If we now rapidly recall the whole course of the seven trumpets, we can

see how with progressive movement they increase in severity as they go

forward; the judgments they prefigure fall first upon the land, and then

consecutively upon the sea, upon the fountains of water, and upon the

heavenly bodies, as signs of God’s judgment upon the physical universe,

and thus upon men who in their earthly lives form part of the natural

world; then with the fifth trumpet the judgments take a wider trend, and

point to and include the setting free of numberless demonic forces of evil

from the pit of the abyss to prey upon men, and under the sixth trumpet

the loosing of the multitudinous world‐forces of heathenism from the banks

of the Euphrates to bring world‐wide judgments upon the race, thus

preparing the way for the blowing of the seventh trumpet which ushers in

the day of cumulative wrath upon sin, and the final triumph of God’s

kingdom. This onward progress of the plan of the ages is only broken by a

passing view of the possibility of recovery for men in the episode of the

angel and the book, and of the two witnesses, which follows. The whole

sweep of the judgments of the trumpets, in the view of Apocalyptic

perspective, is toward the end of the present world and the triumph of

righteousness in the final judgment. There the redeemed are left with God

in his glorious kingdom; the after life is not attempted to be described;

its blessings are evidently too great for our present comprehension. But

the triumph would not be so definite, without the vision of conflict which

follows, for it presents the path to victory through prevailing trial and

opposition as ever leading on to complete and final triumph in the end,

that is to be realized in the glorious presence of the Lamb who is

revealed as standing upon Mount Zion in the midst of the redeemed.

IIIb The Episode of the Angel with the Book; and of the Two Witnesses (A

Vision of Divine Help). Ch. 10:1‐11:13

This twofold vision forms a digression between the sixth and seventh

trumpets, similar to the episode between the sixth and seventh seals,

setting forth the opportunities which God has afforded men of escaping his

wrath, showing the divine method of help through the institutions of

religion, and affirming the permanent value of the church’s witness,—a

paragraph that notwithstanding its acknowledged difficulty, is manifestly

interposed for the comfort of the church as well as to prepare the way for

the last woe of the remaining trumpet.(432) The restraint of wrath

indicated by the destruction of only the third part under the trumpets, is

now further developed by showing the divine offer of escape; and also

man’s common neglect of that offer, which leads at length to final doom

under the seventh trumpet. The episode, it will be seen, differs in theme

from the one under the seals, the former setting forth the divine side of

redemption, and the surety of its accomplishment through the act of

sealing, the latter showing the human side of redemption as it is made

known to men through the institutions of religion, and the failure of its

universal operation through unbelief, leaving the world without excuse to

bear the weight of judgment—the one throwing light upon God’s relation to

the church, and the other upon his relation to the world, in accordance

with the general theme of the seals and the trumpets. Though many are

unable to agree that John had such a comprehensive view in mind, or that

it is to be looked for in a writing of this class, yet when we consider

the various marks of elaborate structure in the book, exhibited in the

relation of its different parts, and the deep prophetic insight and poetic

intuition manifested by the author in his idealization of the course of

the church, we need not be surprised to find a broad and perspicuous view

of redemption such as this, especially since the plan of salvation had

already been so fully elaborated in an earlier period by the great Apostle

to the Gentiles.

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

The first part of the episode exhibits the revelation of God’s will and

purpose as a source of help. The little book in the vision is evidently

the Apocalypse, though in a broader sense it doubtless represents as well

the general purpose and beneficent effects of all God’s revelations to

men; and the book is found open to indicate that its contents are made

known to the world. Some regard the little book to be the remaining part

of the Apocalypse, beginning with the succeeding chapter;(433) by others

its contents are considered to begin with chapter twelve, the first break

in continuity after the episode; but it seems more likely that the whole

book is intended. In any case it is clear that the prophetic form in which

the writer’s ministry is to be realized (viz. “thou must prophesy again

over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings”, v. 11) serves to

link the center of the book (ch. 10:11) with both the beginning (ch. 1:3)

and the end (ch. 22:19),(434) and thereby furnishes an incidental proof of

its unity of design.

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

A mighty angel, the representative of Christ and bearing his

insignia,(435) having a book in his hand, and standing both upon sea and

land as a sign of his world‐wide mission, declares the coming end under

the seventh trumpet, when the mystery of God’s method and purpose in human

life and redemption shall be fully revealed and finally manifested in the

establishment of his universal kingdom. The manner of the angel is scenic

and impressive, and the message is one of undoubted power.

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

Seven thunders utter their voices(436) in token of the approaching

judgment, but John is directed by a voice from heaven to seal them up and

is forbidden to record them, probably indicating that the terrors of God’s

voice in judgment are for the present hidden from men; though some regard

the voices as introduced only to emphasize the element of mystery with

which the Apocalyptic form always delighted to clothe its thought. The

voice, declared to be from heaven in verse four, is apparently not

intended to indicate by whom the words were spoken, but only the source

from which they came; some, however, attribute them to Christ.

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

The book is Christ’s revelation to John in the Apocalypse, a little open

book or scroll (v. 2), evidently set in contrast with the great sealed

book of God’s purposes in chapter five; and it is taken by the Apostle, in

obedience to a voice out of heaven, from the hand of the angel, who

commands him to eat it, thereby indicating that John should digest the

prophecy therein contained (Ezek. 3:1‐3).(437) Though it was sweet to his

taste at first as a message from Christ, it became bitter afterward when

its deeper meaning was understood, for it told of long continued trial and

conflict instead of speedy triumph and victory. The prophecy is declared

to be “over [i. e. concerning] many peoples and nations and tongues and

kings”, a fourfold prediction, showing its world‐wide application and

indicating its ideal content.

It was the common thought of the early church that the period of the

Christian dispensation would be very brief; and it may have been in order

to dispel in some measure this illusion, and at the same time to inculcate

patience and hope by showing the ideal shortness of the Christian age in

God’s eternal plan, that we are to find one of the many purposes of the

Apocalypse. For it should be noted that by the end of the first century

the view‐point on this subject shows a material change. The attitude of

John’s Gospel toward the second coming of Christ is manifestly different

from that of the Synoptists;(438) the significant predictions of Christ

concerning his own return are omitted, notably the discourse on the last

things (Mt. 24; Mk. 13; Lk. 21); and the only references to his coming

again are indirect (Jn. 14:3, 18, 28; 16:22; and 22:22‐3), though from

these it is evident that it is subsumed throughout, a view that is

confirmed by the Epistles (I Jn. 2:28; and 3:2). This is far from showing,

as some hold, that the coming predicted was only figurative, and was

fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem, an event already past when

John’s Gospel was written; but seems rather to indicate that the earlier

stage of thought, shared in by all the apostles, which expected the Lord’s

return within the first generation, had given way to a new and wider

outlook which emphasized the continuous coming that is present and

spiritual more than the personal coming that is future and outward, though

without losing faith in the surety of that coming. And even if the later

date of the Apocalypse be not conceded, yet coming from the same source as

the Fourth Gospel, we might not unnaturally expect to find in it some

anticipation of this view involving delay, for the coming thought of in

the visions is undoubtedly personal and future.

B The Two Witnesses, Ch. 11:1‐13

The second part of the episode sets forth the indestructibility and

permanent value of the two special divine institutions for human help,

viz. revealed religion and the church; and shows the triumph of enduring

witness for the truth.

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

The ναὸς, or inner sanctuary of the temple of God, is at this point

introduced in the vision, a term which applied to the apartments of the

temple building proper, including the holy of holies, the holy place, and

in this case by implication the inner court, as distinguished from the

ἱερὸν which applied to the whole temple and included all the buildings

with the outer courts. The ναὸς in classical Greek is the sanctuary or

cell of a temple where the image of the god was placed. In Hebrew usage,

as applied to the temple at Jerusalem, it signifies the sacred edifice so

called, including the holy and most holy place.(439) Thus it is the true

temple with the altar and them that worship therein, i. e. the entire

contents of the inner court, the combined symbol of revealed religion and

of those who accept its truths, especially the revelation and worshippers

according to the Old Testament, which is here introduced in the vision.

This is directed to be measured, i. e. it is to be subjected to careful

scrutiny, and its proportions are to be observed, the sign as in Zechariah

(ch. 2:1f.) of preservation and renewal, and not of destruction. The

measurement apparently applies to the heavenly temple, though it may be

interpreted either of the temple at Jerusalem or its counterpart in

heaven, for to the Jewish mind the earthly temple was the type and shadow

of the heavenly (Heb. 9:5).(440) In either case the meaning is the same,

viz. only that which corresponds to the outer court of the earthly,(441)

the unessential portion, is given up by the fall of Jerusalem to be

trodden underfoot of the nations (Lk. 21:24) during forty‐two months (v.

2), the indefinite period of the world’s conflict with the church (see

App’x. E). The true temple with its worshippers, the heart and center of

the religious life of Israel, is indestructible and reappears in heaven

with the ark of the covenant restored (v. 19). This is a symbolic

expression of the important truth that the revealed religion of Israel is

to endure, the best in Judaism is imperishable, all that is fundamental

and essential is preserved though the outer form be destroyed;(442) and it

was designed to be a vision of comfort for the Jewish Christians, who

naturally regarded the ruin of the temple as a profound calamity. The

vision has been regarded by many interpreters as indicating that the

temple and the city of Jerusalem were still standing when this was

written, thus confirming the earlier date of the Revelation (circ. A. D.

69); but the weight of evidence to be attached to an Apocalyptic vision as

testimony in such a case is very small, and is quite insufficient when

compared with other evidences of the historical situation found in the

book.(443) It is evident, also, that there is a reference in the symbolism

here used, i. e. in the preservation not only of the altar, but “of them

that worship therein”, to the preservation of the Jews as a people, and

their future restoration when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled

(Lu. 21:24), though not necessarily to Palestine,(444) and surely not to a

rebuilded temple, which in any case would be mere incidents, but to the

richer blessings of renewed fellowship with God, of which the temple and

its service were to the Jewish mind the truest type (cf. Rom. 11:1f.). The

late Apocalyptic‐Traditional view, it may be mentioned, attributes verses

one and two to a former Jewish apocalypse that has been lost, which is

here quoted as an introduction to the prophecy of the two witnesses that

follows. It may well be doubted, however, whether this theory of the

origin of the passage adds anything effective to its interpretation.

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

The two witnesses who prophesy, i. e. bear witness for God, and whom God

ever preserves throughout all vicissitudes, and delivers even out of

seeming destruction, are the churches of the Old and New Dispensations

which have been divinely called to witness for the truth.(445) The two

olive trees represent the Old and New Testament revelations which supply

oil, the symbol of grace, to the two candlesticks, i. e. to the two

churches,(446) the Jewish and Christian, that have been and are God’s

special witnesses throughout the ages (cf. Zech. 4:2f.). The identity of

the candlesticks and witnesses is shown both by the connection, and by the

explicit statement of verse four: “These [two witnesses] are the two olive

trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the Lord of the earth,” i.

e. the witnesses are, in a sense, both the Old and New Testament

revelations and the churches of the Old and New Dispensations, which alike

witness for the truth of God, though the connection shows that the

churches are specially intended.(447) Two is the number of confirmation in

witness‐bearing (Jn. 8:17); hence the two witnesses may also be considered

to symbolize the sufficiency of the testimony of the Old and New Testament

churches, as also a sufficient number in the church in every age who

witness for God and truth. These have power that is not of man but

divinely given, as is indicated in symbolic language (v. 5‐6), yet when

their testimony is finished, the Beast out of the abyss, the world‐power

of chapter thirteen, introduced here by anticipation, accomplishes their

apparent overthrow. Out of this deadly conflict with the world, and the

apparent defeat and eventually the death of the witnesses, with the

exposure of their dead bodies and contemptuous refusal of burial, a

personal indignity and sign of hatred and contempt, the fitting type of

the world’s treatment of the church in all ages and times, which in the

vision occurs in Babylon, “the great city”, the type of the godless

world,—out of all this seeming defeat comes ultimate victory. After three

and a half days the breath of life from God enters into them, and they

live again, and go up to heaven in a cloud. This points to the experience

of grave peril by the church preceding her triumph, including temporary

and seeming extinction at the hands of her enemies, and forming the

occasion for an expression of their supreme contempt, an experience such

as has occurred at different periods in her history, and which may,

indeed, occur again in the future—the church persecuted, scattered,

peeled, seemingly destroyed, but revived and restored by the power of God.

