally formed a ready type of both these ideas; and it may here also include the thought of stability of existence in the midst of change of outward appearance.(451) The sun and moon have been thought by some to indicate the relative light of the New and Old Dispensations, though it is more probable that both have been introduced mainly to enhance the conception of the church’s ideal glory. The crown of twelve stars is the sign of the covenant people,—the crown is στέφανος, the crown of victory, which God designs to give the church, and the number, twelve, is the number of the tribes of Israel—while the woman’s travail anguish is the figure of Jewish affliction, and of deep longing for the Messiah. Some interpret the figure of the woman as representing the Virgin Mary;(452) but the symbol is clearly wider than a person, as is shown by the whole course of the persecution with its transference to the rest of her seed when the Man‐ Child has escaped, and evidently applies to “the mystical mother of Christ”, the church whose seed are many, though the source and appropriateness of the figure is doubtless found in the fact that Christ was born of a woman.

2 The Great Red Dragon, Ch. 12:3‐4, and 13f.