_ANTICIPATIONS OF THE CHURCH'S VICTORY._
REV. iv., v.
We have seen in considering the first chapter of the Apocalypse that
the book as a whole is to be occupied with the Church's struggle in
the world; and in the second and third chapters the Church herself has
been placed before us as she occupies her position upon the field of
history. But the struggle has not yet begun, nor will it begin until
we reach the sixth chapter. Chaps. iv. and v. are therefore still to
be regarded as in a certain measure introductory. They form a
separate--the third--section of the book; and the first questions that
meet us in connexion with them are, What is their relation to the main
purpose of the author? What is their leading conception? and Why are
they placed where they are?
In answering these questions, we are aided by the strictly parallel
structure of the fourth Gospel. The Prologue of that book, contained
in chap. i. 1-18, suggests the object which the writer has in view.
The next section--chap. i. 19-ii. 11--places before us the Redeemer
whose glory he is to describe. The struggle of the Son of God with the
world does not begin till we come to chap. v. Between chap. ii. 12 and
chap. iv. 54 there is thus a considerable interval, in which we have
the cleansing of the Temple and the victory of Jesus over the unbelief
of the Jew Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and the king's officer of
Galilee, who was probably a Gentile. In this intervening space the
leading thought seems to be that of victory, not indeed of victory
_in_ the struggle, but of victory which prepares us _for_ it, and
fills the mind with hope _before_ it begins. In like manner the two
chapters upon which we are about to enter are occupied with songs of
victory. Catching their spirit, we shall boldly accompany the Church
into the struggle which follows, and shall be animated by a joyful
confidence that, whatever her outward fortunes, He that is with her is
more than they that be with her enemies.[87]
While such is the general conception of the third and fourth chapters
viewed as one, we have further to ask whether, subordinate to their
united purpose, there is not a difference between them. Such a
difference there appears to be; and words of our Lord in the fourth
Gospel, spoken upon an occasion which had deeply impressed itself upon
the mind of the Evangelist, may help us to determine what it is. In
the fourteenth chapter of that Gospel Jesus encourages His Apostles as
He sends them forth to fight His battle in the world. "Let not," He
says, "your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in Me."
The section of the Apocalypse upon which we are about to enter
embraces a similar thought in both its parts. Chap. iv. conveys to the
Church the assurance that He who is the ultimate source of all
existence is on her side; chap. v. that she may depend upon Christ and
His redeeming work. The two chapters taken together are a cry to the
Church from her glorified Head, before she enters into the
tribulation that awaits her, "Let not your heart be troubled: believe
in God, believe also in Me."
After these things I saw and, behold, a door opened in heaven, and
the first voice which I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with
me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things
which must come to pass hereafter. Straightway I was in the Spirit:
and, behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and One sitting upon
the throne; and He that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and
a sardius; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an
emerald to look upon. And round about the throne were
four-and-twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four-and-twenty
elders sitting, arrayed in white garments, and on their heads crowns
of gold. And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and
thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the
throne, which are the seven Spirits of God (iv. 1-5).
The _first voice_ here spoken of is the voice of chap. i. 10: "And I
heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet;" and it is well to
remember that that voice introduced the vision of a Son of man who,
while both King and Priest, was King and Priest in judgment. It is
impossible to doubt that the sound of the same voice is intended to
indicate the same thing here, and that the King whom we are about to
behold is One who has "prepared His throne for judgment."[88]
The Seer is introduced to a scene which we first recognise as the
glorious audience-chamber of a great King. Everything as yet speaks of
royalty, and of royal majesty, power, and judgment. The _jasper stone_
as we learn from a later passage of this book, in which it is said to
be "clear as crystal,"[89] was of a bright, sparkling whiteness; and
it fitly represents the holiness of Him of whom the seraphim in Isaiah
cry one to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts,"[90] and
who in this very chapter is celebrated by the unresting cherubim with
the words, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord, God, the Almighty, which
was and which is and which is to come." The _sardius_, again, was of a
fiery red colour, and can denote nothing but the terror of the
Almighty's wrath. _Out of the throne_ also--not merely out of the
atmosphere surrounding it, but out of the throne itself--_proceed
lightnings and voices and thunders_, always throughout the Apocalypse
emblems of judgment; while the use of the word _burn_ in other parts
of the same book, and the fact that what the Seer beheld was not so
much lamps as torches, leads to the belief that these torches as they
burned before the throne sent out a blazing and fierce rather than a
calm and soft light. It is true that the _rainbow round about the
throne_ points to the Divine covenant of grace and promise, and that
its _emerald_ greenness, absorbing, or at least throwing into the
shade, its other and varied hues, tells with peculiar force of
something on which the eye loves, and does not fear, to rest. But the
mercy of God does not extinguish His righteousness and judgment.
