This chapter and the greater part of the next, from the first to the
fourteenth verse inclusive, is of the nature of a parenthesis; for the
fifteenth verse of the 11th chapter evidently connects the narrative or
series of events with the ninth chapter. The ninth chapter closes with
an intimation of impenitence on the part of those who had been punished
by the plagues of the preceding trumpets. Then it follows, as we have
seen, that they are to be still farther visited by the infliction of the
closing judgment symbolized by the seventh trumpet. The immediate
design, therefore, of interrupting the natural order of the narrative is
to place before us the actual condition of society when the seventh
trumpet sounds.
1. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a
cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face as it were the sun,
and his feet as pillars of fire:
2. And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot
upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
3. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had
cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
Vs. 1-3.--The majestic description of this Angel agrees to no creature.
It is proper to God-man only. It is partly the same display of the
Mediator's glory which we had in ch, i. 15. Especially is this the case
as to his _face_, his _feet_ and his _voice_. The "rainbow" is still the
sign of the everlasting covenant. "In wrath he remembers mercy."
This "book" differs from the _sealed_ book as a part from the whole, or
a codicil from the will to which it is appended. Also, it is
distinguished from the former as being _little_ and _open_. They do
therefore greatly err here, who would make this little book comprehend
all the remaining part of the Apocalypse, which would make it larger
than the sealed book. The little book is _open_, because it is part of
the large one, from which the last seal had been removed by the
Mediator. But another reason why the little book is represented as being
open, is the fact that the most of the events to which it refers, had
transpired prior to the sounding of the seventh trumpet. That trumpet
had been without its appropriate object, as presented in any preceding
part of the prophecy. To present that object is the special design of
the little book. All the events predicted in this book of Revelation are
not successive in the order of time, but some are coincident; and the
inspired writer of the Apocalypse, on several occasions goes back, as we
shall see, in order to explain at greater length, what had been but
briefly and obscurely narrated.
The angel set his feet upon the world, as his footstool; by which
position is emblematically signified his sovereign dominion over sea and
earth. And this is agreeable to his own plain teaching in the days of
his public ministry:--"All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth." (Matt. xxviii. 18.) He trod upon the billows of the ocean
literally in the state of his humiliation, giving thereby evidence of
his power over the mystical waters,--"the tumults of the people." During
the popular commotions signified by the trumpets, he said to the raging
passions of men and their towering ambition, as to the waves of the
sea,--" Hitherto shall ye come, and no further; and here shall your
proud waves be stayed." "He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves
thereof are still;" and whether the nations of Christendom are at war or
in peaceful tranquillity, he reigns over them as their rightful
sovereign;--"his right foot on the sea, and his left on the earth." In
possession of universal dominion, he speaks with authority, "as when a
lion roareth." Although a lamb slain, the victim for our sins; he is
also the Lion of the tribe of Judah, ruling over his own people,
restraining and conquering his own and their enemies.
The "seven thunders," etc., give a _premonition_ of tremendous
judgments, the import of which is to be "sealed up" until it be
demonstrated to all the world by the seventh trumpet and vial.
4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to
write: and I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Seal up those
things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
5. And the angel, which I saw stand upon the sea, and upon the earth,
lifted up his hand to heaven,
6. And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven,
and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are
therein, that there should be time no longer.
7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall
begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath
declared to his servants the prophets.
Vs. 4-7.--The attitude assumed by the Angel of the covenant is very
impressive, instructive and exemplary:--"his hand lifted up to heaven."
This is the external attitude of solemnity most becoming the jurant when
performing the act of religious worship, the oath. Abraham, in the
presence of the king of Sodom, used the same form, appealing to the
"Lord, the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth." (Gen. xiv.
22.) "Kissing the book" has no example in all the Bible; hence it is
unquestionably of heathen, and so of idolatrous origin and tendency. No
Christian can thus symbolize with heathens, without so far "having
fellowship with devils" as really as in eating in their temples. (1 Cor.
x. 21.)
