Chapter IX: Part 9

The “names of blasphemy” which cover the beast, symbolize its arrogating the right to dictate in matters of faith and religious worship, and to punish those who dissent from its creed. The Roman hierarchy was supported by legal enactments against heretics in all of the ten kingdoms. Those who dissented from the church were delivered over to the power of the civil arm, which punished by imprisonment, confiscation of goods, bodily torture, and death. The exercise of such power, was a blasphemous usurpation of the prerogatives of Christ, and an assumption of authority over the legislation of God.

On this beast the woman is seated. As its rider, she guides it, and is sustained by it. She is its directing power; and while she is thus seated, there is no reference to crowns encircling either heads or horns. All rule for a time is subservient to her control. Thus were the ten kingdoms obedient to the Roman hierarchy,—sustaining, and being controlled by it. She crowned their kings, and dethroned them at her pleasure. The religion of the church was enforced by the sword of the state; and thus did the kings of the earth commit fornication with her,—the idolatries of the church being sanctioned by them.

The superb attire of the woman, and the costly gems with which she is decked, denote the wealth, luxury, and regal splendor of the hierarchy which she symbolizes. The cup, and its abominations in her hand, denote the false doctrines with which she would seduce the nations. Her names describe her nature, and identify her with Babylon; and her intoxication with blood, indicates her blood-thirsty, persecuting character, and the delight with which she would exult over the slaughter of the saints.

The Roman hierarchy was not, however, _always_ to retain her supremacy over the nations. She was in due time to _fall_ from the position symbolized by the woman seated on the beast; and the kings of the earth were to hate and burn with fire, her whom they had recognized as their mistress, and to whose control they had submitted. The governments which have sustained her pretensions, were to cast her off contemptuously. This has been in progress of fulfilment from the days of Martin Luther, since which her control of the ten kingdoms has been only limited and partial. Many of her ecclesiastical estates have been confiscated, and she has been deprived of her prerogatives in many countries. There may, perhaps, be hereafter a more complete fulfilment of this prediction. It is symbolized in the following chapter, by:

The Fall of Babylon.

“And after this, I saw another angel descending from heaven,
having great power; and the earth was enlightened by his glory.
And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, She is fallen: Babylon
the great is fallen, and is become a dwelling of demons, and a
prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and
hateful bird, for all the nations have drunk of the wine of the
fury of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed
fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become
rich through the abundance of her luxury.” Rev. 18:1-3.

This announcement of the fall of the city, synchronizes with the same symbolization in the 14th chapter: “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,” 14:8. The angel, proclaiming her fall, doubtless symbolizes a body of men, who shall give utterance to corresponding declarations.

The _epoch_ of this utterance is shown by the identity of this angel with that of Rev. 10:1-3. They thus correspond: They both descend from heaven: the one is a mighty angel, and the other has great power; the one is enveloped with a robe of cloud, his head is arched with the rainbow, his face is like the sun, and his feet like fire, and he stands on both earth and sea; the other is so glorified, and occupies a position so conspicuous, that the earth is enlightened with his glory; and the one cries “with a loud voice as when a lion roareth,” while the other cries “mighty with a strong voice.” Thus their position, manner and conspicuousness, are alike. What was uttered by the angel of the tenth chapter, is not revealed; but the fall of Babylon being announced in the eighteenth, it follows that it was the subject of the angel’s utterance in the tenth.

As the messenger of the tenth chapter appears subsequent to the sixth, and before the seventh trumpet; and as, after this epoch, there were to be prophesyings “_again_, before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings” (10:11), it follows that the _time_ then symbolized must be at an epoch _anterior_ to the end of the world. A corresponding reason—namely, the command to come out of Babylon, and the fulfilment of her plagues and sorrows, which are to intervene between the cry of the angel announcing her fall and the time of her actual destruction—proves that the mighty angel of the 18th of Revelation must also be at an _epoch_ having a considerable period between it and the end.

