The
Expositor's Bible
Edited by
W. Robertson Nicoll, D.D., LL.D.
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THE EXPOSITORS' BIBLE
_Edited by_ W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, D.D., LL.D.
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OLD TESTAMENT VOLUMES
GENESIS. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.
EXODUS. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh.
LEVITICUS. By Rev. S. H. Kellogg, D.D.
NUMBERS. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D.
DEUTERONOMY. By Rev. Prof. Andrew Harper, B.D.
JOSHUA. By Rev. Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D.
JUDGES AND RUTH. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D.
FIRST SAMUEL. By Rev. Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D.
SECOND SAMUEL. By same author.
FIRST KINGS. By F. W. Farrar, D.D., Dean of Canterbury.
SECOND KINGS. By same author.
FIRST AND SECOND CHRONICLES. By Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett.
EZRA, NEHEMIAH, and ESTHER. By Rev. Prof. W. F. Adeney.
JOB. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D.
PSALMS. In 3 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XXXVIII.; Vol. II.,
Chapters XXXIX.-LXXXIX; Vol. III., Chapters XC-CL. By Rev.
Alexander Maclaren, D.D.
PROVERBS. By Rev. R. F. Horton, D.D.
ECCLESIASTES. By Rev. Samuel Cox, D.D.
SONG OF SOLOMON and LAMENTATIONS. By Rev. Prof. W. F. Adeney.
ISAIAH. In 2 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XXXIX.; Vol. II., Chapters
XL-LXVI. By Prof. George Adam Smith, D.D., LL.D.
JEREMIAH. Chapters I.-XX. With a Sketch of his Life and Times. By
Rev. C. J. Ball.
JEREMIAH. Chapters XXI.-LII. By Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett.
EZEKIEL. By Rev. Prof. John Skinner.
DANIEL. By F. W. Farrar, D.D., Dean of Canterbury.
THE TWELVE (Minor) PROPHETS. In 2 vols. By Rev. George Adam Smith,
D.D., LL.D.
NEW TESTAMENT VOLUMES
ST. MATTHEW. By Rev. J. Monro Gibson, D.D.
ST. MARK. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh.
ST. LUKE. By Rev. Henry Burton.
GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. In 2 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XI.; Vol. II.,
Chapters XII-XXI. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. In 2 vols. By Rev. Prof. G. T. Stokes,
D.D.
ROMANS. By Rev. Handley C. G. Moule, D.D.
FIRST CORINTHIANS. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.
SECOND CORINTHIANS. By Rev. James Denney, D.D.
GALATIANS. By Rev. Prof. G. G. Findlay, D.D.
EPHESIANS. By same author.
PHILIPPIANS. By Rev. Principal Robert Rainy, D.D.
COLOSSIANS and PHILEMON. By Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D.D.
THESSALONIANS. By Rev. James Denney, D.D.
PASTORAL EPISTLES. By Rev. A. Plummer, D.D.
HEBREWS. By Rev. Principal T. C. Edwards, D.D.
ST. JAMES and ST. JUDE. By Rev. A. Plummer, D.D.
ST. PETER. By Rev. Prof. J. Rawson Lumby, D.D.
EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN. By Rt. Rev. W. Alexander, Lord Bishop of
Derry.
REVELATION. By Prof. W. Milligan, D.D.
INDEX VOLUME TO ENTIRE SERIES.
_New York_: HODDER & STOUGHTON, _Publishers_
THE
BOOK OF REVELATION
BY
WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D.
PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF ABERDEEN. AUTHOR OF "THE RESURRECTION
OF OUR LORD," ETC.
HODDER & STOUGHTON
NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PREFATORY NOTE.
