It is both a happy and a safe place to be an inquirer: happy, because it keeps the soul in direct intercourse with the Lord, for we must inquire in His temple; safe, because His word will be regarded as that which is to search and guide us, rather than as a subject for the speculation of our minds. But we are naturally prone to be impatient of the place of inquirers, and readily fall in with a theory, which, though it may embody great features of truth, hinders the direct application of the truth to our consciences and affections.
Whilst we are thus impatient of inquiring in the temple in the attitude of worshippers, we are no less impatient of inquiring among ourselves. Self-confidence will lead a few to dogmatize; while, to save the trouble of thinking and judging for themselves, the many will follow on in the wake of dogmatic teaching. The result is opposing theories; and then all the help which one might afford another is lost. When Christians, with the single desire of ascertaining the mind of God, have inquired one of another, as in His presence, concerning the meaning of scriptures, how many a crude thought has been shaped! how many a precious thought has been disentangled! while some imaginative mind has perhaps been checked in carrying out a particular truth beyond its limit. Thus too have “hearts been knit together in love, unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding;” all have been edified, all have been comforted. And can we only say that such things were? May the Lord, in His abounding grace over all our sin, grant to us in His own time such profit and refreshment again!
I would now desire briefly to inquire as to the expression, “they that dwell on the earth,” which so frequently occurs in the Revelation. Is it to be understood as applied universally, or within certain geographical limits, or as expressing the moral condition of a class?
The following are the passages in the Revelation in which the expression occurs:
1—Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (iii. 10).
2—And they cry with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth” (vi. 10)?
3— And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound” (viii. 13)!
4— “And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth” (11:9, 10).
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down to you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (12:12).
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written, in the book of life of the Lamb slain, from the foundation of the world” (13:6-8).
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live” (13:12-14).
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters” (14:6, 7).
9. — “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (17:1, 2).
10.— “And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (17:8).
In reading these passages, there is a great deal to intimate that they do express the moral condition of a class. In the original the participle is invariably used, whether our translators have rendered it “them that dwell on,” or “inhabiters of,” “the earth.” This of itself is presumptive evidence that the expression has reference to quality; i.e. that there is a certain class of persons largely introduced into the scene of the Revelation, characterized as “dwellers on the earth.” This presumption is greatly strengthened by the dwellers on earth being found in contrast with another class, also mentioned in the Revelation, “dwellers in heaven” (or literally, “tabernaclers in heaven”). “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven” —literally, “tabernacle in heaven” (chap. 13:6). And then follows in verse 8, “and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written, in the book of life of the Lamb slain, from the foundation of the world.” We have indeed in this passage heaven and earth locally contrasted; but is there not a moral contrast between the two classes also?—heaven giving its impress to those who tabernacle there, and earth its impress to the dwellers thereon.
But this is not a point to be settled philologically, which is rarely satisfactory to the spiritual mind. It will often be found at fault; when dependence on the Holy Ghost, as a present guide into all truth, will furnish the internal evidence for a solid and sound interpretation.
The expression, “inhabiters of the earth,” cannot well be regarded as universal, because we find the expression, “people, kindreds, tongues, and nations,” and in close connection, yet not synonymous, with it. “And they of the people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because those two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.” (See also xiii. 6-8; xiv. 6, 7).
(To be continued', D.V.)