Different as such qualities may seem to be, they are combined in Him
with whom the Church and the world have to do. In the New Testament
not less than in the Old the Almighty reveals Himself in the awakening
terrors of His wrath as well as in the winning gentleness of His love.
St. Peter speaks of our Lord as not only the chief corner-stone laid
in Zion, elect, precious, so that he that believeth on Him shall not
be put to shame, but as a stone of stumbling and rock of offence;[91]
and when the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives us his
loftiest description of the privileges of the Christian Church, he
closes it with the words, "Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot
be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service
well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a
consuming fire."[92] So also here. Would we conceive of God aright,
even after we have been brought into the full enjoyment of all the
riches of His grace and love, we must think of Him as represented by
the jasper and the sardius as well as by the emerald.
The _four-and-twenty elders_ occupying _thrones_ (not seats) around
the throne are to be regarded as representatives of the glorified
Church; and the number, twice twelve, seems to be obtained by
combining the number of the patriarchs of the Old Testament with that
of the Apostles of the New.
The description of the heavenly scene is now continued:--
And before the throne, as it were a glassy sea like unto crystal
and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four
living creatures full of eyes before and behind. And the first
creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and
the third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth creature
was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, having
each one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and
within; and they have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy,
holy, is the Lord, God, the Almighty, which was and which is and
which is to come (iv. 6-8).
Up to this point we have been beholding a royal court; in the words
now quoted the priestly element comes in. The _glassy sea_ naturally
leads the thoughts to the great brazen laver known as the brazen sea
which stood in the court of Solomon's temple between the altar and
the sanctuary, and at which the priests cleansed themselves before
entering upon the discharge of their duties within the precincts of
God's holy house. The resemblance is not indeed exact; and were it not
for what follows, there might be little upon which to rest this
supposition. We know, however, from many examples, that the Seer uses
the figures of the Old Testament with great freedom; and as the Temple
source of the _living creatures_ next introduced to us cannot be
mistaken, it becomes the more probable that the brazen sea of the same
building, whatever be the actual meaning of the figure--a point that
will meet us afterwards--suggests the "glassy sea."