In ordinary circumstances one who undertakes to comment upon a book of
the New Testament may be justly expected to make every effort to
explain each successive clause and each difficult expression of the
book on which he writes. My aim in the following Commentary is rather
to catch the general import and object of the Revelation of St. John
considered as a whole. The latter purpose indeed cannot be attained
unless the commentator has himself paid faithful attention to the
former; but it is not necessary that the results of these inquiries
should in every case be presented to the English reader. To him this
book is for the most part a perplexity and enigma, and he would only
be embarrassed by a multitude of details. It seemed well, therefore,
to treat the book in its sections and paragraphs rather than verse by
verse; and this is the course pursued in the following pages. The
translation used is for the most part that of the Revised Version. An
examination of the words and clauses of the book, conducted upon a
plan different from that here adopted, and much more minute in its
character, will be found in the Author's Commentary on the Apocalypse,
in the Commentary upon the books of the New Testament edited by
Professor Schaff and published by Messrs. Clark, Edinburgh. The
principles upon which the Author has proceeded have been fully
discussed in his Baird Lectures.
THE UNIVERSITY, ABERDEEN,
_May 1889_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
THE PROLOGUE 1
CHAPTER II.
THE CHURCH ON THE FIELD OF HISTORY 21
CHAPTER III.
ANTICIPATIONS OF THE CHURCH'S VICTORY 65
CHAPTER IV.
THE SEALED ROLL OPENED 86
CHAPTER V.
CONSOLATORY VISIONS. THE SEALING AND THE PALM-BEARING
MULTITUDE 111
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS 132
CHAPTER VII.
RENEWED CONSOLATORY VISION. THE LITTLE BOOK 157
CHAPTER VIII.
A SECOND CONSOLATORY VISION. THE MEASURING OF THE
TEMPLE AND THE TWO WITNESSES. THE SEVENTH
TRUMPET 168
CHAPTER IX.
THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY OF THE CHURCH 196
CHAPTER X.
THE SECOND AND THIRD GREAT ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH 217
CHAPTER XI.
RENEWED CONSOLATORY VISIONS. THE LAMB ON THE MOUNT
ZION AND THE HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD 238
CHAPTER XII.
THE SEVEN BOWLS 259
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BEAST AND BABYLON 277
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FALL OF BABYLON 303
CHAPTER XV.
THE PAUSE OF VICTORY AND JUDGMENT OF THE BEAST AND
THE FALSE PROPHET 316
CHAPTER XVI.
JUDGMENT OF SATAN AND OF THE WICKED 335
CHAPTER XVII.
THE NEW JERUSALEM 360
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE EPILOGUE 375
CHAPTER I.
_THE PROLOGUE._
REV. i.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show unto
His servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and
He sent and signified it through His angel unto His servant John;
who bare witness of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus
Christ, even of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that
readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep
the things which are written therein: for the season is at hand
(i. 1-3).
The first chapter of Revelation introduces us to the whole book, and
supplies in great measure the key by which we are to interpret it. The
book is not intended to be a mystery in the sense in which we commonly
understand that word. It deals indeed with the future, the details of
which must always be dark to us; and it does this by means of figures
and symbols and modes of speech far removed from the ordinary simplicity
of language which marks the New Testament writers. But it is not on that
account designed to be unintelligible. The figures and symbols employed
in it are used with perfect regularity; its peculiar modes of speech are
supposed to be at least not unfamiliar to the reader; and it is taken
for granted that he understands them. The writer obviously expects that
his meaning, so far from being obscured by his style, will be thereby
illustrated, enforced, and brought home to the mind, with greater than
ordinary power. The word _Revelation_ by which he describes to us the
general character of his work is of itself sufficient to show this.
"Revelation" means the uncovering of that which has hitherto been
covered, the drawing back of a veil which has hung over a person or
thing, the laying bare what has been hitherto concealed; and the book
before us is a revelation instead of a mystery.
Again, the book is a _revelation of Jesus Christ_; not so much a
revelation of what Jesus Christ Himself is, as one of which He is the
Author and Source. He is the Head of His Church, reigning supreme in
His heavenly abode. He is the Eternal Son, the Word without whom was
not anything made that was made, and who executes all the purposes of
the Father, "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever."[1] He is at
the same time "Head over all things to the Church."[2] He regulates
her fortunes. He controls in her behalf the events of history. He
fills the cup which He puts into her hand with prosperity or
adversity, with joy or sorrow, with victory or defeat. Who else can
impart a revelation so true, so weighty, and so precious?