Three and a half days of defeat,—a broken number, indicating a short but

indefinite period in contrast with the three and a half years, or forty‐

two months, or a thousand two hundred and three score days, (v. 3), the

length of the entire world‐conflict,—a time of rejoicing by them that

dwell upon the earth, is followed, as in the case of our Lord, by

resurrection, ascension, and triumph, a parallel that is apparently

suggested by the similarity and was doubtless intended. This is true not

only of individual saints who have borne witness and suffered death only

to rise again in the witness of others and in their own personal

resurrection, but is especially true of the church in a collective sense,

both under the Old Testament and the New, which always rises triumphant

after every great disaster in her history, and shall rise again in all her

members at the resurrection of the last day after her witness is

complete.(448) God avenges his own, as is indicated in the vision by the

fall of the tenth part of the city, which is the share of the tithe under

the Mosaic law, and by the death of seven thousand men, a great and

complete number, seven multiplied by a thousand, who bear the punishment

of their sin. As the result of the martyrdom and avengement the rest of

men, give glory to God, a manifest attestation of the value of the

church’s witness. The world’s persecution, though bitter and continued,

fails to accomplish its end; the church of Christ survives, and rises

again in power, and its witness becomes effective. Historical

interpreters, however, generally regard the two witnesses as persons,

futurists identifying them as Moses (or Enoch) and Elijah, whom they

regard as yet to come, and preterists finding in them two leading

characters during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, a view that restricts

the vision to very narrow limits. Others, catching the larger view,

interpret as “The Christian church and the Christian state”, and still

others as “The law and the prophets”, or “The prophets and the

priesthood”,—i. e. the whole spiritual authority of the old dispensation

which, “though perverted and destroyed by the Jews (some of the best

representatives of each being put to death), yet rose to new life and

enthronement in Christianity”. In any case the obvious teaching is the

triumph of faithful testimony for God, a principle of inestimable value

for the church when in the throes of persecution. And now, having looked

on the vision of the angel and the book, and of the two witnesses, the way

is open for the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

It may be noted in closing our study of this episode that many

commentators interpret “the great city”, in verse eight of this chapter,

as referring to Jerusalem, because of the designation “where also their

Lord was crucified”—Jerusalem being regarded as a world‐city. The decisive

reason against this, however, is the uniform usage of the book,(449) for

the interpretation is not otherwise materially affected. Jerusalem is

everywhere else in the Revelation the type of that which is holy, and is

nowhere else called “the great city”, while this name is applied seven

times elsewhere to Babylon (or Rome), the type of the ungodly world, in

which and by which our Lord may be truly said to have been crucified; and

there seems to be no adequate reason for regarding this passage as

containing an exceptional use of the phrase. Whether, however, we

interpret of Jerusalem or of Babylon the general sense remains the same.

In the one case the apparent defeat and contempt for the church of God, or

its witness and witnesses, occurs in Babylon, the type of the godless

world, while in the other it happens in Jerusalem, in that case the type

of unbelieving Judaism. Either symbolism, it will be seen, is suitable to

the context.

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

A discursive view of moral and spiritual conflict as the key to man’s

redemptive history, the prime thought which underlies the whole book, and

which is portrayed in this central fourfold vision as a pervasive church‐

historic world‐conflict of the evil against the just, now forms the

essential climax of the Revelation, disclosing a divine panorama of the

world in process of redemption with the great opposing forces which

contend against Christ and his kingdom; a discriminating outlook upon the

significant world‐movements of all time from the spiritual point of view,

for it is everywhere assumed that the forces which mould history are

spiritual, and that the master key to life is found in the supernatural.

And, whatever the form in which these movements became apparent to John in

his time, we may rest assured that the divinely inspired prophetic insight

led him to perceive, at least in some measure, that in their essence they

were timeless and repeated themselves in every age. This central vision is

in part the most difficult portion of the Revelation, containing seven

mystic figures, viz. the Sun‐Clothed Woman, the Great Red Dragon, the All‐

Ruling Man‐Child, the First Beast (the Beast from the Sea), the Second

Beast (the Beast from the Land), the Lamb on Mount Zion, and the Son of

Man on the Cloud, each one of whom is invested with a special symbolism.

The difficulties of interpretation belonging to this part of the

Revelation, it will be seen, are scarcely lessened in any degree by

referring different parts of the section to various Jewish apocalypses

which are supposed to have contained the gist of the thought in this

portion, according to the Apocalyptic‐Traditional view;(450) for, apart

from the fact that no such apocalypses are now extant, these sections,

even if they were originally derived from such a source, have an

application here that is distinctively new and specifically Christian. The

vision itself is properly divisible into four parts or sections, as

indicated in the arrangement that follows.

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

This is a vision of Satan persecuting the church and the Messiah, and of

the effective divine deliverance, which although permitting a continuance

of the conflict yet provides help for overcoming and anticipates final

victory. The scene opens in heaven, but is afterward transferred to the

earth—see verse six.

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

A great sign is seen in heaven, a Woman glorious and crowned, arrayed with

the sun, the bearer of light, and having the moon under her feet, i. e.

triumphing over time and change, who evidently represents the church of

God on earth which was first Jewish and then Christian—“the ideal

community of God’s people”. The moon was the Jewish divider of time, and

the phases of it being marked by recurrent changes, it naturally formed a

ready type of both these ideas; and it may here also include the thought

of stability of existence in the midst of change of outward

appearance.(451) The sun and moon have been thought by some to indicate

the relative light of the New and Old Dispensations, though it is more

probable that both have been introduced mainly to enhance the conception

of the church’s ideal glory. The crown of twelve stars is the sign of the

covenant people,—the crown is στέφανος, the crown of victory, which God

designs to give the church, and the number, twelve, is the number of the

tribes of Israel—while the woman’s travail anguish is the figure of Jewish

affliction, and of deep longing for the Messiah. Some interpret the figure

of the woman as representing the Virgin Mary;(452) but the symbol is

clearly wider than a person, as is shown by the whole course of the

persecution with its transference to the rest of her seed when the Man‐

Child has escaped, and evidently applies to “the mystical mother of

Christ”, the church whose seed are many, though the source and

appropriateness of the figure is doubtless found in the fact that Christ

was born of a woman.

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

The Dragon, a mythical animal of traditionary terror, the symbol to the

Jewish world of all that which was hideous and harmful, and described as

red in color to indicate his sanguinary and destructive character, is

introduced in order to represent the Old Serpent, the Devil, and Satan (v.

9),(453) the lord of the present world and the adversary of Christ. His

seven heads with diadems, and the ten horns, are symbols of his full

dominion and absolute power over evil in the world during the period of

conflict. The head with a crown or diadem is the natural symbol of

dominion, which in the Apocalyptic literature usually signifies kings or

empires (cf. Dan. 2:32; and 7:6), and the horn is a recognized Jewish

emblem of power. The crown is the διάδημα, the sign of royalty, not the

στέφανος, or garland crown of victory—a distinction that is carefully

observed in the Revelation, as is indicated in the Revised Versions by the

translation “diadem”.(454) This symbolism of the seven heads and ten horns

was evidently chosen to indicate the manifestation of Satan’s power in the

kings and kingdoms of this world which are adverse to the kingdom of God,

as is clearly shown by their use in chapter thirteen,—that through which

Satan operates and makes his power felt being attributed to him as an

essential part of his being. The use of seven and ten together implies a

twofold completeness, i. e. completeness of kind and completeness of parts

(see App’x. E). This combination of seven, the symbol of perfection of

quality which is usually moral, with ten the symbol of completeness which

is usually earthly, though without necessarily implying any moral element,

is used with an evil significance throughout in the Revelation, and

creates some difficulty of interpretation; but it is doubtless best

explained as indicating that that which was originally designed for moral

perfection, signified by seven, has been combined with and prostituted to

purely earthly ends, as signified by ten, which ends are in this case

notably sinful. The suitability of the seven heads and ten horns belonging

alike to the Dragon, who represents Satan, and to the Beast (ch. 13:1),

who represents anti‐Christian national government, is thus quite manifest,

for both are evil. If we compare this with the combination of seven with

seven in the horns and eyes of the Lamb, where the idea of a twofold

spiritual perfection is indicated, something of the peculiar combination

and significance of numbers in the Revelation will become apparent. The

Dragon’s casting down the third part of the stars from heaven (v. 4), i.

e. a considerable number but not the larger part, is another sign of his

power (Dan. 8:10), and may allude to the angels who lost their first

estate and fell with him. He stands waiting in the vision before the

Woman, the church, in order to destroy her child, the Messiah, as soon as

the child is born, a purpose that he does not prove able to carry out.

3 The All‐Ruling Man‐Child, Ch. 12:5

The Man‐Child is Jesus Christ, who was born of a woman, and whom Satan

endeavors to destroy, but who was brought forth to rule or to shepherd all

the nations with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:9), i. e. with irresistible power,

and who was caught up to heaven by his resurrection and ascension. In this

symbolic action the sufferings and death of Christ are passed over in

silence in order to set forth at once the triumphant escape as the chief

thought in mind, and the futility of the Dragon’s effort.

4 The Wilderness Refuge, Ch. 12:6a, and 14a

The wilderness represents the present evil world as the place of trial

during the period in which the church, like Israel, continues her

pilgrimage toward the promised fulness of the messianic kingdom. There may

also be a reference in this to the lands of the Gentiles, called a

wilderness in contrast with Canaan the glorious land to the Jewish

patriot, where the church “hath a place prepared of God”, and is now

nourished like Israel of old in the wilderness; or, by a change of figure,

like the prophet Elijah was fed for twelve hundred and sixty days, the

equivalent of forty‐two months, or three and a half years,—the time, [two]

times, and half a time, i. e. three and a half times, of verse

fourteen,—the symbol of the indefinite period of the church’s conflict

with the world, or of the world‐triumph, which is a shortened time, a term

that will end (see App’x E). It may be mentioned here that the preterist

interpreters usually regard the wilderness refuge as a reference to the

flight of the Christians to Pella before Jerusalem was destroyed, by which

they escaped the three and a half years of the siege(455)—certainly a

remarkable coincidence, though not serving to establish that

interpretation—a meaning that is narrow and local instead of broad and

universal.

5 The Persecution of the Woman and her Seed, Ch. 12:4‐6, and 13‐17

The persecution of the Woman with her seed represents Satan’s malign but

fruitless attempts to destroy the church. The two wings of the great

eagle, i. e. the number of added strength and surety, are those of divine

preservation which are given her to escape from the destroying flood cast

out of the mouth of the Dragon, the apt symbol of Satan’s persistent

effort to overwhelm the church. To John’s mind the eagle, which was

inscribed upon the Roman standards, may have seemed the symbol of the

Roman Empire that at first protected Christianity from Jewish

persecution,(456) or the symbol may have been suggested by that fact; but

it represents as well what God is ever doing through human and earthly

means for the church’s deliverance. By the exceptional statement that “the

earth helped the woman”, we are evidently to understand that natural

causes helped Christianity, a fruitful suggestion that is remarkably

exemplified in history. The Dragon making war upon the rest of the Woman’s

seed, i. e. all of her seed except Jesus Christ, who was caught up to

heaven, indicates his continued attack upon the church and its members.

B War in Heaven, Ch. 12:7‐12

We have in this incident a digression in the midst of the account of the

persecution of the Woman in order to show the origin of Satan’s hatred,

and the beginning of the conflict in the far past.(457) Michael the

archangel, regarded as the presiding angel of the Jews from the time of

Daniel, together with the angels under him, warred with the Dragon and his

angels; and Satan, being cast out of heaven, transferred the conflict to

earth. A great voice is then heard in heaven declaring his downfall

together with the triumph of the kingdom of God, and recounting the

suffering of the saints because of him (v. 10‐12). This term which is here

introduced, “the kingdom of our God”, though used but twice in the book of

the Revelation, is the most notable phrase in the New Testament. It occurs

nearly a hundred times, either as “the kingdom of God”, or “the kingdom of

heaven”, a term which signifies the rule of God in the earth, God becoming

king among men. The kingdom of God, it should be seen, has a far broader

meaning and wider sweep than the church, for it serves to include all that

God is ever doing the ages through for the spiritual uplift and permanent

betterment of mankind. In the broadest sense this beneficent kingdom may

be defined as all that divinely directed movement and control in human

life and history which has for its object the ultimate accomplishment of

the mind and will of God in the hearts and lives of men—for this glorious

kingdom on the earthly side has its ultimate seat within the human heart

(Lu. 17:21). Jesus by his luminous teaching lifted that name, “the kingdom

of God”, out of the older and narrower phases of its Jewish use, and gave

it a broader and more beneficent meaning for all succeeding time. The

casting out of Satan, which is related in this section, is introduced as a

contributive event to the glorious coming of the kingdom. His defeat in

heaven foreshadows his defeat on earth, and though he still has “great

wrath” which he pours out upon men, yet ’he hath but a short time’ (v.

12), i. e. a time that is relatively short, until Christ shall reign in

power. They who are our brethren overcame him, we are told (v. 11),

“because of the blood of the Lamb”, therefore they are called upon to

rejoice. In connection with this interpretation it should not be forgotten

that the time‐relation is, in this view, ignored in the vision, as

commonly throughout the book, for Apocalyptic often does not separate the

near and the far, and events widely separated in time are viewed as

contemporaneous in the timeless sequence of prophetic perspective. Thus

the incident before us without any intimation takes us back to the period

anterior to creation, and then recurs as suddenly to the experience of

persecution by faithful Christians.(458) In all Apocalyptic writings there

is a manifest indifference to formal consistency that we do well to bear

in mind.