When we turn to the "living creatures," there can be no doubt whatever
that we are in the midst of Temple imagery. These are the cherubim, two
of which, fashioned in gold, were placed above the mercy-seat in the
holy of holies, so that, inasmuch as that mercy-seat was regarded as
peculiarly the throne of God, Israel was invited to think of its King as
"sitting between the cherubim."[93] These figures, however, were not
confined to that particular spot, nor were they fashioned only in that
particular way, for the curtain and the veil which formed the sides of
the Most Holy Place were wrought with cherubim of cunning work,[94] so
that one entering that sacred spot was surrounded by them. In the midst
of the cherubim spoken of in these verses we are thus in the midst of
Temple figures and of priestly thoughts. It is impossible here to trace
the history of the cherubim throughout the Bible; and we must be content
with referring to two points connected with them, of importance for the
interpretation of this book: the representative nature of the figures
and the aspect under which we are to see them.[95]
As to the first of these, the human element in the cherubim is at once
intelligible. It can be nothing but man; while the fact that they occupy
so large a position in the most sacred division of the Tabernacle is
sufficient to prove that man, so represented, is thought of as redeemed
and brought to the highest stage of spiritual perfection. The other
elements referred to certainly do not indicate either new qualities
added to humanity, or an intensification of those already possessed by
it, as if we might cherish the prospect of a time when the physical
qualities of man shall equal in their strength those of the animals
around him, when he shall possess the might of the lion, the power of
the ox, and the swiftness of the eagle. They represent rather the
different departments of nature as these are distributed into the
animate and inanimate creation. Taking the "living creatures" together
in all their parts, they are thus an emblem of man, associated on the
one hand with the material creation, on the other with the various
tribes of animals by which it is inhabited, but all redeemed,
transfigured, perfected, delivered from the bondage of corruption, and
brought into "the liberty of the glory of the children of God."[96] They
have a still wider and more comprehensive meaning than the "twenty-four
elders," the latter setting before us only the Church, but the former
all creation, glorified.
The second point above mentioned--the aspect worn by the living
creatures--demands also a few remarks, for the view commonly
entertained upon it seems to be erroneous. Misled by the mention of
the _calf_, which is supposed to be the ox, and not the bull-calf,
interpreters have allowed the mode in which they understood this
particular to rule their interpretation of the others. It has been
regarded as the emblem of endurance and of patient labour rather than
of power and rage; while, following the same line of thought, the
_eagle_ has been treated as the king of birds soaring in the blue
vault of heaven rather than as hastening (like the vulture) to his
prey.[97] The whole conception of the cherubim has thus been modified
and shaped in the minds of men under a form altogether different from
that in which it is really presented to us in Scripture. The cherubim
of the Old Testament and the "living creatures" of the New are
supposed to represent "majesty and peerless strength," "patient and
productive industry," and "soaring energy and nimbleness of action."
In reality they rather represent qualities that strike terror into the
hearts of men and suggest the idea of an irresistibly destructive
force. With this view all that is elsewhere said of them corresponds.
They are not simply spoken of as partakers of the favour of God. They
are instruments in the execution of His wrath. When our first parents
were driven from the garden of Eden, they were placed "at the east of
the garden," along with "a flaming sword which turned every way, to
keep the way of the tree of life."[98] When we are introduced to them
in Ezekiel, it is said that "their appearance was like burning coals
of fire, like the appearance of torches: it went up and down among the
living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went
forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the
appearance of a flash of lightning."[99] Similar associations are
connected with them throughout the Apocalypse. The opening of each of
the first four seals, the four that deal with judgments upon the
earth, is immediately followed by a voice, "as it were the noise of
thunder," from one of the four living creatures, saying, Come.[100]
One of them gives to the seven angels "seven golden bowls full of the
wrath of God."[101] And after the destruction of Babylon, when her
smoke is ascending up for ever and ever, and the voice of much people
in heaven calls for praise to Him who hath avenged the blood of His
servants at her hand, they "fall down and worship God that sitteth on
the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah."[102] There can be little doubt,
then, as to the meaning of these four living creatures. They are
sharers of the Almighty's holiness, and of that holiness in its more
awful form, as a holiness that cannot look on sin but with abhorrence.
They are the vicegerents of His kingdom. They are assessors by His
side. Their aspect is not that of the sweetness associated with the
word "cherub," but that of sternness, indignant power, and judgment.
Thus also it is that in the Tabernacle they looked toward the
mercy-seat.[103] By what they saw there they were restrained from
executing wrath upon the guilty. That mercy-seat, sprinkled with the
blood of atonement, told them of pardon and of a new life for the
sinner. Their sternness was softened; mercy rejoiced over judgment;
and the storm-wind upon which God flew swiftly, when "He rode upon a
cherub, and did fly,"[104] sank into a calm.