Yet again, the revelation to be now given by Jesus Christ is one
_which God gave Him_, the revelation of the eternal and unchangeable
plan of One who turneth the hearts of kings as the rivers of water,
who saith and it is done, who commandeth and it stands fast.
Finally, the revelation relates to things that _must shortly come to
pass_, and thus has all the interest of the present, and not merely of
a far-distant future.
Such is the general character of that revelation which Jesus Christ
_sent and signified through His angel unto His servant John_. And
that Apostle faithfully recorded it for the instruction and comfort of
the Church. Like his Divine Master, with whom throughout all this book
believers are so closely identified, and who is Himself _the Amen, the
faithful and true witness_,[3] the disciple whom He loved stands forth
to bear witness of _the word of God_ thus given him, of _the testimony
of Jesus_ thus signified to him, _even of all things that he saw_. He
places himself in thought at the end of the visions he had witnessed,
and re-traces for others the elevating pictures which had filled, as
he beheld them, his own soul with rapture.
Therefore may he now, ere yet he enters upon his task, pronounce a
blessing upon those who shall pay due heed to what he is to say. Does
he think of the person by whom the apostolic writings were read aloud
in the midst of the Christian congregation? then, _Blessed is he that
readeth_. Does he think of those who listen? then, Blessed are _they
that hear the words of the prophecy_. Or, lastly, does he think not
merely of reading and hearing, but of that laying up in the heart to
which these were only preparatory? then, Blessed are they that _keep
the things which are written therein, for the season_, the short
season in which everything shall be accomplished, _is at hand_.
The Introduction to the book is over; and it may be well to mark for a
moment that tendency to divide his matter into three parts which
peculiarly distinguishes St. John, and to which, as supplying an
important rule of interpretation, we shall often have occasion to
refer. There are obviously three parts in the Introduction,--the
Source, the Contents, and the Importance of the revelation: and each
of these is again divided into three. Three persons are mentioned when
the Source is spoken of,--God, Jesus Christ, and the servants of
Jesus; three when the Contents are referred to,--the Word of God, the
Testimony of Jesus, and All things that he saw; and three when the
Importance of the book is described,--He that readeth, They that hear,
and They that keep the things written therein.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you, and
peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and
from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; and from Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and
the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loveth us, and
loosed us from our sins in His blood; and He made us to be a
kingdom, to be priests unto His God and Father; to Him be the glory
and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, He cometh with the
clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him; and
all the tribes of the earth shall wail over Him. Even so, Amen. I am
the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord, God, which is and which was
and which is to come, the Almighty (i. 4-8).
From the Introduction we pass to the Salutation, extending from ver. 4
to ver. 8. Adopting a method different from that of the fourth Gospel,
which is also the production of his pen, the writer of Revelation
names himself. The difference is easily explained. The fourth Gospel
is original not only in its contents but its form. The Apocalypse is
moulded after the fashion of the ancient prophets, and of the numerous
apocalyptic authors of the time; and it was the practice of both these
classes of writers to place their names at the head of what they
wrote. The fourth Gospel was also intended to set forth in a purely
objective manner the glory of the Eternal Word made flesh, and that
too in such a way that the glory exhibited in Him should authenticate
itself, independently of human testimony. The Apocalypse needed a
voucher from one known and trusted. It came through the mind of a man,
and we naturally ask, Who is the man through whom it came? The enquiry
is satisfied, and we are told that it comes from _John_. In telling us
this St. John speaks with the authority which belongs to him.
By-and-by we shall see him in another light, occupying a position
similar to ours, and standing on the same level with us in the
covenant of grace. But at this moment he is the Apostle, the
Evangelist, the Minister of God, a consecrated priest in the Christian
community who is about to pronounce a priestly blessing on the Church.
Let the Church bow her head and reverently receive it.
The Salutation is addressed _to the seven churches which are in Asia_.