According to another view the account in this section is to be regarded as

continuous with the last, verse seven following verse six in natural

order, and the conflict described is to be placed after the resurrection

of Christ, making the victory a shortening of Satan’s power following upon

Christ’s redemptive work, and depriving him of such opportunity as he

hitherto had in heaven of accusing the brethren, thereby limiting his

sphere to this world. Notwithstanding the attractiveness of this view,

however, and what may be said in its favor from several passages in the

Gospels (cf. Lk. 10:18; Jn. 12:31; 14:30b; and 16:11),(459) the former

interpretation is upon the whole to be preferred as agreeing best with the

general sense of the chapter.(460) Such a symbol of victory over Satan,

whatever the period to which the victory may be attributed, was not out of

accord with ideas current at that time; for “this feature impossible in

modern conceptions of heaven, shows itself from time to time in pre‐

Christian and also early Christian conceptions, viz. the belief in the

presence of evil, or the possibility of its appearance, in the heavens”

[i. e. in the lower heavens].(461) In any case this section places in

clear perspective the great truth that leadership in the antagonism of

evil with righteousness belongs to and takes its rise from the

supernatural world, and what we constantly see here has its source and

occasion there, in the deeper spiritual vision of prophecy.

In the interpretation of this section a manifest parallelism has been

pointed out between the conflict of Marduk with Tiâmat in Babylonian

mythology, and the war between Michael and the Dragon in the

Apocalypse.(462) Others pursuing this idea still further, though without

sufficient ground for their conclusion, have attributed to Babylonian

origin a body of Jewish apocalyptic traditions which they assume to have

been one of the sources of the Revelation and to have furnished the

incident of this section.(463) In correction of this position it should be

seen that even when we recognize to the fullest extent the necessary

influence of contact with Babylon, both early and late, upon Jewish

thought, and the introduction of ideas from that source as natural and

inevitable, it does not follow that there was any such use made of

Babylonian mythology in the later Jewish writings as this would imply, for

the Jew was exceedingly wary of any religious ideas that did not spring

from his own ancestral heritage. It is indeed quite probable that

particular concepts, or thought‐elements, like that of the Dragon and of

the two Beasts in this vision, are of Babylonian origin; but “the

hypothesis of a Jewish messianic use of an entire heathen sun‐myth, and

then the Christian adaptation of the Jewish form”,(464) is in itself

highly improbable at so late a period in Jewish development, and can

scarcely be accepted by those who maintain the inspiration of the

Apocalypse in any essential sense. It is much more likely that the author,

if using such material at all, incorporated the thought rather than the

form of such floating Babylonian fragments as belonged to his time, in

accordance with his usual method of employing the Hebrew literature,

though this is wholly a matter of hypothesis.(465)

C The Two Beasts, Ch. 13:1‐18

The vision now sets forth two of the principal forms of the world’s

opposition to Christ and his kingdom, which are represented as Beasts,

monsters that are terrible and revolting in appearance, that are placed in

notable contrast with the Lamb, and that are inspired by Satan who stands

watching in his dragon form on the sands of the sea—for according to the

corrected reading of the Revised Version, it is the Dragon and not the

Apocalyptist that stands upon the seashore.(466) This vision affords an

interesting example of John’s use of already existing material, for the

idea of two wild beasts opposing the Messiah is found elsewhere in

apocalyptic writings, although not in exactly the same form,(467) and is

here made the basis of an illustration of undoubted power. The Beasts in

the Apocalypse are the natural and fitting embodiment of brute force

operating to control men in the sphere of religion. Some would prefer the

translation of θηρίον as a “monster” rather than a “beast”,(468) and

perhaps, it is technically more accurate, but the long use of the term

“beast” in this connection has made it familiar to our minds and also

intelligible, for it is a beast in the bad sense that is intended, and to

the average reader this term undoubtedly conveys the proper meaning.

1 The First Beast—the Beast from the Sea, Ch. 13:1‐10

A wild Beast fierce and bloodthirsty, and ideal composite creature, “like

unto a leopard and his feet were as _the feet_ of a bear, and his mouth as

the mouth of a lion” (v. 2), evidently formed from the beasts in Daniel’s

vision (ch. 7:3f.), is seen coming up out of the tempestuous sea of the

nations, and is manifestly the same as the Scarlet Beast of chapter

seventeen, the one constantly referred to as “the Beast” without any other

qualification. This is the symbol of the universal world‐power, i. e. all

the world‐kingdoms are considered as one and personified in this Beast in

open hostility to the church;(469) national opposition to Christianity,

exemplified by heathen Rome in John’s day which supplied the groundwork of

the conception, but extending far beyond that and applying equally to all

persecuting nations during the whole forty‐two months, or three and a half

years, of world‐domination, which represents the duration of the church‐

historic period of trial (v. 5), a period that is broken and incomplete

(see App’x E). The Beast is described as having ten horns and seven heads,

the symbol of a twofold completeness, both that of parts (ten) and that of

quality or kind (seven), the same number as the Dragon, though in inverse

order, indicating that the Beast is the agent of the Dragon, i. e. of

Satan, and is possessed of like dominion and power,—for “the Dragon gave

him his power, and his throne, and great authority”. The heads seem to

symbolize the world‐power taking form, and the horns the exercise of that

power. (For the further development of this symbolism, see ch. 17:9f.) And

it should be noted that the ten horns and seven heads are common not only

to the Dragon and the Beast, but are also the sum total of those belonging

to the four beasts in Daniel’s vision, i. e. to all the world‐powers there

designed, a symbolism which suggests that it properly applies to more than

one nation, and which here seems intended to portray the persistent

opposition of the Devil to the church of God, working through the power of

the world in all time and in all nations. The ten crowns or diadems upon

his horns denote the fulness of his sovereignty, and imply the extent of

his earthly rule; the names of blasphemy upon his heads seem to refer to

the divine titles and honors assumed by earthly kings, especially those of

Rome, as Domitian who ordered that in official documents he should be

styled “Our Lord and God”—a figure that is perhaps suggested here by the

mitre of the high priest on which was written “Holiness to the Lord”, to

which this was antipodal;(470) while the wounded head that is healed

refers to the death stroke, given to the world‐power by the life, death,

and resurrection of Jesus Christ, from which there has been seeming

recovery,(471) for this was a true deathblow to the world‐power, even

though it failed of immediate realization and thereby disappointed Jewish‐

Christian hopes of early victory. The Beast blasphemes against God, “his

name, and his tabernacle, even them that dwell in the heavens”, i. e. the

inhabitants of the tabernacle. “And it was given unto him to make war with

the saints and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over

every tribe and people and tongue and nation”; but it is only as it is

“given unto him” that he can exercise his power, i. e. he is subject to

divine control. And every one, “whose name hath not been written from the

foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been

slain”, shall worship him. Thus is depicted not only the fierce antagonism

of the Roman Empire to the church in that age, but the perpetual hostility

and unceasing opposition of the universal world‐power in all ages and

nations to the growth of the kingdom of God among men.

The symbol of the Beast, notwithstanding the difficulty of its

interpretation, has certain distinguishing features that help to interpret

its meaning. The close resemblance to Daniel’s vision gives a clue to the

thought in mind, and serves to indicate the proper method of

interpretation. That the world‐power in some form is symbolized in the

vision, is clearly indicated; on this point all interpreters are agreed,

though the majority of modern interpreters regard the Beast as the Roman

Empire. That John had Rome primarily in mind can scarcely be doubted; but,

in the view accepted by the symbolic interpreters, the Roman Empire served

only to supply the groundwork for an idealized conception, in which the

ordinary and limited view of sense has become transformed under the

influence of prophetic insight into the wider vision of a world‐power

belonging to all time and pervading all history that rises beastlike in

strength and might to oppress the people of God. The Beast, according to

this interpretation, is the persecuting world‐power in any and every age

antagonizing the kingdom of God; the national and political forces of the

world in their organized form arraying themselves against our Lord and his

Christ; that phase of the world’s life which finds expression for its

opposition to the children of the kingdom under the forms of law and

government, the most sovereign and irresistible of all kinds of

persecution. This symbol naturally found a ready and satisfactory

interpretation by the early church in the prevailing surveillance of the

Roman authority; but it is an interpretation none the less true of heathen

nations everywhere and always, who constantly persecute the church of God.

The interpretation thus given is the one accepted by the symbolist school

as the most natural and satisfactory of all, having a world‐wide

application and universal content; and it may be confidently adopted with

an adequate degree of assurance that it conveys the meaning intended. The

preterist interpreters, on the other hand, limit the meaning of the First

Beast to the Roman Empire, using its power to oppose and oppress

Christianity, and construe the wounded head as a reference to the death of

Nero (see notes on chapter seventeen).

(1) An Admonition to Patience, Ch. 13:9‐10

John adds a word of warning concerning the need of patience and

perseverance for the saints. If any one is ordained to captivity, into

captivity let him go as the lot appointed him; resist not, for he that

taketh the sword shall perish by the sword; this is the test of “the

patience and the faith of the saints”. When we compare this message

contained in the tenth verse, which is an exhortation to patience under

persecution, with that in the eighteenth verse of this same chapter, where

the exhortation is to wisdom against deception, we get a glimpse of the

different kind of danger that is to be apprehended from each of the two

beasts, the first persecuting men, the second deceiving them.

2 The Second Beast,—the Beast from the Land, Ch. 13:11‐18.

Another wild Beast, also an ideal and composite creature, like unto yet

different from the first, is seen coming up out of the earth,(472) i. e.

out of established and well‐ordered society; the Two‐horned Beast in whom

the exercise of personal power or force is less prominent than in the

First Beast with ten horns to whom he is subordinate, for the power he

exerciseth is “all the power of the First Beast”. This Beast is the symbol

of the universal world‐religion, i. e. all the world‐religions are

considered as one and personified in the Second Beast, in disguised

hostility to the church of Christ;(473) the False Prophet of chs. 16:13

and 19:20, assuming to be what he is not, and using his authority for evil

ends, who “deceiveth them that dwell on the earth”.(474) His two horns

like a lamb, but voice like a dragon, indicate that he has the external

characteristics of a lamb, but the inner nature of a dragon, and are

evidently intended to signify that he appears to be like Christ, while he

is like Satan; he represents the forms of religion that assume to save

men, but in fact only bind them to evil. “He doeth great signs that he

should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the

sight of men”, i. e. not a literal bringing down of fire, but a power

counterfeiting the power of God as shown of old in fire from heaven, a

great sign to Israel (Num. 16:35; I K. 18:38), and sembling that of the

two witnesses (ch. 11:5). And he required of “them that dwell on the

earth, that they should make an image to the Beast who hath the stroke of

the sword and lived”, i. e. the false religions of the world, which the

Second Beast represents, operate to make the people subservient to the

world‐power, the First Beast which had the stroke of the sword and lived,

with which these religions always stand connected whether in Rome or in

other nations;(475) and the people render worship as they are directed.

“And it was given _unto him_ to give breath to the image of the Beast that

it should speak and cause as many as should not worship the image to be

killed”, i. e. the heathen religions give life and authority to national

worship, give vitality to the world‐power that it should command and

compel men to join in its idolatrous forms or lose their lives by refusal.

Thus the whole figure seems to indicate the spirit of the world operating

against the church through the forms of religion, especially as seizing

upon the natural and ethnic religions, permeating them with deceit, and

subverting them to worldly ends (v. 14), the element of religion being a

prominent feature throughout. Actuated by worldly wisdom, which is

“earthly, sensual, and devilish” (Jas. 3:15), this Beast, we are told,

bids all men worship the image of the First (v. 12 and 14), i. e. worship

the deification of the world‐power, thereby insidiously rehabilitating the

world‐power in another form, a figure likely drawn from the worship of the

Emperor’s image, a cult prevailing at the time, and showing how false

religions rest upon and are upheld by heathen governments. John doubtless

had primarily in mind the heathen priesthood of that period, especially

the priesthood of Caesar‐worship, which afforded the best example of the

then existing world‐religions, but this only formed the groundwork of the

larger thought of the vision. Preterist interpreters, as a rule, would

limit the meaning of the Second Beast to the heathen priesthood of that

time, but this is too restricted a view. Any religion anywhere rejecting

the Christ and crowning the world‐power is represented by the Second

Beast. It has also been suggested that the Second Beast represents the

Asiarch, or chief priest of Asia, the director and instigator of Emperor‐

worship.(476) This may possibly have been the source of John’s idea; but

however formed we should regard it as a universal and poetic conception of

one continuous phase of the world’s opposition to Christ and his kingdom,

and not limit it to any particular historic manifestation of that

opposition. Others, without sufficient grounds, have referred the title to

the papacy, interpreting the First and Second Beasts as Rome pagan and

papal. Another interpretation is that the First Beast is the secular

persecuting power, pagan or Christian, and the Second Beast is the

sacerdotal persecuting power, pagan and Christian; while still another and

better interpretation is that world‐force is the first, and world‐worship,

i. e. world‐religion and superstition, the second.(477) Symbolist

interpreters always prefer the wider to a narrower symbolism in accordance

with their general view of the book. According to this view, which is the

one accepted in the present volume, all the world‐religions which profess

to be holy but are controlled by the same spirit, belong to the Second

Beast and contribute to his power. The aspect of heathenism which here

presented itself to John’s mind is the most general and obvious of all its

many characteristics; and although we now recognize more fully the

elements of truth in the ethnic religions, and their relative value in the

moral education of mankind when without the gospel, yet John’s view still

holds good, and is confirmed by the world‐wide testimony of the mission

field. The world‐spirit which lies at the door of the world‐religions is

and always has been evil, and will always be degrading to the soul, that

spirit which subordinates the moral and spiritual to purely selfish and

worldly ends. The forms of the Two‐horned Beast today are just as

deceiving and defiling to men, and as much opposed to the kingdom of God,

as they ever were of old. And not only are all the world‐religions the

abiding manifestation of the Second Beast, but even the Christian church

also, whether Catholic or Protestant, may become subservient thereto,

whenever or wherever it, or any part of it, may be dominated by the spirit

of the world‐religions, and thereby yields its God‐given prestige to this

Beast. The forms of human learning, too, as philosophy, science,

literature, and art, when they trench upon the sphere of religion and

become atheistic, agnostic, materialistic, or God‐defying, exhibit the

spirit of the world‐religions in opposition to Christ, and are

manifestations of the same Beast. This power is world‐wide and age‐long,

and the vision seems to look through and beyond the forces then at work to

their wider manifestation in history. For the Second Beast is the

incarnation of the permanent and universal world‐religion in each and all

of its forms, and while presenting one aspect of the world‐religions of

John’s time, yet goes far beyond that and portrays the principle of

opposition to the church of Christ which underlies them all, and which

would develop new forms in the period when Christianity had nominally

triumphed, continuing the conflict upon different lines from the violent

persecutions of the earlier ages; a period when the world’s opposition to

God would be expressed “by affiliation with the religion of Jesus, and by

penetrating its life with false ideals”, producing a faithlessness within

the church even more deadly in its results than the fatal furor of

persecution, for the world within the church is one of the forms of the

Second Beast, and there is nothing so dangerous to the life of the soul as

irreligious religion.(478)