The Seer has beheld the audience-chamber of the Godhead in itself. He
has seen also the Divine Being who is there clothed with majesty, and
those who wait upon Him. He next passes to another thought:--
And when the living creatures shall give glory and honour and thanks
to Him that sitteth on the throne, to Him that liveth for ever and
ever, the four-and-twenty elders shall fall down before Him that
sitteth on the throne, and shall worship Him that liveth for ever
and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the
honour and the power: for Thou didst create all things, and because
of Thy will they were, and were created (iv. 9-11).
In his beautiful comments upon the Revelation Isaac Williams says,
"The four living creatures, or the Church of the redeemed, give
thanksgiving to God for their redemption; and then the twenty-four
elders fall down and attribute all glory to God alone, inasmuch as
prophets, Apostles, and all the ministering priesthood, rejoicing in
the salvation of the elect, attribute it not to their own
instrumentality, but to God."[105] In thus interpreting the passage,
however, that commentator can hardly be regarded as correct. It is
true that the living creatures are the representatives of redeemed
creation, and the twenty-four elders representatives of the glorified
Church. But in the song of praise here put into their mouths they have
not yet advanced to the thought of salvation. That is reserved for the
next chapter. Here they think of creation, with all its wonders; of
the heavens which declare God's glory, and the firmament which shows
forth His handiwork; of sun, and moon, and stars in their manifold and
resplendent glories; of the mountains and the valleys; of the rivers
and the fountains of waters; of the rich exuberance of vegetable life,
which covers the earth with a gorgeous carpet of every hue; and of all
those animals upon its surface which "run races in their mirth:" and
for them they praise. To God all creatures owe their origin. In Him
they live, and move, and have their being. Because of His will they
_were_--let the reading be considered and remembered: "were," not
"are"--because of His will they were in His idea from eternity; and
when the appointed moment came, they _were created_. Wherefore let
them praise. We are reminded of the Psalms of the Old Testament,
though it is ours to put into their words a still deeper and richer
meaning than they possessed when first uttered by the Psalmist:--
Praise ye the Lord.
Praise ye the Lord from the heavens:
Praise Him in the heights.
Praise ye Him, all His angels:
Praise ye Him, all His host.
Praise ye Him, sun and moon
Praise Him, all ye stars of light.
Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens,
And ye waters that be above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of the Lord:
For He commanded, and they were created
He hath also established them for ever and ever:
He hath made a decree which shall not pass away.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
Ye dragons, and all deeps:
Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour;
Stormy wind fulfilling His word:
Mountains, and all hills;
Fruitful trees, and all cedars:
Beasts, and all cattle;
Creeping things, and flying fowl:
Kings of the earth, and all peoples;
Princes, and all judges of the earth:
Both young men, and maidens;
Old men, and children:
Let them praise the name of the Lord:
For His name alone is exalted;
His glory is above the earth and heaven.[106]
Such then in chap. iv. is the call addressed by the Seer to the Church
before she enters upon her struggle, a call similar to that of Jesus
to His disciples, "Believe in God."
The fifth chapter continues the same general subject, but with a
reference to Christ the Redeemer rather than God the Creator:--
And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a roll
of a book written within and on the back, close sealed with seven
seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice,
Who is worthy to open the roll, and to loose the seals thereof?
And no one in the heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was
able to open the roll, or to look thereon. And I wept much,
because no one was found worthy to open the roll, or to look
thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold,
the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath
overcome to open the roll, and the seven seals thereof (v. 1-5).