On this point it is enough to say that by the Asia spoken of we are to
understand neither the continent of that name, nor its great western
division Asia Minor, but only a single district of the latter, of
which Ephesus, where St. John spent the later years of his life and
ministry, was the capital. There the aged Apostle tended all those
portions of the flock of Christ that he could reach, and all the
churches of the neighbourhood were his peculiar care. We know that
these were in number more than seven. We know that to no church could
the Apostle be indifferent. The conclusion is irresistible, that here,
as so often in this book as well as in other parts of Scripture, the
number seven is not to be literally understood. Seven churches are
selected, the condition of which appeared most suitable to the purpose
which the Apostle has in view; and these seven represent the Church of
Christ in every country of the world, down to the very end of time.
The universal Church spreads itself out beneath his gaze; and before
he instructs he blesses it.
The blessing is, _Grace to you, and peace_; grace first, the Divine
grace, in its enlightening, quickening, and beautifying power; and
then peace, peace with God and man, peace that in the deep recesses of
the heart remains undisturbed by outward trouble, the peace of which
it is said by Him who is the Prince of peace, "Peace I leave with you;
My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful."[4]
The source of the blessing is next indicated,--the Triune God, the
three Persons of the glorious Trinity, the Father, the Holy Spirit,
and the Son. Probably we should have thought of a different order; but
the truth is that it is the Son, as the manifestation of the Godhead,
who is mainly in the Apostle's mind. Hence the peculiarity of the
first designation, _Him which is, and which was, and which is to
come_, a designation specially applicable to our Lord. Hence also the
peculiarity of the second designation, _The seven Spirits which are
before His throne_; not so much the Spirit viewed in His individual
personality, in the eternal relations of the Divine existence, as that
Spirit in the manifoldness of His operation in the Church, the Spirit
of the glorified Redeemer,--not one therefore, but seven. Hence,
again, the peculiar designation of Christ, _Jesus Christ, who is the
faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the
kings of the earth_; not so much the Son in His metaphysical relation
to the Godhead, as in attributes connected with His redemptive work.
And hence, finally, the fact that when these three Persons have been
named, the Seer fills up the remaining verses of his Salutation with
thoughts, not of the Trinity, but of Him who has already redeemed us,
and who will in due time come to perfect our salvation.
Now, therefore, the Church, reflecting upon all that has been done, is
done, and shall be done for her, is able to raise the song of
triumphant thanksgiving, _Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from
our sins in His blood, and He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests
unto His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion for ever
and ever. Amen._ In these words the possession of complete redemption
is implied. The true reading of the original is not that of our
Authorised Version, "Unto Him that washed," but "Unto Him that loosed"
us from our sins. We have received not merely the pardon of sin, but
deliverance from its power. "Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the
snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and we are escaped."[5] The
chains in which Satan held us captive have been snapped asunder and we
are free. Again, this loosing has taken place "in" rather than "by"
the blood of Christ, for the blood of Christ is living blood, and in
that life of His we are enfolded and enwrapped, so that it is not we
that live, but Christ that liveth in us. Once more they who are thus
spoken of are "a kingdom, priests unto His God and Father," the former
being the lower stage, the latter the higher. The word "kingdom" has
reference, less to the splendour of royalty than to victory over foes.
Christians reign in conquering their spiritual enemies; and then, in
possession of the victory that overcometh the world, they enter into
the innermost sanctuary of the Most High and dwell in the secret of
His Tabernacle. There their great High Priest is one with "His God and
Father," and there they also dwell with His Father and their Father,
with His God and their God.
The statement of these verses, however, reveals not only what the
Christian Church is to which the Apocalypse is addressed; it reveals
also what the Lord is from whom the revelation comes. He is indeed the
Saviour who died for us, the witness faithful unto death: but He is
also the Saviour who rose again, who is the firstborn of the dead, and
who has ascended to the right hand of God, where He lives and reigns
in glory everlasting. It is the glorified Redeemer from whom the book
of His revelation comes; and He has all power committed to Him both in
heaven and on earth. More particularly, He is "the ruler of the kings
of the earth." This is not a description of such honour as might be
given by a crowd of loyal nobles to a beloved prince. It rather gives
expression to a power by which "the kings of the earth," the
potentates of a sinful world, are subdued and crushed.