(1.) An Admonition to Wisdom, Ch. 13:18

“Here is wisdom”, John says: “He that hath understanding, let him count

the number of the Beast; for it is the number of a man”,—or rather, “the

number of man”, for there is no article in the Greek, implying that the

reference is not to any particular man—(479) i. e. it is a human number.

The mark of the Beast, like that of an ancient devotee to his idol, is put

upon both the hand and brain (v. 16)(480) of all the people who accept his

authority, without any distinction of rank, rich and poor, bond and free,

small and great, all alike, showing that their powers are uniformly

devoted to the service of this world. John exhorts the church to wisdom in

discerning this Beast, indicating the subtleness of his hidden power. The

number of his name, i. e. designation, is six hundred and sixty‐six (some

manuscripts read six hundred and sixteen, but this is almost certainly an

error of transcription), the symbol of a threefold, composite power of

evil which includes the Dragon, the First Beast, and the Second, and which

culminates in the last, viz:—600, a hundredfold of six, a numerical

designation of the Dragon, plus 60, tenfold of six, a similar designation

of the First Beast, plus 6, onefold of six, a like designation of the

Second Beast, if considered alone, which together, equal 666, the

numerical designation of the full power which the Second Beast represents.

The key to the mystical designation 666, according to this

interpretation,(481) is found in the number six, the number of evil, one

short of seven or perfection, Satan’s number, whether multiplied by ten or

not, here thrice repeated, _six_, _six_, _six_, each repetition

multiplying the previous number tenfold, or six a hundredfold added to six

tenfold added to six a single fold, producing a triple symbol of the full

power of evil. In this symbolism we seem to have the thought of a trinity

of evil striving in antagonism to the divine trinity; and though we cannot

be sure that John had this in mind, yet it seems quite in accord with the

apocalyptic method of depicting truth. If the reading 616 is preferred,

the First Beast is then designated by 10, the symbol of earthly

completeness, instead of 60 as above, a much less likely symbolism, but

not affecting the general meaning.

The mark of the Beast is one of the most disputed points in the whole

book, and some commentators, while suggesting a probable interpretation,

prefer to leave the meaning unsolved. Certainly all interpretations

finding in the number a cryptic name, such as _Neron Caesar_, or

_Lateinos_, notwithstanding their wide acceptance by modern interpreters,

should be discarded as fanciful.(482) The number was evidently intended as

a designation rather than a name; it is a symbol like every other number

in the Revelation, and any attempt to solve it by reference to the Jewish

_gematria_, or numerical indication of names, is foreign to the method of

the book, and only involves it in greater obscurity, as the different

answers obtained in that way will show.(483) While that interpretation has

been the generally accepted view with preterists, a revolt against its

arbitrariness is manifest in late writers, and cannot but be felt by the

attentive student.(484) That six hundred and sixty‐six is a triple symbol

of the full power of evil, has found acceptance with a multitude of

readers, and is the most satisfactory interpretation to those who hold the

symbolic view.

In conclusion it should be said that the identification of this Beast, or

of the former one, with the Antichrist of John’s Epistles is of more than

doubtful value in arriving at the meaning intended; for the Apocalyptist

studiously avoided the use of that term though quite familiar with it (I

Jn. 2:18; 2:22; 4:3; and II Jn. 1:7), and we surely cannot do better than

to follow his example. Indeed the entire interpretation of the Apocalypse

will be permanently advanced when all direct reference to a _personal_

Anti‐christ is finally eliminated as foreign to the purpose, if not the

thought of the book. In the broad sense of the term the Anti‐christ is the

Against‐Christ in any and every form. John tells us (I Jn. 2:18) there are

“Many antichrists” (ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ), a term peculiar to John in the

New Testament; our Lord said (Mat. 24:24) “There shall arise false

christs” (ψευδόχριστοι), a different term in the Greek, and evidently

referring to more than one; and it may well be doubted whether the

prediction is anywhere intended to refer to a single person. The term may

be understood in a general way to include the Two Beasts, the Harlot, and

all other forms of anti‐christianity, but no more definite identification

can with any probability be made.

D. The Lamb on Mount Zion, Ch. 14:1‐20

The closing part of this fourfold vision, revealing the final outcome of

the preceding conflict in the glorious triumph of the Lamb and his

followers, is now given for the comfort of the church, and to relieve the

sombre shadows of the earlier parts of the vision by a foregleam of

victory.

1. The Redeemed with the Lamb, Ch. 14:1‐5

We see here a vast and virgin multitude, a hundred and forty‐four

thousand, a large and perfect number, the former symbol of the complete

first‐fruits from Israel (ch. 7:4), now used by synecdoche to represent

all the redeemed who have been chosen from among men, the best of their

race, who are called “the first‐fruits unto God and unto the Lamb”,(485)

and who stand with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, in the city of the living

God, the heavenly Jerusalem, having his name and the name of his Father

written upon their foreheads, signifying to whom they belong and marking

them as antipodal to those who have received the mark of the Beast (ch.

13:16), and who sing a new song, the song of victory (the Incommunicable

Chorus), known only to the redeemed. Of this blessed company it is said

that “they are without blemish”, i. e. they are sinless before God, which

is apparently an explanation of the symbolism used in saying that they are

“virgins”, and “not defiled with women”,—or “among women”. Roman Catholic

commentators, however, usually interpret literally, and apply the passage

to those women who have never entered into wedlock for the kingdom of

heaven’s sake—a construction that it scarcely seems to bear.(486)

Futurists generally maintain that the vision refers to the earthly Zion,

and connect the incident with the second advent, making the hundred and

forty‐four thousand to consist of Jews alone.

2. The Three Angel Messages, Ch. 14:6‐11

These are distinct notes of divine warning, prelusive of the End, which

are given by the mouth of three different angels, showing their separate

and individual importance; they are three in number, the symbol of the

spiritual, indicating the nature of their contents; and they are

introduced as preparatory to the scenes of anticipated judgment in verses

fourteen to twenty, and are premonitory of the End. The End is an ever‐

recurrent note that always finds place in the deeper strains of

Apocalyptic literature. The End that victory may come, was the natural cry

of a spirit that despaired of the present world, and believed that God

could only be vindicated by the consummation of all things. This was a

fundamental weakness of the Apocalyptic point of view, which found the

proper design of the world in its speedy ending and not in its longer

continuance, a mistake that unfortunately has been perpetuated in

Christian thought as though it were fundamental to it, whereas the victory

and the End may well be as far apart as the creation from the victory. The

Apocalypse sounds the note of the End without hesitancy or discussion. The

difficulties that embarrass us did not enter into the thought of that

time.

(1) The Message of the Eternal Gospel, Ch. 14:6‐7

“Another angel” and the first of the three which follow, flying in mid‐

heaven proclaims the (or _an_) eternal gospel to every nation and tribe

and tongue and people before the time of judgment, the symbol of the

fulfilment of the words of our Lord: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be

preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then

shall the end come” (Mat. 24:14). The angel exhorts men to “fear God and

give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come”, i. e. is now at

hand.

(2) The Message of Babylon’s Fall, Ch. 14:8

A second angel proclaims the fall of Babylon, the city of the world, the

dwelling‐place and symbol of the world of sinful men, and the antithesis

of Jerusalem, which is the city of God, the dwelling‐place and symbol of

the holy. The destruction of Babylon is a necessary prelude to the End,

for the sinful worldly life which finds its fitting type in this great

city must be broken down before Christ can triumph.

(3) The Message of Doom for the Beast and his Followers, Ch. 14:9‐11

The third angel proclaims the doom of divine wrath upon the worshippers of

the Beast and his image, i. e. upon those who glorify the blasphemous

world‐power, or share in the deceit of the world‐religion; and the terms

of the message are full of terror and foreboding. Thus in a concise and

triple message is foreshadowed the universal proclamation of the gospel,

the overthrow of the world’s social and communal life adverse to God, and

the final destruction of those forces in national and religious thought

that withstand the full and final triumph of the Christ.

3. The Blessedness of the Holy Dead, Ch. 14:12‐13

The author at this point expresses his sympathy with the church, setting

forth the need of patience in the conflict (v. 12); and then he records a

voice heard from heaven (v. 13), declaring that the dead who die in the

Lord are blessed “henceforth”, i. e. after death, for they have both rest

and reward,(487) and possibly including, also, the additional thought that

they have thereby escaped from the great tribulation even though by

martyrdom. Thus once more the redeemed are placed in opposition to the

unredeemed, the saved are set over against the lost, as those who have

secured the better part.

4. The Harvest of the Elect, Ch. 14:14‐16

One like unto the Son of Man (or _a_ son of man), i. e. one sharing our

humanity—a designation of the Messiah after the time of Daniel(488)—is

seen sitting upon a white cloud, the traditional covering of the divine

majesty and a symbol of the divine presence, having on his head a golden

crown, the token of glory and of victory, and in his hand a sharp sickle,

the instrument for reaping. And on the announcement of another angel(489)

from out the temple that the hour was come, he cast his sickle upon the

earth and gathered all the faithful into his kingdom as a harvest that was

ripe, a symbol of the ingathering of all the redeemed preceding the

punishment of the wicked (cf. Mat. 25:31‐46). The action set forth in this

part of the vision is preparatory to and anticipates the judgment, yet the

process of judgment is not described. The vision is occupied rather with

pointing out how the path of history inevitably leads to the judgment bar.

The incident serves to introduce the seventh and last of the mystic

figures of this wonderful vision of conflict, the Son of Man on the Cloud,

who represents Christ as the theanthropic Redeemer and Judge, a quite

different aspect of his character from the Man‐Child where he is set forth

subject to the conditions of his mysterious incarnation, and therefore

requiring an entirely different symbol.

5. The Vintage of Wrath, Ch. 14:17‐20

Still another angel came out from the shrine or sanctuary of the temple in

heaven, at the summons of the angel who had power over fire, i. e. the

fire of the altar, which is here the symbol of judgment, and gathered all

the ungodly as vintage from the earth, and cast them into the winepress,

the great winepress, of the wrath of God, a figure of the ingathering and

fearful punishment of the wicked at the end of the world. According to

this view the two gatherings described in verses fourteen to twenty, are

regarded as depicting the opposite fate in store for the faithful and the

wicked, instead of a twofold account of the same event repeated in

different form for the purpose of emphasis. This interpretation agrees

best with the general tenor of the chapter and the common method of

contrast throughout the book; others, however, regard the passage as a

double figure of the judgment.(490) The scene is laid outside the city, i.

e. Jerusalem, most likely the New Jerusalem, the home of God’s people,

without the gates of which are the wicked who perish (ch. 22:15). The

figure may have been drawn from the scenes of terror and bloodshed which

attended the fall of the earthly city under Titus, a view quite possible

if the later date of authorship be accepted, though possibly there may

have been no definite city in mind. Some connect this passage with the

struggle in chapter twenty (v. 7‐10), where the nations compass the

beloved city, and connect both with the advent, interpreting literally,—a

view common with the futurists. And we are told that when the winepress

was trodden “there came out blood, from the winepress, even unto the

bridles of the horses,”(491) a symbol of the terrible destruction of life

that ensued, a flowing stream that reached as far as a thousand and six

hundred furlongs, i. e. almost two hundred Roman miles, or somewhat

farther than the entire length of Palestine, a Jewish synonym for a great

distance. Sixteen hundred is also the square of four, the earth number,

multiplied by the square of ten, the number of completeness, which perhaps

indicates that the punishment is complete throughout the whole created

world. The passage in its essential thought is an echo from the rhapsody

of Joel (ch. 3:13), combined with the vision of judgment in Isaiah’s Zion

redeemed (ch. 63:3‐6), and recalls his Assyrian flood, reaching even to

the neck (Isa. 8:7‐8).(492) The transition to the vision of vials is now

made by a sudden change of theme, and a return to the world‐process of

judgment that is age‐long and world‐wide in its scope and purpose.