We can easily form to ourselves a correct idea of the outward form of
the symbol resorted to in these words. The same symbol is used by the
prophet Ezekiel, and in circumstances in some respects precisely
analogous to those of the Seer. Ezekiel had just beheld his first
vision of the cherubim. "And when I looked," he says, "behold, an hand
was put forth unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; and He
spread it before me; and it was written within and without."[107] In
both cases it is not a "book," but a _roll_, like the sacred rolls of
the synagogue, that is presented to the prophet's eye, the difference
being that in the Apocalypse we read of the roll being _close sealed
with seven seals_. This addition is due to the higher, more sublime,
and more momentous nature of the mysteries contained in it. That it is
_written within and on the back_, so that there is no space for
further writing, shows that it contains the whole counsel of God with
regard to the subject of which it treats. It is the word of Him who is
the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last; and the seven seals
are so fastened to the roll that one of them may be broken at a time,
and no more of the contents disclosed than belonged to that particular
seal. What also the contents of the roll are we learn from the
contents of the seals as they are successively disclosed in the
following chapters. As yet the Seer does not know them. He knows only
that they are of the deepest interest and importance; and he looks
anxiously around to see if any one can be found who may break the
seals and unfold their mysteries. No such person can be discovered
either _in heaven_, _or on the earth_, _or under the earth_. No one
will even dare to look upon the roll; and the sorrow of the Seer was
so deepened by this circumstance that he _wept much_.
At that moment one of the elders, the representatives of the glorified
Church, advanced to cheer him with the tidings that what he so much
desired shall be accomplished. One who had had a battle to fight and a
victory to win had _overcome_, not only to look upon the roll, but to
_open it and to loose the seven seals thereof_, so as to make its
contents known. _This was the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the
Root of David_. The description is taken partly from the law and
partly from the prophets, for is not this "He of whom Moses in the
law, and the prophets, did write"?[108]; the former in the blessings
pronounced by the dying patriarch Jacob upon his son Judah: "Judah is
a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped
down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who shall rouse him
up?"[109]; the latter in such words as those of Isaiah, "And there
shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a Branch out
of his roots shall bear fruit;"[110] while, in the language alike of
the prophet and of the Seer, the words set forth the Messiah, not as
the root out of which David sprang, but as a shoot which, springing
from him, was to grow up into a strong and stately tree. In Him the
conquering might of David, the man of war, and of Judah, "chosen to be
the ruler,"[111] comes forth with all the freshness of a new youth. He
is "the mystery which hath been hid from all ages and generations, but
now hath been manifested to the saints."[112] In Him "the darkness is
passing away, and the true light already shineth."[113] "After two
days will He revive us: on the third day He will raise us up, and we
shall live before Him. And let us know, let us follow on to know, the
Lord: His going forth is sure as the morning; and He shall come unto
us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth."[114] Thus
then was it now. Like Daniel of old, the Seer had wept in order that
he might understand the vision; and the elder said to him, _Weep not_.
The eagerly desired explanation follows:--
And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living
creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as
though it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the
earth. And He came, and He hath taken it out of the right hand of
Him that sat on the throne (v. 6, 7).
A strange and unlooked-for spectacle is presented to the Seer. He had
been told of a lion; and he beholds a lamb, nay not only a lamb, the
emblem of patience and of innocence, but, as we learn from the use of
the word _slaughtered_ (not "slain," as in both the Authorised and
Revised Versions), a lamb for sacrifice, and that had been sacrificed.
Nor can we doubt for a moment, when we call to mind the Gospel of St.
John and its many points of analogy with the Apocalypse, what particular
lamb it was. It was the Paschal Lamb, the Lamb beheld in our Lord by the
Baptist when, pointing to Jesus as He walked, he said to his disciples,
"Behold the Lamb of God,"[115] and again beheld by the writer of the
fourth Gospel on the Cross, when in the fact that the soldiers broke not
the legs of Jesus, as they broke those of the malefactors hanging on
either side of Him, he traced the fulfilment of the Scripture, "A bone
of Him shall not be broken."[116] This therefore was the true Lamb "that
taketh away the sin of the world," the Lamb that gives us His flesh to
eat, so that in Him we may have eternal life.[117]
The Lamb has _seven horns_, the emblem of perfected strength, and _seven
eyes_, which are explained to be the Spirit of God, sent forth in all
His penetrating and searching power, so that none even in the very ends
of the earth can escape His knowledge. Further the Lamb is _standing as
though it had been slaughtered_, and there never has been a moment's
hesitation as to the interpretation of the figure. The words "as though"
do not mean that the slaughtering had been only in appearance. It had
been real. The Saviour, pierced with cruel wounds, "bowed His head" on
Calvary, "and gave up His spirit."[118] "The first and the last and the
Living One became dead,"[119] and had been laid in the tomb in the
garden. But He had risen from that tomb on the third morning; and,
"behold, He is alive for evermore."[120] He had ascended to the right
hand of the Majesty on high; and there He "stands," living and acting in
all the plenitude of endless and incorruptible life.