Lastly, the Salutation includes the thought that He who is now hidden
in heaven from our view, will yet appear in the glory that belongs to
Him. He is the Lord who "is to come"; or, as it is expanded in the
words immediately following the doxology, _Behold, He cometh with the
clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him; and
all the tribes of the earth shall wail over Him. Even so, Amen._ It is
of importance to ask what the glory is in which the glorified Lord is
thus spoken of as coming. Is it that of one who shall be the object of
admiration to every eye, and who, by the revelation of Himself, shall
win all who behold Him to godly penitence and faith? The context
forbids such an interpretation. The tribes "of the earth" are like its
kings in ver. 5, the tribes of an ungodly world, and the "wailing" is
that of chap. xviii. 9, where the same word is used, and where the
kings of the earth weep and wail over the fall of guilty Babylon,
which they behold burning before their eyes. The tones of that
judgment which is to re-echo throughout the book are already heard:
"Give the king Thy judgments, O God, and Thy righteousness unto the
king's Son. He shall judge the people with righteousness, and Thy poor
with judgment"; "Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily,
He is a God that judgeth in the earth."[6]
And now the glorified Redeemer Himself declares what He is: _I am the
Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord, God, which is and which was and
which is to come, the Almighty._ It will be observed that after the
word "Lord" we have interposed a comma not found in either the
Authorised or the Revised Version.[7] On various other occasions we
shall have to do the same, and the call to do so arises partly from
the connexion of the thought, partly from St. John's love of that
tripartite division of an idea which has been already spoken of. The
former does not lead us to the Father; it leads us, on the contrary,
to the Son. He it is Who has been described immediately before, and
with Him the description which follows is to be occupied. No doubt the
thought of God, of the Father, lies immediately behind the words. No
doubt also "the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the
Father doing"; yet "what things soever He doeth, these the Son also
doeth in like manner."[8] By the Son the Father acts. In the Son the
Father speaks. The Son is the manifestation of the Father. The same
Divine attributes, therefore, which are to be seen in the Father, are
to be seen in the Son. Let us hear Him as He seals His intimations of
coming judgment with the assurance that He is God, who has come who is
and who is to come, the Almighty.
I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and
kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is
called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I
was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great
voice, as of a trumpet, saying, What thou seest, write in a book,
and send it to the seven churches; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna,
and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto
Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice
which spake with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden
candlesticks; and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a
Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt
about at the breasts with a golden girdle. And His head and His
hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and His eyes were as
a flame of fire; and His feet like unto burnished brass, as if it
had been refined in a furnace; and His voice as the voice of many
waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His
mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance was
as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at
His feet as one dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying,
Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the living One; And I
became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the
keys of death and of Hades. Write therefore the things which thou
sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall come
to pass hereafter; the mystery of the stars which thou sawest upon
My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars
are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks
are seven churches (i. 9-20).
After the Introduction and Salutation, the visions of the book begin,
the first being the key to all that follow. The circumstances amidst
which it was given are described, not merely to satisfy curiosity, or
to afford information, but to establish such a connexion between St.
John and his readers as shall authenticate and vivify its lessons.
_I John_, he begins, _your brother and partaker with you in the
tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the
isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of
Jesus._ It is no longer only the Apostle, the authoritative messenger
of God, who speaks; it is one who occupies the same ground as other
members of the Church, and is bound to them by the strong deep tie of
common sorrow. The aged and honoured Evangelist, "the disciple whom
Jesus loved," is one with them, bears the same burden, drinks the same
cup, and has no higher consolation than they may have. He is their
"brother," a brother in adversity, for he is a partaker with them of
the "tribulation" that is in Jesus. The reference is to outward
suffering and persecution; for the words of the Master were now
literally fulfilled: "A servant is not greater than his lord. If they
persecuted Me they will also persecute you;" "Yea, the hour cometh,
that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto
God."[9] The scorn, the hatred, the persecution of the world! for such
as were exposed to these things was the Apocalypse written, by such
was it understood; and if, in later times, it has often failed to make
its due impression on the minds of men, it is because it is not
intended for those who are at ease in Zion. The more Christians are
compelled to feel that the world hates them, and that they cannot be
its friends, the greater to them will be the power and beauty of this
book. Its revelations, like the stars of the sky, shine most brightly
in the cold, dark night.