V. The Vision of the Seven Vials [or Bowls] (A Vision of Judgment). Ch.

15:1‐16:12, and 16:17‐21

The vision of the seven vials is a revelation of God’s last plagues upon

the ungodly, a final view of the divine providential purpose concerning

the wicked, another group of seven that are set forth in a form similar to

the judgments under the trumpets, but of increased severity, and that are

promptly executed. They are called “another sign”, and may be regarded as

another line of judgments of similar character to the trumpets, or as the

complete fulfilment of the contents of the trumpet‐judgments presented in

another way, which are given for increased emphasis under figures that are

analogous, and that indicate their inner connection; and, so far as the

vials have any time‐relation, they may be regarded as belonging to the

same general period as the trumpets, i. e. the time of man’s existence on

the earth, especially the period of conflict, though shown by their

progressive and destructive character to culminate in the closing period

of human history. The vials are marked by an intensity of form and

rapidity of movement, especially as they approach the end, and they are

not limited like the trumpets to a part of men, but affect all the evil.

They are vivid symbolic presentations of deep and terrible punishments,

and are called ’the last plagues’ because in them is fulfilled or

completed the wrath of God upon the earth—a new and final view of the

divine purpose concerning the wicked which may be looked at quite apart

from any previous view.

Some preterists, who find in the seals a prophetic description of the

trials of the church in the first age, regard the trumpets as a typical

presentation of the fall of Jerusalem, and the vials as a portrayal of the

fall of Rome.(493) This opinion, it is affirmed, accords best with the

general method of the Apocalyptic writings, which have for the most part a

definite and local interpretation, and avoids the difficulty of an

apparent repetition of similar judgments upon the same objects under the

trumpets and the vials. But, upon the other hand, the prophetic outlook of

John appears to the majority of devout minds to have a far wider sweep

than that of other Apocalyptic writers outside the Scriptures, and to

embrace a world‐view that is universal, and that is not at all met by

these limited historical fulfilments. Still, even if the former view were

correct in its main assumption, “that does not preclude us,” as has been

well said,(494) “from interpreting the inspired words as referring not

only to events near John’s time, but also to other events of which they

were the foretaste and figures. To us the meaning [in that case] is that

the type of the end has been foretold and has come, but that the end

itself which has been equally foretold [the full end] must be watched for

in all seriousness.” If we have a correct view of prophecy we can readily

assent to these words of wisdom which cannot be too strongly emphasized.

It should be noted in passing that the revelation of these world‐judgments

in the visions of the seals, the trumpets, and the vials, notwithstanding

their separate character, may be seen to follow a certain line of

development, showing an inner connection; and also, that the divine

purpose of judgment may be considered as being in a general way partially

disclosed under the seals,—for judgment is one phase of the seals though a

subordinate one—as being publicly proclaimed by the trumpets, and as being

fully executed in the pouring out of the vials, each series presenting a

different view, complete in itself, of God’s punitive inflictions for sin

throughout the whole history of mankind. They are seen, also, to reflect

God’s long‐suffering patience with the sinner, first making known his

wrath in an order of providences which affect his people as well as those

of the world; then in threatening and manifesting his purpose to punish

evil by an order of events which affect only a part of mankind, i. e. the

sinful because they are sinful, and that afford abundant opportunity for

repentance; and, finally, by the swift execution of a divinely just though

terrible punishment upon all the obdurately wicked that refuse to repent.

This last is the great, impressive, and awe‐inspiring thought of the

vision of the vials.

A. The Preparation for the Vials, Ch. 15:1‐8

The preparation for the vials, which is now entered upon, is a connecting

link with the former vision, and a prelude to the plagues that follow. It

is introduced by an inspiring view of the saints who have come victorious

out of the conflict depicted in that vision, and is intended for the

comfort of God’s people in the midst of trials to which they cannot be

indifferent, and which in affecting the world of nature and of men must in

some degree also affect the righteous as well, though delivered from their

destroying power. The comfort afforded in trial by the promise of

deliverance, an element which has no small share in the purpose of the

Apocalypse, is clearly brought out in this introductory passage before the

vials have begun to be poured out, and is not interjected between them, as

in the episodes that occur in the seals and trumpets—the episode in the

vision of the vials being a warning of danger. The vision, too, is

followed immediately by the comforting vision of victory beginning in the

seventeenth chapter.

1. The Angels with the Plagues, Ch. 15:1‐2a

Seven angels appear, to whom is entrusted the execution of the seven

plagues, which are called “the last” because they lead to the end of the

world and to the bar of judgment;(495) and the sea of glass, formerly

described as “like unto crystal”, now becomes “mingled with fire”, the

sign of the flushing of victory through anticipated judgment felt by all

those who share in that great boundless life which exists before the

throne, and whose experience is symbolized by the sea with its wide

relation to the people of God in the past (cf. notes on ch. 4:6).(496)

2. The Victors by the Sea, Ch. 15:2b

The victors over the Beast and his image stand by rather than _upon_ the

sea,(497) indicating their close relation to it, having harps of God

prepared for tuneful melody. The figure seems to be drawn from the triumph

of Israel at the Red Sea, though the significance of the sea cannot be

quite the same, for in the old sense ’the sea is no more’ (ch. 21:1); it

has here become the symbol of the calm and fulness of life and joy in the

presence of God.

3. The Song of the Redeemed, Ch. 15:3‐4

The united song of all the redeemed before God, (the Adoration Chorus of

Moses and the Lamb) who belong alike to the Old Dispensation and the New,

to Moses and to Christ, represents the essential unity of faith and life

under both parts of God’s redemptive plan which is now about to be

completed. It is an outburst of praise and adoration addressed to the Lord

God, the Almighty, the King of the Ages, whose wondrous works and

righteous judgments have been and are about to be made manifest before all

nations. The song is the counterpart of the song of deliverance by the

shore of the Red Sea, but it has a new and deeper fulness that is

consonant with its theme.

4. The Judgment Made Ready, Ch. 15:5‐8

The temple, the ναὸς or inner shrine of the tabernacle of the testimony

(i. e. of the tabernacle of the law of God), is seen in heaven opened, and

the seven angels who are clothed as priests and have charge of the plagues

come out of it as the vindicators of that law. These are “arrayed with

_precious_ stone”, according to the variant reading adopted in the Revised

Version, which has the weight of manuscript authority in its favor; but,

as this reading differs from the Authorized Version only by a single

letter in the Greek word, and only yields sense by the insertion of the

word “precious”, it is best to regard it as due to a very early mistake of

a copyist, and keep the old reading, “clothed in linen”, (Ezek. 9:2).(498)

The thought is in either case practically the same, viz. that these angels

are clothed like priests, for the phrase “arrayed with precious stone”, if

we adhere to that reading, recalls the breastplate of the high‐priest, as

the phrase “clothed in linen” evidently refers to the garments of the

priesthood. There are seven angels in the vision to symbolize the

universal character of the punishments, and there are given unto them by

one of the four living creatures who represent all created life, seven

golden vials or bowls full of the wrath of God (cf. Jer. 25:15f) to

indicate the nature of their mission. “And the temple was filled with

smoke”, the sign of the presence and glory and terror of the Lord; and, as

at Sinai, no one could enter his presence while the judgments were being

manifested.

B. The Vials Poured Out, Ch. 16:1‐12, and 17‐21

The vials or bowls in the vision, which are apparently the same as the

basons used in the temple service for receiving the sacrificial blood and

the wine of the drink‐offering, are made the symbolic receptacles of the

judicial wrath of God against sin, called “the wine of the fierceness of

his wrath” in verse nineteen, which is evidently conceived of as stored up

through long periods to be suddenly and violently poured out. The golden

bowls seem to indicate broad shallow vessels quite unlike our modern

vials, probably of a deep saucer‐like shape so that their contents could

be poured out at once and suddenly.(499) The name “vials” has, however,

been retained in these notes, notwithstanding the change to “bowls” in the

Revised Version, because of its associations and wide use in commentaries.

The translation of φιάλας as “bowls” is doubtless more accurate, but the

term used is relatively indifferent if the proper meaning be attached to

it. They are not vials in the modern sense, but in the original sense of

the word φιάλη in the Greek, which is the source of our English word

“vial”, but which meant a shallow cup or bowl. The pouring out of the

vials or bowls is the symbol of the execution of divine wrath upon the

world. The vague description given in the vision of the nature of the

inflictions which finally fall upon men as the result of the pouring out

of the vials, forbids our attempting any very definite interpretation of

them beyond the most general one that the world of nature and of men is

made to abound with terrors which distress the evil. In this

interpretation we can be absolutely confident, and the general effect

seems to be the chief matter of importance. The abiding impression of the

judgments of the vials, despite their obscurity, is one of deep and

pervasive solemnity.

(1.) The Command to Pour Out the Vials, Ch. 16:1

Preceding the opening of the series a great voice is heard out of the

temple, i. e. from the inner shrine of the temple in heaven, apparently

from God himself, though possibly from one of the Angels of the Presence,

saying to the seven angels, “Go ye and pour out the seven bowls [or vials]

of the wrath of God into the earth”; and in obedience to this command each

angel empties his vial into, or upon, an appointed object. The first three

vials are poured _into_ the objects named, while the last four are poured

_upon_ them, as indicated by the prepositions είς and ἐπὶ; but, so far as

can be seen, no special purpose is served by this use.

1 The Pouring Out of the First Vial, Ch. 16:2

The first angel poured out his vial into the earth; and it became a

noisome and grievous sore upon the men that had the mark of the Beast: the

symbol of wrath poured out on the earth, and thus upon the men who are of

it and belong to it, producing suffering that is bitter and intense. The

form of the judgment is doubtless purposely indefinite, but the object on

which it falls is made plain: the men who have attached themselves to the

company of the Beast bear their punishment to the full, and it is poured

out upon them by divine authority.

2 The Pouring Out of the Second Vial, Ch. 16:3

The second angel poured out his vial into the sea; and it became blood as

of a dead man, i. e. clotted and putrefying, and it caused every living

thing in the sea to die—a form of judgment that was very repulsive to the

Jewish mind: the symbol of wrath poured out on the sea, one part of the

fourfold division of creation noted under the trumpets, and thus upon men

who are made to suffer by this means for their evil doing. As under the

trumpets the first four vials are poured out upon the earth, the sea, the

rivers and fountains, and the sun, a figurative form indicating their

world‐wide character—they affect the whole created world.

3 The Pouring Out of the Third Vial, Ch. 16:4‐7

The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of

the waters; and they became blood: the symbol of wrath poured out on the

sources of water supply for the people, thereby punishing men

retributively for the righteous blood which they had shed, and calling

forth voices of approval from heaven, viz. from the angel of the

waters,(500) and from the altar, i. e. from the place where the martyrs

rest (ch. 6:9). Retribution is declared to be the judicial result of

divine wrath for sin; those who poured out the blood of saints and of

prophets are given blood to drink as their just desert—a fearful

punishment to the Eastern mind.

4 The Pouring Out of the Fourth Vial, Ch. 16:8‐9

The fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and it was given unto

it to scorch men with fire: the symbol of wrath poured out on the heavenly

bodies, especially upon the sun the source of light and heat, that they

may become the agent of punishment to men. And men blasphemed the name of

God, who is recognized as having power over these plagues; and they

repented not to give him glory, exhibiting the aspect of punishment which

embitters and does not lead to repentance. It is a curious coincidence

that the parts of creation which are made the subjects of judgment under

the fourth vial and the fourth trumpet are described in Genesis as having

been created on the fourth day.

5 The Pouring Out of the Fifth Vial, Ch. 16:10‐11

The fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the Beast; and his

kingdom was darkened; and men gnawed their tongues for pain, and

blasphemed the God of heaven, and they repented not of their works: the

symbol of wrath poured out on the throne of the Beast as the

representative of Satan’s power in the world, thus afflicting the

worshippers of the Beast and his image. Under the fifth vial it will be

seen that the plagues pass from the physical to the spiritual sphere of

action, just as they did in the seals and trumpets; and they are found to

be cumulative rather than successive, while, as under the preceding vial,

they do not lead to repentance but to wrath and punishment. Also,

throughout the vials, it is not the third part only that is affected, as

under the trumpets, but the punishment falls upon the whole created world,

showing the universal character of the judgments.

6 The Pouring Out of the Sixth Vial, Ch. 16:12

The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river, the Euphrates;

and the water thereof was dried up,(501) that the way might be made ready

for the kings that come from the sunrising: the symbol of wrath poured out

on the Euphrates, the center and seat of heathenism, or on the world‐

forces of evil, thereby opening the way for the influx of the Kings of the

East to march to their ruin. The Kings of the East evidently belong to the

“kings of the whole world” (v. 14), and are instruments of the Dragon and

of the Beast who go up to war, not against Babylon, but against

believers.(502) The Euphrates was the center and stronghold of heathenism

to the Jewish mind, and behind that lay the indefinite world‐power which

is here represented by the Kings of the East; upon these the angel poured

out the vial of the retributive wrath of God.