It follows, that when John saw the angel of the eighteenth chapter, and “the earth was lightened with his glory,” it did not symbolize a _literal_ but a _moral_ light,—_the light of truth_. And as the enlightening of the earth by its promulgation, pre-supposes a previous state of corresponding moral _darkness_, it must, as in the tenth chapter, symbolize an _epoch_, prominent in the history of the world, as a time when the _darkness_ of ignorance, error and superstition, began rapidly to disappear before the spread of the _light_ of truth and knowledge.

These considerations point to the epoch of the REFORMATION, when the midnight _darkness_ of the _dark ages_ began to be scattered before the uprising and onward progress of truth and knowledge. Then appeared a body of religious teachers, aided by the newly discovered art of printing, who so brought the Scriptures out from their obscurity, opposed the pretensions of the Papal hierarchy, and, by the clear teachings of the word, so secured the spread of gospel light and liberty, that they might appropriately be symbolized by an angel coming down from heaven, and enlightening the earth with his glory. The descent from heaven would symbolize the heavenly origin of the doctrines promulgated. His mighty power, and the strong voice with which he proclaimed his cry, would symbolize the greatness and earnestness of the movement, and the mighty results to be effected by it. This symbolization, twice given, could only be fulfilled by some great and mighty movement, like the Reformation.

The fall of Babylon is distinct from and anterior to its destruction, and must correspond with the fall of the woman from her position on the beast;—she is no longer to be the director of, and to be sustained by, the civil power. The cry of the angel, announcing her fall, as Mr. Elliot remarks, seems to be anticipative, and not retrospective. The denunciations of the Papacy by the reformers were of a character to fulfil this symbolization.

The year 1300, during the pontificate of Boniface VIII., may be regarded as marking the highest eminence to which the Papal power ever attained. From this period the dominion of the Roman Pontiffs appeared to be gradually undermined. Twenty-four years after this date, John Wickliffe was born, who, together with his followers, made more vigorous attacks upon Babylon itself. Some of these declared Rome to be mystical Babylon, and the Pope and church there to be Antichrist. These heralds announced the fall of mystical Babylon, as the ancient prophets had done that of literal Babylon, long before the event.—Jer. 51:7, 8. Antichrist and Babylon are identified in prophecy. In 1518, Luther first suspected their application to the Papacy; and, writing to his friend Link, on sending him a copy of the acts just published of the conference at Augsburg, he says: “My pen is ready to give birth to things much greater. _I know not myself whence these thoughts come to me._ I will send you what I write, that you may see if I have well conjectured in believing that the _Antichrist_ of whom St. Paul speaks now reigns in the court of Rome.”

At first, Luther and his companions sought only the reformation of that church. They had no idea of dissolving their own connection with it. But when the thunders of the Vatican were hurled at them, and they found themselves excommunicated as heretics, they came to the conclusion that the church of Rome was _the Babylon of the Apocalypse_. Immediately upon this conviction, they began to cry, “Babylon is fallen!”

In 1520 appeared a famous book, by Luther, on the “_Babylonish Captivity of the Church_,” in which he attacked Rome with great skill and courage. In Switzerland and England the reformers considered themselves as fulfilling this message of the Apocalyptic angel. Elliot says, “They _seized on this very prophecy for application; and, for the first time_, upon grounds of evidence sound and tenable, concluded on the fact of progress having been made up to it, in the evolution of the great mundane drama, and on their own chronological place being already far advanced under the sixth trumpet, and in near expectancy of the seventh trumpet, of the Apocalyptic prophecy.”

These denunciations against Mystic Babylon, and protestations against all her idolatrous ceremonies and superstitious appendages, were given, by the great body of the reformers, within the very bounds of her empire. They resulted in her loss of power, and of control over the princes of Europe. In 1526, the other monarchs becoming jealous of the power of Charles V., Emperor of Germany, “Pope Clement VII. placed himself at the head of a league of the principal states of Italy against him; but their ill-directed efforts were productive of new misfortunes. Rome was taken by storm, by the troops of the constable, sacked, and the Pope himself made prisoner. Charles V. publicly disavowed the proceedings of the constable, went into mourning with his court, and carried his hypocrisy so far as to order prayers for the deliverance of the Pope. On restoring the holy father to liberty, he demanded a ransom of four hundred thousand crowns of gold, but was satisfied with a quarter of that sum.”—_Ency. Am._, v. 3. p. 76.