"Tribulation" is the chief thing spoken of, but the Apostle, with his
love of groups of three, accompanies it with other two marks of the
Christian's condition in the world,--the "kingdom" and "patience" that
are in Jesus. St. John therefore was in tribulation. He had been
driven from Ephesus, we know not why, and had been banished to Patmos,
a small rocky island of the ?ean Sea. He had been banished for his
faith, for his adherence to "the word of God and the testimony of
Jesus," the former expression leading our thoughts to the revelation
of the Old Testament, the latter to that of the New; the former to
those prophets, culminating in the Baptist, of whom the same Apostle
who now writes tells us in the beginning of his Gospel, that they
"came for witness, that they might bear witness of the light;"[10] the
latter to "the true light, even the light which lighteth every man
coming into the world."[11] Driven from the society of his friends and
"children," we cannot doubt that St. John would be drawn even more
closely than was his wont to the bosom of his Lord; would feel that he
was still protected by His care; would remember the words uttered by
Him in the most sublime and touching moment of His life, "And I am no
more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee.
Holy Father, keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me";[12] and
would share the blessed experience of knowing that, on every spot of
earth however remote, and amidst all trials however heavy, he was in
the hands of One who stills the tumults of the people as well as the
waves of the sea beating upon the rock-bound coast of Patmos.
Animated by feelings such as these, the Apostle knew that, whatever
appearances to the contrary might present themselves, the time now
passing over his head was the time of the Lord's rule, and not of
man's. No thought could be more inspiring, and it was the preparation
in his soul for the scene which followed.
_I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great
voice, as of a trumpet, saying, What thou seest, write in a book, and
send it to the seven churches; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto
Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia,
and unto Laodicea._ The _Lord's day_ here referred to may have been
the Sunday, the first day of the Christian week, the day commemorative
of that morning when He who had been "crucified through weakness, yet
lived through the power of God."[13] If so, there was a peculiar
fitness in that vision, now to be granted, of the risen and glorified
Redeemer. But it seems doubtful if this is the true interpretation.
Proof is wanting that the first day of the week had yet received the
name of "The Lord's Day," and it is more in accordance with the
prophetic tone of the book before us, to think that by St. John the
whole of that brief season which was to pass before the Church should
follow her Lord to glory was regarded as "The Lord's Day." Whichever
interpretation we adopt, the fact remains that, meditating in his
lonely isle upon the glory of his Lord in heaven and the contrasted
fortunes of His Church on earth, St. John passed into a state of
spiritual ecstasy. Like St. Paul, he was caught up into the third
heavens; but, unlike him, he was permitted, and even commanded, to
record what he heard and saw.[14]
_And I heard behind me_, he says, _a great voice as of a trumpet,
saying, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it to the seven
churches; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto
Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea._
We need not dwell now upon these churches. We shall meet them again.
They are "the seven churches which are in Asia" already spoken of in
ver. 4; and they are to be viewed as representative of the whole
Christian Church in all countries of the world, and throughout all
time. In their condition they represented to St. John what that Church
is, in her Divine origin and human frailty, in her graces and defects,
in her zeal and lukewarmness, in her joys and sorrows, in the
guardianship of her Lord, and in her final victory after many
struggles. Not to Christians in these cities alone is the Apocalypse
spoken, but to all Christians in all their circumstances: "He that
hath an ear, let him hear." The Apostle heard.