[At this point the Episode Vb, given in verses thirteen to sixteen, occurs

in the order of the vision,—a paragraph which though of limited extent has

yet a clear relation to the course of the vials as an intervening vision

of warning to the redeemed, and preparing the way for the approaching

end.]

7 The Pouring Out of the Seventh Vial, Ch. 16:17‐21

The seventh angel poured out his vial upon the air; and there came forth a

great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done:(503)

and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there was a great

earthquake, such as was not since there were men upon the earth”: the

symbol of wrath poured out on the air as the familiar abode of evil

spirits,(504) and also of the coming of the End, which is depicted by the

fall of cities, especially of Babylon the great city, the type of the

godless world, which is divided asunder into three parts, a symbol of

completeness,—also three a symbol of the divine, perhaps implying God hath

wrought it,—and is given to drink of the cup of the wine of the fierceness

of God’s wrath; by the destruction of islands and mountains, and by a

plague of great hail, exceeding great, every stone of which was about the

weight of a talent, i. e. from 108 to 130 pounds; “and men blasphemed God

because of the plague of the hail”.(505) The End itself is unrecorded; but

with the infliction of the seven vials it is declared that “the wrath of

God is spent”.(506) The whole course of the vials is toward the End, which

though not described, yet stands out in singular prominence as the

inevitable result of the ruin wrought by sin; and here, as in the vision

of the trumpets, the millennial period is not brought into view as a

preceding stage. The transition to the scene of victory in the seventeenth

chapter is after this immediately made by one of the vial‐angels (ch.

17:1).

If we now recall the path of the seven vials, we can see how in their

course they rapidly and intensively press on to the end of the ages and to

the final ruin of the world, and also how they aptly prefigure the

progressive punitive inflictions of God for sin. They are both world‐wide

in their character and relentless in their execution. They fall upon the

land, and upon the sea, upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and upon

the sun the source of light,—the figurative representatives of the created

universe. Then, like the judgments of the seals and of the trumpets, they

pass from the natural world to the sphere of the spiritual, and are seen

to fall upon the far‐reaching kingdom of the Beast, i. e. upon the world‐

powers operating under Satan’s direction in open hostility to the church;

afterward they fall upon the Euphrates, the old center of heathenism and

seat of spiritual darkness in the far East, the typical center of the

world‐forces of evil; and finally under the seventh vial they lead to the

end of the world, the conclusion of the centuries, and the day of complete

recompense for sin. The distinction between the kingdom of the Beast, i.

e. the world‐powers of all time, and the forces represented by the

Euphrates, the center and seat of heathenism, is not so clearly drawn

under the fifth and sixth vials, as that between Satan with his host, and

the world‐forces of heathenism, under the fifth and sixth trumpets. But

the kingdom of the Beast, here, as elsewhere, evidently represents the

world‐kingdoms in their organized form (or if taken in a narrower sense

the then kingdom of Rome that foreshadowed them all), which forces are

spiritually opposed to the kingdom of God; whereas the Euphrates, the

center and seat of spiritual darkness in the historic past, apparently

represents heathenism in the great East, which is here regarded as a far‐

reaching spiritual force operating against Christianity—the judgments

under these vials falling upon the world‐force operating in the sphere of

the spiritual, and upon the world‐religions opposing Christianity. And no

one surely can read the record of the vials without being impressed with

the unerring certainty and absolute terror of the final punishment for

sin; so that even if the vision of the vials did point primarily, as most

preterists insist, to the destruction of Rome and its temporal power, it

surely points yet more decisively to the great era of judgment upon the

powers of evil that culminates in the closing period of human history. The

vision depicts God punishing the evil in a progressive course to the very

end, and this end is only effectively reached in the day of final

judgment.

Vb The Episode of the Frog‐like Spirits (A Vision of Warning). Ch.

16:13‐16

This passage, it will be seen, is a minor digression between the sixth and

seventh vials, corresponding to the episodes in the vision of the seals

and of the trumpets, though not like them a vision of comfort, but a

vision of danger to the church from the combined forces of evil in the

world, yet not without anticipation of the glorious outcome which is given

in the nineteenth chapter (v. 19‐21), for these forces, we are told, are

gathered together unto “the war of the great day of God, the Almighty” (v.

14), the outcome of which in the Revelation is never at any time in doubt.

1 The Unclean Spirits of Evil, Ch. 16:13‐14, and 16

At this point three unclean spirits, as it were frogs,(507)—three, the

symbol of the spiritual, used in this case exceptionally of the spirits of

demons,—come out of the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False

Prophet (or Second Beast), representing the malign influences by which

these powers of evil incite the kings of the earth to the great world‐

conflict against Christianity, described here under the figure of a battle

of the war of the great day of God, the Almighty, taking place at Har‐

Magedon, i. e. either the fortified city, or the mountain of Megiddo, by

the edge of the plain of Esdraelon, the great historic battle‐ground of

Jewish history (cf. Joel 3:2f; also _Bk. of Enoch_ 56.5‐8),(508) probably

referred to because of the notable victory attained there over the kings

of Canaan (Jg. 5:19). In this culminating scene of conflict we have what

may be regarded as a symbolic view of the entire struggle between sin and

holiness which is ever going on in the world the ages through, but more

particularly of its triumphant ending in the last age when the Dragon and

the kings of the earth shall be completely and finally overthrown;(509)

but beyond this partial interpretation we cannot safely go in any

trustworthy exposition of this truly impressive figure. The symbol of

battle and victory, it depicts the conflict of the centuries, and points

to the assured triumph that awaits the people of God in the end of the

world, while it incites men to persistent faith and hope; but like many

other prophetic predictions, its explicit interpretation can only be

definitely given after the events themselves have been openly fulfilled.

2 John’s Word of Warning, Ch. 16:15

In the midst of the episode a word of warning is given by John to the

reader, as from Christ himself, declaring the importance of watching in

the presence of such trial, and announcing a blessing upon him that

watcheth and keepeth his garments. Then with the closing words of the

episode in the sixteenth verse, the vision recurs to the seventh vial

which is at once poured out.

VI The Vision of Victory (A Vision of Vindication). Ch. 17:1‐20:15

The vision of victory is a revelation of complete and enduring triumph in

the final issue of the conflict between sin and righteousness, showing the

doom of Christ’s enemies, the vindication of the righteous, and the

consummation of the ages. The vision consists of three parts, viz. (1) the

mystic Babylon and her fall, (2) the triumph of the redeemed, and (3) the

last things, which are seven in number, implying a sevenfold completeness.

This triple division of the contents of the section before us, into a

description of Babylon’s fall, redemption’s triumph, and the things of the

end, is one that is clearly indicated in the thought of the text, whatever

plan of division we may adopt, and as these all belong to the final

victory in its completeness, they may well be presumed to constitute parts

of one vision. Opinions differ, however, concerning the correct division

of this part of the book almost as much as they do in regard to the

interpretation. The division adopted here, though not coinciding in all

its parts with any single authority, is one of the simplest and most

natural, and it is believed will commend itself to the reader.(510) In

entering upon this section it will be noted that the transition from the

vision of vials to the vision of victory is made in the first verse of the

seventeenth chapter by one of the seven vial‐angels, who offers to show

John the judgment of the great Harlot, or of Babylon, i. e. the complete

and final judgment of the seventh vial wrought out, thus leading by a

natural connection of thought to a fuller view of one phase of the

judgment of the world, and through this on to victory and to the End.

A The Mystic Babylon and Her Fall, Ch. 17:1‐18:24

In these two chapters there is given an impressive portrayal of the sinful

world as she lures men to evil, under the symbol of Babylon, or the

Harlot, and of the final punishment inflicted upon her; it is, in fact, an

elaboration of the judgment of the seventh vial, foreshadowing the

downfall of the most insidious, seductive, and persistent form of the

world’s opposition to Christ and his kingdom, viz. corrupt society. This

passage forms a subclimax of rare beauty and power, and one that is of

prime importance in the interpretation of the book, for it contains one of

the chief ideas of the Revelation, and necessarily affects our conception

of the prophecy throughout. That pagan Rome in its social debasement and

spiritual degradation was in the foreground of John’s thought can scarcely

be doubted;(511) but in the light of prophetic vision it formed an ideal

groundwork for the larger thought of the godless world, the world from the

standpoint of its material and social forces adverse to God and his

kingdom, the perpetual Rome. Some interpreters limit the meaning of

Babylon to the coeval city of Rome, or to the nation that centered in the

city, pagan Rome, others refer it to the Roman church, papal Rome, and

still others to Jerusalem, the Jewish Rome, while a common interpretation

makes it the apostate church in a fallen age, a prophetic Rome. But the

figure is more correctly interpreted as the ideal and universal world‐

city, a symbol designed to include every city or community that exalts

itself against the dominion of Christ, the perpetual Rome, the ever‐

recurring Babylon whose spirit never dies, the city being regarded as the

highest expression of the world’s social and communal life.(512)

With the portrayal of Babylon is completed the cycle of great world‐forces

that we find depicted in the Revelation as arrayed against our Lord and

his Christ. The entire opposition of the present evil world to Christ and

his kingdom is presented in these visions under four separate and distinct

symbols,—four the earth‐number—viz. (1) the Dragon or Satan, the World‐

Lord, the prime antagonist and representative leader of the spiritual

forces of evil, who incites the world to resist the rule of Christ, the

world taking its cue and color from Satan, the arch‐enemy of all good; (2)

the First Beast, the World‐Power, the national and political forces of the

world in their organized form opposing and persecuting Christ and the

church, the world acting through the elements of civic and social order,

of law and government, making them the agents of persecution; (3) the

Second Beast, the World‐Religion, the national and racial false religious

forces of the world, with their moral and intellectual thraldom over the

minds of men, contending against Christianity and the kingdom, the world

acting through the elements of the natural and ethnic religions, and of

superstition and priestcraft their innate cogeners, permeating them with

deceit and making them the agents of delusion and oppression; and (4) the

Harlot Babylon, the World‐City, society in its commercial, impure, and

godless life resisting the progress of the kingdom, the world acting

through the elements of the social, sexual, and commercial relations of

men, making them the agents of sin. This fourfold form of world‐opposition

to Christ and the church is a fundamental conception of the Apocalypse,

and lies at the core of any correct interpretation of the book.(513) For,

notwithstanding their close relation, to identify Babylon with the first

Beast, or the second, or both, as is often done, is to confuse ideas that

are essentially distinct, and measurably to miss the proper significance

of the lesson contained. And if we fail to perceive the proper meaning of

any part of this fourfold symbolism, we lose in some measure at least the

complete and general effect of the whole sublime creation of the

Apocalyptic vision.

1 The Harlot and the Interpretation, Ch. 17:1‐18

The vision of the Harlot is a figurative and profoundly significant view

of the world’s sin as unfaithfulness to God, described under the analogue

of unfaithfulness to the marriage relation, according to the familiar

method of Hebrew thought. The world is presented as a spiritual harlot,

one that has proved untrue to her Lord and that merits condign punishment.

(1) The Judgment of the Harlot Announced, Ch. 17:1‐2

One of the seven angels having the seven vials, calls John in order to

show him the judgment about to be inflicted upon the great Harlot. The

agency of a vial‐angel in revealing this vision, indicates a connection

between the vial‐judgments and the fall of Babylon; and, as stated above,

it is an elaboration of those judgments, especially that of the seventh

vial.

(2) The View of the Harlot, Ch. 17:3‐6

The angel carries John in the Spirit away into a wilderness where he sees

in the vision an impure Woman arrayed in purple, the royal color, and in

scarlet, the sign of bloodshed, while she is decked with gold and jewels,

the tokens of her wealth, and has in her hand a golden cup, full of the

abominations of her fornications; and she is seated on a scarlet‐colored

Beast that is covered with names full of blasphemy, i. e. she rests upon

and is allied with the world‐power, for the scarlet Beast is the same as

the Beast from the sea in chapter thirteen (v. 1‐10); and upon her

forehead her name is written,(514) “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER

OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH”, and she is “drunken

with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus”.

(3) The Interpretation Given, Ch. 17:7‐18

The angel declares the mystery of the Woman of Sin to John’s waiting ears.

The Harlot whose home is in the wilderness, i. e. in this world (perhaps

so called from the thought of the wilderness as the place of temptation of

Israel, of Elijah, and of Christ, and as the haunt of demons where the

scapegoat was sent forth to Azazel), is definitely identified with Babylon

(v. 5 and 18), the great World‐City, the dwelling‐place and representative

of corrupt society tempting men to evil. The great Harlot is the ideal

personification of the great city. There is in fact a double symbolism;

the great Harlot symbolizes the great city, as the great city symbolizes

the great world, for the Harlot, the city, and the world are one and the

same in the wider thought of the Revelation. She is the combined

incarnation of commercialism, lust, and irreligion,(515) the unbelieving

world and not the apostate church, humanity untrue to God, the social life

of men adverse to the kingdom.(516) The Harlot is the manifest

impersonation of lust and sexual impurity, a form of the world’s sin that

has always been the source of ruin to a multitude of souls—her traffic, we

are told, is in the “souls of men” (ch. 18:13). She represents the world

tempting men through the sexual appetite, though the figure does not stop

with that, as the story of the fall of her wealth and the punishment of

her irreligious life clearly shows. All the social side of life that tends

to sin is represented by this impressive figure before which the

Apocalyptist “wondered with a great wonder” (v. 6).