All the Protestant princes of Germany denied the assumptions of the Pope; and the powers of western and northern Europe, one after another, denied their allegiance to him. In 1798, Pius VI. was taken prisoner by the French, under Gen. Berthier, and died in exile. When Berthier entered Rome, many of the cardinals “fled from the city on the wings of terror;” but those who remained “were disposed still to uphold the authority of the Pontiff.” Finally, however, “with melancholy voice, they pronounced their absolute renunciation of the temporal government.”—_Life of Pius VI._ His successor resumed his position. But in 1848 Pius IX. fled from his own subjects, and was only restored by French arms. Thus gradually the Babylonish _woman_ became unseated, and fell from her position on the beast; and, instead of guiding and directing the civil power, now only exists by sufferance. As a city, also, her supremacy was gone. Being no longer the mistress of the nations, or the ruling city, the Papal See is in the condition of ancient Babylon when becoming a dependency of the Medes and Persians.

After the fall of ancient Babylon, it became gradually more and more deserted, until there was a literal fulfilment of the words of Isaiah: “Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces,” Isa. 13:21, 22. In like manner the apocalyptic Babylon, after her fall, and the withdrawal of Protestants from her communion, was to become the receptacle of corresponding spirits. Her members were to be more impious than before, and were to adhere more closely than ever to her idolatrous practices. The contrast between these and true Christians would also be more apparent from the separation which succeeds her fall, in obedience to:

The Voice From Heaven.

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her,
my people, that ye partake not of her sins, and that ye receive
not of her plagues, for her sins have reached to heaven, and God
hath remembered her iniquities! Reward her even as she rendered to
you, and double to her according to her works, in the cup which
she hath poured out, pour out double to her. By as much as she
hath glorified herself, and lived luxuriously, so much torment and
mourning give her; for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and
am not a widow, and shall see no mourning. On this account, her
plagues will come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and
she will be burned up with fire; for strong is the Lord God, who
judgeth her.”—Rev. 18:4-8.

So long as the true character of the apostate church was unperceived, she would contain many good, as well as a multitude of bad members. The voice from heaven, indicates an epoch when there should be a widely extended and marked separation between these two classes. Till the time of that separation should be indicated, the children of God would be justified in continuing members of her communion; but not subsequently. The condition of Babylon, at the time of her fall, indicates that the separation must take place in near connection with that event; and the cry must synchronize with that of the third angel in Rev. 14:9,—which symbolized a body of men who should insist on such a separation from the Papacy as that here symbolized.

After the discovery that the church of Rome was the Babylon of the Apocalypse, the reformers began to call on the people of God to desert her communion; and the formation of the reformed churches was the consequence. This was preached wherever the Reformation extended, and has been continued to the present time. The Protestant churches have proclaimed connection with Romanism, an obstacle to salvation; and have called on its Christian members to come out from her abominations. Even the name “Protestant,” was given because of their protestation against the corruptions of the Papal See.

After the fall of ancient Babylon, and before her destruction, the people were, in like manner, commanded to forsake her. Said Jeremiah: “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies,” Jer. 51:6, 8, 9. And Isaiah said: “Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob,” Isa. 48:20. “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord,” Isa. 52:11.

Sins reaching to heaven, indicate great wickedness. Thus God said to Jonah: “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me,” Jonah 1:2. And he said of old Babylon: “Her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies,” Jer. 51:9.

The Destruction of Babylon.