_And I turned to see the voice which spake with me. And having turned I
saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the candlesticks one
like unto a Son of man._ It was a splendid vision which was thus
presented to his eyes. The golden candlestick, first of the Tabernacle
and then of the Temple, was one of the gorgeous articles of furniture in
God's holy house. It was wrought, with its seven branches, after the
fashion of an almond tree, the earliest tree of spring to hasten (whence
also it was named) into blossom; and, as we learn from the
elaborateness and beauty of the workmanship, from the symbolical numbers
largely resorted to in its construction, and from the analogy of all the
furniture of the Tabernacle, it represented Israel when that people,
having offered themselves at the altar, and having been cleansed in the
laver of the court, entered as a nation of priests into the special
dwelling-place of their heavenly King. Here, therefore, the seven golden
candlesticks, or as in ver. 4 the one in seven, represent the Church, as
she burns in the secret place of the Most High.
But we are not invited to dwell upon the Church. Something greater
attracts the eye,--He who is "like unto a Son of man." The expression
of the original is remarkable. It occurs only once in any of the other
books of the New Testament, in John v. 27, although there, both in the
Authorised and Revised versions, it is unhappily translated "the Son
of man." It is the humanness of our Lord's Person more than the Person
Himself, or rather it is the Person in His humanness, to which the
words of the original direct us. Amidst all the glory that surrounds
Him we are to think of Him as man; but what a man!
_Clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts
with a golden girdle. And His head and His hair were white as white
wool, white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet
like unto burnished brass as if it had been refined in a furnace; and
His voice as the voice of many waters. And He had in His right hand
seven stars; and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and
His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength._ The particulars
of the description indicate the official position of the Person spoken
of, and the character in which He appears. (1) He is a priest, clothed
with the long white garment reaching to the feet that was a
distinguishing part of the priestly dress, but at the same time so
wearing the girdle at the breasts, not at the waist, as to show that He
was a priest engaged in the active service of the sanctuary. (2) He is a
king, for, with the exception of the last mentioned particular, all the
other features of the description given of Him point to kingly rather
than to priestly power, while the prophetic language of Isaiah, as he
looks forward to Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, language which we may well
suppose to have been now in the Seer's thoughts, leads to the same
conclusion: "And I will clothe him with thy robe and strengthen him with
thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand."[15] The
"Son of man," in short, here brought before us in His heavenly glory, is
both Priest and King.
Not only so. It is even of peculiar importance to observe that the
attributes with which the Priest-King is clothed are not so much those
of tenderness and mercy as those of power and majesty, inspiring the
beholder with a sense of awe and with the fear of judgment. Already we
have had some traces of this in considering ver. 7: now it comes out in
all its force. That hair of a glistering whiteness which, like snow on
which the sun is shining, it almost pains the eye to look upon; those
eyes penetrating like a flame of fire into the inmost recesses of the
heart; those feet which like metal raised to a white heat in a furnace
consume in an instant whatever they tread upon in anger; that voice loud
and continuous, like the sound of the mighty sea as it booms along the
shore; that sword sharp, two-edged, issuing from the mouth, so that no
one can escape it when it is drawn to slay; and lastly, that countenance
like the sun in the height of a tropical sky, when man and beast cower
from the irresistible scorching of his beams,--all are symbolical of
judgment. Eager to save, the exalted High Priest is yet also mighty to
destroy. "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them
in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye Kings; be
instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish
from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all
they that put their trust in Him."[16]
The Apostle felt all this; and, believer as he was in Jesus, convinced
of his Master's love, and one who returned that love with the warmest
affections of his heart, he was yet overwhelmed with terror. _And when
I saw Him_, he tells us, _I fell at His feet as one dead._ In
circumstances somewhat similar to the present, a somewhat similar
effect had been produced upon other saints of God. When Isaiah beheld
the glory of the Lord he cried, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I
am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of
unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
hosts."[17] When Ezekiel beheld a vision of the same kind, he tells us
that he "fell upon his face."[18] When the angel Gabriel appeared to
Daniel in order to explain the vision which had been shown him, the
prophet says, "I was afraid, and fell upon my face."[19] Here the
effect was greater than in any of these instances, corresponding to
the greater glory shown; and the Apostle fell at the feet of the
glorified Lord as one "dead." But there is mercy with the Lord that He
may be feared; and _He laid His right hand upon me_, adds St. John,
_saying, Fear not_: and then follows in three parts that full and
gracious declaration of what He is, in His eternal pre-existence, in
that work on behalf of man which embraced not only His being lifted on
high upon the cross, but His Resurrection and Ascension to His
Father's throne, and in the consummation of His victory over all the
enemies of our salvation,--1. _I am the First and the Last, and the
Living One_; 2. _And I became dead, and behold, I am alive for
evermore_; 3. _And I have the keys of death and of Hades_.