The interpretation of the Harlot Babylon as the Roman Catholic Church, a

method so prevalent in the period that succeeded the Reformation, is

happily in its decadence, for it has no justification in the text. But to

find in this figure a symbol and portent of apostasy prevailing in the

church universal that shall increase as the centuries go on,(517) is

equally unfortunate and imparts a tone of pessimism to the entire prophecy

which cannot be too strongly deprecated. No sign of apostasy is anywhere

given in the account of Babylon’s fall, for there is no indication that

the Harlot was ever holy. Her sin is worldliness, impurity, idolatry, and

persecution of the saints. For an apostate church the fitting symbol for

that age would have been not Babylon but Samaria, the city of the

faithless Israel. And we may be confidently assured that Babylon

represents here what it always stood for to the Hebrew mind, the typical

world‐city, the hereditary enemy of the church from without and not from

within, whose harlotry is the sign of her unfaithfulness to God and truth.

For even though a majority of Protestant interpreters until within a late

period have made Babylon the apostate church, following the traditional

opinion, it is nevertheless a mistaken view, since it is based upon the

Old Testament use of harlotry as a figure of apostasy and idolatry in

Israel, a figure assumed to be identical throughout, ignoring the manifest

difference in its present use in connection with a heathen city. The

modern view that Babylon is Rome in John’s day is nearer correct, but is

too narrow in its application. Babylon is the abiding Rome with its

worldly life striving to supplant the Christ, the world‐city in all ages

and times.

The Scarlet Beast on which the Woman is seated, the color of the Dragon

(ch. 12:3) and the sign of the blood which it has shed, is referred to as

the one that “was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss”

(v. 8), a description showing it to be the same as the First Beast which

received the deadly wound that was healed (ch. 13:3), i. e. the world‐

power, and apparently designed to place it in marked antithesis with the

divine designation, “who is and who was and who is to come,” in the first

chapter of the book (v. 4 and 8). The enigmatical phrase “was, and is not;

and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition”, may

also refer to a lull in the persecution by the world‐power, subsequently

to be renewed and leading to its final destruction as a power, though its

wider reference is perhaps to the persistence and reappearance of the

world‐power after any one of its forms has been overthrown, together with

the certainty of its final ruin. Most preterists interpret the Beast that

“was, and is not; and is about to come”, as a reference to Nero whose

return was generally expected (a superstitious phantasy of a _Nero

redivivus_), by a change of figure, the emperor previously referred to as

the fifth head of the Beast becoming the Beast itself—a questionable

interpretation, apparently wrought out by a keen fancy to fit the words of

the prophecy, but lacking efficient support in the text. The Beast in the

vision carries the Harlot, i. e. the world‐city rests upon and is upheld

by the world‐power, an unhallowed union in striking contrast with that of

the Lamb and the Bride. This symbolism indicates the near relation

existing between the world‐city and the world‐power exemplified in

history, the world in its social and irreligious form allying itself with

and relying upon the persecuting world‐power.

It should be noted here that the symbolism used in the chapter before us

is shown to be very wide in its application. The seven heads of the Beast

have first of all their proper symbolic meaning of full or universal

dominion, i. e. dominion over this present evil world; but they are

further interpreted to have other and different significance. We are told

in verse nine that they are “seven mountains”, evidently in the primary

meaning those of the city of Rome, which was seated on seven hills; but

symbolizing besides this all mountains and hills which are the seat of

world‐cities, in accordance with the common apocalyptic usage of seven

(cf. _II Esdr._ 2.19; and _Bk of Enoch_ 18.6). The seven heads are also in

a sense identified with the “many waters” on which the Woman sitteth (v.

15), which we are told, are “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and

tongues”, the many dwellers in world‐cities—for she spreads her power over

all mountains and all waters.(518) They are also “seven kings” (v. 10),

the king representing the throne and all it stands for, i. e. seven

kingdoms, a complete number, the totality of kind, all the kingdoms of the

world throughout history, though probably, like the seven churches,

conceived of as individual kingdoms which are taken as representative of

all.(519) Perhaps in John’s thought they were Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia,

Persia, and Greece, the five known to him that were already fallen and

Rome, the one then existing—the nations connected with Israel’s past. The

past was history, but the future was seen only in outline, and John groups

it all under one great world‐power, completing the number seven, which was

yet to appear. This last “must continue a little while”, i. e. during the

remaining time of the world’s existence, the usual sense of “a little

while” in the Revelation, a period short in comparison with eternity. The

Beast is also “an eighth”, we are told, i. e. when it is regarded apart

from the seven heads,(520) for the world‐power may be conceived of as in

itself a unit, comprising all its different manifestations, and yet

separate from them and giving rise to them. The remark is, however,

parenthetic and incidental, and ought not to be regarded as creating any

special difficulty, for no reference is anywhere else made to an eighth,

and it is probably introduced here simply because eight is the symbol of

culmination (see App’x E). We are further told that the Beast is “of the

seven” (v. 11), i. e. he is formed—Gr. ἐκ—“out of seven”, or in other

words the Beast _is_ the seven kingdoms regarded as a unit, the world‐

power as it exists in all ages.(521) Also the ten horns (v. 12) which

symbolize complete earthly power, ten symbolizing completeness and usually

applying to the earthly, are representative of various subdivisions of the

world‐power, minor kingdoms with their kings, which are added to the seven

heads as an additional symbol of world‐wide empire. These are evidently

thought of as yet to rise after John’s day, for they are denominated

“kings, who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as

kings with the Beast for one hour”, i. e. each one for an hour, or for a

time that is relatively short,(522) an indefinite period, the ten kingdoms

reaching in this case, apparently, to the end of the world—not definitely

ten kingdoms or kings any more than one hour is a definite time limit, but

rather ten, the number of completeness of all the parts, representing all

kings and kingdoms yet to rise throughout succeeding time. “It seems

probable,” as has been well said, “that John foresees that the hostile

world‐power will not be always preëminently wielded by one nation as in

his time; but will be divided into many parts, here represented by the

number ten which is a complete number and not necessarily implying only

ten in all. This indeed exactly describes what has really been the case

since St. John’s time, and what, humanly speaking, seems likely to

continue to the end of the world.”(523) It may, also, be pointed out that

the ruin of the world‐city described by John has been the fate of every

such city known to history. Thus the ten horns would seem to be identical

with the seventh king or kingdom which is apparently the last, the world‐

power divided into many parts and continuing to the end of time. These

divisions of the world‐power, though originally hostile to Christ (v. 14),

shall yet under divine direction eventually destroy the world‐city in all

lands and make her desolate (v. 16 and 17), i. e. the corrupt society,

centered in cities, which opposes Christ and his kingdom. “And the Lamb

shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords and King of kings”, i. e.

while God is seen to work through the multiple world‐power, the ten horns

or kingdoms, and eventually to destroy the Harlot, corrupt society in the

world, he yet finally overcomes the kingdoms of this world that war

against him, and makes them his own; he triumphs on the earth in the

fulness of time, for the kingdoms of the world, we are told, shall “become

the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign forever and

ever” (ch. 11:15). “And they _also shall overcome_ that are with him,

called and chosen and faithful” (v. 14)—the promise of success for the

believing. In the preterist‐historical view the overthrow of the great

city, or the Harlot, by the ten subordinate rulers or kings, the ten

horns, is commonly interpreted as a reference to the current expectation

that Eastern nations, especially the Parthians, were likely to march

against the city of Rome and overthrow it, an application of the prophecy

quite possible in the minds of the generation which first received it, but

not reaching its deeper and essential meaning, and failing of any actual

realization. At this point it may be not inapt to remark that the wide

latitude with which the symbolism of the seven heads is interpreted by the

angel in this chapter, is a valuable guide to the general method of the

Apocalypse, and should put us on our guard against limiting the

significance of the symbols strictly to a single thought, where more than

one may properly be intended. At the same time this does not give us the

liberty of unlimited freedom, but prevents our being too positive in many

cases as to the exact limits of the symbolism.

Other interpretations make the Beast the Roman Empire, and the seven heads

seven different forms of Roman government known to history, or seven

individual kings, and the ten horns the various parts, subdivisions, or

subordinate rulers of the Empire. The current interpretation of the

preterist school accepts unqualifiedly the seven heads as seven kings of

the Roman Empire and identifies Nero with the fifth head or king who is

now “fallen”, i. e. is now dead, but is about to be restored again,

according to a wide‐spread expectation of that time, and to become the

eighth head or king. This view, though supported by many eminent

authorities, especially those of the later critical school, involves

serious difficulties. It is dependent upon the earlier date of the

Apocalypse, or at least this portion of it, i. e. just after the death of

Nero, the only time fitting such a prophecy—a matter by no means assured;

and the prophecy, if it had this meaning, was falsified by subsequent

events within a generation, a contingency which would necessarily have

discredited the book before the church, and would make its acceptance as a

genuine prophetic writing extremely difficult, if not impossible, to

account for. These considerations serve to nullify the surety and

positiveness with which this interpretation is generally urged by its

advocates, and late writers indicate a healthful reaction against the

view.(524)

Another similar view makes the emperors who are intended by the heads of

the Beast to be (1) Augustus, (2) Tiberius, (3) Caligula, (4) Claudius,

(5) Nero (now “fallen”, or dead—Galba, Otho, and Vitellius who succeeded

Nero for short periods being omitted as pretenders), (6) Vespasian (the

one who now “is”, i. e. now is on the throne), (7) Titus (who “must

continue a little while”, i. e. have a short reign), and (8) Domitian (a

second Nero—“an eighth” who “is of the seven”). This interpretation,

though quite possible from one point of view, necessarily limits the

vision to a narrow horizon; and while, like the former view, it tends to

bring the teaching of the book into closer harmony with Jewish

Apocalyptic, yet it obscures to some extent at least the wider and

universal teaching which seems to the average Christian mind to belong

essentially to the prophetic insight. It should be remembered, too, that

the seven heads and ten horns belong originally to the Dragon or Satan, as

symbols of his world‐wide power, and are here transferred to the Beast as

Satan’s representative; and therefore it is more likely that they have a

universal reference than that they apply to a single empire, for Satan’s

sphere of influence is confessedly world‐wide (cf. ch. 13:1, note).

Besides it is fruitless to attempt to interpret with any positiveness the

heads and horns as individual nations and kings, as the diverse results

have shown, each interpreter having his own application, and no one

interpretation being generally accepted.(525) But even if we cannot be so

positive as to the primary meaning, we should not allow the larger and

more important meaning to escape us, the meaning for us and for all time.

This is the fundamental principle of interpretation according to the

symbolical school, which should be kept in mind throughout; and it is

remarkable how often the general meaning is plain when the original

reference, as in this case, is obscure. For even if John had primarily in

mind certain phases of the Roman Empire, we must not lose sight of his

idealization of the symbolism. The numbers seven and ten are not to be

interpreted literally but symbolically as elsewhere throughout the book.

Whatever kings and kingdoms are in the first instance intended, they are

introduced as the type of all kings and kingdoms of this world throughout

all time, in accordance with the prevalent use of numbers in the

Apocalypse; so that in any case the chief thought established is

essentially the same, viz. that the anti‐christian world‐power attains its

fulness and completeness under the numbers seven and ten, and then wanes

and is eventually destroyed. If we interpret of Rome, then the ruin of the

one empire with its rulers and parts foreshadows that of every other

earth‐power that opposes the rule of Christ among men, and the overthrow

of the one city with its social and civic forces allied with evil,

prefigures that of the entire anti‐christian social and civic power

throughout the world.

2 The Fall of the City Proclaimed, Ch. 18:1‐24

The mystery of the Harlot and of the Beast having been revealed, another

angel now declares the doom which awaits them. The downfall of the city

and the destruction of her wealth is set forth as the type of the

overthrow of corrupt society with all pertaining to it, in order that the

fulness of Christ’s kingdom may be ushered in among men. In the vision of

the prophet the ruin is viewed as already complete; attention is centered

so fully upon the result attained that the method by which it is

accomplished is left quite out of view. But the closing verses of the

preceding chapter serve to indicate the source of her destruction, viz. in

the ten horns, or subdivisions of the world‐kingdom, which rise against

the Harlot and overthrow her (ch. 17:16‐17),—the historic fate of world‐

empires and world‐cities in revolution and ruin. It is here worthy of note

how clearly we find in this chapter reverberating echoes from Isaiah’s

Doom of Babylon and of Tyre (Isa. ch. 13:23, 47), and from Jeremiah’s Doom

of Babylon (Jer. chs. 50 and 51), as well as from Ezekiel’s Doom of Tyre

(Ezek. chs. 26‐28).(526) Though the fall of the heathen city of Rome was

doubtless foremost in John’s mind, let us not forget that it only formed

the basis of the wider thought of the ultimate fate and fall of the great

godless world which it so clearly foreshadowed, the foresight of which was

a part of the prophetic vision.(527)

(1) The Announcement of Her Overthrow, Ch. 18:1‐3

An angel—called here “another angel” in distinction from the one

designated as “one of the seven angels” in chapter seventeen (v. 1)—is

seen coming down out of heaven, having great authority, and crying with a

mighty voice, “Fallen! fallen is Babylon the great!” and recounting the

story of her crimes as the abundant cause of her ruin.