“And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and
lived luxuriously with her, will weep and wail for her, when they
see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off through the fear
of her torment, saying, Woe! woe! that great city, Babylon, that
mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come! And the
merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her; for no one
buyeth their merchandise any more; the merchandise of gold, and
silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, and
purple, and silk, and crimson, and all thine wood, and all kinds
of vessels of ivory, and all kinds of vessels of most precious
wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and
fragrant ointment, and incense, and myrrh, and frankincense, and
wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep,
and horses, and chariots, and bodies, and souls of men. And the
autumnal fruit of thine appetite’s desire is departed from thee,
and all things dainty and sumptuous are destroyed from thee, and
thou wilt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things,
who were enriched by her, will stand afar off, through the fear of
her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe! woe! that great
city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and crimson, and
adorned with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! for in one
hour such great wealth is destroyed. And every pilot, and every
one sailing to any place, and sailors, and as many as trade by
sea, stood afar off, and cried, when they saw the smoke of her
burning, saying, What city is like the great city? And they cast
dust on their heads, and cried out, weeping and mourning, saying,
Woe! woe! the great city by which all who had ships on the sea,
were made rich through her precious merchandise! for in one hour
she is desolated.” Rev. 18:9-20.

“Rejoice over her, O heaven, and ye saints and apostles and
prophets; for God hath avenged you on her!” Rev. 18:20.

“And a strong angel took up a stone like a great mill-stone, and
cast it into the sea, saying, Thus violently, will Babylon, the
great city, be cast down, and be no more at all. And the voice of
harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and trumpeters, will be heard
no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of any art, will be
found any more in thee; and the sound of a mill-stone will be
heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a lamp will shine
no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and the
bride will be heard no more at all in thee; for thy merchants were
the nobles of the earth; for by thy sorcery all nations were
deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of
saints, and of all those slain on the earth.” Rev. 18:21-24.

The punishment of Babylon is proportioned to her wickedness, and is to be inflicted partially by the kings of the earth, and partially by other agencies. The kings were to hate, and burn her with fire, (17:16); and were also, when they should see the smoke of her burnings, to bewail and lament for her, 18:9. The former passage indicates their agency in her impoverishment, and has been fulfilled in the confiscation of her property in France and England, the spoliation of churches and religious houses, wherever the arms of Napoleon extended; the dethronement of the Pope, by Gen. Berthier, in 1798; the refusal of some of the powers to permit her to nominate, within their limits, the candidates for ecclesiastical preferment, &c. She is thus made to feel her widowhood,—her divorce from the secular arm,—and has mourned the loss of her most devoted children, who have forsaken her communion.

Her final destruction is, however, to be _entire_. She is totally to disappear, like the sinking of a millstone in the sea. She is to be _utterly_ burned with fire; but the lamentation of the kings over her burning, indicates that her destruction is to be completed by other instrumentality than theirs. Probably the multitude are to be incensed against her, and will so manifest their hatred that the governments will neither join in it, nor attempt to resist it, for fear that the same torment will be inflicted on them, 18:10. But her existence is terminated by the brightness of Christ’s coming, 2 Thess. 2:8. Her destruction precedes that of the kings of the earth, who mourn her end. The merchants of the earth, the captains, sailors, &c., symbolize those who bear a relation to the hierarchy, analogous to that sustained by such to a great commercial emporium. They are those who have the control of her preferments, benefices and revenues,—who traffic in her indulgences, and thereby become themselves enriched. And these articles of traffic are symbolized by the merchandise which, after her destruction, no man would buy.

The commerce of this ecclesiastical city, has been immense,—particularly in indulgences. The sale of these was reduced to a system, says D’Aubigné, by “the celebrated and scandalous Tariff of Indulgences,” which went through more than forty editions. The least delicate ears would be offended by an enumeration of all the horrors it contains. Incest, if not detected, was to cost five groats; and six, if it was known. There was a stated price for murder, infanticide, adultery, perjury, burglary, &c. Polygamy cost six ducats; sacrilege and perjury, nine; murder, eight; and witchcraft, two ducats.