The matter of the Angel's oath is,--"that there should be time no
longer." Here it is humbly suggested that our excellent translators are
faulty as in ch. iv. 6, already noticed. Neither the original Greek
text, nor the coherence of the symbolic narrative, will sustain or
justify the version. John, like all pious people, when he heard the
lion's voice, followed by the "seven thunders," was filled with solemn
awe, anticipating the coming dissolution of all things. It was not the
only instance of his weakness and misapprehension, (ch. xix. 10;) nor is
this infirmity peculiar to the apostle John; for we find other disciples
mistaking "the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his
own power." (2 Thess. ii. 1-3.) These Thessalonians had misapprehended
the language of Paul in his first epistle to them, when speaking of the
end of the world. (1 Thess. iv. 15-17.) To relieve the anxieties of the
Thessalonians, relative to the apprehended and sudden coming of the
Lord, Paul wrote again to correct their mistake; so it may be supposed
that the Angel interposed this solemn assurance to his servant John, for
the like purpose, of allaying his forebodings. The words in the
original, literally translated, stand thus: "That the time shall not be
yet." That is, the "time of the end," as we read in Daniel xii. 9, shall
not be, till the seventh trumpet begins to sound. The phrase,--"time of
the end," may signify either the final overthrow of antichristian power,
or the end of the world, because of the resemblance between the two
events. The plain and certain meaning, then, of the Angel's oath is,
that the "mystery of God shall be finished" only by the work of the
seventh angel. What this mystery is, we will discover in the following
chapters. Indeed, it had been long before "declared to the prophets,"
but still accompanied with comparative obscurity suitable to their time;
for the word "declared," is expressive of glad tidings, being the same
in origin and significance as that which we translate,--_gospel_, good
news. Accordingly, our Saviour directs his disciples, in view of his
appearing either to overthrow the Roman power, or to judge the world, in
the following words of cheer: "And when these things begin to come to
pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth
nigh." (Luke xxi. 28.) To the prophet Daniel the same event was attested
with like solemnity. (Dan. xii. 7.) This is the period to which the
suffering saints of God have been long looking forward with believing
and joyful hope. As Abraham rejoiced to see Christ's day of appearing in
our nature, and by faith saw and it and was glad; so the covenanted seed
of the father of the faithful, in the light of prophecy, and by like
precious faith, are favored with a view of the certain downfall of
mystical Babylon.
8. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and
said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel
which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little
book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy
belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
10. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up;
and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it, my
belly was bitter.
11. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples,
and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Vs. 8-11.--John is next directed by a voice from heaven, or by divine
authority,--to take and eat the open book. There is obvious allusion to
a similar transaction in Ezekiel iii, 1-3. The prophet was a captive by
the river of Chebar in Babylon, under the dominion of the _first_ beast
of Daniel, as John was in Patmos under that of the _fourth_; and both
were favoured and employed by the glorious Head of the church in an
eminent part of their ministry. "The word is not bound" when ministers
are in confinement.
The "eating of the book" represents the intellectual apprehension of the
things which it contained.
"Thy words were found and I did eat them,"(Jer. xv. 16.) A speculative
knowledge of the word of God, and especially of those parts that are
prophetical, will afford pleasure to the human intellect, even though
the mind be unsanctified. (Matt. xiii. 20, 21.) But when the prophet
gets a farther insight into the contents as containing "lamentations,
and mourning and woe," like Ezekiel's roll;--the pleasure is converted
into pain. A foresight of the sorrows and sufferings of Christ's
witnesses causes grief to the Christian's sensitive heart. He "weeps
with them that weep," by the spontaneous sympathies of a common and
renewed nature. "Sweet in the mouth as honey, but in the belly bitter as
wormwood and gall."
Upon the apostle's digesting the little book, the Angel interprets the
symbolic action by the plain and extensive commission,--"Thou must
prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and
kings." This commission did not terminate with the ministry of the
apostle, although he may be truly said to prophesy by the Apocalypse to
all nations till the end of the world. This is equally true, however, of
all the inspired penmen of the Holy Scriptures. (Psalm xlv. 17.) But
John is to be considered here as the official representative of a living
and faithful ministry, on whom devolves the indispensable obligation to
open and apply these sacred predictions to the commonwealth of nations,
however constituted authorities may be affected by them. And, indeed,
these messages will prove unwelcome to the immoral powers of the earth,
as in the days of old. (1 Kings xviii. 17.)