(2) The Warning to God’s People, Ch. 18:4‐8

Yet another voice from heaven bids the people of God come out of her

before the final retribution, that they be not made partakers of her sins

and receive not of her plagues, for her sins have reached even unto

heaven; and urges the executors of her judgment to reward her double, i.

e. to exact full legal retribution for her sins (Ex. 22:4‐7). And she

shall be utterly destroyed, shall be “burned with fire; for strong is the

Lord God who judged her”.

(3) The Lament of the Kings of the Earth over Her Doom, Ch. 18:9‐10

The rulers of the world‐powers who have shared in her sin are seen

standing afar off for fear of her torment, witnessing her fall; and their

cry is heard, “Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for in

one hour [i. e. in a short time or suddenly] is thy judgment

come”,—mourning over her ruin which is sudden and complete.

(4) The Lament of the Merchants, Ch. 18:11‐17a

The merchants of the earth also weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth

their merchandise or cargo any more. The articles of merchandise

enumerated are many, indicating her wealth, and seem to be arranged in a

progressive order of importance, and to fall naturally into six classes,

(Babylon’s number, the symbol of evil—ch. 13:18), which may be divided as

follows, viz. (1) those of personal adornment; (2) of furniture; (3) of

sensual gratification; (4) of food; (5) of animate forms; and (6) of souls

(i. e. persons) of men.(528) All have perished; and the merchants cry

aloud, “Woe, woe, the great city! ... for in one hour so great riches is

made desolate.”

(5) The Lament of the Seamen, Ch. 18. 17b‐19

All those who gained their living by the sea, ship‐masters, mariners, and

every one that saileth any whither, stood afar off and cried, “What _city_

is like the great city?” And they cast dust upon their heads, weeping and

mourning, the sign of their deep though worldly sorrow, saying, “Woe, woe,

the great city, wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made rich

by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.” In

this triple mourning of the kings of the earth, of the merchants, and of

the seamen, is shown the wide relations of Babylon, too wide in fact for

any single city. The darkly shadowed terms of poetic description used

throughout the chapter, set forth the completeness of her destruction, and

are an echo from the Fall of Tyre in Ezekiel’s prophecy (chs. 26‐28).

(6) A Call to Heaven and to the Church to Rejoice, Ch. 18:20

By a voice, evidently from above, the holy are bidden to rejoice, i. e.

heaven with its inhabitants, and the saints or the church, and her two

highest orders of ministers in the past, the apostles and the prophets,

are called upon to rejoice because God hath judged Babylon with the

judgment which is her due for her treatment of the saints. This invitation

to the “saints, the apostles, and the prophets”, to rejoice over the

judgment of Babylon, which to that age doubtless meant Rome, is regarded

by some as a possible allusion to the martyrdom of the Apostles Peter and

Paul who met death under Nero.(529)

(7) The Symbol of Her Irretrievable Ruin, Ch. 18:21‐24

A strong or mighty angel, taking up a stone like a great millstone, casts

it into the sea as the sign of her total extinction, and rehearses the

fate of the city in the ominous words of ancient prophecy, which are here

enlarged and made more terrible (cf. Jer. 51:61‐64). The symbolism used

throughout this chapter, it will be noted, is largely drawn from the Old

Testament prophecies concerning the ancient cities of Babylon and Tyre.

“And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that

have been slain upon the earth.” Thus in terms that are as wide as the

earth and as far‐reaching as history, is set forth the sin of the godless

and unbelieving world in all ages, which concludes the pronouncement of

the judgment upon Babylon; and the judgment seems to belong properly in

seven parts as a sign of its completeness.

B The Triumph of the Redeemed, Ch. 19:1‐10

A hymn of praise (the Hallelujah Chorus), such as follows each crisis in

the Apocalypse, and forms a relief to the sombreness of the visions, is

sung in heaven by a great voice of a great multitude as the sequel to the

fall of the city and the lament of the world—the seventh and last great

chorus in the Revelation (see App’x C): and then the marriage supper of

the Lamb is announced for the delight of the redeemed in heaven. The final

triumph, it will be seen, is here viewed as a whole, without distinction

of parts such as are found in the succeeding section which treats of the

last things.

1 The Choral Song of Hallelujahs, Ch. 19:1‐8

In response to the heavenly summons to rejoice (ch. 18:20), a thrice

repeated note of victory, the Hebrew “Hallelujah”, Praise ye Jehovah! is

heard in heaven; first from the voice of a great multitude, who say a

second time, “Hallelujah”, and then from the four and twenty elders, the

representatives of the redeemed church, together with the four living

creatures, the representatives of all created life, who reply, “Amen;

Hallelujah.” After this again, in response to a message from the throne

(v. 5), another “Hallelujah” is heard from the voice of another multitude

(v. 6‐8), as the sound of many waters, the voice of those who are praising

God in full and joyful chorus because he has avenged the blood of his

servants, and who are now rejoicing with exceeding gladness (v. 7) because

“the marriage of the Lamb is come”, i. e. the complete and final union of

Christ with the redeemed church, for his wife, the church, hath made

herself ready. The word “Hallelujah” occurs four times in this passage,

and is not found elsewhere in the New Testament: it should be noted, too,

that it is used here, as it is chiefly used in the Old Testament,(530) in

connection with the punishment of the wicked. The first voice in this

chorus of hallelujahs (v. 1f) is apparently that of the great multitude of

the angelic host in heaven, which is responded to by the four and twenty

elders, and the four living creatures; while the second voice (v. 6f) is

that of the multitude of the universal church who have been redeemed by

the blood of the Lamb. The description of the pure array of the Bride (v.

8), which is the symbol of her righteousness and is in such marked

contrast with the clothing of the Harlot, may be an explanation added by

the Apostle, as indicated in the text of the Revelation given in the

preceding part of this book by including the verse in a parenthesis,

though it was apparently regarded by the American Revisers as part of the

words of the redeemed church.

2 The Blessedness of the Marriage Supper, Ch. 19:9

John is directed by the angel to record a blessing upon those who are

bidden to the marriage supper, i. e. who are invited to share in the

nearer fellowship of the redeemed with Christ, and to partake of the rich

and abundant spiritual food that awaits them in the new relations of the

heavenly life—a further symbol of the spiritual union of the church with

Christ added to that of the bride and the marriage, setting forth the joys

of the heavenly life under the familiar figure of a marriage feast, the

great social event of the East, and the popular type of the highest

enjoyment, as well as the public acknowledgement of the consummation of

the union. The marriage of the Lamb is put in vivid contrast with the

fornication of the Harlot, in the usual method of the Apocalypse.

3 Worship Refused by the Angel, Ch. 19:10

The Apostle is so overwhelmed by the impression of the vision that he

falls at the feet of the angel to worship him—probably the interpreting

angel of the opening verse of the book, though some think identical with

the vial‐angel of chapter seventeen; but the worship is refused,(531)

because, as the angel declares, he is only a fellow‐servant with John, and

shares in “the testimony of Jesus” which “is the spirit of prophecy”. This

significant phrase is characteristic of the Revelation,(532) and we find

in it a key to the general interpretation, a principle to be applied

throughout, viz. that the mysteries of the Old Dispensation find their

only proper solution and fulfilment in the clearer teaching of the New.

“The testimony of Jesus” is the witness for the truth borne _by_ Christ in

the world, which gathers up into one and gives expression to the essential

and animating thought of all prophecy. Others interpret the passage as

applying to the witness borne _for_ Christ and the truth by his disciples

in the world; and it is possible that both meanings are included, for if

broadly interpreted they both merge into one.(533)

C The Last Things, Ch. 19:11‐20:15

A new phase of the vision of victory now opens, which presents the final

culmination and crisis of judgment and redemption, a rapid preview of the

closing events of human history, a forecast of the triumph and completion

of the gospel age. These events form a series of climaxes that are

progressive and catastrophic, and usher in the final consummation of God’s

world‐plan of the ages, a feature that is prominent in all apocalyptic

writings.

It is important for us to note afresh at this point, what should be

apparent to our minds in the study of the book throughout, viz. that the

element of climax, which enters so largely into the thought of the

Revelation, belongs essentially to the mood and temper of Apocalyptic; and

we should avoid emphasizing too much that which pertains chiefly to

literary form and spiritual mood, as though it were intended to set forth

the intimate nature of the divine method. Upon careful reflection it must

become more and more apparent that the emphasis here laid upon the

climactic side of the divine way of working, was only intended to be in

proportion to the apparent hopelessness of the historical outlook without

such manifest and repeated divine interpositions for human help, and was

not intended to indicate that the chief effects to be wrought out will be

accomplished by other than the method displayed in history, viz. by long

periods of quiet progress and patient waiting, broken now and then by

short and decisive periods of crisis. The apocalyptic writers followed the

general mode of conception prevalent in the Old Testament, according to

which “the final condition of men and the world is regarded less as the

perfect issue of a gradual ethical advancement ... than as the result of

an interposition or chain of interpositions on the part of God”,(534)

which is only one side of the truth—a view growing out of their idea of

God as the immediate author of all movements in nature and history, and

fitting in well with the increased emphasis laid upon climax in

Apocalyptic. There is also a distinct foreshortening of the future which

is very evident throughout this section, and this is a well known and

characteristic feature of all prophecy. The extreme brevity with which are

described and grouped together so many great events of the far future that

so deeply affect the Christian hope, serves to indicate that the chief aim

of the Revelation does not consist in fully manifesting these events which

lie hidden in the hand of God, but in preparing the church for what

precedes them, both of trial and of conflict. “Like a flash of lightning

in the darkness the vision lights up the whole line of God’s purposes to

the end”; but how much of the actual form and manner of the events it was

the divine purpose to disclose through this ideal and scenic presentation

must continue to be, pending the manifestation of the events themselves,

to some extent at least, a matter of diverse opinion.

1 The End of the Holy War, Ch. 19:11‐21

This part of the vision sets forth the final victory over all the powers

of this world which is eventually to be attained by the supreme power of

“The Word of God”, the ever conquering Christ, who is here described by

this transcendental name for our Lord which is a distinctive title with

the Apostle John.(535) Beginning with a view of the triumphant Word going

forth to conquer as under the first seal (ch. 6:2), Christ appears in the

opened heaven riding on a white horse; he is called “Faithful and True”,

and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes are a flame of

fire, the type of purity and judgment; upon his head are many diadems, the

crowns of conquered nations; he hath a name written which no man knoweth

but himself,—evidently the “new name” of chapter three (v. 12) which John

cannot interpret; and he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood, the

token of his redemptive work. The armies of heaven, which apparently

include the redeemed, such as have already entered there, follow him on

white horses,(536) clothed in fine linen white and pure; out of his mouth

proceedeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations,(537)

for he shall rule them then with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the

winepress of the wine of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty,

thereby bringing punishment upon the evil. His divine right is clearly

seen, for he hath on his garment and on his thigh (i. e. both on the

garment and on the thigh, or else on the garment covering the thigh), a

name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS”. And the Beast, and the

kings of the earth, and their armies, are gathered together to make war

against him that sat upon the horse and against his army, i. e. against

Christ and his kingdom to attempt to overcome them. Thus with sublime

imagery the vision leads up and on to the close of the great battle with

the world‐forces, which was briefly described before in chapter sixteen as

occurring at Har‐Magedon; the war is the same, the battle between the

sinful world and the hosts of God which is ever going on through the ages

to final victory in the end. Now, by a further view, the Beast, and the

False Prophet (or Second Beast) who misguides the people in spiritual

things, are seen to be taken, and they twain are cast alive into the lake

of fire, while all their followers are slain with the sword of him that

sat upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of his mouth (v.

15); and all the birds that fly in mid‐heaven are called by an angel

standing in the sun to feed upon their flesh, as in Ezekiel’s prophecy of

the Judgment of Gog (ch. 39:17‐22), a judgment exceedingly repulsive to

the Hebrew mind. The lake of fire is only a more fully developed form of

the Jewish conception of Gehenna as a furnace of fire (Mat. 13:42, and

50). The symbolism here used may have been suggested to John’s mind by the

appearance of a sea or lake during the eruption of a volcano, a view not

unfamiliar to those resident in Asia.(538) This lake in the Revelation is

the place of final punishment of the wicked, and is clearly distinguished

from the pit of the abyss, the abode of Satan during the present world‐

period. Thus is signified the triumphant overthrow of the World‐Power and

of the World‐Religion as manifested in history. These together with the

World‐City are now broken and destroyed, while only the World‐Lord, or

Satan, remains to carry on the conflict, and the way is thereby prepared

for the great millennial victory.