The penances of various kinds which were imposed as a punishment for sin, might also be compounded for money.

Tetzel, one of Rome’s travelling merchants, told the people of Germany that for “a quarter of a florin” they might “receive letters of indulgence,” by means of which they might “introduce into paradise a divine and immortal soul, without its running any risk.” _Hist. Ref._, pp. 56, 242.

He also said “Indulgences avail not only for the living but for the dead. With twelve groats you can deliver your father from purgatory.” “At the very instant,” said he, “that the money rattles at the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purgatory, and flies, liberated to heaven.” This is but a specimen of her vile traffic.

Responding to the command, are heard the voices of much people in heaven,

Rejoicing Over Babylon’s Destruction.

“And after this, I heard a loud voice of a mighty crowd in heaven,
saying, Praise ye Jehovah! The salvation, and the glory, and the
power of our God! For true and righteous are his judgments; for he
hath judged the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her
fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her
hand! And again they said, Praise ye Jehovah! And her smoke
ascendeth for ever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the
four living beings fell down and worshipped God, who sat on the
throne, saying, So be it! Praise ye Jehovah!” Rev. 19:1-4.

Daniel, in vision, saw the same persecuting power symbolized by a “Little Horn,” having “eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things;” and he beheld, “and the same Horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom,” Dan. 7:8, 21, 22. And Paul testified of “that Wicked” who was to be revealed, that he was the “Man of Sin,” “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming,” 2 Thess. 2:3-8. The destruction of that which was thus symbolized and predicted, must, consequently, be at the epoch of Christ’s second coming and of the establishment of the kingdom of God.

It is also at the epoch anticipated by “the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held,” who, from under the altar, on the opening of the “fifth seal,” “cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” 6:9, 10. The epoch which they anticipated not having then arrived, “white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled” (6:11),—_i.e._, till their number should be filled up. As the destruction of that hierarchy, in which “was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth” (18:24), had just been symbolized (in the 18th chap.), and as these rejoicings are because God “hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand” (19:2), it follows that the epoch here symbolized is that to which the saints were to wait, and that they are now to be crowned with their reward.

As the destruction of Babylon is a little anterior to that of the beast and false prophet (19:20), and is to be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming (2 Thess. 2:8), at a time when the kingdom is to be given to the saints of the Most High (Dan. 7:22), it explains how it is that the kingdom is set up in the days of the kings symbolized by the divided toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image: symbolic of the same as the horns of the beast in Dan. 7:7, 24, and Rev. 17:3, 12, 16; for “in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever,” Dan. 2:44.

The kingdom is therefore commenced previous to the descent of the Lord to the earth, by the saints being caught up to meet him in the air. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord,” 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.

This epoch, then, is that of the sounding of the seventh trumpet; for “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,” 10:7. This mystery Paul thus explains: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, _at the last trump_: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed,” 1 Cor. 15:50-54. This “saying” was thus written by Isaiah,—“He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation,” Isa. 25:8, 9. It follows, then, that the voices heard in heaven, shouting “Alleluia,” and ascribing “salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God” (v. 1), synchronize with those heard when “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.—And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned: And 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 which destroy the earth,” Rev. 11:15-18.

The time of the dead being come that they should be judged, and the saints rewarded, is another evidence that this epoch is that of the second advent and kingdom of Christ, “who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom,” 2 Tim. 4:1. Consequently it must synchronize with that of:

The Marriage of the Lamb.

“And a voice came from the throne saying, Praise our God, all ye
his servants, and ye that fear him, both the small and the great!
And I heard a voice like that of a great crowd, and like the voice
of many waters, and like the voice of mighty thunders, saying,
Praise ye Jehovah! for the Lord God Almighty reigneth. Let us
rejoice and exult, and give glory up him: for the marriage of the
Lamb hath come, and his wife hath prepared herself! And it was
granted to her to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: (for
the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.) And he saith
to me, Write, Happy are those called to the marriage-supper of the
Lamb. And he saith to me, These are the true words of God. And I
fell before his feet to worship him. And he saith to me, See thou
do it not: I am thy fellow-servant and one of thy brethren, who
have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Rev. 19:5-10.