One thing more has to be noticed: that this Lamb is the central figure
of the scene before us, _in the midst of the throne and of the living
creatures, and of the elders_. To Him all the works of God, both in
creation and redemption, turn. To Him the old covenant led; and the
prophets who were raised up under it searched "what time or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto,
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories
that should follow them."[121] From Him the new covenant flowed, and
those who under it are called to the knowledge of the truth recognise
in Him their "all and in all."[122] The Lamb slaughtered, raised from
the grave, ascended, being the impersonation of that Divine love which
is the essence of the Divine nature, is the visible centre of the
universe. He is "the image of the invisible God, the First-born of
all creation: for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and
upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones,
or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things have been
created through Him, and unto Him: and He is before all things, and in
Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the Body, the Church:
who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead; that in all things
He might have the pre-eminence. For it was the good pleasure of the
Father that in Him should all the fulness dwell; and through Him to
reconcile all things unto Himself, having made peace through the blood
of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or
things in the heavens."[123]
Such is the Lamb; and He now comes, _and hath taken the roll out of
the right hand of Him that sat on the throne_. Let us note the words
"hath taken." It is not "took." St. John sees the Lamb not only take
the roll, but keep it. It is His,--His as the Son, in whom dwelleth
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; His by right of the victory He
has won; His as the First-born of all creation and the Head of the
Church. It is His to keep, and to unfold, and to execute, "who is over
all, God blessed for ever. Amen."[124]
Therefore is He worthy of all praise, and to Him all praise is given:--
And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the
four-and-twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one
a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of
the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to
take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain,
and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and
tongue, and people, and nation; and madest them to be unto our God
a kingdom and priests: and they reign over the earth (v. 8-10).
It is not necessary to dwell upon the figures that are here employed,
the _harp_, as connected with the Temple service, being the natural
emblem of praise, and the _bowls full of incense_ the emblem of prayer.
But it is of importance to observe the _universality_ of the praises and
the prayers referred to, for as the language used here of these _men of
every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation_, when they are said to
have been made _a kingdom and priests unto our God_, is the same as that
of chap. i. 6, we seem entitled to conclude that, even from its very
earliest verses, the Apocalypse has the universal Church in view.
The song sung by this great multitude, including even the
representatives of nature, now "delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God,"[125]
is wholly different from that of chap. iv. It is a _new song_, for it
is the song of the "new creation;" and its burden, it will be
observed, is not creation, but redemption by the blood of the Lamb, a
redemption through which all partaking of it are raised to a higher
glory and a fairer beauty than that enjoyed and exhibited before sin
had as yet entered into the world, and when God saw that all that He
had made was good.
The song was sung, but no sooner was it sung than it awoke a
responsive strain from multitudes of which we have not yet heard:--
And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the
throne and the living creatures and the elders: and the number was
ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands; saying
with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to
receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour,
and glory, and blessing (v. 11, 12).
These are the angels, who are not within the throne, but _round about
the throne and the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders_.