A few more words are spoken by the glorified Person who thus appeared
to St. John, but at this point we may pause for a moment, for the
vision is complete. It is the first vision of the book, and it
contains the key-note of the whole. As distinguished from the fourth
Gospel, in which Jesus clothed as He is with His humanity is yet
pre-eminently the Son of God, the Saviour while here retaining His
Divinity is yet pre-eminently a Son of man. In other words, He is not
merely the Only Begotten who was from eternity in the bosom of the
Father: He is also Head over all things to His Church. And He is this
as the glorified Redeemer who has finished His work on earth, and now
carries it on in heaven. This work too He carries on, not only as a
High Priest "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," but as One
clothed with judgment. He is a man of war, and to Him the words of the
Psalmist may be applied:
"Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Mighty One,
Thy glory and Thy majesty.
And in Thy majesty ride prosperously,
Because of truth and meekness and righteousness:
And Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp;
The peoples fall under Thee;
They are in the heart of the King's enemies."[20]
Yet we cannot separate the body of Christ from the head, who is Son of
man as well as Son of God. With the Head the members are one, and they
too therefore are here contemplated as engaged in a work of judgment.
With their Lord they are opposed by an ungodly world. In it they also
struggle, and war, and overcome. The tribulation, and the kingdom and
patience "in Jesus,"[21] are their lot; but living a resurrection life
and escaped from the power of death and Hades, salvation has been in
principle made theirs, and they have only to wait for the full
manifestation of that Lord with whom, when He is manifested, they also
shall be manifested in glory.[22]
Thus we are taught what to expect in the book of Revelation. It will
record the conflict of Christ and His people with the evil that is in
the world, and their victory over it. It will tell of struggle with
sin and Satan, but of sin vanquished and Satan bruised beneath their
feet. It will be the story of the Church as she journeys through the
wilderness to the land of promise, encountering many foes, but more
than conqueror through Him that loved her, and often raising to heaven
her song of praise, "Sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed
gloriously, the horse and his rider He hath cast into the sea."[23]
Now then we are prepared to listen to the closing words of the
glorious Person who had revealed Himself to St. John, as He repeats
His injunction to him to write, and gives him some explanation of what
he had seen: _Write, therefore, the things which thou sawest, and the
things which are, and the things which shall come to pass hereafter;
the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest upon My right hand,
and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of
the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks are seven churches._
The golden candlesticks and the stars, the churches and the angels of
the churches, will immediately meet us when we proceed to the next two
chapters of the book. Meanwhile it is enough to know that we are about
to enter upon the fortunes of that Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in
the world which embraces within it the execution of the final purposes
of the Almighty, and the accomplishment of His plans for the
perfection and happiness of His whole creation.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] John v. 19; Heb. xiii. 8.
[2] Eph. i. 22.
[3] Chap. iii. 14.
[4] John xiv. 27.
[5] Psalm cxxiv. 7.
[6] Psalm lxxii. 1, 2; lviii. 11.
[7] Compare the Greek text of Westcott and Hort.
[8] John v. 19.
[9] John xv. 20; xvi. 2.
[10] John i. 7.
[11] John i. 9.
[12] John xvii. 11.
[13] 2 Cor. xiii. 4.
[14] Compare 2 Cor. xii. 4.
[15] Isa. xxii. 21; comp. also ver. 22 with Rev. iii. 7.
[16] Psalm ii. 9-12.
[17] Isa. vi. 5.
[18] Ezek. i. 28.
[19] Dan. viii. 17.
[20] Psalm xlv. 3-5.
[21] Ver. 9.
[22] Col. iii. 4.
[23] Exod. xv. 1.