The marriage of the Lamb is at the epoch when “the kingdoms of this world are to become our Lord’s and his Christ’s”—when the Lord God Almighty takes to himself his great power and reigns, 11:15, 17. Therefore, in connection, are heard the mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia; for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth,” 9:16. This scripture, then, corresponds with that in Matt. 24:30, 31, when “they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” For, “when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats—the one on his right hand and the other on his left,” Matt. 25:31, 32. Those on his right, we learn from 1 Cor. 15:51, and 1 Thess. 4:16, 17, are the elect, gathered by the angels from all parts under heaven, who are caught up to meet the Lord in the air—and those on the left are consequently the living wicked, who are to be slain by the sword which proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lamb, 19:21.

_The wife_ who “hath made herself ready,” is shown by the foregoing scriptures to be, undoubtedly, the church triumphant—the redeemed, who have been raised out from among the dead, and the living saints, caught up together to meet the Lord in the air; to welcome him in his coming to reign. These constitute the bride, the Lamb’s wife; for as “the husband is the head of the wife,” even so “Christ is the head of the church,” Eph. 5:23. He “loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish,” Eph. 5:25-27. This accords with God’s ancient promises to his people. Thus Isaiah saith: “Thy Maker is thy husband; the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel: the Lord of the whole earth shall he be called,” Isa. 54:5. Also Hosea: “And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi,” my husband; “and shalt call me no more Baali,” my Lord. “And I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord,” Hos. 2:16, 19. Thus is the church “espoused to one husband,” to be presented “as a chaste virgin to Christ,” 2 Cor. 11:2.

The epoch of this presentation being here symbolized, it synchronizes with that part of the parable of the “ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom,” when, the Bridegroom having come, “they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut”—those left without, afterwards crying in vain for admittance, Matt. 25:10. The wife had been made ready by its having been “granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white—[_mar._ ‘bright’]; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints,” 19:8. Such were the “white robes” given to those who cried from under the altar (6:11), and who afterwards, at an epoch synchronizing with the marriage of the Lamb, appeared, “a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,” who “stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,” 7:9, 10. These were they of whom one of the elders asked, saying, “What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?” and who was answered: “These are they which 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,” 7:13-17. These had complied with the condition to the promise: “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 the Father and before his holy angels,” 3:5. “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb,” 14:4.

“Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb,” 19:9. Truly are they blessed; for “they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat,” 7:16. They attain the promised blessing: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,” 20:6. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away,” 21:4. So entranced was the apocalyptic seer at these symbols of the glorified redeemed, that he fell at his feet to worship the angel who showed him these things. But his fellow servant shrank back from the reception of homage, and pointed to God as the only object of adoration.

The union of the saints to Christ in the clouds of heaven being symbolized, they receive the gracious welcome: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” Matt. 25:34. But first it is necessary to redeem the “purchased possession” (Eph. 1:14), to reconquer the revolted province, which, since the fall, has been subject to “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), the “prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), to rescue it from the dominion of the usurper, and deliver it from its present mis-rule “up to God the Father” (1 Cor. 15:24), who will bestow it on One who is worthy to wear its crown. For when Daniel saw that “the judgment was set and the books were opened,” he also “saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came in the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him; and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed,” Dan. 7:10, 13, 14. He comes, then, to dispossess the usurper, and to take possession of his kingdom. The next representation, then, symbolizes the coming of:

The King and his Armies.

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse: and he who
sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he
judgeth and maketh war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on
his head were many diadems; and he had a name written which no one
knew except himself. And he was clothed with a garment dipped in
blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies in
heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white
and clean. And from his mouth goeth forth a sharp sword, that he
may smite the nations with it: and he will rule them with a rod of
iron: and he treadeth the wine-press of the furious wrath of God,
the Almighty. And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name
written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Rev. 19:11-16.