Their place is not so near the throne, so near the Lamb. "For not unto
angels did He subject the inhabited earth to come, whereof we
speak."[126] He subjected it to man, to Him first of all who, having
taken upon Him our human nature, and in that nature conquered, was
"crowned with glory and honour," but then also to the members of His
Body, who shall in due time be exalted to a similar dignity and shall
_reign over the earth_. Yet angels rejoice with man and with creation
redeemed and purified. They "desire to look into"[127] these things:
"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
that repenteth."[128] He who was God manifested in flesh "appeared"
after His resurrection "to angels;"[129] and, although they have not
been purchased with the blood of the slaughtered Lamb, their hearts
are filled with livelier ecstasy and their voices swell out into
louder praise while the "manifold wisdom of God is made known" to them
in their heavenly places.[130]
Even this is not all. There is a third stage in the ascending scale, a
third circle formed for the widening song:--
And everything which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under
the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard
I saying, Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb,
be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion,
for ever and ever (v. 13).
What a sublime conception have we here before us! The whole universe,
from its remotest star to the things around us and beneath our feet,
is one,--one in feeling, in emotion, in expression; one in heart and
voice. Nothing is said of evil. Nor is it thought of. It is in the
hands of God, who will work out His sovereign purposes in His own good
time and way. We have only to listen to the universal harmony, and to
see that it move us to corresponding praise.
It did so now:--
And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down
and worshipped (v. 14).
The redeemed creation is once more singled out for special mention. At
chap. iv, 8, 10, they began the song; now we return to them that they
may close it. All creation, man included, cries, _Amen_. The glorified
Church has her heart too full to speak. She can only fall down and
worship.
The distinction between chap. iv. and chap. v. must now be obvious, even
while it is allowed that the same general thought is at the bottom of
both chapters. In the one the Church when about to enter on her struggle
has the call addressed to her: "Believe in God." In the other that call
is followed up by the glorified Redeemer: "Believe also in Me."
Having listened to the call, there is no enemy that she need fear, and
no trial from which she need shrink. She is already more than
conqueror through Him that loved her. As we enter into the spirit of
these chapters we cry,--
"God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change,
And though the mountains be moved in the heart of the seas;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of
God,
The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved:
God shall help her, and that right early.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved:
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge."[131]
FOOTNOTES:
[87] Comp. 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8.
[88] Ps. ix. 7.
[89] Chap. xxi. 11.
[90] Isa. vi. 3.
[91] 1 Pet. ii. 6, 8.
[92] Heb. xii. 28, 29.
[93] Ps. xcix. 1.
[94] Exod. xxvi. 1.
[95] Comp. _Bible Educator_, vol. iii., p. 290, where the writer has
discussed this subject at some length.
[96] Rom. viii. 21.
[97] Job ix. 26.
[98] Gen. iii. 24.
[99] Ezek. i. 13, 14.
[100] Chap. vi. 1, 3, 5, 7.
[101] Chap. xv. 7.
[102] Chap. xix. 4.
[103] Exod. xxv. 20.
[104] Ps. xviii. 10.
[105] _The Apocalypse, with Notes and Reflections_, p. 69.
[106] Ps. cxlviii. 1-3.
[107] Ezek. ii. 9, 10.
[108] John i. 45.
[109] Gen. xlix. 9.
[110] Isa. xi. 1.
[111] 1 Chron. xxviii. 4.
[112] Col. i. 26.
[113] 1 John ii. 8.
[114] Hos. vi. 2, 3.
[115] John i. 36.
[116] John xix. 36.
[117] The point now spoken of has been doubted. A full discussion of
it by the present writer will be found in _The Expositor_ for July and
August, 1877.
[118] John xix. 30.
[119] Chap. i. 18.
[120] Chap. i. 18.
[121] 1 Pet. i. 11
[122] Col. iii. 11.
[123] Col. i. 15-20.
[124] Rom. ix. 5.
[125] Rom. viii. 21.
[126] Heb. ii. 5.
[127] 1 Pet. i. 12.
[128] Luke xv. 10.
[129] 1 Tim. iii. 16.
[130] Eph. iii. 10.
[131] Ps. xlvi. 1-7.