According to the significance of symbolic language, Christ is here represented as coming personally. The heavens open and he appears in resplendent majesty, in accordance with the predictions respecting his second advent. When the clouds of heaven had received the ascending Saviour, the shining ones who stood by said to the gazing disciples, “This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven,” Acts 1:11. “And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” Matt. 24:30. “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him,” Rev. 1:7.

The white horse of the King, and those of his armies, are symbols of the pomp and grandeur of their descent, and show that they will triumph in victory.

The names ascribed to the descending Monarch are applicable only to Christ. He was “the Faithful and True Witness” who commanded John to write “to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans,” (3:14); for he who commanded John to “write in a book and send it unto the seven churches” of Asia (1:11), was the One whom John saw “in the midst of the seven candlesticks, like unto the Son of man” (1:13), and who announced himself as “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come—the Almighty,” 1:8. “The Word of God,” was the “Word” that was “in the beginning,” that “was with God,” and that “was God,” the same that was “in the beginning with God,” and which “was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,” John 1:1-14. Jesus is “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world,” (_Ib._, 29); and “the Lamb” “is Lord of lords and King of kings,” 17:14. It is “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth,” (1:5); and he alone is possessed of that incomprehensible “Name” which no man knoweth, and which he hath promised to write on “him that overcometh,” 3:12.

That the visible and personal coming of Christ, and not any providential interposition, is here symbolized, is self-evident. For, while no created object can adequately symbolize Him, it would derogate from the dignity of his character and position to be a symbol of some inferior object. In all mere providential interpositions, foreshown by symbolic imagery, the predicted events are represented by corresponding acts of symbolic agents. War between nations is symbolized by beasts, representatives of the nations, contending with each other. (See Dan. 8th chap.) Pestilence and famine are symbolized by analogous results, and not by Christ’s appearing. When, therefore, he is seen coming in person, it must symbolize his personal advent.

His eyes “as a flame of fire,” show his identity with the one “like unto the Son of man” in the “midst of the seven candlesticks” (1:13), the author of the message to “the church in Thyatira;” which “things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass,” 2:18.

His “many crowns” are symbols of his sovereignty. Rome undivided and mistress of the world, when symbolized by the seven-headed and ten-horned dragon, is represented with the crowns on the heads, which were the seven successive kinds of government by which its sovereignty was enforced, 12:3, and 17:9, 10. But when its imperial had given place to its decem-regal form, and it is to be shown under the government of ten contemporaneous kingdoms, “the crowns,” the symbols of sovereignty, are represented as encircling the “horns” of the beast, 13:1. So, when “the King of kings” cometh, to take to himself his great power, and to reign, and “the kingdoms of this world are become those of our Lord and of his Christ” (11:15, 17), He, “the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:10), at whose name “every knee should bow” (Phil. 2:9), is shown the wearer of “many crowns.”

“Come, then, and, added to thy many crowns, Receive yet one, the crown of all the Earth, Thou who alone art worthy! It was thine By ancient covenant, ere nature’s birth; And thou hast made it thine by purchase since, And overpaid its value with thy blood.” _Cowper’s Task._

His “vesture dipped in blood” is symbolic of his coming to tread “the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (19:15), when he shall “smite the nations,” and “rule them with a rod of iron,” (_Ib._) Thus Isaiah prophesied: “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat? I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth,” Isa. 63:1-6.

The “armies” which follow him, symbolize the attending saints and angels who will accompany his advent. They are all “clothed in fine linen, white and clean,” which constituted the wedding garments of those who were called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb, and which was worn by those who had washed their robes, and made them white in his blood, (7:14); “for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,” 19:8. The righteous being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:17), “when Christ, who is our life shall appear,” they will “appear with him in glory,” (Col. 3:4); so that “the Lord my God shall come and all the saints with thee,” Zech. 14:5. “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him,” Jude 14, 15.

Not only saints, but angels also, will attend his coming. For “when the Son of man shall come in his glory,” there will be “all the holy angels with him,” Matt. 25:31. “He cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels,” Mark 8:38. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,” 2 Thess. 1:7.

The “sharp sword,” going out of his mouth, must be a symbol of his word. He speaks, and it is done, Psa. 33:9. “For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,” Heb. 4:12. As “he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked,” (Isa. 11:4); and as “the Lord shall consume” “that Wicked” one “with the spirit of his mouth” (2 Thess. 2:8), it follows that the sword proceeding out of his mouth is a symbol of the words he shall speak for their destruction; for with it he smites the nations, 19:15. And this he does when he comes to “rule them with a rod of iron” (_Ib._) and tread them in “the wine-press” of the wrath of God. This brings us to the object of his coming, which is to “judge and make war,” 19:11.

And first, “To judge.” This proves, that Christ’s second advent is here symbolized; for, as before quoted, he is to “judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom,” 2 Tim. 4:1. This is at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, for then is “the time of the dead that they should be judged,” 11:18. “With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth,” when he “shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked,” Isa. 11:4. “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord: for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with truth,” Psa. 96:11-13. He cometh “to execute judgment upon all,” Jude 15.

To “make war.” That this is another object of his coming, is shown by:

The Final Conflict.

“And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud
voice, saying to all the birds flying in the midst of heaven,
Come! gather yourselves to the great supper of God; that ye may
eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh
of the mighty, and the flesh of the horses, and of those who sit
on them, and the flesh of all, both free and bond, both small and
great. And I saw the wild beast, and the kings of the earth, and
their armies, gathered to make war with him, who sat on the horse,
and with his army. And the wild beast was taken, and with him the
false prophet, who wrought signs in his sight, with which he had
deceived those who received the mark of the wild beast, and those
who worshipped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake
of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were slain with the
sword of him who sat on the horse, which sword goeth forth from
his mouth; and all the birds were filled with their flesh.” Rev.
19:17-21.

The contest being between the Lord and his armies on the one part, and the wicked nations on the other, the angel seen standing in the sun and performing an important act in connection with the Lord’s army, must represent one of his attending angels; for the acts to be performed are to be by their instrumentality: “In the end of this world, the Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire,” Matt. 13:40-42.

His crying to the fowls of heaven to come and sup on the bodies of the slain, is indicative of the certainty of victory and of the entire overthrow of those who war against the Lamb. As birds gather on fields of slaughter to feast on the slain, so a cry to “all the fowls of heaven” is expressive of the extent and thoroughness of the destruction to be inflicted. It is the same cry which is made in Ezekiel, 39:17, when the armies of Gog are slain on the mountains of Israel. The beast and the kings of the earth symbolize the various governments in the world. The “beast” is that which had seven heads and ten horns (13:1, and 17:3), and was a symbol of Rome in its decem-regal form. It was said of this beast, it shall “go into perdition,” (17:8); so that under some manifestation, it must continue till the end of the world: the earth being “reserved unto fire against the day of judgement, and perdition of ungodly men,” 2 Pet. 3:7. As only in its divided form, the Roman empire continues till then, the beast is here significant of the divisions represented by its ten horns—the governments of modern Europe. “These shall war with the Lamb, and 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,” 17:14.

“The false prophet,” which is taken with the beast, is described as the one “that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image,” v. 20. This identifies him as the two-horned beast of Rev. 13. (13:11-17). The two-horned beast being a representative of the Eastern Roman empire, when that was subverted by the Turks it became the seat of the false prophet,—the Mahometan hierarchy.

The kings of the earth must be the remaining governments which are not represented by those two. By their subsequently warring with the Lamb, it follows that the previous resurrection and translation of the saints does not produce a cessation of all government. Those events may not be apparent to all eyes; or they may serve only to madden the unbelieving, and to make them more desperate in their infidelity.